[Mainland Chinese Drama 2019] Go Go Squid! 亲爱的热爱的

[Lululililululu]

Just watched the latest raws, and although I can't understand the whole thing (my mandarin is almost nonexistent), I really enjoyed it! Kudos to Li Xian's acting! I just can't gush enough LOL. Can't wait for the subs so I can understand all that they're saying.

 

And just to maybe clear some confusion and also let me rave/gush a little more about Gun as a character, this post is rather long and full of spoilers so I'll use spoiler tag.  Just as a note, I did read Honey Stewed Squid, and God's Left Hand, and parts of Tempest Chamber (title is too long to type it all, so I'll just refer it to that). There were parts of Tempest Chamber that were a bit boring to me, so I mostly skimmed the book This was about a year ago too, so I apologize in advance if I got the story wrong.

 

Gun was only a side character in Tempest Chamber, but he's so popular (and such an interesting character, IMO) that MBFB wrote Honey Stewed Squid just to give him a happy ending/story. So, all of Honey Stewed Squid overlaps with the timeline for Tempest Chamber. The drama series pretty much depicts all of Honey Stewed Squid and parts of Tempest Chamber, with flashbacks to even before Tempest Chamber started. These flashbacks are EXTREMELY important to Gun's character development, and shows WHY he is the way he is now. I know that people may not enjoy the flashbacks as much, but Gun's past is key to why Tong Nian is the only person who he can ever love.

 

 

What the drama so far hasn't shown much is Gun's relationship with his family and why Grandpa is always yelling at him. Gun's family is actually from Norway - his mom died when he was very young, and his father remarried. Soon after that, his dad died too, so he's raised by his stepmom. Supposedly, he doesn't really get along with his family, because he loves gaming and wants to pursue it as a career, but his family is opposed. He met Solo somehow and then decided to run away to China to pursue his dream of championship. He then met Appledog and the rest - as the drama shows, they started off with pretty much nothing, but each other.  So to Gun, Team Solo is his family - people who understand him and his dream, and not berate him like his own family members. Solo encouraged Gun to follow his dream, and they were extremely close as brothers. Because they're out of funds, Gun went back to Norway and somehow tricked his family for his inheritance (reason why Grandpa is always upset with him). With the money, they were able to start a legitimate team. Soon after, Solo found out that he had a daughter with Su Cheng (Gun's assistant now) and Appledog became upset, and decided to leave the team. Gun then decided to quit the team and moved back to Norway. I think this part is what differs from book and drama - from the drama, it also shows that Solo decides to quit the team too - that's why Gun got really mad and feels that Solo has betrayed him.  Also, Gun NEVER had any romantic feelings for Appledog. In the novel, Gun describes Appledog as his "brother", in that she's the only girl that he can ever relate to. Because of Li Xian's eyes (ha!), the show does depict some chemistry, but I think it's supposed to be respect - that he can't believe that Appledog, a girl, is so good at gaming. He basically treats appledog like how he treats his other two best buds. I'm sure that the drama won't change this aspect of the story....if it does, then it'll be a HUGE mistake, IMO. Dt, though, had a crush on Appledog since he's like 11 or 12 years old. Everything he does is for her - he just wants to be closer/nearer to her, and he doesn't have any hopes that they'll be together in the beginning....Appledog I think is like 3 years younger than Gun, so I'm thinking that she's now 26-27 and Dt is 21-22. And, there's a reason Dt is always gone in the drama - Tempest Chamber covers that part of the story

 

Anyways, back to Gun. Now, this is only my opinion and thoughts on why I LOVE this character. The present Gun appears to be cold and aloof, but there's a reason for it. His family had never understood him and berated him for his gaming. The members of Team Solo are the only ones in his world that encourage, understand, and accept him for who he is. He basically devoted his ENTIRE LIFE on Team Solo - he gave up his family and his old life altogether and pretty much "blindly followed" Solo. This is where I think the drama depicted it better with the flashbacks - Solo made a promise to each of them that he will see that all of their dreams come true (I LOVED that flashback in episode 9 or 10 on the rooftop - wait for the subs for each person's dream/wish). But, what did Solo do? At the end, he quit the team (I'm assuming to take care of daughter at this point). To Gun, Solo broke all of his promises and betrayed all of them. Without Solo and Appledog, he feels that there's no reason to pursue his dream - what's the point of winning when his best friends are no longer with him?

