Chinese Dramas Airing in Sep 2024
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2024-09 Drama Update
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柳舟记 Are you the one starring 张晚意 Zhang Wan Yi、王楚然 Wang Chu Ran
40 episodes, Tencent 腾讯视频, original air date Aug 12 2024
Liu Mian Tang (ft Wang Chu Ran 王楚然) wakes up with no memory of the events from the past 3 years and mistakenly calls the Prince of Huai Yang, Cui Xing Zhou (ft Zhang Wan Yi 张晚意) as her husband. Cui Xing Zhou discovered the injured Liu Mian Tang during a raid in search of his sworn enemy Lu Wen. Believing that this woman has close ties to Lu Wen, Cui Xing Zhou sets into motion an elaborate Truman Show-esque world in hopes of luring Lu Wen. He didn’t anticipate losing his heart to her. Despite her amnesia, Liu Mian Tang is more than meets the eye. Her intellect, bravery, and business acumen draws the jealousy of many. Meanwhile, different political factions are vying for power and draw the couple in their own individual ways.
This is another book that I read back in 2022 and quite enjoyed it even though the amnesia trope was a little overdone in the book. The Truman-Show-esque nature in the beginning of the drama is an interesting one as Cui Xing Zhou’s group tries to uncover her secrets while her old faction can’t understand why she disappeared for so long. This cat and mouse game was a fun one to watch because everyone was racking their brains to figure out the mystery of Liu Mian Tang. I’m almost done watching the drama and will be updating my final review. It gets much better when the focus of the drama shifts to Liu Mian Tang. Wang Chu Ran just needs to act in more of these types of dramas and then everyone will forget all about the backlash from last year’s You are My Fireworks.
九部的检察官 Prosecutors of the 9th Department starring 张译 Zhang Yi、秦岚 Qin Lan
18 episodes, iQiYi (Aug 14 2024), Jiang Su TV (Aug 27 2024)
This drama stars Zhang Yi and Qin Lan. This was squarely the winner of the battle of dramas in the second half of August. I watched a few episodes to start since I was curious so here’s the summary. Zhang Yi portrays Prosecutor 雷旭. He’s a hot shot who is not opposed to going undercover to bust crime rings. Unfortunately, for one of his undercover missions, it goes extremely wrong resulting in one of the suspects committing suicide. He is then transferred to the 9th department as its director to focus on underage cases. The newly formed 9th department includes a deputy director 都子瑜 portrayed by Qin Lan and 3 other women. Lei Xu joins as the new director and wants to make a splash but is quickly put in his place by learning that his old tactics won’t work in the world of underage cases.
I thought the first few episodes were fine but not quite my cup of tea. It’s always a pleasure to see 张译、秦岚. I’m just surprised that it did so well ratings-wise
长乐曲 Melody Of Golden Age starring 丁禹兮 Ding Yu Xi、邓恩熙 Deng En Xi
40 episodes, Hunan TV, original air date Aug 26 2024
Interestingly, this drama filmed in Q1 of this year and was brought to airwaves by the end of August. That is an EXTREMELY fast turnaround time. I read some commentary that editing was happening in tandem with filming and the director ultimately used familiar voice dubs to get this product out.
Ding Yu Xi plays a powerful general Shen Du while Deng En Xi is the daughter of lower ranking court official called Yan Xin. She takes her sister’s place in marrying Shen Du which is an arranged marriage that neither of them are happy about. However, Yan Xin is currently working in The ministry of justice and great at solving mysteries and crimes. Despite both Shen Du and Yan Xin not liking each other to start and faking their marriage, the two work together to solve various crimes in the capital and beyond that bring them closer together.
This drama has been another mediocre drama ratings wise even though I’ve quite enjoyed it so far. I will be writing a review of it and it’s been decent romance fodder. The chemistry between Ding Yu Xi and Deng En Xi is pretty good which certainly helps while watching the show. However, this show does remind me of In Blossoms or Hua Jian Ling earlier this year. Very similar tropes at least.
