#do recommend

okay I saw the outsiders on broadway today. THAT WAS DEVASTATING. saw it with Emma Pittman (stunning). I’ve written an essay on the musical but some of the dialogue man…

(johnny’s parents can be seen and heard fighting and yelling. johnny is sitting outside. dally walks up to him.)

dally: “cant go in there, can you.”

johnny: “no. but i cant leave either cause i’m scared he’ll kill her”

Being a person with abusive parents, I get this WAY too much. After the time my father pushed my sister out of a door, slammed and locked it on her, NEAR A SET OF STAIRS, after saying he’d never lay a hand on us… gods the screams of my sister calling him a liar echo in my mind… I want to run. I can’t. I have a younger brother too.

(right before the song faraway from tulsa, johnny is in the park when pony runs out after of course getting hit by darry. they talk.)

johnny: “sometimes i wish i could just disappear… just press a button and…”

pony: “you cant say that johnny-“

johnny: “i think about it all the time pony”

like oh? I get that too. Not even like… death per se. Just disappearance.

Like this:

Spectacular fights, somewhat platonic OT3, and a solid exploration of the justice theme

Finished Zhan Zhao Adventures, and it was quite consistent in it's hero journey from start to finish. Despite it being a story about three characters, still Zhan Zhao's relationship with justice runs throughout the whole series, painting it in certain colors.

I also love how his besties are much more flexible when it comes to killing and serving that justice hot and ready on a plate XD It's like they live fully in jianghu, but he's partly in officialdom, so his perspective and choices are different. Also, it doesn't hurt to always have the bigger picture in mind rather than running and finishing off small fish when bigger conspiracies prevail.

Zhan Zhao being the ultimate and quite invincible hero of the story never once was irritating, for some reason. I just enjoyed him surviving through stuff XD being badly poisoned and all. The ending wasn't fantastic, per se, but I'm a sucker for the mains surviving their ordeals and moving on with their lives, so I don't have any beef with the way it was a bit rushed/convoluted. We've seen worse XD

Yang Yang did show some range throughout the series, although I can't say I've fallen in love with the character, as one might, but he was solid. The OT3 was cute, mind-blowingly platonic, and I enjoyed the soulmateism of it all, it gave a very classic wuxia feel with valorous fighters and baddy bad guys, finding friends along the way and forming families with ppl that really matter, and not just bonded by blood, A++, would recommend :D The lack of obvious romance is quite refreshing, and whatever they had going on between the three of them - was pure and lovely beyond words. I'd even go so far as call it a show about friendship and camaraderie, apart from the main glaring justice leitmotif.

Finally, the fights continuously got me nodding in approval, whispering to myself 'Jackie Chan would totally approve of this' XD they grew somehow meatier and more realistic after the first ep, despite some twirling and wire-acrobatics thrown in the mix, it was a very good balance. Like, the best fighting choreo I've seen in a while, very reminiscent of some oldie Chinese action movies I grew up watching - yes, exaggerated in their own right, but with a similar very realistic feel to them. In ZZA they all used not only swords and blades, but also varying fighting styles and their surroundings and whatever objects were there (hence I remembered Jackie Chan who awesomely used whatever he could around him for combat).

Having distinct fighting styles is smth we rarely see even in wuxia. And it's the old-fashioned martial arts devoid of special effects, which I hold very dear to my heart. It's a dying art, and I'm happy some directors still appreciate this type of style in Cdramaland.

All in all, it was quite a joyful ride. Not too many ups and downs emotionally, but there were a few quite gripping and well-made scenes, so as a wuxia fan - this show was right up my alley :D

A few things worth mentioning:

good storytelling in terms of character consistency and various cases (maybe apart from that one time Bai Yutang was keeping secrets from his besties, but I write it off as character growth :D)

villains are truly villainous and many :D

a good protag is worthless without his justice quest, and here he was given ample bad guys to fight with

good thing he had powerful ppl on his side :)

all supporting characters well-written and acted out

pretty overall visuals that sometimes turn deliciously gritty

in general, subdued realistic tone and styling

plot interesting enough to keep on watching (not too draggy)

Yang Yang is a cat :D

And his ponytail must have been going to brothels while he was asleep and not dying from poison XD it's so slutty)))