 

And this is where I love the cat story, and I'm actually disappointed that the drama differs from the book. In the novel, Appledog mentioned to Tong Nian that Gun used to have a cat that he loved and took care of. When the cat died, Gun never had another cat, and didn't even want to mention the cat anymore. In the drama, however, Gun seemed to be into cats still (episode 10). I liked the novel depiction, because it shows Gun's stubbornness and his personality. Appledog even mentioned that it shows Gun has a strong sense of "never letting go of first love" based on the cat story. To me, it's a perfect illustration of why Gun reacted the way he did with Solo. To him, Team Solo is his first love, his everything. But when the team disbanded, his first love "died". Even though he could maybe lead another team, or go on with the other members (like getting another cat), but it's not the same for him. I'm sure he feels so heartbroken because of Solo.

 

Of course, both the drama and novel then goes on to have Gun start his own company and move back to China. I think Gun did it partly out of guilt. Even though he still blamed Solo, he also blamed himself for destroying his other friends' dreams. The novel depicted that Gun's company is very successful internationally, but he had always wanted to go back to China to start a team, to fulfill his dream - he wanted China to win the championship. I think he also wanted to make up to his other friends. When he finally got into China, he found out that all of his old teammates are now in SP - just think of the disappointment and shock! And probably sadness that he's not the one who can help his friends fulfil their past dreams.

 

Because of all of his experiences, I think the present Gun is extremely lonely and repressed emotionally. His only reason to live now is for K&K because he has nothing else. This is where I think Li Xian is killing it with his acting - and the constant need to have his eyes furrowed LOL. Gun is heavily burdened - his responsibilities to his team, his guilt, his loneliness.  So, of course he will be cold - and that's probably why he always looks like he doesn't care about anything or have no motivation (except for winning) because feelings=remembering all that he's lost.

 

So now to Tong Nian. My argument is not even though TN seems to be polar opposites to Gun, I personally think that they are VERY similar in how they view the world in general. Like Gun, I think TN has that "never letting go of first love" attitude, once she found her love (GUN ). She did everything to understand him, his world, his motivations, and stood by him unconditionally. She loves him for him, and only him. And like how Gun devoted his life to Team Solo, she devoted her life to him. This is EXACTLY what Gun needs in order for him to let go of all of his losses. He knows that from now on, he has TN and TN will have him. Of course, part of me still wants TN to NOT ONLY have Gun, but I'm hopeful that the drama will cover that part - TN does have her dreams and interests too, besides the ones related to Gun. 
 

 

 

Sorry for the long post.  I just love Gun, and how Li Xian is depicting him. I haven't gotten this obsessed with a drama since forever ago. LOL And please be patient with the flashbacks...they show SO MUCH about Gun's background and character development. I also love how the drama is progressing, although there are some parts that I wish is still gaming and not this CTF thing. For example, the gaming part with Dt in episode 10 is soooo exciting in Tempest Chamber. But, I guess I can just use my imagination for that, since all they did was to overlay the screens and overdubbed with CTF. Haha.

[Lululililululu]

6 hours ago, Nina Bina said:

Just watched 9-10 and they played a slower version of Li Xian's song in episode 10 and its gets even better!! He has a good voice. I hope they release it soon. I want to listen to it without any scene interruption lol Excited for tomorrow's episodes. I don't particularly like drunk scenes in dramas but it looks pretty funny based on instagram lol btw, don't know if its just me but I like Han Shangyan when he's really pissed off because Li Xian's angry expression is firing hot. LOL

 

 

Here you go...a clean version of Li Xian's song...

 

[skibbies]

I think appledog was better in flashback scenes where you see her more lively. There's not that much solo/appledog romantic scene (there's like 1?), might be because they didn't want to focus on it too much...also because Solo wasn't super romantic. The current day scenes are fairly on point I think? She's very professional with Solo, since she has mostly let go of the relationship, you don't see her interacting with Xiao Mi/All/Hua Ti so it's kind of hard to gauge.

 

I'm on ep 8, haven't really seen dt and appledog interact? The age difference is about 3 years, dt should be same age as the actor (thereabout anyways) and appledog should be born 89/90? The actress was born 88. (The timeline is real wonky in the book lol but the age difference should be accurate. I spent most of the first prequel figuring out timeline and ages....) While this drama incorporates flashback + missing piece of puzzles from the other book, it doesn't have the non-Gun scenes. Much like the book is from Tong Nian pov, the drama is from K&K pov, so you don't see SP much. dt and appledog's relationship is also relatively simple, there's not much drama to it, it was always matter of when appledog would be willing to give him a chance. She always came across fairly restrained (especially compared to Tong Nian) in the current period, and the way this is set up so far, we are missing a lot of her story.

