An Under Appreciated Drama with Good Ending
When I watched the trailer for this drama, it looked very good. I was disappointed when I started watching. As it was tagged "tragedy", I was expecting serious and somber performance. The "tragedy" tag was later removed.The beginning of the story is comedic. Everything is silly, stupid and crazy, including the villains. The male lead looks villainous; the female lead cute with large watery eyes which tear up easily; the supposedly villain silly and funny. I was confused - is this supposed to be a comedy? I couldn't decide to continue or drop.
Ten episodes in, the mood changes. It becomes serious and intense. No more silly characters. Every character becomes mature and somber. Though there are still holes here and there, the plot thickens. I begin to empathize with the male and female leads. I even begin to love the supposedly villain who turns out to be an undercover. My heart begins to break with the pain General Wei Kuang is going through - his lost love, his love for the country and his predicament.
The building up of the story is important. Skipping episodes may make you confuse with why the characters make the choices as they do. Therefore, one may need to have more patience with the earlier episodes so that you can enjoy the later episodes better.
The final episodes are good compared to many other dramas. There are no unnecessary deaths. The evil doers end with what they deserve. The good people are rewarded with the fruits they sow. There are many lessons learned. There are also heart-wrenching moments, especially with the main characters, and one can feel the pain and sacrifices they make for the good of all.
This is a pretty good story. The main couple have been true to each other from the beginning till the end. Their love for each other never wanes, only stronger. They sacrifice for their country and for each other. They fight all the scheming and darkness hand-in-hand. They are open with each other, never holding anything back. There's never been any annoying misunderstanding between the two (many Chinese dramas love misunderstandings which I hate).
I love this story and the acting. My heart feels for General Wei, his pain when he returns from war and finds his love gone. But he never stops loving her, neither she loving him. It's a very touching story which you may enjoy.
I have truly enjoyed this drama. It may not be the drama of the year, but I feel it deserves our attention, and for us to give credit to the actors who have done a pretty good job.
Yes, this is one of those rare historical dramas that deserves to be watched and enjoyed.
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This is a nice drama. If the viewer is looking for a drama with action and strategy, this one will be satisfying, but the romance was marred with manipulation and the leading lady would constantly fall victim of her own “goodness” and remained separated from the leading man in order to “save” him. This dynamic weaken the romantic storyline that could’ve been nice only if their love hiatus didn’t last all the way to the end of the last episode to give the viewer a nice but insipid ending. The rest of the story is the usual palace antics and some really good supporting actors; worth mentioning is Wayne Lai as the dynamic chameleon personality Lang Kun and his beloved, Cao Xi Wen as Empress Zheng Shu Jun. Was this review helpful to you?
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Too late to leave a long review for an underrated drama
I finished it after having it on hold for almost a year. The reason is that i didn't really like palace and political dramas much back then, plus it had too much angst for my liking. Once i started watching it, i was intrigued and really liked it a lot. But the angst being too much for me, i kept it on hold and only now finished it.Story: This drama is very heavy on the politics, and light on the romance, yet it has a heart touching love story between ill fated couples. The story is very well written, intricately with not many plotholes. So sometimes it may even feel boring or repetitive because of the heavy politics. The main couple remain true to each other throughout. For the main fl, although she was taken as a consort, she never once faltered in her feelings for the ml. She helped him with her strength as an imperial consort just like he did for her. The ml was just as true to his beloved. The empress was in love with lang kun, as i grasped from the subtle indications. There were disgusting people causing trouble everywhere, but with their own wits, they found their way out, which was rather satisfying to see. Nothing was rainbows and unicorns about this story although it has a happy ending for the main couple. It was a rather realistic story in which an obsessive amorous emperor tears two lovers apart, but fails to get her love, while the low born subject of his interest stays true to her own love and strives to be together with him, all while maintaining conduct of decency. Being honest, the things that fl was able to do couldn't have been possible without power, and the ml would've long been killed by the king. The king desires her, what could a mere general with an incriminated father do to keep her? So the power and status of the fl came in handy. There were villains, but more than them, the non villains were horrible. The king's death was just as satisfying as the villain's. The fl's sacrifices for the ml and her country were touching. But this wasn't a tearjerker, maybe because it was so low on the romance.
