The Legend of Zhuohua

Could have been 12 eps shorter

Some observations:
FSF really sold me on his desire. I believed him. I was ready to be his woman out of wedlock. I’m officially a fan.

Ministry of Revenue seems like a chill place to work. Not totally sure what they do but a good vibe.

There were far, far too many scenes with music and pensive looks. And those scenes were too long. Eliminating those would cut the series by two episodes. This right here is my biggest beef with this series.

Whenever something lovey dovey happened this weird shiny bluish filter appeared over the scene. Like, ATTENTION, ROMANCE IS OCCURRING. PLEASE FEEL ROMANTICAL FOR THE FOLLOWING MOMENTS. I thought maybe there would be laughter and applause signs but no, we only got cues for ROMANCE.

Dowager Empress was a star. Top notch.

The show started out really amusing. Stayed good til like ep 20. Seems like the writers changed or just started picking storylines out of a hat after that. Wasn’t awful, but was a bit, uh, muddleheaded.

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A story that's just ordinary, with nothing new to show

"The Legend of Zhuohua" tells the story of Zhuo Hua, a woman who wants to be an officer, she doesn't want the normal life of a woman on these days, she wants a career, to become something other than a wife. Then she meets the general Liu Yan, who helps her achieve that.

I really like Feng Shao Feng, but after seeing "Shining Just For You" and now "The Legend of Zhuohua", it's clear that there is an obsession in making him look younger, to the point of using a lot of makeup and even CGI in his face and honestly, it didn't work. He's a beautiful actor, everyone gets old, this is a part of life and if his age was a problem, the solution was to choose an older woman.

The drama is medium, the story is simple, light and easy to watch. I liked to see a woman in politics, making her way in a man's world and winning her place, but the romance is disappointing, there's no chemistry between the main leads.
The whole thing with princess Rou Jia was a surprise, it was the only interesting thing that really got me hooked.

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"My Lordship" excessively

I will reserve editing this review after completing the series. As for now, my thoughts:
◇Good start of story introduction. Multiple flashbacks (typical Chinese way of clarifying a story in a series)
◇I think artists casted for the roles were good choices
◇Production and wardrobe is great. The focus on detail is evident.
◇Started with the depiction of the struggles for being a female in a royalty, power and male dominated period.
◇by ep 12 not much background story for anyone but the female and male lead plus a little about second male lead.
◇I am in episode 12 and starting to get sick hearing "My Lord" wherein it it is said by lead female character excessively. Everytime she talks to Lord Ding, in every sentence she says, "My Lord" is said.
◇This series seems to be not any different from typical series highlighting smart and strong women wherein they show strong, decisive, and witty female character but then at the same time inserting stupid moves and decision that don't make sense for a smart and witty character.
Lead female is supposedly smart and talented, wanting to be a female official yet consistently placing herself in a situation that makes no sense and places her career and life in danger.

I am yet to watch a series that depicts a strong and/or smart woman that will remain true smart and strong from start to end of series.

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Cheap, not-so-subtle romance

Story-wise, it is a decent drama as the story centers around a girl who was encouraged by her less-privileged mother to study as it would afford her more opportunities in the world. Great message for the women of today, and refreshing to see a female character assume a role as a court official, even if entirely fictitious. This is not the first drama to do this, but it is the first to show women taking the exam alongside the men to then become an official.

The acting from all 4 main leads are convincing and there is also a likeability about the supporting cast which isn't always the case as many dramas use the supporting cast as time fillers who serve no real purpose of driving the plot forward. Here they are given an identity, and even a personality, unlike their usual ornamental existence!

The music is a delight and the chemistry is there between the leads, compliments to the screenwriter who was able to bring the two characters together in a way that is amusing and also unique.

The problem? Oh boy. Where do I begin? The screenwriter (just like so many other screenwriters of chinese olden day dramas) refuses to believe in the capacity of the audience to be able to appreciate a romance that is mature, genuine, and that isn't all about sex. Their perception and trust in the viewer to be able to consume an adequately written, well-paced build-up of a relationship is so low, that wherever possible they try to remind us that the leads are attracted to each other, which actually ruins the natural chemistry they actually have. Just as we're enjoying the authentic and interesting dynamic, the screenwriter will then proceed to use vulgarity or not-so-subtle reminders that the male lead is a man, and that Muzhuo is a female, the supposed suggestiveness, not so suggestive, but rather distastefully shoved down our throat countless times instead. It's as if cdramaland writers cannot fathom that we as viewers of dramas can actually appreciate a romance that doesn't involve juvenile sexual innuendos at every turn and assumes that for a romance to be believable or marketable, we MUST incessantly ingrain in the viewers' minds that the leads want each other physically.

Whatever happened to the good old days of showing, and not telling viewers what to think? Whatever happened to conveying emotions of yearning for each other without ever resorting to cheap sexual references as a means to create chemistry between the two characters? For anyone wondering, I grew up on Hong Kong olden day dramas which rarely ever needed to employ such tactics to create romantic pairings that worked and was full of chemistry. The reason why olden day dramas are so popular and were such a pleasure to watch is because of the virtues that are known to be prevalent during that time. Loyalty, filial duty and undying, unconditional romantic love was at the forefront of themes featured in these dramas. These quintessential elements of an olden day drama is slowly being stripped away by the commercialism of these chinese productions, rendering the seasoned viewer in me restless and wanting to turn away from these narratives simply because of the patronising experience we are being confronted with because the screenwriters lack respect for their work, and the audience as a whole.

Do better please cdramaland. It could have been a good drama! Just like all those other dramas that were tarnished by the same limitation. Please quit the suggestive trash and regain some faith in the viewers' capacity to appreciate art and classy storytelling in the romance department of the story. Cdramas can go so much further if they would just let go of this obsession with featuring unneccesary sexual references in their productions.

