sunday
icecream in the freezing cold :)
This review may contain spoilers
Frustrating but for some reason I still continued watching
After spending much time watching the Court Lady, it would be a waste if I did not review it ahaha. I originally started watching the drama because of Li Yi Tong. Overall, there were parts I hated and parts I liked. I cannot count the number of times I wanted to drop this drama, but I still ended up coming back to it. Let's just put it at a love-hate relationship.
---------------------------------
THE STORY: OVERALL
The story could pretty much be classified into two parts: 1) Comedy 2) Tragedy
Overall, I gave it a 2.5 star, which is low but adding up the characters and plot development, a 2.5 is about the right amount. There's too less character development. Either too much comedy or too fast of a tragedy. Most importantly, the overall structure of the storyline was not very well written. I was tempted to give a higher score because of the ending, but after much thought, and with all the times I was frustrated with the narrative, a 2.5 worked better. I will admit that the best parts of the story was family dynamics, where the loyalty to one's family (outside of the royal family) is clear, but it was not really enough to make up for the rest of the story. I personally think the story would have been better if the comedic and tragic parts of the stories were intertwined instead of having it two basically separate sections.
---------------------------------
THE STORY: PARTS
1) Comedy: Based on the synopsis, I could guess that it was a bit more on the comedy side, but not this much. Here, we see the good family dynamics within the Sheng Family (male lead's family), and the character change of the male lead from a playboy to a general. While I like how characters change, I was looking for a more realistic character development for the characters. The whole idea of the male lead changing for the female lead was just okay at best. All in all, comedy is quite a huge part until the point that it's a bit too much, and the rivalry between two families was too repetitive.
1.5) Transition: As I was getting a bit tired of the comedy and the male characters (I'll explain below what 'male characters' mean), there is a transition to more of a serious side. I absolutely love court politics, harem politics, and schemes in many dramas, so I was really looking forward to the next part.
2) Tragedy: The moment we came into this section, everything started going down, or it was more like the comedy already wore the wall down, but this part was that last shock that tore the wall down. My dislike level for several characters just got me so mad and frustrated. As someone who barely stops watching an episode midway, this drama has broken that record. I've paused the drama so often because I was frustrated about how the story is going. The beginning of the 'tragedy' portion was a bit slow, where the Crown Princess just needs someone to shake her awake, and some people just need to have common sense. The rest of the 'tragedy' portion was too fast, where people died as if nothing major happened, and they died for the pretty meaningless things. Adding on to this portion, the romance of the main characters is just a 20-episode misunderstanding that is never resolved until the last few 6 episodes.
3) The Ending: I love the ending actually. This is perhaps the only part I really liked throughout the whole drama. After the odd people-dying portion of the tragedy part, this part was more reasonable. The main reason I liked this ending was because of the 'trust' portrayed. I'm someone who loves healthy, trustful relationships (not necessarily romantic ones mind you). Without spoiling much, there's definitely trust involved in this section. No one major really died near the last 5 episodes, which was a relief, and everyone had a good, satisfactory ending. On the other hand, the only concern I have is how one certain people died way too easily, and as mentioned before, the lack of character development.
---------------------------------
ACTING/CAST & MUSIC
Acting: One of the best parts of the drama! I watched this drama because of Li Yi Tong and Xu Kai, and as always, I was not disappointed by Li Yi Tong though I did not really like the character she played. Other than the main cast, the supporting actors were 100% amazing. The way they were able to convey the personality of the character and just give off the right aura was great. I'm definitely looking to watch more dramas by these actors.
Music: I did not really pay attention much to the music, so I would keep it as a 5.
---------------------------------
THEMES
SIDE CHARACTER ROMANCE: Other than the ending (which might have been good because it was a closure after keeping up with this drama for some time), the side character's romance, or side couples, was the best part of the drama. Be warned, however, that about half of the main side couples are broken apart, which is just a big sigh. There were some couples that I absolutely willed for a better ending, but the plot line had to do them like that; either one died, both died, or one imprisoning another. Putting the ending aside though, the romance between the characters are quite apparent although, now that I think about it, the relationships could have had a more balanced amount of power between each person that could have made their relationship better. I have to admit though that the romance was what kept me going.
THE 'MALE CHARACTERS': To put it all in a simple phrase is that it would absolutely uncomfortable watching the scenes with Prince Liang, Prince Zhou, and even Sheng Chu Mu (the male lead). I understand that historically men may have been disrespectful to women, and women are always 'gentle' and submissive. However, it was still very uncomfortable to watch how some of the main characters treated the women. It is not just the treatment of women either; it's about the way the script has it that the men made quite idiotic decisions and believed in unreasonable things. These were the scenes that I stopped for a dozen times because I just could not continue the drama.
