This review may contain spoilers
Fantasy short dramas tend to be bad for the fact that they are a short drama.While Seeds of Scarlet Longing is not completely full on fantasy, it has fantasy elements that because of the format, aren't explored enough. And it falls short because of it in almost every aspect. The plot feels rushed towards the end and none of the themes the drama tries to explore is fully developed. But overall, it was simply enjoyable.
The first half is very promising, it's cute and the acting is on point, specially the leads and second male lead. Female lead is very lovable to me, you can understand easily the male lead and the second lead is very interesting. I think the second female lead is a little bit weak, but she's a new actress, so I think she did well, I just wished her character had a little more depth. The villains also needed a little bit more depth. The romance between the leads was also ON POINT. The relationship between uncle and nephew was amazing, the female friendship power! Overall, the dinamics and acting really saved the drama for me.
The dinamics, styling and cinematography were also great! And I'm just being petty but the male character's wig was so visible, wish they tried to conceal it more. But Zhao Qing and Deng Xiaoci's styling is top tier overall!
Now, the drama falls apart the moment it tries to resolve the issues, because it's very caricature-like. They simply talk to the people and the people understand that they are wrong. The fact that the Jadelings trick men to live with them is also never ever acknowledged and the conflict is resolved so easily that it just falls flat. That's why I truly think, that maybe if it was a longer drama, maybe the writers would have put a little more effort into the conflict and themes within the drama.
Despite that, the ending was very satisfying, specially for the female characters, who chose themselves and their freedom.
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This review may contain spoilers
My first 10/10
I usually never give a complete 10/10 to any drama, even if I enjoy it a lot because, usually, there are tiny little things that bother me about the drama, though not enough to overall disappoint me a lot.But Fated Hearts was not that. Not only did I enjoy this drama A LOT, I sincerely loved everything about it.
When it comes to cdramas, writers tend to forget about telling an overall story and concentrate mostly on the leads and their romance, leading to unsatisfying resolution of conflict and sloppy ending and plot holes. But Fated Hearts' greatest point is the writing. It is simply beautiful.
While the leads are strong and great, I dare to say they are not the strongest point of the drama. It's the conflict, and how every single character is so well written, coherent and tragic.
It' absolutely delicious to see how every character is so complicated, how every antagonist is so layered and how the conflict isn't able to be solved with just a heart-felt apology or even a single death. It's so much bigger than that, it's so much more complicated than that. The relationships, the consequences of everybody's actions are so wonderfully written!!!
Nothing is as simple as "this person is evil", and watching these characters's choices and mistakes snowball into an inevitable tragedy is just DELICIOUS!
So yeah, I think the writing is definitely the greatest strength of this drama, and it earned that 10/10 from me.
Also... Princess Xiyang, my beloved, I'll always defend you my queen!
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