Love and Crown

A Drama With Brilliant Acting & Political Scheming Written By Truly Awful & Incompetent Writer

A little disclaimer before I start my review. 4/10 is my true ratings for this drama. 😂 Having used to Ren Jialun's impeccable high quality scripts, this drama is certainly a challenge to watch. He basically was forced to film this drama by his agency Huanrui in order to end his contract. So, knowing the poor quality of Huanrui's script in general, I've been dreading this drama for 2 years already. This drama is filmed basically to highlight Huanrui's other actors by using Ren Jialun & Peng Xioran's names.

But why on the mediocre ratings? This is because aside from the many problematic things in the scripts and also the writer's inability to write a good and coherent story, the acting & chemistry simply elevate the drama to a whole new level. I also find the schemes and mind games to be very brilliant. So, in my review here, I would highlight on the reasons why this drama still has some redeeming quality that made it worth to watch.

THE ACTING

Ren Jialun is one of the few actors with naturally majestic aura so he really excelled in charismatic Emperor role like this. His regal bearing and magnetic presence is truly one of the best in the industry as his posture, presence and gait effortlessly sold off this role. Thus, you are seeing him as an Emperor instead of seeing someone acting as an Emperor. I like the immersion I get when I watched his dramas since he usually very committed in becoming the character. And he is just so reverting to watch here since angst role is what he does best. He made Xiao Huan so layered, complex and with depth despite the terrible script that made you question your logic since how well he sold this character. Xiao Huan is just so heartbreaking to watch -- he is so love-starved that he lights up to every tiny little things that his wife did for him. His heart yearns for her desperately and Ren Jialun show this part of Xiao Huan so excellently with his expressive eyes, little gestures, gentle caress, soft tender voice and tortured subtle acting.

Peng Xioaran lived up to her iconic roles in Goodbye My Princess. Again in this role, her innocence and pureness is what define her as a character. And what amazed me is the nuance she put in her character. In the script, she is supposed to hate Xiao Huan for all the things he did to her but Peng Xiaoran show the kind of conflict so well on how in love is she with her husband that she cant help but to automatically smile everytime he told her good news. This balance is hard to achieve as someone can look like a like 'a fool in love' but the complexity and heart she gave to the character is portrayed excellently on how she loves this man despite all the reasons pointed out on why she shouldn't.

And Gala Zhang did such a wonderful job as Xiao Qian Qing. Part of the reasons he is very easy to read for me regarding his real moral and intention since the very beginning is due to the his acting. He understood that the 'eye for the throne' narrative is only on the surface so thats just the image he has to show to other people but most of his scenes involving only 2 or 3 people so thats where he show his 'real' personality. Everytime Xiao Huan accuse him for the throne, he has the genuine expression that he really not interested in the throne at all. Or when he saved Xiao Huan with his fan at the boat, he truly didnt need to do that, but he did anyway -- that itself is a crack to the façade he put upfront.

THE CHEMISTRY

Honestly, the chemistry between Ren Jialun & Peng Xioaran is just so amazing to watch. Usually chemistry that Ren Jialun bought in his dramas are the calm type (my kind of favorite) but this one? It is different. I can feel the tension, passion, desire, longing and intensity and most of all, how their hearts ache and yearns for each other despite their conflict and circumstances.

Aside from that, one of the highlights of the drama is the royal siblings' dynamics with Xiao Huan, Xiao Qian Qing and Xiao Ying. I thought Ren Jialun & Gala Zhang have great great chemistry everytime they are on screen together, like everything just light up - - whether it is their petty fight, snark remarks or how you know they both care for each other despite refusing to admit it. I like how Xiao Huan knows Qian Qing's sensitive spot, tease him with it with a smile and knew how his brother, despite sharing a different mother would defend him with his life. This positive siblings dynamics between the two of them and also Princess Ying made the drama enjoyable to watch.

