This review may contain spoilers
Watch it all the way through before judging this one! (Don't skip or you may miss key plotpoints!)
This is my first cdrama and definitely still the best costume period cdrama in my opinion. The two main leads are gorgeous, and their natural acting and the lush visuals and production quality of the series is better than any other costume cdrama I've seen before and is what got me interested in watching cdramas in the first place.
This is not a conventional romance. It's about political intrigue first. There is a huge revenge arc for 2/3rd of the series but for the remaining half of the series, it is about fate and bad choices and star-crossed lovers who never seem to catch a break. The ending is a sad one but so meaningful for the protagonist and changes him for the better.
Liu Xueyi as Murong Jinghe steals every scene he shows up in and is in his best role yet as a sinister, unhinged, disillusioned prince. He looks amazing in period costume long hair and makeup and the camera seems to eat him up. He oozes a non-chalant sex appeal and the commanding presence of someone who is supremely confident in his abilities and his power over others.
Wu Jinyan matches him beat for beat as the assassin trained beauty, Meilin, who stands up to him and then beside him as his ally and ultimately as his partner. Her earnestness and willingness to die for her cause is both endearing and captivating and it's easy to see why Jinghe falls for her quickly. (She essentially plays the same personality as she does in The Double.)
The surprising thing about this series is there are hardly any plotholes but it took several rewatches for me to catch all the details. Jinghe is the narrator and if you listen to what he says, you can see what he is thinking, where the storyline is headed and a lot of perceived plotholes are actually explained. That's why I caveat that this is not a series you want to fast forward or else you'll quickly lose track of the plot! For example, how they go from trying to escape the crown prince to frolicking in laowozi village as a couple is ALL explained.
The only major plothole I could find is that the series never explains how Jinghe was able to disguise himself as the Momai Shadow Master without anyone ever finding out. Having the full back story to the Momai warriors and what happens to them when they get disbanded would have been nice. Also, it was just plain dumb to poison her without having a real antidote at the ready, even if he got what he deserved in the end for doing it.
Overall rating: 9.5/10.
This is not a conventional romance. It's about political intrigue first. There is a huge revenge arc for 2/3rd of the series but for the remaining half of the series, it is about fate and bad choices and star-crossed lovers who never seem to catch a break. The ending is a sad one but so meaningful for the protagonist and changes him for the better.
Liu Xueyi as Murong Jinghe steals every scene he shows up in and is in his best role yet as a sinister, unhinged, disillusioned prince. He looks amazing in period costume long hair and makeup and the camera seems to eat him up. He oozes a non-chalant sex appeal and the commanding presence of someone who is supremely confident in his abilities and his power over others.
Wu Jinyan matches him beat for beat as the assassin trained beauty, Meilin, who stands up to him and then beside him as his ally and ultimately as his partner. Her earnestness and willingness to die for her cause is both endearing and captivating and it's easy to see why Jinghe falls for her quickly. (She essentially plays the same personality as she does in The Double.)
The surprising thing about this series is there are hardly any plotholes but it took several rewatches for me to catch all the details. Jinghe is the narrator and if you listen to what he says, you can see what he is thinking, where the storyline is headed and a lot of perceived plotholes are actually explained. That's why I caveat that this is not a series you want to fast forward or else you'll quickly lose track of the plot! For example, how they go from trying to escape the crown prince to frolicking in laowozi village as a couple is ALL explained.
The only major plothole I could find is that the series never explains how Jinghe was able to disguise himself as the Momai Shadow Master without anyone ever finding out. Having the full back story to the Momai warriors and what happens to them when they get disbanded would have been nice. Also, it was just plain dumb to poison her without having a real antidote at the ready, even if he got what he deserved in the end for doing it.
Overall rating: 9.5/10.
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