Welcome to the Open Thread, everyone! I love how Xiao Le gloms onto Guang Xi like a little baby duckling, which is why this shot is headlining our post today. So cute! 😍
SOME IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS, before we begin:
ZERO SPOILER POLICY
1. We will be adopting a ZERO SPOILER POLICY for this Open Thread, except for events that have happened in the show, up to this point.
The spoiler tags don’t work in email notifications, therefore, please take note that WE WILL NOT BE USING SPOILER TAGS FOR THIS OPEN THREAD.
ANY AND ALL SPOILERS WILL BE REDACTED to protect first-time viewers in our midst (although, I’d appreciate it if you would save me the trouble of having to redact spoilers, heh 😅).
This includes, but is not limited to, how characters &/or relationships develop, later in the show.
We need to protect the innocent! 😉
SPOILER ZONE
2. HOWEVER!! If you’d like to discuss spoilers from a rewatcher’s point of view, I’ve created a SPOILER ZONE for you, where you can discuss all the spoilers you’d like, without the need for spoiler warnings. You can find it here!
Without further ado, here are my reactions to this set of episodes; have fun in the Open Thread, everyone! ❤️
My thoughts
Episode 13
Well, this felt like a filler episode, if I ever saw one. 😁
Basically, we get a few things to fill up screen time, in the lead-up to Guang Xi and Mu Cheng meeting in Hua Tien Village – which looks set to happen next episode instead of this.
I can practically feel Show throwing lots of shirtless Guang Xi at us, to distract us from the filler, and y’know what, I’m mollified, I am. 😁
As you might recall, I’d thought that we wouldn’t be seeing much of fit and shirtless Guang Xi for a while, after his brain tumor diagnosis, but whaddya know, Show got around that with a time skip, and this episode, we get shirtless Guang Xi not once, but twice. Oooh. 🤭
I do feel a bit bad for Yi Qian, who’s currently being showered with attention by a loving Guang Xi who only has eyes for her, because he’s inevitably going to fall in love with Mu Cheng again, isn’t he, once he actually gets to Hua Tien Village.
At the same time, as Eda pointed out in our last Open Thread, while it’s true that Yi Qian has dedicated a lot of time into helping Guang Xi recover after his surgery, it’s also true that she has not told him anything about him or his relationship with Mu Cheng, prior to the surgery.
It sounds like she’s told him about how they’d met on the ice, when she’d visited during his hockey practice, but it doesn’t sound like she’d told him that he was never interested in her to begin with.
So yes, it does look like there’s some degree of deception there, which, actually, might help to explain why Yi Qian appears to have some hesitance about her thus far, when it’s come to Guang Xi’s mentions of marriage. Perhaps she has some guilt around that?
Mostly, though, this episode is kinda like a comedy of errors, with lots of OTT lashings (because that’s what most Taiwanese dramas seem to tend to favor) with Guang Xi getting a flat tire, and having his car getting stuck in front of the bus in which Mu Cheng’s a passenger.
Yep, it’s heavy-handed, but y’know, I think we need to buckle in for more of this heavy echoing of past situations, because I think that’s the way Show’s likely to go about jogging Guang Xi’s dormant memory around Mu Cheng.
Of course Guang Xi’s going to overhear Boss Hua trying to intimidate Mu Cheng into dating him, and of course Guang Xi’s righteous streak rears its head, so that he comes to Mu Cheng’s rescue, without Mu Cheng ever seeing his face.
The repeated almost-meet is a classic drama trope, designed to amplify audience angst, and I believe it was popularized by kdramas, back in the day. I think we need to buckle up for more of that too, at least until Mu Cheng finally sees Guang Xi face to face.
The most endearing moments for me, this episode, are the ones where Xiao Le (whom CarpControl pointed out was named after the rescue bird! Ha, I don’t know why I never made the connection before. Thanks, CarpControl!) gloms onto Guang Xi, with stars in his eyes.
There’s just something so pure and innocent about the way Xiao Le just decides that Guang Xi is his alien dad, that I can’t help melting a little, even though I still think the alien dad concept is very weird.
Even though I never liked the shoelace thing in previous episodes, it goes down A LOT better, when it’s Guang Xi showing Xiao Le how to tie his shoelaces.
Also, it really is a sweet sight, to see Guang Xi offer Xiao Le his hand, even though Guang Xi had been so perplexed by the strange little boy, in the beginning.
And of course the villagers get Guang Xi drunk, most likely so that Mu Cheng can see his face and react to his presence, without him actually being cognizant of her reaction.
