#review #TheRebel #叛逆者 #ZhuYilong #朱一龙 #TongYao #童瑶 #WangYang #WangZhiwen # ZhuZhu #LiQiang
(For capsule reviews and links to other reviews of Tong Yao's work,
please CLICK ME)
(For Additional Comments 1 ~ USE OF MISE-EN-SCENE AND NARRATIVE
ELEMENTS TO CREATE MEANING - Lin Nansheng + Zhu Yizhen, please CLICK ME)
(For Additional Comments 2 on The Rebel, please CLICK
ME -- currently WIP, will update this post when the link is ready)
The Rebel is an espionage series set in China during the
Republican Era. The story centres on a young cadet, Lin Nansheng
林楠笙 (actor: Zhu Yilong 朱一龙) who was plucked out of military
school even before graduating by the head of the Shanghai Branch of the
Fuxing Society to help flush out the Communists spies in the city.
Chen Moqun 陈默群 (actor: Wang Yang 王阳) is mostly concerned
about trying to capture a mole within the Shanghai Branch. He
decided to recruit a new face into his team because he knew that there was
a mole in his branch and had begun to suspect everyone there. He
chose Lin Nansheng because he noticed the young man's intelligence and
powers of observation.
When their only lead to the Postman is assassinated, they discovered
that university undergraduate Zhu Yizhen 朱怡贞 (actor: Tong Yao
童瑶) may have had some contact with the Postman. Hence, Chen
Moqun instructed Lin Nansheng to get close to her and in the process try
to find a way to enter the Communist underground. In spite of his
misgivings, Lin Nansheng complied. Chen Moqun's attempt to capture this
undercover agent code named Postman made up the bulk of the first arc of
the series.
Our main protaganist is Lin Nansheng and the story traces his growing
disillusionment with the Kuomingtang and him eventually turning into an
undercover agent for the Communists. This isn't even a spoiler
because it's in all the synopsis and promo material for this
series.
There are a few things that non-Mainland Chinese viewers need to have
if they are to attempt to enjoy this series. The most important
one is to have an open mind. This series isn't made for us, it's
made for Mainland Chinese viewers and in their worldview, the Communists
are the good guys. If you can't get past that, then don't bother
attempting this.
The other issue one may have is that the politics of that era maybe a
bit confusing. It certainly was for me. I certainly don't
know what the different factions in the Kuomintang were nor who some of
the historical figures they mention are. I was also not sure what
the rivalry was about in the last part of the series after Shanghai was
liberated from the Japanese. That said, this shouldn't deter you
from attempting this series. Just think in broad strokes and don't
get bogged down in the details because it's not really that
important. All you really need to know is that there's the
Kuomingtang vs the Communist and both of them vs the Japanese.
Sometimes different groups in the Kuomintang fight each other. If
you arm yourself with this knowledge, then you should not have big
issues figuring things out. However, if you wish to gain more
knowledge about the politics of this era, this page (CLICK ME) is a good read and I do recommend reading it even if it's after
viewing the series.
Although, the main plot isn't exactly a mystery, the series is still way
above average. Production values are generally relatively
high. Lighting is quite nice for the most part. The tense and
opening sequence already signalled clearly what they hoped to achieve
stylistically in the series and for the most part, they did achieve
it. The nice atmospheric lighting and an exhilarating chase scene
set a good tone for the first main arc as they played a cat & mouse
game with the Communists undercover agents.
Sets are also generally quite nice. Interiors set designs are well
designed and decorated appropriately. Many were quite beautifully
lit too. I'm not sure if they are all historically accurate but from
an untrained eye, they managed to recreated that era quite
believably. Background music is also good and well used; not
intrusive and helps to accentuate the mood and tone of scenes and
sequences. There were several pieces with a regular pulsating beat
that really helped to create tension, expectation or suspense which I
quite liked. Pacing is also generally quite good and the events
kept rolling along which helps to hold interest even though it's 43
episodes long. There were a few scenes and sequences that I felt
they could have dropped in Hong Kong, particularly the sequence where Lin
Nansheng goes buy medication. I'm not sure it they were absolutely
necessary or if they really added anything to the series but since the
pacing of the series was still okay, it's just a minor quibble.
Also they seemed to have also broken the Chekov's Gun principle with
regards to a pen Zhuo Qiuming 左秋明 (actor: Dai Xu 代旭) gives Lin Nansheng
twice in the series. It didn't seem to have served any real
purpose.
Technically, the series wasn't bad for the most part. Action scenes in
the beginning were mostly well choreographed and shot, although I do
have an issue with the last shoot-out in the final episode where I felt
that they could have afforded to spend more time on. That final
shoot-out by the river was a little underwhelming.
