Story of Yanxi Palace

Saw the final episode's ending credits not more than 15 minutes ago, and I told myself I'll write a review the moment I finished this mammoth of a series.

Wanted to give this a 10 (I wanted to. Really did): music overall was timely, tastefully placed. Acting was believable. The story was great .... for the first half.

Two different roles Wu Jinyan had to play (Ying Luo the servant, avenging her sister. And Ying Luo the consort). She played the first exceptionally well, but I found the second role (and not just the acting and fit, but the storyline) lacking. Wanted to love this with all my heart.

Having said that, it was still a gripping plot. The first half (and I still stand by this) was solid.

C-dramas are unique in a sense that things normally only start gaining momentum around episode 10 or so. For this, I found the first episode to completely demand your attention; it was so well done, details executed to perfection.

While I wish I could say the same for the second half, I still love the thought put in the last episodes. They didn't have to wrap things up the way they did, but it was reqlly generous of them to.

Overall, I give this a 9. Well deserving of the hype.

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What exactly do the women of the inner palace do all day?

In many big epic historical dramas, the pettiness, boredom and despair hinted at by the inner palace is never truly explored. This explores the characters of various women in the inner palace, with beautiful design, costumes and cinematography, and a nuanced, take on many different types of romance to boot.

The true strength of the series is that it's all about the characters and their relationships - how they all struggle to keep some sense of self-worth whilst competing for the attention of a very impatient and somewhat distant emperor and the current harem favorite.

The weakness is the plot points can get repetitive (multiple poisonings, very important things mysteriously disappearing, at least two women do the evil cackling going mad thing), but I kept a high score because I never felt the need to skip - the dialogue, acting and character revelations made me want to watch every minute.

The acting is generally extremely good. The opening credits are the most beautiful, haunting TV credits I think I've seen in my life. There are many scenes that I like to revisit again, but due to the repetitiveness of the plot points, I don't know if I'd ever watch the series again from start to finish.

I will note that this series does feature many petty/cruel/torturous acts.

I have other criteria I score by:

Complex Themes - 9
(The series does not jump from random plot element to plot element, but actually builds on concepts regarding patriarchy, revenge/justice, trying to live above the fight vs. engaging with it, and different types of romantic love and love between friends)
Character Growth - 7
(Characters do not undergo huge changes but they do exhibit full ranges of emotions - it's not just angry, serious all the time, but there are lots of moments of sillyness, joy and tearful gratitude as well.)
Nuanced Women -10
(Women everywhere! Esp. liked the characterisations of the main character - Wei Yingluo, the empress Fuca Rongyin, and Mingyu. Even the straightforward characters, would show surprising strengths or weaknesses).
Cinematography/Production Values - 10
(Just incredibly gorgeous and beautiful. Lovely colour combinations and interiors - whilst not too many exterior sweeping shots - the ones that did happen were very well done.)

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good palace drama

i started this cuz i watched the actress in 'the double',
70 episodes is longg but i Enjoyed it (for a person who doesnt like 30/40+ episodes drama)

spoilers :
- FL did a gud job in acting; shz quick witted,
i felt in the starting 20+ episodes she was too obsessed with revenge for her sister's death & it was too exaggerated, also she is always saved by the empress/ fuheng/ emperor(unknowingly) which in reality doesnt happen everytime ; nonetheless i liked her plots n schemes for her revenge whether its for her sister/empress/for fight against other concubines n consorts.

- xu kai(fuca fuheng) role was short, but his story wid FL was amazing, their romance should have been explored/shown more;
he ditched FL first i get it so FL avoids any kindof interaction btwn them, but his love for her was until his last breath which is truly hard to see in a palace cdrama (without any expectation/response frm FL).

- Emperor was easily swayed along for eg: doubts regarding his birth mother, his concubines/consorts, various plots n schemes(imo);
also with whoever he was infatuated with at that moment/situation like in the case when he supported FL regardless if she was wrong/right (he loved FL unconditionally)

- empress/ex empress/ fuca rong yin ruled justly, loved the emperor but didnt receive his love, faced too many tragedy's regarding her offsprings, also her role was short i feel

- chunwang & FL relationship was good, they understand, depend on each other
his revenge for his birth right was ok but there no need for him to go plotting n scheming against her.

