Rants and Weekly Raves (RAWR) #412
Anne: Hello drama watchers! Another week and the heat continues to set record breaking temperatures. The 5 year old is in theater camp these last two weeks, and I am still waiting to see what role he is supposed to play. First week was a tree, or rather a "baby" tree growing up. And now he is a bee, particularly a bee that likes to speak in rhymes. All of these seemed more normal than what he said last Friday...He asked me how to get abs. I'm pretty sure my faced looked like this...😕 He wanted abs because a 6 year old has abs in his theater class. (The entire time, I'm trying to figure out why a 6 year old has abs. And then I figured that they probably weren't really talking about what I'm picturing inside my head.) I asked, very directly, "are you sure that it wasn't a costume" (they were dressing silly that day). He was adamant that they were real. I told him that I could draw some on his tummy... He rolled his eyes and walked away.
Yes, this is my life. Which is why I get so lost in dramaland!
Love Like the Galaxy
This has exceeded all my expectations. I was trying to decide what picture to put here...and decided on one of the scenes from episode 12. The lightening isn't great, but it is probably the first time she dropped her wall against him. Wu Lei is definitely "grown up" in this drama...and no it is not due to this...
But it's the over all look... His face slimmed, or something, because his facial bone outlines are outstanding. Gone is the slightly rounded face look that made him looked so young. He lost the "cuteness" and is shaping up to have character in his face.
Ok...enough of my fangirling on Wu Lei. One of the reasons that I wasn't exactly looking forward to this drama is the synopsis. It is just SO overdone and I really was NOT looking forward to watching 56 episodes of an angsty drama with family "abuse", family struggles to over power the others, the military and wars, etc, etc, etc. And as SOSsy pointed out last week, "screechy grandma and aunt". But I started it because...well...there wasn't really anything else to watch. Once I started...I couldn't stop.
Cheng Shao Shang or Niao Niao as her parents and siblings call her, is the 4th miss (of the Cheng family) who was left to be raised by her second uncle's wife while her mom and dad took her THREE brothers (one of whom is her twin) off to war. Since she wasn't well treated by either her grandmother or her 2nd uncle's wife, she resented her parents. On the other side, our ML is Ling Bu Yi, a general with great achievements who also has an issue with his father and his step-mother (not revealed yet, but I guess we will see it this week!).
One of the best thing about this drama is that it managed to surprise me many times. Yes, the grandmother is SO annoying (the aunt will be gone in a few episodes), but just watch ALL her sons' and their wives' reactions when grandma goes into her hysterics. Niao Niao's father is as outrageous as his mother. The family interactions are a constant source of comedy. And whether right or wrong, grandma is humored by her children, and they "manage" her without direct confrontation.
Niao Niao's mother is conservative and strict and FULL of guilt for leaving her and costing her years of proper education. But this pushes Xiao Yuan Yi to go supernova on her daughter, trying to shape her into the proper respectable woman that her cousin, Cheng Yang, is. And for a daughter who sees her own mother who abandoned her favoring her cousin, even though she understands it, is still a knife that is wedging the pair apart. Her brothers are a hoot. And so is her third uncle, apparently the luckiest man on earth.
The other bright spots in this drama are Ling Bu Yi's two seconds' in command...
The one on the left is forever clueless as to what he is doing wrong. The one on the right is forever giving hints to the clueless one but to no avail. In this scene, clueless is puzzled at why their Master is angry. The other one told him that it would have better if he cut off the arm then have Niao Niao bandaged it for him. Earlier, he got punished for accepting a birthday invitation from Fifth Princess (who Bu Yi is avoiding like the plague) and then got punished again for throwing away the invitation when Bu Yi decided to go because Niao Niao would be present. It doesn't sound very funny in writing, but trust me, watch the show, it is quite the dry humor when it is played out in the scene.
This is a growth story with a lot plot of go through...So far, the pace is fairly good. And we can debate about this when it's over, but so far...I like it more then One and Only.
Alchemy of Souls
The three stooges in their attempt to rescue Mu Deok when she disappeared and an illusion in her likeness appeared in front of Seo Yul and Go Won. In the end, she escaped by herself.
Of course, since Seo Yul wasn't thinking about Mu Deok but about Naksu, now her secret is found out by man #3. No I did not forget man #2,
who used her to lure Jang Uk to a spot so he can take over his body. Um...I guess he thought his boss would be cool with it?
I am very intrigued by the mystery around the blind girl's story, and why is she the "ice stone"? Then who is Naksu? I thought the blind girl would be the lost elder sister of the Jin family. But even the mother didn't recognize her so probably not. But how did Mu Deok open what only a Jin family member could open and why do all the magic artifacts in the room know about the "blind girl"? Is it because the "ice stone" somehow cultivated into human form? Does this happen in Korean fantasy?
This thing is just great to watch (not the acting with the exception of Mu Deok and the Songrim master and Maid Kim). The plot is quite intriguing...let's hope it doesn't disappoint as it nears the half way mark.
And this is yet for this week. I did finish a BL Korean drama To My Star 2, but it was draggy and I'm just confused as to why all the angst that I wished they just ended it with 1 season. But at least it was a happy ending.
Hope better dramas come out soon...it's too hot to do anything outside and I need something to keep me occupied when I have a whole week off from work!