Welcome to my weekly blog post where I give thoughts on dramas I’m watching but not recapping.
This week I recapped episodes 5 and 6 of Japanese found-family-BL Our Dining Table and watched them grow closer while making ramen fried rice and udon.
This week I finished:
Joy of Life – 庆余年 – (2019)
A 2019 Chinese court-drama-kinda with 46 episodes.
A young man with a mysterious past who only wants to enjoy life is drawn to the capital where he finds himself in the center of all kinds of political scheming.
Here’s a link to my initial review.
When last I posted about this show I had the hot take that it was good and weird. So how did I feel by the end?
The show is definitely still good, though the weirdness peaked at about two-thirds the way in. At that point, some weirdness was explained, and the focus shifted more to court politics and maneuvering. The explanation was interesting though, and leaves room for more weirdness in season 2 though, so I am satisfied.
The court politics and various schemings and maneuverings were still interesting enough to keep me going to the end of the series. I’m going to give Zhang Ruo Yun who plays our lead a lot of credit for his performance tugging on my heartstrings. His character is boisterous and charming and amusing, but underneath it all very sincere and concerned for those around him.
There are a lot of other great characters though, whose performances really carried the show when sometimes the plot was a bit more standard-court-drama. The emperor might be my favorite emperor, with his way of lounging around in his very casual-feeling robes. Our male lead siblings and his family, including a puppy-like younger brother, were great and good for some comic relief. Then there’s the mysterious Uncle Wu Zhu. The list could go on.
Not an amazing love story though, as the story is focused squarely on our male lead. If you’re looking for a power couple you need to keep looking.
There were always interesting mysteries going on though, some of which will wait until season 2 to be revealed. Some scenes were also real standouts for being unique and interesting. My favorite out of the whole series have to do with some epic poetry and an older poet who is passionate about his art.
There is the well-known cliffhanger at the end and then that nagging uncertainty about the second season because of the ongoing censorship situation. I’m hopeful though, and I have a lot of theories about what will happen next. As soon as the second season is out, I will be watching.