This review may contain spoilers
Good relationship building and humor EXCEPT FOR THAT ENDING WTF
Cdrama, why do you keep doing this in the last few years? Why do you release a really good drama that just goes bonkers in the last few episodes? It is human nature to remember the most recent events, so if you are going to dedicate your time and energy, you should be making sure the end stretch is strong. I get needing the beginning to be strong so audiences don't drop it, but c'mon. The last 4 episodes of this was a BETRAYAL. Absolute garbage. I usually don't actually use the words "bad" when I write reviews, but episodes 33-36 were BAD. Having a bad ending means that it's all that most viewers are going to remember!That being said, I really enjoyed the drama up to that point. I know a lot of people found the ML too abusive in the beginning but I braced myself for it and honestly I felt like he let up a lot sooner than I was expecting. My husband and I found the focus on the slow-burn romance, mending their grievances, and forging a strong alliance and marriage to be the best part of this drama. I'm glad that their relationship was the core of the story, even if it meant the political aspects were a bit lacking. We also really enjoyed the humor from the 4 supporting generals. These two aspects were strong and made up for some of the other aspects that were not great but also not too bad (not counting the last 4 episodes).
If not for the last 4 episodes, I would have rated it 8/10. However, the utter betrayal of the last 4 episodes lowered it to a 6.5.
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The melonocolic, calm tone that overlies the story, slowly but surely builds up to the larger and more complex moments of the story, is beautiful and not at all too overwhelming so that other happier moments and humor can shine within the story and not make things too dreary or too slow.
The drama manages to figure out when to dile up the dramtics, when to give the supporting characters their chance to shine, introduce new characters and plots without leaving taking from the fact that the slow inner politics and family drama and love story, as well as the slow resolution of all the characters and moments, are at the center of the story.
The pace of the story is somewhat slow but steady, just like in the main love story, but it works for the tale that is being told. The drama has a tendency to get a bit too soapy and simplicity with politics, which gets a bit too repetitive as the story goes along.
But the dramatic, not too serious and soapy court politics also made it a lot of fun and very entertaining, and often addictive watch – especially in the second half, where the plotting isn’t as strong. The drama always gives the characters permission to drive the narrative forward with their mishaps and actions, which is good.
Each character has their own burden to carry, their inner devil and complex story, and everyone seems to have something to do with the story. The characters’ reason for why they’re doing what they’re doing works logically enough for the inner logic of the story that was being told.
The heart of the story always remains the quiet, tender and domestic, homely atmosphere that accompanied the love story and makes the drama very charming, even though it makes can feel a bit long-winded at times. But the characters’ slow-burning love and longing for each other was absolutely my cup of tea when it comes to romance.
The sets, costumes, and cinematography were also very lush and gorgeous and the few fight scenes we did get were fun and exciting to watch, even though they never took up too much of the story despite how much war there was within the narrative. This is often a harsh and unpredictable world, and the drama doesn’t really scrape off it, without making it seem completely brutal or just to have bloodshed just to surprise or shock the audience.
The development of the plot and the slightly too easy to defeat ‘villains’ within the story became a bit too uneven in parts and the politics and some of the side plots were a bit too cliché, repetitive and not the clever which make the narrative drop a little towards the end, even if it’s entertaining, but the quiet desire, sincerity, heartfelt talks between the main couple was the main lifeline of the drama and the beating heart of it all and the chemistry between the actors was so fantastic that it made this a very fun watching experience and very bingeable.
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It's massively overrated, people are mesmerized by the cute ML!?
The romance is kind of fun in this show, but it's excruciatingly slow. The drama is filmed beautifully & the actors did a great job, but the plot is super weak from relatively early on & if I wanted to be a bit mean I could call the final episodes simply trash. Sure the ending is not quite as disrespectful as in `Who Rules the World `, but it's not that far off, it's a random mess.I like the enemies to lovers trope, but the delivery felt jittery to me & it does not help that the ML has gotten some complete character rewrites without dealing with some of the deeper issues their relationship had.
