Drama Addict
New Zealand
Justice comes at a price
Overall, I rate this drama highly. This detective story was interesting - it was difficult in most part of the drama to pinpoint the real villains and there were some surprises.Zhang Ping, an impoverished orphan who did not know who his parents were, went to the capital city for the imperial examination and ran into Lan Jue. Zhang Ping was an impetuous fanatic who wanted to become a detective with the Imperial Criminal Investigation Bureau. Lan Jue was a well-groomed mandarin who was secretly investigating the case of his father's treason. He believed that his father was righteous and wanted to prove his innocence.
Zhang Ping and Lan Jue started off at loggerheads over the case of a stolen bead on the belt of a foreign merchant. Zhang Ping was convinced that Lan Jue had something to hide and was the one behind this thief. As the drama progressed, they were drawn into the investigation of various murder cases. These eventually led to uncovering a massacre which dated back 20 years and the uncovering of two hidden identities.
What I like about this drama?
- The most important success factor in this drama was: the story was interesting and full of mysteries. Who was the mastermind behind the massacre 20 years ago? And who was the culprit behind the series of murders, and why was he doing these?
- The main leads especially Jing Bo Ran, Song Wei Long and Hong Yao performed their parts very well and so did the rest of the cast.
- The camaraderie and bromance among them were very well played out, with no suggestion of homosexuality - that's how I prefer it. I am not homophobic but do not appreciate display of same sex affection - it does not arouse any empathy with me.
- The story was very tightly woven, so you won't be left wondering how things fit in. And there were no questions unanswered.
- Most importantly, justice was served. I am happy that the mastermind behind the massacre was uncovered and punished. However, I did feel a little sorry for the murderer who was actually a victim of this hideous massacre - for him, the price of justice was high.
What I dislike about this drama?
- Some details were a little laughable. For example, when attacked by a poison mist, the advice was to cover their face with a wet cloth. Had anyone tried this? You don't get killed by the mist but you would get killed by suffocation.
- The English translation of the title is deplorable. A league is a group of people, countries or groups. So Nobleman is a grammatic mistake. The plural version Noblemen should be use. But Zhang Ping was not a nobleman, so this is wrong as well. Then, it could be A League of Noble Men, with the meaning of Noble being honourable. But Gu was not an honourable person. Perhaps a more literal translation, A League of Gentlemen is more appropriate, accepting that Gu was a gentleman despite being a little evil.
I give it a thumbs-up. If you like detective stories or mysteries in a period setting, you would likely enjoy this.
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A woman with four suitors
It looks like there is a part 2 to this drama. Frankly when I watched some of the trailers of the follow-on, it looked trashy, with the main character Xiao Yao (Yang Zi) nearly marrying every of her suitors, and two of them died. I do not like tragedies. I like to have a good feeling after watching a drama, not sick in the stomach.It is a really good production: an excellent cast who acted well, good looking actors and actresses, CGI is good, cinematography is great and costumes are lovely. So all the hygiene factors are there.
What I like about this drama?
1. Yang Zi had excellent chemistry with her 4 suitors. And she acted according to her relation to them: fear of the demon lord yet fond of him, anger with the betrayal of her real lover and dignified jealousy of his fiancee, gentleness and devotion to her lost cousin when she discovered him, and polite respect for her last suitor on the scene, who demonstrated his fondness of her. I think she was at one of her best. And she looked stunning dressed as the princess.
2. The story was well paced and interesting enough to keep me pursuing the drama to the end. Out of the 39 episodes, I can only recall one episode which was a little draggy. And this was probably because I had mistakenly skipped this episode and went back to catch up with it and I knew what was going to happen next.
What I dislike about this drama?
1. I felt that while Xiao Yao's selected fiance was a good choice, his relationship with her was the most shallow. So I felt it is a bit of a shame. But part 2 seemed to have a trashy ending.
2. And since the drama ended prematurely, the conspiracy behind the Tushan family was unexplained and the lover's betrayal was not clarified - poor guy who was so much in love with Xiao Yao and had done so much for her.
But overall, I would give this drama a thumb up and highly recommend it.
