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The story started with Yan running into Jiang and subsequently avoiding him as she thought that he might arrest her for being in the wrong place and suspected of a crime. Humour arose because of Yan's shape shifting into the wrong person at the wrong time, although this was sometimes useful when she needed to avoid being arrested.
They eventually teamed up to solve the problem of Zornia grass which was cultivated by an unknown person whose identity and intent was unknown. Unknown to them, they were connected in the past and their problems were related to an event in their childhood.
As a fan of Luo YunXi who acted Jiang Xin Bai, I was drawn to this drama because of him. His acting in Ashes of Love and Til the End of the Moon was intense and outstanding, both dramas were among my favourites. Song Yi on the other hand had always acted in some humorous characters and did them well.
The story was interesting interjected with some humour and some intense moments. But Luo did not have the opportunities to repeat his intense acting in those two earlier dramas.
Nevertheless, this drama is entertaining and is suitable for some light-hearted entertainment.
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You don't need to get to the end to know the ending
The story centred around the repeated time travel trips Professor Shen Bu Yan made to the past. In modern times, Lu Yuan was known to be an evil queen who dominated the court and murder the loyal Prime Minister. With every repeated trip, Prof Shen became more convinced that there was more than met the eye and the record was inaccurate. But how and why did that happen?Prof Shen's first visit was to witness how Lu Yuan died. He then made repeated visits back. Each repeat visit was to an earlier part of her life in attempts to change her fate and the injustice. Round about the third visit, I could see that he won't be able to change the future as Lu Yuan was aware of Shen's earlier visits and I could already witness the end results. I skipped to the end to see how Shen was going to react to his failure and did he managed to clear Lu Yuan's name.
The drama could have been very intriguing. However, as I already knew the ending as it started with the end and worked backwards, it kind of become very boring and frustrating as it was obvious that all efforts were futile. However, at the first half, before it was clear that his mission would fail, it was still quite entertaining. If the screenwriter could work on the sequence a little, perhaps they could still maintained the mystery.
To conclude, this drama paled compared to some other time reversal drama like the Story of Kunning Palace, Blossom, Reborn (Korean), The Princess Royale and so on.
However, if you have the time to spare, I suppose you could always watch it. It was not totally without merits.
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Detective Story
Shen Yi was young and talented with potential to become a great artist as according to his art tutor. Additionally, he had the ability to read very accurately human behaviours.One day, a woman approached him to draw what a child on a photo would look like as an adult. This unfortunately led to the death of a detective Lei Yi Fei who was undercover to investigate a human trafficking ring.
Driven by guilt, Shen Yi joined the police force to help investigate into this case and to help solve serious crimes with his skills. There he met Du Cheng who was a subordinate and close friend of Lei Yi Fei who was killed. Du Cheng hated Shen Yi because he was unable to recall the face of the woman who approached him. As a result, they were unable to solve the case for over 5 years. However, the duo was forced to work together.
As with a lot of detective stories, this drama held a lot of mysteries, surprises (or not so much of a surprise), and suspense to hold your attention. However, in some, it felt a bit shallow and a bit simplistic. Nevertheless, it is still entertaining.
Each crime story ended as the culprit was captured without any mention of what happened in court or the sentencing. I suspect this was to be very diplomatic and not to be drawn into any controversies.
I am typically generous with my ratings and my rating usually ends up higher than the average rating on mydramalist if I like the drama. I am a fan of Tan Jian Ci and I chose this drama because of him. An average rating of 8.7 is very high on mydramalist.com; this would place it among the top rated dramas. However, on my rating scale, it is worth 8.5 which to me is very good, but not among the top league of dramas I had watched.
Still, I say, it is worth watching if you like detective stories.
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Handsome actors and lots of special effects
The recruiter for this drama certainly had excellent taste for handsome actors. I counted at least 10. And there were plenty of special effects. Whenever the fighting got heated, some fantasy cartoon like characters would be featured to represent the type of inner strength of the martial artists.The story featured three male leads each with their own romance story. Baili DongJun was the young heir and grandson of Marquis ZhenXi. He led a sheltered luxurious life. His ambition was to become a wine deity, well-known for the wine he brewed. Only when he was selected by Prince Xiao RuoFeng to become a student of the prestigious JiXia Academy headed by Li Chang Sheng, the top martial artist of the world, that he started on a different journey.
