TV Show Reviews

Love and Fortune Review

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Have you ever eaten anything that tasted sweet and then the more you bit into it, it became bitter and tangy? I just described my emotions for Love and Fortune. Love and marriage are happy endings for most women. But some are just unlucky–meeting the wrong guy at the right time, and meeting the right guy at the wrong time. The maternal clock is always ticking. Women have one shot at finding “happiness” and sadly some may never achieve it at all. Oh, the pain of having a period in life! Sometimes, it hurts so much that we need to take painkillers.

If this show sounds all doom and gloom, far from it. It’s a sweet little show that made me laugh more than cry. All thanks to the great cinematography shots, my eyes were glued to the screen. It’s a show about a woman in her 30s who is conflicted with societal expectations (i.e., getting married, having children, being successful) and who happens to fall in love with a 15-year-old boy. Yes, I said it, a 15-year-old boy. Now, I know what you are thinking–she is a pedophile. She is gross, but let’s look at her situation with a magnifying glass–the detail.

Wako Taira, the protagonist, is aware of her age. Like any normal woman, she wants to get married, but her relationship with her boyfriend of three years is in limbo. The romance is not there. He looks down on her, constantly nagging her to quit her part-time job at the cinema and find a real job. She does all the housework. He comes home late drunk wanting to have sex–but never returning the favor when she wants it. So, what happens to a neglected woman? She finds love and hope elsewhere, and that’s where Yumeaki Iko (the high-school boy) comes into the picture.  She strikes gold when she learns that he shares the same love for cinema as her. Finally, she found someone who understood her and her passion! But unfortunately, he is half her age! This series do question patriarchal society and gender inequality with seriousness and humor. If men can fall in love with younger women, why can’t women fall in love with younger men?

Don’t be fooled though by my light approach to this review, even though it may seem as if I’m endorsing the female protagonist’s behavior as female empowering, I don’t think the relationship between a high school boy and a woman twice his age would work out (the same can be said vice versa). For one, there’s no equality in that sort of relationship. The woman becomes someone like a mom to her young lover, and that’s not fair and romantic at all! I’m speaking from a feminist standpoint here. Despite my beliefs, I appreciate how this series prompted me to ask those big societal questions: Why is it more acceptable for a high school girl to fall in love with a man twice her age and not the other way around? Why do women have to sacrifice their creative pursuits because their maternity clock is ticking? Why is a woman’s worth measured by her childbearing capability and not her talents? And the most important question, which coincides with age, is why is a woman’s worth determined by her beauty. If she doesn’t reach all of her dreams within her prime, she becomes less valuable in society. Think about why the terms old hags, old maids, and old witches are so offensive. Well, that’s because most likely they can’t conceive, and therefore, they are “bad apples”.

Love and Fortune is an interesting show if you are looking for something intelligent, well-crafted, and horrifyingly comical but very real to the problems that some women have to go through. The show makes me wonder, why is life so bittersweet. If you ask me, I kind of like biting into bad apples. They sure make a good story.

Note: Originally posted July 31, 2020; Revised and edited June 13, 2022.

Atelier Series Review: It’s More than about Underwear

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My mother once said you can tell a lot about a person’s personality based on the shoes he or she wears.  That’s not far from the truth. I am a sneakers type of gal (I like oxford shoes as well but only when I am indoors). Rain or shine, I love to walk. I walked everywhere, including getting groceries. It’s a great form of exercise and obtaining mental clarity. Unfortunately, as much as I like my beaten-up sneakers, not everyone finds my shoes adorable, especially my mother who often scolded me for my unkempt appearance because we all know that beauty is a woman’s pride! Mine speaks to a lack of self-respect (ouch!). You only get one chance to make an impression. People might even associate me with a lack of funds in the bank account after seeing me wear the same shoes every day, but why should that matter? We all know who are real friends are in times of need.

Screenshot from Shenmue

After watching a chic Netflix show called Atelier, the concept can’t be truer. Women often choose clothes to express their inner beauty.   In this case, the show uses lingerie and not shoes to illustrate this point.  A lingerie is a metaphor for beauty.  After all, lingerie is not meant to be displayed out in the open because real beauty, according to the show, is hidden and each woman defines it differently.

