Yes... be ready to cry buckets of tears!
I've watched "Loving Never Forgetting" now it's time to give my thoughts on the matter. The drama feels like a modernized Qiong Yao drama... Jerry Yan being a more modern version of senior actor Qin Han. So what are my thoughts? At first, it seems to be just an Autumn Concerto remake but this time, I always have the feeling I want to tear my heart out. Autumn Concerto felt like a Qiong Yao drama but this one wanted to make me tear my heart out. It almost feels typical to Qiong Yao's dramas... family conflict, love polygons and buckets of tears.
So let's get it straight... like Autumn Concerto you have a rich man who impregnates an ordinary girl. Autumn Concerto already had me crying buckets of tears for most of its run but it had a happy ending. This drama has buckets of tears but reminds me of conflict within family. I even feel like elements of Romance in the Rain were into it. Two different mothers, one common father, an unwanted child, a suffering heroine... what more can you ask? So where do we get buckets and buckets of tears?
Half-brothers caught in between a love triangle for one woman...
What is bordered around the drama are the themes of revenge and love. You have that in Romance in the Rain except it involves half-brothers. Li Zhongmou (acted by Jerry Yan) was born before marriage then we have his half-brother Xiang Jun (acted by Denny Huang). I always thought it was predictable with all the hints. Li Zhongmou is ruthless and vengeance crazed... Xiang Jun although he feels like the "villain" he isn't... he's also another jerk who can be really nice deep within. But the intensity is always because of family matters especially Li Zhongmou's hatred for his father... and his half-brother swearing revenge.
Both paternal half-brothers Zhongmou and Xiang Jun feel like as if they have the blood of Lu Zhenhua and Yiping. In what way? If the Lus were their ancestors, one can see them as descendants. Both siblings have the panther spirit of Lu Zhenhua and Yiping, as if Lu Zhenhua was their ancestor. Both half-brothers can be ruthless. It's like as if their common father was actually the son of Shuhuan and Yiping. Both of them have the panther spirit in each other, ready to rip each other because of one woman. Like Zhenhua, Zhongmou tends to treat women indifferently like trophies and like Yiping, he wants revenge on his own father. Xiang Jun himself also has the playboy tendencies of Lu Zhenhua but he's not as ruthless.
What's cliche is that two paternal half-brothers with different fathers quarrel over the same woman, because in the past their fathers did the same thing. In Romance in the Rain, Yiping and Ruping are half-sisters of different mothers competing for the same man, Shuhuan. In this one, it's less cliche considering they are repeating their mothers' feuds. Li Zhongmou's mom was clingy to their common father even if the latter no longer wanted her. So pretty much, it's a unique diversion from the two types of half-siblings repeating the history of different parents. Both of them have vengeful tendencies towards each other, one way or another. Worse, Li Zhongmou must endure that nagging mother of his.
Yes, she's the heroine caught in between half-brothers...
Next I can talk about the heroine Wu Tongtong acted by Tong Liya. What's common with her and Qiong Yao heroines? She suffered psychologically for the sake of love. In her case, she's stuck in between half-brothers. She's always in denial to the point she makes tall tales to her son, who she sired one fateful night she met Li Zhongmou. Like your Qiong Yao heroine, she sheds lots of tears per episode. In my case, I wanted Esther Liu to play the part instead since Tong Liya doesn't have the similar charm Liu Xuehua had. Esther Liu's performance as a leading lady for me were closer to that of Liu Xuehua's younger days. Liu Yifei may have been better also and we'd have a Qin Han/Brigitte Lin chemistry in the show.
Her story was similar to that of Autumn Concerto. But she didn't date him that time, it was a drunken evening that got her to conceive their son Wu Tongtong. She was just a College girl back then and she got pregnant with Zhongmou's son. Later on, her dad drove her out because of the scandal, she tries her best to support her son for those four years. Years later, her sufferings continue when she meets the man who fathered her son, Zhongmou. This leads to the custody battles of fate. What she doesn't even realize soon her psychological sufferings will be intensified as she is caught in between paternal half-brothers.
The paternal half-brothers' battle is very much panther vs. panther. Zhongmou defeated his paternal half-brother in a business battle five years ago. This of course never left Xiang Jun's head that his older paternal half-brother defeated him in a business battle. Zhongmou is cold and ruthless since the two have one common father, two different mothers. Who would have predicted that one day the two panther would fight over the leading lady? To be caught in between a panther vs. panther love triangle is not an easy thing for the heroine.
So far, the story is indeed very addicting even when I'm ready to tear my heart out. I haven't seen any weepy, serious drama for a very long time.
Comments
Post a Comment