The Sword and the Brocade

Wonderful love story, but the plot has lots of problems

What I discovered after watching The Sword and the Brocade
- Women are bloody scary when they're having tea with you
- Forehead kisses are better than bedroom scenes
- Ming dynasty mother-in-laws are scarier than the T-1000.

I had long avoided *The Sword of the Brocade* for the following reasons:
- I was super not impressed with Tan Song Yun's performance and was majorly annoyed with her aegyo character in *Under the Power*.
- In general, I dislike harem dramas intensely. I just don't like watching women bully each other.

But for some reason I am suddenly in a romantic mood for mature, adult, slow burn, arranged marriage romance and the *The Sword and the Brocade* delivers.

I really loved Shi Yi and Ling Yi's gradual attraction to each other and I love Wallace Chung and Tan Song Yun's performance. I believe that Tan dubbed herself, and it really brought a lot of nuance and colour to her character.

I didn't find Wallace Chung attractive at first, but he is so manly, honourable and considerate as Ling Yi that these qualities end up making him very attractive indeed.

And yes, yes, this is one of those dramas with misunderstandings between our couple, but it's not at epic proportions like Love and Redemption.

I don't seem to mind misunderstandings and lack of communication in romance dramas as I find them morbidly enjoyable. But if you hate this be warned as the Show has one major arc with that.

(Also, I'd like to report that Wallace Chung is such a good kisser. Like, no fish-eyed kisses, people! But one filled with intense passion and desperate hunger. *Fans self*.)

However, I confess that I skipped or fast forwarded a lot of scheming concubine parts because I can't stand a lot of that. At times I found the mother-in-laws (both Madam Xu and Luo) intolerable.

Yet, despite their horrid scheming, I have a lot of sympathy for the concubines. I felt their pain and sorrow when Ling Yi rebuff their efforts to gain his attention. As for Qiao Lian Fang, the primary evil concubine? Nah, she deserves everything she got lol.

But while it tries to convey the painful lives of concubines and women in ancient Ming dynasty times, but it was clumsily done.

And as with so many Chinese dramas, for some reason, the last 10 episodes was a rush of betrayals and schemes, a lot of them lacking logic.

If I were to rate the way they had written romance between our main couple, it would be an 8.5.

But for the plot involving the evil Ou family, concubines and more? Oof, it'll be a 6 or less.

So, I can only give it an slightly above average rating rather than excellent.

But I still highly recommend this drama if you like watching slow burn romance and arranged marriages. Our leads are really good and you will really enjoy their performances.

Rating: 7.5

I wrote a longer, more detailed review here: https://dramatea88.wordpress.com/2024/01/09/the-sword-and-the-brocade-review/

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you will no regret

it deserves a 101/101
1. the story line is on the other level
2. the FM and ML are perfect for each other
3. I love the family dynamics
4. like how the leads work well tolerate
5.love

it deserves a 101/101
1. the story line is on the other level
2. the FM and ML are perfect for each other
3. I love the family dynamics
4. like how the leads work well tolerate
5.love

it deserves a 101/101
1. the story line is on the other level
2. the FM and ML are perfect for each other
3. I love the family dynamics
4. like how the leads work well tolerate
5.love

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Not bad but not that exciting either

Story: The is a chill drama with a slow-burn romance. There was nothing wrong with the story, it just wasn't exciting. The gist is that the FL marries into the ML household in order to investigate her mothers untimely death. The ML has a harem of women but he isn't in love with any of them. He feels more of a duty towards them. This may turn off some viewers but I personally didn't mind it since this was common in that time period.

I dropped this drama mainly because there was nothing compelling me to keep watching. The romance while I think well developed was really slow. The scheming within the household was pretty standard and the mystery surrounding the mother was slowly revealed.

Acting: I thought the acting was fine--nothing exceptional. Although it was pointed out that the FL dubbed her own voice which I appreciate.

OST: Some memorable songs such as "Want to be Together" (要一起) By Zhou Shen (周深)

Rewatch: I may come back to this and finish it but it is low on my priority list.

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Back stabbing women...

Ok...this drama isn't my cup of tea..I watched this because of Seven Tan...she's a great actress. But oh boy....I can't stand it when women back stabbing, bad mouthing each other just to gain favor from the husband they share. 4 wives, mother in law, an over bearing mother, jealous sister Er Niang (not to mention a brother and sister in law at the same premises), inserted their influences with their charm or devious act or authority to this poor guy the good general Xu Ling Yi - he's overwhelmed. I guess he made the bed and he need to laid on it....no wonder he look so tired in every episode with the full house of women bickering. I guess Seven Tan was the recipient of all the bad vibes, defensive fort to stand guard against all strong willed and crazy craved women...so I gave up. In my opinion, we don't need to watch all these bad s**t characters and be the judged who's better than the other. Sorry....