You are probably thinking it’s just a show about women and their obsession with inner beauty. Not entirely true.  It’s about creators who wish to express themselves a bit more freely apart from doing business.  Making money and creating art are two different things.  The show points that out.  If you are an artist or a creative person, I think you can empathize with the characters very well. We often struggle with creating things we don’t always want to make, but we do it anyway because there is a market for them. For instance, there is a scene that shows the protagonist doing heavy research to find inspiration for her lingerie collection but later is reminded that her approach to finding inspiration is incorrect: Creativity comes within the creator and not the other way around.

Another thing I liked about the show was watching the main character (Mayuko Tokita) and the side character (Mayumi Nanjo) interact like mother and daughter. They don’t always agree with each other. The mother-like character was always scolding the unruly daughter.  It was nice to see the characters’ development in the show. They all grew and as a result, I learned something very valuable along with them.  It’s time to upgrade my sneakers to high heels because I’m done running away like a little girl. It’s time I stood my ground like a real woman.

I am surprised how much I enjoyed the show. I didn’t expect much from it.  I recommend this show, especially to the female audience or if you are one of those people who are in tune with your creative side.

Note: Originally posted on Mar. 29, 2019, revised May. 12, 2022

Reflecting on The Duchess of Duke Street Season 1

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Lately, anything that inspires me to cook, I watch. And this English show is no exception! Cooking is something I’m not good at which is why I came up with Halsdoll’s Diner. How’s my progress so far you might wonder? My mother would have been proud. I gained 7 pounds since I started cooking, considering the fact I used to be shapelessly thin. And yet, I still have yet to find recipes I enjoy. You see, you got to have a passion for cooking and mine is not as strong as the protagonist Louisa Trotter who is known as the Queen of Cook and who is actually based on the real-life character, Rosa Lewis.

“I want to be a COOK!” said Louisa. And that’s all she ever wanted even till the end. Sadly, along the way she had to deal with the politics that come with it, especially being a woman in the 1920s when women are expected to walk in the shadow of their husbands. What I find so intriguing about The Duchess of Duke Street is to see an ambitious woman rising from the bottom as an assistant cook into a proprietor of a famous hotel in London. Of course, she didn’t do it all alone. The circumstance she was in led her to success. She caught the attention of royalty and got involved in an affair. Simply because she is a great cook and attractive. To cover up the affair, she was persuaded to marry her husband, a butler to whom she had no love. They moved into a house, and soon needed to make a living. So, they took over a hotel business. Unfortunately, her husband was a lousy manager and a drunk. Instead of bringing in revenue, he brought debt. As a result, she kicked him out and took up his manager position to turn the business around. Who says women can’t manage? Louisa Trotter can!

Not going to lie. I love strong resistant women. All she ever wanted was to be a cook and she had to work twice as hard to get where she wanted to be. Sometimes she didn’t always get the moral support from her female kinds. For instance, when her respectable trusted employee named Mary got into a dispute with her over a male guest, she called out the most hurtful thing to Louisa. She said Louisa “slut” her way into acquiring the hotel. It was a big blow to the ego. Louisa knew it was partially true. She was young and passionate when she started out and so there were a lot of male admirers. Trying to fend them off was not easy. After all, “Men are born to chase after women, otherwise, there’d be no human race,” said Louisa. Clearly, not only did she display a concern for her business but she also protected those around her. That’s what I called an amazing woman. Of course, it didn’t stop there. People started spreading rumors that the hotel is a brothel when it started to gain popularity. Working girls, you say? Not quite but they were indeed working hard to make a living in the hospitality industry. It’s not uncommon to see Louisa boldly surrounded by men.

Overall, The Duchess of Duke Street is a show about management, friendship, food, hard work, and love which made me realize not much has changed in regard to women’s struggles in the male-dominated industry. Luckily, I don’t have sophisticated big dreams. As long as I can find metaphors to write about on this blog and cook a nice meal that alone makes me very happy.

