[Editor's Note] Let's help you watch the "first episode" of the drama. Are the recently aired dramas worth watching? Let's take a look at the good ones and the weird ones.
Some shows may gradually get better, while others may start strong but end badly, so this article only represents the author's opinion on the first few episodes, for reference only. If there are any subsequent slaps, I will keep you posted.
In the Name of Beauty
Broadcasting platforms: Beijing Satellite TV, Dragon TV, Zhejiang Satellite TV, Youku
Start time: March 30
Stills from "In the Name of Beauty"
As the first urban drama about plastic surgery and medical beauty in China, "In the Name of Beauty" is directed by Li Shaofei and starred by Yao Chen, Jia Jingwen, Hou Wenyuan and others. The drama focuses on the plastic surgery and medical beauty industry, with women's growth and game as the main line, integrating the depth of professional medicine and the sharpness of social issues to create a microcosm of the contemporary plastic surgery and medical beauty industry.
Yao Chen as Qiao Yang
Alyssa Chia as Zhou Jingwen
When I learned that the drama had started filming, I was full of expectations for it. The combination of Yao Chen and Jia Jingwen is indeed very innovative, and the dual female lead setting is also attractive. So far, their performances are indeed reassuring, with the familiar formula and taste, which can make people feel fully involved. The confrontation scenes also have a CP feeling, which makes people feel at ease.
But in terms of plot, the show is just okay. It is not bad to watch, but it does not make much innovation. If the show was broadcast two years ago, the effect might be much better. Unfortunately, it came at a time when short dramas swept the long drama industry and the long drama industry was in a crazy involution, transformation, and experimentation. Neither the audience nor the industry would pay too much attention to a show that is above average but "has no explosive points".
In fact, the theme of medical beauty itself should have more room for exploration. In today's society, there are many industries that use beauty as a measure of money, and there are countless phenomena that put beauty above morality and character. If you really dare to use your pen as a knife, this drama can actually dig out many dark sides of human nature and play many explosive points. At present, it seems a pity that the creative team of the drama does not seem to be interested in this. However, the drama is still worth watching, and it is the type that is worth watching while eating.
The Second Half of My Life
Broadcasting platform: CCTV8, Tencent Video
Start time: March 30
Poster of "The Second Half of My Life"
"The Second Half of My Life" is an urban family comedy based on Wang Meng's novel "Strange Things Are Weird Everywhere", starring Zhang Guoli, Tong Dawei, Mei Ting, Xu Di, Zhou Yemang, Yang Tongshu, Yan Xiaopin, Ding Jiali and Wu Junmei.
The story tells about Shen Zhuoran, a retired professor of literature, who has two children and three generations living together. After his first wife passed away, he started a blind date journey encouraged by his old friends. He met four blind date candidates one after another. The considerate head nurse parted ways with him because of the property; the female scientist chose to leave without saying goodbye because of the recurrence of cancer; the dominance of the director of the trade union made him psychologically depressed; the person who looked like his first wife made a request that embarrassed him.
Zhang Guoli as Shen Zhuoran
Stills from "My Second Half of Life"
You know what, you really have to say, although it sounds like a rather boring family drama, "Lao Deng's Blind Date" is really interesting to watch. I would like to call it the gender-swapped older version of "The Story of the Rose".
Young people's idol dramas have floating love, only wall-dong, drawing, falling down, and three-piece suits, but the love of the elderly has finger shadows playing on the wall in the night, hidden love poems to express their feelings, long phone calls talking about literature and astronomy, and recording Kunqu opera sounds in the rain for their lovers... It is pure and romantic, passionate and redeeming. And they also have terminal illness plots, but when terminal illness plots are put in the elderly love group, it is not melodramatic and vulgar, but realism.
I understand, I understand. It turns out that love can only be pure after retirement!
I know that some young viewers have criticized the show for "loving men," "Lao Deng is not a good husband," and "a man is only honest if he is hung on the wall." But at this moment, I can only say: If "Huang Yimei" can still be crazy about love, divorce and remarry, fall in love with a terminally ill man, and embrace a young man in middle age, then the same moral standards should be used to measure men. "Lao Deng" is not cheating, but is a normal relationship that does not violate moral ethics or laws after being widowed for more than a year. People who have been widowed have the right to restart their lives and embrace new relationships. I think this should be common sense.
Stills from "My Second Half of Life"
If you want to criticize, please shift your attention to the more obvious problems in the play: there is nothing to criticize about the old man's blind date, but he and his son, who have everything provided for them, from his deceased wife to himself, his daughter, and the blind date's illness, are all taken care of by the daughter-in-law played by Mei Ting, and they ignore her efforts. This is very worthy of criticism. It is your freedom to have a family with the man working outside and the woman working inside, but you can't just take advantage of one person. The key is to make the other person look tacky and slovenly, and the son even dislikes the old woman for being too nagging and has an emotional affair. This is too typical. This is the dilemma and crisis that the traditional family role sequence and moral standards bring to women!
This drama is really worth watching while eating melon seeds, I'm not kidding.
