crimson3000

The writing is very bad. Just checked the writing team, Gao Xuan and Ren Bao Ru, they written very few dramas in the last two decades, not even one period drama amongst them. I doubt that you've watched any of them!

Both the family dynamics and the legal affairs were written in a way to produce frustration among the audience, and to take away from the enjoyment. In the second part of the series, the business and ink-making, were not even the secondary theme, the story focused on Tian's Family childish plots and greed, petty schemes, and Li Zhen trying keep her business from drowning, always on defensive. The FL managed to earn the respect and trust of the Ink Industry in the process, and it was well earned, if the intention of the writers was to portray her as a leader. They could have done a lot more with this, having the Li Ink expanding, opening more shops in other cities and in the capital and dealing with the specific / local problems there. Otherwise what was the point of this entire show? To portray the Tian's Family as greedy and unrelentless uni-dimensional and unredeemable scumbags? That was pretty much obvious, after they sold their daughter / sister early on in the show. Why not take the advantage of having so good actors and actresses and actually write a good story with complex developments? Because Yang Zi's acting was unbelievable, no matter how lousy the writing got sometimes. I hope she gets better dramas in the future.

As for the last episodes, NO, the responsibility of committing a serious crime is NOT individual. If one member of the family is responsible, the entire family is implicated, Tian Ben Chang's backup plan of making his brother the scapegoat, is absurd. Is not that the writers didn't knew that, they used the same principle in this show several times before, even in the last episodes. The Perfect / Magistrate doesn't have the authority to change that. Today the responsibility is individual and only affects the person that broke the law, but it wasn't like that in the ancient chinese law, obviously how many period dramas did we see by now? Do these writers believe that we won't notice these plot holes, or they just do not care, because none of these drama are getting through any quality filter and their income is not influenced by the viewership in the least?

The ML, was not actually a ML in the main sense. His story it's hardly worth mentioning. His only scope was to serve as a side romantic interest for the FL, to check this box as well, for the specific target audience. I will not try to make sense of his story and masterplan anymore, because it was clear that it was never the focus and even less thought was put into his writing then in other cases.

Maybe you don't agree with this but imo ... Tian Ben Chang, got much focus and development (maybe even screen-time, but i didn't clock it) than Luo Wen Qian, so it is really hard to say who the ML actually was in the Heir.

Also if you think that Tian Ben Chang is an original character, in the way he was written, as spinless and frustrated ex-lover, with an inferiority complex and a psychotic obsession towards the FL, it is not. I've seen characters pretty similar to him in A Dream of Splendor, Brocade Odyssey (both business drama, BO is actually pretty similar with this one, no more than 10% of the content is diffrenet, making them 90% match, imo). Also Les Belles and The Double featured pretty similar SMLs.

Also ... why Luo Wen Qian's father was executed? Why did he transferred all his assets to the Tian's family in the first place! What did he get in return? Why making the Tian Family strong when you and your entire family is condemned to death? Better to burn everything down, so it cannot be used by your enemy, isn't it?

Despite everyone saying 'revenge'... Luo Wen Qian is not after revenge, he is just investigating the Tian Family's current ilicit activities hoping to get enough 'evidence' to get them convicted (lol). You can call him an investigator, not someone looking for revenge. He has no clue why his family was killed. Most powerful officials were obviously involved back then, Tian were a very small family.

Also because i brought the topic here ... Li Jing Dong's son was not killed by or because Li Zhen's father fall asleep, but because he was BEATEN to DEATH in prison, by a system that treated him as a sub-human, with very little consideration to his existence or his culpability, no more than a slave. It very frecvent (and imo ... unrealistic) in these drama to see people turning their rage, anger, hate ... against their piers, ignoring for some reason the main culprit of their ordeal, which is the system that is subjugating them.

