Till Death Tear Us Apart (Chinese, 愉 此 一生; pinyin, Yu ci Yisheng) is a 2017 Chinese historical spy drama starring Jiang Zi Le and Yan Zi Dong. It's loosely based on the novel Love in a Blaze by Nan Zhi.
The story is set in 1944 in Chengdu during the Second Sino-Japanese War where the Kuomintang Party and Communist Party are at odds with each other amid the Japanese occupation. Liu Yusheng used to be a wealthy man until his inheritance was stolen when he came back abroad. He works as a teacher in a small school instead to earn a living. Unbeknownst to everyone, he's also a spy for the Communists. When he receives a message that the Kuomintang are looking for hidden Communists, Yusheng attempts to flee until he meets Zhou Yaohua, his old classmate who is a businessman. Yaohua lets Yusheng stay in his mansion after feeling bad that he lost his valuables, though this gives Yusheng to spy on Yaohua's sister who is a high-ranking Kuomintang officer. By then, the game of espionage is set as Yusheng must contend whether to remain loyal to his belief or his friend who he has fallen for.
The show is available in Tencent YouTube channel
with English subs.
This series provides examples of:
- Ambiguously Gay:
- Yushao calls Ah Yan pretty and asks him to follow him. It doesn't help that he wraps his arm around Ah Yan's shoulders. In one deleted scene, he confesses to Ah Yan that he wants his heart.
- Yaohua is head over heels with Yusheng to the point that he lets him stay in his mansion and prefers to go out with him. One of the servants even notes that Yaohua doesn't seem to be interested in women such as Caiyi.
- Battle Butler: Ah Yan, who is Yaohua's bodyguard and was trained in West Point.
- Becoming the Mask: Ah Yan was ordered by Yaomin to spy on Yushao. While Ah Yan did successfully infiltrate Gelaohui's ranks thanks to Yushao, he slowly started to become attracted to Yushao. Though he did report to Yaomin that the Gelaohui stole the medicine meant for the Kuomintang, he never told her and Yaohua that he let the gangsters steal the medicine.
- Bridal Carry: Yaohua carries Yusheng this way after he was injured during an air raid.
- Broken Pedestal:
- Yaohua is heartbroken when he learns that Yusheng is a communist spy and has been using him ever since. Even though Yusheng wants to make amends by helping him free Yaomin, Yaohua is understandably furious and tells Yusheng to get out.
- Zhou Zongfu is dismayed that the Kuomintang party, whom he served loyally, only cares about their self-interest rather than helping him to save his children. This led him to accept aid from Yusheng and the communists. After that, he resigns from the army and plans to live in America with his family.
- But Not Too Gay: Given the strict censorship of LGBT content in China, most of the intimate scenes and dialogue between Yusheng and Yaohuo and Yushao and Ah Yan were cut.
- The Chessmaster: Liu Yusheng. It is through his information that the Communists in Chengdu can evade getting caught by the Kuomintang and steal the medicine from them.
- Chummy Commies: Given that the show is made in mainland China, the Communist characters are portrayed as the good guys.
- Clashing Cousins: Yusheng finds his cousin, Yushao to be troublesome and hotheaded. Though he still cares for him.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: The Kuomintang officers employ waterboarding and whipping on their prisoners.
- Conflicting Loyalty: The theme of the story where one has to choose between their loyalty to the party, be it Kuomintang or Communist, and to their loved ones.
- Cool Teacher: Yusheng is seen favorably by his students who are also very protective of him when gangsters try to attack him. When Yaohua substitutes for him, the students find him weird because of his Western beliefs.
- Crapsaccharine World: Despite the show being set in World War II where the Imperial Japanese Army committed various atrocities while the Chinese civilians suffered, Chengdu is portrayed to be bright with the people continuing their business. This is Truth in Television given that Chengdu is the Kuomintang's military center and many refugees settled there; though the city still suffers from air raids. The show also doesn't shy away from the realities of war where Yaohua smuggles rice and medicine for the Kuomintang while his father is on the front lines fighting against the Japanese.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: At the end of the show, none of the main characters died. Yaohua and his family flee to America to escape from the war with the Liu cousins joining them.
- Enemy Mine: Zhou Zongfu, who is a Kuomintang general, accepts the communists' offer to help him save his children.
