Rants and Weekly Raves (RAWR) #431

Anne: Hello Everyone! I am two weeks behind on posts. My life has been a whirlwind of craziness. The first week, I was buried in a bunch of work. Then last week, we had a marketing event for our newly built labs. Talk about planning until the last second. I didn't know what I was presenting until the Friday before, at least it was only 3 slides. And, I also watched a bunch of non-Asian shows. 

A cautionary advice, if anyone is watching 1899 on Netflix...I'm still confused after the last episode. It was a good watching trip though, with the show reminding me of Event Horizon, The Cube, The Truman Show, and others that I cannot remember right now. Of course season two is next, and we need it for an ending. 

And now for a quick review of shows I've watched in the last two weeks or so...

A League of Nobleman

I was VERY excited last Monday or Sunday when I saw this show went live on my streaming services. I'm a sucker for historical/costume, mystery/crime dramas. Now, I haven't gotten very far, only on episode 7 or so. Each episode is rather short for such a drama, under 40 minutes. I do like how they start the episodes, not always the same and not in the same pace. It normally starts by picking up from the previous episode. I'm not sure why there are no females in this drama with the exception of the side roles, all the main characters are all men. Unless they were trying to go for some realism as in there were practically no women in these "jobs". Well...at least they are pretty to look at.

Do be warned, no one will like Lan Jue, an official trying to get the job of the Minster of Rites in order to revisit his dad's treason case. He really is a know-it-all who thinks that his purpose is ultimately more righteous than anyone else's. No one likes him, especially in the first few episodes. I really feel like slapping him more than once. 

Zhang Ping sells noodles, who never manages to sell any. He has one-minded tendencies, which cause him to dwell on a problem until the truth is discovered. Hence, why his noddle selling business is on the verge of bankruptcy. He is a nosy busy body who drives everyone he knows up a wall!

The show is very fast paced, so there are very few dull moments. There is a bit of mysticism that are explained by our investigators. So far, it is quite entertaining.

The Blood of Youth

I know this started airing last year, but I only started some time in January of this year. For no other reason because Li Hong Yi is in it. (I don't know why, but he reminds me a lot of Cheng Yi). This has just finished airing, and while I still barely got started in my watching at episode 9, I am quite enjoying everything about this...so far. 

Even from the very beginning, we have a young hero, Wu Jie, who is basically trying to make a name for himself as a hero. And can we all say that it is quite interesting, when the inn keeper was less than thrilled about said "hero", in the act of "saving" the innocent (the inn keeper), proceeded to trash his inn. (It's kind of like how every super hero movie never seems to deal with the aftermath of the "battle".) In order to get the money for all his destroyed furnishings, the inn keeper, Xiao Se, decides to follow Wu Jie until he can pay him back.

Xiao Se, even from the beginning, has a secret identity, who gives me the feeling that he wasn't so satisfied with how he ended up losing his martial arts. On his journey with Wu Jie, they meet the mysterious monk who isn't a monk, who was at the center of a "tug-of-war" among the different clans. Wu Xin has a lot of secrets. Since I'm only on the early episodes, I haven't seen how the girls will be joining this group of 3, but I am looking forward to it. Everything is SO pretty!

If anyone has finished it, please let me know if the quality will continue to the end.

Wow...and I guess these are the only two shows that I've watched for more than one episode. Here are a few more than I've only started, slowly watching, or haven't quite gotten anywhere yet.

History 5: Love in the Future - I'm up to episode 5...and besides the odd scene of Hai Yi's dad's death, which is when he discovers what he really meant to his own father. We also learned the odd connection between the two CP. We discovers that Hai Yi met Che Ni, 22 years ago, when he was a young boy, who got lost from his dad. (Seriously...how in the world is this going to end up well?) I'm still watching even though I see nothing good coming out of this. 

Brain Work - I'm only on episode 1, but this has already proven to be an odd modern crime drama. Mostly because the special unit makes absolutely no sense. A neuroscience team? I don't know if this is a mistake in the translation or something, but neuroscience is too broad of a field. It's kind of hard to imagine what kinds of cases we are going to run into. The first case was about the death of a musician. So...I'm still holding my opinion on this one.

Unchained Love - I'm still watching it! I don't know why I'm so slow on this one. Well...our emperor isn't such an idiot. And I guess the Dowager Empress is really plotting to over take the throne with the other prince. And oh dear gosh...is Xiao Duo his TWIN?! Where did the "lover" come from? Well... I guess if castration only cut off the scrotum, I guess the only thing they can't do is get a woman pregnant? And yes, this made me search on google. (Great...so now this is in my web history...)

Hope everyone has a great week. And maybe I'll have more time now...since I'm slowly transferring the programs to my team.