Nirvana in Fire 2: The Wind Blows in Chang Lin (2017)

Un chef d'oeuvre à n'en pas douter

L'histoire de ce deuxième opus se passe plusieurs années après les événements du premier. Peut-être une cinquantaine d'années plus tard, car le Prince Jing n'est plus et c'est son successeur, l'empereur Liu Jun de Liang qui est sur le trône. Ici dans, le drama tourne autour de l'histoire de la maison de Chang Lin, une puissante famille de militaire dont le chef de famille n'est autre que le grand prince royal, frère de l'empereur. La famille Chang Lin est composé de deux frères, Xiao Ping Zhang et Xiao Ping Jing, ainsi que l'épouse de Ping Zhang, Meng Qian Xue. Une famille puissante et respectée, ayant plus de 180 000 hommes fidèles sous leur autorité. Voilà de quoi faire peur et jalouser les puissants de la cour. Complots sur complots, le but de ces personnes est donc de faire tomber la famille Chang Lin afin d'anticiper une probable rébellion de la part cette branche royale.

Si NIF2 n'est pas aussi incroyable que NIF1, aussi intelligemment et savamment mené, il est émotionnellement plus fort et plus intense. La force de ce drama est justement les liens familiaux! et mes aieux, quels liens. Quelle force. Quelle magnifique leçon d'amour entre des frères. Entre le père et ses fils. Entre l'épouse et son mari. entre la belle-soeur et son beau-frère. Ici, le mot filial prend tous son sens!

Le lien qui unit les deux frères est magnifique! Un tel amour entre frère, une telle alchimie entre eux qui est inoubliable. Ping Zhang le calme et Ping Jing le fougueux. Si différent et si unis tout à la fois. L'émotion qui se dégage de leur "dispute", de leur accolade est tellement forte que j'ai eu beaucoup beaucoup de mal à retenir mes larmes par la suite.
Pareillement pour le père Royal. Nous avons eu le coeur qui ne s'en remet toujours pas. Ting Sheng a une telle sagesse dans ses propos avec ses fils, il a une telle affection dans son regard, envers eux, que cela en est poignant (sacrebleu, j'avais oublié que ces acteurs savaient jouer avec leur yeux...). Ses gestes sont mesurés et en même temps avec une dignité royale qui impressionne. Et cette seule et unique fois où Ting Sheng pleure et hurle...punaise mon coeur ne l'a pas oublié....
Je n'oublie pas Ping Zhang et sa femme, Meng Qian Xue, qui sont un des couples les plus jolis à regarder. Leur amour, tranquille d'un vieux couple, est inspirant. Tous leurs gestes transpirent d'amour et leur attention l'un envers l'autre sont adorables et naturelles.

Si la force de ce drama est ce lien incassable entre les personnages, il faut dire que les personnages sont magistralement interprétés par des acteurs bourrés de talents. Pas une seule fausse note, j'ai même redécouvert Turbo Liu que j'avais vu dans "Novoland, eagle flag" mais qui ne m'avait pas forcément marqué. Ici, Turbo Liu démontre toutes les facettes de Ping Jin, de l'insouciance à la douleur avec sincérité. Son sourire de coquin et ses regards pétillants ont donnée vie à ce personnage talentueux. Ping Jin, enfant insouciant et spontanée, parfois boudeur mais toujours à l'écoute de son frère et de son père, évolue dans la douleur et deviendra un adulte mature, usant de son immense talent de tacticien pour ceux qu'il aime.
Inutile de dire que Huang Xiao Ming est un acteur qui sait donner une profondeur incroyable à son personnage. Tout comme son père, Ping Zhang est un personnage calme et réfléchi. Ses paroles sont toujours mesurées et pesées avec soin. Ce qui en fait le personnage clé pour le maintien de la paix dans le royaume.
Hormis le clan des Chang Lin, pratiquement tous les personnages secondaires ont été interprétés avec finesse et de manière juste. Je pense notamment à la douce Lin Xi, à Yuan Qi, à mon chouchou Fei Zhan, à mon autre chouchou General Yue Yin Chuan...

