Got better in the last 10 episodes
Honestly I had to drag myself through most of this. 2 ML and 2 FL outshone the leads. Yuan Qingli’s mother was excellent.There were way too many flashback sequences with music, and some oddly bad costumes. Why the cowboy fringe on Lord Ye’s concubine? Why does the only princess of Zhao have only one outfit? And why does Madam Yuan wear an entire Christmas tree on her head at times? I digress.
The single most offensive thing about this drama, the thing I could not unsee, was that someone very clearly took a curling iron to Mo Beiyan’s wig.
Unforgivable.
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Not a very good watch
This drama aired on iQiyi and I watched it on the app when it came out. I recently discovered this awesome site so I'm here to spill my two-cents.I was attracted to Luo Yunxi after completing Ashes of Love so I wanted to see more. He is an "okay" actor, i don't find him spectacular or outstanding. But what he has is face. His visuals are soft and feminine- very different from the actors casted at the time.
The actor casted for the female lead gave me a cute impression from Princess of Weiyong. She is consistent in her immature acting and limited display of emotions and understanding of her role. There is a disconnect between her and the character that she plays. It's hard to become engrossed in the drama when the main actor struggles to grasp her role.
I also think the plot is bland and poorly written. There's not a lot of depth and the development is not that great either. The length and the scenes they decided were "relevant" to the plot felt distracting and out of place.
I do not reccomend this drama.
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FL Hard Carried the 1st Half + MLs inexpressiveness and mistrust complicates everything.
Before anything else, I wanna tell people to watch out and bear on how this story revolves around the calm, almost expressionless and inexpressive yet loving ML and the way it became more complicated because of his mistrust and overprotective treatment for the FL.At this point, I guess i'm just glad that this drama was concluded with a happy ending despite all the excruciating and frustrating scenes it has. The amount of dark and grim energy I've accumulated from this show is unexpectedly great that I was extremely irritated at some point. >< So please take a 'bearing pill' before starting this drama. Hahaha!
Honestly, this drama overall is really good but unfortunately ruined by 3 major things— 1st, Overly mismanaged characters, 2nd is the extreme display of favoritism for the ML and 3rd, actual purpose for the 2nd ML.
× For some reason a lot of supposed relevant supporting characters tends to be missing whenever they're most needed to. Like, there are countless segments where the most crucial people are absent and god knows why did the writer and producer exclude them there when they're supposedly relevant in those scenes... and these occurences happened because of their immense greed of making the plot more substancial and complicated.
× This productions obsession with the ML is what probably ruined it for me— their undying love and greed to justify the ML made me role my eyes tons of times and even got me to the point where I'm simply sick of it all. He's 'hot & cold' and loves doing the 'push & pull' act without even explaining even the tiniest bit to the FL and he's expecting her to understand him. Like how? Man!! You deserved to be demoted as the 2nd ML in all honesty.
× The lack of actual purpose and usage for the 2nd ML felt so unfair and ridiculous. Like, I expected him to do some stunts to win the FL because that's his supposed 'role' but he's rather a mess. The 1st half of this drama did him dirty and it's really disgusting. Instead of being a reliable support he started off as a menace— stubborn and quite immature then gradually became an emotional mess... Huh! He need some serious justice right there. ><"
× Last but not the least is how hypocrite of a character Zao Yan Xi is. He hated the FL a lot for 'hurting' the ML when he tolerated the woman he loves even when she killed countless of people just to keep her father safe. The most deserving death of this whole drama I would say. Hahaha!
Anyways, moving away from the negative side... This drama got a lot of good qualities as well, most specifically the amazing color schemes that always blended so well with the setting. Next is the simple looking yet beautiful and eye-catching costume that was made perfect by its color shading, followed by the background and overall setting that complements the whole drama every single time and lastly, the satisfying crime and investigation cases that was made even more entertaining because of the great fighting scenes.
P.S. The 2nd ML 'Zhang Si Fan' deserved better! That guy was downplayed and played dirty throughout the entire show. Hell, he even deserved the Main Role!
Story - 9.0, Story is actually good and would've been better if only they lessen their obsession and greed to make the ML mysterious and inexpressive. It made the drama hollow, frustrating and complicated to the point where things seemed overboard several times.
