[Current Mainland Chinese Drama 2020] Handsome Siblings 绝代双骄

[40somethingahjumma]

3 hours ago, maddymappo said:

I don't speak any Chinese language, but in the Proud Twins version the opening also had the fish. Do fish have some meaning for this?

 

 

Yes, the brother who was brought up by the "villains", his name Xiao Yu'er means "Little Fish" (or Little Fish kid)

 

Of course Chinese New Year is around the corner too and fish is a good luck symbol.  

[maddymappo]

3 hours ago, 40somethingahjumma said:

 

Yes, the brother who was brought up by the "villains", his name Xiao Yu'er means "Little Fish" (or Little Fish kid)

 

Of course Chinese New Year is around the corner too and fish is a good luck symbol.  

Thanks for the explanation.

[40somethingahjumma]

It is surprising to me how much I'm enjoying this. A "road" drama and a growing up story. So much so that I'm cautiously holding back a bit and keeping episodes in reserve. It's not Joy of Life obviously... but there are salient similarities between Xiao Yu'er and  Fan Xian. 

 

The best part of XY for me is that in many ways he's a non-conformist as his brother is a conformist. Yes, he is a trickster and the ultimate grifter who can talk his way out of anything but what's really fascinating is that he bucks convention or at the very least he doesn't think like everyone else. His intelligence goes beyond merely pulling the wool over the eyes of his targets. He can see right through a situation and perceive that there's something odd about it almost immediately. This is illustrated by the incident in the "treasure cave" which turned out to be a scam. It never occurs to those who are busily fighting for first dibs over the "treasure" that there is something seriously wrong with the entire scenario.

So yes, it takes a trickster to discern a trickster. But it also takes a man who is disinterested in worldly things to see beyond the obvious. It is somewhat ironic that someone who was raised by untrustworthy, immoral types has the lenses to see the absurdities of conventions and norms that are taken for granted.

 

Despite his cavalier, devil-may-care attitude, XY really does care. I find his logic compelling in the same way I find Hua Wu Que's uncompelling. HWQ wants to do what is good but he doesn't have any foundations for them and falls back on parroting conventions or truisms which he can't provide explanations for.

 

JXY is a sceptic standing in judgment of society's big ideas.

 

The Romeo and Juliet scenario that Hua Wu Que was embroiled in shows how righteous and unrighteous seem to be shifting goal posts. The whole time that the girl's dad was proclaiming his righteousness and that of his sect, the irony of his rigidity seemed almost laughable. He made himself the arbiter of moral rightness but again, he had no foundations for why he was right to hold his position and HWQ was wrong. In the end HWQ had to use resort to "might is right" to get his way in support of the star-crossed lovers but he failed to radically shift the paradigm for the man who objected to a change in his worldview.

 

HWQ exemplifies why unquestioning obedience can be dangerous. But he has failed thus far to learn from the Romeo and Juliet scenario. He too needs to question the foundations of his own adherence to convention. Where do they come from? What do they lead to?

[GiaGia]

Do Netflix released all at once; or on what days? So far, I'm on ep2 and I like the pace.

[Misstinker]

Two episodes a day Monday-Friday 

[sken40]

I watched up to 12 episodes and I still don't see Liang Jie's character appears yet. Did they edit hers out or something?

[a_tumiwa]

2 hours ago, sken40 said:

I watched up to 12 episodes and I still don't see Liang Jie's character appears yet. Did they edit hers out or something?

 

probably they follow the novel closely, Su Ying (liang jie's character) start show up in the middle-late of story  

[ilovenico]

On 1/20/2020 at 4:37 PM, 40somethingahjumma said:

It's not bad so far. I'm enjoying it. There's a fascinating nature vs nurture thing going on. It's interesting that the two lads grow up in entirely different environments but they have a sense of what's right and wrong despite being raised by unhinged, sinister people. The sisters at Yihua Palace are ridiculous about their obsession with Jiang Feng. The second one's probably a tad less loony. But the elder one should probably be locked up in a padded cell.

 

I really really like the kid that plays Xiao Yu'er... he's very well cast. Quite the charmer and you can already see how he's going to get himself into trouble with the ladies.  Right now, I'm watching the show primarily for him.

 

Netflix usually picks the decent ones. Let's hope this is another one of those.