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AVERAGE

People concern about age gap but I think that's great. Liu Yan (Feng Shao Feng) is the younger brother of Emperor which has already been in many wars and he's famous as the God of War in Chen Dynasty (make-up dynasty of China). Being that powerful and great influence to the kingdom, we don't expect some 20 something actor to take the role but I can understand the review as Feng ShaoFeng acted like he's a dying 50 something yo General. Liu Yan had stubborn illness from the effect of previous war he went to, 30,000 brothers men-in arms wiped out from that war and he's the sole survivor. Of that reason, he investigated the reason behind mass massacre as to why and who's the main culprit. His suspicion was his closest relative who instigated the extermination of his soldiers for the reason of him holding too much power that might endangering Emperor authority (been in reign for 24 years). He didn't know yet but has suspicion. He's devoted to his brother Emperor, he's kind to his nephews and niece, he had no intention to overthrown the Emperor but why did the culprit want to get rid of him?

In one of his investigation he met Mu ZhuoHua (Jing Tian), a runaway bride to-be that had ambition to go for national examination to be an Imperial official, she succeed it and rank to 17th of other scholars . An intelligent woman that also good in medicine, just too bad Jing Tian was badly act especially the girl JuLi who played her maid, their voice-over were so damn annoying!!! Jing Tian didn't act convincingly, more like an amateur actress in her first attempt. These two need some acting class or need some strict directive acting. Every sentence she opened it with 'Wang Ye'...and other casts not any better acting. Elder Princess acted like she's Kwan Yin....Ep 16 was enough, finally dropped it.

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Lazy, lazy, lazy director

It would have been sheer perfection if it lasted 30 instead of 40 episodes.
The real bummer is that around episode 25 or so the director got really, really lazy and provided each and every episode with some 15 minutes break from action, in the total 45 minutes duration of an episode.
It did so with editing in long, repetitive shots accompanied by the very same two or three tunes, during which the story did not advance but was more like "displayed".
Also, imagine hearing over and over again (some 20 times over) the same two or three songs ...
No matter how touching on one's feelings the first time, they end up touching on one's nerves by the 20th iteration ...
Silly and artistically counterproductive way to stretch the material in order to reach the 40 episodes mark.
I understand: they may be paid by the number of episodes.
But that is not the way to go, but the way to mock at the otherwise onest work of the acting cast.

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Enjoyed, but wasn't as pulled in

I liked the show, I really did, but I also hated, *like really hated*, the age gap set up, especially when the “secondary lead” was the male lead’s *nephew*. Lord Ding looks older than Zhuo Hua and kept being presented as “a sickly old man about to die” and I just was not a fan of it at all. It was the *main* thing that held this show back. Every time I “forgot” about it or accepted it, they would make some comment or other about his age and how he’s at death’s door or her age and how she has so much life to live. They are both *grown* so it wasn’t creepy, but the gap just served no more purpose than him being sickly.

I also loathed the empress dowager. I can respect the use of a straight-forward antagonist but every time her face was on screen I wanted to throw my phone. The complexity of the first princess really made up for the pain of listening to the empress dowager.

Lastly, I originally kind of liked the monotone baseline personality they gave to both Lord Ding and the first princess. However, since the show was on the longer side, it did start to get frustrating as they did the same ish over and over again. I guess they were solid foils with tragic childhoods that shaped their defensive/offensive personalities.

While Zhuo Hua and Lord Ding’s romance was very slow and *subtle*, I thoroughly enjoyed Zhi Mo & Ju Li’s romance. Just two sweet cuties that deserve nothing but good things. I also enjoyed how Zhi Jian interacted with them.

I wouldn’t rewatch this show just because it is on the longer end and most of the plot is more political than romantic. The show was just barely entertaining to me at first (the FML was an actress I liked and her character as Zhuo Hua was fun) *but* it ramped up once we get the “reveal” *but then* gets a tad repetitive near the end.

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Simply phenomenal!

A thoroughly enjoyable series, with excellent story, phenomenal acting and amazing cinematography. First up, the main leads… it was my first time watching Jing Tian and Feng Shao Feng, and both of them were spellbinding. With great, seasoned acting and awesome on-screen chemistry, they carried the show so well, I am dying to see more of their work, which I’ll be checking out after I finish writing this review. What do I say about Zhou Yi Ran!! I liked him in Falling into your smile, then loved him in When I fly towards you, and now this! He can be a pro-gamer, a shy and reserved high school nerd and pull these roles well, but to see him in a period drama, playing first the impulsive young prince, then an authoritative emperor, a heartbroken lover…well what do I say! He’s been phenomenal! I’ve seen him get better with every role he’s played and he is definitely going to make it big! I wish he tries out more varied roles in future. All the supporting actors added to the finesse of the drama, and made their roles memorable. I rarely watch something twice, but I am sure I’ll be watching this series again soon.

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Two Odd Fish Acting As Chairs

It took all my patience to get through the first 3 episodes. I can't comment on plot, because I didn't watch enough to warrant a critique on that, and plot, as I've said many times, is king.

What I witnessed were two wooden chairs, in period costumes, interacting with each other.

I like the actress playing the FL, but here, she talked in a weird, unnatural way which was super odd. A cold, calculating fish that needed a better director. The ML looked ridiculously older than her (I see now there are only 10 years between them, but it looked like more than that to me). The ML was also a cold, calculating fish, and since his visuals (pulchritude) wasn't in-keeping with hers, they made a very unlikely fishy couple (or an odd chair coupling). I had to drop this because I was cringing at how unnatural everything from the dialogue to the love pairing was. It all seemed very forced to me, which made it unenjoyable to watch.

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