We’re back and being all things positive. At least when it comes to our comments for episodes 4 through 6 of the time traveling Chinese drama The Eternal Love. Come join us as we chat sizzling chemistry, greedy heroines, and CGI guyliner!
Dear Readers,
It has come to our attention that when we switched over to our new blog site some of The Eternal Love Season 1 Recaps were lost. Luckily, we had them backed up on another server so we are adding them for those of you still working your way through season 1.
Sincerely,
The Fangirls
Just say no to home-wrecking hussies
Drama Geek: Positive… This girl is annoying but thankfully the 8th Prince doesn’t seem the least bit interested in her. I’m pretty sure he’d be super happy if Tan Er would join forces and help banish her from his life forever.
KMUSE: I couldn’t stop laughing every time 8th Prince would try to use Tan Er as a shield against her crush, and Tan Er would turn it around and try to push them together. Childhood friend is beyond dense and I enjoy seeing her thwarted when it comes to romance with 8th Prince.
Sizzling Chemistry
Drama Geek: Haha! She’s totally insulting him when he walks in and doesn’t realize he’s there. Then as soon as he threatens to imprison her for ten years for defamation she quickly changes her tune and starts being all sweet with him. When they are close the sparks fly. I can’t wait for one of them to fall hard. I have a feeling it’ll be him first and it will be delicious to watch.
KMUSE: I agree. There is nothing funnier than watching Tan Er get caught over and over insulting her husband. Not to mention she’s always getting caught mid-rant which is hilarious. I also like how 8th Prince doesn’t treat Tan Er poorly when he catches her and instead uses it for some sizzling stare-offs and mini skinship sessions.
Guyliner of Champions
Drama Geek: His guyliner is so perfect it has me wondering if it’s CGI. His beauty is pretty perfect overall but his just puts the icing on the prince cake.
KMUSE: I get a laugh just imagining some poor computer tech being the official guyliner CGI specialist. (Drama Geek: Hey, if they have someone who is CGIing off Superman’s beard in all of the Justice League follow up shots then it is feasible to assume one guy’s sole purpose is to make the 8th prince’s eyes look fantastic.)
Time traveling antique beds, a love of sexy carpenters, and shannanigans.
Drama Geek: Her obsession with the bed is understandable. The bed somehow brought her to the past and she thinks it’s her ticket home. The fact that she decides she’d love to find a sexy carpenter and take them back home with her says a lot about her character. She loves money and selling houses for a profit, but I think she has an architect’s heart. If I could be reincarnated I might be an architect in my next life too. Or maybe I just want to find a antique bed and have it take me to the past because I love old buildings.
KMUSE: Even more than her obsession with the bed, I love her obsession with money. I couldn’t stop laughing when she grabbed some priceless vases to take to the future. I guess if you can’t snag a sexy carpenter, priceless vases are the next best thing.
And of course, 8th prince catches her once again. Ha. I can’t even imagine what he was thinking as he sees her laying there with giant vases in each arm. No wonder he is charmed. I find myself charmed and I usually don’t go for the bratty type of characters.
Dance break
Drama Geek: What is a girl to do without a radio or TV? I know I’d start going crazy. The only thing you can do is entertain yourself and when she breaks out in dance and song I died laughing. She’s adorable. I hope she teaches the prince a few moves. That would be epic.
KMUSE: I could not stop laughing. Heck, I still laugh every time I even see the pictures. The girl has a lot of energy and it has to get out somehow. Singing and dancing pop songs are the perfect exercise.
Communication or should we say miscommunication.
Drama Geek: I was happy that Tan Er (the modern version) finally figured out what was going on and chose to communicate with boring Tan Er. The best part of this was the maid interpreting what Tan Er wrote to the boring girl. No legged dog! Using slang was probably not the smartest thing Tan Er could have done.
KMUSE: Ha! Their translation of the phrase A single dog (meaning that modern Tan Er is single.) into a dog with no appendages was hilarious. And then to commend Modern Tan Er on taking care of the poor unfortunate thing. You just can’t help but laugh at this crazy situation. Unless you are Boring Tan Er. That girl needs to find some spunk.
