[12 images][news] Rain check. (Incl. dishing about Diamond Lover, Endless August, Uhm Bok Dong, etc.)
— Cloud cover by Stephe, Managing Editor ^@@^
Actually, I should probably rename this Rain check something like, Stephe Goes On Several Rants. But hey, y’all should be used to me by now.^^
7/7. Diamond Lover check: For the longest time, I didn’t give two hoots about watching Diamond Lover (2015). » SEE the official long trailer » SEE the official CEO trailer. I didn’t try to watch it, and I didn’t care to watch it. I’ll tell you why.
The broadcasting of the 40 (I think) episodes that Rain was contracted for went swimmingly. Not only were Clouds happy, Chinese viewers were happy to the tune of BILLIONS of views. (So exciting! We were praying we’d get to watch it in the States, too. One of the producers had said as much — that they were going to make it available outside of China later.) But then, the production company ruined everything. The TV drama was so popular, they decided to add 20+ more episodes onto the original plot (never a good idea writing-wise, but done all the time). Rain was like (I’m paraphrasing here): No can do, dude! You see my schedule? It’s tight! I’ve got Squall concerts like, tomorrow! I’m out! But they decided to film them anyway, without him. Without the star, the leading lady’s love interest, the singer of the show’s theme song. Which was nuts.
All Clouds and viewers knew at the time was that suddenly, after being front and center, Rain’s character started disappearing from the story. Whole episodes were going by where he wouldn’t be seen, and they didn’t like that. When the bizarre, rewritten plot finally played out, the leading lady was suddenly marrying the love rival instead of Rain’s character (who was completely M.I.A.). Viewers and fans alike were like, What? No! Are you serious? What is this sh**? Rain got shafted! They were highly pissed.
At that point, I wanted nothing to do with the C-drama. Waste precious time on a hot mess like that? No way. Which broke my heart, because the trailers were amazing. (I wonder what Rain thought about it at the time.) To add insult to injury, folks who did want to see it anyway over here got stiffed. It wasn’t licensed for viewing after all. Ugh.
When Viki advertised a special recut version of Diamond Lover this past January 2017, no offense to them, I know they were only trying to offer the “happier” ending the original should have, but I was even less enthused. Taking 24 of 68 episodes that are already filmed and rearranging them into a cohesive plotline that makes any sense is a great idea but hardly feasible. I didn’t watch it, and I heard from fans who did that it was a good effort but quite wonky. *sigh*
Two weeks ago, Wesley tweeted this golden tip…
…and we thank her wholeheartedly! But then I had a horrible thought. Was it the original version, where Rain disappears and someone else gets the girl? Was all of America going to be watching that? *shudder* I’m not a Netflix person, but Terri is. She watched it immediately and, to my utter delight, gave it a thumbs up. Another shorter special cut, but much more cohesive and with a good ending. Hurray!
When it was licensed to Netflix, was the Chinese viewers’ thumbs down on the first ending given consideration? Hm! I wonder… I guess I’ll become a Netflix person now, as if I need any more viewing sites. Thanks a lot, Rain. LOL 😀
If you’ve watched Diamond Lover on Netflix, I’d love to hear your views. ^@@^
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7/7. Endless August check: I suppose I should be grateful that China isn’t saying the Chinese TV drama that Rain filmed last year will never be seen, right? Still, though, having to wait another whole year when we’ve already waited a whole year, not to mention the uncertainty of HOW we’ll even manage to watch it… (waiting for Diamond Lover was hell, and then they stiffed us! Wouldn’t license anyone here to watch it after all! Ugh!) China, China, CHINA. 😦 ^@@^
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7/7. A reminder: If you frequent Dramafever, don’t forget to become a Rain fan and give his page a lot of love. You can even share your favorite pics of him there. Now that’s cool! Sunnypeony has the direct link for you right there, in her tweet. Just CLICK! ↓ 🙂 ^@@^
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6/25. This cute new Twitter that does K-Pop themed birthday mood boards on request did one for Rain’s birthday. I like! 😀 ^@@^
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6/23. As some of you may have noticed, I haven’t posted anything about Rain’s appearance at the SGC Super Live Fashion Show & Concert in Yokohama, Japan on 6/27 on this blog. That’s because it didn’t happen. On 6/23, R.A.I.N. Company announced on its website that Rain wasn’t going, and across the Internet, other artists started dropping out like flies as well. Come to find out, whoever was in charge of paying the artists in advance didn’t get around to it. Don’t know why. Things were really bad on the SGC Instagram, with them continuing to do a countdown to the show while fans who knew what was going on were railing at them, calling them liars and demanding refunds. Finally, they announced themselves that the show was indeed canceled. I don’t know if there was fraud involved, or if maybe someone just dropped the ball by trying for another big show too soon after the one in Seoul. Wow, y’all. 😦 ^@@^
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6/23. Uhm Bok Dong check: This cottage is Rain’s character’s home in the movie. Despite the crew taking proper measures, a plague of mosquitos descends upon the place every night. Y’all better invest in some industrial strength insect repellent!
