Dawn Is Breaking (2024)

Romantic, Angsty, Cliche, Nonsensical

I had high hopes for this drama as I absolutely love the main leads but the scriptwriting left much to be desired. This drama is about the love story between a sexy, poisoned Prince seeking revenge and a courageous, beautiful girl caught up in between the chaos. Imagine, a republican era angst but in a historical style, that’s the drama you are getting here. The main leads are the star of the show and the only reason you want to watch more. The plot and writing is bad even for a mini drama and yet this is still an entertaining mindless watch (at least in the first half).

POSITIVE:
- Sexy blindfold scenes and beautiful main leads.
- Morally grey male lead (he appears to be a red flag but is more green flag).
- Feisty female lead.
- Lots of nice kiss scenes, wrist grabs and sensual vibes between the leads (definitely the best part of the drama).
- Angst with lots of tension with over the top dramatic scenes.
- Romantic scenes and aesthetics.
- Enemies to lovers.
- Mystery plot. At the start you have no idea what’s going on which makes it intriguing.
- Second couple stole the show for me as they are better written than the main leads. Their story was short but heartbreaking and realistic for that area.
- Fantastic acting from the main leads Richard Li and He Xuan Lin. Seriously, these two need main roles in full length dramas at this point.

NEGATIVE:
- Cliche. My biggest complaint is that the writers have literally put every cliche ever known to cdrama watches here. There is nothing original and nothing you haven’t seen before. In fact, I suppose you could give them an award for putting the most cliche tropes and situations in one drama (there are literally in every single episode). But actually, it's not even the cliches that are the problem as much as that those cliches were put together in a way that made a lot of the emotional scenes feel very fabricated and the characters not real.
- Nonsensical. I usually don’t care much about logic and especially in short dramas as they have limited time but the world building, fantasy elements and basically the whole plot makes zero sense. You really need to completely turn off your brain for this one.
- Too dramatic. The characters turning into maniacs/psychopaths as a cheap and fast way to create tension and angst.
- Visuals. The main leads and costumes are great but the filter/colouring/lighting sometimes appeared too bright and made them look washed out. I feel in later episodes this gets better.
- Too fast-paced. Yes, short dramas are usually fast paced but here everything looks like it’s shot at 1.5x speed. People coming in and out of frame, people talking etc. The drama needed a breather especially at the start. Although this did improve in the later episodes.
- Second half is a snooze fest. Literally, the ridiculous situations, overused cliches and psychotic characters made me want to drop this but my NDD (Never Drop Disease) made me pull through the end.
- (MINOR SPOILER HERE) Unsatisfying ending of the Emperor. This guy. You will want to burn him, skin him alive and then feed him to the pigs. It’s been a while since I’ve hated a character so much I literally wanted to start throwing furniture in my room while watching his scenes. You will want this disgusting grandpa to suffer. But what happens to him in the end is NOT satisfying.

OVERALL:
If you want to see sexy main leads in a very cliche romantic story with many nonsensical but entertaining parts, oh and lots of nice kiss scenes, watch this drama.

TRIGGER WARNING:
This drama is heavy on abuse so bare that in mind (multiple attempts of r*pe, multiple scenes leading up to actual r*pe shown).

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Solid Richard Li in an ambiguous role

Solid Richard Li as mysterious Preceptor Dongfang Zui with foresight, wuxia skills, and tainted blood from being a bastard prince raised in hiding by his mother's Na family. Na Jianci's existence caused the whole Na family to be slaughtered, so he has grounds to seek revenge. He appears as quite ambiguous, at first, domineering, charming, purposeful with secrets to hide.
Richard Li's smiles could dispel clouds and light up suns in a stormy night, and his kissing skills are famous. His roles in shorter dramas never disappoint, although they often have tragic ends; this one is not decidedly tragic, so it will be a positive point.
Good He Xuanlin (as FL Xie Wanyin) and surprisingly good SFL Luo Yutian (as Mingyue) who was wonderful as both sunny and respectful young lady of a military family, and as forced to palace lady in waiting with a tragic fate. The villains are very villainous (Emperor, Empress, and Crown Prince).
There are triggering parts (in episode 9, and up till episode 16-17 with SFL story, so this is perhaps not for the too easily triggered young ladies... Better skip then and focus on the lead couple story, which also has dangers, but is less triggering).
The secrets make it so that the drama feels a bit like hopscotch from one base to another in some parts. But there are many beautiful pictures. The cranes flying over to help Dongfang Zui find his spouse make for nice flyby scenes.
The revenge is not easy to get, but the villains don't meet a happy end.
The drama has a possible open end, which most can interpret as happy since it looks like perhaps Na and Xie found the cure to his condition.
The music is nice. The MVs can be found in Discussion section, subtitled by MDL contributor Peachey Blossom, who has a YouTube channel for c-drama OST music and song lovers.
Overall, I found "Dawn is Breaking" satisfying as a good watch, even if much was quite expected, story-wise, and although I had left it on hold for various reasons, coming back to finish it in two sittings: the impressions from where I had left off were still clear enough that I did not need to go back to refresh memory.