Ye Yun, on the other hand had an unfortunate life. He was a close childhood friend of DongJun. His family was executed by the emperor, on some untrue allegation of treason. He escaped and went on to become a highly skilled martial artist. Unfortunately for him, his life took several negative turns. The Beique targeted him as a candidate to acquire their martial art which required a special disposition that he possessed. They needed him to wake up their king who had been deep in a meditation since they lost their kingdom to Beili. For this, they lay several traps for him as he was unwilling to help the enemy.
Sikong Changfeng was a friend that DongJun made while the latter was trying to carve out a name for himself as a wine deity. Before this, he was a vagabond who had self-trained in martial arts and had no memory of his life before he turned fifteen. For him, his path to success was a lot smoother than Ye Yun as he caught the eye of Nangong ChunShui, the reincarnate of Li and became his disciple.
In this drama, you see the contrast in the lives of DongJun and YeYun. Both were disposed with special abilities. For DongJun, his life seemed to be a bed of roses. He rose from adversities to become stronger and seemed to meet the right people to help him. The love of his life turned out to be a beautiful Beique princess who had given up reviving her kingdom as she did not want another round of war and believed it was a futile attempt.
As for Ye Yun, in spite of his capabilities, his life was ruined first by a selfish and suspicious emperor and then by the cunning Beique Chancellor. There had been several times, when his life could have turned for the better but circumstances turned it into a nightmare. The love of his life was his childhood sweetheart and fiancee who was still in love with him through the years he went missing, presumably dead. She was a great beauty but was quite ignorant and somewhat stupid, and was easily deceived by the Beique and became a pawn to their plots.
Being a bit philosophical here: in life, some people are just so blessed that they rose from one challenge to another, gaining grounds each time. While others having worked hard through their lives but were set back with each turn.
Somehow, Chinese drama always have emperors less than qualified for their job morally. In this drama, it was no different. The emperor allowed Ye Yun's family to be executed, even though he knew General Ye was innocent - a complete asshole in my view. Somehow the best heir, in both capabilities and moral disposition, he chose turned down the throne in favour of a rapist - I was rather disappointed in this.
Neo Hou (MingHao) had this boyish look about him that made him very suited to the playful and mischievous DongJun in his teens. It would be interesting to see whether he could graduate into more mature roles when he grew older.
The cartoon-like special effects however, made the drama looked a bit kiddy, a little out of line with the serious nature of this drama.
However, on the whole, this is an interesting drama worth watching.
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Interesting drama but a bit cliche
This was the first drama that Lin GengXin and Zhao LiYing reconvened, years after Princess Agent which they co-acted and was a huge hit. The sequel of Princess Agent never saw the light of day after much talk - I suspect it was pretty much toast. This drama was very much like a compensation and definitely appealed to their fans.ShenLi was bestowed the title of General Bi Cang and was a powerful God of War. When pressured into a political marriage, she ran away and was seriously injured. She fell to the mortal realm reverting to her phoenix body and was mistaken as a chicken. A human chicken seller picked her up and sold her to Xing Yun, a sickly human.
Strangely Xing Yun seemed to be able to tell that she was a phoenix, spoke to her in her language and treated her injuries. Shen Li was suspicious of his identity and distrusted him. Aside from her clan trying to capture her, they faced threats from a human lord who was out to get them. Back in the celestial world, trouble was brewing. Unknown forces were gathering strength to take over.
Of course, there were plenty of secrets to be uncovered?. Why was Xing Yun well-versed in celestial battle formation and yet had no celestial power? What was ShenLi's mentor and head of her clan hiding from her? Who was behind the trouble in the celestial world?
On the whole, the story was interesting. However, having watched as much Chinese dramas as I have (many of which are fairy tales / xianxia) the story was somewhat cliche and felt very much like more of the same. Additionally, the ending was somewhat lame.
A rating of 8.7 is very high on mydramalist. While waiting for the rest of the episodes to be released, I was distracted and went on to watch In Blossom, with Liu XueYi and Ju JingYi as leads. This had a much lower rating of 8.1. But I thought it was more interesting. I felt that the fan base had a lot to do with it. With Lin GengXin and Zhao LiYing as the lead actors, it definitely boosted the rating of the drama. It rated this drama 8.5 and In Blossom 9.5 (the opposite to their ratings on this portal).
Overall, it is a very good production and is worth watching. This is especially true if you had not watched much of Chinese fairy tale dramas. Otherwise you might just felt the same as I had - cliche.