From one of the behind-the-scenes video that I watched, they used
practical effects for a number of the bigger explosions which is
nice. Camerawork is nice and fluid when needed. They
also used squibs for bullet hits and blanks for the guns in the wider
shots, as far as I can tell. That's nice, because not all
productions do this these days, some productions, even in the West, will
replace some of it with VFX.
VFX is generally not too bad with no horribly noticeable issues with
the exception of some of the comp on the roof top scenes & one
really bad one by the sea in HK. There seems to be some issues
with the key on Lin Nansheng's hair. The background's horizon
line seems off too and that horrendous shot composition which I
suspect was the result of them not being able to fix some issues in
VFX. That two shot of Lin Nansheng and Zhuo Qiuming has Zhuo
Qiuming nearly completely cut-off. The screen capture below
isn't a pan shot, they held that shot in this composition before they
cut to the next shot. Some of the camera moves seemed a little
odd too. I'm usually quite good at tuning out technical
imperfections when I watch films and dramas but this particular one
was too obviously problematic that even I could not tune it out.
A lot of the series is quite event driven and these events are quite well
written and logical. They had a clever and believable way to drive
the espionage portions of this series with regards to the
Communists. The Communists had organized themselves very well with
the more important agents having at most only two contacts that they meet
face-to-face, one upstream and one downstream. Some, like the
Postman, mostly only contacts one agent. This keeps the top agents
safe because if, for example, when a low level agent like Zhu Yizhen is
captured, she won't be able to give up the Postman because her upstream
agent is Lao Ji. So there can be several layers of protection for
the most important agents. This makes it believable that the
Kuomintang would have such a difficult time trying to destroy their
underground network.
However, there are some disadvantages to the system that the Communists
use. If for example, the upstream agent is lost for whatever
reason. It can be difficult or there can be a delay for the
downstream agent to get in contact with their superiors. Also if
they need to ascertain an agent's identity, it can be time consuming
too. This was actually effectively used in the series several times
to either explain why events had to be delayed or to add tension and
suspense.
One other major reason why this series is so watchable is because the
cast was extremely good. Aside from Zhu Yilong who plays the
protagonist, all the support actors and even those that play minor
characters played their parts very well. There is essentially only
one protagonist and everyone supports him. As this is also a very
male-centric series, even the first female lead (Zhu Yizhen) is very much
a support character and probably has even less screen time than some of
the male support characters. Still everyone played their parts well
from Zhu Yilong to Xia Minghao 夏铭浩 who plays Sun Fuan
孙福安.
Wang Yang was particularly charismatic as Chen Moqun and it was easy to
understand why his team was loyal to him in the
beginning.
Wang Zhiwen's Gu Zhenyan was also really fun to watch here. On
the surface he was someone who seemed unambitious and subservient but
when he needed to ferret out information and counter Chen Moqun's moves,
his eyes take on a purpose in an instance.
Li Qiang's Ji Zhongyuan may not be too eye catching in the beginning
but he will grow in significance and statue over time. I really
like Lao Ji. He's calm, collected and decisive. He's like a
mentor to Zhu Yizhen and perhaps the only one she really opens up
to.
And finally, Wang Shian 王世安 (actor: Zhang Zixian 张子贤 )
turned out to be my favourite antagonist in the series. By the
middle of the series, I liked Wang Shian more than Chen
Moqun.
This cast is a very experienced cast and are very well directed
too. It's clear what kind of tone the director wanted which is why
except for Lin Nansheng who's allowed to emote a lot more, all the other
actors kept their performances understated with varying levels of
subtlety and nuance, depending on their characters' design. There
is very little melodrama in this series, even when some very traumatic
things happened to the female characters in the series, we don't get the
melodrama that is often assigned to them in the script. The
chemistry between cast members was also very good. Even scenes
when little is said, for example, the Lin Nansheng x Zhu Yizhen
scenes after her return to Shanghai in the middle of the series, the two
actors managed to communicate meaning with their performances. I
was also liked Zhu Yizhen and her father very much.
I am particularly fond of the two main female leads in the series
because even though they get less screen time and aren't always
integrated into the main action well; they are very memorable. The
lead female role Zhu Yizhen, played by Tong Yao, goes through a few arcs
and is arguable one of the more difficult characters to play in the
series because after we see her as a young, lively girl with a sparkle
in her eyes, subsequent events will cause that bright clearness in her
eyes to dim considerably. Henceforth, Zhu Yizhen, who isn't an
overly demonstrative person to begin with, becomes very guarded,
reserved and cautious. To express the essence of this character,
Tong Yao had to make sure that she had to be very subtle and nuanced
especially since she spends a large part of the series hiding her inner
most thoughts and feelings from almost everyone. Yet, because her
character's relationship with Lin Nansheng changes over time, she had to
make sure to vary that nuance as well. I'm of the opinion that she
did a lovely job given that Zhu Yizhen in the latter half of the series
is the most guarded and wary of all the characters in the series;
arguably even more so than Lao Ji.
