Best Adaptation of them all!

I want to bring some context from the original novel (this series is adapted from a novel, and not an original work from a screenwriter) as some people are bashing this series a bit too hard.

The Deer and the Cauldron (鹿鼎记), also known as The Duke of Mount Deer and Royal Tramp, is a novel by Jin Yong that was initially published as a newspaper serial from 1969 to 1972. Although the book is often referred to as a “Wuxia” genre novel, it is not quite typical of the genre: the protagonist, Wei Xiaobao, is not an adept martial artist, but rather an “Anti-Hero” who relies on wit to cun his way out of trouble. The cauldron (鼎) symbolizes the imperial Mandate of Heaven, while the deer (鹿) symbolizes the common people of China, who were at the mercy of ruthless warlords of that time period. The title indicates one of the novel's major themes, the struggle of Han Chinese supporters of the fallen Ming dynasty to free China from the rule of the invading Manchu Qing dynasty.

Yes, there's a harem for the protagonist, but it isn't really the focus. The story is more about the protagonist's relationship with the emperor, his status as a double/triple agent, and his conflicting loyalties between the emperor and the rebels which he befriended along his journey.

Many of Jin Yong's novels are set in a specific historical period, mixing fiction with historical events and characters. This story is set during the reign of Emperor Kangxi (1661-1722) and features some elements from another story, Sword Stained With Royal Blood. As of writing this review, this novel has been adapted into 5 films and 7 TV series. The novel itself spans 50 chapters in 5 volumes.

Unlike many recent stories that focus on instant gratification, the author does not rush through character or setting development. Older stories like this tend to start slow before picking up the pace. For example, Lord of the Rings has a total of 60 chapters, but Frodo is still on the run from the Black Riders in Chapter 12.

The protagonist has 7 wives, but the first girl only debuts pretty late into the drama (which is Chapter 10 of the novel).

In the novel you won’t get any Mary Sue, protagonist with over powered martial arts, effortless triumphs, mindless harem females, self-inserted power fantasy, and fast-paced minimalistic setup.

I recommend anyone who likes or dislikes the drama to read the novel as it is a classic that will give a sense of fresh air from today’s fast paced stories.


Now onto my review of this drama is that it is the most faithful one out of all the adaptations to the original novel itself. I know that they cut like 700 scenes from the filming and it made some parts of the plot confusing if you didn’t read the original novel. If they didn’t cut the scenes, it could have been 70+ eps (I personally won’t mind) which is like a sit-com standard and the producers most likely wanted to keep it at a TV series standard of a max of 50 eps for the casual TV audience. However, I believe that the editing could have done a much better job and made it more smooth as some parts could have just been re-arranged or cut out even more as they didn’t add much to the main plot. The drama focuses more on the protagonist’s harem than the novel but I think that’s what most casual TV audience wants as opposed to complicated schemes and wits. This adaptation had the most amount of beautiful actresses compared to the others which is a plus although a few of the actresses’ acting needed more work(but they were mainly newcomers on their first or second TV series so I guess it's ok).

The children acting in the beginning was superb and I can see why they had so much screen time before they moved onto the adult actors which equally did a great job. My personal favorite females are Shuang Er and Princess Jian Ning. I didn’t really like Ah Ke as she was too b*tchy.

I know that last couple eps were a bit boring and not as high quality as earlier parts of the TV series. If I was in charge of making the TV series, I might have just cut the Russian part and shorten the island cave part as it didn't really matter to the main plot and was kinda boring in the TV series. Instead, you add a story of Xiao Bao fighting Wu San Gui and then Taiwan later, which would have been much more interesting.

Now to address some complaints that people might have, every MC has plot armour or else they would just be a disposable side character and Wei Xiaobao has about below average plot armour in today’s standard of MCs. Remember that Wei Xiaobao is a non-OP anti-hero that has never been educated and has to relies on his street smarts to get out of bad situations even if some petty tricks are used like drugging which may seem stupid to some people.

For the complaint of drugging and raping six women together, yes the wives got drugged but if you didn’t skim through that ep and watched it carefully then you will know that it was more an unexpected consequence from the MC trying to drug the villains in a dangerous situation. The MC didn’t rape the females as they were all his wives already and most of them gave implied consent throughout parts of the story. That was why none of them were too bothered by it as you can’t really be considered as a real wife if you haven't even performed the “final deed.” I think some people might have misunderstood it as it supposed to be a “happy reunion” to bring back together the MC and all the female characters that audience members might have already forgotten about.

Honestly, this drama is still very well made for a Cdrama that was filmed pre-2007. I can wholeheartedly recommend everyone to watch this if you get a chance.

P.S. Do yourself a favour and don’t watch the 2020 version as I had to rewatch this 2008 version to cleanse my eyes of it.

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