This review may contain spoilers
Finally, a story with real people and not caricatures!
Gong Suo Jin Zhi hit my IQIYI as Love and Strife out of nowhere. Relatively unknown actors but OMG! this is finally an adult production where there are no females who act like 5th graders, no villains who roll their eyes or grind their teeth. The script was solid, even if the story was not that innovative the characters were written with care and consistently put out the same vibe and logic. The director had done a really good job making it an even paced, low key, but interesting drama with good chemistry between the leads and interesting relationships between 2 other couples shown.From the get-go you wonder about the moral spine of the leads as they are not some caricatures/cliches of the cdrama stereotypes. Both leads are not flashing their attractiveness, but they are dressed well, with subtle make up and hairdos that fit. What this stands out for is the maturity of the interactions, relationships and characters. The daughter of a military family that was killed off is on the road to revenge -check. She is using herself as a bait and even a possible victim of abuse - check. The Crown Prince crippled and weak holding the grudge for the death of his mother - check. He is also shady about how he feels about his emperor father - check. Third prince villain-check - but he is not a bumbling baboon and actually an articulate, dignified, even if spoilt, dude with integrity. Have you seen that a lot? I did not. I actually liked him better than the grayish shade of the ML, but in the end, he gets what he deserves. And that Imperial consort, mom of the 3rd prince? Crazy jealous -check. Smarter than the emperor? You bet! And even 3rd princess does not come as an idiot, just as a woman stuck between her minister father and heir implied husband.
All the actors did an amazing job to be the characters they played. It was like a good theater performance: real, un-retouched at times raw and at times evoking the sense of them being just pitiful. You don't get grand gestures and doubled or tripled shots of the same scene for added grandiosity. People still spit blood and get splashed with it - you just don't see acting in it - you see people suffering and getting shocked. I give them all 10/10 for that and bow to the director for this!
Now on to relationship of the leads: You will get nice tension, lavish kissing and no shying away from showing what marriage of two people attracted to one another looks like behind the close doors. The shots of these embarrassing if you watch it on public transportation scenes is done very tactfully but long enough for all of us who like that stuff to smile. And what I personally enjoyed in the scenes of the couples interacting is what they don't say but show with faces, bodies and voice.
Even the ending was thoughtful- you don't get any stupid hang ups from misunderstandings, but there is an issue of trust, self-determination and power. Remember crazy emperor forcing the woman he desires to marry him? Well, for the crown prince who does not give his father an antidote as a revenge for allowing to kill his mother - what do you think he will do? And the woman who discovers that the husband she aligned with and started to love faked being poisoned by others without telling her - do you think she will stay with him?
The few songs during the show were really good. It reminded me of the quality in Princess Royal theme. BGM was discreet and not intrusive. and it was all superbly edited.
Fights scenes? OK Camera work? good Lighting? Amazing! I am very tired of night scenes where you can spot needles on the ground because the producer thought that the more light - the better.
Overall the underhanded way of this drama will probably make a lot of people forget it quickly. I, on the other hand, will look at it again because it is rare to see drama with characters that are not heroic, but human. That is why I am giving it 8.
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Brilliant- from Ep1 to Ep24 absolute brilliance
The most important thing- an ending done right. This was no open ending, no 5 second glimpse of happiness. THIS was a clear, concrete, loving portrayal of a happy ending. Other cdrama writers/directors- TAKE. NOTES.The acting was amazing, from leads to support everybody did a good job. The story was good, not too unique but brilliantly showcased. The characterization was consistent, there was development and there were plot twists. Pacing was good, dialogues were realistic.
For once, all the bad guys get what they deserve. I especially loved the King's end- oof chef's kiss karma there. Xue Chuyun you are worthy of being an Empress (be my empress please <3)
The romance? Oh they served plenty. They had tension, they had antics, they had angst, they had love. There was enough shown on screen, enough alluded to and enough implied off screen. The kissing scenes were so good, the chemistry all throughout was delicious.
In short, a must must MUST WATCH. We need to show more love and support to such shows so they know what we want more of.
