Hello, you're watching AvenueX and today let's talk about a recently finished airing Chinese contemporary drama,
Zhuang Qiang Qi Shi Lu, Fake It till You Make It
This is a 14 episodes drama that has finished airing on the satellite television Hunan TV
as well as web platform Mango television
it is directed by Li Mo,who is also the director of the quite well received short series
Wo Zai Ta Xiang Ting Hao De
The script is adapted by the scriptwriter Lang Qunli and Li Tao, and it's based on the original novel
with the same title written by the author Liu Cuihu, this author is also a very interesting person.
She actually graduated from Peking university law school.
She worked in Beijing in one of those Red Circle law firms
which is made up by eight different law firms that are all located around the area of Guo Mao
which is on the third ring road. I used to work around that area so I know it very well.
Their location makes up a circle and therefore in the law world of china,
it is called the red circle law firms
being a person who has first hand experience of what it's like working under high pressure.
And in the top tier of law firms in China,
The original novel that this drama is based on has very solid research base.
The drama is led by Cai Wenjing and Han Dongjun
Also featuring Bao Shangen as another main role.
Then you have many other supporting actors and actresses who are well known
such as Ni Hongjie, Geng Le, it was shot from July to November last year.
And as the drama terms itself,
it is a Du Shi Xian Shi Hua Ti Ju
meaning metropolis, reality, topic, drama
which I think after watching 14 episodes I would agree they have done that very successfully.
I really wanna rate this drama higher,
but I think it has done a couple of things that just stopped me from rating it maximum possibility.
So eventually I would still keep it at the two gold mine rating,
but this is a rather good 2 goldmine rating drama
as usual let me first talk about the synopsis of the story and then we're gonna go into the details
big metropolis setting drama about people in their 30s holding actually what we call
"high end jobs", but still struggling in everything they do
from daily life to romantic relationship to their career advancement,
a type of high level wage earner.
Our female lead character played by Cai Wenjing is a law school graduate
who ends up in a very good law firm, but she has to work her way up to the top slowly,
and she gets over exploited and always working overtime under a rather difficult immediate boss.
Our male lead character played by Han Dongjun is the mid to mid lower level management person
at a rather big venture capital company.
He also has to deal with a lot of pressure coming from his work,
from his complicated array of clients and the boss on the top,
the pressure,the kpi, the performances,
all the risks that's involved in investing in entrepreneurship and companies
that you don't quite know whether they're gonna fair well in the future or not.
Then we have another main female character played by Bao Shangen who is Cai Wenjing's characte's relative.
They are the type of cousin related on the mother's side
in this short but actually not short.
Having a lot of things happening 14 episodes of dramas,
you'll see our two main characters manifest the different ways of fake it till you make it.
And in the process getting to know each other,
they will develop a romantic relationship,
but it's a pretty interesting type of relationship.
And every character you're gonna come across,
whether they are the "good" people or the "bad" people with quotation mark.
In regards to their relationship with our leads would actually have their personal story.
And nobody is a two dimensional tool person for the storytelling.
Everybody gets an opportunity to be fully presented as a three dimensional person.
I think this is one of the best things that this drama has done.
Now let's get into the part of talking about what is good and what is not so perfect about Zhuang Qiang Qi Shi Lu
装腔， pretending a tone, that's the literal meaning,
basically a type of putting on the facade and acting pretending to be more knowledgeable,
more well educated, better upbringing, everything,having taste in music, whatever than you actually are.
For the social purposes, to impress other people, to get whatever you want.
And in this drama, everybody you come across,
whether they are the main or the supporting roles,
have a level of zhuang qiang, a type of zhuang qiang,
and that contributes to most of the comedy of the story.
And often their bubble and their facade gets peeled off and gets exposed.
Obviously, creating those dramatic moments
among the what we usually consider to be higher wage earner,
higher managerment and better job holders in the world who are in their mid 30s, 40s,
who seem to be having a good life.
Everybody needs to put on that show.
It's like a silent agreement between everybody.
We all know we're pretending,
but then we are just still keeping on that game
how everybody actually behind that feels really stressed out,
what am I doing here? What's the purpose of this whole mess?
And it does show that it comes from somebody who has really lived through
this type of metropolis living and professional life
on the positive end of this drama.
Number one, like I said already,
this is a pretty watchable story with very strong plot points,character development
and a lot of little moments that are well captured
very resonating with probably anybody who's holding similar jobs in similar situations,
similar age range, and it's one of the better dramas that realistically reflect
the level of stress and pain the contemporary people suffers.
I'd say particularly in the first 8 episodes when it's mostly still focused on the career development.
Not so much of the emotional, romantic storyline coming in,
every episode, there are moments that will raise your blood pressure,
but in another way, it's not so agitating
because they will immediately give you something to take off that stress.
It's a really well paced drama, and compared to many other dramas of similar settings.
It really is much more observant and accurate at capturing the contrast between the facade and the inner
certain moments are so well captured that I think everybody who is an adult, old enough
have gone through certain similar periods and episodes like that.
For example, there's one thing I remember clearly,
where the female lead is just having all the on fortunate things happening to her on the same day,
such as she has to move out of her apartment,
because the landlord needs to take the place back,
and then something goes wrong with her clothes hanger,
and her tea table just flips over.
And then the guy calls her at the wrong time and she just explodes.
And i'm like, oh i've gone through similar things in my life.
One thing goes wrong and everything else goes wrong.
And you're like a volcano exploding.
These things are making this drama really captivating.
You start watching and you kind of cannot stop until you're like 4 hours into it.
Number two, the overall acting quality of this drama is pretty good.
