And everyone was kung fu fighting (not really)
Going down my list of dramas to watch, we settled for Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty.
I mainly wanted to watch it because:
1. Two leads played by Taiwanese actors (I thought China banned that?)
2. Jackie Chan produced. I don't love him as a person, but I figured it would promise good fight choreography.
Cast and Characters
Taiwanese guy # 1 Darren Chen plays the main male lead Tang Fan.
I picked this picture because what the hell is that in his hand? A loofah bouquet?
Tang Fang is the worst character in this drama. But I'll get to that later. Basically, he's the helpless but smart quirky guy.
Can you feel the quirk?
Taiwanese guy # 2 Fu Meng Bo (Detention) plays the slightly less important but much better other main male lead Sui Zhou.
Where he's holding an actual acting award as opposed to a loofah bouquet.
Though in all honesty, Sui Zhou isn't the most interesting character out there and probably no acting chops are required.
But that still makes him much more bearable than Tang Fan. For some reason, he reminds me of Mark Chao in Black and White. It's probably because he's the long-suffering guy that has to solve crime with a total-opposites partner. Except Darren Chen is so much worse than Vic Chou in Black and White.
Not Taiwanese, but pretty awesome Liu Yao Yuan (Ancient Detective) plays awesome guy Wang Zhi.
What's also better than a loofah bouquet? A red envelope full of cha-ching!
Honorable Taiwanese shout-out goes to:
Li Chun Lee (Heavenly Sword and Dragon Saber (1993) and several very old Taiwanese dramas) as Ma Lin.
I always like his portrayal of slimy but fun villains so it's good to see he still gets work as the slimy but fun villain.
Alyssa Chia (Heavenly Sword and Dragon Saber (2002), The World Between Us) as Noble Consort Wan.
And since I'm watching The Wolf right now where she popped up randomly, I figure I'll also mention Huangyang Tiantian (The King's Woman) as Dong'er.
Plot and Stuff
The basic story is about Tang Fan solving crime and being involved with various events and schemes during that period of the Ming Dynasty. Having grown up watching Justice Bao, I imagined it was going to be similar to that - where it's 4-5 episodes devoted to a particular crime/mystery. But it turned out to be more overall plot intensive.
Since it was also released recently, I compare it more to Ancient Detectives, where it's a core group of people and they solve crime. But unlike Ancient Detectives, I would say the general plot is more cohesive and the idea of the story much better. I also like how a lot of the crime/mystery are just straight up regular crime. It's not like people stuck on an abandoned island solving puppet riddles.
The premise of the drama is more grounded in reality since many of the side characters are historical figures (ie. the emperor, Wang Zhi, Noble Consort Wan) and major events are somewhat true to history.
Pros and Cons
Con: Tang Fan/Darren Chen
Having never seen anything with Darren Chen in it before, I honestly can't say if I can blame him for this. But the character of Tang Fan is insufferable.
In times of adversity, his go-to thing is to throw a tantrum and start blaming other people. When Dong'er volunteers to be human trafficking bait and was kidnapped, Tang Fan goes on a crying ranting rage instead of - you know - doing something to try and rescue her.
When Dora (his Oriat friend) was poisoned, he yells at his doctor friend for not somehow having the foresight to know that she was poisoned. I mean, he could be spending that yelling time helping find a cure.
When he thought Wang Zhi died, his go-to thing is to sit there and cry for a long time while monologuing about how sad it is for him. Like, way to make someone's death about himself!
My struggles.
So basically, when things go wrong, it's always everyone else's fault according to Tang Fan. And when times are hard, it's all about how hard it is for him. The more I think about this guy, the more I dislike him.
Not sure if it's character or acting, I also can't stand his forced cuteness.
I honestly have never seen a Taiwanese actor look like he's trying so hard to look cute but come off looking unnatural instead.
Pro: Positive Eunuch Representation
I think this is probably the only drama I've ever seen in which eunuchs are portrayed as fairly normal people. Usually, they're villains or comic relief. Whatever the case, they're also usually dubbed to have annoying fake high-pitch voices. Or else, they're over-acted to emphasize how "un-manly" they are.
Of course, there probably isn't much first-hand knowledge of how eunuchs ought to act in this day and age, but it's still refreshing to see them portrayed as normal as anyone else.
