rising with the wind 23 - 24
I'm barely interested in Zhao Yang and Gao Yi, but their scene left the most impact for me again
+ so Teng Yue has a distribution problem. not even Xu Si has a network for this. but who has direct access to customers? Yup, department store director Gao Yi
+ I see Jiang Hu as having several arcs here.
Pride was tackled early on, we saw her sell her stuff, we saw her go after creditors like a gangster loan shark. Now she takes pride in her shamelessness. At the same time we saw her recover her pride when she faced her former friends, now the pride she holds is on more stable ground as she earned it herself.
Her business know how is an ongoing learning experience.
Trusting other people again is another hurdle. I think that her hesitation with Xu Si is more than being focused on business, or having a line between personal and professional life. It is also about trust. She lumped Xu Si as one of those "who twisted the knife". It is something that will be tested again before the series ends I think.
I think another ongoing arc is forgiveness. Jiang Hu has worked with Wang Zhenghan already. But as we can see, even with Jiang Hu's forgiveness, that relationship will continue to be adversarial. The Cloud Footwear subplot also seems to indicate a wariness of the director due to the sins of Jiang Hu's dad. Now we have GAO YI. The biggest scar that Jiang Hu carries is from Gao Yi's betrayal. For her to work with him again for Teng Yue's distribution, she would have to melt that huge hardened scab on her heart. She may not be able to forgive him fully, but she has to accept that she would have to acknowledge his existence, and even accept help from him
+ another thing I love about that Gao Yi - Zhao Yang scene is that this is the 5th triangle on this implicit love pentagon we have. Zhao Yang is finally close to Gao Yi, closer than Jiang Hu. For someone who always looses to Jiang Hu, always inferior, this might be some relief. But here she is, needing to be the bridge for Gao Yi and Jiang Hu for Teng Yue. Like being in the middle of a lover's quarrel. Zhao Yang is unaware of the depth of the rift between the two, and from her point of view, she could easily lose Gao Yi again. I just love the implicit heartbreak in that scene.
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Decline (2023) is a pretty cool little thing
So, I just stumbled upon this short Cdrama today and ended up watching it in one go. It was actually much better than I expected!
Basically, smart and free-spirited Su Cheng Xi (in white) crosses path with no-nonsense Sui Han Bai (in black) while investigating a strange disappearance of a theatrical troupe, and the fun starts from here.
Hidden identities, the mysteries of the past, treasure maps, murders and bromance - literally, what more could you possibly want??
It's a 20 episodes drama, 10 minute each. Viki combined it into 7 longer ones, which is much better to digest, at least for me.
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The first thing that I noticed was - unexpectedly really good cinematography! I am generally quite lenient towards the technical side of shows, but I still have eyes, and those eyes were pleasantly surprised today. The chase scene at the very beginning was beautifully shot. Do you see the colors? Chef's kiss!
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Second great thing is characters.
Su Cheng Xi - a wandering detective, mischievous and seemingly carefree, but also very sharp and with the hidden agenda:
Sui Han Bai - an uptight and serious constable of Dayong City, follow-the-rules kinda guy... Or so it seems. But more on that later. For now - behold the visage:
When those two meet for the first time, they literally have a battle in slow motion, dramatic song and flower petals in the air. Sure, that's totally normal thing for anyone to do, what are you even talking about.
There are also two female characters present, but they don't feel like being there just to appease the censorship overlords. It's hard for me to say anything about them without spoilers, but the dynamic between them and the boys is interesting.
Yue Xiao Qiao, an assassin from Qianji Pavillion:
Zuo Han Qin, Dayong City Lord's daughter:
This is Zhao Yin, a servant of Su Cheng Xi, he's there and he's nice:
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Third thing is the plot and pacing. This is a crime-solving drama, so there is an (unusually high) number of dead bodies to identify and secrets to uncover. The cases are not overly complicated, but at the same time quite interesting. I managed to guess some of the twists, but was also surprised by others.
Because of the shorter run-time there are no unnecessary fillers, something is always happening to someone. Sometimes several events are going right after another or even simultaneously, and you're sitting here like wtf. But in a good way, you know?
(Skulls are awesome, and frankly there should be more of them in every drama).
And at the same time the pace doesn't feel overly rushed. We have time to witness some dramatic flashbacks, tender scenes and some funny moments sprinkled in between.
Also-also, and this is a slight spoiler, but I know that a lot of people are pissed about generally crappy endings in cdramas, so I'm happy to announce that Decline has a good one! Like, wow, what a rare thing this is. Though not every mystery is solved, so there's a potential for season 2, but at least you won't be left feeling like you've been slapped in the face with a rotten fish afterwards.
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Forth thing (and this is my personal opinion), this drama is definitely a love story between Sui Han Bai and Su Cheng Xi. They obviously don't say anything out loud, and regard each other as "best friends" (this "xiong di qing" aka "brotherly love" excuse has been cracking me up since Guardian), but come on. Like, you literally have several tropes that are common in het romance dramas! And the lengths that they go in order to protect each other? Simply insane.
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Speaking of protectiveness, Sui Han Bai. This guy surprised me the most in terms of his disposition. Based on the initial impression, his dynamic with Su Cheng Xi (playful vs strict), and his archetype that we've all seen in previous dramas, you'd think that you know what kind of character this constable is going to be, right? Well... I don't want to spoil anything, but there was a moment in ep.3 where I was like: "Holy shit, he could just do that?" So I'm just going to put this picture here, and leave it up to you to guess the context:
This was a scene where I was like, I love this guy. Devotion, combined with ruthlessness. Delicious.
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Overall, I really liked it! Adding this little gem to my collection of mystery-solving boys. The history books will write that they were really good friends.
This has been your friendly ghost from Abyss, with some recommendations on how to distract yourself from the horrors of existing(*^-^*)
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