Welcome to Lights, Camera, Asia's FIRST drama review!
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Alice in Wonder City
Genre: Romance
Episodes: 16
EPISODE 1
The first episode starts out with a dream sequence that
embodies the name of the drama: one of the male leads is running around in a
forest, dressed as the White Rabbit, and encounters a girl named Alice. The
show then introduces us to the two male leads, Chen Hai Jie and He Ting Yu.
Chen Hai Jie, the dreamer at the beginning of the episode, is a great contrast
to He Ting Yu. Hai Jie is an amateur violinist who envisions himself as being
part of a world-class orchestra. Ting Yu is a classically trained violinist
with an attitude problem.
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| Chen Hai Jie |
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He Ting Yu
|
Next come the two female leads. Alice is a girl from Japan
who enters a whirlwind romance with Hai Jie, and Lan Die Fei is Ting Yu’s
biggest fan and a classical music enthusiast. Die Fie lands an interview with
Ting Yu’s orchestra through her sister, Lan Yu Shu, and is immediately hired by
Ting Yu to be his assistant.
 |
| Alice |
 |
Lan Die Fei
|
A year later, we are brought to present day, where Ting Yu
is preparing for a concert and is spending most of his time angst-ing over his
past, which is the cause of his insomnia, attitude and drinking problems.
Because he won’t answer his phone, and no one from the orchestra can get in
contact with him, the orchestra has no choice but to replace him during the
rehearsal. Queue Hai Jie, who just so happens to be at the concert hall. Ting
Yu eventually shows up, but throws a fit because he was replaced.
As if that wasn’t enough, Ting Yu’s prized violin goes missing
and he immediately turns on Die Fei, thinking she’s responsible. Finally, Hai
Jie’s violin is offered up as a temporary replacement, and Ting Yu performs
spectacularly. Afterwards, Hai Jie offers some friendly (or so he thinks)
criticism, and, of course, Ting Yu does not take it well. Eventually, the night
ends and Hai Jie attempts to comfort Die Fei and wishes her luck on dealing
with the missing violin.
EPISODE 2
The following day, Die Fei is still being accused of
stealing Ting Yu’s violin. The scene cuts to Die Fei’s sister and the director
engaged in an illicit affair; the director is married and old enough to be Yu
Shu’s father. Shortly after, we find out that the orchestra is looking for
another violinist and that Hai Jie has applied for the position. Of course, he
is running late for the interview, and Ting Yu is impatient and ready to leave.
Die Fei and the director beg him to stay and Hai Jie eventually shows up. As
Hai Jie plays, he thinks about his time with Alice and how much he longs for
her (she left him one year ago and hasn’t been seen or heard from since). As
soon as Hai Jie finishes, Ting Yu jumps out of his chair and exclaims that Hai
Jie is perfect for the position. Needless to say, everyone is shocked at Ting
Yu’s extreme attitude change.
Later, Hai Jie and Die Fei are walking home and discussing
the recent events. Hai Jie is very happy and mentions Alice in passing, which
gets Die Fei curious; however, he refuses to say anything more about Alice.
The next day, Hai Jie’s older sister calls to meet up and
talk. She’s going to get married soon and her teenage daughter has been acting
out because of it (the fiancé is not the girl’s father). It cuts to the
daughter playing hooky and a lady follows her around because she knows the girl
is up to no good. The lady confronts the girl about stealing and treats her to
some snacks at a café nearby.
That night, Ting Yu goes to the same café the lady took Hai
Jie’s niece to earlier in the day. He apparently knows the owner, who turns out
to be the same woman from that afternoon, Jin Li Sha/Lisa. As they’re talking,
Alice approaches the pair and states that she’s Lisa’s long-lost daughter, Ito
Seiko, who’s come all the way from Japan to find her mother.
Ting Yu goes home and plays his violin while thinking about
his own mother. Here, we are given a glimpse into his past and can see why he’s
so angsty all the time. In his flashback, his mother was apparently very sick
and in the hospital (seemingly for a while), hysterically begging him not to
leave her.