边水往事 Escape from the Trilateral Slopes starring 郭麒麟 Guo Qi Lin、吴镇宇 Francis Ng
21 episodes, YouKu 优酷, original air date Aug 16 2024
This short drama got quite a lot of buzz during its short run. The basic premise is that in the Trilateral Slope, there’s all sorts of people in this hot land. It’s a bustling but also decrepit place. A young and broke driver 白沈星（郭麒麟饰）encounters many different factions and groups in the Trilateral Slopes. Uncle Cai （吴镇宇) is holds a lot of sway locally. 白沈星 tries to find his uncle and must leverage Uncle Cai’s influence to do so.
I think this will be my next quick drama. There’s mystery, suspense, and I think the supernatural. I haven’t seen Wu Zhen Yu on my screen in a while and I’m intrigued at his character.
四方馆 Go East starring 檀健次 Tan Jian Ci、周依然 Zhou Yi Ran
37 episodes, iQiYi, original air date Aug 23 2024
This is a historical comedy detective drama. Set in the fictional world of the Yong kingdom, and revolves around Si Fang Guan, or the 4 square pavilion. Tan Jian Ci plays a young man named Yuan Mo who uses the seal of the 4 square pavilion to create permits for foreigners to enter the city. He encounters a young woman A Shu played by Zhou Yi Ran who is from the Yan Le country. She is skilled in random poisons and powders. Du Chun plays a soldier, Wang Kun Wu, who was demoted from the border to join the 4 square pavilion. Through different interactions, Yuan Mo becomes an employee of the 4 square pavilion, something he originally did not want to do, A Shu became his de facto made and Wang Kun Wu became his boss. Another director, the daughter of a duke, Yu Chi Hua played by Kan Qing Zi also joins the fray.
Oh man, I REALLY wanted to like this drama. There’s some interesting themes on diplomacy and international relations in it and I’m reminded of the foreign relations component in the Longest Day in Chang’An. Tan Jian Ci, who is so handsome and such a great actor in Lost You Forever or Chang Xiang Si and he was my favorite part of Lost You Forever Season 2, headlines this show. He is joined by Zhou Yi Ran as his female lead and Du Chun as the 2nd male lead and Kan Qing Zi as he second female lead. I don’t know Zhou Yi Ran but I am familiar with Du Chun and Kan Qing Zi.
But man, I really did NOT like the female leads in this drama. Zhou Yi Ran’s A Shu, in particular, is not likable. She literally backstabs Tan Jian Ci’s character and frames him for a crime SHE committed and landed him in jail. She knowingly created false products that caused harm to people and threw Yuan Mo under the bus. She’s apologetic about it but I’m just like, seriously? The female director Yu Chi Hua is also rather impulsive for someone of her position. For people who are supposed to solve crimes, Yu Chi Hua doesn’t add enough to the group in my opinion.
Anyways, Tan Jian Ci was basically carrying this show. He’s also screaming and yelling a lot in the drama. There’s plenty of slapstick comedy from the various individuals in the show, particularly by Tan Jian Ci’s Yuan Mo and it’s supposed to come off as a lighthearted show. Maybe I was just grouchy when I watched it but it didn’t fully land with me.
I literally gave up after episode 7. 2 points to takeaway for this drama, Tan Jian Ci carries it and the female leads aren’t super likeable.
Online viewers seem to also not be too enamored with this show. On iQiyi, it is hovering around the 8500 mark on its popularity index. Not terrible but not amazing, especially given the rise in popularity Tan Jian Ci experienced last year.
藏海花 Adventure Behind the Bronze Door starring 张鲁一 Zhang Lu Yi、文咏珊 Wen Yong Shan、陈明昊 Chen Ming Hao
32 episodes, Tencent 腾讯视频 , original air date Aug 26 2024
I think this is the sequel to the original Grave Robbers’ Chronicles in which Zhang Lu Yi portrays an older Wu Xie. I feel like they just keep churning out dramas in this series with lower and lower buzz.
流光引 Fateful Love张翰、祝绪丹 古装
40 episodes, Tencent 腾讯视频, original air date Aug 30 2024