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The Forbidden Flower chinese drama review
Completed
The Forbidden Flower
6 people found this review helpful
by Shiro
Mar 14, 2023
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 8.5
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 10.0
Rewatch Value 6.0

The story may be iffy at times but the execution is gorgeous

This was just so pretty, from the scenery to the colours, lighting... And OST making me ad an extra or maybe even two star just for being a pleasure fore the ear and eye.

The story itself has some issues, I am not going to lie not so much for the age gap as the main leads are indeed consenting adults, and not in a type of power relation where one part is dependent on the other.

The female lead, young as she may be is smart, forward, and is going in to this with her eyes wide open. It is easy to see that she and the male lead connect on several levels. She does of course have some issues but they are more about other stuff than age. However the way they style her most of the time does make her look a bit to innocent and child like, something that did bother me.

The male lead has an awful headband most of the time reminding me of 80s rock,I personally love 80's rock but the look was just bad. that sad, aside from the head band the guy did indeed show some great aesthetics and was indeed shot in slow motion from a bunch of very flattering angles. His character was kind, pretty passive, and seamed to try to hold back most of the dram a. And as long as he holds back we the viewers are offered a lot of build up, gazes, slow mo stuff... And fluff, colourful lighting and stem or fluff making the frame look all dreamy... steamy...

The second male lead is probably one of the most oblivious characters in all of dramaland, I honestly think they made him stupid and childlike to show us that the female lead was a better match to the old guy than the guy her own age. Other than that he was just in the way and slightly annoying.

The female leads mom shows us yet again that controlling your grown up child is a bad idea, she is in desperate need of therapy and did not really add anything good to the plot at all , not even good drama and flavour, just flavourless spice that burns your mouth but gives you nothing.

The rest of the characters range from ok I see you are there to wtf, just don't.

There is a really cute cat, a bunch of fish some of dramalands most amazing umbrella scenes with not only black and yellow umbrellas but also leaf umbrella and painted umbrella. Besides naming the drama "The Forbidden flower" the drama incorporates a whole range of interesting flowers, both on canvas and out in fields. Making both animals , umbrellas and flowers an in-separate good part of the plot, more interesting than most of the supporting characters.

All in all a good watch with plenty of steam, but it is definitely not for everyone, and while there are a few boring episodes some odd editing choices (censorship?) here and there it is overall highly binge able and a decent drama to watch if not for the plot than for the beauty of cinematography and OST,

P.s there are quite a few flashbacks and montages that look a bit like an 80s romance intro/power-balad video.
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