8th Prince is no idiot
Drama Geek: After someone tries to break into his room to steal the Golden Block of Power he asks his father to take it from him, but the king says it should stay with him. So what does he do with it? He uses it as a test for his beloved. Tan Er has no clue what it really is and just shoves it in her dress. Boring Tan Er does make a brief appearance and plots to give it to the 1st Prince (who is totally wigging me out because he looks like Lee Jong Suk) but sadly for her she gets knocked out (I can’t even remember how this time.) and modern Tan Er replaces her just in time to pawn it in exchange for jewels and other things. She’s hilariously caught right away by the prince and finally learns the importance of the Golden Block of Power.
I find it interesting that the prince keeps testing her, and thankfully modern Tan Er is always there to inadvertently pass his test. If it wasn’t for her then boring Tan Er would have been found out a long time ago and probably killed.
KMUSE: Thank goodness Modern Tan Er is often the focus since if I had to be positive about Boring Tan Er, I might go insane. Modern Tan Er’s love of money and lining her own pockets is always entertaining. Who knew greed could be cute?
I also appreciate that she is able to step back and realize that 8th Prince is the one who keeps her safe and protected. Not some mopey 1st Prince who is just using Tan Er to gain political advantages. But even if she trusts 8th Prince, Modern Tan Er has to make sure she is financially solvent on her own (like a good modern woman would) she finds a way to make sure she has money if this whole marriage thing goes south. It’s just too bad she constantly gets caught in her plans for independent wealth.
More fake romance shannigans.
KMUSE: I had to throw this in since seeing them all skinshippy just makes me happy. Not to mention every time they play “Husband and Wife” it is an entertaining battle of wits. Once again, Modern Tan Er tells the hussie childhood friend that 8th Prince is totally interested. All while she is lounging decadently on his lap. Ha! Then 8th Prince tells her that she can have a gift if she helps get rid of the clinging wannabe girl and it is suddenly all lovey-dovey romance. They are perfect for each other.
Real Estate agent skills even apply to sex, too bad 8th Prince isn’t ready to make the sale.
Drama Geek: The details as to how they got in an argument are fuzzy because it’s been a few days since I watched the episode but the 8th Prince is in her room, on her bed and she is angry. He asks her what she really wants and she confesses that she wants a divorce. He offers her a deal. She sleeps with him and if he’s satisfied then he’ll give her a divorce. Tan Er should have caught on right there to the “if he’s satisfied” part. You can tell it isn’t that hard of a decision for her to make. She wants the divorce because the bed doesn’t work and she needs to have more freedom to find a way home. But I also think she’s attracted to him and she hasn’t been shy about saying that she likes money and men.
She seals the deal with going in for a kiss and he is more than happy to return it. When he’s getting dressed again, the smirk he gives her when he says he’s not satisfied says it all. No, I don’t really agree with him using his “power” to get sex but like I stated before, Tan Er is a willing participant.
I’m not exactly sure how sleeping with her is part of his master plan. Maybe to solidify their marriage so 1st Prince can’t swoop in and declare that she’s his, or maybe to produce an heir. I do know that only part of bedding his wife has to do with his plan. Just like Tan Er, there is a mutual attraction there and curiosity about her.
KMUSE: He was angry because she (Boring Tan Er) had been making moon eyes at 1st Prince when they visited for his birthday party.
Sharing a body sucks when you’re in love with two different men.
Drama Geek: Boring Tan Er tries to commit suicide (again) once she finds out the Tan Er slept with the 8th Prince (her husband). Other than it knocking her out and allowing for the other Tan Er to come out I’m not sure there is anything else positive I can say.
KMUSE: I can’t say anything positive regarding Boring Tan Er’s stupid attempted suicide. That girl needs some serious counseling.
Trust begins when you hide your husband’s assassin ways and tend to his wounds.
Drama Geek: The 8th Prince did a little spying on the 1st Prince and ended up shot with an arrow. He literally drops out of the sky right in front of Tan Er and she sneaks him into her room and tends to him all night long. I was scared that she’d wake up and be boring Tan Er, but thankfully she isn’t. I’m a little confused about the body switch. I guess sleep isn’t considered being unconscious because her subconscious is still active? So it really must be when she gets knocked out that she switches. It makes me think of in Queen In Hyun’s Man where Boong Do has to kill himself every time he wants to travel to the future. All I picture is Tan Er making a deal with her maid that anytime boring Tan Er comes back she needs to hit her over the head or something.
