Great plot/script, Exceptional acting, Talented director, Great cast
I look forward to another partnership between the female (Seven Tan)and male (Allen Run) leads. It was well cast. The antagonist was very convincing in his acting. The plot had a lot of layers and kept me longing to watch the next episode. Even though I knew the storyline, I still looked forward to watching it over again. I thoroughly enjoyed each time the criminal cases were solved and how the antique gadgets were used to deduce each step. It was CSI in the olden days. The FL and ML complemented each other when cases were being solved. Well done!Was this review helpful to you?
A total joy to watch!
I am so happy that I have discovered this series. I came across it by chance. I did not know either the male lead or female lead so I never knew about this series. I watched Detective Dee, but I did not remember #AllenRen, didn't even think he was handsome. But in this series, I really enjoyed his acting that I started to realise how handsome he is, especially in his royal guard uniforms. I now rate him one of the most handsome Chinese male actors.I think the story line is simple. The special effects are not that great. But I don't watch series or movies to look for flaws or perfection. I watch to enjoy and feel good. And this series deliver just that - fun to watch and it feels good. I enjoyed it, especially the chemistry between Jin Xia and Lu Yi. She is cute, smart and lively. He is handsome and his smirks and intense gazes are just gorgeous. Other characters are also complementing each others well.
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What a lovable mess this show is.
I don’t think I have any brain cells left to write this review, but at least I’m truly happy. I’m not even sure my brain can grasp what I have just watched.This drama is a pure form of entertainment. Name a trope, and you will find it here: hidden identity, crossdressing, male lead going from borderline psychopath to cute lovely sweet boy with the power of love, poisoning, double poisoning, fake identities, making masks from human faces, crucifying people on torture devices, raping girls on the wedding night (which was amazingly called "doing the nasty" in the show), almost biting someone's lips off... and there is more.
I love the separate cases the main leads dealt with, BUT the main plot that unfolded as the drama progressed was weak. I truly couldn't care less about all the past events. Maybe if it was shown as more of a vital part of the drama itself, I would be more engaged.
Our main leads were truly an amazing duo. After we got past Lu Yi abusing his position to abuse Jin Xia (dude literally kicking her injured leg at the beginning episodes) the romance became truly adorable. Enemies to lovers is one of my favorite tropes, but the fact they made it into "enemies to lovers to enemies to lovers" just made me laugh my ass off.
That said, Jin Xia was an awesome character. She was smart, driven, hardworking, brave (when the situation needed it), forgiving but also funny and a bit over the top. I could not stop smiling whenever she was on the screen. She is just one of the characters that make you happy as you watch them grow.
I also appreciate the fact that the 2nd lead was so useless and annoying. Xie Xiao made the watch so much easier for me. No need to fear SLS. It won't happen.
I wished we saw more of Yan Shi Fan. I wanted to see more of his behind the scene schemes. There was something about how he dealt with things and interacted with people that made me more curious and interested, but I didn't get enough. I mean, the drama went into some details about his character. For example, I know he has a foot fetish: 6.6 inches is the best length. I just wished he was more integral to the story in the first half. Sometimes he was completely gone for a few episodes which made him less scary and imposing.
That said, the whole cast did a great job with the acting. Nothing felt over the top. The emotions were clearly visible and fitting for the scenes. I definitely felt the chemistry between all the characters and couples.
Objectively speaking, though, I should not rate it higher than 5. Some plot lines were just lazy. Whole Chun Yu Min story is questionable at best. Some directing choices were ridiculous. The underwater scenes (which also made me call the show "underwater wuxia") were iconic bad. This is CGI level -100. The weird close ups on characters' eyes were more often than not, too much and made me feel uncomfortable.
But... the show is what it is. It was crazy fun. I did not laugh so bad for ages. Binge watched it in a few days. Once I started watching, I could not stop. The entertainment value is as high as it can get. And for that, I don't feel bad about giving it 7.5. Not to mention, the opening soundtrack is beautiful.
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Story:
I loved it. As an avid fan of all historical dramas (keep in note this is a romcom, so there's obviously historical inaccuracies) and all things history, I always keep an eye out for historical inaccuracies. Admittedly, I'm not particularly well-versed in Ming China, especially under the emperor in the show, but I can say that this show did a very good job at sticking to the original historical facts and "story line." Yan Song, Yan Shi Fan, Lu Ting, Xia Ran were all real people and Yan Shi Fan's actions, such as connections with wokou pirates, conspiracy against the emperor, etc. were all real. In fact, there's an opera written about his downfall.
