Youthful Glory

Weak FL character in constant need of rescue

Song Weilong has rekindled his career so I watched this show with interest to see how he's progressing. Unfortunately, the story is not well written, making the show a poor vehicle for his talent.

The story is quite weak in the beginning, with the FL character showing only a brief flash of independent, forward thinking but (literally) falling back on needing to be rescued repeatedly. I knew things would be bad when the FL prayed for her ideal husband as someone who is tall & good looking. Really, that's all she wanted in life. The arranged, strategic marriage of a noblewoman to a prince was presented in a much better show: The Prisoner of Beauty. In Youthful Glory the principle couple was so bland that the 2nd and 3rd couples had far more interesting story arcs.

The first 2/3 of the drama featured constant flashbacks to previous scenes, obvious time wasters, filling in for a very empty 1st couple arc. The story finally picked up in the final third with the usual political intrigue and the FL showing her one instance of independent thinking before reverting to rushing wide-eyed into dangerous situations & needing rescue once more. Very irritating to watch.

There's a 15 min special final episode which was another waste of time, focusing on the FL's first pregnancy. What was the point of this?

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It was Meh. I stayed for SWLs face and the 2nd and 3rd couples

The female lead made this a hard watch. She had 0 growth and was quick to put herself in useless situations ruining the mls plans over and over! She was very superficial and never let up on it even after seeing refugees struggling to survive. The drama was mid at best! I wish they would have toned down her bratty behavior but instead amped it up to 11 by the middle and never brought it back down. Maybe if she wasnt a princess ruling over people her character wouldnt be so bad but knowing she acts so childish is scary for anyone under her. Her inability to compartmentalize and think rationally put a lot of people in danger. Her character would have been more appealing if she was more like the FL in Prisoner of Beauty.

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For traumatized viewers

This drama is a breath of fresh air . I watched it after watching 34 episodes of legend of zang hai and so you can imagine how much rest my brain needed .
This isn’t a review for legend of zang hai so I won’t talk much on it .
This drama was light hearted and very cliche with the marriage contract but I liked it still .
Initially I didn’t want to leave a review or comment but after reading what others wrote I felt the need to write something .

I’ll address the popular complaints first .
“The ml’s acting was stiff”. this is such a ridiculous take . The ml was a general that stayed outside the capital constantly fighting. I don’t know what type of expressions other than what he showed that he was supposed to have . He was soft when necessary and strong willed when necessary as well .

Secondly “the fl can’t act”. I understand that opinion is subjective but seriously guys ?
Her acting was great and she was just fine .

Her reaction after everything that happened to her father was very logical . No matter how calculative you are , when you lose something or someone you love, it’s hard to still be conniving or think straight . So her actions were justified and the ml never left her during that time .

As someone that has been a victim of ctraumas, I really love this series . All the good guys stayed alive. No unnecessary last minute sacrifice. The king was also very smart .
The romance started early too . First kiss scene was in episode 14 . The ml protected the fl several times without fail .

The side characters were cute too although I wasn’t really invested in their relationships . The drama did well by ending it within 30 episodes.

I hope my review is enough to get even one more person to watch this masterpiece of a drama .
Watch it and judge for yourself.

Lastly someone also complained about the marriage not being consummated till episode 27. I mean they gave us several kiss and hug scenes before that that I didn’t even notice .

I may rewatch this drama in future because I really liked the leads.
If you’re tired and need a place to rest, this drama is a place to rest .

Thank you and see you in my next review! :)

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Overall a fun time but not very memorable.

This drama straight cruising at a low altitude without a care in the world. The stakes are low in all its plot threads: political scheming, wuxia fights and romance in general. I never really felt any excitement. The plot was pretty predictable. It's simply a lighthearted and easy watching experience. It's not a bad thing but definitely not very memorable because of that.

It's got good pacing though, the story doesn't move too fast or slow throughout it's run. I like that it didn't try to push for the usually 36 or 40 episodes.

I liked the couples but I didn't find the romances that compelling. The three main couples all looked good together but there wasn't any tension or yearning or anything deep about it.

Bao Shang'en unfortunately gave a weak performance. There were scenes I thought were overacted and others that I thought needed more emotion from her.

Song Weilong was the better actor of the two leads. I think his character just had more to work with. I liked when he became a loser and was obsessed with his wife lol.

