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Super short and cute
I didn't expect this drama to be this level of short but it was SUPER short. Usually Chinese dramas can drag on to 40+ episodes with 45min each, but this is like 12 episodes and I'm talking 2 minutes per episode kind of short. This is a drama perfect for people with short attention spans lol.The chemistry and contrast between the two FLs is really cute and the story is well played-out. I liked the mystery element, and it also had some heavy themes. Things happen super fast and the end part felt rushed, I actually wish there was more to the story! Due to how short it is, it didn't give the audience enough time to build up feelings.
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This review may contain spoilers
Unpopular opinion: I like the Second FL (the "evil" twin)
This show was really well written and deeper than I had expected it to be. It has an interesting premise and starts off with a gripping mystery that catches the viewer's attention. The entire show managed to keep my interest despite some cliche love scenes. The storyline is very interesting and I enjoyed watching the evolution of the twins' relationship. The FL's acting is amazing, being able to portray two twin sisters that have completely opposite personalities. Her microexpressions and whole aura is completely different when she portrays Xiao Mu vs. Yao Menggui. However, the ML's acting is really bad--his face has the same expression the whole time. I honestly don't know why they picked him as ML, maybe because he looks handsome? The second ML had more expression but his character was a little off.*BIG SPOILERS AHEAD*
I actually really like the character of the second FL, Yao Menggui--she is interesting. The show portrayed how she grew as a person and even though she made some very selfish decisions and even did bad things, she did love her sister and she changed for the better in the end. A lot of people think she's crazy, but the show actually demonstrated a plausible reason why she is like that. She was a child devoid of love and believed that only through manipulation, she was able to gain the love of adults who generally favoured her more mild sister. While they were together, Yao did protect her sister from bullies and that could have been a lot on her shoulders. A lot of people thought it was crazy when Yao tried to kill Xiao, but at that point, Yao thought Xiao previously tried to kill her (the car crash) and take her spot. If you believe your sister tried to do that to you, would you still consider her as a sister?
Was Yao a perfect sister? No. But she is an imperfect human like all of us. Let's stop expecting FLs to be saints. She has a hard exterior because she lived her life feeling like she needed to hide her true self in order to not get hurt, but inside she is not completely terrible.
In that same line of thought, I can understand why the second ML Song Ci likes Yao Menggui. She is interesting, has many layers, and he is intrigued by that. She presents a challenge for him, and she's not like all those girls that just fawn over him because he is handsome and famous. How many of those people like him for who he really is? She is one of the few people that doesn't put him on a pedestal. I love the part where Xiao Mu realized that she may have put Song Ci on a pedestal and that is not true love. I find this point insightful: love is not just based on superficial impressions of another person--you can't just evaluate a person when they're at their best, you need to see them at their worst.
Overall a really satisfying watch!
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An enjoyable short series
This season is longer than season 1 (but still pretty short--1 hour long in total) and gets deeper into the characters' backstories as well as themes. Similar to the first season, the chemistry between the two FLs is great and they're really cute together. This time the series takes some time to go into each story which allows the audience to build up more investment into the characters and to reflect deeper on the events that have occurred. The acting of the leads is really good, and given the low budget I looked past the side actors' performance being less than ideal.I was kind of expecting Zhaoyun's sister from the first season to show up again and develop that storyline, but she was a no-show, so that segment from the first season seems orphaned (with the only purpose to reveal Zhaoyun's true identity).
The only thing that I really can't get past is those fuzzy cat ears that Jiang Zhaoyun wears. 😂 Her whole costume & makeup looks legit but those cat ears just look like a Halloween accessory.
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Boring but at least it was short
The drama started off pretty funny and interesting but quickly became cliche. The redeeming factor is that it's really short so you don't waste too much of your life watching through the whole thing. The whole time it's not clear how the ML actually fell for the FL other than the fact that they just happened to be circumstantially put together. The FL gets upset/hurt by stupid random things and then sits around like a victim--what an old trope. If you like watching sweet moments and a handsome ML fall for the FL for no reason, this drama will give you your sugar rush, but has no other value.Was this review helpful to you?
Skip all the ridiculous scenes between the ML and FL and this is a decent drama
I started watching this drama with minimal expectations--I just wanted to indulge in some brainless drama but it was so so so excruciating to watch as I went on. The ML & FL back and forth was senseless and honestly got old by episode 10 and I just skipped the scenes whenever they were on. I can't bear the toxicity of their relationship and I really hope women watching this don't think this is what love is supposed to look like. 🤮However, I was curious about the overall storyline and the good part is that the FL builds relationships with the people around her, not just the ML. Her relationship with her maids is really cute and she really cares for them. The storyline with the evil characters is also interesting.
My favourite part of the story is between the second couple, Wuji and Princess Ling. They should have been the main couple, their story is way cuter and way less toxic compared to the main couple. What I really like about their story is that you can see their growth throughout the show. Ling can come off as pretty annoying at first--the bratty Princess archetype. But as I watched more and more of her, she really grew on me. Wuji looked pretty at first but didn't strike me as interesting, but seeing how he and Ling interacts, her playfulness brought out a more interesting and lively side of Wuji. Their scenes made me laugh, cry, and both at the same time.
If this drama was just Wuji and Ling, I would give it a 10/10. But with all the other extra fillers that made it 36 episodes, it's a 5/10.
