At the Dolphin Bay 海豚灣戀人

So I decided to start some kind of saga to share the things I love and hate about my favorites. Who’s the first one on the plate? Who else but Mr. Huo, right? But before I get started, DO REMEMBER that these are my personal likes and dislikes SO if you don’t agree with me, IT’S OKAY. I’m just sharing, NOT forcing anyone to agree with me.

HIS ROLES:

Best Character EVER: Tang Lang (from Detective Tang Lang), intelligent and hilarious. NOT completely perfect but super righteous at times. Also, his kick-ass martial arts in here.

2ND Best Character EVER: Lu Yun Xiang (from Sound of Colors), OMG, he’s an artist! Super hot-headed character at times, but he’s so sweet and cute at other times.

Favorite Swordsman Character: Gui Hai Yi Dao (from Tian Xia Di Yi). (I would’ve put “Ling Hu Chong” BUT thanks to YZ, I can’t anymore, because I can’t ignore the fact that his character got ruined really badly in there.) So anyway, this was the character that brought me into being one of his fans. He really convinced me in here and come on now, his martial arts skills really ruled too! (Did he do the stunts himself back then? At least some of it?)

 

Devilishly Witty Character: Xing Wang (from Westside Story), a genius and bordering on the side of a nerd, but was also quite awesome with various talents.

Most Hateful Character (in my book): Li Wei Xiang (from 100% Senorita), NOT because of the other girl, but I hated the fact that he was portraying a supposedly intelligent lawyer and supposedly a very understanding boyfriend YET he was more than stupid could describe. Like how he didn’t forgive his ‘godfather’ until he needed the old man for a favor near the end to help his girlfriend. Then there was the whole thing with claiming to be supportive and understanding toward his girlfriend, he acted super annoying with kept confronting her and forcing her to see how ‘hurt’ he was YET didn’t think to investigate into her strange behaviors for some ‘side’ story. It could also be the stupid plot’s fault with affecting his poor character development BUT still, I didn’t like it one bit though I felt Wallace did a really good job with portraying such an annoying role when he was still struggling between roles and trying to make it happen during the beginning of his career.

Annoying YET Can’t Hate Character: Li Ya Shou (from Wu Shi Lang). I don’t know. I couldn’t explain why I didn’t hate him. Well, partially it was Wallace and how hilarious his character was at times that I couldn’t blame him for being up to no good with his ‘getting rich’ schemes. Perhaps, it was also the fact that he knew his father died from hunger that he got so freaked out with the whole landing into the same fate as his father so I was sort of sympathizing him on that front too. And Wallace’s haunting eyes at times when he looked after Shi Lang that made it sooo hard to hate him. (Besides, I don’t really like those insanely ‘good’ characters nowadays. It’s just too flaky.)

HIS DRAMAS:

Best Drama Ever: Detective Tang Lang, just because I’m a fan of detective/police stuff and action/martial arts stuff as well. It’s a mixture of both and Wallace so kicked ass in here with his moves. The cases were quite interesting and the pace was fast enough. Plus most of the characters made it lively most of the time and hilarious during others. This drama wasn’t flawless but I seriously felt it was one of Wallace’s best choices BECAUSE though at times he picked good roles BUT failed to pay attention to the plot that made it SUPER hard for some people to watch. (I seriously am not that ‘obsessed’ yet obviously to go through every single one of his series.)

Most Touching Drama: Sound of Colors. Okay, I think some of the others were quite touching as well, but I felt this one with how it made me cry more than usual, even during re-watches, deserved the spot the most. Jimmy Liao’s adapted story, wasn’t perfect and I could detect all the goofs throughout. Yet the overall story was quite good and touching. The ending was worth a box of tissues already. But I didn’t hate it. Sure, I felt bitter after watching the ending for the first time and it stuck with me for several days (or more). Then I became more accepting of it and even felt in a way, it was meaningful. Perhaps, it was somewhat paving its way and dropping hints with how things would eventually come to that point (aka making sense), so I was able to accept it better as well.