Summary :
the drama was good with its plots n each actor played his/her role well, their stories were worth watching
highlight is obviously the FL, her story

Rewatch :
i would watch it again maybe, to understand subtle details, schemes right from their start

-> to those who are contemplating whether to watch or no :
Just give it a tryyyy, & decide for yourself to watch further or no

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Plural Marriage ⛩⛩️⛩ Fallout Edition °10° °masterpiece° Lite spoilers only!

This is why I don't give out many 10's. I save them for shows like this, that are far above the rest. SOYP is in its own stratosphere.

Talk about hate, love, HATE… Welcome to the Forbidden City, where the trees are treated better than the people. “This is power.”

Forget the trees, the Forbidden City is about to get a shakedown. Many will be killed, several will kill themselves, others will be executed, and 1 or 2 will go completely mad. “Even if you know, you should pretend that you don't know. That's how you live a longer life in the palace. That's how you can be the last one standing and laughing.”

SoYP is a 2018 release that is rated 8.8 on MDL. It is 1 season consisting of 70 exquisite 45-minute episodes. I was so caught up in watching this that I didn't take many notes. Any show that causes one to be sad around ep26 because it's already 1/3 over has got to be pretty dang good. Right from the start this looks and feels like Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace, which was released the same year. {Ruyi's episodes 1-49 are a 9.3. While looking up its historical accuracy, I learned how heartbreaking the rest of the show is. It's over 80 episodes, so that's a hella-lotta hurt. I am not up for it now, so I stopped at episode 49, which is a perfect ending. I cannot recommend eps1-49 enough. It's nearly perfect).

We're following Ying Luo (YL), who is pretty, talented, smart, resourceful, and strong minded. She makes friends wherever she goes. She also makes lots of enemies. Smart? She could arguably out-talk Joan Rivers. Even the Emperor walks away befuddled. Wu Jin Yan (The Double) is the extraordinary FL. She inspires anger and jealousy from many other women. She enjoys teasing overly serious people. Teasing? Certainly, yes. But she's also capable of torturing those who take themselves too seriously. That includes His Majesty.

We follow these actors through many years. The characters begin young and they age; their performances near magically reflect that. Nie Yuan (Will of Steel, Three Kingdoms) is Emperor Qianlong. Oh.My. He is superb. Qin Lan (The Magical Women, The Rational Life-7.7) plays the lovely and fragile Empress Fuca Rongyin. The scrumptious Xu Kai (Once Upon a Time in Lingjian Mountain-7.5, Ancient Love Poetry-8.6, Falling into Your Smile-5.7) is guard Fuca Fuheng, brother to the Empress. He looks dreadful with a mustache. Still, all the young (and not so young) girls love Fuheng - all the girls love the cherub-faced Xu Kai, but His Majesty is the daddy of all. Charmaine Sheh (Winter Begonia) portrays Consort Xian. Tan Zhuo (Dying to Survive, Game Changer) portrays the heinous Noble Consort Gao - she's a feisty one. Jenny Zhang plays Consort Shun. She was stunning as Wu Huan in Ancient Love Poetry-8.6. Here, she doesn't show up until nearly the end. The directors are Hui Kai Dong (Winter Begonia), Wen De Guang (Forever Love) & Guo Hao (Scent of Time). Screenwriter, Zhou Mo, also directed Royal Feast.

I wouldn’t classify this as a romance. It's a historical drama that contains some romance. ‘I like you… you /bad/ girl.’ YL and Fuheng gravitate from dislike & distrust to love. But His Majesty has his eyes on YL, too. YL isn't thinking about love when she arrives at the palace. She's investigating her sister's death. Her sister died under suspicious circumstances at the palace a couple years back. YL knows suicide would never have been an option, so she's sworn to catch the killer and administer retribution. This requires a lot of finesse. She questions people but she must do it delicately. They mustn't realize they're being questioned. She also refuses to play along with the mean girls. That, coupled with her unusually aggressive style and undeniable talent, queues up her adversaries. As soon as one enemy recedes, another rears its ugly head. 70 episodes allows for an array of dramatic vignettes.

Women's cages are “meticulously created by the men of the world.” YL soon learns that her sister is rumored to have had indiscretions with a man, and she may even have been pregnant. YL believes that if any of that is true, it wasn't voluntary on the part of her sister.

“I am the empress, before I am a woman.” Duty is one of the primary themes. That includes a duty to justice which is what our heroine seeks. Another theme is the dignity of every human being. Our protagonist is a “lowly” servant who shows that she isn't so lowly, in reality.

