Dali Si Meng Zhu (2024)

This is not your typical c-drama but for a shorter production quite lovely and entertaining

Childhood friends share fate and a secret, but their beloved fathers get murdered, and the kids separated. On top of it the boy gets stuck in the vengeance mode (don't expect blood thirsty brute though) and the girl lost her memory (do expect a ditzy one here). They meet 10 years later but on the opposite sides of law and yet get pulled into the vortex of events that draw them closer and more reliant on their past, characters and sense of duty. The romance blossoms early on by chance and due to the ever-present drugs in this drama, but it's fun to watch the subtle dance of attraction between the leads and secondary characters, most of which were written well and acted accordingly. As some people noted, the ending is an OE, sort of like what we had in The Untamed, but it was rather unexpected and to be honest, I would have been fine without this potentially happy ending. Even the death of the secondary character at the end served an important role, therefore I am not criticizing the script writer for it. So, if you are looking for the typical drama, don't get your shorts tied in the knot-this is artistically inclined and visually-auditory pleasant one to savor rather than speed through.

I liked everything about this production: starting with how there were no introductions at the beginning, but BAM! dropping us in the middle of an event that was self-explanatory and laden with tension. I loved the OST, that was mostly instrumental with a few fantastic songs sung by female, male and a duet, creating not only a background but mood and character of the story telling. The plot was good, although not inventive, and kept me interested, and had enough turns to dispel any misguided guesses on who the main culprit was and why. We get some bread crumbs here and there but vague enough to keep making mistakes. Also, for the die-hard fans of the Confucian tradition - you will not get filial piety here in the end and (surprise, surprise) rather clear message on what really matters to us when we take a harder look at our life's purpose. The ML played very well, I also thought that FL was good. Two SMLs were very entertaining and showed good range of skills - from body use to facial and voice. The aspect of miracle drug was used without exaggeration as a vehicle of uncovering true face/motivation of various characters. Fight scenes were solid with a new trick: climbing walls with a flip! Even if some things did not make sense (blood transfusion, etc.) the whole point is above the question "was it realistic?". If you want documentary, then switch genre. This was believable to the extent of being a love story.

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A Mess With Some Good Acting

I only ever wanted to watch this very last minute because it had CHS in an ML role and I was impressed with his acting from 2 previous series. I knew some of the other actors and some did well and others didn't. The plot was decent until the very end when it became a total mess with some good acting.

Pros: CHS needs more lead roles but with good scripts. He can act every emotion and his growth is evident. He is the only reason this show got a 6.5 and not way lower. His character was very smart and that's what I liked about him as well as brave and loyal. The making of some zombie drug and finding out who was at fault for him losing his father and also FL's entire family took all of the episodes but the planning that went into his schemes were pretty impressive. His guard was awesome as were the fight scenes. Other characters that were good were SML though obnoxious at first, did mature and at least could fight. HL was alright too. The older characters both protagonists and antagonists were believable. Costumes and OSTs fit.

Cons: I didn't like the FL; she was brave and smart but the pouting and constant hissy fits just didn't land. I think her character could have been written better or another actress cast. The whole blood transfusion in ancient times thing was completely unbelievable. And they did it twice. Somehow just the blood carried the deadly poison and it didn't absorb into organs, didn't make sense at all. The ending was the worst; they killed off his guard for no reason and then he himself disappeared for a year while she thought he was dead. But literally in the last 3 seconds of the last episode you can hear his voice off screen and her eyes widening and that was it. After a decade he couldn't find a cure for the disease but in a year somehow he miraculously did and was back as the lead investigator of the judicial bureau; like under a different name? Make it make sense. It was a poorly executed OE. It destroyed a more or less decent story. It was lower budget but it could have been written way better.

Would I recommend it? No. ML did very well but unless you can stomach a lot of BS, whining, pouting, arrogance and whatnot, this isn't for you. And that ending absolutely destroyed any hope I had for this show.

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