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Feel good factor
The best part of this drama was the outstanding cast. Chemistry among them was great - the married couple (main leads), the sworn brothers and sister - of which there were many. Liu YueYi was outstanding in the portrayal of the villain and he got me really hating the character. Aside from this, the story on the whole was interesting although you could find numerous illogical parts in them and too many coincidences.Gu JiuSi 's parents were in a hurry to find him a bride before the emperor's decree arrived for him to marry the princess. Mistaking the joke he played on Liu YuRu who he actually disliked as an expression of true affection, his parents hurriedly arranged for them to get married. The marriage was immediately accepted by YuRu's greedy parents as the Gus were very wealthy. They were married much to each others anguish. YuRu was in love with another and JiuSi thought she was a very scheming girl. There were numerous funny incidents arising from this.
However, their lives were thrown together as they had to weather through thick and thin, first trying to escape the predatory Yangzhou governor who were out for their wealth and then in YouZhou where they had to fight to defend the provincial capital from the attack of Prince Liang. Their paths finally took them to high positions in the country capital where more dangers awaited them.
There were many illogical parts which you could poke holes at. Why would the Empress Dowager insisted on marrying the Princess to JiuSi who was already married by then, when there were so many eligible bachelors including the Crown Prince of the new dynasty? Why did the emperor appoint the treacherous Luo Zishang as the Grand Tutor when there were better choices? What kind of medicine could make a person looked dead and then revived? This seemed to be a favourite tact in Chinese dramas and was so cliche. Why chose to stay at an inn which was obviously owned by the governor? The explanation that it was to be right under his nose so he would overlook was so illogical. And just by selling cosmetics, one can get so rich in so short a time, really?
And there were too many convenient coincidences. JiuSi and YuRu fainted on arriving in YouZhou just as Zhou Ye arrived to find them. YuRu arrived back in YangZhou just as Ye ShiAn was at the checkpoint to let them through. YuRu's mother fell of the cliff to be rescued by Ye ShiAn. If it happened otherwise, they would be toast. Always at the edge of danger, rescue came. Coincidences happened in life but just not so frequent and so fortunate.
Many things were not explained. How did Luo ZiShang rise from an orphaned beggar to be so influential? Why did he mistook the wrong father?
There were however some suspenseful parts which would make you clench your teeth and swear at the foolishness and stubbornness of some of the characters: General Zhou's wilful rejection of the emperor's attempt to connect, and the young Crown Prince's stupidity in not being able to see through and handle the Grand Tutor's scheming.
Finally, there was the feel good factor at the end. The capable and righteous became emperor, not yet another child emperor who was there because of lineage.
Overall, in spite of my nitpicking, I think this drama was very entertaining and worth watching.
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Xue FangFei was the daughter of an integrous magistrate who was wrongly accused and sentenced to death. She was murdered and buried alive by her husband whom she loved. The husband was a very conflicted personality - in the drama, you would witness his struggle. Rescued by Jiang Li who eventually died due to ill-treatment, she took on her identity.
She assumed two huge responsibilities - how to get Jiang Li's stepmother to admit her crimes, and to investigate and exposed the mastermind behind the extermination of the Xue family. To return to the capital, she made use of Duke Su, known for his ruthlessness, and for which she received both help and retaliation.
Of course, you have Wu JinYan (Xue FangFei) of Yanxi Palace fame as the lead actress, acting once again an intelligent woman seeking and upholding justice. And then, there was Wang XingXue (Duke Su) who had a flair for selecting and performing well in good dramas. His last four dramas were all above rating of 8 on mydramalist.com; the Kunning Palace was one of them. He is certainly very young to have earned these accolades.
The plot was interesting as both FangFei and Duke Su had their share of scheming and being schemed against. You watched wondering what they were going to do next to counter the traps set for them, and whether the dangerous schemes they set for their antagonists might backfire. And for sure sometimes they did. When Duke Su handed over his army tally to the Princess to entice her brother to hasten the rebellion, you would expect him to have also a back-up plan to re-secure his power besides relying on the army from an ally. But he did not - I thought this was a pretty dangerous and foolish gamble.
This, as I understood, was the adaptation of a novel with some significant changes from the original story. The original was more of a supernatural setting but this was more down to earth.
It is worth pointing out here that the sound track was outstanding - one of the best in Chinese drama and witnessing a return of good music pieces to dramas after the pandemic. I love the theme songs and the two instrument pieces played at the entry examination.
