This review may contain spoilers
Start watching for Leo and become a big fan of Jing Chao
I started out this drama not knowing any of the main characters except for Leo from Ashes of Love.Story: It seemed like there were three different storylines: FL and ML Prince Wu You, FL and 2nd ML (General Fu Chou) and FL and Emperor of Qi (Leo). For FL and ML storyline between them was really weak and in addition, there was no chemistry between them at all. In fact, the storyline between FL and 2nd ML (General Fu Chou) kept me captivated and continued to watch till the end. The storyline between FL and Emperor Qi wasn't developed very well but still much better than the FL and ML storyline. I'd probably give a higher score if the storyline for the FL and ML Prince Wu You was dropped and we could focus more on the other two storylines with General Fu Chou and the Emperor Qi.
Acting/Cast: I was not impressed with FL or ML as there were no chemistry between them and their storyline was really weak. To my surprise, this was the first drama I watched the 2nd ML - Jing Chao as General Fu Chou. His acting was excellent and on point. I was crying watching the scene where he caught the FL, his wife then, and ML in the bathtub together. His voice and facial expressions brought tears to my eyes. He was the one that kept me following his storyline to the end. For Emperor Qi, Leo did an excellent job portraying his heart ache through his eyes and his expressions as expected. His sacrifice for the FL at the end also brought tears to my eyes.
Music: The theme song for FL and General Fu Chou was my favorite of all, its a very sad song though.
Rewatch Value: I gave an 8 as I would prob go back and watch only the parts with the 2nd ML - General Fu Chou and Emperor Qi
Overall: good drama especially General Fu Chou and Emperor Qi storylines and their acting skills!
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Wuxia Womance
Princess Silver tells the story of a woman with a hidden past, a forgotten identity, and a secret mission in a foreign country. Moreover it’s a love story with several people who feel conflicted in their feelings, and loyalties.The great cast is loaded with passionate characters. Their love is denied, unrequited, marred with regret, tied up in love triangles, and squares. Of course the main question is: will there be a happy ending for the leading couple?
Womance
This series has a a lot of clichés, but the feminist undertone sets it apart from other Wuxia drama I’ve seen. The women are represented as a commodity to be shared in a world dominated by men who follow the rule of marriage diplomacy. The males are entirely driven by their own passions, often oblivious to the feelings of women in their surroundings. Eventually they learn to understand the women they love the hard way.
The female characters are loyal to their family and friends. Even if they love the same man, they try at least to understand each other. They know how to fight, but also how to pour tea. There's a strong element of womance.
The female lead is not the typical badass-wonder woman that is trending in Wuxia drama. She’s simply human, full of contradictions. Though she is an enterprising female, opinionated, and acting very straight forward, she's also gullible and vulnerable, perhaps due to her amnesia. She admits to her friend she simply repays kindness with kindness, and anger with anger because she doesn’t know the background, or real sympathies of people that are living in her inner circle.
Sound closure
I won’t tell anything about the story lines or dangers in this drama, but at times I got the feeling they were surreal. This didn't bother me, because I loved the actors and the way they showed the feelings of their characters. I really felt the pain of slighted lovers like “brother” Rong Qi ( love Leo) General Fu Chou, or lady Xiang. The great pro of this drama is the sound closure in the finale. Just watch it for yourself.
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Love betrayal love adventure
It was a powerful expression of true love to give 100% of oneself for another happiness and not wanting in exchange. The family value and quality of life is the mature answer. I loved this drama and the cast did a wonderful job as I cried and laughed with them. It's a story about a princess with 3 different identity Rong Le / Man Yao / Qin Man. It starts with her being in Qi and sent to Northern as a marriage alliance between countries. She is princess rong Le to marry prince Zongzheng Wu You, but when she gets there he turns her away. So she becomes Man Yao the mistress of the tea house and here she meets prince wu you and they start to fall in love over time, but due to schemes in the palace they don't realize and confess to each other and so she is married off to a general fu(he know her true identity and uses her) who hated wu you.. The story goes on and on scheme after scheme of murder and betrayal.Was this review helpful to you?
Complex plot, great ending.
This is one of the best ancient cdrama I have watched. The plot is complex with a lot of twists and Im glad that all the mysteries are solved in the end. The last 10 episodes are really good. No loose ends or silly characters in this drama.The scenary and makeup are beautiful.
Amazing music! so many beautiful OST to listen and sung by the main leads. great singers!
The female lead is cute, smart and strong. Even her teeth are not perfect but that's what make her smile so charming.
The male lead is a great actor and singer. He looks very skillful and strong at his fighting scenes.
My only disappointment is that there's no kissing scenes and the romantic moments are too short.
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The characters are very sincere and easily likeable, I grew to like all of them. I don’t agree that the FL and ML were weaker in comparison to the support characters. I found the FL played a very clever and strong character quite well, just someone who is never allowed to live for herself. The ML isn’t weaker in terms of acting or strength, I just felt his character overall was more inexperienced, more spoilt and also had less burdens and responsibilities in his life, so his character portrayal is accurate as he would not have been the jaded experienced, mature person the other support males are. The others grew up with revenge and great burdens in mind, Wu You has grown up a prince who shirked responsibility and has had to grow up quickly, in this i feel Arif does a good job in acting out.