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Average but entertaining, I was there for the hot moments between the leads but not much else

While entertaining for sure, this drama had also a very nonsensical scenario that made me roll my eyes more than once. The numerous hot moments between the leads were satisfaying but not much else. I wish the world building, magical elements and all the scheming would have made a bit more sense. Here, the writer drop a lot of diseases, poisons, healing sessions a bit like it arranges the plot to foster tension between the characters and to amp the stakes. It is often done without logic and feel very deus ex machina.

Overall, acting was alright. The main villains were too caricatural to my taste (in the writing as well as the acting) but given the lack of nuance of the script, I don't see how it could have been done otherwise. I quite enjoyed the chemistry between the two main leads. Richard Li looks towards the heroine were really hot and He Xuan Lin was very good as his counterpart. Overall, the couple was quite smart in their actions (even if helped a lot by the writing) and it helped rooting for them.

I felt the editing was a bit all over the place, the succession of sequences felt abrupt, not letting a lot of time for characters development and growth. A bit more room to breath bewteen heavy moment would have helped the series to feel less absurd and to be more connected to the fate of the characters. Similarly, ending felt too rushed. The soundtrack was okay: nothing remarkable and quite repetitive, but not bad.

I would not necessarily recommend this to people as I feel there are too many issues to really warrant a watch. There are some exciting and hot moments between the leads but it cannot save the drama from its writing and editing issues. I feel that the format of 20 minutes episodes was not exploited properly, the numerous events faced by the characters in quick succession made it both entertaining but also completly nonsensical. To be noted: a couple of points of some of the storylines can be triggering so be mindful of the tags if you have any triggers.

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Must not miss this great masterpiece

There is such an amazing twists in such a short drama...Of course actor nailed it but story and other casts were amazing as well....has a happy ending and every villains gets punished.
There is such an amazing twists in such a short drama...Of course actor nailed it but story and other casts were amazing as well....has a happy ending and every villains gets punished.
There is such an amazing twists in such a short drama...Of course actor nailed it but story and other casts were amazing as well....has a happy ending and every villains gets punished.
There is such an amazing twists in such a short drama...Of course actor nailed it but story and other casts were amazing as well....has a happy ending and every villains gets punished.
There is such an amazing twists in such a short drama...Of course actor nailed it but story and other casts were amazing as well....has a happy ending and every villains gets punished.
There is such an amazing twists in such a short drama...Of course actor nailed it but story and other casts were amazing as well....has a happy ending and every villains gets punished.
There is such an amazing twists in such a short drama...Of course actor nailed it but story and other casts were amazing as well....has a happy ending and every villains gets punished.
There is such an amazing twists in such a short drama...Of course actor nailed it but story and other casts were amazing as well....has a happy ending and every villains gets punished.
There is such an amazing twists in such a short drama...Of course actor nailed it but story and other casts were amazing as well....has a happy ending and every villains gets punished.
There is such an amazing twists in such a short drama...Of course actor nailed it but story and other casts were amazing as well....has a happy ending and every villains gets punished.
There is such an amazing twists in such a short drama...Of course actor nailed it but story and other casts were amazing as well....has a happy ending and every villains gets punished.
There is such an amazing twists in such a short drama...Of course actor nailed it but story and other casts were amazing as well....has a happy ending and every villains gets punished.
There is such an amazing twists in such a short drama...Of course actor nailed it but story and other casts were amazing as well....has a happy ending and every villains gets punished.
There is such an amazing twists in such a short drama...Of course actor nailed it but story and other casts were amazing as well....has a happy ending and every villains gets punished.
There is such an amazing twists in such a short drama...Of course actor nailed it but story and other casts were amazing as well....has a happy ending and every villains gets punished.
There is such an amazing twists in such a short drama...Of course actor nailed it but story and other casts were amazing as well....has a happy ending and every villains gets punished.

