Past Life and Life (2020)

I will remember you, will you remember me?

This is a heart warming, unabashedly tropey love story about how true love conquers all. The OTP face a daunting obstacle: Feng Mianwan's (Chen Yuqi) mother is blamed for Jing Ci's (Yu Menglong) mother's demise. Nonetheless Jing Ci shields her from his revenge driven aunt and raises her as his companion/maid. They are childhood sweethearts but when he can no longer protect her, he finds a doppelganger, arranges for them to swap identities and doses her with an amnesia drug to forget him and their past. In her new identity Mianwan/Ah Yuan evades her (doppleganger's) engagement to the noble Mu Beiyan, dresses as a man and goes to work as a fledgling constable. In her new life, she grows into her own person and finds meaning in her existence. Her guardian angel Jing Ci joins her in a new identity as a county official and together they investigate criminal cases. They eventually stumble upon a larger conspiracy with ties to both their identities and extends to the highest levels of the empire. 

While this is mostly a lighthearted and fun love story, there is a sad undertone as Jing Ci's health is failing and he struggles to conceal his feelings for Ah Yuan. She does not remember him but falls in love with him all over again. His intention is to selflessly see her happily settled with someone who can expect to live a normal lifespan and who can protect her but who is he kidding? Love is never ultimately that self-less! Both characters are strong and intelligent and have an enjoyable rapport with the other couples; confidantes and allies who help them unmask their enemies and reveal the secrets of their past. I particularly liked the princess who is a fantastic and loyal friend with her own rather charming love story. 

There is broad consensus that Yu Menglong's Jing Ci deserves an award for best characterization ever of a plank. Although the character is supposed to be unwell, in pain and stoic, he impressively took being plank-like to a whole new level. He has this amazingly eerie ability to seem deathly still and expressionless while speaking or in motion. Given the excoriating feedback, I feel a bit bad for the actor who clearly over-intrepretred the character and was also probably camera shy the way his eyes avoided the lens the whole time. To be fair, there were the rare one or two scenes when Jing Ci's feelings for Ah Yuan overcame him that were well acted though far from squeal-worthy. The one saving grace is he and Chen Yuqi make for a very stunning and romantic looking couple. Am a big fan of Yuqi who has really honed her acting skills and was convincing as a smart and independent minded character who knows what she wants and is not fooled or daunted by Jing Ci's seeming indifference. I really appreciate this smart and strong female lead character who is not obnoxious or dislike-able, which is more than I can say for several similarly themed 2020 releases.  She is a total delight from her remarkable ability to absolutely adore her plank to her subtly comical eye rolls at Mu Beiyan's ridiculous overtures. And no, I never shipped her with Mu Beiyan - her Ah Yuan is way too capable for a dilettante and (nice) dufus like that. While Mu Beiyan is a well written, likable and much better acted character, I still find it impossible to ship a love rival who is better made up and coiffed than the female lead!

The story overall is not terribly original but the cases are interesting enough. You will not win armchair detective of the year if you spot the bad guys early on or unravel the conspiracy on your own. Some of the plot twists are a bit lazy but the characters are quite colorful and stop short of being too archetypal. The ending was well done, wraps up most loose ends and delivers a final and very satisfying coup de grace. It won't rock your world but you won't have to retreat into the fetal position to get over a gigantic slump after it ends either. I would have rated this higher (7.5/8.0 ) if Yu Menglong's performance managed to improve towards the end.

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Could Have Been Better

This could have been an enjoyable drama had it not been the poor performance of one of the lead actors, Yu Menglong. Though the storyline is simple, conflicts between neighboring countries, conflicts within the royal court, conspiracies, switches of identities etc. make this drama a rather good watch.

All the characters are quite interesting too. The Jing Ci character could have been so intriguing but Yu Menglong’s disastrous robotic portrayal sends it down the drain; he walks like a robot, talks like Alexa in a male voice, stands like a mannequin. Even when he tries to tell his love how much he loves her, there’re no emotions nor expressions on his face, nor can the viewers feel any heart-warming passion he has for his love. His declaration is like an announcement reading from a book – unemotional. It’s indeed such a pity because Yukee Chen (plays the Feng Mian Wan character) and the other cast members put up quite an impressive performance.

I must say I quite enjoy watching the side couples especially Princess Zhangle (played by Ma Yue) and her to-be consort. Though they don’t have many scenes but their dynamics are cute, as the princess has a forward personality whereas her consort is rather timid and unromantic. The other couple is Zuo Yanxi (played by Kid Young) and Jiang Tan (played by Xu Hao). This is a tragic romance when a great man is being brought down by his love of the woman who is also his Shimei (sister in learning). The Jiang Tan character is not likable as many viewers take her scenes as the opportunity for bathroom breaks, to put it mildly.

Overall, I would say, watch this drama if you can’t find anything better to watch, or watch it in between episode releases of other dramas. It’s not totally terrible, but it’s not fantastic either.

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