Game of Hunting 猎场 - Episode 2 (Impression Post)

kakashi: There's a lot of potential for tragedy in this drama, that much is clear after the second episode! I still very much like the way this story is told, the many subtle interactions and chance meetings, and apart from a few 101-villains, our main characters are complex enough to intrigue me further. Actually, I am most intrigued by our female protagonist. I hope they continue to write her well.
JoAnne: I sort of feel like I'm in the Upside Down right now.
SakiVI: what's the Upside Down? Second episode was better than the first, but I'm still ambivalent about this show.  
Panda: Is Upside Down from Stranger Things?
Yes, Stranger Things.  It's like a dead version of the world that the kids live in. What their world will look like when the Demagorgs and that big black thing take over.

Episode 2

In the second episode, Bai Li Qin's health worsens dramatically. Yi Ren hears he only has about a year to live (what kind of doctor tells a girlfriend and not the patient?!) and then, he falls down a flight of stairs after some groupies want to take a picture with him. He ends up in the hospital.
We see this a lot in dramas from Korea and China, though.
Honestly, that doctor was so stupid. And I was annoyed Bai didn't just die.
Doctor doesn't tell the patient but rather his girlfriend. I would sue him so hard.

The knowledge that her current boyfriend only has a year to live causes Yi Ren to break up with Zheng - before their second love-affair has even started. They have a rather insightful conversation, character-wise: Yi Ren thinks Bai's worsening health is "punishment for her improper desires", (I beg to differ: they aren't married and Bai told her to leave him.) whereas Zheng, being extremely understanding, tells her it is not a matter of morals if a person doesn’t love another and that God sent sent him her way to keep her company in her times of pain. Still, she's wrecked by guilt. But so pretty.
This is so typical, though. It's textbook. Yes, she's lovely, but....don't get me wrong. This kind of story doesn't bother me at all but...who are you and what have you done with our Sensei? LOOOL
TBH, I understood her guilt but ultimately felt she was being silly. It's not worth staying with someone out of obligation Unless... she was counting down to when he would die and then she would be free to swan off with Zheng.

Does Bai know Zheng and Yi Ren have rekindled their relationship? I somehow get the feelings that he does... or at least suspects. In any case, he lands his younger friend a job with an extra rich tycoon, ironically by showing him a recording of a speech (we saw it in episode 1, probably Zheng's lowest moment) in front of a health store for which he wasn’t paid enough. That new job means Zheng will be on the road for a whole year, motivating people in the country side to invest their money into Rich Tycoon's company. Very dodgy. VERY.
This whole thing immediately has me looking at Bai with different eyes.
I really don't like this character.  I don't like this actor.  I want him GONE.
He got him the job to separate them. I had a feeling since that lunch/dinner in previously that he's not exactly as he seems.

Bai's accident happens in the night before Zheng needs to leave. Since he got a new phone from the Tycoon, Yi Ren cannot reach him. I guess he cancelled his own phone and they didn't bother to show it? I thought he broke his phone.  He looks everywhere for her. Awww. She rushes to the airport the next morning, and I really thought it would be the classical "they miss each other by seconds"-thing, but no, the smart woman has him announced on the public intercom and they get to say a proper goodbye.
I also thought they wouldn't see each other because he wouldn't be able to reach her and wouldn't be smart enough to leave a note at her room, or he'd leave it and it would blow away in the wind, and magically Bai would never ask his friend 'gee, how's my friend doing?'.  Side note:  Was that a hint of shady character to come when Qui Dong gypped the guy out of the additional 50 bucks?
I think QD's just desperate.
I think Zheng is not going to be the straight good guy in any case but one with loads of grey. I did like that they didn't miss each other at the airport. That would have been just too cliche.

Zheng Qiu Dong is successful in his new job ... but it is pretty clear that whatever Rich Tycoon is selling is not benign. Also, the way they manipulate him (by making him cry and by sending sexy repressed female secretary after him) is extremely underhanded. They know everything about him. Poor, soft Zheng Qiu Dong... I hope you get out of this one unscathed, though I doubt it.
And they found this all out how?  Bai?
Probably Bai.
Almost completely certain it's Bai.

BONUS! A man from the future makes an appearance - he's from a big headhunting firm, making some survey with small recruitment firms (randomly, Zheng's firm was chosen). Zheng angrily kicks him out, since he's about to close down his company.
*sighs* But that hair looks like they dipped the top of his head in black paint.
I love Meng.  He will always be Meng to me.  Also, he plays a handsome and charming suitor for my favorite Ode to Joy character, Fan Jie, so I just like this person already.
MENG!! Can't wait for their bromance to start.

The literary theme continues. Zheng takes "Norwegian Wood" on his journey with him. (Sidebar: I don't have to read that book to understand this show, do I?)  It seems he very much misses Yi Ren. Also, he thinks “Watanabe isn’t like me at all”, because “he’s such an idiot”. Lol. He also compares Yi Ren to Naoko. She doesn't like that much, since Naoko dies in the novel. There's another short scene, when they discuss going to the movies. She suggests "Love in the Time of Cholera" (a 2007 film, is this set during that time? It's possible), something he finds much too artsy. He prefers Iron Man (a 2008 movie). Aww.
Are we going backwards with your impressions? LOOL
The timing would explain the awful cell phones.