Patchy Storyline saved by Good looking Actors, Good Acting Skills & Stunning Cinematography

I'm sorry to leave a not-so-glowing review for this drama as I really looked forward to watching it because of the featured cast. The story is meant to show how the lead character, Li Chang Ge, a Princess and daughter of the Crown prince, suffers the hardship of witnessing her father being murdered by her Uncle and her mother committing suicide because of a political coup, flees away in anger vowing to take revenge for the sake of her family and country, but eventually realises that seeking revenge was the not best way to truly find peace and contentment in Life because seeking revenge by instigating a political rebellion against her Uncle would (1) not resurrect her dead parents from the past (2) and just incur more internal wars that would cost the lives of more innocent bystanders (3) weaken the country's abilities to defend itself from its real enemies- the neighbouring Ashina and Mobei Tribes.

I really think the scriptwriters wanted The Long Ballad to be a different kind of Revenge Drama, where instead of purely avenging one’s loved ones by resorting to the same (underhanded) methods that one’s loved ones had been subjected to, the Protagonist would find their own form of redemption by focusing on a more noble non-self-serving goal instead of taking the destructive path of anger-fuelled revenge. To forgive, let go and find more constructive ways to deal with life's setbacks etc...in contrast to the opposing Antagonist of the story, who seeks revenge and does things none the wiser. After all, that is why we are meant to admire the Protagonist as a positive role model in these sort of Revenge Dramas right?

But if that was meant to be the intended purpose for the audience who view this drama The Long Ballad, I felt that the juxtaposition was poorly built up and came a little too late. I will elaborate more on this later.

Li Chang Ge is written as the charming intelligent female Protagonist of the story who has her character strengths and weaknesses and is supposed to go through some character growth throughout the story and emerge as a more mature heroine with positive traits for us to look upon and admire. I get that. Except that I did felt that the scripted storyline displayed her positive strengths too fast and too soon, to the point Li Chang Ge struck me as a character who had it too good, and I found it too unbelievable to be true.

For eg. I am amazed that Li Chang Ge never seems to die despite being shot by multiple people in the same side of her chest (always seems to be the right side of her chest above the heart) multiple times! Also, I'm not convinced how quickly Li Chang Ge manages to persuade Shui Zhou's Governor, Gongsun Heng to recruit her in as his trusty advisor. To get the level of insider access to the state's top secrets just by saving his wife and daughter in an "accidental" encounter and to be promoted overnight to become the city's military commander by just providing mere advisory words of consulting strategy, to me is just laughingly unbelievable! The way Li Chang Ge gets picked up and ordained overnight as a sworn disciple of the eccentric Swordsman Situ Lang Lang is too coincidentally convenient, he just met her whilst saving her and immediately he trusts her? And how quickly her lover Ashile Sun forgives her after her impulsiveness caused his adopted mother to fall prey at the hands of his evil step brother. No break up or cool off period after she makes such a costly mistake on him? Maybe Ashile Sun’s long-suffering forbearance as a character makes him too good as Li Chang Ge’s lover to be true! Lol

I know this is a drama, but it's a little sometimes too stretched from reality. But back to what I think was the key weakness of this Revenge drama…

I felt that the script writers could have introduced Princess Yicheng earlier and give the audience more backdrop and time to understand how this Sui Dynasty Princess came to be the most unsuspected sinister villain in the story. Many of the malicious schemes that she came up with to eliminate rivals who stood between her and the Empire, were not elaborated sufficiently enough through the lack of scenes, so understanding what she had done and had sought to do, was not easy to follow and to me, came across rather far-fetched. They should take a reference from Nirvana in Fire's strategist Mei Chang Su hahaha. His schemes were intricate and complex but at the bare minimum, they were at least understandable and brilliant.

Acting wise, Leo Wu did not disappoint. I thought that he has carried the role of the intelligent and valiant commander, Ashile Sun, very well for his age (21 years I believe?) even when he stood against an older female actress, Dilraba (27 years old then)whom I thought embodied Li Chang Ge's clever, courageous but impulsive character pretty convincingly. I'm sorry, I did not end up paying much attention to the second lead couple Hao Du and Le Yan although I know many other reviewers raved about how their enemies-to-lovers romance storyline was one of the memorable highlights of this drama. Leo and Dilraba’s acting skills and couple chemistry was the key thing that saved this drama for me.

I wish some parts of the storyline could be rushed and given more space to be more cohesive and developed, even if it means cutting out side characters and their story arcs. If not for these plot-holes that left me feeling skeptically unconvinced, I'd give this easy-to-watch drama a much much higher rating.

