This review may contain spoilers
When A Brave Magistrate Fallen In Love
' Cry Me A River of Star'A romantic comedy plus light historical drama that contained some conflicts and obstacles.
▪️Main Points
~ The male and female lead were came from two different group of people, Zhongyuan people and Qianli people ( those who shed blue tears).
~ A brave Magistrate was responsible to punish Qianli people who want to rebel but later ended up fallen in love with a girl from Qianli people.
▪️Short Synopsis
A Magistrate, Tao Jun Ran bravely seeks and punish the Qianli people who wanted to rebel in Biyun country. He wants to search for Lian Qi from Qianli people who kept the weapons and arms illegally and punish him. Later he met an independent and hardworking girl, A Fan who close with Lian Qi and started to investigate her. He was told that A Fan was Lian Qi's girlfriend and knew about him. A Fan denied it and agreed to be questioned. Then, he knew that A Fan was not guilty and she was a nice and hardworking girl. He had fallen in love with her and want to marry her. As he confessed his love and asked her to marry him, A Fan agreed and they want to have a marriage reception. But a conflict happened a day before they want to get married.
Yun He An was so childish and stubborn girl. She still want to marry Tao Jun even she knew he do not loved her. She forced him to agree with her even they were married only for a time being in order to save Cao Qing. I hate her characters since she was arrogant and heartless person. Her brother, Yun Jia Yu also was a bad and heartless guy. He plans to make Tao Jun helpless and killed him but since his sister want to marry Tao Jun so he cant do anything bad to him. Li Qian bought A Fan to her country in Qianli. He plans to make her a 'High Priest' in her country. A Fan disagreed at first but she just followed him since he forced her to do it. There also many bad peoples who disagreed with A Fan as a High Priest. Later, Tao Jun tried to go to Qianli to save A Fan.
▪️Opinions
~ You can see how much Tao Jun Ran loved A Fan. He did everything in order to save her, he can even give his own live to her.
~ A Fan trust to Tao Jun was very deep. Even there were a lot of misunderstanding, she also chooses to trust him.
~ Majesty was just a toy since he doesn’t know what happened to his country and can easily getting betrayed by others.
~ Even Tao Jun was a great Magistrate before, he doesn’t get any respects from his Majesty and people, he been punished without getting an investigation for his frames.
~ Tao Jun Ran do as he promises to A Fan which is to marry her. Even they couldn’t get married in earlier but still they’re married in the end.
▪️Characters Intro
~ Luo Zheng as Tao Jun. He was a magistrate that responsible in dealing with Qianli people. He was popular because of his handsome face and brave in dealing with enemy. He was respected by all the people because of his braveness and kindness in helping people to deal with epidemics. Even his make up effects looked a bit weird and over make up but still okay since I do not care as he can smoothly acting and showed a good characters.
~ Huang Ri Ying as A Fan. A cute, silly and kind hearted girl who responsible and hardworking in supporting her life and also her adoptive dad who madly insane. She came from Qianli people who shed a blue tears when she's crying. Her cloth's styling was a bit glamour for a poor girl' s characters but she so pretty and cute in that styles. It is okay since I love to see a beautiful looks and stylish characters in a drama.
▪️Overall
The flow of this drama was very dramatic. It started from light, slow but suddenly got very hard. I thought this drama was a simple drama because it has some of funny scenes during an early drama. But it’s not like that. The flow getting worse and worse because there were a lot of misunderstanding between couples. No worries, there were also a sweet scenes during an early episodes which they’re kissing and also dating in the market.
I think this drama was okay. It’s only have 24 episodes for historical drama which never happened before. Thus I recommended to watch this if you want to see a short historical drama because it’s quite interesting.
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This review may contain spoilers
Couple affiliated to enemy races fighting all odds to be together forever
The most striking aspect of this drama is the male character. Just like prince Su Yu in Hua Xu Yin: city of devastating love, this male lead is the best among male leads in traditional Chinese drama world. The male lead is highly loyal, persistent and ready to bend his principles, strong convictions when it comes to anything that involves the female lead.The alpha male lead may come across as a simp to short sighted people who can't appreciate the beauty of a simple relationship in a simple story. But the alpha male lead is in fact a simple man at heart who falls deeper & deeper in his love for the female lead(FL). As the story progresses, his deep love for the FL makes him more accommodative, considerate, caring, highly thoughtful towards not only the FL but also towards her race. He is even willing to face death if he is forced to enter into intimacy with the second female lead (SFL). So luckily for the ML, she gives in to his "fake marriage only" request .
This drama is worth a re-watch! For hardore fans, this drama can be seen over and over ( at least ten times!).
There are many events, details which can't be completely explained based on pure logic. So, it would be good to classify this drama under intrusion /low fantasy.