However, if I should ever write the ending of this drama, I would give it a twist and end it like this:
Cang Xuan ascended the throne on the support of the clans in the central plain. He fulfilled his promise to Xiang Liu and gave one of the mountains as a burial ground for the dead ChenRong warriors. Hong Liang, the ChenRong last defending general was impressed. He proposed a peace truce on the condition of a marriage alliance with the heir apparent (would be Crown Prince if the kingdom had not fallen) of the ChenRong royal family and Xiao Yao who was both a princess of HaoLing and a close cousin of the new emperor, therefore representing both kingdoms. The heir-apparent's identity and whereabout had been kept secret all these years to protect him from assassination. And he requested for all treasures of the ChenRong's royal family and the rebuilt ChenRong palace to be returned as a dowry for the princess and all the remnant ChenRong warriors to be pardoned.
CangXuan did not like the idea that an heir apparent existed and could potentially gain support for the re-built of the ChenRong kingdom. While Xiao Yao tried to get in touch with Xiang Liu to find out what was going, but he passed a message to her that the heir apparent was good looking, capable and in love with her, and encouraged her to agree to the marriage.
Before any decision, Cang Xuan revealed his love for Xiao Yao and promised that if XiaoYao should marry him, she would be the new empress as his current wife was only a concubine. Possibly, the old emperor was leaving the empress position for Xiao Yao when he decreed that Shen was to be the concubine and not the first wife. Xiao Yao replied that she loved him as a brother and did not have any romantic feeling for him but want to support him with all her ability to bring prosperity to his kingdom.
Saddened by the news that her real lover had just fathered a child, Xiang Liu's indifference and her shallow relationship with her fiance, she agreed to the marriage alliance to bring peace to Cang Xuan's kingdom. Her father, King of HaoLing, supported her decision to breakup her current engagement and marry the ChenRong heir apparent. Her fiance was heart broken. Cang Xuan however promised only the palace as dowry as the treasures of the ChenRong kingdom had long been awarded to the different mandarins who helped in the overthrow of ChenRong and to pardon all the remnant warriors if they lay down their arms. But the King of Haoling backed his daughter up with a generous dowry.
On the wedding day, the ChenRong heir apparent fetched XiaoYao from the ChenRong's mansion in a red cloak with a hood covering his face and a crystal mask. At the ceremony altar at the palace, Xiao Yao could see through her veil that he looked familiar. Xiyan anti-ChenRong faction with the silent approval of Cang Xuan and her ex-fiance, attempted to assassinate the heir apparent. In the fight, the red hood and mask was lifted from his head and it was revealed that the heir apparent is Xiang Liu! Xiao Yao was surprised and stunned for a moment but stepped in to defend Xiang Liu. The assassination failed as Cang Xuan ordered his guards in to protect her. Xiao Yao suspected that it was Cang Xuan's conspiracy to murder her husband and left with Xiang Liu to QingShui where they lived in seclusion. Her real lover, after realising his marriage is a sham, arrived only to see her leave with Xiang Liu. So Xiao Yao was lost to Cang Xuan, her ex-fiance and real lover forever.
Like my review or ending, give it a thumbs up. Let me know which you like in the comments. lol
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This drama has a very young cast - the key leads are mostly less than 30 years old. It seems the China drama industry is replacing an entire generation of older established well-known artistes who are now in their late 30s or older, with a younger generation of new heartthrobs.
The male lead Chen Xing Xu does a great job acting 4 different characters. I must say the make-up specialist/s did a great job too. If you observe carefully, the four characters look slightly different with YouQin looking a bit more chubby, Mei looks much thinner, La Mu very scruffy and Wen Ren very refined, in their features.
With a theme of a mixed up in the wedding carriage, you would expect a lot of humour, and it does provide a lot of comic relief. And the drama is packed with actions.
Of the Chinese dramas I have watch post pandemic (but did not check whether they are produced pre or post), numerous are very good productions. This drama, Till the End of the Moon (still my favourite post pandemic production), The Blood of Youth and so on are all very good.
Improvements I must say the Chinese drama production needs are
1. New themes and creativity. The Chinese drama industry is seriously in need of this. After watching the huge number of Chinese dramas as I had, the dramas started to look the same although the storyline might be different. Boredom is somewhat setting in. This is of course going to be a big challenge. Producers like to emulate the themes of successful earlier productions and what have been tested, succeed and allowed in the greatly politically controlled environment. This is precisely why The Untamed did so well - of course the leads did fabulously well but most importantly the storyline was quite unlike the rest.