Characters: All the characters were highly complex. Let's begin with the most ungrateful, greedy, foolish, horny, wicked and undeserving scumbag of a king- NOTHING was good about his character. He kept using the ml, then trying to get rid of him like a grade a asshole. He stole the fl from the ml, then dared to treat her as his property. I hated him more than anyone. Now onto his beloved b*tch, Ban ling er. Just like her dear husband, she was a pretentious backstabber, greedy, ungrateful, cunning, demon with a nice innocent face. The two of them really suited each other actually, a hypocritical couple. The two villainous siblings of the king were meh and kinda pitiful (one suffering in love, the other got disowned by his own mother as a tool to stop the war) and rather easy to manipulate and fool. Yan Kuan and yan zheng were actually impressive with their wits. The villains were more interesting than the king. Now onto the protagonists who grew nicely throughout the story. The empress was seemingly petty and obnoxious, but she was an ill tempered girl from a big clan, with a good heart. Her death was rather sad just like her love story with Lang Kun, the one who came off as a loathsome villain, only to be later revealed as the good guy. He suffered a lot, and loved the empress truly, but they never got to voice their feelings for each other, poor couple. Now the fl. An innocent, poor lovesick girl from a circus troupe who tries to get close to the ml and in the process becomes the king's object of desire and thereby the consort. She wins hearts with her kindness and wits, makes enemies with her intelligence, yet remains true to her only beloved ml, and doesn't get swayed by the temptations of luxurious life of a royal consort. From an innocent girl, she grows to be a mature lady, protecting her loved ones with her power and wits, and caring for the people. Now the ml. He was such a loyal guy, level headed, very intelligent, decent and dedicated to the fl and devoted to his country. Never swayed by his emotions, he helps everyone, tackling the numerous threats to his own life and the FL's. The tolerance he had to the king that spoiled every effort of his to help him, was really impressive.
Production: This one went all out on the costumes, they were absolutely beautiful. The makeup was flawless just like the sets. The music was nice, but didn't really leave any impression. Overall, it was very well done.
Although i wouldn't watch it again, doesn't change the fact this was a very good drama. And i will never understand why it is so underrated. Hope it gets the recognition it deserves. I really recommend watching it to people who love superior level of palace politics and don't mind a heavy story, with less romance.
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I did not like the storyline at all. The writers made the two main leads fall over the mountain in love and then when he goes to war and comes back winning the war... the circus queen wants to marry the Emperor! I stopped watching it. I went all the way to the end to see if they even get back together but it didn't look like they did... Well, episode 41 is not showing yet so I still have to see. This was a love-hate and switch partners... I'm so disappointed. I don't know what the writers were thinking of. This story had so many flaws, they should've stayed with the circus acts. HATED IT! Was this review helpful to you?
Dull...
The story line of this drama is unrealistic and quite weak with a lot of parts which are unconvincing and poorly developed. There are illogical flaws all over. The 'hygiene' factors are there: pretty actresses and handsome actors with good acting skills, lovely costumes and beautiful computer graphics, but it ends there.It seems no one had combed through the script and the people in charge had no eye for details. Some parts of the script are just glossed over as I spotted some rather stupid scenes, for example, General Wei escaped injured in the midst of a shooting ambush but his horse was alright without any armour protection. And there are more.
Characters are rather stupid. The empress was a smart canny woman, yet she fell for the tricks of NingZhi at the beginning of the drama and schemes of the prisoner. The key character Wei Guang is supposed to be very smart and cunning and yet loyal. But when I look at his strategies, many are more of a gamble then well thought out and coordinated. He was lucky to have them ended well. My life experience tells me that leaving things to chance almost always never ends well.
I watch this drama because it was recently produced, just to keep up with new drama releases. But it was quite disappointing. I stopped at episode 32 when the villain escaped again - that is a really lame way to extend the number of episodes. I went on to watch about 7 other dramas before I finally returned to give it a second chance while I figured out what to watch next. Even then, I could not get beyond episode 34 and than skipped onto episode 39 to watch the ending. I must say this works and I am still able to follow the story - obviously not missing much. 5 episodes or more could be taken out of this drama to improve the pace of the story.
Also, the Chinese title of the drama is more accurately translated to Game of the Phoenix instead of Legend of the Phoenix. Every other Chinese drama is called a legend these days.
Felt too much of another run-off-the-mill production - the hygiene factors are met but the story is dull. Of course, I could be critical - I always pick dramas above rating of 8 on mydramalist before I would watch them.
