Coincidentally or not so coincidentally, the second one I want to discuss also involves Wallace Huo. Fans might still remember the tragic story of Gui Hai Yi Dao (歸海一刀) and Shang Guan Hai Tang (上官海棠). They went through so much together yet was not able to stay together because we all know that she died at the end–well near the end.
Although Hai Tang’s death was done beautifully, it was also too frustrating. It was just too much and heart-wrecking to see Yi Dao discovering her body and then confirming her death after checking for the last time. He’d done it slowly and calmly yet the pain in his eyes was unmistakable. Then he said, “Hai Tang, Yi Dao is here. No one could harm you anymore. Don’t be afraid.” (I started crying about then. The scene was just too much.) But then it was slightly ruined because someone had to speak up in a fake rant to score some points with the three guys.
Luckily, it was brought back to focus with Yi Dao carrying Hai Tang’s body on his back, walking out into the rain. He finally broke through at last and cried out her name–with much pain in his voice. Raindrops were falling down his face mixed in with his tears. (It sounded dramatic but it was nicely done.)
Then the funeral was just sad although it seemed a tad subtle with everyone looking so calm, especially Yi Dao. But it said a lot with Yi Dao’s eyes looking so haunting.
The theme song sang by Wallace “Your Number One” was playing in the background the whole time since the part where Yi Dao discovered Hai Tang’s body. It was a big contribution to the scene played out. Though the song aimed at the majority of the characters in their valuing love overpower, I thought it emphasized Yi Dao and Hai Tang’s story the most since he was the most caring toward Hai Tang and was the most hurt from lost love than anyone. In fact, the song fitted perfectly with the Tian Ya – Hai Tang – Yi Dao triangle, especially the phrase: “What’s the difference between him and me?” The comparison between the two guys since Tian Ya and Yi Dao did not get along that well at the beginning, but it was only because of Yi Dao’s stubborn nature. Another phrase that was worth mentioning was, “It doesn’t matter who is the world’s number one, I only want to be number one in your heart.” Though Yi Dao seemed cold-blooded on the surface, he valued love more than anything. His caring toward Hai Tang showed a lot. He only wanted to protect her yet he no longer could.
I must admit it was my very first series of Wallace and I was really taken by his acting and also the story between him and Michelle as Yi Dao and Hai Tang in there. Both had great chemistry and did very well portraying their characters. It was too bad they did not have too many scenes together.
Even though I finally accepted that she died and that was that, I–like some others–am still pissed off at the ending. There was no reason for her to die except that it led to others becoming more active in exposing the other parts of the plot. There were still other ways for it to work out. So they wanted a tragic ending or wanted to pave another dramatic event in Yi Dao’s life but that was too much. Hasn’t he gone through enough? Making it cheesy with everyone living happily ever after would be too much but killing off one of the main leads? Those things do happen but there were other alternatives around it. Enough about that.
After watching several series of Wallace’s fate, I’m convinced that either one of the leads has to die or separate in his series. (Wu Shi Lang is different since that’s basically a comedy. Those TW dramas do not count either.) I also have to come to the conclusion that Wong Jing (Wang Xing) is messed up in so many ways that he likes to kill the majority of the cast just for kicks. (Luckily he was only one of the ones writing the script or if he was the only one, everyone would end up dying in this series already.)
Anyway, still one of the most memorable couples of ancient series.
*All images were captured by DTLCT