1
3
great chemistry but it fell off the cliff
Melody of Golden Age started as the kind of costume drama I enjoy…murder, mystery, palace intrigue and a marriage born out of circumstance, with two strong personalities slowly learning to trust each other. Shen Du and Yan Xing had enough chemistry and push-and-pull tension to keep me invested, and Ding Yuxi could say more with a stare than some actors can with an entire page of dialogue.
But 40 episodes is 40 episodes…and boy, did I feel it. By the second half I was fast-forwarding through several episodes because the story became redundant, with scenes that either dragged or simply stopped making sense.
The plan Shen Du and the Queen devised to expose the culprit was one of my biggest frustrations. So many people were tortured and killed as part of this elaborate scheme when I kept thinking…why not simply arrest him? Sometimes writers become so determined to create a clever twist that they forget the audience is sitting there asking the most obvious question.
Then came the palace finale…a fiasco. After investing so many hours in the mystery, I expected something tighter, smarter and more satisfying. And the divorce…was that really necessary? It felt less like something these characters needed and more like another obstacle the writers needed to fill the remaining road.
In fact, I would have preferred a completely different ending. Let Shen Du finally restore his family name and reclaim his glory…but at a price. Let him lose the woman he loves. And let Yan Xing choose Pan Zi and the life of adventure they once imagined…two people riding away together to see the world.
Now THAT would have been an ending.
Shen Du gets everything he fought for except the one thing he ultimately wanted most, while Yan Xing chooses freedom and a new horizon. Two victories…and one beautiful tragedy. Sometimes love doesn’t have to win for the story to have a satisfying ending.
There was a very good drama buried inside Melody of Golden Age…unfortunately, it was buried somewhere inside 40 episodes.
I enjoyed the journey…but I would have packed considerably lighter.
But 40 episodes is 40 episodes…and boy, did I feel it. By the second half I was fast-forwarding through several episodes because the story became redundant, with scenes that either dragged or simply stopped making sense.
The plan Shen Du and the Queen devised to expose the culprit was one of my biggest frustrations. So many people were tortured and killed as part of this elaborate scheme when I kept thinking…why not simply arrest him? Sometimes writers become so determined to create a clever twist that they forget the audience is sitting there asking the most obvious question.
Then came the palace finale…a fiasco. After investing so many hours in the mystery, I expected something tighter, smarter and more satisfying. And the divorce…was that really necessary? It felt less like something these characters needed and more like another obstacle the writers needed to fill the remaining road.
In fact, I would have preferred a completely different ending. Let Shen Du finally restore his family name and reclaim his glory…but at a price. Let him lose the woman he loves. And let Yan Xing choose Pan Zi and the life of adventure they once imagined…two people riding away together to see the world.
Now THAT would have been an ending.
Shen Du gets everything he fought for except the one thing he ultimately wanted most, while Yan Xing chooses freedom and a new horizon. Two victories…and one beautiful tragedy. Sometimes love doesn’t have to win for the story to have a satisfying ending.
There was a very good drama buried inside Melody of Golden Age…unfortunately, it was buried somewhere inside 40 episodes.
I enjoyed the journey…but I would have packed considerably lighter.
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