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

[ilovenico]

I'd love to see him in another Gu Long adaptation down the track. 

2 hours ago, 40somethingahjumma said:

I would like to see him as the duke of Mt Deer 

[40somethingahjumma]

The ladies at Yihua palace really laid on the emotional blackmail when Hua Wu Que finally showed a bit of spine. I love how everything is his fault... their being upset, their inability to practise some higher level martial arts is due to his finally growing a brain and questioning the necessity of the task. And of course spouting the nauseating fate nonsense as the blanket answer to the meaning of his existence. It's especially galling when we know who mandated this nutty dilemma. Sure ain't heaven. 

 

It's interesting to note the juxtaposition of XY being kept imprisoned by Su Ying apparently for his own good and HWQ being mentally imprisoned by Yihua palace with the weight of obligations for the greater good. He can't be his own man because of two bitter women who raised him for one purpose alone.

 

Tie Xinlan gets a lot of flack for trying to stop the fight and being reckless but one has to give her some credit for at least trying with sheer persistence alone. She's trying to save two men (not just one) because whoever ends up surviving the battle royale will suffer a fate even worse than death. 

 

I just want Jiang Yulang dead... The worst kind of scumbag. He and that father of his are a perpetual thorn in everyone's side.

[ilovenico]

yep The best part was when Jiang yu Lang died! He was most annoying— his acting I thought was really bad - cloying and Super painful to watch. 

[ilovenico]

@40somethingahjumma the legend of jade sword is an old drama? Tks! 

[maddymappo]

I enjoyed this series a lot. Sorry they cut some episodes. I was never bored. I just liked all the characters so much and the plot had a lot of unexpected twists for a wuxia series.  Loved the Zodiac Rat Man,  he was such a great villain, a joy to behold. All the villains were superb.  I thought the acting was quite good too. The romantic chemistry was also good.  I guess for me, the pacing and talking worked well. I could easily watch those other episodes, what a bother!

[a_tumiwa]

this woman does not appear in novel, right?

 

[40somethingahjumma]

Su Ying is in some fashion the female version of Jiang Xiao Yu. I don't know if I agree that in this version at least if she's more intelligent than him because she's largely on home turf but in terms of trickery she's certainly comparable. The important thing is why XY settles with her in the end. She's someone he can respect and doesn't feel inclined to bully. Also by the time she comes along in his journey, he's matured a great deal and his understanding of women becomes more nuanced.

She of course has to learn that she can't control XY by locking him up. He's a free spirit with a strong will to do what he wants to.

 

Tie Xinlan gets a pummeling for being fairly ordinary and not having much ability to defend herself here. But what she does well for me is that she keeps the two male leads from killing each other. She wisely understands that it isn't a zero sum game way before everyone else does. It's not a win-lose scenario but a lose-lose outcome. Nobody wins in this fight. Of course XY knows that they're all being manipulated and insanely dancing to Yao Yue's tune but it's like squeezing blood out of stone getting the secret behind the revenge plot out of her.

 

On some level Hua Wuque may seem naive. My take is that he tends to revert to his trusting and kind nature in general even if he senses that there's something fishy going on around him. I think he would rather be proven wrong about an individual's evil intentions than to hurt an innocent by taking a negative view. 

 

Obsession seems to be a running theme in this story. The ladies at Yihua are the obvious early candidates because they can't seem to let go of Jiang Feng. Whatever they thought he did to them, or if he actually did it to them didn't seem relevant after a while because he wasn't allowed to reject their love and fall for a mere maidservant. How dare he have his own ideas and feelings. How dare he choose someone unexpected to have a family with. With no lack of irony Wei Wuya, the Rat King, was obsessed with Yao Ye right to the bitter end. His obsession saw him build his Rat cave according to the specs of Yihua palace which led him to hatch his revenge plot against Yao Yue. It was more pathetic I think that he was still obsessing over her even after the insults and the lifelong injury. A man of his intelligence could have directed his energies better elsewhere. Then there's Jiang Biehe and his obsession to be the top dog in jiang hu. He plots and schemes like no one else, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake so as to bring glory to himself only to reach an endgame of meaninglessness.

