Funny
This series was really hilarious at times, and funny.I enjoyed the FL who was funny and out going. She had a very strong personality along with the other FL .
The story line was a bit bland and I think the ML could have been a bit stronger and not so childish I found him very immature and often annoying, the Second ML was a bit better.
This series is one where can watch and just switch off this nothing great about it or bad about it, it's one of those boredom kinda nothing to do binge watch.
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This review may contain spoilers
Adorkable couple + a fight for the throne = light-hearted romcom with court intrigue
Left me smiling and with all the warm fuzzies. I really loved the main couple's chemistry and dynamic (naughty bandit x righteous crown prince), as well as the OST. It's upbeat, cute, lively, and a perfection reflection of the drama.PROS
❀ Well-casted with an actress I fell in love with | I ended up loving Eleanor Lee's depiction of the spunky, sometimes naughty but mostly well-intended Chang Le. She's a robber and proud to be one; the whole reason she gets embroiled in the crown prince's mess is because she's trying to save her village people. There's less face-slapping in court than I expected from the synopsis and the majority of the plot, when the couples aren't being cutesy with each other, is the fight for the throne between the fifth prince's faction and the crown prince's faction. A lot of old people doing machinations for the young generation, which was funny to see.
❀ Romantic storyline picked up quickly | For the main couple, it happens in the first 5 or so episodes even as the crown prince is mistrustful of CL. She smashes all expectations he has of her (or, Yu Yao, the girl she's pretending to be) in funny ways. For example, he takes her to a casino thinking she would be scared off by the gamblers but she ends up winning a lot of money for him and he ends up forgetting about his 'mission' because he has so much fun. Lol! The second romantic line between Nong Ying, CL's martial artist maid/bodyguard and Gong Sun Mo, Li Che's scholar and strategist, progresses a bit slower but also lovingly. Finally, the last couple of Li Heng (the fifth prince) and Zhu Yan was the typical stuff between two well-read scholars who fall in love through couplets and poetry. I didn't care at all for this couple (more details in CONS section).
❀ Can't say enough about the OST | I thought they did a wonderful job with the music additions, which added depth to scenes (whether it be comedic value, a sense of triumph/romance, or something else). Maybe because the music was very pop-like which appeals to me compared to sorrowful ballads (lmao), but I like several songs in the OST which is pretty rare for me.
❀ Why is the couple so adorkable??? | I loveddd the scenes where LC and CL are just being silly with each other and making kissy faces. All the feels!! I thought the actors had great chemistry together and they were the cutest couple. CL's adorable facial expressions made me cheer for her the whole show, and LC's boyish and charming personality was the perfect match. I know some people complained about wanting more from Li Che as the crown prince, but I personally liked how he wasn't a hypermasculine dude with no emotions. You could really feel the love and loyalty he had for his people. I think "boyish" is a better description than "immature" in his case.
❀ Foreign royalty that DOESN'T get between the couple | I feel like whenever foreign royalty (especially a princess) comes up, the writers are like "Yesss let's bring angst + drama through this poor soul who only has eyes for the ML." Nah, none of that happens here. The foreign princess Ali Ati remains sweet and level-headed throughout the story. We stan women who have self-respect.
❀ The name of the game is damsels NOT in distress | I loved the number of times we saw women characters save the day in this drama. They aren't too over-the-top with it but it's definitely a recurring theme, whether it's CL's mastery in picking locks/figuring out gadgets or NY with her top-notch martial art.
❀ Set costumes have STYLE | Seriously, why did the outfits for the guys (especially LC and LH's) look SO good??? I've been binging historical romcoms this past week and this drama's outfits for the princes are top game.
CONS
✕ The third couple y'all... | I literally have nothing to complain about this drama OTHER than the LH and ZY couple. I thought ZY was fine but basically a useless character the whole story. Like,,, she had no role except being the tragic partner of LH. And LH omg... at first I saw people hating on the couple and I was like "nah I'll give them a chance." WRONG. They spoiled the story for me. Everything is light and fluffy and then a scene with them comes up that's all tragic and shit (as they are on opposite factions in the fight for emperor). Compared to the other witty and fun couples, they are boring and I jumped on the bandwagon and skipped through their lame couplets and encounters. You really can't make excuses for LH's character who spirals because of his love for ZY and does ridiculous things. Throughout the story, he remains weak, indecisive (outside of stuff pertaining to ZY), easily manipulated, immature, and selfish. But even skipping this couple's scenes, you'll still be able to understand the storyline which made me feel better lol. I just don't understand why they got as much screen time as they did. Ooh the only saving grace - good music during their heartbreaking scenes.
