A Historical Masterpiece

I don´t even know where to start with my review. This Drama is simply BREATHTAKING. From the absolutely well written and compelling story to the evenly well written characters and the well chosen cast and stunning cinematography, "The Story of Ming Lan" never ceases to amaze its viewers. The amount of Episodes (73) may discourage some people from watching it and the genre may not be everyone´s cup of tea but trust me, if you want a realistic Historical Drama with actual depth, this is a must-watch. It´s been months since I´ve watched it but it left such a deep impression on me that never faded and probably never will.

I loved the fact that it wasn´t dubbed. The "real" voices together with the warm sepia tones and the natural lightning (especially in night scenes) created a very natural and comfortable feeling.

Some people might complain that the pace of the story is too slow and while I agree with the slow pace, it was necessary. Every single scene, every dialogue is needed to fully grasp and understand the complex story and the evenly complex characters and their motivations. Almost every character is a bit more than they let show at first. Even the villains, or better, the people that appear to be villainy, actually might let you feel deep rooted sympathy for them, as their actions were mostly caused from circumstances or tragic pasts.
Such well developed and fleshed out characters certainly need good actors that are able to successfully transport every aspect of them on screen. The leading as well as the supporting actors did an amazing job. I´ve seen Zhao Li Ying and William Feng in other Dramas before (Princess Agents and Ice Fantasy) but this is the first time that I was actually very impressed by their acting skills. So you see, good script writing and directing are key essences.
Their Chemistry was explosive and you could certainly tell that they´re a real life couple. It was worth the wait for their romance to start.
Ming Lan will surely go down in History as one of the strongest Female Leads ever. Her strength does not come from great Martial Arts Skills. She uses her brain as a weapon and despite going through a lot of hardships and unfair treatment she was able to forgive (except once) instead of being completely swallowed up by resentment and revenge.
Gu Ting Ye was also an inspiring and well written character, who had the sassiest and best lines. ;)
He and Ming Lan were each other´s equals in every way.

Cao Cui Fen, who played Ming Lan´s grandmother, had amazing screen presence. I can´t think of another actress that could have played this role any better than she did. Old Madam Sheng is one of my most favorite Drama characters of all times. You just have to love her. Her and Ming Lan´s relationship is one of the best aspects of this Drama. Thinking back at it makes me smile and cry at the same time.
Am I the only one that wants a spin off Drama about Old Madam Sheng´s past? She´s such an inspiring and strong woman, that went through a lot of sh*** in her life to get all the wisdom she possesses.

But it were actually the child actors that impressed me the most, especially Teresa Liu, who played the six year old Ming Lan in the beginning. Her performance, especially in the emotional scenes, was excellent and definitely deserves an Award.
The quality of the dialogues in this Drama is amazing as well. There are so many inspiring and strong quotes to remember!

The best and most important aspect of this Masterpiece is its critical view on the treatment of women during that time. It made a good job of showing how the unfair and terrible treatment broke them but also how it made them stronger and that in fact women are not inferior to men.
Most of the men in this Drama were total idiots and nothing but puppets, while the women were the ones holding the strings.
While that´s certainly a nice change to the usual men dominated Historical Dramas, you have to view that with a critical eye as well. Equality is always better and they portrayed it beautifully in the Main Lead´s relationship.

For all those, who find the pace to slow, give it 10 -20 Episodes. The pace picks up after that. And PLEASE don´t skip. You´ll only get more confused. This Drama is not meant to be swallowed down in one go. It´s like wine. You´ll only get the most out of it when you carefully take sip after sip.

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Only Love Is Not Fate

As someone who has watched quite a lot of xianxias and therefore pretty much knows all the popular tropes of this genre, this drama still managed to surpass my expectations. It will leave you laughing and crying and wishing it would have 100 more episodes.

"Love Between Fairy And Devil" tells the touching love story of Dongfang Qing Cang, the powerful, emotionless leader of the moon tribe, and Xiao Lan Hua, a young flower fairy with a heart of gold. Feared by everyone for his cruelness and destructive power, the goddess of war sacrificed her life to seal Dongfang Qing Cang in a tower. 30.000 years later he accidently gets freed by an innocent orchid fairy without a name. Connected to her due to the heart curse casted upon him, Dongfang Qing Cang has no choice but to stay close to her and protect her from danger. While he's looking for a way to sever their connection and take revenge on her people, the pure-hearted Xiao Lan Hua slowly creeps her way into his heart and awakens emotions he has long since forgotten. But with the millenial war and hatred between their tribes, will they ever find a way to be together or is their love ill-fated from the start?

While the story sounds like a clichè retelling of beauty and the beast steeped in chinese mythology, it is so much more. It's a story about the power of love, kindness, compassion and forgiveness and how it can heal and change the world.

Xiao Lan Hua is by far my favourite female lead ever. She's kind and has compassion for everyone, no matter who they are. Her childlike naivety and belief in the good in everything are in perfect contrast to Dongfang Qing Cang's serious and cold demeanour. While some might disagree, I personally think she was a strong character from the start that grew even stronger and more mature as the story continued and she slowly uncovered her true idenity and destiny. Most female leads in chinese dramas are out for revenge at some point in the story, but Xiao Lan Hua never strayed from her path. She never betrayed her values, not even for her loved ones.

Dongfang Qing Cang's character is a mystery, that slowly gets unraveled as the story continues and you'll come to understand the man underneath the monster. He started out as cold and cruel but then slowly turned into a warm and compassionate person capable of forgiveness. This whole 360 degree turn really showed Dylan Wang's incredible acting range.

The body swap between the main leads was pulled off nicely, too. The actors did a great job imitating each other's character.

