One of the best short dramas
What's Wrong With My Princess is first a revenge drama then a romance. There is very little traditional "romance" trappings within the short story but it still manages to demonstrate two people learning to trust eachother and growing closer as a married couple.Because we are given a front row seat to exactly what happens in her previous life to have her reincarnated back 5 years in the past, it's very easy to be invested in the revenge that is plotted out slowly over the course of the series. Each time the 7th Princess tricks one of the the antagonists we get reminded that they have it coming and more. Meanwhile watching the 7th Prince is no hard task. Seeing him as he supports his wife in her quest for revenge without ever even being told what they "did" to deserve this treatment was refreshing. He came to know her and her values and as such completely trusted that they must have done something truly awful to be treated in such a manner.
The music used was repetitive but soothing and fit the show. The acting was rather good for a short drama with the 7th Princess keeping mostly a poker face but sometimes slipping to show her utter disgust of the people before her when they weren't watching.
As for the last second ending, anyone who knows anything about these types of stories knew the "it was a dream" was coming. After all, it was between that or "it was a story she was writing/reading". That said they slipped the line in so quickly and then moved on that it's truly skippable and doesn't even really change the story we watched since the only dream part was the original life if understanding the line correctly.
Overall the show is absolutely worth a watch. I could even see myself watching a longer version that gave more detail about the backstop and showed them with perhaps a bit more conflict before 100% trusting each other.
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This review may contain spoilers
Never got revenge against your trifling ex? Then you need to watch this drama.
Using my personal rating system of "loved," "liked," "meh," & "nah," this is a “liked”.The deets:
The story opens with a heavily pregnant Empress who has devoted her entire life to her Emperor. As a general, she has fought numerous battles for him and helped him to gain the throne, never once wavering in her devotion—even when he took her half-sister as concubine. What should be a joyous occasion turns into a tragedy as the Emperor exposes his true self during her childbirth causing to both her death and the death of her unborn baby. Now in the real world, that would be the end of it, but that’s why we love dramaland because she wakes up as herself five years before on her wedding night. This is not her wedding to the Emperor but to his younger brother (a wedding the Emperor—then just a prince—arranged for her so she could be a mole in his half-brother’s household). Instead of repeating the mistakes of her previous life, she takes advantage of this second chance to destroy her former lover by partnering with her first husband to take down both her two-faced ex and her scheming half-sister.
Things I liked:
This was really a great little drama. Once betrayed, our FL never wavered in her mission to destroy the SML. Once the ML and FL start to trust each other, they work together without fail to get revenge. In fact, they were both so heartless towards the SML/SFL, I’m kinda surprised censorship let it through.
Things I did not like:
There wasn’t much beyond the few inconsistencies that are inevitable in a mini-, low budget drama, like, for example how, as an unfavored, illegitimate daughter, our FL rose to be such a famously talented general with so much military power (or the fact that she appeared incapable of defending herself despite being such a powerful warrior; oh well, this drama was more about mind games anyways).
Final thoughts:
I just happened to stumble upon this one on YouTube. I found it in both Spanish and English. I highly recommend it if you need a short, sweet watch with a satisfactory ending.
PS. Because I saw this on YT, there's no point in rating the soundtrack b/c half the time its either absent, or they're using some '70's music of some sort because of copyright.
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For those who enjoy revenge without the romantic aspect.
First, I would like to say that this was definitively one of the better dramas out there, especially for a short one. The story is not all over the place, so they really stuck to the plot line. For the most part, this is a very straightforward story.The music:
I watched it on YouTube so there were like one or two songs that played, and sometimes the volume was going in and out.
The story:
The plot starts out as your typical rebirth after being killed and betrayed by the one that she loved and now aligning herself with another to take revenge. One of them more scheming main character very focused on her goal and straightforward and the revenge is center stage, not the romance.
The acting:
As far as the secondary couple or the antagonists of the story go they did a marvelous job portraying their characters. They actually had the chemistry of a couple. Honestly, it seems like they were more center stage than the actual leads because, honestly, other than the female lead executing her revenge plans, there wasn’t much interaction between her and the male lead. I think the male lead did a good job of being a stoic character but the dynamics between him and the female lead, which is so strange it definitively gave more brothers in arms than romantic partners. Given how young the female lead is, I must give her props because outside of the supposedly romantic scenes her acting was pretty on par for a character that was seeking revenge. The one that takes the hat is the one who played the secondary league she definitely chewed up the brattiness and craziness of an overly spoiled rotten side chick. She embodied jealousy so well that she definitively gave me a run for my money. The dynamics between the two female characters were impeccable.
