2011-01-09 下一站，幸福 (Autumn's Concerto)

Beating the ratings of "Prince who Turned to a Frog", "Autumn's Concerto" became the second highest rated Taiwanese drama, following behind "Fated to Love You". And it's because of the fact that it is the most popular drama of 2010, that I watched this.

Truthfully, I had absolutely no idea what this drama was about when I first watched it because I didn't read any plot synopsis or summaries. So I was completely thrown off guard when I saw the promotion poster when the cast looked completely different and there's a kid? Then I found out about the 6 years later thing. LOL

But overall, I enjoyed it. I think it's more about cuz of the cast than the plot. hehhhe. I have to say, Vanness looks pretty good with his short haircut ^.~ (and he speaks fluent english!~ I never knew that :D). At times, he looked like Yunho. haha. and he is so well built!~ you rarely see chinese celebrities like that (but then again, he's American.). And Xiao Xiao Bin is soooooo cute!!! Especially his character in the drama! As well, I thought Ady An looked a lot like Barbie a lot of times too. Her character is very mature and wise but quite -- not the usual bubbly, headstrong girl you see in many other dramas. As for the supporting characters. It surprised me that they were not mean nor clingy. Like the second girl, He Yi Qian, is so understanding -- she didn't evil plot or create any misunderstandings. wow. And the mom, she became more understanding and kind in the end and stood on Mu Cheng's side. wowy, you rarely such a nice supporting cast.

As for the plot itself, it is different from your usual happy go lucky Taiwanese drama. The theme is about hope within adversity and trust, especially trust and "what's the best decision for the person I love". There was this overall depressing mood lingering (kind of reminds me of the feeling when watcing "1 Litre of Tears"). I enjoyed the beginning. The plot in the first 4-5 episodes occurred very quickly and they were eventful with purpose. But I thought it kind of dragged on in later episodes, especially when Guang Xi regained his memories. There are so many misunderstandings, it pissed me off by the end. The misunderstand never get resolved/straightened out -- the solution is more like both of them ignore the past and try to start a new beginning. But everytime when everything seems to get better, Guang Xi misunderstand again...and again...and again.And what's worse is that Mu Cheng never tries to explain herself when she had the opportunity. She just kind of suffers everything thinking it's for the best for Guang Xi, not realizing that it's having the opposite effect.

"你们总觉得我不能承受，我最难过的就是你们一点都不相信我。" ——任光晞

That message came out really strong by the end because all the misunderstands was created around this whole trust issue. I was disappointed near the end. Promotion clips and posters placed emphasis on the three of them being a happy family, but really, they never really got together as a family until the very very end...(unless you count the time when Guang Xi is with them but with memory loss). I think happiness is short-lived in this drama. 看的时候老实感觉不爽。Like the ending...Guang Xi didn't show his change in attitude about Mu Cheng even after the whole truth came out, still giving her the divorce papers, going to America. But then, he said that he forgave her a long time ago and that he plans to talk with her after his two day trip. WTF. Why can't he just tell her before he leaves? Wouldn't it be better to show his change immediately after learning the truth, emphasizing the fact that he still loved her despite all the misunderstandings? Wouldn't that portray Guang Xi's character a little better? urg. The ending was just they made up and decided to start over as a family. Although it effectively wraps everything up, I still get this unsatisfied feeling.

There's another thing that I don't understand: "Bach Air on G String." It seems that the significance of this song was completely forgotten after Guang Xi lost his memory. I was expecting him regaining his memories back by listening to this song...but throughout his search for his memory, this song was no where close to him. They talked about it so much in the beginning -- that's it's the song both their dads left them and got them together; obviously it means a lot to them. Then why there was no mention of it at all afterwards? I don't understand why this is called Autumn's Concerto. Is it because the song taught the important message that “人生不管在多困难的时候，都可以完成最动人的乐章”。Is the naming based on that because this entire drama is about making the best of what you got.

Secondly, I thought He Yi Qian is still a uni student 6 years ago. Then why is she like Guang Mu's doctor? She even did the operation on him...and she is still a student?! And why does every drama requires the guy losing his memory. *sigh*

But overall, the drama is still very touching and it has some great quotes. Even though, it's rich guy meets poor girl, little emphasize was placed on that. The maturity of the subjects is a lot better than the other average, comic relief Taiwanese dramas.

Now for photo spam! teehee
But if you notice closely, solemn/worried/sad expressions dominate D:
Vanness looks so much better with short hair. hehe