The Juniper and Elle Show

On Juniper’s recent bender to watch the collected works of Chinese actor Ao Ruipeng 敖瑞鹏, she finally checked out “Wrong Carriage, Right Groom” 花轿喜事, the 2023 Chinese rom com fluff remake of a 2001 oldie. While the story is almost nonexistent, something delightful about the central lovebird pairs makes this drama worth checking out, at least under certain circumstances. Juniper got Elle to s...

We checked out a random collection of Chinese dramas this week as a way to pass the time. Juniper talks about her final thoughts upon finishing revenge drama The Glory 雁回时. Elle accidentally watched some episodes of an older drama called Star of Ocean 星辰大海. And we both discuss our initial impressions of the “middle-aged xianxia” fantasy A Moment But Forever 念无双.. (00:31) Introduction &am...

We are checking out two vastly different and mostly harmless Chinese dramas at the moment - Ski Into Love 嘘，国王在冬眠 & The Glory 雁回时. Neither is high art, but we do manage to find some merit and entertainment value in each. Would we recommend you check either out? If you want easy fluffy romance, Ski Into Love may fit that bill. If you want crazy revenge shenanigans, then The Glory is a...

In this pod, we discuss the much anticipated (by fans) Chinese Drama “The First Frost” 难哄. While Juniper checked it out first and put Elle on its path, we ended up with different sentiments about the show. Juniper didn’t finish, while Elle counts it as one of her top 5 recent favorites. How did we come away with such different reactions? Listen and find out. (00:31) Introduction & overview (...

We like Tan Jianci and Li Landi. When we learned they would be starring together in the Chinese drama “Filter” 滤镜, we eagerly looked forward to it. Alas, imagine our disappointment when we finally saw this supposed comedy. Heck, you don’t have to imagine. Let us tell you all about our frustrations in this episode of our podcast! (00:31) Introduction & overview (06:28) Everything that irked u...

What to watch when there aren’t any standout dramas? That was the question we grappled with recently. In this pod, we discuss 3 current Chinese costume dramas we checked out to see which would be worth our time. Surprisingly, the cheesiest romance, Everlasting Love, outshone the other two, Kill My Sins and Love of the Divine Tree. Listen as we share our thoughts about what worked and what didn’t a...

Juniper and Elle decided to check out earlier dramas starring Ao Ruipeng after enjoying his performance in Moonlight Mystique. As a result, we watched the romcom “Poisoned Love” 恋爱吧，食梦君!. While it looked silly on paper, the show was a delightfully sweet and fun ride, with endearing characters, a joyful romance, and hilarity throughout. Don’t miss out on this show if you haven’t already seen...

Since it’s Valentine’s time, Juniper decided it’d be nice to cover another classic Hollywood movie with a romantic theme. After watching “Now, Voyager”, Elle questioned whether Juniper had lost her marbles recommending this movie for the occasion. This is why we spend much of this pod delving into whether this film is truly fit for Valentine’s and how the psychology stuff came across. (00:31) Intr...

Join us as we wrap up our discussion of “Moonlight Mystique” 白月梵星, a xianxia drama full of poignant characters, lovely romance, healthy physical affection, and nonstop entertainment. It’s now Juniper’s favorite xianxia drama, and she can’t stop talking about it. Continuing from where we left off last time, we cover the story from its third arc to its grand finale in this pod. Hold on tight and...

Juniper decided to check out “Moonlight Mystique” 白月梵星 on a whim despite misgivings about Bai Lu dramas and how this Chinese drama looked on paper. She’s so glad she did, and so is Elle. This is an unexpectedly refreshing and engrossing Xian Xia story, well cast and well executed. Join us as we embark on the first of multiple pods talking about our impressions of the show, starting with episod...

Navigating the recent spate of Chinese dramas with “Blossom” in their titles was bound to confuse us at some point. And so it happened when Elle mistakenly watched “In Blossom” 花间令 while Juniper pursued “Blossom” 九重紫. That doesn’t mean we can’t have a meaningful chat about both and have a good laugh over our mishap! (00:31) Introduction (02:44) Elle’s rundown of In Blossom (23:52) Juniper’s...

For our first Hong Kong drama discussion, Elle thought it’d be cool to spotlight the 2024 TVB show Darkside of the Moon. While echoing the setup of other contemporary revenge dramas, this show puts a distinctive Hong Kong spin on things. Elle is a seasoned consumer of TVB dramas, so she takes us through the twists and turns and shares her knowledgeable critique. Juniper brings the perspective of a...

