This review may contain spoilers
Great OTP chemistry and intriguing secondary couples/characters
This was an enjoyable period drama with a great OTP and intriguing secondary characters and couples. Execution and casting helped elevate an otherwise standard battle for the throne palace intrigue.The chemistry between Zhang Wanyi and Wang Churan was great and their Mr & Mrs Smith dynamics were fun to watch. The romance could have been even swoonier and more passionate, however, had they not tried to inject as much romcom throughout.
CASTING THOUGHTS:
Wang Churan was ethereal when her character had amnesia and was not burdened by difficult memories, but also strong and formidable when Liu Miantang finally remembered those missing years. She was great as both types of characters but struggled a bit reconciling the two personalities into one.
While I enjoyed Zhang Wanyi's overall portrayal and acting, I found his rather distinctive voice and delivery very reminiscent of Luo Jin's style, which was somewhat distracting throughout.
I kept waiting for Shi Xueji to suddenly reveal herself as a scheming villainess and was thankfully proven wrong. Yuan Yuxuan and the writers did a lovely job with her character despite her relatively limited screen time. Some of my favourite scenes were the ones where she found such joy and delight in eating; and for a character with an uncomplicated mind and personality, she showed wisdom that was fitting for an Empress and partner to Zuyi -- who was a solid emperor, yet not quite worthy enough for Shi Xueji as a husband, in my view.
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I'd heard this was originally meant to be a two-parter like Lost You Forever, but the powers that be changed their minds given the requisite extended pause between Part 1 and 2. If more than a dozen episodes worth of material were indeed filmed and then cut, they did a pretty decent editing job with the overall story flow and importantly, they actually stuck the landing with a satisfying conclusion. (We've all seen how these things can be butchered, and even the most solid dramas have flailed at the ending.)
My overall 9/10 rating is perhaps somewhat inflated -- I would rate it higher than 8.5 but lower than 9 if I could, so for now, I have rounded up instead.
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This review may contain spoilers
Fun storyline that occasionally strugged with pacing
STORYRather than the storylines, I think I enjoyed the characters and interactions the most. Thinking back, it's mainly the negatives that pop up in my head but the story was overall pretty good though, I liked the vibe in the beginning in Lingquan Town especially.
When it comes to the storytelling, the main gripe I had was the fact that the pacing was always a bit off; it felt like a lot of time was spent building up an arc, just for it to resolve quite quickly which made the payoff quite unsatisfactory. The show had quite a lot of things going on simultaneously, and while 40 episodes would have been good to flesh things out properly, there were times when it felt too much was happening and times when it felt like hardly anything was happening at all.
I also disliked that we had a 3-year time leap where Ziyu became the emperor because it felt like it was too important to have been completely left out like that. The Wu child emperor and the Empress Dowager characters were quite established, but it felt so abrupt that they completely disappeared from the story over a black screen with text.
CHARACTERS
Liu Miantang:
I disagree with most of the reviews saying that she was being overly harsh on Ciu Xingzhou. Thinking about how much he lied about, I found her reaction to be quite realistic and I'm glad that the writers didn't make her immediately give up on her anger the second that Xingzhou apologised to her. I agree that her character was quite inconsistent at times, especially after she got her memories back. I also wished that she was able to play a more active role in Prince Sui's downfall/death because one of her main goals was to avenge her brothers in Xuizhou.
Wang Churan was the perfect actress for the role and I really enjoyed her acting throughout the entire show. She did well in both the action sequences and the emotional scenes (like when she confirmed how much Xingzhou was lying about)
Cui Xingzhou:
Didn't really like him in the beginning but I think the writers did a good job of redeeming his character after all the lies.
Zhang Wanyi did well in the comedic scenes but I found him slightly wooden in the more dramatic scenes. I believe a lot of them might be an issue with the directing but he generally did an okay job for the role.
Zi Yu / Xue Ji:
Ziyu was okay I guess. I felt like he was too hung up on Miantang towards the end and I wasn't a fan of the acting at a few points but an overall okay character. Xue Ji on the other hand was easily my favourite character in the show. I adored her from start to finish, she was well-written and developed so beautifully throughout the show. The actress did a brilliant job portraying her, especially in the scene where she finally stood up to General Shi.