There’s one other person in Hua Tien Village who knows Guang Xi, though, and that is Tuo Ye, who’s suitably shocked at the realization, when he hears Guang Xi say his name, through the closed window.
I’m guessing that Tuo Ye’s going to do whatever he can, to stop Guang Xi and Mu Cheng from meeting, but y’know, I’m not sure that there’s anything that he can do, really.
By drama law, these two are fated loves after all, right?
Episode 14
..And we have contact. Finally!
Of course, on hindsight, I can see why Show had Guang Xi intervene to save Mu Cheng from Boss Hua.
It was so that he would be able to greet Mu Cheng in a more familiar manner – thus messing with Mu Cheng’s mind and giving her the impression (at least for a split second) that he actually remembers her.
Yes, Show is a little manipulative that way, but I don’t mind it, for some reason. I think I just enjoy the nostalgic feeling of watching a retro drama.
One thing that I do find not sitting so well with me, is the way Tuo Ye has all this anger towards Guang Xi, as if Guang Xi’s the rat for not coming out to look for Mu Cheng, for the past 6 years.
Additionally, Mu Cheng herself has this wistfulness around the same thing, that Guang Xi hasn’t sought her out, in the 6 years that have passed.
I think they – and Show – might have forgotten one important thing, and that is, Mu Cheng’s the one who had made such a big show of leaving Guang Xi.
Sure, she’d done that under the influence of President Mom, but Guang Xi didn’t know that. Even if he’d retained his memories, he would probably still believe all the terrible things Mu Cheng had said, when she’d abandoned him.
And Tuo Ye had been a witness to that. He’d known that Mu Cheng had been the one to leave Guang Xi, even if it hadn’t been her true desire.
All this leaves me scratching my head as to why both Mu Cheng and Tuo Ye seem to think that Guang Xi should have come looking for Mu Cheng, if he’d had any conscience. That.. doesn’t make any sense to me, sorry.
Even if Guang Xi had retained all his memories, Mu Cheng and Tuo Ye can’t blame him for not seeking out Mu Cheng, because she’d essentially told him to get lost, and then gone into hiding.
I think the writing messed up somewhat, there.
That said, I do enjoy the scenes of Guang Xi interacting with Xiao Le. There’s something really precious about the way Xiao Le is so attached to Guang Xi.
I can see why Guang Xi might be growing a soft spot for Xiao Le really fast, even though he’d never intended to be close to the odd little boy.
The whole thing about Guang Xi needing an assistant is obviously just Show looking for a reason for Guang Xi and Mu Cheng to spend more time together while he’s in Hua Tien Village.
So while the writing around it is uber clunky, I do like the idea of Guang Xi getting the chance to spend time with Mu Cheng, so I’m just rolling with it.
Also, I really like the conversation that Guang Xi has with Xiao Le, on the way to school.
The way Guang Xi identifies with Xiao Le on needing injections of crystal energy, and talks with Xiao Le about it in a way that Xiao Le understands, is really sweet. I do love that.
At the same time, I can see why Mu Cheng would balk at the idea of them becoming close. Guang Xi’s only going to be spending a limited time in Hua Tien Village, after all.
What’s going to become of Xiao Le, once Guang Xi leaves, right? I can’t imagine how brokenhearted Xiao Le would be.
For this reason, I can understand why Mu Cheng thinks it would be wiser for Guang Xi not to get too close to Xiao Le.
And of course, it’s the same reasoning that she’d once used, to explain to Guang Xi why he shouldn’t get too close to the rescue bird, nor to her.
The heavy mirroring; it’s all going to come together to jog Guang Xi’s memory at some point, I’m sure.
..Just like giveaway clues like the way Tuo Ye approaches Guang Xi, obviously showing that they know each other from before.
Tuo Ye manages to come up with a cover story for now, but it doesn’t sound very convincing to me – particularly the part where he emphasizes to Guang Xi, that he’s the one taking care of Mu Cheng now.
I’m so sure that at some point, Guang Xi’s going to put everything together, and these will all be clues that will point him to the truth.
Episode 15
First of all, let me confess upfront that I find the Hua Tien folks wayyy too noisy for my personal liking. I feel like if I had to spend as much time with them as Guang Xi, it would very likely drive me up the wall, just from decibel stress. 🤪
That said, I understand that they are in our story for a purpose.
Primarily, they’re there to help Guang Xi appreciate the small town warmth that they represent, and which we see in action, this episode.
The fact that Show amps up the Intended Funny through them, is just Show going for a twofer, and hoping to milk some laughs from this particular style of humor.
