Why Why Love, ep. 11-20

[oyceter]

Oh, Why Why Love... why so mixed? Every time there is a moment of cute to make me smile, there is also a moment of "WTF were the writers thinking?"

The cute:

1. Huo Da and Jia Di, particularly Huo Da's giant goofy smile when he's with her.


2. Huo Da in general, who I like a lot now. He has amazingly bad ways of coping with things, from stopping elevators in the middle of a shopping day to betting the woman he loves on a basketball game to not taking two seconds to tell Jia Di that Yan Shu was in a car accident to deciding that the best way to convince Huo Yan about his mother is to get into a fist fight, and yet. He has, so far, somehow managed to do the right thing with pretty good consistency, and I like that he actually is smart and talks to Jia Di about checking in on Yan Shu.


3. Jia Di and Xiao Nan's friendship is made of win. I love that their Big Misunderstanding lasts all of ten seconds, and that even when you know Jia Di is getting the wrong idea, her asking Xiao Nan if Huo Da kissed her was as a friend making sure a guy wasn't messing with her best friend, not as a jealous girlfriend.


4. Bo Zi isn't the brightest crayon in the box, but still cute.

The not-so-cute:

1. Oh Huo Yan, how you have fallen! The funny thing is, I started liking him much less when he got more angst and liking Huo Da much more when he proved to be much less angsty. I think this means I've been in fandom for too long. Also, while I appreciate the idea of stopping in the middle of the race to let Huo Da win, both you and your brother are TOTAL IDIOTS for thinking of Jia Di as a prize to be won. Seriously. She already picked, dumbasses!


2. Oh Yan Shu, why? I am glad that I like you more now, but honestly, what is it with drama writers always writing the Other Woman as a passive-aggressive, manipulative character? I know it is hard to imagine, but all women do not always resort to wiles and guiles and hostility to other women! I wish I didn't dislike her so much during most of the drama, but passive-aggressive, manipulative behavior that includes speaking for other people is one of my huge NO buttons. I will instead glare at the writers instead of the character.


3. Speaking of the writers: wow, they really are determined to pull out every cliche in the book, aren't they? Murphy basically rules the universe of Why Why Love; if something can be mistaken or go wrong or happen at the exact worst moment, it will!


4. I am sure I am a cruel and heartless person, but I laughed and laughed and laughed when Huo Yan's mom dropped dead right after he ate his noodles. Especially after she had dropped dead and he still sat there, eating the noodles! I mean, I realize that the drama has her slated for death, but one would think that Huo Yan was not aware of this and would try and call an ambulance or something. Now I want to know just how long he sat there eating noodles with his mother's dead body right across from him before someone else showed up and pronounced her dead.
   
   I am even more cruel and heartless because I laughed even more when it was revealed that she only gave him away because he was SICK! And DYING! And she didn't have the money to save him! Which is why... she didn't tell him she was doing this for his health and not money, accepted a giant check in front of him while he was screaming, "Mommy! Don't sell me!" and never cashed it. As one does.


5. Class issues wise... I know I complained about it being too realistic in the first few episodes, but I am sort of sad that they seem to have completely vanished now. I particularly miss the prickliness of Jia Di's mom, and I am irked that the two models we have are of the self-sacrificing working class woman and the stupid and occasionally immoral working class man. I am also irked that most of the problems of the Tong family have been solved by the rich Huo brothers swooping in to the rescue, multiple times.


6. Lastly and most importantly: Wilson's disease WTF?!
   
   I feel extremely betrayed, as life-threatening illnesses are not supposed to manifest in the main characters of a romantic comedy drama! I, um, am not sure how valid my complaint is, given how much I usually like it when people bend genre tropes, but honestly! This is not bending genre tropes! This is jumping out of one genre and into another one all together! More importantly, this is jumping out of a genre I have great fondness for and into another genre that I avoid at all costs!
   
   There is a reason why I have not watched dramas with "Winter," "Sonata," "White," "Love Story," or "Tears" in the title!
   
   Not that I am actually worried about Huo Da's life, as I am certain Huo Yan will give up half of his liver and this will be the storyline that gets the two brothers reconciled with their father, but still. All the "I want the world to remember me" and "What will Jia Di do without me?" and etc. drives me crazy.

Er. That looks like a lot of things I am irritated about and very few things that I like. But! That is because you underestimate the effect that the cuteness of Jia Di and Huo Da and Xiao Nan have on me! Particularly Jia Di and Huo Da as an official couple! They are just so incredibly cute and dorky together, and I really like that though the two argue all the time and go through a billion misunderstandings, they both actually have a great deal of faith in each other.

Also, this is why I am even more irked at the Dramatic Medical Storyline, as I just want more of Huo Da and Jia Di being cute and couple-y and getting used to being in a relationship and possibly tentative and sulky brotherly reconciliation and a lot of Jia Di and Xiao Nan. I know most people are bored once the romantic relationship has been formed, but I'm interested in seeing if the couple actually does get along! And how they do it!

So, since Devil Beside You got a unanimous no: Are any other Rainie Yang dramas worth watching? How about other Mike He dramas? I am so charmed that I am even willing to endure really bad hair (Hi! You both have really cute smiles! I am even watching bits of WWL that drive me crazy to see you both do your goofy grins!)!

Comments

[tatterpunk.livejournal.com]

I got nothin'. I hated Mike He's Love Contract even more than DBY -- at least the latter had a coherent narrative -- but his co-star in Contract starred with Joe Cheng in one of my favs, It Started With A Kiss. It starts slow, but there's a really nice payoff.

