I was actually excited about this show, I don't mind it's been transplanted to the UK and don't mind cultural diversity AT ALL. On the contrary, since they did transplant it to the UK, diversity actually makes sense and it is welcomed.
What I do mind was that no scientist does any science in the show or actually looks like someone who does science. They go to parties, take drugs, sleep around and talk about their love lives - don't get me wrong, I come from a relevant milieu myself and do realize that us "nerds" also have lives, but this isn't Friends, this is supposed to be a sci-fi apocalyptic story.
This whole thing is aggravated by the fact that characters are not well fleshed to begin with - we only get a general idea of the "type" of person each one is playing, which leaves small room for actually caring for them, not to mention loving them. Which is further aggravated by all the mediocre to sub-par acting.
But then comes Ye Wenjie and the whole China plot. With the exception of the struggle session which is only referred to in the Chinese version, the latter has mysteriously managed to portray Wenjie's suffering during the cultural revolution (due to being the daughter of a disgraced father) in a much more harrowing way. In the Netflix version, there's no ice, no polar temperatures, no isolation, everything looks brighter and she even has an affair, sex included! No starvation, no freezing, no beatings. It almost felt as if it was the Netflix version that went through censorship! Even the person that steals her discovery concerning the aliens is a fellow scientist, and not the Party commissar as should have been. Was the idea not to anger too much the Chinese? Because if it was, they should have watched the Chinese version first.
As for Ye Wenjie herself, what I can say. She is such a complicated character and all we see in the Netflix show is anger. And bitterness. Nothing more. I am afraid the scriptwriter never understood Ye Wenjie as a character, and that was the final blow to a show that is mediocre in so many other ways (cgi-still laughing about the way they portrayed the stars flickering, the uninspired ost, the settings ...) but could have been good if they had at least treated its soul, Ye Wenjie, correctly.
What I do mind was that no scientist does any science in the show or actually looks like someone who does science. They go to parties, take drugs, sleep around and talk about their love lives - don't get me wrong, I come from a relevant milieu myself and do realize that us "nerds" also have lives, but this isn't Friends, this is supposed to be a sci-fi apocalyptic story.
This whole thing is aggravated by the fact that characters are not well fleshed to begin with - we only get a general idea of the "type" of person each one is playing, which leaves small room for actually caring for them, not to mention loving them. Which is further aggravated by all the mediocre to sub-par acting.
But then comes Ye Wenjie and the whole China plot. With the exception of the struggle session which is only referred to in the Chinese version, the latter has mysteriously managed to portray Wenjie's suffering during the cultural revolution (due to being the daughter of a disgraced father) in a much more harrowing way. In the Netflix version, there's no ice, no polar temperatures, no isolation, everything looks brighter and she even has an affair, sex included! No starvation, no freezing, no beatings. It almost felt as if it was the Netflix version that went through censorship! Even the person that steals her discovery concerning the aliens is a fellow scientist, and not the Party commissar as should have been. Was the idea not to anger too much the Chinese? Because if it was, they should have watched the Chinese version first.
As for Ye Wenjie herself, what I can say. She is such a complicated character and all we see in the Netflix show is anger. And bitterness. Nothing more. I am afraid the scriptwriter never understood Ye Wenjie as a character, and that was the final blow to a show that is mediocre in so many other ways (cgi-still laughing about the way they portrayed the stars flickering, the uninspired ost, the settings ...) but could have been good if they had at least treated its soul, Ye Wenjie, correctly.
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