#523- Swordsman 2012-2013

I had a lot that I wanted to say but lately I feel as though I procrastinate just about everything. Who knows how I even manage to make it through the day doing god knows what. Remember how during the Summer holidays I was watching dramas like crazy? Well this time around I am restricted to merely one and that is Swordsman, Yu Zheng remake of Jin Yong's 'Smiling Proud Wanderer'. I make not have grown up reading or watching Jin Yong's books and film adaptations respectively but they have become a drama staple of mine and have received so much love from me this past year. I mentioned in my earlier post that I was like a kid with candy at the thought of Hengdian World Studios and I am still weak at the knees every time I think about it, yeah that's how excited I am.

So onto my thoughts about Swordsman, I follow this website Wuxia Edge and I concur with her opinion about how in general I quite liked this drama since I'm not watching it through the lens of someone has watch past remakes nor have I read the book. I am a vehement anti-Yu Zheng person and I still will be after he trashed or will trash my beloved Yu Zhong Ge by Tong Hua- I'm awaiting the nightmares to come. His remake of Return of the Condor Heroes had me flipping tables with all of its absurdity and horrid casting. I'm going to sound like a massive bitch in saying this but heck with it, so many other people in China and in forums mentioned this as well but his casting choice of Michelle Chen was a big mistake, no offence to her she's cute and all but she is far from being qualified to play Jin Yong's most beautiful woman in existence- Xiao Long Nu. I'm not exaggerating here when I say that Xiao Long Nu is a major goddess because that's exactly how she was written and Liu Yi Fei's casting in the 2006 drama alongside Huang Xiao Ming was major eye candy. To top that all off, Michelle Chen's stunt double is way prettier than her (where is the logic).

Taken from Miss Koala's blog

"By popular vote the Weibo Goddesses of 2013 and of the night from left-to-right: Ni Ni, Angelababy, Michelle Chen and Liu Shi Shi. Three of them would be perfect to play Xiaolongnu. The one who is not is actually playing Xiaolongnu. *sigh* I actually like Michelle's black strapless short tulle dress but unfortunately for her the goddess that is Ni Ni showed up in her own LBD and in comparison Michelle is just underwhelming."

Also taken from Miss Koala's blog

I agree with everything she said except I didn't like the tule black dress, more so in general I hate that style because it reminds of a ballerina and their tutu and should not be reserved as an evening gown dress.

Enough of that and on Swordsman after a massive tangent.

The only reason really why I chose Swordsman as the drama that I would be marathoning this break is because it stars Joe Chen and Wallace Huo, two people who I adore separately and now adore together. Both are Taiwanese and have actually dated before, I suppose I would have loved them together but alas that is not to be. Rumour has it that the two rekindled their romance thanks to this drama and I was super excited to see their chemistry together. I guess this is the one time that I'm glad that Yu Zheng went through with his usual drama killing original storyline mo jo because he opted for a female Dong Fang Bu Bai as opposed to the book which is not so and also added in a love line between her and Ling Hu Chong. 

First off, how awesome is the name Dong Fang Bu Bai, I suppose you cannot really appreciate fully unless you know mandarin but just saying it has this kickass ring to it doesn't it? The translation is 'Person in the East who never loses' and I thought was so fitting of Joe Chen's character considering her goal to become stronger is so that she never has to be afraid of being killed and so won't lose and to do so she becomes the leader of the Sun-Moon sect. It's a wuxia drama so unless you watch a lot of these shows, it probably sounds like gibberish most of the time. I am going to be my biased self now and start criticising certain things, the CG was terrible, so so fake but then again I've come to expect that from a Yu Zheng production so that's why I avoid them as much as possible. Secondly and this was my biggest pet peeve, Ling Hu Chong you're such a womaniser my god! I understand that you can be in love with several people I get that but going through 3 women is too much for my feminist self, had you have ended up with Dong Fang Bu Bai would be a different story altogether but since you guys didn't end up together, I along with many others are very annoyed. His first love can be described as a childhood love, not sure how to quite categorise his love with Dong Fang Bu Bai but I was really upset in the way it ended. They practically had a silent agreement to be together and never part, to save the guy's life Dong Fang Bu Bai did so much and because she thought he was dead (and was her everything) she kinda let loose and kill people who in my defence were trying to kill her in the first place. Thanks to that misunderstanding and the meddling of that pathetic Hua Shan Sect leader, Ling Hu Chong fell out with Dong Fang Bu Bai and only saw her as an evil person and actually stabbed her. The guy obviously regretted it right away and didn't mean to actually inflict harm but you don't do that to a girl that you practically implicitly confessed your mutual feelings to. If she didn't trust people much or had more experience in love, girl would've have recognised the feelings right away but not Ling Hu Chong just had to believe what his pathetic Master said. If there is one thing that you can take away from this drama, it is that there is evil in good and good in evil. 

I'm still shipping Dong Fang Bu Bai, I don't mind Ying Ying but she's not as complex and just simply as amazing as Dong Fang Bu Bai so she can never really get my appreciation.