---------------------------------
THE STORY: OVERALL
The story could pretty much be classified into two parts: 1) Comedy 2) Tragedy
Overall, I gave it a 2.5 star, which is low but adding up the characters and plot development, a 2.5 is about the right amount. There's too less character development. Either too much comedy or too fast of a tragedy. Most importantly, the overall structure of the storyline was not very well written. I was tempted to give a higher score because of the ending, but after much thought, and with all the times I was frustrated with the narrative, a 2.5 worked better. I will admit that the best parts of the story was family dynamics, where the loyalty to one's family (outside of the royal family) is clear, but it was not really enough to make up for the rest of the story. I personally think the story would have been better if the comedic and tragic parts of the stories were intertwined instead of having it two basically separate sections.
---------------------------------
THE STORY: PARTS
1) Comedy: Based on the synopsis, I could guess that it was a bit more on the comedy side, but not this much. Here, we see the good family dynamics within the Sheng Family (male lead's family), and the character change of the male lead from a playboy to a general. While I like how characters change, I was looking for a more realistic character development for the characters. The whole idea of the male lead changing for the female lead was just okay at best. All in all, comedy is quite a huge part until the point that it's a bit too much, and the rivalry between two families was too repetitive.
1.5) Transition: As I was getting a bit tired of the comedy and the male characters (I'll explain below what 'male characters' mean), there is a transition to more of a serious side. I absolutely love court politics, harem politics, and schemes in many dramas, so I was really looking forward to the next part.
2) Tragedy: The moment we came into this section, everything started going down, or it was more like the comedy already wore the wall down, but this part was that last shock that tore the wall down. My dislike level for several characters just got me so mad and frustrated. As someone who barely stops watching an episode midway, this drama has broken that record. I've paused the drama so often because I was frustrated about how the story is going. The beginning of the 'tragedy' portion was a bit slow, where the Crown Princess just needs someone to shake her awake, and some people just need to have common sense. The rest of the 'tragedy' portion was too fast, where people died as if nothing major happened, and they died for the pretty meaningless things. Adding on to this portion, the romance of the main characters is just a 20-episode misunderstanding that is never resolved until the last few 6 episodes.
3) The Ending: I love the ending actually. This is perhaps the only part I really liked throughout the whole drama. After the odd people-dying portion of the tragedy part, this part was more reasonable. The main reason I liked this ending was because of the 'trust' portrayed. I'm someone who loves healthy, trustful relationships (not necessarily romantic ones mind you). Without spoiling much, there's definitely trust involved in this section. No one major really died near the last 5 episodes, which was a relief, and everyone had a good, satisfactory ending. On the other hand, the only concern I have is how one certain people died way too easily, and as mentioned before, the lack of character development.
---------------------------------
ACTING/CAST & MUSIC
Acting: One of the best parts of the drama! I watched this drama because of Li Yi Tong and Xu Kai, and as always, I was not disappointed by Li Yi Tong though I did not really like the character she played. Other than the main cast, the supporting actors were 100% amazing. The way they were able to convey the personality of the character and just give off the right aura was great. I'm definitely looking to watch more dramas by these actors.
Music: I did not really pay attention much to the music, so I would keep it as a 5.
---------------------------------
THEMES
SIDE CHARACTER ROMANCE: Other than the ending (which might have been good because it was a closure after keeping up with this drama for some time), the side character's romance, or side couples, was the best part of the drama. Be warned, however, that about half of the main side couples are broken apart, which is just a big sigh. There were some couples that I absolutely willed for a better ending, but the plot line had to do them like that; either one died, both died, or one imprisoning another. Putting the ending aside though, the romance between the characters are quite apparent although, now that I think about it, the relationships could have had a more balanced amount of power between each person that could have made their relationship better. I have to admit though that the romance was what kept me going.
THE 'MALE CHARACTERS': To put it all in a simple phrase is that it would absolutely uncomfortable watching the scenes with Prince Liang, Prince Zhou, and even Sheng Chu Mu (the male lead). I understand that historically men may have been disrespectful to women, and women are always 'gentle' and submissive. However, it was still very uncomfortable to watch how some of the main characters treated the women. It is not just the treatment of women either; it's about the way the script has it that the men made quite idiotic decisions and believed in unreasonable things. These were the scenes that I stopped for a dozen times because I just could not continue the drama.
Was this review helpful to you?