Zhao Quan / He Zhen:
I didn't like their pairing at all and I found Zhao Quan quite annoying in most of his scenes. Even as Xingzhou's friend, I liked his other friend from the capital much more. It's quite a shame because I enjoyed He Zhen's character quite a lot in the beginning and I feel like it would have been more effective having her not marry anyone and just become a successful porcelain business woman instead
Other characters:
I wouldn't particularly say everyone was well-written but I think it was more of a pacing issue than anything else. I liked the ending they gave for Binglan despite how annoying she was. Miantang's grandfather was incredibly annoying at certain points but I found him painfully realistic as well. One of the biggest wasted characters was easily Yun'er, she was a strong character in the beginning but after she became a consort, she turned quite petty and weak. I still liked some of the characters like Mo Ru, Miantang's uncle and Lin Si Yue though.
REWATCH VALUE:
I'm not sure how well it would hold up in a rewatch. I think some of the scenes, particularly the court politics scenes might age well but the slow burn beginning where Miantang has amnesia might not be as enjoyable on a rewatch. Too early for me to say but I might return to give it a watch in a couple of years.
CONCLUSION:
If you're in the mood for a rather slow-moving show, this would be a good pick. I find it to be a decent idol drama, and despite all the issues, I had a really fun time watching it. As someone who's been struggling to get through dramas recently, I managed to finish this off within a week. If you want to watch a light-hearted idol costume drama, I recommend this to you!
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This review may contain spoilers
DRAMA FOR WOMEN
Perfect wife: Liu Ming Tang, couldn't be wrong! Besides she forgot about her past, she's the perfect dream wife for any men. Demure, smart, beautiful, docile, obedience, kind, loving, devoted, and all the wifey attributes. Wang Chu Ran as Liu Ming Tang is a beautiful woman but, man, she's boring!!! There's no passion in her eyes, no ingenuity! She would like "Husband, don't worry about anything, just go have fun, I'll take care the house the business the money and everything else." and then she'd say 'why don't you take concubine?" Wtf?? A bad example. All about love....sweet love...too much for me!!! While Zhang Wan Yi was good in his character, he's great in commanding personality as man in-charge (bits like his character in Lost You Forever), his posture and costume were perfect. He has better chemistry with his cousin physician Zhang Chi (Zhao Quan) than his wife. I would see them together more than any other scenes. Not to mention character Zi Yu / Lu Wen (Chang Hua Sen: this guy took in a similar character from Journey to Love) just too bad he picked same script as an obsessed man to a woman in his past.What I like?
** Minimal hairdo or accessories which made them more beautiful/handsome
** Nice setting
There's nothing much I like so decided to drop it. I am not into BS love story...the story is numbing me. I don't know much after ep 18....if you're into love story this drama is for you.
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Watchable
Positive aspects of this drama:- All the leads are interesting and well written, the scenes of the secondary leads don't feel like they're taking time away from the main couple
- The two main leads are really good looking
- Overall, this drama has pretty good pacing for 40 episodes (they're definitely too many though, but that's cdramas for you).
- The story starts from a VERY interesting premise: she's lost her memory and he pretends to be her husband. Seeing this kind of dynamic unravel is so good. There is also a cool plot twist along the way, and REALLY funny moments especially around eps 25-29.
- Finally, the main reason I never dropped this drama: Xueji's story. She was my favorite character and I wanted to watch her storyline until the end. Even when I stopped caring about the other leads towards the end, I was still sticking to this drama for Xueji and wanted to see how her story with her love interest progressed.
Negative aspects:
- The skin smoothing. Omg. I've never seen so much skin smoothing in a drama in recent years. The combo skin smoothing + heavy makeup makes Zhang Wanyi look like a corpse, and he doesn't need any of that?? He'd look so much hotter with less of the damn filter and a little bit of melanin showing.
