First impressions.
This felt like I was watching second season of Rattan. Firstly, the opening song was a bit like the one in Rattan… kinda mysterious. I also noticed voice changes, from what I know, Si Teng’s voice was dubbed so I’m not sure if they’re using her real voice in City of Streamers(will investigate). From the first 10 minutes of the drama you already know that this drama’s main theme is the romantic relationship between teacher and student, young man and an older woman. The meet up between the main leads wasn’t one of those cliché moments in dramas. They selected the best scene for their meet up but it felt like I was watching the Chinese version of Cinderella.
Overall.
Set in the Shanghai Shores at the beginning of the 20th century, where warlords begin to seize their powers; many heroes emerge, and revolutionary movements begin to rise. Making use of their wealth, the influential Rong family often abused their powers to commit various heinous crimes.
In order to uphold justice, Feng Shi Zhen decided to embark on the road of revenge. She successfully sneaked into the Rong family, and became a tutor of the young master Rong Jia Shang. However, in the midst of testing and making use of each other, Feng Shi Zhen slowly finds herself falling for the enemy’s son. When the truth of the injustice and grievances that happened twenty years ago begin to surface, the two lovers who were initially in two different camps work together to brave through numerous hurdles, and ultimately reveal the shocking truth.
The Good.
1. Chemistry.
When you mention chemistry people think that we only talk about romance but you are wrong because we also talk about chemistry between characters in the drama. If you take a good look at Shizhen and her brother (not Li), their relationship is no different from normal relationship between a big brother and little sister. They cared for each other as if they share the same blood and it was a shock. You can also look at the hatred between Meng and Rong Dingkun, you can feel the tension between them even when they’re in a crowd, it gives you goosebumps. In terms of romance, it was a good run with Jiashang and Shizhen especially with the whole identity mystery being a thread to their relationship and then it’s love-hate relationship, it’s nice to watch such segments as long as they don’t overdo it.
2. Storyline.
If you watched the drama you can back me up on this one, the storyline of this drama is like a puzzle with 1000 pieces. In the beginning, it looked like the puzzles were easy to connect but as you continue to put the pieces together you realise that the puzzle isn’t what you thought it would be. The storyline kept changing and changing, you keep on guessing and guessing but then as it reaches the end… all the puzzles connect and you finally get a clear picture of what the writers had in mind.
The Bad.
1. Sound delay.
I noticed that in some episodes there was a sound delay, I’m not sure if it was only on my side or everyone witnessed it but it’s definitely not a result of bad network signal.
2. Not this trick again.
I’m tired of watching a drama and then one of the male lead gets sick, the female lead takes care of him and when it’s time for her to leave… well, you know what will happen, the male leads grabs her hand causing her to spend the night watching over him, this Sucks! Can’t they be more creative in building up the storyline?
3. Bad! Bad Ending!
If the ending of Rong Dingkun was scripted as a way of shocking us, then they did a good job but if they scripted it thinking that it’s the best solution then they did a bad job. For a villain like Rong Dingkun, he shouldn’t have ended up the way he did, it’s a unique ending but not good enough to end a drama like City of streamers.
Conclusion.
It’s been a long journey watching this drama, I saw some negative comments about Jiashang burning opium but the directors did a great a job by sharing a real life event similar to the opium scene as defense. Normally I wouldn’t recommend Republican dramas because I haven’t found a great drama to recommend but I highly recommend this drama to you if you haven’t watched it. Yes, the ending may be shocking but it doesn’t mean the drama is bad.
Ratings.
7/10