Acting/Cast - 9.0, More than the acting... I highly think that this dramas excessive misused of great actors/actresses is what made me all irritated overall. Some of them were missing in the most crucial times and felt like they got no concrete direction aside from being an end game plot device. + Overall acting is good and god knows how Chen Yu Qi hard carried this show.
Music - 10, It was love at first hear. Hahaha! Seriously, I was already captivated the moment I heard the 1st BGM and I was in a complete trance upon hearing all of them. The music from this drama serenaded me from the start till the end of the show.
Rewatch Value - 8.0, I just wouldn't. I hated how I have to endure and went through all those frustrations while watching this drama. The amount of dark energy and hollow feeling it gave was enough and I don't want to go over it again. The only reason why I gave it an 8.0 is because of its happy ending and good story progression.
Overall - 9.0, This is a rating in consideration of all the positive things this story offered despite all its flaws and mishaps. Thank god they redeemed themselves and successfully bounced back at the last 6 episodes. I almost give it an 8 honestly.
IF you find my review helpful please let me know
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I like all the characters in the story, they're all good looking. It's my 1st time to know the actor Alan Yu and the actress Yukee Chen. Now, I love them both. Acting of all the cast are great except for Alan Yu because he is like a robot. He looks like he has a stiff neck and his facial expressions are almost all the same in different situations. I really love the happy ending of the story. Most of the dramas I've watched before would make my heart broken but this drama makes my heart happy and inlove. Was this review helpful to you?
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Can say it is just a love story which completed at the end of the story.
First male and female character grown up together ,they spend 18 years of life with together but due to status barrier they hide their feelings from each other but indirectly always shown possession to each other. There is a misunderstanding created between and because of it female lead angry with him and that's the reason they separated . Along with the misunderstanding the story moves forward . They both together solve some crime mystery and with this their misunderstanding clear in last few episodes and drama over .Starting was good ,but then it was a cliché.
Because of leads I watched this drama .they did amazing job but story had not powerful impact.
I felt that it was useless to kill the doctor character .
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Although the story line is simple, if developed further, this could have scored higher. Aside from the story line not being fully developed, we have the Main Lead, Alan Yu, who really needs to work on his expressions. It was painful for me to watch the first part of this series. It was even that I was busy or there was no more English subtitles or missing episode of the series; it was simply pain staking to see no chemistry between Jing Ci and Feng Manwan. There was more chemistry between Mu Beiyan and Feng Manwan/Yuan from the beginning to the end. And the delay on the romance did not help.The story tells about how people in your life will love you only in the word love, hence they will use and abuse you by any extent for their own needs/wants, like Jing Ci's step father and Jing Ci's Emperor Father. Those who feel entitled and superior because of their birth not their deeds, like Jing Ci's step sister. Then there are those who love you so much, that they go to any extent to protect you, but in reality, they are hurting you and themselves unknowingly, like Jing Ci's Aunt. Finally, there are those who love you unconditionally and truly only want your happiness while sacrificing themselves on way or the other, like Feng Manwan/Yuan - intimate love. Then there is respect and love among friends and family, like Jing Ci, Lord Qing (New Emperor appointed by Jing Ci), the princess, and her guy, Mu Beiyan.
It is full of betrayal from all different directions along with all different shades of "love". The Emperor only has his best interest at hand then his family and friends come. Just about everyone is so devious in this series, it is crazy.
Disliked majorly that they murder Lu. And killed Zhao Yanxi and Tan.
The second part was a bit more endearing then the first part of the series.
The biggest let down though was the supposed fight out that did not happen.
Loved Yukee Chen!!!!!