2. For this drama, it is overall very good but lack memorable moments like Nirvana in Fire and Ten Mile of Peach Blossom, or intense emotional expressions like those of Luo YunXi in Till the End of the Moon and Ashes of Love.
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A lovely romance story
This fantasy drama appeared on my YouTube recommendation, likely because I watched a lot of Chinese dramas. Initially I was not quite sure I wanted to start on this. In this era where names like Xiao Zhan, Wang Yibo, Luo Yunxi, Dilraba, Zhao Lusi, Bai Lu etc dominate the drama scenes, it was difficult to envisage that the lesser known actors and actresses like Sun Yi, Jin Han and Tan Jian Ci would lead any top tier dramas. But I was pleasantly surprised. Once I started on episode 1, I was captivated. However, don't watch the version on YouTube - it mute whenever the music is playing and you will miss a lot - search for a website with the music and opening theme song intact.The story started with WenXin as the sole survivor of a brutal rebellion started by General Lu YuanTong, that lasted 7 years. When she was finally killed, she met a mysterious spirit Er Yu who sent her back to 8 years ago as she wanted to stop the rebellion and prevent the deaths and destructions she had seen. Back to the past, the first person she met was Feng Xi, a charming mandarin who was smitten by her and gave her the name DongYue as she could not recall who she was. When she regained her memory, she warned him that his subordinate and himself would be killed by the General.
Unwilling to be associated with a corrupt mandarin, she left Feng Xi to strike out on her own and walked into the third prince Pang Yu. As she retained the memories of her previous life, she told him that a snow storm was coming which would stop the drought in the capital. He did not believe her initially as it was middle of summer until she was proven right. DongYue built for herself a reputation of a half-deity as she was not only able to tell the 'future'; she could heal herself when injured by dipping in water. The story got complicated as FengXi and Prince Pang Yu were linked by a secret of the past, FengXi was not what he appeared to be, and both of them fell in love with her. Times and again, it looked like DongYue was unable to stop some events from happening. So would she succeed in preventing the rebellion that lasted 7 years and prevent FengXi from being killed?
What I like about this drama?
- the romantic setting: it was a combination of the on-screen chemistry between the male and female leads, the endearing looks between them, the backdrop, the verbal exchanges, the cinematography and the music that conjured up this romantic feeling.
- there were very few music pieces in the drama, but they were all very good, especially the opening theme song and the flute - I love them.
- the on-screen between the female lead and the two male leads were fantastic. It was difficult to tell initially who she would choose.
- the male leads are handsome. Jin Han (Feng Xi) is a bit unusual in his look with his slitty eyes and a high nose bridge - not the typical look of a Chinese actor. And Tan Jian Ci (third prince) has this innocent but sad look about him which fitted the character very well. And of course, the actresses are very pretty.
What I do not like about this drama? There are very little I do not like the drama except for the following:
- Like a lot of Chinese drama, the ending was always a bit disappointing - it was open-ended leaving the audience to guess whether the woman waiting for the hero in his garden was the heroine. And if it was, why did she return and how?
- If DongYue continued to exist and WenXin was still a young girl, so there were actually two WenXin co-existing? In a way, it was clever, now both male lead characters would end up with the woman they loved, as the young girl had chosen the other 'side'.
- I do not like that the capable ended up not working for the emperor - wasted talent.
I think this drama is underrated on mydramalist.com. But reading some of the reviews, I guess you may end up either loving or hating this drama. Nevertheless I highly recommend it.
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'Sob' opera - Tears of the Crane
This drama focussed on the romance between Crown Prince Xiao Ding-Quan, an out of favour prince and Lu Wen-Xi who was trying to save her father and brother. The synopsis on mydramalist.com is fairly accurate, so you can always read that to get an idea of what the story is about - not always true for some dramas. So I shall focus on my reaction to this drama.The chemistry between Luo Jin (the Crown Prince) and Li YiTong (Lu WenXi) was amazing. And their tears were like a tap that they could turn on and off at will. Overall the cast was outstanding and played their parts well. The silly Zhang Shao Yun (acted by Dong Chun Hui) is worth a mention - he looked clueless and was quite pitiful as his love for WenXi was not reciprocated and was eventually framed by her. And so did the actor who did the role of the eunuch - this seasoned old actor was amazing especially toward the end of the drama.