By the way, a few days after these pics were posted, a Twitter account that translates snippets of news from the Korean media reported that Bicycle King Uhm Bok Dong‘s director had abruptly quit. Speculation is that he was given a hard time when trying to contribute to the direction of the film, while the production company says no, he was overwhelmed by the huge responsibility of making the film a success and left. (I suspect it had a little something to do with both. JMHO) The assistant director immediately took over. I haven’t seen anything about a new director as of yet… I also heard that some netizens were calling it “the new REAL.”
First of all, I give zero f**cks what netizens think. They don’t know their asses from a hole in the ground. Secondly, I haven’t heard anything about this situation since, except for the fact that filming hasn’t stopped. That’s all I care about — that things are still on schedule. A change of director is not necessarily a death knell to every movie just because it happened to REAL. REAL and Uhm Bok Dong aren’t even in the same genre. What does one have to do with the other? (NOTHING) With Rain’s and Lee Beom Soo’s extensive experience in creating characters on screen, it’s not like someone’s having to direct newbies. There just isn’t enough for me to be the least bit worried about this movie. Yet. So, we’ll see what happens. ^@@^ (Images credit: junegyebaek @ IG)
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FYI: Rain fans, if you want to use, read, and comment on Rain’s official fan site (rain-cloud.co.kr) CLICK on the gray “JOIN” button beside the Log In button, to get to the Registration page in Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and English. Then CLICK the green “Sign up – Foreign” button to register in English. (*Note: An official 10th Cloud membership drive has not begun yet, though I have it on good authority that it will sometime after mid-July or August.) ^@@^
Cloud USA 
I am year and years late watching this. Surprised to have found it on Netflix during shelter in place. I had time in between taking care of a toddler. I was so excited to watch another Rain drama. Netflix has 24 episodes indeed. I landed on your page and a few others in search of answers to all the questions in my head… “What? Is that it? What just happened there? Who are those people in the trailer, how come I didnt see them? Did I miss something? How come police didnt investigate accordingly? The crimes committed are seemingly serious and punishable. What? They waited for Ye Qi to wake up but never really punished who did that to her?”
Question after question after question . Now I understand, i just watched a shortened version which they tried so hard to mend and appear cohesive. It was cute and forgivable in the beginning episodes and then, started to not make sense. There was poor character development . I am biased since I only know Rain among the actors and he always delivers. To be fair though, the second lead is good and his character made the most sense to me
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No problem, Lynn. Thanks for your comments! We’re all long-winded here… you fit right in. 🙂 (I’m trying to figure out why your whole comment didn’t come through here…)
Stephe ^@@^
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Just watched the Netflix version of Diamond Lover and was disappointed. I just want to preface with the fact that I watched it without prior knowledge about the original or the cast members. From the start of the first episode I had hoped for her to end up with the 2nd lead male. I just couldn’t stand the lead male’s ego tbh and the way he treated her toward the end. Yea, I’m gonna say he would be a hard pass. I had no idea all this drama with that show even existed until i started looking up the cast for other works. Very interesting. Anyways, I’d like to see the original ending. Anyone know where to find it?
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Hi, An. Nice to meet you. 🙂 Thanks for your comments on the Netflix version. As far as I know, the original version and ending was only shown in China, and I don’t know that it’s ever been made available here…
It’s probably worth doing a search though, because you never know. It’s been a while, and someone could have finally managed to do it.
