LOVE YOU [TV][TW]

Written by Bridget Au
Grounded in realistic situations and emotions, the series is highly successful at showing that love gone wrong seriously sucks.

SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS

Chinese Title
“Zui Hou Que Ding Ai Shang Ni”

No. of episodes
18

Year
2011


Cast
Joseph Chang as Jie Xiu
Rainie Yang as Xiao Ru
Kingone Wang as Yi Xiang
Tiffany Xu as Ai Wei
Wang Chuan as Jie Xiu’s mother
Tom Price as Rickie
Deng Jiu Yun as Peggy


Foreword
Proof positive that decent execution can make something that sounds lousy on paper into something watchable and entertaining.

Review
It’s official – Rainie Yang is back. I dropped her off my to-watch list after some recent cringe-worthy output (Miss No Good, Hi My Sweetheart), but Love You brings us the Rainie that the audience got to know and love from Devil Beside You.

As the second installment of the Fated to Love You manga trilogy, Love You’s plot is nothing far-fetched in the idol drama genre. Jie Xu (Joseph Chang) and Xiao Ru (Rainie Yang) accidentally get married after a drunken escapade following break-ups with their long-time significant others (a somewhat stale Tiffany Xu, whose selfish Ai Wei is more interesting on paper than in performance; and Kingone Wang as cheater-in-love Yi Xiang). They stay married for contractual reasons that are logical only in Taiwanese (or Korean) idol drama, and while each tries to salvage their respective broken relationships to no avail, they eventually repair their broken hearts and find love in each other. Can we get anymore clichéd?

It’s not all bad though. What sets this series apart from the usual idol drama is its portrayal of breakups. Grounded in realistic situations and emotions, the series is highly successful at showing that love gone wrong seriously sucks. Anyone who’s been in a relationship when things aren’t going great will relate to the moments of hopelessness, frustration, and ultimate heartbreak shown in this series. Fuelling much of the series is the acting by the two leads.


Readers have long realized that I’m pretty brutal when it comes to reviewing, so I guess I’ll say right here that when I first saw the poster for this series, I thought it was about a girl who falls in love with someone with a mental disability, because Joseph Chang looks like one in the poster. I know, I’m terrible. However, he does look better when he’s not static in a photo. In fact, of all the Taiwanese male leads, he looks the manliest and appears quite mature. Of course, that’s relative given the competition.


While Joseph is lacking a bit in the charisma department, he delivers in terms of acting. He looks intelligent and I believe him as an architect. Surprisingly, he has some chemistry with Tiffany Xu as well as Rainie Yang, and his performance here even hints at some comic talent. It’s the first time I’ve seen Joseph, and I would watch something with him again based on this performance.


Rainie Yang’s performance is a familiar one, reminiscent of her work in Devil Beside You, with the added bonus of less pouting and more acting in this series. She is relatable and honest here, and manages some very effective emotions in the earlier part of the series where Xiao Yu first gets dumped by Yi Xiang. One of her best performances to date, and easily the best since DBY.


I feel sorry for Kingone Wang, because he is actually a pretty decent actor but his (lack of) looks probably prevent him from collecting a legion of fans like his fellow male actors. I find his character’s ending in this series a bit disturbing – the whole concept of having to marry a girl despite the fact that you’re not in love with her and you’re marrying her just assuming that you will eventually fall in love with her is unsettling. Maybe this series is trying to teach a lesson that karma’s a b-tch and cheaters will always pay.


There’s no use pretending that at the end of the day, Love You isn’t a Taiwan idol drama, due to the unnecessary subplots, such as the paparazzi guy (portrayed by a super-annoying performance by the actor in the role) and Xiao Yu’s search for her biological mother, and caricature characters such as Jie Xu’s boss.


In terms of acting disappointments, they’re not lacking either. Tom Price is hilariously bad as Rickie, and his lack of chemistry with Tiffany suggests you should have your fast-forward button at hand for their scenes. Tiffany’s acting is still stiff and generally uninteresting. She’s lovely to look at but something about her doesn’t connect on an emotional level. She needs more practice as she is hovering dangerously close to being labeled as a flower vase. Den Jiu Yun, who portrays Peggy, is appropriately b-tchy in the role, although she switches gears to Overact as soon as her character turns good.

Overall, a perfectly fine entry into the idol drama genre. Next!


To Watch or Not To Watch, That is the Question
Recommended for fans of the idol drama genre and Rainie Yang.

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A FISTFUL OF STANCES [TVB][E]

Written by Funn Lim



SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS

Click the link below to go to the Episodic Thoughts and a brief review of this series. There is no full review available for this series.

