Light And Yet Dark
This is a very delightful drama with comedic acting and jokes, at the same time, it is also dark with bloody plots and mysteries. Accordingly, it has been adapted from a novel and the characters have been drastically rewritten rendering dissatisfaction from the readers. There are many twists and turns, and with great endearing relationships between the main couples and the overall family as a whole, this drama is a rather entertaining watch.The Story
Ju Mu’er (Xiao Yan aka Shane Xiao) is the daughter of a wine maker. In her daily business transactions, she encounters a miser, Long Yao (Xing Zhao Lin) who is a shrewd businessman running the largest conglomerate in the land. He has deep pocket and has a formidable relationship with the palace. Ju Mu’er is also a virtuoso of the Guzheng. When her shifu is framed and executed, she's determined to find the truth behind his death. Long Yao helps her after falling in love with her. Together, they go through ups and downs, marry each other three times (hence the Chinese title for this drama), and risk losing everything including their lives. Their entanglement also endangers their own family members whom they love dearly. In the beginning, it’s hard to discern who the antagonists are.
Long Yao has an older brother who is the head of the royal guards and a younger brother who is the leader of the wǔ lín (martial arts world). They all live together in an exquisite mansion financially supported by Long Yao through his business income. The Long brothers, though have totally different personalities, love each other dearly and would do anything to protect each other. I love the scenes when they eat their meals together daily, bantering with each other. The Long family is very powerful because they have the royal family’s full support. Long Yao’s miserliness is egregious, making him incorruptible hence trusted by the Emperor and the Dowager Empress.
There are some deadly fights within the harem and some light palace politics. During Ju Mu’er’s investigation, both Long Yao’s brothers meet the loves of their life who are also embroiled in the mystery. The eventual outcome is delightful, giving the audience three beautiful pairs of lovers.
The Acting
Xiao Yan is one of my favorite actors but as Ju Mu’er, I can’t say I like her very much. Her acting here is not that bad, but her make-up is terrible. Her eye make-up in particular, has made her so uncomfortable to look at. On top of that, she has a constant smiling face which makes her sad scenes difficult to comprehend; one doesn’t know if she is happy or sad, giving the impression that her acting does not synchronize with the situations.
Xing Zhao Lin’s acting is not bad as the crafty and prideful Long Yao who loves his money and charges for everything including tea money for the match-maker. Everything he does is viewed as a business transaction. He is very smart but not particularly good in expressing himself to his love, Ju Mu’er, Xing Zhao Lin has convincingly brought out the miser and the prude Long Yao.
The styling for the major couple is quite unconventional for historical dressing. It has a hint of western style and the couple’s costumes are always matching each other’s like lovers’ his-and-hers.
My Verdict
There are some very enjoyable scenes, but somehow, certain parts of the story are also not very coherent. This is very likely that the screen writers have changed the original story from the novel without properly addressing the plotline, hence making it illogical with plot holes and flaws. Having said that, this is a story with mysteries, crimes, investigation and super villains. It is funny and cartoonish at times, and yet dark and bloody. There are strong brotherly relationship and trusted friendship, at the same time, betrayal, deceits and deadly misunderstandings.
Overall, this is a drama with an interesting plotline. Had the Ju Mu’er character been more consistently written and acted, this would have been a very good drama.
Was this review helpful to you?
The budget for this drama is definitely on the high side. The sets are beautiful and expensive and the costumes are definitely one of the best parts of this whole drama. I love the coupling costumes that Long Yue and Ju'er always wear after their marriage. :D This is the first time that I've seen a couple in historical drama that done this and I super love it! Their flowery black hanfu is my favourite which followed with their blue coloured hanfu -- they are so so pretty!
The Longs household is definitely a nice place to live in. All the 3 brothers are lovely and their relationships with their ladies are healthy and balanced. Long Residence is such a beautiful and serene home and you somehow get the feeling that it’s gonna be a happy home for everyone when they live there. A residence in dramas usually didnt give this vibe to viewers but the Long Residence definitely gives you this happy and comfortable vibe and I love all the scenes that are shot in there.