The second female lead is Zhu Zhu 朱珠 who plays dance hostess Lan
Xinjie 蓝心洁. Zhu Zhu is suitably sensuous without going
overboard. She plays a tragic figure and has a pretty moving
character arc. She plays several roles in the series because she's
not just a dance hostess, she's also a mother, victim, friend and
ally. And she handled all of them well. Resilient and brave;
Lan Xinjie is a very likeable character and is arguably the character
that viewers will find the easiest to form an emotional bond with, next
to perhaps Lin Nansheng, because her character arc is probably the
second most emotional one next to Lin Nansheng's.
Even though there is much to like about The Rebel, it does
have one major flaw. It's main imperfection is that it's focus is
too narrow. The story is literally just about Lin Nansheng and
everyone else supports that. While that on it's own isn't always a
bad thing but the problem with The Rebel is that some
of that time could have gone into building up the other characters and
their relationships with each other, as well as with Lin
Nansheng.
With the exception of the opening section, Lin Nansheng will take over
as the main focus of the action soon after we meet him and literally
almost everything revolves around him. While his fans will love it
and may quite possibly think that this series is a masterpiece just
because of this point alone; I'm of the opinion that it did a disservice
to its host of fine support characters and actors. They could have
done with more more screen time to flesh them out better, give them a
little background, more detailed emotional development and for them to
build more powerful emotional connections with the viewers as
well.
Zhu Yilong did a good job as Lin Nansheng. We see him cry, suffer, grief and hurt and he did a fine job with each scene because he really had to express many different ways that Lin Nansheng suffers. But after awhile, I started to get a little desensitized because it seemed like he was just being emotional all the time and by the time he finds himself in Hong Kong, the emotional impact was a little dampen.
While the other characters do get scenes and snippets to show that they
too suffer, grief and bleed emotionally too, the number of scenes of Lin
Nansheng's suffering was so overwhelming that it almost felt like he was
the only one who suffers, the only one that grieves and the only one that
bleeds emotionally. After a while I kind of felt it was a little
unbalanced and that the other characters deserved a bit more love
too.
Most of the main support characters are painted in broad strokes.
Chen Moqun has it better than the others because his character has a
story arc that goes though much more change. Still, what do we
know about Chen Moqun, Gu Zhenyan, Ji Zhongyuan and Wang Shian?
Virtually nothing. We only know that Chen Moqun and Gu Zhenyan
were comrades in arms. Why did the two men choose such vastly
different paths? No idea. Why is Chen Moqun so obsessed with
crushing the communists? No idea. I remember only one line
of significance when he was talking to Lin Nansheng. He mentions
something like the Communist would show them no mercy too.
However, we never find out what happened to him that would make Chen
Moqun so unbending in his attitude. We never find out why his
methods in the beginning were so merciless. Most memorable
villains have a good backstory because viewers can understand, maybe
even relate & empathise with them even if they don't agree but the
antagonists here are not that complex.
Interestingly enough, even though the only two female characters of
note have less screen time them most of the male characters mentioned
above, they turned out to be the most well developed of the
characters. Both have familial relationships and have relatable
desires and goals. Zhu Yizhen actually has a backstory that does
have some influence on why she would find Lin Nansheng
attractive. They also have the most growth in the series; that
is, they change and they change significantly and logically.
Except for Chen Moqun who changes a little and Wang Shian to a lesser
extent, characters like Lao Ji and Gu Zhenyan don't change too much at
all.
That's not to say that some of the more significant support characters
didn't have scenes to show some of their own struggle or a little insight
to their characters. I remember there was one scene when Lao Ji
gives advice to Gu Zhenyan as they shared some kind of hotpot. That
was a pretty good scene and one of the few times, maybe even only time,
they have a good chat that isn't just strictly about operational
stuff. Zhu Yizhen has a few good ones later in the series with Lao
Ji. It's just that they were few and far between and they often get
lost in all the events and Lin Nansheng's suffering that viewers may
forget that these little scenes that give us that precious little insight
to these characters existed.
