Secret of Three Kingdoms

Hopes dashed, again

The euphoria I felt whilst watching the first dozen episodes is indescribable. Finally, I said, finally I found an intelligent series with strong characters and an intriguing plot that was truly riveting; however, by episode 20 the story and characters moved from the palace location to the barracks where we were then introduced to the other players in the game. Thereon, it appears characters that were previously intelligent became stupid, and certain plot points that had seemed inviolable at the beginning were no longer so.
How do the writers explain the Emperor and Empress sneaking out of the capital dressed as guards when the audience had been told previously that they were mostly grounded and rarely ventured outside of the palace grounds without permission? On the other end of the plot advance was Sima Yi who seemed clairvoyant and could deduce future events with almost no clues just because he was supposed to be the intelligent one. In a way the writers were their own worst enemy...they actually thought giving Sima Yi ( and to an extent, Guo Jia) all the clues without us seeing him(them) work through it themselves would make the characters seem smart. They were mistaken. It was lazy and unimaginative.

Enough about the screenplay, let's talk about the actors.

Wan Qian was the MVP of this series. She more than carried the show and had the most realistic character arc of the lot of them. She portrayed an Empress that was at the end of her tether and unwilling to go down with the ship but would rather find a way to right the rudder come hell or high water. Even I was on a knife's edge whenever she came on screen. All I can say is I hope she won an award for this series. Next is Ma Tian Yu. Sigh, I'm not sure I have anything nice to say about his acting skills. His face was either set at "resting stupid" or "slightly less resting stupid". His character was one-dimensioned to within an inch. There was nowhere for him to go so they made him run around in circles for the entirety of the series.

Then there were Cao Cao, Guo Jia, Man Chong, and the lot of them who were all caricatures of beard-twirling villains. If you want to see villains done right then watch Joy of Life or The Rebel Princess where even though you know these guys will kill their unborn babies to advance their positions, they could still evoke pity and even support from the audience. Objectively, I know these issues if isolated are not dealbreakers but combined, everything dragged. The pacing, the story, the characters, everything suffered.

While we're on this subject, did anyone notice when Sima and the Princess Consort fell in love? As in why and how? Lmao, theirs was the most boring and laziest "falling in love" I'd ever seen to the point I wish the writers had just left it out cos Elvis and Dong Jie had NO chemistry whatsoever.

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Three Kingdoms Era, Political Romance

SECRET OF THE THREE KINGDOMS was a really wonderful series. There was so much to enjoy, least of all the maturity of the writing (story, dialogue, characters) that felt like a breath of fresh air. This is a strong drama that easily holds its own amongst the floods of historical dramas, very memorable and compelling. While it does start out interesting, the first few episodes can be a bit slow but act as staging for the rest of the series. Perservere and the drama grows into something more epic. There felt to be a little of everything here. Drama, Politics, Mystery, Romance and even a little Action at times.

Everything was simply amazing, from the story premise, to the beautiful costumes, to the excellent casting, to character chemistry, to the stirring music (in later episodes). The writing throughout always felt fresh and never confined by the usual C-Drama tropes. In fact, there were quite a few unusual aspects or at least less common to dramas such as hero POV being male rather than typical "female heroine get sucked into royal politics" trope, the sensitive male hero also (as seen in Liu Ping / Liu Xie) also isn't very common, especially in historical dramas were the typical "strong man" (as well as the warriors, strategists and politicians) reign supreme. Also, his character personality traits emphasize kindness, honesty, morality, mercy, gentleness, forgiveness, patience, tenderness etc...things not usually portayed as qualities in history dramas (and usually not by men). He is often cited negatively by other characters as having too much "womanly benevolence", but this quality indeed makes him strong throughout the series, an admirable aspect, as well as being trope defying. The power dynamics in the couple are also noteworthy as equals, balanced, with strength and weakness well matched.

