doramas: Strange Tales of Liao Zhai: Painted Skin + Liar Game ep 3
I have mixed feelings about the second Liao Zhai story. On the one hand, the plot of Painted Skin was interesting and, if I'm honest, the acting and production are better than in Xiao Qian(though, to be fair, it's easier to have higher production values on an understated-visually-ghoststory than on a magic ridden romantic fantasy...same portion of funding goes a lot further) The problem? The short version is "no matter how it ended, the monster would have won."
Here's the basic set up.
At the beginning of the story, Chu Hui, the wife of a scholar and painter, Wang An Xu, fears that her maidservant was has been with her since they were young, is in love with her husband. Worried the girl will try to seduce him, she frames her for theft so that it will seem she has no choice but to cast her out. She planned to "forgive" the girl and take her back so that the girl's gratitude would keep her away from Wang, but that night, the girl drowns herself in a well out of despair. We soon learn, though, that Chu Hui apparently had cause to be concerned, as it seems they either were having an affair, or were about to. Shortly after that, Wang encounters a woman who greatly resembles his deceased lover, San Niang, who he murdered while courting Chu Hui because she had his baby and wanted him to take responsibility for it. The two become lovers, and one night when he sneaks over to visit her, he sees her painting her face to hide terrible burn scars and realizes that she's the ghost of his deceased lover who has come back for revenge. The only other main character is Yi Ming, a relative of Chu Hui's who falls in love with sa Niang. I'd rather like him, if it weren't for the fact that he doesn't see anything odd about selling paper made out of the skin of women(I mean, where did he GET the stuff, anyway?)
The thing about this sort of story is that you really need a character to sympathize with. Wang? We figure out he's a faithless cad right off, and as we learn throughout the story, he's pretty much a monster anyway. Chu Hui we could sympathize with if it weren't that her jealousy drove a girl to suicide by making her think she'd lost the faith of the only person(Chu Hui) who's good opinion really mattered to her. Plus, she's so incredibly needy for reassurances of love and affection-and was like that, if not as bad, when they were courting-and worried that he'll stray that I don't know if she's like that because he gave her good reason to be, or if he took mistresses to escape. That said, unlike someone else, she really didn't deserve her fate. I could sympathize with San Niang pretty easily if she didn't also direct her vengeance to Chu Hui and use Yi Ming to get it. And I could get past that if she hadn't been willing to take the keep back the second he showed(false) remorse and then act like Chu Hui was the interloper. Yi Ming...well, I could sympathize and like him pretty easily-especialy since he's(I think) played by the actor who played the scribe in Gentle Crackdown-if he didn't go around selling paper made of human skin.
As a result, it's a very good, very interesting story with excellent production values and visuals(the moving paintings are amazing in their simplicity, and the whole thing is beautiful to look at) it's just hard to connect to because there's not a character you can really connect with.
All that said, 12 episodes and 2(of 6) stories in, I'm VERY much liking this series.
I also watched ep 3 of Liar Game last night(the subs coming out so much later than the first 2 weeks was so hard and such a good reminder of why I usually wait until doramas are finished to watch) And, well...just EEEEE!!!
I mean, come on, yeah, the thing has huge plot holes(though, I rather like the simplicity at times and the fdact that it always lays things out for us...makes the clever moves stand out more) but how beyond adorable is the OTP, anyway? Like when the second Nao starts to look lost, Akiyama's OTP sense starts tingling heads right over. Oh sure, he stops himself as soon as he realizes someone else will fill her in-and stays almost exactly a foot behind her in case he's needed(staking his claim much?) And of course, his gesturing for her to come over when she's wandering around fretting herself to death. And I love that, even though we already KNEW, he flat out told her that the only reason he tracked down the meeting place was so he could get her out before she could get into trouble(and I dare anyone to tell me they didn't "EEEE!!!" when he said "lets get out of this mess together."-rough quote, but it was "let's get out of this together.") And that look on his face after she told her his plan and she bolted off to get 6 more members was so "I need to just put her on a leash so I can keep her out of trouble"(though, of course, the fangirls wish he'd keep her out of that kind of trouble other ways) and then when she actually got 6 guys and he was all "how did you do that?"(they can't resist the kitty any more than you can, that's how) Though, really, he shouldn't let the poor thing fret so much...I keep worrying she'll literally fret herself to death. Have I mentioned lately that he's mastered the art protective hovering without invading personal space.
Side note: The "bad chick"? She also played the smart chick in constrast to Erica Toda's lovable(but very different) ditz in GalCir. Of course, they ended up snarky BFF there, and I really doubt that'll happen here.
And finally, when the guy asked if Akiyama was Nao's boyfriend(see? NO ONE has any doubts about why the man is there) that girl protested WAY too much for anyone to ever believe her...if he'd been there, he would have been rolling his eyes and wondering why he didn't just cart her out of there at the start.