Once again, this is a simple, beautiful intrusion fantasy story. Viewers will enjoy this if they are willing to kindly put aside their cold logic & not try to relate each & every detail with what happens in real life or with physics/chemistry/biological principles that underlie life processes in reality.
This is one of the dramas where both FL and ML get almost equal importance and screen space. What happens to both characters are really, really intertwined & affects plot development.
The FL is absolutely adorable. She may appear baby-like to many, but the truth is, she is someone who slowly evolves into the best version of her self. She is a bit slow to adapt to worst scenarios and a bit slow to discover, understand all her best traits ( which explains her impulsive, cruel reactions towards the ML at first, that she deeply regrets later).
But once the FL learns to adapt well( it's not like she was well trained & well educated like the ML from childhood!) , the FL completely understands the ML & his intents.
The FL is a cute, sweet damsel in distress type , but she is one who is not to be underestimated. She is kind, sensitive, caring in all kinds of scenarios, and never runs away from responsibilities to help others in day to day situations even when her mind, heart is badly muddled, devastated, sad.
Both FL & ML aren't power hungry or obsessed with solving the problems, issues posed by worldly politics. They just want to live a quiet, peaceful life for themselves because if they get involved in politics, they will be separated forever. Still, the main leads do their best to set things right while pursuing their personal agenda for reunion.
The only slightly annoying aspects are the fates meted out to the villian and his vamp sister, and also the ending scripted for the main leads which could have been slightly tweaked , for the better, here & there.
The ultimate sad endings thrust on the villian who is actually a real affectionate, considerate brother, and
his spoilt, pampered sister seems too cruel. Maybe bitter -sweet endings would 've been better for the duo.
As for the main leads, they really, really deserved a perfect, rosy happy ending instead of a light-hearted bitter-sweet but cute, happy ending.
But overall, because the main leads end up together in a highly romantic, intense manner oozing oodles of tenderness, this drama is worth watching a thousand times. A possibility where the FL helps the ML to get back his life force is also hinted at.
Ultimately, no matter how imperfect it was at some turns & twists of the plot; the tender, sweet, unfathomably-deep, happy ending of the main leads was worth watching.
This story is so sweet, unique & special that it is impossible to compare it with Korean drama love stories. Both are too different to be compared. Otherwise, it will be akin to comparing spices ---- cinnamon & pepper. Both has its value, utility. This story is beyond meaningless comparisons.
Don't forget to listen to the ending ost that is absolutely soulful with beautiful lyrics.
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Palatable pass time
There were things that worked and things that didnt.It started off on an intriguing note. A FL who has some street smarts and toughen through having to make a living to support her and her childlike father. And a ML in an authority position who is wise, sharp with hidden cunning.
Then it gets ruined by how things and people are so obvious, compound with evil female and a pacing thats hard to follow. You get a ML who first catches the FL as a possible accomplice and linked to a wanted man of the state to fallen in love and proposing before we hit the middle of the drama. There's this uneveness of which its directed and written that makes it hard for me to stay on. Its like sitting in a car on fast speed then brake n bam and start again. The kind of jolt thats not welcome and makes me lose interest. I actually went to watch something and come back to it..telling myself to finish.
The things that worked is the ML-FL pairing. They look good together and for the most part their interaction is easy on the eyes. They are both physically comfortable with each other so theres no awkward kiss scenes. I'm not familiar with FL but she gives off a friendly, naturally cute vibe. Her emotional scenes has room for improvement. Then there's ML. I think this is the 3rd drama I've seen him in and he has grown a tad. But i still get this borderline greasy feel when he's delivering his lines or when he stares at people. Im not sure if it's overacting but personally felt some parts need dialing down.
Lastly for all they have gone through I didnt enjoy how the last episode is written. Did ML not understand how precious life and love is..I was like.. come on man! This hits the nail again that the plot needs work. I really dont particularly like this screenwriter. Putting up a redflag for me, really..
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Interesting but confusing
I really like this series, but I have to say it is SUPER confusing after about the 11th episode. I can't keep track of who is related to who, who is from Azureland, who is loyal to who, who is a spy for who, and why on earth there are soooo many plots, counterplots, and why/how Azureland can be hidden and safe but there were so many people from Azureland living in a dangerous county instead??I must say though, one of the things that keeps me going (despite how nothing makes sense in the series by the midway point) is just how often Luo Zheng smiles in this drama...dang that man can make a heart go pitter patter in 5 seconds flat.
My final thoughts...don't start this drama if you get frustrated by unanswered questions. Frequently there are things that I think the viewers should know that don't get answered until loooong past the normal amount of time. Then there are some things that just never get explained or answered. That can be frustrating. I was entertained and it technically had a HE, but I wasn't fully satisfied at the end of viewing this and I think that's what brought it from a higher rating down to a 7 or 8.
