Jin Cang makes up the excuse that Ting Yu is feeling unwell today but Ting Yu is not going to let himself get away with a creation that is not his own. He comes clean with who the real composer of the song is. This leaves the media in a franzy and wondering if Ting Yu can still play the violin any more. To prove that he can still play the violin, Jin Cang wants him to play it in front of the media but he is baffled by his emotions and chooses to run away. 

Jin Cang basically asks him what he wants. Ting Yu asks him if he truly understands the person standing in front of him. Oh, he understands because he met him since he was twenty. But that is not the issue here. Jin Cang tells him that in a week’s time this will not be a problem any more except they will all be living in cardboard. Ting Yu tells him that if he really cares about Ketagalan, he would not have used such methods. Jin Cang explains that this is fairly common, artists autotune their songs, so what’s the big deal? Ting Yu counteracts that all he ever cares about is the result and not ever how the victim is feeling. But, Ting Yu is not this type of person.

Ting Yu arrives at the hospital and tells Hai Jie that he hopes he will be satisfied with the result. From today onwards he will not make any public performances. He has finally found a reason to not play the violin. This comes as a shock to Hai Jie.

The issue with Ting Yu has become a hot media topic and Jin Cang is not satisfied with the result. He returns hope to find that Yu Shu has fallen asleep waiting for him. He wakes her up and requests that she return home for a while. Ketagalan will fall. The issue is more serious than what it appears. Yu Shu takes it that he doesn’t want her any more. He explains that this is not the case, he only has her left right now. She is not going to leave him in this time of need. He gives her a credit card and some important documents and tells her to return home, he doesn’t want to have to worry about her on top of all his current worries.

Yu Shu’s sudden return home does not shock Daddy Lan. Instead, he is very smooth about it. He even gives her some of their family heirloom to keep safe. He no longer opposes her with Jin Cang. As long as she is happy that is all that matters.

Jin Cang packs his bag and is making his get away with Yu Shu by his side.

Ketagalan is on indefinite stop. Now that Jin Cang is gone, Ting Yu has to take up all responsibilities. All deposits have been transferred to a Hong Kong account and the orchestra’s budget is not that much… Also, at the start of the year the orchestra had some repayment money (for the lost violin, remember?) of about $5 million which has also been transferred to the Hong Kong account.

This is really something. The crew at the orchestra are all wondering what is going on and where Jin Cang is. He tells them that Jin Cang took all the money for himself and he is no where to be found right now. All companies are requesting for returns so he has decided to drop his new album. There is announces the dismissal of Ketagalan Symphony Orchestra. He decides to give up his violin to pay for everyone’s wages.

He watches as the orchestra make its final pack-ups. In the practice room, he hears a voice that is Die Fei so he runs down the hall. He sees a little girl holding a bunch of balloons with a key. He goes to reach for the keys but he can’t reach it. It is only his imagination. Awake from his imagination is an empty room. He then finds some music sheets on the ground and starts living to the music.

SJ makes a visit to Lisa wondering when she is going to get him the x-seed. He “threatens” about going to the hospital and she threatens that he will not get what he wants if he bothers her Alice.

Die Fei is worried about Ting Yu while Ting Yu is needless to say not having a very happy time. He decides to take some sleeping pills when Ash calls to inform him that Jin Cang is in Cambodia. However that doesn’t matter, he just wants more sleeping pills right now. Die Fei calls his home but he doesn’t pick up because he is too busy in his backyard drowning himself in alcohol while thinking about his life and music career.

Sleeping pills and alcohol is not a good mix because they cause him to fall in the pool. Don’t worry, he is fine and can swim. He hallucinates Lisa talking with him telling him that everything is fine, he didn’t do anything wrong. She tells him that when she first met him he was in a much devastating situation than now. He needs to trust her that in time he can stand up again. He tells her that time no longer holds any meaning to him. He can’t play the violin any more nor does anyone needs him to play the violin. She tells him that he doesn’t need to play the violin, he needs to rest. He then says to her that he sees his mother who is here to take him away. Where else can he go? Lisa tells her that there is a place where he can help others. It is a place where he can relax and where it holds meaning for him. This wakes him up and he jumps out of the water to get a phone call. It’s from a worried Die Fei.

Die Fei goes to visit him, still worried. He tells her that he has no way out of this. She tells him that his current state really worries people. He asks her what people, he has no people. He still has her. She tells him that she can do anything he wants. He wants night. He wants a world that will never change. He wants to hide in that world. She tells him not to be in that dark world. She kisses him which he does not kiss but but eventually gives into. He suddenly pushes her away and tells her to leave. Her staying here will only make things difficult for him He tells her to forget him but she is not buying this. The one who wants to see her is him. The one who forced her to face her talents is him. She can’t forget this.

He tells her what she can’t forget is that stage. He warns her that once she is up on that stage, her life won’t be easy. She can’t stand on that stage, it is not suitable for her.

She tells him that what she can’t forget is him. She can’t leave him nor the stage. He tells her that sitting below the stage and watching her laughing as she holds onto her dreams is the real her. He advises her to be a commoner once a again. “Don’t you want to hear me sing any more!?” He tells her that he already cannot hear anything. She tells him that they need each other but he tells her that he has already started to forget about her.

Lisa tells Hai Jie to take good care of Alice while she is away.

Die Fei meets with Hai Jie and tells him that Ting Yu is not himself. He tells her that in time he will come back. She then queries how he knew Alice would come back while she has no confidence. He tells his secret – a spell. He then shows her his spell  which caused Alice to return to his side.

Ting Yu locks up his house for the last time and leaves.

Die Fei is devastated. Everyone is disappearing from her; her sister and now Ting Yu. She asks her book store friend to take her in. Her friend has a big idea, she wants her to sing at her store.

Ting Yu goes on a hike that highly resembles a dream garden. He just can’t seem to get Die Fei out of his head. He just wants to sleep and dream. He enters his dream garden and meets the angel from his dream garden. She is here to make an exchange for his sleep. He then has a dream within a dream (?) that he is up on stage holding the violin but not playing it and then all of his colleagues start laughing at him. And one of these people laughing at him is another version of him. The angel has received his dream and makes the exchange telling him that he will have happy dreams from now on but he must willingly sleep himself. There, appears the key from his previous imagination. He arrives at his penthouse which contains light.

Die Fei arrives at the deserted Ketagalan and imagines it being lively with a full orchestra and a happy Ting Yu there. She then recites Hai Jie’s spell.

Ting Yu can’t sleep and decides to go for his sleeping pills but resists against it. Instead, he decides to write some music with no luck.

Daddy Lan is worried about his daughters. One is missing and one has no energy. Like Ting Yu said, everyone will soon leave her side, including him. Left? Daddy Lan explains to him that her definition of leaving is not correct. Leaving is being non-existent in this world. So she goes to find him with no such luck.

It’s morning and at last Ting Yu finished writing his song. At last, he falls asleep willingly. In his world, Die Fei is there, coaxing him to sleep.

Alice tells Hai Jie that her father was a horticulturist. One of the biggest and best outcomes for a horticulturist is to see a plant that they didn’t thought to exist to actually exist. She explains that her father got a request from SJ’s father to find a plant called Alice…

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My Opinion:

With the amount of dreams and hallucinations used here, it really feels like they are trying heavily to change the mood, which IMO, is not working very well. The dreams don’t even connect, let alone make any sense. Ting Yu had four almost continuous dreams which leaves me thinking if I am watching a dream or a drama. Ahahahahas. I applaud the writers and directors for trying to connect and smooth out the story but it just makes it more mismatched.

The stories just don’t work no matter how much I want it to. There are just two many individual stories here. There is Ting Yu and his music, Alice’s secret, Lisa’s secret,  Hai Jie and his love for Alice, Die Fei and her confusion and Jin Cang’s money line. Nearing the end of the drama, I would have hoped that some of these stories come to there nearing end but instead, more stories are being introduced or that they are just starting to move along. The problem here is that there is too much things happening at once that does not actually work with any of the stories.

Really, nearing this end of the drama you would have expected to see story developments and some relationship progress but instead none of that is happening here. Alice and Hai Jie are just non-existent. -.- They are just there, with a bland connection with each other. Actually, right now I feel that Hai Jie has lost some of his feelings towards Alice. They don’t really appear to have any connection. He still loves her of course and vice versa but she isn’t really showing much of it while Hai Jie has cooled off his feelings towards her. I guess they didn’t get that much time to connect because their storyline is moving so slowly. Ting Yu and Alice are trying to put chemistry into them together as a couple but they are just awkward and once again, bland, around each other. He is just quite cool and ummm, has a very weird way of expressing his love, which in this case does not appear to be love for her. You just know that he supposedly likes her, but he isn’t showing it well. She is trying too but from from previous feelings, they really don’t work into her character. She just suddenly has a change of heart and likes Ting Yu now. I don’t get it. Ahahahahahs!

I am really really really uber super duper disappointed with the lack of music and the role that it plays. I thought this was music based! Where has that all gone? It is now just a story of their issues. Music, does Ting Yu even like his music? It is not even about his music and as for Hai Jie, it is just about Alice.

Okay, ummmm, x-seed is a seed? LOL! Seriously, the entire time I thought it was a DVD or something…

Just two more episodes.

A badly injured Alice gets immediately gets sent to hospital and has extensive blood loss. Alice is blood type A and so is Lisa. Lisa offers to donate her blood but cannot do so as she is her direct relative. She comes to confess that she can because she is not her biological mother. Lisa goes to visit Alice who has gotten a blood transfusion and is now in a stable but critical time to her survival.

Lisa gets questioned about the incident and is shocked to find the suspects left without a trace. When asked if Alice has any enemies and she immediately recalls Alice’s suspicious actions. Hello to SJ who is stalking Lisa.

Die Fei goes to knock on Ting Yu’s door who doesn’t open up but is clearly at home. She slips him a note apologising for declining the role of ‘Dream Garden’ but she does not want to hide from him.

Jin Cang is not happy with Ting Yu’s music and has some tricks up his sleeves…

DNA testing has come in proving that Alice is in fact her daughter.

Lisa goes to visit Alice telling her that she has never abandoned her and even sings her a song. Things aren’t looking well for Alice and she goes possibly require marrow donation. Ting Yu comes to visit Alice and might actually consider that she is not a bad person after all.

As he goes to leave he bumps into Die Fei and her father. If things aren’t awkward between Die Fei, her father and Ting Yu they get a lot more awkward between her and Ting Yu when father Lan decides to give the couple some alone time. They actually manage to get a conversation happening and is relieved to find that she is not ill but here to accompany her father for a check up. However, Ting Yu can’t seem to get the words out when she asks him what he is doing here.

Lisa makes a call to open her storage account.

Hai Jie makes a mad parting from A++ when he discovers from Die Fei the condition that Alice is in. He cries as he sees her and Alice also lets out some tears.

Ting Yu makes some changes after listening to his demo and Jin Cang seems to play along with this. However, when he leaves Jin Cang makes some big changes, switching DX5 for DX4.

Die Fei is looking at her dress that she wore to the competition and recalls his compliments and their sweet time together. She explains to her father that her relationship with Ting Yu is complicated. He advises her to give him some more time. She apologises for being jobless again but he tells her that he doesn’t care about that, he just cares about not being able to see her perform on stage again. It doesn’t matter about the lies that Jin Cang told, he just remembers seeing her happy on stage. He tells her not to be hit down by what she enjoys, what she chooses is correct, they can’t lie in a world of lies forever. And also, love cannot be rushed.

Hai Jie tells Alice of his quest for her in Japan and how he met a little girl also called Alice. The little girl might even know her. It doesn’t matter, he will wait for her and be by her side.

Jin Cang calls Hai Jie to have a talk with him but Hai Jie immediately cuts off the call opting to accompany Alice instead.

Ting Yu’s CD has come out and Die Fei goes to support it. When listening to it, she notices something different about it and suspects that it may be Hai Jie’s playing instead.

Alice wakes up and Lisa tells her that it is now her turn to protect her. Alice apologises but Lisa tells her that she is her daughter so she has no need to. Hai Jie visits Alice and promises that he will never leave her, he will accompany her everyday.

SJ comes to face Lisa and demands x-seed in exchange for Alice. She tells him that it is in America, she has to go get it herself. She also tells him to stop bothering them once he gets the x-seed which he agrees to.

Ting Yu gets a celebratory party for his success and it is then he realises that the music is not his but Hai Jie’s. Ting Yu confronts Jin Cang who tells him that he will just explain to Hai Jie that he made a mistake in the printing process. Ting Yu is not happy with this. With what right does he think he is not good enough? Jin Cang explains to him that it is not just him who understands music, the buyers too. Everything costs money in this world. What about his ‘Dream Garden’? Die Fei is not going to sing, so he is not going to yet it come to life. What’s the consequence of this? Reparations. Money, money, money. Everything costs money! He is mature but what the market needs right now is Hai Jie’s softness.

Ting Yu comes to visit Die Fei and makes her come out for a walk with him. She asks her about his parents and he explains he doesn’t know who is father is. His mother just wanted her own child and her own replication but in the end she discovered that he could not be her replication and committed suicide. He strokes her hair and tells her he couldn’t bear to use the shampoo that she left behind. He asks her if he was a passerby would she still have rejected him? She answers that she didn’t reject him. He complains that he can’t sleep and she asks if it is because of Alice. He tells her that Alice was never in his heart, because she has always occupied it. They then share a kiss and hug.

After that he tells her that he is going to take a leave for a while. Ohhh, she congratulates him for it. He asks her if something felt weird when she heard it and she pretends that there isn’t. He then asks her to promise him two things – 1. Not to give up music and 2. Not to misunderstand him. She agrees even though she doesn’t know what number 2 means.

Die Fei brings Hai Jie the CD and Hai Jie immediately picks up his own music. Hai Jie is angry that Ting Yu does not know about this. Die Fei explains that when Ting Yu came to find her he had a weird expression but didn’t mention much about it. She tells him that she trusts Ting Yu.

Hai Jie goes to Ting Yu’s place and throws him a punch asking what right do they have to do this. Ting Yu is ready for his punch but Hai Jie resists and tells him that this is his much. This CD will forever change him.

Hai Jie finally arrives and Jin Cang gives him a check to represent his sincerity which he rejects. Money, money, money, everything to Jin Cang is money. He could use A++, lie to Die Fei and now he can mistreat Ting Yu. They all depend on Ting Yu unless they have a better master. He laughs and tells him that he has no interest. Ting Yu may be stupid but he sure isn’t. People will soon find out that his music is not Ting Yu’s. Jin Cang explains that they won’t because the world is very real. Him, Ting Yu and Die Fei all have to use him to climb. Maybe Hai Jie can’t ruin him but he has a condition – he wants a termination. He is officially a free man now and tells Jin Cang that his plan will backfire.

There is a press conference for Ting Yu and he comes clean about his music.

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My Opinion:

How much better was the kiss!? I actually felt this one had essence and feelings. Though the feelings is not there as much as I would like a kiss to be. Kisses should give the wow factor and draw you to see feelings between them but it just lacked it here. I do enjoy this one much better than the last. It has character and you can see that they are trying to put some chemistry together. They actually appear to be more comfortable around each other this time. I don’t know but they still feel stiff around each other. I think they would have more chemistry if they can loosen up around each other.

I can see that Lara is trying. She is really trying to get into character. She really has improved throughout the drama. She has feel more relaxed around now. At the start when she delivered her lines they feel to be emotionless and doesn’t touch the audience but now as I watch her deliver her lines I can sense some sort of emotion.

I was waiting to see the fight/punch off but I am disappointed. There wasn’t any ‘throw’ or ‘boom’. I expected something more to happen but it didn’t… LOL, why does Ting Yu look like a vampire at that scene?

The two stories here just seems to grow more and more apart. There isn’t any connection here at all. It is all very varied and unrelated in any way. I just feel that Ting Yu is running two lives sometimes. Ahahahahas. It is very very separate now. There isn’t a single overlap or anything that could relate these two stories.

Hmmmm, music? I expected it to play a bigger role and have more of an influence on the characters but it just seems to shy away after ep 3… I wonder how this violin issue would resolve. LOL

I want something that would magnetise me but there isn’t. I had high hopes for this drama but my hopes don’t seem to be held high any more. Next ep doesn’t seem to be so attracting…

One by one the contestants sing and finally it is Die Fei’s turn. Whilst singing, she adds some of her dancing flare to the song. Oh, and the song is a different song! Ahahahahas! As Ting Yu watches her sing, he recalls all the encouragement her gave her. Hai Jie also recalls the belief that he has in her. Father Lan is in full support of her. Dream, her dream is to fly. When she was little her father would hold her and spin her, allowing her to fly. The host then brings up her mother’s accident. She is reluctant to face it but she faces it anyway. She says that her father is her wings, she now knows how to fly. George has been affected greatly by her performance and has non-stop praise for her. Ting Yu directs to her that he likes people with dreams and her dream is…very beautiful. Of course, even the interviewer guy has praises for her. 

And the winner is … Lan Die Fei!

It’s a celebratory party for Die Fei and Yu Shu gives Hai Jie the role of coaxing Die Fei to come down. He knows her too well and brings her a cup of hot instant noodles. He tells her to quickly eat because from today onwards she will be the topic of the paparazzi. She tells him to wait for her when the party is over because she has something she wants to tell him.

Die Fei gets a warm welcome. She tells her audience that if she knew that there would be so much people, she would have left long ago. A few months ago she believed in ordinary happiness. She thought that life only needs family, family and delicious food to be complete. She is very satisfied with her life but because of a person’s relationship her ordinary life became extraordinary. LOL, both Hai Jie and Ting Yu think that the person is them. She thanks that person for giving her such a dream. Ting Yu gives her a smile at this. She explains that she has thought about it and ever since she was little and participated in reading competitions, there was not this many people quietly listening to her talk. Furthermore, that time she was just a replacement for the original contestant who fell sick that day. She really thanks the other participating contestants allowing her to not dream solo.

A drunken George spills to Die Fei that  the competition was organised for her to win, to give her a career pathway.

She pulls her sister aside and confronts her about it. Yu Shu tells her to not be lead by the nose. She then asks her sister if there is anything else she should know about this competition, nothing misleading about the criticism? Die Fei can immediately tell that her sister is lying. So it is true, what George said is true. Die Fei is not satisfied with her win and storms off to find Ting Yu.

Ting Yu is writing music with his inspirational Die Fei photo by his side. Die Fei comes home and confronts him why it was arranged. Initially Ting Yu denies it but then tells her so what if it is. He wrote the drama so he has the right to choose his leading lady. She asks him how can she face the other contestants? He explains to her that she won by her abilities. Ability, if she had the ability then he wouldn’t have to create the competition to lie to others. He tells her that the competition is fair and asks her if she still wants to sing now? She tells him that she doesn’t want to, she doesn’t want any of it now. She doesn’t want it right? He shoves her the music of Dream Garden and tells her that if she doesn’t want it then it is all rubbish now. She hands it back and out flies her photo.

He tells her that when he was writing Dream Garden the only person he thought about was her, she is his leading lady. She tells him even so he shouldn’t lie, she doesn’t want to lie. He tells her that he isn’t lying to other people and he also doesn’t want to lie to himself. He pulls her around, tells her he loves her and literally shoves her a kiss.

She pulls back and slaps him. After gathering her thoughts together, she pulls him into a kiss. Well, well, well, what do we have here? Meanwhile, Hai Jie is alone calling Die Fei who is not picking up. (Just a mention, the song she sings here is really beautiful. It is probably my first/second favourite song that she sings. Ahahahahahs!)

Why, aren’t our OTP having a passionate night together?

Father Lan tells Yu Shu to remind Die Fei about her love life and basically don’t fall for the wrong guy. The Lan sisters are really something. This time it is Die Fei’s turn to be on the news headlines. Yu Shu and Jin Cang are on the search for Die Fei. Just as Yu Shu leaves, Die Fei’s bookshop friend arrives to borrow a few of Die Fei’s clothing.

Die Fei makes a no show. She texts her sister that she won’t be signing the contract. Uh-oh.

Meanwhile, Ting Yu is depressed now thinking about what Die Fei told him. Jin Cang tells him that they have another person for the role but Ting Yu is adamant that Dream Garden cannot be without Die Fei. No one can replace her. Jin Cang says he can give Die Fei some time but he needs to quantity news to pressure the current issue. He will advertise the annual event earlier than expected.

Die Fei is hiding at her friends place and tells her that she is not the real winner.

Jin Cang is listening to the violin covers and actually likes Hai Jie’s cover better than Ting Yu’s cover. He explains to Yu Shu that this Ting Yu is not the one he knows. There is no feeling to his music. Yu Shu tells him that there is one place that Die Fei might be. He tells her that if she is not there, they will have to pay a compensation fee and they don’t have any more money left.

After a billion calls, Die Fei picks up a call from Hai Jie. She apologises for his long wait last night and burst into tears as she tells him that she doesn’t want to sign the contract any more. She doesn’t know what to do any more. Hai Jie comes to comfort Die Fei and tells her that really she is a winner. However, she has no way to accept this kind of win. Die Fei then half confesses to Hai Jie what happened. She asks him if it is possible that you discover that you like someone after you have had a relationship with him.

She was originally going to yell at Ting Yu but then she thought about everything that has happened during this time and him writing the music for her. Then she suddenly understood that she loves him. Ting Yu also loves her and wrote Dream Garden for her. Meanwhile, Lisa comes to visit Ting Yu. Die Fei explains that in some world there is a block of Dream Garden. People who come here bring their nightmare balloons and exchange it for colourful dreams. One day a boy arrived at this garden and the garden’s guardian angel and exchanged their nightmares for colourful dreams. However, the boy didn’t have any dreams so the guardian angel took him to the fountain to create his dream. For his dream he is willing to pay at all costs. However, in order to help the boy, she lost her wings and ability to exchange nightmares for dreams and soon became just an ordinary person. Ting Yu explains that he didn’t write it, it was the boy who used his hand to write it out. Lisa asks him who he thought of when he wrote it and he replies that the person in his mind is a person who can really sing.

Die Fei tells Hai Jie that she finally understands his feeling for Alice. Hai Jie tells her that even if Alice doesn’t return, it is enough that they have loved each other.

Yu Shu comes to find Die Fei and apologises saying that this is just be for her. It is very hard for people to make their breakthrough these days without packaging. Die Fei is still not happy about this. Yu Shu breaks it to her that even the contestants knew that this was not going to be a fair game. So it’s just her who doesn’t know. Yu Shu tells her that they need her. Ting Yu will only give her the role and lots of company have invested a lot of money into the production. Without Dream Garden and her they will fall. She cares about Ting Yu right?

Father Lan is not happy when he discovers the news of Ting Yu and Hai Jie. He is going to get to the bottom of this.

Die Fei announces to her bookshop friend that she is going to participate in Dream Garden after all and earnestly face Ting Yu. Hai Jie arrives and shows Die Fei the magazine and tells her that people who know her will not believe the magazine but she is not so sure.

Jin Cang is not so happy with Ting Yu’s cover story while Ting Yu just spends his time fencing. Jin Cang just wants to know who the girl (Alice) is but he is not going to get it out from him any time soon.

Hai Jie admits to Die Fei that the other cover girl is his Alice but she was just toying with him. Die Fei asks if Ting Yu and Alice are serious then. He tells her that they may be; they both have a mysterious characteristic. Oh boy, more love complications. Hai Jie suggest that they both leave Ketagalan Symphony Orchestra and create more lively music. She explains that ever since she participated in the competition she understood more and more about her heart. She was afraid but now she is courageous. She will find Ting Yu to get to the bottom of this.

Die Fei finally makes her appearance home and decides to plaster her room full of Ting Yu posters.

Die Fei arrives with Hai Jie to work to resign (just clarifying, Die Fei is the one retiring and not Hai Jie). Die Fei explains that she doesn’t want to be a contracted artist nor does she want to partake Dream Garden. Her decision will affect everyone but she has made her choice.

Alice spots her mother and decides to spend some time with her. Nope, no motherly-daughter bonding time. Here comes the SJ guys. Lisa sure knows how to pick a fight. She whacks one of the guys with an empty beer bottle and he takes out his knife. Alice takes in the stab just as the police arrives. (LOL,, what bad polices! Don’t even come to help.)