✕ Misunderstanding levels | Between the main couple: 0/10. I can't think of a scene where a misunderstanding happened because LC and CL fall in love pretty quickly and are loyal to each other through the end. Even CL's hidden identity gets straightened out without a fallout. Between LC and the dimwit fifth prince: 10/10. Yes, it was for plot purposes, but it made me hate LH even more. What a dumbass.
OVERALL
Everything is perfect EXCEPT the storyline of the third main couple. I could care less for them and they ruined an otherwise wonderful story. With that said, it's still worth watching for the other two couples (especially Li Che and Chang Le... y'all they are so cute I cannot). Historical romcom lovers will like this one!
(Note: My rewatch value is set to 5.0 always as a default as I'm not the type to rewatch dramas EVER. Thus, I do not take it into account when calculating overall score.)
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Very worth watching and beneficial for learning Chinese as well
Though it has some minor plot holes (and which drama doesn't have), I really enjoy every moment watching it. The overall story makes sense and is catching. There are critical moments that really got my heart.The music was amazing by the way! And I love the ending!
Also, as a Chinese language learner I usually watch C-dramas without translated sub. I have usually been going for modern dramas, since they are easy to understand. But this time I tried with this "historical" drama, and it was not hard to understand either (of course once in a while you need to look up for some difficult idioms). Maybe because the story was not too complicated and the language use was quite simple. (Of course I don't mean to learn to use the language in "historical" dramas, but only to test my understanding).
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Main Couple is cute and fuzzy aside from that- nada
TO BE SHORT, the main pair was the cutest! They were super cute and soft, and I adored them! But what bothered me was how cringey and depressing the second pair was. Their love story is so corny and just— it makes no sense! The ending was cute, but it left me a little disappointed. I always assume that the third couple is worthy of a better ending than the second couple. I'm not even exaggerating when I say, "I'VE NEVER SKIPPED A SCENE AS QUICKLY AS I CAN WHEN WATCHING THE SECOND COUPLE SHOW UP ON SCREEN!" Anyway, I still watched it because the main pair was adorable! heeheeWas this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
light cute drama
At first i thought that this drama would be very cringy and like just boring, but it turns out to be very good and i really like it.It's not boring at all and sometimes funny, i also really like their cute relationship. I watched this a couple months ago and decided to write a review now so i don't really remember the whole thing but i ensure you that this drama is worth to watch. This drama is fun to watch the actors are also pretty good too.
so i hope this review helps（っ＾▿＾）
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Romcom with leads that have chemistry and a happy ending.
Watch this drama. It is a rom com so don’t go looking for avant- guarde scripting or tightly woven entirely plausible stories. Take a Smart FL. Loyal ML. Decent couple communication and trust. All wrapped up with a happy ending.Actress who plays the FL character fits the rambunctious take charge heroine character well.
Her character was thrusted into a fake role and jumped right in and saved everyone and helped the ML become someone who could take his place I. Society. At this point In time I am watching three new dramas with the actor who plays the ML Zhao Yi Qin. I can’t say there is range in the acting but he suits the role well. Doting lover seems to be easy for him to play and this enhances the chemistry with the FL lead. The glances to his spouse to seek approval for being good or just to give a look that “we did good” is very organic. The theme is catchy and a bit of an ear worm. Expect drag towards the end and nothing too earth shattering in the finale. Just nice happy thoughts.
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Nice warm rom-com but rather mediocre storyline
It’s about a bandit, the FL, whose stronghold had been raided by the army after she snatched a tribute of Yeming kingdom to Pei Kingdom. She was thrown into court political struggle when the official leading the raid saw that she had an uncanny resemblance to his daughter, who died after jumping off a cliff in response to the arranged marriage to the Crown Prince of Pei, the ML. The official, the Prime Minister of Pei, grabbed the chance to threaten FL into posing as his daughter to become the Crown Princess, lest all occupant of the stronghold be killed. She had to do the Prime Minister’s bidding as she racked her brain to rescue people from the stronghold. Along the way, she grew to like the Crown Prince, who was wary of her at first, but eventually he too had fallen in love with his wife whom he consider just a spy from the Prime Minister’s residence. As the story progressed, mysteries and plots get revealed, but one thing remained for sure, the love between the Crown Prince and his princess.I dont know where to start with this one. It’s definitely a hearty romantic comedy, but fell short of all the other aspects. The storyline, the conspiracy plotting, the court politics, the fightings, oh well like I said, everything. But the music scores are fun and catchy, although sounded much too modern for a period series. Although nice, it’s really annoying that there was too much of these interlaced songs in the scenes, especially romantic scenes, which made it sound repetetive and annoying.