Whenever there is an actress who is significantly older than her male counterpart, or acting a maiden much younger than herself, there is always the question whether they would be able to bring out the chemistry. Very often they do. So I would say to viewers not to discriminate on this basis. The camera, make-up and excellent acting can often overcome this.
There was however an unexplained scene - how did FangFei escaped from being buried alive as she was tied up and knocked unconscious. It showed Jiang Li finding her near a river, but how did she get there?
While the story and plots were relatively original, the themes of fighting for the throne and revenge for misjustice were a little overused and somewhat stale and cliche. They made good stories for a period drama, but would be nice to watch something of a different theme for a change. However, if you have not watched as many Chinese dramas as I have, this would not affect you.
Overall, I was debating whether to give it a 9.5 or a 10. Eventually I settled for the former for the last two reasons above.
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Don't be cynical about love
Overall, I rate this drama very well. An interesting story, a good cast, excellent chemistry between leads, lovely backdrop , beautiful costumes and melodious music.The story centred around Ren RuYi and Ning YuanZhou. The former was the leader of the female spy ring of the Kingdom of An, who was presumed dead. The latter was the newly reinstated head of the LiuDaoTang, the spy ring of the rival Kingdom of Wu. King of Wu lost the battle with An and was captured and imprisoned. The King of An demanded ten thousand ingots of gold for his release, to be delivered by a Wu prince.
RuYi was running away from being captured in the Wu kingdom and ended up hiding in YuanZhou's residence. Meantime, Yuan Zhou was appointed the leader of the delegation to deliver the the gold to An. The only prince capable of travelling to An was also the Regent ruling in the absence of the King of Wu and it was deemed too risky to lose him. Motivated by promise of rewards, Princess YangYing volunteered to be the 'Prince'. YuanZhou engaged the help of RuYi to coach YangYing on the ways of the An. So this delegation of people oddly thrown together had to make their way to An and rescue the King. How many would return safely?
What I like about this drama?
1. In a way, this story was along the similar theme as A Journey to You, a theme of a spy in the opposite camp who developed a Stockholm Syndrome. But the story development was a lot more interesting and the ending was a lot more appealing.
2. It was sad and cheerful at the same time - it spiced up your senses. Who could say that the world is perfect. Therefore we don't expect a perfect ending for everyone. Many did not make it back to the Wu Kingdom. But we rejoice that some found their own happiness eventually.
3. The story was interesting and original in its own ways. No plagiarism observed. and certainly different from 'A Journey to You'.
4. There were a lot of philosophical lessons in the drama. Many were very in tuned into human nature. I laughed at the lessons in relationship that ShiSan was teaching Chu Yue - somewhat crappy, somewhat wise. And in episodes 18 and 19, the lead characters were trying to sort out where they would eventually settle after their missions. This is so apt even in contemporary real life settings.
5. Chemistry between YuanZhou and RuYi was very well played out by Liu ShiShi and Liu YuNing. When RuYi insisted that YuanZhou was her choice of the father of her child and insisted on only a physical relation with him with no emotional attachment, it was hilarious.
6. The second male lead, Allen Fang, YiLun also brightened the drama a lot, acting as ShiSan. He was hilarious. It is the first time i saw him as a comic character, a departure from his usual stony face character. Hope to see him as first lead in a good drama.
6. All the hygiene factors were there: a good cast, excellent chemistry between leads, lovely backdrop , beautiful costumes and melodious music. And the opening and ending theme songs were beautiful.
What I do not like about this drama?
1. While there were some wise lessons to be taught in the drama, there were also some crap. RuYi was name calling her disciple as the illegitimate child when this was his Achilles' heels. Yet he accepted her ill-treatment and fell in love with her - I could not understand this. So one was masochistic and the other sadistic? And they complement each other? No compliments and encouragements - no wonder there are so much anger in some people. Imagine being criticised, beaten and name called all the time.
2. The final pretence was not convincing. How did someone surrounded and stabbed by the enemy soldiers survive?
For the last two points, I took half a point away from a perfect 10 but highly recommend this drama.
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A lovely combination of fairytale, romance and adventure
This is a very entertaining fairytale drama (xianxia in Chinese terminology). And the kids will love it with the mix-in of cartoon-like and half-animal characters.What I like about this drama?
- Story is interesting. Although it does not have that extraordinary surprise or twist, it does conceal a lot of mystery which are revealed as the drama progresses.
- The bad guys lose and the good guys win. This approach always work for me as it appeals to my strong sense of justice.