Halsdoll eating breakfast
Halsdoll’s Breakfast
Halsdoll’s Grilled Cheese Sandwich with strawberries on the side

Thanks for reading my thoughts on this T.V series. As mentioned, I am open for business on the day I say I publish a post. Perhaps, there’s something more worthwhile next time. For me, it was a comforting show because a bit of Louisa personality reminded me of my mother. I wouldn’t mind being her apprentice.

Empresses in the Palace (2011) Review: A Political Cat Fight Tale at Its Finest

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What a series. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to experience the full-blown story as the one on Amazon has been condensed and cut. There is a total of 76 episodes. Amazon Prime only has 6 episodes and they are 1:30 hours long per episode. That means I got to go hunt for the complete series if I want a detailed story.

(I found the series here for streaming on Youtube, but I’d like to get a DVD copy myself.)

Typically, I’m not too fond of Chinese political shows because historic fiction sounds pretty dry but this one took me by surprise. This show, based on a novel written by Liu Lianzi, and directed by Zheng Xiolong, involves a story about the politics among the concubines who vie for the emperor’s affection. The show slowly unravels the treacherous journey that one must undergo to obtain and protect power over others by following the eyes of Zhen Huan, an innocent young woman who wishes to marry the finest man and love him devotedly but found herself thrown into a destiny against her wish when she got selected to be one of the emperor’s concubines.

In this show, I watched the detailed rationality of each character’s motivation for power. They are all humans with their personalities and quirks. Everyone is fighting for the emperor’s affection in this seemingly harmonious palace which is far from peaceful. I don’t know which is better–live life as a hungry peasant or sleep in constant fear that someone would silently kill me in my comfortable chamber. I think I’d prefer to be the hungry peasant. Fighting a war with words can be mentally exhausting.

One thing I enjoyed about this show is that there are so many topics and points of view you can extract from this series–just the characters alone. One that stood out to me the most is the topic of loyalty and flattery how it works as a weapon and when it’s appropriate to deploy it as a means to protect oneself. The protagonist Zhen Huan demonstrated it well, although in the end it just shows how terrifying human beings can be even the utmost righteous ones. She won the favor of the emperor out of all the concubines where she acted out as self-preservation instead of love. After all, it’s the emperor who took the one thing she wanted most out of life and that is to love her husband devotedly. Hard to remain loyal when he can turn his back on his cherished concubines at the slightest slander which eventually will turn them into mad swine. You can argue that Zhen Huan is the type of female archetype that makes women look powerful but also sympathetically feminine. She is a benevolent leader but also a terrifying one and above all, realistically human.

Empresses in the Palace is a series worth watching because it explores human emotions even the darkest ones in a political setting. One always ends up alone in the pursuit of political security. After all, one can never know one’s true destiny until death is near and like the sand, the things we grasp would slip away from our hand. Overall, strong ending. Strong conclusion.

P.S.

I might write a full essay on one of the topics in this series in the future for fun. I liked it that much.

Netflix Series Detention (2020) Review: It’s More Than Meets the Eye

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Based on the video game Detention, released Jan 12, 2017, developed by Red Candle Games for Netflix, the T.V show comprises 8 episodes that tell a detailed story of a transferred student who suffers from mental illness. Oddly, I experienced a sense of familiarity after taking so many social science and history courses back in the day when I see literacy references appearing in the show. Great writers (Plato, Orwell, Walden) helped me understand quickly what the plot was about. It gets an A + for using influential books as props to illustrate that point. I was entertained all the way.

This show is worth checking out if you are into East Asian horror and also if you are a big fan of poetry, which I think is an outdated art form, but when incorporated with other mediums, it becomes extremely powerful. Poetry is the form of using words to paint an image and evoke feelings; its rhythm helps create memorable lines too. There are some emotions that you cannot describe alone just through the use of prose. Only poetry can deliver powerful images to abstract concepts such as life and death so that we can understand them on a deeper level.  I like how Detention glorifies the power of poetry through the use of a dead schoolgirl’s poem. It allows me to see and feel the political oppression in a small Taiwanese town through its high school. Thus making it a hauntingly political tale that gives me a glimpse of the culture on the island. As a horror fan, horror is a genre that is very difficult to execute so when a rare one comes by, I can’t help but want to share I with the rest of the world. I wrote a short review on the game a few years ago. Please check it out. No spoiler I promise.