“If you give too much importance to gains and losses, how can you win? …If you encounter a huge hindrance on your way forward and you cannot move on, don't just keep thinking of your goal. Try calming yourself down. Focus your attention and do your task well… I want you to remember that not everything will go your way. As long as you are a human, you will have failures. So you must learn to wait patiently... Wait until you are strong enough. Wait until one day, you're not being restricted by anyone. Wait for the right time…“ Smarter than most people, YL is always thinking 20 moves ahead. I got upset with her once or twice, only to realize several episodes later that she had a long-con going.

Perhaps the main theme is about the nature of pride and power. The Forbidden City is not a nice place. All the toxins roll downhill. Even servants abuse eachother. People are terrified, under an unbroken threat of harsh (brutal!) punishment or death. The wives and concubines eat eachother over power and prestige, but they also long for love from his “majesty”. The children even moreso. A simple life with a single loving family would be better. Chinese historical works make the palace seem like the worst place on earth.

“Pain can awaken your senses.” “At this point, grief won't do anything. I'd rather think about how to take advantage of this incident to benefit myself the most.” This from someone who just lost her father. There's characters who seem decent but they get twisted, because power and privilege are corrupting. “People won't change that fast. If she really has changed, you must not have noticed it before.” One of the palace maids is able to make an upgrade through marriage. She becomes a cruel, power-hungry snob. It's part of Yanxi's dissection of the nature of humans and power, and one character points out that the current version of this person is the true individual. Once she became free to be what she wanted to be, that is what she chose.

Everything about this show is exceptional. The writing is like a mousetrap. Our FL will get into what looks like impossible situations. Her superior wits and sheer moxie is what saves her time and time again. The directing is superb. The relationships are subtle. The acting is stellar. The costumes, set, design, and overall artistry are sublime. The opening song, by Lu Hu, sounds almost silly with its heavy & ancient opera inflections, but I grew to love it. It seems to be loaded with irony. There's a waltz in ep51 that is lovely. The corner piece of the piece is YL's interactions with the emperor, which are priceless. He wants to kill her so badly he can taste it. But he knows he would be less of a man if he did so, and the empress won't let him, anyway.

In the last handful of episodes they go forward several years. The princes and princesses are in their teens. YL & the king's relationship is adorable and she's apparently “the fun mom.” About love: According to YL, the one who says it first, loses. Later, the emperor tries to coax her into saying it (👁💘👉) and has a many tantrums when she won't. But YL isn't one to bow to pressure. “Your majesty, regarding my answer, it's going to take a lifetime to know. Just be patient.”


QUOTES📢

If you talk too much you will surely make a mistake.

A woman's hatred is the most horrible thing.

How can the murderer escape punishment, while the victim gets trampled?

The more grudges you have in your heart, the more pain you will feel. The more gratitude you have in your heart, the more blessings you will have.

Being indecisive always leads to trouble.

Do you know what it feels like to be jealous? It's like a poisonous snake gnawing at my heart every moment.

One's vision and insight need years of cultivation. If a day won't do, then a year. If a year won't do, then 10 years. My skills are lacking but I will make amends with diligence.

Life is like moving against the current: One will fall behind without moving forward.

To obtain what others can't, one should endure what others can't.

Over time, I forget more and more who I am.

The world is so vast; how could anything be impossible?

Look at the galaxy above. Actually, no matter how noble people are, even if he is the descendant of an aristocratic family, he's still just insignificant within the vast galaxy. So who can really be more noble than anyone else?



〰🖍 IMHO

📣10 📝10 🎭10 💓6 🦋5 🎨10 🎵/🔊9 🔚10 ▪ 🌞5⚡5.5 😅3.5 😭5.5 😱3 😯4.5 🤢3 🤔7 💤0

Shazams: Opening credit song: Lu Hu 看 (電視劇《延禧攻略》主題曲)

Age 10+ Language: b!+ch, jack@$$ but there's very little of anything remotely objectionable. As soon as kids can keep up with subtitles, theu can watch. Rated TV-PG-13: Parents Cautioned

Re-📺? Most definitely.