- Good looking cast. This is likely the most prominent drama that Neo Hou acted in since 'A Girl Like Me' which was hilarious. He is undoubtedly the best looking actor in this drama. Zhou Ye is very pretty too, she is outstanding when she is dressed as the dark aura master. Acting as a Taoist girl, she is more like the girl next door - a bit plain.
- CGI and special effects are very good. Costumes are good too although not too elaborate but befits the characters.
What I do not like about this drama?
- The selection of actors for the various roles are good except for Zhang Lan and Chen Yi. Kenny Kwan who acts the parts of these twins is very good looking and does the part well. In age, he is old enough for the character, but in looks he appears younger than his son and daughter. It looks a bit weird when his son addresses him as father. Perhaps the roles should be reshuffled. He is better acting Lu Mu Sheng who captures the heart of SuYing.
- The on-screen chemistry between Neo Hou and Zhou Ye as leads is good but not as endearing as between him and Guan Xiao Tong in 'A Girl Like Me'.
- The ending is not properly explained. How did the new dark aura master vanish and then resurrect?
I am deciding whether to give it a 8.5 which is what I would usually give to a drama of similar quality, but decide to give it a 9 instead for its overall production.
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Wow... easily the best Korean drama I have watched to-date in a modern setting.
I have always a bias towards a period drama - falling for their beautiful costumes and ancient architecture. So when I started on this drama, I was kind of sceptical and it was more of a time filler while I waited for other period dramas with excellent rating to be release online. But wow.... I was carried away. It is intense, with all the elements which made it exciting and interesting.As instructed by the third generation Vice-Chairman, Yoon Hyun Woo retrieved a slush funds kept overseas by the Jin family who controlled the Soonyang conglomerate. He was killed while on his way back. He woke up back in time in the body of the youngest of the founder's grandchildren, Jin Do Jun. He was able to capitalise on the memories of his previous life to become exceedingly rich investing and divesting at the right moment and won the attention of his grandfather who had been very cold toward his father, mother and their children as he disapproved of his father's marriage.
What I liked about this drama?
1. The story was very interesting - a mix of family rivalry, commercial competition, corporate takeover, collusion of money and politics, romance and rejection - all worked in for the perfect effect. And an excellent lesson in the post-World War history and economic development of Korea.
2. The cast was fantastic. Some of them acted multiple personalities in the drama. The lead actor, Song Joong Ki, of course did very well, first as the subservient Yoon Hyun Woo and then as the daring Jin Do Jun, which brought the story alive. The second lead, Lee Sung Min acting the grandfather was absolutely outstanding. He first acted the charismatic, domineering, ruthless business leader, then the feeble pitiful confused old man very convincingly. The support actress Kim Shin Rok was excellent too - acting the overbearing Jin daughter then a drunkard when she lost all her money.
3. It was very dramatic and there were hardly any dull moment and it was jammed packed with happenings. There was perhaps an episode when things seemed to get a bit dull as we witnessed Jin Do Jun succeeding in investing and divesting as he ride through the economic boom and bust - with more of the same happening. But that was quickly turned around and the pace of the drama resumed.
4. The ending was brilliant. I was wondering how the writer was going to deal with two of the same persons living in the same era and it was very nicely handled. There was the sadness of someone killed and someone living again. It was also brilliant how a revenge turned into a case of justice.
5. The music was very mysterious and dramatic to match the development of the drama.
What I did not like about the drama? Cannot recall any - definitely going to watch it a second time and come back to fill in, if any.
Further thoughts about the drama: The grandfather Jin Yang Cheol's insistence on primogeniture, the passing of inheritance to the eldest offspring definitely triggered the intense rivalry in the family. Parents have to be careful not to invoke feeling of jealousy among their children. If grandfather Jin had treated his children more fairly and encouraged a feeling of win-win and interdependence, there won't be such intense rivalry to the detriment of the family. Perhaps it was his sense of indebtedness to his eldest son who went to prison to save the business and his bringing up the eldest grandson which nurtured the closeness, that brought about this.
Thumbs up all round for this drama.
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Excellent production
In all measures: story, cast, acting, costumes, backdrop, architecture, fighting, chemistry between the main leads, were all first class. To add, very good looking lead actors and actresses, and the music was good.Inspired by this drama, I checked on the history of King Jeongjo (Yi San) - hopefully Wikipedia can be trusted for historical accuracy. There was close resemblance to the real history. His grandfather did kill his father who had a mental problem and went on a killing spree. There was a Noron faction who opposed his succession to the throne because his father was against them. There were attempted assassinations. He did have a concubine who he loved dearly. This concubine died the same year as their first son, the first crown prince, while pregnant with a baby. Because of his mother's memoirs, the reigns of his grandfather, himself and his son were well documented. In this drama, nothing was mentioned of his Queen Hyoui; the real queen was not Hong WonBin who was a noble consort - the English subtitle referred to her as queen. As for the details, the drama disclaimed any adherence to real history; since who would know the real minute details.