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Review:Legend of the Phoenix (2019)This is long 40+ episodes. It starts off the this circus troop who has this bratty girl Viva He Hongshan as Ye Ningzhiwho seems to get into trouble easily. She develop a crush on Jeremy Jones Xu as Wei Guang who is a strategist. He saves her and the troop from disaster I the palace and she falls in love with him just like snap your fingers.
Dramas sure like these underwater kissing scenes. To me they seem dangerous, complicated and difficult. They fall from a great height into the water and one runs out of breath and the other gives them air. Bit scary too. They swim like mermaids through the water in this one.
Learning to be a maid is so hard for her she can’t control her mouth but I thought her deportment should be good after her circus training but she gets whacked a lot. She is a clever little cookie with little tricks and a nimble mind and mouth now she has got her two sisters into the palace. She better be very careful though its dangerous inside that palace .
Viva He Hongshan as Ye Ningzhi has risen up in the hierarchy from maid to official with a title Lord Ye. Her loved one Jeremy Jones Xu as Wei Guang is going to war as a Great Marshall because he wants to clear his fathers name. I think the father, he was killed because one of the palace princesses or concubines fell in love with him? She was following him around in the market. Maybe be he rejected her? Maybe its the queen dowager who is in reign now?
What I have found out. She is the Princess Royal the Emperor Sister. First fact correct - She’s a Princess - Princess Chang the oldest daughter of the Queen Dowager. She is the sister of the Emperor. She is of high rank. The Princess Royal and another brother are stirring up rebellion and maybe the ones that sent the assassins to kill the Emperor and the Queen but weren’t successful.
Viva He Hongshan as Ye Ningzhi has risen up in the hierarchy from Lord Ye to Consort Ning wife of the Emperor.
Viva He Hongshan as Ye Ningzhi has risen up in the hierarchy from Consort Ning to Noble Consort Ning. The Emperor is madly in love with her. He loved her from the moment he set eyes on her when he saw her perform in some town. She doesn’t feel the same way about him though.
Luo Qiuyun as Ban Ling'er is a faithful maid who wants to serve her because she save Luo Qiuyun as Ban Ling'er life. To save her life Viva He Hongshan as Ye Ningzhi had to become the Consort Ning. Luo Qiuyun as Ban Ling'er later becomes the bain of their lives. This mistake caused the the Emperors dreams to come true as he married her to save her Viva He Hongshan as Ye Ningzh from being killed. But because she wasn’t responding to his love and affection, Luo Qiuyun as Ban Ling'er was able to seduce him. She thought the Emperor really loved her but she pushed him too far.
*I don’t want to make this prediction but don’t tell me at the end she is going to be killed for her lover Jeremy Jones Xu as Wei Guang. Just the everything she has done so far is to protect someone. She tells them the truth that they want to hears and it works but it is never her truth. The truth she tells them makes them angry and they turn away from her but it achieves the goal she wants to achieve. The Emperor only went to save him because she begged him to and now she can’t leave him. The Emperor still doesn’t trust him.
Jeremy Jones Xu as Wei Guang says “I won’t bother you I’ll just watch you from afar.” What a sad love story. True love can be like this. They are both crying. These two know each other so well both will never betray the Emperor. Who can you trust though.
Viva He Hongshan as Ye Ningzhi and Empress’ (Cao Xi Wen) are both wives of the Emperor and have men that love them and want to protect them in the palace. They are all frightened but they are a force to be reckoned with and such brilliant strategist but they are walking a tight rope.
Those two’s Viva He Hongshan as Ye Ningzhi and Jeremy Jones Xu as Wei Guang meeting place high upon the highest roof where no-one could see them or reach them. Their shadows held hands and they talked about their goals. They were one heart wanting to save the common people.
What sacrifice these people made for their loves. Wayne Lai as Lang Kun for the love of his Empress he made himself a eunuch.
What shall I say about the ending, me an impatient person who often rants and raves about the writers. Lets say its surprising and those people who get frustrated and annoyed. Let me tell you this don’t stop watching and just go to the very end. When you do that you will learn why I believe this is one of the most amazing, fascinating, moving and incredible Historic Adventure I have ever watched.
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Confused.
Imma keep it really simply and bluntly honest. Putting aside the good looks of the FL and ML. Other than that, there wasn’t really anything that I was swooning over or anticipating when I was watching it. The anticipation of the interesting or the fiery romance between the leads just wasn’t present I didn’t had that feeling. I wouldn’t say that I had high expectations over this drama. But it would be Nice if it was at the very least decently tolerable.I like the troupe of the FL having the courage to go after the ML first instead of having it the other way around all the time but as I was two episodes i though hey? The romance between the two are adorable blah blah. But then bunch of crap kept happening like the empress betrayal and Cruelty. The FL end up being the concubine. Even if it was for show then at least she could have told the ML so then there wouldn’t be such a contradiction there.
