2
2
1
A Beautiful Empty Shell
I have a love hate relationship with this one. This drama is like a beautiful empty shell. Zeng Qing Jie rocked this drama with its stunning visuals. The angles, color grading, lighting, color theories, visual effects, all work in synergy to create such an immersive visual feast. But that’s about it. This is too much of an idol drama that lacks depth, logic, and effort to its story and character development.
Most of the drama centers around Fan Chang Yu and Xie Zheng’s fake marriage relationship in Xigu Lane. It was beautiful and sweet. It was a cliché kind of love story that high school me would have loved very much! There were mentions and hints of politics here and there but it was all talks without any real impact whatsoever. The politics mentioned during the Xigu Lane arc felt less like an introduction or teaser, but more like unimportant fillers. If this was a short drama, Xigu Lane arc would have been cute.
Once we move out of Xigu Lane, everything starts to falter. The writer needs to research on how to write political arcs, while the director needs to research how to shoot action scenes and war scenes because whT the hell was all that!
The politics feel so messy and careless. There was no real impact to the politics and even the solution felt flimsy. I don’t even want to bother laying it out but it was just so bad. Worst of all is the action scenes. While Chang Yu had two empowering action scenes, Xie Zheng’s felt like a commercial. No action, only visuals. Like an idol shooting their ending fairy shots. Also, what was episode 39! What is supposed to be an intense most climactic final battle turns out to look like a comical comedy. Why rent such a big space only for that little group of people.. no.. only a duel to take place. Everything was clean and bright! No smoke, no dirt, no blood, nothing. It’s more like a practice duel than a real battlefield.
The character writing also disappoints me. Does butchering pigs really give this tiny stick woman that much strength?! Also, Chang Yu is one country bumpkin. It’s so frustrating how she’s unable to connect the dots herself and act so impulsively at the army camp. I also can’t believe she just acts so imprudently and talk so freely in court. Xie Zheng is no good either. First of all, Zhang Ling He being cast as Xie Zheng is definitely for the visuals. I love ZLH but he does not look anything like this dark ruthless marquis. Also, Xie Zheng literally spends most of the drama being injured and sick.. Where is the commanding aura that his character is supposed to have?! He does have some impactful scenes but it’s not enough, and most of it are just stupid. One of the examples is the scene at the tent when he said commands are not a joke or something. The speech, impactful. But the context behind it is just dumb. Why would you hesitate to tell your woman who you are. Stupid logic. Also, why are all of Xie Zheng’s action scenes close ups of his face?! Agh.
I need to stop before I start spiraling. Do I enjoy it? Only Xigu Lane. Do I like it? Only the visuals. Do I recommend it? Only if you don’t care about story depth and logic.
Most of the drama centers around Fan Chang Yu and Xie Zheng’s fake marriage relationship in Xigu Lane. It was beautiful and sweet. It was a cliché kind of love story that high school me would have loved very much! There were mentions and hints of politics here and there but it was all talks without any real impact whatsoever. The politics mentioned during the Xigu Lane arc felt less like an introduction or teaser, but more like unimportant fillers. If this was a short drama, Xigu Lane arc would have been cute.
Once we move out of Xigu Lane, everything starts to falter. The writer needs to research on how to write political arcs, while the director needs to research how to shoot action scenes and war scenes because whT the hell was all that!
The politics feel so messy and careless. There was no real impact to the politics and even the solution felt flimsy. I don’t even want to bother laying it out but it was just so bad. Worst of all is the action scenes. While Chang Yu had two empowering action scenes, Xie Zheng’s felt like a commercial. No action, only visuals. Like an idol shooting their ending fairy shots. Also, what was episode 39! What is supposed to be an intense most climactic final battle turns out to look like a comical comedy. Why rent such a big space only for that little group of people.. no.. only a duel to take place. Everything was clean and bright! No smoke, no dirt, no blood, nothing. It’s more like a practice duel than a real battlefield.
The character writing also disappoints me. Does butchering pigs really give this tiny stick woman that much strength?! Also, Chang Yu is one country bumpkin. It’s so frustrating how she’s unable to connect the dots herself and act so impulsively at the army camp. I also can’t believe she just acts so imprudently and talk so freely in court. Xie Zheng is no good either. First of all, Zhang Ling He being cast as Xie Zheng is definitely for the visuals. I love ZLH but he does not look anything like this dark ruthless marquis. Also, Xie Zheng literally spends most of the drama being injured and sick.. Where is the commanding aura that his character is supposed to have?! He does have some impactful scenes but it’s not enough, and most of it are just stupid. One of the examples is the scene at the tent when he said commands are not a joke or something. The speech, impactful. But the context behind it is just dumb. Why would you hesitate to tell your woman who you are. Stupid logic. Also, why are all of Xie Zheng’s action scenes close ups of his face?! Agh.
I need to stop before I start spiraling. Do I enjoy it? Only Xigu Lane. Do I like it? Only the visuals. Do I recommend it? Only if you don’t care about story depth and logic.
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