Read More

Revenge: Why should one do it and how one man did it

The most unforgettable dramas are usually stories that often portray characters stuck in a backdrop of conflict, holding onto their innermost moral values against all odds and temptation whilst they experience challenges and setbacks. Nirvana in Fire is a thrilling watch because the main story, which revolves around the Lead Hero (Mei Chang Su) and his desire to redress the injustice committed against his father (a decorated Imperial military general) and the Chiyan Army battalion (led by him and his father), weaves multiple plots involving many other characters trapped in an unavoidable web of power and politics.
Hence, the title of this drama is rather apt- Mei Chang Su's "nirvana" is his own idea of perfect justice and this drama is literally his quest "on fire" to reclaim his past injustice.
As this is my first time writing a review for a Chinese Drama, I won't be commenting on music score, cinematography and acting skills. Here's my take on the Story, after watching 54 episodes of NIF:

The Villain is not who you'd expect (SPOILER ALERT)
Every drama has a big bad villain whose job is to throw countless obstacles in the path of the Protagonist and NIF is full of them. The drama almost had me fooled when it led me into thinking that the bad guys were Xie Yu, Prince Yu, Xia Jiang or Ban Rou. The biggest villain is only hinted at the start and only confirmed right at the end when you realise the culprit behind all the fights, wars and killings is actually the selfish cowardly Emperor, who had the heart to allow the murder of his own son, a capable brother in law and nephew, 70,000 of his own loyal soldiers based on 1 piece of fake information manufactured by a rogue informant. It is so damning to realise that the biggest culprit behind the shedding of innocent blood is the very man that all these characters pledge their loyalty to. Indeed, the most powerful man is also the most insecure person. The Emperor had been too quick to jump to conclusions about his own son Prince Qi teaming up with the formidable Chiyan Army to rebel against him, without doing any due diligence or fact checking, purely because he was super paranoid about losing his control and power and it was just too easy to act on his presumptions and instincts. The Emperor gives us a believable portrayal how "evil" people are just extremely selfish people who manipulate every advantage to gain more wealth, fame or power. And the impact and brevity of the past sins he that condoned and covered up for his own self-preservation, only really struck me at the end after I completed the last episode. The drama left me feeling anguished and thinking...why do people pledge their lives for this guy??

The Lead Hero is a quasi-Villain
Mei Chang Su as the lead character in this story of finding justice and redemption, is no doubt a shrewd strategist, but he isn’t a human without imperfections. In seeking to put his best friend Prince Jing into the position of ultimate power (to be the main contender for the Imperial throne) to redress the injustice committed against his father and the Chiyan Army 12 years ago, he meticulously sets out his plans by planting various people and rumours in various places. The way Mei Chang su’s pre-planned schemes unfold are only gradually and subtly revealed across the episodes, that you might even miss these clues if you don't pay close attention to the drama’s dialogue and script. There's a classic scene in an episode where Mei Chang Su bitterly remarks to Fei Liu (his young and impressionable loyal guard) that "it gets harder to feel any pain when the heart gets harder and hardened" after one of his pre-planned schemes exposes a buried sin of the father of his good friend, Jingrui, and irreversibly implicates their entire family. Despite the hurt caused to people around him by the gradual unravelling of uncomfortable revelations, he remains cool calm and focused on his goal. One can't help but feel sad yet admire our Lead Hero for holding it all in while he executes his mission with stealth and laser focus, knowing that even with a future reclaimed by Prince Jing's ascension to the throne, his incurable terminal illness (by the Bitter Flame poison) would ultimately deprive him of any foreseeable future with his childhood love, the brave and beautiful military general- Princess Nihuang. If Mei Chang Su is the biggest manipulator of the chess game, you could also say he is biggest tragedy despite his winning schemes and victories. Because our hero does eventually achieve his own happy ending, but he exits the world without the company of loyal friends and workers who stood by and dearly loved him. Well done to the script-writers. They wrote a really unforgettable character in the morally ambiguous grey hero-or-villain Mei Chang Su.

