Par de Espelhos (2021)

Sit Quietly and Look Pretty

A beautiful drama in appearance. I've never seen a Cdrama set in the Old Republic time era so this was first. Everything looked beautiful. From the costumes, hair & makeup, set designs, and props. However, the drama feels mostly empty. And it's a short drama too. That's crazy to feel like the story is dragging on when there are only 12 episodes.
I will say that there are moments when the gentlewoman says something or does something profound and I'm proud of her for that. Those moments are far too few though.
The best chemistry was between the Detective and Yan Wei. Surprisingly, the actress that portrayed the gentlewoman in the drama was perfect for the part. The Detective too. The scenes where there was action were the best parts in my opinion.
The enemies in this fic were society and the gentlewoman's husband. (Who, I've learned from reading the first few chapters in the webcomic was a royal piece of garbage and the author didn't bother to hide it with a charming artifice and deadly, undiscovered threat like they did in the TV show.) Too much screen time went to the male characters too by the way. As if they want you to feel pity for why these male characters are so vile and oppressing to the FL and other females. Pity? Not here!
The ending is confusing and I don't want to think about it much because I'm sure the answer will upset me because it seems like all the trouble of getting the two female leads together was for nothing.
Pretty looking drama though. That's it.

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Don't get your hopes up

This show was marketed (?) as a GL drama but in my opinion it is anything but this. The 2 leads are easy on the eyes but I do not feel even a sliver of anything more than a normal friendship between them. Censorship probably resulted in having to tone down many elements so I cannot really blame the director/writers. But censorship is not an excuse for plot holes, subpar acting and strange plot developments (they kept forcing interactions between the lead and her ex bf. like why?!) Ironically, the leads have more chemistry outside of the show and their behind the scenes/interview interactions seem more like a GL drama than their on screen personas lol.
On a side note, the show creator Yu Zheng has said that a second season will only happen if the show has a rating of x on douban, which honestly doesn't sit well with me since its forcing viewers to write fake reviews. So who knows if a season 2 will actually happen.

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they're really doing it for the wlws huh!!!!!

wow when i first started watching this show the bar was literally on the ground!!! like literally nothing could convince me that this was republican era... the costuming, the sets, the technology, the language??? all felt incredibly modern, like youyi literally was wearing a modern prom dress in like ep 1?? i was ready for this to be absolute garbage w terrible senseless writing and barely any romance.

but actually... once the plot gets going, the setting and costuming is no longer a distraction and im able to be fully immersed in the show! is the writing the best i've ever seen? certainly not, especially not for the fraught w political tension/societal upheaval republican era dramas, but it's at least compelling enough to get me invested in the story and the characters.

i really do like both of our girls, yan wei is absolutely a hot girl for us sapphics and i really appreciated that, they just delivered on a lot of things - little character moments, relationship dynamics, super cute chemistry etc. that really sold them and their relationship. it all just made me very happy, and it was all things i wanted to see. sure there isnt nearly much money in gl as there is in all the bl dramas that have come out the past several years (where they can basically push censorship laws as far as possible because they know they can count on the fujo coin) but!!! anyway!!! it still made me very happy!!!! of course i wish it couldve been pushed a little more, or we could get a nice long series where the feelings develop slowly over time, but oh well. hoping that if this did well then there will be more gl adaptations to come.

generally character stuff is fine and nice. youyi is a very fun main character and it's a joy to see her many sides, the parts that are more sly and manipulative, as well as her pouty 撒娇 and teasing side that only come out around yan wei. like they just made it work and it was convincing that this is the only person who gets to see this side of her!! similarly w yan wei's coldness... all her little smiles when it comes to youyi.... just gets me.................

i liked zhou heng as a villain too! he was well written enough to be a compelling villain who was also fun to watch. i didn't really care for detective jiang who's only character trait is being a good cop but i am also allergic to any positive portrayal of cops in any media.

the plot absolutely goes off the rails by the end and stops making sense and it's one crazy thing after funny cutesy moment after crazy moment while not giving us time to process anything (although still not as bad as word of honor) but like whatever, it was always fun, even if not well written or not believable. and as i understand they are setting up for another season so??

anyway they show is cool and for the gays.