Although the FL is good in acting, i think the ML has much work to do. His expressions sometimes doesnt fit the scene. He is supposed to be this intelligent, kind-hearted, quick witted Crown Prince, but ended up showing the audience someone who is adorably stupid and too slow to react in intense situations. He was shown to be quite bad in martial arts, and other characters have also mentioned this multiple times along the show, but suddenly without training much or studying from great masters like a wuxia series would show, he just suddenly become good at swordplay towards the end of the show.
Plotholes are aplenty in this one, you cant really make sense of the scenes presented unlike a high budget show has. Oh yes I blame the budget. They definitely dont have a budget high enough to hire good screenplay writers, action choreoghrapher and wardrobe manager.
Not only does the storyline strewn with plotholes, the fighting scenes are also horrendous and painful to watch. Too slow, too rehearsed, and too much wirework. Definitely not one of those that run like fluid while keeping us on the edge of our seats. They look cheap and too mediocre.
Lets not make me start on the costume the filmset. Theyre much too modern-looking, both the costume and the set, looks weird to see those designs in a period setting. The head gears are also too dangly. The make up is nice though, although I cant figure out why they had to make the FL wear such moisty lipstick that made her lower lip look swollen and bleeding. Another too modern look.
All in all, its just a show with two beautiful leads. That’s it. Definitely wont rewatch it. Recommended if youre into light romcoms. At least this is better than Royal Rumours.
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Witty Robber turned Crown Princess
The beginning is sad because of Yuyao then turned funny when Changle appeared. The crown prince was robbed by Changle who happened to look like Yuyao who was engaged to the CP. Yuyao was in love with another man who was killed by her grandfather and father so she killed herself. Enter Changle who was blackmailed by the evil family of Yuyao. Changle was forced to act as Yuyao. Changle and CP fell in love with each other.With a lot of challenges and some jealousy they stayed together and became the Empress and Emperor with a baby in the oven. Happy ending.
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Unexpectedly good, i come to watch because of elanor. I love her acting a lot, the drama that she cast never fail as always. The story not fast and not too slow, i love every time they open the mechanism things. It makes me wanna try it too hahaha. I also like the ost of this drama.
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Whats mostly important to know is that is a drama worth watching
This is an amazing drama to watch if your a beginner or not ever episode of this drama made everything so worth watching the acting was amazing and the songs are so catchy, but i really loved was the loves sense omg- i tell best cdrama in 2020. One thing i didn't like was that they planned to make this drama really short but wither way it was really interesting and of cousre i would re-watch it. One little secret is that I'm a big fan of Eleanor lee her dramas are so funny and entertaining to watch I really highly recommend you to watch this drama and i hope you will enjoy it just like i didWas this review helpful to you?
Didn’t meet my expectations as much I have hoped and it was hyped.
Now this review on this drama is plainly based on my own preferences and views. Let’s not hate but discuss instead. I will share this review to simply move on from This drama and remind myself why I decided to move on from this show although it was on my watch list for a while now.I ll keep it really simple. The romance between the two characters weren’t something that swoon worthy, it didn’t move my heart or made me tingle everywhere on my body instead, it had me fast forwarding to the next. I suppose the romance is sweet and loving and romantic. But if there is lacking the passion from both characters regardless of whichever scene then the chemistry between the leads would be lacking. And being the two main faces of the show, this can be so.
There is no love triangle in this show it turns out. I suppose here and there not having a triangle play out is fine but in a story which harvest such a troupe having a triangle makes the passion more fiery. But since both of those were lacking.
The cast was alright looking. Not something that had my eyeballs popping out when I was watching it. They all just looked adorable. Plus the male lead was in the modern drama my girl and it was hard to take him seriously in a historical drama such as this.
This drama had a lot of potential. It’s something that if they took longer to discuss and fix these minor details then maybe even someone as picky like me would have enjoyed it.
Don’t get me wrong it was decent but nothing I would Rewatch for a while.
Bear in mind the martial arts of the female characters is badass and that is always appreciated in my book. Also I feel in this troupe there can be even more drama if let be.
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Unexpectedly enjoyed this
(Likely spoilers below so you're warned).I got halfway through the first episode of this and dropped it. Then I went back weeks later and finished it. As the title suggests, I unexpectedly enjoyed it. The FL carried the show--the actress did an excellent job and had a way of communicating hilarity that came through even to those of us stuck reading the subtitles.
I felt bad for the SML/SFL in this story, even went into MDL comments on the show to read ahead to see how they ended up. There was definitely some illogic there in how they all behaved, but it worked out in the end.
This is pretty light-hearted. The main actress does an excellent job and she and the main actor do a nice job together. I would rec'd this as a 'palette cleanser', especially if you're one of those who likes the really heavy stuff but need a break in between. :)
As for rewatch: This is on my rewatch list, I just haven't gotten to it yet.
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