The 2nd Lead is the secret Hero
I’m really drawn to Prince Jing, the oblivious underdog of this drama, as like Mei Chang Su, he has also experienced the tragedy of losing his loved ones during the Chiyan Army massacre. If it isn't obvious enough, I think Prince Jing always appears cold, aloof and anguished-looking for a reason. He has to wrestle with the memory of knowing that his closest sibling and best friend were framed and murdered in a scheme that was commissioned by his own father and even as a Prince (albeit second rank), he is unable to do anything about it because he knows that as long as his egotistical cowardly father remains Emperor, no King will ever admit such a catastrophic mistake of this magnitude in public. Hence, he starts out being the “loser” in the story, not the first in line for the throne and completely ignored by his Father and looked over by everyone in the Palace. Prince Jing eventually gets persuaded by his elusive advisor, Mei Chang Su, to swallow that stubborn pride and personal dislike for politics in order to make himself eligible enough to be next in line for the throne, where being the future Emperor would grant him the opportunity to redress the misconceived betrayal of the Chiyan Army that led to the bloody massacre. Prince Jing is stubborn in temperament but also stubbornly loyal to people he loves that we constantly see him constantly getting irritated and inflamed with Mei Chang Su because he wants makes sure that no one innocent gets harmed or hurt in the process of Mei Chang Su's scheming. Because he cares so much about people around him and is entrenched by the hurtful memories of the past events, the Water-Brained Buffalo becomes so dense and oblivious to the uncanny similarities between Mei Chang Su and his best friend Lin Shu, that he eventually becomes the last one to uncover Mei Chang Su's real identity. I suspect the script-writers have intentionally built up the endearing bromance between Mei Chang Su and Prince Jing prior to this. So that when we see how Prince Jing realises that he can no longer be with his best friend (Lin Shu) after Mei Chang Su departs from the picture, we feel Prince Jing's pain and sadness like a double whammy.

So if I can sum up why I'd rewatch this drama again, it would be this: Intricate plot. Unforgettable Characters. Multiple clues subtly hidden throughout the episodes that makes watching this drama a stimulating but fun cluedo-hunt.
Watch and savour Nirvana in Fire. You're guaranteed to become a wiser and more introspective person after it.

Read More

Smart Storyline makes this rookie drama a compelling watch

This is a fun to watch Detective drama with multiple story arcs unfolding across the episodes to eventually reveal the key big plot. The lead and supporting cast are fairly young and unheard of, so what really drew me this drama was not the celebrity cast or famous director, but rather it's remarkably clever plot.

Summary- The story takes place in Chang An, the capital city, during the time of the Tang Dynasty, under Emperor Xuan Zhong. The Female lead character, Chu Chu, comes from a humble family of coroners that handle coroner matters in their small county. As a young lass, Chu Chu aspires to a competent Coroner, just like her Father and brother. She travels to Chang An to try to take the Imperial Exam to qualify as one but along the way and bumps into her reserved but erudite Supervisor, Xiao Jin Yu, a young but brilliant scholar who heads the entire Judicial System. As Chu Chu tries to impress her Supervisor in order to get qualified to practise as a certified Coroner, she gets roped in by Xiao Jin Yu, who borrows her coroner skills and abilities to help him solve some crime cases- various people are being "accidentally" murdered across the city and the timing of their deaths and their occupational identities seem too suspicious for their deaths to be certified as "accidental". Together with a supporting team of Xiao Jin Yu's brother Xiao Jin Li and loyal sidekicks Vice Minister Jing Yi and Martial Artist Leng Yue, the young energetic team crack their brains and support one another to piece multiple clues to uncover an underlying sinister political agenda, which inadvertently expose hidden secrets about Chu Chu and Xiao Jin Yu's births and their blood families.

2 of my favourite things about the drama, besides the clever storyline was the Female and Male Lead character's working partnership and romance.

The Working Partnership- There is little that "Alpha Male versus weak Damsel in distress" trope here. The Script-writers have in fact written the lead characters to be synergistically complementary to one another as Chu Chu's extroverted chirpy optimistic personality makes a nice pairing to Xiao Jin Yu's introverted reserved and aloof character, that has extraordinary ability to string together multiple clues to solve complex mysteries. Chu Chu respects Xiao Jin Yu enough to be serious about her work even when her boss is not looking. Xiao Jin Yu is also eager ask Chu Chu's for her opinions when he is busy analysing the details of a case matter. This is a guy who respects a smart woman regardless of how lowly they were viewed back then in society! Xiao Jin Yu is radically progressive and ahead of his time. Lol. Despite their outwardly different personalities, it is not hard to see why both Chu Chu and Xiao Jin Yu can actually work so well together. Both of them are intensely curious and observant individuals who are just passionate and persistent about finding the truth of the matter. Their kind of working partnership transcends across the gender divide and class differences, is truly admirable and praiseworthy.

The Romance- Although Chu Chu and Xiao Jin Yu's do intentionally get their initial "awkward" start, I found their romance particularly endearing because it was beautiful to see how Jin Yu's initial skepticism about Chu Chu's mysterious background gradually erode over time, as his admiration for her passion and meticulosity when it comes to her work eventually wins over his trust, respect and affections. We see how Jin Yu becomes more empathic and grounded the more he hangs around simple but kind-hearted Chu Chu while Chu Chu matures in her abilities as she learns from Jin Yu's ability to stay cool-headed while they uncover uncomfortable revelations in their search for the truth. There is progression in both their characters and affections as they experience multiple trials and setbacks together. All in, I found Chu Chu and Xiao Jin Yu's love story a good balance of heart-fluttering and heart-warming moments.

