Hello, you're watching AvenueX
where a junkie on good story telling,
shares her thoughts, knowledge, and occasional
weird ideas on stories and how they're told
Tian Cai Ji Ben Fa, The Heart of Genius, is a 34 episode web drama
that's been aired on the platform Iqiyi
It is directed by Shen Yan, written by Nie Chengshuai
led by Zhang Xincheng, Zhang Zifeng, Lei Jiayin, also featuring
Liu Lin, Geng Le, Wang Xiao
And many other actors,
the drama was shot last year from july to october
mainly in the city Qingdao
and it is based on a same titled novel Tian Cai Ji Ben Fa
written by the author Chang Er
I've watched the first 22 episodes,
I decided to make this video.
Not as a first impression nor as a final,
but as a warning,
to people who haven't watches drama and want to try it out.
My suggestion,
i'll put it out here and then tell you why is
you can watch the first 9 episodes
and then quit
with the idea of knowing.
You don't know what's the ending of this drama,
but you're still at a better place.
Should you continue from episode nine onwards
Pretty much by episode 19/20
If you have normal sensibility,
you probably will get super offended and wanna quit
and feeling the last 10 episodes.
You just spent time watching.
is kind of wasted
because i'm gonna talk about why it happens like this.
It inevitably will have quite a bit spoiler.
So if you don't want to get spoiled
quit now,
it is based on a novel that was really well written.
Although I haven't read,
i've heard a lot of good review on it,
but I did spend some time getting to know
what is the rough outline of that story
And what is the core
What is the main theme and message that the story has
And I would say,
in the process of adaptation and turning it into drama
on the plot level,
they've changed over half of the original story.
So it's a very different story now
if you watch the drama and compare it to the novel,
but the more important thing is they changed the core.
It really is no longer in spirit the original story.
I didn't read the novel.
So when I started watching this drama in its early stage,
the first 9 episodes I enjoyed it a lot.
It is only until the second part of the drama when things
start to go out of control that I was really baffled.
And I start to check out what actually was in the original novel.
Then i'm like I so understand now
why the original novel fans are so offended by this drama
right from the beginning, okay?
But they probably got more offended after the second stage started.
So let's briefly talk about what the story is.
And then why
in the drama version,
the story starts at our female lead already at the end of university,
thinking about whether she should go to work
or apply for totally different degree.
In master's study.
She did philosophy,
but she wants to actually do mathematics,
always her passion,
but she knows she's not a talented,
natural mathematician and her father is,
but her father didn't make it big in this field.
And he ended up being an accountant of a school.
Our female lead played by Zhang Zifeng
runs into a very weird situation.
First, her father got into hospital because
of an attack that happened in his office.
Then she got a photo that is taken when she was young,
but not in this world,
because the event that the photo describes didn't take place.
and Something happened,
she got a time parallel universe travel experience
where she ends up in her 10 year old sort of body,
in a different universe.
So she tries to make what that photo has happened in her new timeline
and thinking that will bring her back to her current timeline.
That's the first part of the story.
When she did get back into the current timeline,
the second part of the story.
Something happens.
She takes the second time travel again,
into that parallel universe,
but at a different time,
when that parallel universe's her is in high school
and in this adventure,
she rediscovers her passion for math,
but also there's that pressure always
about getting back to her universe,
saving her father,
because her father got hurt,
and her father has Alzheimer early stage.
And it also involves a merely character who
in the original universe lost his father.
When he was young.
In the parallel universe,
the father was still alive.
So that's the drama version very different actually, from the novel version,
the novel version, only the female lead.
Does this parallel universe jump
And then it's mostly focused on math
at the core solving problems
at the core, recognizing the difference between genius and normal people,
hard work, talent, and also,
even when you are a genius,
you also suffer and have to continuously fight
against something that you're born with.
All that
original story is much pure.
In its intention,
very little to do with romantic story or even the whole parallel universe,
spectacular idea.
It's more to do with a person's fight for what they really love.
And then in the process discovering in a way their own miracles.
Now i've told you the drama setup,
let's talk about why this drama
I suggest you only watch the first nine episode and quit
in the first section of the drama
when our female lead travels back in time and also
into a different universe when she was only a primary school student,
that part keeps more to the original spirit of the novel,
the passion for math, the hard work,
fighting for what you believe,
and when you wanna make it happen.
You do it through your own effort.
The spirit is in the first section of the story
plus the child part is mainly played by the child actors,
Wang Shengdi
We've already seen her in The Bad Kids the genius,
little girl actress.
She's growing up, but she's still that good.
Then there are two boys
a cute, natural curly hair boy called Hua Juaner
played by the young actor Fu Bohan
Then the other is the male lead actor in our current universe's
child version Pei Zhi, that character played by the young actor Lin Ziye
These three main young actors made this drama
worth watching for the first 9 episodes.
So good,
particularly I think the surprisingly good is the Huan Juaner actor
previously haven't seen anything with him in it and he's so young.
If nothing goes wrong with his development and growing up,
we have a big star in the future waiting.
Wang Shengdi as good as she always is.
And then Lin Ziye
the moment you see this boy,
you know he's like leading man material,
the type of actor kind of destined for a leading role
and these three kids made this drama then plus.
In that timeline, you have the more relaxed and funnier Lei Jiayin
who adds quite a lot of comedy in the story.
Then you have Wang Xiao
Wang xiao is one of a kind actor,
he's just so good,
he can play anything
in this drama. He plays this not really a genius but work
very hard and comparing to Lei Jiayin
a genius mathematian
he always feels that the level of jealousy,
but also just doesn't wanna give up.
He is the normal people fighting against genius adult version
if it wasn't for wang xiao and the kids.