It was a nice watch, I want people to remember that this is a short series and not a full-length one, and in my opinion, it would have done well as a mid-length drama so we could have gotten a little bit more background information and development on the relationship of the leads. And it would not have been a bad idea to maybe change the leads for two individuals who gave more couple than comrades. It was nice to see a short drama that was so well executed because, despite the lack of background information and extensive development, we still got to enjoy a well-executed revenge plot which I absolutely love. Especially since everybody who needed to get their karma got it.
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This review may contain spoilers
One of the best revenge /reborn dramas I’ve watched.
Plot is basically we’ve seen over and over again in various Chinese novels and dramas but this short drama does it really well.This is not the case of the female allowing herself to be wronged again despite being reborn . She uses the fact the at she has been reborn to her advantage by foiling her stepmother,sister and second prince plans but without alerting them. I love how she played them leading up to the final blow she struck.
Even if she did something , there was no evidence and she was smart about it so proving she did was very difficult hence her sister and step mother looked foolish on such occasions . I love how the male lead confessed his love and how they worked together to end everything.
The acting was great most especially that of her sister and the prince (his looks,how he was dressed and his way of speaking and mannerisms ) made it even perfect . All the actors did well generally . I hope to see them in new roles in different dramas.
If you want a fast paced ,witty leads ,then this is perfect short drama for you .
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carino per essere così breve, finale affrettato
un mini drama di tutto rispetto, forse coi soliti temi della reincarnazione e della vendetta. le solite rivalità e vendette familiari condotte in un ambientazione minimalista con pochissimi personaggi che, tuttavia, sono efficacemente recitati dai vari attori. i costumi sono sufficienti così come le ambientazioni e la musica non è di disturbo. è ovvio che non c'è molto tempo per approfondire il carattere dei vari personaggi ma il tutto rimane comunque molto godibile, almeno fino alla fine, quando le fila vengono tirate in maniera affrettata e un po' troppo semplicistica. il fatto che poi, come solito a causa della censura cinese, tutto il discorso della reincarnazione venga ridotto all'abusato Cliché del sogno, non fa altro che detrarre alla piacevolezza. forse sarebbe un po' più di sette e mezzo, ma di sicuro non arriviamo a 8. il lato positivo di tutta la questione è che, essendo così breve, non ci perdiamo in subtrame di nessun interesse: la storia sfila liscia fino alla fine e in definitiva ci lascia un buon sapore in bocca.Was this review helpful to you?
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Rebirth and Revenge
The first episodes caught my attention and I decided to continue watching it. It isn't much of a time drain since each episode is quite short. I did enjoy it in a simple-minded way but did roll my eyes at certain moments. Its not a particularly deep story, nor did I particularly like any of the characters. I guess there is something satisfying about watching people get whats coming to them, even if there is some hypocrisy on the part of those delivering "justice"Story: In the original life FL is betrayed horribly after aiding and abetting the person she loved (2nd prince) in rising to the throne, even plotting against and poisoning her legal husband (7th prince). Yea, she's no saint. But when she is betrayed and killed by 2nd prince and her own sister, she swears if she had another chance she would make them pay. And she is reborn and gets her chance. Now, FL died in a horrific manner in her original life, she is very focused on revenge and I get that--but until the later episodes (where FL somewhat acknowledged that she and her sister weren't that different) it seemed like she carried a 'you lot are scum, you brought this on yourself, you're the worst kind of traitors' attitude...and yet did she not do pretty much the same thing to her own husband? In the original life, he had rushed to save her even though he suspected it was likely a trap...but still went, in case. He figured she may make more attempts on his life but still willingly drank tea she prepared for him, and was poisoned to death. As a result for most of the drama, while there is a certain satisfaction in watching people's evil plans backfire on them, I'm also viewing the person who is ruining those evil plans as quite the hypocrite. Some parts of the story also made little sense, such as the lack of logical sense and coordination of 2nd prince's schemes. In the reborn life, FL was still pretending to be on the side of 2nd prince to take down 7th prince. For this, they need to get 7th prince to trust FL so that she can successfully poison him (she wouldn't do it in the reborn life but this is just the 2nd prince's plot). 2nd prince then goes and gets his own wife to sow discord between FL and 7th prince so he can test and see FL's reaction and see if she is still devoted to him. So plan A requires building trust and plan B sows discord and breaks trust...its like left hand is slapping right hand, its no wonder he failed at life. This is just an example but there were several points in the story where you facepalm as characters do utterly stupid things just to move the drama along but actually takes away from the story. The ending is also a bit weird, implying its a dream but...what part is the dream? All of it? just the original life? Are we supposed to just guess?
