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Notice There are several different cuts of Meteor Garden (2001). This wiki currently goes by a 19 episode version (VCD), which is believed to be the closest to how the series first aired. |
Episode 1 (第1集), also titled "Chapter One" (Chapter 壹) or "Overture" (序曲), is the first episode of the Taiwanese drama, Meteor Garden. It aired on April 12, 2001 on CTS. The episode introduces the main characters, including Dong Shan Cai and Dao Ming Si played by Barbie Hsu and Jerry Yan. The second episode followed on April 19.
Ying De Academy is ruled by a group of rich and powerful bullies, the F4. Lower-class student, Shan Cai tries her best to avoid them until her friend is targeted. She stands up for her and gains an enemy in the F4's leader, Si.
Plot[]
Winter break has ended and Dong Shan Cai returns to Ying De Academy, a predominantly upper-class university. She and her friend, Li Zhen, are among the few lower-class students. The two friends walk to class together, and see Ah Shu packing his things. He previously angered the ruling clique, the F4, by standing up to them. As a result, Ah Shu received a red card and eventually decided to quit school. Shan Cai becomes angry, watching her classmates and professor whom make no attempt to help Ah Shu. She tries to follow after him, but Li Zhen stops her and reminds her of the F4. After only a few seconds in class, Shan Cai leaves to yell out her frustrations on the roof. The F4, meanwhile, arrive late to school.
Sometime later, Shan Cai and Li Zhen are carrying equipment for their physical education class, when their professor accidentally spills soda on the F4's leader Dao Ming Si. He apologizes and runs away, thinking Si may hit him. In his haste, he knocks over the basket held by Shan Cai and Li Zhen. Si kicks it when he walks by with his friends. Hua Ze Lei stops to pick it up and briefly makes eye contact with Shan Cai. After school, she goes to her part-time job where she works with her best friend, Xiao You. She complains about the F4 and how they control the school. Fascinated, Xiao You asks her "Are all four really that bad?" Shan Cai thinks about it and remembers Lei, whom she says is "different."
Xiao You comments on how Shan Cai has changed from the person who was always standing up for others. Realizing she is right, Shan Cai considers leaving school. Her attempts to convince her mother fail and she reluctantly agrees to stay at Ying De. That night, the F4 go to a bar where Xi Men's latest fling works. A fight breaks out with the girl's boyfriend, resulting in the F4 beating him and his friends. The next day, Li Zhen slips on the stairway. The box she is carrying lands on Si. She apologizes, to which he says "If apologies could help, would we still need the police?" and pushes her aside. Shan Cai confronts him and ends up calling him and his friends "parasites." Si grabs her chin and then leaves.
At home, Shan Cai realizes her hopes of being "low profile" are gone. The next day, she expects to find a red card in her locker but finds it on her back instead. Her classmates begin bullying her, which gradually worsens as the day goes on. Feeling guilty, Li Zhen gives Shan Cai a bear with the voice message "I'm sorry." She feels better briefly but eventually returns to the rooftop to yell. There Shan Cai finds Lei again and he lends her a handkerchief. After school, she discovers her broken scooter and has to walk home. Si drives by and informs her that he will try even harder to bully her. The next day, Shan Cai challenges the F4 by giving them her own red card. Mei Zuo and Xi Men find it amusing, while Si grows more angry.
Si later hires some students to "scare" Shan Cai, though they actually attempt to assault her. Lei stops them and, despite his seeming indifference, cheers her up when she starts to cry. The next day, Shan Cai punches Si in retaliation for the incident. He spends hours after school in his pool just thinking. Later, Shan Cai finds Lei in the music room. She attempts to thank him, though he does not accept it and promises to stop going to the roof. Shan Cai is not put off by his gruffness. On her way home, two men kidnap her and bring her to Si's house, where she is given a makeover. Si reveals that he wants her to become his girlfriend. She rejects him, saying "I'm someone whom no amount of money can buy."
Cast and characters[]
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Other
Guest roles |
Notes[]
- The episode covers the first half of the manga's first arc, which includes chapters one through four.
- At the start of the episode, the students of Ying De Academy are coming back from a week long break. It is specified as being the winter break, but the exact month is not indicated.
- Xiao You mentions how Shan Cai always stood up to bullies while they were in high school
- To Shan Cai, Lei talks about a friend who taught him to stop his tears from flowing by hanging upside down. The friend is confirmed to be Teng Tang Jing in episode four.
- In the original cut, this episode plays the opening theme song around twelve minutes in. All of the following episodes have it at the beginning before any content plays.
- Barbie Hsu was initially going to ride the motorbike at the beginning of the episode. However, due to the production's schedule, she did not have enough time to practice beforehand and a double was used instead.[3]
- Bu Xue Liang's appearance as Shan Cai's professor is credited as a guest performer. He goes on to appear in another episode as well as one episode of Meteor Garden II.
- During the scene of Shan Cai being bullied, several silent film tunes are played, including "The Entertainer" by Scott Joplin and "A Dog's Life Theme."
- The luxury brands, Prada, Gucci, and Burberry, are all mentioned in this episode.
- Qian Hui gets a nose job, which Bai He calls "Julia Roberts' nose." Roberts, an American actress, was at the height of her popularity at that time.
- Shan Cai's professor gives a lecture on the philosopher Confucius.
- Li Zhen gives Shan Cai a bear with a recorded voice message. This may be a reference of the first episode of the anime, in which Makiko gives a similar toy to Tsukushi. The Korean drama also has a similar scene in the first episode.
References[]
See also[]
Meteor Garden (2001-2002) | ||||||||||||
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External links[]
- Episode 1 at the Internet Movie Database
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