For a drama that was clearly filmed on a shoestring budget, they have some really pretty shots - the way QL is shot looking at Ling snap and then come out of it, is gorgeous.
And it's so telling that her main reaction is not fear of him but worry for him. In many another set-up, I'd call her naive but for her, with her issues, it is normal people that is terrified of and also while she has never snapped the way he does, she can understand going after a tormentor because that is what she wishes she could have done. His violence is not off putting for her because she wishes she could be like that.
One of the things I like about Mars is what they do with Qing Mei, who'd be the insane secondary girl in many a drama - she tried and she snapped and then she got over it. And here she is giving QL Ling's address. She is CAPABLE OF MOVING ON.
Ling's hovel is definitely a hovel and it's an unpretty dump. I love that it's almost aggressively ugly - more shows should do that for their broke characters. But also, here is QL who started the show literally flinching from anyone in any proximity, feeling safe enough to wait for Ling as he showers right there. It's both progress for her character (we earlier saw her stand up to girls in school) and because she feels safe with him.
Oooofff! This is a convo they have where he says his father never lifted a hand to him/lost his temper at him and she comments he's a good man and Ling responds that is not the case, he's just afraid of him and QL is incredulous, how can a man be afraid of his own son. I really really like that they both have severe trauma but it's a very different one and that is why they react differently and their triggers are different. And then they come to the crux of it. This is the MOST vulnerability and honesty we've seen him show anyone by a factor of a 100:
And then being himself, he tries to go "psych!"
And you can see her be relieved "what kind of parent would treat their kid that way" and the thing is, he could have just left it at that but he cannot. She is past all his shields and he's rather desperate.
God, I love this! And it makes so much sense, as I mentioned before, that she's afraid of "normal," not of someone genuinely out there because she's been abused over and over by normal. (And she doesn't mention her stepfather but she clearly wants to, and he's smart enough to catch she's omitting something.)
OK, I don't remember stuff about his mom that well but if I remember correctly, she tried to kill him at some point. And it's so interesting that Ling doesn't remember that (between his age and suppressing the trauma), but his subconscious does somehow...
Notice something - he leans in, she is uncomfortable and suggests going for a walk and he just pulls back, no hesitation or word of complaint. The violent kid who was involuntarily committed respected her boundaries the way all those praiseworthy members of community did not.
Watching them on a date is such a delight. They don't just talk out issues, they genuinely have so much fun together.
This is only barely related to the above but I wanted to talk about it - I love that always in their relationship, they meet each other where the other person is at, they don't try to change the other person, they just decide if they can live with it or not - sometimes they can't (when she decides to agree to live with her abuser, he goes "I am out,") but they don't really try to change each other - they do change each other and for each other, but this is organic and voluntary. They grow tremendously, but they never force the other to do so.
It really comes to a head with Ling's choice of being a motorcycle racer - it's an insanely dangerous profession. His bio father died from it. The whole story opens with his visiting a mentor who just lost a leg doing so. QL is very much aware how dangerous this is. And for her, Ling is her whole life - her family are dead or monsters. When he almost dies (from other stuff), she loses it. And yet, she never not once asks him to quit or even thinks about how good it would be if it was. Her father even posits it to her and she rejects it. She could get him to quit for her - I mean later on, he agrees to his father's demands in order to save her, and that wasn't even her asking. And she knows that but she won't. Because she loves him the way he is and she wants him to do what makes him happy, not to constrain himself for her. He set her free and she cannot constrain him as a return. They are both their best and their freest and their truest to themselves with each other and I love it so.
God, I love them so so so much!
