Anne: Happy Tuesday, or Wednesday, or whenever this post is read. I hope everyone in the United States had a great three-day weekend. I spent the whole weekend debating whether or not I should work. Am I crazy or am I just a masochist? But my laziness took over and I decided to move a training presentation to the following week instead of trying to finish it with my other 3 presentations. I spent a lot of time watching my dramas on YouTube, but I managed to catch a main production.
Faithful Love (Liu Guang Yin)
This one is a little hard to find based on the English title, as there are too many other similar titles released this year. I don’t remember why I started this show, out of all the others that have aired over the last three weeks. I think it was the “God of War” and the “illegitimate daughter”, both of which have been featured in my favorite dramatic shorts of late. Well… everything points to this being a period drama… imagine my confusion when the first episode started like that…
For about a good minute… I wonder if the wrong video was linked. The fight against the very large snake…like Anaconda…was…strange. I was literally checking back and forth trying to figure out if I clicked the wrong button or something. NO. This is NOT exactly a historical drama… It’s more of a transmigration drama… Our FL finds a very shiny and decorated dagger…
…which transports her to an “other” world and time.
The LF becomes Han Zi Qing, an underprivileged (not illegitimate, she’s just not the daughter of a concubine instead of the primary wife) daughter of the Prime Minister. Her sister, preparing her to “lose” her reputation by getting her drunk, slept in a hostel (thus staying out all night) and throws the FL into the street with just her inner clothes. The reason? She cannot therefore participate in the selection to find a wife for Jun Bei Ye (the 4th Prince). Well…the problem…Jun Bei Ye was poisoned, and the only reason he survived was because he transferred his poison to Florida. And when the FL didn’t die as expected and got back up like nothing happened, he REALLY became interested in her (Let THAT sink in…).
And when ML showed up in court the next day… his brothers were a little surprised.
And the other two people, using a gecko (or other lizard), to “search” for something. and it seems that “something” is the FL.
Interactions with FL and ML are sometimes surprisingly funny.
The best part was the “selection”… it was the fastest selection I have ever seen in a drama. Basically he went up and down twice…talked to two people, one of them being the FL. When he asked her about her “skills,” she responded that she had “none.” The exasperation on his face was hilarious! Then he walked away, looked back and declared “I choose you!”
As more and more people “try” to talk him out of choosing the “ruined” girl, FL rubs his head in disbelief…an entire 5 minute conversation is discussed in public. Finally, he took her home. And the only reason she “went” with him was because she saw the “dagger” on his person.
Then there was this whole act with the granting of marriage. The emperor accepted it, on the understanding that the FL would certainly not live long enough to be conferred. Thr THE SLOWNESS of the poor guy as he tries to slow down the decree while watching the “sick” FL, who thought he was going to collapse any minute.
I’ll continue to follow… it’s the same but also a little different.
Now…I want to spend some time discussing my YouTube dramas that I’m obsessed with these months. One of my favorite storylines right now is when two sisters had completely different lives that seemed to begin the moment they chose who to marry. To be clearer, the “bad” sister married “well” (the man is usually rich, high status, etc.) and the “smart” sister had to marry the “worse” man of the two. But in the end, the wealthy marriage led to disaster and the “bad” girl found herself destitute. While the other girl’s husband gained a lot of merit, made a lot of money, and eventually became very respected and wealthy. The “bad” sister kills her sister out of jealousy. But they both ended up being “reborn” on their wedding day. This time, the “bad” sister decides to marry the “best” guy. The rest of the story is basically about the important role that the “clever” sister played in her husband’s/life’s success.
They did it both as modern and as a costume…