Ma Tianyu (Ice Fantasy, Vigilantes in Masks) was brilliant as his (dual) role (Commoner Liu Ping / Emperor Liu Xie) and is really great in this series. He has a genuine boyish kindness and sensitivity that shines through, giving his truly noble character more authenticy and his onscreen chemistry with the fiercely intelligent Empress Fu Shou (played by Regina Wan / Wan Qian) was very believable, not to mention the epic bromance shared between he & and his onscreen foster brother, the ever cunning yet charming and charismatic Sima Yi / Zhong Da (played by Elvis Han).

Also, can I just say? The Empress Fu Shou (Regina Wan / Wan Qian) was one of the most powerful and convincing "Empress" characters I've seen to date, brilliant, fierce, cunning, regal, determined, loyal, ruthless when she needed to be, self-restrained but never subdued, an amazing display of badass feminine power and brilliance. Overall such a well-written and wonderfully acted character! And gorgeous to boot.

Also, the character of Sima Yi / Zhong Da (Elvis Han) must be mentioned because he was also another great character giving much to the show, especially in terms of charm, intelligence, sassiness and sarcasm. Always bold and headstrong, but fiercely loyal and entertaining. He was such a well-written and acted character as well. Loved the brother's dynamic. And he was so hilarious at times. Just a natural charmer to be sure!

The list of characters and their wonderful actors goes on and on, but among them
Commoner Liu Ping / Emoeror Liu Xie (Ma Tian Yu), Empress Fu Shou (Wan Qian), Sima Yi / Zhong Da (Elvis Han), Libationer Guo Jia (played by Sunny Wang), Imperial Consort Tang Ying (played by Dong Jie).

Others that are highly memorable are the characters of Lady Ren Hong Chang (Dong Xuan), Cao Pi (Tan Jian Ci), Yang Xiu (Wang Meng), General Cao Cao (Gardner Tse), Xun Yu (Wang Ren Jun), Cao Jie (Wang Yu Wen), Cao Zhi (Liu Yu Han), and Magistrate Man Chong (Tu Yan) and so many others. Really great casting!

In this series there are a lot of moving pieces, political scheming, strategies, hidden motivations, dynamics between characters. It's very engaging and mentally stimulating to follow along and try to read characters intentions. This series has a very strong story plot and cast. There is something to mention about this series, namely that it doesn't seek to emotionally manipulate it's viewers. For hardcore drama fans, that is an aspect that rarely we can escape from in Dramaland and might feel like a bit of change at first. Sometimes soapy melodramatic shows tend to elicit strong reactions initially but can feel manipulative at times. That's not always a bad thing but can feel tiring and under handed.

Therefore, I really loved how this show is not like that at all. It's telling a story and a very good one at that. It doesn't need to rely on half baked, kneejeek manipulative actions to keep viewers hooked. It does it's story telling well. Aside from that, the casting was really great with so many great actors well suited to their roles. I really loved so many of them. Even many of the "bad guys" were relatable and compelling. Everyone has their own motivations, desires, end game. It was great to watch this one!

Overall I definitely recommend viewers give this one a chance! Especially if you are a fan of slow burn Political, Historical, Three Kingdoms Era, C-Drama's. There's a little bit of everything in this one.

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This story had me going crazy but it was good. Have tissues handy because you will drop some tears. I loved the storyline because it was a little different than most. Ma Tian Yu played the Emperor and his task was very complicated but had a passion to be the Emperor. Excellent acting! Wan Qian who played the Empress, wow, she took charge! A lot of revenge and avenging had me breathing hard. A lot of blood spilled from the first episode to almost the last episode. The ending will leave you in awe! DO NOT skip any episodes or you will ruin it for yourself. I know it is long but just think of it as a vacation. lol.

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Better than Expected

This drama was better than expected after reading others review and finding out it was based on a real event I knew the outcome of the story and was worried about how it would be portrayed and if the ending would satisfy me.