Il est difficile de décrire les émotions que ce drama a engendré chez nous, chéri et moi. Une palette d'émotions violentes qui nous a amené plusieurs fois à pleurer et à vouloir aller les consoler. A se battre à leur côtés. Nous avons rarement été aussi heureux et excités que de voir l'armée de Chang Lin à la fin mener l'étendard bruyamment. Fièrement. Limite, j'en dansais de joie. Quelle scène épique. Qui résonne encore encore dans ma tête.
Certains peuvent reprocher une certaine lenteur dans ce drama. Il est vrai que nous avions envie de sauter des épisodes, juste par impatience, et non par ennui. L'impatience de voir Ping Jing leur mettre une raclée. De voir celui qui le mérite comprendre que ce qu'il a fait n'en valait pas la peine. La lenteur de ce drama est une force et une faiblesse tout en même temps. Tout dépendra de votre capacité à réfréner votre impatience à la conclusion. En ce qui nous concerne, cela ne fut pas une nuisance. L'émotion étant le coeur de ce drama, nous n'en attendions pas des actions grandiloquentes.

Le plaisir de traquer les traces du passé a presque été un péché de gourmandise. Tout le long du drama, quelques détails révèlent les liens des personnages avec Mei Chang Su . Nous étions si heureux de voir parsemer ici et là des détails sur Mei Chang Su et le Prince Jin, ce jeu de devinette sur qui est lié avec Mei Chang Su était un petit moment de plaisir qui a donné une dimension de retrouvaille avec de vieux amis et ce jusqu'au dernier épisode. L'apothéose fut la révélation finale. Ceux qui auront vu le premier, comprendront ^^ .

Pour finir, l'OST. Certaines musiques sont magnifiques et siéent parfaitement à cette fresque épique. Nous passons tour à tour des rires aux larmes et des sanglots à l'émerveillement. La chanson de fin est SUBLIME. Une chanson, version féminine et masculine, qui monte en puissance telle une litanie d'amour et de douleur. Les paroles sont belles et si tristes à la fois. J'aime la version féminine, mais j'admet une nette préférence pour la version masculine, plus puissante et plus douloureusement lyrique.
Si NIF2 n'est pas aussi abouti que NIF1, il est toutefois plus intense et plus difficile émotionnellement.
Nirvana In Fire 3 est en préparation et c'est donc avec impatience que nous attendons ce troisième opus après la réussite incontestable des 2 premiers.

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I binge watched this drama in 2 days after finally deciding I was going to give it a shot. Updated edit after a rewatch: I'm hesitant to compare this against NiF 1 anymore (even though I still do think it was better produced, I'm more emotionally attached to the characters in NiF2) because I think they're such great companion stories for each other. While 2 is a sequel (it takes place about 50 years later after the first), it's an entirely different story with a different premise. Prepare for an emotional rollercoaster - this show will earn your tears and your emotional investment.

Story
The story focuses on the family of the general of the Changlin Army (the army that was created in Mei Changsu's memory). Ting Sheng, the head of the family and of the army, was one of the slave boys that Mei Changsu had saved in the original, and was later adopted by Prince Xiao Jingyan. Ting Sheng's oldest son, Xiao Pingzhang, is his right hand man and the named heir, while his younger son has lived a spoiled and sheltered life (in the sense that his family lets him have a lot of freedom and not have to worry about the responsibilites of being in a military family)  and spends most of his time on Langya Mountain. Both sons are supremely talented - Ping Zhang is an incredible military strategist and represents his family in court with the Emperor to navigate the political waters. Ping Jing, while young and a bit brash, has had his sharp instincts honed by his father and brother and has street smarts in spades. While very different, the two brothers are very close, and much of the first half focuses on their family's bond.

While the original story focused on one central storyline, the sequel follows the ups and downs of the  Changlin family - because of this, the plot isn't as tight as the  original as it is much more complex. The political stuff was a bit too much at times (and infuriating), but the reasons behind most of the conflicts were logically sound.

