This review may contain spoilers
The cinematography here is stunning* and one of best I've seen. I understand now why this director is so praised- he makes every shot beautiful to look at...from the snowy village of Linan to the war scenes to the indoor palaces...every scene was a visual treat. Even the falcon flying over landscapes made the world of Pursuit of Jade look big and epic. And it was pretty epic.
Fan Changyu is an extremely likable heroine. She's strong, brave and a survivor. At the same time, she's also the kind of person you'd want as a friend and as an ally. I think my favorite trait of hers is her kindness. The way she hired the Pig Butcher squad even if they tried to trash her restaurant (absolutely loved the camaraderie of this group); the way she forgave the old lady who, in the beginning, would not stop saying mean things to her and about her. I also love how she takes care of Ning and the friendships she develops with the other characters. Her caring for QianQian, her conversations with the Grand Princess, even the discipleship she had with Grand Tutor Tao...all very heartwarming. The romance here is relatively minimal, but it will satisfy those who crave a yearning male lead. Marquis Wu'An starts out as cold and reserved in the beginning, but he later becomes the type who would fight for his relationship even if his lady love is a bit reluctant at first.
Every actor/actress here did a good job, even the falcon was good. The best acting probably came from the actor playing Qi Min. His scenes were pretty powerful and disturbing. If this actor has any aspirations of playing a good* male lead, hopefully he lands a role where he can perform just as well...his performance as the twisted prince is so convincing, hopefully he doesn't get stereotyped in this kind of role.
One of the other things I liked about this drama is that it shows the war from the perspective of small village folk, not just from the perspective of nobles/royals. It was heartbreaking to see the destruction of Linan and the impact was made greater because we got to see so many happy scenes among them before that.
I wanted to give Pursuit of Jade a higher rating, but there were a couple of things that prevented me from doing it.
The depiction of the female lead's brute strength was unbelievable to me. I'm not against the idea of a woman or a physically small person defeating a bigger person in hand to hand combat, but I would have preferred that it be a result of his/her skill or smarts. In Changyu's first battle, she basically defeats the biggest and baddest warrior there and you literally have her pressing down on him where he struggles against her. When he smashes his hammer at her, she winces and holds her arm, but is hardly fazed..and yet when she slashes him, it's the exact opposite. I'm not against female empowerment (one of my favorite arcs is how she eventually becomes a general) but I would have preferred a bit of realism. POJ is not a fantasy/xianxia. It's set in the real world where the characters don't have any powers. This is the reason why I prefer her duel with Prince Changxin, where she actually uses techniques and even her small size (ex: running on top of his battle spear, etc) to defeat him. In as much as I like Changyu, I simply couldn't believe it when other characters would point out how strong she was. The actress playing her was literally one of the smallest (aside from the kids) there, but she was able to carry buckets of rocks that people more than half her size couldn't?
POJ does a good job at depicting female empowerment (not just through Changyu but also through QianQian, the princess, even Ning...) but it isn't perfect. It still has this double standard when it comes to beauty. Even in Asian dramas, where the male leads are slender...one can still tell that when it comes to women, people still prefer to see all the strength but none* of the muscle that logically comes with it. Tian Xiwei fits the beauty standard I've seen in many a drama or romance novel. She's petite and doll-like. I have nothing against this and she did a great job with her role, but given that the film makers chose a person of much* smaller build, it would not have been a big deal if they changed a few things. Perhaps presenting her as a skilled fighter who relies on speed and skill (like IP man) would have been more logical than insisting on unrealistic depictions of Herculean strength. The character was already special, she didn't need that to be even more so.
If the whole point of this was to make physically small people feel empowered, I think their approach was actually counterproductive because it doesn't show how a person of smaller build could gain the upper hand in a real world scenario.
There were other unbelievable things. Three characters here (Sui Yuanqing, Changyu and Qi Min) fall from a great height- I'm talking apex like mountains here...but still manage to survive. Prince Qi Min was supposed to be horribly burned, but how does he come back with a completely different face? They didn't exactly have top notch plastic surgery at that time?
Zhang Linghe does a good job as the noble Marquis Wu An (it doesn't hurt that he's incredibly good looking and a pleasure to look at), but his character doesn't feel as layered or developed. I have no problem with how he has all the qualities of an ideal male lead (good looking, good at combat, etc)...this is fine, since other male leads also have them, but Wu'An's story feels brushed aside. Even perfect characters or perfectly good characters have struggles which are shown...but practically everything about him is just mentioned via exposition.
