cnguyen1031
This review may contain spoilers
So I had a lot of high hopes for this drama going into it. It had a lot of potential to be a really good drama for the time period, but overall the drama had weird pacing issues and so much story to tell/characters to develop that even though it was 50 episodes, it felt lacking in some places, and overstuffed in others.
STORY: Story pacing and being able to develop a full and intriguing plot with a good flow are the most important thing to a drama - second only to the skills of the actors involved. You can have the strongest actors, but if there are pacing and development issues within the plot, the drama is doomed. Like most people, I had an issue with the drama beginning in media res. The first episode begins with the assassination of a key military strategist for the Yi family military (I'm not going to consider this a spoiler because it's literally in the first 10 minutes). That's all fine and dandy, but because the story begins two years into the marriage of the main couple - it just already sets things up badly. Supposedly the main couple at the beginning have a very strained relationship - but why does it make sense then for our female lead to be rushing to death to be with the husband she doesn't actually have feelings for? If the drama was filmed chronologically then maybe we could see what was going through our female's mind when she rushed up to certain dangers to be with her husband, but we are thrown into the middle of the story and it really makes me agree with the thoughts of others (that she's only doing it to pretend to be a loyal and loving wife).
Literally just within the first episode, I already had issues with the story - but I kept persevering through.
The rest of the drama then had its ups and downs. I was still pretty hooked watching the drama - there were a decent amount of exciting "omg" scenes to keep you invested, but then it was also partially because if you missed even a small chunk of the drama it was easy to get lost completely. There is so much political/military plot going on with very little explanation as to who the characters are or how they are related. (Ex. I didn't know how the Yi Family and Mu Rong family were related for the longest time - so didn't understand why Qin Sang was allowed to pass up the mountain, etc. until it was later explained that the eldest daughter-in-law was from the Mu Rong family - which isn't until a few episodes into the drama). There's a brief explanation at the beginning about the various militaries that are at war with each other (Yi Family, Mu Rong Family, Li Chong Nian's army, and Jiang Shuang Xi's army) but again there's just so much going on that it's hard to remember who's fighting who at this point.
Romance wise - also weirdly paced for me. They have a strained relationship at the beginning - and there's understandable love triangles/side lovers, etc. going on, but once they actually work out their issues with each other - things are heated for a moment, and then really die down after that. From the moment they reconcile through the rest of the drama - they're supposedly now very in love with each other and actually care for one another; however, it felt like there was more heat/chemistry between them when they were estranged from one another. Maybe just a personal opinion.
ACTING:
I think it was more of who the actual characters were that I kind of got annoyed with.
Qin Sang - stubborn, loyal, strong-willed, but fairly bull headed. She was logical and understanding at certain points, but at other times she was unreasonable and caused trouble. I appreciate that she wasn't quite a Mary Sue character, but for someone who was fairly well educated and cultured, she was just bleh and kind of stupid at other points. That being said, I think Sun Yi did a decent job portraying this character. She pulled off the cold, unfeeling character fairly well, but I was hoping she'd bring in a bit more of her cutesy-ness (a la Because of You) once the relationship between the two was better - but it was still just a bit lacking.
Yi Lian Kai - I actually really enjoyed Elvis Han's portrayal of this character - and the character overall. He pulled off the arrogant, playboy, young master very well - but was also believably mature and logical when needed. You could see the changes in his personality when he was happy, angry, sad, etc. and overall I have a decent impression of his acting after this drama.
Pan Jian Chi - Another actor who I think did a fairly decent job in this portrayal. As I was watching, I actually felt like PJC cared for Qin Sang and believed that his feelings were real. You could also see the struggle between love and duty in his face and could understand why he made the choices he did. Overall good job.
REWATCH VALUE: I'm not really jumping to rewatch this any time soon. If I did, it would mostly be to understand better what is going on politically since I know who everyone is and what relationships are already established. It is another drama that I was hoping would be a new favorite, but kind of falls just slightly above memorable.
STORY: Story pacing and being able to develop a full and intriguing plot with a good flow are the most important thing to a drama - second only to the skills of the actors involved. You can have the strongest actors, but if there are pacing and development issues within the plot, the drama is doomed. Like most people, I had an issue with the drama beginning in media res. The first episode begins with the assassination of a key military strategist for the Yi family military (I'm not going to consider this a spoiler because it's literally in the first 10 minutes). That's all fine and dandy, but because the story begins two years into the marriage of the main couple - it just already sets things up badly. Supposedly the main couple at the beginning have a very strained relationship - but why does it make sense then for our female lead to be rushing to death to be with the husband she doesn't actually have feelings for? If the drama was filmed chronologically then maybe we could see what was going through our female's mind when she rushed up to certain dangers to be with her husband, but we are thrown into the middle of the story and it really makes me agree with the thoughts of others (that she's only doing it to pretend to be a loyal and loving wife).
Literally just within the first episode, I already had issues with the story - but I kept persevering through.
The rest of the drama then had its ups and downs. I was still pretty hooked watching the drama - there were a decent amount of exciting "omg" scenes to keep you invested, but then it was also partially because if you missed even a small chunk of the drama it was easy to get lost completely. There is so much political/military plot going on with very little explanation as to who the characters are or how they are related. (Ex. I didn't know how the Yi Family and Mu Rong family were related for the longest time - so didn't understand why Qin Sang was allowed to pass up the mountain, etc. until it was later explained that the eldest daughter-in-law was from the Mu Rong family - which isn't until a few episodes into the drama). There's a brief explanation at the beginning about the various militaries that are at war with each other (Yi Family, Mu Rong Family, Li Chong Nian's army, and Jiang Shuang Xi's army) but again there's just so much going on that it's hard to remember who's fighting who at this point.
Romance wise - also weirdly paced for me. They have a strained relationship at the beginning - and there's understandable love triangles/side lovers, etc. going on, but once they actually work out their issues with each other - things are heated for a moment, and then really die down after that. From the moment they reconcile through the rest of the drama - they're supposedly now very in love with each other and actually care for one another; however, it felt like there was more heat/chemistry between them when they were estranged from one another. Maybe just a personal opinion.
ACTING:
I think it was more of who the actual characters were that I kind of got annoyed with.
Qin Sang - stubborn, loyal, strong-willed, but fairly bull headed. She was logical and understanding at certain points, but at other times she was unreasonable and caused trouble. I appreciate that she wasn't quite a Mary Sue character, but for someone who was fairly well educated and cultured, she was just bleh and kind of stupid at other points. That being said, I think Sun Yi did a decent job portraying this character. She pulled off the cold, unfeeling character fairly well, but I was hoping she'd bring in a bit more of her cutesy-ness (a la Because of You) once the relationship between the two was better - but it was still just a bit lacking.
Yi Lian Kai - I actually really enjoyed Elvis Han's portrayal of this character - and the character overall. He pulled off the arrogant, playboy, young master very well - but was also believably mature and logical when needed. You could see the changes in his personality when he was happy, angry, sad, etc. and overall I have a decent impression of his acting after this drama.
Pan Jian Chi - Another actor who I think did a fairly decent job in this portrayal. As I was watching, I actually felt like PJC cared for Qin Sang and believed that his feelings were real. You could also see the struggle between love and duty in his face and could understand why he made the choices he did. Overall good job.
REWATCH VALUE: I'm not really jumping to rewatch this any time soon. If I did, it would mostly be to understand better what is going on politically since I know who everyone is and what relationships are already established. It is another drama that I was hoping would be a new favorite, but kind of falls just slightly above memorable.
Was this review helpful to you?