- Abrupt cuts in the plot that left me a bit confused. There's a time-skip at one point where you're left wondering "how the f did this happen??" about a certain plot point.
- There are many technical aspects that are due to budget that don't really make this drama look high-quality: recycled Hengdian sets, no money to show actual battles and armies, very standard and bland cinematography for the most part. Costumes are also just okay looking.
- I didn't love the ML's acting in sad and tragic scenes. He's much better in comedic scenes though.
- [MILD SPOILER] In the second half of the drama, the main plot point around which the FL and ML's story revolved is no more, and a hundred very boring and predictable typical drama plots start (jealous love rivals, court schemes...), so the drama becomes just a very bland and standard one.
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A refreshing look at WuXia costume drama focused on loved story rather than politics and fighting.
Are You the One is a historical wuxia drama about the love story of Liu Mian Tang and Cui Xing Zhou when she suffered from amnesia and afterward. This is a cute love story and a non-traditional costume drama. Less of fighting and political scenes, which is refreshing.Synopsis: The clever and decisive Liu Mian Tang, as the first lord of Yang Shan, led the people of Yang Shan to punish the wicked, promote goodness, and uphold justice. However, she suffered serious injuries under the attack of various evil forces. Cui Xing Zhou, the Prince of Huai Yang, rescued her. When Liu Mian Tang woke up, she had no memory of Yang Shan, mistaking Cui Xing Zhou for her husband, Cui Jiu. If their identities were finally exposed, could they face all that honestly while enduring hardships?
My Reviews:
1. It is not a typical Wuxia drama; instead, it is focused on politics, fighting between kingdoms, or internal kingdom conflict. It also focuses on the relationship of the main CP.
2. It is a love story between Liu Mian Tang and Cui Xing Zhou during and post-amnesia.
3. The plot is slow and draggy, and not much excitement after she recovers from her amnesia.
4. Wang Chu Ran's acting ability is mediocre, but Zhang Wan Yi's acting is much better. However, their on-screen chemistry is good.
5. I don't care about the 2nd and 3rd CP, especially the reigning emperor and empress (3rd CP). Their lives are depressing, but they comfort each other and eventually show love and care for each other.
6. However, I must warn you that the plot loses its charm and becomes tedious after the amnesia recovery.
Overall, it is a watchable, refreshing look at costume drama. I enjoy it and give it a 7.5 rating.
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This review may contain spoilers
If you watched this then you should definitely read the novel. And if you haven't watched this yet, read the novel first and then maybe don't watch all of this. I'm going to be honest, I really wanted to like this, not only because of the novel but also because of ZWY who I think is doing fantastically well. But sadly, I was left a bit underwhelmed.
The show on it's own sits okay, and hits all the right spots. It has your boss lady lead and her simpy boyfriend. Which is fine and I watch a lot of and love. But the drama watered down some of my favorite character traits of the leads.
The novel itself is fantastic so maybe I shouldn't have watched the show right after reading it. It made the ML much softer, which is a shame because I think ZWY would have done an amazing job portraying how intimidating and powerful CXZ is in the book. My love for the FL in the novel was how cheerful and over the top her love for her husband was, especially in the beginning. She had heart shaped glasses on the entire time, and I loved it. And both of them were so funny; their internal monologues were so fun to read, that I had hoped they would somehow incorporate it in the show.
The show kept a lot of the humor, but it made ML a lot softer and FL a lot harder. It also got rid of a lot of the periodic aspects that show social cues and rules, hierarchy and power-structures, and how difficult it is to be a woman alone. While they kept the fact that the trade guild wouldn't include women, it removed how difficult and harassing being a single woman is, especially in that time period.
They also changed a lot about FL and ML's relationship as bandit v. prince. I liked that ML thought of LW as his equal and his friend. I think this was one of the more positive changes from the novel, where in the novel LW was portrayed more of a villain causing chaos to help ZY, and they didn't have an understanding with each other. But with this change, they also tried to give FL more power, but at the same time, they stripped some power from ML.
