Beautiful Angst: Mars Ep 2, House of Flying Daggers and Supernatural
OK, so I lied. There is no way I could stop at just one. I ended up watching the larger part of Ep 2 as well, after all. I tried.
Btw, since this is a Taiwanese adaptation of a Japanese manga, the names are somewhat differently. Part of it is transliteration but I think another part is that these are Taiwanese characters so it would be weird if they had Japanese names. Since it's incredibly faithful as an adaptation, I couldn't care less about the name thing. Here is a little guide. Ling=Rei, Qi Luo=Kira, Dong Tae=Masao Da Ye=Tatsuya Qing Mei=Harumi.
It's interesting that to me, in many ways, this is a more realistic story than Meteor Garden (I adore MG but the vibe here is somewhat different). It has plenty of melodrama twists, but I think it's because it has a rather strong emphasis on these two screwed up people and their internal issues. It's very character driven.
First I have to confess that Tdorama medicine is about on the level of Bollywood medicine aka it makes me roll my eyes almost out of my sockets. The 'false death' thing they describe? I am no doctor but it sounds unlikely. But it does serve its purpose. If the first episode showed us how wounded and screwed up Qi Luo is, this ep shows us that Ling is every bit as much a mess. Not only is he a former resident of a mental institution (smashing all the mirrors in the place? Violent and kinda cool, in a way. Yeah, I am disturbed), but he is not altogether all there even now. When his bike is getting fixed and the mechanic asks him why doesn't he (Ling) go back home to stay with his father, Ling says that he's go insane if he moved back in. But it's not all a flip remark. There is a grain of truth there. And when the mechanic flips back that he already is crazy anyway, you can see that for Ling, that unintentionally hits home. He is a total seething mess under his cool mask.
But their weaknesses compliment each other. If I was inclined to go into heavy meta (and when am I not?), I'd say the fact that in his mostly unconscious state, he grabs on to her sketch of a mother and child, is kinda a foreshadowing of a lot in their relationship: her bringing him peace and stability. But of course, he helps her quite a lot as well. Not only does he drag her out of her shell (after all she is comfortable enough with him to ask him to be a model for her), and offers to protect her (I love how pleased he is when she offers him the painting and then offers to pay by protecting her. He really has a protective streak. Of course then he has to make the crack about lending her his body LOL), but more importantly, he helps her grow a spine (I love the scene where he's exposed the molesting teacher and he walks by her and tells her to give him five and asks her 'isn't it fun to strike back?' and she smiles). I just love that they are two people neither of whom is great dating material (I'd stay far away from either) but who really work for each other.
Tong Dae still freaks me the HELL out. He freaks me out a lot more later (he is like the dark side of Ling) but even the first glimpse of him is freaking trippy.
My favorite scene in this ep? When she stretched her hands for the helmet and his jacket is so huge on her and she actually touches a guy voluntarily. It's such a huge thing for her (and he's never had a girl on his bike before either). Interestingly (and we see it more later) that much as he is pushy about small things, he doesn't really push much when it comes to serious stuff (e.g. here is he is pretty hands off and says matter of factly that he forgot she can't bear to touch guys blah blah)
Actually I changed my mind. My favorite scene in this ep is the scene on the roof when he finds her. The first time I saw the dorama it's where I became this ship's bitch. I love it. Tough guys who can be so gentle is a huge kink (almost as much as the fact that she is so tiny and small and he is so tall and brtoadshouldered is another one). I love it when he gives her his jacket and offers to take her home. Of course, Qing Mei in this ep fulfills what Ling said in ep 1: Qi Luo's helplessness will make people want to do worse stuff to her. And of course for Qi Luo, the lack of clothes is horrifying. She hides behind them and while for me it would be a normal shirt (what she is wearing on the roof), for her it must feel naked.
I continue to be amused by the fact that the leads in this are a RL couple. I have no idea if they were already a couple when this was done (2004) but if they were, I am totally amused to imagine them doing the whole 'yawn. Another day of pretending to angst over each other. Did you lock the door?' Heeee.
Last night, I had another Supernatural dream. I was travelling (platonically again. My subconscious is too damn faithful and won't let me have any fun) with Dean and Sam and we were fighting monsters in the metro. Bizarre.