There wasn’t much romance when she kept saying that she had feelings for the emperor. Then imma like? Why didn’t she tell him the truth? Who she protecting for what? And what for? Like that ain’t a good reason. And there was a new young emperor who calls the FL mom and I was like where did this kid came from???? And even in the end Fl was like thinking that the ML is dead only after 10 ass years she found out she wasn’t. Then the ending scene was then playing the flute and zither are you kidding me???????? After all that drama and 10 years after that, they decide to end with them playing instruments???
Had so much potential and the ML since to have his own personal struggle filming this show. But didn’t impress me. However I still might rewatch more attentively next time not now. To see whether it is still worth it.
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Honestly, I skipped through quite a bit of Legend of the Phoenix. The same situations would repeat throughout the show so it became pretty predictable. It definitely could have been much shorter and it would have been just as good, if not better than the 41 episodes.
By the time I finally reached the end, I was so happy and thankful that we were given a happy ending.
I really like the casting chosen. I think they all did a great job as their characters. I love
He Hong Shan and Jeremy Jones Xu together. Cao Xi Wen and Wayne Lai were great as well. The chemistry between all of them made the show and repetitiveness worth it.
Overall I enjoyed Legend of the Phoenix but I wish they shortened the series a bit.
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This is going to be hard to review and I honestly don't know where to start. I binge watched until episode 17 and then it got painful as I knew how it was mainly going to play out so I skipped to the last episode and then emptied my tears as I did not want to break my heart watching.In the end, I was foolish watching the whole thing. Of course, I cried here and there and once more all out sobbed and begged at the last episode. It was unbearable angst.1. CHARACTERS
I don't think I can say enough how much I love so many of the characters here. Truly the main leads shine just as brightly as the two main supporting leads. Wei Guang and Ye Ningzhi are amazing together. They were each other's support system to bounce ideas off, companion to find comfort and home in and each other's reason to keep fighting and holding on. In my opinion, the most unique part of the plot was the relationship between main female lead, Ye Ningzhi, and the main supporting female lead, Empress Zheng. For the first quarter of the drama, I just pegged her as this usual evil snide woman in the harem that is going to use petty tricks and be malicious to the main female lead. Imagine my absolute wonder and tremulous delight when they have this beautiful and honest relationship though the empress tries to remain stoic for the first half or so. You rarely see that in historical dramas where characters in the harem stick together and love each other genuinely. They were so supportive of each other and though they were technically rivals, their relationship was so intriguing to me and something I really cherish. Equally as moving was the supporting characters' relationship. I won't say much as it might give away the plot, but their relationship was really interesting and that was another boost for me to finish the drama. The acting of the main lead in particular was phenomenal. He had very subtle facial expressions which changed accordingly. He was really intense and I was overwhelmed by his actions and expressions.
2. PLOT
The plot was actually mostly predictable in the sense that I could predict what the main backbone was going to be like. The only unpredictable parts were Yan Kuan's actions and the intricacies in how the main leads solved the different problems. For some reason, I got a lot of Empress Ki vibes throughout the whole drama but of course, Empress Ki was much more tragic. The historical setting and the customs are all similar to other historical dramas and the political intrigue + scheming is as common as they come. So there is nothing new there. There were some plot holes and things left unexplained such as Ningzhi's mother's and circus troupe's fate. I know it's a minor thing but I would have loved to know what happened to them. There were a few major plot twists and many minor ones. I think the most important one was done really well, especially the lead up to the story and how I could not fathom it based on his character's behaviours and persona he puts on. All the minor twists were good as well and mainly pertains to the leads' wits, with how they framed the villains. I really enjoy that plot device because it adds thrill and mystery to it. Of course, as usual, a normal grievance of mine is that somehow all the guards supposed to protect a high ranking person always fail and are not capable enough to. All of them would just perish while a character somehow manages to slay all of the assassins, ALWAYS. That is something I am tired of.Other than that, I thought the wrap up was done quite alright though I would have really liked to see it wrapped up a bit more with the main characters. It does not have to be actual scenes but it can be further narration. Don't get me wrong, the ending was packaged nicely but it's my very personal taste to see further down in the future of my characters' lives because I get too attached.
