Here Is My Exclusive Indulge Season 2: Not a Continuity but a Parallel

Just finished watching this sequel to Here Is My Exclusive Indulge, which is one of the first mini-dramas I watched and which, despite its many flaws, I still consider one of my favorites.

Season Two retains FL Sissi Bao Chen Xi and Chen Si Qi as the male lead's assistant, while replacing the ML from season one with Lin Fen Song. I like this Season too, equally to but differently from Season One. S2 resolves some of the glaring production problems that were so jarring in season 1, and more importantly, it gave a LOT more screen time and lines to Chu He [Chen SiQi, you are such a sweetie! lol] ... I didn't really like the opening as much as season 1, but once the alternative time line was established, it mostly flowed really well. There weren't as many funny moments in S2, but this was made up for by better development of the romantic thread of the plot.

Each season has its merits, and perhaps would be wisely marketed as the "comic book" version and the "real life" version ... to allow for connectivity without creating the expectation of continuity. [Season Two begins with the FL as the writer of a comic book version of ML Fu Sihan's romantic life, so this could potentially work].

Overall this is a solid and enjoyable followup to Season One.

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Heart of Loyalty Is Worth It If You Are Not Too Nitpicky

So ... I just finished Heart of Loyalty and ... sigh ... I still have a grin on my face....

It started kinda slow, but things picked up when the male lead decided to go to Liao as the princess' bodyguard. The plot is an attractive blend of political intrigue, detective fiction, action and romance that keeps it from sagging much. Even the inevitable "walking through the market" scenes usually had some plot teaser embedded.

One thing I liked about this drama is the way it portrays female characters as equal to / the equivalent of their male counterparts without making them at all "manly". For example, the best female martial artist in the drama is a married woman with a baby. Additionally, the younger female characters all showed some character development as the plot progressed, which was quite a plus compared to some other dramas I've seen.

There were also some other genuinely notable features. One was the development of romantic sub-plots that kept the drama sweet without making it overly so. Along with the main leads, the drama developed three other romantic relationships. I also liked some specific characters a lot, in particular the princes [Prince Ning of Song and Prince HongJi of Liao] and Second Brother, who was the coolest and most bada** guy in the entire drama.

My biggest problem is that there are some awkward scene cuts and transitions, but I suspect that has more to do with censored scenes than anything else. I've also seen some people who complained about the FL, but I don't see her acting as any worse than a lot of the "prettier" female actors out there.

I would definitely recommend this one if you like your historical drama with a little bit of everything ... oh, and Wu Xize / Li Hongi ... lol

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A Modern Rom-Com That Doesn't Disappoint

I just finished Love at Night [2021], a modern business rom-com with Liu Xueyi and Zhang Yuxi headlining the cast. I actually picked this up because I wanted to see Liu Xueyi in another lead role [where I could enjoy his dimples lol], but I'm glad I did. While it is certainly not perfect, I'd rate it as one of the better recent rom-coms I've seen.

The central character, Xu Qingyou, meets her love interest, Mo Linze, when she drowns her sorrows at a local bar because she discovers her boyfriend / fiance of ten years has recently cheated on her. Their story develops due to their interaction on the business playing field and through other social encounters. An extensive cast of friends, family and work associates support the main leads through numerous crises, add to the conflict and provide a great deal of comic relief. Two additional couples provide subplots that highlight relationship conflicts like older woman with younger man and rich heiress with working class man.

Overall I would rate this pretty highly. Good to see a cast that's mostly out of the early 20s, with a plot that makes them look mature, intelligent and responsible, and characterization that is a little more complex than normal. The kiss scenes were well done for the most part, and the cliche scenes weren't overwhelming. Oh! And the women were well dressed! They looked like professionals, and wore colours that made them look good. I think I saw two sweaters on women the whole time... lol ...

The plot was reasonably paced, though I agree with some comments I've seen that the main couple could have gotten a little more screen time, especially as opposed to the 2nd couple. There were also some background details that annoyed me, like one character being asthmatic but never having the appropriate meds on hand for emergencies, and umbrellas that disappeared into thin air after the rain.

Nevertheless this is quite an enjoyable drama.

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Typical Mini-Drama: Some Good Points, Some Bad

After finishing Deity of Love, I was reminded of the good and bad things about the mini-drama format.

