lu x mei – Just another WordPress site

October 27, 2020

What’s your fave thing about Lu and Mei?

Oh, hmm. You know, as much as I have a hard time picking favorite things in general, this kind of thing I can immediately pinpoint for ships.

For these two it’s gotta be how much they truly respect each other? Not in this shallow, subservient way but where they truly know and understand the other and the way they respect them extends to caring about what’s important to them, too.

When you look at them from the outside you’d have no idea of the depth of their feelings, oh, they spent two years not acting on their feelings, oh, Lu went off to space without doing anything but like, the restraint and adherence to duty and sense of responsibility is part of what they love. We get the inside look and know it wasn’t easy at all to hold themselves back or for Lu to leave like that, but there’s just this like…understanding of what they both want and even as it shifts and grows, they make sure to be on the same page, all while having to factor in the major external factors that they care about and know the other cares about too.

There’s this trust, always rewarded, that they can request things of the other and know it’ll be listened to and taken seriously. Even from the start, Lu asking Mei how she learned to speak English so fluently, Mei asking Lu for the calligraphy demonstration and lessons, but even the serious things like Lu saying they couldn’t be together, Mei asking to stay the night, and then most crucially, Lu asking for a future together and it’s just…so mutual and open and trusting and thoughtful. :’)

October 21, 2020

As someone who works in TV I can understand why Netflix are doing a cull of things. Even if they had a successful first series. The logistics of everything now is a nightmare. On top of the extra expenses for Covid testing/PPE/Cleaning equipment. There is ensuring correct transport that will keep passengers and drivers safe (all which have to be approved by a Covid supervisor). Additional rig days to ensure each department gets space to work (which is fine for light entertainment shows and just about manageable for sitcoms) but high end dramas? That’s so many additional days. If you add in potential weeks for shut downs which might occur if they have someone test positive, this then adds on an extension of costs for equipment and space. It wouldn’t surprise me if Netflix, Apple TV etc have sat down with a list of shows and gone through which ones they are willing to spend the money on. If shows are easy to make normally, then they will more likely be higher on the list to film during times of Covid because of the potential for them to cost less than a show which would normally require a larger budget. America is also very unionised so everything there takes longer anyway. So it wouldn’t surprise me if shows that film outside of the USA (take Warrior Nun as an example) get priority of those within the USA. It wouldn’t surprise me if shows also get filmed in the UK/Europe instead of the US

Okay, first, asks can be this long (again)?? What the.

But oooh, thanks for your expertise! From what I saw, that does sound spot on and it is…so much. I get it, and yet. Doesn’t make it feel any better, right. And can’t they just delay some of these? Shorter seasons?

Oh, and I think Away actually did shoot in Canada, but not sure if that’s relevant. Hopefully WN will be okay with the Europe cases rising again.

And another two anons:

Covid just fucking ruins everything huh

I know COVID has caused a lot of big shit but we can be mad at the small shit too right? Like all the shows it’s ruined for example

Lol, I was thinking that too, like of course, it’s actually killing so many and separating families and costing jobs (although these are jobs too), is it okay to be mad about this thing, since it’s mostly just us being upset at not getting certain shows… But I think we can be, we’re not saying it’s anywhere near that level of awfulness, it’s just one of many ways in which this has sucked. 😡

And another anon:

Lu and Mei deserved better

Truly, whatever else the show had going on, that was such a unique little gem in the middle, something I’ve legit never seen in American media, adult professional Chinese wlw who clearly cared about and understood their culture. There are so few at all, but they’re either teens or like, action-centric. And the more I look at characters played by actresses like Michelle Yeoh and Ming-Na Wen, the more I appreciate a character from that mold.

But representation aside, they deserved an explicitly happy ending!

And another anon:

I doubt they would have even had to like do a lot of COVID stuff? Just cut down on the mission control scenes and quarantine the five actors together near the Mars set?????

Btw that anger was directed at Netflix but you

I can’t remember if I said not or but in that last ask so I wanna clarify Netflix not you

Lmao, this made me burst out laughing. How dare you! But no worries, it was clear in context anyway. But from what the first anon above said, I do think there are a whole lot of very specific expenses that they can’t just can’t skimp on. And it wouldn’t be just the five actors, but all the crew that would interact with them.

But yeah, I don’t think there’s any kind of exact algorithm they’re using, it’s not as if they judge profitability in the same way other businesses can, they’re at the point where interest doesn’t automatically translate to new subscriptions because so many people have subs already, so it’s a whole thing to figure out what actually is a success and what isn’t. It may be more a gut feeling thing, what they think is better rid off or not.

And another anon:

The showrunner of Away said he had a COVID plan already in place and that Away worked perfectly for it ugh didn’t even let him try

Do you mean Jessica Goldberg? I feel like I read something like that, but I guess it was still too expensive to them, and of course, she was still a showrunner trying to get her show renewed, anyone in the same situation would say the same.

And another anon:

Away was one of my fave shows ever *Sigh*

Ouch. Sorry, bud. Brave of you to get invested in a Netflix s1…though I guess it seemed like a safe bet at the time! Still pretty shocked at it, tbh. But at least they ended on a high note, overall? You could imagine the mission going well, with of course the technical and emotional hiccups, and then back on Earth as celebrities.

October 19, 2020December 20, 2020

October 19, 2020

I had an idea. What if in season 2 they devise some sort of system for Mei and Lu to talk privately without the CNSA knowing? Like they communicate using someone else’s tablet or something? Like maybe through Matt like he could hide it since he works at NASA.

I kinda hope we get more of the other characters next season. Like I want other character’s loved ones showing up as like in their imaginations like Matt did for Emma. And I wanna know how it’s affecting the other families too and the other kids.

I had an idea. Maybe they could all band together and decide not to do a specific task unless Mei rejoins the mission? I could see that. They all love Lu and know how much it would hurt if they weren’t able to talk to their loved ones again and they’ve already risked international incidents like twice haha. They’d have to reinstate her if they used a United front.

Maybe they’ll just meticulously plan out the scenes everyone is in like two weeks in advance and have them quarantine ahead of time so that way they can still shoot scenes but also stay on schedule? (About Away)

I think these are all from the same anon, they all came together, if not, my apologies.

I feel like both the idea to communicate by secret and to force NASA/CNSA to reinstate Mei are great, but I also think they’re too easy to get where we want and skip a whole lot of the drama the show’s deliberately going to want to include. But the communication idea, huh, that might be something they do, during Mei’s part of s2, because they gotta progress her story somehow. I don’t think we’ll get much of Mei back but I would LOVE to be proven wrong. I just feel the show’s not prioritizing them as much as we are.

But yes, definitely, the second ask about seeing the other families, that should definitely be one of the justifications for another season, to see more of the rest of them. Like first seasons tend to be about the lead and setting up further exploration into the side characters, then subsequent seasons elaborate on that, that’s what I’m hoping happens here.

And you’re probably correct on how they’re going to do the shooting, it seems to me that they already plan things out in pretty close detail, which actors and props and crew and sets they’ll need when, they just have to use that to now coordinate who’s interacting with who and for how long. I say “just” but it was already probably such a complex web and now this is a huge factor to include and you hear of sets immediately shut down as soon as someone does test positive, so it’s gonna be a learning experience for everyone.

October 19, 2020December 20, 2020

October 18, 2020December 20, 2020