This review may contain spoilers
The series, drama, plots and subplots are outstanding up to episode 50. Afterwards it goes down hill down to the apparent suicide of the main character which is completely off character for being the Ultimate Scholar she would have come up with a plan like the one I have read about in the novels translation. The series is worth watching by the settings and clothing alone but is quite weird that Ning Yi's obsession with silk is downplayed as well as the quality of their plans at some point as well as most characters by the end it feels extremely rushed or PowerPoint Dune feeling like. The chemistry between the characters is great and there is more romance in there than in any Hollywood Romance flicks which makes the ending inconsistent.
Was this review helpful to you?
After 3 tries..it definitely won me over
The ending is the best possible one there could have been. Anything else would have been a fantasy and lala land. As long as this drama was, there was never a dull moment, every scene meant some thing, every character was significant...which I adored. Perhaps this could have been different had "communication" been a legit thing, but it seems in this era...it was all half messages and truths and expectations.All said, it took me 3 times to really settle down and say, yes let me knock this out....it's only 70 episodes, but it was really worth it.
Flaws were not a result of anyone's acting, which was astounding (although the whole voice change and need to whisper in the most unnecessary amounts was slightly annoying). Flaws were due to the characters themselves and well, that drove the story. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who can deep dive into a hard core historical drama ..it's gets better and better.
Was this review helpful to you?
I HATED THE ENDING
I honestly found the the story very interesting and i binge watched it for 3 days. But it got quite confusing so, i started to skip part on from ep50 (also i watched every ep at x2.50 speed) ;) which is the only reason i finished in in 3 days. I cant explain how my heart was utterly stolen by the Gu Nanyi the bodyguard of the main lead, but also i loved Helian Zheng, defs my fav characters. But i could not stand the main leads relationship, highly flawed would not be an exaggeration of it. Honestly the ending not only confused me, it mad me quite angry, but atleast i had no emotion attachment to any on the main leads of the story.Would i recommend it? Yes. Only cause it was amazing even if i thought it was very annoying
Was this review helpful to you?
This is epic with lots of drama and interesting characters. Thankfully this isn’t about scheming mistresses so it’s a welcome break from those plots. The focus is the fight for the throne and it’s prince vs prince for the vast majority of the conflict.
The problem is the writing which introduces a lot of small plots that go to a climax and then disappear as if they never happened. Lots of unresolved issues which is unsatisfactory. There’s also the big ill-fated which is so freaking tortured, it’s hard to keep track of the current reason why they are pushing each other away. 70 episodes is a LOT to fill and there were just too many low points.
Overall, it’s lovely to watch and some great plot bits, but there are definitely some weak points.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
The Rise of Phoenixes has an intriguing plot and an excellent cast. After watching a few epic dramas produced recently in China, I am beginning to feel that the endings often take on a Japanese style - always sad or tragic. I am starting to associate Chinese dramas with depressive endings. This story could have ended with the hero marrying his love, but the script writer/director chose not to. The overall setting is a little towards the old school of Chinese dramas. I always suspect that dramas reflect the prevailing sentiments of a country. There is always this pessimistic view that nothing ends in perfection and there is no fairy tale with the ending 'they live happily ever after'. Japanese lived through the tragedy of the atomic bomb and WWII, while the Chinese lived through a century of political upheaval and hardship. Perhaps unhappy endings in romance are common in real life but most people move on after a setback, and we watch dramas for entertainment. A sad ending leaves a bad taste, otherwise I would have given it a overall 10 rating.
The theme songs did not impress initially but I grew to like them. There were little background music in most part of the drama, unlike Ashes of Love which was heavily dramatized by background music. I got to like Chen Kun as the story develops - initially I thought his acting was too pretentious to convince his opponents.
The were some small details which made it laughable. When asked for a token of verification, Zhiwei gave Ningyi a bracelet which she said was given to her when she moved into the Qiu's residence - she was a little girl then, but the bracelet was huge - should have used a pendant.