Stephe ^@@^
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I want to thank you for your rants. I have found them to be quite informative and entertaining. I know, with you I will always get clear and concise information about RAIN. It has been you and Terri’s blogs that have been my journey’s guide.
I also want to give Karinina a shout out for clearing up my confusion. I have been suffering through Diamond Love(only cheering up when my curious boy in on screen) and was ready to pull, what little hair I have left out. I find C-dramas very rough going. I now have a better concept of what is going on. Thank you.
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LOL…….I thought it was just me. I find C-dramas very hard to sit through. It’s like a chore. SMILES. They don’t have the same flow that K-dramas do. Maybe it’s listening to the language, I don’t know. However, I’ve only been able to get into a couple C-dramas in the past, both starring Van Ness Wu. I’m sure it’s a combination of several factors but I’m only watching Diamond Lover because Bi is in it (as you said). Also, it doesn’t help that his voice is dubbed, but what can you do? SMILES
I’ll give my opinion about the show overall, when I’ve finished it….but this is the longest 24 episodes ever. LOL.
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Soooo, Diamond Lover on Viki is on my watch list but I’ve been reluctant because I don’t like series that are abridged AND because I’d heard Rain’s character doesn’t get the girl (still going to watch it though – its got Rain! \_(ツ)_/¯ ). But are you saying the Viki abridged version (24 episodes) and the Netflix abridged version (also 24 episodes) are different?
btw, Stephe, in my mind I hear you doing a Donald Trump impersonation with -“China, CHINA, CHINA!” LOL
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Guess I’m a day late and a dollar short. I just realized today that Diamond Lover was on Netflix, as I’ve been watching other things. I will try again to watch it since it’s on Netflix. However, I’m not crazy about long dramas (gotta be honest). Hopefully it will be easier to watch with the English subs, because it was a nightmare trying to watch this C-Drama with no subs when it first came out. I didn’t make it past the first episode, mainly because I’m spoiled by listening to Korean being spoken on the dramas we watch.
The Prince and now Diamond Lover are both on Netflix and Full House is on Hulu, so I guess Rain’s presence Is in the States….of sorts. SMILES.
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I’d love to read your views on it when you get done! ^@@^
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Oh most definitely! That’s what I do girl, you know me. SMILES……
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Hi, Stephe, if you don’t want to have this comment published, I will understand 🙂
Diamond Lover: Ok, I haven’t seen the Netflix version, but as someone who fell for Rain just because of this C-drama – despite the fact that Rain is dubbed there so I had no idea how sexy voice he has and even had no idea how amazing singer and dancer he is (and actor!) – I would like to write something about the original long version – which I must admit has quite a few problems with the plot. I haven’t heard anything about the production process, but I have some doubts, bcs everything in the PRC has to go through the approval of the censorship organization (Central Film, TV and Radio Broadcast Administration), and is hard to be changed on the way. And the story – typically for such a long drama – doesn’t focus just on one lovestory, but follows the stories of several key characters (basically, everyone has his/her past and present relationship, sometimes even more). From the beginning there is the very important character of the female lead (Tiffany Tang)‘s childhood friend who is always there for her, especially when something with Xiaoliang (i.e. Rain) goes wrong. And the theme song sung by Rain is apparently about this character, not about the Rain’s – that’s sure (it’s about a faithful lover, who is just watching how his beloved one is in love with someone else – I can translate the lyrics, it’s different from the Korean Marilyn Monroe). Anyway, the ending is a bit surprising even when we know this all the time. The end that you, Stephe, are talking about (no spoiler, I hope), is just the last few minutes of the drama (so if you just turn it off five min before the end, you’ll be satisfied, it looks like she‘s come back to Rain :-)). Yeah, and there are probably reasons, why it HAD to end like this (the organization I’ve just mentioned) – it might have something to do with 1) non-Chinese actor representing the main character, 2) it isn’t the rich guy, but the „poor“, ordinary, hard working and loyal one, who gets the girl. It’s about the “correct values”, you know… So I am really curious about the Netflix version! 😉
Btw, I still think that he looks just amazing there! If only for him, it’s worth watching….
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Thanks for your comments, Karinina! I’m glad to have them. Any extra light that anyone can shed on the situation is helpful, indeed. Thumbs up. 🙂
Stephe ^@@^
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