Cambear
Rating it on its own, it’s very pretty and there are some moving moments. Clearly the visual effects department got a chunk of the budget so there are some lovely settings and a huge epic battle. There’s also a ton of characters and a rather complex plot so some of this is hard to follow.
Comparing it to the other versions of the story, Ye Hua’s character is unexpectedly lively and the ending is open-ended and quite a change. Pretty surprising so it definitely breaks with expectations.
Overall, I enjoyed some parts and watching where they made changes from other versions. I didn’t like most of the changes, but they were mainly interesting. It’s watchable, but don’t expect it to line up with other versions of this story which are much better at getting the emotions right.
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The cast is great and there are strong, interesting characters. There’s tons of political conflict and lots of drama. The sets and costumes look great too.
I wish the bad guys had a bit more dimension because they were clearly bad from the start and somehow still get away with everything time and time again. Ugh! How dumb does that make the good guys look? Also some plot points seem really, really dumb, but what can you do when you’re trying to fill in the blanks from history?
So overall, I enjoyed this one, but a few things just threw me off.
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First the leading male character is played by an actor with extremely limited range. Coupled with his habit of Machiavelli moves on the love of his life, I didn’t have a lot of sympathy for him. The leading lady is capable and the second male lead is good with a character that’s better fleshed out and more lively and fun. It’s really hard not to cheer for him.
To make this premise last for 46 episodes, there’s a lot of stupid misunderstandings that would be solved if someone were to, IDK, say something. Ugh! Also, characters get incredibly inconsistent to serve plot needs which is something that annoys me.
Bonus: the fashion is all kinds of interesting. I love the quasi Joker-cosplay of one of the supporting characters. He actually wears an outfit nearly identical to the Batman villain several times. Lol!
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But there are a few things that majorly bugged me. Bong Soen is such a doormat that it’s painful to watch and I don’t want to cheer her on. She’s so spineless, it’s hard to care about the main character and it’s hard to want a happy ending for her since she doesn’t necessarily deserve it.
The comedy also gets a little too broad sometimes, but that’s my own personal preference. I found funny moments, but some of the loud, boisterous moments went on too long for me.
Also, in the #metoo era, there are cringeworthy moments as the leading lady tries to seduce the main guy. Harassment works both ways and this goes over the top for laughs, but it wouldn’t be funny in real life.
Anyway, some major drawbacks, but overall I really enjoyed this one.
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The other characters are fine, but this is a sober story and it’s not enough to compensate for a snoozy female lead.
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Although it’s contempary, it’s a bit of a fantasy about life as a superstar and the luxury life. Not totally realistic, but this is a rom com and not a documentary. Just focus on the love-hate-love romance which is well executed by capable actors. Additionally, there’s a young Dilraba who demonstrates she started her schtick early and has refined it in recent years.
So this is a sweet rom com that’s fluffy and fun.
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But as a movie, this doesn’t have time to develop any of the relationships or their conflicts so some of the changes seem right out of the blue.
Add to that a very exaggerated style from the director and this is not a great movie. It’s like the director said “Can I get someone to scream in this scene?” every 10 minute or so. Yep, this goest to huge extremes.
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But with 20 episodes, there isn’t as much character development as you normally see in a series. There are some bits here and there, but not a lot. The inevitable relationships are pretty predictable, but not totally satisfying.
So it’s a popcorn adventure with some interesting twists, but not very involving.
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With all that going for it, I really should like it more. What’s not working? A cast of dozens and dozens underdeveloped characters.
There’s tons of characters which get introduced, serve a minor plot point and then reappear kind of randomly. Coupled with lots of dropped plot threads and it adds up to a writing team that couldn’t figure out how to balance pacing, plot and characters. Everything is a little off balance. If the writers ouldjust focus on the key characters we needed to care about, then I could get more emotional involved with the show. Instead, it was entertaining, but at a distance.
A couple of critical characters really needed more emphasis including Sang Sang, the lead character. She gets short changed A LOT. Since her character is soft-spoken and humble, hiding her isn’t helping things any. Sigh. Just another example of what didn’t go right.
Some of these dropped threads may be because they were counting on additional seasons to tell the story. So much feels incomplete which is pretty sloppy storytelling.
It was refreshing to see a lot of new and different faces. For once, the cast doesn’t look like they are all spokespersons for luxury brands once the wigs come off. It’s great to see a wide variety of faces and personalities.
Unfortunately it looks like they didn’t sign all cast members back for the next season so it will be ingesting to see what the new faces will do to the characters.
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I really enjoyed the ensemble parts of this with the three main leads. All of them play their roles well and are a lot of fun. The super complicated second half with the big serial killer was a bit too much for me when I really wanted them to get back to the characters and less on the story. I like Wallace and Sandra so I was hoping the end story would also include them more, but it’s really plot focused.
People who love crime thrillers will undoubtedly like the second half more than I did.
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This feels more modern than most since the female lead has more contemporary attitudes and, well, breaks just about every etiquette rule. In almost every episode I think “she should probably lose her head for doing that” and it never happens. She gets away with breaking nearly ever rule and somehow, someone is always protecting her, Other than being the star of the show, there’s no clear reason why she gets away with it all. That started to bug me after a while. Also, at one point, she because a pouty, airhead brat and that’s a definite turnoff. For a character that’s supposed to be brave and smart, that felt like taking 20 steps backward. Ugh.
Anyway, there are some great plot schemes and fun moments. It’s funny to see plot similarities and differences from Ruyi’s Royal Love since there are common people with wildly different interpretations.
If you like Palace Dramas, this one is a bit livelier and a fresher take, but it doesn’t feel really historically accurate.
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It starts off full of energy as Ruyi marries into the palace. Then it sort of slow down to a more majestic pace. With 87 episodes, they don’t need to rush anything. They can take their time and set up some really complicated plots with payoffs.
While this is a romance at the heart of the story, it’s very subtle sometimes. Simmering, battered, suffering and dormant sometimes. It’s hard to cheer on a romance where the guy is constantly picking up new women and believing their evil schemes. Sigh.
So this is enjoyable, but way too indulgent for me. I started skipping around a bit since it could have been edited a bit.
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Also, the adorable child tends to steal a lot of his scenes. Thank goodness he’s not bratty and it’s his endearing warmth and energy that makes this critical character work.
This is solid viewing and one that holds up over time. If you want to give your heart a workout, this is a good choice.
(Also loved the tiny blink-and-you’ll-miss it Ethan Ruan cameo.)
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What worked? There are some fun bits with the gender reversal and a slow-burn hate-to-love romance that I’m always a sucker for.
What didn’t work? The humor was extremely broad (fart jokes, vomiting) which is not my favorite kind of comedy. Also, some of the male-gaze scenes way too broad as well. This is a comedy and fairly low-brow so it’s not like the characters are well-developed or there’s a a great plot.
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The story works best when it’s focused on the main leads. There’s lots of fun and romance as this mismatched couple get to know each other. It’s so refreshing to see the role reversal and it’s not overplayed.
The secondary couples also have their moments and are actually pretty strong since I usually get bored by them. It helps that they aren’t the norm — scheming to get their love back by doing evil things that no one really notices. These characters get fleshed out and are almost too noble. Also very unique - people in this era aren’t obsessed with gender so much as the person. Nice to see some variety here.
One major hiccup — the story wanders around from episodes 20 to 40 as they need to stretch for time. This section is all about politics so it’s a lot of sitting around and talking. And talking. Yawn.
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