Rants and Weekly Raves (RAWR) #454

Anne: Hello drama lovers! I am very late this week. Besides me getting very distracted by my short YouTube dramas, I also had to speed watch and finish a long over due drama, which will elaborate later. Although, in hindsight, it's a good thing that I've waited...

All right then, let's get on with the discussion!

Story of Kunning Palace

Holy moly! This thing dropped without too much fanfare. Yes, this one has been saying that it will be "upcoming" for over a year! I thought that this show would be filed away, never to see the light of day. I started it as soon as saw it pop up on iQiyi. Everyone knows how much I love watching Bai Lu's dramas. Strangely enough, my over indulgence in the YouTube dramas, has actually made me well aware of the major plots variations that have been made and remade. 

The plot of this drama is simple. Bai Lu's character is Jiang Xue Ning, who schemed her entire life to get to the position of empress, by using the people around her. When the rebellion succeeded, she had only one regret, which was how she framed and treated Zhang Zhe, the only person (by episode 5) she believes is the only good person she has ever met. She confronted her biggest enemy, Xie Wei, whom she views as the biggest villain. She commits suicide to trade for Zhang Zhe's life. As she dies, she is transported back to an earlier part of her life. However, given that we can't do actual re-birth stories, the story is framed as the author re-writing her work in the way that she wanted.

Being transported back to when she was 18, Jiang Xue Ning vows to change her fate, and prevent the tragedies that happened. Let's see how much she is able to change. So far, she is able to change little things, but she still ended up in the palace she is trying to avoid. It is very good, so far. I like the forward and backward story telling, which gives the audience the past and the path that she is trying to change. I LOVE this type of story telling.

I just hope the ending isn't a complete massacre. 

Only for Love

Now...as for the other Bai Lu drama that actually aired before the one above. And I really think the other one aired because of this one. First let me say this, I like the one above better. Second, this is another one of those reused plot lines that I've been seeing on YouTube. 

In this modern drama, Bai Lu's character is that of a finance reporter, Zheng Shu Yi. In her pursuit to catch an interview with Shi Yan, the young CEO, she missed her boyfriend's bday celebration. When she went back to find him, she catches him with another girl, who is very wealthy and who can give him a hands up in his career. Shu Yi finds out that the other girl has a rich and powerful uncle. And she comes to the inaccurate conclusion that this uncle is Shi Yan. So...as her "long term" revenge plan, she decides to become involved with the uncle so she can become a family elder to her two-timing ex.

I FF'ed over the "business" talks...not interested. As a romance... Wang HeDi just cannot play the cold and indifferent CEO. Maybe I've seen him in too many variety shows. I just can't see him as a man. He reminds me too much of my brother. So... I will still watch it. Definitely with the FF button. But it's cute, and let's see how this story develops and when she finds out the "uncle" she's trying to seduce is someone else.

Destined with You

This took me a while to finish. I had to take a pause on episode 8 because this thing was creeping me out. I know it's supposed to be a romance, and Rowoon is as sexy as ever. But this entire show, for whatever reason, gives me the willies. I don't know if the ML just had the wrong gaze, the stalkery attitude, or most of this happened when he still had a girlfriend, or the lighting. But the romance made me uncomfortable. And making his girlfriend a bad person actually made everything worse! Because this means that Jang Shin Yu stayed with someone this bad for TWO WHOLE years! WTF?! I had to FF the show just to find out the end. Their tragic past lives, why he had no choice but to kill the person he loves the most, and the roles of all other people in their lives... at least there was a happy ending. 

Now... compare this with My Lovely Liar, which I also took a break from and will finish soon, where the ML is a murder suspect, is still super cute and didn't give me the willies. 

I am hoping his new drama, The Matchmakers, will be better. I hope...

And this is it for these past two weeks! Hope everyone has a great week. And my next new show to catch up on will be Wonderland of Love. Maybe everyone is trying to dump their shows since this year is almost over?