The one stand out for me was the costumes/hanfu of this era. The empire waistline two pieces with pretty draped fabrics? They're so colourful and eye-catching!! Song Weilong is handsome for sure but Bao Shang'en was on another level. She looked so beautiful in all the hanfu she wore.

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Decent one time watch

Alright so I finally finished watching this drama. It was a happy ending.
I like that it has a refreshing take on FL character who is exactly what and how you would expect a maiden from a rich family of that era would be. At times it was annoying because you will find her shallow, specially her pray for a husband and the type she wants but then you have to remind yourself that this is a normal for that era.
The ML is handsome and his friends are a joy. I did enjoy scenes and character of the second FL and ML more, pity there was not much of them in the later episodes.
Towards the end though I really started to get annoyed with the FL. Like seriously woman you are a self proclaimed delicate darling then just let the soldiers and people who knows how to fight fight. Why the heck would you want to get yourself in situations where people have to get distracted to save you aswell. Like it was so obvious that I must have rage quit atleast a few times in same episode.
Also getting getting jealous drunk while on the main plot mission almost made me want to slap the ML.
Conclusion:
It's a good one time binge watch. You will cheer and enjoy the second pairing more than the original pairing.
I don't regret watching this drama, but there are definitely better ones out there.

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Warning : Song Weilong looking smoking hots in this.

I actually started watching Youthful Glory because of Song Weilong — he’s just too handsome and absolutely swoonworthy. Every time he appears on screen, it’s impossible to look away. The female lead, Bao Shangen, looks a bit too childish at times, but she’s undeniably a good actress — cute, adorable, and full of life.

I really love how Jiang Xu (Song Weilong) is portrayed — a cold, distant general who looks heartless on the outside but quietly sees everything. He doesn’t care about fame, power, or people’s opinions, yet when it comes to Ming Tan (Bao Shangen), he notices things no one else does. He falls for the real her — not the polite, perfect lady she tries to be, but the small, lonely girl who carries too much responsibility for her age.

After losing her mother and being left by her father, Ming Tan tries so hard to act proper and maintain her family’s dignity. Most of the time, she hides her sadness behind manners. And yes, sometimes she can be so childish 😅 — her sulks and little tantrums make you think, “Girl, he’s out there managing wars and royal orders, and you’re pouting again?” 😂 but I get it gurl. When your man looks that good, who wouldn’t throw a little tantrum for attention? 😩💘

That’s exactly what makes her stand out. She’s not the typical Cdrama strong, outspoken heroine. She’s soft, cutesy, emotional,relatable— yet still smart,useful and capable in her own way. And that’s the beauty of Youthful Glory, I think.

But the real surprise for me was the second couple! 😍
The second male lead, Bai Shu, used to play a villain in The Legend of Female General — and honestly, I already liked him back then. When I saw him appear here as the second male lead, I couldn’t help but fall for him all over again.

And his love interest, Dai Luwa, was the villainess in Moonlight Mystic. I loved her in that drama because she’s incredibly beautiful and charming. So when these two came together in Youthful Glory, their chemistry was off the charts!

Their banter, playfulness, and sweetness — it’s all over the top in the best way. Sometimes, I even found myself enjoying their scenes more than Jiang Xu and Ming Tan’s. They were just too cute together — a total scene-stealing couple! 💕

I have no complaints at all — just a solid, worthy three-day binge watch that left me smiling.

⭐ Rating: 9/10 — Beautiful chemistry, soft emotions, and swoonworthy couples!

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Weak storyline but happy ending

If you looking to watch a romance drama, you will most likely enjoy it, and parts of it will give you butterflies and satisfaction when it comes to catching the “bad guy”. But the storyline was lacking, a lot.

The romance between the ML and FL:
There was a huge disconnect in the storyline between the way in which they fell in-love. Based on the characters of these two, and what they were doing for one another, it would make sense why she would like him. He does everything for her and had to save her many times, including her father. But from her side, she seemed very disingenuous, ungrateful, and seems to have put in minimal effort to earn his love. That would make it hard for a viewer to comprehend or understand why he had such strong feelings for her. I know one of the reasons was that he thought she was smart- which she was. The jealousy scenes- I didn’t know if I should laugh or get annoyed because some parts were a-bit unreasonable.

She was very frustrating to watch, especially when he was putting her first but she would tramp on his efforts. But she does redeem herself in some parts of the series.