_______

My Opinion:

This drama is soon becoming two separate stories. One ep it is about Die Fei and the next is about Alice. Looks like it is Alice’s turn next. It would be better if they focused it one either Alice’s side or Die Fei’s side throughout the entire drama and then add the love square. This is just stuffed up. The storyline doesn’t flow. There is just the string out of place with every ep. It just misses that tie to link the entire ep together. It feels as if scenes are just being slabbed together. There is no solid bonding between any of the scenes.

What can I say about the kiss? Firstly, it lacked chemistry and secondly, it did nothing to fit in the scene. I actually found it to be unnecessary in terms of the plot development. It was just bland. LOL, what? She just likes him now? Since when did that happen? Ummm…? Yeahh, I don’t get it. She pulled back and then kissed him. If it is like what she said well, that it unreasonable. Yeahh, she figured it out in that one second of space. She didn’t show any intentions of liking him and then bam, she goes and kisses him. Makes no sense. Or maybe I am just interpreting this drama differently…

I thought Die Fei liked Hai Jie and Hai Jie liked Alice, Ting Yu likes Alice and Alice likes Hai Jie/Ting Yu. Apparently, I am wrong. See, you can’t even tell who likes who. In good dramas you can tell who is supposed to like who (no, not the obvious like, but you can tell with chemistry) but the other characters make you divert the pairing (or in some cases, root for both OTP and second OTP). However, in this drama there is none of that. Actually, I think this drama would be better without any of the relationship lines. Ahahaha, at least you can actually tell what is going on.

No, no, no, actually I think the drama would work it it started from scratch.

Is is me or me who finds Lara’s acting very bland and emotionless. She always has that energyless face. Her acting is mediocre and doesn’t do much to help shape the character. I do like it when she sings. I think soft ballads really suit her. I really like the insert song she sang (Metamorphosis (蛻變)). It really suits her voice.

Well, well, my Aaron. I am getting really annoyed with his hair! It hides his handsome face.

Aside from the episode’s mess, I like it when Die Fei is all dressed up. She looks really pretty. Will the next ep be better? Well, we can only hope.

After hearing what she heard, Die Fei grows uneasy.

One by one the singers sing and finally it is Dei Fei’s turn who is singing ‘Don’t Dare Cry’. (The first girl sang really nicely) She sang this song much better with more feelings. So much feelings that even she cried during the process, singing out of line and forgetting her lyrics. Hai Jie watches this eyefully which Ting Yu watches Hai Jie with a scornful eye. George comments that she can forget the lyrics but when she makes a name of herself, the audience won’t forgive her. The other judge comments that the singer they are searching for is one that is perfect and if she can’t focus, then she doesn’t have the right to sing in the next round. He gives her a 6. George looks over and sees Jin Cang. He spins the flaw in her singing into some positive and gives her a 9. Ting Yu asks her one question – whether she wants to still sing or return home. After a moment for hesitation, she replies that she wants to stay. He tells her that she is honest and he heard her heart’s words in her song. So he gives her a 9. However, backstage it is not all as happy.

Ting Yu gives Die Fei a lashing about why she forgot her lyrics. She is not singing for everyone but only one person. She doesn’t deny it. He tells her that if she only wants to sing to Hai Jie then why must that waste so much time and money on her? He asks him if she went on stage and felt glory. She nods her head and he asks her whether it is the stage or her voice that is letting her shine gloriously. He asks her is the love adoration in Hai Jie’s eyes her or her voice? So she has to prove it to him that she is better than this. He tells her that this contest was arranged for her but they could find a more suitable person than her.

Jin Cang happily tells the person on the end of the line that Die Fei did in fact forget her lines. He will e-mail the pictures later. He tells the person that Die Fei forgetting the lines is a form of expressing her love.

Of course Die Fei is the news headline of the newspapers. One writes that she forgot her lines because she thought of the person she likes yet she can’t be together with him. Yu Shu wonders when she got interviewed; it is so realistic. So she decides to hold her own interview asking Die Fei why she really cried, is it related to Hai Jie? Die Fei answers that it has nothing to do with him. Even Die Fei wonders why the news is so realistic. Yu Shu uneasily answers that it is just random writing or they based it on online comments but deep down she knows it is more than that.

Die Fei has won the second round of votings and sees online that some people think she is ridging votes. Her sour mood sweetens when she sees people saying that her voice is the most beautiful sound. Die Fei wonders how she should respond and Hai Jie suggests that he should make a celebrity blog for her called Die Fei Feng Wu but she suggests Die Die…

Die Fei is and Hai Jie is with Yu Shu at a pub supposedly discussing the blog. A++ then comes to perform shocking Hai Jie. It also shocks the two girls to see Hai Jie here. Yu Shu wonders when the girls came back and why they didn’t tell her. But Hai Jie’s shock is shock of happiness. He asks them why they returned so soon, aren’t they supposed to be touring in Mainland? The brown haired girl wants to tell the truth but the blond hair girl stops her saying that they just like performing on streets better. Yep, suspicion now.

Ting Yu calls Hai Jie while Ting Yu remembers Alice telling him not to call her.

Alice meets Ting Yu at the theatre and nots that it is her without turning around but is unsure whether he knows her. He confronts her, Miss Fei Niao Wen. He then starts doing some sort of sword fencing and asks her why he never has an opponent. She answers that he doesn’t like to lose, just likes to win. He tells her she is half right; he doesn’t like to lose nor win. He learns the sword fencing thingy because it gives him peace. She asks him why he invited her here, he won’t be in peace. He doesn’t want to be in peace. She explains that she doesn’t want him to know too much and both his lifestyle. So that’s why she broke up with him? (What? Since when did they break up or officially started dating? I must not be paying attention at all.) She tells him since he knows all about her now, he should forget about Seiko. That’s easy. He asks her what his purpose it, why did she come to Lisa?

Hai Jie arrives and Ting Yu throws him the sword forcing him into a fight. Alice goes to protect Hai Jie admitting that she is Fei Niao Wen and Alice. Alice! Alice! Hai Jie is overly happy to discover the truth. Alice tells Ting Yu that her admitting that she is Alice will only cause greater pain for Hai Jie. Hai Jie tells her he has been waiting for her all along. She tells him that it was all an accident. If she cared about him she would have went to find him. He tells her that she does care about him. They had such beautiful memories together. So what? She tells him he is too naive. Alice no longer exists. He tells her that it might no exist but he will never forget that Alice and their beautiful memories. He tells her he believes the Alice he loves will come back.

After Hai Jie leaves, Ting Yu tells her she not only lied to Hai Jie but wiped out all of their past. He tells her that if Hai Jie was an accident, then he is one too right? He tells her to tell her plan or he will bring her to Lisa. ALice tells him that Lisa only wants a daughter. He tells her that if she is going to hurt Lisa, short term pain is better than long term. She tells him to trust her. He pulls her into a hug and tells her that Lisa is the person he cares about the most. He will not let her get hurt.

The top 5 contenders get a week to practice and bring out the theme ‘I Have a Dream’.

Ting Yu shows Lisa what he has discovered about Alice causing her grief. She too, wonders what purpose she has. However, what Ting Yu is most concerned about is why she is faking to be her daughter. (LOL, what? I thought she was her real daughter?) Lisa says that maybe her daughter is not here and just wanted her friend to accompany her or maybe God is pitying her  and sent her an angel. He asks her if there is anything suspicious during their encounter. She tells him that although they haven’t met for twenty odd years, they still are very in touch with each other. He breaks the news that Alice is Hai Jie’s Alice. She assures her that she has her reasons.

Later that night Lisa sits there wondering and thinking about Alice.

After a hard day of practice, Die Fei decides to have a night out with the other contestants but Yu Shu is not so keen on her making friends. Jin Cang tells Yu Shu that if Die Fei wins it is her defeating the other people and not the other way around. She tells him not to let Die Fei know that she will be winner because she likes to think she is the one who has to apologise.

Hai Jie is recording for his music album but all that is on his mind is Alice affecting his performance.

Hai Jie’s life is a mess. Die Fei calls but he won’t even open the door though she finally persuades him to do so. He decides to ease her song choice troubles by taking her to an amusement park. Hai Jie and Die Fei both gets an ice-cream but his one get knocked down so he decides to take her one instead. The two go to lick the same ice-cream resulting in a near kiss that the camera doesn’t even capture! They then go on an upside down roller coaster.

Well, Die Fei’s relationship with her father is all good now.

Lisa goes to find her daughter asking her how are things between her and Ting Yu. She explains that she doesn’t like to be tied and he won’t be able to accept her leaving for Japan. She tells her that Ting Yu actually really likes her, he just has a weird way of showing it. She invites her to come back and stay with her which she ends up agreeing to.

Lisa sees the photo of the young her with her husband and young Alice. She asks Alice if she has pictures of her grandparents which she does not causing suspicion to Lisa. She leaves Alice saying has a headache so Alice makes her some soup. She tells her mother that with her by her side she feels really happy.

Ting Yu is recording his music album and is too having trouble as he is recalling his mother. Oh, and the owner of Siren told him not to play Siren if he is not prepared.

Ting Yu gives Die Fei a call in the middle of her sleep. He is once again insomniac so she decides to sing for him which unsurprisingly puts him to sleep.

Jin Cang has a meeting with George telling him that it depends on his reliance to him. Meanwhile, Hai Jie is getting himself drunk with A++ because of Alice. They tell him that the one Die Fei likes is the him. He tells them that it is just random news from Jin Cang. Jin Cang again? They basically tell him that Jin Cang used them making them perform shows that they didn’t want to. They tell him to be careful of Die Fei now since she is famous now and has connections.

A drunken Hai Jie calls Die Fei and warns her to be careful. He also tells her that he knows how to forget about her now. Constantly spinning…and spinning… Yeahh, drunk!

Daddy Lan is in full support of Die Fei.

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My Opinion:

Woahhh, next ep! Woaaah, big woah. Where is the progress to get to the next stage. Ting Yu has showed more feelings towards Alice than towards Die Fei. Yeahh, just not making any sense.

I think this would be better if the drama chose to focus on just one plot with several subplots that help to shape the plot. There is just too many subplots that has nothing to relate to the plot. Well, first thing is that I am not even sure what the plot is. Ahahahaah. Well, Die Fei’s singing has nothing to do with Ting Yu’s violin thingy which in turn does nothing to shape Alice’s plot. Yeahh… There is just too many introduction of subplots that are unanswered even in this late of the drama. What happened to mini Alice? And what’s with A++?

What’s with Alice? Why did she lie to Hai Jie? She clearly still likes him. What is her plan? What does she want with Lisa? Hmmmm, very suspicious.

The feelings of this drama is all mixed up because of the cinematography. I realised that the cinematography is all very stable. There is not much variation to showcase the different feelings that it is supposed to evoke. There was the all important Die Fei-Hai Jie kiss but wow, the camera was very out of shot of the kiss. Isn’t that supposed to be one of the main drawing points? The cinematography is very eye-level so it only evokes neutral feelings.

Oh Ting Yu. Does he love Alice or Die Fei?

Hopefully next ep wll ease things out. I am seriously losing any excitement for this.

Hai Jie is watching some kids practising music with his teacher and recalls his teacher giving him the violin and teaching him how to play. Hai Jie is dragged back to reality and sees that his teacher has gone blind. However, his teacher doesn’t need to see him to recognise him and knows that something must have happened in Taipei. (What’s with Hai Jie’s haircut?)

Hai Jie goes to return the violin to his teacher. His teacher tells him that he has seen the world for over 60 years and that’s enough. Hai Jie asks him what happens now that he can’t see the spectrum? He says that the spectrum is in his heart. As long as he can hear these beautiful music then that’s enough. Hai Jie goes to return the violin saying he doesn’t want to play any more, he can’t do it. His teacher tells him no, he can return it when he is invincible.

Hai Jie explains that he can’t play any more because each time he does he will only think of her. His is afraid that she might exist and could just be his hallucination. Every time he plays he will think of her. His teacher reminds him that he once said that he will wait until he is invincible and is wowed before he returns the violin.

The teacher laughs and opens up Hai Jie. He tells Hai Jie that he plays violin not to be invincible, in his heart he must laugh and think of her. He can bring out the most splendid music. The teacher asks him to play for him which he does.

Ting Yu who is on the other side of town is also practising his violin. Die Fei leaves him a note telling him that she knows that he doesn’t want anyone near right now so she will go to find her singing courage.

Well, as expected, her courage is Hai Jie. She goes to find Hai Jie and is met by his father who directs her to some purple flower field and lends her a bicycle to reach the field.

He asks her who asked her to come find him and she tells him that she wanted to come herself. He tells her that he doesn’t even have the energy to make a joke. Of course Die Fei deduces this is all because of Alice. He tells her that he had hope she would find him but now… She tells him that even so, the real Alice will come to find her one day. He tells her that he is honestly telling her this. She understands but she is not going to give up. He tells her that he too wants to happily play the violin but every time he does he will think of Alice. That aside, Die Fei tells him that manager Cang is holding a competition for the music scores that Ting Yu wrote and she will participating in it. She tells him to return to Taipei and then he can listen to her sing but he is not going to go back giving her disappointment. In his world only Alice matters, his friends aren’t as important so it is no wonder Ting Yu looks down on them. He tells him that Ting Yu told her to ask him what is music to him, what is playing the violin to him? She leaves, leaving him to him.

Hai Jie arrives at the train station to find Die Fei there. Looks like he has decided to return to Taipei with her. He even manages to persuade her to sing for him. He is amazed with her singing and thanks her for finding her today.

A worried Ting Yu goes to find Lisa to discover that Alice has returned to Japan. He tells her that he doesn’t understand Alice and asks Lisa if she understands her. Lisa hesitates saying that she is her long lost daughter. He asks her if she ever thought Alice is not her daughter but that thought has never once crossed her mind. The feeling is just there.

Alice is accompanying her ill grandmother in hospital when SJ arrives. She kicks him out of course. Later he tells her to rest assure, he will take care of all the fees if anything happens to her grandmother. She tells him she knows what he has does. He tells her that the company did it and if she doesn’t accept it, he will be her husband. She tells him he is nothing in her family. He tells her that it doesn’t matter, a contract is a contract. She can’t get away from it. He leaves telling her to do her job well.

Die Fei returns home to find Ting Yu sleeping his depression out. She tries to get him up with the food she bought but it doesn’t work. I guess her annoying-ness finally manage to wake Ting Yu up. She tells him she is going to be participating in the competition. He tells her that if was she who said she was going to find her courage. She leaves saying that it is rare for her to care about him and this really jerks him awake.

Alice’s grandmother has passed away and she and SJ actual remain some peace at the funeral. She later screams her heart out at the village and SJ stops by watching her from afar.

Alice reminisces her grandmother as she looks through one of their past photos. She discovers an envelope and recalls her grandfather telling the young her that her mother is a dishonourable person. She looks through the envelope and finds photos of her mother that her grandmother saved when her father tried to burn it all to ashes. She also remembers her grandmother’s last words were to tell her that she is not alone and telling her to find her mother. They were the ones who were wrong; they were the ones who took her away from her mother.

Ting Yu is with Lisa but he is clearly absent-minded. He asks her if she has ever wondered by she suddenly came back to Taipei and suddenly left for Japan. He gets straight to the point and asks Lisa why she suddenly left Alice that year and came back to Taiwan. She tells him to cherish every encounter. Twenty years ago, someone took away her Alice and she never thought she would see her again. Now, she is very happy. If Alice chooses to be by her side she will be very happy but if she chooses to live with her grandparents she will support her decision. She tells him that no matter what he has to believe that Alice is a good person. Alice!?

Can it be a coincident that it is the same Alice as Hai Jie’s? Lisa explains that she has asked Alice but she has denied it. He then asks her if she [Alice] is afraid of the truth with leaves Lisa in a shaky hand. (Not getting this…)

Ting Yu makes a phone call to his friend Ash to investigate a  certain someone.

Alice shows SJ a complete family picture and explains to him that her mother is a good person. He tells her that she was a the one who caused all the trouble. It was her who left for Taiwan after her father died. He warns her to do her job well or he will tell her mother that she hates her. So she agrees to get the x-seed. She asks for a month and she will persuade her mother to go with her to America and get the x-seed. No, a month is too long for him. He gives her a month.

Alice gives Lisa a call telling her that she will be home to see her soon which brings happiness to her face.

It’s a press conference for the competition. They are looking for the lead for ‘Dream Garden’ and the winner will be getting a $1,000,000 contract. Ting Yu gets asked why he changed career paths and decided to write music. He says that writing music is also a part of music so it is not actually a career change. Manager Cang answers that Ting Yu spent a lot of effort into this and this makes Die Fei recall how Ting Yu never writes music. Manager Cnag gets asked about his recent gossip which causes uneasiness from Yu Shu. He apologises for the effects of his gossip and answers that everyone makes mistake. But for love, all will be washed away and this is what ‘Dream Garden’ is about.

Die Fei is worried about having to sing in front of a large audience tomorrow, so worried that she forgot to boil the water to cook the instant noodles. Ting Yu then gets a call from Ash and has to leave the house leaving Die Fei to worry about herself.

Ting Yu goes to retrieve the USB. He discovers that Alice’s original name is Fei Niao Wen but there is none of her discrepancy information. However, there is a person very similar to her whose fiancée is Sasaki Junior who is the successor to a large biotechnology company. Before he can look further to see whether she is really Lisa’s daughter, Die Fei returns.

He tells her that the night before the competition is not for relaxing but more practice. He tells her to image that there is a dull flower in front of her and she has to sing it alive. He leaves telling her that anyway, his dream female lead has liveliness.

It’s competition time and Ting Yu is one of the judges. (Why such a serious face there? Ahahahaha!) It’s Die Fei’s turn to sing and she is singing ‘Where Have All The Flowers Gone’. Hai Jie watches, immersed and impressed while Ting Yu grows jealous seeing Hai Jie watching with such envy. The feedback come and Ting Yu said she sang beautifully but not perfectly. The other two judges are divided on this; George thinks she is missing some feeling while the other guy thinks she is perfect.

Hai Jie asks them why must they comment so disrespectfully yesterday to Die Fei. Ting Yu tells him that Die Fei is not a child and can speak up for herself. Hai Jie chases after Ting Yu asking why must George have said such words to hurt people. He must have thought Die Fei sand really good so how can he stand George being like this to her? Ting Yu asks him how he views Die Fei and he says that she is their good friend. Ting Yu tells him that saying that means he underestimates her. If he wants to help her, he must let her stand up by herself and anyway, she won’t lose because he trained her.

Die Fei asks Ting Yu what’s the feeling of dreaming. He tells her that sometimes dreaming is like being in somebody else’s body. It is much scarier than when she was on stage and it cannot be manipulated. Maybe other people can but he can’t. He tells her to leave and start dreaming whether it is a nightmare or a sweet dream.

Die Fei is generating a lot of media debate, it’s just that people aren’t really keen on her singing English songs.

Die Fei leaves with courage from Ting Yu. She is in the change room and overhears someone saying that one of the contestants have worked in the orchestra before.

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My Opinion:

Is it just me or am I seeing things? Hai Jie clearly had a different haircut when he went to meet his violin teacher but then when he went back to his village, his former haircut came back. LOL, weird? Or maybe it’s just me. Ahahahha

Sorry for the delay in recap. I got busy in SOP Queen and I just the momentum for this drama. There is no drawing essence. It’s just bland and makes no sense. Honestly, I don’t even know why I bother to continue watching/recapping this. Ahahaha, I’ve just lost excitement to watch it.

LOOL, maybe the dark side of this drama is having a plot that does not flow? Ahahahha

Anyway, so Hai Jie does know that Die Fei likes her. So he does know! I guess he can read girls. Although his heart only opens for Alice but he really does care about Die Fei. I just found his exaggeration at the end of the ep really overbearing. Did he have a need to act that way? The judges are free to voice their opinions.

Ahaha, well Die Fei sang here. Yeahh…that’s all… It was good but lacked any sort of emotion. Ahahaha, but I must say, Die Fei is pretty when she is all dolled up.

I don’t even know what to say. What is there to say about this drama?

Hai Jie tells Die Fei that Alice came to tell him that she really isn’t Alice.  Yep, he is depressed.

Yu Shu wakes up to find her father knocking at her door. He doesn’t yell at her but instead brings her breakfast and asks her of her well-being. He kindly tells her to go study in England but she tells him that she doesn’t want to any more. He tells her what that man can give her, he can also give her it. She explains that he loves and she loves him; that are in love. Her father asks her what she knows about love – he turned on his wife and he could turn on her. She talks back asking her father what he understands about love when he all he loves is guard the watch store and her mother’s memorial plague. He tells her even until death he will still love her mother. She asks him now that her mother is not here, what did he use to prove that he loves her mother? He tells her that she and Die Fei can receive happiness and that is proof right there. 

He pulls her trying to drag her home but she accidentally spills water on him. He tells that she is his daughter so he has the responsibility to take her home. She tells him she has grown up now and doesn’t need his responsibility. This leaves Father Lan aching.

Alice is packing to return to Japan to visit her granny who has fallen sick. Lisa asks her if she should go with her but Alice tells her there is no need because her grandparents might still be angry with her (Lisa doesn’t know her father-in-law is dead yet…). She tells her mother that when she returns to Japan she will tell her grandparents that she found her mother to let them be prepared for it. Lisa tells her that she has something to return to her grandmother. Alice asks if it is related to her father which her mother tells her it is. Lisa tells her to go retrieve it before she leaves. She then texts SJ that they have gotten their target.

It’s a box with photos of her father and a ring. Alice asks her mother if she needs to keep one of the photos for memory? Her mother tells her that she doesn’t need. It’s in her heart, she thinks about him every day so she won’t forget. Lisa explains that her father used the ring to propose to her and it wasn’t until later that she found out he stole the ring from his mother (that is, the ring is Alice’s granny). Alice asks if this is all and she is disappointed to find that it is.

Yeps, Hai Jie is depressed. Die Fei calls and he doesn’t pick up. He goes to ride his bike only to find that it has a flat tire. Just in the nick of time, Die Fei arrives and takes him out to cure his depressed state. An aeroplane flies past and Die Fei asks if he wants to make a wish. He declines and gives her the wish. They are at a cafe and Die Fei asks if he is sure she isn’t Alice. He tells him he is because he kissed her and she pulled back. He has hopes that although she is not Alice, Alice will return one day and he will wait for her. (Oh man, he is one long hearted guy). She asks her if she minds that Ito Seiko is invading her relationship with Ting Yu. (AAHAHAHAHAHAS!) She asks why she has to mind Ito Seiko, it’s all good if she doesn’t mind her living at Ting Yu’s place. He tells her that Ting Yu clearly likes her yet he has a girlfriend. (Woahh, what? When did you realise this?) She tells her that Ting Yu can’t possibly like her. She asks him if he minds that she is living with Ting Yu because if he does she can move out. He tells her that Ting Yu’s girlfriend hasn’t even said a word so when is it up to him to opinionate?

Yu Shu is depressed because Jin Cang just left, just like that. Die Fei tells her that she knows that she must be feeling really bad right now but since she chose this path she must sustain all the consequences. They decide to go visit their father the next day. (Oh, not good, not good).

Alice goes to hail a taxi but it drives pass her. Then a black car appears and two shoved her in the car and drove off. It’s SJ of course because she didn’t get what he wants. He ties her up and gets her to make a call to her grandmother. Her grandmother is undeniably upset when she tells her that she won’t be return but before she can say more, he cuts the call off.

Die Fei arrives home and realises that her mother’s birthday is today. She is taken back when she discovers that her father has bought a car. He hasn’t driven for over twenty years. He tells her that he has thought a lot of the past two days of her and Yu Shu singing. She recalls them singing in the car and how she threw a tantrum for her mother to drive.

Yu Shu goes to store only to find that it is not open for business. She has called both her sister and father and they aren’t picking up. She gets worried and calls Hai Jie for help. She is worried that her father might do something regretful so Hai Jie goes to call the locksmith.

So Mother Lan goes to open the door to the driver side but a car comes and crashes her. Die Fei tells her father that she always thought that she caused the death of her mother. If she wasn’t that immature, her mother wouldn’t have died. Her father tells her that he always thought that it was him who caused them to be without a parent. How good would it be if they can speak to her mother? He tells her that he cares for both her and Yu Shu. She tells her father who she has been staying with.

