Rants and Weekly Raves (RAWR) #439

Anne: Happy Tuesday Everyone! Well...I am still battling the slug invasion. Although they are certainly much smaller than over a month ago. And due to a potential family of wild bunnies that may be living under our little garage apartment, or somewhere else in the yard, we haven't sprayed the outside of the house, so now I also have tree roaches taking short vacations across my floor. Sigh...at some point I'll figure out how to get enough money to rebuild the house.

But, enough of my problems with my uninvited visitors, let's get on with the discussion of the shows that I've managed to watch these last two weeks.

The Ingenious One

Another show that is right up my alley. A bit of mystery, adventure, a dash of romance, and a game of wits that starts from the very first episode. Surprisingly, there are some unexpected funny moments, and I was very surprised to see third prince (Liu Guan Lin) play the swordsman, Jin Biao. He's a great character who takes a fixed price to kill a person, but ended up working for Yun Xiang for free because he took a bad bet, and literally walked right into it. 

The story starts with Yun Xiang, a disciple of the Yuntai sect, which has been in the background that plotted the movement of nations and large changes in all sorts of places. Yun Xiang left the sect to track down his family's massacre. And as soon as he left the mountain, in his effort to help a man who saved his life, he runs into Shu YaNan, a female martial arts expert who has her own agenda. 

Hopefully, the picture isn't too dark. One of the funnier role reversal scenes where the guy jumps off the second story ledge to be caught by the girl. On top of that, he bounced a few times to see if she would drop him. And the ML has absolutely no problem with having his "wife" protect him from all physical harm. 

Now, I'm not saying that his plots would have worked out the way he intended in real life, but it's a drama and I like plots that twists and turns and gives you a bit of scare but no real danger. Looking forward to watching the rest of the episodes. I am SO glad this thing is already 20 episodes and drops 8 episodes a week. Two more weeks and we should see the end.

Till the End of the Moon

Ugh.... Can't they have hurried this thing up so close to the end!? I cannot believe they stuck to their one episode release on Monday and Tuesday, so I am still ONE away from the finale. The plot sort of got away from the writers in the second half, and there were some very, very odd cuts that made no sense. And we all know the noble sacrifice that is the root of all misunderstandings in these dramas...so cliché... but I DON'T care! I LOVE it! Yes, I am a sucker for these type of stories. Now, I don't think anyone really need me to talk about the plot. Most of you can guess 90% of it. I enjoy all the pretty clothes and the pretty people.

The demon god...what an A**hole! Seriously, he planned Tantai Jin's entire life, including the second half 500 years later? He planned to have Tantai Jin be accepted by the righteous sects, only to have it taken away to further push him towards the evil path. Won't that mean he knew about Su Su the entire time? So... being so omnipotent, he never saw the fact that Su Su would derail his overall plan? Almost all, travel back in time and changing the past story lines, suffers from this logic. Now, if this was Scifi, I would just say that this was a different alternate world, and that the travel back into opened up another path of time. But this is fantasy, no such thing. So I concluded that the demon god is an idiot. He over played his hand, and ended up shooting himself in the foot.

One more episode to go...

Just one annoying thing that we have often talked about in costume dramas... When I see this...

And followed by, not ONE...

Or TWO...

But THREE...

Pieces of clothing... I should not be confused as to whom those "tossed" garments belong to...

Because it obvious didn't belong to the couple of the bed...because they are still fully clothed.

Ok... I have to confess...I am such a sucker for these things... the kisses were still very hot... 

Now I just have to figure out how to watch the last episode while I'm supposed to be working tomorrow morning...

UPDATE: Wow... was it really necessary to end like that? We couldn't even stick to the ending of the book? Well...good thing I was prepared...I'll just pretend that he is only in limbo for a bit. 

Oh No! Here Comes Trouble

I had started this a few weeks back, but they my life got consumed with the show right above this one. and it took me just last week to pick it back up again. The synopsis makes it sound like he never had this "super power", which is not exactly true.

Pu Yi Yong was seventeen(?) when he, while riding on the bus with his dad and grandfather to go to a calligraphy event, got into a freak accident with a plane. Yes, you've read that correctly, a plane collided with the bus. His dad died, his grandfather and him went into a coma. A little over two years later, Pu Yi Yong wakes up, but his grandfather remains unconscious. Pu Yi Yong's one skill is his ability as a genius in Chinese calligraphy. His other superpower was that the accident, somehow, knock open his ability to see the dead (even though he had the ability when he was younger). In addition, the accident now allowed the calligraph he writes to be embedded with power. The power of the words he writes can bring peace to the dead and living a like. And...anyone who sees the dead/spirit that he draws, can end up being able to see the dead in the drawing. Along with a police woman, Chen Chu Ying and his arch nemesis, Cao Guang Yan, the three of them solves crimes and other stuff.

This is an interesting drama with a pretty unique plot and great characters. 

And that is it for this week, except for a couple of short BL dramas that were very sweet and cute (The Eight Sense and A Shoulder to Cry On). But before we go, I just want to say a few of things about the Bridgerton side story, Queen Charlotte. One, I love the fact that we now know why the separate residences and got a glimpse of both the young and older George and the younger Charlotte. Two, an interesting connection between  Lady Danbury and Violet Bridgerton. Three, we got to know how everyone got their titles. Four, I love how unruly Queen Charlotte's adult children are. Fifth, the real stories behind the royal portraits...and how the painter all have to have a great imagination and memory. Sixth, I really, really like the way the story is told, a blend of present and past. There is just one tiny, tiny little thing... this entire show feels like I'm watching my parents' love story. And...just a little too much TMI. I don't know why...especially I am the age of all these "older" ladies...but I read these stories in my twenties, and I identified with the first 4 siblings' stories. For me, the show was enjoyable, but slightly cringey all at the same time.

Have a wonderful week!