I really love if Zhaolin keeps taking this kind of role in the future. His portrayal as Long Yue is hilarious here. He loves for money, being a profiteer and most of all stingy, despite all of these negative traits, he made it very lovable somehow. I keeps laughing how calculative he is even with the Dowager Empress to how petty he is in everything from borrowing his brother's army just to mess with rivals' business to his stinginess with his younger brother -- its all done in hilarious way that instead of being turned off, you will laugh at all the scenes instead. And most of all, I love how intelligent he is, he had his flaws and likes to do things his own way but you gotta admits that most of his plans worked and he saves his loved ones again & again. I think the plot that I love the most is most probably how far he is willing to go to save his personal servant; Li Ke. Dramas usually like to take the female leads as hostage where the male leads need to make impossible choices but here, it was his servants. He has a heart of gold and I love him for that. Long Yue is definitely one of my top 3 Zhaolin's best characters to date.
Shane Xiao as Mu'er definitely one of the highlights in this drama. She is strong, lovely, very opiniated and she definitely has what it takes to take on the rather wild Long Yue. I love how savage she is and her; '2nd Young Master, you are hungry? Aren't you already FULL with jealousy?' and her follow up; 'Chicken soup? I rather not take it or else it will heated up my passion' -- it is a brilliant remarks to deal with a rather jealous husband haha! And Ju'er's fashion is definitely the best. Her costumes are like expensive rags sew on together and it comes out funky and elegant at the same time. Her hanfu itself shows how different she is from other girls and the way she thinks as well is different that set her apart from other people. I love how details the production team in writing and making her character.
I also love how they dedicate the whole 1 episode for the ending. I always have issues how C-dramas like to rush their endings but here, the last episode has everything on why I really like the drama and why it is such a stress relief kind of story. From how the brides do not want to be seen as too eager and acting all demure despite being very excited themselves to Long Fei having to wear recycled Long Yue's wedding dress to how the Dowager Empress trolled Long Yue into paying for the very expensive wedding to Long Yue giving the key to Longs' Treasure Room to Ju'er is the icing on the cake. I like how both of them always smiling constantly thorough out the drama especially when they are together and that’s the very reasons why it is such a joy to see their scenes as a couple.
Rewatch value is definitely 100%. I started the first episode again after I finished it and that’s how I love this drama as a whole.
Was this review helpful to you?
Tries its best to tug your heartstrings but fails at it hilariously.
I was really looking forward to this drama since the source material was really interesting with the FL being unique. She is blind. But in here, they had to do some creative liberties and I really didn't mind it that much since I haven't really read the novel.This drama was a mess in terms of narrative. I lost count of how many plot holes that I've found. I feel like the pacing is really weird with a lot of the important events happening in the background in favor of cheap plot twists. The mystery angle of this drama lacks buildup.
What's weird is that I really got confused with the story's structure and tone. This drama has a lot of dark tones which the romantic comedy side has a hard time compensating for. The music has this weird abrupt shift from being romantic, comedic, then to being serious. Other c-dramas handle tonal shifts in terms of music better than this drama.
What irked me is most are the dialogues. They are so poorly timed that it makes the story really confusing and cringey with the scenes in which they were delivered doesn't have much of an impact. In some serious scenes, I was really dumbfounded.
The saving graces this drama (the reason why I gave higher points to the story) had were the dynamic of the Long brothers and their wives. It's really rare to see brothers in cdrama that are not competing against each other. The second saving grace was the ending. I was really happy to see that this drama has the last episode dedicated to the epilogue of the story.
If you're a fan of Xing Zhao Lin and want to see another side of his acting, watch this drama. If not, go watch something else.
Was this review helpful to you?
Laughter and Tears
So, I went into watching this, thinking that I would be able to get it done in a weekend. But, let me stop you right there. That is not going to happen for the simple fact that while this rom-com to the story, it will also have you want to throw something at the screen.Marry Me is a drama that has everything in it, from court secrets to misunderstandings between characters. Marry Me will have you watching something that has you laughing on the floor, and then the next, you are wiping tears away as you watch a gut-wrenching scene.
Was this review helpful to you?
The songs in the drama are so good it give so much good vibes... Overall its a very good drama kudos to the team... Highly recommend do watch it thank me later
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
I'm a fans of Xing Zhao Lin, when I find out this new drama of course I must watch it. Really happy to watch this. Bring laughter to my days... ^_^After watched this drama I feel the synopsis given by MDL not quite right, ChineseDramaFan give us more fit synopsis. Also agreed with ChineseDramaFan, the story funny & very enjoyable but I also notice some plot holes, especially after we know the real identity of Xiao Bao.