[Dramalover23]

Hi Guys, 

 

Its been awhile since I have gotten obsessed on watching a drama. I had waited for this drama to air for ages and now that I have watched up to episode 7, it has exceeded my expectations. I’m in love with the main leads and the storyline so far. The only pain that I have is waiting for subtitles from Viki can take up to a whole day ( don’t get me wrong I appreciate their work but I’m just so inpatient to wait lol). I hope we can find someone else who will also sub this show soon. I’m just waiting for 8,9 and 10 to get subbed now

[phuong1317]

new preview 

 

[Nina Bina]

Wow....thank you so much @Lululililululu for explaining in detail based on the novel and drama. This made me love Han Shangyan as a character even more. He's so passionate about dreams. Can't wait to see more development in him and his relationship with Tong Nian.

[phuong1317]

 

[jacquelinetan]

I absolutely loved this couple. It is almost as if Tong Nian was written in Han Shang Yun's fate line as his better half. She is totally opposite to anything he is used to.

 

He showed some much consideration for her despite his icy manner. Yes, definitely he is in "defrosting" mode where it is Tong Nian is concern.

 

Grandpa Han absolutely loves his future grand daughter-in-law.

[rocat]

On 7/14/2019 at 3:04 PM, Lululililululu said:

 

Li Xian's next drama is "Sword Dynasty", which looks really awesome. He's lead along with Li YiTong. I love wuxia! Here's the trailer:

 

Is he the one with the fringe?! Gahhh. But he has a nice forehead! 

sure takes some getting used to ...

 

This Gun is a real character - brooding, cynical and single-minded - one only another character like TN can soften. Her teenage  infatuation has given her a courage no sane woman has and an inane positivity only found in a girl in love for the first time. They are perfect as a pair. 

 

 

also, what’s the deal between DT and Appledog? The first indication of any romance seems to be in Ep 10...a bit sudden. I thought she was with Solo, had some issues then reconciled? 

[littlemay]

As for ep 11 and 12, it was interesting that they added parts related to Solo's personal life.. Mo Bao Fei Bao Books didn't really cover this. I always felt it was a mystery about Solo, Su Cheng and Daughter.  I never has a good opinion about Su Cheng. I blamed her, but in the drama, I'm starting to feel sorry for her. Really want to know why she's with HSY in K&K.

[chloevstkawaii]

@rocat One of the things about the drama is that it could get confusing if you're not familiar with what happened in the first two prequels. Since I didn't read them, while watching it, I felt confused as well. But the first two prequels were about Team Solo, as well as the romance between Dt and Appledog, Grunt and Ai Jing. That's why in the first episode where K&K lost to Team SP at the competition, there was a look between Dt and Appledog. Also, when TN was at the competition with K&K and she heard that Grunt was hurt and came back to see him because she thought he was Gun, Gun thinks there's something between the two and asked the both of them to explain themselves. Gun tells her that Grunt has a girlfriend, lol.

 

I've read a few Chinese novels that were adapted into dramas and most of the time, the novels include a lot more sexy scenes than we see in the drama. So I think that's probably what's going to happen to GGS.

[JoyceDreamer]

16 hours ago, Lululililululu said:

And, there's a reason Dt is always gone in the drama - Tempest Chamber covers that part of the story 

 

@Lululililululu Mind spoiling for those who hasn't read Tempest Chambers? 

[chloevstkawaii]

12 minutes ago, littlemay said:

As for ep 11 and 12, it was interesting that they added parts related to Solo's personal life.. Mo Bao Fei Bao Books didn't really cover this. I always felt it was a mystery about Solo, Su Cheng and Daughter.  I never has a good opinion about Su Cheng. I blamed her, but in the drama, I'm starting to feel sorry for her. Really want to know why she's with HSY in K&K.

 

I really hope they expand on this too. I remember the K&K members mentioning that Su Cheng is married (that HSY doesn't recruit female players and even hired a married woman to be a manager). So it took me by surprise when Su Cheng blamed herself for the team falling apart and we find out that she's the mother of Solo's daughter. The weird thing is that when HSY, Su Cheng, Solo and Appledog are in the same room together, you never get any hint that Solo and Su Cheng have a child together.

