Thoughts on all the Chinese costume dramas I've watched

My experience of this drama was definitely impacted by having seen the Korean version first. That said, I don't think knowing the overall outline of where the story was going (many of the details are different) should have prevented me from enjoying this drama. Objectively I'd say each version has its pros and cons (the Chinese one has more even execution), and there were things I genuinely appreciated about this drama. However, the bottom line is that this is the sort of story that should make you cry buckets, and I just wasn't emotionally invested. This may be (at least partly) because I sometimes disliked Ruo Xi (the actress's voice also was super annoying to me). The drama is also longer than it needs to be, but that's hardly a revelation.

I gave up on this one at episode 37. I guess my fundamental problem with this drama is that the characters felt like pieces of cardboard. I couldn't get invested in them, and if I didn't care about the characters, I had no reason to care about all their schemes. Getting through the episodes became a struggle for me and I guess I wasn't determined enough to make it through.

A long post with some more detailed thoughts: https://kisskh.at/profile/xinya/feeds/X6bBkc8

I probably have more negative feelings towards this than any other drama I've ever watched (even things I've given a lower rating). It really doesn't deserve the extent my feelings towards it, because it's not that it was really so terrible, rather that it was terribly mediocre and made me sit through that mediocrity for 54 episodes, while it just repeated the same plot points over and over again. Now I've wisened up and learned that dropping is my friend, especially when it comes to long dramas.

My opinion of this drama may be somewhat skewed due to the fact that I randomly started watching it on Netflix without examining the poster ahead of time. Spoilers for the first five-or-so episodes. See at first, I thought that Li Jing was the male lead, so I was trying to anticipate where that relationship was going to go. I was confused about why the first few episodes were so rushed, because I felt like the drama could have spent 20 episodes developing those things. When he betrayed her, I thought things were getting interesting, because usually the male lead, whatever other flaws he might have, really has the devotion thing down pat. So I was thinking that the story might be about them trying to repair their relationship after his betrayal and whether they could get past it if he changed, or maybe it would end tragically. Given proper development, it could have been way more interesting than the standard drama romance. But it turned out I was on the wrong ship and instead I got Ye Hua plus reincarnation, reincarnation, reincarnation ... Zzz ... zzz ... By the end I was so bored of the main couple that I was skipping their scenes.

I really wasn't watching Chinese dramas at the time, but I saw this drama on Viki and decided to try it, so this was the first Chinese historical drama I watched and actually the first Chinese drama I completed. Of course, I haven't exactly watched the whole thing, because after the first few episodes, I began skipping every scene related to the SML. He was just such a snooze (kinda annoying too). Since half of this drama was boring enough that I didn't bother trying to watch it, I can't really recommend it. Plus, even the half I did watch had some really stupid writing. I think many people disliked this drama due to the nature of the romance, but I really didn't have a problem with it. I think they actually deserve some credit for writing an antihero male lead whose flaws actually have ramifications in his life and are not magically cured by love. Acting was meh ... though I think Zhang Bin Bin's voice actor was pretty good (I didn't realize dubbing was a thing back then, so I think I was kinda confused why the voice sounded so commanding when the expressions were sometimes lacking). Perhaps because I skipped a lot, I actually enjoyed this quite a bit.

I watched one episode. Though it seemed well-made, I realized I really didn't want to watch 70 episodes of concubine scheming. Also, I've heard that the female lead constantly gets away with things she should get in big trouble for, which is the type of thing that annoys me ...

At first I enjoyed it, despite some annoying aspects. I made it to the halfway point, but after taking a bit of a break from it, I really just lost all investment (not that I had had much to begin with) and had little inclination to continue for another 30 episodes. Pretty much what it comes down to is that this was really the same as every other xianxia drama I had watched. Same tropes. Same types of characters, same type of romance, same type of fantasy world. I hadn't particularly enjoyed any of these aspects of the other xianxia dramas I'd watched, and this time it was the same thing, but I was even more tired of it. If you like xianxia, this is probably a good drama, but I've realized this genre is just not for me.

A long post with some more detailed thoughts up to episode 14 (so well before I actually dropped it, but I don't think the fundamental pros and cons changed that much): https://kisskh.at/profile/xinya/feeds/wkR1viE

Although, I was immediately intrigued by Ning Yi, it took me a little while to get hooked on this drama, but now it's one of my favorites. Even though it's a heavily politically-focused drama, I actually consider this one of the best romances I've seen. Chen Kun and Ni Ni's performances were great and they had so so much chemistry. The supporting cast was strong as well. Ni Da Hong's emperor is definitely one of the more compelling rulers I've come across in a historical drama. Ning Yi is one of my absolute favorite characters. So multifaceted and charismatic. I think the bromance between Ning Yi and Xin Zi Yan is underrated. Really, there were so many characters in this drama that found their way into my heart. The production was beautiful. I was especially taken with the costumes. I really have an obsession with some of the fabrics. Unfortunately, it peaked around episode 51. The writing and editing in the last 20 episodes, especially in the last 5-or-so, just wasn't good. It was pretty frustrating, because I couldn't always understand why characters were doing what they were doing and the development felt rushed. Still, there are enough things I truly loved about this drama that I'm willing to forgive that. Also Chen Kun's hair. That alone would be enough to make me happy I watched this.