The ending of this story is a happy one, won't give away all the details here. So this is a feel-good drama you can watch if you want intellectual stimulation, comedy, zero-boredom suspense, cute romance all rolled into one!

Read More

Family is who you’d make sacrifices for, not necessarily defined by blood ties

Go Ahead is really a Family + Coming of Age drama about Selflessness versus Selfishness. Love how the drama brought out contrasting examples of what it means to be loving others selflessly and selfishly loving oneself over others, even if one is or not biologically related to the other.

Super Heart-warming Relationships between the 4 Lead Characters
-The way Li Ba (Li Hai Chao) takes pity and takes on Ziqiu without hesitation, raising him as if he is one of his own sons and not as a "lesser" offspring compared to his own blood daughter, Li Jian Jian. The humble working class father could have turned a blind eye (given his modest circumstances as a single parent) so as to not take on another financial and emotional burden to look after an abandoned kid. But he didn't, he took Ziqiu under his wing and cared for him all the way from childhood to adulthood without any expectations from Ziqiu to reciprocate.
- The way Jian Jian treats Ling Xiao and Ziqiu who aren't biologically related to her, as her blood brothers. I mean, this girl could have reacted in an insecure and selfish way if she thought of these brothers as an extra burden and competition for resources from her father who isn't that well off? She treated them like real brothers instead of step-brothers- their kinship is the second most heart warming element of this drama.
- The way Ling Xiao sacrificed his desires to study in China to be with the Li Family and fly over to Singapore just so that he can look after the very mother who abandoned him when he was young. He could have just cut his mom off and leave her to fend for herself since she walked out on him when he was such a young kid, but he didn't.
- The way Ziqiu sacrificed his desire to study and work in China and fly over to UK in order to please his real father Zhao Haoguang so that the Li family would not be harmed (or so he thought). He refused to take money from his father even though he was given an opportunity to and worked the odd jobs quietly to pay his uni fees without relying or expecting a single cent on Li Ba, his adopted father. Respect!

Realistic Toxic Relationships depicted by Secondary Necessary Evil Characters
- Chen Ting, Ling Xiao's mother portrays a believable narcissistic villain in this show. She is the "bad Guy" who blames everyone (except herself) for her misfortune as a way of justifying her self-serving behaviour. Everything in her life, from her daughter's death (which was an indirect result of her negligence as a mother when she locked the kids up so she could sneak out for fun), her failed marriage (the divorce was a decision she initiated because she gave up on her marriage to a workaholic husband) and her loneliness (because 2nd husband died from a car-crash and she realised she had no one to look after her financial needs).
When life cripples over, Chen Ting conveniently crawls back to the son she abandoned and demands Ling Xiao to take care of her, if not, no surprises for guessing, she threatens suicide. The actress who played this extremely unlikeable character is brilliant!
- Qin Meiying, Chen Ting's other daughter, portrays a second Villain character convincingly as the overly possessive step-sister to Ling Xiao. Like Mother Like Daughter? Lol. Maybe that's what the Script-writers wanted to hint at. ChengZi (her nickname) is seen to view Li Jian Jian or anyone who captures her step-brother's attention as a threat. Her backstory was sufficiently well explained - her mean bossy personality comes from the fact that she feels insecure despite growing up in a wealthy household. When a fatal car crash accident causes her father's death and her mother, Chen Ting, to be widowed, she becomes even more insecure and nastier towards other people. There is a small glimmer of redemption for Chengzi when we see her being humbled by our hardy and resilient Ziqiu who doesn't carry her airs just because she is wealthier than him, but treats her like an equal - you want my respect? work and earn it just like the others. Chengzi realises how she has been unfairly mean towards people who had done nothing but be welcoming and nice to her. She eventually becomes a less toxic version of her narcissistic mother, the big Bad Villain of the show. As the second little villain in this drama, this turnaround makes her less unlikable.

Unnecessary Side-Shows
The things that downplayed this drama for me was the numerous Love triangles between the supporting female and male characters. I felt that some of these love triangles that were stuffed into the script to for the sake of creating more story arcs to hold the audience's attention and these created more diversion instead of cohesiveness for the main storyline. If the scriptwriters could trim this down, the drama would have fewer episodes, but the storyline would also be more succinct.

Go Ahead storyline isn't particularly complex, so this drama is really simple and enjoyable to watch when your brain is feeling tired or dead and just wants a chicken-soup-for-the-soul pick me up.
This drama is a great show for the young and old to watch because the positive role models exemplify what it means to be selflessly loving to others, even if one is not biologically or legally related, while the bad villains give a realistic demonstration of what toxic, self-serving behaviours look like.

Read More