I enjoy watching romantic historical dramas- so I thought this would be a good watch but the things that came out of her mouth are things that would come out of an evil and jealous “concubine” mouth in another historical drama- like when she constantly speaks about her reputation and strategises how she would come across. Her acting when Mr Wen killed his loyal subject and committed suicide for her, was terrible and lacked the proper emotional response.


The entire storyline:
The entire storyline focused on the embezzlement, corruption and the tax evasion of the Su family. And then after a satisfactory justice scene where their corruption was exposed, Mr Wen kidnaps Ming Tan (FL) out of nowhere and he commits suicide after being cornered. But there are a lot of unanswered question.. Why did he commit suicide for her? Besides him being mesmerised by her beauty and talents to identify quality merchandise- I wondered was so groundbreaking about her impact on him that he would lead to him sacrificing his life for her. The writers should have inserted a moment in their time together that would make it make sense that he would sacrifice his life for her. Example: It would make more sense for Liu Mo to like her, and commit suicide for her due to the kindness she showed him when she gave him the Zither. That you can take as a reason.

I feel like for the most part the ML was extremely smart, he thinks far ahead, and was a great fighter. Their love starts out as a contract marriage, but it was clear he took a liking to her already- in the contract she lists that he cannot make improper advances on her, but once they were married she seems frustrated that he did not pursue her, due to this I thought there would come a scene where she out of frustration asks why, but it seemed it was just brushed over and they didn’t address that. You have to make assumptions based on the many holes in the storyline. When the FL thought that the female general was a concubine that the ML liked and was jealous, this was an opportunity for the writers to have her now show her feelings towards him and for them to build based on that. But it was a lost opportunity. She just accused him, and then when he tells her she’s a general then they just joked about it and moved on. Hence, it was hard to be hooked on their romance.

Positives:
The exposure of the Su family was poetic. I enjoyed seeing the dancer get a second chance, and her role in the plot twist. I also enjoyed the romance between the support roles, it was sweet. The female general and Jing Ran developed a deep connection and you watch it grow. The ML and FL do have a lot of cute moments between them two, and they do progress in their love. And the ending is happy and sweet.

I don’t think this is the worst drama, it is an okay watch. But parts do leave you confused and frustrated.

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A Decent Arranged Marriage Drama Held Back by Mediocre Production

First Impression

I'll be straightforward — this drama is nothing special. It's filled with typical tropes you've seen in plenty of historical C-dramas. But if you like both lead actors, and especially if you are a fan of Song Weilong, and enjoy the arranged marriage trope, you'll probably have a good time with it.

The Gist

Youthful Glory is a historical romance with a bit of palace intrigue starring Song Weilong as Jiang Xu, a prince who returns to the capital to investigate a conspiracy, and Bao Shang'en as Ming Tan, a smart noblewoman who marries him to protect her family.

Production Quality

The biggest drawback for me was the lack of budget, and it shows. The color grading feels faded and outdated, giving the whole drama a washed-out and somewhat depressing look. I think if the cinematography and post-production had been even slightly better, it would have made for a much more enjoyable viewing experience and would really elevate the drama. As it stands, the writing, the plot, and the camera work are all fairly mediocre. But the acting is fine, so I stuck around because of that… and the romance. However, I do think fighting scenes were pretty decent. I saw way better, but definitely much worse as well.

The Pacing

The first few episodes are actually pretty good as they set up the romance and all the main conflicts. Things get a little boring in the middle after Jiang Xu and Ming Tan get married because there aren't any high stakes and we just watch him trying to pursue her to no avail. There are misunderstandings between them that I think writers genuinely need to retire at this point — come up with something else. The last ten episodes pick up and become quite interesting once the characters leave the capital and action, secrets, and real romance kick in. The final episode is light, fluffy, and cute, giving us an insight into the characters' future, which I think is very satisfactory since a lot of dramas have a very rushed ending.