- Everyone Can See It: Several people are aware that Yaohua has a huge crush on Yusheng.
- Everyone Has Standards: While Yusheng has been using Yaohua for information, he doesn't want innocent people to get hurt nor wants Yaohua and his family to be in danger. When Yaomin is arrested by the Kuomintang and Yaohua is taken in by the Japanese, Yusheng feels guilty for what had happened and plans to rescue them.
- Frame-Up: In Episode 13, Yaohua is falsely accused by the Japanese of the murder of Mui Caiyi, who committed suicide.
- Foregone Conclusion: Yusheng and Yaohua's debate about the state of their country in Episode 8. Yaohua believes that the Japanese will be defeated eventually; however, Yusheng fears that even if the Japanese lose, the Kuomintang and the Communists will still fight each other. Both of their predictions came true at the end of World War II with the Japanese defeated, the Chinese Civil War erupted until the Communist Party took over China as the ruling government, forcing the Kuomintang to relocate to Taiwan. To this day, both groups remain antagonistic to each other.
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: None of the characters are good people. Yusheng is very manipulative as he uses Yaohua's friendship to help the communists. Yaomin is a loyal Kuomintang officer who would use extreme methods to get results.
- Hopeless Suitor: Mui Caiyi, who works for the Japanese as a prostitute, is in love with Yaohua after meeting him in Shanghai. However, her attempts to court him were naught as he's more attracted to Yusheng.
- In Name Only: The show is very different from the novel. While it is still set in the same time period and has the same character names, the characterization is different.
- Internal Reveal: Yaohua and Ah Yan learn from Yaomin that Yusheng and Yushao are communists.
- Karma Houdini: Despite being close to becoming the Big Bad, Jun Watanabe never gets comeuppance for manipulating Mui Caiyi to kill herself and torturing Yaohua and Yusheng. Though the solace is that he never gets his rice back as it's now in the hands of the communists, thanks to Yaohua, and given the war, it's evident that the Japanese would lose.
- More than Just a Teacher: Yusheng is not only a philosophy teacher but also a communist spy who is well-adapted to espionage.
- Neighbourhood-Friendly Gangsters: The Gelaohui which is a front for the Communist Party in Chengdu.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Liu Yushao kills storekeeper Qiu after it's revealed he's the traitor leaking information to the Kuomintang. However, Ah Kuan calls him out on this because it would put Yusheng in danger. Then, Yushao gets arrested, causing Yusheng and Kuan to come up with a plan to free him.
- Papa Wolf: When Zhou Songfu receives news that his daughter is arrested and his son captured by the Japanese, he wouldn't hesitate to go back to Chengdu and try to free them.
- Patriotic Fervor: The show doesn't shy away from how important it is to fight for the country given that China is in the middle of a war. Yusheng teaches his students the importance of combining Western and Eastern schools of thought to aid the nation which is in contrast to Yaohua's belief that people should live for themselves first before helping the nation.
- Odd Couple: Yushao, who is impulsive and boneheaded, and Yan, who is stoic.
- Self-Sacrifice Scheme: Yusheng lets himself get captured by the Japanese by telling them that he knows where their smuggled rice is to free Yaohua.
- Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: Zhou Yaomin. While she loves her brother very much, she's very suspicious about Yusheng and his cousin, Yushao, and suspects them to be communists. She tasks Ah Yan to follow Yushao for any suspicious activity.
- Qipao: Given the setting, most of the main characters wear brightly-colored changshan and cheongsam. Yusheng usually wears a white changsan though when he's taken in by Yaohua, he wears Western suits.
- Undying Loyalty: Ah Yan is more loyal to Yaohua because he saved him when they were in America and sees him as his family.
- Wham Episode:
- Episode 10. Yaomin is very close to discovering that Yusheng and Yushao are communists. But she gets arrested by her fellow officers who accused her of being a communist.
- Episode 12 has Yaohua learning the truth from Yaomin about Yusheng being a communist spy, much to his despair.
- Episode 13.Yaohua is captured by the Japanese who are disappointed for smuggling rice from them. This leads Ah Yan to ask help from Yushao and the communists to help him free Yaohua and Yaomin.
- You Can't Go Home Again: Yaohua chooses to go into exile and live in America due to the war which he and his father finally did at the end of the show. Joining them are his sister, Yusheng, Yushao, and Ah Yan.
