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Love Zhao Liying and Yuwen Yue acting. though he never smiles, but that is his character, we can't fault him for that.
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Let me just say that i watched until the end just because of Yuwen Yue & Xing Er! I hated how the plot got messed up with too much on the revenge and side characters!! I mean, Xing Er's power got reactivated in the last few seconds of the final episode! and Yuwen Yueeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!! T_T
I watched this because of ZhaoLiYing and she never dissapoints me. Loved her character, bad-ass and all that.
Yuwen Yue x Xing Er's chemistry since the beginning was AMAZING! Yeah, he was THE ICE BLOCK (GENIUS TOO!) but eventually melted (lol). YY's love was selfless and was always there for XE with/ without her knowing. He was always there to protect her (ahhh...i miss YY already..haha) and only wanted her to be happy. He always look calm and composed in any situation but you can still feel his pain and love whenever it comes to XE. His character reminded me a lot of Yehua from TMOPB. (I miss YeHua too~~~^^) Became a fan of Lin GengXin after watching this.
Liked YanXun in the beginning but hated him during his revenge plan and always using Ah Chu's loyalty. Shawn did a great job potraying his character (that's why i hated YanXun..hahaha).
Overall, i have no problem with their acting (that is why my rating is 9/10..hahaha), even the side characters did a great job. Just HATED HOW THE STORY WENT!
So now to get my happy ending, I'm gonna go and read the novel because Season 2 might not happen!
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This review may contain spoilers
I watch this because seeing the scene where Xing Er (XE) join the contest for Yu Wen Yue (YWY) bedchamber maid. Feel Intrigue i search for the title & find out turn out it main lead is Zanilia Zhao. Makes me really really want to watch this.Jeana's writing really really spot on. I can't write more beautiful than her. Yes I also like every one who watch this drama really frustrated with the cliffhanger ending in this drama. Hear from marcus sim @youtube there is no news also about the continue of this drama due to law suit. :(
The story actually really interesting. How a really low level slave can really grow forward. Stand to watch till the end actually just because wondering who XE will gonna choose in the end Yan Xun (YX) or YWY. :(
Like jeana's writing i also don't know who to cheer YX or YWY for to be together with XE. My feeling is more toward YWY than YX but that's just because YWY is more handsome than YX & I think the new character & emotion of YX is too strong for XE.
Shawn Dou really play YX perfectly. We really can feel the changing in his character from easy going to really hurtful person.
Like Jeana's writng i also really hate Yuan Chun. She is so selfish and childish. Li Qin really play her beautifully.
Really hate the king also. What the hell with that crazy decision and allegation...
Re-watch: Maybe someday before i watch the season 2. Just to make me remember what, how & who ;). But whole season.... I don't think so
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I would have given it a perfect 10 if...
This drama could have been rated in the same league as Ten Mile Peach Blossom or Nirvana in Fire and I would have given it a perfect 10 if...The drama would keep you chasing episode after episode. Story was intriguing. And the entire cast is first class - the main actors Kenny Lin, Zhao Liying, Li Qin and Shawn Duo were outstanding and though Allen Deng only appeared for a brief moment, his cheeky and comical acting brightened up the sombre drama. The chemistry between Liying and Kenny were amazing. Kenny acted this cold personality YuWen Yue who was softened by Xing'er acted by Liying. When the two were together, you could feel YuWen Yue's cold personality struggling to hide his growing affection for his slave girl, and left you wishing something would happen between the two of them.
There were times when I wanted to give Xing'er and Chun'er a slap in the face. Xing'er is an extremely stubborn character driven by her sense of righteousness. She might be a person of principle but her insistence in a crucial situation had indeed jeopardised Yun Xun's chance of a probable victory. Chun'er was this spoilt princess who wanted to get her way all the time and when things went wrong because of her willfulness, she blamed others for it.
Although this is fiction, the story is as complicated as the world's politics and indeed of China's politics. The emperor's narcissism and selfishness remind me of Donald Trump lol. The theme of a selfish emperor who is wary of his sons and ministers and purges them when suspicious of their motives is very common among contemporary Chinese dramas. I could see a shadow of Mao and the purges of his comrades before and during the cultural revolution. I hope I am not getting anyone in trouble here (the drama was already in a lot of trouble with copyrights.) What goes into fiction often is the influence of real life situations. This makes the story more believable and realistic.