What I like:
* Really like Xing Zhao Lin as Long Yao. Especially his expression when there will be unprofitable business when he will lose some money, really funny...
* The 3 brother really stupid when it's come to their own love.
* They in the end got their own partner
* Xiao Bao very cute & adorable
* The romance is like funny romance not lovey-dovey romance. Some romance scene just followed with funny scene.
Plot holes that I notice:
* Scene is quite jumping, sometimes doesn't makes sense. Like they combine serious scene with relaxing scene, it's like they actually have something in the middle but doesn't include in the final cut.
* How the bad guys always now where they are & there are always help in the end.
* Big spoiler (read with your own risk):
How Xiao Bao himself easily just accept he is the king's son
* The bad guy (Yun Qing Xian) motive about Xiao Bao is very confusing. It's like why he have to kill him...? Yeah at first he is ordered, due to usurpation of the throne, but later very unclear what his motive...
Overall I really like this drama, funny, romantic, mystery all there. But to re-watch I don't think so....
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Cute and amusing yet serious as well
My favorite C-drama blogger dropped this drama because she couldn’t keep track of what was going on with the cases, but I didn’t experience that problem. It lagged a little prior to episode 20 due to the writer focusing on establishing the romance/relationship between ML/FL, but once attention was turned back to solving the mystery of Master Shi Bo Yin, it progressed nicely and in a logical fashion. Most loose ends were tied up by the final episode. There weren’t any unexpected twists like in a K-drama, but at least, things made sense. We also got all three Long brothers married off as well as cleaning house at court by at least two corrupt families being wiped out. There’s concubines, but they’re all limited to the emperor. Fortunately, the parents of the brothers are dead so they’re not being pressured into a political marriage. Only older brother’s love interest, Shu Ruo Chen, is being forced to become a concubine to the emperor…but of course, she gets out of it.I suspect the drama is called ‘Marry Me’ because ML/FL get married to each other a total of THREE times…although it takes a few episodes before they get around to the first marriage. A large part of the first half involves ML refusing to admit he’s in love with FL although it’s obvious to everyone else (except himself & FL) that their ‘fake’ marriage is actually a real marriage in terms of how they feel about each other. I think ML knows that he's in love; he's just too pompous to admit it.
As far as the other brothers/couples: I liked older brother because he was what you’d expect from an older sibling – steady, mature and cautious. He doesn’t say a lot and he doesn’t rush into things. I didn’t care for the girl he was paired with. Although she displayed spunk at times, and she was likeable enough, she seemed too young and childish for him. I think the third brother’s girl, Feng Wu, would have been better for Long Teng. It was sweet, however, when near the end, LT gave RC a puppy to replace the one her dad killed. Awwwww! I liked the third couple although nothing really memorable sticks out in my mind concerning them. I will say, however, that they interested me more than the third couples in a lot of modern C-dramas.
To be honest, my favorite character was the villainous mastermind, Lord Yun. I just couldn’t hate him. His one-sided love for FL made him sympathetic - at least to me. I had no trouble hating Shu Bo (older brother’s girl’s dad), but I just couldn’t hate Yun, even though he was the mastermind behind most of the intrigue. He single-handedly wiped out the entire Ding family except for the youngest sister. Bravo! Dad Ding was corrupt, and I disliked Yun’s wife, Xiang Ding. Yeah, she was supposed to be this kind, sweet girl, but to me, she came across as too sweet. I was always waiting for her to drop the mask and become a harpy like her sister. What kind of woman goes and proposes marriage for her husband? Yeah, I’m going to go out and get my husband the woman he’s obsessed with, and yeah, FL is going to agree to that. Her love for her husband was pathetic, especially when he was hung up on someone else. I was glad when she finally kicked the bucket. I guess I liked Yun because he played the role normally reserved for female love rivals – he was obsessed with FL & schemed to get her. So refreshing to see a psycho dude instead of a psycho chick.
My second favorite character was FL’s dad. He was good-natured and funny (especially at the end when ML is attempting to marry FL for the third time). Loved how the dowager empress declared that Long Yue was footing the bill for the weddings. HAHA. I wonder if the guests were thinking to themselves - What? We have to attend ANOTHER Long wedding?