In the novel, ML was super powerful and intimidating - a prince with his own army that made the court nervous and everyone wanted him on their side during the coup, so much so that he decided a war with a 1% chance of survival was a better option that getting involved in that mess. The only reason, in the novel, he got involved was because they were threatening LMT and his family. Otherwise he liked to keep his cards close to his chest. Only a few other characters stood up to him.
But in show, even the FL's uncle talks back to him (when in the novel he was so terrified they would be imprisoned and killed). They were also very inconsistent about how much power he had - whether it was as a prince or as a lord. It sometimes felt like he was just being walked all over by characters.
My biggest gripe is the FL's character. I loved her in the book, so it was a bit of a let down when she came out so stereotypical and... bland. I think CWR is a good actress, but maybe it was that I didn't feel the chemistry between the leads or that she was just not a fun character compared to her written counterpart.
I hate that I'm bashing this. This was, despite what the above may imply about what I think, a good story. I just wasn't as invested as I was in the novel. As a stand-a-lone, it is good and watchable. As an adaptation, it is lackluster.
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A definite gem
This one will definitely keep you on the seat. An absolute must watch. Not sure why the rating dropped below nine but I couldn’t wait for the next episodes. You’ll feel the angst, the frustration, discussed, rage, love, and the need for redemption. Overall, the series offers everything you can for, including the action, chemistry, romance, and one must not forget some of the fighting scenes are amazing.The relationship between Cui and his friend will leave you laughing so hard. They are both hilarious but they are always on cue to fake it whenever they need to get out of some mess and you’ll want to hit repeat.
If you’re hesitant because of the amnesia troupe, don’t be. Once it’s out in the open, it’s all is fair in love and war. During the beginning you get to see how things got to where they were and also any misunderstandings that exist are also revealed. The later part is beautiful redemption, action and love.
One of the things that I enjoyed most is that the characters stayed true to themselves. In addition we finally got a queen who was deserving, smart, humble, loyal and patient. One could only hope that her home was filled with nothing but beauty.
By the end of the series, you absolutely love the entire household of the CUI.
Absolutely loved the ending. No lose ends.
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Good story with a slight comedy
The drama was very interesting, making me wanted to watch it until the end. There’s no boring part, the acting of main leads are stunning. But, I have difficulty to differentiate the evil characters as they look similar. The story executed perfectly and I love how the ML and FL are both smart in facing any hardship. I wish the ending explain more about their happy life and kids after the conflict ended.Was this review helpful to you?
Very interesting drama.
I love when a drama has both leads who are naturally super good looking. the storyline is good. wish there was more lovey dovey scenes between ML and FL though. so far the story has captivated me that I don’t even fast forward. it’s a little bit comedic and very entertaining too. Can’t wait to see the end. The costumes are really good. they should really incorporate more black with red customes. The male lead would look so stunning in it. with a story as good as this I really hoped there would be more episodes. 40 episodes are not enough. I hope to see the leads married life too. It would really be a dream come true for me.Was this review helpful to you?
Fake marriage trope built on deception that was stretched out way too long
One of my favorite tropes is fake marriage, but the series overextended it and backed it up with ML's lies upon lies—this arc could’ve been shorter, because they were mixing in a lot of things that did not add value to the plot at all.The fake marriage arc felt like a huge chunk of fillers, and it was quite a challenge to get pass through them.
It does not help that the FL’s character is not my cup of tea. She’s like a confused philanthropist who’s a tsundere and a badass for the most part but gets affectionate during full moons. I'd usually pass this as a part of dimension in a character's depth, but for Liu Mian Tang, it's not really convincing.
The secondary characters were more likeable and had more potential for a proper character development, but I doubt this will be properly explored.
Are You the One is definitely not the one. At least for me.
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Why you should watch This?
This drama portrays a hero who does not involve himself with politics of palace and tries to avoid it. I think his only goal as portrayed is to serve his people that is the people of zhenzhou(his territory) and protect his family and loved ones. Well in normal peoples' lives they also want to protect and care about only their loved ones and the world can go to hell, They don't care about other things if it is not related to their loved ones and hence this drama connects well with the people.Was this review helpful to you?