They open the store but Yu Shu is worried that there is no one home. Finally, they return and Yu Shu apologises. So everything is all solved.

Die Fei and Hai Jie are having some drink time. She tells him that today she has finally discovered a truth – she didn’t cause her mother’s death. He tells her that he thinks that she is a warm person, actually her whole family is. She then goes to confess but can’t get pass the word ‘I’ when Ting Yu interrupts and calls but she doesn’t pick up. After like a lot of calls, she picks up. He asks her where she is and she tells him that she is at Hai Jie’s place. She asks him what he wants. He tells her he is hungry and that she is responsible for his three meals. He gives her an hour to return home.

He sends Die Fei home and recalls Ito Seiko telling him to move on.

Ting Yu is jealous that all Die Fei does is for Hai Jie. She comes home and brings him food but he just walks off and drowns his depression with Alice. But what he doesn’t know is that one of SJ’s men is watching. Anyway, they start talking about violins and lovers and she doesn’t understand it. She takes leave but he stops her asking if she is Alice. She tells him that she isn’t.

Alice sneaks her way out of the hotel and returns home to visit her grandmother. She finds out that SJ’s people hasn’t been giving her a  hard time which is a relief. She shows her grandmother the ring but she doesn’t recognise it as her own right. However, she does sees similarity in it.

Jin Cang has returned. Yu Shu tells him that she really doesn’t know how to face her father. He tells her that they will face this together. She asks him to go meet her with father with her just when his wife arrives. She gives him something that he wants. Coincidentally, his two ladies wear the same headband… She asks Yu Shu to send her out which she does. She kindly ‘gives away’ her husband.

Yu Shu arrives home to tell her father that Jin Cang has divorced with his wife. She apologises for her words leaves. Meanwhile Jin Cang’s wife is at the airport when she calls Jin Cang. She tells him that she is going to go to the place that he promise to take her and look ahead in life.

Hai Jie packs away his Alice.

Father Lan has finally fixed his wife’s broken watch. He tells Die Fei to find a time to give it to Yu Shu and to tell her that no matter what they will always be there for her.

Hai Jie leaves a note to Jin Cang saying that he isn’t feeling well and can’t play the violin any more. He says that he might not come back. Die Fei comes in and Yu Shu quickly throws away the note.

The sisters are out at lunch and Yu Shu tells her that she would be better off to put her time else where, like on the stage singing.

Hai Jie is back at his hometown and his parents tell him to be productive.

Ting Yu isn’t happy with the plan to debut Die Fei. He tells her that he knows that she sings for one person but he isn’t going to come back. He tells her that she and Hai Jie is alike. Hai Jie isn’t playing the violin for a girl and she can’t go on stage to express her own feelings. (Oh, Ting Yu was cool there! Ahahahahs) What is music to you guys!?

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My Opinion:

Screen time in this drama is all over the place. This ep there was barely two minutes from Ting Yu and there wasn’t much from Die Fei either if you compare it to her sister. I think her sister is overshadowing her both with acting and screen time. Lara’s acting seems bland and emotionless when you compare it to her sister. I’m not sure but I think Yu Shu’s acting is much more smoother and natural than hers.

Oh, what? Excuse me? Hai Jie read that Ting Yu likes Die Fei? Since when was this the case? You can see more of Ting Yu’s feelings here but I think its because the director really wants to get the point across he likes Die Fei. However, even with the feeling in place you can’t really tell that he likes Die Fei. He doesn’t show it that way. All he shows is jealously. I want to see some love and urge for her.

I think the last scene where Ting Yu yelled at Die Fei is his best scene of the show yet. There was power and control over it. That is my favourite scene. It shows Aaron’s ability to be forceful and there it shows that he can act. Oh, and he was very cool there. Hehehehhe.

What does Alice want!? I really want to know! What does she have planned up her sleeve? I don’t think she is a baddie, I don’t think she even wants to do this if it wasn’t for protecting her grandmother. But what does she want? What’s her plan?

Yay! Die Fei is singing next ep! Yay! I look forward to it. Oh, and she looks better with her hair down.

After looking through the photos, Alice makes a call to SJ telling him that the man from yesterday is not CJ (Chen Hai Jie…?). She also tells him that she has her own method and to give her more time.

Die Fei is anxiously waiting for Ting Yu to come home. She calls him but he doesn’t pick up. As she goes to play the piano, she gets a call. She goes to pick it up hoping that it is Ting Yu but it is just her sister who tells her to return to give her some information and clothes.

So Die Fei does what she does best – listen to others’ dictation. She tries to make amends with her father but he just ignores her. She explains that her sister is living with a friend and she is just here to bring her some clothes. She asks her father if he has anything to say to her sister but he keeps his silence. She then angrily says ‘No? Anyway, everything it is like this. When big sister does something wrong, I get punished for it. This isn’t fair!’

She enters her sister’s place and exclaims that this is too extravagant. Yu Shu lets it out that she is only going to be living here for a few days until her new house has been finished renovated, the house that Jin Cang bought her. Die Fei susses that every time their father is angry at Yu Shu, she would get pulled in as well. She says she is considered to have run away from home too. Her sister comes over and asks her how she can just leave their father alone. (Okay…so I keep wondering why Yu Shu’s dress is so short! Ahahahahahas!) ‘I left dad alone!? It’s you who left first.’ Yu Shu tells her that she is different from her; she got kicked out from home but Die Fei is different so she must return home. Die Fei tells her that she clearly knows that their father wasn’t serious yet she still left home. Yu Shu explains that she is going to live her life with Jin Cang and leaving would happen sooner or later.

Die Fei finally sees Ting Yu return home. She asks him where he went. He tells her that he went to find a friend. ‘You left for a whole night!’ He tells her to be careful of her words because it sounds like she is jealous. (Now, if this is the path that the director wants to head, that is the correct feeling and emotion).

Jin Cang tells Yu Shu to pass A++ to the director guy. He also tells her to find a singing teacher for Ting Yu. Yu Shu is shocked, might I say, about the request. Jin Cang tells her that he does not know the reason but her sister is not his personal assistant which means they live together.

Ting Yu is unsatisifed with the singing teacher and Die Fei. He makes Die Fei continuously repeating the same warm up over and over again yet he is still unsatisfied with it and even kicks the teacher out. He tells her not to allow him to think that she is not suitable for her own voice before stalking off. She comes up after him and asks him must he be this cruel. ‘What do you understand? You don’t understand anything. How can a genius like you experience the hurt that the general people feel?’

Hai Jie is out celebrating with A++ while Ting Yu is out sharing a drink with Alice. Well, he was alone when Alice decided to join him. He looks at her and says ‘truth’. She asks him if he sees if but he tells her no. Alice tells him maybe there is no truth or maybe he just doesn’t believe the truth he sees. (I like the latter, it suits them both. Yeahhh…but I don’t get how this conversation is supposed to relate…) She then asks him if they need to tell her mother about their thing. ‘Our thing?’ She accuses him of thinking about other women besides her. He tries to make a joke saying that lately everyone likes being jealous. So there is another women. With that she is reassured. He asks her how a pretty woman like her can be without a boyfriend. She starts to tell him her story – When she was little she met a boy near her house. That day her grandfather yelled at her causing her to cry. The boy started running up to her and then said something that she didn’t understand doing his best to comfort her. In her mind she recalls her time with Hai Jie.

He looks at her and asks if he can kiss her. They then embrace in an intense kiss. (Yeah, no feelings here…)

Hai Jie is out in the mountains and takes a picture while reciting ‘Dear Alice. When can we watch the sunrise in Taipei together? CJ’ He then takes out the letter that Alice left him. (I wonder what he would do if that letter flew out of his hands… Ahahahahaha!)

Ting Yu is making some music creations with Die Fei looking from behind. She asks him if he isn’t sleeping again. He answers yes and hands her his creation. He invites her to sing which she does. (I like her singing voice (: ) Meanwhile Jin Cang rings the bell but no one comes to open it so he enters himself in. He is happily impressed with her singing. So he realises that Ting Yu is training her and that they are not loves co-inhabiting. Ting Yu explains that he doesn’t know Die Fei’s progress so that’s why he didn’t tell him.

Ting Yu is practising with Siren when Die Fei comes out to look at some of his music creations. He asks her who gave her permission to look at it. (Ahahaha, Ting Yu!)

He asks her if she will go to tomorrow’s performance which she enthusiastically replies that she will, tomorrow is very important so of course she will. He tells her of course it is important – it is the first time that Hai Jie is going to perform. She tells him that tomorrow importance is that it is the annual performance and tells him to rest early. She asks him if he is going to use Siren to which he says that other that Siren he is not used to the others. Just before he leaves to practise in his room, he gives her permission to look at his creations.

“People have to escape from smiles and tears of excitement. Death is just the most direct export. But majority of people choose to dream.”

He talks about how a lot of people want to exchange dreams and once they enter the world (I don’t know the name :’( ) they don’t want to leave because the outside world is too cruel.

“Although dreams aren’t real but at least it is warm.”

There is a guy who has never dreamed before and really wants to do so. So one day he arrived at the dreamland, the dream exchange centre. (I don’t get this…)

It’s performance day! As always, Ting Yu puts on a brilliant show. Die Fei tries to sneak in without seeing Hai Jie but sadly, that is unsuccessful. He asks her why she is not answering his texts or calls which she successfully dodges. It’s not his turn to go on stage. Die Fei runs after him and tells him not to be too nervous. It looks like she is the one who is nervous so he gives her a hug which Ting Yu oversees.

Hai Jie puts on a beautiful show thinking about Alice the entire time. Alice gets teary at his performance. When he finishes, he sees Alice so of course he chases after her. Luckily she gets away before he could get to her.

Die Fei is at home crying saying that everything is moved by Hai Jie’s music but himself. Whenever he sees Alice, he forgets everything. Ting Yu then pulls her over to the piano. He hands he a music sheet and he starts playing while she sings recalling all things related to Hai Jie. (This is her best singing yet.) He asks her why she sang. She tells him it’s because she feels hurt and if she doesn’t sing, she feels like her heart will explode. (Huh? Not a very good way to say your love for music…)

He then pulls her into a hug (which is very cute) and says that she wants to continue to hide, and asks her if she is singing because of hurt or for Hai Jie. She tells him she wants to sing to him.

Hai Jie goes to talk to Ting Yu about what happened yesterday. Ting Yu tells him that he recognised the wrong person. She is called Ito Seiko and not Alice. Ting Yu clarifies his point because he is currently dating her. This is a shock to Hai Jie, a big, big, big, shock and also a shock to Die Fei who is secretly overhearing all of this.

Die Fei comes out and tells him that he has made a mistake.  Hai Jie asks her why she is here. She explains that Ting Yu wants her to take care of his daily needs so that’s why she is living here. He is shocked to discover that he is living here. Ting Yu goes to explain why she is actually here but Hai Jie doesn’t want to hear this. He just wants Alice’s contact details but Ting Yu won’t give it so I guess it’s up to Hai Jie to solve this mystery himself.

Hai Jie goes to find Lisa to get down to the nitty gritty of this. Lisa explains that he really has recognised the wrong person. She has asked Seiko and she says that she doesn’t know him. He wants to see her face-to-face. Lisa tells him that Seiko said that she doesn’t want to add to his pain so that’s why she didn’t agree to see him. Hai Jie sees the coaster with the words ‘ Alice Cafe’ and asks Lisa how this could have nothing to do with Alice. Lisa tells him that she named it after ‘Alice in Wonderland’.

She tells him that she understands the pain of finding somebody. She lost her daughter and waited many years before she suddenly appeared. She tells him that to rest assure; if she wants to return she will return.

After Hai Jie leaves, Alice/Seiko has a talk with her mother. Lisa asks her if she remembers when she was little why she and her father called her Alice. She says she doesn’t remember but asks why. Lisa explains that her father said there is a plant called Alice and it would produce beautiful flowers and people who smell it would feel happy. Her father saw and felt this way that’s why they called her Alice. So this cafe is in fact named after her.

Her father died because he went to find Alice the plant and when her mother decided to open this cafe, she used the name Alice.

Die Fei asks Ting Yu why he didn’t tell her that he is dating Alice. He tells her that he has no need to reason to report to her. She tells him that she wants to move but her doesn’t allow her to saying that she is afraid that Hai Jie would be unhappy right? It’s because he is unhappy that’s why she is unhappy. He tells her that she is really simple. He then asks her what happens if Seiko is Alice? She tells him that he should be the one looking for the answer to this. He then tells her that she is Seiko and not Alice and that she still has a chance.

Alice tries to call Ting Yu but he doesn’t pick up. Instead a car turns up with SJ. She asks him if he really did cause the accident. He tells her that the company has more that just her on business. He tells her that the company needs her to get close to Lisa to get the x-seed. He then hands her photos of her enjoying her time in Taiwan. He warns her to do her business well or else things aren’t going to end well for her or her grandmother.

As she gets off he hands her postcards from Hai Jie. She then heads over to Hai Jie’s place.

She sees his wall plastered with pictures of their memories. She turns around and as she turns back, he pulls her into a kiss. She resists to know kiss him back. She pushes him away and explains her reason for coming here. She tells him that she really isn’t Alice. She proves it to him by showing him her passport which clearly says Iko Seiko. As she goes to leave, he pulls her into a hug and pleads for her not to go while she kinda resists in the hug. As she leaves she tells him if she is Alice, she would tell him to look forward and not let the past tie him.

Die Fei gets a text from her sister asking her to come help her out but she just deletes the message while Ting Yu calls Alice but she doesn’t pick up.

Father Lan gets a text message from Die Fei informing him where her sister is.

Yu Shu and Jin Cang are out dining. Jin Cang doesn’t seem interested in their new house (or their relationship for that matter). She asks him to return home with her to let her father know that they are serious but he just postpones it. She asks how long they have to last in this condition. He tells her that they require time.

Hai Jie and Die Fei are communicating through MSN. (Ahahahaa, how cute! Or maybe I just find everything cute…) He tells her that Alice came to find him today to tell him that she isn’t Alice. She tells him not to be too disappointed.

_______

My Opinion:

I held moderate hope that this puzzle would fit together but once again it remains jumbled. Oh well, at least it is better than the last episode which I am greatly happy for. The puzzle is slowly getting together. Hopefully by the end of this drama, the puzzle will be solved.

Jin Cang and Yu Shu’s relationship seem to be weakening as the story progresses. I think it’s from Jin Cang’s behalf. Though what I don’t get is that Jin Cang was all lovey dovey to her in the last episode and now he seems a bit distant from her. I can’t see his love for her any more. I can just see Yu Shu’s love for him. I think that her feelings are the strongest out of everyone in this drama.

I can see that the directors want viewers to see Die Fei falling for Ting Yu. I can see that, only sometimes. The feelings are very mixed. At times, I think that Die Fei is falling for Ting Yu but at others it is very mixed. She shows feelings for Ting Yu, definitely, but it’s more friendship. Ting Yu’s feelings for her aren’t friendship nor are they love. It is just very mixed between them.

I do not get Ting Yu and Alice’s relationship at all. Who loves who? Ting Yu loves Die Fei right? Then why is he just showing no love or feelings towards her? Though I can see a tinge of jealously whenever Hai Ji is around Die Fei. And Alice? What does she want with Ting Yu? Why is she throwing herself at Ting Yu? She clearly doesn’t love him in that way…

Hai Jie is really long winded in his love life. Alice is his life to him. Alice, Alice and only Alice. Everything else comes second to him. His world is just Alice. I agree with Alice – he should not let the past tie him to his future.

I really don’t understand Die Fei. She knows that Hai Jie does not like her yet she still likes him. Though I can’t see her love for him, her feelings for him is still very sudden and forced. I want to see her actually fall in love with him. I just want to see feelings.

I am still curious as to what Alice wants with Lisa. What is she going to do with Lisa? Is she going to ruin Lisa? What does she have planned up her sleeve? I think this is the most interesting part of the plot that actually makes the story interesting. (: She still loves Hai Jie but why is she pushing him away?

Hopefully the next episode will be better. (:

Alice in Wonder City

Episode 4

Intro

This episode is kind of slow but charming. I say slow because only two real important things happen, but at least one of them is resolved by the end of the episode. However a couple of other scenes manages to set up several points for future conflict. 

Recap

Just like I thought, Ting Yu has planned the trip to Ehime for two different reasons. He sends Hai Jie to look for Alice as for himself and Die Fei they’re the ones who’ll look into the violin Siren. Die Fei tries to go with Hai Jie but Ting Yu pulls her by her hoodie and then puts his arm around his shoulder as a restraining method. She’s not happy about this but she IS Ting Yu’s assistant not Hai Jie’s.

It’s on to a day of going around asking about Alice and a lot of sightseeing for Hai Jie.

Ting Yu and Die Fei make it to the house of Siren’s owner, and it just screams old money. The place is damn beautiful and the housekeeper is in traditional clothing as well as the owner. They’re told by the translator that the owner has never played the violin which is why he’s looking for a violinist who can control Siren.

When Siren’s case is opened Ting Yu’s eyes are glued to her, and it’s almost like the violin has posessed him. He’s urged to play her by the owner, so that he can see if Ting Yu is worthy of boing Siren’s owner.

Ting Yu plays Paganini’s Violin Concerto No.1 Third Movement which was probably intended to show his technique and accuracy since Paganini’s works are counted as the hardest pieces to master. I think it’s also fitting since Paganini was a virtuoso who was at times considered to have made a pact with the devil and the violin Siren is supposedly a cursed instrument.

Though the performance by Ting Yu showed his skill the owner felt that there were contradictions in Ting Yu’s playing that made the owner unable to release Siren to him. You can see how crushed Ting Yu was because of it, he barely held back the tears that cropped up at being denied the violin he’s set his heart on.

Hai Jie takes to playing Für Elise at a bridge, recalling all the while how Alice had told him that if he played the violin, she’d go as soon as she heard him.

Ting Yu and Die Fei end up at a bar, and try as she might, Die Fei can’t cheer him up. She tries to tell him that it’s better this way because then he won’t have to struggle against Siren’s curse. He doesn’t seem convinced but accepts the beer when she tells him that he better enjoy their food today because she’s buying and the next time won’t be until 100 years from now.

Die Fei tells Ting YU that Siren isn’t worthy of him, which makes him set his beer down and ask if she’s sincere or if it’s just a ploy to cheer him up. She caves in and tells him that she’s just trying to cheer him up because there is truly a magic around Siren that seemed to suck her soul. He slaps the bar excited that she felt the same way as he did.  I like that they’re talking to each other like regular people and he isn’t putting her down or yelling at her. It’s the first time they seem to have a connection to each other than boss and lackey.

Everything was going well between them until she mentions that Hai Jie would certainly encourage Ting Yu to challenge the violin owner again. Ting Yu starts messing with her about Hai Jie and how he must be happily reuniting with Alice so he’ll treat this time because Die Fei is pitiful for crushing on someone who’ll never look at her twice.

At the hotel, Ting Yu presses Die Fei about what she’d do and how she’d feel if Hai Jie found Alice and either stayed behind with her or brought her to Taiwan. Each time Die Fei says that she’ll be happy for Hai Jie, but each time she can’t meet Ting Yu’s probing eyes. He gets pissed at her and tells her that she’s making herself a prisoner of a love that won’t come to anything, all she’s doing is wasting her time and hurting herself. He tells her that the worst isn’t Hai Jie finding Alice, but that even if he doesn’t he’ll always be blind to Die Fei’s feelings.

Die Fei can’t take any more of Ting Yu’s comments and screams that she knows all this. And, isn’t this what he wanted? To see her embarassed? does he find her that detestable? Ting Yu’s eyes widen, and he tries to tell her that that wasn’t what he was saying! but Die Fei won’t listen to him anymore and shuts the door and goes to hid underneath her pillows, ignoring his pounding on her door.

Hai Jie for his part is still out searching for Alice visiting paper stores and remembering that her grandfather made papers and postcards. Then he walks into a strange abandoned theater who has a Alice in Wonderland set on the stage. There’s a little girl crying there and says her name is Alice. Hai Jie follows her around the theater, even picking up a blue ribbon of hers, but she eludes him at every turn. (it’s a very surreal moment) He ends up falling down some stairs.

Next thing we see is Alice’s grandmother tending to him, since she’s the one who found him in the theater. She’s very sweet but they can’t communicate since he doesn’t speak Japanese and she doesn’t understand taiwanese. Now if he’d only looked behind him, he’d have seen the picture of Alice with her grandparents, but drama characters are generally oblivious to their surroundings and he never sees it. 

Ting Yu and Die Fei come to pick him up and as he’s explaining what happened with the little girl named Alice, die Fei snorts that because he heard Alice he fainted. Ting Yu tells her that she’s quite incoherent when she’s mad but Hai Jie laughs and says that it’s true, whenever he hears Alice he’s mesmerized and loses concentration.

Somehow Die Fei ends up volunteering herself and Ting Yu for the Find Alice operation, and Hai Jie is very grateful for her. Ting Yu can’t believe she just did that and stares at her speechless. When he regains his speech he adamantly puts down his chopsticks and says that he won’t help because he needs his rest.

Back in Taiwan Hai Jie’s sister is preparing for her wedding, but her daughter is still opposing it. She even leaves her mom talking to herself at the bridal dress store.

The next day Die Fei makes good on her promise to search for Alice, and spends it going from person to person asking about Alice. She comes up with nothing.

When she gets back to the hotel it’s to find that Ting Yu has shut himself in playing the violin for several hours. Hai Jie wonders out loud why it has to be Siren, after all there are many violins in the world. Which makes me ask that same thing to him, why Alice? She left him willingly and there are so many women in the world after all.

The next day finds Ting Yu still awake and Hai Jie comes over to talk to him. He asks Ting Yu to relax because a violinist and the violin need fate, and if it wasn’t meant to be it isn’t because he’s lacking something, he shouldn’t be consumed by the words of an old man. Ting Yu thanks Hai Jie for his advice and says that it’s surprising how Hai Jie makes the complicated simple while talking nonsense. lol.

Die Fei becomes Ting Yu’s driver, to where? I don’t know… but he does pretend to be asleep and smiles when Die Fei stops the car to cover him up with jacket all the while grumbling that it’s something guys should do for girls. He just smiles more and falls asleep.

She stops at a the base of a bridge and they gaze at the open space ahead of them. He tells her that suddenly the issue with Siren isn’t so important and Die Fei smiles. She asks him what Hai Jie has said to bring about this change in thought.

She tells Ting Yu that she’s thought about what he said about her feelings for hai Jie and she thinks that he’s right, but it’s the only way she knows how to treat the person she likes, by wishing him happiness. Ting Yu looks at the necklace that Hai Jie bought and Die Fei is finally wearing and asks that she have courage, and then as if deciding something for himself, tells her that he wants to join in the battle. THen he swoops in and kisses her!

She struggles against him until he releases her and she runs to the car, leaving him stranded in the Japanese countryside. I’ve got to say that I’m not impressed about how he chose to explain the kiss as “I hypnotized myself” into kissing her. What a jerk move on his part. 

Hai Jie is on the stoop eating oranges when he sees Die Fei come storming in. She ignores his questions but stops when he asks her to. Then he proceeds to enter her personal space to view the necklace. Die Fei has already had one too many invading her space so when Hai Jie does it she snaps at him and tells him that they are both crazy.

Hai Jie is in the hotel’s garden when Ting Yu finally makes it back. The first thing he does is ask  about Die Fei, and Hai Jie says that she flew away like dynamite. Hai Jie tries to organize a little get together to find out what happened between the other two, but Die Fei has shut herself in and won’t even talk to them except through a  little letter passed through a crack in the door.

So it’s to the bathhouse for our two men, where they bond and share tea together.   Ting Yu had thought they would go drink alcohol, but Hai Jie says that with his bum leg and without Die Fei to carry a drunk Ting Yu it’s an impossibility.

While they’re drinking tea Hai Jie tries through pry into the situation, remarking how they feel like an arguing married couple. However Ting Yu doesn’t talk about it, instead he changes the subject to Siren and how he feels that his confidence in handling Siren like no other violinist can didn’t get conveyed to the owner. Hai Jie jokes that the probability of getting Siren must be as high as Hai Jie’s probability of finding Alice. To which Ting Yu retorts that at least he’s  seen Siren while Hai Jie hasn’t caught even a glance of her.