And I bring you my favorite so far music video. It's of House of Flying Daggers and it made me want to cry.
Btw, since this is a Taiwanese adaptation of a Japanese manga, the names are somewhat differently. Part of it is transliteration but I think another part is that these are Taiwanese characters so it would be weird if they had Japanese names. Since it's incredibly faithful as an adaptation, I couldn't care less about the name thing. Here is a little guide. Ling=Rei, Qi Luo=Kira, Dong Tae=Masao Da Ye=Tatsuya Qing Mei=Harumi.
It's interesting that to me, in many ways, this is a more realistic story than Meteor Garden (I adore MG but the vibe here is somewhat different). It has plenty of melodrama twists, but I think it's because it has a rather strong emphasis on these two screwed up people and their internal issues. It's very character driven.
First I have to confess that Tdorama medicine is about on the level of Bollywood medicine aka it makes me roll my eyes almost out of my sockets. The 'false death' thing they describe? I am no doctor but it sounds unlikely. But it does serve its purpose. If the first episode showed us how wounded and screwed up Qi Luo is, this ep shows us that Ling is every bit as much a mess. Not only is he a former resident of a mental institution (smashing all the mirrors in the place? Violent and kinda cool, in a way. Yeah, I am disturbed), but he is not altogether all there even now. When his bike is getting fixed and the mechanic asks him why doesn't he (Ling) go back home to stay with his father, Ling says that he's go insane if he moved back in. But it's not all a flip remark. There is a grain of truth there. And when the mechanic flips back that he already is crazy anyway, you can see that for Ling, that unintentionally hits home. He is a total seething mess under his cool mask.
But their weaknesses compliment each other. If I was inclined to go into heavy meta (and when am I not?), I'd say the fact that in his mostly unconscious state, he grabs on to her sketch of a mother and child, is kinda a foreshadowing of a lot in their relationship: her bringing him peace and stability. But of course, he helps her quite a lot as well. Not only does he drag her out of her shell (after all she is comfortable enough with him to ask him to be a model for her), and offers to protect her (I love how pleased he is when she offers him the painting and then offers to pay by protecting her. He really has a protective streak. Of course then he has to make the crack about lending her his body LOL), but more importantly, he helps her grow a spine (I love the scene where he's exposed the molesting teacher and he walks by her and tells her to give him five and asks her 'isn't it fun to strike back?' and she smiles). I just love that they are two people neither of whom is great dating material (I'd stay far away from either) but who really work for each other.
Tong Dae still freaks me the HELL out. He freaks me out a lot more later (he is like the dark side of Ling) but even the first glimpse of him is freaking trippy.
My favorite scene in this ep? When she stretched her hands for the helmet and his jacket is so huge on her and she actually touches a guy voluntarily. It's such a huge thing for her (and he's never had a girl on his bike before either). Interestingly (and we see it more later) that much as he is pushy about small things, he doesn't really push much when it comes to serious stuff (e.g. here is he is pretty hands off and says matter of factly that he forgot she can't bear to touch guys blah blah)
Actually I changed my mind. My favorite scene in this ep is the scene on the roof when he finds her. The first time I saw the dorama it's where I became this ship's bitch. I love it. Tough guys who can be so gentle is a huge kink (almost as much as the fact that she is so tiny and small and he is so tall and brtoadshouldered is another one). I love it when he gives her his jacket and offers to take her home. Of course, Qing Mei in this ep fulfills what Ling said in ep 1: Qi Luo's helplessness will make people want to do worse stuff to her. And of course for Qi Luo, the lack of clothes is horrifying. She hides behind them and while for me it would be a normal shirt (what she is wearing on the roof), for her it must feel naked.
I continue to be amused by the fact that the leads in this are a RL couple. I have no idea if they were already a couple when this was done (2004) but if they were, I am totally amused to imagine them doing the whole 'yawn. Another day of pretending to angst over each other. Did you lock the door?' Heeee.
Last night, I had another Supernatural dream. I was travelling (platonically again. My subconscious is too damn faithful and won't let me have any fun) with Dean and Sam and we were fighting monsters in the metro. Bizarre.
And I bring you my favorite so far music video. It's of House of Flying Daggers and it made me want to cry.