Totally on the same page as u! I picked it up not expecting much but was pleasantly surprised. CZY playing the role of Xiao yu Er is perfect! I googled both actors and was shocked that the Hua Wu Que actor had an awful scandal! Surprised he still landed this role- how can he even be popular? Sorry to his fans, but I just don’t like his looks nor his acting. And now that I hv read about his scandal, he’s a total turnoff now. 

[sken40]

Hu Yi Tian listed the main character but while watching this I feel like Chen Zhe Yuan is the main character. I like this kid, he's nailing this role very well.  HYT is really good looking but he hasn't done anything spectacular in this yet.

[40somethingahjumma]

9 hours ago, sken40 said:

Hu Yi Tian listed the main character but while watching this I feel like Chen Zhe Yuan is the main character. I like this kid, he's nailing this role very well.  HYT is really good looking but he hasn't done anything spectacular in this yet.

 

In the source material, Xiao Yu'er is the main character. He's certainly the more interesting, flamboyant one.

 

HYT gets top billing because he is more well-known I imagine. I'm not a fan of HYT, scandal or not (I almost didn't watch it because of that but I liked the trailers and the original story so that sold me) but honestly, I prefer him more in this drama than in previous ones. He always gets cast as these emotionally repressed males so I'm not sure if he's capable of being spectacular.

[GiaGia]

Does it get better? I'm on ep 4, and it's boring so far for me. 

[ilovenico]

18 minutes ago, rosierosie said:

Does it get better? I'm on ep 4, and it's boring so far for me. 

Stay on for a while? Can be kinda slow in the beginning but for me the story picked up once Xiao Yuer meets Jiang YiLang and he finally learns decent Kung fu. Of course I am still wanting for his love interest to show up! I wish she would appear already!! 

[GiaGia]

9 hours ago, ilovenico said:

Stay on for a while? Can be kinda slow in the beginning but for me the story picked up once Xiao Yuer meets Jiang YiLang and he finally learns decent Kung fu. Of course I am still wanting for his love interest to show up! I wish she would appear already!! 

Okay, I'm going to stick around. Lol, yes decent kungfu. What XieoYuer learned form his villain masters^^ good, but not great. So funny when he returned the favor back to them, and then they send him away lol.

[40somethingahjumma]

@rosierosie

It does get better once XY leaves the valley. He's such a hoot. The grifter's grifter. LOL.

[GiaGia]

Although it's slow as of ep 9, I think the pace is okay. Can't wait until the brothers meet up^^.

Question, who is pair up with whom? Is Xiao Yuer and Tie Xin lan together? Or Tie Xin lan and Hua Wuque?

Looks like Su Ying haven't appear yet?

[ilovenico]

Is it considered a spoiler if I tell u who ends up w who? Ha.  I won’t spoil your surprise. Most people would know given how famous GuLong’s novel is n how many reproductions there has been already. Sadly Su Ying still has not appeared up to episode 20- it’s killing me!

[phuong1317]

11 minutes ago, rosierosie said:

Although it's slow as of ep 9, I think the pace is okay. Can't wait until the brothers meet up^^.

Question, who is pair up with whom? Is Xiao Yuer and Tie Xin lan together? Or Tie Xin lan and Hua Wuque?

Looks like Su Ying haven't appear yet?

Spoiler

the end game couple is Tie Xin Lan and Hua Wu Que I think Su Ying wont arrive until after the half way mark of the drama a lot of ppl are saying in the book she isnt in it much Im on episode 22 still no appearance 

 

[GiaGia]

8 minutes ago, phuong1317 said:

  Hide contents

the end game couple is Tie Xin Lan and Hua Wu Que I think Su Ying wont arrive until after the half way mark of the drama a lot of ppl are saying in the book she isnt in it much Im on episode 22 still no appearance 

 

Does that mean Su Ying ended up with Xiao YuEr? Are the brothers going to have a love triangle with Xin Lan?

[phuong1317]

30 minutes ago, rosierosie said:

Does that mean Su Ying ended up with Xiao YuEr? Are the brothers going to have a love triangle with Xin Lan?

Spoiler

Yea she ends up with Xiao YuEr It not really a love triangle to me Xin Lan liked Xiao YuEr in the beginning but with time fell in love with Hua WuQue  

 

[sken40]

I read somewhere that Su Ying will be appearing on episode 32, not sure why so late but it's better than nothing. I am a fan of the actress so I'll wait for her to show up. The show is pretty good.