Later that night Ting Yu goes into the garden and starts playing air violin, which somehow cuts across to Siren’s owner who wakes up in the middle of the night to the ghostly image of Ting Yu playing Siren.

 Hai Jie and Die Fei make the rounds to the market, eating ice cream. Hai Jie this time plies Die Fei about the problem that cropped up between her and Ting Yu but she doesn’t reveal a thing.

Ting Yu is making his way back to see if he can try for Siren again. However before he makes it to the car a black car comes up the hotel’s driveway and in slow motion we see the assistant to Siren’s owner step out and walk towards Ting Yu. Turns out that the owner felt that the violin has chosen Ting Yu and hopes that he’ll be able to break the curse of the violin and bring out Siren’s true musical powers . Though he does also warn Ting Yu that it can bring him to the highest peak but also throw him into the darkest pit.

They go out to celebrate the acquisition of Siren that same night. however their seating in the restaurant show the distance between Ting Yu and Die Fei. Ting Yu and Hai Jie are at the bar drinking to the success of the trip and she’s looking at them balefully from a booth behind them. Ting Yu looks towards her but she feigns disinterest and looks away as soon as his head turns.

As they’re leaving Hai Jie spies the old lady who helped him when he fell down the stairs in the theater. He tries to get down from the car to reach her but by the time  he does she’s gone from his sight.

Once back in Taiwan there’s an uncomfortable silence reigning in their car and despite Hai Jie’s attempts to make it more lively both Ting Yu and Die Fei remain cool with each other. They sit in the car on either side of Hai Jie who becomes a buffer as well as a messenger in their cold war.

As soon as Ting Yu arrives at his apartment he takes out Siren and starts to prepare playing her, but he gives up and puts Siren back in it’s case.

They’re back in rehearsal for Death and the Maiden but Ting Yu feels that no violin can compare to Siren and wants to start practicing with her, but Hai Jie tells him that as with all things he shouldn’t rush into it. First Ting Yu must build a bond, a connection with Siren and then things will fall into place.

So next thing we know Ting Yu’s rushing to his apartment to caress and bond his new violin.

The next day it’s a meeting with the insurance officials who want to collect information on what happened the day Hai Ou was stolen. Ting Yu and Die Fei are asked how close the are and they both deny even having spoken to each other. an interesting revelation during this meeting is that Jin Cang (scummy cheating on his wife producer) only cares about the money and doesn’t really want anyone to actually find the violin- sounds like there’s a plot in here somewhere.

Outside the orchestra hall Die Fei and Ting Yu run into each other. Ting Yu asks Die Fei if her preocupation is about Hai Ou, Hai Jie, or could she be thinking about him?

Comments

I was mostly happy about this episode, but I did have a couple of sticking points- for example the kiss… she clearly struggled against him but he ignored it long enough for the kiss to become uncomfortable to me.

However, it doesn’t come as a surprise to me that he might be interested in Die Fei. He’s shown little signs of jealousy towards her and Hai Jie’s easy friendship- and it’s probably what prompted his shouting match with her about how it’s a waste of her time to go after someone who’s already in love with someone else- actually I think he also meant it as a warning to himself about her. He probably feels that he should be smarter than to fall for her since she’s in love with his best buddy, but he’s fighting a losing battle, something that he may not be ready to admit yet though.

The next sticking point for me- I have a confession to make, I know this may shock people but I’m getting tired of the overplayed Für Elise… It’s a beautiful song, I love playing it on the piano despite not having the emotional depth or talent that this song requires to bring tears to the eyes. I feel and understand that they’re using it precisely to show how much emotion, how much longing Hai Jie has for Alice, his personal Elise. However, it’s being overplayed and the sentiment is becoming tedious and boring, and I want him to play something else now… thank you.

The violin Siren seems like it could lead to Ting Yu’s downfall, his obsession over it leading him to the brink of destruction, but it could be the instrument of comfort for him. Who knows- but I’m expecting a lot of self-destructive behaviour before the ending- I am however rooting for a happy ending.

I liked the dreamy quality in the meeting with little Alice- I think she’s like the child spirit of grown-up Alice, who must have cried a lot due to her perceived abandonment by her mother.

I feel it’s interesting that Alice for the most part is presented to us as this beautiful and fragile memory- seen through Hai Jie’s eyes we understand why she might be someone who is easy to care about. However the present day Alice seems to be incongruent with that image we have of her. In this episode we don’t get to see Alice at all.

I did get upset that Hai Jie didn’t look around the room he was in after his injury- he’d have seen Alice with her grandparents!

Related articles

• Alice in Wonder City- Episode 1 Recap
• Alice in Wonder City- Episode 2 Recap 
• Alice In Wonder City- Episode 3 Recap
• Niccolo Paganini- Part 1 / Part 2

Alice in Wonder City

Episode 3

Intro

Sorry It’s been a while since I last wrote up my recaps! I fell behind in watching… there’s just so many out there! So onward to Episode 3! In this episode we see a Bromance blossom! and I become quite taken by Aaron Yan. heh. He’s just so pretty!

Recap

Ting Yu is out drinking with Hai Jie after ditching the smancy pantsy shindig they played at, and he comments on how he’s useless outside of his talent as a violinist, he feels that outside of that role there’s nothing he’s capable of doing. Playing at those parties and securing happy patrons are the way he contributes to finance since he doesn’t understand a thing about it. Hai Jie is surprised at the honest confession and sincerely thanks Ting Yu for the chance to join the orchestra. Ting Yu smiles and thanks him for actually accompanying him to that boring party. They clink their wine cups and continue to share some more wine.

Ting Yu comments on Hai Jie’s playing at the audition, saying that despite Hai Jie saying that he’s someone who has come down to reality, in his violin playing there’s something there that makes him think that he’s stubbornly holding on to a relationship and refusing to come to terms with reality. Hai Jie agrees and shares his story of Alice and how he’s still waiting for her.

When Ting Yu gets back to his apartment he finds that Lisa’s daughter stayed and fell asleep on his couch. (this girl has boundary issues- she barely knows the guy and was rude to him and now she’s sleeping in his apartment?) Ting Yu is a gentleman though despite his cold exterior and goes to get a blanket to cover her with.

As he covers her, Seiko/Alice wakes up and asks him how he met her mother. He sits on the floor next to the couch and has a flashback to a beating he received and tells her that Lisa is his life saviour and the most important person to him. Next thing we know it’s day time and he’s the one that has the blanket on. There’s a note saying Sorry from Alice or as we’ve met her this time around- Ito Seiko.

Hai Jie for his part has had an early morning despite having drunk as much as Ting Yu, but he’s up and about serenading Alice pictures with the song Für Elise on a flute. Ok. I get it. You love her.  but man, SHE LEFT YOU! please forget her. There’s something fishy about her and I don’t want you to get hurt Hai Jie!!!

They have rehearsal for Schubert’s Death and the Maiden string quartet.  But our sensitive violinists all have different opinions on the direction the piece should go in and who should be the main attraction in the piece. The third violinist says that they are support for Ting Yu’s violin, nothing more. This is something that Hai Jie doesn’t agree with since it doesn’t go with the image he has for the piece. Pissy annoying background violinist starts trying to start something with Hai Jie who just civilly states his opinions. However it makes Ting Yu’s position uncomfortable since it might seem that he has no control over his orchestra and it leads to him walking out in the middle of rehearsal.  (turns out the pissy violinist is the orchestra Director/ Conductor)

Hai Jie talks to Die Fei (who he continues to call Fei Fei) about his vision of the piece and he’s so earnest about it that it sends her giggling. She does tell him that he probably went about it wrong and that he shouldn’t anger Ting Yu like that. He looks over to a picture of Ting Yu and cutely promises to explain everything to him later.

Ting Yu calls Die Fei over and ends up ripping into her for not being organized and instead being confused all the time. Because he’s so curt with her, this makes her nervous and appears doubly scatter-brained and useless… She still hasn’t learned how to deal with him despite already having worked for him a year.

She runs from Ting Yu and ends up in the café complaining to Hai Jie about all the people with bad tempers she’s surrounded with and how she doesn’t know what to do, or if the reason they’re so bad tempered is because of her… etc.  Just as she’s falling deeper into the pit of self pitying Hai Jie distracts her by teasing her with the cafe cream and tells her that she is complicating things too much and over thinking them, instead she should probably just look at things simply and work hard for what she likes like he is. For example if because of what he said during rehearsal gets him fired then the orchestra isn’t the place for him, he’ll just look for something  else.

Surprisingly or not, Ting Yu is much more open minded about what happened during rehearsal than a lot of people might have thought. The director starts to talk about finding a way to let Hai Jie go, but Ting Yu nips that thought in the bud, he won’t stand for that. He will not let Hai Jie leave the orchestra because of this, and the director should begin to arrange the score to fit Hai Jie more and stop using such a limited view on what should be done from now on.

Hai Jie and Die Fei return with coffee for everyone only to find that Ting Yu’s dispersed the group and ended the rehearsal for the day. He goes on to scold Die Fei for taking so long and being useless in general, Hai Jie tries to be a buffer and fails. However Die Fei has had enough of his constant ragging and explodes, she tells him in no uncertain terms that while she loves his music he’s lost her respect because of his conceited self important view about himself. You can tell he’s never been talked to like this and is rather shocked that this little shorty dares to call him out on his arrogance.

He comes up closer to her and uses his superior height and scathing remarks to cut her down. He tells her that he’s arrogant because he strives for perfection in the moment he plays in the spotlight, he asks her if she ever strove for perfection in her job. He leaves in a huff and she runs the other way crying leaving Hai Jie behind divided on who to follow.

Before Hai Jie leaves Ting Yu pulls up and tells him that he agrees with Hai Jie on the interpretation and changes will be made. Hai Jie tries to talk about what happened with Die Fei, but Ting Yu’s busy. He does however set aside a day to meet up with Ting Yu to continue talking.

lol They are so dating! hehe, just kidding! but wouldn’t it be the perfect twist to the story? It turns out that Hai Jie’s idea of a get together is to ride bikes up a hill. Before going up Hai Jie tries to talk to Ting Yu about his personality being like a dormant volcano that will eventually blow up and cause pain to those around him. Ting Yu’s miffed at Hai Jie’s comment and scoffs that Hai Jie sure knows him well. Cuteness ensues as Ting Yu tries to beat Hai Jie, but in the end he loses to Hai Jie’s who didn’t exhaust himself in the first half of the bike ride.

Hai Jie is waiting for Ting Yu at the top and after getting coffee for the both of them he asks Ting Yu why he feels the need to come out first. Ting Yu says that it’s not that he likes to win but that he hates being left behind. Hai Jie wonders what’s wrong about going behind someone, at least that way he wouldn’t get lost.  They talk some more and Ting Yu brings up the reason he wanted to get together with Hai Jie… he’d wanted to ask Hai Jie to state his opinions about the music and it’s arrangements personally, and not in a group since he’ll really take Hai Jie’s recommendations seriously and decide on the changes accordingly. After all he’s not a tyrant. Hai Jie accepts this request easily though he does warn Ting Yu that he will voice his opinions when necessary.

Hai Jie calls in the favour he’d earned by going to the patron’s party and asks that Ting Yu accompany him to a party later that day. Ting Yu complains but accepts the request.

Seiko and Lisa have a meal together and though it’s awkward on both their parts, it’s easy to tell that Lisa’s really glad that she has her daughter back despite being unsure of how to treat her.

Ting Yu and Hai Jie go shopping for gifts to take to the party and Hai Jie gets a necklace while Ting Yu goes for the Vienna Philharmonic complete Beethoven collection.

They arrive and it’s a costume party celebrating Die Fei’s birthday. Die fei comes out with her vampire outfit but is completely taken aback by Ting Yu’s arrival. They do however have a good time and  Ting Yu even smiles a bit during the party and when Die Fei hugs him in thanks for the collection he’s taken aback but not displeased by it.

However they’re playing drinking games and they end up pressuring Hai Jie into confessing about Alice from which point he becomes an extremely depressed drunk. It’s like he could hold his hurt in as long as he ignored the reality that Alice left him, and when he’s forced to confess it the situation becomes way to real for him.

 As he’s drunk we get a flashback to Alice telling him how she’s the osmunthus fragrance who will eventually be forgotten. Of course Hai Jie goes on to swear that he’ll never forget her and asks that she tell him all of herself so that he’ll be able to remember everything about her.

Die Fei and Ting Yu try to take Hai Jie to his apartment but they aren’t even able to move him. Ting Yu coldly tells the sobbing and flailing Hai Jie that what he had with Alice could at most be described as a Fling. but Hai Jie insists that they were much more than that to each other despite their short acquaintance. Die Fei asks Ting Yu to comfort Hai Jie not distress him more. She goes on to mother Hai Jie which seems to make Ting Yu’s expression darken. Is this a twinge of blossoming interest and jealousy in regards to Die Fei? Die Fei turns out to be the one to take Hai Jie to his apartment.

 Meanwhile Alice can’t sleep and keeps hearing her name be called by Hai Jie. She gets a text from a mysterious SJ guy who demands she report her location and progress. Is she with the mafia or something? but what could the mafia want with Ting Yu that she’d search his apartment?

Turns out that Ting Yu is waiting for Die Fei outside Hai Jie’s apartment complex. He says that he suddenly wants to take the bus, that’s the only reason he is walking with her. SHe remarks that it’s so strange it’s like seeing a prince become a peasant, he lifts up his nose and snootily declares that he wants to ride the bus since he’s never ridden in it before.

She remarks on how different he and Hai Jie are, that Hai Jie is such an all around warm person who doesn’t seem like a city person at all. Ting Yu clocks her emotions and teasingly calls her out on having fallen in love with Hai Jie . She denies it saying that she just likes him because he’s warm after all who’d like a cold person… which she tries to assure him that she wasn’t referring to him. Ting Yu studiously acts indifferent and says that people aren’t coffee to be described as hot or cold.

She asks him how he’s come about his theory of her interest in Hai Jie. He informs her of her heightened concentration towards Hai Jie’s comments, how she’s happy when Hai Jie wants her to be happy, and how she never argues with Hai Jie (Ting Yu’s probably thinking on how much she does argue with him- I’ve got to say though that for somebody who doesn’t care about anybody he sure has observed her well.)  he tells her she’s better off giving up because Hai Jie won’t see her because he’s in love with a fantasy. She jumps up to defend Hai Jie saying that just because something isn’t seen doesn’t mean it isn’t real. Just then the bus appears and she jumps into it fully expecting it to follow but he stays behind proving that he’s truly a gentleman who merely stayed to keep her safe due to the hour.

Hai Jie wakes up and he goes up to his wall of obsession and smiles like a fool to the pictures.

Lisa’s having coffee at her shop when Hai Jie’s sister shows up and calls her name.  Turns out that Hai Jie’s sister Hai Na is one of the lost kids that Lisa has helped towards a better path in life.

Die Fei puts on the necklace Hai Jie gave her but takes it off as she recalls how Ting Yu accused her of having fallen for Hai Jie.

Ting Yu is in a meeting with Die Fei’s older sister Xiao Shu and the Producer as they look over various different violins, and it seems like the meeting is a bust until a picture of a Violin called Siren comes up. Ting Yu’s interest  is immediately piqued and he asks more about it. He doesn’t even care that it seems to be cursed and that all it’s previous owners who actually played it have died before the age of 35.  He asks about it’s current location and he’s told it’s in Ehime prefecture which is where Alice had said she was from. (I can almost see the wheels turning in Ting Yu’s mind and the beginning of a plan begins to form)

Alice and Lisa go out to a botanical garden and Lisa reminisces about Alice’s father. He’d been a passionate botanist who traveled all over the world and they’d been very much in love. She’d been devastated when he died.  Lisa starts tearing up but she smiles bravely and says that at least her husband left her a treasure. Alice’s face lights up and asks where it is and Lisa smiles and tells her that it’s right here with her- Alice is the treasure he left behind. Alice’s face becomes shuttered and her smile forced. Alice receives another text from SJ telling her to speed up her job or he’ll send assistants to help her.

Ting Yu surprises Hai Jie and Die Fei by telling them that the three of them are going to go and experience the cursed violin for themselves. He smiles evilly as he pours sugar into his coffee, Hai Jie and Die Fei confer and wonder at the evil smile. With a couple of words from Ting Yu, Hai Jie is convinced and willing to go with him to see the violin, Die Fei remarks at his easy acceptance. Hai Jie shrugs, it can’t be helped.  ( love the bromance between Hai Jie nad Die Fei)  The producer guy (Who I think is scummy) comes in and orders that Die Fei go with Ting Yu as his special assistant… Ting Yu hides his smirk in his coffee at Die Fei’s reaction.

Comments

It’s amazing how invested I am in this drama, but I think it’s because I like the relationship between the boys. They are perfect together and sometimes I wonder what the OTP really is! hehehe

Hai Jie is the perfect foil for Ting Yu and yet he’s not a perfect person himself. He’s cheerful to Ting Yu’s gloominess, he’s sweet while Ting Yu pours on the vinegar, however he’s oblivious to others feelings while Ting Yu is actually extremely sensitive, he’s also too much of a dreamer while Ting Yu is strictly pragmatic. They complement each other and I look forward to future bromantic scenes. But I also fear the moment when that wonderful connection they have will be severed, or at the very least damaged.

Ting Yu despite acting cold, haughty and confident, is actually quite a broken and self loathing person. That’s why he puts himself down as having nothing going for him but his violin. It’s the one talent he has and he doesn’t know anything besides that, and somehow that makes him feel that if he were to lose that, he’d be worthless. I think that’s what makes him strive for perfection and demand that others strive for the same thing.

The most distant character for me is the Titular Alice… I don’t know what she’s thinking and mostly we get our information about her through Hai Jie’s loving gaze and there’s a discordance with the person that she is in the present time.

The drama is beautifully shot, and I absolutely adore the dreamy quality that the director has given the shots. In a way it’s very similar to the tone and quality of In Time With You (which I absolutely adored).

I’m liking this song from the Sound Track- Aaron’s voice is really growing on me.

Related articles

• Alice in Wonder City- Episode 1 Recap
• Alice in Wonder City- Episode 2 Recap
• Franz Schubert’s “Death & the Maiden” Quartet: Up Close & Personal - This is an article that discusses what Schubert might have been going through as he composed Death and the Maiden String Quartet in D Minor. I found it really interesting and informative and I thought I should share with you in case you all might be interested. 
• About Für Elise- a site that takes on the rumours and info out there on the story behind Für Elise. 

First off I want to introduce my plate of K-drama I’m watching and the impression they left on me.

Big

This show surprise me right at the beginning. I was lost and didn’t know who the OTP was till halfway to half.:( I’m kinda slowww. I forgot to tell you guys, Big is about a 18 year old boy Kang Kyung Joon who switch body minds with Yoon Jae, a 30 year old doctor, during a car accident. The thing is KJ wakes up alive while YJ doesn’t wake up period. I think it kinda sucks because YJ’s story is kinda left out and that becomes a mystery to me which I’m still solving. Also forgot to add that YJ has a fiancee whose is the teacher of KJ.Awesome right?Then in the mix we have crazy stalker childhood friend of KJ, Mari who tags along for the rectangle love.Well just the triangle one.This is one of the rare Hong Sisters drama that doesn’t really get to me just like the last one sadly.:( I hope I end up liking it more than what the impressions gave me because the acting is bringing IT!GONGYOOO.

Bridal Mask

Yeah. They don’t look as innocent and sweet as they do.They’re so doom you want to cry, literally.Bridal Mask reminds me of City Hunter in tone and mood just more doom. This is such a great drama and I don’t wanna ruin anything for the watchers because it keeps you on your toes, every scene breaks my heart. So I’m just going to give you guys the drama-wiki version: Gaksital (Bridal Mask) is a famous manhwa set in the 1930s, during the Japanese occupation. The hero, Lee Kang-to, is known as ‘Gaksital’ because he wears a mask to hide his face — one of those traditional play masks, specifically the rosy-cheeked one reserved for the female role, aka the bride. He’s an unassuming young man in real life, but when he dons his superhero mask, he fights injustice and rights wrongs during one of the darkest periods of Korea’s history.Summary true to story.I recommend this drama more than anything airing right now because it feels so human and you can actually connect with the characters which to me is great. All the characters plus actors bitchy or not fit perfectly into the roles. I didn’t post pictures of the OTP and Bromance for nothing, great chemistry…. all doom.:)

I Need Romance 2012

If it weren’t for this drama BM would’ve eaten me alive. I love this, I Need Romance 2012 is similar to the first season but wayyyyyy better in it’s storyline and plot. Basiclly it’s about three 30 year old friends who and their love life. The main girl lives with her on-off ex-boyfriend of 3 years in an apartment. He’s her best friend and vise-versa. If you guys want to watch one of the INR season I recommend this season as the pace is faster less stupid and non-irritating. Did I mention everyone as hot as hell?!Yup they are.

P.S Watch this age 16 and above.XD

Here’s my Thai dramas and their non-nonsense:

Likit Fah Cha Ta Din

This show is so-so. I liked it in the beginning,it touch my heart at time but the rest of the screw-up crap that happen I blame on the mom’s selfish-self. If she been there for her son, he wouldn’t turn into a jerk-face and actually meet his soul mate sooner.Also we wouldn’t have almost get some taboo going on. I give props to the actors though, they went beyond what I thought of them and made me pity their foolishness. The chemistry between everyone was great and it one of the better Exact lakorns nowadays. They storyline is base on how the mother had pra’ek with her boyfriend but he left her to get marry. She has the baby and leaves him at a faraway temple, where he grew up raise by mental parents. The mother on the other hand got remarry to an older guy and has the second pra’ek he turns doesn’t get the motherly affection that is needed.They grow up and fall in love with the same girl,who only loves the pra’ek not the second one. There’s another n’ek(second) who also falls in love with her pra-ek her unknown half-brother but laters love second pra-ek. Told ya we’re almost tabooing.:)

Rak Praksit

I don’t even know how this got on here but I watch the whole thing and it disappointed me from beginning to end despite all the pretty that was in it.SAD. If you watch the older version you’ll understand. This one had pure nonsense in it that I feel sad for the actors in it.Enough said.

Tawainnnn:

Alice in Wonder City

Isn’t the title so enchanting, I wish the same for the drama.I knew I shouldn’t had kept my expectations high because AiWC beat it all down in a punch of an episode. I don’t know why I’ even still watching this stuff. First,I greatly disappointed  in the writer who brought two amazing Taiwanese dramas to life, Black & White and The Hospital. However I’m still going to keep watching to see how our two talented violinists male leads are going to to battle with a non-existing singing female lead and on whatever craze she is second lead female. I came on the ride so I better finish it all the way.

The best for last, CHINA:

The Legend of Zhen Huan

After watching Bu Bu Jing Xin I thought no drama can beat this but TLoZH came and it was beasttt.This drama makes me shiver, it so damn good I’m dedicating a post to it after I finish the whole thing.This is what they call love.XD However a little summary on drama-wiki to keep you on your toes: This Qing dynasty drama focuses on the schemes in the Harem between Emperor Kang Xi’s wives.  Zhen Huan, initially a kind and innocent young lady, enters the palace and eventually finds herself caught in the conflict between the empress and concubines. Zhen Huan discovers that the palace is actually a cruel and harsh place, and learns how to survive on her own.

Ting Yu has called together a meeting to announce to them that he wants to make a change. He tells them that he has discovered a new voice; a heavenly voice and that he has decided to add in this voice in his upcoming project. Die Fei who is taking down notes is completely dreamy and is unaware of what is happening. Die Fei? Huh? He drags her over and tells her that he wants her to sing to everybody. He starts playing the piano and tells her to sing like last night but she just stands there wide-eyed and then runs away.

Hai Jie chases after her but Ting Yu stops him telling him that this is an issue between him and Die Fei.

Die Fei has hidden herself in the toilets so Ting Yu has no choice but to talk to a door. He tells her that a genius musician only requires two years to achieve what an ordinary musician achieves in 15 years and to stop wasting time. She might want to live an ordinary life; fine, that is not for him to dictate but will she be satisfied to be a music fan? (LOL, since when was she one? Ahahahahas!) He slams the door and tells her that he doesn’t want her to waste her talent. The door unlocks and a random lady leaves voicing that he was so agitated so she was afraid to leave. (LOLOLOLOLOL, this is so funny!)