I have always like Luo Jin's acting - very realistic and very expressive - especially after watching Princess WeiYang and this drama. Unfortunately I think he is becoming one of the more mature actors who are getting forgotten as the newer faces like Xiao Zhan, Wang YiBo and Gong Jun steal the limelight.
For Li YiTong, there were some mixed reviews of her acting skills. But I must say she was absolutely brilliant in this drama. One of the problems perhaps was she was always acting the well-behaved well-bred ancient ladies - characters that are not quite that exciting. This drama suited her as there were a lot of emotional scenes and she reacted them well, although as yet another well-bred lady.
I was not quite keen on the story. It was very intense with a lot of heart-rending scenes. Generally I do not like dramas where the villain always win and the good are always placed on the defensive. This drama was on my watch list for a long time before I started on the drama - as I knew it was going to be heavy. The Crown Prince was repeatedly sabotaged by his elder brother who was vying for the throne, and his cronies. The emperor favoured the eldest son but kept Ding-Quan as crown prince because of his promise to the late empress' brother, General Gu for his help in seizing the throne. He was a jealous father who felt that his son was closer to his maternal uncle who commanded a 200,000 strong army than him.
The reason Lu WenXi stayed at the palace seemed quite lame as she did not play a big role in helping her father's and brother's case. Time and again she was supposed to leave but stayed on for some equally lame reasons. In the drama, she was repeatedly blamed for crimes she did not commit and was severely physically punished - but of course that always open up opportunities for the hero to save the damsel in distress.
The last few episodes were just sobbing and draggy. I think the writer could have ended the drama five episodes earlier. The complicated plot that Lu WenXi fabricated to get the villains to confess their crime dragged it on for a few more episodes and finally lead to the finale, and also sealed her fate as she could not now reveal her identity. I think China has a lot of acting talents; but drama scripts always lack realism.
All other elements are great - gorgeous costumes, beautiful backdrop and excellent cinematography and one of the ending theme songs was lovely.
For a title, I would call it 'Tears of the Crane' which would be closer to the Chinese title instead of 'Royal Nirvana'. In Buddhism, nirvana is a transcendent state in which there is neither suffering, desire, nor sense of self, and the subject is released from the effects of karma and the cycle of death and rebirth. It represents the final goal of Buddhism. (I am not a buddhist but checked out the meaning.) This story was far from it. Crane in this drama represented the Crown Prince, and he was always crying.
In spite of my criticism of the story, the drama managed to make me stayed up for several late nights as I was keen to find out what was going to happen next. If you do not have depression and enjoy heart-rending dramas, this is a drama worth watching.
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Wow... fantastic production
Three women (and good friends) of low social status was driven to the capital of Kaifeng during the Song dynasty due to unfortunate circumstances in their love and married lives. This is a period known for high class consciousness, highly conservative values and prejudice against women, especially those from the lowly slave class. They struggled to setup and run a business, and pitted their wits against commercial bullying and political sabotages.Zhao Pan-er's father was punished for disobeying orders as a general and was killed. As a young girl, she was branded as a lowly slave and was trained as a dancer to entertain senior government officers but was eventually freed from her slave class. Intelligent and commercially savvy, she ran a successful teahouse for a living along with San-niang. While helping a scholar to prepare for the imperial exam, they fell in love. The scholar pledged to marry her when he passed the imperial exam, and they were engaged. Unfortunately, good news came along with bad. He was ranked as the second scholar and he was matched made to marry the daughter of a high ranking officer. Not believing that he was a faithless man, she was determined to travel to the capital to confirm the truth.
Sun San-Niang formerly worked as a butcher and built great physical strength. She was also a very good cook and a good mother. Her biggest ambition was for her son to succeed in the imperial exam when he grew up, so she could be awarded a set of tiara and ceremonial gown as the mother of a scholar. Unfortunately, her husband had other plans and fostered her son to his late cousin's wife on the pretext that his son would inherit the cousin's estate. He divorced San-niang when she discovered that they were having an affair. To add salt to her wound, her son chose to take side with the foster mother as she pampered him in contrast to his mother who forced him to attend school and do well academically. Greatly hurt, she jumped into the river in a suicide attempt.