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Great Leads, Average Story
Cry Me a River of Stars starts as a sweet and easy-on-the-eyes romantic comedy, but then tries to become an epic tale of start-crossed lovers to middling results.Characters: The two leads look great together and have good on-screen chemistry, but their characters feel like they come from two different dramas. Tao Junran is a strong and capable magistrate who has to make tough choices, face the darkness of humanity, and risk losing himself in the process, while A Fan is a ditzy and careless fisher girl. She would sell her soul for a few coins and couldn’t hold a serious conversation if her life depended on it. This sometimes leads to jarring moments where one scene is of deep tragedy and loss, while the next has slapstick comedy. The rest of the cast is more in line with Tao Junran, though there are some whose whole personality is obsession with one person or another, and it gets old really quickly.
Story: At first, it seems down to earth and pretty simple, but it quickly becomes obvious that it’s better to not examine it too closely. Some scenes don’t follow the internal logic of the drama just to serve a cool or dramatic scene, some challenge one’s suspension of disbelief to a high degree, like when people start going in and out of a highly secured place like it’s their own backyard, and at other times things are kicked into motion solely by A Fan doing something extremely stupid. Yet somehow, despite all of these problems, the underlying story is not unwatchable. It moves quickly, and there’s always something happening. There’s also quite a few twists and turns that aren’t obvious from a mile away.
Overall, I enjoyed this drama. I have some gripes with it, especially with A Fan who couldn’t stop repeating the same mistakes again and again, but her actress did a good job making her likable, so it didn’t detract too much from the viewing experience. I don’t think I’ll ever be rewatching this drama, but it was fun while it lasted.
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FL Character - Dumb as dirt!
It's one thing to write a naive, innocent character - but this one is neither naive nor innocent. This FL character (not bashing the actress in any way) - the character role is as dumb as dirt! I was almost rooting for her to get killed off in any of the fight scenes where she was rescued by the hot ML. He deserves somebody much smarter than this dumbass. But the villainess was even more irritating if that is possible. I hope she gets some serious comeuppance soon!I would have enjoyed the story a lot more, and probably been more invested if not for the way the FL and the girl he had to marry were written. Enough with portraying women as brainless twits! The one couple I really liked met with tragedy - needlessly, might I add, so that spoiled the story for me also.
The only reason I am watching till the conclusion (and I will) is to see how they give Karma to the villains. I don't hold out much hope, as I have read some spoilers. However, I will make my own determination and hope for the best. I've given this drama a 6 only because I enjoyed watching the ML - he's handsome in a severe kind of way; his aide - who deserved so much more; and the kid who did a pretty good job with his character.
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Annoyingly bad play by female lead - amateurism makeup artists
It's downright frustrating to witness a stagnant, juvenile narrative and a constant portrayal of women as helpless beings in distress. This drama is anything but charming or appealing. It perpetuates a foolish stereotype of women being dependent on men for their protection, which is unacceptable. The fact that it's supposed to be a romantic comedy does not excuse its ineptitude.The plot was severely lacking in substance and was unnecessarily repetitive. The female lead's constant injuries and near-death experiences were excessive and tiresome. It was frustrating to see her consistently behave like a child despite being an adult character. Overall, these aspects of the story detracted from the viewing experience and were quite frankly irritating.
I have to be honest, I absolutely detest the actress's one-dimensional performance. It's as if she's incapable of portraying anything beyond a ridiculously childish level. On top of that, there was absolutely zero chemistry between her and her male counterpart. They couldn't even manage to kiss properly! It was downright ridiculous. And although the male lead's acting was good, he didn't appeal to my personal taste. Of course, everyone has different preferences. But in my opinion, his performance and that of the other actors deserve a 5-star rating, while hers is a total zero.
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The acting was subpar, and the casting was off. The makeup artist's inability to replicate the location of the pimples and the inconsistencies throughout the show only added to the flaws. Despite the sensitive topic of racial discrimination, the show managed to avoid acknowledging skin color, which was good.
To put it bluntly, there's nothing much positive to say about this show except there is a happy ending… somehow.