As I dropped this after 4 episodes, I can't say much except that nothing about it captured my interest really. Had it had great acting or production, I might have stuck with it a little longer, but everything about it just seemed meh.

I've never completely failed to understand the hype around something so much. I think the story had potential, but the execution kinda ruined it for me. The directing was lackluster. The production was very mediocre. The fight scenes ranged from boring to laughable. A number of the supporting actors were just bad. Xiao Zhan was better, but still not great. I felt zero investment in the story or characters. Of course, most people loved it, so take this as an unpopular opinion, I guess.

My full review: https://kisskh.at/profile/xinya/review/122193

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I watched this randomly without having seen Story of Yanxi Palace first. Maybe for people who had seen it and already knew some of the characters, this was a nice fanservice drama, but as a stand alone, it was a bunch of pointless angst with a plot that packed no punch, despite trying to be all mysterious and even a bit creepy, while the romance got a very short shrift. 

I liked this couple in Eternal Love, but it turns out they were better as a cute side couple. I dropped this around episode 20, because it was just boring. 

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Among the xianxia dramas I've seen, this one by far had the most appealing production in terms of sets, CGI, etc. The action sequences also seemed well-executed, even though I'm not really a fan of the exaggerated camerawork. Cheng Yi's performance was good and I found his character likable. That's pretty much where the good things ended for me, though. The reasons I dropped it at episode 14 ... The plot still hadn't grabbed me. It just felt like a bunch of random incidents that didn't have a clear direction to keep me intrigued. The characters lacked depth. I wasn't invested in the romance and actually found it quite frustrating. I didn't really feel like the drama established the foundation of their relationship well, because rather than actually giving us real relationship development, the drama constant manufactured physically intimate situations between the leads, while the female lead remained entirely clueless (there were some magical reasons for why she was like this, but honestly those didn't make much sense to me either, and it was annoying regardless). I didn't hate it, but I wasn't inclined to sit through another 45 episodes.

The premise (arranged marriage to a general) sounded decent, if not particularly novel, but it was just so silly and childish (lots of tropes, no well-written relationship development). Plus, the male lead really didn't seem like a fearsome man who had fought many battles. As I only watched 4 episodes, I can't really comment on the plot, but from what I saw, it was very meh. Obviously, this drama was never intended to be the serious drama that I wanted it to be, so for people who like the "romcom in period dress" thing, it might be perfectly fine.

This drama exemplifies the problem I often have with Chinese costume dramas. I wanted to like it and genuinely enjoyed it at first. Yes, I had some complaints about how certain storylines seemed to exist more to move the romance forward or make the heroine look good, rather than to actually serve as a strong political plot. But overall, even if the politics weren’t brilliant, they weren’t bad. The production was gorgeous, though I was annoyed by the very inaccurate costumes, and most of the actors were good. Unfortunately, around episode 20, this drama began to lose me. By the time I reached episode 33, I couldn’t see myself slogging through another 30+ episodes, so I dropped it. As addictive as the early episodes were, this drama didn’t have enough depth to hold my interest for a whole 68 episodes. None of the characters were particularly interesting. Both leads were rather one-dimensional, pretty much perfect, and never failed. The actors (especially Zhou Yi Wei, who created an appealing calm, soft-spoken persona for his heroic warrior character) managed to make them more compelling than they might have been otherwise, but I never became emotionally invested. The best character was actually one of the villains. Despite the amount of time spent on political machinations, this really was a romance-driven drama, where the relationship was supposed to be the main draw. Ultimately, I became rather disappointed in the romance as well, since all the relationship development took place during three episodes. Rushed, especially considering the total length of the drama. I had a hard time buying into their love for each other when it seemed like they hardly knew one another. With the politics beginning to feel more and more tedious, there was nothing left to make me want to watch the second half. If I’m going to sit through nearly seventy episodes, there has to be some thought-provoking themes, fascinating characters, or emotional relationships.

"Wow, I can’t believe they actually spent a whole episode on having a bunch of martial arts sect leaders stand around and argue about who gets the Glazed Armor. This is what made The Untamed so incredibly tedious and boring too … you have a bunch of mediocre actors in cheesy costumes receiving bland directing cues just seeming ridiculous as they deliver their lines in some unnecessarily long debate over an issue I couldn’t care less about …" <— I wrote this while watching (maybe around episode 15???) and it pretty much sums up why this ended up on my dropped list. The combine my lack of interest in the plot with a feeling like I was watching an endless series of flashbacks ... That said, I could somewhat see why people were charmed by the leads' relationship (though I thought it developed too quickly) and I did actually like Zhang Zhe Han and his character.