THE CONFLICT

What I love about this drama is how the misunderstandings are deliberate, not stupid but to achieve goals. It might hurt but at the same time the angst is earned. It's not dumb but as a result since both of Xiao Huan's hands are tied. And no amount of communication can solve this since to matter how much Cang Cang asked everyone, they are not going to tell her the truth. What we see is from viewers' POV where we see everything but for Cang Cang, she only knew her supporting and lovely family so she has zero reasons to suspect them.

Viewers also need to understand that Xiao Huan doesn't have any evidence of Grand Tutor's evil deeds until much later in the drama. The awesome thing about Grand Tutor's schemes are that he always have 3rd party to do it for him so all leads would never point out to him. Thus, telling Cang Cang the truth would cause more misunderstanding between them.

Its a character flaw that remains consistent for Xiao Huan unfortunately. He tried to minimize everyone's pain. He thought 1 year lie (Xiao Huan) will hurt less than 20++ years of lie (Father & Shifu). He obviously miscalculated since he didnt consider how much Cang Cang actually love him. Even Princess Ying, he never tell her the truth since knowing her mother trying to kill her is worst. Or like Preceptor Du, he was condemned by the court for saving her but despite of that, he used his little 'pardon' power to do that -- to a stranger that he didnt know at the cost of his reputation. What I like about him is that this character flaw of him is consistent and not due to 'love' or 'infatuation'. Thus, it appear more impactful, logical & valid when you see it that way. He will do this for everyone if he can. Trying to protect them with every power that he has, thinking the best for them.

The drama also touched that while Xiao Huan did love Cang Cang genuinely, it also deal with a fact that he needs to use her due to her Empress position. The position that she has can helped him doing good thing for the nation but at the same time, it also meant he needs to use his wife for his political ambition. Is it wrong? Or is it allowed? Thus making this whole dilemma very interesting and thought provoking. Also, they add another layer while he also used her for his political ambition, he also need to protect her as well. Like the cold attitude -- it is to protect her so Empress Dowager wouldn't give her a hard time in the harem since she is an 'unfavored' Empress.

SYMBOLISMS & METAPHORS

There is a lot of symbolisms used in this drama. Dragon basically refers to Xiao Huan as an Emperor while Phoenix refers to Cang Cang as an Empress. While Qian Qing is a Peacock which refers to his flashy and flamboyant nature. Also, I love the part that when Qian Qing said 'A tame peacock is like a fowl' since he is so right -- whether they are so showy or secretive, people who meant harm will find them eventually.

I also loved how the writer used foods as a metaphor. Like Xiao Huan gifted Cang Cang the candy so she can eat them everytime she feel sad since 'the sweetness of the candy can overcome the bitterness in her heart'. Or how Xiao Huan stopped eating sweets after his mother's death to remind him the bitterness of life so he can strive harder to be a better Emperor for his people. Or how they show Qian Qing is eating grape with skin which differ greatly from his mother's way -- to show that these 2 people are absolutely different from each other despite sharing the same blood. This 3 scenes are not filler scenes but scenes that add depth to both of their their characters.

And during the conflict between 2 cities, I love the metaphor Xiao Huan made when he ask Grand Tutor to chose which one of his sons he wants to save -- Xian Xue or Jue Ding to show it wasn't an easy decision for him as both cities are important to him -- both people in the cities are his citizen that he wants to save. He cant just chose one and abandoned another like the Grand Tutor wants him to do initially. So, Xiao Huan literally used Grand Tutor 2 sons as examples -- which the Grand Tutor reluctantly agree to give grain & supplies to the army.

Xiao Huan also always said 'I'm used to it.' to all the suffering he faced in the drama. But when he was tied outside of the pole during the cold winter night, the weight of that 4 words meant so much more when you realized what he actually meant. He didnt mean the weather or coldness of the winter -- but the suffering, loneliness and also the isolation that he has faced his whole life. Also, referring to the cold disease that he suffers -- so, this cold weather is nothing to him. We never know what is the things Xiao Huan experienced since he is so steadfast, composed and nonchalant in the surface -- but simple sentence like this give us the sneak preview on the weight that he has been carried around.