Song Yin-Zhang was the top pipa (lute) player in the Qiantang province. Being a performer, she was also regarded as from a lowly status class. Anxious to be freed from her registered status, she ran eloped with a 'wealthy' merchant, against the advice of Pan-er whom she regarded as her sister. She was unfortunately mistreated as her new husband tried to extort money from her.
Gu Qian-Fan, a commander in the Imperial Capital Bureau, was well-known for being ruthless and earned the nickname, 'Living Hades'. He was assigned to investigate rumours in the capital and to trace a painting which would reveal a great secret against the Empress who had been assisting the Emperor in court matters and was hated by the ministers fighting for power. While on this mission, he was made the scapegoat for the murder of a minister and his family.
Zhao and Gu were at loggerheads with each other as Zhao hated the Imperial Capital Bureau which arrested her father. However, along the trip to the capital, they crossed each other's path and had to help each other to get to their destination.
Would these unfortunate souls survived and eventually find they love they deserved? Who exactly was Gu? Why did the new prime minister help him?
What I like about this drama?
1. It depicted the gender prejudice during that era and how three women braved the odds in their lives to run a successful restaurant. While at the same time, there were a lot of light-hearted moments. You might expect it to be quite dark for a theme like this, but it is not. Unlike some dramas where the villain always wins throughout, this drama is the oppose.
2. The chemistry between the lead actor and actress as well as that between the secondary leads was phenomenal.
3. The dance performance at the opening of the restaurant was the best I have seen in all dramas (I have watched a lot).
4. This drama is full of good looking actors and actresses - Chen Xiao (Gu), Liu YiFei (Zhao), Xu Hai Qiao (the villain), Liu Yan (Sun) and Fei Xia (Song). Call me shallow, but good looking actors and actresses with good acting skills always make a big difference to a drama.
5. The flirtation between Gu and Zhao - subtle initially and more obvious later. The exchange of words was so poetic in episode 5 when Gu visited Zhao at the inn, if you can understand Mandarin.
6. Liu YiFei playing the seductress to hoodwink ZhouShe in the story - she was absolutely superb.
7. Excellent overall production: lovely cinematography, excellent cast, beautiful costumes, well choreographed dances, lovely opening and closing theme songs - very well executed from the beginning to the end.
8. Last and not least, it earned my empathy and tears not from a dying scene of the hero or heroine (a departure from the usual) but from the appeal against the prejudice of that age.
What I dislike of this drama? As with most dramas, it was not without questionable moments. Here is my nitpicking:
1. Gu was severely injured during one of the scenes. Zhao appeared to help him, took a flare from him and fired it for help. Wonder why Gu did not fire it earlier himself when the assassins appeared and not get himself so badly injured.
2. Song Yin-Zhang's playing of the pipa is completely out of sync with the music. It appeared she knew nothing about playing the pipa and was not even musically trained.
3. The opening and ending theme songs were lovely but I wish there were more musical moment in the drama.
The story appeared quite straightforward. But still it would keep you glued in front of the screen, trying to find out what might happen next. I am rewatching it as I write this review.
Highly recommended. This is the best drama I have watched over the last 2 years.
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This review may contain spoilers
It's a pretty dark ending
If you have depression, do not watch this drama. The ending is very dark: no couples are eventually happy, the country is thrown into chaos and yet another child emperor ascends the throne.On a positive note, the support cast is good looking and does a very good job. There are some good music pieces.
I come across a lot of positive reviews of this drama but I think it is mainly because of Bai Lu and Ren Jia Lun, the current popular heartthrobs. The chemistry between the leads is excellent.
For most part of the drama, it is the romance between Cui ShiYi (Bai Lu) and Zhou ShengChen (Ren JiaLun), so there are a lot of building up of their romance and emotions. It is mainly all the lovey-dovey moment - loving each other and could not express and having to hold back, each with their constraints. If you are not into these, it is also very slow moving. Battle scenes are quite lacklustre as these are just secondary.
There are a lot of comments that the story is great but I differ in my opinion. I say the production and directing are great as it brings out a lot of emotions - if the ending is that dark, with good directing it is hard not for anyone to cry although I did not.