Die Fei comes out and asks him to tell her if she can really sing. He tells her that she can. She tells him that she doesn’t want Hai Jie to know about this but she is willing to sing. (Why doesn’t she want Hai Jie to know? :/) She trails off saying that she doesn’t know how to sing and that she doesn’t sing to other people. He pushes her against the door and says ‘Die Fei, I am He Ting Yu. I promise that in a short amount of time you will become a mature singer. Is that okay?’ ‘Really?’ LOL, then he just walks off. (Is it me or does Die Fei suit this type of ponytail than the ones that she usually wears?’

Yu Shu has come back early from her ‘business’ trip. Die Fei is reading a magazine when Yu Shu snatches it out of her hands and is shocked – it’s her on the cover with Manager Jin Cang. Oh no! They can’t let their father know about this. (What is it with dramas and magazines? EVERYONE becomes magazine headlines!) Die Fei quickly thinks of a plan – to buy all of the magazines in the neighbourhood. (What a smart plan huh? Paper cannot cover up fire.) Die Fei tells her sister that the picture is blurry; no one will recognise her. Yu Shu tells her that from what she just said, their father probably won’t be able to recognise it. Die Fei tells her that they are family. If she could recognise it, their father will be able to too. (Ummm…Miss Die Fei, I don’t think you recognised it before Yu Shu pointed it out…) They donate the magazines to the paper collector. Yu Shu pulls her sister and tells her that she thinks that they can’t hide this. Die Fei reassures her that even if their father wants to buy it he can’t.

They rush home to see their father using the magazine (the one at home) as the coaster for the bowl of soup. Oh no! They rid their father and quickly swap the magazine for another one. Oh, sistership there!

Ting Yu makes a proposal – in order for him to fully concentrate on writing his music, he requires Die Fei to be his assistant to take care of his daily needs. Manager Jin Cang was going to find him someone else to be his assistant but Ting Yu’s request is unique; he needs his manager to live at his place 24/7 to look after him. 24/7? Alright, Die Fei, move to Ting Yu’s house starting from today.

Die Fei goes to talk out her issue of moving into Ting Yu’s place with her book store friend and sister but her book store friend seems much more immersed in Yu Shu’s issue than hers.

Die Fei is watching Hai Jie teaching some kids how to ride a bike when Ting Yu comes up from behind and tells her that she is too obvious. He tells her that he doesn’t really want to mind but reminds her that he hopes that before her comes to his place for lessons she can prepare herself. Lessons? Ohhh. (Ohhh!) She tells her not to tell him [Hai Jie] because she doesn’t want him to misunderstand.

Jin Cang goes out to clarify to his colleagues about the magazine but no need because the interviewer guy has already fixed it all up. (Why do I think he is going to do something fishy?)

Hai Jie’s music friend has come to audition at an orchestra. (Is this bizarre or what? An orchestra!? Seriously, what are these people thinking?) Hai Jie is watching with great enthusiasm while Jin Cang is watching the girls, A++, with the complete opposite reactions. He asks for their demo CD before leaving for a meeting. Before he leaves, he tells Hai Jie to make an appointment with his friends so they can discuss it next time. A++ asks Hai Jie if this means is it a yes or no. He enthusiastically tells them that it is a yes and that they should go out and celebrate. Hai Jie sees Die Fei and invites her out to their celebration. She hesitates before accepting.

Jin Cang gets a call about the money transfer.

Ting Yu has just finished his violin practice while Die Fei is standing outside the restaurant. He calls her to tell her to go find him but she tells him that there is Chen Hai Jie… He tells her to give him the address and he will go find her.

Everyone is having such a fun time except for Die Fei who is depressed and Ting Yu who is watching her every move. Die Fei announces that she is going to leave but everyone tells her not to. Hai Jie tells her to play the rock, scissors, paper game with Ting Yu and if she loses, he will drink on her behalf.  Ting Yu announces that he will play with him instead. He loses on the first round, drinks and whisks Die Fei away. (Okay, he is not that manly. Ahahahahahahhas!)

He tells her the truth that she needed to hear a long time away. He tells her that she doesn’t have to tell Hai Jie anything. He treats her the same as he treats anyone else. (I don’t get why she is crying. She knows that Hai Jie only has eyes for Alice.)

Father Lan has seen the magazine. Oh no, not good. Die Fei arrives home to have her father barging her with questions so she immediately walks out and alerts her sister. Jin Cang who is with Yu Shu sees the text and tells her that they will face this together. He goes home to tell his wife that he wants a divorce but she just changes the subject.

Die Fei arrives home to be involved in her father’s scolding to her sister. Father Lan tells Yu Shu to quit work and break up with her boss. She tells her father that she can’t just not love because of his one word. He asks her about her dream to study aboard. She tells him that that is no longer her dream; her dream is to be together with Jin Cang. She tells him not to push her. He tells her to leave or make an end to this.

Die Fei tells her father that he should have stood in her sister’s place. Who they fall in love with in not up to them to decide. Die Fei stands by her sister’s side explaining that she only fell in love with someone who she shouldn’t have, why should he make her without a home? Father Lan tells her that he doesn’t know how youngsters think these days – one with her heart elsewhere and one –

Die Fei tells her not to change the subject to her. She is also his daughter, why does he always downgrade (?) her? She also has her difficulties. She says that her sister is correct – living under the same roof does not mean you are family, there are feelings involved. He goes to hit her and she tells him to do so and then afterwards tell her why is it her who gets hit. She says that even if he doesn’t say so, she knows the answer and then stalks off.

Yu Shu is out on the streets crying while Die Fei is in her room hugging her pillow recalling when she and her sister were at the hospital waiting to hear the news of their mother. (I don’t understand how this relates…) Jin Cang finds Yu Shu and proposes that they live together because he made her homeless. Die Fei arrives at Ting Yu’s place with her luggage.

Next morning, Father Lan finds a note from Die Fei saying that she is staying at a friend’s place for some time.

Ting Yu just either drinks coffee and alcohol but Die Fei who is living under his roof has decided to look after his health. He becomes her singing teacher training her each day.

Die Fei has just come out of her relaxing bubble bath and it’s Ting Yu’s turn. He asks her if bubble bath is relaxing. She tells her it is. He comes out and asks her for a favour – to stay outside to accompany him because he is afraid that during the bath, he might fall asleep.

LOL, it’s so fascinating! It’s like he has never seen bubbles before. She asks him why his house has no pictures, even of him, just like a sample house. He says that he is a sample and anyway, without music, he is nothing. She tells her even if he has no pictures or souvenirs, it doesn’t matter as long as his heart is warm.

Die Fei is half asleep and wakes/dream to find Ting Yu practising his violin and recalls the kiss.

Alice seriously has all three guys over her. She is looking at Hai Jie’s picture then at Ting Yu and then gets a message from SJ.

Ting Yu is getting annoyed with Die Fei with inability to read the music notation. He tells her that he is going to get her a music teacher; she can’t just plainly sing. He tells her that a good violin requires a good teacher and that he is the violin stick.

Ting Yu goes to visit Alice and Lisa. He goes to help Alice with the food. She hands him the plate of food and their hands touched causing some sensation between the two. At dinner, Alice and Ting Yu look through a photo album as if they are a loving couple. Ting Yu gives Lisa some tickets for his upcoming concert inviting her and Alice to come along. Lisa asks him if he is not sleeping well these days, seeing sunrise each day? Alice tells him that normal people feel really happy to see sunrise but for insomniac people, they will feel very dispirited. They have an agreement.

Ting Yu tells them that his secret weapon is a person called Chen Hai Jie who is a very outstanding violinist though his style is very different from his. Lisa says that the Chen guy is very familiar but she cannot pinpoint it. Alice asks Ting Yu whyHai Jie is his secret weapon. He tells them that the feeling that Hai Jie gives is very vital. It doesn’t matter what complex problem happens to Hai Jie he always makes it seem very simple.

Lisa has to go do something so Ting Yu decides to walk her out. Meanwhile, Alice calls SJ.

After sending Lisa off, a sudden bright car light blinds Ting Yu. It comes and hits him causing him to topple over and injure his arm. Alice nurses him and cleans his shirt. As she is buttoning his shirt for him, he touches her face and asks her could it be that none of her memories are real? He kisses and she pulls him closer telling him to tell her if this real. (No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! During this whole time, my only words were NO!) Immersed in her intimate time with Ting Yu, she misses a message from SJ.

During this intimate time, she recalls herself doing it with Hai Jie and thinks that Ting Yu is Hai Jie. Meanwhile, Ting Yu thinks that he is doing it with Die Fei.

Alice wakes to find a message from SJ. It’s pictures of the mini accident that happened to Ting Yu yesterday.

_____

My Opinion:

No, no, no, no, no, no, noooooooooooooooooo! Nooooo! No, no, no, no, non! This is such a disappointing episode for me! Arghhhhh! Nothing seems to click in with this episode. Everything is so out of place and they just had to make it worse by putting in the bed scene. The emotions aren’t even a roller coaster, it is a puzzle with mismatched pieces.

What the heck, Die Fei clearly knows that Hai Jie does not have any feelings for her and yet she still likes him. Fine, I’ll take it as unrequited love. But Die Fei still doesn’t show any feelings towards Hai Jie. It’s like she just has to like him. I just can’t feel any feelings whatsoever. You wouldn’t even know that she likes Hai Jie if it weren’t for her words.

OMG, Ting Yu likes Die Fei!? What. The. Heck!? They would have to get together one way or another because it’s just meant to be but I want feelings. You seriously would have never know that Ting Yu likes Die Fei if it weren’t for the mished up bed scene. Since when did he like her? And seriously, why did he kiss Alice? s

Alice is better of the three of evoking feelings. You can tell that she likes and still does like Hai Jie. But with Ting Yu? Since when have they had feelings? What, from the touch? She likes Hai Jie, I get that but then she goes and kisses Ting Yu asking if this is real. And then she goes to reminisce her time with Hai Jie.

I’m not even going to mention Hai Jie because everyone should know by now that he is crazy over Alice.

I can’t and do not even know how to comment on this weird relationship square. It is all very stuffed up. People like each but do not evoke feelings. This is new, very new.

The only true emotion relationship is between Yu Shu and Jin Cang. That is what you call feelings of love. They show it, they care about each other. They have feelings. Although they are only a side couple but I find their relationship much more powering and enticing than any of the others. They have some chemistry. (: (Oh, I just realised that the actor playing Jin Cang is the Tin Gor in the Hong Kong drama, EU. No wonder I thought he was familiar looking when I first saw him!)

What is with Die Fei and her singing? She doesn’t love singing, she doesn’t even like it. Where is her soul when she sings? Where is the life? Where is her love for music? At least in the last ep you could feel it there, but now, it has just disappeared.

Emotions, emotions, emotions; what our characters all lack. Where are their emotions!?

I just want to point out that the little comedy effects aren’t really working for me… Yeah, they can get me to laugh sometimes, or maybe once during this ep, but it just doesn’t work. Ting Yu is such a serious character that the humour side to this drama just ruins it. It’s better if they just kept it with the drama.

Nothing, literally, works in this ep. None of the scenes flows on well with one another. None of it work nor do they make sense. Everything is all over the place. -.-

This episode is a huge downfall from the previous episodes. It is really really disappointing. Where has all the curiosity and suspense build-up gone? Next ep is bromance gone and where Hai Jie meets Alice again. It better be better than this episode. I can only hope.

If there’s anything worth watching in this episode, it’s this scene.  Ting Yu is totally falling for Die Fei!!!!!!!  It’s hilarious when he decides to teach Die Fei how to play the violin.  When she plays screechy notes his face falls in disappointment.  AHAHA.

AND THEN when she tells him she’s gonna confess to Hai Jie, HIS FACE!!!!!! AHHHHHHHH.  He smiles and sorta gives her a word of encouragement, but you can tell he’s a bit bothered by it. 

BUT THAT ALICE!!!!!!  NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DIE FEI HAS COMPETITION!!!!!!!

Ting Yu opens up to Alice about his mom issues.  Even though Ting Yu’s flashback was supposed to give us a greater insight into his character, I wasn’t that impressed by it.  Really, we do not need a huge flashback right in the middle of the episode.  I was more concerned with the fact that Alice is the only one who gets to see his vulnerability.  Meaning more points for Alice.  Anyway I guess Alice gets to see Ting Yu’s more moody, serious side whereas Die Fei gets to see Ting Yu’s quirky side.   So far though I think Die Fei has accumulated more points than Alice has, because SHE’S ALREADY WINNING TING YU’S HEART.  *swoon*

Hai Jie remains a lost cause.  Whenever he looks off into a crowd, sees a girl with a similar hairstyle to Alice, and goes, “ALICE!” *runs into crowd* I facepalm.  Hai Jie………..get over her……

Anyway, I think Die Fei is really the character who shone most in this episode.  (Note: I am totally biased because I already love her character)  She didn’t need a super long flashback to show that she’s the “inferior” daughter who always lives in her sister’s shadow.  Die Fei’s sister is everything she’s not. 

And of course, one of the best parts of this episode is that Die Fei finally gets to show off her beautiful voice!!!  Plus her singing floors Ting Yu.   Just for more OTP shipping, Ting Yu cries for the first time since his mom died WHILE LISTENING TO DIE FEI SING.  TING YU x DIE FEI FOREVER!

Overall
There wasn’t much to talk about in this episode.  T_T  So far I think the OTP’s are pretty much set in stone.  Ting Yu & Alice are hot together, Die Fei & Hai Jie are cute together.  BUT Ting Yu & Die Fei are FATED and awesome together.  As for Hai Jie x Alice..I don’t really care about them.  Maybe if they would just MEET ALREADY I would care more about this pairing but for now their status is the same as in episode 1.  I’m getting tired of seeing Hai Jie acting like a lovesick puppy all the time.  GET IT TOGETHER, HAI JIE!!!!!!!

Alice is looking through her mother’s things with the hope to discover some of her well hidden secrets. All she could find is a photo book with some picturesque nature pictures before her mother returns home resting her search.

Yu Shu comes to tell her sister to report to Manager Tang Jin Cang when she returns to work tomorrow. She also tells her that she and Manager Tang will be out to Beijing and Shanghai on business trip for 10 days. Die Fei basically warns her sister to not be the third party in Manager Tang’s marriage. Their father then becomes concern and starts firing question to Yu Shu about her business trip, however, Yu Shu is able to talk her out of the questions without providing too much detail. 

Manager Tang has successfully made his money transfer which he is enthusiastic about. While he makes a phone call, Die Fei appears from behind as a ghost, though she doesn’t see the transfer.

He gives her a special mission – to go to Ting Yu’s house and show him the details of the contract while also checking up on him. He also gives her the key to Ting Yu’s house in case he there is no one home or he doesn’t want to go and open the door. She was reluctant to accept the mission but is persuaded into it.

“Hello? Anyone home?” I guess not. She welcomes herself in and discovers papers everywhere. She picks them up and sees the exquisite violin. She reaches out to touch it when the piano creates some music. Frightened, she takes a step back and then realises that it was Ting Yu’s handiwork.

She tries to calmly explain the reason why she is here when he replies with “Do you want to drink coffee?” She replies yes and then he orders to go and make it. They are drinking coffee when Ting Yu decides to shred his music composition. She asks him if he is crazy. He tells her that she is correct – he is crazy. He then tells her that he is not satisfied with his recent music compositions. He clearly knows what is what but he just can’t say it. She tells him that she doesn’t know how to play the violin so she doesn’t know what he is talking about. This earns Ting Yu a smirk.

So he teaches her to play, with body to body actions. Ahahahaahahahahahaha! He tells her to experience the feeling and then teaches her to make her first music which is not very pleasant to the ears. But that doesn’t concern her, she is just amazed that she could make some sound. She gets sent out before she can create any more unpleasant music.

At the door, he recalls the kiss and how direct she was to say that she definitely had no feelings for him. She is about to leave but turns back and tells him that she is going to confess to Hai Jie. He tells her not to get her hopes up too high because she has no chance anyway. (Ohh, harsh man! I love how she actually told Ting Yu that she is going to confess. This shows that she does have feelings for him).

Die Fei is about to return back to the orchestra centre when she receives an all important to meet her at the lingerie shop. Her sister tells her that is a very good idea to buy some sexy lingerie. She can then pretend that she is drunk, twisted her ankle or that she feels uncomfortable/unwell and needs someone to wipe her back. Oh wow, Yu Shu really knows how to get a guy huh?

Hai Jie is wondering the city and sees a really adorable band busking. Coincidentally, Alice is there as well. He spots Alice and so he immediately chases after her. However, in his mad dash, he broke the band’s equipment and is made to compensate. Instead of compensating by money, he decides to join the band. Just as they are getting into the song, they have to make a mad dash because the police are on the hunt for them.

Wow, it turns out that adding a violinist into the band earned them a lot of money.

After a dubious day out shopping, Yu Shu gets photographed with Manager Tang. Uh-oh, this is not going to turn out good…

It’s dinner time at the Lan family. Yu Shu has yet to return home leaving Die Fei alone with her father. Die Fei is eager to eat dinner but father Lan is adamant that they wait for Yu Shu because she is working so diligently unlike her who has only worked for a year and wants to resign. She tells her father that he is being unfair to her and does not even know her situation. She then spills (whether it is accidentally or unintentionally I am unsure) that her sister is in a relationship with her boss. Yu Shu returns oblivious to the tense atmosphere.

Meanwhile Manager Tang wants to tell his wife something. She is aware of what it is so she pushes it away and postpones it to when he returns from his business trip.

Die Fei starts to type her confession letter to Hai Jie but clears every word…

The next morning Yu Shu has a talk with her father. Her father asks her questions relating to her love life asking her to bring her boyfriend home for dinner.

Alice rocks up to Ting Yu’s place unexpectedly asking more about her mother. She tells him that if she wants to know her mother, she can only ask other people and he is the first of these other people. He tells her considering that she wants to know so eagerly.

That night Lisa saved him from the gangsters and afterwards he would just sleep. When he woke up, he saw Lisa for the second time, very different from the brave Lisa that night and much more like a mother. Lisa asks him if he needs to call home. He tells her that there is no need; there is no one at home. That time, he warmth that he has never felt before.

What’s strange is that when he returned home, he felt disturbed. He had no way to relax himself so he could only continuously practice his violin skills. He was about to give up but he remembered his mother’s words and her waiting to see his performance.

He decides to make a very big decision in his life. He takes a break to relax himself and goes to find Lisa. He follows Lisa to visit some hospital patients. There he discovers a new meaning to playing violin; he discovers how happy and relaxing it could be. It turns out that Ting Yu has decided to skip the Pagenini performance. Lisa tells him that he should explain to his mother his views and decision to allow her to know that he has grown up.

He doesn’t have the courage to do this confession alone so Lisa is by his side. His mother returns home and immediately the first thing she does is accuses Lisa for having some kind of underlying motive for having the ability for making Ting Yu not participate in the world’s greatest violin competition. He tries to explain to his mother; he even pulls his mother’s hand which he has never done before. His mother tells him that he has changed and this makes her very sad. She then accuses Lisa of being in some relationship with her son and goes as far to sue her. (Oh man, JEALOUSLY like no other!) He even moved out because of this. (Wow, one arrogant mother).

Just before one of Ting Yu’s performance he gets a phone call and rushes home to that his mother has attempted suicide. Since then he has tried his best to work towards his mother’s expectations. But that is not enough to satisfy her; she committed suicide. She left him a letter of him playing the violin with a piano in the background and a caption “Baby, Happy Birthday”. He explains that for the time that he cried, Lisa hugged him.

He tells Alice that from that time on he has never shed a tear. “Losing your mother is just like the feeling of losing everything. In this world there is nothing more important to me.” Then Alice shed a tear and he wiped it for her! (I’m jelly!) He tells her that now she has a chance to find her mother she must cherish the chance to get close to her and understand her.

Die Fei is typing her confession letter to Hai Jie and prays to God asking for some guidance. Then Hai Jie calls asking for a favour – to open the orchestra place for his newly made friends/band mates to explore. Bad timing, she loses the chance to tell him.

Meanwhile, Alice sees a picture of Hai Jie in a magazine (with Ting Yu on the cover. LOL) while Hai Jie wonders the street prying every woman who resembles Alice.

At last, Die Fei sings! Ting Yu hears this amazing voice and is mesmerised by it.

_______

My Opinion:

Oh wow, I did not know that Lara’s voice to bring on such a huge drawing. It’s actually very beautiful and nice to hear. Though, I guess only certain songs suit her. I’m not very fond of the theme song. It doesn’t suit her so well. I think one of the subthemes during the first confession/delete every word suits her way better. Now I am much more curious as to what her voice will do to the entire drama. I liked her voice but I didn’t really like how it was brought along into the drama. There wasn’t any driving force. It’s like the screenwriters just wanted to bring her voice in the drama in some way. I wanted to see her growth for music, not working in the music industry, but being the music. I wanted to see her love for it but frankly, I didn’t get to witness any.

I also do not feel the love that she has for Hai Jie. It’s just not there.

Why hello Aaron! I missed you there! Now that’s screentime! Oh wow, his presence really changes the entire aspect of the drama. Maybe it’s because I haven’t seen him for some time but his action has improved heaps, especially his emotions. He is still that cold guy but with every word he exerts, you can feel his emotions. I think his background just adds to the impact of this. Mentioning of his background, wow, his mother is jealous and controlling!

I am still so-so with Lara’s acting but I am definitely warming up to her now that she is singing.

Oh Alice, I am still very curious to what she is hiding. I am pretty sure that she still loves Hai Jie but not as much as Hai Jie loves her. Why, why did she leave him?

I am not very fond of Die Fei but I am shipping Die Fei and Ting Yu that Alice and Ting Yu. If the preview is an indication of anything… Ting Yu, be in your right mind and realise that Alice is not for you! I am still curious as to when Alice and Hai Jie will meet. Coincidences are a matter of fate. There can only be so much coincidences.

First, here’s my favorite scene!!  Hai Jie purposely ignores Die Fei’s texts and calls since he’s busy with other stuff and doesn’t have time to talk.  Die Fei is pissed off and fed up with her confusing love life/work life.  She just wants to avoid Hai Jie & Ting Yu because she’s so confused and embarrassed.  Hai Jie is completely oblivious to this and wonders why she’s so mad at him.  He realizes maybe it’s because he ignored her in her time of need, BUT CANNOT CONNECT THE DOTS THAT SHE LIKES HIM.

To make it worse, he speculates that maybe the cause is Ting Yu.  (And I think he guesses that she likes him, but I’m not sure if I’m remembering it correctly.)  OH NO, YOU DID NOT, HAI JIE.  YOU DID NOT JUST SAY THAT.  *face palm*  I love Hai Jie but at this point he’s a bit too dense for my liking. 

“I’m mad I’m not Alice.”

OMG, HAI JIE!!! DOES DIE FEI HAVE TO SPELL IT OUT FOR YOU!?!?  The sad part is that she literally did spell it out for him; she’s basically saying she wishes she was Alice..in other words SHE LIKES HAI JIE.  But this guy is so incredibly dense and oblivious that this just does not compute with him.  He even wonders out loud why she’d want to be Alice.  AUEOGUJAWSIOJHBSIOAJHBOLSJHB.

“Actually you’re not even sure about what you’re in love with.  No one gets close to you like this, isn’t that right?”

I feel so bad with Die Fei.  Sure she hasn’t confessed directly to him, but Hai Jie should know by now, especially after that very obvious conversation.  I was really intrigued by her insight into Hai Jie’s true self.  He says he loves Alice but in reality, maybe he’s just idolizing his ideal Alice, not the real one.  Whatever would he do when he finds out his goddess isn’t what he thinks she is?  Die Fei is spot on but her words don’t seem to compute with Hai Jie.  He really needs to take a hint for once. T_T

I’m also surprised that she concludes people can’t get close to Hai Jie because of his happy go lucky attitude.  He treats everyone the same, showing his happiness and sadness to everyone..so much so that maybe people don’t really know his true self.  Is Hai Jie hiding something besides his Alice-issues?