THE POLITICAL SCHEMING

Truth to be told, I'm actually very impressed with the level of political scheming in this drama. It is complex, multi-layered between 4 parties and some of the scheme, you can only see after 5, 10 or 20 episodes -- it's layered, usually camouflage with something else until you realized that Xiao Huan is actually playing the long game. His first scheming is as early as when he is 14 years old and the result of the scheme only materialized 10 years later.

For scheming part of the drama (which I convinced was written by a different writer 😏), they did a lot of 'show instead of tell' thus you need to connect dots and dots together to realized how amazing are the layers of it. First, lets cover one of the first things that happened in Episode 1. What I love in scheming dramas since you can traced back the scheme when it first started. Going back to the scene when Xiao Huan made Cang Cang begs to marry him -- all in my mind at that time is that really necessary for him to make her begs like that? And the answer is 'Yes' since we knew later that he actually prepared 2 moves by doing that -- first goal is to tell the Grand Tutor that Cang Cang meant nothing to him -- thus in the future, Xiao Huan can actually use her to make the Grand Tutor agrees to his political proposals while the second goal is to protect Cang Cang so she will appear unfavored in the harem thus she will be free from Empress Dowager's schemes. Its like a domino effect of how one scheming resulted with the trail of effect that benefited the schemer at the end on different levels -- this is what chess game is like on how you can planned a move 2 or 3 steps ahead.

We can also take examples when Xiao Huan gifted Cang Cang the 'finger' of Xian Xue. The first time we saw that scene, all we could feel is how twisted he is in the head. But later, that scene actually show his grace instead of how ruthless he is. By right, Xian Xue's crime is punishable by death, but having his index finger chopped is a way for Xiao Huan to cripple his martial arts and also served as a warning. He gives us the insight on why he cut Xian Xue's finger with his question to Prime Minister; 'Why do you think I only cut his finger?' and this question will have a whole new meaning after 20 episodes later on why Xiao Huan always purposely let Xian Xue multiple of times, viewers might think he is 'soft in his punishment'? Well, think again since he always has reasons for his decisions -- it was never meant to be taken literally. I love how cunning and manipulative he is despite his intentions are always pure and good.

Also, the part where Xiao Huan gifted Cang Cang the golden bird gift from general Ling Jue Ding. And once she got it, while she reluctant for him to go back home with her, she instantly agreed as she perfectly understood what he meant. We initially have no idea who is this General Ling Jue Ding -- but he has the same surname as Cang Cang and table work at the capital would kill him as he is a war general. That little clue is for us to connect how he & Cang Cang are family and Xiao Huan just used this to threaten her and let her do things 'willingly' according to what he wants.

I also enjoy how layered and multi dimensional are the schemes. Its not just between Xiao Huan and Grand Tutor but it was everyone against each other -- 4 layers of multi-dimensional schemes between various parties at court. Due to this, Xiao Huan hiring Qian Qing to accompanied his scholars are truly a brilliant move that use his brother -- that he knew is very capable but at the same time put threat towards the Grand Tutor and the Empress Dowager which is his arch enemies. He didnt have to dirty his hands since he just play around with their own political ambitions with each other to achieve his goals. Everytime I analyze Xiao Huan's action, I'm just more impressed with how brilliant, graceful and calculated he is. There are always layers in every of his moves.

I also like the fact while Xiao Huan is the cleverest in the room, yet sometimes, he also miscalculated and lost. Thus he has no plot armor to shield him making watching the drama quite nerve-wrecking aside from the angst.

THE MIND GAMES

The mind games in this drama is another aspect that I really enjoy. Everything that characters said, have meaning and some you can only get after a few episodes. When Cang Cang was captured by Kumor, there is a conversation between Xiao Huan and Grand Tutor where Xiao Huan said that 'I don't have soft spot for women'. The whole conversation is to plant doubt on Grand Tutor that he actually didnt give Cang Cang his antidote -- that Cang Cang was saved using 'other' antidote that he has. I wondered why he uttered that word at that time and his scheming later when Cang Cang was captured made complete sense. Thats why the Grand Tutor convinced that Xiao Huan has no love for Cang Cang. Why? Notice how he purposely delay in seeing Grand Tutor and made him waited outside of his room for nearly 12 hours? He wanted Grand Tutor to see he has no plan to save Cang Cang. Instead, he will use this opportunity to use Jue Ding since he knew Jue Ding will go all out to save his sister -- whether he win or lose will benefit Xiao Huan politically.