The first part of the drama
I wouldn't continue watching
even when it has Lei Jiayin
LJY in this drama just does what he always does.
Normal level of acting of LJY
it really is the three kids, plus Wang Xiao
just made the first nine episode
of that summer olympic mathematic competition camp.
Part of the story,
blood boiling exciting and good to watch
when they finish the first part of the story
and our female leader comes back to her current timeline and universe.
First, it has to deal with all that kinship story.
Then it has to deal with the romantic part of the story where
the two leads have this complicated, growing up, breaking up,
coming back together story.
Then it has to do with the space jump, universe jump parallel universe,
almost like a detective story of figuring out how that happens.
It starts to have so many centers and scatter
and the older actors
just doesn't have the purity and energy of the younger kids version
when they travel for the second time
into the high school timeline of the parallel universe.
This time it's male lead and female lead, stories starts to ~~~
go out of whack and off track
in the parallel universe.
male lead's father is still alive,
his real universe.
Father is dead and he cannot deal with that.
He wants to live in the complete family version.
so he doesn't wanna go back,
whereas our female it in her real timeline and space,
her father needs to be taken care of,
because he's got hurt,
he's got memory problems Alzheimer, all that
She wants to travel back
this supposedly lovers,
young lovers who've knowm each other for over 10 years,
started to do weird things against each other to get their
own goal achieved
to the level where it starts to just
make you go
what? you're making the main lead of a story
do such questionable, morally,
legally things.
They make the male lead who traveled to the parallel universe.
In order to make sure his father doesn't die in this timeline,
doesn't continue being a traffic police,
therefore wouldn't die in an accident.
He stole an idea from his original universe,
because he's a math genius.
He knows programming, of a game that was popular.
He wrote the version himself in the parallel universe,
became an entrepreneur and got investment from
a capital investment company, bought him,
make him famous,
make that game famous.
He earned money that way and made his father quit
his job so that he takes care of the company.
Therefore, there's no possibility of that (accidnet) happening.
And then our female lead comes in.
and say you can't do this.
You're doing this so that you can live in this universe,
never go back, but I can't.
and the story hasn't made it very clear,
but it feels like the version where they are tied.
So they either both go back to the original universe or they both stay.
So the girl is like,
okay you're trying to stop me from making my plan happening.
To go back to my universe.
I just go to your home,
steal your source code,
leak it online,
so that making the possibility of your company continuing existing impossible.
One is doing plagiarism,
crossing different universes and then disregard the girl
who basically told you how to travel to the next universe.
And the other is literally doing something illegal,
stealing other people's property
and you are lovers.
You're actually lovers.
And then the guy actually reported to police
and got the girl into police station.
What are you doing?
so now we turn from a mathematic, passion, youthful,
growing up, love, kinship, romance story to crime story
of time travel and space jump and now like
what the heck are you doing?
You showed us.
They really love each other at the beginning.
Now when they're in the parallel universe,
because they have the different goals of what they want to achieve,
they suddenly were at throat with each other.
And you're doing it in the most unimaginable,
illegal and morally questionable way.
And it made Zhang Xincheng's character.
So not lovable.
If this is a guy i meet in real life and he has a
relationship with me in that way and then he did this.
I'm gonna run away from this guy as fast as possible like
Xiao Feng running away from Li Gouzi in Goodbye My Princess.
And if anybody live in this world,
you come across a boyfriend or girlfriend who would
actually do that to you to get what they want.
This person is a psycho
like run away from him or her
absolutely despicable people.
When they travel to the parallel universe,
the original person in that original body gets pushed back.
They take control of their body and absolutely mess up those people's life.
And after they leave,
all the mess that's left would have to be dealt with the original body.
I'm like, what is the morally acceptable reason for writers
to screw up characters like that?
It's like the only original universes' things are worth protecting.
It does no matter how fucked up the parallel universe gets.
As long as our main characters get what they want.
What fuck?
It's pretty much the level where you just destroy Daenerys Targaryen
in 2 episodes of a drama that has run eight seasons,
same thing same thing.
It's just like taking less time you know like not letting you wait for 8 years,
but everything you've built up for the
previous 15 episodes of this drama is
like?????
I feel so sorry for the leading actors who took part in this.
So that's my suggestion.
Watch the first 9 episodes and leave.
And if you like zhang xin cheng and zhang zi feng
and you wanna watch this drama because of that reason,
then don't
watch another thing that's gonna come
out later or maybe previously with them in it.
Just don't watch this drama,
not worth it.
oh And there's one final thing I wanna mention.
This drama's director is Shen Yan
He previously directed an epic failure drama
in terms of expectation versus reality.
What people expected that drama is gonna be,
and then the performance,
which is also a big ip adaptation.
Can you guess which one?
Tian Sheng Chang Ge
I know a lot of people watching my channel like that drama.
I don't,
but I understand why you like it.
There are good reasons.
It's an epic drama some of it was beautifully done,
but the reality is number one that drama performed very badly
in the history of the television station
that unfortunately spent money buying it.
It also was the turning point of most people's
opinion about chen Kun as an actor in china.
It also is an adaptation of an ip that changed its spirit.
The original story is a purely focused on female lead,
her big female role story.
And in the adaptation process,
they switched it to the male lead,
causing endless problems for the storytelling.
Should've seen that coming
I didn't notice it was directed by the same guy.
No, I've seen the Another butchering of a pretty good novel,
not only that it lost its original spirit,
but it got to a very weird place.
So China has its own dumb and dumber,
hey good to know who that person is.
You have the warning
in the future. Just look at the director's name of a drama.
You see that guy coming
walk away.
So this would be the end of my kind of ranting, but really,
it's a warning on heart of genius.
Thank you for watching AvenueX
i'll see you in my next video.
Meanwhile live long and happy drama watching.