Secondary OTPs taking up the slack
Mar. 27th, 2011 01:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieAm working on insanely long, cappy, and detailed post on Feng Shao Feng/Myolie Wu's characters in SoaB. God, how I loved them. But now their storyline is done and the only thing keeping me going is assassin/general. Speaking of, mmmmm:
Even more mmmm:
Oh, why couldn't the drama be about FSF and Myolie or Yang Mi and Mikey He? Watching them, OTOH, only throws into sharp contrast how little the rest of the drama is working for me - I need characters I can love and root for. If I have those, I can get through a really flawed drama happily but if not, no matter what else the drama has, it won't work for me. And SoaB, though objectively having a better screenplay than e.g. Four Women Conflict, doesn't work for me because I loathe the protagonist and her husband.
It's not because they are schemers or ruthless or whatnot - I am madly in love with Cao Cao in Three Kingdoms and he makes every character in SoaB seem like a boyscout. It's just that they have this martyr air about them and the drama expects me to see them as good when they are not. The drama also wants me to root for them but it doesn't give me any cause - why should I root for them and not e.g. Lu Zhi's faction or Lu Lu's scheming or Liu Zhang's faction or whatever else? They are not any better (and worse than some), they are not any nobler or smarter or kinder or epic. 3 Kingdoms is helped by the fact that the actor who plays Cao Cao could outact every person in SoaB combined. Ruby and Sammul are OK but they don't really have the capacity to project such magnetism, charm or fierce smarts that would make me love them despite their actions (not to mention, they really have little chemistry together as a couple which makes rooting for their romance really difficult). Once again, see Cao Cao, or even Feng Shao Feng's character in this - no, he isn't a Cao Cao mark 2 in either acting or character's epic persona, but while he does plenty of questionable things, his sheer charisma and emotion makes me root for him in any confrontation with the golden couple and not for them. Heck, see the actress who played Lu Zhi. Lu Zhi is a monster and I was rooting for her in any confrontation with Ruby. Surely, that means something is wrong. You can only have saintly martyr demeanor and air if you are one, not if you are a nasty schemer. That just makes me label you as a hypocrite if you keep this up in private.
Anyway, FSF/Myolie will get their own post, but for now, here is epicness of assassin/spy in the most epic scene that ever epiced. Basically, his army is surrounded and they are all about to die, and assassin breaks through to them to fight and die with them (or more specifically, with general) and in process reveals her mad kungfu:
And then there is angst and staring:
And then he makes her leave to save her life. Despite some really tempting temptations:
Oh my God, at this rate you will die of old age before you get together!
I continue to be bemused how Yu Zheng managed to write two such amazing secondary OTPs and such an awful main one.
Fair warning - once Yang Mi/Mikey He is done, I am dropping this drama, on the off-chance you care about the fact.
They are the sole thing that keeps me watching now.
Even more mmmm:
Oh, why couldn't the drama be about FSF and Myolie or Yang Mi and Mikey He? Watching them, OTOH, only throws into sharp contrast how little the rest of the drama is working for me - I need characters I can love and root for. If I have those, I can get through a really flawed drama happily but if not, no matter what else the drama has, it won't work for me. And SoaB, though objectively having a better screenplay than e.g. Four Women Conflict, doesn't work for me because I loathe the protagonist and her husband.
It's not because they are schemers or ruthless or whatnot - I am madly in love with Cao Cao in Three Kingdoms and he makes every character in SoaB seem like a boyscout. It's just that they have this martyr air about them and the drama expects me to see them as good when they are not. The drama also wants me to root for them but it doesn't give me any cause - why should I root for them and not e.g. Lu Zhi's faction or Lu Lu's scheming or Liu Zhang's faction or whatever else? They are not any better (and worse than some), they are not any nobler or smarter or kinder or epic. 3 Kingdoms is helped by the fact that the actor who plays Cao Cao could outact every person in SoaB combined. Ruby and Sammul are OK but they don't really have the capacity to project such magnetism, charm or fierce smarts that would make me love them despite their actions (not to mention, they really have little chemistry together as a couple which makes rooting for their romance really difficult). Once again, see Cao Cao, or even Feng Shao Feng's character in this - no, he isn't a Cao Cao mark 2 in either acting or character's epic persona, but while he does plenty of questionable things, his sheer charisma and emotion makes me root for him in any confrontation with the golden couple and not for them. Heck, see the actress who played Lu Zhi. Lu Zhi is a monster and I was rooting for her in any confrontation with Ruby. Surely, that means something is wrong. You can only have saintly martyr demeanor and air if you are one, not if you are a nasty schemer. That just makes me label you as a hypocrite if you keep this up in private.
Anyway, FSF/Myolie will get their own post, but for now, here is epicness of assassin/spy in the most epic scene that ever epiced. Basically, his army is surrounded and they are all about to die, and assassin breaks through to them to fight and die with them (or more specifically, with general) and in process reveals her mad kungfu:
And then there is angst and staring:
And then he makes her leave to save her life. Despite some really tempting temptations:
Oh my God, at this rate you will die of old age before you get together!
I continue to be bemused how Yu Zheng managed to write two such amazing secondary OTPs and such an awful main one.
Fair warning - once Yang Mi/Mikey He is done, I am dropping this drama, on the off-chance you care about the fact.
They are the sole thing that keeps me watching now.
