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Michael's Thoughts: Eternal Love of Dream

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  • Michael's Thoughts: Eternal Love of Dream
• Michael's Thoughts: Eternal Love of Dream

• Michael's Thoughts: Eternal Love of Dream

  Michael > April 28th, 2024, 02:39 AM

  
  Gao Wei Guang and Dilraba Dilmurat star in 2020's Eternal Love of Dream, aka Three Lives, Three Worlds: The Pillow Book
  
  This is kind of a rival adaptation to 2017's Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms (better known to some fans as Eternal Love) starring Yang Mi and Mark Chao.
  
  As I understand it, there are two novels that make up the Three Lives, Three Worlds "franchise", so to speak. Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms is the first book and The Pillow Book is the second book. The two TV shows/series were produced by different production companies.
  
  Since the 2017 production didn't have the rights to adapt The Pillow Book they rewrote the basic plot for the two main characters (Celestial Emperor Dong Hua and Fox Fairy princess Bai Feng Jiu). The 2017 sub-plot somewhat resembles the story of The Pillow Book, in that Dilraba's character (Bai Feng Jiu) is saved by Gao Wei Guang's character (Dong Hua), and she subsequently decides to repay him by becoming a secret servant in his palace. She falls in love with him but doesn't succeed in securing his gratitude, and so she follows him into the mortal world where she hopes to do him a great service to pay back her debt.
  
  The 2020 production just follows The Pillow Book plot. And because that one doesn't have the rights to use Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms, they had to kind of skirt around the events of the first story. Even so, the second production was able to get Dilraba and Gao Wei Guang to star as the lead characters - AND Yang Mi and Mark Chao reprised their characters in very minor roles.
  
  Background of the Story
  
  This is a Xianxia (Immortal Heroes) story. It's about the gods and goddesses of the Celestial Realm, as well as the Fox Fairy tribe/clan of Qing Qiu. Because Bai Qian is destined to marry the Celestial prince Ye Hua, she'll have to step down as the Queen of Qing Qiu. Her niece, Bai Feng Jiu, will succeed her.
  
  The Celestial tribe is riddled with politics and scheming. The Fox Tribe are much more laid back and trusting. They don't compete with each other for power or get involved in the great wars of the Celestials (if they can avoid doing so). They're not cowards - they're quite honorable.
  
  So this is the culture from which Bai Feng Jiu comes and that explains why she feels so compelled to repay Dong Hua for his kindness when he saves her. The way that event unfolds is told in much more detail in this the 2020 version of the story.
  
  Dong Hua is actually the former Celestial Emperor. He's incredibly ancient compared to most of the oldest gods, and he was their ruler for so long he sort of just got tired of doing it. So he stepped aside to let someone younger take over many tens of thousands of years before Bai Feng Jiu was born.
  
  Hence, this love story is a December-February kind of romance. He's so ancient, everyone who knows him and who figures out Bai Feng Jiu has fallen in love with him pretty much tells her he doesn't take any interest in love or relationships.
  
  In fact, legend holds that unlike other Celestials old Dong Hua may have evolved from pure rock. I'm not sure if that's really supposed to be true or if it's just something the younger Celestials say. But when he was young and helping establish order in the universe, he fought a great war with the demons led by their ancient queen Miao Luo (played by Zhang Wen). Dong Hua barely got the upper hand over Miao Luo and he imprisoned her in such a way that her power was repressed for 10s of thousands of years.
  
  Naturally, she plotted to come back and get her revenge. Dong Hua occasionally checks up on her and it's during one of these visits that the very young Bai Feng Jiu - curious about the Heavenly Emperor (as many other young immortal women are) - follows him into the demon realm. She is attacked by a demon beast while he's dealing with the demons and Dong Hua kills the beast without noticing her. Demon Lord Xu Yang tells Dong Hua there is a trespasser and demands that he give up that person, but Dong Hua doesn't know what Xu Yang is talking about. To ensure peace with the demons he offers to do them a favor and returns to the Celestial realm.
  
  Bai Feng Jiu follows him and meets Si Ming, Dong Hua's loyal friend and companion. Si Ming reluctantly agrees to give Bai Feng Jiu a position as a maid in Tai Chen Palace to serve the Heavenly Emperor, but she's unable to get close to him for a while.
  
  Xu Yang decides to send his sister Ji Heng to marry Dong Hua. Meanwhile, Bai Feng Jiu has managed to annoy a Celestial princess named Princess Zhi He, who is Dong Hua's ward. She - like many others - wants to marry him, although her intentions are more about power and prestige. The longer Bai Feng Jiu stays in the palace, the more complicated things become.
  
  The demon realm has its own politics, and Ji Heng wants to marry someone other than Dong Hua. Meanwhile, Demon Lord Nie Chu Yin tries to force Dong Hua into a duel and in the process tricks Bai Feng Jiu into giving him some of her fur in exchange for half his cultivation (power) when she follows Dong Hua into the demon's trap. She becomes stuck in fox form and enters into the second phase of her relationship with Dong Hua.
  
  When they return to the palace, she must live as his pet, which enrages the enchanted animals that also live in the palace. Bai Feng Jiu is eventually cornered by the most powerful of the magical beasts, who nearly kills her.
  
  Bai Feng Jiu's Various Lives with Dong Hua
  This show goes on for 56 episodes. Bai Feng Jiu keeps following Dong Hua on his adventures and she falls ever more deeply in love with him.
  
  After one of his battles, Dong Hua is weakened and must rest. The Celestials closest to him send half his shadow to Fanyin Valley. Soon after, Dong Hua enters the mortal world to undergo trials and learn what it means to be mortal.
  