For my final thought, the show made me wonder why grownups imprison students with their outdated ideology. What purpose does it serve other than complete control of one’s sovereignty? Perhaps going to detention may not be such a bad thing because it’s “in the pursuit of freedom [against the authoritative government, we find] inner peace,” I quote the counselor from the show. The school was just a training ground for a more authoritative political system. But even if we escape, “outside this place is just a bigger crazier world,” says Liu Yun-hsiang, the main female protagonist. So what is the solution? Death? Overall, if you are looking for a thought-provoking horror title on Netflix, I highly recommend this one.

My Husband Won’t Fit Review (2019)

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I’m a few days late like usual. Valentine’s Day has passed. I could learn how to prioritize my blog posts to sync with the holiday, but I guess I missed the opportunity. In my mind, I thought reviewing Cuties was more important. But at least I got my punctuality right. Punctuality is a great trait to show people we care. On second thought, I don’t know. Throwing panties at any sexually starved man will make any man punctual. Okay, maybe I am stretching a bit there. You can blame the media for my biased views. Enough exposure in the media will make anyone believe that all men are hungry wolves who jump at any piece of meat they come across.

So let’s talk about the birds and the bees because that’s what love birds do during Valentine’s Day, right?! I heard in Japan, many couples are in a sexless marriage. If you are asexual, this is probably the perfect type of relationship you want to be in. After all, for some folks, there is more to the relationship than just sex. But for the majority of people–sex is important in a relationship. This quirky Japanese TV show explores the concept of love, relationship, and sex. What does it all mean? I found this show amusingly fun to watch and I think you should give it a try too.

There are 10 episodes total, which is the perfect length for nowadays shows–not too short, but not too long. The amount of content in this TV show is decently covered. I found myself binged watching the show because it was entertaining enough even though I did not agree with its content. As a westerner, I find the relationship between the couple quite unique. They successfully separate sex from lovemaking. So cheating is not really considered cheating if feelings are not involved. Do you agree with that? Now that is a hot discussion for couples! We all know that most women don’t like their men having secret affairs behind their backs. But the protagonist in this TV Show has no problem because her husband simply doesn’t fit! She just wants him happy. She is the perfect wife for those men who have a big appetite for a variety of women. Who can say no to a sweet timid, considerate wife who does not object to her husband’s external affairs? She’s always thinking about her husband’s happiness. How honorable…not! I hope you could tell I was being sarcastic! For most women, it’s a deal breaker that sex is out of the equation and there’s is a lack of respect for the marriage when one seeks others to fulfill sexual needs. Not being able to satisfy our significant other sexually could cause a severe blow to one’s self-esteem. In fact, this is what led the female protagonist to seek comfort from other men. In this show, both husband and wife are guilty.

So this brought up many questions about relationships: What is love? Isn’t love about the other person? Think about it, does that sound rather heartless and harsh if people get into a relationship to fulfill their sexual gratification only? This show explains how unique one marriage can be between a couple. It’s the biggest argument in this show is that sex is not everything for a lifelong partner. Clearly, both main characters are always thinking of each other’s happiness.

Well, I hope I’m not the opposite of cupid. Hope I did not spark a heated debate between lovers. I just thought this show is worth watching. I like its lighthearted approach to asking tough questions about what marriage and love are. I found myself experiencing different emotions–shock, anger, happiness, and sadness for the couple. Isn’t love supposed to make us feel like we can be our true selves and our partner is always having our interests in mind and vice versa? It’s a sweet little show.

As my final thought, the only love we need is self-love if you ask me. Once we love ourselves, we can love others in a healthy way. So, pop those self-loving pills and Happy belated Valentine’s Day. And if no one loves you, Halsdoll loves you. So come back again for some more insightful reviews!