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Short and sweet
LIKENo draggy scenes or extra episodes that make the drama bad
Though usual cliche of memory loss plot, but I still enjoy watching it
DISLIKE
Jing Ci who looked a little cold without much expression
More ups and downs please for the couple - I'm insane like that
MUSIC - personal fav
知晚 Zhi Wan - 叶炫清 Ye Xuan Qing
REWATCH VALUE
Five for now
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I think the story is very simple like an ordinary love story,The male lead character is unstable and sometimes feels tired hahathe progress of love happens very suddenly,suddenly said they meet before
The scene very confusing not showing of explaining full before but add in the next episode just for explaining the condition,but the positive is they do it from the first of episode,they just add the explaining in the episode when the incident and condition was discussed,example : when madam yuan discover that her big daughter coming back,and lost her memory, not showing in the scene before but explaining when they talking about qingli attacked case, so not have alot of repeat scene
Very confusing but overall all problems are resolved
Some scene i feel weird>>>
Ep 1, she catch the wild chicken very hard,but when zhixia come the chicken already beside her.... Hmm
Jing ci cloth just 2 blue and with spot black but when editing episode 1 and 2 go when go to night market use blue dress but when opening ep 2 use white dress when meeting with JI envoy use blue dress again, for the first i didnt botice but when i watch back the episode to find some scene accidentally noticed
Ep 11 suddenly a yuan say she saw he feel very pain when fighting, but i rewatch ,i not see the scene, and suddenly ayuan said "he said they familiar with each other before",but from i know jing ci always that they know each other before and said she already at YONG since she birth, but he just arrived YONG ,他有说过吗?!,make me confused
how YONG king know about mastermind of qinghe? They just exoose affair between qiao concubine and lord of ye?
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Interesting plot
The story line was really interesting and I really enjoyed watching it, but I wouldn't say that it's a must watch or one of my favourite drama. There were many scenes and details that could have been more elaborated as there were some scenes that felt kind of lacking and others just weren't that well explained. The acting was okay, not the best not the worst. Some characters were super annoying but I did like the personal growth of some of them like Princess Chang Le or Mu BeiYan. Personally, I got hooked once I started watching it and kinda ended up binge watching it. I'm a big fan of strong female leads who know how to fight and don't need a ml to protect them so that's a huge plus in this drama. The mysteries and murder cases were really well thought and I love how the solved the cases. Although I do enjoy dramas and misunderstandings to spice things up, the lack of communication from the ml drove me crazy and it ended up being a bit annoying how he took the fl for granted and how he tried to plan her life without consulting her. The ending also felt too rushed and I feel that some characters deserved a little bit more of screen time and background story to at least relate to them a bit better. For example, the background story of Yanxi and Jiang Tan, and how she ended up working for the enemy would have been interesting. All in all, it's a nice costume drama and I really enjoyed the plot.Was this review helpful to you?
The cast is good overall. Though cast is relatively new (to me), i think they are all making a gallant effort to make the drama interesting n captivating for audiences around the global.
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I decided to write this review because I greatly disagree with the criticism exposed until now. This drama is one of the first one I watch and it took me time to decide to post a review but here I amI won't say back what everybody wrote but there's some things where I disagree, especially concerning the male lead acting skills. First of all, he plays a character who is described as cold and emotionless by the other characters so if you agree with them, it means that the actor did his job well. You like his character or not, it's your choice but it is not the fault of the actor. I even think that you can see the emotions in his eyes if you try. His face is expressive, just not openly since his character can't. He is the son of an emperor, with a failing health he behaves the way he was taught to and the way he needs to protect himself. He also fears that his death will be too much for the girl he loves so he hopes she can find love in someone else. He also has to find who is trying to assassinate him.
Secondly, we now know that Yu Menglong was seriously injured while shooting and became blind in one eye though he continued shooting the drama. From what I gathered from the Chinese source (I don't speak Chinese well), he uses to wear contact lenses but could not due to his injury so he shooed the scene while not being able to see afar. I actually think it is quite incredible he was able to perform that well while injured and I would love to see all who criticized him try to do the same.
As for him being camera shy, you don't need to fix your glare on the caerma while shooting.
Fot the rest of the cast, I agree with the reviews. They were great. I still get annoyed with the main female mead because I think she is way too stupid sometimes and I skipped a lot of the scenes with the second male lead because he was way too carefree at the beginning. It took him his father's death in order to mature. That's probably why I prefer the male lead and wasn't bothered by his acting. I thought the female leads mother quite annoying, blaming the male lead for his mother's mistake when he was able to overcome the past. Actually, a lot of characters annoyed me.
It may seem weird that even though I skipped several part and hated so many characters, my rating is still so high. Actually, I think that the second part compensated for the introduction (which lasted several episodes) and the first part. I love how it became darker and deeper, how the characters evolved. Which is why my rating is so high.
Lastly, the songs are really great as is the whole ost.
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