KMUSE: Yum. 8th Prince in assassin garb is super sexy. I 100% approve of this scene. Although, I do think it is silly that there was some poison on the arrow that renders him unconcious and he could only be revived with the antidote. The Chinese really love making up poisons and medicines to fit the plot.
Phew. So much plot in so little time. Thanks for joining us in our attempts to be all things positive. Let’s see if we can keep it up now that our leads are starting to have feelings for each other. Are you interested in watching along? Check out the drama HERE on VIKI
Til the next body switching moment,
Kmuse & Drama Geek
OK, It’s actually really really gross that Xiao Tan used Tan’er’s body to have sex with the prince. This is borderline non-consensual in a sense that it is considered rape. Xiao Tan consented but it is not her body she is using but Tan’er’s. I would honestly be mad too if someone used my body without my consent to have sex with someone. It’s quite easy to see why she’d want to commit suicide because even though the prince is her husband, she doesn’t love him nor did she allow him to have sex with her body, which in all violated her honor. She’s not the most entertaining character, but she was right in being upset. You two really lacked compassion for her in this situation, and I can just imagine how you both treat actual sexual assault victims in your personal lives. I really enjoyed the drama until Xiao Tan kept dishonoring her promise to what y’all call the boring Tan’er, and continuously kept having ambiguous sex with the prince.
It feels like a pretty big leap to go from “I disagree with your ethical assessment of a person’s rights to a body they are conscious in but weren’t born into and that they share with another person” (i.e.: “I disagree about how you react to this impossible fantasy situation”) to “I can just imagine how you both treat actual sexual assault victims in your personal lives.”
This is clearly a fantasy situation. Sometimes when we view fantasy, it can be really interesting to probe the deeper, important questions that it raises. Like, what is the nature of consent in a shared body? Tan’er’s body is married to the prince and shared between a consciousness that wants to have sex with him and one that doesn’t. Neither consciousness has a choice about which body they use, the have only the one. So… that’s complicated. There’s some interesting theoretical questions to ask.
But sometimes when we view fantasy, we say “this could never happen so I can just enjoy the part I enjoy and let the complicated stuff slide by.”
The thing is, two different people watching the same show can have these two different reactions.
Kmuse and Dramageek explicitly said that this was going to be the kind of recap that only includes the second sort of reaction–their recapping the escapist, enjoyable parts and not delving into the weird ethical conundrums created by this entirely impossible situation. To accuse them of hurting people in real life because you don’t agree with their choice about how seriously to take this fantasy is really too much.
If you want to discuss the weird ethical conundrums and philosophical questions that are raised by fantasy, I’m all over that and lots of people would probably engage those discussions. But don’t attack people just because they decided to have a different discussion.
Fantasy or not… A lot of what they put in their recap is something rape victims have to deal with and hear all the time. “She needs counseling” or “She tried to commit suicide… a G a I n.” To the victim blaming and the glossing over it to focus on the what you call “enjoyable.” People do this IRL all the time when talking about rape survivors. Even it’s a “fake” person, anyone who allies themselves with empowerment of women would find a problem with how the story erases the concerns of an unconscious woman’s body being invaded. It’s just reality put in a badly written Chinese drama. If this is what they can only muster from recapping then I’d worry about the people they do know who have gone through something traumatic. It isn’t even a matter of dIfFeReNt DiScUsSiOnS. It’s a matter of being able to think critically about problematic writing and addressing it as well as finding enjoyable elements. It is not hard. Tan’Er’s body is still mainly hers because it is her original physical form with the inclusion of her original mentality. Xiao Tan is benefiting off of her name, nobility as well as relationship with the Prince Husband (who didn’t know he was having sex with Xiao Tan, he was misled to think he was having sex with Tan’Er, which is another form of manipulation). So… you can say it’s “weird ethical conundrums and philosophical questions” I’ve brought up over a year ago. Whatever fits your box. This is the main issue I had with this overrated Chinese drama, even with its inconsistencies, bad writing and mediocre acting. But thank you for your holier-than-thou response. 😂 #WearMasks #SocialDistancing #WashYourHands