Xing fu dao wan jia (2022)

a show which causes high blood pressure

A nuanced story with excellent acting, this setting will be especially familiar to people growing up in Chinese households. There isn't really a villain in this story except for Wan Chuanjia, but this guy really takes the cake. The pacing imo in the first ~20 episodes is on point (not too fast, introducing the cast slowly), and although Xingfu faced many obstacles, I found the plot well thought out. In terms of Zhao Liying's shows, this is probably the best acting work of hers that I've seen, though her character here is very similar to Minglan.

However! The irrational way that the characters except for Xingfu and maybe Guan Tao act might be realistic, but it is really frustrating. The elderly villagers are stuck in another time, most of the time incapable of reasoning and sometimes really disregard human rights. Small problems and defects of character seed thousand dollar lawsuits. The most irritating for me is Wang Qinglai, although his situation is understandable, but he really seems so small-minded and incompetent next to Xingfu. Chuanjia is meant to be careless and detestable, but sometimes Qinglai can surpass him imo.

Unfortunately, as the show progressed past ep ~30 a few kind of unrealistic plot points were implemented including Wan Chuanmei's story. The Wan family children are really the root of evil in this series, what they did is really too unjust, they almost become 2d villains. However that's not to say some of the side stories have no flavor, for example I found Qingzhi's difficult relationship with his father in law to be relatable and well depicted.

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Liu Wei is an actor out of this world

I am writing from Bucharest, Romania, a country which was communist until 1989. To my thus trained eyes, this movie is obviously answering to a PCC request to portray the policies aiming at the transformation of the countryside to the point of "errasing the differences from citylife".
However, in spite of that, the Chinese director and scriptwriter really knew how to deliver ...
It was sheer joy to watch such an intellectually rewarding script, with ample character development and plot turns, which provides a stark view into a vry brutal Chinese contemporary society.
The title role is played by Zhao Li Ying, who also had the female lead in “The Story of Minglan”.
She is good, outstanding are the supporting cast, but out of this world is Liu Wei, the 65 year old actor playing the local PCC leader.
I put Liu Wei in a chategory of his own, as stays Anthony Quinn, for instance.

The series starts with a bang, when at a wedding party in a village, the bride saves her sister from being raped with bashing the asailants head. The would be rapist was the son of the local PCC leader.
From there on, to the very end, it unfolds the uphill battle of the female protagonist with the family she married into, with the villagers, with the PCC local leaders. For a long time she is the underdog, and stays the underdog.
The last 30 minutes in the last episode rushes in the positive and politically acceptable outcome, but this fact cannot erase the rest of the episodes of sheer brutal realism.
Cudos for getting past the censorship such a movie!

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Boring had to drop it

I started this series because I like the FL Zhao Li Ying (Prince Agents) and Luo Jin (Princess Wei Young). While this is a far departure from typical dramas of the city life, the village life is still an intriguing plot/storyline to explore. However this series was painfully boring. Aside from the FL who did a good job, every other character was so annoying and boring to watch. I just could not get into this series at all. Made it to episode 5 (with lots of skipping) to when Luo Jin finally makes an appearance. But even then, his appearance did not make the series more engaging.

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一個既深刻既嚴肃引人审思的劇情

一個深刻既嚴肃引人审思的劇情，期待已久的劇集，目前已經看了前兩集，已經沉浸在故事中了……演技令人信服，傳達出中國鄉村生活的權力鬥爭感，階級屈從的不公正, “世上無難事 只怕有心人“ 信心; 毅力加上豐富的想像力和加上機會必成勇氣嘗試的動力… 如果機會不敲門, 那就建一扇門, 成功來自於尋找和掌握機會.

我迫不及待想看下一集，看看這個故事是如何展開的, 是否有可能保持忠誠的自我, 理想與永遠的亦子之初心, 這是一個尖銳的論題.

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