Quality Production

What an amazing drama this is. When it was first released, I wasn’t very sure if I wanted to watch it; it has all the big names like Adam Cheng and Leon Lai. I was thinking, maybe it was going to be like one of those crappy dramas trying to use big stars to prop it up. How wrong I was.

Ning Que (played by Arthur Chen) and Sang Sang (played by Ireine Song) are adorable. They have the purest love for each other. The care and concern for each other are so heart-warming. The fighting scenes are so well executed that they look very authentic, with elegant postures showing the gracefulness and beauty of Chinese sword fighting and martial arts.

Arthur Chen is definitely a heartthrob that it’s hard to believe he is only 18, still a teenager. But he has a physique of a man in his 20s. In contrast, Ireine Song looks like a little 12 year old girl despite her actual age of 25 (or so). My only qualm is, since Arthur Chen is a relatively new actor, his inexperience does show on his facial expression. In the drama, he is arrogant when faced with people he dislikes, but mischievous when he was with people he cares about. So far, he looks almost the same on his face when he faces both types of people. The arrogant part is fine, but he lacks the mischievous expression; had he used a bit of his eyes or edges of his lips to achieve his mischievous look, that would have been perfect. I love everything about Arthur, but he hasn’t given us a convincing Ning Que. Until the end of the drama, I still couldn’t make out Ning Que’s true personality. On one hand, he seems very devoted to Sang Sang, but on the other, he flirts around with other girls. He wants to take Sang Sang as his wife, but at the same time, he wishes he could marry the others. I could never tell when he was trying to be playful, serious, or angry. In the final scene when Ning Que was supposed to be heartbroken with Sang Sang's death, he didn't come across as in pain and despair (I wasn't even crying myself - which I normally do when it comes to scenes like this). I was not moved at all! Despite this deficiency, overall, he melts my heart. I love seeing the duo together, one tall and handsome, the other little and humble but with an unyielding charisma.

This drama also touches on Chinese calligraphy and learning, making it somewhat, cultured with a lot of finesse. Like most Chinese epic dramas, the costumes are immensely beautiful. The attention to details deserves our kudos.

I was disappointed with the later episodes, the whole thing felt like a let-down, with a disastrous final episode. Sang Sang ‘died’ in the last episode. Though I know she will come back in Season 2, that’s not why I felt the last episode was disastrous. I’m talking about the building up of the whole story to the supposedly ‘climax’ in the final episode, which then played out like a deflated balloon with a ‘whiff’. There was no catharsis. The so-called climax felt more like an anti-climax instead. The drama finished leaving everyone feeling like, “What???????? That’s it??????” There were still so many loose ends. It feels like the director(s) simply wanted to pack everything up and go home. It’s a shame that they had such a good start but finished so shoddily. It is not surprising that the rating went down to the current 8.9 from 9.5 earlier.

Pretty good drama with no ending.

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Great Strong Main Male Character

First of all, I came to watch this drama after watching “Destiny’s Love”. I fell in love with the young actor, Zhang Ming En. I love his sunny smile and bugs’ teeth. He gave me the much-needed comfort I desperately seek after watching “Goodbye My Princess”. I needed a good romance story with a good, strong male character.

I had a slow start with this drama. It took me awhile to get into the story. The first 10 episodes were built-up of the main characters that described what made them feel and do things the way they did. I had no problem in relating to Yu Zhi, the main male character. But until the end of the drama, I still could not fall in love with the female character, Gao Jie. I don’t know if it’s the problem with the actress or the persona of this Gao Jie character. Gao Jie was supposed to be strong, determined but yet reserved due to the burden she had been carrying. The character played by Janice Man did not appear to express this persona. Although Gao Jie was being described as a very kind person, I don’t find that was the correct description of her. Therefore, it was either the poor acting of Janice Man, or that’s how the character was supposed to be – an unconvincing person.

After reading some of the comments made by viewers, however, I’m convinced that my assessment of Janice Man was correct – she didn’t portray the Gao Jie character correctly. Most viewers, like me, couldn’t connect with her.

Apart from the, perhaps, poor acting of the main female lead, the rest of the cast was pretty good, especially Zhang Ming En, Shawn Wei, Melody Tang, and even Ma Ya Shu.

This is a drama of office politics, plagiarism in the creative industry and love relationship between couples.