I have to admit that Luo Wen Qian's story and revenge is very ridiculous and make very little sense. Even in the 1% realistic case in which his 'plan' succeeded, the Tians will just find a way to escape again, provide a scapegoat, bribe the right people etc. Didn't we already seen this before? Speaking about repetitive plots. Just kill them, or frame them so that their backers will do killing themselves to clean up their hands (set a fire to one of their warehouse, and have their ilicit trade discovered that way). This is how revenge works in this verse, there is no justice, courts, trials, is just corruption everywhere!

I'm disappointed with the writing altogether. The story is simplistic, it lacks any complexity and interesting twists, spins, developments. Apart from Li Zhen, all the characters are uni-layered, and she cannot pull the entire show by herself. The villains are basic as well, nothing worth commenting here ... only a child can write characters like that.

I had high hopes for this series (the premise, the casting), but i had more fun watching A Splendid Match (nothing more than a average drama with an average actress as FL). This is to show the writing is important. At least make an effort to get a decent writing team, if you invest so much money into these dramas. The acting can only bring you this far, to keep the audience connected 40+ episodes you have to have an interesting story.

Also take a good lesson taught by this show (there were few) ... Li Zhen has an unique vision to open the Li Ink to the entire country, dynasty, open more shops in other cities, the capital (i have no ideea how Li Ink endured 100 + years without this vision, and only as a local brand). I'll make a bet that in the China's Literary Schools and Universities they don't teach literary creations and techniques from other nations, in order to broaden the horizon of the next writers and screen-writers, and that's why these c-dramas always fall short in creativity and imaginations. You have to expand your horizons, this is not only true in business, but also in academia and everywhere else.

I want to say a few things before i watch episode 27 and 28.... to not be influenced by the new developments...

With all its flaws and writing inconsistencies (and they are piling up) this remains the best c-drama that i've watched this year. Li Zhen is a great character, it is the way i like the FLs to be written on screen, smart, determined, talented in some things, outspoken, to fight fire with fire, non-depressive and non-pitiful, also not afraid. I like characters totally opposite to Ming Lan from Story of Ming Lan. I watched Story of Ming Lan, because that was not a bad series, but the Ming Lan character was so cringe to watch from the beginning to end.

Yang Zi is a very talented actress, one of my favorite chinese actresses, her characters are never dull, even if the story and the writing fails to impress, her characters alone are worth watching. I think she has a flair in playing these business dramas, she has greate sales pitches, she play this part very well.

As for 'The Heir' this started very well, the first 10 episodes were a joy to watch, they focused on building up Li Zhen's character and morality. The Elder Luo brother was also an interesting non-conventional character, but he was quickly written off. This is one of the problems of the show, many important things are happening, and they are not properly explained, leaving the audience with many plot holes and bits and pieces of the story that don't make much sense, or are mis-interpreted.

The next 10 episodes, were also pretty decent. It is here where Li Zhen decided she will try to save the Li Ink, and follow her Grandmother and Grandfather wishes, instead of creating a new path in the ink industry. Her Grandfather was actually the one who decided to remove his branch from the family and later to swear that he will participate into ink making again, practically condemning his family to poverty and his son to death, but at the same time he is very upset when Li Zhen want to create her own brand of ink and business, even if the Li Family were not accepting her at that time. I just didn't like his character at all, he has too much respect for his ancestors and his peers, and very little respect for his predecesor, and the future. He did teach Li Zhen his trade after some time, but that was humiliating to watch, what it took for him to finally agree to to it.

IMO ... after the first 20 episodes, the show started to lose its momentum. The complaints some ppl express here are perfectly warranted in this regard. The 4th Aunt is over-used as a device, the Li Family are keep questioning Li Zhen's legitimacy and competence, if if she proved numeros times that she is the only one that has both. It's like the more she proves herself, the less they trust her, and the 4th Aunt the more she embrasses the family and endanger the business the more credibility she has. Please don't tell me that this is good writing. We entered now in the last third of the drama, we should have move on to bigger things by now, not running in the same circles, with no progression at all. The 4th Aunt is also a Tian, they kindly informed us in episode 28, she is a major red flag in any business family,m if your main competition is the Tian Family, and they are such scumbags how they were written.