Although Hai Jie really frustrates me, he does have great chemistry with Die Fei.  It’s so funny seeing her all frustrated at him, and him just standing there all clueless and adorable like the loveable teddy bear that he is.  I love his reaction when he realizes Ting Yu kissed Die Fei.  Heheheh.  And then when he finds out it’s her first kiss!?!?  He’s so adorable!!

HOWEVER!  I BELONG TO THE TING YU x DIE FEI SHIP ALREADY!  I LOVE THEM!

So, time for the second best scene!  Hai Jie forces Ting Yu & Die Fei to talk things out!  They straighten out their differences and reconcile over the kiss issue.  Ting Yu asks if Die Fei really didn’t feel anything during the kiss.  She says of course not, he already knows she likes Hai Jie.  OUCHH.  That’s a huge blow to his pride.  Ting Yu looks a bit disappointed (which Die Fei doesn’t pick up on) but then apologizes for the kiss like she wanted him to.  She accepts, and then is about to leave when she goes, oh yeah it was just my first kiss no biggie.  AHAHAHA I don’t know if that was sarcasm or trying to make him feel better.  And the look on Ting Yu’s face is PRICELESS. 

So, I still must say that I LOVE DIE FEI.  WHO can find a girl who has the guts to say, I DON’T NEED AARON YAN.  I’D RATHER GO FOR XIU JIE KAI.  BUT I HAVE THEM BOTH TIED AROUND MY FINGER.  She is awesome. 

So, this episode attempted to go into the “human drama” mode by having Ting Yu reveal his angsty past & mom issues, and by having a moving reconciliation in Hai Jie’s family.  I think Hai Jie’s family issues were completely unnecessary.  It felt like a filler for the episode.  Seriously, I just want to get to the main characters, there’s no need to show his sister’s issues. 

Ting Yu’s opening up to Alice didn’t have the emotional impact it should’ve had.  His “deep conversation” felt a bit contrived because it was so cliched.  He grew up in a cold household where he was expected to become a super violinist.  Ting Yu could never live up to his mom, so her expectations are always looming over him.  This translates into insomnia and major mom issues.

Lastly, let’s talk about ALICE.  I really don’t know whether I like her or not.  She’s scary and yet she’s kind of awesome.  Finally we find out her true motives!!  Alice was forced into an engagement with a rich guy.  Her only way to ‘gain her freedom’ is to obtain some sort of password from her mom.  Meaning that she’s using her mom to further her own goals.  I like her determination, but I don’t like that she’s using her mom.  I’m curious to see where Alice’s arc is going, and seeing that she’s now sorta made friends with Ting Yu, I think she’ll become a more major character in the future episodes.

Overall
This wasn’t an amazing episode but it was still better than eps1-2.  I think we’re finally getting into the real meat of the drama since now we know what Alice is after.  I’m just waiting for the love square to happen!!!!!!!  Plus to all of you who have been waiting for Lara to start singing, it’s COMING IN EP6!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Here’s the opening song by Lara:

She asks Ting Yu if he thinks that she is good to play before stalking off. She constantly calls Hai Jie but she consistently misses her calls.

Hai Jie goes to meet his sister and future brother-in-law. His sister tells him that she wants to have their parent’s wish and hopes her parents will forgive her. ‘But will they forgive me?’ Hai Jie tells her to rest assure and that to leave this up to him.

Hai Jie finds his niece at Lisa’s cafe. He asks if she has seen her grandparents before to which she coldly replies that she hasn’t. He explains that he and his sister both love her but he mother has no one to love her. Her grandparents doesn’t love her mother. He asks her why her relationship turned bad with her mother with the appearance of the fat uncle. LOLOLOLOL! She tells him that she feels that the uncle is not qualified. He then explains how miraculous love can be and grabs her hand to demonstrate. Lisa sees and immediately pulls him away thinking that he is molesting her. When she realises her mistake, she immediately makes amends. 

Alice is about to enter the cafe when she receives a phone call. She steps aside to take it while Hai Jie leaves with Mei Mei. As he walks past he mentions he smells a flowery essence. (Wow, he must have a really good nose or maybe he just misses her too much). She comes in and asks her mother what happened. Her mother tells her of what happened between her and the violinist. Her mother goes to brew some coffee while Alice reminisces Hai Jie. She asks her mother if her father left her anything but is disappointed when she finds out that there is nothing for her. Her mother then tells her to work here, at the cafe, which I discovered is called Alice Cafe.

Die Fei is struggling to carry her heavy load of books. She gets pushed over by a passerby and Hai Jie immediately comes to her aid. He asks her where is has to go when he notices the necklace. She quickly walks away with him trailing behind. They go to a bookstore where she gives her friend a book – ‘the first play’ book. But that’s okay because she already has another copy back at home. She leaves to get coffee with Hai Jie coming after her once again. He apologises and asks her why she wants to resign. There must be a reason for her wanting to resign. Is it because of Ting Yu saying he wants to fire you again? Is it because of Hai Ou? She tells him that this has nothing to do with Hai Ou.

He asks what’s the matter then. She complains that she had something to inform him about but when she tried to call him, he doesn’t pick up. He apologises and asks if she likes…He Ting Yu. She (sort of) breathes a sign of relief and says that this has nothing to do with Ting Yu. She begins to walk but turns around and asks Hai Jie if Alice has already married to someone else or is dead, what would he do? He tells her that he won’t make assumptions without seeing her himself. She explains that he is unsure of what he loves. He says with confident that he loves Alice and that has never changed. However, he is still unsure of what she is angry about. She tells him that she is angry that she is not Alice, angry that she can’t be like them and put feelings as her own self. She tells him that she won’t return and gives him back the necklace before leaving or well, stomping off.

Ting Yu has come to find Lisa but instead finds Alice instead. The two manage to have a peaceful talk. She tells him that she feels like her mother is very secretive. He tells her that Lisa is very passionate towards little kids and how he met her when he was in his teenage years. That time he was a music student. Everyone’s hope towards me was playing the violin. He doesn’t have a father, only a famous pianist mother. His mother expects him to receive the first prize at the competition. Before his mother leaves for some performance, she tells that she will be in time to see his performance and to strive on. As such he would practice day and night and even resulted to the insomnia medicine that his mother also takes. One night, he was walking down the creepy ally and met some creeps who tried to bash him up. Luckily Lisa came just in time to save him. He tells her that Lisa just didn’t save him that night, but his whole life.

Seeing as he has known Lisa for so long, he must be really close with her and know a lot of her things right? Ting Yu just gets straight to the point and asks her what she wants to know. She tells him that she wants to know everything about her, including her secrets.

He doesn’t tell so he goes to do some investigating herself. He also tells her that the Lisa from 20 years ago, when she left her has died. The current Lisa lives for other people. Through her investigation, she finds a document from a big enterprise group. Oh no! What is she going to do!?

They spend some mother-daughter bonding time at the cafe but it gets ruined when she receives a text from SJ saying that the company has done some research it is requires a person to person overseeing it. This causes a worried look from her mother.

Yu Shu and Ting Yu’s manager share a deep moment together.  He then asks her to do a favour for him – to go down to Hong Kong to make a money transfer.

Hai Jie takes his sister, Hai Na, to his parents’ place so she can ask for forgiveness. What she gets is definitely not forgiveness. Even her daughter and future husband-to-be stands up for her.

Mei Mei thanks fat uncle and asks him to promise that he will be like before and protect her and her mother. Yay! A nice family reunion this time. (:

Hai Jie plays the violin, of course thinking of Alice. Coincidentally, she is also thinking of him. She then receives a text from SJ saying that he will be coming to Taipei next weekend. Uh-oh!

Hai Jie comes to find Die Fei but she shoos him off. Away from work, her spends her day constantly reading and gets a scolding from her father. (And I thought reading was a good thing. Ahahahaha…)

Her sister and the bookstore friend tries to get down the the very nitty gritty of her problem. It must be love, mustn’t it? She tells her sister that she just doesn’t want to see them two. Two? Her sister warns her not to get into Shou Shi (aka Ting Yu)’s net. It doesn’t matter who likes who, they will not have a happy ending. She explains that there is nothing between them. Okay, show that’s that, she is coming back to not hide from Ting Yu.

Die Fei goes to claim back her necklace from Hai Jie. While there, he discovers the letters that he writes to Alice. Nawww, very long-winded and cute! He asks her what happened between her and Ting Yu. She asks him do they, musicians, use hypnotising as a mean to be in feeling with their music. Then she goes on about that like… mesmerising… and even love… does it actually exist? She then indirectly spills that Ting Yu kissed her.

Being the in-between guy, Hai Jie sets up for Ting Yu and Die Fei to meet to discuss their problems. She tells him to apologise. Well, then he goes ‘what do I have to apologise for?’ Of course for…of course for… …the kiss (Yeahh, it didn’t exactly go like this but it’s close) He asks her if he still cares about the kiss? Any one normal would care about it! She tells him that he is just playing her, what with hypnotising himself with it… He didn’t even ask and just kissed her, doesn’t that deserve an apology? He asks her if she really didn’t have any feelings when he kissed her. She tells him that she certainly doesn’t have any. She didn’t have any feelings, not even a little bit. (I think he looked dumbfounded then). Oh, okay then, I apologise. I didn’t care about your feelings and just kissed you. Sorry. She accepts his apology just when a bus comes. (Seriously!? They are having this conversation at a bus stop!?) Just before she hops on, she tells him that Hai Jie is right, she should have spoken to him earlier. Now it’s much better. Anyway, it was just a first kiss, nothing to care about.

First kiss? Okay, he was dumbfounded there. Ahahahahas

It’s the wedding. Hai Jie and Mei Mei discovers that her mother and Lisa knows each other.

Mei Mei and Lisa have a heart-to-heart conversation. Lisa explains that she cares so much about kids because of her. When she was born, she didn’t breath, nor did she make any noise. When all, including the doctors, gave up on her, her mother chose to strive on. Her mother stayed by her side until she finally made some noise. “Actually every kid wishes to live well. It’s just that they do not know what to do nor do they know where to go.”

Hai na’s parents arrive and finally forgive her. Yay!

Alice is working away at the cafe when SJ gives her a text and she leaves to meet him. She asks him why he suddenly cam to Taipei, is it because her actions are too slow? According to the law she is his wife. (O.M.G!) Okay, not really, before her grandfather died, he just promised her to him. He then reads out some of the letters/postcards that Hai Jie has been sending her. He then reminds to complete her mission at hand – figure out the password.

______

My Opinion:

This is soon, hopefully next episode, going to take a turn on its head. Now there is so much more that I want to know. What is Alice really here for? For a minute, I actually thought Lisa wasn’t her real mother. What does Alice want? Why is she trying to get at? I really hope that whatever she plans to do does not ruin Lisa.

Alice really has a dark side. But then again she also has this cool, calm and nice side to her. I really like the actress who is portraying her. She gives off this dark yet neutral vibe of her. The actress does a nice portrayal of giving off the dark yet bright feeling. Whenever she is around Lisa, I would feel warmth and brightness but whenever she is around Ting Yu, I always feel a sense of darkness. Overall, she is a good actress. She gives off the correct emotions and gets me to feel emotions on her behalf.

I am still not that all liking Die Fei. It’s not the character but the acting that puts me off. I don’t know, I just can’t follow through with it. It’s really quite unnatural and to me, I don’t feel any emotions at all. It feels like she is just reading off a script without any feelings involved. I would have liked to see more emotion and effort considering she is the female lead. I feel that Tracy Zhou would be much better as the female lead. Even as Lara exerts her words they feel forced. But that’s just my opinion. (: Also, I like her better when her hair is down. It suits her more, frames her face but she can also pull off a pretty ponytail.

I don’t feel any of the feelings that she has for Hai Jie. Is it just me? Even as friends there is hardly any chemistry there. Whereas with Ting Yu I can see sparks there. Maybe it was because of the kiss after all…

Aaron! Where have you been today? I thought you were the lead but I hardly saw you for 7 minutes today! Where are you sweetie? I missed you! Where is your presence? I just think he keeps getting better with his emotions! (: Huh? First kiss?

Jie Kai is doing a splendid job at his portrayal of Hai Jie. I just think it is amazing. He is pulling this off really well. He has brilliant chemistry with Die Fei and a really nice bromance with Ting Yu.

I can’t wait for the next episode this time. This time things are really taking off. Alice and her mystery and at last Die Fei will sing! (: I really hope for some intense scenes.

Looking for a new drama to watch and here is what I found. What does “Human Drama” mean?!

THEY RIDE BIKES TOGETHER!  THEY GO IN THE HOT SPRINGS TOGETHER!  THEY PLAY THE VIOLIN TOGETHER!  THEY TRY TO FIGURE OUT DIE FEI TOGETHER!  THEY DRINK TOGETHER!  I LOVE THE BROMANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Hai Jie & Ting Yu together = LOVEEEEEEEE.

They’re such an unlikely pair because Hai Jie is a humble amateur whereas Ting Yu is a distinguished prodigy.  Hai Jie is happy go lucky, simple, and a bit dense, while Ting Yu is critical, arrogant, and blunt.  I LOVE THIS PAIR.  There are lots of cute moments, especially when Ting Yu starts laughing at Hai Jie for his romantic ideal of Alice.  Heheheh.

But what really sold me for Alice in Wonder City?  The threesome!!!!  I adore the Ting Yu/Die Fei/Hai Jie love triangle and friendship! Forget Alice, I just want both guys to fall for Die Fei!  Hai Jie and Die Fei have a special sort of camaraderie in dealing with Ting Yu’s lofty ways.  I love it when they both look at each other in horror when they see Ting Yu scarily smiling and chuckling to himself.  Heheheh.  Hai Jie also becomes the middleman between Ting Yu and Die Fei because it always seems like they never get along.  The threesome’s trip to Japan was a blast.  I sense a potential love triangle and awesome bestie threesome coming our way.

So, before I rant about the awesome scenes in ep4, I need to talk about how my perspective on each character has changed.  First up is Die Fei because I know she seemed a bit like the weaker character in ep1.  I know I was super excited for Alice’s potential in my episode 1 review, but now I don’t even care about her anymore.  Die Fei has stolen the spotlight!!!!!!!  At first I thought Die Fei was really annoying, way too innocent, and a bit immature in the first couple episodes.  But now, I LOVE HER.  Just watch episode 4 and you’ll know what I mean.  She’s so spunky and witty when she’s angry at Ting Yu!  I love her attitude!  Die Fei has some growing up to do, but she’s still a strong character in her own way.

To add to her awesomeness, Die Fei tells Ting Yu she’s not gonna take his crap anymore.  She says something to the effect that just because he’s a prodigy doesn’t mean everyone has to go around worshiping the very ground he walks on.  Even though this is basically one of Die Fei’s tantrums, I can’t help but applaud her for speaking out against Ting Yu’s arrogant attitude.

I also love Die Fei because she’s not blindly infatuated with Ting Yu.  Yes, she idolizes him, but that doesn’t mean she’s unaware of his flaws or clinging to him for dear life.  By ep4, she doesn’t even like Ting Yu even though he’s her idol.  I like that Die Fei isn’t bound by the typical scenario where the heroine is love-blind and refuses to love anyone else besides her jerk of an idol.  Go Die Fei for liking Hai Jie!!!!!!

^All the scenes with Ting Yu stroking the violin..oh la la.

And for Ting Yu!  In ep1 I thought he was a cocky arrogant jerk.  I usually hate the cliched character of a rich jerk whom everyone sympathizes with and loves.  But guess what…I LOVE TING YU NOW.  Not just because he’s played by Aaron Yan!   I think that I like Ting Yu much better now that he’s friends with Hai Jie & Die Fei.  They bring out the best in him whenever they’re together.  Ting Yu is actually a very cheeky guy.  He totally likes Die Fei but he never gets across what he really wants to say to her.  Ting Yu always ends up making the situation worse with Die Fei and he’s at a loss as to how to fix it.  This guy cracks me up.

Hai Jie!! I love you, but you’re a bit too dense!!!!  I don’t think ANYONE can help but adore Hai Jie because he’s like a giant fuzzy teddy bear.  The problem is that he’s SO DENSE.  He’s just naturally nice to everyone and doesn’t realize that it could be hurting some people.  i.e. He’s incredibly nice and up-close and personal with Die Fei, which results in her crushing on him.  But he has no idea she likes him so he keeps on talking about Alice IN FRONT OF DIE FEI.  I know he doesn’t mean to, but he’s indirectly hurting Die Fei’s feelings.

Hai Jie is STILL dwelling on Alice, so I’m getting a bit frustrated with him.  He goes searching for Alice in Japan, with basically no leads, still expecting that she’ll just magically appear someday and they’ll fall back in love and everything will be hunky dory.  NOT SO, HAI JIE, NOT SO.  ALICE LEFT HAI JIE OF HER OWN WILL.  SHE JUST LEFT HIM.  I feel like Hai Jie is incredibly dumb to be waiting for Alice just because she left him a note before disappearing and he’s convinced they’re meant to be together.  I mean, seriously?  Did he ever question why she left him in the first place?  The least she could’ve done is leave him her email address or phone number or SOMETHING. 

OK enough ranting about all the characters.  TIME FOR THE REAL GOOD STUFF.  I AM ALL FOR TING YU x DIE FEI.  THEY ARE OOZING WITH CHEMISTRY.  JUMP ON THIS SHIP, EVERYONE!!!!!!!!

Ting Yu tries to get Die Fei to wake up from her passive crush and actually do something about it.  He lets Hai Jie search for Alice to create a sense of urgency in Die Fei.  But it doesn’t work, she’s ready to just let Hai Jie pass her by and leave her feelings go unvoiced.  Ting Yu confronts her in frustration, but instead of sounding like he cares, it sounds like he’s patronizing her.  THIS SCENE IS SO AWESOME, OMG. 

“Lan Die Fei, love is a war.  It doesn’t mean that good people can be happy just like that.”

Die Fei is about to close her hotel room door when Ting Yu stops her and leans in close.  He asks her if she’s not bothered by Hai Jie’s love for Alice.  She plays it cool, pretending she wants to root for Hai Jie’s happiness.  She tries to close the door quickly again to end the conversation, but Ting Yu yells that he’s not done talking yet.  OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG. 

“Do you know what’s worse? The worst isn’t him finding Alice, it’s that even if he doesn’t find her, he’ll still be blind to your feelings for him!”

That ticks off Die Fei, who assumes that Ting Yu is trying to provoke her and make fun of her.  Poor Ting Yu realizes he’s been misunderstood, and after she slams the door in his face, he bangs on the door and says that’s not what he meant to do.  AHHHHHHH BEST SCENE EVERRRRRRR!

…Ok that wasn’t exactly the best scene ever because after that scene everything is GOLD.  The two of them have a surprisingly civil and heart-to-heart talk together.  Die Fei admits that the things Ting Yu said are actually right.  She says that maybe it’s her flaw that she wants to just let Alice & Hai Jie be happy, while keeping quiet about her own feelings.

Die Fei: “Making him happy, and wishing him happiness.”
Ting Yu: “Idiot.”

AND THEN??? THEN???? 

Ting Yu: “Can you have a little more courage?”
Die Fei: “What are you saying?”

AND RIGHT BEFORE HE LEANS IN TO STEAL A KISS FROM DIE FEI, HE SAYS THIS:

“I’m saying, I also want to join this battle.”

*FLAIL FLAIL FLAIL* I SHIP THEM, I SO SHIP THEM!!!! \o/\o/\o/\o/\o/\o/\o/\o/\o/\o/\o/\o/  YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!

…but then Ting Yu sorta ruins the moment when he asks if she liked it, and that he just channeled the emotion he usually creates while playing the violin into that kiss.  I’m not exactly sure what he meant but I thought he was saying that he didn’t really mean it when he kissed her. 

As expected, poor Die Fei is confused to no end by Hai Jie & Ting Yu’s actions.  I LOVE Ting Yu & Die Fei’s fight after the kiss because, like Hai Jie mentions, IT’S SO LIKE A COUPLE FIGHT!!!!!!!  THEY ARE SUCH A COUPLE ALREADY!!!!!!!!! ahhhhhh. 

“Are you thinking about my Hai Ou, Chen Hai Jie, or are you thinking about me?”

Overall
I think I’ve found the new Taiwanese drama to obsess over.  I am already rabidly shipping Ting Yu & Die Fei.  Episode 4 was by far the best episode so far.  I love the characters’ relationships and quirkiness.  Unfortunately Alice’s character no longer intrigues me.  I’m completely content with our threesome of Ting Yu, Hai Jie, and Die Fei.

At this point, Alice in Wonder City isn’t really a human drama.  It attempted to get that serious, human drama vibe in ep1, but failed.  It’s much better after the tone shift.  Nor is Alice really a music drama.   The relationships between the characters should come first, then the music.  The music should serve as the sort of uniting factor that brings the characters all together, but not be the primary focus of the drama.  If it could achieve that Honey and Clover vibe, Alice in Wonder City would be great. 

At Japan Airport, Hai Jie finds himself staring off into outer space thinking about Alice, Die Fei finds herself as the maid for Ting Yu and  Ting Yu finds himself ordering Die Fei around. As they are about to set off to find Siren, Ting Yu tells Hai Jie that he is not coming along because he has a different agenda – to find Alice. Die Fei was going to tag along with Hai Jie but she can’t since she is Ting Yu’s assistant.

So Hai Jie begins on his quest to find Alice. He goes to all the places that she mentioned, including the very sincere temple. 

Meanwhile, Ting Yu and Die Fei arrive at Siren’s master’s house. The master of Siren has never played Siren before and is looking for someone who can control Siren and not make it hoarse. Ting Yu’s eyes is glued at the site of Siren. He picks up Siren and starts to play one of Niccolò Paganini’s piece. The master says that there are contradictions to his superb violin skills (I didn’t really understand this part…) which means he has to go back empty-handed. Ting Yu is shocked and devastated by this. (Nawww, poor guy! But, I love Aaron’s english! <3 It is so accurate and you can’t really hear an accent.)

Hai Jie is near a harbour playing the violin remembering how Alice told him that if she is ever missing, he would only have to play the violin and she will appear.

Die Fei and Ting Yu are out for dinner but Ting Yu is depressed. She tries to tell him comforting words… She tells him not to put on that depressed face any more because it ruins her appetite. She tells him that she will shout dinner tonight and that he should cherish this opportunity because the next time that this happens would be a hundred years later. Truthfully speaking, she tells him that the tone of the violin has some kind of charisma to it. He agrees and asks her if she heard the master say anything about contradictory. She tells him she doesn’t know, but she does know that he has never faced anything like this before so he must be really hearted broken today. From from a different point-of-view, he must feel that the violin of annoying people is meaningful. She tells him that since he wants Siren that badly, they should try again. They will succeed and if Hai Jie was here he would agree with her. He reminds her that Hai Jie’s heart is with Alice and that they may have gotten back together already. Then…then I’ll wish them well. He tells her that it would be better that he shout dinner because seeing her face like this really worries people. He tells her to cherish this chance because the next time that this would happen would be in a hundred years.

Walking back to her hotel room, she tells Ting Yu that she is sincere towards Hai Jie. Just before she closes the door, he asks her if she is upset that he organised for Hai Jie to search for Alice. He explains that if Hai Jie stays in Taipei and as the time passes by, he will slowly forget about Alice but now he has the opportunity to meet Alice once again. She tells him that isn’t it all the best for two lovers to reconcile? Ting Yu leans in and tells her that love is a war and that being a goodie-goodie won’t bring you happiness. Or is it that she feels that she doesn’t have that torment that she can’t love? (Yeahhh…sorry for the bad translation guys!) She pushes him out but he continues to tell that she is wasting her time on this. She tells that the most miserable part of this isn’t whether Hai Jie can find Alice or not but that she has no place in his heart. She asks him if he really hates her that much for wanting to do this to her?

Hai Jie continues to go to all the places that Alice mentioned going to buy the postcards that gives off a nice essence. She walks into a theatre and sees a little girl. He discovers that her name is Alice. (Like, OMG, Alice, this must be fate! Ahahahahahaahhahahas!) She little girl wonders off and he chases after her. The little Alice is much like the Alice from his dream – dressed in blue and dropped off a head piece. However, before he could catch her, he trips, falls, bumps his head and lays unconscious.