With my eye for details and perfection, I cannot help but noticed that some Chinese actresses in period dramas dyed their hair but left the ends to grow, and Liying did that in this drama. This may be alright in modern settings but appears rather odd in period dramas when such fancy colour hair dye may not exist.
A rating of 8.3 on mydramalist.com is rather low for this drama. I think it was affected by two factors. It had a bad ending which deliberately left a door open for a sequel. Bad endings always leave a bad taste and a feeling of being letdown among the audience. Nirvana in Fire was an exception - unless you have that kind of emotional scenes displayed by Hu Ge and Liu Tao, and the intense story to match, it sets the rating back.
The second is some episodes were heavily and clumsily trimmed on some of the Asian drama websites, leaving the story rather disjointed and some important events poorly explained. Managing the duration seem to be a problem with Chinese dramas - this needs to start with the script. This series could have been split in two with a convenient ending at Yun Xun's escape to Yanbei. However, there is a recent addition to YouTube on the full untrimmed version - for this one, there is trade-offs, all the draggy bits are in it. Guess there is no win.
Look at what the Ten Mile Peach Blossom has done - it staged a comeback before the ending. That won it the applause - yes, you cry and then you brighten up and give it an excellent rating. This drama tried that too, but the effect was not strong enough to give a clear indication of that.
Heard that they are preparing a season 2. Hope they know how to end it properly.
So, if the ending has been better managed and the episodes were properly trimmed, it would be a perfect 10.
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Fail my expectations
I has watched this drama in the year 2022 and it was aired in 2017 . So may be one of the reason I didn't like the story . Because I expect more with the story as I already watched such theme based drama before.Secondly, I wanted to see the more chemistry between the male and female leads.
Thirdly, I watched this drama because of the first male lead but it had given not so important scenes ,it had done great in his part but his character though shown important but I didn't see anywhere . His character had always shown weak under someone control and always been helpless which I didn't really like it.
Fourthly, the way the story end the drama ,it looked like that there will be 2nd season but now it has been 5 years since and there is no clues of 2nd season and I don't think there will be second season . So it is an incomplete story.
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Strong & Independent FL
Just finished- here are my take aways- NO SPOILERSFL character is strong willed and can take care of herself but she is not cold, which I found very refreshing.
The story is well developed but I think they could have wrapped up the whole story and closed the series out- going into second season with a different cast wont carry the same dynamic .
The romance development kept me in suspense for too long! I almost got annoyed by it. LOL
I completed this but have to admit that I fast forwarded! No rewatch value unless I need a refresher for season 2.
mmmk byeeeee
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This review may contain spoilers
This drama is very modern in spite of the time it takes place. Chu Qiao is cute, smart, skilled and fits perfectly with Yuwen Yue but got lost due to the manipulative Yan Xun for whom she left Yuwen Yue who loves her. She is respected among the military and the general, she has gained her respect with her quality in fighting, she is definitely a leader!! However Yan Xun has betrayed her and she arrived too late to save the love of her life, I really hope we will get a sequel soon, otherwise it is so unfair. The novel is continuing the story so should the producers after this excellent drama! Was this review helpful to you?
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This review may contain spoilers
Overall this is an excellent drama that made ONE fatal mistake, it killed everyone's good hopes & dreams...Excellent script that barely needed a fancy soundtrack to make up for any bad lines as they were all superb, great casting and acting, good pace with loads of action and enough quiet moments to digest the whole 58 episodes. The director did an amazing job at staging the never ending hope and fighting for a greater cause beliefs thru such a strong-headed female lead balanced by a more unbiased force that was the male lead always working behind the scenes.
However, the choices made for the last episode (without any certain plans for a second season) completely undermined the good hope feelings this incredible story had created throughout its 57 episodes journey. Episode 58 completely annihilated everyone's good hopes & dreams as YWY was the last hope for better times ahead just like it was expressed by the 13th prince of Great Wei YS on this last episode.
I believe this was meant to be a story of hope and survival of the less fortunate, not just romance. So simply not having them end up together would have sufficed and contributed more to propagating the core beliefs of the story as established in the original novel.
This drama is technically excellent so I give it a 10, it's just a shame that it's not memorable...
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