Worst Drama Ever: 100% Senorita. NOT just because I hated his character, but I felt so robbed with how it was supposed to be a revenge plot. Then it got side-track AND got so draggy that I ended up hating almost all the characters in there. Then only the last ten episodes seemed to be worth watching. (Or so I thought.) And the fact that Deric Wan was part of it puzzled me even more since he could DO WAY BETTER than got stuck with this stupid stuff.

TOO BAD: Xiao Ao Jiang Hu, seriously, I think it’s too obvious. It’s one disastrous, nerve-racking journey from the start. It’s a train-wreck that most of us should see it coming YET refuse to believe BECAUSE some of us actually believe in Mr. Huo’s judgment and how he would be able to control more factors coming into this drama–with his going somewhere and reading the script and studying it to death with other information before taking the role. YET he got conned as well with the scrip changes. AND of course it’s NOT something new that scripts get change in the industry, sometimes it happens the night before even. BUT the fact that he barely could do anything about it was so frustrating. He wanted more of the ‘martial arts’ side and less ‘romance’ side (like how a typical wuxia should be) YET he couldn’t fight too much with the rest of the production team and make it ‘difficult’ for them. (OR so I heard. I also heard two of them were women so he couldn’t ‘bully’ them too much.) He only won over some of the fighting scenes with Howie Huang (aka he was able to suggest certain scenes and that was it). After what happened though, the next time I see Mr. Huo caving in and agreeing to some YZ production again, HE’S ON HIS OWN. (People say you could only fall for something one time AND the next time it’s your fault, so that’s that for me. I won’t abandon him BUT just won’t watch it if he’s going to fall for YZ’s trap again.) AND what else? Um…the fact that Wallace criticized Taiwanese soaps for keep having the same formulas (and I agreed with him when he listed all the repetitive formulas during that one interview) YET accepted and went through with YZ’s schemes? WOW! Being in YZ’s production is actually worse than starring in a Taiwanese soap, I’m telling you. At least most of the TW soaps make sense with some twists–even if it could be frustrating.

HIS CO-STARS:

Favorite Female Co-Star: Ruby Lin. YES, unlike some of the fans of his who are like attacking her, she’s actually my favorite among all his co-stars. And I felt they were actually quite cute together. If only they would work together again and there would be a happy ending at last! (How many times do the guy have to die for her, really? LOL…) UPDATE: They got together and got married in 2016 already so that was happy news for me. I’ll take whatever I can get. (LOL!) (Go here and here for more coverage relating to their relationship.)

2nd Favorite Female Co-Star: Alina Zhang. Words have it that they’re more like ‘sisters’ in real life OR something like that. But I really enjoyed their chemistry in Detective Tang Lang. They didn’t click for me at first yet in the later parts, it got to me with how funny they were with the constant arguments and many more.

3rd Favorite Female Co-Star: Mariam Yeung. How can I not like it that she got him out of his shell after their collaboration? It was so cool that they were getting along so well afterward and she even invited him to co-star again in one of her MVs. Aside from that, I thought they were quite funny in WSL together.

Favorite 2nd Female Lead Pairing: Yvonne Yao. To be honest, I have to skip around to watch his and Yvonne’s scenes only when I was watching since I couldn’t stand the main story when I was reading the spoilers. That was too bad that she would only be ‘second’ in his heart. I didn’t see the big deal with the main girl. One of the rare times when I actually get quite bitter with the main characters. And when I say the ‘main girl’, I meant the character AND not the actress so don’t misunderstand. Maybe one day I will watch it the right way with how the plot go and get it. But as of now, NOT happening.

