Bu Bu Jing Qing - Episode 1

When this is shown towards the end of the opening of every episode (for the unabridged version - I realised that the TV version's is different, more on that later), this must mean well for the ending of Bu Bu Jing Qing, right?  Right?  Yin Zheng and Zhang Xiao looking at THE picture together, holding hands and smiling.

Yes, this is going to be one motivating factor for me as I watch episode after episode week after week.  This is much better compared to Bu Bu Jing Xin where I was just dreading the episodes as I neared the end.

I can't wait to start talking about episode 1!  But I need to clear some stuff first.  My recaps/reviews will be based on the unabridged version, which is different from the TV version.  However, I am watching both depending on which videos get uploaded first on Youtube but to avoid any confusion, I will write based on the unabridged version.

The difference between both versions is the unabridged one is longer (40 odd minutes versus 30 odd minutes), so that start and end points of the corresponding episodes for the respective versions are not the same.

Anyway, here's my recap/review of the first episode of Bu Bu Jing Qing:

It starts off with us meeting Zhang Xiao in her living room while she's watching (can you believe this?) Bu Bu Jing Xin!  How totally bizarre.  Fourth Prince shows up on the small screen on his horse in all his glory.  So, it appears that either Zhang Xiao is an obessed fan of Bu Bu Jing Xin or she is remembering something from her Qing Dynasty past.  I'd like to think that it's a mixture of both even though this uncertainty is caused by something as unromantic as the SARFT ban on time travelling elements in Chinese dramas.

Zhang Xiao:  It is difficult to love someone but it is even more difficult to let go of someone you love.

Instead of showing Zhang Xiao searching for information on the past where she just returned from in Bu Bu Jing Xin where she was reading about the fates of the princes, this time she's watching the drama that you and I watched.  Like I said, totally bizarre.  Nonetheless, it is heartening to see her crying the way I did when I watched those exact same scenes.

We then move to the past where we see Yongzheng Emperor still shedding tears over Ruoxi, and he had his jade ring and her magnolia hairpin put in a box to be buried in the sands of time (the desert).

From the past, we are blasted back into the future where Zhang Xiao is looking at the picture in the exhibition.  This scene was actually a favourite of mine from Bu Bu Jing Xin because it tied up the whole series very well.  After Ruoxi's twenty years in the Qing Dynasty, we have nearly forgotten that she was really Zhang Xiao from the future.  That is how well she had taken Fourth Prince's advice and lived the best she could.

Yin Zheng finally appears and thus, marks the first meeting between the Fourth Prince and Ruoxi/Zhang Xiao in the modern world.  Both were fascinated by the magnolia hairpin in the painting and both touched it minutes apart.

When she turned to see him at the painting and tears started running down her cheeks, it is rather melancholic if she had thought of this man in the suit as the reincarnation of the Fourth Prince.  The burst of music at that very moment really nailed it for me.  When he asked if she was all right and if there was anything he could help her with, I thought this was truly the Fourth Prince I know.

After he walked away, Zhang Xiao thought: No, I cannot let him go.     

This is the Fourth Prince and Ruoxi holding hands in the twenty-first century after he helped her in a scuffle with a balloon seller outside the exhibition and told her not to be sad anymore.  Notice the entwined pair of dolphins?  How symbolic.

All this while, Zhang Xiao could only either say thank you, cry or stare at him.  I really wished that she had the spunk and energy of the Ruoxi we first met in Bu Bu Jing Xin.  This Zhang Xiao was a pale shadow of that and more reminiscent of the dying Ruoxi.

Anyway, she started to go stalkerish and followed him all the way back to his company.  I wasn't exactly thrilled with this because it seemed like Su Man in Tong Hua's "Secrets Hidden in Time".  True to character, she decided to get a job there.

Before that, we are introduced to Huang Di.  Remember the crazy boyfriend in Bu Bu Jing Xin who was two-timing her and caused the quarrel that propelled Zhang Xiao back to the Qing Dynasty?  Yes, he's the one.  He made a less-than-favourable appearance into the series but don't worry, he kind of grows on you.