The humor isn’t landing for me, about 99% of the time, but I can appreciate the intent behind idea that the small town charm, with its emphasis on relationships and warmth, is the thing that helps Guang Xi see things differently.
Speaking of seeing things differently, this is also the episode where Guang Xi starts to see Mu Cheng a little differently too – which I consider our Main Event.
I’m still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that Guang Xi’s even friendly enough to want to make amiable small talk with Mu Cheng, since what we’ve seen of his personality, post-surgery, has only been his legal shark side, and his smitten-with-Yi-Qian side.
I feel like I haven’t seen him actually be friendly with people he barely knows – my impression is that he’d be more aloof with those – but here he is, making small talk with Mu Cheng, after being bombarded by an entire morning of Hua Tien Village loudness.
It’s a bit of a stretch from where I’m sitting, but I’m willing to rationalize that Guang Xi’s always had this friendly side to him, and we just haven’t seen it in a while.
And of course, there’s also the Drama Thing, where we’re likely expected to believe that he’s inexplicably drawn to Mu Cheng, because theirs is a Fated Love.
I appreciate that Xiao Le’s the Mediation Fairy, and steps in every time Mu Cheng tries to keep Guang Xi at arm’s length from the both of them.
Plus, Xiao Le’s just really cute, so I find that I’m always happy to have a bit of Xiao Le on my screen. 😍
The mechanics are far from refined, but I can appreciate the idea that Guang Xi’s rudely pulled back to reality, when Director He calls him to remind him of his mission at Hua Tien Village, and thereafter, is conflicted when facing the Hua Tien folks.
The whole incident with Uncle Hua wanting to commit suicide, and everyone coming together to talk him down from it, also isn’t very subtle, but it effectively brings across the idea, that the humanity in the Hua Tien folks, is getting under Guang Xi’s skin.
Most importantly, this incident brings Mu Cheng and Guang Xi to a friendlier state of being, where Mu Cheng isn’t so adamant about having Guang Xi keep his distance.
And, it’s also giving rise to more honest conversations, like when Mu Cheng tells Guang Xi how upset she’d been at him, in the morning, and then how his assistance with Uncle Hua had changed her mind about him.
Yes, this is a nice step in the right direction.
Mu Cheng manages a pretty believable save, when she lets slip that she knows that Guang Xi’s engaged to Director He’s daughter, by saying that it had been Tuo Ye who had told her this detail.
BUT THENNN. Guang Xi starts getting more memory flashes of Mu Cheng, albeit blurry ones, from the time when they’d been together.
Ahhhh!! Will it be enough for him to put two and two together, and remember their past???
Ah, I just want to begin by saying that Vanness Wu is super swoony these last episodes – very, very, very handsome indeed 😍 and I’m a complete sucker for the whole lovely father-child bond, even if Guang Xi is completely oblivious that he’s the daddy.
To be honest, I think that penny dropping is the one that’s going to really get to me, that moment when he realises he’s missed SIX YEARS of his son’s life 😭
I care about that way more than his and Mu Cheng’s relationship. She’s too annoying for me. Why indeed so angry? Fearful, understandable, as she wouldn’t want him suing for custody. But the rest of her demeanour is mean – but mean in a kind of wet, passive aggressive, petty kind of way. I do not like.
And, yah, I do get the lie (or silence on truth – OK, lie 😊) that Yi Qian has told Guang Xi is off, big time. But I mind it less than the way Mu Cheng left Guang Xi on the roadside somehow. I mean, sure, the choice of what to forgive, what to not, who to love more, is Guang Xi’s – I mean, writer nim’s – but maybe the only right side to be on is #TeamXiaoLe. That boy deserves to know his father, and vice versa. And, gosh, @EdaHarris did not lie: what a sweetie!
ele (did i ever tell you i love your name? well, i do).
that moment when he realises he’s missed SIX YEARS of his son’s life 😭
i have no doubts, that will be brutal, especially now, that he already met his son. the question is , who will he blame? the truth is, it is not just one person, but especially the one who wants to spend the rest of her life with him, (although she is not aware of the child), she did lie to him, twisted the truth to her advantage and intentionally withhold the whole past from him. he would probably behave entirely different if he would known the truth and his past. and may be he would have chosen to stay with YQ, but it would have been HIS decision.
what about mu cheng? was she supposed to go and look for him? and explain everything? i would think yes, but from mu cheng’s perspective, that would have destroyed his relationship with his mother and the attorney – who are now his main support system. so this is tricky for her, when you think of it this way. does he deserve to know and to be a father? absolutely – everybody involved are guilty of him missing this opportunity.