We next see Alice/Seiko making herself at home at Lisa’s
house. Lisa reminisces about her husband dying on a botany trip to South
America and how she was left in Japan with their daughter. Her in-laws
immediately tried to take Alice/Seiko away, but Lisa refused them. Alice/Seiko
goes to bed, while Lisa stays up, still thinking about the past. We are shown
how mother and daughter were separated: Lisa’s in-laws kidnap Alice/Seiko and run
away with her. Lisa was never able to find her afterwards.
Ting Yu, worried about Lisa, texts her to meet him outside.
Meanwhile, Alice/Seiko spies on them. Ting Yu asks Lisa how she feels now that
she’s found her daughter. Lisa confesses that she’s torn because Seiko is so different
from what she imagined and remembered her to be like. The next day, Alice/Seiko
and Lisa eat together and talk about the past. Lisa tells Alice/Seiko that she
resents her in-laws for separating them and wants to know if Alice/Seiko hates
her for not being able to find her.
The following morning, Ting Yu stops by with breakfast but
Alice/Seiko complains about not having her favorite food to eat. While Lisa
goes to get the food, Alice/Seiko accuses Ting Yu of being her mother’s
boy-toy, which makes Ting Yu furious and he tells her she doesn’t deserve to
have Lisa as her mother. He leaves in a huff after almost slapping Alice/Seiko.
When Lisa comes back, she’s surprised that Ting Yu is gone, while Alice/Seiko
continues to act out and says that she will accept her mother’s unscrupulous
relationship with Ting Yu. Lisa demands Alice/Seiko apologize to Ting Yu and
denies having that kind of relationship with him.
At the orchestra hall, Hai Jie shows up for his first
rehearsal and runs into Die Fei, who is busy running errands. He follows her
around and ties to make her laugh because he can tell she’s a little stressed
out.
Alice/Seiko gets Ting Yu’s address from her mother and goes
to his house under the guise of apologizing. Ting Yu is not impressed with her
poor attempt at an apology, but Alice/Seiko doesn’t care and invites herself in.
He gets irritated with her and demands she quickly leave because he has to be
at rehearsal. She petulantly refuses and he decides to just leave her at his
house. She immediately starts snooping around once he’s gone.
At rehearsal, Ting Yu and Hai Jie wow everyone with their
duet and Ting Yu officially thanks Hai Jie for loaning his violin at the last
concert. Ting Yu tells Hai Jie that his violin was very comforting to play, but
says there’s been no progress in the search for his own violin. They make plans
to go eat, but Ting Yu gets roped into performing at a sponsor’s house-warming
party. Hai Jie volunteers to join him and they perform flawlessly. Hai Jie
notices that Ting Yu is not happy being there and suggests they sneak off. Ting
Yu eventually agrees and proceeds to steal multiple bottles of wine on their
way out. They go back to Hai Jie’s house and get drunk, while Ting Yu digresses
about how being a prodigy is not all it’s cracked up to be.
EPISODE 3
We pick back up with the boys getting drunk at Hai Jie’s
house. Ting Yu continues his rant about his bittersweet life and says that
aside from being a musician, he’s useless. Hai Jie thanks Ting Yu for accepting
him into the orchestra and Ting Yu thanks Hai Jie for going to the party with
him. Ting Yu also brings up Hai Jie’s audition and says he thinks Hai Jie is
not able to let go of a past relationship and refuses to face reality. Hai Jie
agrees and tells Ting Yu about Alice.
When Ting Yu goes home, he sees Alice/Seiko asleep on his
couch. He covers her up, but Alice/Seiko wakes up and asks how he met her
mother. He has a flashback about getting beat up by some neighborhood thugs and
how Lisa saved him. It cuts to the next morning, and Alice/Seiko is gone. She
left a note for Ting Yu, saying sorry and signs the note “Alice” (keep in mind
that the only person who knows her as Alice is Hai Jie).
