Media Round Up: So Much Chinese Reality TV

[forestofglory]

Performing Filial Piety in Northern Song China: Family, State, and Native Place by Cong Ellen Zhang—I expected this book to be more about caring for living parents but its actually mostly about death and morning rituals. It was interesting but not gripping. In talking about different “strategies” for showing filial piety in the author made her subjects sound a bit cold blooded, even though she acknowledged that, she couldn’t quite make her subjects feel like people with emotional inner lives, which was not to the benefit of the book

The Truth Season 2— I wrote about this last time, but now I’ve seen the whole show! It was very fun, the cyberpunk costumes at the end were my favorite. (Liu Yuning’s glowing blue light was so fun!) I liked that they changed up the format for the last episode so that everyone was working together, but I wish that part was longer.

Our Song Season 3— Having finished watching The Truth season 2, I wanted another reality show to watch (I’m watching a lot of these at the moment because they fit well with my need to take lots of short breaks) I tried watching a couple of episodes of the first season of the Truth and it wasn’t grabbing me. So I decided to watch more of Our Song since I loved the first season. The playlist of the second season that I fond didn’t have the first couple episodes so I decided just to watch the third season. It was very fun! Lots of intergenerational team ups and songs I enjoyed. (I put together the various links for where I watched it here)

Unseen Magic by Emily Lloyd-Jones—I read this contemporary middle grade fantasy out loud to my kid. It was pretty charming, there’s a quirky magical town, a kid who’s dealing with a lot, and a fun cast of characters. There is some backstory involving domestic violence and a dead pet fish, which is not treated lightly but also is not something the story dwells on.

My Journey to You ep 7-20— This continues to be very fun with excellent textiles, mystical trials, and scheming women! I’m having a little trouble actually watching the last couple of episodes because they are so long, and everything is so tense. Content note: backstory involving child death

Comments

[newredshoes]

YAY, My Journey to You, yes yes yes! (Also, I had the same problem, I was so wound up going into the ending!)

[sakana17]

Intrigued by what you'd posted about The Truth season 2, I've been watching it and have just started the final mystery (episodes 10-1 and 10-2). Season 2 is a much more interesting setting than season 1. It's very fun!

[forestofglory]

I'm so glad you are enjoying it!