in regards to the “crimes” of these 2 women. i do not feel we can compare, as the circumstances are so different.
mu cheng grew up in a relatively poor family, no parents but step parents and pretty abusive to her, especially the step father, having to work low paying jobs… i am sure it had a great effect on her character development – and mainly it made her timid, which would prevent her to stand up to this mighty powerful woman, guan xi’s mom and refuse to abandon guang xi.
remember, this was director he’s condition – he’ll perform the proton treatment but mu cheng must be completely out of the picture. when mu cheng was presented with the chance of 30% recovery opposite 10% recovery – what would any other person who is in love choose? of course the 30%. then mom threw at her the condition – it was not a request, not a suggestion, but an order. did mu cheng have a choice and a chance? may be a stronger woman would, or would may be agree and then after all is done, break the agreement with mom… but not mu cheng. she’s too straight forward, too naïve, too respectful, too TIMID.
she never imagined that guang xi would wake up from anesthesia and run after her. she was in complete shock and unprepared with an explanation. thus this was the first thought that came to her mind – complete stupidity and evil, but she had no time to process, and she’s not incredibly smart or quick on her feet.
that is not an excuse, but these were the circumstances, she would have been completely different if not the enormous pressure from his mom.
now YQ, she’s intelligent, very educated (most likely had some courses in psychology). she should have known better than to hid the past from guang xi and think of what disaster it can bring. i am sure that is the reason she still did not marry him – there is a saying, “the cat knows whose milk it has stolen”. her crime is completely her own doing, unlike mu cheng’s, and guang xi will have to decide which crime he can forgive and move on. i believe that living a lie, without knowing that his life is a lie, is almost impossible to forgive. can you imagine everything around you and in you is complete fake? created by people you love and trust most.
I feel it’s worth pointing out that Guang Xi himself seems actively to avoid finding out about his past, no? I wonder if he’s scared to know – or if those around him made him think he shouldn’t ask. I mean, has he ever actually asked who stabbed him?! It’s all very fetchy-far that those friends he had have disappeared too and so not been around to reveal things, even casually.
I love your name too!
i think he’s told that the past does not matter, (meaning, he was not a very good person and son. remember, he tells his mom that he’ll be a better son now, which means she told him he was not a good son)what matters is the present and future. the information they feed him (he is a clean slate now), that is what he believes. he has no other choice.
in regards to stabbing: he does talk about it at some point but i do not remember if it already was or it will come up later. anyway, it is another lie (how the stabbing happened). let’s just wait.
about his friends. i also wondered. but it is 6 years later, and they must be in different places, and were not even told by anybody what was happening to him. it is natural that everybody is busy with their current lives, and did not keep in touch. and since he does not remember anyway, he’s not looking for them.
I guess I was thinking how when he meets Tuo Ye, he just accepts that he knows who he is but is then entirely uncurious about why they don’t like each other. I’d be like, wait, shut up giving me the attitude and tell me: what did I do to you?! Tell me everything!
Also, as an aside, did anyone see Thank You? Guang Xi now he’s in Hua village is giving me Jang Hyuk vibes – which, obviously, I’m totally down with 😄
ele,
i think that tuo ye explained himself quite well. he said they were not that close (meaning, he did not have much information about guang xi) and that they used to fight over girls. that does not seem like any meaningful information can be extracted from tuo ye (from guang xi perspective). and tuo ye being quite antagonistic to guang xi, does not give many chances for guang xi to try to ask him questions and hope to get some meaningful answers.
i agree, guang xi probably could have asked about what is his relationship with mu cheng and why is he so protective of her and so involved in her life. did he know her in the past? but… i doubt tuo he would open up to guang xi. and guang xi being an attorney, smart and sensitive, picks it up.
but he does try to get information later on from the kid, asking about tuo he’s history in regards to his mom and him.
ele, i am curious,
Guang Xi now he’s in Hua village is giving me Jang Hyuk vibes
in what way? what do you mean?
In the show Thank You, Jang Hyuk is like a clever, well-dressed doctor in a village with a cute relationship with a child. I mean, the story’s very different, there’s something about ‘the look’ (and a very nice look too 😊) that reminds me of it.
i haven’t seen it. is it worth for me? and is it still on – of course i always like to see jang hyuk on my screen! and a very young jang hyuk.
If you can find it, it’s totally worth it 😊 The little girl in it is an absolute star.