The story is rather strange and rather unrealistic. And here are why I say that:
1. Minister Cui Guang supported the child emperor to the throne expecting his niece Cui Shi Yi to become the next empress only to find to his horror that the new Empress Dowager has other plans - to keep her as crown princess by appointing the child emperor's elder cousin as crown prince. She has become the fiancee of the new crown prince instead. Unless this story is not of Chinese background but of some minority tribe - passing a fiancée to a cousin is hardly acceptable in Chinese culture much less appointing an elder to become a successor. But with a surname Liu, it is implying the Chinese Han dynasty. And why appoint an older successor - just to avoid marrying the mute Cui ShiYi?
2. Minister Cui then requests for Prince Zhou Sheng Chen to become his niece Shifu (teacher). Again very weird: pushing a young girl into the care of a bachelor prince although he might have vowed to stay single and not to have children. Perhaps for the protection of the Prince for the Cui family?
3. Prince Zhou stubbornly refuses to leave the entrapment when the conspirators uses the Liu royal family and court as hostages. Why would a general with a peerless track record of success on the battlefield be suddenly so stupidly bigoted. His military advisor arrives in time to save him. If his advisor is smart enough to come to the rescue, surely Zhou knows better to leave at the urge of his own team and his hostages. Eventually the hostages are massacred and he dies of torture. Why would a big 'killer' be so easily swayed especially since these hostages are not close to him? I expect him to be a better strategist.
4. When someone important jumps from the city tower, why do the soldiers not try to help but instead concentrate on driving helpers away.
These are all important turning points in the story. The development of the story is not naturally and is very obviously to dramatise. All movies and dramas dramatises, but there is a difference between doing it realistically or creating obvious conveniences, and this story sounds more like the latter - it needs great skills to do that realistically.
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Could have been better
This drama has an interesting start to the story - a swap of souls between the emperor and a maid. This leads to a lot of hilarious moments as the maid is infatuated with an imperial guard captain. Demonstrating her affection in the body of the emperor, it causes a lot of misunderstanding that the emperor is gay.The story goes on to give a twist - there is a double conspiracy going on. The maid is not who she thinks she is, and the emperor has other hidden agenda. This twist is interesting if the transition is properly developed, but unfortunately it is a bit awkward.
But the second twist in last episode was the worst. There seems to be this obsession with time travel, crossing dimension type of science fiction in Chinese drama. When it is not well developed and does not flow naturally with the story, it really spoils the drama as it stands out like a sore thumb.
For 20 episodes of half hour each, this is a very short drama. If you are not too concern about the flaws in the story and are in just for a laugh, this makes a light-hearted comical entertainment.
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Legend of the Dragon Pearl: The Indistinguishable Road
2 people found this review helpful
Excellent 89 episodes...
The story tells of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing dynasty and the last princess of the Southern Ming dynasty. They met on a street of Beijing and became friends, unaware of the identity of each other. Neither was the princess aware of her true identity. They crossed each other path again and faced several life threatening events together, during which the princess risked her life to save the emperor. They fell in love in spite of the initial prejudice of the last princess against the Qing emperor. Was their love to be ill-fated?When selecting dramas, I typically pick those with rating 8 and above on mydramalist. But YouTube posted the trailers of this drama on my home page. I was fascinated and started watching the drama since I had just finished watching my Korean soap opera. There are 90 episodes of about half hour each, in all. Why do I say excellent 89 episodes?
The key things that impressed me was an excellent cast with great chemistry between the male and female leads, and interesting storyline, full of suspense and interjected humour. At least for 89 episodes I had enjoyed it tremendously. The final episode was an anti-climax with a lot of unanswered questions. There were a lot of negative comments on the last episode on YouTube. The ending was out of character with the drama - the story had been one when the leads always came out safe if not victorious - but it suddenly ended to the contrary. Endings with unanswered questions seem very typical of Chinese dramas. Poor endings are very typical of dramas - often the last episode looked like it the editing team had ran out of time and had to end the drama in a hurry as it was too long, or it had to be released right away, or the writer ran out of steam, or simply the writer is good at weaving suspense but not conclusion.
