This review may contain spoilers
Don't watch if you like vaguely fair or healthy relationships.
I came into this drama expecting a beautiful, funny and touching political romance story about a powerful, icy female lead and a green tea, pretend-weak male lead.
On the surface, this is true. The four praises I have for this drama are as follows:
1. The acting, especially from Hou Minghao, is incredible. Gulinazha does a great job as well with her dominant, elegant persona, but Hou Minghao is just on another level in my opinion. He expresses every emotion so beautifully, perfectly balancing subtlety and clarity. To be honest, he is the only reason why I wanted to watch this drama, and why I pulled through to the end.
2. The OST in this drama is beautiful, this might be one of the only dramas where I watched the intro fully each time, partly because I just love Hou Minghao's voice and partly because I didn't care about the actual story enough to be motivated to skip through. I also love the use of different instruments. The music in powerful scenes reminded me of war scenes in other dramas, which I really liked.
3. The cinematography and visuals of this drama are absolutely gorgeous, all of the bright colours, sweeping shots and breathtaking landscapes took my breath away at times. I especially loved the setting of the tea plantation.
4. This was an unexpected one, but the little information section at the end of some of the episodes were really unique and enjoyable. I loved how they included information about different aspects of tea and of Chinese culture.
Now, those are perhaps the only four enjoyable aspects of the drama for me. Other than that, this drama quickly became a chore to get through.
The first part, with Rong Shanbao saving Lu Jianglai's life, him losing his memory, and the husband selection, was the strongest part of my story. The characters were bright and vivid, and I felt that Rong Shanbao and Lu Jianglai had the most chemistry, and it is perhaps the only time when they are wholeheartedly working together, although obviously Rong Shanbao is taking advantage of Lu Jianglai's lack of memory.
After Lu Jianglai regains his memory, the story quickly goes downhill.
1. The story fails to properly explore the abusive family dynamic presented, instead continuing to idealise and praise the abusive matriarch after a glorified slap on the wrist. The only character that has a realistic, valid attitude towards her is also a villain who has done horrible things, and she's presented as a villain partly because she doesn't have sufficient empathy for her abuser, which she of course gains in the end.
2. Every single villainous sister is redeemed in the end, no matter how many horrible things they have done. Only exception to this rule is the fourth sister, who actually had a fulfilling and natural redemption arc.
3. Rong Shanbao is abusive and manipulative towards Lu Jianglai, and this is portrayed as of love. She constantly disrespects him, treats him like dirt underneath her feet, uses him as a tool to achieve her goals, lies to him to put his livelihood in danger for no reason, is frustratingly hypocritical in putting everything else before him, and allows everyone around her to disrespect him. This is never ever addressed by the story as Rong Shanbao has no flaws.
4. The story is ultimately boring, childish, mundane and cowardly. It refuses to show Rong Shanbao in any difficult situation and does logical gymnastics to make every hard scenario that she's in actually just a phase of her genius masterplan. The only entertainment you can get towards the end of the story is trying to guess what her plan this time is.
5. The ending of the story is horrible, feels like a completely different drama that was squished into 6 episodes and smashed onto the end of this one without any regard for the preexisting characters, all because the story realises that it has spent so long focusing on Rong Shanbao and neglecting Lu Jianglai despite him being the more sympathetic and likeable character.
Please don't waste your time on this drama, the political and melodramatic elements are cardboard-like and lacking any consequences, villainous characters either take too long to receive punishment or are undeservingly redeemed, and the romantic storyline is glorified manipulation and abuse.
On the surface, this is true. The four praises I have for this drama are as follows:
1. The acting, especially from Hou Minghao, is incredible. Gulinazha does a great job as well with her dominant, elegant persona, but Hou Minghao is just on another level in my opinion. He expresses every emotion so beautifully, perfectly balancing subtlety and clarity. To be honest, he is the only reason why I wanted to watch this drama, and why I pulled through to the end.
2. The OST in this drama is beautiful, this might be one of the only dramas where I watched the intro fully each time, partly because I just love Hou Minghao's voice and partly because I didn't care about the actual story enough to be motivated to skip through. I also love the use of different instruments. The music in powerful scenes reminded me of war scenes in other dramas, which I really liked.
3. The cinematography and visuals of this drama are absolutely gorgeous, all of the bright colours, sweeping shots and breathtaking landscapes took my breath away at times. I especially loved the setting of the tea plantation.
4. This was an unexpected one, but the little information section at the end of some of the episodes were really unique and enjoyable. I loved how they included information about different aspects of tea and of Chinese culture.
Now, those are perhaps the only four enjoyable aspects of the drama for me. Other than that, this drama quickly became a chore to get through.
The first part, with Rong Shanbao saving Lu Jianglai's life, him losing his memory, and the husband selection, was the strongest part of my story. The characters were bright and vivid, and I felt that Rong Shanbao and Lu Jianglai had the most chemistry, and it is perhaps the only time when they are wholeheartedly working together, although obviously Rong Shanbao is taking advantage of Lu Jianglai's lack of memory.
After Lu Jianglai regains his memory, the story quickly goes downhill.
1. The story fails to properly explore the abusive family dynamic presented, instead continuing to idealise and praise the abusive matriarch after a glorified slap on the wrist. The only character that has a realistic, valid attitude towards her is also a villain who has done horrible things, and she's presented as a villain partly because she doesn't have sufficient empathy for her abuser, which she of course gains in the end.
2. Every single villainous sister is redeemed in the end, no matter how many horrible things they have done. Only exception to this rule is the fourth sister, who actually had a fulfilling and natural redemption arc.
3. Rong Shanbao is abusive and manipulative towards Lu Jianglai, and this is portrayed as of love. She constantly disrespects him, treats him like dirt underneath her feet, uses him as a tool to achieve her goals, lies to him to put his livelihood in danger for no reason, is frustratingly hypocritical in putting everything else before him, and allows everyone around her to disrespect him. This is never ever addressed by the story as Rong Shanbao has no flaws.
4. The story is ultimately boring, childish, mundane and cowardly. It refuses to show Rong Shanbao in any difficult situation and does logical gymnastics to make every hard scenario that she's in actually just a phase of her genius masterplan. The only entertainment you can get towards the end of the story is trying to guess what her plan this time is.
5. The ending of the story is horrible, feels like a completely different drama that was squished into 6 episodes and smashed onto the end of this one without any regard for the preexisting characters, all because the story realises that it has spent so long focusing on Rong Shanbao and neglecting Lu Jianglai despite him being the more sympathetic and likeable character.
Please don't waste your time on this drama, the political and melodramatic elements are cardboard-like and lacking any consequences, villainous characters either take too long to receive punishment or are undeservingly redeemed, and the romantic storyline is glorified manipulation and abuse.
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