Agree on Mu Cheng! I haven’t watched this show since it came it in 2009. Literally all the rage; I remember talking about it with my friends in elementary school lmao cuz it was the only thing broadcasted in the states on non-cable TV.
I think re-reading these threads reminds me that as much as I loved it back then, the characters are quite dated and extreme in their responses. However, I agree that Mu Cheng’s ridiculousness should be taken with some grains of salt. It’s so hard to judge her actions bc it’s really not fair to expect her to be necessarily very thoughtful, or logical, or even very brave. She’s inherently very kind, but she’s had no emotional or moral support system basically since she was very young. “Natural kindness” can only take you so far, and doesn’t teach you necessarily to think about all the consequences of your actions on other people. Why should she be brave? She has no confidence that she could survive the fallout on her own, with a friend who has no really obligation to help her even though he does, with a child on the way. When Guang Xi’s family comes cracking down on her, with Guang Xi heavily handicapped with recovery and potential side effects, she’s literally on her own. She didn’t have much financial means yet, she had no family, no fallback, and extra unknowns.
On top of all that, as unreasonable as her actions to Guang Xi were, I can see her putting unreasonable amounts of trust in his “family”/people bc she never had that and however twisted their logic is, they believed they were “doing right” by Guang Xi. I think she’d want Guang Xi to have them in his life because she didn’t have much in hers. To us it seems ridiculous because from our viewpoint, they don’t actually have his interests in mind. But to her, they do. When that amount of class/social divide exists, with the outside world explicitly telling her they don’t belong together, what leg does she have to stand on to fight for their love by herself (Guang Xi’s really just out for the count at this point)?
To us that argument doesn’t really make sense bc we’re so emotionally detached from the situation and we don’t face any of the real consequences (and bc we know in dramaland “true love wins all”). But I can see why she would behave irrationally from her viewpoint — the obstacles are very real, the consequences are very real, and the love feels very helpless. I think it’s just something to keep in mind.
i mentioned before in my previous comments that “the little boy will totally swoon you”. didn’t he deliver? frankly, i can’t get enough of him!
in general, kids in movies are pretty amazing – without going to fancy universities or drama schools, top of the line professors teaching them and so on, they deliver the most realistic, heart felt emotions in characters, and it comes from their instinctive center rather than the trained brain or a heart that went through different life experiences. and good actors, (like yoo ah in or vannes wu) retain this primal instinct of human emotions.
so i see these 3 episodes as preparatory in nature, with sprinkles of scenes of the past – all to juggle guang xi’s lost memories, including the “walk in rain”, the subconscious (but o so real) remark by guan xi to mu cheng “2 men are already fighting for you” – if you think of it, it’s a direct reference of how it was in the past. and then of course xiao le’s remark to his little friends: “look how compatible my alien dad and mu cheng are”. how introspective from a 5 year old kid! but i think again here and in many other instances, it comes from his instinctive center, he feels he’s being in the center of this connection between guang xi and his mom, and instinctively he feels giang xi’s blood flowing through his veins. ( i feel that little kids like animals, when their brains and logical thinking are not yet developed, perceive the world through their instinctive center, that is in many cases quicker and more accurate) their quickly budding (father-son feelings and connections) are obvious and it is beautiful to see. and the drama puts a lot of effort to draw our attention to this development.
mu chang’s reaction to guang xi and in general is a little weird to me. i understand her fear of guang xi recognizing her and the flood of emotions that can follow; the fear of a father becoming aware of his lost son and his anger; the fear that he’ll fight for custody; the fear of her son’s disappointment when guang xi will leave; and finally, guang xi is getting married – so where and how can this go??? i am sure i missed some of the thoughts that are swirling in mu cheng’s mind.
and although i understand all this, there is something that really bothers me in mu chen’s reaction to guang xi. she’s not just trying to distance from him, she’s really angry (and he notices it). but why? after all, she left him in the most ugly way, she should know. and yet… she puts him in the warehouse (dog house?) not even allowing him to eat together with them. that’s just cruel, as if she punishes him. but for what? why? what is he guilty of? and i can not understand where it is coming from in mu cheng’s brain and heart, but i can’t help it – i strongly dislike it.
now, the sweet YQ. we get again a glimpse of how she made guang xi believe that she was his big love, from their first meeting on the hockey field from the past. ahaaah, here is a part of the past revealed, IS IT? this is the only part of the past that guang xi is allowed as this is necessary to secure the man for herself. if this is not a big lie, not manipulation with a capital “M”, THEN WHAT IS IT?
and just to add, vanness wu’s interaction with the kid, (his son in the drama, that he does not know about), it is so natural and heart warming, his performance here is wondrous, awesome and beyond impressive. i wonder if vanness wu has his own kids or simply really able to connect with them on such a deep level.