Also, it is highly improbable that the two could have met in history. So if you are not too concern about historical accuracy or an ending full of questions, it is a drama worth watching.
The ending theme song was lovely; the drama was well produced; costume was appropriate and I would rewatch it. Disregarding the questionable ending I chose to rate it highly at 9.
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If you like soap operas, this is for you...
The cast has this ''cry-on-demand'' ability and comprises very good actors/actresses. I watched this drama because of the lead actor Kim Ji Han (aka Jin Yi Han) as I was mesmerised by his performance in Empress Ki - he speaks not only through words but also his facial expressions - and of course his good looks. And for the guys, there are plenty of good looking actresses.The story centred around 3 ''orphans'' from different backgrounds - one is actively searching for his roots having lost his memory, one knows his roots and has a secret to hide, and the third is kept in the dark by the father who refuses to reveal the truth. Complications arise as they meet each other, fall in love, unaware of how their past lives have crossed and how they are related.
You would be glued to the drama as you pursue the mystery of what happens in the past and what is going to happen to the different characters. Get ready your handkerchief for the sobbing moments. Romance, sadness, humour - you will experience all these watching this drama. It is a trigger for a wide range of emotions.
What I really appreciate of this drama, aside for the range of emotions it evokes, is the diverse combination of personalities portrayed: kind and considerate but naive, kind but outwardly cold and smart, a ''bum'' but actually has an outstanding hidden skill, appears calculating but actually is very caring inside, scheming but has a soft emotional side, evil and non-repentant, brash and unpretentious but upright, and the list goes on. A very realistic portrayal of human personalities - none of those perfect non-existence character who is good in everything. The story as a whole is very well woven together.
However, the story is not entirely realistic - the bad guys seem to conveniently overhear important secrets at the right moment so they could scheme. Similarly the good guys would overhear those same secrets to be shocked or find out the truth. Since I cannot even figure out what my colleagues are talking about across the office, I could not see how people could pick up secrets so easily. Characters are always just keeping secrets and telling a white lie in the premise of saving others from getting hurt by the truth, or as they are too proud to admit their pain - this theme is so cliche, or is it cultural?
This was a long 122 episodes melodramatic soap drama although each episode is only a short half hour long. Still that would make over 60 episodes of the typical hour long drama series. There are a lot of draggy moments. I tapped the 10s forward icon a lot when the conversation got lengthy and not a lot was happening, when watching the drama. The ending is not quite strong - so very typical of long dramas. The evil ones should be punished heavier. It seems like writers and directors are just happy to have hold your attention to the end and not quite care how they end it.
In spite of some shortcomings, this is a very entertaining drama. If you like romantic soap operas, this is for you.
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At some points, it got a bit tiring when yet another scheming got them into massive hurt. However, the drama did keep me following episodes after episodes.
This drama deserves a place among the top Chinese dramas. If you like dramas like Yanxi Palace, you would like this.
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Story is interesting although unrealistic. But for a romance comedy, story line could be given some liberty. Nevertheless, I am going to point these out.
What idiot would insist on his fiancee disguising as a guy and joining him in an academy for men only , especially when it might be a capital sentence for deceit to the emperor. The writer should think of a better reason she ended up in the academy.
Also, is communication a problem in the Chinese culture? ZiAn did not talk to his father about his suspicion but instead took the drastic action of exposing a crime openly in court. Han did not talk to DieYi about 'his' ancestry and chose to instigate the Crown Prince to stage a revolt - even if he succeed, how was he going to snatch the throne for the rightful heir when the military and tribes were supporting the Crown Prince? All these did not seem to be properly thought out.
While each Chinese drama has its own unique story line, women disguising as men are quite cliche. And when you do need an actress to act as a man, you need to get someone with a bit more masculine features. Men have more angular facial feature and more coarse complexion. Women tend to have softer features and fuller on the cheeks. All the students and lecturers must be blind not to tell that 'he' was a girl. Insofar, all the actresses I had seen made to play a man did not look like a man. You need an actress who has more angular facial features and tall, and yet look very good as a woman - someone like Angelina Jolie perhaps for her angular features.