If I ever edit this story, I would opt for the heroine leaving with Helian and her former dynasty followers, and Ningyi eventually marrying someone deserving to be his empress and without the emotional baggage, for example, Yao's daughter who seems to be a bright and morally upright girl from one of the episodes. Especially since his father is still alive, he could have chosen someone for him. They could then both lead happy separate lives but every now and then, they would retrieve a gift from the other and think of each other, and their spouses would watch on tolerantly but a little unhappily. They could send gifts and congratulatory notes when they each produce an heir to the throne. To have Zhiwei committing suicide was ridiculous as she had so much fighting spirit in her - completely inconsistent with her character.
Chinese dramas like to propagate the belief that people at the top (emperor) lead lonely lives, which is not always true. The emperor made his life into a lonely one.
Chinese dramas really need to work on stronger endings (the Chinese saying: a tiger's head but a snake's tail). Of course, they are still better than many American TV series which do not seem to have proper endings - they just end when the viewership decline. On this note, Chinese dramas are doing much better.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
It had the potential to be a 10 out of 10, but...
I rate the first 39 episodes a 10/10, episodes 40-48 a 8.5/10, and episodes 49-58 a 7.5/10! I am not yet done watching all 70 episodes. I hope episodes 59-70 are better than 40-58.I'm back, and episodes 59-70 are much better than the previous episodes. However, after episode 58, I dislike the female lead character. To understand the reason why, continue reading this review. BTW, I give episodes 59-70 a rating of 9/10. The beginning and end of this drama was very good, but the middle had a lot of bad writing. Thus, overall, I rate this drama a 9/10.
This drama is fantastic; the sets are beautiful, and is well produced. However, there are flaws in the writing. It had the potential to be a 10 out of 10 but the female lead character (not the actress, but the character) is not consistent. Yes, in real life we respond to situations differently, but even within the way that we respond to situations there will be a level of consistency. For example, the female lead is known to be brave and daring, but repeatedly said that her life is valuable to her. In episode 47, she drinks from a cup that is contaminated with the plague just because Prince of Chu is contaminated. Love shouldn't make you stupid, but wise. The intent behind the character doing this was to show how she wanted to help the doctor find a cure for Prince of Chu because he was really sick. However, the writers could have written a better storyline & solution. Perhaps, it would have been better for both of them to get sick at the same time, and the writers could have used 3 episodes to highlight the romance between the two while both leads presumed they would be dying, so they finally decide to open up to one another. Around episode 47 is when I start to lose interest in this drama. For me it's very hard to watch a 70 episode drama and not lose interest before episode 50. The romance between the female and male lead finally is shown after episode 40, but there isn't a conversation or moment that makes it make sense to us. Out of the blue, they begin to be touchy-feely. Yes, we know that they had feelings for one another but both characters swept it under the rug; both characters spent 39 episodes liking one another but not showing it, and then boom, the next episode they are touchy feely, and we're supposed to buy into the romance? We needed a better transition.
All the actors did a great job, but the male lead acted his butt off (meaning he did extremely well). In terms of favorite character, I love his character the most. The least favorite character was the female lead younger brother, who acted like he was 12. I believe the writers could have changed his character to be a strong character who act impulsive, as opposed to someone who acts like he is 12, and is totally clueless. It could have been an opportunity to use this character for a stronger storyline. The female and male lead actors are very attractive btw. I really like the fact that both leads look like adults, and not like they are in middle/high school.
I am not sure if I am going to drop this drama or keep watching it, but I am curious to know how it will end.
Edited after the review above:
I am glad that someone commented on my review and encouraged me to continue to watch it. I am on episode 70, and the storyline gets a lot better after episode 48, but then between episodes 57-59 it takes another turn in the wrong direction. The female lead is so shameless, as she disrespects King Helian, the same king who was willing to take her in, in order to save her life. We get that you love the Prince of Chu but like dang, why be ruthless to King Helian who is willing to accept you as you are (in love with someone else). The script writer should have written this better because now I am starting to like the female lead character less and less. Especially because of her selfishness in episode 66 (30 minute-35 minute mark). How can anyone like her character anymore? So she used a king ( King Helian) to protect her and the people around her, but then she kept going back and forth to the one that she really love, not caring at all about how she involved another person into her drama. If the female lead really had integrity, she should have offered to be killed, rather than to hurt someone else, in order to save herself and try to pursue love with the person she really love. This goes back to what I said at the beginning of this review... "It had the potential to be a 10 out of 10 but the female lead character (not the actress, but the character) is not consistent. " The ending made up for the middle! I am glad that this drama ended the way that it did. The new emperor basically becomes like his father, the old emperor... Realistically, there's no way that the female lead would have wanted to be the new emperor's, empress, with everything that happened between her family and his family. I would never want to marry someone whose immediate family killed my mother, and brothers. It wouldn't have been the same romance and love as it was in the beginning because too much happened for it to go back there.
