So the next Gong came out. Maybe 3rd time’s the charm? Considering that the second series lost my interest in episode 2, I still decided to give this one a go. This is mainly because I thing Lu Yi is practically phenomenal in everything he does and thus, this show deserves a chance. However, if it becomes a angst filled show about how the 2nd female lead gets in the way of the two main character 50% of the time, I will drop the recaps like a hot potato. No one wants to see the second female lead for perhaps 15% of the time (i’m being generous). So anyways this show is about how two babies that swapped lives fall for each other as adults and the trials and tribulations affect their love story.
*update, I just read something about this drama that makes me scared and intrigued. If you want to know there’s a more button at the end of this post, click on it and see.
Episode 1 – We are in the Qing Dynasty. A General is listening to a maid who bitches about how his wife has only given him daughters, she’s probably going to give him another daughter. She tells him he should take another wife (her). The wife is praying for a male child because of the threat to her position if she doesn’t have a boy soon.
The General goes to see the wife and indicates that he really doesn’t believe in gods, since he is a general. Meanwhile the general’s maid is also pregnant. Feeling threatened, the Wife has a child the same time as the new concubine/maid. The Wife tearfully chooses to switch the baby for a baby boy. Her servant places the girl outside a dance/courtesan house. The head of the courtesan house decides to raise the baby as her own, to love it, and to one day marry the child off to a well-off house. She names the girl child Lian Cheng. The Boy Child’s name is Heng Dian The story moves foward 20 years later where Lian Cheng has become a vice general in the general’s army. Everyone loves him…yadda, yadda,yadda. We meet the second lead Jiang Yi Chen, (who apparently has a black caterpillar crawling on his chin). He’s with a girl who wants him to love her. He tells her that he’ll never love anyone one. She curses him and tells him that one day she hopes that he will fall in love so hard that he’ll never forget the woman he loves, things, about her all the time, won’t be able to sleep, etc. He smirks and says that will never happen. Turns out that Jiang Yi Chen is a rebel/bandit and his underling is Wang Hu Zi who is a wanted criminal in the capital where Heng Dian and Lian Chen lives.
Episode 2 – We meet Lian Cheng at the same time as Heng Dian does. He sees her one night on patrol for the criminal Wang Hu Zi. He protects Lian Cheng from the people who chases her and she tells him that her brother and father wants to sell her to the dance houses for money. Heng Dian gives her all his money and runs to go get some more for her. She smiles and walks away. Once Heng Dian gets the money from his right hand man Guo Xiao, he rushes back to find her. Men on the street tell him that he’s been conned. No only that, but Heng Dian is the first to actually run back to Lian Cheng. He finds the flower she’s left on his coat and smiles to himself.
The next day he finds Lian Cheng in the middle of the street, stoping a wedding from happening by accusing the bride groom of doing terrible things, such as making her pregnant. The Bride hops off the wedding carriage and slaps the bridegroom in rage. Lian Cheng slaps the bridegroom on the other side of his face too. The bride and Lian Cheng run off together, and Heng Dian follows. He sees Lian Cheng take the bride to the city gates where the Bride’s love was waiting.
They joyous reunite and Lian Cheng reminds them to pay her before they leave. She takes a roasted chicken out of clothes, it was used as her “preggers bump” and eats it. Before she see’s Heng Dian waiting for her. She hilarious hides by covering her face with the chicken. He want to take her to the magistrate, but she begs him, using another of her cover stories. She tells him to forget that he still owes her money and tries to run away, he holds her by her braid. As he takes her into tow, Guo Xiao runs into them. He tells Hen Dian that Wang Hu Zi, who loves beautiful women, has escaped again. Where are they going to find a beautiful, cunning, quick-minded, girl who is brave. Heng Dian looks at Lian Chen.
Lian Cheng back away and says “No, it’s too dangerous.”
Heng Dian “Five Silver Liang” She shakes her head. As he goes up in price, she shakes her head and tells him no, but steps closer and closer until he says, “Forty” she says “Done” and immediately thrusts out her hand “pay half now.” He smiles and obliges.
Lian Cheng disguises as a dance girl but is so horrible that the people are yelling for her to get off the stage. Wang Hu Zi kidnaps her in the middle of the dance and takes her away. Heng Dian and his men chase after her. Wang Hu Zhi guesses that Lian Cheng is a spy, but he says that no one will find her anyways. Lian Cheng screams and tries to send the signal firework that Heng Dian has given her, but fails.
