Hu Tong: Chapter 1 (2022)

A highly personal review.

First of all I started watching this because I am a Lusi fan. Second of all I knew this would be a patriotic drama aimed at a specific audience containing political views and opinions. The political theme is not subtle, so if you are not a fan of something like this I do not recommend you watch this. As someone who did not learn anything about this particular time in Asia in school I took this as a history lesson written from one point of views.

The story: The first episode is probably my favorite. It starts in the year of 1950 in Beijing with our 18 year old female lead Tian Zao, an orphan, wanting to avenge her father. This particular plot point is finished quite quickly, as there is only 14 episodes to complete the story. Her childhood sweetheart Tie Dan, our male lead, is a wrestling teacher who studied under Tian Zaos father.
The new government is formed and Tian Zao is impressed with the way they want to help the common people in Beijing and therefor wants to join her local government. This will as the story goes on lead her to help catch spies, gather support from her neighborhood to support the war effort and more. She is often too enthusiastic in her efforts, and causes problems at times, but she is well liked by her area and by her chosen older sister who works in the local government.

Acting: I have no complaints about the acting whatsoever in this. Zhao Lusi and Hou Ming Hao made me believe they had known each other basically all their lives and they were very cute as a couple.

Tian Zao is an orphan and grew up in a hutong area in Beijing, where she has a very big support group amongst both adults and the other children in the area, which helps her throughout the story.
She is a very headstrong girl and acts before she thinks at times. She was described as a person who dares to love and hate. I also find her very passionate about wanting to improve the lives of the people in her community.
Tie Dan is not your usual male lead with a stone face, he is actually a guy who is well liked and smiles a lot. He is also one of my favorite personalities in mls since he is not just kind to his one true love but an overall good guy. He is also willing to communicate with his love when there is a problem, which is definitively a skill more leads need.

I found most of the side characters quite interesting as well, but my focus is mostly on the leads.

Music: There is not really a lot of music in here but I do enjoy the instrumental music.

Rewatch: Would I rewatch this a whole? No. If I do rewatch something it will be the parts that I enjoyed together with the main leads.

Again, this is my point of view so you may not agree with me and that's alright.

Leia Mais

Had no expectations yet enjoyed

Honestly I only watched this drama for Lusi as I’m not a fan of heavy topic dramas or political drama. So here is my reviews + thoughts on the drama. The story arc, chapter 1 consists of 14 episodes, feel free to give the drama a try and let know what you think :)

Story:
The story is based on the FL Tian Zhao who is a stubborn, strong willed girl, who at times could be impulsive but is kind at heart and is willing to do anything to help those around her. She lost her parents at a young age and survived by herself with a bit of help from her neighbours, she took care of a group of kids that were orphan like her and she is well known and loved in her village.

There are small plots like Tian Zhao’s parent revenge plot, the FL and ML’s misunderstanding plot but the main plot of the drama is the beginning of a ‘new china’. When the new government came to guild their village, stating that wanted to work for the common people, Tian Zhao started to see that they were different and wanted to join them in bettering the life’s of the villagers. There were times were she would act without thinking but that is due to her lack of education and the environment she grew up in. At times it may be annoying but Lusi expression just made it impossible for you to hate her and honestly it was quite satisfying when she would act how she feels like kicking the guy she doesn’t like right in front of everyone haha. She never lowers her head for other or give in to what others tell her is right, she keeps her head high and only trusts herself and those that she love and those that love her, she has her own judgment.

At some moments the overly one perspective political views may be too much as they overly exaggerated how great the new government was and a lot of the protagonists plots were easily solved. However its quite sweet seeing common people work hard to better their life’s, their love for there country, how the power of everyone working together can accomplish big things, as individuals everyone may just be average citizens but together they are more knowledgeable then the government’s spies.
Despite it being rough times, we see different people working to there specialties to live every day to the fullest for example the side characters like Tian Zhao’s neighbour, they each had there own skills and characteristics as well as different types of hardship that they gradually had to work through.

Theres not much romance, however the romance that is their is super wholesome and sweet. The ML Tie Dan is a super sweet guy that has a soft spot for Tian Zhao, he is very smart and strong yet he isn’t prideful and isn’t afraid to apologize to the FL and is willing to patiently communicate with her even when she refuses to listen.

Acting/ Cast:
There was moment that I found touching and I even cried a little. I felt the emotions that the characters felt and the hardship they face. So I think they did a great job with casting and costume. Despite it only being 14 episodes they were convincing at acting as neighbours who have known each other for a long time that were like a family.

As always Lusi acting was great, it really brought Tian Zhao to life and she has no problem with the rough makeup and getting dirt on her face. You can see small details that she alters to fit the personality of the characters she plays (like the tone she speaks, the way she walks, her facial expression). Also not to mention her ability to have great chemistry with almost any one she works with, I’m not familiar with the actor Hou Ming Hao but as I have mention they were super cute , they really felt like close childhood friends that grew up together.

Music:
There weren’t any particular music that I found memorable but I think the music that were used fit well with the scenes.

Rewatch Values:
I would perhaps rewatch some funny scenes of Lusi and the sweet scenes of the FL and ML but not the whole thing.

So to summarize its honestly a very casual historical political drama with a bit of romance, a bit of comedy. Theirs no explicit war stuff as its more of the point of view of the common people. This drama is more of a slice of life I would say. It does touch a bit on the topic of prostitution but its just mentioned and the important of women being educated and being able to get jobs.

If you are interested do give it a try :) hope my review helps and thanks for reading my review.

Leia Mais