3. EMOTIONS
Simply put, it is heart-wrenching. I had a main idea of what the ending was going to be like and I was very prepared but to no avail as I was too caught up anyway. The main characters' relationship was precious. Their love was enduring and even though they loved each other wholly and unconditionally, they were always maintaining their physical distance and keeping a tight leash on their emotions. It was an honour to see the progress of their relationship and to experience it intensely even as an outsider. They believed in each other and the male lead especially had so much faith in their relationship. I have not seen a love like this in a long time and I believe that they are the epitome of 2 halves of a whole. You guys really have to watch the drama to understand what I am talking about as you can see how their love was so so tangible in the later episodes.
Without fail, every scene with Wei Guang gazing at the phoenix robe brings a fresh wave of tears and I suffer whenever there is a mere mention of that phoenix.
Favourite quotes:
Ningzhi: "I want to save others... but why can't anyone save me?"
Wei Guang: "I am not afraid of dying. But I want to die on the battlefield instead of because of the royals' drama."
Wei Guang: "Ningzhi, you are a phoenix that finally flew away free."
Overall, this drama is a treasure especially with the male lead's acting and the love that stood the test of every imaginable obstacle. There were no obvious plot holes and the OSTs were phenomenal.
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As long as they get what they deserved
I binged this show easily and enjoyed each step of the way. The characters outside of the FL and ML are compelling and every tear at the viewers heart is eventually rewarded with satisfactory justice/reveals/wins. The FL and ML are both great actors, and although their romance isn't in the spotlight for the majority of the show, I still felt their strong emotional bond throughout the series. Out of the endings given to all of the characters I was least satisfied by the emperor's. I won't go into spoiler territory but because of that the emperor was also my least favorite character out of the cast. I watched The Rise of the Phoenixes right before this one and boy the character difference and maturity between each show's emperor is quite stark. I have no complaints otherwise, great show!Was this review helpful to you?
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a cute romance that turned into a drama
i loved this show more than i thought and the main reason for it was the cast and the top notch acting that i enjoyed a lot. specially jeremy xu(the male lead) he is an outstanding actor. i don't know why they didn't give him more lead roles, he is already 35...he is amazing in both acting and looks. his eyes are specially pretty and charming. the story was interesting enough but it had some major plot holes of course. the thing that i was so disappointed in was the fact that the story's focus was the love story between the leads but it turned into a drama so fast. i wanted to see more lovey dovey scenes as i am a hardcore historical/romance fan but the half of the show was drama over and over again. my heart hurts right now. after they reunited again i was looking forward to see at least another 2 episodes with lovey dovey scenes but nothing happened but overall i liked this show enough to watch it again from time to time when i feel like it.story 8/10: the story is about a free spirited girl who falls head over heals for a commander(later general) and tries her best to stay with him. she does everything for him, even puts her own life on the line multiple times and that gets the male lead's attention and bit by bit he also falls for the joyful girl, little did they know that them being together in the palace brings them hell and that hell is about the king's shit show of not knowing how to handle himself nor the country and because of that the leads and the poor queen are all involved in a complete shit show. i loved the leads to be together so i was looking for their happy parts but all i did was cry after the cute beginning of the show. FL accidentally kills a prince who wanted to rape her in the meantime the ML wasn't there because he was at war and the king who loved the FL took this opportunity and made her marry her only in the eyes to save her, later the ML's life was on the line and the king was going to abandon him so FL begged him to save the ML and that had a condition from the king's side"be my wife for real" and she did that to save the person that she loved but she also said that"i only belong to one man and one man alone so i don't want anyone to touch me" she meant she belongs to the male lead and therefore the king accepted her condition as well...for 20 episodes the leads can't touch each other, they just look at each other and cry...my poor heart shattered into pieces. the idiot king uses them however they want and dies at the end so after 10 years they meet again and live a normal life together.i wanted some lovey dovey scenes at the end but we got none :(((((
acting 10/10: excellent acting and cast, the leads did an amazing job and i truly enjoyed the show because of them. specially the male lead jeremy jones xu^^
music 9/10: so pleasant and wonderful...i have the soundtracks on my phone so i listen to them every day these days.
rewatch value 8.5/10: i truly enjoyed the story so i will rewatch this AGAIN for sure.
overall 9/10: the only thing that bothered me so much was lowering the focus on the leads love story. i wanted more love story and less drama but oh well...i liked it regardless^^
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