For example, for the female actress Cai Wenjing
she's been in quite a few kind of high profile, contemporary dramas in recent years,
but I really, honestly haven't been impressed by any of them
in this drama. I think it's a better role she's done among many other contemporary dramas in recent years,
and she's done it pretty well , as for the male lead Han Dongjun.
He been around for a long time since the olden days of Wu Xin Fa Shi
If anybody still remember that fantasy min guo drama, he hardly changed.
Physically speaking, same face.
It's not until this drama that I finally managed to.
oh I see what's attractive about this guy.
And I think one thing also is because this drama is
completely real original voice and mostly onset recording,
it really helps you to feel the specific real person, actor,actresses
their vibration, I really now start to have a three dimensional almost impression
of what this actor is like and I find him far more intriguing
than what I know before.
And then if you look at all the other supporting actors,
I really appreciate acting coming from Ni Hongjie
even the young actress Bao Shangen
who I think she did a really, really good performance
of the particular type of girl that she's portraying
balanced the cute things, the lovely things about this character
and the things that people may find not so lovable,
even Geng Le, who is like, a lot of people don't know like there were golden days of this actor
where he was like the sex symbol back in the 80s 90s film world in china,
you thought the story would make him more idealized as the typical,
very rich and successful businessman of his age,
but unfortunately it's not, but then it's more realistic.
And I actually really enjoyed the combact to that he's gotten
with our female lead that scene in the car they have.
If you get to that point and watching it,
talking about burning warehouse
I so appreciate that writers write such scenes and make these two actors perform it out in that way.
And then for example, the actress Li Yuan who recently was in the iqiyi 分账剧
The two female leads detective drama that I made the video about
in comparison to the role she has in that drama.
Even when she is a lead role in that drama, I'd say her role in Mango's
Zhuang Qiang Qi Shi Lu when she is a supporting role is just so much better
giving people a strong impression of what this actress is like,
what she can can do and her roles and overall good impression of her.
And I believe no matter what profession you work in,
if you end up with such an immediate boss who is just so good in that way,
you'd be every day waking up.
Thank god and thank whatever you believe for the good fortune you have.
And Li Yuan the actress just makes the charisma of that lawyer out ooze out of her.
And I so adore her scenes and her scenes with the female character.
Then two more things I really appreciate.
One is it has very good comedy and those comedies that will make your
toes grabbing on the carpet level, when somebody is boasted and showing off
and totally bullshiting about things they don't know at all.
And then someone comes in and just break the balloon for them. oh wow~
Or there are multiple acenes where people are trying to hold on that pretentious air
and facade where they are so bored and so tired, but they cannot go away.
They have to keep acting and they're just like competing, see who is gonna lose
those golden comedy moments will make your day and I really enjoy that.
And then if you are interested in the more romantic part of the story
for the two leads, they're having this very particular type of romantic relationship.
The things you want to see in the romantic relationship
between two very successful and very independent individuals,
power play, game theories of too complicated and not easy to give up what they want and believe in persons, clash.
And there's really one significant problem I can see,
which is I feel this drama has a type of chasm
right around episode eight or nine when they finish that.
And then the rest kind of gets cut into two.
And what is sexy and interesting about the two leads relationship
starts to go down the traditional route.
Eventually the guy is gonna propose marriage and it's all pretty and pink bubble
and it's all gonna work out type of thing.
The real attractive thing that this drama has built up about these two people is
that constant push and pull, and nobody is really wanting to fully yield to the other.
And they're both in their ways,
not really putting love and romantic relationship as a priority of their life in any way.
If it's nice, it makes my life better, cool.
But if it's not there, not gonna change anything I do,
i'm still gonna go to work tomorrow and you know try to do everything I usually do.
So the type of relationship that they eventually end up in or the last couple of episodes,
how it depicts their relationship, really is not the same thing as the beginning.
It's almost like you're looking at the parallel universe version
of the two leads in the last third of the drama compared to the beginning.
And it reduces the uniqueness of this story,
although it still is better than a lot of other crappy romantic stories.
Also, I think by doing that,they didn't quite work out.
How did their relationship convincingly developed through the course of this story?
Because it really doesn't have a very significant moment that turns that relationship
from that type of constantly playing to getting serious in a traditional way.
It really doesn't convince you of that sudden change where it happens and how does it happen
And what is the catalyst for the thing to push him towards that stage of relationship?
The drama really doesn't give you that.
So it gets a bit weird.
That's the biggest complaint I have with this drama.
Have they done this drama in a may be more daring and braver way
of just saying these two people are never gonna be
the traditional husband and wife type of relationship.
They may never really reach a certain society agreed final point
but they are still interesting people.
They're just gonna constantly play that and we're gonna keep it completely open.
In my opinion that will make more sense for these two characters and for the overall tone of this drama.
So at the end of this review,
I would highly recommend you check out this drama for a bit,
at least the first 8 episodes probably will just make everybody quite happy.
If you compare that, for example,to the youku drama, the
All the way to the sun, I made a video,
I said a lot of good things about it.
And unfortunately, right after I made that video is start to crash.
As it turned out, the first 10 episodes of the drama was written by one person
and that person got kicked out.
The rest of the drama was written by whatever the investor wants.
The later episodes made my blood pressure just explode
And I was like, what the heck am I looking at?
Fortunately, ZQQSL came to the rescue and overall it is a much better one
in depicting career, working environment struggles of contemporary people,
love, romantic relationship, the complicated psyche of humans
all that is just so much better in the Mango television series.
That should be the end of this video hope that's useful for you to decide if you haven't watched this drama,
whether you should invest your time in it.
Thank you for watching AvenueX i'll see you in my next video.
Meanwhile, live long and happy drama watching.