The story woul've been perfect if not for the FL and her actress.
I did my best to like the FL and her actress, but I only felt pain for the ML the more I watch.More than halfway through the series and the FL wa still a self-righteous, narrow-minded, person. She's indifferent to people's feelings and would would only sympathize when it's convenient for her. She truly believes that what she thinks and says about the characters in the script are the 'right' thing just because they were written that way. Not even halfway through the series, she have met more than 10 characters who did not 'act' the way they were written she's still adamant on believing that script would be faithfully followed. By the number of things that already happened at around the 10 episode mark, she would've realized that the goal (or was it?) of the script is for the ML and the FL to end up together. From then on, instead of going against the script, she could've thought of ways to safely go through the script by tweaking some things without conpromising hers and others' safety. Instead, she just made things more complicated and hurt the ML with every word she breathe (exaggerated ik).
You know how we can ignore that a person is acting and just think of it as a real emotions and the characters are real people? Yi Tong performance is not it. Her acting screams 'fake', aside from the indifferent side of the FL which she portrayed perfectly. Nan Heng's actor (I'm not good at memorizing Chinese names, sorry) can portray more emotions with half of his face covered compared to Yi Tong whose whole face is exposed in every scene. I'm not a hater, just a disappointed watcher.
The story is good, and the characters (both main and support) have substance. I would've given this series a 9.5 if not for the FL and her actor's performance. The 0.5 deficit is because of the hairnet clearly seen in an episode (It's from a close up frame in either ep. 17 or 18 where Nan Heng is provoking Guihong by hugging Yimeng at the royal stable).
Lastly, the ML. I only feel pain for him everytime the FL speaks either to his two identities.
As for the ending, just watch until the end.
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Good script, limited-budget, good cast of main roles, and pretty bad wig lacing
I just literally finished watching this, and boy, was it a good binge!(TLDR: It's just a bunch of praise of the actors lol)
(I do have some thoughts on the story and plot by the end of my review)
First of all, I watched this because of Zhu Li Lan. I was so taken by her acting in her other drama, Gemini, that my standard for short drama actors/actresses was her. The other actors were great, too, but her acting was the type of act where you know she's acting while still making you take her character seriously as a real person, with real emotions and real circumstances.
It makes me wonder a lot why she was not cast with a main role in mainstream dramas that often, and so far, I haven't seen her cast as THE female lead of a mainstream drama. I've seen her show more emotions than A LOT of mainstream actors ( I think you know more than I do)
My theory is that either (1) the market is too saturated with actors that have stronger backing, (2) her agency doesn't / can't let her, or(3) she chose not to be cast into big roles. Either way, it's a shame she's not more out there in the mainstream.
As for the ML actor, boy, was he a delight! After watching 3 of her dramas so far, the last 2 of Li Lan's MLs did not exude the same chemistry as he did with her in this drama. What I like the most are the small twitches/mannerisms he applied to his character. His cheek pulsating subtly when suppressing anger, his strategic small eye movements/changes to show a slight change of emotion, and he's pretty good at always looking grumpy (no one beats Cheng Lei in that regard for me lol). I'm planning to watch more of his dramas along with Li Lan's.
As for the SML, I admit I was conflicted about his acting. In the beginning, I only considered him as an actor, just another employee following the script as it was written. But then again, at the premise of the story, his character WAS acting. He was acting as the good son, the spoiled grandson, and a husband who could hardly say no to his wife because he was afraid of her and acts all loving when it's convenient.
The actor was portraying a character who puts on a show for everyone. A character WHO ACTS. (I hope I make sense)
His character, Shi An, grew up most of his life not being able to do what he wanted and be who he really is. He had to act like a tamed dog in front of anyone with a higher power/authority as an act of self-preservation. His actor was so good (maybe, I'm still in denial lol) at pretending to be someone pretending that I questioned his character's every move.
That, or maybe I'm just overestimating him 😅. Regardless, his portrayal was good 👍.
I liked the scene where he had had enough of his wife rubbing more salt on his emotional wound while he was mourning his mother at the ancestral hall. What he did is how I would expect someone to react when someone kicks you while you're down, literally and metaphorically.
Lord Xia/Dong Kui's actor portrayed his character as intended. No other comment besides great acting 👏.
For Zhin Ji, she is too stiff for me. I hope more exposure would make her improve. Also, is it just me, or was her eye makeup too heavy on her? Are the eye products not lightweight, or were their eyelids not prepped properly? Just some thoughts I had whenever she's on screen.
Story-wise, the script was good for a short drama. The pacing is pretty good at the beginning, considering their budget limit. Qing Lan's "rise from the dead" moment was too fast for my liking. The climax felt rushed, which is pretty common in any budget range of dramas, and I'm not asking too much for short dramas to have a well-paced ending since mainstream dramas fail a lot in that regard. Short dramas falling short is not a surprise.
Also, I stopped being too critical about plot holes in dramas because my intention in watching them is to relax, not solve a quadratic formula-like problem. When I do, though, I do it with novels, which are the source materials of most Cdramas.
Speaking of plot holes, either because I'm a little sleep-deprived, or the real culprit of Princess Anhe's death was not fully revealed, nor was it explained how Qing Lan's father was proven innocent. He was declared innocent, but I don't understand how.
Yes, the post master was the one who served the princess's last meal, and it was confirmed that he did purchase the poison that killed her. That means, he did poison the princess, regardless of whether he was coerced or not.
If he did purchase it, which I still doubt, did he mean to use the poison on her? When they knew of the poison, did Lord Xia/Madam Lu put the poison without him knowing? Or, was the poison administered differently?
Considering he still tried to arrange everything, whether he survives or not, for the princess, her baby, and his children, it doesn't seem like he voluntarily poisoned the princess. The way he acted, he knew that even if he did nothing, the moment the princess knew the corruption in Ningzhou, it would have already put a death sentence on his family.
As for the bone examination that confirmed the postmaster's purchase of the poison, correlation doesn't always mean causation. Just because the poison he bought matched the poison that was found in the princess's bones doesn't mean it's the poison that killed her. It could be one of Xia/Lu's lackeys who used the same poison to frame him.
If this were explained in the drama, then it's on me for not paying attention. But if it's not and can only be inferred from the bits and pieces of information from the witnesses and/or the indirect confessions from Lord Xia/Madam Lu, I hope someone could enlighten me on this.
Overall, it was a good watch. I give an 8.5. The 1.5 deficit is because of the unsatisfactory "rise from the dead" moment, and Qing Lan being arrested and detained for 6 months, which I think made the drama component a little too much for me.
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