Grand Tutor has no way to verify whether Xiao Huan going to do this but the 1st option, he lose no matter what happened so he cant take the risk. Thats why he agreed on the 2nd option with Qian Qing as a regent since he could still win. The icing on the cake of the whole scheme is that Xiao Huan gets to do what he wants which is to save Cang Cang personally and getting back Jingzhou's army using his own hands and most of all, a peace talk with Kumor to end the war.

CONCLUSION

So while the drama might failed scriptwise in all levels, there is something worth to watch despite of that. The intelligent political intrigue, complex conflicts, high stakes and long game political strategies are just like a treasure box you can discover slowly while watching this drama. Also, the acting of the casts are simply brilliant. They put depth and substance to otherwise awful script. The casts put nuance in their characters that made all this analysis possible and that indeed talents when you can shine even with terrible materials.

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A ridiculous series.

I've never seen such a ridiculous series. It's the worst script I've seen lately. I'm not criticizing the director, but the script is terrible. This is unacceptable. They've practically mocked the audience. Especially from episode 21 to 35, it's a series of nonsense. Mistakes, mistakes, the non-existent, a series of illogicalities, unrealistic things. You name it. It's so poorly written. What's the director supposed to do? What's the actors supposed to do? Believe me, if it weren't for these actors, I wouldn't have watched this series. I watched it just to see what would happen and where it would connect. I had a nervous breakdown while watching. It was that bad. It was bad for those who watched and understood. So what, isn't a series made up? If you watch it thinking, "What would happen if it made sense, what would happen if it were closer to reality or farther from reality," you're not watching it anyway. You're having fun. You're joking. I saw people giving it 9 stars. I'm astonished at what they gave it for. I gave it 5 stars, and that's for effort and acting. Believe me, there's not a single consistent point. There's not a single positive frame you can think of. It's that bad. It's that ridiculous. If I gave examples, this criticism would take 5-6 pages. That's why I can't write. A scholar, a wise man, a teacher, whatever you want to call it, rebels in the empire. It completely destroys the empire. Imagine you're a chief or a manager at the lowest level in this institution, overthrowing the company and becoming the boss. You bark orders at everyone, killing and torturing everyone in sight. If you think this makes sense, I'm signing out of here right now. I'll never watch another series, I won't comment, I'll keep my mouth shut, and I'll issue an apology series. I'll bray like a donkey during that apology. By voicemail. I wonder if the screenwriter who wrote this disgrace will apologize to us and bray like a donkey? Let him watch. These are true, these shots were shot well, and he'll say, "Yes, there's absolutely nothing in this that fits the essence." Here's another example: the prince catches this rebellious woman alone and squeezes her throat. He could have killed her. He doesn't. Why? There's no reason. No consequence. This woman, who committed so much evil and rebelled, is imprisoned in a cold palace. The screenwriter is Ugandan, not Chinese? So, are you that far removed from Chinese history? The consequence of rebellion is execution, no matter who it is. Trying to kill the Emperor, or killing the Queen, Prince, Princess—anyone—is also punishable by death. Acting with your eyes wide open is not a sign of madness, anger, or a desire for revenge. This actress, even trying to portray herself as crazy by constantly opening her eyes, is a disaster of a series in itself. This is a shame for the leading actors, the veteran actors. Perhaps if it had been filmed properly. If they had focused a little on making it a bit more decent, it could have been a very good series. I didn't see anything decent. I saw no reality, no semblance of reality, no logic, nothing decent. I watched utter nonsense. I apologize to those reading this for having to write such things. I'm furious. I don't recommend it to anyone.

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