TMPB is a romantic fantasy costume drama based on Chinese mythology, a genre more aptly described by the term ‘xianxia’ (仙侠).
It tells the love story between Ye Hua and Bai Qian, a man
and woman relationship which spanned across three lifetimes. Of course, Ye Hua and Bai Qian are not
humans, but non-human beings who have incredibly long life spans so to be practically
immortal. Such celestial beings also
have abilities beyond that of humans and the laws of physics which humans are
subject to, do not apply to them. But
despite their super human abilities, those celestial beings love, hate, mourn, yearn
- and otherwise feel all the same emotions as (we) mortals do.
At the time I started watching TMPB, Singapore was amid a stern
lockdown and I was bored like hell. Fortunately,
my husband came to my rescue. Albeit non-Chinese
speaking, he had through friends’ recommendation, gotten hooked onto TMPB earlier
on and in a spate of late nights he devoured the serial to the end in a
frightening binge. Unlike me, hubby used
to watch ‘xianxia’ and ‘wuxia’ (武俠)
TV serials when he was growing up and he loved those stories. ‘wuxia’ (武俠) refers to a the genre of stories which feature ancient
martial heroes who have extraordinary fighting skills.
Now hearing my pitiful cry for help and seeing how I was not
coping well with having to be homebound, he recommended I watch TMPB. He even gallantly
offered to sit with me to watch it all over again, adding that the serial was
that good he didn’t mind. Habouring
grave doubts about how good any C-drama could be, but then battling cabin fever,
I took up his kind offer to sit with me to watch TMPB.
Though TMPB was my second foray into the world of C-drama,
it was my maiden voyage in the world of ‘xianxia’. I came to TMPB utterly
devoid of any knowledge about the rules and premises of a "xianxia"
universe. So, I was hopelessly lost in the
woods for the first 20 or so episodes, or perhaps I should say lost in space -
as in the space between the Heavenly Realm and Mortal Realm, to and from which
the characters would do much travelling, the purposes for which I was not
getting.
Several times, I would jump up and declared to hubby that I
was giving up as I didn’t understand where the plot was going, what the
characters wanted or were trying to do. But
every time I thought of bailing out, hubby would encourage me to keep going. So I would sit down again (in preference to crawling
up the wall – and also because hubby is warm and cuddly).
And then, in Episode 29 of 58 - the Story Exploded. In a flash, all the plotlines and premises
from the earlier episodes assembled together in my mind's eye. So that is what the Story is About! The epiphany was an amazing moment for
me. I finally saw the epic canvas on
which the love story was being drawn. I
finally understood what the main characters wanted for themselves and I was so
wanting them to succeed. From that point
forward, I was absolutely riveted. That
set me to furiously chase down all the remaining episodes of the serial to its
beautiful finale.
I loved the story so much.
Of course, after I had finished the serial, I went back to re-watch the
earlier episodes, now with new eyes and newfound understanding.
C-drama tells fantasy and romantic
stories very differently from how such stories are told by English cinema. It would be a mistake to apply the lenses
used to watch English language fantasy drama to watch C-drama fantasy. Because I threw away my usual lenses and put
on different set of lenses, I was able to enjoy an incredibly beautiful,
out-of-this-world love story. It took me
quite a while to find my bearings, but the payoff has been handsome.
All said, I must thank hubby for handholding me into the realm
of ‘xianxia’. Thus initiated, hubby and I have, since TMPB, sat together and
watched many other ‘xianxia’ and ‘wuxia’ C-dramas to date. The dreary long hours of lockdown have become
a time of fascination and excitement, as hubby and I roam and explore different
worlds from the huddle of our stationery home.
Who knew that the romantic vibes from a ‘xianxia’ love story set in an immortal
realm would be able to transcend into the realm of my living room.
TMPB 三生三世十里桃花 is also known as ‘ETERNAL LOVE’ and is currently available
on Netflix with English subtitles. Well-known actors, Yang Mi 杨幂 and Mark
Chao 趙又廷 are the main leads.
Mark Chao is also the main lead in the 2020 movie, ‘The
Yin-Yang Master: Dream of Eternity’ 阴阳师:
晴雅集, also
currently available on Netflix with English subtitles.
____________________
About the Author:
Born and bred in Singapore, Jeannette Chong-Aruldoss left
school achieving the distinction of being practicably unable to read, write or
speak Mandarin despite 10 years of studying the language. Her mono-lingual
world ended when she stumbled into the land of Chinese drama during lockdown.
To date, she has binge watched quite a number of C-drama serials already, all
thanks to English subtitles, without which she would not have come this far.
If you are a C-drama fan from the English-speaking, do
hit "Like" at this Page https://www.facebook.com/EngSubsPls
to connect and chat with me.
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