>>EPISODIC THOUGHTS <<

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BEYOND THE REALM OF CONSCIENCE [TVB][E]

Written by Funn Lim



SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS

Click the link below to go to the Episodic Thoughts of this series. There is no full review available for this series written by me but there is one by Bridget Au here.

>>EPISODIC THOUGHTS <<

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GROWING THROUGH LIFE [TVB]

Written by Bridget Au

"Better than The Drive of Life, but only because it’s half the length"






SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS

Chinese Title
“Jak Sing Zhi Lui” (roughly translates to journey to a star)

No of episodes
30

Theme songs
Opening
“Sor Wai Lei Seung” (A So-Called Dream) by Raymond Lam

Closing
“Ngor Moon Han Ho” (We’re Doing Very Well) by Raymond Lam

Year
2010

Cast
Damian Lau
Cecilia Yip
Raymond Lam
Zhao Zi Qi
Bosco Wong
Dominic Lam
Toby Leung
Supporting Cast
KK Cheung
Vionn Song
Power Chan

Foreword
Better than The Drive of Life, but only because it’s half the length.

Review
Growing Through Life has all the hallmarks of a TVB corporate drama: An inheritance battle, a villain, someone is paralyzed, terminal illness, a patriarch death, and an opening theme that starts with thundering operatic chords. It has a Chinese title that is more poetic than your usual brand of TVB titles, and a cast list with a few big names.

So what’s wrong? Well, a lot.

One of the key reasons is pacing and a lot of predictability in the story. This is one of those series where the ending is written from the beginning. The audience knows that, but usually series like these make the journey to the end a worthwhile, or at least entertaining, one. At the beginning, GTL is promising. The flashback and explanation of why each character is at the stage that they are at were well-developed and the performances are good and consistent. The series starts wavering, oddly enough, when things just start to get interesting (Damian finds out Ray is his son, Bosco starts to turn evil, Ray’s mom dies, etc.). This is partly because the explanations of why characters become the way they are is not very well-done. Bosco, for example, doesn’t really have the acting chops to demonstrate how he moves from buddy-buddy with Hanson to full-on murder to achieve his goals. A lot happens throughout the series but somehow the whole thing fails to connect on an emotional level, so you can watch this whole thing, know and/or guess what’s going on, without really paying attention or needing to pay attention.

The series also fails to affect due to filming technique, which is surprising considering that this looks like a big budget series. The general set designs are always dark. Business meetings were held in the dark, dinners were eaten in the dark, even the hospital is always dark. The company looks glamorous, but also strangely cold and lonely. So do the houses – there are no framed photos, not a lot of furniture, and it’s always dark. There’s also a blatant absence of extras and supporting actors – so blatant that the whole series just seems cold and almost inhuman, like a large gorgeous vase that’s untouchable. Strike two.

The acting is a question mark. On one hand, we’ve got anchors such as Damian Lau, Cecilia Yip, and the now-overexposed Raymond Lam, who lead the pack in terms of acting skill. Damian Lau is iconic as the patriarch, his one single best moment being when Hanson called him ‘dad”. Cecilia Yip hovers dangerously close to overacting in most scenes, but she does portray a convincing nut job. Ray does his usual Ray thing, which means a solid performance with no chemistry with his female co-stars. Maybe he should take on a gay character next time. No joke.

Btw, his English name sucks. Oh Ray, will TVB ever give you a decent English name? I hope he’s getting paid extra for his character’s names because they are getting worse by the year (mmm bop, bop bop bop, doo-wop, do it all!). How about actually using all the names as his middle name? Now, he can be known as Raymond Alfred Kingsley Hanson Lam, otherwise known as Raymond A.K.H. Lam. Nice ring to it, no? And while we’re on the topic of terrible English names… Linus?! What kind of name is that? I thought it was a disease.

There are some lights in this big tunnel. Dominic Lam, for example, was surprisingly effective as Linus’ dad. I’ve never liked him much as an actor (or a host) but in this series he delivers one of his strongest performances. KK Cheung was fantastic as Raymond’s mom. She looks really familiar but I can’t place her.

But even with half the cast performing above-average, they can’t save this series from failure in the acting department. Yep, the rest are just that bad…especially since they’re in pivotal roles. Bosco Wong, for example, who is given the villain role for the first time in his career. Unfortunately, it is simply too early in Bosco’s career to take on this character and his performance is highly flawed – something Bosco realized as it was reported he became depressed after watching his performance in the series. Toby Leung is less annoying now and demonstrates some acting potential as the angelic daughter, although I would argue that she doesn’t have the X factor. And then after all that, you’ve got the “who the hell are these people” Mainlanders who are – or should be – dubbed, such as Zhao Zi Qi and Vionn Song. Zhao Zi Qi is irritating and a bad actress to boot, something that is compounded by the fact that she is dubbed. She’s got nil chemistry with Ray, too, which doesn’t help her case. Vionn Song fares much better as the bitchy Yiu Kwun, and she has decent chemistry with Bosco.

