John Hart
Not Best of 2024 but REAL CLOSE
Greetings,
OVERALL this is a great series to watch. If you like films like STAND AND DELIVER and FREEDOM WRITERS and DEAD POETS SOCIETY and CONRACK and TO SIR WITH LOVE -- pull up a chair and pop some corn. If you loved this series but don't know any of those films, give'em a try.
I haven't seen every big series this year, but there are two better shows. If only 8 hours qualifies as a 'show' instead of a 'very long movie', then TO THE WONDER is the Best of 2024. If you believe, like me, a show needs at least 20 episodes to actually be a TV show, then A TALE OF ROSE is the best show of the year (that I've seen).
THE CAST
is better than terrific. And the casting agent/director has a gift of delivering very distinct girls that are easy to distinguish and follow. The series sets up two groups of four girls and all of them are fascinating, adorable, different, and charming.
The obvious actress that jumps off the screen is Lan Xi Ya who plays the critical role of Gu Yu. You can't help but absolutely fall in love with her in a parental way, meaning that when you leave this series you leave a 'daughter' behind that you'll miss. Bonus points when you discover her real age which simply blows my mind.
Du Lan and (I believe) Zhang Yue both deliver world class understated performances. Like most of the young ladies in this series, you'll believe they're actually real girls... not actresses with careers.
The men in the series are typical foils for comic moments -- but they typically lighten up the stressful hours of this series. Jiang Chao is GOLD each time he's on the screen, and the actor that plays the Vice Principal (Wang Zi Rui?) is super terrific and dearly missed when he had to leave.
Of course our lead Song Jia as Principal Zhang deserves all the praise she's won and probably six times more. Don't let her sad haircut dissuade you from watching this show. There's a rule in C-Dramas to make everyone so pretty it's often hard to find the men from the pretty girls. Consider this show a break from all that hyper vanity, okay?
One fantastic quality about her character is that she's not what you expect. At times she is stronger than all of her students combined. At other times she's the most childish of them all. This can confuse and delight her faculty but she doesn't notice and cares even less. She's a one of a kind character and I've seen a lot of characters in my last 60 years.
Here's something funny about the cast: there's a Zhou Xun hiding in it. Teacher Wei Ting Yun (Huang Mi Yi) looks and sounds like a close relation. Somebody should cast her as a younger Zhou Xun in the right project, lol.
THE DRAMA
I've seen comments some viewers are taken aback at how dramatic this show is at times. Almost confused, as in the viewer didn't sign up for this intensity at times. No, it's not blood and guts, or aerial sword fights, but a Principal struggling to make a dream come true. A development around Ep 6 is so devastating that you might get sick to your stomach, for you fear the premise of the show is about to collapse.
This type of drama has a name: melodrama. The singing, the crying, the struggles -- they're all exaggerated by genre. When melodrama is done poorly, abandon the piece. Cliche melodrama is having a Mom and Daughter talking in a car all smiles and love and WHAM a car smashes into them and off we go to the obligatory C-Drama hospitals. Anyone can write that garbage.
This melodrama is of much higher quality. RUI'S ROYAL LOVE IN THE PALACE and THE GREAT CRAFTSMAN are so laden with melodrama that they're soap operas. But damn good ones!
THE STORY
unfortunately had a few bumps, which rob this piece as best of 2024. They're significant enough missteps to wound the series here and there, but not fatally.
Around Episode 11 there's a major victory for Principal Zhang. So HUGE that we need to have obligatory scenes of celebration. Scenes that relieve they tension we've been enduring to get to this point. But we don't get them and immediately dive into a new problem.
Bad. VERY BAD. It's stunning the series was released with this mistake. And that new problem handed to Zhang? Also handled poorly.
To avoid spoiling, let's say an something happens to one of the girls, okay? Principal Zhang should have lost her mind with heartbreak. She did, but oddly we never saw it! It was reported to us later which for a melodrama is unacceptable.
Did this production lose a few hard drives of show and lack enough money to reshoot the scenes?!? I'm genuinely wondering.
And then the WHY that something happened to that girl is presented as a huge mystery, but it's fairly obvious because an antagonist disappears at exactly the same time. Our regularly insightful Zhang can't figure this one out? Nor the Vice Principal, or any of the smart teachers? Ridiculous.
These poorly handled plot twists kicked the story in the teeth hard, and as much as I loved the cast and all these girls -- I couldn't look past this. I suspect they really loved their creative idea of 'the camping girl' but that ruined the show logic for some time. Didn't you cringe every time the girl could have told Zhang what was going on but didn't? And when she finally did it was so anti-climatic.
One other bit of story oddness which has become a Chinese tradition at this point is what I'll call the second ending. This story had two of them. Apparently our otherwise brilliant C-Drama craftsmen/women/persons just can't end a story AT the ending.
BEGINNING OF A SPOILER AREA
Probably the best scene of the series is when the girls come out from their test all slow motion and happy. There's a moment where Zhang hugs them all and kisses the 'stupid' girl on the head -- whose smile and glee only increases. It's an insanely beautiful moment! And then the following sequence where the girls all SCREAM at their test scores fills your eyes with tears and your heart with joy. Maybe the best scenes of the series. But then --
-- we learned none of this happened. I wish I could build the world's largest WTF? out of stone and send it to China. The Wizard of Oz IT WAS ALL A DREAM works great in that film but falls profoundly flat here. YUCK.
Worse, when the story does end, time moves forward and we're inside a concept for what should have been the second season. Send another WTF stone statue to China please. Don't get me wrong: I love the new students and ADORE their new teacher, but these 6 or so episodes should have been part of a Season 2.