And what is with that council of Elders, the first five branches of the family are not part of the ink business, they may decide family matters, not ink business matters. Li Zhen is not actually part of the Li Family, they can't keep her accountable for anything. She proved her innocence, but they didn't care, she was almost beaten there, seriously? You cannot introduce in episode 26, 5 new characters like that, which have no business being there. Is this good writing?

The Eldest Aunt, is also such a pathetic character, with so little respect for Li Zhen and what she done so far the Li Family. She is way worst than the 4th Aunt in my book. She is the type of character, that doesn't tell you what she thinks straight up, but she is working against you from behind. Her kid is obviously much smarter and a better judge of character than she is.

I know ppl like the 6th Uncle now, and i do too. He is a very well written character, hot tempered, impulsive, quick to react, but at the end of the day he is reasonable, and own to his mistakes, also has the Li Ink future in mind, and with no worthy successor in this regard, he sees Li Zhen as business only line of survival. But come on, he burned down the house. The Li Business is in this desperate situation, because he burned the workshop. Li Zhen's father didn't do anything this destructive, he poor guy just 'fall asleep', as the official story go. This is not just double standard, this is incomprehensible writing. He has no business being in charge of anything.

The Li Family is just in chaos, there are no rules, no leadership, i don't even know what the 7th branche does, and what they contributed to the business in the last 10 years.

While some unknow characters appeared, like the 5 elders which had no business being there, old characters like Lord Han and his daughter disappear, same as with the ML's 'sister', what happened to them. Also what is the ML doing now? Doesn't he has his own stuff and revenge-arc to deal with? what is his plan now?

If a story loses its forward momentum it is very hard to get it back. The show is now in its last third, but it's like it is frozen in time. It should move on and reveal more of the story, or add more complexity to the plot. Another few episodes to deal with the Eternal Aunt and we are already in its last quarter, then you have no more time to salvage anything and get to a satisfying conclusion.

So, i've seen so previews, and most likely the 8th branch will be invited back in the family. Of course this is nice, but because of the writing so far, it doesn't make sense. The 8th Grandfather decide to leave, instead of fighting and protecting his family. Why would he com back now? He left on principle, the principle didn't change. Whatever...

And when are we going to deal with the fact that the 4th Aunt, is actually responsible for Li Zhen's father death?

So, it was revealed that the Evil 4th Aunt, is related to the Tian Family. That's a bit much. The Aunt is not the problem (as she is just uni-layered villain and you need those), but the rest of the Li Family is. It was already proven and she admitted herself to be behind all those damaging plots against the Li's business and she got away squat free or with very light punishments. This really doesn't make sense from a consistency writing perspective.

They dealt very harshly at the beginning with the 8th branch, for a lighter offence. I know that someone lost his life, but that was a mistake, there was no intent involve, but that was the highest sanction a council of elders could have made, not being a penal court. I didn't thought so much at the time, thinking ... this is as is should be, it is a business family. But they didn't acted as a business family at all ... practically they eliminated their most talented and famous branch, severing their life-blood as a business. And later on, they ignored everything the 4th Aunt did, all very damaging things to their ink business, even the 6th Uncle, setting their workshop on fire, practically putting them out of business. They only managed to pull through only because of Li Zhen and share luck.

And even now they don't trust her a bit. That's a bit much, in my opinion. The writing is not good here. Luckily Li Zhen managed to win over the 6th Uncle. It's like Li Zhen is trying very hard to keep alive a brand and a family that is on a unstoppable suicidal mission. It was understandable, that Li Zhen had to prove herself before she could could get the 'keys to the kingdom', but she already did that, several times, with ideas and put her own side business to assure Li Ink survival. So imo, what happened in the last episode (26), is not really making a lot of sense, certainly not from a business perspective and not from 'ancestral family rules'. If Li Zhen steps down, who will they replace her with? What is their plan?