Also, because they concentrated so much on Lin Nansheng's journey
towards Communism, they neglected to give him a very strong
backstory. Although he does talk about his childhood briefly when
he was pretending to be the university teacher, it was bereft of
details. He told Zhu Yizhen that he lived in a beautiful quiet
village with his mother and older brother. He also told her that
he came to Shanghai because he wanted to fight against the growing
threat of the Japanese. He said that he had spoken to students who
had experienced the Mukden Incident and he realised that he was all talk and no action. So he
had come to Shanghai to be at the frontlines of the battle since the
Japanese army was stationed in Shanghai. This should be mostly
true since when Lin Nansheng was "romancing" Zhu Yizhen in the
beginning, he was able to move and convince her because he was showing
her his true and most sincere self most of the time.
While this is a good beginning for a backstory for Lin Nansheng and it
does show that he is passionately patriotic, however, that's kind of a
basic thing you would expect any young patriot to believe in. This
doesn't quite explain why he chose to join the Juntong and remained
loyal to it for a good part of the series even though it was
increasingly clear to him that the organization he was part of was
corrupt. I also could not figure out why he still had faith in
Chen Moqun even after observing his methods in the beginning. Lin
Nansheng was clearly uncomfortable with having to deceive Zhu
Yizhen. He was clearly uncomfortable with Chen Moqun torturing
people and killing them even though he didn't have a shred of
proof. Yet, Lin Nansheng seemed to retain an unwavering belief in
Chen Moqun to the point that when Chen Moqun makes a life altering
decision in the middle of the series, Lin Nansheng was devastated.
It's also hard to understand why he was so convinced that the way
he had initially chosen was the correct one. The script didn't
seem to have address this sufficiently. Perhaps they should have
shown more clearly that he was slowly moving towards the brink of
looking for a better way to fight the causes he believed so deeply
in. I know the script wanted him to reach his lowest point in Hong
Kong and that's when he accidentally listens to the broadcast of Mao
Zedong's writings which is the most direct reason for his decision to
change sides. But they could still have given him baby steps and
not just have him simply feel disillusioned and depressed for a long
time. I kind of wanted to see some exploration of options, is what
I'm trying to say. I do agree that it's interesting to have a
character make this change not because someone he considers a lover or a
mentor influenced him. Still, I think to just show him
disappointed with the Juntong but still so doggedly loyal kind of makes
his decision to flip in Hong Kong feel a little passive.
Sometimes, while watching The Rebel, it felt like at it's
core it was simply a story about Lin Nansheng and his arduous journey of
change. It lacks just that little bit of depth that could have
elevated this to a classic. If they gave their support characters'
sacrifices more emphasis and made it not just about one man's journey
but many people's journey, it might have added a little more
depth. It doesn't have to be a lot, Lin Nansheng can still be the
main protagonist but sometimes by simply lengthening a sequence or
adding a scene or two to give these support characters that little bit
more of an emotional intensity, that impact and connection with
audiences can be achieved.
Or maybe if this series was a character study of a man with all his
glorious flaws, it might have greater impact. It's a pity that the
script tended to gloss over Lin Nansheng's "imperfections". For
example after he cheated Zhu Yizhen and pretty much made it difficult
for her to fully trust almost anyone again, the script seems to want to
make it all okay because he risked his life to save her. What Lin
Nansheng did to Zhu Yizhen is quite a contemptible thing to do but
Lin Nansheng doesn't spend a lot of time regretting the hurt he cost
her. His later suffering over this act seemed mostly about him
regretting that it resulted in their separation and not about the pain
or the permanent emotional damage he caused her.
Furthermore, even when Lin Nansheng does anything rash, the script will
provide him a sound reason for doing it. So he never really needs
to suffer and agonise over how his actions may have permanently affected
anyone adversely. It's like he is never truly haunted by any of
the choices he has had to make. Instead, all of his suffering is
because of the clash of his noble beliefs versus the reality he lived
in. Lin Nansheng wants to serve his people and his nation but his
situation prevents him from doing so and so he suffers and suffers and
suffers but he never suffers because he's wronged
anyone.
But I suppose if they did try and do a character study, this could have
been a very different story and might have turned out darker than they
wanted it to. It's a bit of a pity because a little more depth
would have been nice. There were opportunities to introduce some
greyness it the script but they wanted to maintain his "goodness".
I wonder if it might partly be because this series finished screening
just before the 100th Anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party on
the 1st July 2021. Maybe they wanted to celebrate the heroes of
that generation and Lin Nansheng was that representative, hence they
wanted him to be blameless but this is just speculation on my
part.
CONCLUSION
Still, even though The Rebel has it's flaws, it's
still a good and enjoyable series. I won't hesitate recommending
it to a Chinese drama fan who's looking for something to watch.
The pacing, the intricacy of the espionage elements, the performances
from the entire cast, the production values, the good use of music,
the attention to details etc far outweigh it's
flaws.
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