Allen Ren and Li Qin paired up for a republican drama Thousand For You. I decided to write a review on the drama since it’s a fantasy drama but this review is going to be different. I’m just going to discuss everything in one place but will make sure they’re well sequenced.
Great story introduction with the use of drawings and the narrator in the background . I love the drawing style they used, it matches with the timeline of the narrated story. The script writers wasted no time in foreshadowing. Foreshadowing often appears at the beginning of a story and it helps us as the viewers develop expectations about the upcoming events.
I noticed different types of foreshadowing in Thousand Years For You. They used direct foreshadowing to hint change of events in the coming episodes like the true identity of Yu DengDeng, the history and involvement of the Yu family. We already seen how Yu DengDeng brought Lu Yan back to live and how she reacted when she first saw him, this can of worms still has more worms.
The story is nothing confusing, I will discuss it a little later but let me give you few hints. First five episodes are what I use to decide whether I drop the drama or not. Thousand years of love has a very interesting and unique story. The marriage between Lu Yan and Lu DengDeng might look like it was unnecessary but the reason behind it makes it necessary. I liked the dominance of Lu DengDeng over Lu Yan. It’s not like Lu Yan is weak, he is just letting her feel like she’s the big boss.
Besides the blurry connection between Lu Yan and Yu DengDeng, we have Lu DengDeng as the chief of the Qingquan stronghold. Apparently there are 18 strongholds and they are not on good terms. Lu DengDeng being Qingquan’s chief, many people fear them and don’t dare make a move. Lu DengDeng has her own reputation on the mountain, she’s domineering and no man wants to marry her. Being married to Lu DengDeng is worse than death to the young rich men, the poor ones are very lucky because she’s only interested in money.
There’s also a mysterious shadow always trying to harm Lu DengDeng, I love how they slowly brings this character towards the stage. There’s a lot of crazy stuff going on in this drama, Lu DengDeng got married to a rooster Da Hong (Big Red when translated). We also have Da Hai played by (Chang Long), who’s literally killing me with laughter! This guy is pure Gold, I choked when he transformed into a woman. His transformation was actually a surprise for me and I thought he has a secret identity but that was until he explained it. Da Hai is very funny, everything he does just makes you laugh your lungs out. Even when he’s under an illusion he dreams about stupid stuff. I would be surprised if someone said they didn’t like Chang Long, he never disappoints when it comes to delivery.
Regarding DengDeng’s identity, I’m having mixed reactions. It was early to spill the beans because her relationship / interaction with Lu Yan was more entertaining. They were even investigating few cases which took us away from the identity thing, I just saw DengDeng as DengDeng with no secret identity. On the other side, it was the perfect time to reveal her identity because we already saw the signs and anyone with brains can figure out DengDeng’s identity even if the writers tried to hide it. The problem is how they handled the whole situation. There’s a confusion regarding this, most people take DengDeng and Yun Xi as two different people.
The writers are also at fault because Lu Yan recognized DengDeng as a host but later showed the Golden feather turning into a young girl (DengDeng). Lu Yan did also mention that Yun Xi’s energy has already merged with DengDeng’s body which means that she will die if Lu Yan forced the energy out. This doesn’t make sense, if DengDeng wasn’t Yun Xi then why would the feather turn into her? It’s not like the feather picked a host and spread Yun Xi’s energy over her body. The memory loss thing hasn’t been solved even at the end or should we just come up with our conclusions?
There’s also Zhu Rong, the main villain in this drama and his character wouldn’t get the spotlight if DengDeng wasn’t exposed. Zhu Rong is played by…. It’s actually the first time I have seen him as a villain and he is more appealing. It’s crazy how he lives in an old abandoned building but still sit on an expensive chair fit for a king. Zhu Rong had a all the tools a villain needed but I didn’t see the need for him to do what he did. His actions and schemes were fine when he was still in the dark but things went south when he came face to face with our heroes.
They brought another villain who was presented to us as the biggest threat but I didn’t see the need for another villain. It’s quite understandable that the writers wanted to twist the story a little bit since it was about to end but the experiment failed. When the last villain came up, I prepared popcorns and drinks hoping to see the biggest fight. I felt like they only delayed time with the last villain instead of putting her to good use. The final showdown was great, cinematic and that’s it… they advertised the villain as a threat only to give her a two minutes fight scene. I even believe things would have turned good if they didn’t drop Zhu Rong. Another way would be to drop Zhu Rong as early as possible and have the last villain handle the rest. It would’ve given her a chance to showcase her abilities. In conclusion, I didn’t see those villains as a big threat.
Other things to discuss.
Thousand Years For You takes place in different eras, the ancient era and the republican era. It also has a dash of xianxia vibes with the spirit clan falling from the sky. This is a fantasy drama so we just have to switch off our realistic minds for a moment. Since the drama is set in two different eras, it will be a tough task to create a story involving the two settings. I loved how they easily managed to shift from the ancient era to the republican era and vice versa. The drama had a good playlist with four songs. Allen Ren sang the opening theme song, which is my favorite. There’s also the closing song by Lu Hu, he never disappoints when it comes to OSTs.
Let me get this straight, I’m a fan of Allen Ren and I have nothing against him but I have a problem with his voice. Now I’m sounding like I’m a sound engineer, let’s get to the point. The problem is the delivery, he talks as if he was reading a book for the whole class. His character as Lu Yan is perfect but he lost few points when he started talking. I just couldn’t guess his emotions from his voice, it’s the same regardless of the situation. You can’t tell whether he’s concerned, happy or sad unless you look as his facial expressions.
Another thing I want to mention is the ‘meh’ romance between the main leads. Lu Yan and DengDeng look fantastic together as investigators not as lovers. The story does show potential in the romance between the main leads but they didn’t have the chemistry we want. I saw them as colleagues instead of lovers, you know those colleagues who mean the world to you? Or is it me who has such colleagues? On the other side, it looked like Lu Yan only stayed with DengDeng to protect her until he kills the villain and return the energy ball to her. They tried by dedicating three episodes just to tell the history between the two but I wasn’t moved. Lu Yan was stiff all the times, he barely flirted with DengDeng. The second couple saved the drama with their cute story. They might have met late but it was worth the wait.
Conclusion.
Why am I getting dramas with messed up endings this year? The last three episodes were dragging, I just didn’t like watching the main leads acting all lovey-dovey. You would expect to find a satisfactory ending after finishing the dragging episodes but it’s all disappointment. In the eyes of others, it might be a good ending but it was like opening a can of questions for me. The main question we all (I’m also speaking for you) wanted to know was what happened to Lu Yan? I expected a clear and simple answer, the writers just wanted to mess with our minds. Why didn’t they just make it simple and use the same excuse for Lu Yan like they did with Wei Du? It would have been better if the drama just ended on the wedding night with a cliffhanger, opening doors for season 2. If you’re looking for a drama with romance, don’t watch this. Thousand Years For You focuses a lot on mystery and investigations instead of romance. I’m rating it with the not surprising 7.5/10.
