June Photo Challenge (Suggested by @purplesheesh)
Since this is an open theme, I’ve decided to go with “Current Favorites” i.e. favorites from whatever I’m watching at the moment.

Day 1: Drama Character
Gao Zhenhe, Mr. Fox & Miss Rose
The male lead of this presently airing C-drama is a scrawny, messy looking guy. Normally, I don’t like such guys, but Gao Zhenhe has me swooning (just a little). Thanks you @hades for recommending this show.

Mr. Fox & Ms Rose is a fun romance. A jewel hunter crashes into an isolated mountain area, and is rescued by a tribe that is completely cut off from the world. Their Queen for reasons, decides to marry him & he goes ahead with it to win her trust, deceive the tribe and run away with their precious stone. So now, she follows him back to the city to get what is her’s back. This is in the plot description, and it doesn’t sound like anything particularly unheard of – but it is SO MUCH FUN. An unexpected sense of adventure and laugh out loud humor form the backdrop for this story. It’s fun, and the acting, pacing and dialogue is good – no complaints so far (ep 12).

Ren You Lun is really selling the male lead, Gao Zhenhe. He’s intelligent, resourceful and cunning, and uses his wits to lie, cheat and deceive – this is clearly not a good guy. In fact, we find him in the middle of a long con, working to gain someone’s trust and obtain information, when the show opens. But at the same time, he is also clearly not a bad guy.

Gao Zhenhe has male privilege on his side, his character gets away with things we may not always forgive female characters for; but Ren’s portrayal of him is a big part of why we forgive and even understand him. He has a soft side, his micro-expressions tell us he knows what he’s doing is wrong & feels bad, and that he’s fiercely loyal to the people he loves.

No wait, I’m understating things – Ren’s portrayal of this bad boy has me swooning, and I don’t swoon so easily over bad boys. It’s the soft cuddly ones like I’ll Go To You When The Weather is Nice‘s Lim Eunsoeb that I usually like. Didn’t think much of him at first either, but by ep 3-4, I was hooked — both to the characters, including Gao Zhenhe, as well as the show.

10/10 would recommend Gao Zhenhe to everyone.

8
14

    Clearly I forgot this was meant to be a PHOTO challenge. 😀 Tomorrow onwards. Please consider the video a moving photo till then.

    3
    0

    I am watching this too! I started late last night cuz of Hades too lol and I am now on ep 9!!!!! 😱😱😱😱😱 the episodes just keep rolling!

    3
    1

      Also these two. heheheheheheehhehe.

      need more skinship ngl.

      1
      1

        Lol @hades mentioned you’re watching it too. Isn’t it adorable? My only complaint is that Xing Yue – while still being visible & doing a lot – isn’t given a lot to do, & isn’t there yet, emotionally & mentally, with Gao Zhenhe. She’s far behind. I really need her to catch up so it’s more “equal”. But also, yes to more skinship 💜 & more cuteness

        1
        1

          That was my issue too. I wish she had showed more traits of a tribe leader. I mean I can forgive her reaction to the civilization world since everything is indeed new in her eyes, but I wish there was still Yknow that aura around her that she’s a leader of a pack while adjusting to her new world. Anyways she hasn’t really bothered me, so I’m good for now with her.

          1
          1

            Exactly. She’s too not-leader like to be believable as a leader but it’s ok. Lol

            1
            0

    I hope he remains/becomes more of the good guy we know him to be. 🤞🏾

    2
    1

      I really like that he’s got her best interest even if he found her a chore to be with.

      1
      1

        Agreed. He does seem to genuinely care for her. @hades, I think he’ll definitely make at least one hard decision that’ll be difficult to forgive him for. Maybe. Or maybe not, this show is too cute.

        1
        1

          He does seem to genuinely care for her.

          He did mention that she’s an important person to him because she saved his life. I liked it when he thought to himself he wouldn’t disclose what happened to him in the 15 days he went missing, so his friends wouldn’t get curious about the tribe that was living in harmony.

          He does not forget people who did him good. Even as early as ep 3, when he left to escape, he said goodbye to her (tho she was knocked out at this time!) and felt bad for tricking her.

          And we’ve had quite a few instances where he chose to see her than go to what should have been his top priorities were. ie-when he went back to pick her up from the senior home and when he went to get her from Yi Tian’s studio instead of flying to Tadong.

          I really like that he is, yeah, genuinely concerned about her. This might be a stretch – but I think when he left her at the cliff, he was actually on the way to get Xing Yue back when Xia Nian called him that she had gone missing. 😬 Or else why would he lie to Xia Nian that he was sleeping when he was actually in his vehicle driving!

          I think he’ll definitely make at least one hard decision that’ll be difficult to forgive him for.

          I’m at the part now in ep 9 where uncle talks about one’s weakness. And how loving someone is deadly. Oh-uh!

          2
          1

            “This might be a stretch – but I think when he left her at the cliff, he was actually on the way to get Xing Yue back when Xia Nian called him that she had gone missing.”

            Come to think of it that’s entirely valid. I was wondering where he was going, since he’d already been home.

            Agreed with all your observations famy! So much. It’s so awesome to have another person to squeal over this drama to!

            1
            0

    I like how you’ve approached the challenge.
    This drama sounds so fun from all I get on the beanie wall… I will have to get over my issues about Chinese (I hardly deal with its phonetics and musicality) because I’m so tempted to watch!!

    1
    1

      Hahaha is it the voice overs that they do? Because that’s definitely a weird thing in C-dramas

      0
      1

        No, it’s just the phonetics. I can’t connect to that. I feel like everybody has some kind of cold or that they cannot pronounce correctly some sounds and it drives me crazy. I can deal with Korean and Japanese, but Chinese is really hard, haha.

        1
        0