 

On 2/14/2020 at 7:36 PM, ilovenico said:

@40somethingahjumma the legend of jade sword is an old drama? Tks! 

 

I believe so. I've never seen it myself. Happened to see a MV clip on YT. It may also be called The Legend of Zu 2. Don't quote me on that though.

Here's CZY's filmography:

https://mydramalist.com/people/14352-chen-zhe-yuan

[therewillbeddl]

On 2/12/2020 at 7:53 PM, sken40 said:

So dead on this forum. Not sure why not many people like this series. Is it because the mean leads are new in the industry? For me, I am still enjoying it daily on Netflex.

 

This series has been #1 in ratings since the beginning, it even broke 2.0 in ratings, very popular amongst the older audience who are watching it at home during the coronavirus outbreak. The problem is, the production team doesn't do much promotion online, which is mainly why it doesn't get much attention and love. But most of the online viewers consist of novel fans and Hu Yitian fans. From what I've seen, people were more interested watching other dramas currently airing like Find Yourself, Pillowbook and Under the Power, also HYT doesn't have much haters and the general public doesn't really care about his scandal. Another factor is that wuxia is a bit outdated, sadly people nowadays care more about xianxia, bls and period dramas. 

[40somethingahjumma]

4 hours ago, therewillbeddl said:

 

 Another factor is that wuxia is a bit outdated, sadly people nowadays care more about xianxia, bls and period dramas. 

Golly... I feel really old because I sure as heck love my wuxia. 

 

One of the reasons why I love this adaptation of jue dai shuang jiao is because it reminds me so much of classic wuxia -- the stuff I grew up with in the 80s. These days they seem to turn everything into a weepy angsty melodrama (don't even get me started on some of the more recent adaptations of Gu Long novels) but this one really has that fun factor and isn't afraid to play it up. Everyone (including HYT) looks like they're having a good time with the material. I even like Hu Yi Tian in this and he actually exudes the right kind of naivete for the role.

 

I don't find the show slow going at all. I suppose I enjoy watching XY unpacking what he thinks is going on and making deductions. This drama draws from many elements from the golden age of detective fiction... particularly from the UK.

 

[therewillbeddl]

11 hours ago, 40somethingahjumma said:

Golly... I feel really old because I sure as heck love my wuxia. 

 

One of the reasons why I love this adaptation of jue dai shuang jiao is because it reminds me so much of classic wuxia -- the stuff I grew up with in the 80s. These days they seem to turn everything into a weepy angsty melodrama (don't even get me started on some of the more recent adaptations of Gu Long novels) but this one really has that fun factor and isn't afraid to play it up. Everyone (including HYT) looks like they're having a good time with the material. I even like Hu Yi Tian in this and he actually exudes the right kind of naivete for the role.

 

I don't find the show slow going at all. I suppose I enjoy watching XY unpacking what he thinks is going on and making deductions. This drama draws from many elements from the golden age of detective fiction... particularly from the UK.

 

I love wuxia too but I think a lot of bad adaptations of Gu Long and Jin Yong's works kind of ruined the genre for some people? I personally love this adaptation too, not only is it very faithful to the source material, it retains the classic wuxia feels when the genre was at its peak. The last good wuxia adaptation I've watched was Legend of the Condor Heroes 2017, so seeing another good adaptation 3 years later is refreshing. Fight choreography is really nice too. 

 

Nice observation about detective fiction part because Gu Long is known to base his stories on solving mysteries and he's been inspired by detective fiction genres from the West. 

[sken40]

I started watching this drama because I like the actress Liang Jie (love her in eternal love 1 and 2 ).  Because her character didn't show up until very late in the show,  meanwhile I was falling in love with the kid who played XY.  XY and SY look so good together as couple.