BTW, one of the directors is an actor who plays the female lead older brother (Liu Hai Bo).
Was this review helpful to you?
I can’t do it.
This a second attempt at watching this series and I’m tapping out at episode 30 because I couldn’t for one more second stomach the asinine character that was Zhi Wei. She is one of the most idiotic characters I’ve ever seen in a C drama. So many people died because she just wouldn’t stop snooping around places that were better left to more intelligent people. Is the plot compelling? Absolutely. However, it moved at the most glacial pace with scenes that should have been left on the editing room floor.Political intrigue and revenge tropes are my favorite genres, but the pacing in Rise of the Phoenixes was a letdown. Separately, I dreaded seeing the actor playing our anti-hero, Ning Yi. Whether it’s because of his pock-marked face or his smoker’s lips or the atrocious foundation used by the makeup artist. Whichever one, I simply couldn’t take his acting seriously.
Obviously, there are many who absolutely loved it so I’m definitely an outlier.
Was this review helpful to you?
Was this review helpful to you?
Lots of people have a problem with the pacing, but I don't find anything wrong with it at all. Every character is introduced properly and every plan/ruse is explained thoroughly, and the main story directly starts at ep 1.
I see ppl say that you need a bit of brain with this story. Common sense you mean.
Yes, the wording the characters use is difficult, but guys we have English subtitles come on.
The plot is entertaining and not draggy at all. A power fight between princes with lots of conspiracies. I don't mind slow/too little romance. This is indeed about the relationship between Ning Yi and WeiZhi, but there is much more between them than only romance. I also can't stand too much sugar so thank god.
I guess too many people are used to dog blood shit 24/7, aka that either someone dies or some love affair happens every chapter. Well excuse you because this is some mature and realistic shit. Not saying that those dog blood stuff are bad, but don't rate this bad because you don't like these types of serious stories. It's like talking bad about a romance story while not liking romance.
The plot starts great, gets better in the middle but towards the end it declines. At the beginning you mainly see Ning Yi succeeding, and just as I was so done with the MC-only-wins stuff, he finally encountered trouble which made everything more exciting. But as the ending neared, I could feel that characters without proper backgrounds were added just to fulfil certain events of the story, and that events happened for literally no reason at all (aka the ending) just because the scriptwriter wanted it to end that way. But thank god all this rush only happened at the end.
There are many good written characters, with proper background and development. Especially Ning Yi, who's a multilayered anti-hero, who accepts and respects the FL's decisions instead of planning out her life for her.
But some characters annoyed tf out of me. Do guys like girls (aka Shaoning and Si Yanle or smthn) who are stupid and ask for trouble all the time, and thinks that everybody should listen to them? Cuz if that's the case I can at least understand.
Another down point was ZhiWei's character. She's like book-smart but not practise-smart, which rly annoyed me bc like choose a side, u stupid or not? Her storyline had 0 contribution to the powerplay in the beginning, which is why it bored me. But that's just my personal preference. She did develop a bit in the practise-smart area, but that still couldn't save my annoyance.
The acting is so on point. I can't talk enough about Chen Kun's acting. Apparently people find his acting overdone in the beginning. IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE OVERDONE BC NING YI IS ACTING LIKE THAT IN FRONT OF HIS BROTHERS ON PURPOSE FOR FUCKS SAKE.
As said before, Ning Yi is ultra multi-layered, and Chen Kun is able to act out all those layers while making sure that he is still playing ONE character (with that I mean that he doesn't act every layer individually as if he's acting lots of characters). Ning Yi's fake crying is funny af, while his true crying looks so real it makes your heart ache.
Chen Kun's acting in this drama is phenomenal, especially towards the end when Ning Yi let out all his emotions.