As for Li Zhen not being much more proactive with the villains she already identified, it is understandable. She is pretty young and inexperienced, she cannot do everything, creating new ink, overseeing the manufacture process and managing the business and the client list. The rest of the family has to pitch in too. I know what she does and the 6th uncle, but i have no idea what the rest of family does all day, except plotting and scheming. She has some support from the ML on this regard, but he has his own agenda. I would not like her to do everything, at her age. That's not realistic and not cool to watch. It is a family business after all, and the4th Aunt is a family issue. She clearly doesn't have the power and seniority to exclude the 4th Aunt even if she has the seal. She can't do it, unless the elders will support her decision. I said this, because i saw that ppl are asking too much from Li Zhen, while she is not even officially part of the family yet. Some decision she can make, other she cannot. Also at around 20 years old, she cannot account for every scenario and decide proactively to eliminate any possible threats. Look at the Tian Family, they all working together, while the Li Family is still splintered.

This is the story they tell, the characters have each moral standards and limitations. And we follow the story, have fun with it and at least hope the writing is consistent and satisfying.

Imagine, how easy it will be to deal with this whole situation, with a different set of standards and principles. I wouldn't have thought twice about permanently eliminating the 4th Aunt, and frame Tian Family for that, getting rid of at least 2 problems at once. Or to set the Tian's workshop on fire, destroying their business. This is fair game, imo, considering what they already done. The ML tried to bring them to 'justice' and it didn't work, because there is no 'justice system' in these c-drama and perhaps Ancient China, this was developed much later. This is just a masquerade justice, what's the point of bring someone to answer to a system, that doesn't exist, or it can be circumvented so easily?

Also in these c-drama, the villains are always setting traps and frame the 'good guys', while the later are using all their skills and energy getting out of these traps, but never think to set some traps themselves and to frame the villains themselves, to act proactively (two exceptions here Princess Wei Young and The Double, along with LLTG are my favorite c-dramas of all time). Sure is satisfying to make someone paying for a bad thing he / she did, to revenge, but is it is a lot more satisfying to make a villain pay for something that he / she didn't even do, making him / her experience the same feelings that they force onto others, that's true revenge. It's also much easier framing a villain for somethin he / she didn't do, that to prove his / her wrongdoings, and to play the justice dice game. This is my opinion of course. These characters are too 'good' to frame others.

My guess is that they represent the first 5 branches of the Li Family. They never appeared so far, not even when they decided to exclude the 8th branch of the family. Now they made their entry for a minor issue, that looks a bit strange to me.

Pursue of Jade may be a lot more your style. Both Leads in the POJ are written very realistic, with no plot armor, no super-human abilities, the characters are really not silly at all, half of the story is about the Pig Butchering Art and the other half is about the ML's 'hidden identity', which everyone knew about it, except the FL, a true humanoid repository of intellectual material. The romantic relationship dynamic in POJ, are also very healthy and realistic, obviously driven by mutual respect between partners, The emperor is a masterpiece of wisdom and deep thinking and the villains are really not sociopaths escaped from a porely written xianxia novel.

This one is not like that. Li Zhen may not be able to raise e a pig with one hand, but she has a strength of character and a talent in inkmaking, She is the natural choice to take over both the business and the family's affair (since they are so connected to each other). I don't see anyone more suited than her. The Li Family doesn't love her, but they need her, so eventually they got to accept her. This is common rant, but if she want to succeed and defeat the competition (and the unseen 'player' that hasn't been reveal yet), bring back the Li Ink, she should clean up her own house first. Once she gained the trust of the Li Elders, now she could deal with the 'Evil Aunt'. It make sense.