Yu Zhi, the main male character, was intelligent, quick witted, outdoor, optimistic, athletic, daring, decisive, articulate, risk taking, devoted, sweet and romantic. And yet, there was a different side of him - he was also lonely, insecure and hurt as he witnessed the death of his birth mother when she killed herself. Therefore, when he met the love of his life, he invested all his emotions in her. She was like a float in the ocean for him. He depended on her to console his pain. He could be strict and commanding in the office, but once he was with his loved one, he was as timid as a kitty, cringy just like a small boy. For his part, Zhang Ming En was so convincing. I fell in love with this character immediately.

I found the Gao Jie character so confusing. On one hand, she was supposed to be open and outright but on the other, she was deceitful. Time and time again, she covered up even she already had a very deep relationship with Yu Zhi. She was supposed to be intelligent and sensitive and yet she lacked the innate ability to detect something had gone wrong when Yu Zhi gave her multiple hints to confess herself. In fact, she was so oblivious to the point of being irritating, and the character was not consistent with the personality of being a sensitive person who Yu Zhi had fallen in love with.

This drama is actually quite a moving story. The underlying theme is how plagiarism hurts the original creators. It was very heart warming to see how one should take care of ones’ parents despite them being disabled/invalid. Friends and family should trump everything including success and wealth. Winning is not everything. If one wants a long lasting loving relationship, one should build it with trust, love, and without an ulterior motive.

Things were wrapped up quite properly at the conclusion. The Chinese / western cross-over wedding gown was perhaps the most beautiful wedding gown I've ever seen.

I wish the production team had hired better voice actors in speaking English. I don’t mind the accent, but it was really embarrassing listening to bad English; most of the time, I couldn’t understand what they were saying without reading the subtitles.

Overall, this is a rather fun drama to watch without eating your heart out. If you have nothing better to watch right now, this drama maybe a good candidate for you.

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Connoisseur Turns Pervert and Chef Turns Tart

I've watched the movie version of this drama, “This Is Not What I Expected”. When the drama aired, it received a lot of good comments and I started watching and liked it a lot. However, by the end of episode 5, I decided I couldn’t continue anymore even though Zhao Lusi’s performance is hilarious for the first 2 episodes which I liked.

Gu Sheng Nan (Zhao Lusi) is like a humpty dumpty; everywhere she goes, she brings havocs. Zhao Lu Si herself is like a "shǎ bái tián" (silly, fair, sweet). Her portrayal is so adorable with not only a bubbly character but also slightly dumb-witted (occasionally) which makes her very endearing. I like how they have used food to convey messages which only a connoisseur can understand and appreciate. Initially the dialogues are unexpectedly good and funny. Then they become ordinary and predictable.

As the story develops, I begin to be put off by how Lu Jin (Lin Shen) coming on to her, knowing she’s just a young financially insecure girl and himself a wealthy and powerful middle age man. I’m in no way against such relationships, but I’m turned off by how he seduces her, and she does likewise. This makes the relationship very artificial which I totally dislike.

By episode 5, Lu Jin turns into a pervert and she becomes a cheap tart. I find the relationship of the male lead and female lead better in the movie (This is Not What I Expected) where their falling in love more natural without all the seduction parts as depicted in the drama here. I also dislike her girl friend Xu Zhao Di who uses people and is terribly materialistic. And I dislike how the personal assistant willing to be used and becomes a willing victim for Xu Zhao Di because he likes to show off.

As how the story goes from here, I cannot see myself liking it further, so I’m dropping it. It is very rare for me dropping a series, but I’m afraid this is one of them.

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Unbearable!

I’m normally a very tolerant and patient person. I can tolerate and follow through many crappy dramas just because maybe I like the story, or the acting, or the characters. But Immortal Samsara is such a pain to watch – the characters, especially Yan Dan, are so unlikable, and the storyline is stale; there’s nothing compelling about this drama. It is very rare for me to give up a drama, but I cannot even push through the third episode here, not that I have anything else to watch. I had thought I liked Yang Zi, but for some reasons, I have disliked her since The Oath of Love (crappy, dropped), and her portrayal of the Yan Dan character here is a total turn-off. Even so, I cannot bring myself to rate this drama below a 7.0/10 though my suggested rating is a 5.5.

Drop after 2.5 episodes!

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