About mid-way, the drama turned more serious as the writer began focusing more on unraveling the mystery. We see a lot of power struggles among families – first Family Ding is on top and then Family Shu. Family Long gets involved because of FL trying to clear her master’s name and Yun’s schemes. And ultimately, all this intrigue is centered upon the emperor securing an heir to the throne. I was really quite amazed that the plot held together so well, and most lose ends were tied up at the end.
By the time I reached mid-point, the drama became amusing just because of how ridiculous some things were. Here’s a few examples: what’s with the white ribbons of cloth that Lin Yue Yao unfurled from her wrists? All I could think of was Spiderman! And then that flying blade that Feng Wu used that could take out a whole pack of assassins like a deadly boomerang. I especially liked how Lin Yue Yao and Hua Yi Bai died together – she throws herself in front of him and they both get speared by the sword. How romantic! I mean, if you’ve got to go, why not go with your lover, right? Hua, however, never got to be her lover while alive. Poor guy. Also, how did Big Ears (Shi Bo Yin) manage to secure the obsessive devotion of three women? Really, I got a little sick and tired of hearing FL wailing about her precious master. I did enjoy the Fuxi Score being played on the qin – it sounded really cool!
Overall, I liked this drama and found it entertaining. It was worth the 33-35 hours of time spent watching it. Maybe the chemistry between the leads could be better, but at least, the plot managed to stick together with a logical progression although it did seem to get bogged down a bit as the writer focused on developing the relationships/romances, and everyone managed to find a love interest, even ML’s servant and the younger Ding sister. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed if you invest the time like I did watching it.
Was this review helpful to you?
Cute but hard to sit through
The drama was nice and pretty to look at in terms of production. However, it wasn't enough for me when their was things to of course improve.Plot: The plot was interesting, if it was executed probably. The first half of the drama was dragging so long to solve some of the investigation. I would watch 2-3 ep. then would not watch it for a whole week. Then, I even started skipping through some of the scene's because it was just boring. On the other hand, their was some good things like everyone who is evil ends up getting what they deserve. Also, the ending was cute as Zhaolin never fails to bring justice with his kissing to save the day.
Characters: The character's was good along with the actors/ actress's and they were fleshed out. Again, every evil character got what he/she deserves. Their was good character development and plot twists with some characters that I personally didn't expect.
Mu'er: I had a love/hate relationship with her as a character. She was very annoyingly stubborn especially when she would cause trouble for the main male lead. On the other hand, she was in tune with her feelings for the main male lead. Also, she was not annoyingly weak yet a strong women. Furthermore, she really was a perfect match for the male lead because she would play and mess around with him.
Long Yao: I love him as a character, Zhaolin never fails to executed any character that he is playing. Long Yao is very immature and playful yet caring, kind and smart. His character development was out the room with some of the other character. I love when him and Mu'er be teasing each other and his facial expressions be out the roof. He really sacrificed himself a lot just to make Mu'er happy.
Yun Qing Xian: One word: Annoying.
In conclusion, the drama was okay. I'll probably not re-watch it as much as other good drama's because it was just hard to sit through. But, it is definitely worth the time to watch if you have the time. Especially for Zhaolin.
Was this review helpful to you?
The drama that your should not forget
This drama is really good!no wonder I really liked itGood acting! I was swayed by their acting skills
Great Chemistry! O love their chemistry... I wonder who is xiao yan's boyfriend of does she have boyfriend?
Great love story! I'm really envy those love story Iwish I'm not single
Suspense!I really liked the way hiw they solve the case with the love between tge two main characters!
Great Set! Historical drama is the best
You will not regret watchis this drama! So what are you watching for? Go now and watch it!
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
complicated story but cute story of brotherly love and how they each found their love.
I'm a fan of the male lead Xing zhao lin ! he's so cute when he smiles and when he acts playfully naive. Just to give you a warning! if you are here for the romance between Xing zhao lin and female lead, its only at the last three episode. There are way too many times where he tries to kiss her and fails lol!!!Background- The basic background is that the female lead is trying to solve the case of her teacher's murder. She meets the male lead, Long er. The story then gets super complicated. She tries to solve the reason why her teacher dies and unravels more mystery as she searches along.