One of the pluses of the drama was that there was a strong focus on relationships - be it family (THE CHANGLIN FAMILY - ugh, I'm still recovering from all of the feelings), romance, friendship, the bond between a person in  power and those who serve him, or the relationship between the past and future (sooo many name drops - it was kind of fun to figure out who was related to a character in the original story). The original had elements of this of course, but due to the story being about the Changlin family (who are also a military family), the emphasis on interpersonal relationships is much greater. The romance was also much better in this one than the first, in my opinion - Ping Zhang and his wife have such a great, healthy relationship and the mutual respect (and love) that they have for one another is wonderful to see. The younger couple was cute as well - and I liked the fact that while both could lead very independent lives, it was the times that they were together that made them the happiest.

Probably one of the biggest criticisms of the show is that it is centered around a boy/man who is barely 20 when the story begins - but to me, this is one of the best selling points of the shows. Perhaps younger viewers may not appreciate this, but the freshness and youthful enthusiasm of Pingjing was an absolute delight (more so because is he is played by someone who is right at that age), and watching him grow up and mature was both bittersweet and awesome. There are times where you wish he was more self-aware, but he's not a stupid character - just a very young one, and that's part of the charm. I can honestly say Pingjing is probably my favorite drama protagonist in the last...I don't even know how many years.

There's also this bittersweet satisfaction knowing that we are, in a way, watching what the 19 year old Lin Shu would have been like, because we never got see him go through that growing up process - we went straight to adulthood. It's noted by several characters that both Lin Chen and Xiao Jingyan, who were probably Lin Shu's best friends, were both incredibly fond of Ping Jing and spoiled him accordingly - in part because they are very similar in personalities, though obviously the roads they walked were very different. It's a subtle reference that I really enjoyed - they are not the same people at all, but the spirit of Lin Shu/Mei Changsu lives on through Pingjing.
 
I found in particular the discussion of nature vs nurture to be pretty interesting - this is a topic that is pushed pretty hard in the drama, as the debate follows multiple characters who walk on different paths. The idea of fate is also nicely interwoven in - no matter how much effort we put in, no matter what choices we make, are we always going to end up at the same destination?

(Edited after rewatch): This isn't the same story as Nirvana in Fire and if you're expecting that, you're already going to be disappointed. NiF was a story of triumph, of redemption (more so than revenge, in my opinion), mingled with bittersweet elements. Mei Chang Su set out with a specific goal in mind so he had everything planned out and the climax was when he obtained that goal at the very end of the series.

NiF2 is very different - it's more like a chronicle of the Changlin family, with a specific focus on Pingjing and the people around him. For some people, the climax of the story probably happened around episode 36, and I agree, to a certain extent. I think the point of the story isn't about the fall and redemption of the Changlin family - it's about family and bloodlines; it's about growing up and living with yourself and the choices that you make. I understand what people mean by the anticlimatic ending and the final arc (and I do agree that the writing was a bit poor towards the end), but to me, it felt right and matched everything we had learned about all the characters up to that point.

Acting/Cast:

Huang Xiaoming and Liu Haoran as the two Changlin brothers exceeded expectations for me. This was also a heavily criticized decision when the production first started, because Huang Xiaoming is known as an idol actor, but like Hu Ge before him, he turned in a strong performance - if HXM doesn't overact, he has this natural warmth that comes from his real life personality and it worked so well for his big brother role. Seriously, never doubt these directors - they know what they're doing when they cast people (well, for the most part - see below for what I didn't like about the casting choices).

Pingjing was a really tricky role to play (and to cast for) and I feel like it has to be acknowledged - you're talking about a story that spans about three or four years and the character goes from a carefree, sheltered prince to a solemn, matured young general (this isn't a spoiler - it's in the synopsis). So basically your casting options would be: 1) Pick an older actor (early to mid 20s) - a la Hu Ge in The Disguiser - which...wasn't great. They would be able to handle the second half well, but you would cringe your way through the first half. If people already think (then) 19 year old LHR was a bit hard to watch acting as a 20 year old, I have no idea how they'd tolerate this.

2) Pick a younger actor (late teens, presumably) and hope that they don't look like a child pretending to be an adult when they reach the second half. In the Chinese market, there just simply aren't a lot of candidates that would fit all the criteria (age, looks, height, acting talent, public recognition, temperament, demeanor, and ability to pull off both arcs). As great as Daylight Entertainment's reputation is, they also have to have someone who has some degree of popularity as the main role. The word that is most associated with Liu Hao Ran on Chinese media is "youth" (even before  NiF) - it's not his age, necessarily, but a spirit that he has in spades - and it served him so, so well in this role. He was able to rely on it to carry him through the first half, and then the natural contrast between his youthful demeanor and the burden on his shoulders really tugged at the heartstrings in the second half. I cried when he cried, I laughed when he laughed - he embodied the character perfectly for me. He's not a polished actor by any means - but he's got a good foundation and definitely grew as an actor throughout the drama. Again, he just turned 19 when he filmed this - 19!