Neutral: A Censored Homosexual Love Story
On one hand, Chinese censorship is bad. On the other, Tang Fan is such an offensive character that nobody should be romantically linked to him. If this is how Tang Fan acts in the source material, I feel very very bad for Sui Zhou to have to end up with him.
"People...ship us together? For reals?"
I'm also not a fan of China and popular media in Asia in general exploiting homosexuality like this. One, it's terribly demeaning the way they call it "boys love". Two, these stories are clearly written and targeted towards the female audience by fetishizing homosexuality.
Pro: This Dopey Guy
Pro-ish: Fight Choreography
Being produced by Jackie Chan, the expectation was high for good fight choreography. On one hand, it delivered. The fights are better than the ones in most dramas. But on the other hand, there are not enough fight scenes. There was one in the first episode and a handful spread out over the span of 48 episodes. Then there was a big fight at the very end.
And though the fight choreography was good, I felt like it was framed and edited badly. There are too many slow motion shots when normal or slightly sped up shots would be better. And just when I thought Jackie Chan is immune to the stupid sliding-backwards-with-no-propulsion fight choreography, he let's that slip in at the end.
Pro: Music
For background music, it does that thing I'm a fan of where fight scenes are paired with modern-ish music. Too bad fight scenes are too few. I also like the beginning song, 水火
Pro: Food and Foolishness
The drama doesn't take itself too seriously, so I like that. Watching it, we probably also spent a lot of time just making fun of it. I also enjoy random food/cooking segments. They're sort of badly edited and randomly inserted, but nonetheless, pretty enjoyable.
Conclusion
I would say knowing next to nothing about the source material going in, I was pleasantly surprised by how good the story/plot elements of the drama was. I would say the main drive for me to continue and finish it was the story. The standout characters are Wang Zhi, Ma Lin, and That Dopey Guy. Other characters are hit or miss. Tang Fan, as the main lead, was definitely the most offensive. But it's a good thing the drama focuses on other characters a good deal and they all end up being capable of functioning without the main lead around. I went in for the mystery/crime solving but was hooked (surprisingly) by the palace intrigue and history.
And it's the beginning of a long weekend! How awesome is that!!!
I mainly wanted to watch it because:
1. Two leads played by Taiwanese actors (I thought China banned that?)
2. Jackie Chan produced. I don't love him as a person, but I figured it would promise good fight choreography.
Cast and Characters
Taiwanese guy # 1 Darren Chen plays the main male lead Tang Fan.
I picked this picture because what the hell is that in his hand? A loofah bouquet?
Tang Fang is the worst character in this drama. But I'll get to that later. Basically, he's the helpless but smart quirky guy.
Can you feel the quirk?
Taiwanese guy # 2 Fu Meng Bo (Detention) plays the slightly less important but much better other main male lead Sui Zhou.
Where he's holding an actual acting award as opposed to a loofah bouquet.
Though in all honesty, Sui Zhou isn't the most interesting character out there and probably no acting chops are required.
But that still makes him much more bearable than Tang Fan. For some reason, he reminds me of Mark Chao in Black and White. It's probably because he's the long-suffering guy that has to solve crime with a total-opposites partner. Except Darren Chen is so much worse than Vic Chou in Black and White.
Not Taiwanese, but pretty awesome Liu Yao Yuan (Ancient Detective) plays awesome guy Wang Zhi.
What's also better than a loofah bouquet? A red envelope full of cha-ching!
Honorable Taiwanese shout-out goes to:
Li Chun Lee (Heavenly Sword and Dragon Saber (1993) and several very old Taiwanese dramas) as Ma Lin.
I always like his portrayal of slimy but fun villains so it's good to see he still gets work as the slimy but fun villain.
Alyssa Chia (Heavenly Sword and Dragon Saber (2002), The World Between Us) as Noble Consort Wan.
And since I'm watching The Wolf right now where she popped up randomly, I figure I'll also mention Huangyang Tiantian (The King's Woman) as Dong'er.
Plot and Stuff
The basic story is about Tang Fan solving crime and being involved with various events and schemes during that period of the Ming Dynasty. Having grown up watching Justice Bao, I imagined it was going to be similar to that - where it's 4-5 episodes devoted to a particular crime/mystery. But it turned out to be more overall plot intensive.
