Completed - 6/21/2022

While browsing through Seven Tan’s filmography, I came across “The Eight”. This drama doesn’t seem to be very popular but since I like Seven Tan and Qin Lan, and the synopsis sounds interesting enough, I want to give it a try. It’s rare to find a Republican era drama that is NOT about spies, Kuomintang vs Communist Party or the Japanese Occupation. So, this is a breath of fresh air. Instead, this drama is about a college student becoming entangled in the business of the eight professions/guilds of Jianghu and how he plays a key role in their future.

Plot and Pacing
After watching the first couple episodes, I question the overarching plot of this drama. This is weird. Why do these 8 guilds need an outsider to help them make the change? Can’t each leader take care of its members and help them lead a normal life? Well, since that’s the premise, I’ll go with it. The strength of the drama is the sum of all parts. Each guild is very distinct and its leaders have different personalities and skills. The drama gives each of the 8 professions a decent amount of screen time for watchers to get to know them. I really appreciate this as that did not happen when I was watching “The Mystic Nine”. In “The Mystic Nine”, some of the leaders are casually mentioned or resorted to being in a big montage. Not here! “The Eight” was able to weave the different stories into its big general plot. There are some pretty cool scenes and subplots that I’ve never seen before in a C-drama, e.g. The Battle of Generals (using a city’s model as a chess board and different colored sand to battle it out) and the Battle of Mechanics (a very smart way of fighting without the use of weapons). The pacing of the drama was great in the first 2 ⁄ 3 of the drama. I was engaged and interested as we traveled from Beijing to Kunming to Guangzhou and Shanghai. But when it hits the last third of the drama in Shanghai, I realize events happened without being shown. Watchers have to pay close attention to the voiceovers/monologues and conversations. If you don’t pay attention, you might miss some details. The pace of the last 3 episodes are especially fast. There are so many events and plot twists that these episodes are jam-packed with action. This is either due to censorship or editing. For once, I wish the drama was actually a little longer to give us a little breathing room in the final episodes.

Characters
I enjoy getting to know all the characters of the 8 guilds. None is really annoying and I like each of their little stories, though some are still given more screen time than others. Our male lead, Hua Min Chu, is smart, cool-headed and a great strategist. I was initially concerned that he would be an idealistic and naive fresh college grad, but am pleasantly surprised that he’s not. He is the soul of the drama, as he influences those around him with his ideals and actions. One of the villains is shown from the beginning of the drama, and he continues to be one throughout the rest of the show. Though we finally get to know his story towards the end, I don’t think I pity him at all. This is a drama with a big main and supporting cast. I do think the drama does a good job in presenting the main cast to us in a way that we know enough of them to care about them.

Acting + Dubbing
This is my first introduction to our main lead, Ou Hao. I am glad to have discovered him and will look out for his other dramas. You can see his character grow from a fresh graduate to the leader of the guild. There are quite a few emotional scenes, and his crying/tearing is believable and not overdramatic. He doesn’t smile much in this drama, but when he does, his dimples make my heart melt. I didn’t find him attractive in the beginning, but as he matured and became more charismatic, he became more handsome in my eyes (Ok, a little hair gel also helps). Seven Tan and Qin Lan’s acting meet my expectations. They are just great actresses. The rest of the cast also did a great job. For most of the cast, actors use their real voice except for Qin Lan (this is very disappointing as I love her voice), and Cheng Xing Yuan (who played Qi Ming). However, you can still tell that it’s studio recording and not live recording. There are times I could hear dialogues being dubbed over in post production by a voice actor.

Romance
Romance is only a subplot in this drama and the love triangle is not unbearable. You won’t find an evil second female lead or jealous exes. Hua Min Chu (ML) and Gua Dao Ren (FL) have great chemistry. But not sure if some scenes are edited out, I didn’t quite see enough affection developed on the ML’s side. Obviously he cares for FL in the beginning but he could have cared for her as a friend and not a love interest. Aside from this, the second half of the romance is nicely developed.

Action + Production
There’s actually a decent amount of action scenes in this drama, both fighting and shooting. However, many of these fights are in slow-motion and that’s my pet peeve. The best fight scenes are those done by Assassin leader Yi Fang and especially in the last two episodes of the drama. It’s also great to see that 3 of the 4 female leads can fight! This is not a big budget production. I think the majority of the budget is spent on costumes for Qin Lan (as Lady Jin Xiu), Ou Hao (as Hua Min Chu) and Cici Wang (as Zhong Yao). These three are the “richest” of the group, so I guess they have more than 2 sets of clothes. Qin Lan has beautiful dresses, especially her Qi Paos. Ou Hao looks dashing in a variety of suits but he looks the most handsome to me when he’s wearing a simple black shirt and black pants. CiCi Wang has the most variety of suits and dresses. Everyone else wears the same 2-3 outfits. The graphics and green screen scenes are not that great either, especially the fake far away shots of the trains. The sets and props seem to be of OK quality.

Overall, I quite enjoy this drama. I am giving it a solid 8.5 because I think it’s hard to weave stories of so many main characters into the main plot. I think “The Eight” did a pretty good job.