Vanness did get married, but soon broke up with his partner. He lives with his parents in LA largely, and he’s very, very close to his two older sisters, and his nieces and nephews. He’s adorable with kids, even though he did not have any of his own!
One half of his instagram promotes his own musical/ acting/ garment design career. The other half is dedicated to his family, filled with pictures from family gatherings celebrating festivals and also fun stuff like graduation picnics for the kids, etc. ❤️
One more thing: Mr. Wu’s English is flawless.
well, living in LA. what would you expect. but his accent is also very good.
@eda harris and @CarpControl thanks for the bio on Mr. W. I had no clue as to his background.
Mr. Wu is an American. 😛 He was born in Santa Monica, to either immigrant parents or grandparents (not sure). His Mum & older sister currently run a beauty & skincare studio together. He finished his schooling there, before breaking into the T-drama industry. He is very active among fellow Asian American Actors’ community, whenever he’s in the States (Ali Wong, Constance Wu, etc), even though he hasn’t pursued a career there.
In fact, his accented Taiwanese in his earlier projects was why he did not have as many, as the other 2 in the f4 boy-band, though eventually he did some vocal training to get rid of the accent. His flawless English though… is *too* good to be true, hehe! xD
Which is why despite not being too impressed with Ahn Hye Seop’s acting, I do admire him for disguising his heavy Canadian accent & speaking English like a native Korean instead, since his characters would require that!
carpcontrol, thank you for that information.
seems like vanness would and could have been an “award winning” dad. his involvement with his son in this drama is super convincing and beyond awe-inspiring.
so i guess he derives his inspiration and experience from his sister’s children, and of course he has it in him.
Absolutely, he’s a blast with the kids!!! He’s also god-parent to kids all over the world (lil nuggets to colleagues & friends from Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, the States, and other countries!)
Every time his Instagram features a new baby, his friends rush in to congratulate him. He often has to clarify they aren’t his! xD It’s a running gag at this point! 😛 He’d have been an amazing Dad, that’s for sure! ^^
well, than that is what is called perfect casting – i mean vanness wu next to this kid (i do not know the name of this little actor, and wondered many times what have became of him now). i did read somewhere that he is a son of another actor (or something like this).
how come you know so much about vanness wu? are you his fan? what else did you see with him?
Hehe, it started with f4 being a giant core-memory of my childhood. After AC, I became (a sort of, flakey) fan, following Vanness on instagram (he’s really active there!) Weibo isn’t accessible, so the other 3, I do not really have updates on!
I guess I really gravitate towards his grounded, ‘family-man’ side of personality, where other ‘stars’ feel very… distant?
Other than Meteor Garden, I’ve sat through Princess Weiyoung for him.😅 Trust me, this one is his best, most renowned project! :’) Even to this day, I can sing along to the extremely earwormy tracks of AC!
The hair in Princess Weiyoung was something else! I still can’t get over it’s the same guy 😅
i know, right. i loved it, but was not sure how authentic it was, although i appreciated the creativity and the looks of it. go and rewatch just a few episodes, it’s totally him, you’ll even recognize the way he sticks out his tong and licks his lips. (he he)
i am not sure i would say that AC is his best. i was pretty impressed with his performance in princess w. they are very different roles, but that is when i first started paying attention to vanness. he was almost the best in princess w., i mean better than the others, more versatile, more interesting.
carpcontrol, found meteor garden on youtube! i am soooo exited!
but the quality – omo, i doubt i saw anything that… hardly watchable (that bad). but i’ll try to stick it out, for vannes wu. let’s see how long i’ll survive.
btw, your obvious preference for AC might be nostalgia of your own younger self. anyway, it’s all good.
As always, thanks for the excellent recap, kfangurl. I am pretty much 100% on board with your observations and how the show is landing in terms of plotting, some writing issues, the broadness of the humor, and the clear intent of Show to not leave any trope behind. The near-miss-meeting was clever insofar as setting up the apparent familiarly of Guang Xi with Mu Cheng when they first spoke in her home; it had me wondering for 34 seconds if he really did remember her from before.
I’d only add that I thought that the Uncle Hua/Mr. Cauliflower also belied a little more of Guang Xi’s humanity as well as setting him on the journey to caring about the “selfish” villagers.