The drama really shows a really great story between brotherhood, friendship and family. The political part wasn't too boring and gets more intriguing as the story carries on. The struggle on one's ideals and how far one should and could for their ambitions was portrayed really well in this drama.

With the character that Ray Ma portrays usually, I'm not a fan of the overly hopeful and naive character that I was expecting Ray Ma to play but the character was smart and never backed down from his belief. In some ways, I did find it annoying at the beginning and wished he follows the advice 'Sima Yi' the character Elvis Han portrayed but in the end I wasn't left unsatisfied with how he accomplished things and was quite happy with the ending.

The acting was really amazing by all the actors even the 'villain'. I have nothing bad to say about the acting. The characters all played their part even if some of the characters were annoying it was suited to the drama.

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Couldn't stop watching

History is often cruel. Stories have to end the way they did in real life, and that doesn't always equate to an enjoyable story. I was so disgusted so many times in this series, but I kept coming back. I couldn't help myself. In the end it was worth it. I kept trying to find out ahead of time what the deal was with this series, but everything was very vague. Now I can say it is worth it to watch right to the end because they tie up a lot of loose ends.

The acting was pretty good in this drama - and although not every couple has a happy ending, the romance was realistic too. Not overdone and fake and the chemistry was really believable.

It's a long, drawn-out story - and I got confused with some of the characters at times and keeping up with who was doing what - but I concentrated on the main characters and their story arcs a lot more than the history and the politics. Will I rewatch? Probably not - but I did bookmark the episodes that had the sweetest moments and the little twists that I liked, and will probably go back and watch.

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Suffers from the Chinese Drama Syndrome

I have now watched around a dozen Chinese Drama Series and only managed to finish 3 of them while dropping the others mostly midway through. The Chinese have a remarkable propensity to pull off a "Game of Thrones" in nearly every one of their Dramas. Only 1 of the Dramas I watched managed not to completely ruin everything towards the end.

This is not the one!

To be fair, it started incredibly strong with an engaging Story, interesting Characters, good Actors and an overall good "feel". The first 20 Episodes just flew by and would be easily worth 9/10 Stars. The next 20 Episodes were a little bit draggy and it could not keep up the momentum but it would still have been worth 8/10 to me. Its the last 10+ Episodes that really jump the Shark in ways that I cannot accept, ignore or forgive. I would consider 3/10 as a very generous rating for those.

But lets get through the Categories shall we? starting with the least important (to me).

MUSIC: the Intro is brilliant and fits the Series very well. It has a memorable Tune and gives the whole series a unique Character. However, it is completely countered by the Outro, which is an abomination I could not wait to skip. I dont know what they thought when they introduced that song into the outro but its just ear cancer to me. Also, there were some background music during scenes that was so annoying that often times I though that my Sink was defect and water was dropping from it. The 5 Stars are all for the Intro while the rest is either unnoticable or straight up bad.

ACTING: some great some pathetic! The Actor that plays Sima Yi is the clear Winner here. He does a great job overall and is only let down by the Story towards the end. On the other Hand, some Actors were so over the top "dramatic" that it bordered on comical and the actor playing the Emperor was just annoying towards the end.

STORY: This is based on the Historic Events of the Three Kingdoms Period. Arguably one of, if not the most Interesting Period in Chinese History. So the Story is based on very solid Foundation. Lets not forget though, based on History does not mean "historically accurate" and this series is clearly not historically accurate and takes a lot of creative freedoms, which sometimes works, sometimes doesnt.

The whole Twist with switching off the Emperor is interesting at first but becomes actually a weak point towards the end. The "holier than thou" attitude of the imposter should have better been left to Cartoons and simply looks misplaced in this Series. His actions are laughable and can only be accepted by those who are unknowing in Political Reality. I dont mind having a "cartoon character" in Cartoons but since this Series is clearly not a Cartoon, it just doesnt fit. There is a reason why History celebrates those who had little to no compassion and killed whole Countries. Thats the Reality of life. Jesus was compassionate, he ended up tortured and crucified, Gandhi was compassionate, he was shot, Luther King was compassionate, he was assassinated.....those are no accidents.