When he says that the "happiest times in his life were with Changyu in Linan", we don't see how these experiences affect him or how they help thaw him or make him fall in love. When he says he feels the agony of being used by his uncle as a "blade to protect the realm", we don't see how difficult this must have been either, because the entire war story is from Changyu's point of view, not his. One of the few times we see him during the war is when he frantically leaves camp to go to Linan when he thinks she's in danger. He later has a duel with Sui Yuanqing, but they only show its beginning and not how it ends. We are allowed to cheer for Changyu when she defeats her opponents, but not him when he does the same.
We first see him buried alive from an assassination attempt where he is forced to lie low since he has many enemies...but we don't really get a feel of how precarious the situation was for him in the beginning. When he is later attacked by thugs, it turns out that they weren't even after him, but after Changyu and her sister.
There are dramas like The Judge from Hell where the male lead is clearly in a supporting role. There are dramas like Eternal Love where both the male and female lead are mains...but it's made clear from the start that the girl has a bigger role since the guy literally comes into the picture a good 13 episodes after her. I was a bit confused by POJ...yes, it was about female empowerment, but was it meant to be female centric in a way that the male lead was basically a supporting character? I got the impression that he was also supposed to have a big role?
But when Marquis Wu An was there...he didn't feel at all present.
The only time I saw his point of view was during his flashbacks where he dreamt of his mother. I didn't get a feel of how the war or being a warrior shaped him. I wasn't even sure at what point he fell in love with Changyu. The last few episodes could have focused on him more, since they were about the nobles and the unveiling of the past, but they were more about his uncle.
The last 6 episodes were also all about palace intrigue. The whole "what happened 17 years ago to frame so and so etc and put so and so in power etc" is something I've seen time and again. I would say it's presented better here than in other dramas (I think the best depiction of palace intrigue is still Nirvana in Fire), but overall, I felt neutral about it.
The whole hidden identity is also a repeated trope I'm not sure about. The main thing that annoyed me about it here is that it takes more than half the drama for Changyu to find out who Xie Zheng (Wu An) really is. He has good reasons to hide his identity, but we are talking about a good 40 episodes here and I was not a fan of how she was one of the last people to know about him.
Also, the amount of romance here might disappoint some people.
I don't think it really matters if a drama has a slow burn relationship or a love/attraction at first sight...or if love is depicted in a way that is subtle or if there is a grand declaration of it. The only thing that matters to me is how well written it is and if the way it is expressed fits the characters personalities...but the problem in POJ is that it is not really a romance...it's mostly a war story and a story about survival, evolution and other things...the romance is meant* to be minimal...but the marketing for this (even the poster*) can mislead people into thinking that it's more of a romance with a war story in the background but it's actually the opposite.
Fan Changyu is an extremely likable heroine. She's strong, brave and a survivor. At the same time, she's also the kind of person you'd want as a friend and as an ally. I think my favorite trait of hers is her kindness. The way she hired the Pig Butcher squad even if they tried to trash her restaurant (absolutely loved the camaraderie of this group); the way she forgave the old lady who, in the beginning, would not stop saying mean things to her and about her. I also love how she takes care of Ning and the friendships she develops with the other characters. Her caring for QianQian, her conversations with the Grand Princess, even the discipleship she had with Grand Tutor Tao...all very heartwarming. The romance here is relatively minimal, but it will satisfy those who crave a yearning male lead. Marquis Wu'An starts out as cold and reserved in the beginning, but he later becomes the type who would fight for his relationship even if his lady love is a bit reluctant at first.
Every actor/actress here did a good job, even the falcon was good. The best acting probably came from the actor playing Qi Min. His scenes were pretty powerful and disturbing. If this actor has any aspirations of playing a good* male lead, hopefully he lands a role where he can perform just as well...his performance as the twisted prince is so convincing, hopefully he doesn't get stereotyped in this kind of role.
One of the other things I liked about this drama is that it shows the war from the perspective of small village folk, not just from the perspective of nobles/royals. It was heartbreaking to see the destruction of Linan and the impact was made greater because we got to see so many happy scenes among them before that.
I wanted to give Pursuit of Jade a higher rating, but there were a couple of things that prevented me from doing it.
The depiction of the female lead's brute strength was unbelievable to me. I'm not against the idea of a woman or a physically small person defeating a bigger person in hand to hand combat, but I would have preferred that it be a result of his/her skill or smarts. In Changyu's first battle, she basically defeats the biggest and baddest warrior there and you literally have her pressing down on him where he struggles against her. When he smashes his hammer at her, she winces and holds her arm, but is hardly fazed..and yet when she slashes him, it's the exact opposite. I'm not against female empowerment (one of my favorite arcs is how she eventually becomes a general) but I would have preferred a bit of realism. POJ is not a fantasy/xianxia. It's set in the real world where the characters don't have any powers. This is the reason why I prefer her duel with Prince Changxin, where she actually uses techniques and even her small size (ex: running on top of his battle spear, etc) to defeat him. In as much as I like Changyu, I simply couldn't believe it when other characters would point out how strong she was. The actress playing her was literally one of the smallest (aside from the kids) there, but she was able to carry buckets of rocks that people more than half her size couldn't?