In order of ~lite & trite~ to ~heavy & serious~ you may also like:


🎎 -
C🇨🇳: Overlord 8.4,
Under the Power 8.6,
Legend of the two sisters in chaos 7.7 - bittersweet,,
The Rebel Princess 9.1,
The Sword and the Brocade 8.6 (in ancient Chinese opera style),
The Rise of Phoenixes 9

K🇰🇷:
My Only Love Song 8.7 excellent comedy;
Mr. Queen 8.5;
My Sassy Girl 8.5;
The King's Affection 8.3;
Mr. Sunshine 9

🔮🐉-
C🇨🇳: Love Between Fairy & Devil 8.9;
Once upon a time in Linglian Mountain 7.5;
Douluo Continent 9.4;
Handsome Siblings 8.7;
Eternal Love 8.3,
Ancient Love Poetry 8.6;
Love and Redemption 10

⚡/😱 -
C🇨🇳: Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Saber 9-Kung-fu!;

🌐💓 -
C🇨🇳:
Find Yourself 8.9;
The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8;
The Sleepless Princess 9.1
K🇰🇷 :
Love To Hate You 8.9;
Crash Landing On You 9.1;
Oh My Ghost 10;
It's Okay Not to Be Okay 9;
My Mister 9.5;

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Revenge

One of the few dramas I've seen with such a smart and headstrong FL.
Fell in love with her character within the first Episode. Don't let the number of episodes deter you from watching. Once you get into it, you'll be praying you have one more episode as you get closer to the end.

Bittersweet, revenge, plot twists, friendships, this drama has it all.

Be ready for the tears to flow and the laughter and anger to ring out. You'll love, you'll hate, and you'll feel empty when it's over. You'll wish you could forget it all to watch it for the first time again, just like me <3.

Don't hesitate. Watch this ASAP.

Note: My guilty pleasure is that I absolutely love the emperor.

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Story of Yanxi Palace is a Chinese drama about the story of Wei Yingluo/Imperial Noble Consort Ling/Empress Xiaoyichun who was a consort of the Qianlong Emperor and the mother of the Jiaqing Emperor. The story is about Wei Yingluo's journey from being a low ranking palace maid to the most powerful women in the imperial harem. These types of plots aren't original but the portrayal of the characters and the way the story is told makes this drama amazing. The cast was amazing. I loved watching the interactions between the different characters. The villains were great. The soundtrack was great and fit the drama very well. The costumes in this drama are beautifully made. I wish that I could wear it but I wouldn't look good in it nor do I have the money to buy it. I would totally recommend this drama.

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Wonderful drama that is worth your time

Story:
(+) Though it is 70 episodes it didn't drag. Sure, there were some slow parts but almost all dramas have slow/boring moments. I'm glad I stuck with it because of the satisfying ending.
(+) FL who isn't afraid to get her hands dirty. She isn't the typical sweet FL who wouldn't hurt a fly. She is out for revenge and is willing to fight back
(+) FL having a great character arc.
(+) Wholesome relationship between the FL and the empress.
(+) Some good plot twists
(-) The time skips were confusing but not unbearable

Acting: I've been watching a lot of idol dramas which don't always have the best acting. I've forgotten what real good acting looks like and all the actors are wonderful. In particular the best performances are from Nie Yuan (the emperor) and Qin Lan (the empress). Two amazing actors playing two fantastic characters.

Overall: I initially put off this drama because I didn't like the aesthetic of the Qing Dynasty. However after a few episodes I got use to it and ended up even liking it. So if that is what is putting you off I encourage you to still give it a chance because this is one of the best cdrama out there!

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Worth the Watch

I initially avoided this drama because historicals weren't really my thing, and I grew up watching Charmaine Sheh in HK dramas so... it just felt kind of weird to watch her in a cdrama now, but after heavy recommendation from a friend, I decided to give this a shot.

I'm really glad I did! It pulled me in right from the very first episode, and I loved all the devious scheming and plotting that never made an episode boring. However, I felt near the end, maybe last 10-15 episodes or so it definitely began to drag a bit and I did lose a bit of interest. I'm sorry, but I really did not care enough about the Empress and Prince He to warrant having to watch that many scenes with the both of them lol.

The relationship between Wingluo and the Emperor I'm still a bit iffy about considering all the shit he had her go through before and that one totally shady noncon scene that could have went even more south if Wingluo didn't scheme her way out of it, but they do have an interesting dynamic.

Anyway, this was 70 episodes but it definitely felt shorter because it was, for the most part, an enjoyable show to watch and I can totally see how it got so many views when it first aired.