As Wang Hu Zi falls on her,Heng Dian appears and captures him. Lian Cheng is crying and yells at him, asking him how he knew to come here. He said that he had put tracking powder on her so that he knew how to follow her. Lian Cheng raises her hand and says “Pay Up” he grins and says, “I’ll just owe you”. She yells after him, “You could’ve learned some of my good bits, why did you have to learn this from me?”
Heng Dian sucessfully interrogates and gets Wang Hu Zi to confess all the crimes and out his cohorts. While Lian Cheng goes home to the dance house and see her mother. Her mom tries to hid her from a particularly leery man. Lian Cheng plays a few tricks on him and he chases her. She meets Heng Dian who beats the crap out of the leery man.
Lian Cheng has hidden away now, but gets her forehead dirty. After the fight, as Heng Dian is about the wipe the dirt from her forehead, a child runs up and tells her soemone is dying. Lian Cheng grabs the money bag from Heng Dian’s belt and he yells and chases after her. They go to an old house where a grandmother lays dying. Lian Cheng tries to help the grandmother but it’s too late. Lian Cheng sings a song, as the grandmother requests it.
Heng Dian learns that Lian Chen has been taking care of the kids, along with her mother. He gets her mad when he says that she’s bad as the bad people she robs. She pushes him several times and says that just because he was born with a silver spoon his mouth doesn’t mean he can look down on people. Properly school he knelts to give the kids some money, they refuse to take it. Lian Cheng shoves him away and says that the money is from her, since he owes her. They walk away, and she tells him he doesn’t owe her any more money. He says he does, otherwise how will he see her again? They stop and face each other, he asks what he should call her. She tells him to stop calling her a female thief. His eyes turns serious and he asks if she wasn’t one, why can she keep him running in circles and unsettle him? He grabs her and and keeps pulling her closer to wipe away the smudge on her head. She smiles a little
Thoughts –
Okay. I’ll give it a try. If it goes apeshit, then i will re-evaluate. Well, at least the first two episodes were good.
*here is what I read about the story
Apparently, Yang Rong’s character is to switch faces with Lian Chen? Like literally face swap? I read it on Baidu so at least I know this show is gonna be going crazy even before I start.
dramatictealeaves 
I’ve lost track of all the seasons ever since season 1. Isn’t there also gonna be a 4th season? O_O
At one point this cow will be milked to the the fullest, right now, we can only hope that someone with even the tiniest hint of sanity is still running the show.
I’m also watching this merely for Lu Yi. Not sure if I should be glad that he is on Yu Zheng’s radar (Gong movie, Gong 3, and then Yun Zhong Ge). At least I get to see his works more easily, but then it’s all sucly productions. *faints*
Yu Zheng mentioned he will be doing a Gong 4…and many more to come. >_< I was complaining with a friend, "The QIng Dynasty has been done to death already! Is there any other prominent Qing prince which that guy hasn't write about yet?!" but to think of it, at least he is sticking to the Qing Dynasty for now. I cannot imagine if he ruins the other dynasties…like Qin, Han, Tang etc etc (other than the few dramas he did on standalone basis, which I have elected to forget). He's starting to get his hands on the Wuxia genre, and Jin Yong's classics even!!! I think the only Jin Yong I'm ok with him doing is Lu Ding Ji, because I don't particularly like the anti-hero Wei Xiao Bao, and with the 7 wives of Wei Xiao Bao, I'm sure Yu Zheng will have a feast writing all sorts of love stories for the 7 (or more!!) pairings.
I absolutely agree! Lu Yi is prob the only reason I watch this show. Yu Zheng’s works is like deep fried food, it’s delicious going down, but leaves terrible regret in its wake. And like all generic fried foods, its deeply forgettable.
Yu Zheng has a talent for unabashedly laying waste to history, perhaps this is one of the reasons why I got more and more tired of Lu Zhen. Some directors take “liberties”. Yu Zheng more or less burns the books and pisses all over the ashes. That was more vitriolic than I had actually intended, but I agree with you point.