Since it was also released recently, I compare it more to Ancient Detectives, where it's a core group of people and they solve crime. But unlike Ancient Detectives, I would say the general plot is more cohesive and the idea of the story much better. I also like how a lot of the crime/mystery are just straight up regular crime. It's not like people stuck on an abandoned island solving puppet riddles.
The premise of the drama is more grounded in reality since many of the side characters are historical figures (ie. the emperor, Wang Zhi, Noble Consort Wan) and major events are somewhat true to history.
Pros and Cons
Con: Tang Fan/Darren Chen
Having never seen anything with Darren Chen in it before, I honestly can't say if I can blame him for this. But the character of Tang Fan is insufferable.
In times of adversity, his go-to thing is to throw a tantrum and start blaming other people. When Dong'er volunteers to be human trafficking bait and was kidnapped, Tang Fan goes on a crying ranting rage instead of - you know - doing something to try and rescue her.
When Dora (his Oriat friend) was poisoned, he yells at his doctor friend for not somehow having the foresight to know that she was poisoned. I mean, he could be spending that yelling time helping find a cure.
When he thought Wang Zhi died, his go-to thing is to sit there and cry for a long time while monologuing about how sad it is for him. Like, way to make someone's death about himself!
My struggles.
So basically, when things go wrong, it's always everyone else's fault according to Tang Fan. And when times are hard, it's all about how hard it is for him. The more I think about this guy, the more I dislike him.
Not sure if it's character or acting, I also can't stand his forced cuteness.
I honestly have never seen a Taiwanese actor look like he's trying so hard to look cute but come off looking unnatural instead.
Pro: Positive Eunuch Representation
I think this is probably the only drama I've ever seen in which eunuchs are portrayed as fairly normal people. Usually, they're villains or comic relief. Whatever the case, they're also usually dubbed to have annoying fake high-pitch voices. Or else, they're over-acted to emphasize how "un-manly" they are.
Of course, there probably isn't much first-hand knowledge of how eunuchs ought to act in this day and age, but it's still refreshing to see them portrayed as normal as anyone else.
Neutral: A Censored Homosexual Love Story
On one hand, Chinese censorship is bad. On the other, Tang Fan is such an offensive character that nobody should be romantically linked to him. If this is how Tang Fan acts in the source material, I feel very very bad for Sui Zhou to have to end up with him.
"People...ship us together? For reals?"
I'm also not a fan of China and popular media in Asia in general exploiting homosexuality like this. One, it's terribly demeaning the way they call it "boys love". Two, these stories are clearly written and targeted towards the female audience by fetishizing homosexuality.
Pro: This Dopey Guy
Pro-ish: Fight Choreography
Being produced by Jackie Chan, the expectation was high for good fight choreography. On one hand, it delivered. The fights are better than the ones in most dramas. But on the other hand, there are not enough fight scenes. There was one in the first episode and a handful spread out over the span of 48 episodes. Then there was a big fight at the very end.
And though the fight choreography was good, I felt like it was framed and edited badly. There are too many slow motion shots when normal or slightly sped up shots would be better. And just when I thought Jackie Chan is immune to the stupid sliding-backwards-with-no-propulsion fight choreography, he let's that slip in at the end.
Pro: Music
For background music, it does that thing I'm a fan of where fight scenes are paired with modern-ish music. Too bad fight scenes are too few. I also like the beginning song, 水火
Click to viewPro: Food and Foolishness
The drama doesn't take itself too seriously, so I like that. Watching it, we probably also spent a lot of time just making fun of it. I also enjoy random food/cooking segments. They're sort of badly edited and randomly inserted, but nonetheless, pretty enjoyable.
Conclusion
I would say knowing next to nothing about the source material going in, I was pleasantly surprised by how good the story/plot elements of the drama was. I would say the main drive for me to continue and finish it was the story. The standout characters are Wang Zhi, Ma Lin, and That Dopey Guy. Other characters are hit or miss. Tang Fan, as the main lead, was definitely the most offensive. But it's a good thing the drama focuses on other characters a good deal and they all end up being capable of functioning without the main lead around. I went in for the mystery/crime solving but was hooked (surprisingly) by the palace intrigue and history.
And it's the beginning of a long weekend! How awesome is that!!!