*scampers off to bed because she has to go to work in the morning*
*promises to try not to spam LJ so much tomorrow...err...later today*
Here's the basic set up.
At the beginning of the story, Chu Hui, the wife of a scholar and painter, Wang An Xu, fears that her maidservant was has been with her since they were young, is in love with her husband. Worried the girl will try to seduce him, she frames her for theft so that it will seem she has no choice but to cast her out. She planned to "forgive" the girl and take her back so that the girl's gratitude would keep her away from Wang, but that night, the girl drowns herself in a well out of despair. We soon learn, though, that Chu Hui apparently had cause to be concerned, as it seems they either were having an affair, or were about to. Shortly after that, Wang encounters a woman who greatly resembles his deceased lover, San Niang, who he murdered while courting Chu Hui because she had his baby and wanted him to take responsibility for it. The two become lovers, and one night when he sneaks over to visit her, he sees her painting her face to hide terrible burn scars and realizes that she's the ghost of his deceased lover who has come back for revenge. The only other main character is Yi Ming, a relative of Chu Hui's who falls in love with sa Niang. I'd rather like him, if it weren't for the fact that he doesn't see anything odd about selling paper made out of the skin of women(I mean, where did he GET the stuff, anyway?)
The thing about this sort of story is that you really need a character to sympathize with. Wang? We figure out he's a faithless cad right off, and as we learn throughout the story, he's pretty much a monster anyway. Chu Hui we could sympathize with if it weren't that her jealousy drove a girl to suicide by making her think she'd lost the faith of the only person(Chu Hui) who's good opinion really mattered to her. Plus, she's so incredibly needy for reassurances of love and affection-and was like that, if not as bad, when they were courting-and worried that he'll stray that I don't know if she's like that because he gave her good reason to be, or if he took mistresses to escape. That said, unlike someone else, she really didn't deserve her fate. I could sympathize with San Niang pretty easily if she didn't also direct her vengeance to Chu Hui and use Yi Ming to get it. And I could get past that if she hadn't been willing to take the keep back the second he showed(false) remorse and then act like Chu Hui was the interloper. Yi Ming...well, I could sympathize and like him pretty easily-especialy since he's(I think) played by the actor who played the scribe in Gentle Crackdown-if he didn't go around selling paper made of human skin.
As a result, it's a very good, very interesting story with excellent production values and visuals(the moving paintings are amazing in their simplicity, and the whole thing is beautiful to look at) it's just hard to connect to because there's not a character you can really connect with.
All that said, 12 episodes and 2(of 6) stories in, I'm VERY much liking this series.
I also watched ep 3 of Liar Game last night(the subs coming out so much later than the first 2 weeks was so hard and such a good reminder of why I usually wait until doramas are finished to watch) And, well...just EEEEE!!!
I mean, come on, yeah, the thing has huge plot holes(though, I rather like the simplicity at times and the fdact that it always lays things out for us...makes the clever moves stand out more) but how beyond adorable is the OTP, anyway? Like when the second Nao starts to look lost, Akiyama's OTP sense starts tingling heads right over. Oh sure, he stops himself as soon as he realizes someone else will fill her in-and stays almost exactly a foot behind her in case he's needed(staking his claim much?) And of course, his gesturing for her to come over when she's wandering around fretting herself to death. And I love that, even though we already KNEW, he flat out told her that the only reason he tracked down the meeting place was so he could get her out before she could get into trouble(and I dare anyone to tell me they didn't "EEEE!!!" when he said "lets get out of this mess together."-rough quote, but it was "let's get out of this together.") And that look on his face after she told her his plan and she bolted off to get 6 more members was so "I need to just put her on a leash so I can keep her out of trouble"(though, of course, the fangirls wish he'd keep her out of that kind of trouble other ways) and then when she actually got 6 guys and he was all "how did you do that?"(they can't resist the kitty any more than you can, that's how) Though, really, he shouldn't let the poor thing fret so much...I keep worrying she'll literally fret herself to death. Have I mentioned lately that he's mastered the art protective hovering without invading personal space.
Side note: The "bad chick"? She also played the smart chick in constrast to Erica Toda's lovable(but very different) ditz in GalCir. Of course, they ended up snarky BFF there, and I really doubt that'll happen here.
And finally, when the guy asked if Akiyama was Nao's boyfriend(see? NO ONE has any doubts about why the man is there) that girl protested WAY too much for anyone to ever believe her...if he'd been there, he would have been rolling his eyes and wondering why he didn't just cart her out of there at the start.
*scampers off to bed because she has to go to work in the morning*
*promises to try not to spam LJ so much tomorrow...err...later today*