Story- To me the story starts off at a weird place.It starts off with the female lead and male lead bickering and having some conflict. Then due to her teacher getting imprisoned, they get to know each other a little better. After that the teacher mysteriously dies and then thus begins trying to unravel what happen. On her way she becomes partially blind when she tried to uncover more about her teacher's case. ( to be honest that part was kinda lame, and didn't do much for the story).As they began to unravel more is when the story started to not make sense and develop in a weird way. The younger evil dude does a lot to interfere with the female lead's investigation.
Characters: ( there are many characters in this story)
Female lead- is skilled in playing the gu zheng/ is a musician. ( the actress that plays her , i find her pretty:) )
Male lead- aka Long er ( because he's number 2 in the Long family, their family owns some sort of restaurant thing? )
Other characters-
Teacher of the female lead- A good musician. He dies pretty early on and everyone is trying to solve his case.
Older Long Brother - I like him! he's the same actor who was in Song of glory! he is a noble and loyal to this family . His profession is a police/detective from the palace.
3rd brother - He's cute and carefree, and is a Wu lin master.
Younger evil dude - his role kinda confused me! first he likes the female lead but wants to kill her but doesnt and then takes another woman to be his wife, but at that time he still realizes he likes the female lead. Of course , he does all kinds of evil!
Older evil dude named Shi - I think he is the king's advisor, he also has a sister who is an empress.
I can't believe the older brother and his girl got a kiss before the female and male lead did! lol It was really cute how they each got another half. The relationship between the brothers was really good.
Romance- I find the male lead and female lead both to be really cute ! wish they had more scenes to develop/ show their relationship more. It would of definitely strengthen their chemistry. They definitely did but the romantic and sweet scenes were more towards the end , like the last three episodes. In terms of romance, it didnt meet my expectation, the intro song gave a lot away, and i was expecting more lol. however the two brother's relationship was good and had cute scenes and development.
Overall not a bad watch, not the most interesting but can get you through!
Was this review helpful to you?
The series seems okay. There are many comical moments that will leave you crying laughing. The supporting cast is great.
My thoughts: the plot seems a bit far fetched but I pressed on because it was somewhat funny. The supporting cast relationships appear to have more depth and chemistry, at least for the first 20 episodes. I have yet to fill anything remotely romantic from episode 1-19, our female lead was indifferent to the male lead and appeared she had no interest.
For a romantic comedy, it appears they missed something. Although the series is not done airing I don’t think it will get much better. But I’ll keep watching, hoping that it gets interesting.
For some reason my logic has taken over and the actions of the female lead are careless, inconsiderate and odd.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
I was wrong about this drama.
A few months ago, I started watching 'Marry Me' and I'd only made it through the first 2 episodes. They were extremely boring and I'd had better things to watch.Now, however, I have watched all that I want to watch and I'm finding it difficult to get into any costume CDrama at all. So I decided to give this another chance and I'm really glad I did.
What I loved?
Firstly: The characters
Although I've only ever watched Shane Xiao in "Legend of the White Snake", her acting isn't half bad. I liked her character a lot and I knew I was only getting into this drama for her. After 6 episodes, I started watching for all of the other characters are well. I'm enjoying the fact that everyone has (or will have) a partner. I'm enjoying those sweet pre-couple moments that are building the foundation for (hopefully) healthy and adorabpe relationships. And I'm most definitely enjoying the chemistry between Long Yue and Ju Mu'er. (I can kinda understand why everyone likes him in "The Eternal Love" series. Might watch them one day).
Secondly: The story.
Even though there's nothing new or unique about it, it's being executed very well (imo). Thankfully they didn't just throw us into a wedding day/night scene and have some narrator ask the audience, "I bet you're wondering how I got here?" Then a flashback that explained some things but not all things. The way this was plotted out is very entertaining. I like this whole backstory before they decide to get 'fake' married. It feels more genuine when you (as the drama's storyline) and the audience go through the whole journey from start to finish together. It also guarantees a more satisfying ending. Even if it were to be 30 seconds long, I have enough material from the first 8 episodes to be content with however long a HEA the screenwriters choose to give me.
What I hated?
Nothing, really. Maybe the music? I'll have to listen to the OST on its own because I'm too engrossed in the story to also listen to the background music.
Was this review helpful to you?
