Everything under the sun
Before I get to anything, comment notifications are still spotty - I get some, but others, even though comments were left 12 hrs ago, are still to show up in my inbox. So if you left me a comment and are waiting for a reply, chances are I've replied, it just hasn't shown up in your email yet.
1. Every time I see Mike He with that kid in Sunny Happiness, I melt into a puddle of goo. I also loved that despite his initial angry "I am going to fight you for custody" to the ex, he realizes the kid would be happiest with the mother who raised him and so doesn't do so - he'll visit him and be in his life, but he won't try to tear the son away from the mother. I love it when drama heroes aren't bastards.
2. I was thinking what it is that appeals to me so much in Jade Palace Lock Heart (in addition to the obvious) and realized, that for me, it comes down to three things: (1) the reversal of the usual main guy-main girl-secondary guy dynamics (2) pursuing the idea of actions having consequences (3) realizing that strong women can make or break the drama.
Let me expand. The Eight-Qing Chuan-Four dynamic is really the reversal of the usual drama trope. How many times have you seen the heroine crush on the most popular boy in school/her boss/etc while he doesn't treat her well/doesn't notice her/etc but then they end up together when she finally wins his heart through perseverance and you wonder at her sanity, especially since there is a secondary guy who's been treating her properly all this time. JPLH upends this hated by me formula. Qing Chuan falls for Four, who fits the standard hero criteria of such stories - doesn't love her yet, does not nice things (as this is period drama, not nice things involve getting her killed, not fired or humiliated), is about as high status as you can get (the man is the future Emperor of China which beats a CEO any day), eventually falls for her. BUT. Qing Chuan does not end up with him - she ends up with Eight, who in many ways, fills the traditional secondary guy role - falls for her first (yes please, I prefer my heroes to fall first), is by her side as she crushes on someone else, rescues her repeatedly.
Which leads me to the second point of 'actions have consequences'. I love that Four loses QC through his own actions - when she finds out what he's really like and what he did, she's out. Just as she falls for Eight (even though his wooing skills are so inept as to make me laugh again and again) because he genuinely loves her and protects her repeatedly and puts her above all. Even when Four genuinely falls for her, there is no way he'd put her above himself - I mean, he made her trade herself for Eight's life and then is puzzled why he gets only the body and not the heart. I think there is something permanently broken in him - I almost feel bad for him.
Third point - JPLH understands that it's all right to have alpha heroes. Uber-alpha even. But you need to give them an equally strong heroine to bounce off otherwise it just appears like an unequal trainwreck. Qing Chuan, however, can take anything anyone dishes out and throw it back twice as hard (and the inequalities in her status vis-a-vis Eight are neutralized by the fact that he's much more emotionally invested than she is, for most of the drama).
3. Much as I blabber about the awesome Yang siblings, especially my love, Four:
Mama Yang and Papa Yang are an amazing OTP. Doubly amazing if you consider they've survived decades of marriage, eight kids, and some really rough patches. This scene in ep 27 nearly made me cry:
Don't worry, he got better!
As a bonus, have some Four!
And Six!
And Lady Doc!
And everyone!
1. Every time I see Mike He with that kid in Sunny Happiness, I melt into a puddle of goo. I also loved that despite his initial angry "I am going to fight you for custody" to the ex, he realizes the kid would be happiest with the mother who raised him and so doesn't do so - he'll visit him and be in his life, but he won't try to tear the son away from the mother. I love it when drama heroes aren't bastards.
2. I was thinking what it is that appeals to me so much in Jade Palace Lock Heart (in addition to the obvious) and realized, that for me, it comes down to three things: (1) the reversal of the usual main guy-main girl-secondary guy dynamics (2) pursuing the idea of actions having consequences (3) realizing that strong women can make or break the drama.
Let me expand. The Eight-Qing Chuan-Four dynamic is really the reversal of the usual drama trope. How many times have you seen the heroine crush on the most popular boy in school/her boss/etc while he doesn't treat her well/doesn't notice her/etc but then they end up together when she finally wins his heart through perseverance and you wonder at her sanity, especially since there is a secondary guy who's been treating her properly all this time. JPLH upends this hated by me formula. Qing Chuan falls for Four, who fits the standard hero criteria of such stories - doesn't love her yet, does not nice things (as this is period drama, not nice things involve getting her killed, not fired or humiliated), is about as high status as you can get (the man is the future Emperor of China which beats a CEO any day), eventually falls for her. BUT. Qing Chuan does not end up with him - she ends up with Eight, who in many ways, fills the traditional secondary guy role - falls for her first (yes please, I prefer my heroes to fall first), is by her side as she crushes on someone else, rescues her repeatedly.
Which leads me to the second point of 'actions have consequences'. I love that Four loses QC through his own actions - when she finds out what he's really like and what he did, she's out. Just as she falls for Eight (even though his wooing skills are so inept as to make me laugh again and again) because he genuinely loves her and protects her repeatedly and puts her above all. Even when Four genuinely falls for her, there is no way he'd put her above himself - I mean, he made her trade herself for Eight's life and then is puzzled why he gets only the body and not the heart. I think there is something permanently broken in him - I almost feel bad for him.
Third point - JPLH understands that it's all right to have alpha heroes. Uber-alpha even. But you need to give them an equally strong heroine to bounce off otherwise it just appears like an unequal trainwreck. Qing Chuan, however, can take anything anyone dishes out and throw it back twice as hard (and the inequalities in her status vis-a-vis Eight are neutralized by the fact that he's much more emotionally invested than she is, for most of the drama).
3. Much as I blabber about the awesome Yang siblings, especially my love, Four:
Mama Yang and Papa Yang are an amazing OTP. Doubly amazing if you consider they've survived decades of marriage, eight kids, and some really rough patches. This scene in ep 27 nearly made me cry:
Don't worry, he got better!
As a bonus, have some Four!
And Six!
And Lady Doc!
And everyone!