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This review may contain spoilers
They had time for flashbacks but not an ending
I feel bamboozled.
In fairness, some of this is on me. I knew this was a political drama. I saw the scheming, the sacrifices, the increasingly ominous music and thought: yes, but surely after putting everyone through hell, the writers will give us some emotional payoff.
Reader, they did not.
What annoys me isn't even that the ending is sad. I can take sad when sad means something. But Di Nian dies leaving a pregnant Zhili behind, Yin Qing dies, Situ Xue follows him… and I am still trying to understand what any of this added to the story besides making sure no couple escaped unscathed. At some point it stopped feeling tragic and started feeling like the screenwriter had developed a personal grudge against companionship.
Fine. At least give me Meng Tinghui and Ying Gua.
These two spend the entire drama putting duty, country, politics and everyone else's problems before themselves. The obvious emotional payoff is finally allowing them to choose each other.
Instead, three years later, they meet again and… that's basically it.
An open ending.
And this is where I lost whatever grace I had left, because THEY HAD TIME FOR FLASHBACKS.
I am sitting there waiting to find out what happens to these people and the drama is showing me things I ALREADY SAW. Yes, thank you, I remember. I was there. FOR 32 EPISODES.
Maybe I'm unsophisticated, but I don't subscribe to the idea that ambiguity automatically equals depth. Sometimes an unfinished sentence is just an unfinished sentence.
I didn't need a wedding, six children and a 20-minute montage of domestic bliss. Five minutes would have done it. Give these people some closure. Give ME some closure. I have also suffered.
I enjoyed so much of Royal Betrothal, which frankly makes this worse.
Anyway, apparently my reward for emotional investment was character deaths, flashbacks and homework.
In fairness, some of this is on me. I knew this was a political drama. I saw the scheming, the sacrifices, the increasingly ominous music and thought: yes, but surely after putting everyone through hell, the writers will give us some emotional payoff.
Reader, they did not.
What annoys me isn't even that the ending is sad. I can take sad when sad means something. But Di Nian dies leaving a pregnant Zhili behind, Yin Qing dies, Situ Xue follows him… and I am still trying to understand what any of this added to the story besides making sure no couple escaped unscathed. At some point it stopped feeling tragic and started feeling like the screenwriter had developed a personal grudge against companionship.
Fine. At least give me Meng Tinghui and Ying Gua.
These two spend the entire drama putting duty, country, politics and everyone else's problems before themselves. The obvious emotional payoff is finally allowing them to choose each other.
Instead, three years later, they meet again and… that's basically it.
An open ending.
And this is where I lost whatever grace I had left, because THEY HAD TIME FOR FLASHBACKS.
I am sitting there waiting to find out what happens to these people and the drama is showing me things I ALREADY SAW. Yes, thank you, I remember. I was there. FOR 32 EPISODES.
Maybe I'm unsophisticated, but I don't subscribe to the idea that ambiguity automatically equals depth. Sometimes an unfinished sentence is just an unfinished sentence.
I didn't need a wedding, six children and a 20-minute montage of domestic bliss. Five minutes would have done it. Give these people some closure. Give ME some closure. I have also suffered.
I enjoyed so much of Royal Betrothal, which frankly makes this worse.
Anyway, apparently my reward for emotional investment was character deaths, flashbacks and homework.
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