The romcom aspect of this was great; I loved watching it. I personally can't stand plain romcoms, as I find the plot rather pointless and just fluff. However, with the historical aspects, this romcom was very consumable and engaging. It's definitely a slow burn romance, but it's cute and I shipped them right off the bat.
I loved the characters so much- I loved how they were all good people. It was realistic how hard it was to put down a crush and their reactions were very genuine. The characters' responses to adversary was amazingly realistic.
Acting and Cast:
Wow. They were phenomenal. Admittedly, I'm always super easy going on Chinese actors, especially cute ones (ehm... Ren Jialun), but I genuinely loved their acting. Their mouths matched the sounds or words they were saying (some young, popular actors nowadays in China are just counting/saying random things and the sound is dubbed on). They cried and it looked realistic. I really enjoyed the cast together because they had such amazing chemistry too. All the couples just felt right.
Music:
The music isn't the best-- like "I would listen to that in my free time" good-- but it's still amazing. The music always matches the mood and I really liked the songs. I actually did go and find the songs on Youtube to listen to again.
Rewatch:
Very few dramas make me cry (I believe I'm at the third drama to make me cry), but by god, this one did so many times. Once, I cried twice in the same episode. Let it be made clear too- I watch a lot of dramas and I rarely cry. But this one genuinely made me cry... I'm not particularly ashamed to admit it either.
TLDR: Amazing show with a great story, a cute cast with amazing chemistry, and good music. Definitely recommend.
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Main Story plot :
Lu Yi as the Head of the Brocade uniform Guard, assisted by his subordinate Jin Xia, together they solved a lot of mystery case, which leads to the main villain at the palace. The story followed Lu Yi's boldness and Jin Xia's wittiness and watching both of them fall in love and fighting for their difficulties together.
The strongest point in this drama is :
- the character of the main couple with perfect cast and the wonderful chemistry.
Allan Ren Jia Lun is a bomb at here, he is not those typical good looking guy that you fall at first sight. But along with the story goes, eventually you will fall in love with him as Lu Yi character. The tsundere type, from his fierce face as head of the guard to soft smile when he fall in love, wearing brocade guard's uniform, he really makes Lu Yi's character alive.
As for his soulmate he met later, Jin Xia played by Seven Tan Song Yun, is a happy, witty, sweet mouth and loyalty to the bones type. I need times to get used to Seven Tan, because in first episode she is not really outstanding (the same with Allen), but along with the story goes, she is blended well with the character, especially in the last few episodes.
I must give an applause to the writer for their romance developing, every moments counts from the first time they met until the last moments on finale. And boyyyy their chemistry is really wonderful!! I love how they portray their love, and honestly I don't even need kissing and skinship scenes to feel the romance in the air. And more to relieved is no headache triangle love, dragging scenes and stupid misunderstanding between them.
- the simpleness of the plot
The politics & mystery plot is not too complicated. The mystery is quite interesting and there is some big fight scenes. If you're into detail & serious politics plot like NIF, you will be disappointed.
- the villain
Han Dong is really great here, he plays Yan Shi Fan so well that you cannot 100% hate him even he's really arrogant & sadistic.
The downside :
- flaw cgi.
It's not a drama that throw a big budget on cgi. I'm a little bit disturbed with some of the scene, especially the water scenes, the horse ride scenes, etc.
- annoying SL
Too dragging love scene between the SL, Xie Xiao character is too stupid and annoying. Luckily they fix it in the last few episodes.
- few gaps of the plot here & there.
Overall : I'm highly recommended this drama!It's quite compact but light weight as well. The OST is okay too but maybe due to copyright there is a silence moments here & there (you won't find it on raw version). I love the actor and looking forward to Allan Ren Jia Lun's works after this. Enjoy!
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This review may contain spoilers
For the beginning the detail are quite clear,but furthermore the details are increasingly lacking, and many scenes that are displayed are cut off and unclear,and sometimes the events that occur are not explained,solving problems too hastily,,that's the deficiency that exist in many Chinese dramasaside from that, this drama is good enough to watch,worth it for watch,,not very boring,,for the first i hesitate for watch because of the characters role, but i think its good enough,not as bad as I thought, just not used to it,,, but the story is too simple
some scene that make me enquire:
Mr zhao already stole the money to redemption zhai lan ye, and the night before isnt they already meet? Why zhai lan ye still kill mr zhao? And say he unfaithful man?
Wrong editing scene at ep 15 minute 34++ and when they pass out when in longdan village,, some scene has been cut at the last minute of the episode, didnt understand the meaning,and what happend to them
Ep 26 xiao xin's death not show the scene too
When uncle beating by yan shi fan is left face, but the bruise on his right face
How about wu an bang heir? If xie xiao what to be army with general qi?