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One time watch
Male lead's charcter was looking for a particular clan and wanted to kill them because this clan killed his parents in front of him . When he was looking for the clan's member he came across a girl ( the female lead's character )who was mistakenly accused to be the clan's member so he had given her chance to prove her innocence . To prove herself she faced many problems and he all the time saved her from her problem .so slowly slowly he had fallen in love but he came to know her mother was responsible for his parents'murder. But still he didn't left her at that time she was not born but about to born so according to him child was innocence ,it was not her fault but her parents fault ,he thought this . He decided to look for the truth behind the murder for the sake of her woman. So this was the story . Many truth were unfold while looking for truth of his parents 's murder case due to which they separated first and at very end of the drama they again United . So simple story with so many romantic scenes but I didn't like the direction of the drama especially last few episodes that spoil the mood .Was this review helpful to you?
a sincere love story
The love story is successful in that it made me dream and took me away effectively. The chemistry between the two leads is real and simple. The simplicity of it adds beauty to its real feel. Complicated love story with much difficulties, strains, premeditation, weighing pros and cons ,twists and uncertainty personally make me feel sick because the world is already full of people having relationships sketched in this fashion. Self interests give birth to positive looking relationships -when it is only fake love- as well as they make conflicts arise. That depends on the direction they take, but when it is a matter of conflicting interests the fakeness is outcried and what didn't deserve its name is shamelessly put down.The love chemistry in this story is felt early on, even without difficulties rising or before seeing difficulties rising. Usually it is very hard to tell without testing, because people hearts change and are weak when it comes to personal interests. However the story had a good vibe to it since the beginning. It was genuine and not hard to set yet profound. The characters have their share of responsibility in it. A relationship is the mirror of the soul of its characters. People driven by self interests may find attraction in each other but their relationship is frail and brittle threatening to end at the slightest upturn of wind, but it is first and foremost a lie, so living it is even worse.
I liked it when A Fan asked herself whether every woman got to be betrayed by what she/ they felt an eternal unbreakable promise. She asked herself that at the peak of the tightening of the knot when hardships befell on her and Tao Junran. When this happened I didn't feel the complication much even if the plan of the two characters actually working together to deceive others instead of what it seemingly looked like -Tao to break his promise to Fan and deceive her- wasn't revealed only after some time of watching. There the strength of their previous feelings was tested.
So I believed the story. Besides, as the love plot fell in the category style I have been dreaming of , watching it got to be a pleasure. So.. I have been dreaming of a simple love story with hilarious scenes between the two protagonists and sincere feelings that remain unchanged and unthreatened by personal interests that swiftly change as life rolls its course.
Of course such "eternal" love shouldn't be a focus in this lowly life as one should aim for much better because the afterlife is what it truly matters. How can it be otherwise when the truly knowledgeable knows that it is on another level of pleasure for those who succeed at it . But it is good to dream and remember by the dream that every possible good thing can happen in my next life, if I stick to the right path. That is how the story in this drama can be a helpful way to keep this belief strong and vivid. Hope when it is not a fake illusion is truly a beautiful but also helpful way to go on.
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Absolutely Beautiful Drama
At first I stumbled upon a little part of the drama and it intrigued so much I had to check it out. Guess what? I ended up binge-watching it all in a few hours (might've stayed till 3am oops)There were some bits which really annoyed me and other bits which were really great, i think that's all part of the ride. The main leads were gorgeous, I was mesmerised every time the male lead appeared!
This drama really reminded me of 'Ashes Of Love' - you might've heard of it, it's insanely popular. Both do betray each other (kinda) and yes, the girl does stab the guy and the girl does 'die' and get revived by the guy so it was immensely similar haha.
Great drama and recommend it to anyone to needs a to cry their heart out because goodness me...the amount of tears that i shedded whilst watching this...
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Magistrate who uncovers the hidden identity of female lead
Dang, they ruined it the second half of this drama!Romance: 10/10
Story : 6/10
This drama was initially very SWEET! the sweet scenes are in the beginning of the drama. They have a cute relationship. The male lead is the new magistrate in town. He doesnt like a group of people group called the Qian Li. Their people once killed his dad and mom so he swore vengeance on their people. The female lead is good at holding her breathe for a long time under water. She does business on boats. She gets draw into a crime that the male lead is figuring out. They capture a bunch of Qian Li people. What's unique about the Qian Li people is they cry blue tears. Female lead is a suspect... but they end up falling in love! There kissing scenes are so sweet, cute, romance, It's the type you wanna rewatch and rewind. They get together in less that the first half of the drama. ( You think its a good starting.... but slowly it does downhill)
Story is a 6.... because its not cohesive, the story doesnt really flow well and is very choppy. Like a lot of random things happen like the female lead jumps into the water but bumps her head and loses sight.... She suddenly regains sight again...
Jealous second female lead... Annoying green tea.... Also many unnecessary evil characters.....Illogical plot, where the female lead gets tricked in thinking that the male lead lied to her by marriage the second female lead. Like come on female lead! dont be stupid .
The male lead is so handsome! Love his jawline!
Female lead is also exceptionally pretty.
Also annoying because they kill off nice people! like her dad and the male servant of the female lead.
not the best watch but something to kill time.
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