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Reveng based drama

Lead enter to king palace to take revenge of her sister death . Inorder to find out the killer of her sister she misunderstood the second male lead character ,after he proved his innocence .he had fallen in love with her . She also loved him but something bind her ,something stop her to confess her love to him . The emperor ,who is his brother in law also always had a doubt her . The emperor always thought her to be bad women who seduce man for her benefit . In order to save him from her the emperor arranged his marry with someone else . His sister the empress who also the owner of the female lead always had a soft corner for her .she never thought the way her husband thought about the female lead . When the empress brother married someone else she thought that injustice happened to her and she asked her to leave the mantion and live the free life . She listened to the empress and left the palace. At that time empress suicide . The female lead returned to the place and got disheartened after knew the empress suicide news . She always thought that something wrong happened and inorder to know the truth she accepted the emperor and become his wife and after that their story started and from here the story got interested.
Watch it if you want to know the end.
Some good characters killed in the story that disappointed me.
Rest story was good.

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Best FL & Worst ML

OVERALL
This binge-worthy drama brings epicness to the least epic historical setting: the Qing dynasty harem. Watch it if 1) you enjoy never-ending catfights, 2) you love strong, smart, complex female leads, 3) you dig Qing dynasty culture. If you 1) hate long dramas (this is SEVENTY episodes y'all!!), 2) can't stand unlikeable male leads, 3) need well-developed, emotional love stories, then think about it. Think hard...and then maybe still give it a try.

THE STORY
For the longest time I shunned this drama. Qing dynasty stories really aren't my style; the costumes, the customs, the fact that the world seems to be restricted to the Forbidden City and women don't seem to have anything else to do in their life than fight for the emperor's attention, well, I'm not a fan. But this drama is rated so high, I had to give it a try eventually...and I don't regret it!

The Good: Although this drama is essentially about women fighting for attention in the Forbidden City (which I dislike with a passion), the first half of the plot also involves a murder-mystery, which gives it a refreshing twist and makes the repetitive catfights quite bearable. Another thing that helps swallow them well is the fact that FL is just absolutely AMAZING, definitely one of the best I've seen, and the best C-drama FL hands down. What's great about her is that she isn't the typical "innocent, pure" FL that responds to evilness with kindness. She stands between good and evil and when she says she wants justice, she'll do just about anything to get it. As such, she's scheming like the bad girls, and it's super satisfying to see. The drama not only has a number of epic scenes (all linked to the FL - is my girl crush obvious?), but it also has several, really emotional scenes, and a few fun ones too. Finally, the end is a fairly good one (considering C-dramas, especially period dramas, don't typically have well-written endings, that's really a blessing!). It's not rushed and it wraps up everything nicely.

The Bad: Unfortunately, there are pretty massive flaws that keep me from rating this drama higher. The biggest one is the ML, who is absolutely despicable. The emperor is egocentric and tyrannical from beginning to end. He treats everybody like they are from an inferior race, can't empathize or sympathize with anyone and makes few attempts to try to understand others . This includes FL - even though he lets her get away with more "insubordination" than others. As a result, it's impossible to enjoy his relationship with FL. Not fully, anyway. I couldn't imagine why the FL would like him, and even the screenwriters probably couldn't, because it's never clear why (or how) FL falls for him. I almost wish there wasn't any reciprocated love between them (a first in my drama journey!!) and FL was just using him for her own personal goals. That would have made a lot more sense, especially considering she has a second ML - who also isn't that great, by the way, but much better than the emperor - dying for her. Also, while there are GREAT moments in Yanxi Palace, there are also chunks of the drama that are draggy and/or sloppy. About half of it (roughly eps 20-40 and 50-60) felt like a bit of a let down. There is too much coming and going of characters, too many evildoers, less coherent plots, not enough of the FL. There also isn't a big picture anymore (once the murder-mystery ends). I wouldn't say that these chunks are bad, but they're not as good as the other solid episodes.

THE ACTING
Since the drama is mostly about the women in the harem, it really relies a lot on the female cast, and they did great. The main women - FL, Consort Guo, Consort Chun, the first and the second empresses, they are all absolutely fantastic in their roles. Most of them can appear angelic one second and the devil incarnate the next. The makeup artists also did an amazing job; the makeup really helped in making them creepy at times! Male actors also are fine, they just don't stand out as much. There isn't much chemistry between FL and ML, but they got me smiling once or twice (even though I couldn't fully ship them), so it's okay.

THE MUSIC
I wasn't a huge fan of the violin background track that was played excessively in the drama to make you feel sad, but I LOVED the opening music. Although I'm not taking any song from the drama, overall, the OST was fitting and not too distracting from the story, so that's good.

REWATCH VALUE
High. For sure I'll rewatch the drama, there are too many epic scenes that deserve to be seen again. But I will definitely be skipping lots of parts too when I do.

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