He wakes to find himself with a broken leg in bed. The granny who rescued him tries to explain to him what happened with he kind of understands with her hand signals. He tries to asks her about little Alice, whether she is her granddaughter, to which she nods her head to everything he says due to the language barrier. Before he leaves granny’s place, a picture of big Alice with her grandparents is shown. (OMGGGGG, don’t tell me that little Alice is big Alice’s child!?!!?!??!!)

Die Fei, Ting Yu and Hai Jie share hot pot together. (Mmmm…I want hot pot!) Hai Jie tries to recall what happened and how weird it was to fall when there was no hole. Die Fei kind of pissed-off tells him that it’s because his mind is on Alice that’s why. Anyway, Hai Jie continues to talk about how pretty the theatre is when Die Fei says that they can go again. Ting Yu asks her how Hai Jie can go in this condition. She tells him that Ting Yu is not going, they are and that since they are here, they can’t just go back empty-handed right? Well, I guess he is not going to go after what you said.

Mei Mei’s mother is at the bridal shop watching her mother trying on wedding dresses. She still isn’t very pleased about her mother’s wedding…

Die Fei is out searching for Alice but with no luck.

Die Fei has just gotten out of the shower to hear Ting Yu play the violin and to trip on Hai Jie. She tells him of the bad news but he doesn’t seem disappointed because on the note that Alice left, saying that she would come back. Each time he thinks of this, he would be full of hope once again. She takes a closer look at him and realise that he is the garbage man! She scurries away and finds herself blushing.

Hai Jie tells Ting Yu it must be fate that he lacks with Siren.

Die Fei and Ting Yu are driving around searching for Alice. Ting Yu “falls asleep” so Die Fei has to get a jacket and make a blanket for him. She comments that shouldn’t guys be doing this for girls?

They stop at some harbour when Ting Yu finally awakes from his sleep. He tells her that the issue with Siren isn’t that important any more, it must be fate. She deduces that it must be Hai Jie who taught him all about this. He tells her that Hai Jie really can think openly about things and that it is very rare to meet people like him. She agrees and says that Hai Jie’s world is much simpler compared to theirs. She tells him that she has been thinking over the words that he said and that he is correct. It could be her weak point. There is only one way to face the person that she likes – to let them be happy.

He tells her to turn around and sees that she is wearing the necklace that Hai Jie bought her. He asks her if she can be more courageous? What are you talking about? I’m saying I want to enter into this war as well. And he kisses her! She pushes him away and he asks her if she likes it. (Oh man, if you kissed me I would be head over heels!) He tells her not to be so agitated hypnotising himself to throw himself into the feeling only. Every time when he plays each piece of music he can do that. (Yep, I didn’t understand this part…)

She drives off thinking back to what he said about not being so agitated.

She returns back to the place where they are staying and sees Hai Jie out the front. He sees the necklace and tells her that he never thought the necklace would suit her that well. She locks herself in her room. Ting Yu returns and Hai Jie decides to invite her go eat with him and Ting Yu. She passes a note saying that she won’t go. She opens her door and is about to go until…she sees Ting Yu and thinks of what he said.

The boys end up going to the sauna and drinking tea instead of beer because Ting Yu doesn’t want Hai Jie to be drunk. LOL Hai Jie have some brotherly talk. Hai Jie about his Alice and Ting Yu about his Siren.

Ting Yu is outside in the dark fake-playing the violin. Meanwhile, some magic occurs and the master comes to realise that Ting Yu is the one suitable for Siren. Ting Yu is told that the master feels that Siren seems to have chosen Ting Yu itself. The master hopes that he can awake the sleeping Siren and bring out the power within it. He promises  that he will let it sing like it has never sung before. The master also warns him to not play it before he is prepared. Siren could bring him to the top of the world and it could bring him to the darkest bottom.

Ting Yu and Die Fei are on non-speaking terms with Hai Jie being the messenger. Ahahaahahahahaaaas!

Ting Yu picks up Siren and is about to play it but he doesn’t because some power seems to prevent him from doing so.

Ting Yu is rehearsing with a violin that is not Siren and decides that he wants to play Siren.

People from the insurance company are interviewing Ting Yu and Die Fei on the loss of Hai Ou. They ask a lot of questions regarding how close the two are but they are very cold towards each other. The two storm off. Ahahaha.

Outside, Die Fei accidentally bumps into Ting Yu. He asks her what she is thinking about to be so absent-minded. Is it his Hai Ou, Chen Hai Jie or him?

______

My Opinion:

I am much more satisfied with this episode. It was much more filling than the previous episodes. (:

Firstly, I just want to say that I really like Aaron’s english. Ahahahahaa, it sounds so natural and there is no accent to it! It’s so handsome isn’t it? I never actually thought that Ting Yu would be so fierce. It was only just last ep that he started talking to Die Fei and now he kissed her! Now that’s fast!

Every time when I look at Aaron, I tend to look at his eyes and I feel like he has eyeliner on even when he doesn’t. LOL, I guess this is just me… Anyway, I really like his fierceness. It makes him powerful. (: I like that power within him, it’s very intriguing. I really enjoyed his acting this episode. The way he way he was glued to the violin when first caught sight of it was beautiful and when he played it, it was even more beautiful.

Die Fei still gets on my nerves. When she closed the door on Ting Yu and was about to cry I was like, nup, this has no emotion. I couldn’t feel that she was upset with it… However, in saying so, I think she has improved in her acting. (: I think that with the help of Ting Yu she will be able to grow into a much stronger and confident woman. During the harbour scene, you could see the frustration inside her and you could actually feel it. I guess in certain scenes with certain emotions she is better at it than other scenes. I hope that she would be able to continue to improve.

Hai Jie really is a long-hearted person. He still continues to trust and believe in Alice after she left him. A part of me wants him to give up Alice but a part of me wants him to strive and continue to pursue Alice. He better end up with Alice or I would much prefer him to be alone.

Who is this little Alice girl!? Is it his child!? OMGGGGGGG, I am struggling to get my head around this.

Now I am starting to like this drama more and more. With each one of the characters there is a mystery that I want to get to the bottom of. I am dying to know who the little Alice girl is and what big Alice wants for coming back to Taipei. I am really enjoying this mystical side of things. (:

Btw, I apologise for the lack of pictures. Sorry! I’m running out of room to upload pictures. I have to and I will figure out a way to fix this, hopefully. Ahahahahas. If any one has any idea, please feel free to help me out!

Our two male leads finish their bonding time. Hai Jie thanks Ting Yu for accepting him into the Ketagalan Symphony Orchestra. The two stand over at the balcony looking ahead of them. Hai Jie tells him that when he plays the violin up too late, he gets complaints from his neighbours so he can only stop playing. Ting Yu tells him that he cannot hear the compromising side of him instead he hears stubbornness. Hai Jie explains that it could be because he really really loves a person but she left and when he plays the violin he will think of her. 

Ting Yu arrives home to discover Alice asleep in his house. She wakes and he tells him not to move. She asks him how he knows her mother. He tells her that with the exception of his mother, Lisa is the most important person in his life. In a flashback, Lisa saves him from getting bashed up from some gangsters.

Ting Yu falls asleep and wakes up to find a note from Alice saying ‘I am sorry’.

Hai Jie is practising his violin with the crew. However, he gets criticised by the interviewer guy for the way he is playing as he seems uncomfortable. Hai Jie tells him that there is a problem by playing this way. He feels that violin should not be played by this, allowing only the music master to be the star and everyone else to be the dark sky. Hearing this, Ting Yu leaves, as does everyone else.

Ting Yu calls Die Fei in and asks for his schedule. He asks for an event that Die Fei could not seem to find in his ever busy schedule, he recalls how he lost his Hai Ou. He tells her this must be how she lost his Hai Ou and she explains that it has been proven that it was not lost because of her. She finally finds the events and tells him that they (the event) wants to seem the performance of the newbies first before they decide who would play the main role. ‘Newbie? Chen Hai Jie?’ With this he kicks (literally) Die Fei out.

She goes to take a break where she talks out her problems with Hai Jie. She tells him the importance and how much this job means to her. She questions whether this is her problem. He tells her they are here for music and that in this world there is a lot of complicated things in this world. So they must face and do what they love. She invites him to her birthday party which he agrees.

Ting Yu is not practising his violin any more.  He tells the interviewer guy he doesn’t want Hai Jie to leave.

Ting Yu gives Die Fei a scolding which leaves her in tears. He tells her that she has no right to critic them (musicians).

Hai Jie leaves and spots Ting Yu. Ting Yu tells Hai Jie that he does not disagree with his point-of-view for the performance. Hai Jie wants to explain to him about Lan Fei Fei but Ting Yu tells him that he is busy and drives off. Just before his drives off, he tells him that he still owes him a lunch. As he drives off, Hai Jie screams that it doesn’t have to be a lunch; he will take him to a special place next time.

They meet at a natural reserve for a bike ride. Hai Jie starts off behind but soon overrides Ting Yu. (Why does Hai Jie bring his violin everywhere!?) However, Hai Jie stops for a break and so Ting Yu arrives at the destination first. Hai Jie asks him why he must always win. So what if he arrives first, he still has to wait. Ting Yu tells him that he does not like to trail people. Hai Jie joking says that by trailing behind someone at least you won’t get lost. Ting Yu asks him could it be possible that he doesn’t want to put up a challenge? He jokingly replies ‘you’. Jokingly? ‘Well why did you make it so difficult for me?’ Hai Jie tells him that he was just voicing her opinion and wasn’t purposely targeting him. Hai Jie also tells Ting Yu to give Die Fei some more time, and he invites Ting Yu to a party.

Alice and her mother spend some bonding time together.

The boys go shopping for a birthday present for Die Fei.  Hai Jie buys a necklace and Ting Yu buys some Beethoven CD thingy.

It’s a dress up birthday party. Die Fei is dressed up as a vampire and even puts on fake blood in order to scare the crowd. However as she walks and trips onto Ting Yu. Whoops. The cake arrives and she makes three wishes. Wish 1 – For all her good friends to find their other half. Wish 2 – For everyone to never get lost and to always be able to find themselves. Wish 3 – Not telling. Anyway, it’s not awkward as she gives Ting Yu a hug when she sees the present.

It’s truth or dare time. Hai Jie gets asked the question ‘do you have a girlfriend?’ He passes it to Ting Yu who answer that he doesn’t but he gets asked the question again anyway. He says that he did have one but then he lost it.

Alice and Hai Jie have simultaneous flashbacks to the time when they spent their last night together. She tells him about her life and  birthplace in Japan. He asks her why she likes him and she tells him that he resembles a boy that she liked when she was younger. (Okay… she does not like you for you) One day she was crying and the little boy took her hand and told her a bunch of words that she could not make sense of trying to comfort her.  The next day he finds a note from Alice saying that if there is a chance, she will come back to find him.

Yeahhh…back in reality, Hai Jie has gotten himself drunk so Ting Yu and Die Fei has to send him back home.

Meanwhile, Alice gets a message from a guy called SJ (my first thought is Super Junior. LOL) asking her where she is and to reply back.

After sending Hai Jie back home, Die Fei and Ting Yu are waiting at the bus stop. He discovers that she likes Hai Jie. He tells her that even if Alice does not return, Hai Jie’s heart will never have  a place for her. He tells her that he will take the bus for the first time. The bus arrives, Die Fei hopes on and the bus drives off. He then gives her a salute.

Lisa meets Mei Mei’s mother who she brought back into the right path.

Ting Yu’s face lights up at the discovery of Siren. However, his manager is reluctant to allow him to go and get it because the violin brings on a curse to anyone who has played it. No one has lived past the age of 35. However, Ting Yu is adamant to get Siren and the only way he can do this is to personally travel to Japan.

Alice meets her mother at the zoo and she has transitioned back into the old and innocent Alice. They talk and her mother brings up a memory which she clearly remembers but tells her mother that she has no impression of it. She then receives another message from SJ.

Die Fei and Hai Jie are more than surprised when they discover that they will be going to Japan with Ting Yu.

______

My Opinion:

Yet another slow episode. My patience is running out! I am dying for some progress to happen in this! Usually with each episode in a drama there will be anticipation and let downs but this, well, to say the least it is dead flat with let downs. If this continues, I’ll just be watching this drama for the sake of Aaron Yan (I don’t like to drop series that I have started). I can’t even feel any emotions from Aaron. It’s just very…bland.

I am very disappointed in Die Fei, in both the character and the actor. Her character is very one sided. She doesn’t seem to have another side to her. I think that when we start to see her sing, there will be another side to her but for now it is very bland and basic. I don’t get the purpose of her role. What annoys me about her is not just her voice but how she cries. It’s all very fake and I don’t see the emotion there.

I am just that teeny bit less disappointed with Alice. At least she has a character. She is on the run from SJ, that I am sure about. I want to see her and Hai Jie meet again. I wonder how things will turn out. Ahahaha… I want them to be together but even so I do not see the chemistry between her and Hai Jie.

Basically, no one has any chemistry with anyone in this drama. I was so looking forward to this drama and so far it has been disappointing.

Alice in Wonder City

Episode 2

Intro

Heh, I’m liking this drama if anything because I love men who play violins… and there’s plenty of that in this drama since both lead actors are violinist~ However I am confused about the lead girl Alice… and you’ll see why.

Recap

We open to a scene in which Die Fei (or Fei Fei as Hai Jie keeps calling her) is being somewhat reprimanded by her father who tells her that she must thank her sister for working extra hours and getting her a job.  She pouts a bit and goes to listen to CD’s of Ting Yu but her relaxing time is interrupted by the trash truck coming by…

And it turns out that your local trash man is Hai Jie not that either notices each other since after she throws the bag right past his face she’s already half way down the block and he can’t complain at her for smearing him with the contents of the nasty bag.

The next day Ting Yu is still in a huge snit about the robbed violin ( I think I would be too, but he’s totally taking it out on the wrong person) and Die Fei tells him straight out that he better stop accusing her for the stolen violin when all she did was retrieve what was in his car. He asks her if he’s the one that stole the violin then?

We find out a bit of what the reason for Die Fei’s sister’s abnormally long hours. It appears that she’s dating Ting Yu’s Manager and they’ve been keeping it on the down low. She tells him that if he really thinks that Die Fei took the violin then it’s like he’s saying he doesn’t trust her since Die Fei is her mei-mei. He apologizes and goes in for a kiss which she avoids until he remembers to close the curtains to his office.

As it turns out Ting Yu’s katageran-(or something like that) orchestra is looking for a second violin and Hai Jie has submitted an application for consideration. Ting Yu’s not all that happy to having to look for a violinist when his precious Hai Ou is missing and when Hai Jie is not right on time, Ting Yu’s ready to just leave the venue without waiting for him.

Die Fei and Manager stick up for Hai Jie and ask Ting Yu to wait. Manager reminds Ting Yu that Hai Jie lent him the violin when he needed one. Die Fei tells him that Hai Jie seems to really respect him and admire him, so could he just please wait for just a couple more minutes. Ting Yu scoffs at the fact that Hai Jie respects him, he tells her that it sure didn’t seem like that when Hai Jie even gave him advice! And he has a lot of admirers but that doesn’t mean he has to cater to each of them.

Just as everything seems to be the end and Hai Jie has lost his opportunity, Hai Jie comes rushing in and smiles and asks pardon for being late (he’d gotten side tracked because he’d thought he’d seen Alice in a cab); Ting Yu huffs and goes to sit and listen to Hai Jie play.

Hai Jie sets up for his performance, talking to his violin like it’s his best friend. As he plays we get flashbacks to his time with Alice, everybody listens to him, enjoying his music, but the surprise is Ting Yu. As soon as Hai Jie sets his violin down Ting Yu springs up and talks a mile a minute, completely euphoric, “it’s him, it’s him! I didn’t just hear the music I could see it!”  He hurries out of the hall throwing over his shoulder to his manager that they must get together to talk about his lost violin predicament.

The change in Ting Yu’s demeanor is amazing and Hai Jie can’t even begin to comprehend how drastically his mood was changed.  But he’s not the only one since everybody else present is in the same state of confusion. All the manager can tell Hai Jie is that he’s hired because nobody can override Ting Yu’s decisions.

 Hai Jie and Die Fei stroll around together afterwards commenting on the sudden turn of events. Hai Jie tells her that he can barely even comprehend how he even came to finally be part of the orchestra. She asks him if he’d wanted this for a very long time. Hai Jie starts to say that not really since he wanted Alice to hear his music, but when Dei Fei tries to find out more about Alice he shuts up and says that all he really wants is for more people to hear his music. She notices that he is a little strange and tells him that he must be an alien just like Ting Yu and that’s why Ting Yu took a shine to him. Hai Jie wonders at how it seemed like Ting Yu could see into him as Ting Yu listened to his playing.

The next day Hai Jie receives a call from his older sister who confides in him that her daughter is playing hooky in school ever since she announced that she was getting remarried to her boyfriend.

We cut to her daughter walking around, insulting would-be players and shop-lifting.  She’s saved from consequences of this last offence by the same lady from the first episode who steered a runaway little boy back to school.  She pretends to be the mother and then invited her over to eat. Hai Jie’s niece is a brat, but the lady is thick skinned and just lets her rude comments slide and asks her why she ignores her calls and doesn’t go to school. The girl doesn’t answer her but seems a bit taken aback at her forthright questioning.

When the girl goes back home she finds her mother receiving a shoulder massage from her boyfriend and refuses to let them talk to her or even try to get along. Apparently her behaviour is strange because mom’s boyfriend and her used to get along pretty well before the marriage announcement.

 Cut to a party that the kind lady is hosting for a whole bunch of kids. The party is apparently Alice in Wonderland themed because I see random kids disguised as Card Deck soldiers and the place is decorated with Alice paraphernalia. One person isn’t really into the spirit of the party and seems like she’s not invited, it’s Alice (with quite the different “look” than the one she sported the year before when she met Hai Jie). 

She walks up to the lady who coincidentally seems to be on friendly terms with are resident irritable violinists Ting Yu. Alice ignores Ting Yu who’s sitting there at the table and calls the lady who we find out is Jin Li Sha, “oka-san”  and informs her that she’s her daughter Ito Seiko.  The Li Sha (Lisa’s) cordial smile stays frozen as she seems to try gathering her wits and respond properly to Seiko.

The party is disbanded and Ting Yu sits for a while in his car before driving home. Once home he starts to play the violin of great sadness, and takes a trip down memory lane of his own mother begging him to please not leave her while lying in a hospital bed.

 While Seiko/Alice is taking a bath Lisa’s mind begins to replay the events that occurred right after her husband died in a botany excursion in South America. She remembers how after paying their respects to their son, her husband’s parents requested that she hand over her daughter to them. of course she refuses and tells them straight out that it’s impossible because Alice is her most important person and it’s completely out of line for her father in law to request she hand over her daughter.

Seiko/Alice walk in with a towel and flippantly asks her what room will be hers for the duration of her stay.  Lisa asks her if she’s sure she’s the daughter that she was looking for, Seiko tells her names and a redux version of her story. This completely convinces Lisha and she accepts it and shows her to her room where Seiko shuts the door in her face after a cursory good night.

In bed Lisa remembers how she ran towards the dock calling for Alice just as her in-laws leave in a boat. She’s pulled out of her reverie by a text from Ting Yu who asks her if she’s alright and wants to talk.

Lisa walks out of the house and into Ting Yu’s car where he’s waiting with a warm drink. Alice spies on them from the living room.

Ting Yu asks how Li Sha’s feeling and asks her why she’s not happy after having found her daughter. Li Sha isn’t sure of the reason, but she feels that the daughter she has in front of her is very different from the daughter in her memories. She’s weirded out by the fact that Seiko calls her “oka-san” when she used to call her mom in taiwanese. Somehow Lisha feels like the memory Seiko is much more familiar than the present flippant, attitude filled Seiko.

The next day is time for some mother-daughter bonding meal. During the meal we see that Alice is somewhat struggling to tell her mother that she doesn’t blame her because the past is the past. However Lisa doesn’t feel like it’s the past because for twenty-plus years she had to live without any knowledge of her daughter thanks to her in-laws sneaking in while she slept next to a sick Alice. The took advantage of her exhaustion and slipped away, just leaving a note telling her that they took her.

She says that she can’t forgive them and can’t just leave it in the past. She asks Alice if she resents her for not finding her, and tells her that she searched and searched until her visa ran out and then she had her friends still in Japan search for Alice but to no avail. Alice lightly places her hand over her mother’s as her mother cries in anger and sadness at the pain she received all those years thanks to her selfish in- laws.

The next morning Ting Yu arrives with an offering of food for Lisa and Alice, but Alice rudely declines and asks that Lisa go and fetch her from a food vendor nearby. Lisa goes willingly and leaves Ting Yu behind with her rude daughter… not a good choice.

The first thing that Alice does is call Ting Yu Lisa’s boy-toy. This makes Ting Yu furious and he tells her that she doesn’t deserve Lisa as a mother, because Lisa’s a good person and Alice is just an unmannered rude brat. Alice keeps pushing Ting Yu’s buttons and even throws her drink at him – he almost slaps her, but he reigns himself in and stalks out the door before things become worse.

When Lisa comes back she’s surprised at the mess and at Ting Yu’s absence, she asks Alice what happened, and Alice tells her flippantly that she told Ting Yu that she would accept her mother and her boy-toy easily and wouldn’t be mad. Lisa sighs and tells her firmly that Ting Yu is just a really good friend to her, and that they’re not in any relationship that Alice is imagining. She asks that Alice go and apologize to Ting Yu.

Hai Jie shows up for his very first rehearsal with the orchestra and as he peeks into the door he sees that Die Fei is running around placing chairs and attending to the different musicians. When he see her rolling in an extra chair for him, he offers to take it and places her in the chair telling her that he will give her a ride in the special Hai Jie train and put a smile on her face. He then proceeds to scare her silly but elicits spontaneous laughter from her.

Ting Yu’s still in his apartment looking over Hai Jie’s information and last minute preparation for rehearsal when Alice shows up at his door. He asks why she’s here and she tells him that she came to apologize. Which as Ting Yu points out, she’s doing a poor job of accomplishing  since she’s brazenly just invited herself in despite his protests. She tells him that she doesn’t feel like apologizing just yet and proceeds to look through his cupboard exclaiming at his poor eating habits (he only has cornflakes and water).

He asks her to hurry up since he has important things to do and needs to leave. However she decides that she’ll keep invading his privacy and makes it so that he has to leave while she’s still in his house. As soon as he leaves she hurries to rifle through his other drawers… is there something she wants from him? (sincerely Alice’s character has me all confoozzled because she is nothing like the sweet though mysterious Alice that Hai Jie recalls) 

At rehearsal Ting Yu and Hai Jie bring the house down with their violin duets- well jaws down. Manager even suggest that they record this duet for an upcoming album Ting Yu’ll be recording. Hai Jie is honored and Ting Yu doesn’t disagree with the idea.

During a break in rehearsal Ting Yu thanks Hai Jie properly for the violin loan the first time they meant. Hai Jie laughs it off and says that he was glad he could help. Ting Yu tells him that playing Hai Jie’s violin gave him almost the same comfort as playing his own beloved Hai Ou.  Hai Jie asks him how the search for the violin is going and Ting Yu tells him that there’s still no clue as to where the violin could be, and meanwhile he’s trying to learn to make new “friends”.

Hai Jie lets him in on a little piece of his own history with his violin. His violin was given to him on a loan by a friend, and that one day he would give it back to his friend. Ting Yu wonders why he’d return it after having it for so long. Hai Jie smiles and tells him that because he’d made an agreement with his friend: that when he became an incomparable violinist he’d return the violin, but there’s still quite some time till that happens.  (I’m not sure but I’m having a sneaking suspicion that Hai Jie and Ting Yu might have known each other during childhood because Ting Yu seemed to react a bit to to this story- or I may be reading way too much into it )

They both make plans to go eat out together but Manager comes in with a request that Ting Yu make an appearance and play at a sponsor’s house warming party. Ting Yu refuses because he wants to go out to eat with Hai Jie like he’s already planned but the manager keeps insisting. Finally, Hai Jie comes up with the compromise that they BOTH go to party and play. Ting Yu accepts but not without some glaring at being made a commodity for the house warming party.

