'Light the Night'《華燈初上》

Here's the 'mini-review' nobody asked for but I'm still going to talk about 'Light the Night'《華燈初上》. 😂 Written by Ryan Tu (杜政哲) and directed by Lien Yi-chi (連奕琦), I didn't think I would be into the show, but three episodes into Part 1, I was hooked! Hahaha. It's not fully a genre of romance, although the many motives, decisions and crimes in there stem from a misguided form of romantic love, and passions. The overarching ideal of LOVE. Oh, and I really really like Taiwanese accents and phrasing too. 

It was a slow release of eight episodes each in Part 1 (November 26, 2021), 2 (December 30, 2021) and 3 (March 18, 2022), totaling 24 episodes. Part 3 was released on a Friday. I was busy and had no time to binge, and didn't bother about it. I died laughing when some girlfriends texted me on Sunday to say that they've finished Part 3, i.e. the whole show, and 'please hurry up to watch it so that we can gossip about details'. Gosh, why are y'all so fast?! There're plenty of loopholes in the plot of course, and many parts are not just unbelievable because it's fantastical; it's just illogical. But this is a drama, so I'll suspend all disbelief. 

Protagonists Rose 羅雨儂 and Sue's 蘇慶儀 friendship is long and complicated, as long and intimate friendships often are. Thank god I didn't have to go through this type of convoluted nasty stuff with the BFF. I did a double-take when Wu Kang Ren / Chris Wu 吳慷仁 appeared. He's quite lovely as BaoBao 寶寶. There're plenty of back stories of each of the characters and throwbacks. The show utilizes that as a narrative method to draw in the audience, and also to create that sense of mystery. Many of us thought that the one with the best character overview and development is the hostess Ah-Chi 阿季 played by Cherry Hsieh 謝瓊煖. Her life is sometimes not within her control, but the gambling addiction is, although we cannot underestimate how this addiction is almost as bad as a drug addiction. 

The hostess bar where all the action happens is aptly named Hikari「光」. It's such a wonderful name, and a metaphor, and the ending is all about that. Do we walk in the light or in the shadows? Or are we destined to live in between? The show depicts the hostesses' lives as is, trials and tribulations. Well, it's not a documentary. It's fiction, and it's very watchable, and respectful. Set in 1988, the clothes and sets were soooo true to the era. Hellooooo old telephones, Sony tape recorders and old school cakes. I like the ending. It's stoic. The ending is not about romance. It's about forging one's path in adversity, making the best of the situation, being independent, being deeply flawed, and ultimately, being human.