Light the Night

As a non-Asian drama lover, I think Light the Night showcased a different take on Asian dramas. The typical over dramatic, lovey dovey romance was not on display here. Light the Night displayed what the working women endured in the 80s and I found it interesting. Story was good. Overall very decent drama from the Taiwan.

It is probably the most powerful casts I have ever seen in a Taiwan drama. The casts are most talented and be part of a leading role in many drama or movie in Taiwan. Even eating a meal in restaurant can see full of emotion and deep deep acting. The story just like a recent drama white lotus but doesn't matter like or not, just a crime theme but I really addicted to the acting. The background in 80s is a big bonus for those live and grow up in that time and city. Don't surprise lots of awards will go this drama, no doubt Ruby Lin another peak in her acting career, really have progress compare her "16 summer" and the improvement is huge. For whom like watch acting, please watch this.

The actors are very professional and the story is certainly attractive. I usually prefer scifi genres but this story certainly got my attention.

What I really point out is that the cast is very unique for an Asian Drama. Popular Chinese and Korean dramas usually prefer young(18-25) girls, pale-skinned, thin, actresses full of plastic surgery. Light the Night chose middle aged ladies, some with plastic surgery, but not all of them. And not all in the usually body type, the character Aiko is even a bit chubby and has a typical southern China skin-tone. There is an old lady playing in that night-club. They are certainly very mature in the acting and have a lot of experience and in fact it wouldn't play well with younger actress.

One tiny problem I'd point out is the confusing chronology. I don't know if it's netflix messing up or what, but show doesn't really explain in which point in time they are before the incident, which makes me confused about when the story is at the moment. But, it is not a big deal and won't make your experience bad because of it.

I strongly recommend it and I also suggest to ignore very low ratings of this show, as it is usually a bunch of Mainlanders complaining because the show is taiwanese. I'm looking forward for season 2.

I personally like the portrayal of emotions here, it's not common, I like the characters, you can see their flaws, their strengths too. I'm not familiar with taiwanese art or media but the actors are good especially the female leads. It's slow burn, take your time, you'll find emotions you'll relate to and not the pretty kind.

LIGHT THE NIGHT (2021 - ) is a Taiwanese Drama, and was a really well done series, albeit much different than the usual crime dramas out there. It was very slower moving, and at first a bit hard to really get into it, but this does improve with time and patience. I must say that the era of the 1980's in Taipei made for a very interesting setting. Actress Ruby Lin, shines bright, as always.

"In the red light district of 1980s Taipei, women at a popular Japanese night club navigate jealousy, heartbreak, friendship and love."

The quality of the series is evident and the acting is top tier as well. The story, while a bit slower paced initially, gets pretty good. Overall, this was a very well made series, very intriguing.