Favorite Male Co-Star: Hu Ge. I really enjoyed their chemistry as buddies in Chinese Paladin III and sometimes WAY even more than seeing them with their significant others BECAUSE I eventually found almost all the females in there annoying. If they were to work together again in some project, that would be cool. Maybe this time act as enemies instead to see how that go? (Just to test their acting abilities, of course.)

2nd Favorite Male Co-Star: Wei Qian Xiang. OMG, they were a hilarious team in Detective Tang Lang. Both were so crazy at times yet didn’t fail to impress.

Most Pitiful Co-Star: Yuan Shan Shan. Seriously, people might not like her. But I felt she was sooooo robbed with her scenes being stolen when she was the ‘main lead’ AND then bashed to high Heaven. Then what else? Her character got reduced to some silly girl instead of the supposedly awesome, witty character I was looking forward to. (Like seriously, I thought I could trust people when they say she’s one of YZ’s favorites! Never know she got sacrificed and got thrown ‘invisible rocks’ at while YZ stood laughing and shaking his head.) I’m not saying YSS is a great actress OR trying to convince anyone to like her, I just felt soooo sorry for her with what happened. (People might also be saying she’s a grown-up and could take care of herself and who cares, etc. But for me personally, I couldn’t hold it in anymore. It’s just ridiculous.) AND I seriously don’t care about those who are telling the rest of us who read the novel to “shut up” because we actually took the time to read the novel. AND without the freaking novel, it would be just another stupid soap. AND most importantly, Ren Ying Ying IS actually my favorite Jin Yong female protagonist ever so of course I’m pissed off. (SO YZ wasn’t the first one who created the ‘soap’ with twisting some characters within XAJH since I felt XAJH had always been the most butchered novel ever regardless of adaptations. It’s still such a shame that people have the resources to make this the best BUT didn’t?)

Compensation Paring: Penny Lin. I felt robbed from the stupid 100% Senorita drama. They had great chemistry and I could see the sparks BUT I hated how the plot was and his stupid character in there. I wish they could work on another project together and with an ideal plot.

Missed Chance Pairing: Tammy Chen. Honestly, I felt soooo disappointed that they didn’t get to star in Lucky Days together.

Didn’t Happen Pairing: Angela Chang. Okay, I admit, I was skimming too with some scenes when I was checking on At the Dolphin Bay. I might one day go back to properly watch it. But I really like this pairing too. Too bad.

Could Have Been the Ideal NEW “Ling Hu Chong and Ren Ying Ying” Team: Cecilia Han Xue. Okay, I heard they don’t get along in real life? (Where was that rumor from or was it real?) But seriously, it was interesting that they were cast as Ling Hu Chong and Ren Ying Ying but from different production teams. Too bad the other side got snubbed. YET I swear I could enjoy it with this second collaboration. With some alterations here and there to compromise, I felt the other side did a better job creating the wardrobe for Ren Ying Ying. Even if she had to wear pink and white (for one of her outfits), I felt it projected the whole “thánh cô” (聖姑) vibe better.

AS A SINGER:

Favorite Song: Ni Hao Jiu Hao. He sang it with such passion. And I especially like the intro at the beginning of the song as well.

Favorite Theme Song:

Bottom line? He needs to bring out another album. (And possibly sing a song or two with Angela Chang, lol.)

REAL LIFE:

Veteran Actors:

Liu Kai Chi. There was this one article I read with how he was talking about Liu Kai Chi as his mentor at one point of their collaboration and the way he described it, it seemed he really respected LKC.

Kent Cheng. Wallace recently visited Kent while both were in Hengdian filming, and then later when Kent was on break, he returned the favor as well. It was cool to see how Kent was posting it up on Weibo and they seemed to be getting along fine.

*Will be updated as I catch up like INSANE with all his “works” (EXCEPT for anything YZ related since I swore off YZ dramas after Tian Di Bu Rong BUT had to make an exception for XAJH because of Mr. Huo. Now? I’m really out!)

*Images were collected around the net, therefore, belonging to their rightful owners

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