[littlemay]

18 minutes ago, chloevstkawaii said:

 

I really hope they expand on this too. I remember the K&K members mentioning that Su Cheng is married (that HSY doesn't recruit female players and even hired a married woman to be a manager). So it took me by surprise when Su Cheng blamed herself for the team falling apart and we find out that she's the mother of Solo's daughter. The weird thing is that when HSY, Su Cheng, Solo and Appledog are in the same room together, you never get any hint that Solo and Su Cheng have a child together.

Geez, i didn't know Su Cheng is married!

[chloevstkawaii]

1 hour ago, littlemay said:

Geez, i didn't know Su Cheng is married!

 

Yeah, I remember them saying she is. There was a scene where I think HSY asked her if she wanted him to bring something back for her husband? And then the English lessons, where HSY said (indicating to the instructor) something along the line of is it because he is more handsome than her husband. I can't remember exactly. I've watched Ep 11 raw just now and so this whole time, the daughter has been with Solo? And she has a hearing disability? I can't wait for the subs.

[skibbies]

2 hours ago, littlemay said:

As for ep 11 and 12, it was interesting that they added parts related to Solo's personal life.. Mo Bao Fei Bao Books didn't really cover this. I always felt it was a mystery about Solo, Su Cheng and Daughter.  I never has a good opinion about Su Cheng. I blamed her, but in the drama, I'm starting to feel sorry for her. Really want to know why she's with HSY in K&K.

She covered parts of it in the other books since it was vital setup for team breakup and reconciling, as it is here. (It's not in the Stewed Squid because it's covered by the other book and because it didn't really concern Tong Nian) Like you, I always felt Su Cheng wasn't particularly well handled in the books because you never get her side of the story, and she + her daughter was like a mcguffin that just moved the plot along.

 

@chloevstkawaii You see her husband in episode 10, it's Gun's business partner, Navi. As for the daughter, novel spoilers:

Spoiler

Solo announced very suddenly that he's going to take care of his daughter, which was what broke the team up. He didn't discuss it with appledog, they were both very young (19 and 15 I think, though the drama have age them up few years) and it was mishandled, appledog couldn't handle it and quit the team.

 

Su Cheng was with Solo before appledog got together with Solo, then she had a baby and suddenly decide to dump her with Solo, for reasons that was never quite clear.

Drama-wise, he suddenly quit the team because of his daughter too. Remember Tong Nian heard one of the rumour for team breakup (around ep 5? she got it from her friend's husband) was Solo had a daughter and had a falling out with appledog.

 

Out of curiousity, I checked for corresponding chapters, the Norway bit is Tempest Chambers' chapter 21 to 30 out of 63. (It mostly pulled bits and pieces here and there), Stewed Squid's chapter 21 out of 49 (it just skipped half a month LOL). Curious how they are going to pace the remaining 3/4 of the show.

[chloevstkawaii]

@skibbies Ah, thanks! I watched them without subs from 9-12 so I had no idea. I was also thinking that the pacing moved quickly in the drama already so I wonder what would happening in the next 30 or so episodes.

[littlemay]

1 hour ago, chloevstkawaii said:

 

Yeah, I remember them saying she is. There was a scene where I think HSY asked her if she wanted him to bring something back for her husband? And then the English lessons, where HSY said (indicating to the instructor) something along the line of is it because he is more handsome than her husband. I can't remember exactly. I've watched Ep 11 raw just now and so this whole time, the daughter has been with Solo? And she has a hearing disability? I can't wait for the subs.

 

Thank you, I'm not good with Mandarin so i missed important facts. Going to watch all the episodes with Eng sub!

But you are right, book did mention Navi is her husband! i forgot that part.

[Teedee573]

Does anyone have the translations for the plot points each day based on the viewing calendar:

 

Much appreciated!!

[Nina Bina]

Next Generation Male God. lol....Li Xian's popularity is rising rapidly. WOW. So happy for him. I'm re-watching Tientsin Mystic just to kill time until the next day to watch Go Go Squid. Considering his other work, he has some of the best expressions I have seen in a Chinese actor. Plus his roles are so different from each other. 

https://38jiejie.com/2019/07/13/why-are-fan-girls-fawning-over-li-xian-the-male-lead-in-c-drama-go-go-squid/