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Average
The first act was probably the best part of the show with the cat and mouse game. After that, the story lost its edge and became another commonplace revenge story with the same overused plot. Lots of predictability.I would say, the 2 lead characters were a little more interesting and dynamic than I’ve seen in some other dramas but their acting left me a little cold. While they were written better than most, their execution wasn’t great.
The villains were underdeveloped. Their motivations were simplistic and didn’t add anything new to the genre. The production value was okay. I will say the ending was decent. It gets a 6.0 from me.
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A Palace Revenge Plot to Put Others to Shame
This Mini is what other shows are TRYING to achieve. It has a blend of everything, spice level on the heavier side of medium level, revenge, palace politics, relationship growth, tension, plot twists, sword fights, blood and a nice ost.The main characters scheme JUST as much as the antagonists and until the very end you're constantly left wondering what's going to happen next; if it will go a conventional route or mix things up and be unconventional.
There WAS some slight editing issues a couple times that took me put personally. One time for instance there were green tracking boxes over the ML face 🤡. But these were mostly minor issues. Otherwise, I loved the costumes and camerawork as they made use of diagonal sweeping shots for instance.
Definitely placing this as a favorite.
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This review may contain spoilers
Trust and respect provided strong basis for FL-ML relationship
I have been watching a lot of vertical dramas on Youtube but also have paid subscription to iQiyi, Youku, wetv & Netflix. Came across this drama on iQiyi & went to read reviews on MDL. Sounded promising so I clicked 'Play' last weekend. 'Love and Strife' has a quiet vibe compared to other historical mini dramas but I enjoyed watching it.What I liked:
1. Main characters' arcs - I appreciate the simplicity of both characters' arcs. FL's family was framed & murdered so she wanted to avenge. Whereas ML was trying to correct the wrongdoings done in the State.
2. Romance - I'd say their romance is more sweet & tender. The love they had for each other grew slowly. Trust and respect were built and provided strong basis for their relationship.
3. Third act - One of the most coherent & well written I've ever watched. The ending was satisfying.
4. Acting - I have watched Chen Si Che in modern vertical dramas. She did well in period mini drama. I've also watched Cai Zheng Jie in Shameless Lover though I don't recall his character there. He gave a solid performance as ML in this mini drama. the other cast did good too.
What I disliked:
1. Familiarity - Having watched too many historical mini dramas, I felt that there was nothing new in execution of the plot.
2. ML's secret identity - I wasn't sure the point of having ML to put on a mask since most of the investigations were done by his people. Was the purpose of the masked stranger to create sexual tension between him and FL?
Favourite scene
When FL & ML investigated the case of loan sharks
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Weak Plot + Horrible Acting = Waste of My Time
So FL’s whole family was wiped out overnight, and she suspected someone in the royal family was behind it. She plotted to wed the crippled crown prince which is the ML, tried to slowly poison him while at the same time trying to conceive royal heir and subsequently avenge her family’s extermination.The plot is so damn weak, how are you any better if the crown prince dies even if you have a baby with him? Would the baby make any difference if it wasnt crowned before it’s father died? At least FL shouldve aimed for the throne, help ML to ascend the throne or some sort, then only kill him after birthing an heir (which would be ML’s crown prince) for him. Didnt she think the eastern palace would amount to nothing without any backing once the ML dies? What a stupid revenge plan. I can’t stand the actress’ horrible acting and those cheesy scenes between her and the supposedly masked intruder (which was the ML- apparently he wasnt a cripple 🙄). And that little trick of duping the crown prince into marrying her is laughable too. I thought I was watching a cheap self funded shorts that always come up my facebook feed.
FL’s swordplay is too horrible too, just flailing the sword around like a madwoman with no flow at all, gosh I just can’t stand this character. Acting as if she possess great martial ability but only to see her subdued by the third move every single time. I was like, seriously? All that cocky talk and this is the amount of crap that you can show off? For a daughter of a fallen general who was trained in martial art since young, she is very lousy of a fighter. Such a lame character. Whoever hired such lazy screenwriter I really don’t know. What a waste of my 150+ minutes.
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