Dare I say one of the best costume dramas!!
okay i need everyone to listen to me because i have to talk about pursuit of jade and i genuinely cannot hold this in anymorethis drama did something to me. something irreversible. i started it as one person and finished it as a completely different person and i think that needs to be acknowledged
and before anyone questions my taste let me establish my credentials real quick. i have been a zhang linghe glazer since love between fairy and devil. SINCE THEN. i have watched everything this man has been in. every project every look every era i have seen it all and i am telling you right now with full confidence and zero bias (okay maybe a little bias but its earned bias) that pursuit of jade is his best look yet. unbeatable. and tian xiwei i have followed her for so long as well watched so much of her work and THIS is her best too. both of them peaking in the same drama at the same time?? the universe was just showing off at that point and we were simply blessed enough to witness it
not a single bad angle between the two of them. not one. not a single second in the entire drama where either of them looked anything less than completely ethereal and this includes scenes where they were literally on the verge of death!! half conscious barely breathing clearly suffering and still looking like THAT?? i have watched zhang linghe look good in many things i thought i was prepared. i was not prepared for this. and same with xiwei she has always been stunning but something about this drama just hit different. these two just decided they were going to be the most beautiful people to ever exist in a historical drama and then they did it like it was nothing
but if you came here thinking this is just a pretty drama to look at then babe you missed everything and we need to have a conversation. And the music and ost slaps too. goosebumps!
the people calling xie zheng weak genuinely hurt my feelings because that take misses the entire point of his character. this man escaped death. ESCAPED IT. and yall want him to come back immediately doing cool sword stuff and proving himself?? he was already the marquis of wu’an with his own troops and a whole legacy built before episode one even started!! he had nothing left to prove!! Marquis doesn’t need to prove why he is a marquis! the drama understood that!! so instead of giving us yet another male lead who needs to constantly flex his capabilities every five minutes they gave fan changyu the spotlight she deserved and let her fully resolve what was hers to resolve. she carried this drama on her back with a butcher’s knife and pure stubbornness and only then did xie zheng step in to finish what was his. that balance was so intentional and so well done and honestly so rare to see in a historical drama and i had to pause mid episode multiple times just to appreciate it
also the way they softened xie zheng from his novel version?? novel readers you know what i’m talking about. that man in the book was not soft at all not even slightly. and the drama pulled back just enough to give us all these warm wholesome moments the novel never really allowed. changning getting her unofficial parents through them was so tender and so quietly beautiful. that little found family arc grew so naturally without ever feeling forced and those moments were honestly some of my favorites in the whole drama. so grateful they made that choice because we got so much more sweetness out of it
the child actors were incredible and nobody talks about them enough. they built the emotional foundation for everything that came after and they did it so well. snow kong was amazing. honestly everyone was amazing. not a single dull character not a single wasted role the whole cast just showed up and delivered
and wei yan. okay wei yan. a villain you can actually understand hits so differently than one you just hate and wei yan was exactly that kind of villain. you could follow his logic even while watching him do genuinely awful things and that kind of grey morally complex writing is so hard to pull off and they did it so well. terrible person. completely understandable. both things at once. love to see it
and the behind the scenes detail of their managers not getting along in real life while these two were out here giving us one of the best on screen pairings in recent cdrama history is the funniest thing i have ever heard in my life. the professionalism. the absolute refusal to let any of that affect what they were building on screen. they just showed up and gave us THAT and then went home. legends honestly
pursuit of jade you changed the game and i was here for all of it and i am still not over it and i don’t think i ever will be.
( will forever hate the leakers tho )
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