This gets even worse later in the Series by the Actor that plays the Emperor (they could have easily replaced him with a cuddly animal and nobody would notice the difference), who I would suggest should take the role of a piece of driftwood next time.

The "Romance" between him and the Empress is LAUGHABLE!!!!! Its really really cringe and catastrophically bad. We are supposed to believe that she is an Empress under constant threat, he is someone who replaces the Emperor and later even becomes a major Player but the two are so full of "Teenage Angst" that they cannot even touch each other.....riiiiiiiiiiiiiight! This is clearly targeted at said "angsty Teenagers" and does not make any sense in the series overall serious tone. The writers even go so far to insult us viewers by suggesting that their chastity was because their enemies would use it against them (they were in laws and that was supposedly a problem). They were living in the same Palace, in the same room, sleeping in the same bed. Do you really think once this came out people would care whether they really slept with each other or not? do you really think once it comes out that he replaced the Emperor this would be their main Problem? Its just insultingly bad.

On a positive Note, I liked nearly everything that was Sima Yi. Even his Romance. However, they even managed to ruin that by letting his Wife die in what must have been the most pathetic, forced, idiotic self sacrificies I have ever seen on film.

CONCLUSION: I am really thinking about watching Chinese Dramas only half or 2/3 max. The way they manage to ruin everything in the last couple of Episodes is nothing short of remarkable. This series is like a Gift wrapped Turd, as long as you only see the packaging, its great but the more you open it, the more it stinks.

Such a shame, there was great potential!

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ACTING IS BEAUTIFUL! Passion between leads! The plot

I loveeeeee this drama! I have come back to write this review after watching it almost a year ago. It’s stuck in my mind and for someone like me who loves historical pieces the cinematography, the historical accuracy it was just amazing! Now I love Elvis Han! Like love him and idek he was in this so it made it a plus. The ML and FL wow the chemistry was like no other! When I think of some of my favorite historical CDramas this is up there with NIF 1 & 2 cause it was so good y’all. I even fell in love/attached with some of the “villains”. This is my first time ever righting a review and I just want to say this show is top tier! I think I may rewatch.....

Don’t get me started on the brotherhood! This show takes you for a loop for sure but I definitely believe it is all worth it. Without the heart attacks and you screaming at the screen is the drama really worth it lol.

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Intrigue, Betrayal, and Romance

Pros:
• Acting that will blow your mind. The main cast and a majority of our secondary cast members as well deliver top-notch emotions. They execute their acting to perfection. Oh, and the women characters? So freaking strong! These actresses nail it.
• The romance of the main couple. Lui Ping and Fu Shou have one of the most beautiful relationships I have ever seen in a Chinese drama. They grow together, fight together, fall madly in love, and never give up on their love, even when they have to separate for some time. Oh, and their chemistry? It’s off the charts. Like so so good.
• Intrigue. The plot of this show really keeps you at the edge of your seat. You think you know what’s going on, and then you discover the truth! The inner workings of the court and the rivalry between the characters is brilliantly done. This show, for the most part, kept me gripped to the point of staying up way too late to keep watching.
• Satisfying ending. Given the actual history, they handled it as well as they could. Most importantly, our two leads get to be together away from the politics and danger for the rest of their lives.

Cons:
• Pacing issues. For the most part, this show moves along very well, but it’s 54 episodes. I wouldn’t have finished it without occasionally skipping through, especially towards the end.
• The time jump… I get that they had to accurately depict the timeline of history, but, to me, the time jump towards the end really annoyed me. He spends six years in absolute misery, and we only get two minutes or so for his reunion with Fu Shou. Those last five episodes are excruciatingly depressing until the end.

Overall, it is only the second CDrama over 42 episodes that has kept me till the end. The first one being, “Love Like the Galaxy”, which, if you loved that one as much as I did, this one is worth giving a try. I cried my eyes out, but, overall, it was well done and beautifully delivered.