I only watched 2 episodes, which isn't really enough to form much of an opinion. Mostly, I just liked the snow, but I wasn't so sure about the characters and story. It seemed like many people were disappointed with the direction the story took later on, so I didn't bother to continue.

I started this drama because I have a weakness for silver hair and dragons. I'm shallow enough to watch 4 episodes just to stare at the ML's cheekbones, but that was more than enough for me. The silver hair, it delivered, but it was kinda disappointing on the dragon front. I mean, the ML was just so sweet and mild. I would have hoped for a bit more of a powerful aura from a dragon.

I think this drama had quite a good story in there somewhere, but a lot of elements of the execution didn't really work for me, thus I didn't have much investment in what I was watching. The political aspects of the plot had a tendency to just happen almost out of the blue or otherwise unfold very rapidly without really building tension. I wish the romance spent more time establishing the connection between the leads in the beginning before starting on the pining and long separations. I also think that I interpreted the story differently from how the way the drama seemed to want me to interpret it. It's hard to say more without spoilers, but basically, what I liked about this drama is that there was actually a more interesting, thematically complex story that they could have been telling with much the same plot, if they just gave more depth to the character conflicts and presented certain things in a different light. But the fact that they didn’t do that is also what I didn’t like about the drama.

The spoiler version of my thoughts: https://kisskh.at/profile/xinya/feeds/XQALRf8

There's a possibility I might pick this up and finish it at some point, because there wasn't anything I particularly disliked about this drama ... there just wasn't anything I really liked either. It's very mediocre, like everything is just ... fine. The politics are very typical but not as complex or clever as some other dramas with similar types of plots (truthfully I did some skipping, otherwise I think I would have gotten bored). The martial arts aspects often seemed overshadowed by the politics, with the exception of one quest that the characters went on. That quest might have been the highlight of the drama for me up to the point where I stopped. Nothing really happens in the romance, but the pretty people look good together. Overall, I found it mostly entertaining, but also I just didn't really care much about anything that was going on.

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(I'm writing about both parts 1 and 2 here.)

This drama was fine but I really don't get the hype. Like most C-dramas, it could have been much shorter. The plot is mostly lots of mean girl fighting (first within the family then in the palace) with a side of politics (very typical past conspiracy stuff that is mostly tedious and not very complex). The romance takes a while to get started, since the beginning feels more like a coming-of-age story (I don't think this was a bad route to take, but it did leave the writers with the problem that they really didn't have anything much for the ML to be doing in the early episodes). Once the romance does become the focus, it's ... fine. Overall, I may have liked the idea of it more than the execution. I think potentially with the right actors or amazing chemistry what was otherwise a very mediocre but mostly unobjectionable story could have been given the extra oomph that would make me actually care, but this drama had neither. I never once felt the chemistry. The acting is mostly bad. Only Zhao Lusi and Zeng Li (and maybe Li Yun Rui?) are good (and good not great). Leo Wu gives a so-stoic-he-could-be-cardboard performance, which considering that his character isn't particularly interesting, probably wasn't too much of a detriment to the drama. Mostly he just needed to look good on a horse, which he did (I mean I really enjoyed this drama when it was just about ML looking great on his horse). Anyway, I eventually dropped at episode 38, not because I disliked the drama (it was fine), but because it just didn't feel worth the time to finish it and I felt pretty confident I wasn't going to miss some brilliant climax that suddenly elevated it to a new level.

Ok, so here's the thing. I don't like xianxia dramas, because I want them to be solid works of epic fantasy, but instead they're trope-y romances with tediously dragged out plots that are just filler for the cotton candy romantic angst. I had given up on the xianxia genre, and then I watched this. I there's a long list of things I could (and did) complain about (I spammed the Feeds so much while watching this), but ultimately this really worked for me on an emotional level.

I'm not sure what possessed me to watch this trash (probably people were posting about it on the Feeds), because I usually avoid things with such low production values and short episodes. Anyway, not sure there's much to say. It's what you would expect, which I guess is why I dropped it.

I'm not much a fan of xianxia, but I was in the mood for a trope-y, melodramatic, angst-fest that's a bit too cheesy and paint-by-numbers to really be taken seriously. This drama actually exceeded my expectations with quite a promising start. It made me think that perhaps this would go the way Love Between Fairy and Devil had—tons to complain about but also intense emotional investment in the angst-fest. The complaints I had, the emotions ... not so much. I'm not going to say I felt nothing while watching this, but the few scenes that did manage to be somewhat affecting to me were often rather insignificant, while the major moments—tragic angst that should have made me cry through entire episodes, battles and climactic points that should have held me in suspense—generally lacked impact. It had an interesting premise, a great ML, and was generally engaging, but ultimately I think it failed on both the romance and the plot, so ...