The plot is a typical wuxia plot in that it involves sectarian fighters for justice and the well-being of the people. This quality manifests itself as a struggle between the demon-hunters and their demon prey. There are a romantic MC and 2MC, and many of the plot devices and tropes typical of the genre [falling-down kiss, jealous "sister", etc] are used. Given that they had under 150 minutes total run time, the playwrights did a fairly decent job of creating a plot that held together and ran from start to finish without any major holes. Most of the others, like how specific characters became connected to each other, are left to the audience's imagination and don't really detract from the overall progression of the story line.

In terms of the characters and the actors portraying them, I'd say this was a mediocre performance. The male and female lead weren't awful, and had one or two moments when they made the drama interesting; the romantic moments were muted without being overly "wooden" in appearance. The performance by the rest of the cast was very uneven. There were several moments when the demon-hunter roles were seriously overacted, and the 2nd ML seemed to suffer from a personality disorder, but for the limited scope of the work most of it was okay. The role that in my opinion was portrayed in the most interesting way was that of the villain, who was ironically just about the prettiest actor in the entire drama [lol].

In terms of production values .... well, it's a mini-drama by Tencent. I don't think one can expect too much. Costuming and setting was relatively standard, and some of the graphic effects were .... weird. But none of it was absolutely horrible. My biggest complaint is that the lighting / film quality was lower than it had to be. The film quality gave me the vibe of one of those old kitschy Power Rangers videos from years and years ago.

Nevertheless, there were some things I genuinely liked about Deity of Love. First, I actually liked the "tropiness" of the plot, mainly because the short format made it difficult for the writers to be too repetitious about it, but also because there's a certain guilty pleasure in knowing what to expect. Even the typical standard Chinese plot outcomes worked for me because they present what I like to think of as an appropriately Chinese world view. The writers actually were able to stick in a plot moment or two that really were unexpected and thus add some suspense even for the most experienced viewer.

I also liked the actors were also not too pretty. I'm not saying they were unattractive - on the contrary. They just looked like real people you might encounter in life rather than godlike beings. This works for me since the story is meant to be a gritty tale of good overcoming evil. And making the villain the most physically attractive character actually works to highlight the theme of the drama [yes, it did have a theme ... lol] . I appreciate that the writers tried to make the story about more than the typical fight for good and evil,

All in all, this was a satisfactory and satisfying quick watch for those who just want a little wuxia "fix" without having to invest 24 or 36 hours of one's time.

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Cliched in All the Best and Worst Ways

This was quite romantic ... love the moments the 1CP had together... I found the romantic scenes, especially in the first 2/3 of the show, very lively, with mostly decent looking kiss scenes. The ML in particular was good at giving off that smoldering interest that makes the intimate moments look "sexy".
That being said:
1. the girls' father was a sleazy wimp. He should have acknowledged that second daughter properly and encouraged them to see each other as blood relatives. A lot of the animosity they experienced towards each other could have been eliminated. [Not going to deny the poisonous impact of the mother / stepmother, though.... she was a poison master in both the literal and figurative sense.]
2. the ex-boyfriend was also a fool. He should have cut his losses with the older sister and capitalized on the relationship he already had with the younger sister. The fact that he hadn't realized the ship had sailed on that original relationship just proved that he didn't deserve to be in charge of that business. Let's put aside that he is a liar and an opportunist ... even that spoiled younger sister was better than he deserved.
3. I admit the last section, with the FL just sitting there feeling sorry for herself instead of going to her men, was a bit annoying. Even after everything was over, she didn't seem to be able to move beyond her self-centred view to consider the feelings of her boyfriend and sister.
4. I also felt they could have done a LOT more to redeem the sisterhood line of this story - there was so much more to be done in terms of acknowledging the younger sister's place in the family and giving her child its proper place. This is particularly true because this sister is actually the TRUE hero of the plot; she went against her own best interests, her upbringing, and her [somewhat justified] resentment of her blood relatives in order to save her dad and future brother-in-law. But basically she just "walked off into the sunset", with no sense that she was being accepted as an integral part of the family.
I also didn't understand the need for the "going abroad" twist in the plot... especially not as portrayed. It really seemed to be included just for the cliche value.
Luckily they redeemed the story line for the happy ending.

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