I have no idea why he and Zhang Xiao are still on terms good enough for her to let him crash at her place after he just broke up with another girlfriend but I guess he's there to provide comic relief.  Besides, he's also conveniently an employee at Yin Zheng's company.

Hence, Huang Di could fill Zhang Xiao in on all the scoop on Yin Zheng.  Kang Zhen Tian (the current boss of Zhen Tian Group) is actually Yin Zheng's stepfather after he married his mom.  Kang Zhen Tian has his own son, Kang Si Han, who we learn in this episode itself is back in Beijing from abroad.  Kang Zhen Tian and Yin Zheng's mom had another son, Kang Si Yu.  Voila!  Three half-brothers from three sets of parents.  Wicked.

We are then treated to a flashback of Kang Zhen Tian's memory as he was viewing the very magnolia hairpin that the Fourth Prince gave Ruoxi centuries before.  He and a bunch of guys (that included Yin Zheng's father) had gone on a treasure hunt when they were young men and they were the ones who found the box that Yongzheng had buried.  Talk about fate.

A new day dawns and I nearly squealed when the Tenth Prince appeared.  He is now known as Jack and he's definitely not the adorable blockhead we know in Bu Bu Jing Xin.  He is totally gay, very mean and bullies Zhang Xiao.  He was going to fail her in the interview when lo and behold, Kang Zhen Tian walks in.

I may have disliked the Kangxi Emperor in Bu Bu Jing Xin but I totally like his reincanation, Kang Zhen Tian.  So far, he seems like a nice man.  So far.

I love the parallels that I can find between Bu Bu Jing Qing and Bu Bu Jing Xin.  I think it is very clever of the writers and obviously, for this sequel to work, they have to work elements of its predecessor in.  When Zhang Xiao first saw Kang Zhen Tian and recognised him as the reincarnation of Kangxi Emperor, they played the melody of "Amazing Grace".  An odd choice but it pulled at my heartstrings.

His interview is reminiscent of the first time Ruoxi entered the palace and they even fit in the poem that she recited when Kangxi asked why she deemed him an Emperor of Great Wisdom.  Needless to say, our girl totally wowed him.  In the palace, he laughed and had her rewarded.  Here, he laughed and offered her a job.  I also loved how she asked him if he loves to drink tea.  I'm totally looking forward to seeing the interactions between Kang Zhen Tian and Zhang Xiao.

Kang Zhen Tian was still a shrewd man to ask his assistant investigate Zhang Xiao's background and we see that he has an old photograph of a girl who looks like Zhang Xiao.

Then, my least favourite character chooses to appear.  Lan Lan.  Bleah.  It is hard to imagine that she and Zhang Xiao were played by the one and only Liu Shishi.  She appeared dramatically enough.  In a Qing costume no less, walking and tumbling down the stairs in the high wooden shoes.

It is weird that no one else besides Zhang Xiao thought that she and Lan Lan looked like freaking identical twins!  Maybe it's because Lan Lan always that sullen face and cold eyes but still..  We find out that Lan Lan is a model and she gets to sing "Snowflakes and Red Plum Blossoms" in a shoot.  Gah, Bu Bu Jing Xin feels!

Yin Zheng appeared and seemed to be mesmerised by Lan Lan.  Double bleah.  As the song continues playing, Zhao Xiao thought of memories past with Yongzheng.  I hope it's really from her own memories and not from the drama she watched.

The end of episode 1.

My thoughts:

I totally loved this start of Bu Bu Jing Qing.  Zhang Xiao's state of mind was confusing to comprehend to say the least.  The going back and forth between the past and present was done well enough.  What I love best was seeing old characters and listening to songs and words from Bu Bu Jing Xin here!  I don't know if the comment that only Bu Bu Jing Xin fans will enjoy this series rings true because I AM a fan and thus, I can't help liking everything about this.  Except for Lan Lan.  I still kind of wish that they had not introduced this identical-face character.  If she is her evil twin sister, geez..  If she wasn't and if they could write a plausible plot for her character, then it might be easier to accept, especially when Annie Liu starts playing Lan Lan.