You don't like that she knows about ink? She learned the hard way, there were 10 episodes and a 3 years time skip showing how she made a passion into usable and practical knowledge. She graduated. It was shown in the Pilot Episode that she had a nose for this since she was a child. Most dramas, don't go in this dense detail as to show why a character knows the thing it knows, or to add some substance to the manufacturing process. I've seen plenty of business / cooking drama, and learned nothing practical about those things they focused on. So what do you want to see here? She is good but she is not know-all, she lost the Tribute Ink Contest, fair and square, which means that she has a lot more to learn.

And finally, this is not a romance drama, it is a family / business drama that has some romance elements in it. Take it like this ... this is 1 or 2 c-drama / year, that is not focused on romance 50-80% of the screen time, having a kinder-garden story there, just to serve as a filler and to eliminate de repetition of main couple getting together. The ML is a normal / average dude that lost his family in the past and he want to revenge them. He is not a tactical mastermind, he is not a martial artist that can take someone down from 100 meters with just a pebble, he has no support at the imperial court. He wins some, and loses some, that's how this goes.

I've seen trailers and bookmarked this c-drama since last year, it was supposed to air in january or february. They didn't promise anything from you are talking about. It just that it change the release title several times. This was always a show about a Female Protagonist and her ink-making odyssey after a falling out. At that time i thought that this will be something more dramatic, like her family being executed and then she will go seeking revenge. Fortunately they didn't over-dramatize this, and she can focus on her trade, ink-making not revenge.

This drama follow the trend of several other business / family drama that i've watched and enjoyed at different degrees, A Dream of Splendor, The Sword and the Brocade, Blossoms in Adversity, Flourished Peony / In the Name of Blossom, Brocade Odyssey, Story of Pearl Girl. They all featured a strong-willed and outspoken female character with a good head for business, and with scarce romance. This one is more in depth than the rest. I think it could be a good match for A Dream of Splendor, overall.

It looks to me that Tian Family are simply tools and the true antagonist of the series hasn't been revealed yet. It must be someone with a lot of Influence in the capital and at the imperial court, someone that is specifically targeting the Li family. This will connect few of the dots with what happed in the past, and will explain why now is targeting directly the Li's Ink foundation. We also know nothing about the first 5 branches of the Li Family and what old grudges may exist prior.

I think this show was pretty straight with what type of show it is from the beginning, starting with the title. the FL is suppose to bring back the lost glory of the Li Family ink. This is not the type of show, where the FL is starting her new brand, but one that after some struggle and family drama she inherits the family's business. This is first and foremost a family drama, a business family drama.

As you saw, the ink business (is not like the flowers business) it is a complex process, no less than three family-branches are making particular and very necessary contributions to the end product. Li Zhen, no matter how talented and determined she is, cannot make this alone, aka the best in ink the dynasty. You need a lot of resources and work force. I think this show it trying to keep it as real as possible, in was not so easy in the ancient times to start a new brand, especially as a female. As was stated, 'Li Ink' is a century old brand, that was developed by several generations of inkmakers.

Actually i'm enjoying a lot more this drama than Flourished Peony. The writing is more in depth and focused to the business / manufacturing process of ink making. Yang Zi acting is just as good, but the Female Protagonist here it's realistic learning and struggle to the beginning process, rather than start with 'i know everything about flowers'. We see progression to the character, i like that. She also makes it through her own efforts for the most part ... the help she gets from the ML, her Grandfather is only complementary. Mudan in FP would had not accomplished anything without the ML, and accepting being a concubine. The romance is also subsidiary here. Romance is good, but only when is realistic inserted into the story and not over-take it. Also how they brought back the ML in FP, was really NOT cool. He was pretty much dead and buried. It took so much from that drama the way they brought him back.

This is a very intriguing aspect to the ancient chinese culture. But what we understand as 'family' is actually translate as 'branch'. The so-called 'family' is more of a business association of smaller families. In reality they are business associates not 'family' as we understand today. These are the precursors of today corporations.

This is a very good drama, i enjoyed every episode so far; i didn't see anything as good since The Double. I don't feel like commenting specifics until i finish the whole story. I only comment specifics only if there is something that really annoys me.