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Richard Li, Li Fei, was wonderful and you will want to watch it over and over again...

This was a wonderful show, full of mystery, sabotage, feuds, and treason. A true fight to the death to overthrow the heirs of the throne. It was masterfully manipulated by Na Jin Ci, played by Richard Li, who kept us guessing if he was friend or foe, good or bad, loving or contemptuous. It is a must see, as the acting is well deserving of accolades and awards. The chemistry was palpable, as their passionate love / hate relationship was give / take all throughout the series. With plot twists and plans of revenge from their ruthless personalities clashing with each other, their love triangle was wreaking havoc and creating turmoil, as they fought desperately to survive each new feud or challenge faced. In the end, fate delt its final blows, and we find peace with our heroes efforts to right what was wrong, saving the country from peril and future uncertainty. All 5 leading characters were fantastic, Li Fei ( Richard Li ), He Xuan Lin, Wang Xing Wei, Ai Hong Chen, and Luo Yu Tian were a great team of actors working well together to make this series a success. You will not be disappointed, but you will want to watch this over and over again.

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A mix of beautiful and triggering

First of all: This show contains scenes that might be triggering for some, all from wrist-grabbing and abuse to r*pe (disgusting Emperor!).

Very brief synopsis:
Crown Prince has been in love with the FL "forever". When they are due to marry, the influential Perceptor, our ML, gets her as his bride instead. FL witnessed this man murder someone and believes him to be pure evil, and tries to kill him on their wedding night. We then follow their story; falling in love, deceivement, intertwinements with the Royal court and the Crown Prince, revenge plots, near-death experiences, abduction, tragic losses, and more. Add in some memory-loss and poison, and pretty much all the boxes for cliches and tropes are ticked off.

Cast:
The main actors were all strong. He Xuan Lin (FL) and Richard Li (ML) makes a good on-screen couple. There are some steamy moments between them.
Wang Xing Wei (SML) made me dislike the Crown Prince, although his character was a bit exaggerated.

Story:
It contains a lot of well-known tropes and cliches, and they could probably have skipped some without loosing much from the story. They could rather have given more room for us to grow a stronger bond with the main characters, as it could feel a bit hectic at times.
The introduction of Pei Che felt unnecessary. His character kind of felt "half-hearted".
The ending felt a bit rushed for me.

All in all:
I watched a lot of this while multitasking, and even if I had to skip back every now and then, it was also much I didn't really miss even if not paying full attention.
I feel the show could have been better, and completed watched it mainly because of the main couple.

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Balanced & a good watch

I stayed watching after 3 episodes because I got mystified by the story that is being introduced. The females artist chosen for the lead role felt like she didn't fit the role. She seem to act well but the character didn't fit her. The male lead seems to be alright, and did well playing the character.
The production was done well, props matching the scene, wardrobes very nicely chosen, and ambiance for most scenes reached the ambiance being portrayed in the story.
Thou the story is a typical revenge and avenge with romance riding along with it, I enjoyed how it was relayed in this series. it didn't feel typical and regular. I got fascinated with how they weaved in a little bit of fantasy in the story. Not too much, just enough to add flavor to it.
❗️This review is based on my personal taste, choices and thoughts for this series only❗️

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I love Richard Li, and I almost never drop a drama halfway, but the story is just too heavy.

Started this drama for the ML, and because I have nothing left to watch rn.

I liked the ML and FLs performances. The story pacing was brisk and smooth, it had a nice spicy kick, and I thought I was going to love it....

....but then theres some r*pe scenes, and thats not something I enjoy in my entertainment. Im not talking about some red flag ML feistiness, I mean 2FL actually gets tragically r*ped. She also has a beloved whos off in the army, so it impacts them both that this happens to her. And I'm like okay.... Ill just try to overlook that....

....until 2FL gets pregnant with a r*pe baby. Her beloved is totally distraught. She is trapped in a forced marriage with her r*pist, and the r*pist forces 2FL's beloved to live as her servant to shove his face in it. And I'm like, well maybe it gets better. So I continue....

But then the FL has to cut 2FL's baby out of her belly because of a dangerous labor. And then the 2FL dies in her arms, leaving her beloved a haunted, tortured, ruined soul.

So yeah.... I'm done here. This is just way way too heavy for a romance. Dropped at ep 18.

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