What I like about this drama? For all that are listed in my first paragraph some of which I will detailed further:
1. The story was very real - you could feel the flesh and blood in the character - and the story was made very interesting. Of course, since this was based on historical figures you may say. But this drama was able to present history in a very interesting manner.
2. In this drama, Yi San grew up fearing his grandfather who had a violent temper. Yet he had a mind of his own. You can see how Lee Jun Ho played this character so well - the conflict of fearing his grandfather, wanting to do what he thought was right and yet playing the filial grandson. His grief at the death of his beloved concubine was absolutely heart rending. You could see his expression changed when he was telling his mother that he would only marry women of aristocrat families and then realised that the humble maid kneeling behind the blind waiting for him was his crush.
3. The chemistry between Lee Jun Ho (Yi San) and Lee Se Young (Sung Deok Im) was excellent. Yi San would express his love earnestly for her and Deok Im would stare back with her big expressive eyes.
4. The cast was excellent and acted well. An example: King Yeongjo, the grandfather was very acted by Lee Deok Hwa. He looked scary yet was a loving grandfather. The second lead, Kang Hoon (Hong Deok Ro, Yi San's childhood companion) did a marvellous job and so did the rest of the cast. There were no let down.
What I do not like about this drama?
1. This was more a conflict with my opinion and the behaviour of Sung Deok Im. She was consistently pushing away the King because she did not want to be his concubine as she feared losing everything. Something might be missing in the English translation. Because of this, they wasted so much chances of enjoying each other's support. A bit too cliche. What was the everything she was referring to? Her personal freedom? That the King would never be faithful? I could feel her pain in these later in the drama. But she could have been more open about this, especially since she was such a bold character, instead of leaving the King in pain earlier in the drama.
2. The drama gave a twist at the end, which gave a temporary relief to the heart rending - that they might live happily ever after. But that was short lived once I checked the historical account. Nevertheless I think it was a nice twist had I not checked.
3. Although the drama was very well produced, I did spot a mistake in the background towards the last few episodes - a split second of someone walking towards the King Jeongjo and Sung Deok-Im when they were on the bridge hugging, - looks like an image superimposed on the video by mistake.
All in all, I enjoyed this drama tremendously. I placed it in the top league of dramas I had watched. Highly recommended.
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The essence of good Chinese dramas - must watch if you are new to Chinese dramas
Excellent cast, amazing on-screen chemistry between the leads, beautiful costumes, lovely ending theme song - pretty much sum up the drama. The story is especially interesting if you are new to Chinese dramas. But if you watch a lot of Chinese dramas like me, you might find some elements in the drama are more of the same.This is the first drama I watched lead by Yang Yang and I am VERY impressed by his acting. He is one of the very few Chinese actors with slitty eyes, who is very handsome. If you have noticed, most Chinese actors and actresses tend to have very big eyes, with the exception of a few like Deng Lun.
The story started from Bai Feng Xi and Hei Feng Xi, two well-known celebrities in the martial arts world, being at loggerheads with each other. Their rivalry was interesting and amusing to watch. One day, Bai rescued Hei from nearly drowning in the river and discovered he came from a complicated family. Her sympathy for him changed her attitude towards him and romance started to blossom. You can indulge in the romantic scenes.
The drama has a lot of feel-good factors as the good and righteous always win, even when placed in a very disadvantaged situations and might at time be badly hurt. The evil and underhanded always eventually get punished. The drama at parts reminds me of Royal Nirvana where the crowned prince was always punished and hurt and eventually committed suicide in the sequel, But this drama was quite different. Feng LanXi was too clever and smart for his rival brother.
However, the story did not end as well as I wish it would. Although I would not call it a tragedy, I think it is a poor compromise. Chinese dramas do have a lot to work on regarding its ending. Time to change the approach that the righteous and capable eventually retire early - if they do, they place the evil and less capable in power. Although in this drama, the alternative to the throne was also capable and righteous, he was obviously less capable. Some dramas try to come up with clever endings but often end up with lousy ones instead.