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A China ainda vai me deixar louca de raiva

E mais uma vez perdemos um casal para a censura chinesa. Esperamos muito que as meninas formassem um GL, tivemos apenas um bromance e eu tô indignada mesmo sabendo que era isso que iria acontecer.

Em termos de roteiro e qualidade, é tudo impecável (menos a censura). O elenco é de milhões, a ost é perfeita, a cenografia, filmografia e fotografia impecáveis, as cenas de luta muito boas. Existiu para além disso tudo, o fator surpresa. Apesar de serem apenas 12 eps, foram 12 eps com muita emoção, onde não era possível prever absolutamente nada, quem era mocinho, vilão, quem ia ficar junto ou não, as percepções e torcidas iam mudando à medida que a série ia acontecendo.
O roteiro mostra um homem sem caráter, mas muito bem visto pela sociedade, que se casa com uma boa moça, linda e de boa família. Os eps seguintes mostram que ele é um devasso que a trai com a amiga dela, e em meio a toda a turbulência da separação, ela conhece a fotógrafa que muda sua vida. Em meio à traições, mortes, gravidez, desconfianças, ela e a fotógrafa desenvolvem uma "relação" linda, enquanto a identidade secreta da fotógrafa ainda está escondida. Elas mantém um nível elevado de cumplicidade, acredito que a série se chama "Par de espelhos" justamente por elas aparentemente serem tão diferentes, mas encontrarem uma na outra uma outra metade. É gratificante ver o homem traidor se dando mal, mas confesso que fiquei chateada com o final da história, pois queria muito elas duas juntas. A única coisa que não gostei, e já fiz essa crítica em Killer and healer, foi do sangue, que claramente é falso. Como é um bromance, provavelmente não verei de novo, mas gosto de indicar essa série pela história e pela qualidade.

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The FL's are rivetting

The two FL's in this drama are terrific.
Zhang Nan as Xu You Yi gets most of the screen time which is unfortunate as Annie Sun playing Yan Wei is striking. **Perhaps this will be balanced out if there is a second season - fingers crossed.
For only 12 episodes I felt there was just way too much that the writers tried to cram in and way too much that was not explained **

The GL aspect is there if you want to see it but sadly the cultural censorship restrictions have whitewashed this couple.

Liu Zhi Yang plays You Yi's husband, Zhou Heng and is thoroughly dislikable as the obsessed, treacherous villain who justifies all his evil deeds as being caused by others actions. His father may have influenced him here and his mother has set him up on a pedestal so no blame is ever attached.

Set in the Republican Era, the plot is focussed on Zhou Heng’s infidelity. He is seemingly accountable or involved in all the murder and attempted murder cases that You Yi’s is suspected of.

In the second half of the series when the two women begin cohabiting their is light humour as their two disparate personalities adjust. Yan Wei dotes on You Yi and is willing to provide whatever she perceives will make her life and pregnancy easier.

The colouring and the lighting of the scenes is very beautiful and adds to the romance. Unfortunately the ending is confusing **
Overall would watch again and maybe skip some of the unnecessary parts. bring on season 2 so we can perhaps showcase Yan Wei.

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Bravery of Female, same sex adaptation, capturing

Highly recommended Drama😍 this is one of my favorite Drama so far. The way reveal all of those detailed things in episode 3 is so cool and shocking as well. I truly admire yan wei being so cool, but what captured me the most is how she protected the female author You yi, but I'm a lol bit hanged by the ending, since I was really expecting that the 2 female characters would live together happily. It's understandable because althroughout the movie in the past of Yan Wei his friend told her that she can't live a normal life. But still, I did expect that she would because she met You yi. This movie is rewatchable, this kind of movie gives women a kind of bravery, strong, and intelligence. It also brings me into a realization that we women is independent enough and strong enough to handle things on our own, we don't need a man to live, all we need someone who has sincere heart to accept all our flaws and protects us no matter what.