As for Louis Cha aka Jin Yong. I LOVED Lu Ding Ji, with Wei Xiao Bao and his seven wives. Probably because I love a good anti hero that’s wily, cunning, and cowardly but completely lovable. The interesting thing about his seven wives was that they were independent women who kicked ass. As a feminist, it hurts to see them fall for Wei Xiao Bao. The book made me like and dislike the story… thus I don’t want Yu Zheng to ruin it. Also, Jin Yong’s stuff has been made so many times that Yu Zheng’s version will be buried by the next ten remakes in no time.
Opps. =P I’m an old-fashion kind of gal so I like my protagonists to be heroes, even if they are partial grey. The only anti-hero I liked is Klaus from the Amercian drama The Vampire Diaries/ The Originals. Have you heard of these shows?
I am going to boycott Shen Diao, since I’ve gotten over the Chen Xiao craze and now there is nothing to watch for. I had boycotted his Xiao Ao Jiang Hu till recently when I decided to just watch the Joe Chen cuts. hahahaha…
Why can’t Yu Zheng just write his own scripts and leave our classics alone? T.T
I actually have! the writers for the originals are fantastic, they do amazing things for the characters. they’re super good with making klaus’s character someone you’d hate to love but also love to hate.
as for She Diao and Xiao Ao, I would rather have my fingernails be pulled out with a chopstick than watch Yu Zheng burn them into ash .
Yes! They used to handle the layering for Damon well too, but then when he got together with Elena, he kind of lost that grey zone. Klaus is my favourite character because he is so broken and does terrible things. But just like Elijah, I see a glimmer of hope for him and can empathise with some of the things he does. The scriptwriters did a good job in fleshing him out as a believable character! Plus points for his British accent ❤
My gosh, it just occured to me that Yu Zheng may be interested to adapt Shu Jian…because it's set in the Qing dynasty, and involves a love triangle/rectangle!
Klaus is amazing, and I have to give kudos to the actor who pulls off the conflict so very, very well. I really think that he carries the whole show. Elijah is good too, but he’s so smooth, so polished that I don’t feel the empathy for him as I do for Klaus. Also yes, the british accent is probably the most amazing part of it.
If Yu Zheng tries to adapt Shu Jian, I will curse the heavens. I will probably watch an episode or two before spitting on it (and my computer) in disgust.
I can’t say that I like this drama but it is entertaining. I am going to do an overall review but can’t be bothered with the episodes as they are just too dramatic. This is a huge hit in China with the netizens loving Heng Tai.
ahahha it’s addictive in all the bad ways. I’ve been popcorn watching it, it’s like Lu Zhen for me, there’s very little character development and just angst. I love the male lead Lu Yi so I still stick to it a bit.
I’ve stopped watching the latest 10 eps because it’s starting to get boring. it’s just a cycle of Lin Chen getting in trouble or w.e and her husband (forgot his name) saving her. It’s getting a bit repetitive and obvious. The first few eps were interesting and even funny, but now I kind of gave up on it. On the other hand, Perfect Couple is an awesome drama and that’s not just because Wallace and Tiffany is in it. I love the funny, sweet scenes between the couple and every ep is never boring.
It’s okay at times. The overall plot is too contrived; tries too hard to create shocking twists and turns which does more harm than good. Yang Rong seems to do a better job than Yuan Shanshan. Shirley Dai is ok, but the princess character is a bit too monotonous. Would help the series if it has less episodes. Lu Yi does a decent job, though the Heng Tai character is sometimes ok sometimes irksome. Some supporting characters are rather irritating. Gong 3 is more suitable for younger audiences. Some of the costumes are nice.
Perfect Couple does seem somewhat more interesting by comparison. Tang Yan is a better actress than Yuan Shanshan, and Tang Yan’s character is more believable.
There were a number of inconsistencies in the plot which i found rather frustrating. Also the misunderstandings between people were quite contrived and unoriginal. Like other reviewers I continued watching mainly for Lu Yi who is ever so cool and a great actor. I was really annoyed that the english subs stopped at ep 36 so that I couldn’t watch to the end after spending so much time watching until then! There were no recaps to read what happened in the end. It got a bit silly with face switching, female protagonist getting amnesic and not recognising her hero, reviving a dead person and controlling them like a puppet, Hengtai tripping in that silly space-agey den of the charman (I’m not a fantasy lover). I am wondering also why all these dramas seem to have the same unoriginal plotlines, antics and themes eg poisonings, pinky finger vowels etc. It started off really promising so I was disappointed they had to add these unnecessary bits.