If i feel to speak about the ratings, i speak about the ratings. I also spoke about the ratings of the Pursue of Jade, which i found very unrealistic. The cinematography and the fighting scene were pretty good to excelent, the chemistry between the leads was decent if overdone (as screentime), but the story was pretty much non-existent, and the progression was running in circles, the characters were caricatures, from characters with super strength to ridiculous portrayal of puppet emperors, a romcom hybrid, with average acting, nothing above a 7-5-8.0. It felt like a parody-series.

This drama is at the opposite end of the spectrum, it is obviously downvoted. Easy to prove reading the comments so far. I didn't read anything bad about it, and the rating doesn't reflect the people's experiences with the drama, so the conclusion is simple. This is obviously a 'boot farm' attack ... different production companies are waring each-other in order to promote their products. There is no point in profiling the 'MDL users', this is beyond fanship, this is commercial war. We just have to connect the dots with what happened with the Pursue of Jade.

This drama is well above the mediocre shows i've seen this year, like Jadewind and Pursue of Jade. This is considering the story, the acting and the music / cinematic atmosphere, which are far superior. I also like characters that are evolving, and to see a realistic progression to the story and the story-arks.

I wouldn't mind the rating, the flock voting here is only evaluating the romance level, they don't care about 95% of the other stuff that makes a drama, good and memorable over the years. When i realized that i just decided to not participate in this silly rating game. The best rated here are dramas that contain 95% romance, and 5% story and other stuff, and dramas like that are boring me to death.

9.2? This is a comedy, not a serious drama. At least it tries to be funny, not really my taste. The characters are ridiculous and not well written, from the main leads, to the sadomasochist "villains" and ending with suicidal princess, the are all caricatures. I didn't find a single character that make at least a bit of sense, or that it has a relevant motivation to its actions. Even like that that they are inconsistent, and obviously nobody put any thought into writing them. Take the FL for example, even if she is uneducated, she is street smart and very perceptive, except when it came to the ML identity, where she is just clueless. This doesn't make sense. And that will not big a big thing, i always take this dramas with a lot of salt, because of the very poor writing. BUT, this is all that this show is about, about the FL not knowing about the ML identity, there is nothing else to the story, and this is keep repeating it over and over again, like 2/3 of the screen time, making it impossible to focus on anything else, and there is really nothing else. Also if you don't care about the story and you are in just for the romance (the reason 90% are watching these, anyway ... and you don't care if there is a story or not), the romance in this is just a joke, and there is no respect between the leads, both of them. So giving this 9.2? No other comment...

This is one of the strangest drama i've seen. It's like a big story is being told from the perspective of a minor character (the FL). She has very little impact to the unfolding of the main story and only function as the main love interest of one of the major character, the ML. The story would have had a lot more punch if it was told from the perspective of Su Tang Li, a much more important character in the story, and if the focus would had been on her revenge-ark, well that would had been my kind of story. But as it is, and how is being told, the story didn't manage to engage me in the least. Amnesia is also not the focus, but a plot device. The FL seem intelligent, perceptive, a mystery solver, yet completely uninterested in solving her own mystery and memory loss.

It is the romance with the ML, and the 'love triangle' (that's not not a love triangle, lol, since the FL is totally not emotionally invested in the SML not even 1%, which raise the question ... why is it there, then? Why waste so much story-telling and screen-time with something pointless?), that it is the main focus of the show and as a second focus is the female friendship and bounding around the FL. The actual story is not really the focus, don't you find this strange? It's like we have this big story about frame-up, destroyed family, daughter sold into slavery, solid revenge, which could be interesting if written well, but no, let's focus on some non-related characters and give those characters 90% of the screen time, because that would be ... better (!?)

Well, even this is better than xianxia, so why i'm complaining here? It just seem that these c-dramas really lacks decent script-writers, they have everything else, but the writing is essential. It doesn't matter that you have everything else, you cannot build anything good without an architect.