Other major character's actors are on point too. Ni Ni's WeiZhi looks real. You know someone is good when they can repeatedly cry and make it look real (cuz crying seems rly difficult in the industry cough cough).
Also I never knew Bai Jingting could act so well.
HOWEVER some actors weren't good at al. I hate it when producers (aka all producers) don't make an effort to regulate the acting of small side characters.
I have nothing to say about the music. It wasn't bad, wasn't ear-catching either. It suited and supported the story normally when it could.
9.5/10.
Would've been a 10 if WeiZhi's character didn't bore/annoy me in the beginning and if the ending wasn't rushed.
To conclude I love the tenth prince.
Was this review helpful to you?
So memorable that I can't remember
Throughout the entire series, the most memorable part of the series is how unmemorable the series was. Maybe I wasn't entirely invested in the drama like other people, but I went through the drama in such a daze. Now, don't get me wrong, the drama had an intricate plot and is overall great, there's a lot of things happening that made me get - essentially- "lost in the sauce." This drama requires so much attention and thought to follow up with the plot that it can sometimes become more tiresome than enjoyable. BUT keep in mind this is my experience WHILE WATCHING the drama. Looking back on it as a whole, I can confidently say this drama IS WORTH THE WATCH. The settings/sets are spectacular, the costumes are superb, and the acting is simply top-notch. (There is a little overacting from the ML, but it's honestly not a big deal). As a lover of historical dramas in general, this drama is one of the best I've watched in a while. A lot of historical dramas nowadays incorporate wuxia (which I really don't like), but this drama kept it real (real as in no guys flying all over the place). But a disclaimer: although there is a romance tag, it's more political and a lot less romance.If you've read up to here, you might have thought "wow this person just said its a bad drama but also a good drama? like wtheck?" And yes, I did give this drama a high rating because of the quality of it. Simply my experience was not good in the beginning but as the drama slowly came to an end, I came to enjoy it fully. It definitely takes time to grow on you but push through till the end. You may or may not be satisfied, but still, give it a shot and you'll understand.
Was this review helpful to you?
A gripping story
This is a gripping story told at a good pace. The twists and turns of the plot and the action have a good flow. One can see that great attention was paid to the period costumes and sets, the palaces are beautiful and the houses are genuine rather than computer generated.It is not just a love story, it's mostly a political story which encompasses vicious struggle for power, misplaced loyalties and fatalistic acceptances, but there it has humour too.
Handsome Ning Yi is an almost neurotic prince with lofty ideals and clever scheming with the collusion of the superb Head of Qingming Academy, Xin Zi Yan. One particular highlight is his return from Minhai to the capital as he rushes to and enters the palace to save the woman he loves, Zhi Wei. She's an interesting character, strong and independent, at times irritating, ugly when impersonating a man and yet beautiful when she is herself. The tormented Gu Yan is a quiet but powerful character and Zhi Wei's bodyguard, Gu Nan Yi, is very huggable. The not so likeable Emperor character is excellently played by Ni Da Hong.
I have not read the book, but I understand this ending is not the same as in the book. In my humble opinion the chosen ending is hurried and it feels like a let down.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
My lowest review ever, unfortunately.
So, where should i begin. I was minding my own business enjoying this 70 episode Cdrama, and then the final episode came, and the last 5 mins of the show, and that ruined everything for me.This could has easily become one if the great historical drama out there, the acting was phenomenal, i loved the ML and i loved the FL, i loved the story, i loved the chemistry and relationship between the leads as well. i loved the costumes and all the political stuff too, and I don't usually like those, but it was great.
But.... like are you kidding me, after everything that happened, the way it ended was sooo sad and disappointing. I kinda understand that there was too much animosity between the fallen kingdom and the current one, but to end like that, after all the ML did to save and protect her, after so many people died for her, I couldn't think anything else but that I ⁷wasted 70 hours of my life for such a sad and depressing ending. Maybe if it had been done a different way, but the way it was done, it wasnt worth it for me. That last scene with FL it ruined all for me and i felt like i wasted my time. They went through way too much and too many people died for her to end that way.
We all have our own preference, so the ending isn't a happy one, not only that its just tragic so watch on your own accord.
Was this review helpful to you?