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Great Sismance

Firstly this drama is based on shoujo- ai manga, but cause of china being homophobic they censored it and made relationship between two female leads into soulmate friends. Which aint bad at all I liked their bond in this drama.

Drama is practically all about female lead being in bad life situation and consistent danger. Meanwhile second female lead being her bodyguard.

All happens around year 1920-1930 probably.

Ending is quite punchy with unclear end for female lead relationship.
But if you check manga ending it will help you up. They did just small changes to it in drama.

__*plot*__ - FL is well known writer and wife of husband from prominent family. But one day she finds out her husband having affair with her best friend. Broken and without direction she finds solace in young female photographer[FL2] and with her help she gets back on her feet and starts to set up her life anew. Sadly for her she is in middle of deadly intrigues and het new friend got mysterious past too.

__*genre*__ - thriller, historical, mystery

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12 episodes is just too little

Well I just finished watching 12 episodes and here I am commenting about what I like and dislike about this drama.

Story

Lets start with the story plot.The story plot itself is very interesting and cannot say like there is never been a drama like this but this theme(friendship between 2 female lead) is still not a common theme right now, So the plot itself is fresh and not boring.

Presentation
As we know beside story, the way the director present a drama also can be very important. Sometimes the plot can be the same but the presentation can be different.For this drama,I really like the presentation too.The director manage to present this drama in a mysterious way making this drama very attractive.

Acting skills
For the acting skills,Xu youyi's acting skills cannot say like extremely well or shines but its still passable considering the difficulty of this character is not low and the actor itself is not a very experienced actor. For yanwei, I really like this character but ya the difficulty for the character is slightly lower compare to xu youyi.

Music
I really love the songs in this drama including the ost and the other side songs.The songs are all very nice and fit to the mysterious theme of this drama.

Anything to improve?

First dislike is obviously the length of this drama,12 episodes is definitely not enough considering a lot of mysteries has not been solved.For example,yan wei"s background.And next is the you can feel that a lot of important scenes is cut off.I guess because this drama only 12 episodes so they cutted off a lot major scenes making you feel like did you just miss a few episodes?Really hope there will be a season 2 and the director can lengthen the drama a bit so that we won feel like scenes getting cut again.

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Yiwei <3

I don’t usually write reviews for dramas. I don’t often have much to say, anyway. I’m not writing a review this time because this blew me away or incensed me with its mediocrity. All things considered, this is a rather run of the mill drama. If not for its queer pulling power, I probably wouldn’t have given it the time of day. The story is fine. The acting is ok. The pacing lags in the middle. I stopped watching it for nearly 4 months.

You’d think I didn’t like it. You’d be neither right nor wrong, but I did like one aspect in particular: You Yi. At first glance, she’s a very typical Cdrama FL: She’s bright, cheerful, optimistic, and sweet. She came from humble beginnings but hasn’t let that get her down. She’s quick to trust and a little naive… or so she seems.

To say You Yi impressed me would be an understatement. I absolutely adore quietly strong female characters because they’re so often overlooked and neglected. You Yi is one such character. Her strength comes from her loyalty to her loved ones and her respect for herself. She refuses to be manipulated, used, or bullied and she does so without making a spectacle of herself (the Zhang Wan debacle notwithstanding) or having to adopt traditionally masculine characteristics to assert her dominance. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate FL’s with masculine energy. I’m queer, how can I not? But seeing women be strong and independent without having to compromise their femininity… something about that is just so empowering to me.

For that, I have to applaud this drama… AFTER I sue the production team bc wtf was that last episode??? How dare they do that to Yiwei?? And with no confirmation of a season two?????? Y’all sadists or sumn?

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