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Surprisingly enjoyable!!
The ML looks so good in the uniform. This drama is well produced with beautiful costumes and beautiful sceneries. The chemistry is top notch Beetween the leads and the suporting cast as well.I really like the FL, she is a beauty with dimple and her unique chin.
I cannot stop bingeing this drama albeit the long episodes.
I actually re watched many of my favourite scenes .
It is a shame for very little kiss scene in the drama, but i guess chinese drama majority is like this.
Give it a try!
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There are not much to say about this drama except for Acting skill - Chemistry - Romance (decent)
Tbh, the male lead abit over-acting with his face on few eps at first ( i felt so) nevertheless his acting getting better and better especially his exceptionally expressive eyes.
You can tell the romance between 2 lead actor/actress just by their eye contact. even their romance screens are decent , not so much but still their performance outdone afterall.
Anyway, this drama has brought me back to historical C-drama what I dropped long long ago after hundreds of boring actings, lame stories and too-frequent faces.
Good job guys! Congrate to Luyi (Renjialun) for this hard-work paidoff.
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Both the opening and ending theme songs were beautiful - melodious tune and lovely lyrics.
It is unfortunate the audio track was muted at various spots in the MGTV YouTube uploads and the English subtitles are really painful to read. The subtitles on the MGTV version was a mix bag - seemingly alright but with some contextual wrong use of words. It looked like it was done through a digital translator but was not edited by a human. In the rewatch, I found the Hotspot uploads which seem to have better audio and subtitles and less inserted ads.
The entire drama is well-paced except for a few episodes when it got a little boring and dry. There were a couple of lost opportunities to build some suspense and tension but the director/scriptwriter/editor had let it past.
For example, when Lu Yi and Xie Xiao were missing, the editor could have delayed showing what happened to them and let them re-appeared unexpectedly at the battle. That could have left the viewers on edge - worried that the battle would be lost as no help was on the way and the two guys might be missing.
Another incidence was when Yang Yue fell off the cliff and re-appeared under a veil. Again what happened between these incidence could have been kept under wrap - possibly making it a mystery who was this person under the veil - the knowledge that he was saved made it easy to guess who that was. The explanations of what happened to them could have been left until after they re-appear as a flashback explanation. The drama at these points became rather boring run-of-the-mill repeats of things going wrong instead of interesting plots.
Also, a couple of the characters were a little boring. XieXiao was always impetuous and goofy, and YangYue was always a bit thick-headed. And they did not seem to develop through the drama.
I like the ending - playing up the emotions and not quite a tragedy.
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This review may contain spoilers
watch it for the romance, not crime/investigation
Like my headline says, there are more romance scenes than investigative scenes. It was perfect for me though because I typically enjoy watching romance dramas. I had thought this drama would be more about the crime scenes and story, but I am pleasantly surprised it focused on the main leads' relationship.With that said, I felt so spoiled throughout the drama because I was so used to the simple scenes where the female and male lead demonstrate their love and trust for each other. Whenever any problem seemed to arise, the trust between the two didn't stir up any misunderstandings.
HOWEVER, I am disappointed at the ending. This is the first drama I have ever fast-forwarded and skipped some parts (thank god for 1.5x speed). I don't understand how the writers could give us all the sweet romance and then just completely cut us off it for the last episodes. Don't even get me started on episode 55. Though there is a happy ending involved, nothing big happens. For marriage to be such a recurrent theme throughout the show you'd THINK that a wedding scene would happen between the main couple. But nope, most of it just shows the couple being apart etc etc. I GET IT it's for the drama, but I started skipping towards the end because it felt like it was dragging to fill the 55 episode quota and then use the last episode so haphazardly.
The beginning and middle were very adorable to watch, but I am iffy about the ending. It is a great drama to watch regardless though because the acting of the cast gets you so immersed in it. There are bad visual effects, but like I said, the acting carried it all really well. The story is not bad either but it is very typical: good vs. bad, villain gets what he deserves in the end. What does differentiate is the female lead being able to fight alongside the male lead. Even the second female lead is badass.
P.S. though romance was a bigger focus here, they only pretty much kiss once ):
P.S.S. The OST is a must listen
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Fab Drama
The ML and FL Were excellent in this drama .There was not one episode that was boring .all actors had great chemistry ,The storyline was brilliant loved it 10/10 from me fab .it is unheard of to have a storyline that was not boing in places deserves my praise well written and well played by all actors .the female and male lead had good chemistry as actorsWas this review helpful to you?