A long post with some more detailed thoughts: https://kisskh.at/profile/xinya/feeds/10boR2ub

I wouldn’t say it’s a particularly great (or even very good) drama, but made me want to binge it all in a couple days and didn’t drag nearly as much as the typical Chinese drama. The premise isn't novel, but I liked it—I liked how the FL's knowledge of the different players was incomplete, despite having seen how things played out in her last life; I liked how even as she tries to change things its not clear whether we will ultimately end up back in the same place with different details or truly take a different route. Despite generally finding the story engaging and reasonably well-plotted, I was quite disappointed in the ending (it was anticlimactic and a reveal in the last episode undermined the importance events from the preceding episodes). The only reason I wasn't more mad is because I didn't go into this expecting a great political drama. I enjoyed the romance because you can see how well the leads work together and suit each other, but at times I thought the shifts in their feelings towards one another could have been more clearly communicated. Also, the actual execution of romantic scenes was mixed, and one little arc in their relationship had me annoyed with the FL. Even beyond the romance, I got invested enough in some of the characters and relationships to find some scenes emotionally affecting. Unfortunately, I think they could have done a better job with the ML. It's not that I didn't like him, but I thought the characterization was sometimes confused or maybe inconsistent (and was further muddled by his "soul leaving sickness," which was bizarre, pretty pointless, and honestly rather cringe-y). Overall, I think this drama had a good core, but the execution left much to be desired. From mediocre (possibly below mediocre?) production to bad directing there are a number of things about this drama that remind you you're watching a cheesy drama rather than immersing you in the world.

I liked the premise but the execution fell short for me. Most significantly the feelings of the characters in their do-over lives didn’t seem to match how their original lives had ended. I also would have liked a more serious tone (maybe that’s just me?). The FL wasn’t very likable and ML was decent but not particularly compelling. I was pretty engaged at first, but when it started to get boring, I dropped it pretty quickly because there was no strong element or real investment in the story to make me want to preserve.

From the get-go this seemed like a rather cheesy production, so I didn’t have high expectations. However, the insouciantly sinister ML (he quickly loses his edge) and chemistry between the couple pulled me in. Although I made it to the end, I'm not sure I can really say I watched this drama because after episode 3, I started skipping liberally (at most I probably watched half the total runtime, and that may be generous). I have no real opinion on the revenge plot (nor whatever happened with Xiyan in the second arc), because I didn't watch it (my initial impression was that it would be very mediocre, which is why I was fine skipping it). On the other hand, I did watch much of the romance (not enough to 100% know what was going on all the time, but enough that I think I can pass some judgement on it). I definitely liked the overarching idea of this romance; the writing just botched the development along the way. They also really had something with this pairing of actors. Even when I had become totally bored with how the relationship was progressing from a writing perspective, sometimes I could still feel “it” in the space between the actors when they were just sitting there having a conversation. Especially the Liu Xue Yi, at times the way he looked at her just conveyed a really visceral sense of his love. 

The full spoiler-y (sometimes kinda random) version of my thoughts: https://kisskh.at/profile/xinya/feeds

I really enjoyed the first third or so of this drama. Mostly I found the FL very refreshing. She’s soft-spoken and elegant. She’s clever but (at least mostly) works within the rules rather than flouting them. She enters into a loveless arranged marriage and makes the best of it by performing her duties as a wife. And by fulfilling her role well, she begins to win over her husband. I mean, what a novel idea! That being a good wife (rather than eye-catching she’s-not-like-other-girls antics) could be the way into a medieval man’s heart—shocking! While I really enjoyed Song Zu Er’s portrayal of the seemingly docile noblewoman with a cunning underbelly, I initially felt Liu Yu Ning was miscast. He just wasn’t that convincing as this fearsome general character, and his looks (it’s not that he’s exactly “pretty” but he does have very soft rounded facial features) didn’t help. However, after this drama devolved into a silly rom-com, and it became clear that ML’s role is really that of marshmallow not medieval warlord, the casting made a lot more sense. It’s not like there was no stupidity and silliness in the early episodes (there was, and maybe I should have taken that as a warning and bailed early on), but these elements were dialed way up through the middle, and the over-the-top (but honestly not very funny) comedy often took center stage. At this point, the plot also stalled to some degree with a succession of issues that were generally resolved pretty easily. Much of what happened between episodes 10 and 30 (I’m being approximate here, I don’t actually remember what happened in these particular episodes) was unnecessary. The story did pick up towards the end, but by that point I just didn’t care anymore and wasn’t fully paying attention.

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