[oyceter]

Hrm, ok. So... ISWAK! I have heard a lot of good things about it, but I have also heard that the heroine is too stupid to live? True? Not true? True but bearable? (I say, having watched who knows how many episodes of Bai Hui in Sweet Relationship!)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

She's very, very dim, but I don't think she's TSTL. I equate "TSTL" with "going off and doing stupid things when you know exactly why you shouldn't" and she doesn't do that. She's just very, very dim and very, very into a guy who (initially) doesn't like her back, and they get stuck living together. Even though she can be appallingly shameless in chasing after him, she stands up to him and tries her hardest.

I don't think you'll have much of a problem with her, but you might with him, as he can be (and often is) a real jerk. Then again, they also do a good job of showing that there isn't any malice from him, it's just that this girl he didn't know suddenly declared her love for him in public and everyone knows she likes him but he doesn't know her, and he's too busy to really want to.

[tatterpunk.livejournal.com]

She is, SADLY. But she gets better, slowly but surely, and the final episodes are some of the most satisfying of my drama-watching experience. (It's been so long since I saw ISWAK, this may call for a re-watch...)

It seems a redundant question since it's such a classic, but have you seen Mars?

[oyceter]

I have actually been avoiding Mars in an avidly curious fashion, because I love the manga a lot, so I want to see it, yet I tend to be less enthusiastic about drama adaptations of manga I love because I keep comparing them to the manga...

Mars is my drama-talk icon!

[tatterpunk.livejournal.com]

I was the same, initially. And there are areas where the drama doesn't fare well in comparison. It was produced before TWdramas started miking their actors (gggr!!) so the sound mixing can be wretched, plus the visuals sometimes suffer in contrast to Fuyumi Soryo's incredible art when they try to re-create shots from the manga. Plus, as always when C or TWdramas adapt manga, the original homoerotic elements are, er, not handled well. (This makes me so sad. Homophobia can just suck the squee right out of my viewing experience, even if Mars is one of the least offensive in this respect. (They cut the transsexual neighbor right out, though.))

However. Barbie Hsu and Vic Zhou especially are luminous together as the title characters, and most of the supporting cast is amazing as well. The direction is wonderful when it's not trying to compete with the original. And there are some changes I appreciate -- making the cast older, focusing more on Kira/Qi Lou's storyline, and the fact they allow the entire series to be a bit more somber. Um, not that it's more depressing, but I think they allow for the original issues to have the weight and consideration they deserve. (Okay, I'm making it sound more depressing. But I like that the rape storyline was, IMO, given more attention as a factor that would have shaped Qi Lou's life and personality. It varies between heavy-handed and subtle, but at least it's there.)

I'd say, if you're feeling up to it, give the first episodes a try. (If you've re-read the manga recently, I'd wait until it isn't so fresh in your mind.) I admit I originallly thought the drama suffered in comparison, but now I adore it on its own merits.

Re: Mars is my drama-talk icon!

[oyceter]

Oh good! You've read the manga!

I laugh and laugh at the non-miking of the actors. Oh, young drama industry, why? And boo at the homophobia, even though there's a lot of that in the original manga as well.

Also.. Vic Zhou? Ooooo! I think he's very cute in Sweet Relationship but thought he had no acting talent, but possibly that is because the role only asks for two expressions! Older + more Qi Lou is a HUGE plus!

And I am waiving the me generally not watching depressing dramas thing, since it's Mars and it's high melodrama with suicide and twins and homophobic serial killers! I did reread the manga last winter because I was writing fic for Yuletide, but I think I will give the first few episodes a try. Very excited about more of Qi Lou in particular!

Re: Mars is my drama-talk icon!

[tatterpunk.livejournal.com]

Read the manga! Loved the manga! Excitedly ordered the drama in the aftermath of adoring the manga and thought: what the heck, I can't hear them.

(Oh, lack of miking! You make me cry! You're also why I have yet to get through the entire first season of Meteor Garden!)

Vic Zhou is pretty awesome in Mars, though I've yet to see him be that awesome in anything else. I think his comfort with Barbie Hsu helps; this is their second drama together, and they were later (post-filming) involved in a relationship. Actually, a lot of their more dramatic scenes read as

BARBIE: *is awesome*
VIC: *struggles manfully to keep up*

but you can't deny their chemistry. Actually, he's completely adorable in the more light-hearted scenes... his Ling is a lot more easy-going and boyish than I remember Rei (but it's been a while), which can make the switch to violence startling, but works within the theme of both of them (Ling and Qi Lou) trying hard to hide; either who they are or from the world in general.

Er, so I think it's clear by now that I may be building this up. And totally am biased because I fangirl Barbie Hsu like mad, and I adore her Qi Lou. I get angry or frustrated at a lot of "good girl"/doormat-type drama heroines but not this one. She's much more subdued and self-castigating than Kira, I think, but Barbie Hsu helps you understand why.

And I am waiving the me generally not watching depressing dramas thing, since it's Mars and it's high melodrama with suicide and twins and homophobic serial killers!

Yesss! I think this is why Mars never loses it's readable/watchable quality, despite the dark stuff, because it never lets go of its inherent soapiness. (And in the drama there is a ridiculous amount of product-placement to pay for all the stuntwork, so.)

Re: Mars is my drama-talk icon!

[oyceter]

I just started watching on MySoju and liked Barbie Hsu enough to rent the VCDs -- I would be grumpy that Blockbuster doesn't have the DVDs but VCDs means I should be able to play them on my Region 1 laptop because there is no chance in hell I am watching this with my parents! I am looking forward to seeing the final ten minutes of episode one!