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Great Story, Draggy Plot
This story started out so promising, VERY promising, if I may add. And that promise continued into the first 23 episodes or thereabout, then the original plot line declined from there and the story went downhill. Fortunately, toward the later episodes, it did pick up, even made me quite emotional.On the characters, I must confess that even though Kahn is a very handsome man, he seemed OFF to me, as the romantic ML. His acting felt bland and off and he seemed to lack genuine chemistry with the FL Rong Le which failed to make their acting towards each other very convincing. I tried to see the chemistry but couldn't.
The guy that played Fu Chou did EXCELLENTLY well in his interpretation as a cold, tortured, calculating, and also utterly devoted man to his woman. It was much easier to fall into his role emotions-wise than with the ML.
Lastly, Leo Luo is gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous! But unfortunately he got too little screen time through the 58 episodes of this drama. However, he did come off as highly capable in his role interpretation. Well done, man! Well done!
Furthermore, I must note that the ML and FL weren't so easy to like or connect to emotionally. The ML came off as supremely arrogant when tact could have worked better and bratty & immature when he seemed not to have his way. The FL came off strong as first, but of course became cliche within the story. She's good at martial arts but seems incapable of defending herself, etc. A lot made it difficult to really like her person in spite of the huge burden on her.
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Great first 15 episodes!
Summary: if I have one word to describe the first 15 episodes, I’d say it’s Fast-paced. I’ve watched many historical shows . Usually the first 20 episodes have the best parts then the fillers for other supporting actors are added for them to have their own screen time. Other reviews are right. Watch this for the first 15 episodes and enjoy a fast paced thrilling entertainment. Most parts are originally done , bordering in preposterousness.Then just fast-ward and look up for main actors scenes. Some words are recycled and repetítive to prolong the scenes. The last 15 episodes are the core of intrigue. It’s the revelation of revenge.
Pro:
-Acting is good. The main actress’ face is usually shot on the side for a reason. She reminds me of the Song of Glory actress, Li Que. this new actress lacks intensity but it’s good to see new faces. The main actor here reminds me a cross between Mark Chao ( the famous Eternal Love (7 mile peach) main actor and the Princess Agents main actor. Great choice!!!! Watching super pastry white effeminate men can be too much. This actor is good though lacks passion.
-original for the first 15 episodes then it takes you to regular palace and war intrigues.
-costumes and designs are good. Of course, the Story of Yanxi Palace with Wu Jin Yan has the best glamorous costume in my head.
Cons:
- missing link. Writers should have included the main lead’s past on screen. Merely telling her story is a bummer.
- lacks depth on the love between the main lead’s first love. It would have added more sizzle. It was rushed and looked like it was filmed in one day.
- chemistry is all acting. You can feel it.
- not much variation in location. If not for the 15 episodes, id be like what is this location. It’s the same old thing.
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This review may contain spoilers
I wish the drama would have been better !
The drama starts with a beautiful night scenery, martial art fight and music. The strong female lead character enters and the plot starts to fall down with intrigues that keep you hooked.... until episode 15-17.Then there are a lot of holes in the plot, maybe due to the too many twists in the story, but lot of scenes unfold without making lot of sense and you can fast forward the drama and still understand everything.
Now, Leo Luo actes brilliantly as always .... his character is my favorite. Jing Chao was a bit disappointing though as I found his expression was the same whatever emotion he tried to demonstrate.
⚠️ ATTENTION HUGE SPOILERS !!! ⚠️
- It is so frustrating that Rong Le is not intrigued by her pay and flash backs. She never looked for her true identity (but 2/3 lines in the scenario) until Xiang takes initiative to find the truth after only one sentence she heard (“-“)
- Episode 15 - Long yue dies to allow the princess to escape, yet she doesn’t and so she died for absolutely nothing. Prince Li was literally 2min away on his horse yet ..... he never arrived while Rong Le is stopped by her brother, she is screaming, crying ...
- That scene when Xiang and Rong Le cry and fall asleep together and never talk about it ... is so weird. We know from that their relationship as viewers. But that scene isn’t well captured in the scenario.
- Rong Le knows martial arts and don’t hesitate to fight against dozens of men but don’t stand against 1 man when majesty’s life is threaten, nor to get rid of one of the main male leads
- Episode 40 - She knows how unhappy she was when she was forced to marry someone she doesn’t love ... yet she offers Ya Li to marry General Luo. Then Ya Li turns into a vilain that is completely out of character because she feels alone. She loves 1 then another one ... so weird.
- There are some politics intrigues but from a scene to another, wars are settled
- After the adultery episode, she comes suddenly comes back from Chen with Wi You and the warhorses and the matter is also settled just like that.
Episode 52 - princess comes back to southern land freed of all doubt of adultère because they came back with horses from Chen ! Just like that ...