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Brilliant, underrated gem

I'm going to have a hard time moving on from this one, it's now my second fave drama after Nirvana in Fire. I loved the way they handled the history while giving us a fictional take on the Three Kingdoms period that isn't all dark and grim. I braced myself for a lot more sadness than I ended up getting which is a relief. There were deaths, but I think they made sense and they weren't the kind where you know the writers are just trying to just use deaths for shock and angst.

Overall, I think what really divides opinions of this drama is audience expectations of the male lead (ML). If you're expecting something like Nirvana in Fire or even something like The Double where the leads are always 10 steps ahead of the villains, never panic, or never make mistakes, you probably will not even finish the drama. The first 17-20 episodes have the ML evade the bad guys, but barely and often with sacrifices. It's a constant Trolley Problem: sacrificing the few for the greater good, or insisting on saving the few at a potential higher cost. It can be frustrating watching him insist you can have both but still ending with casualties. Even I got frustrated but thankfully I stuck it out because it gets better. He doesn't fully accept his role as the emperor and grow into his own until around ep 20 with the Guandu arc: after that, it's a delight to see him win against his enemies without betraying his original heart. He keeps his moral compass but is able to use his own wisdom and foresight to handle things his way rather than get pushed around as a puppet as he was in the capital in the first arc. Honestly he's kinda badass after that, I loved seeing the confident emperor hitting his stride.

Personally I disagree with some reviewers who said the characters don't have development except the Empress. I think many of the characters grow or change. Very few characters are one-dimensional. Over the course of the drama, you start to see that many of his enemies are not one-dimensional devils and eventually are won over by his wisdom and kindness. He lights the flames in their heart and reminds them of their original values of caring for the will of the people, things they slowly lost sight of as they followed Cao Cao who himself once had those ideals but abandoned them for gain. People I despised in the beginning, I grew to admire by the end. People I hoped would not change, did for the worse (well, mainly just one, but if you knew the history then you knew he would have to by the end).

(**spoilers!!!!!!**)

I also disagree with the reviewers who think the end was pointless with the emperor abdicating and that he should have done it earlier. Besides the fact that it had to follow the history of Emperor Xian abdicating and Cao Pi ascending to establish the short Wei Dynasty, the ML did not abdicate until after he was able to get the Central Plains to a place where it was much more peaceful and unified. He explained his reasons perfectly in the last episode when talking to Sima Yi, so I don't know if people just ignored that conversation and the peace that the emperor had been able to bring before he stepped down, or what. He long realized that what was most important was the well-being of the people, the title of the dynasty and ruling family name isn't what's important. Cao Pi probably wasn't a great ruler but at least he had Sima Yi at the helm, who bided his time to be rid of the Caos. I also loved the way that the emperor stepped down and was loved by all, and Cao Pi finally realized his ambition but the victory was ultimately empty. I think if you weren't paying attention to the story you could see it as cruelty winning with the Cao family ascending, but I think this story actually did a good job of showing how kindness isn't weakness, and how it was ultimately it was the emperor's selflessness kindness that brought great prosperity and peace to the land in its last years. Selfish ambition like that of Cao Pi and Cao Cao will ruin you, make your allies abandon you, and put you in the history books as crooks and demons., and their short-lived Wei Dynasty fell shortly thereafter to the Jin Dynasty of the Sima family who ended the Three Kingdoms period.

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Dropped the show at episode 29, bored.

The start of the show was a bit slow phased but interesting to say the least. I've read some of the reviews of the show that this is somewhat based on true events. So, basically I'm interested.

Somewhere nearing the mid part, it became so boring with too many filler episodes. So finally I've decided to drop the show at episode 29.

I think the casts were beautifully chosen. I like the chemistry between the ML and the FL. They both looks good. Actually, even secondary characters are good looking. Both major and minor roles are done pretty well, kudos to the actors.

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