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Quite average
This drama is short compared to most Chinese drama and makes quite light-hearted entertainment. The drama started well but become yet another run-of-the-mill later in the story. There are not much heart rending moments and bad times pass quickly. If you are looking for a drama for some casual entertainment and not some heavy-hearted emotional roller coaster, this is it.Contemporary Chinese dramas tend to present heroines who are shrews and strong headed and this is one of them. The heroine is pretty and won the heart of the hero, but she is such a strong-headed shrew - appeal to the feminism of this era. But if i were a man, i would find her a pain to be with.
This drama is overrated on Mydramalist. There are other better dramas which are much better than this, which deserves better ratings. I begin to wonder whether ratings were rigged by some viewers, or i have preferences that differ from the masses. Just cannot understand why such an average drama is rated at 8.1 when Legend of Fei and Legend of Xiao Chuo rated below 8; they are way better than this drama.
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Romance more than politics and war
Part 2 continued from when Niao Niao was betrothed to one of her three admirers, Ling Buyi. She was not happy as the marriage proposal was imposed on her by the emperor through the request of Buyi and she tried to sabotage the engagement. To make matter worse, the step-mother of her fiance had other plans for him. But this fiance had been enchanted by her ever since he first lay eyes on her.As with Niao Niao's mother, BuYi's military background stood in the way of how he related to him and Niao Niao was resentful that she was going to substitute a mother for a militant husband.
Buyi's father was the Marquis ChengYang and Buyi hated him, seemingly because he married the step-mother when Buyi and his mother were missing after the Gu city was massacred. They found themselves back to the capital after a year. But there were more to the story and BuYi had a hidden identity.
BuYi had been investigating the death of his uncle General Huo and the fall of Gu city. In Part 2, the mystery was unraveled and those involved in it was progressively punished but the biggest culprit, as all the evidence leading to him was destroyed. BuYi was left in desperation.
Again twists and turns happened. Five years after BuYi requested for posting to guard the Northern border, Niao Niao found herself considering marriage with Yuan Shen who had been patiently waiting for her.
What I like about Part 2:
- It continued the theme that the righteous won and the wicked were punished.
- So often Chinese dramas supported the unworthy heir because he was the legitimate eldest son - there was this fear of upsetting the Confucious moral ideal of loyalty but not this - the capable one who put in the effort to win eventually won.
What I do not like about Part 2:
- The last few episodes were a drag and a lot of trivia was added to the drama. This drama could have been completed within 50 episodes limit, without dragging Yuan Shen into a marriage consideration. And he could have been happily married to his selected lady.
- Like a lot of Chinese dramas, the ending was awkward. It wanted to give a final twist and it did not achieve that impact.
- I did not really like the way Niao Niao's response to BuYi pushing her away which resulted in a big rift between them. She should understand that he had a need to keep his investigation a secret as any leak could jeopardise his life and he was also trying to keep her family safe. The writer should work on a better reason for the rift.
- I felt sorry for Yuan Shen as I thought he was as worthy of Niao Niao as Buyi. Although much better at looking after his own interest and somewhat scheming, he was more able to understand Niao Niao and accommodate her, initially in a provocative way and later in more gentle way. But unfortunately, Niao Niao could not forget her true love. Hopefully, I had not given too much away with this comment.
- Too much save the damsel in distress by the main lead - should give some chance to the other two admirers to confuse who would eventually end up with her. Also, it was so cliche that he always appeared at the right moment when there was someone else nearer to her.
- The battle scenes were a bit lacklustre as compared to The Rebel Princess and some others.
I rated Part 2 a point less than part 1. Overall the full drama was worth watching if you are into romance story as this drama was more a romantic story - the politics and wars were just the backdrop.
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Suspenseful but slow-moving
Hmm... what should I say about this drama? This is largely an internal family rivalry story with politics at the court as backdrop. Generally very good but did not create not much of an impression. The story is full of suspense but a slow-moving start made me impatient and I went on to watch the last episode before I decide to continue. By then, it had spoiled the suspense. But for the viewers who have not done this, I am sure the suspense would have been quite worth the while.Overall the story is good but there were too many convenient moments when the hero appeared suddenly and saved the heroine. I thought some of the saving the damsel in distress could have been done by the rival lover giving it a bit more bite and contention.
With my experience, only a few dramas managed to hit 70 episodes without draggy moments. 50 episodes are usually the best to cover sufficient depth. This drama is full of draggy slow moments.
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