Rants and Weekly Raves (RAWR) #460
Anne: Happy Tuesday again everyone! I have survived through another audit, and I feel so much more relaxed this week. I'm making plans to making sure that we have a better process in place so we don't have to work so hard, and at the last minute, next time. Besides these normal frustrations, I'm finding myself becoming more frustrated at work, sigh. Well... with all this stress surrounding me every second of every day, I'm actually accomplishing a lot of crafts.
In the middle of work and my crafts, I did also watched a bunch of shows. But only one recently aired one.
Fighting for Love
I started this on Sunday and went through the first 7 episodes because I couldn't stop. The story starts with a very confusing scene that led to the annihilation of an entire family/clan. It was the FL's memories (A Mai) of her adopted elder brother killing her father and leading to her family's demise.
In the present time, A Mai is pretending to be a man, who is in the capital trying to find the head of a spy organization in order to get information on her adopted older brother. While she was trying to infiltrate the brothel where she has information that this spy leader will be, she inadvertently runs into an assassination attempt on Yi Zhi, the eldest son of a general and his wife, the Grand Princess, who is the elder sister of the current Emperor. The Emperor has systematically killed off every young man who was born in a particular year, because he wants to eliminate any possibility of the previous Crown Prince's offspring (he's trying to kill off any nephew from his ex-Crown Prince brother). And take a guess who Yi Zhi really is? His mother told him about his birth at his dad's death bed, which was a condition also caused by the Emperor. The Emperor reminds me a lot of Emperor in the Legend of FuYao, the one who was always loitering around like an useless old man but who knew everything and has schemes upon schemes to get the world to follow his plan.
In order to prepare Yi Zhi to protect himself, his mom arranged for 3 master martial artists to teach her son how to fight. And these 3 masters of his are the head courtesans of the brothel that Yi Zhi often spends a lot of days and night in. Now, the night when A Mai saved Yi Zhi from the assassin, she was able to meet the spy organization she was trying to find because that person just happens to be Yi Zhi's master. The brothel was obviously "found out" by the Emperor and he'd sent his most lethal killer to eliminate the entire nest. Now... our ML finds out that A Mai is a girl almost from the beginning, and it's not because he's smart or wise. He just happened to catch a glimpse of her taking a bath (don't ask me why this girl forgot to close a window/door when she was trying to protect her secret).
Yi Zhi's mother was able to get him assigned to a military base where his dad's old comrades can aid in protecting him. In the meantime, A Mai heads off to a separate city after the spy master tells her to seek someone else there to find information on the person she is seeking. A Mai walks into a town where Yu Qing, the general of the opposing country, is coming to take over to find a weapon designer. Yu Qing is a great character, and the actor (Wang Rui Chang) played him really well. He's a ruthless killer with principles. This is one of the few dramas where when the FL is completely separated from the ML for quite a few episodes, and not only was I not bored, but was actively engaged in all her adventurers. After escaping from that situation, she then runs into Yi Zhi, who has been hiding in the forest for the last few days, dodging assassins...sent by...guess who?
It's been a while since a drama has really captivated my interest. I love A Mai's character, and yes while her "male" dress doesn't really make her that much of a "man", it definitely isn't "girly". So if I had maybe, one eye closed, I can probably believe that she is a guy. I also love Yi Zhi's character, a boy who really didn't understand the danger that his parents' spend their entire lives, and even now, protecting him from. So far, he's just beginning his journey of growth and his silly "happiness" every time he "runs" into A Mai is super cute.
If this drama stays with this pace all through 36 episodes, this will be the first of my favorite shows of 2024!
The Case Solver (1, 2 and 3)
I can't remember how I came across this drama. I want to say I think it's because I was looking up other dramas starting Gu Jia Cheng, who has started to become a favorite of mine due to the romantic-comedy fantasy/historical dramas that he was in the last few years. This was the other series that I was watching. The only weird thing about season 1 and 2 is that both of them ended with a teaser for the next season that never went anywhere. The following season never picked up the story line.