I could go into more detail & talk about some other things such as some of the social messaging the show has, but ultimately I feel like I have wasted my time & don't want to spend more than 3 minutes writing this review.
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I didn’t enjoy this as much I hoped I would
Con: I had to play this in 2x speed to finish. Slow romance. Chemistry was ehh. The female lead wasn’t as tough as I’ll like. The villains were awful villains and their reasonings were not so great. Story line wasn’t surprising or intriguing. The female lead side interests were kind of wack. The story was just lingering for me. Ending was lame. They took out people that I’m just like why?Pro: The side characters I did enjoy more so. There were some funny parts. The story was okay.
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Baby Voiced FL
Good production value. ML lead strong and some really strong, dramatic and comedic scenes with his gang. Frail FL spoke like a baby throughout most episodes if that’s your thing you’ll like this. Li Xue Qin/Xiao Tao should have been billed as a Main Lead as her comedic timing, character analysis and delivery was a standout and on point, the talent casm between her and the main FL lead was wider than the canal they were building. Hope to see her in more dramas billed as a lead.Was this review helpful to you?
Almost great, but...
OVERALLAmazing visuals, great music, good script, but terribly unbalanced. Watch it if you're looking for a logical and coherent love story and you're into political intrigue. If you're easily bored, you're into useful and important FLs, or you don't like tragedy, skip.
THE STORY
In theory, it is an enemies-to-lovers story. Male Lead (ML) and Female Lead (FL) come from different nations, and families with a real bad history, but they're forced to get married to protect the peace. Obviously, it does not go well... until it does. But really, it's not an enemies-to-lovers story, because typically, in these stories, both sides are petty with one another until love comes around, and that's not what this drama is about. FL is pretty much catering to the ML almost from the start and ML is the main one being petty. It's as if he's the only one suffering from the family feud and she doesn't have that baggage at all (which makes no sense). It doesn't last very long, but the next part (which lasts VERY long) is not much better: FL knows she likes ML and ML kind of knows he likes her but pretends he doesn't. The last quarter of the drama, the romance finally picks up, but by then 3/4 of the series is gone.
On the bright side, ML and FL are cute and have several nice, memorable scenes together. Even though most of the romance is very tame (PG-rated), there are 2-3 spicier scenes to shake things up. But I'm not satisfied. Do I feel like the 1st part, when ML is being petty, is bad? No, but I would have enjoyed it more if FL had been pettier. It would make the relationship feel more equal. She does mess things up for him a bit at the beginning, but not nearly as much as she could have. By the way, it feels very unusual to see a FL so subdued and effaced, when the trend these days is the opposite. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it. It felt like a waste to make FL smart and then let her be so...unimportant. Anyway, same thing with part 2. Do I feel like the 2nd part, when ML is in denial, is bad? No, it's necessary given his backstory, but it's WAY too long. We're stuck in this part for more than 10 episodes. More than 10 episodes of romance not progressing is a problem.
To be clear, I don't think the love story is all bad, it makes sense and the characters (especially ML and his resentment) make sense. It's just not well balanced. There's also an imbalance between the romance and the political intrigue in Prisoner of Beauty. Usually, if there is one, dramas don't spend enough time on the romance and too much time on politics, but here, it feels like the opposite. That wouldn't be a problem if the romance was very eventful and fast-paced, but when literally nothing new happens for episodes on end in the romance and there's also nothing of much importance happening in the political side, then we get... well, nothing. The political intrigue in this drama is very interesting though. In the last episodes, it reaches epic proportions. But it feels so rushed! Why wait until the very last 3 episodes to let the fun start?
Bottom line: Prisoner of Beauty has great sets and costumes and good cinematography. The love story, though a bit juvenile, is cute and coherent. Secondary characters (Yulou and the Wei cousin) have surprising depth (though it isn't utilized as much as it should have been), too. But overall, the drama just doesn't quite reach its amazing potential. It is, however, a HUGE improvement on the book, imo.