In spite of some of my negative comments about the story, I would still recommend this drama.
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Ancient Terrorism
I think this drama is underrated on Mydramalist. It is an excellent production and a very enjoyable drama.A father and his daughter tried to approach Baili HongYi (acted by Wang YiBo) to report a conspiracy and were killed in a back street of Luoyang. HongYi's father was a commoner who rose to become the Minster of Works. Subsequent to the event, HongYi's father was murdered on HongYi's wedding night. Were the incidences related?
Gao BingZhu (acted by Huang Xuan) grew up in the Ignoble Ghetto where criminals and their descendents were condemned and placed under restricted movements. Seven of his mates who were his best friends were killed by a group of mysterious masked attackers when they left the Ghetto with him on a stealthy fun trip.
Wu SiYue (Victoria Song), an imperial guard and niece of the Empress regnant and therefore a nobility, was escorting Princess YongChuan when armed fighters tried to assassinate the Princess.
These three different individuals from vastly different background were investigating these three different crimes. Their paths crossed and they realised that the crimes were linked to the same terrorist group - the Spring-Autumn organisation. This terrorist organisation was supposed to be exterminated years ago and the head of the movement was imprisoned and had gone insane. Who was now leading the group? And what were they up to? In his insane babble, he mentioned a Hidden Phoenix.
The style of the drama footage and cinematography reminded me of the 24 hours in Changan - with the crowded narrow streets and rather dark background - a very realistic portrayal of an ancient China city.
The drama would keep you intrigued as each investigation led to dead ends as the people involved were either killed or committed suicide, or there were more than met the eye every time it seemed they had found the 'mastermind'. And there were always the unexpected attacks as the culprit tried to fool and kill HongYi and BingZhu.
The final revelation of the Hidden Phoenix was a surprised although I had suspected he was associated with the terror group earlier in the drama but did not expect him to be so high in command. As BingZhu said to him at the last episode, he hid himself well.
The theme songs were alright. I particularly like 天机 (Heavenly) - the melody and the lyrics very aptly set the mood and described the story.
What makes this story more appealing is it is realistic and probable. The madness that drives a group of people to kill individuals and mass murder resembles the terrorist movements today. The emotional riots that happened in many cities, that were either politically motivated or instigated by rumours and conspiracy theories, and hijack suicide flights into buildings are all examples of the modern day terrorism. A group of people who believes they are marginalised by society or the enemies, or has ambitions beyond reality can all fall victims to extreme actions. Also, there were no flying swordsmen or ridiculous strange energy transfer remedies for a change - these add more interest to fantasy dramas but look rather strange in historical dramas.
I watched the drama a second time before I wrote this. I must say that I appreciated the story and cinematography more. However, since I already knew the real mastermind and what was going to happen next, it took the suspense out of it. And without the glamour of beautiful sceneries and backdrop, it did seem a bit more dull. The head dress for the Empress regnant was also a bit dull.
The cast portrayed the character they acted very well. As for the popular Wang YiBo, he did very well acting the serious nerdy engineer who was very bright in science and analysis, but did not quite know how to handle social situations. He was however more glamourous as the the Lan WangJi in the Untamed and more handsome in the Legend of Fei where he smiled a lot more.
Aside from the lead actors/actresses, the support cast was really good too. Bai Lang (Jiang Long) who was the friend and sidekick of BingZhu was funny and added a lot of humour to the drama. Prince Dong Chuan (Liu Duan Duan) was the most upright, well-meaning and capable out of the bureaucrats but was always undermined by the terror group. They were among the outstanding ones.
However, the last episode is a bit of a let down. I think they killed the wrong person - someone capable and righteous. I would have chosen to kill the mastermind or the whiny feather-head who always got into trouble instead. And the idiotic murderer got away from death sentence - it was all so wrong.
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A refreshing difference
Xu FengNian is the astute heir apparent to the fiefdom of Northern Liang (BeiLiang). His father Xu Xiao is a powerful general and outstanding strategist who conquers six countries for the LiYang Imperial dynasty and is conferred the title of King of BeiLiang. Although the LiYang emperor honours Xu Xiao with great titles and a huge fiefdom, the LiYang court is wary of his powerful cavalry and distrust him. The last thing they wish to see is another powerful successor.To secure Xu FengNian's succession to his father, his siblings are sent away by the father to help secure his position, while FengNian has to act as a playboy to avoid an arranged marriage to the bitchy Princess Sui from the imperial family, besides hiding his capabilities. Internally, Xu Xiao's numerous foster sons who hold considerable military power and younger son are also potentially rivals to FengNian's succession and the Prime Minister is trying to wedge division within the family.
