4
1
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This review may contain spoilers
(For a spoilerful review, I wrote a separate, much more in-depth version here: https://dramavixen.tumblr.com/post/177526794854/)
Was I expecting a trainwreck when I first started watching? Perhaps. Actually, yes; unquestionably so. Thus, even if I call this show a trainwreck, it wouldn’t be accurate to say that Meteor Garden was "below expectations."
Meteor Garden was possibly one of the most anticipated Chinese dramas of the season, rousing the nostalgic instincts of those of us who have long been attached to this story. Of course, that’s a great burden on the cast and crew. This is especially true in China, where viewers tend to prefer the “original” version of everything—novels, dramas, movies; you name it. Any kind of remake or adaptation is asking for trouble; and Meteor Garden fared the worst that I've seen, with a whopping rating of 2.8/10 when the first episode aired.
We can say that viewers in China are being overly judgmental, but the one thing they’re right about is that choosing to remake this was a shaky decision to begin with. At its core, Meteor Garden overflows with cliche after cliche; all the ones that make us roll our eyes whenever we see them: the poor girl-rich guy combo, the trash male lead/nice second male lead dynamic, the meddling mother-in-law; the list just writes itself. This isn’t to say that cliche usage equates to a bad drama, but historically, Meteor Garden has never elevated these elements to anything past mediocrity.
This adaptation still uses all of these tropes: without improvement. We can argue all day about how the writers toned down the bullying that existed in the previous versions; how Dao Ming Si isn’t as bad of a guy as he used to be. That doesn’t change the fact that this story is incredibly weak.
The conflicts between the main couple start off making sense because they have a lot of moral disagreements. Meteor Garden intends to show the evolution of a relationship as it progresses between two enemies to two people in love. However, with 48 episodes worth of problem after problem solely for the sake of dramatics, the instability of their relationship quickly becomes less heartbreaking and more obnoxious. All the side plots involving the other characters are also either boring or mindnumblingly frustrating—or (if your goddess of luck has abandoned you) both!
How do the characters play into the plot? In a word, badly. The sheer level of bullcrapery that is injected into the script makes it impossible for anyone to truly develop or interact with each other like normal human beings. Each character does have their good and bad points, which I appreciate. But more often than not, we don’t get to see them act as people; they’re just used as paper dolls for the sake of toddling through whatever conflict the writers feel like putting into the episode. It’s a real shame, especially since the actors all have so much potential to do better.
In all honesty, I’m surprised that I finished this show. Well, I guess I could be more surprised; from the very beginning, I wanted to see this ordeal to the end so that I could be as thorough in my roasting as possible without any false pretenses. So here, I have to say that Meteor Garden is but a pile of burnt potatoes. And just like there're a lot of better things to eat than burnt potatoes, there’re a lot of better things to watch than this.
Was I expecting a trainwreck when I first started watching? Perhaps. Actually, yes; unquestionably so. Thus, even if I call this show a trainwreck, it wouldn’t be accurate to say that Meteor Garden was "below expectations."
Meteor Garden was possibly one of the most anticipated Chinese dramas of the season, rousing the nostalgic instincts of those of us who have long been attached to this story. Of course, that’s a great burden on the cast and crew. This is especially true in China, where viewers tend to prefer the “original” version of everything—novels, dramas, movies; you name it. Any kind of remake or adaptation is asking for trouble; and Meteor Garden fared the worst that I've seen, with a whopping rating of 2.8/10 when the first episode aired.
We can say that viewers in China are being overly judgmental, but the one thing they’re right about is that choosing to remake this was a shaky decision to begin with. At its core, Meteor Garden overflows with cliche after cliche; all the ones that make us roll our eyes whenever we see them: the poor girl-rich guy combo, the trash male lead/nice second male lead dynamic, the meddling mother-in-law; the list just writes itself. This isn’t to say that cliche usage equates to a bad drama, but historically, Meteor Garden has never elevated these elements to anything past mediocrity.
This adaptation still uses all of these tropes: without improvement. We can argue all day about how the writers toned down the bullying that existed in the previous versions; how Dao Ming Si isn’t as bad of a guy as he used to be. That doesn’t change the fact that this story is incredibly weak.
The conflicts between the main couple start off making sense because they have a lot of moral disagreements. Meteor Garden intends to show the evolution of a relationship as it progresses between two enemies to two people in love. However, with 48 episodes worth of problem after problem solely for the sake of dramatics, the instability of their relationship quickly becomes less heartbreaking and more obnoxious. All the side plots involving the other characters are also either boring or mindnumblingly frustrating—or (if your goddess of luck has abandoned you) both!
How do the characters play into the plot? In a word, badly. The sheer level of bullcrapery that is injected into the script makes it impossible for anyone to truly develop or interact with each other like normal human beings. Each character does have their good and bad points, which I appreciate. But more often than not, we don’t get to see them act as people; they’re just used as paper dolls for the sake of toddling through whatever conflict the writers feel like putting into the episode. It’s a real shame, especially since the actors all have so much potential to do better.
In all honesty, I’m surprised that I finished this show. Well, I guess I could be more surprised; from the very beginning, I wanted to see this ordeal to the end so that I could be as thorough in my roasting as possible without any false pretenses. So here, I have to say that Meteor Garden is but a pile of burnt potatoes. And just like there're a lot of better things to eat than burnt potatoes, there’re a lot of better things to watch than this.
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