Notable Actors/Actresses
Lin Yun: Qiao Man | Nan Sheng
Song Wei Long: Lin He Ping
Peter Ho: Han Sen
Wang Yao Qing: An Kai Lun
Chinese Title
彼岸花
Higanbana
Mini Recaps
[Episodes 1-8 Summary]
Lin He Ping has a girl he can't forget: Nan Sheng. She jumped off a cliff and into the water but it seemed liked someone had pushed her to her death. Fast forward I don't know how many years. he's off on a business trip in Brazil and meets Qiao Man who looks exactly like Nan Sheng. An X amount of years ago Qiao Man was washed up on shore and became amnesic. She doesn't remember her past. She was saved by Han Sen who's quite the obsessive and controlling man. He uses the fact that he's saved her to threaten her to be with him. It's convoluted. She can't shake him off completely because his existence to her is like family.
He San proposes to her in the most threatening way. He tells her he’ll return all of He Ping’s museum goods (that his buddy had stolen) if she accepts his proposal. Romantic. She obviously refuses so he takes it up a notch and threatens to destroy the goods. She panics and accepts the threatening proposal. She’s only met He Ping for mere days but she’s willing to sacrifice her happiness for him already. He Ling also breaks into the storage room where they’re at and saves her from the marriage proposal. He flicks his neck (in all sorts of angle that makes me wonder why it didn’t break) ready to fight for Qiao Man.
To He Ping, he’s grateful for Qiao Man's appearance. She’s like sunshine to him and her appearance gives him a chance for him to redeem himself. So he's wronged Nan Sheng before. Qiao Man is also the artist to the painting he’s oddly attached to: a girl looking towards the city of lights wondering which light is meant to guide her.
For various reason our three leads (He Ping, Qiao Man, and Han Sen) return to China. Han Sen is the younger brother-in-law of An Kai Lun who’s a CEO. His purpose in returning to China is to help his brother’s business. He’ll not only be a love rival but also a business rival to He Ping.
A bit about Nan Sheng (2006; 18yo): she was supposed to be He Ping’s stepsister if her father and his mother were married. On the day the father arrived to the mother’s city, he died in a car accident. It’s a hit and run. The driver is A Guo, He Ping’s buddy and also A Li's younger brother. Nan Sheng vows to find who killed her father and that makes A Guo worried. He Ping cares for her like a doting brother and she’s grateful for it until she finds a stack of porn books on his bed. From then on she becomes quite wary of all his actions. It’s a normal teenage girl’s response. It's also a normal teenage girl's response to feel quite self conscious when he overly cares for her and is too close to her.
[Ep9]
To He Ping, he’s grateful for Qiao Man's appearance. She’s like sunshine to him and her appearance gives him a chance for him to redeem himself. So he's wronged Nan Sheng before. Qiao Man is also the artist to the painting he’s oddly attached to: a girl looking towards the city of lights wondering which light is meant to guide her.
For various reason our three leads (He Ping, Qiao Man, and Han Sen) return to China. Han Sen is the younger brother-in-law of An Kai Lun who’s a CEO. His purpose in returning to China is to help his brother’s business. He’ll not only be a love rival but also a business rival to He Ping.
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Remarks
[First Impression (Ep1-8)]: This drama feels like a combination of Look Up There's Starlight and Wait in Beijing. Both are dramas I dropped. So. This drama feels like it should be better than the above two. It has a lot of seasoned actors and actresses and ones I haven't seen in a while. Obviously, there are the two gorgeous leads. If it weren't for the cast, I would have dropped this by the first episode and not bother writing anything about this. I'm not into a looooong contemporary Cdrama about love and business with manipulative second leads and amnesia with convoluted pasts sprinkled on top.
[Chinese Title] "Amaryllidaceae" is the direct translation of the title "彼岸花". It's common English name is "Spider Lily". It's a scarlet flower usually associated with death. There's a Japanese folklore attached to this flower "Higanbana" which translates to "flower of the Other Shore" where the Other shore is the equivalent to the River Styx. These flowers bloom along this river where the dead must cross. It allows them to remember their life one last time before crossing to their afterlife. It's this specific flower that is associated with death perhaps also because it possesses poison. Traditionally it's planted around graves to prevent animals from digging it up.
Lin He Ping had a monologue in Episode 1: "We weren't fated this lifetime. Can we still meet in our next lives?" We then skip to the next scene where Qiao Man dreams of Nan Sheng after her motorcycle accident. NS is releasing lanterns wishing someone can guide her and asks if He Ping can still remember her. QM walks up to her and wonders why she looks exactly the same as her. NS tells her this is her territory and walks off. QM wants to chase after her but an invisible barrier stops her from entering the world any further.
In that scene, Nan Sheng who's dressed in red is the "Spider Lily" or more precisely she has already taken her path across the Other shore. It's a scene to show that Nan Sheng has passed away and her afterlife is Qiao Man. Obviously, something must have happened to her that she wants to erase her past in such a way and be reborn again into an innocent, untainted beautiful flower. At least that's my two cents on the title and the story.
[Actors/Actresses] For those who have watched Find Yourself, Song Wei Long and Wang Yao Ming are reunited here but instead of being love rivals, Wang Yao Ming is supposed to be Song Wei Long's dad in this... Anyways, I don't think this one will be as light or funny as Find Yourself. There's also many other longtime actors and actresses here who I have soft spots for: Lee Hsin Ai (BanShu Legend), Song Hai Jie (Summer's Desire), Yin Qi (Su Ran Ran), Xie Bin Bin (The Chang'an Youth), Li Ying (Girlfriend), etc.
[Dropped] I dropped this ten episodes too late. Zero humour: All melodrama.
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