The scattering of his siblings all over the empire has saddened Feng Nian. This drama is centred around FengNian's trip to visit his siblings and bring them home, while his father schemes to secure an imperial decree to pronounce him the official successor amid a court that is not friendly to him. Not wanting to destroy and kill, Feng Nian has refused to train in any martial arts from young. Setting out with only a few highly skilled bodyguards and a small troop, he faces numerous assassination attempts and is injured on a number of occasions by enemies of unknown sources. Behind the trip is a huge conspiracy awaiting FengNian, not only from his enemies but his father as well. Very much a strategist and schemer himself, FengNian pit his wits against his enemies and his father. Will he survive his journey, what will he achieve and will Xu Xiao succeed in getting him named as successor?
This drama does not contain triangular love story and rivalry among brothers for the throne, which have become the common themes of a lot of Chinese dramas. After watching many Chinese dramas, these themes have become boring. So this drama is refreshing for a change.
And of course there is the outstanding acting skills of Zhang Ruo Yun. He livens up the drama. I would not place him among the top 10 best looking actors but I would certainly place his acting skills among the top league.
The pace is quite moderate and at parts quite slow moving, but you will be riveted in front of the screen waiting to find out who is behind the various assassination attempts and what is going to happen next.
If you are reading this to figure out whether you should watch this, I give it a thumbs up and recommend it strongly. This is available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/pf392nvj2_E.
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Extremely well produced
This was a Korean version of grand settings and fabulous costume, and smoking hot actors and actresses. The story was well written and the acting was superb. The drama was intense with moments of humour to lighten the tension. It invoked a whole range of emotions - anger, suspense, sadness, laughter, romance, joy... It featured betrayal and loyalty, love and hatred, and jealousy - the common emotions in life. It was almost like the drama Nirvana in Fire but with the key strategist a woman (a slave girl) instead of a man (a former general).The story centred around Empress Ki who became the empress in the Yuan (Mongolian) dynasty which ruled China and Mongolia. Although of Korean descent, she rose from a tribute slave girl to the highest female position among the Yuan nobilities. Many of the characters in the story existed in history, but of course the story was twisted to make it highly dramatised - otherwise who would watch it.
The story was very well woven together and very complicated. The story centred around Ki Nyang (the empress), Emperor Toghon Temur of Yuan and King Wang Yoo (Korean King). The Korean King struggled to keep his throne while the Yuan are scheming to take over the kingdom to make it part of the Mongolian empire. Emperor Temur grew from a frightened teenager living in the shadow of his ambitious regents to become an emperor who won the respect of the various feudal lords and commanded an empire. In the middle of it all was their rivalry over Ki Nyang's love.
Empress Ki (Ha Ji Won), Emperor Toghon Temur (Ji Chang Wook), King Wang Yoo (Joo Jin Mo), Tanashili (Bake Jin Hee), Dowager Hwang (Kim Seo Hyung) and Tal Tal (Kim Ji Han) were all smoking hot. What particularly left an impression was Kim Ji Han (Tal Tal). Although he was only a support actor who spoke very little during the drama, he left a strong impression. Instead he spoke with his facial expression - the disbelief, suspicion, concern for the empress (with perhaps a hint that he was in love with her as well but never expressed it)... He was dashingly handsome, certainly the most handsome of the lot, and acted his part with dignity and carriage. In this drama, he was a strategist and general who was calm, collected, knowledgeable, observant, inscrutable, intelligent and rather scheming. It's a pity I did not see many of his dramas where he was the lead actor, listed in mydramalist.com. Hope to see more of him in lead roles in outstanding dramas in future.
Of course, like a lot of dramas, some parts were a little unrealistic - for example, the Emperor on intercepting love letters between King Wang Yoo and Ki Nyang did not confront her. If he had, the entire scheme of the cunning would fall apart. What husband would not say anything and suffer in silence, much less an emperor.
Watching Korean dramas is a refreshing break from Chinese dramas - there are some distinct differences in the way things are interpreted and approached. But you have your eyes glued to the TV so as not to miss the subtitles.
If you know the Yuan dynasty history, they were eventually driven out of Southern China by the Chinese, and Emperor Toghon Temur ruled during this period. Although the story centred around Yuan and Korea with China being left out of it mostly, you should expect what the ending would likely be.
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