There were some moments I got my hopes up--like there was potential for a good plot twist or conflict, but inevitably it is shallowly and quickly resolved without issue...sometimes too quickly that I'm left wondering why that plot point was even added.
Acting: Not bad. Not outstanding, but good enough to keep your focus on the drama and not be jarred out of story immersion due to cheesy acting. For the actors costumes/makeup though, I found the outline of 7th prince's wig/headpiece VERY noticeable. I could see the edge outline around his face in many episodes and scenes, sometimes the edges if that hairpiece obviously did not match his skin. They need to do a better job hiding it.
Music: Nothing is particularly memorable but nothing stuck out as unsuitable for the drama either
Rewatch: Not really something I'd recommend re-watching, the story and characters are so simple there really isn't a need and it would probably be boring
Overall: Its a simple minded revenge story and I think the enjoyment for me was based on satisfaction of watching evildoers have their evil scheme blow up in their face. But the characters are simple, the plot is shallow, this is not the place to look for nuanced characters that are undergo strong development thru the drama, nor for a deep immersive story.
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This review may contain spoilers
Nothing Wrong, Could Be More Right
I. IntroductionThis is a solid rebirth-themed short-length drama, with few plot holes. The drama follows the FL in her rebirth life, as she seeks revenge on the people who did her wrong. Each revenge scene has a convenient flashback to explain what went wrong in her previous life, before bringing the audience back to the current timeline whereupon the FL promptly dispenses justice. The drama tiptoes around the plot hole where the villains have not actually done the FL wrong yet by hinting that they would have, if it weren't for the FL going on defensive offense. I was hooked throughout the 3.5 hours, and I have rewatched this twice. And yes, it has a satisfying ending.
II. Storyline/ Plot
Episode 1 opens with the FL, a decorated war general, in labour, whereupon she is betrayed by her husband the 2nd prince (the main villain), her sister (who is also sister wife), and her closest personal maid. They murder her child, then her. She awakens to find herself on the night of her marriage to the 7th prince (ML). She proposes to the disbelieving ML to work together to defeat the villain. After the FL proves herself, the ML cautiously agrees to cooperate. In the beginning, the FL takes action on her own, based on her recollection of past events and the ML astutely steps up to support the FL in her play. The FL is willing to hurt herself, just to seek retribution; her plan being to lure the main villain into destroying himself. Witnessing her resolve, the ML begins to fall in love with the FL and refuses to let her leave him. Every time the ML enquires how the villains had hurt her, the FL refuses to answer. Halfway through the drama, the ML expresses his frustrations at how the FL does not trust the ML enough to include him in her plans. The FL appears oblivious to the ML's feelings, but the ML persistently expresses his feelings. Finally, the FL trusts the ML enough to disclose that her premonitions were her experiences from her past life. At the end, all villains face their just desserts: her evil stepmother is forced to commit suicide for her crimes, her sister is driven mad, her ex-husband the 2nd prince is killed (by the ML no less!). The final scene is of the ML supporting the FL in returning to the frontlines when the country faces a crisis, because she is first Murong Qiuyu the person, then the General Pingxiang as appointed, before she is the 7th prince's wife (which I thought was bloody romantic).
The overall plot is solid, with few plot holes that you'd only notice if you really thought about it. The retribution plan is not particularly ingenious and merely required the FL's previous experience as background knowledge, but the plan was plausible and did not require full suspension of disbelief and outrageous miraculous resources. Nothing in the storyline jumps out to slap you in the face with a smelly tuna or leaves you hanging at the end as everything is tied up neatly.
III. Characters
I enjoyed the chemistry between WMJ (FL) and CB (ML). They didn't have the fiery passion of a young romance, but the companionship of an old couple or mature people who've been through the worst in life and found solace and comfort in each other. The romance between the two developed at a good, believable pace, and WMJ and CB performed their roles remarkably well. I'd like to see both together or individually in more dramas. LSY (main villain) and MLE (villain sister) surprisingly did really well as villains; LSY had me believing he's truly obnoxious and vile and MLE, as a spoilt, conniving woman.
IV. Production Aspects
I watched the drama as a full-length movie, so most of the theme songs were cut out. But if you search YouTube, you will find that there were 4 and all 4 are fantastic and would have definitely augmented the drama to full-length drama quality. The costumes and set weren't bad but nothing particularly stood out to me; both were designed to reflect a more sombre drama (think LLTG) than happy bright themes (e.g., AB).
V. Conclusion
This is worth watching, especially if you have a predilection for clever leads, satisfying comeuppance for evildoers, and complete endings.
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