To mark the most wonderful time of the year, Juniper convinced Elle to watch a holiday movie she has enjoyed many times, Christmas in Connecticut from 1945. While not an extremely well-known classic, Juniper watches it every time it’s on TV and even owns a DVD copy. Since Elle has never seen it, this was a perfect opportunity to get a fresh perspective on an old favorite. If you’ve never watched t...

When Chinese drama “Moonlight“ 月光变奏曲, a romantic comedy set in the publishing world, first came out in 2021, Elle loved it while Juniper gave it a pass. Watching Ryan Ding and Esther Yu in Love Game in Eastern Fantasy 永夜星河 recently sparked Juniper’s renewed interest in the show. Although she finds it a tad long and some bits less than stellar, it turned out to be a pleasant romp overall a...

Chinese comedy fantasy drama Love Game In Eastern Fantasy 永夜星河, starring Esther Yu Shuxin 虞书欣 and Ryan Ding Yuxi 丁禹兮, hooked us early on. Somewhere in the middle, however, it took a turn off course. In this episode, we diagnose what happened, its impact on the show, and some wacky lessons learned. We love the characters and actors regardless. In addition, watching this show has made Juni...

We finally finished Lost You Forever Season 2 after much blood, tears, and sweat - a lot from the characters, and some on our parts. Now, we are ready to share our thoughts and sentiments about it. Season 1 had left us with trepidations about the second half. Despite that, we bravely slogged through it. Our trepidations were not unfounded, but we got a good laugh dissecting what was going on with...

Drama watching can be hit or miss. We certainly experienced major misses with two recent shows we had looked forward to checking out - Kill Me, Love Me 春花焰, and A Beautiful Lie 你的谎言也动听. Thankfully, all was not lost, as we stumbled upon Love Game In Eastern Fantasy 永夜星河 at the same time. This turned out to be quite the surprise and delight. In this pod, we give our rundown of these th...

We say goodbye to the Chinese wuxia romance “Snowy Night: Timeless Love” with an extended discussion about the show. It’s been a lovely journey these past weeks with this memorable gem, and we highly recommend you check it out. Don’t be deterred by the premise; it’s a show to be savored. Come find out why we love it so much and, if you still aren’t sure, pick up our viewing tips and shortcuts for...

Juniper convinced Elle to watch a ghost story in time for Halloween. Because Elle is terrified of horror, we compromised with the mostly harmless but highly entertaining 1944 film The Uninvited, which is our discussion topic in this episode. A film that is at once moody, romantic, and witty, The Uninvited stands the test of time. It’s also notable for spawning a beautiful popular song called Stell...

Chinese costume wuxia drama “Snowy Night: Timeless Love,” based on the novel 七夜雪, was not on our radar, but we are so glad to discover it. Having watched 14 episodes, we just had to talk about it and share with the world. A simple tale that is as much about mood and tone as action, it isn’t your typical plot-driven drama. However, don’t let the lack of surface ripples deter you. If you haven’t...

We discuss the Netflix show Kaos in this episode. As a childhood mythology enthusiast, Juniper was excited to check out this modern-day take on Greek Gods and their petty shenanigans, and Elle gamely suffered along. Marketed as a dark comedy, the show struck us as neither particularly funny nor entertaining. It tried to be too much and ended up being not much of anything. Our sentiment may be cont...

Let’s discuss Chinese drama “Go East” now that we’ve both finished it. We liked the show early on, and it didn’t let us down. A comedic joyride delivered by an excellent ensemble cast led by Tan Jianci and Zhou Yiran, Go East is entertaining throughout. It’s not quite your typical epic costume drama, but that’s not a bad thing. Listen as we discuss and laugh about elements of the show. (00:32) Int...

After watching many Chinese dramas, we decided to branch out into Chinese film and ended up watching 2022 movie "Lost in the Stars.” Somehow it left Elle feeling bamboozled and Juniper wanting her time back. Perhaps we are the minority, since this was a box office hit in China, but the real mystery of the film is what exactly were they trying to go for. Listen and find out our take on the film. Di...

Chinese drama “Are You The One”《柳舟记》hooked us early on with its take on historical romance. Now that we’ve finished the show, we share our final thoughts. Did it sustain the tone and focus that attracted us initially? How did it work once our ancient Chinese Mr. and Mrs. Smith discovered each other’s secrets? What stood out in the show? What would we do differently? There’s only one way to fi...

The drama gods delivered two Chinese costume dramas at the end of summer that had us scrambling to decide which to watch. “Are You The One”《柳舟记》and “Go East” 《四方馆》turned out to be pleasant surprises, and we find ourselves juggling both. If you are a fan of Tan Jianci 檀健次 or Zhang Wanyi 张晚意, if you like laugh-out-loud comedy or sweet romance, or if you just enjoy a nice looking soli...