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Best show with character development
This show is amazing. I was put off from it for a long time because the emperor (ML) looked unattractive and I couldn’t imagine the FL being with him but then as the show went on I see why he was made to be unattractive. For context, the emperor here is supposed to be the same person as the male lead in Scarlet Heart (who looks totally different) and I just couldn’t reconcile the two lol.This show is about a young woman facing the realities of the royal harem, not a love story. It is a show about a clever and kind young woman having to change herself in order to survive. Every single episode was gripping and interesting. The villains were well written and the protagonists weren’t just helpless damsels in distress. The character development is just *chef’s kiss*.
Zhen Huan took control of her own destiny, and that is so empowering, especially for a woman in that era. Of course, she had to play within the rules of that era and she knows to bide her time. So her actions seem realistic for that era (unlike the FL in Yanxi Palace, which is a show that is commonly compared with this one). You can always see the reasoning behind her choices. I love intelligent FLs and Zhen Huan is a great example. She is a queen (well technically an empress dowager) and she slays.
Some of the Chinese cultural aspects flew over my head, but if you are well versed in that area, you will have an even deeper appreciation for the show. There is a lot of nuance and indirect communication that one would miss if one doesn’t know the culture.
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Cliche but acceptable
After watching the first two seasons, I watched this special series. If you don't watch the first two seasons, some of the scenes may not make as much sense or make as much of an emotional impact on the viewer.It's short and sweet and full of cliches, but because it was so short, the cliches were not too unbearable I suppose. There were some extraneous characters like the rich boy, which I don't understand the purpose of his character. A lot of the story seems too convenient, falling there at that exact moment so the heroine can come in and save the day. If you like the FLs and just want to see more of their interactions, this is a cute drama to watch. However don't expect much interesting storyline.
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The storyline between the leads was really weak and repetitive
This drama plays way too much on the Cinderella element that it's just painful to watch. The main storyline is just basically the FL running into various money issues and the ML solves it with $$$. 🙄 How old can this get? I can feel my braincells slowly dying off whenever the ML and FL come on screen.On the other hand, Ning Fei and Lin Feifei have more interesting stories--if they were the ML and FL this drama would be much more interesting. And the story between Li Mingcheng and Bi Qiujing is cute but just doesn't make sense how they just conveniently fall together.
The acting and chemistry is generally pretty good, but nothing can save this dreadful storyline.
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Amazing but painful drama
I first tried watching this drama seven years ago when it was first released, but it was too painful for me to watch seeing how much the protagonist, Ruyi, toils. I didn't end up finishing it then.Now I decided to give this show another try after having matured myself and I found it harrowing, but gripping, and I appreciated even the villains of the show and their motivations. This show is called Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace, but it should really be named Ruyi's Royal Disappointment in the Palace, because this show goes to tell you love will just end in disappointment. Out of the couples in this show, not many of them had lasting love.
The theme of this show is very similar to that of Empresses in the Palace/Legend of Zhen Huan, another palace harem classic. Women compete and vie for the Emperor's favor, our protagonist starting off believing in true love, and eventually becomes jaded. The emperor, who was once a lover, becomes an enemy due to his own character flaws. I read a little bit of history around the characters in this show, so I came in knowing what would happen in the end. However, I was curious to see how the show reaches there and the show reaches that point spectacularly.
This might be an unpopular opinion, but Ruyi's reaction to bad things happening is almost always a wide stare. People praise the actress's (Zhou Xun) grace and composure, but I found the wide stare reaction kind of bland. Also when she was playing the young Ruyi, it was pretty awkward. Wallace Huo did a great job as Qianlong Emperor, and his evolution (or devolution) throughout the show is very convincing. Ling Yunche's actor did a great job portraying his various states throughout the show. I loved all of the different personalities of Ruyi's allies. The villains were all convincing too, the casting was done very well.
As emotionally painful this story is, it is still an amazing show worth watching.
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Frustrating plot full of holes
I saw an advertisement for this show on YouTube and it had an interesting premise—a Joseon era prince going to the modern era to solve a mystery around his murdered princess. But aside from that, this show was a whole nothing burger for me. There were so many cringy filler scenes that didn’t move the plot along, if you removed them the real content is like 10 episodes but they padded it up to 20. I can’t sit through minutes of people walking around sadly with melodramatic music playing in the background, or running around looking for each other when you can just make a call.The main cast’s acting is pretty good, and they have good chemistry. The villains are well played, very easily detestable. Some of the side characters are really cringy, but I guess that’s for comedic purposes.
One of the most frustrating thing for me is how the protagonists make really stupid decisions and have 0 sense of self-protection. At the beginning they are naive, OK that makes sense. But as the plot progresses, they know what they’re up against and they still make foolish naive choices. And the lack of communication between the protagonists omg. It’s an insult to the viewer’s intelligence.
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First half was hilarious and then did a 180
This started off really strong as a comedy. I started watching this show because of Zhang Yue Nan, the actress for the FL. I like that she's lively and full of expression, although some people may find her expressions overexaggerated. But given the comedic tone of the beginning of this show, I think her acting is appropriate.I breezed through the first 10 episodes. There were multiple moments where I laughed out loud, and I enjoyed the light-heartedness of the drama. I like that the FL stands up for herself and speaks up (even though things don't always go her way). Also the brothers get along and don't get jealous and start undermining each other. The actors were generally solid.
Then somewhere along the way the drama did a total 180 and I was just left in shock at how quickly things just went downhill. The story turned really dark and it was so frustrating and hard to watch. Everything seemed futile. This turn of events is just very poor and ruins the second half of the drama for me. It felt like the writer purposely wanted to add some drama to it and make it emotional, so they twisted the story. Not cool.
Overall I still give this a 7.5 rating given that I still enjoyed a good majority of the drama.
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