Their love story was beautiful, heart-wrenching and most of all convincing. You can tell why and how they fell in love with each other. Their love and devotion to each other was pure, selfless and unwavering.

The second male lead, Chang Heng aka the god of war, is another character you'll grow to love. He's kind and noble and in many ways the complete opposite of Dongfang Qing Cang. Obedient and a bit cowardly at the beginning, he eventually learns to stand up for himself and the people he cares about. He loves Xiao Lan Hua from start till the very end, but unlike many other second leads, his love for her remains pure and never grows into the obsessive, unhealthy kind.

What I especially love about this drama is the amount of complex, morally grey characters. No one is truly evil, even characters that appear villainous like Rong Hao, Lord Yunzhong and Dongfang Qing Cang's brother Xun Feng have some hidden depths.

The CGI is really impressive, as are the sets and costumes. Some of the hair styles and hair accessoires are quite inventive and fresh.
The OST is simply amazing. I don't think I'll ever grow tired of listening to these beautiful songs over and over again.

The ending felt a bit rushed, as always. I would have liked a better explanation for how he came back when everyone said he wouldn't be able to.

If I have to choose one of this year's xianxias as my favourite, I'd definitely take this one.

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Badly written

I barely made it through the first half of the Drama before I had to drop it. I almost died of boredom. Neither the story nor the characters were well written. The premise of the story was good and had a lot of potential but they totally wasted it, maybe because they tried to keep it on a lighthearted level even though the story was better fit for a dark and angsty atmosphere. Better actors could have improved it (let's be honest, the FL's acting was not fit for a leading role like this) but I manly blame the bad script writing. The main characters were badly written. Fu Ling was too one dimensional and Tian Yi, while having a bit more dimension, was just the usual stereotypical arrogant male lead you see in a lot of other Dramas. The second male lead was even more stereotypical, as were the villains. I have nothing against stereotypical characters as long as the storytelling makes up for it but this Drama lacked in both Departements. The pace was way too fast. I understand that with only 28 Episodes they had to speed up things but it could have been done better. Instead of trying to put in as much storylines and characters as possible, they should have only focused on a few important characters and storylines and flesh them out properly. Quality is more important than quantity. This way it would have been easier to connect with the characters. I ended up feeling NOTHING at all for them, not even during the emotional scenes. It was clearly a low budget Drama, therefore the quality of the costumes, set, lightning and CGI was not that good. The OST was...okayish. I could live with it, the only thing I hated was the ending theme. It completely destroyed the vibes. So my conclusion is: If you're a fan of the actors or purely need some entertainment, you'll might end up liking this Drama. But if you want a compelling and well written story, I suggest you forget about this Drama. There are way better written Dramas out there.

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A promise of a great story that couldn't be kept

I discovered this Drama due to its popularity and my obsession with Xianxias but sadly it is way too overhyped in my opinion. It started really good and promised a great story but in the end it failed to deliver it. Simply because it was too long. I usually don't think that Dramas are dragging (I've watched Story of Ming Lan and didn't find it dragging at all). But this really should have been a short 28-Episode Drama as it was originally intented to be. The story was not fit for 55 Episodes. Or better, they shouldn't have time jumped over the majority of the plot. The first 30-35 Episodes were good but afterwards it became too obvious that the writer tried to draw out the finale as much as possible. The background stories of the various characters were nice, but felt too much like fillers. The over-use of Flashbacks didn't help either. Look, there's nothing wrong with Flashbacks but you have to use them wisely and not fill entire Episodes with it just to draw the story out. Speaking of Flashbacks, why did they tell the most important plot points in Flashbacks when they could have just told it chronologically? It would have made the Drama less draggy. The acting was average, neither bad nor outstanding. Zhao Yao was a really interesting character. I liked her kind of greyish character but Chen Lan/Mo Qing sadly wasn't as fleshed out as she was. I know, the story is supposed to be about Zhao Yao mostly but they time jumped over the majority her story and thus it felt more like the story of Chen Lan and Zhao Yao. As main character he was too one dimensional and too perfect. The romance was okay. It's just that after watching Love and Redemption, my expectations of Xianxia Love Stories has become VERY high and this Drama just couldn't compete with it. The supporting characters were nice but really not that interesting, just as the villains. Lastly, I really need to have a serious talk with the editors. Did they sleep throughout the editing progress or did they just not care about it at all? The editing was horrible. They randomly switched day/night time in some scenes which confused everyone in the end. I dropped this Drama after Episode 45 because I honestly couldn't care less about the last 10 Episodes. It became way too boring without any plot moving or character development.

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Wth is that supposed to be?

I had to drop this Drama after only 7 Episodes because the whole thing was just ridiculously stupid. I know, this is Comedy but still most of the so called "funny" scenes ended up being silly, embarrassing and totally annoying. I started to watch this Drama due to the time traveling aspect (I love time traveling) but it couldn't make up for the badly written and stupid story. The characters were okay. From what I've seen there was a chance that both of them could have developed into good characters but the the overly forced, unnatural Comedy and the FL's way too modern and "scandalous" outfits ruined it for me. I have nothing against Comedy if it feels natural and is not over-used and the actor actually has the talent to do it right (like the actor that played Ming Lan's father in Story of Ming Lan). I also understand that the FL comes from modern times and thus all the modern influence but her outfits were too much. Don't get me wrong, they were pretty but absolutely not fit for ancient China. They were way too scandalous for that time and bothered the hell out of me (and where the heck did she get those boots from?). You might enjoy it if you don't care about authenticity and you like light hearted stories, which are not meant to be taken seriously. But if you're like me, who's more into serious stories, don't watch it.

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