- Episodes 56-57 are so frustrating. My heart aches for Emperor Qi. He is The real hero/victim is actually Emperor Qi! He never had anything, his mother never gave him love, and he lost the only person he ever loved ... while she hated him all along, he actually saved her multiple times and did everything in his power for her to be happy with the man she loves ! Yet, she doesn’t understand his actions while she can understand General Chou and Wu You 🤦🏻♀️
And when did Ke arrive ? The only episode that actually made me cry is the last one .... for emperor Qi and love that Rong Le should have had for him all along 😢
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The Verdict
I would say that Princess Silver is not too bad that it is worth spending the time to go through the entire 58 episodes. Maybe you can skip some episodes to make it worth your while, especially if you prefer to watch Rong Le with a specific male lead rather than all 3. The plot twists kept me interested to the end. The constant curiosity over Rong Le’s identity also made me plow on despite some parts getting a little long-winded such as the power play in the southern states ruled by Wu You.So, I would say watch it for the plot. The various relationships among the different characters and what they might be up to could be a little complicated though. Hence, it’s preferable to watch it with subtitles if you don’t understand Mandarin. The plot starts to thicken after 12 episodes or so which means you must be patient enough to sit through the beginning to understand the later parts of the drama. I was able to do that without much complaint unlike Legend Of The Phoenix which I have to drop after the first 3 episodes.
What Might Put You Off
While Princess Silver is a drama that has a strong female character in Rong Le, the storyline might be a tad incredulous for some. Like the Heaven Sword And Dragon Sabre whereby the male lead has 4 female admirers, Princess Silver has 3 men who are willing to sacrifice everything for her. To add to that, all the 3 are royalty.
The acting too is nothing to shout about. The chemistry between Rong Le and Wu You is lacking to me which I think is partly why there are many viewers who also rooting for her with Fu Chou and even Rong Qi. Different people will have different opinions as to who suits Rong Le best.
I know Wu You is supposedly stoic and shrewd. But Aarif Rahman’s portrayal seems a little too stiff which fails to give the character more depth. On the other hand, Jing Chao manages to give Fu Chou different dimensions to this character as he is supposed to be neither all good nor bad. There are more subtleties to his expressions and body language which makes Fu Chou more interesting to watch.
Thus, if you do not like Wu You, Princess Silver will be a pain to watch. After all, Wu You’s character dominates the screen time in the first quarter of the drama before Fu Chou comes in. Even then, Wu You continues to show up in his battle with Fu Chou and meetings with Rong Le. Furthermore, Sophie Zhang’s Rong Le overshadows Wu You to some extent. That is why I find the chemistry lacking between these 2 leads that I don’t feel so invested in their relationship to be able to really feel the ups and downs of their romance.
Conclusion
In conclusion to this Princess Silver review as to whether it is worth watching, I’d say give it a go. It is a very intriguing story adapted from a novel that reveals how much a man would sacrifice for the woman he loves, how much one can hate for the wrongs done to them, and how painful it is to have regrets. Just look beyond the acting and you might just enjoy the drama with its twists and turns.
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Story: Though the story has some similar point with GBMP, but for me the pace is too slow to grow intense. Basically I only need about 5 days to finish 50-60 episodes drama, and I finished this drama in about 9-10 days. The romance is too cheesy for me, even though I like the princess as the main character.
Acting: Although the chemistry of all characters are not bad, but the emotion they show are just average. Some scene are emotionally great, like the act of Emperor of Western Qi (Leo Luo as the Emperor). I like him a lot, specially in the last episodes. Make me hard to move on.
Music: the soundtracks are easy listening and have beautiful lyrics. I even save them before I watched this drama.
Rewatch value: I only will rewatch the last episode, the sadness emotion which this episode brought is so beautiful that makes me can't stop tearing.
Overall: Not a bad drama, actually the story is pretty good despite of the slow pace. Not really fond of Zhang Xue Ying and Aarif Rahman acts, don't know it's the character or their act, just feel awkward in some scenes. However, I think Leo Luo save this drama in the last episode. The one and only deep impression from this drama.
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Straight to the point: work quality was really good. The sets, shooting, props, costume were all good, although some looked fake, it wasn't to a point that it distracts you from the scene. The plot is well wrapt and everything is connected in a very good way.
The FL is stunning and the character is intelligent and charismatic. The ML is handsome as the OC from the novel, and it's well portrayed as well. The real jewel here is the second and third male. They are totally the best characters and performances from this show. I was so amazed by their acting that I started to search for other work from them.
The downside of this is the lack of chemistry between the main couple. FL actress is really young and lacks some skills, after I watched some behind the scenes footage I could understand that she and the ML made so many jokes and laugh so much on set I think they couldn't focus properly on the scene. There is no chemistry at all. Their faces are there, they look at each other trying a lot, but they don't get there. The best FL performance is with her brother, the firsts episodes she was good. All the side stories are good. Anyway, this drama has the bests lasts episodes i've seen. I rarely rewatch dramas but i keep rewatching 54 to 58 episodes, it's really good. Remember this is a tragic drama, although the happy ending (for some watching, not for me), you will fell pain a lot watching it!
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