  Bai Feng Jiu follows him into the mortal realm to watch over him. They spend time together in the mortal world, where he grows up to become emperor of a powerful kingdom. She enters his service and wins his love, but all of that goes south as the political schemes of the various members of the court lead to their downfall. Part of the complexity is due to the machinations of demon lord Nie Chu Yin, who is seeking the Soul Locking Jade, a powerful talisman that could help him free Miao Luo.
  
  After Bai Feng Jiu returns from the mortal world, she visits Fanyin Valley to seek a fruit that will help one of her mortal friends ascend to immortal status. Dong Hua, who had fallen in love with Bai Feng Jiu during his mortal life, returns to his immortal status but he is weakened.
  
  Bai Feng Jiu returns to Qing Qiu where her family insists she get married. She eventually meets Dong Hua (as herself) and he befriends her (back in the land of the Celestials).
  
  After various mishaps they end up in Fanyin Valey, where things become VERY complicated. But I'll stop here as I've already spoiled a lot of the story (not quite half of it, though).
  
  My Thoughts
  The various phases of Feng Jiu and Dong Hua's relationship are interesting, as each is a kind of vignette. They travel together and get to know each other emotionally in different ways.
  
  You could say they experiment with different types of love and affection. Some of the incidents they pass through are disturbing - at least, I found them to be disturbing. However, I watched this show last December when I was sick and on medication and I was kind of affected by the meds. That made it hard for me to watch the show because sometimes it just became too intense for me.
  
  The various actors did a great job, especially Dilraba and Gao Wei Guang. Honestly, as much as I liked them in Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms, I was just blown away by their performances in The Pillow Book. The writing was much better (for their characters) because, obviously, the writers were allowed to follow the original story.
  
  Dong Hua has much more depth in this version of their story, and Feng Jiu is able to express herself creatively and more effectively in this much longer version of the story. Of course, there are points in the tale where she is bullied. That is a common trope in these Chinese Dramas. Women can be really nasty to each other and I have to admit that gets kind of tiring.
  
  But I think the reason the writers use so much bullying is they're trying to show how inexperienced and naive the victimized characters are. Obviously the heroines overcome these difficulties by the end of each story.
  
  Dilraba was required to be a voice actress for the episodes where her character was a fox. So most of the acting was from Gao Wei Guang. But when Feng Jiu is just herself in various situations Dilraba is able to turn on the emotions with abandon. She can be brave, stern, curious, adoring, angry, happy - everything.
  
  Feng Jiu makes at least as many friends as enemies and she helps other characters grow as she grows. So she's got depth, too.
  
  The real love story begins where I left off - in Fanyin Valley. By this point Dong Hua knows who Feng Jiu is and she's not afraid to express herself around him. I think he's amused by her independence and that is part of what attracts him to her. She's not like all the other women he's dealt with for thousands of years, who are scheming and participating in various plots.
  
  But Feng Jiu's story is filled with pain and humiliation, too. She suffers a fair number of grievances, sometimes at the hands of people who are close to Dong Hua. And it's these setbacks that help her mature in her feelings toward him. She gets frustrated and has to question what she's doing. Si Ming is a great mentor and helper who kind of guides her on the path. Lawrence Wang played Si Ming in both shows and I think that really helped because he had such good on-screen interact with Dilraba in The Pillow Book.
  
  By the time Dong Hua realizes he's falling in love with Feng Jiu, she's kind of fed up with the whole situation. So whereas she originally was trying to repay his kindness (even if unwitting) he ends up having to repay her devotion. And he also must win her love after he screws things up a few times.
  
  Maybe that's an unfair thing to say, because his priority is always to protect the world from Miao Luo. Love isn't topmost on his mind, and he has no interest in marriage even though he never lacks for options. Still, the writers do a good job (in my opinion) of turning the romantic tables on Dong Hua. His interest in Feng Jiu seems genuine and it grows out of something like natural curiosity.
  
  I found the love story to be believable despite all the ridiculous contrivances of the plot. I mean, it's a fantasy story - set in a fantasy world - and dealing with fantasy world problems (gods and demons plotting against each other). By the time Dong Hua decided he was interested in Feng Jiu I found myself rooting for him. I knew they would get together, naturally, because I had already followed the alternative (and not nearly as enjoyable) story in the earlier show.
  
  There were some surprising moments, though. Once Dong Hua decided he wanted to be with Feng Jiu, he got creative about how things progressed.
  
  There was one scene that bothered me - and it was supposed to be the romantic scene. It works in the story because everything led up to that moment, but I think some people might be upset by the way he handled the situation. Of course, after a week of taking cold medications and inhalers, I was anxious and moody. I think when I watch this show again (hopefully in a healthier state) I won't be quite so upset by that scene.
  
  Nonetheless, by the time I got to the final episode I was hoping for the kind of outcome they produced. Yes, it was a happy ending, but it was also kind of rushed. That's because there were so many other sub-plots that had to be tied up.
  
  There is also a special after-show short episode that confirms what the audience wants to know about what happens next. It's just a cute "oh, by the way, here's what they did" thing.
  
  All in all, I did enjoy watching the show. It was different from what I expected, much more involved, and much more complicated. I think it helped that I had watched Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms first, because I understood the basic concepts of the universe well enough that I could follow the story without having to back up and rewatch episodes very often.
  
  There are differences between the two stories - Miao Luo doesn't appear in Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms, for example. But they do feel connected because many of the same sets were used (or they constructed very similar sets).
  
  If you're curious about the other show, you can read my review of Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms here
  
  
  

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