At rehearsal, they guys are practicing a quartet, but no one
can agree on a common interpretation of the piece (Schubert’s Death and the
Maiden). The other musicians believe that they only serve the purpose to
support Ting Yu’s violin, nothing more. Hai Jie quickly disagrees, but the
other musicians start arguing and Ting Yu storms out. Hai Jie talks to Die Fei
about it and she tells him that he probably didn’t choose the best way to
address his opinions. Ting Yu comes in and scolds Die Fei for being
scatterbrained and disorganized. She runs off to Lisa’s café and Hai Jie
follows her.
Back at the concert hall, the conductor approaches Ting Yu
and attempts to discuss ways to fire Hai Jie, but Ting Yu surprisingly comes to
Hai Jie’s defense and absolutely refuses to let him go. Die Fei and Hai Jie
come back with coffee for everyone, but Ting Yu still tears into her. Hai Jie
attempts to come to her rescue, but Ting Yu is not persuaded. However, Die Fei,
tired of being chastised, tells Ting Yu off. She says that she loves his music,
but no longer respects him as a person. Ting Yu is taken aback but continues to
cut her down and they both leave, him angry, her in tears.
Ting Yu sees Hai Jie walking home and stops to tell him that
he agrees with Hai Jie’s interpretation of the quartet piece. Hai Jie tries to
talk to him about his treatment of Die Fei, but Ting Yu won’t listen. Hai Jie
manages to convince Ting Yu to meet up another day and talk more about it.
The day they meet up, Hai Jie takes Ting Yu biking and they
get a little competitive with each other. Later, they stop and Ting Yu tells
Hai Jie that he values his opinions about the music, but asks Hai Jie to come
to him personally, next time. Hai Jie agrees and asks Ting Yu to go to a party
with him. They go shopping for gifts and then head to the party. It turns out
it’s Die Fei’s birthday party and everyone’s dressed in costumes. Everyone is
also shocked to see Ting Yu there. They start playing drinking games and get
Hai Jie to tell them about Alice, but he gets depressed and mopes.
After the party, Ting Yu and Die Fei try to take Hai Jie
home, but aren’t able to. Hai Jie acts out because he’s drunk and upset and
Ting Yu tells him that his relationship with Alice was nothing more than a
fling. They argue and Die Fei supports Hai Jie, which makes Ting Yu even more
frustrated. Die Fei manages to get Hai Jie home by herself. We cut over to
Alice/Seiko, who gets a mysterious text from an “SJ” asking her to report her
location and progress.
As Die Fei is leaving Hai Jie’s apartment, Ting Yu is
waiting for her outside and says that he wants to ride the bus with her because
he’s never ridden a bus before. She starts comparing him to Hai Jie, and Ting
Yu teases her about having feelings for Hai Jie. However, Ting Yu discourages
her feelings, telling her that she’ll never have a chance because Hai Jie’s too
wrapped up in Alice. They briefly argue and Die Fei jumps on the bus, but Ting
Yu stays behind, proving that he was just trying to find an excuse to walk her
to the bus stop.
The next day, Ting Yu and the director are discussing
possible replacements for his missing violin. Ting Yu becomes fascinated with a
violin called the Siren. Supposedly, it’s cursed because anyone who has played
it has died by the age of 35. It’s located in Japan, in the same prefecture
that Alice/Seiko is from, and Ting Yu immediately requests three tickets be
purchased.
Meanwhile, Alice/Seiko and Lisa go to a botanical garden and
talk about Alice’s/Seiko’s father. Lisa tells Alice/Seiko her husband left her
some sort of treasure and Alice/Seiko becomes suspiciously interested. In a
cheesy confession, Lisa tells Alice/Seiko that she is her treasure and
Alice’s/Seiko’s interest wanes. Alice/Seiko then receives another mysterious
text telling her to finish her job quickly or there will be “assistants” sent
to help.
Ting Yu surprises everyone by revealing that the tickets to
Japan are for himself, Die Fei and Hai Jie. He gives a wicked smile, which
worries Die Fei and Hai Jie, as they don’t know what he has planned. They both
agree to go and Die Fei is assigned to be Ting Yu’s special assistant on the
trip, and must accompany him wherever he goes.
Thank you so much for checking out our FIRST Drama review. Let us know what you thought about it in the comments below!
Thank you!
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