OVERALL this is a great series to watch. If you like films like STAND AND DELIVER and FREEDOM WRITERS and DEAD POETS SOCIETY and CONRACK and TO SIR WITH LOVE -- pull up a chair and pop some corn. If you loved this series but don't know any of those films, give'em a try.
I haven't seen every big series this year, but there are two better shows. If only 8 hours qualifies as a 'show' instead of a 'very long movie', then TO THE WONDER is the Best of 2024. If you believe, like me, a show needs at least 20 episodes to actually be a TV show, then A TALE OF ROSE is the best show of the year (that I've seen).
THE CAST
is better than terrific. And the casting agent/director has a gift of delivering very distinct girls that are easy to distinguish and follow. The series sets up two groups of four girls and all of them are fascinating, adorable, different, and charming.
The obvious actress that jumps off the screen is Lan Xi Ya who plays the critical role of Gu Yu. You can't help but absolutely fall in love with her in a parental way, meaning that when you leave this series you leave a 'daughter' behind that you'll miss. Bonus points when you discover her real age which simply blows my mind.
Du Lan and (I believe) Zhang Yue both deliver world class understated performances. Like most of the young ladies in this series, you'll believe they're actually real girls... not actresses with careers.
The men in the series are typical foils for comic moments -- but they typically lighten up the stressful hours of this series. Jiang Chao is GOLD each time he's on the screen, and the actor that plays the Vice Principal (Wang Zi Rui?) is super terrific and dearly missed when he had to leave.
Of course our lead Song Jia as Principal Zhang deserves all the praise she's won and probably six times more. Don't let her sad haircut dissuade you from watching this show. There's a rule in C-Dramas to make everyone so pretty it's often hard to find the men from the pretty girls. Consider this show a break from all that hyper vanity, okay?
One fantastic quality about her character is that she's not what you expect. At times she is stronger than all of her students combined. At other times she's the most childish of them all. This can confuse and delight her faculty but she doesn't notice and cares even less. She's a one of a kind character and I've seen a lot of characters in my last 60 years.
Here's something funny about the cast: there's a Zhou Xun hiding in it. Teacher Wei Ting Yun (Huang Mi Yi) looks and sounds like a close relation. Somebody should cast her as a younger Zhou Xun in the right project, lol.
THE DRAMA
I've seen comments some viewers are taken aback at how dramatic this show is at times. Almost confused, as in the viewer didn't sign up for this intensity at times. No, it's not blood and guts, or aerial sword fights, but a Principal struggling to make a dream come true. A development around Ep 6 is so devastating that you might get sick to your stomach, for you fear the premise of the show is about to collapse.
This type of drama has a name: melodrama. The singing, the crying, the struggles -- they're all exaggerated by genre. When melodrama is done poorly, abandon the piece. Cliche melodrama is having a Mom and Daughter talking in a car all smiles and love and WHAM a car smashes into them and off we go to the obligatory C-Drama hospitals. Anyone can write that garbage.
This melodrama is of much higher quality. RUI'S ROYAL LOVE IN THE PALACE and THE GREAT CRAFTSMAN are so laden with melodrama that they're soap operas. But damn good ones!
THE STORY
unfortunately had a few bumps, which rob this piece as best of 2024. They're significant enough missteps to wound the series here and there, but not fatally.
Around Episode 11 there's a major victory for Principal Zhang. So HUGE that we need to have obligatory scenes of celebration. Scenes that relieve they tension we've been enduring to get to this point. But we don't get them and immediately dive into a new problem.
Bad. VERY BAD. It's stunning the series was released with this mistake. And that new problem handed to Zhang? Also handled poorly.
To avoid spoiling, let's say an something happens to one of the girls, okay? Principal Zhang should have lost her mind with heartbreak. She did, but oddly we never saw it! It was reported to us later which for a melodrama is unacceptable.
Did this production lose a few hard drives of show and lack enough money to reshoot the scenes?!? I'm genuinely wondering.
And then the WHY that something happened to that girl is presented as a huge mystery, but it's fairly obvious because an antagonist disappears at exactly the same time. Our regularly insightful Zhang can't figure this one out? Nor the Vice Principal, or any of the smart teachers? Ridiculous.
These poorly handled plot twists kicked the story in the teeth hard, and as much as I loved the cast and all these girls -- I couldn't look past this. I suspect they really loved their creative idea of 'the camping girl' but that ruined the show logic for some time. Didn't you cringe every time the girl could have told Zhang what was going on but didn't? And when she finally did it was so anti-climatic.
One other bit of story oddness which has become a Chinese tradition at this point is what I'll call the second ending. This story had two of them. Apparently our otherwise brilliant C-Drama craftsmen/women/persons just can't end a story AT the ending.
BEGINNING OF A SPOILER AREA
Probably the best scene of the series is when the girls come out from their test all slow motion and happy. There's a moment where Zhang hugs them all and kisses the 'stupid' girl on the head -- whose smile and glee only increases. It's an insanely beautiful moment! And then the following sequence where the girls all SCREAM at their test scores fills your eyes with tears and your heart with joy. Maybe the best scenes of the series. But then --
-- we learned none of this happened. I wish I could build the world's largest WTF? out of stone and send it to China. The Wizard of Oz IT WAS ALL A DREAM works great in that film but falls profoundly flat here. YUCK.
Worse, when the story does end, time moves forward and we're inside a concept for what should have been the second season. Send another WTF stone statue to China please. Don't get me wrong: I love the new students and ADORE their new teacher, but these 6 or so episodes should have been part of a Season 2.
Was this review helpful to you?