I think if they had gone with some decent actors for these characters and also warmed up the filming technique a bit, this series would be a hit. Not surprisingly, though, GTL got a much colder audience reception than initially anticipated. For once, I’d have to agree with the audience on this one.

Rating
3/5

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MISCHIEVOUS KISS [TV][Kr]

Written by Bridget Au

"...the acting is weak, and the pacing of the story even worse..."




SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS

Year
2010

Origin
Korea

Korean Title
장난스런 키스 / Jangnanseureon Kiss

No. of episodes
16

Produced by
MBC

Based on
the manga Itazaru Na Kiss ("prank's kiss") by Kaoru Tada

Cast
Kim Hyun Joong as Baek Seung Jo
Jung So Min as Oh Ha Ni
Lee Tae Sung as Bong Joon Gu
Lee Si Young as Yoon He Ra
Jung Hye Young as Seung Jo’s mother
Oh Kyung Soo as Seung Jo’s father
Choi Won Hong as Baek Eun Jo (Seung Jo’s brother)
Kang Nam Gil as Ha Ni’s father
Hong Yoon Hwaas Jung Joo Ri (Ha Ni’s friend)
Yoon Seung Ah as Go Min Ah (Ha Ni’s friend)

Foreword
Korea is now 0 for 2 when it comes to remakes. Oops.

Review
If Boys Over Flowers and Mischievous Kiss are any indication, Korea really needs to stop making remakes of manga stories. They’re not very good at them. Aside from cramming two much plot with major pacing problems, they also change the original characterization and story so much that they become unrecognizable, and not in a good way. The acting is nothing to write home about either, and there has been a surprise lack of chemistry among cast members for these remakes.

Kim Hyun Joong was undoubtedly the weakest link in this series. He is robotic throughout most of it and it is only when he smiles that I noticed something is different in his facial expression. A major disappointment and Joe Cheng is eons ahead of him when it comes to acting. He does have decent chemistry with Jung So Min though. I’m also surprised that Kim performed so poorly in this series as he delivered one of the stronger performances in BOF.

It doesn’t help that Korea’s version of the male lead is more or less butchered by the writers. He’s even more arrogant and aloof than the other versions, and most importantly, very cruel and cold towards Ha Ni. I mean, who says things like “I wish I never married you”? Ha Ni should have kicked him in the a--… after all, she has had plenty of experience with fixing vending machines via fly kicks.

Jung Hye Young and Oh Kyung Soo were not very good either, and although Lee Si Young is photogenic and pretty, her performance was forgettable. Kang Nam Gil fared a bit better as Ha Ni’s father, though.

It’s not all bad. I like how this series shows another reason why Seung Jo’s mother likes Ha Ni. Whereas in other versions the explanation is that she just thinks she’s good for Seung Jo, his mother also sees herself in Ha Ni, when she tells her father: “She’s like me. In my family, I’m the only one who makes mistakes and the only one who laughs. My sons don’t have that type of personality and my husband is too busy with work”. I get the feeling that underneath all the silliness, Seung Jo’s mother feels lonely in a family full of straight-forward, stone-cold males and this series shows a bit of that.

I liked Lee Tae Sung’s performance. He is a natural comedian although for the first half of the series I thought he was speaking Japanese! His accent is weird. Another plus was Choi Won Hong as Eun Jo. A cute kid and a total brat, exactly what Eun Jo is supposed to be.

Jung So Min was a delight to watch. She sports some cute hairstyles in this series and gave a fine performance as Ha Ni, especially since the Korean version of the character is a bit brighter and less useless. Definitely the highlight of the series. The actresses who portrayed her friends were very good as well.

So was it better than the Taiwanese version?
If you can’t tell already, I can give you a quick answer: Hell no. It Started With A Kiss might have been a wack-fest but it had charm and some terrific performances and cast chemistry. Korea’s version is missing charm and even raw emotions, because the acting is weak, and the pacing of the story even worse. While the plot and key scenes are identical to the Taiwanese version, the pacing is off, so much so that a lot of what happens in the Taiwanese sequel (the honeymoon, the appearance of Christine’s character, etc.) is crammed into the last 2 episodes of Mischievous Kiss. And with an inadequate performance in one of the pivotal characters, the whole ship comes down. A miss.

Rating
2.5/5

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