The shining star in terms of acting though, definitely goes to Sun Chun, who plays the brothers' father. What a masterful performance by a veteran actor.The character felt 100% real and he really fleshed out every aspect of Changlin Wang - as a father, as a friend, as a brother, as a general, and as a loyal servant of the Emperor. The way he delivered his lines - oh man. If China actually did legit drama awards, he deserves one.

Sun Chun, Huang Xiaoming, and Liu Haoran also had phenomenal chemistry as father and sons which made some of the later scenes all that more emotional for me. (If you want something cute, go look at their weibo comments and posts to each other throughout the drama - it's like if the family lived in the modern age and could access social media, ha. Some of the other cast members also occasionally pitch in their opinions on where the story is at).

Squeals for Zhang Bo, who was great as the head of the Imperial Guard - I will never ever forget his performance as Sun Quan in Three Kingdoms about seven years ago and he was just as awesome in this role. He just has this natural charisma and gravitas that works so well on screen (and gets better as he ages). Why is he not more popular?! Tong Liya and Zhang Huiwen turned in decent performances as the main two female leads (though of course like the first one this is a very male-dominated cast) - Tong Liya in particular had some great scenes. I liked Zhang Huiwen's Lin Xi, but wish she was used more, particularly in the second half. Guo Jingfei probably had a blast in his role and I was torn between laughing because I knew he probably enjoyed the performance and also superbly creeped out because he turned in a very good acting performance.

I am conflicted on how i feel about Wu Haochen, who plays a pretty important role. I think his acting was solid (especially in the final arc - he was phenomenal), but somehow he just never visually fit into the part and it became distracting to a certain degree. I know that there's been a lot of comments about his appearance and I've never really been all that concerned about looks when it comes to acting, but the visual presentation took me out of his scenes more often than not. I had no issues with him in Ode to Joy, so I wonder if it's because he doesn't quite fit the "gu zhuang" look. I also just never cared about him - especially in the second half - I just wanted to see more of Pingjing - and I think that's because while Wu Haochen did a good job acting, he never made me feel anything about the character. In the original NiF, Prince Yu (played by Victor Huang) was definitely not a protagonist but I really felt for him (and part of that has to do with charismatic Victor was in the role).

 If there is one criticism that I have of this production team, it's their tendency to reuse actors that they've casted in previous shows - sometimes I like it as it's kind of like spotting Easter eggs, but sometimes it can also be very trying. I wasn't fond of the casting choice of Qiao Xin (she was already in the original as the oh-so-memorable-for-bad-acting Nian Nian!!). It'd be one thing if they reused an actor with great acting talent, but Qiao Xin is definitely...not that. Also, you could have done away with her character completely and it would probably been fine - I just found all of her scenes completely unneccessary.

The cast overall (especially the veterans) weren't as phenomenal as the supporting cast in the original, but the main cast really carried the show well, so it was okay.

Music
I love how the music is the same, yet just a tiny bit different. It brought back just the right amount of feels. The theme song has two different versions and has a much more stronger tone than Hu Ge's song in the original - probably due to the more military, war-bent nature of this one.

Rewatch Value
I took one star off because there were about ten episodes straight where I was just crying nonstop and I don't know if I can handle that again. But the emotional roller coaster is worth it, and I think I will definitely be rewatching very soon.

Overall
This is very different story than from the original Nirvana In Fire. As I mentioned previously, I think the first was a better production overall, but the second one has me invested way more in the characters, and if you don't mind a younger main character (and are interested in watching a growth arc), i think you may find the show a blast to watch.

Sequels are probably never going to live up to the original, but I love that they changed almost everything (the story, the cast) and still maintained that definite "Nirvana In Fire" vibe - it is definitely worthy of being considered a quality stand-alone show.

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