Three Horror Series Worth Watching

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Halloween is over but it doesn’t mean it will stop me from consuming all things horror-related as it is one of my favorite genres.  Why you may wonder? Because death is the biggest mystery of them all and I’m a big lover of the supernatural world. The genre if done right, teaches people how to live wisely. Typically, anything that is good for my brain, I will consume it.

Yes I am back with my list of three. Why three because it’s my favorite number. So three it is.

  1. Hell Girl
Hell Girl - Wikipedia

Yes I have been told that I am weird, it’s okay I am used to it. Misery loves company and Hell Girl is comforting to me. If you go around abusing people, eventually karma will get to you. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Yes, that’s why I like this anime. It’s eerie, but justice will be served.

2) The Haunting of Hill House

The Haunting of Hill House (TV Mini-Series 2018) - IMDb

This was a very good series–inspired by Shirley Jackson’s novel The Haunting of Hill House, I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed it. I must confess though, I did not read the book until I watched this series. I like it so much that I bought the book. The book is also good, but it’s not the same story as the T.V show. I was hook. It’s extremely rare for me to binge watch shows. Yeah, I watched it on my laptop in my closet to get the pitch black movie theater experience. You should watch if you haven’t already. It’s well done compared to The Haunting of Bly Manor, which was rather a disappointment.

3) The Girl from Nowhere

Girl From Nowhere | Horror Amino

My work friend actually recommended this show to me last year and I finally finished watching it. It’s kind of similar to Hell Girl, but with a Thai flavor. I enjoyed each episode but there were a few I didn’t like much, especially towards the end. The series started off strong but ended weakly.

I know normally I like to crack jokes, but today feels a little heavy. If you have seen any of these shows, let me know what you think. Well that’s it for now. Bye bye.

Jane Eyre BBC (1983) Review: A Romantically Crazy Love Story

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After watching so many quirky Japanese shows, I decided I need a switch, so I watched Jane Eyre. In fact, I’m feeling very English. I’m anticipating fall so I can drink hot tea, but at the same time, I’m not looking forward to the horror of what Covid-19 (the reaper) will do to more lives and the economy. All we can do is tread on until we get out of this dark period. But as an introvert, I sort of enjoy this solitude because most of my hobbies are indoor. I just wish the world is not so much in chaos.

My newest obsession goes to Jane Eyre BBC series. This show is superb and romantically crazy. I felt like a little girl all over again, dreaming of Mr. Right who is fictional and who only exists in a woman’s world. The attractive man is mysteriously brooding and sullen. He is philanthropic but denies it by behaving coldly. His speech is harsh and short. He is demanding like a child. But underneath his gloomy visage–is a man who is afraid of abandonment. Yes, I just described the male protagonist, Edward Rochester. It must be biology because it was so easy to empathize with Jane and why she fell in love with such a man. She is direct, restless, and outspoken; yet she is frail, naïve, and forgiving. She is realistically feminine but strong. It was an enjoyable experience to watch Jane grow and watch the dark plot unfold. There was not one moment I find the show dull.

There are two things, however, I didn’t enjoy about the show. One is knowing the fact Edward is old enough to be Jane’s dad. He is 20 years older than she! It’s biologically impractical to pursue someone twice your age, but most girls yearn for a father figure who will make them feel safe and wanted. Realistically, falling in love with an older man is a tragedy. He will surely die before her and leave her as a heartbroken widow. Most lovers do not survive after their significant other passes away. Unless she is an ambitious woman. Then I can see Jane remaining a widow for the rest of her life.

Another thing that disturbed me about the show is the idea of love and unity. It’s sweet to hear such talk of merging oneself with a lover–to be part of his flesh and belonging to him. It’s romantic but eerie. Who in the world would want to fuse in with another human being like conjoined twins? The quote below sounds like a horror story!

I am my husband’s life as he is fully as mine. We are bone of each other’s bone and flesh of each other’s flesh.

Despite my pessimism towards everlasting love, I enjoyed Jane Erye very much. It is clean, romantic, dark, and innocent. Watch it if you want your heart to be captivated by beautiful dialogue. What is the harm to romanticize some love in your life? Love can feel like a scary thing especially when emotions take over.