The Romance

The romance starts out pretty strong, and we have a lot of time dedicated to our lead couple in the first few episodes and the development of their romantic journey. There are a lot of interesting and engaging situations between Ming Tan and Jiang Xu. The trashy kind that comes up out of nowhere, but I needed it at the time I watched this lol. So I didn’t care about the way those together moments were written into the story. Another thing I liked is that you actually get to watch how they get tangled up and why they end up getting married. And this drama takes its time setting up the premise, which I appreciate. I liked that because in a lot of C-dramas, arranged marriage situations happen fairly quickly within the first three episodes to bring our characters into a forced proximity trope faster. In Youthful Glory, things develop slowly before the marriage, and once they're married, the writers also take their time to let the characters get to know each other. And once they start getting closer, we get quite a few romantic tension-filled moments that I genuinely enjoyed. Again, I for some reason didn't care how they were written into the story.

I hated the stretch of the drama after Ming Tan's father was allegedly dead — I hated how she treated Jiang Xu during that period. And while I also disliked her stubbornness, I kind of understood why she felt the way she felt. Putting myself in her shoes, it made sense. But I can see why this made a lot of viewers hate her. Again, this is one of the elements that needs to be retired entirely from the script writing unless it's done right. And I don't think it was done quite right here.

However, because we see both points of view—hers and Jiang Xu’s it made her insufferable. But she doesn’t know the whole truth, so I gave her a pass. Luckily, this rough patch didn't last very long. Things pick up once Ming Tan and Jiang Xu make up. For me, this was a really decent romance that gave us great romantic moments and several amazing kiss scenes. That one-bedroom scene with the soundtrack from Lars Huang was great. I don’t know why people say there is no chemistry between the characters. Yes, Bao Shang'en isn’t on the level of some of the A-list actresses just yet. But I felt the tension in that scene. So overall, as far as the romance goes for the main couple, I quite liked it. I think I probably watched this purely for the romance, to be honest.

On the Female Lead

There's a lot of hate toward the female lead on here, which I don't quite understand. If people are coming into this after some of the 2025/2026 blockbusters where female leads are generals or warriors, Youthful Glory is simply not that kind of drama. Some of us women are fragile by nature no matter how hard we train. This is in defense of women like me who have always had weak constitution. That does not stop us from being somehow less important than those who can go onto the battlefield or do manual labor. Not all leads need to be wielding a weapon to be leads. Ming Tan is presented as a woman who takes responsibility for her family, so how is this selfish? I don’t see it. She is compassionate. She arranges help for refugees. She does her part and helps Jiang Xu with the investigation of the smuggling case byt being undercover. I think the biggest problem is writing itself because she just doesn't read very consistently across certain episodes. I expected something a lot worse based on the criticism in reviews. But there is absolutely no need to say that she is selfish or worthless because her character is a whole does develop, and she has some positive traits. I'd say watch it and decide for yourself. Also, people criticizing her character for doing something extremely dumb and putting everyone in danger is really unnecessary. This is something that exists in every single drama because it’s a device for writers to get to the point where they’re trying to get, and they just can’t think of anything better. In 90% of the dramas, to put one of the characters in danger, writers always make them act without any logic.

Final Verdict

This is an okay drama to pass the time while you wait for a better one. If you want sweet romance and you enjoy the arranged marriage trope, it delivers on that front. Just don't go in expecting high production value or a groundbreaking plot, and you'll be fine.

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Decent Historical Fluff

I basically binged this entire drama while extremely sick but here are my two cents. It was an off to a really good start, it had a typical plot of corrupt officials and the emperor's trusted right hand man who helps him get rid of them. It's not like a unique storyline but I don't mind. The female lead was cute, very feminine which we don't see very often these days, it's mostly strong independent women (which I also love) but this was also a great portrayal of a strong female lead who's still very in touch with her femininity! First time seeing bao shangen in a drama and I thought she did really well. Song weilong, not my first time watching but basically my first cdrama I've watched of him. I enjoyed his character at the start, but after things started getting more lovey dovey, I can't say I enjoyed their romance as much. Chemistry was sort of there at times but idk something about it didn't sell it to me, I think it's lowkey cause ml turned into a soft simp LOL. While there was fluff and happy endings all around, really wish there was more scenes with romance!! I swear I saw someone recommend this as a romance drama but I felt it lacked a bit in that aspect, especially because fl being mad at ml lasted so many episodes and there were so many misunderstandings. Anyway, im glad her evil step sister and step mom got dealt with early on, and was actually really nice to see a father care so much about his daughter for once. Also the side couple was really cute lol I think their banter was great. Nice to see an episode dedicated to fluff and romance at the end too. Not a bad watch for something lighthearted, but I'm definitely used to seeing more exciting plot points.

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