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World of drama difficult to live in and even more difficult to watch due to poor writing

I finished watching it thanks to the fast forward button and the actress playing the female lead, who gave good performance and was quite captivating.

The plot drags on unbearably, full of inconsistencies, absurdities, and worn-out clichés. On one hand, we see a society where women cannot appear in public, yet it is a woman who runs the embroidery workshop, and all the concubines and wives move around the city quite freely to carry out their schemes, without any supervision or veils to hide their identities. They even visit prisons themselves. Not to mention that the FL meets her male friend (2ML) on several occasions. In the house with such strict rules maids can interrupt and give their opinions without any consequences which is another example of non-consistent world created by writer. Xu family after their downfall has no backing in government which we can clearly see, but their second son is married with a princess. Given the logic of the Xu family's world, it's unbelievable that no one in this family has attempted to poison the FL or the matriarch (mother in law of FL), who is more scheming and cruel then those supposed as drama villains. Watching her behavior for more than 40 episodes makes her final transformation is unbelievable.

Most of the characters are either caricatures or barely sketched out, despite having 45 episodes. Some characters disappear without a trace after a particular storyline begins, only to return after several episodes. These subplots add nothing except to reinforce the positive traits of the FL. The main antagonists are completely one-dimensional, and the intelligence with which they plot their schemes makes it hard to believe that this family could effectively hide their actions for so many years. I immediately guessed who their spy in the Xu family was.

As the FL is smart, energetic and likeable, the ML is passive and simply boring – that is unfortunately mostly due to poor writing of his character. Because of that, it is really difficult to see any trace of chemistry between main couple.
Visuals are not something worth mentioning with pale coloring and visibly artificial materials of costumes. The positive aspect is music with beautiful songs.

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Disaappointing scriptwriting or romantic....

What could be a great drama to watch, even with not the prettiest of actress but her acting skill saved her. The biggest disappointment, like in all I mean ALL Chinese Dramas, is the play of the leading lady as the VIRGIN til the last episode. Even if they are married!! This is tiring. That is not suppose to the highlight os the script or should be climax of the story, but they always ended up making it the focal point for the story. You know what? It's not romantic. For stupid silly giggly girls maybe. I just want the story to build up and get on with the main plot! If you don't want the lead to consummate, then let them be two unmarried individuals. I hate once again skipping all these silly romantic scenes again! If that is how Chinese girl behave, I am wondering how China has the largest population in the world, because it would have resulted in a very high percentage of Chinese men who are gay!

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Yanxi palace-lite with tired tropes

I say yanxi palace lite because the revenge arcs and plotting never get to the nasty level that yanxi does, and essentially it's the same tired story. Several women fighting amongst themselves over one man, with one particularly antagonistic one doing all sorts of evil things to get the attention of a man who never loved her.

And then misunderstanding after misunderstanding with the usual nasty bullying MIL. I played this drama in the background while i did stuff, never felt i missed anything. There is no true conflict just small conflict arcs filled with misunderstandings. With "sword" in the title i dont know why i half expected fight scenes lol but never happened. Lol

The acting of the leads are great though and hold down the story, was the reason i continued watching.

The costumes are unique with the stiff high collar and very pretty with gorgeous colours. The hair pieces the ladies wore were not too elaborate and very delicate and elegant.

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FL Was Like a Robot With No Personality.

I started watching this after bad luck with picking dramas. I'd paused another drama to watch this. I should have sticked with it. In terms of character and personality I think Sword and Brocade lacks it. The FL was very stiff and mechanical. Her smile seemed fake. I've seen the actress in other dramas and she's acted better there.

I also had an issue with how they didn't age the FL up from fifteen to eighteen. I kept thinking about it and it grossed me out. I realise they were going for a degree of historical accuracy and most women married soon after their hairpinning ceremony at 15 (which was really 13-14 because they were classed 1 upon birth and became1 year older on every New Year). I think the tipping point that really got me to stop was the bedroom scene after marriage. The music made it out to be a joke...

Don't get me wrong, from what I saw there's no sexual assault in this on camera. It's just the situation really didn't need that music. It would have worked better if the scene was shorter with what takes place hurried along for the viewer to see with different music. I just feel the scene could have worked so much better now I'm writing this review. It could have had a completely different feel and epic music to accompany it.

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