In yet more TV: Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty

[sholio]

I am watching a lot of things right now, by my standards! We're up to ep. 16 on this one. (No spoilers please!!)

I have LASERED onto Duo'erla on this show like a massive homing beacon. I LOVE HERRRRRR. She is just so EVERYTHING I like, competent and prickly on the outside/sweet in the middle and - let us not discount this part - a GIANT WEIRDO. In her case this is mostly because she's foreign to the culture the other characters are from, but you just don't get female characters like that very often and I adore her. I love that she pitches a tent in Tang Fan's yard rather than sleeping inside, and she's learning to speak Mandarin so she can talk to everyone, and how she has that resting bitch face most of the time but then she has the sweetest smile around people she likes (Tang Fan, Wuyun) and it's so cute. And the first thing she does when she meets Tang Yu is hug her, to Tang Yu's shock and bafflement because We Do Not Hug! She's daaaarling.

The cast in general is all really great, though. I continue to be impressed by the guy who plays Sui Zhou's ability to do 15 simultaneous things with his face. His background expressions throughout some of the scenes are a total delight. I am also just really enjoying the general thing with the characters coming together from all their many different backgrounds. The hotpot scene in the episode we watched last night was just so sweet because it would have been basically unthinkable 15 episodes earlier for these people to all sit down and eat together and have fun doing it, but now they ARE and it's really neat.

Comments

[sheron]

Hee! I love the family dinner thing so much! :D

I think one of my favourite things about this show besides the actual characters is all the travel and day-to-day stuff that we get to see in this semi-fictional universe.

[sholio]

Yes! I am really loving that too! I think I mentioned this in my previous post about the show, but I love how engaged it is with its semi-historical context - the little bits of New World food that have made their way to them, the foreigners, all the geographical stuff, and so forth. I realize it's historical FICTION as opposed to actual history, but I also feel like I'm learning stuff, especially with Google to fill me in on random bits of historical context (like the Mongol stuff).

[xparrot]

Oh, awesome you're watching that one! Of all the cdrama I've seen it's one of the ones I think would be most up your alley, for the found family stuff and the great female characters. And it's got great pacing, with a good mix of comedy and drama. (and luckily those of us who can't speak Mandarin aren't bothered by the apparently very obvious Taiwanese accents of the two leads XD)

[sholio]

Yeah, sheron reeled me in basically with those exact selling points - found family + excellent female characters = OH NO HELP and now here I am. xD

and luckily those of us who can't speak Mandarin aren't bothered by the apparently very obvious Taiwanese accents of the two leads XD

Hahaha! The benefits of blissful ignorance, I guess. XD

[doctorskuld]

Tang Fan is dubbed over, that's not Darren Chen's actual voice, he sounds fairly usual. But Fu Meng-Po did actually do his own dubbing. You can tell he's trying to do a Mainland accent, but he only makes it about 85% of the way there. It definitely took a while for me to get used to, but in the end I fell in love with his soft and gentle baritone. I'm glad that we got to hear it. (Can you tell that I love Fu Meng-Po? naye can testify.)

The only other actor who isn't dubbed over is Yu Mingxuan who plays Ding Rong, also known to those who are TLTR fans as Wu Xie's third uncle.

[xparrot]

Heee! The other cdrama I've been meaning to rec you was for those same points, so if you're looking for more afterwards... :D (I cannot remember if I mentioned it before; it's The King's Avatar, which despite the title sounding like another historical drama is actually about an esports team -- it's basically a gaming shounen, the team of misfits coming together and rising to the top. And while its gender balance isn't great, the female characters are epic and awesome and hilarious, and slashy to boot.)

[sholio]

Ohhhh, I've seen that one mentioned in various places (possibly by you!)! Thank you for the rec! :) I think it's going to take me a bit to get through Sleuth since I'm watching a really unusual-for-me number of shows right now, but I've got that one on the list for after. (You do tend to have an excellent read on what I like. XD )

btw, if we ever manage to get in the same place again (;__;) you still have my encouragement to show me some Guardian!!

[goss]

The hotpot scene in the episode we watched last night was just so sweet because it would have been basically unthinkable 15 episodes earlier for these people to all sit down and eat together

I love this scene too! <333

[sholio]

It's so cuuuuuuute. ♥ And all the more so because their friendship is so new and tentative. I love it!

[silverflight8]

I have nothing to contribute except that I thought "Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty" was like, a summary of the show/injoke, and I didn't know that was actually the show's name! :P

[sholio]

Hahahahaaaaa nope, it's the real name! And also accurate - it's more or less Ming Dynasty CSI, with frequent side trips into the personal lives of the characters.

[doctorskuld]

It's the real English title! The Chinese title is the "The Fourteenth Year of Chenghua" which if you're not familiar with Ming Dynasty history, tells you absolutely nothing. Hence the change in English.

[sholio]

Ahhh, thank you for the correction, that is good to know! <3

[chanter1944]

I'm kiiiiind of wishing for an English dub of this series now? Oops! :P

I'm trying to place the origin of the absolutely *excellent* name Duo'erla, and failing. Your reference to Mongol stuff made me wonder if she isn't Mongolian, but that wouldn't have been my first guess...? Tibetan? I need to stop automatically pronouncing it as if it were Mandarin - Dwo Er-la. Whoops on me, again.

[sholio]

She is Mongolian on the show! (Specifically an Oirat.) I don't know if the actual name is Mongolian, though, or if it's simply what Mandarin speakers on the show call her.

[chanter1944]

Oh, coolness! :)

[naye]

I ADORE how Duo'erla is all about the sisterhood with Tang Yu! ♥ (And everything else with Duo'erla, really.) And yes! The way that Sui Zhou goes from unable to stand being around Oirats, seeing his trauma in all of them, to happily sharing a table and found-family feels with them? Gorgeous.

[sholio]

Yesssss, the progression of all of that has been really lovely! That kind of found-family-ship and people overcoming differences is so completely my jam. ♥

[doctorskuld]

👏IN THIS HOUSE WE LOVE SUI ZHOU👏

Sui Zhou's face journeys are everything. The name of his actor is Fu Meng-Po, and we adore him in Sleuth fandom. Once you are finished with the show, there are some great reaction interviews with him, Kuan Hung (aka. Darren Chen, who plays Tang Fan), and Liu Yaoyuan (who plays Wang Zhi). They are absolutely delightful.

I hope you continue to enjoy Sleuth, I am neck deep in this very tiny fandom. We are mostly on Discord and on Twitter, and I have a long list of good fanfiction recs waiting if you want them.

[sholio]

Sui Zhou has the BEST face. He's great. :D I also agree that he has a lovely voice, as you were saying above! It is a very delightful show, and very much to my taste. I'm sure I'll be posting more about it as I go forward!

[sartorias]

Loved this show, with a reservation or two. Waiting until you are done for any more comments. (I've watched it twice.)

[sholio]

I look forward to talking about it when I'm done, and appreciate the spoiler forbearance!