POJ does a good job at depicting female empowerment (not just through Changyu but also through QianQian, the princess, even Ning...) but it isn't perfect. It still has this double standard when it comes to beauty. Even in Asian dramas, where the male leads are slender...one can still tell that when it comes to women, people still prefer to see all the strength but none* of the muscle that logically comes with it. Tian Xiwei fits the beauty standard I've seen in many a drama or romance novel. She's petite and doll-like. I have nothing against this and she did a great job with her role, but given that the film makers chose a person of much* smaller build, it would not have been a big deal if they changed a few things. Perhaps presenting her as a skilled fighter who relies on speed and skill (like IP man) would have been more logical than insisting on unrealistic depictions of Herculean strength. The character was already special, she didn't need that to be even more so.
If the whole point of this was to make physically small people feel empowered, I think their approach was actually counterproductive because it doesn't show how a person of smaller build could gain the upper hand in a real world scenario.
There were other unbelievable things. Three characters here (Sui Yuanqing, Changyu and Qi Min) fall from a great height- I'm talking apex like mountains here...but still manage to survive. Prince Qi Min was supposed to be horribly burned, but how does he come back with a completely different face? They didn't exactly have top notch plastic surgery at that time?
Zhang Linghe does a good job as the noble Marquis Wu An (it doesn't hurt that he's incredibly good looking and a pleasure to look at), but his character doesn't feel as layered or developed. I have no problem with how he has all the qualities of an ideal male lead (good looking, good at combat, etc)...this is fine, since other male leads also have them, but Wu'An's story feels brushed aside. Even perfect characters or perfectly good characters have struggles which are shown...but practically everything about him is just mentioned via exposition.
When he says that the "happiest times in his life were with Changyu in Linan", we don't see how these experiences affect him or how they help thaw him or make him fall in love. When he says he feels the agony of being used by his uncle as a "blade to protect the realm", we don't see how difficult this must have been either, because the entire war story is from Changyu's point of view, not his. One of the few times we see him during the war is when he frantically leaves camp to go to Linan when he thinks she's in danger. He later has a duel with Sui Yuanqing, but they only show its beginning and not how it ends. We are allowed to cheer for Changyu when she defeats her opponents, but not him when he does the same.
We first see him buried alive from an assassination attempt where he is forced to lie low since he has many enemies...but we don't really get a feel of how precarious the situation was for him in the beginning. When he is later attacked by thugs, it turns out that they weren't even after him, but after Changyu and her sister.
There are dramas like The Judge from Hell where the male lead is clearly in a supporting role. There are dramas like Eternal Love where both the male and female lead are mains...but it's made clear from the start that the girl has a bigger role since the guy literally comes into the picture a good 13 episodes after her. I was a bit confused by POJ...yes, it was about female empowerment, but was it meant to be female centric in a way that the male lead was basically a supporting character? I got the impression that he was also supposed to have a big role?
But when Marquis Wu An was there...he didn't feel at all present.
The only time I saw his point of view was during his flashbacks where he dreamt of his mother. I didn't get a feel of how the war or being a warrior shaped him. I wasn't even sure at what point he fell in love with Changyu. The last few episodes could have focused on him more, since they were about the nobles and the unveiling of the past, but they were more about his uncle.
The last 6 episodes were also all about palace intrigue. The whole "what happened 17 years ago to frame so and so etc and put so and so in power etc" is something I've seen time and again. I would say it's presented better here than in other dramas (I think the best depiction of palace intrigue is still Nirvana in Fire), but overall, I felt neutral about it.
The whole hidden identity is also a repeated trope I'm not sure about. The main thing that annoyed me about it here is that it takes more than half the drama for Changyu to find out who Xie Zheng (Wu An) really is. He has good reasons to hide his identity, but we are talking about a good 40 episodes here and I was not a fan of how she was one of the last people to know about him.
Also, the amount of romance here might disappoint some people.
I don't think it really matters if a drama has a slow burn relationship or a love/attraction at first sight...or if love is depicted in a way that is subtle or if there is a grand declaration of it. The only thing that matters to me is how well written it is and if the way it is expressed fits the characters personalities...but the problem in POJ is that it is not really a romance...it's mostly a war story and a story about survival, evolution and other things...the romance is meant* to be minimal...but the marketing for this (even the poster*) can mislead people into thinking that it's more of a romance with a war story in the background but it's actually the opposite.
Was this review helpful to you?
