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The 2017 Chinese drama starring Feng Shao-Feng as Wu Ju-Lan, Bea Hayden as Lu Li, and Sunny Wang as Lu Xiao.
Brief summary: Lu Li has always been more interested in the sea than her life as a noble, so she disguises herself to work in a shipyard at the water’s edge. Unbeknownst to her, someone else is disguising himself at the same shipyard to fulfill a royal command. Although Wu Ju-Lan is keeping all sorts of secrets about his identity, he and Lu Li hit it off easily and soon become affectionate. But fate seems hell-bent on starting a war between their two worlds.
Accurately in line with my expectations, this “season 2” is not a continuation of the story in season 1 of “The Starry Night, the Starry Sea,” but rather a retelling of the characters in a historical setting, using shared cast members.
This season 2 has a lot more that the first season didn’t, including a faster-moving plot, better (not much, but mildly improved) acting from Bea Hayden, two more episodes, and an ending that actually leaves us feeling satisfied.
The Romeo and Juliet vibe is really strong in this one. Season 1 may have had a Twilight you’ll-grow-older-but-I-won’t feel, but season 2 is all we-can’t-be-together-because-our-people-hate-each-other. It’s only that neither of our main characters saw suicide as a solution so we got 34 episodes.
“Hatred cannot resolve hatred. Only forgiving and benevolence can resolve hatred,” (Lu Li, ep 23). It’s the theme throughout the entire drama, but it’s also what Lu Xiao couldn’t realize even though everyone kept telling him. Lu Xiao could have been a good brother and a good man, but hate can twist a person’s potential until it’s crippled. This may be who I liked Mo Hen’s contrasting development so much— he figured our how to unwind his soul from that hate using gratitude and love (and Ming Zhu’s help, of course). Lu Xiao could have done the same, but chose not to just like how a raccoon chooses to keep holding onto the bait in a trap.
My recommendation is to watch this drama independently from the first season. The main characters, even if called by the same name and have the same role-type, are very different especially in personality. I liked watching both seasons of “The Starry Night, the Starry Sea,” but they have a lot of differences. They’re so different that I wouldn’t really recommend watching both seasons as a set. So take your pick based on your personal preferences: are you in the mood for a fast-moving historical-fantasy drama or a slow-burner contemporary-fantasy drama? Are you invested in a good ending or just watching out of curiosity?
The strong points of this drama were its organization, setting, morale, and finale (especially compared to the first season). I’d give it 4/5 stars!
It is interesting hmmmm I will watch this, as I am not satisfied with the ending of season 1.
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