Spill the DramaTea #5: Against the Current, Small Town Remedy, Rising Justice, Lament of Autumn, Where the Mask Ends, and Tigers Sniffs the Rose

Wow, it’s nearly November! October was so busy that I could only watch one Chinese drama, Against the Current. A drama so hot that nearly 50% of China was watching it. I wrote a thorough review, and you can see how much I love it. One thing I noticed about Against the Current: if you approach it as a romance, expecting to be swept away by a wonderful love story, you will be sorely disappointed. Many who commented that they dropped the drama were waiting for big moments between the couple. But the drama isn’t about romance. It’s about Lan Xiang, the main character, and we follow her from the tragedy that destroyed her family to old age. It’s meant to make you reflect on the fates of women, even today, and the forces we are subjected to. The refrain, repeated over and over, is to “live well”. Viewers who appreciate it are the ones who sink into that theme and ask themselves: how should I live well, seeing how Lan Xiang endured such challenges? People who approach it this way enjoy it…