THE ACTING
Good enough for me. I think FL did a better job than ML, but I do like Liu Yuning and wish him the absolute best. They did have good chemistry too. I also want to praise the production for a diverse cast (not everybody is thin in this drama), which is a change. That was really nice.
THE MUSIC
Good stuff!
REWATCH VALUE
I will DEFINITELY rewatch this, but with some fast-forwarding.
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The costuming was fine I just thought it was really weird how they would walk around the house in socks. But honestly this show was just not interesting.
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Light romantic comedy for helpless romantic
If you want cdrama costume without too much emotional damage, make you laugh like true romantic comedy with a touch of war/fight in between this is it.This is definitely a popular pop genre so I understand the hype. I think this is also a good starter drama if you want to recommend someone into their first cdrama period costume and they want happy ending, chemistry also on point from main lead to their closest people
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Almost perfect
My problem with historical Chinese dramas is that they tend to drag a bit with no consistent plot.I mean, there is a main plot and as we watch some problems arise then get solved then another problem surfaces then solved and so on... in parallel with the main story.
So personally -since it's MY review- I haven't yet find drama that I'd give over like 7 or 8. hence my rating.
That been said, this was a great one, I really enjoyed it specially the beginning, I like the dynamics between the leads.
I love the Smart FL VS Smart ML, most dramas tend to have a clever lead whole the other is always less intelligent but here I really enjoyed the ping-pong power games the two leads had.
Acting was great, I loved all character even the evil ones, the plot was interesting, at least most of the time.
I loved the leads, I don't know about their chemistry but I enjoyed them together.
Overall enjoyable, a bit longer than needed, not boring if you are into long dramas.
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Can't they just please release all the episodes??
Omg... I regret watching this while only seven episodes have been released. I should've let this marinate, huhu, because oh my gosh... I keep counting the seconds for the next episode. I am so engaged in the story. If you like the enemies-to-lovers trope, then this is for you. I had to pause and take breaks while watching this because the tension between the leads was too much! I love their bickering and chemistry. The side characters are also pretty funny, haha. I haven't read the novel for this, but hopefully in the next episodes, the leads become more open to each other. So far, the male lead is kind of giving red flags; however, he does have his reasons. Nonetheless, he has been bullying the female lead a bit too much😤. I understand that they have their reasons, but I have to side with my girl 👸When I finish watching this drama, I'll edit this and give a better review. Anyhow, so far with the latest episodes released, this was my honest review: 9/10
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Love is the Cure
Much touted revenge-themed period drama with smart leads navigating venom-laced paths together under the weight of a bitter past and heavy familial burdens.Though forced together by an awkward alliance to sooth the terrible betrayal years back, both leads know nothing good would come of the wretched union. Yet, mutual attraction seems thinly-veiled — 5 eps in and we see gradual understanding and respect despite what is deemed irreconcilable differences. There were some good moments- a great sign hopefully of what’s to come!
The tension in the story is kept taut, and the layers are coming off bit by bit. Characters are being nicely developed with backstories and side stories. So far, very good!
Liu Yu Ning’s character reminds me of the one he played in The Story of the Pearl Girl - brilliantly savage yet kind but to only a few. Song Zuer is fun to watch as she flits from one emotion to another, but is steadfast in her pursuits.
A priority on my must-watch list!
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Strong Start but Dragged-Out and Inconsistent
Prisoner of Beauty had a plot that really caught my attention in the beginning — the setup was strong and full of potential. Unfortunately, the pacing slowed down too much as the episodes went on, and I felt the story could have been told with fewer episodes. This made parts of the drama feel repetitive and even boring at times.The male lead started off with a character I found engaging, but later on, especially after marriage, he felt much softer and less consistent with how he was originally portrayed. This shift in personality made it harder to stay invested in his character arc.
Overall, it’s a drama with an interesting concept and a powerful start, but the drawn-out execution and character inconsistency lessened the impact for me. Worth watching if you’re curious about the premise, but don’t expect a tight, fast-paced ride.
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