The  performance goes off without a hitch, and even though Hai Jie seems to be having a good enough time at the party, he notices that Ting Yu is extremely unhappy at being there. So he suggests that they skip out of the party, at first Ting Yu was uncertain, but Hai Jie’s excitement infects him and he even takes four bottles of the wine just as they’re leaving.

They go to a cafe to drink and talk, and Ting Yu reveals that he’s been going to those kind of gatherings since childhood because of his prodigy status. Hai Jie is surprised that they made him go and perform like a treasure to be taken out and admired at “important” occasions.

Comments

I like the newly found rapport between the male leads and hope that their friendship becomes deeper! Ting Yu needs a fun-loving person like Hai Jie around so that he can stop taking everything so seriously, and perhaps stop being such an uptight person around others.

Hai Jie and Die Fei are cute together, she tries so hard to be stern around him but she always ends up going at his pace, and can’t help but laugh or smile when she’s around him.

Alice is a mystery to me, I don’t understand what she wants? Why did she start rummaging furtively through Ting Yu’s apartment as soon as he closed the door? Why did she become such a rude punk within a span of a year? I think Hai Jie may be disappointed that she’s changed so much, and isn’t the girl that he met the year before.

One thing I do have to complain about: the episode endings, don’t seem all that interesting, it’s like  the director and editor thought “oh we filmed and filmed… hmmm this might be a good place to stop, cut here this’ll be today’s ending” without really planning and leaving me hanging for more. Aside from that I’m enjoying the chill and relaxed vibe the story is giving, and I’m looking forward to what more they can mine from the Alice in Wonderland idea. Where is it going? hmmm

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• Intro: Alice in Wonder City- Episode 1 (noisesfromthecloset.wordpress.com)

Die Fei tries to sneak home without her father noticing but she cannot escape her father’s keen eye. Her father tells her to come for dinner and asks her where her sister is. Overtime. (Really? Overtime aye?) Her father tells her to thank her sister for everything that she has done for her, especially getting her the job. (Oh wow, it’s been one year and now you say this!?) After dinner, Die Fei returns to her room filled with posters and CDs of Ting Yu. She thought she could peacefully listen to one of Ting Yu’s CD but the rubbish truck just had to come now. She almost missed the rubbish truck. LOL

Ting Yu won’t begin work until he has his Hai Ou.’Why haven’t you been fired yet?’ She tells him that really didn’t loose his violin. ‘Could it be me then?’ She really has no energy to argue with him and seeing that he is not going to work, she might as well leave.

Yu Shu does her best to convince her boyfriend and Ting Yu’s manager, Tang Jin Cang, that her sister did not loose the violin even use her seductive skills.

It’s the violin testing day. Ting Yu gives Hai Jie a second chance. But is he going to take this chance? On his way to the testing, he sees a girl in a taxi who resembles Alice so he decides to chase after her instead. It turns out that he got the wrong person.

Hai Jie is the last participant and he is yet to arrive. Ting Yu is about to give up when Hai Jie arrives puffed and chuffed.

Hai Jie goes up on stage and talks to his violin before he starts to play. (Nawwww, how cute!) As he plays he recalls the time he spent with Alice. One night they share a kiss together and then he wakes up to find Alice not by his side. Of course he grows anxious and goes out to look for her and they embrace in a sweet hug.

After he finishes everyone just stares at him. Then Ting Yu gives out the first applauses and chooses him. ‘I didn’t just hear it, I also saw it. It’s you.’

Die Fei praises Hai Jie saying that she has never seen Ting Yu give praise to another musician. Hai Jie tells her that this Ting Yu is not the one that he knows and that he especially understands him. That feeling is like standing in front of him. When Ting Yu talks to him, it feels really earnest. However, it is a good thing because he always thought that his violin only calls out to Alice and never thought that it would be able to call up to one of his friends.

Hai Jie goes to visit his sister at a kindergarten and discovers that his niece, Su Mei Mei, has been skipping school again. Hai Jie tells her sister that this could be due to the fact that she is going to get married soon.

Mei Mei is skipping school, wandering the streets and the shops. Alice’s mother sees this wandering girl and follows her. She follows Mei Mei to a shop where she sees Mei Mei nicking a pair of earrings. She saves her from being caught and continues to follow her along to try and talk to her. She succeeds and manages to get Mei Mei to talk. During the middle of their conversation, Mei Mei receives a call from her uncle (her mother’s future husband) saying that he will always be her best friend…

Mei Mei arrives home with her uncle trying to coax her, which doesn’t end up so well. She confides herself in her room and looks through her bag. She discovers the earrings, a bag of yummy food and a card – Lisa King.

Alice arrives as a totally different Alice to gatecrash her mother’s Halloween party and to reunite with her mother. Her mother is still not convinced that Alice is her daughter until she explains it all. When her mother was twenty, she went to Beijing and met her father. They soon got married and gave birth to a girl. When she was three years old, her father encountered an accident. She apologises for her behaviour but tells that the feeling of being treated as a stranger by her own mother isn’t very appreciative.

Meanwhile, Ting Yu is out recalling his own mother.

Lisa is pouring a drink and has flashbacks of when she got separated from her daughter. It was at her husband’s funeral when her in-laws tells her that they want to take Alice and care for her themselves.

Ting Yu calls Lisa and tells her to come outside, he is downstairs waiting. He asks her should she be happy that she has found her daughter? She tells him that she doesn’t know what she needs to be happy. She never thought she would be able to see Alice again. She has never forgotten the last time she called her mother. Now the daughter standing in front of her face feels like a complete stranger and very unreal and she feels very distant from her.

The newly reunited mother and daughter share some bonding time together. Alice asks to stay for a while which Lisa agrees to. Lisa suggests that they go shopping to buy some pretty clothes together. Alice tells her that she doesn’t need pretty clothes, she only wants to spend time with her mother. Her mother tells that that year when her father passed away, she had a really high temperature. She stayed by her side the entire time, feeding her medicine changing her ice pack until her temperature went back to normal. Then she woke up to find her not by her side any more and a letter from her father-in-law saying that they took her away. Ever after that she searched and searched for her but she was no where to be found. Alice tells that everything is the fast and it doesn’t matter any more.

Ting Yu arrives at Lisa’s house with breakfast where he and Alice meet for the first time. She wants to eat xiao long bao and her mother is more than happy to go and buy some for her daughter, leaving Alice alone with Ting Yu. She thinks he is her mother’s boyfriend and well… they do not get along very well… She even managed to splash water on him. Hehehe Her mother returns and takes in what has happened. She tells Alice to and apologise to him because he is her good friend.

She goes to his house to apologise and manage to linger in his house. He can’t find a way to kick her out and is in a rush to head to rehearsals so he leaves her there. As soon as he leaves, she immediately searches his house… Something fishy going on

Ting Yu and Hai Jie share a harmonic rehearsal together. Later he invites Hai Jie out to eat. Oh, brothership here? However, there is a sudden change to Ting Yu’s schedule. He is invited to one of the sponsors’ house-warming party.  However he immediately declines because he is going to dinner with Hai Jie and does not like to change his schedule. Hai Jie suggests a way to kill two birds with one stone – they could go together.

Ting Yu plays at the house-warming party, eager to leave as soon as possible and doesn’t even take a bow. The two leads leave and share some brother bonding time together.

______

My Opinion:

Oh wow, another slow-paced episode. I am very eager to see this develop some more. I’m just afraid that with the slowness of this drama, everything will be just rushed through later in the drama. This is episode was so slow-paced that I am hardly seeing any of the characters develop. It left me with a lot of questions and not much answers.

With Alice and Lisa’s relationship, I would have thought that they would be over reactive about it. Instead they were very calm about everything. Lisa didn’t see too enthusiastic having found her daughter with Alice is very calm about meeting her father. I expected her to blame her mother for leaving her or at least be quite angry about it. Instead, they are the complete opposite of what I expected.

What’s different about this drama is the casting. By this I don’t mean the actors, but what I mean is how it is set out. (Are you getting me? LOL) Each of the character’s time is evenly spread out that you can’t really tell who is the lead even you know who are the leads and sometimes the second leads get more screen time than the leads. However, I quite like this. This allows each of the characters to show themselves and develop.

Also, what else I like about this casting is that the leads aren’t all just young idols. I really appreciate that they have cast a middle-aged woman as a lead.

The next episode looks…boring… I just hope this gets better in time.

First off, AARON YAN!!!!!!!  Ahhh I remember back when I was a fan of his character in KO One.  Hehehe time flies.  Aaron Yan plays Ting Yu, a famous violinist who’s arrogant, flawed, harbors a dark past, and wears guyliner.  As much as I love Aaron, sorry, but I just could not like his character by the end of the episode.  Although Ting Yu doesn’t really like the spotlight/media, this guy’s ego shoots through the roof.  He thinks he’s the center of the performance and that’s all that matters.  Yes he’s good but that’s no excuse to act like the world revolves around him.  I cannot wait for him to learn some humility. 

So far I like the mystery surrounding Alice in Wonder City because it shows us a glimpse of the characters’ secrets, just enough to keep us interested and wanting to know more.  Of course Tian Yu has some issues aside from his ego.  He suffers from insomnia and some deep dark secret about his past. 

Now for the real highlight of Alice in Wonder City…..

CHEN HAI JIE. (Xiu Jie Kai)  I LOVEEEEEEE HAI JIE.  In contrast to Ting Yu, Hai Jie is just an ordinary, happy go lucky guy.  He has such joy when he plays the violin that his performances seem to outshine Ting Yu’s.  Maybe Hai Jie doesn’t have the skills to rival Ting Yu, but he has the heart.  This guy always smiles from ear to ear and makes everyone around him happier.   HE JUST MAKES MY DAY BETTER.  I WILL WATCH THIS DRAMA!!!!! FOR HAI JIE!!!!!!

^I loved it when he offered her a bunny helmet and goes “Kaiwaii!!” And then he ends up wearing it.  Heheheh. 

Hai Jie is such a cute dork that he woos a mysterious Japanese foreigner, Alice, by following her around and playing the violin.  He’s like a cute puppy.  How could you resist him?  Anyway, even though they only hang out for a couple of days, Alice & Hai Jie have a multitude of shippy OTP scenes together.  Hai Jie is absolutely adorable because he’s obviously crushing on Alice. 

As for our two heroines:
As I already mentioned, we have Alice, who’s clearly using a fake name.  Her real name is Ito Seiko.  Little is known about her in episode 1, except that she also has a very sad childhood.  I instantly took a liking to her because she has a quiet beauty to her, and has a more sophisticated air than the other heroine.  However it’s very easy for her to remain a cookie-cutter character who’s just nice and pretty and..nice.  Thankfully the preview for episode 2 reveal that she has GUTS.  I am stoked to find out her family secret and to see how she has changed.  I have a feeling she will be an awesome heroine.

The other heroine is Lan Die Fei.  She’s a down-to-earth girl who gets a job as a coordinator at the orchestra hall where Ting Yu plays.  Both before and after the time lapse, she got on my nerves.  Maybe it’s her acting, maybe it’s her sorta ditzy personality, I just don’t know.  I expected her to become more mature and professional after the time lapse, but it didn’t happen.  I love down-to-earth heroines, but so far Die Fei just does not have the wow factor that makes me want to root for her. 

^there are lots of broody scenes for Ting Yu.  Great for Aaron Yan fans.

And so we have a time lapse of 1 year.  I was not expecting that time lapse at all, but I’m glad that Alice has proved to be fast paced right from the start. 

Alice has disappeared from Hai Jie’s life (the poor guy still dwells on her).  Die Fie continues her job as a concert coordinator.  Meanwhile Hai Jie happens to meet Die Fie by chance, and the two become friends. 

I was surprised by the reversals in the characters’ relationships..I was expecting Hai Jie & Alice to be the OTP all the way but now I’m not so sure.  I’m starting to ship him with Die Fei.  I also expected Die Fei & Ting Yu to be canon, but apparently there has been no change at all in their relationship after one year, so HMMM.  I’m not sure where this is going.  Ting Yu & Alice have some great chemistry in the preview (hopefully they’re not related, or I would be crushed) so I will possibly jump on their ship. 

Overall
After watching another Taiwanese drama, Love Forward, in HD, I just…I just cannot go back to the low quality videos.  AUGHHHHHHHHHH.  Alice in Wonder City is very nicely filmed and I really think the low quality videos do not do this drama justice.  There are many beautiful scenes but the low quality sorta ruined it for me.  This is probably why I felt like I had a sorta negative tone in this post, because I was grumpy about the quality.  Don’t worry, I will readjust!

I think overall, ep1 was a bit slower because it was setting up the premise of the drama.  I’m waiting to get to the heart of the plot and I’m hoping that it’s not going to be your typical drama.  As a “human drama,” which I take to be of a sorta slice-of-life genre, it ought to deal more with the characters’ difficulties and relationships as they struggle through life together.

On a more positive note, be assured that I’m actually very excited for the next episode!  I was surprised that Aaron Yan & Xie Jiu Kai can actually play the violin.  I’m also wondering if Die Fei & Alice have some sort of musical talent as well.  The characters are pretty interesting and I cannot wait to see how all of them become involved with each other.  I can’t wait to see Alice & Ting Yu!! And Hai Jie, of course!!!!

Tick, tick, tick. Chen Hai Jie (Xiu Jie Kai) finds himself in wonderland (get the pun here? LOL) with a pocket watch in his hand that strikes 10:30. Then the alarm strikes 10:30, how coincidental aye? Oh no! He is going to be late! He quickly gets himself up and hurriedly gets himself to the place he needs to be.

Meanwhile, Lan Die Fei (Lara Veronin) is helping her big sister, Lan Yu Shu (Cherry Hsia) out at the He Ting Yu orchestra. However, the concert master (?) has not yet arrived and everyone is getting extremely worried. At long last, the concert master, He Ting Yu (Aaron Yan) finally makes an appearance.

Ting Yu puts on a brilliant concert (even when one of his violin strings break) while Hai Jie is also putting on a beautiful performance for a child’s birthday. When a person comes to mock (sorry, no better word came into mind) Ting Yu for being so calm even when his violin string broke, Ting Yu comes back with a wonderful remark ‘Who said the last part of the performance needed to be played on the E string? Can’t you even distinguish what is a broken string and a performance?’ Oh, before he leaves, he reminds his manager to send his violin, Hai Ou, back to his house when it is fixed.

There, Hai Jie meets a mysterious girl. No verbal communication, but he uses his music to make contact with her.  After the birthday party, he coincidentally meets the girl again. He discovers that she is a Japanese girl is Alice (Tracy Zhou) who is at Taiwan for vacation where he decides to be her tour guide starting from tomorrow. (Is this love at first sight? On the way home, he sees a poster advertising for the last Ting Yu Orchesta. It’s today but it’s ashame that he can’t go and see it.

Die Fei is at a job interview for a job at the orchestra. She is challenged by one of the interviewers by identified various songs. She identifies the first song to be Fritz Kreisler’s Liebesleid which is correct. The interviewer then plays another song which is also identifies to be Fritz Kreisler’s Liebeslied. However, it is Ting Yu’s rendition that was released in 2007. That was also the year when the Ketagalan Symphony Orchestra was founded. Ting Yu was supposed to be the director, however, he fell ill and had to hire him (Li Yun, the interviewer) to be the director instead. Ting Yu overhears all this and steps in. He is amazed that she could pick up the sound of his violin and so he gave her the job. Just before he leaves, he tells her that the reason for letting go of the position of director at hte Ketagalan Symphony Orchestra wasn’t because he fell ill but because he was too lazy to take care of those things.

A middle-aged cafe woman finds a child skipping school, roaming the streets freely so she bribes her in to have a talk with the kid. She has the heart for kids.

Meanwhile, Alice is eyeing the cafe from across the road, waiting for Hai Jie. The woman is stilled as she sees Alice. (Hmmm…some sort of relation here?)

Hai Jie takes Alice to a park. At the park Alice sees a mother with her daughter and recalls the time when she got separated from her mother. To bring her back to reality, Hai Jie stands on the edge of the pool and plays the violin for her. He then falls into the water and they spend a sweet time together.

It’s one year later…

Hai Jie is back at the park where he spent with Alice.

Dear Alice, Do you remember? This was the place of our first date a year ago. I’ve always kept it in my heart. But where are you right now?

Die Fei has come to pick up Ting Yu. However, he insisted on driving. Oh, fine, that’s okay. She’ll just take passenger seat then. But nooooo, she can’t. That seat belongs to his Hai Ou.

It’s just before his performance and he has been taking sleeping peels for his insomnia.

It’s the day of the performance and guess who’s late again? Of course it’s Ting Yu. Everyone is worried about what to do. Luckily, Hai Jie comes to the rescue because he can plays this song too. So he goes to rehearse with the band. Finally, Ting Yu makes an appearance. In his dressing room, he notices that someone else has taken his position so he throws a tantrum. To knock him off some more, he discovers that his Hai Ou is missing. Ting Yu’s manager sends Die Fei down to Ting Yu’s car to bring him back his Hai Ou. She brings it in, but he just throws it on the ground because it is not his Hai Ou. He throws an even bigger tantrum. WHERE IS MY HAI OU? Die Fei gets accused of possibly losing Ting Yu’s Hai Ou and is made to fix this problem because she lost it in her hands. She sees Hai Jie sitting there idly and thinks of an idea.

While Die Fei is frantically searching for a solution, Ting Yu is undertaking an interview. He gets asked as a violinist, why does he play the violin and whether playing in the orchestra gives him a special feeling. He answers that he doesn’t know. This is just his task, his job and nothing more. He repeats that he does not need to know why he plays the violin and as for whether he is happy or not, that doesn’t matter. The interviewer also asks him what happened when he was 17 because when he started playing violin at the age of 10, he won awards every year except that year. He has some flashback and answers that that year he died.

Suddenly, Die Fei bursts in with Hai Jie saying that she has found the violin. Ting Yu takes a hold of the violin and immediately has some connection to it and asks to borrow it from Hai Jie. Using it, he plays a successful performance.

Hai Jie goes to praise Ting Yu for his performance but it’s ashame that during the last part of the song he fell weak. Instead of accepting his criticism, Ting Yu gives him a backlash telling that he is of no standard to criticise his performance.

Die Fei is outside considering whether to quite her job or not because she did lose Hai Ou in her hands. Her sister does not believe that she would steal it. Hai Jie thanks her for allowing him to see such a magnificent performance and tells her that he has faith that everything will be fine. She tells him that today’s performance was really different; Ting Yu never plays other’s violin and today is the first time. He then decides to name his violin Hai Tun (Dolphin). LOL

Ting Yu is at home wondering about the answer that he gave to the reporter.

______

My Opinion:

This was a slow start to the drama. I kind of expected it to start with an explosion but it didn’t. Everything happened so quickly yet it was quite slow-paced. Just at the first quarter of the episode, there was literally no communication going whatsoever. And by this I mean verbal communication. But then in a way there was. I felt that the music communicated to me. It’s like music is a whole different language that helps to tell the story itself. There was just this connection that allowed me to understand the drama even more.

I think this would be my first (if I remember correctly) that tells it from the male’s perspective. I really enjoy this because it is a whole different story, from their perspective. I really want to see how this turns out because of this is unique and a first for me. I really hope it delivers.

Jie Kai really shined in this episode. He really stood out for me. I actually think that he outshined the male (sorry Aaron, I still love you!). He showed this power, the power with his music and the power with Alice.

I am glad to see Aaron on screen! Yay! (: He is handsome as always. He is the typical male lead, always thinking that they are the best of the best and wanting things their way. Aahahaha, not much emotion from him, just a poker face and some angry (?) faces. However, I would like to see his acting connect more with the audience. I couldn’t feel the connection I did with Jie Kai. I really want to see him open up, not only in the drama but with the audience.

I’m liking the actress who plays Alice. She is really cute and I think she is suitable for the role. Oh, btw, I like her Japanese pronunciation. I wonder who she will be paired up with… (:

I hope more happens in the next ep.

Alice in Wonder City

Episode 1

This drama starts of with one of our leads having a dream that he’s the rabbit in wonder land. He wakes up just as he gets to know the name of the little girl in his dream: Alice.

The we see two very different lives, our dreamer is Chen Hai Jie, an amateur violinist who hopes to make it big one day, his playing is cheerful and hopeful too, his face expressing joy as he plays.

Then there’s the bigshot grandmaster He Ting Yu. He is rather more serious faced and he seems to have an attitude problem since he doesn’t mind making the orchestra wait for him and doesn’t even apologize to the conductor.

We also meet our main heroines. The japanese speaking Alice who’s taken with Hai  Jie’s playful violin and who accepts his lively suggestion that he show her around Taiwan.

Lan Die Fei on the other hand is a fan of Ting Yu’s violin and has managed to score an interview with the orchestra Ting Yu is affiliated with through he sister who works there. Ting Yu hears part of the interview and decides that he likes what he’s heard from her response and hires her on the spot.

Alice is waiting for Hai Jie the next day but she’s staring off at a cafe but denies that she wants anything to drink. The cafe  is owned by a caring lady, who seems to have suffered through losing a child – stolen? and therefore stretches out a caring hand to a little boy who has skipped school. (I’m going out on a limb here, but might Alice be her daughter?)

 Alice and Hai Jie have a fun time on their trek through Taiwan, he tries to get her to  wear a ridiculously cute helmet but ends up wearing it himself. She is enjoying her time with Hai Jie but there’s something that must be on her mind, because when it’s quiet her attention wanders hundreds of miles away to unpleasant memories of crying and a mother yelling for her daughter, the only thing that brings her back is Hai Jie’s violin. 

Afterwards we have a time skip of one year, and it’s once again a performance day for Ting Yu. Once again Ting Yu is brooding over some tortuous past that has left him with chronic insomnia, and a brooding and selfish personality. This makes him late yet again as he continuously ignores the call by Die Fei and his assistant. 

Hai Jie had missed last years because of a gig and this year he hurries to try and make it to the concert. As luck would have it Die Fei and Hai Jie bump into each other outside the Concert Hall, and she let’s him follow her backstage.

Once inside he’s suddenly recruited to play Ting Yu’s part during a rehearsal whenTing Yu’s assistant and the conductor hear a sample of his playing talent.  Ting Yu walks in during the rehearsal and becomes pissed off that they would replace him even for just a rehearsal.

Then he looks around and notices that no one brought up his favourite violin Hai Ou and throws another tantrum until Die Fei goes to pick it up from his car (he’s such a friggin’ prince that he couldn’t have brought it up himself).

Turns out that when Die Fei took up the violin case the violin isn’t Ting Yu’s violin… he throws an even bigger tantrum and he and the assistant accuse Die Fei of stealing the violin in the three minutes it took her to get it and bring it up… so stupid.

Somehow Ting Yu calms down and grants an interview which is interrupted by Die Fei dragging Hai Jie and offering his violin for Ting Yu to use. It’s a good thing that Hai Jie is a good sport and willingly goes along with her plan and hands his violin over.  Ting Yu seems pleased enough with Hai Jie’s violin and accepts it as one time replacement for the night’s performance.

The performance goes off very well, but in the midst of Hai Jie’s enjoyment of the evening something in Ting Yu’s playing surprises him, he later tells Ting Yu to his face that his interpretation seemed weak. Ting Yu doesn’t take nicely to being critiqued by a nobody violinist who doesn’t have an orchestra to play in, he starts scolding his assistant for letting a nobody play with his orchestra.

Hai Jie’s almost non existent temper is sparked and he tells Ting Yu off for being such a diva since all they’d done was try to keep things on track. Ting Yu tells him that it’s as it should be because people come to see HIM not some nobody in an orchestra so if HE’S dead or missing the event SHOULD be cancelled… This curiously harks back to a comment he made during the interview when he’d been questioned about the year he turned 17; he’d said that was the year he died.

 Later as they’re all leaving Hai Jie comforts Die Fei and wishes her luck on dealing with the aftermath of the stolen violin.

Comments

Hmm… There was a little bit too much screaming and general bitter diva-ness with Aaron Yan’s character Ting Yu, but overall I liked the other characters.

I did like the sort of dream like quality the drama has as a whole, the colors neither harsh nor too soft, just really soothing.

I’m a bit intrigued also with Alice’s and Ting Yu’s back stories and hope that they won’t end up being extremely cliched.