✒ ⚜️ Where There's a Wei There's a Will ⛩️ °8° °excellent°
When she was born the sun poked through the clouds. It was a good omen. Daughter to King Hexi, Xin Er was born to royalty. She was loved and adored.
Li “Wei” Young was born in February. She's a jinx. She must die, says Madam, her evil stepmother. Wei's mother was the foot washer woman, and Madam will never forgive her for diverting her husband's eyes. Wei was raised by a modest family in the countryside. Before she arrives at the Li household, Madam intends to have her murdered.
Madam's murderous intent reaches far beyond Wei, though. She plotted the murder of King Hexi's whole family by framing him for treason. Xin Er escaped but was injured and dying. Wei took her home and nursed her back to health. Wei saved her. The two women have some time together while Xin recuperates. When Wei is murdered, Xin Er is with her and fights back. She manages to kill the assassin and hide the body. She knows the Li family is behind multiple intrigues and deaths; now they're trying to kill one of their own daughters! The woman who raised Wei is terrified that she'll be blamed for Wei's death, so they concoct a plot to replace the deceased Wei with Xin Er. The real Weiyoung is gone. Xin Er is marked for death and must hide. Xin Er was already determined to seek Justice for her own family. Now she wants justice for her savior, Wei, as well. What better WAY than to be WEI and watch the Lis while right in their household?
Now there's 2 daughters in the Li residence and 2 female cousins. Madam will make sure that HER daughter, the legendary beauty Chang Le, gets all the benefits, though. TPW is a 2016 release that is rated 8.3 on MAL. It is 1 season consisting of 54 45-minute episodes. I'll get this out of the way here: TPW is great, but falls short of being the masterpiece that The Rebel Princess-8.5 or Stories from Yanxi Palace-10 is. I can heartily recommend it, but when stacked up against the greats, like Rise of Phoenixes-9.5, it takes foot-washer status. It is still worth watching.
Madam is shocked that Wei made it to the house alive. When she didn't hear back from the first assassin, she sent more to set fire to the inn where Wei was staying. Thankfully, a kind stranger, Tuo Ba “Jun” (Luo Jin of The Long River & Three Kingdoms, who looks like he's Elon Musk's handsome little brother) saves her life ~ quite heroically. This actor is another superb Chinese romantic ML. His looks are fine, no complaints, but it's his voice, presence, and delivery that turn him into a nice package. He even looks manly in lace. One of his outfits is trimmed in black lace and it's gorgeous.
As Madam gets to know Wei a little better, she despises her. This is not a woman who acts like a humble maiden raised in the countryside! Wei has dignity, presence, a way with words, and self-respect. Madam concocts another plot to ensure Wei's death: She's poisoned and dumped for dead and the mountains. Fate brings Jun to her once again. He saves her life and nurses her back to health. He's called home suddenly, so he leaves Wei a letter requesting that she meet him at a certain place & time, but the letter is lost and Wei never receives it. She heads back home because she still has a mission; this is one brave woman. The Li house is in a state of excitement. The youngest Prince has returned home! Chang Le can hardly contain herself. She's determined to marry him. They're all invited to the banquet that his mother is holding. Even the illegitimate daughter, Weiyoung, is invited.
The king has 3 top candidates for the next crown prince: The two oldest princes and Jun, the son of the deceased crown prince. Pressure is rising on the king to make a choice. The king also has a daughter who loves to parade as a prince: Chen Yu Qi plays Tuo Ba Di. This actress is pure gold. I love her. She went on from her stellar performance here to star in Ashes of Love-6.4, which, it would appear, I didn't like as much as anybody else did, but she really shines in Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Sabre-9. At the same time, the Li residence has females galore. They also have cousin, Liang Li Minde (Liang Zhen Lun from Ordinary Person Character), but only the Princess pays him any mind - and that's to torture him. The oldest Li and the heir is brother Li Min Feng (Nan Fu Long from Arsenal Military Academy) but he's an idiot, and no one wants to hang with him.
Visits, dinners, outings, sacred journeys, mournings, celebrations… It seems there's always a reason for the princes to be around the Li women. Wei wants to hate Jun, he's the son of the emperor who ordered her father killed, afterall. She tries to be cold with him, but even when he's tempted to give up, he just keeps coming back for more. Wei can't keep up the ACT much longer. Her feelings keep growing.
In the meantime, Madam is working her black magic. Wei prevails in the first couple rounds, so Madam wants her dead all the more. The tactics get more harsh. Wei is in constant peril. Chang Le could practically kill her with looks alone. Prince Jun only has eyes for Wei, so Chang Le's eyes are also laser focused on Wei.
From there it's one move after another. There's a bunch of princes and Li women and they are of a similar age, so they are checking eachother out and falling in love, though it's not always mutual. Princes, plural, means there will be a fight for the throne - the moms get involved in that. All the while, Chang Le and her mother just can't stop. Then another party, who had seemed to be a friend, jumps in and creates havoc.
Tiffany Tang (Blossoms Shanghai, My Sunshine-6.5) is “Wei” / Xin Er. I'm not sure why I've often felt on-the-fence about her. It may come down to her voice being slightly thin and nasally. She does a very solid emotional scene in a later episode. Her acting is fine - high average, maybe better? There is this lightweight feel about her. I don't dislike her at all, but this is the second feature in which I've seen her, and something, yet unidentified, is nagging at me. Luo Jin is a good romantic male lead. His earthy voice is a rich umber. We believe his attraction to her. He maintains a sense of humor, or lighthearted air about him.
Vanness Wu portrays prince Tuo Ba Yu. This actor has some strange unexplainable likability factor. I kept liking him despite the fact that he attempted to kill a bunch of innocent people rather than grant them a refuge early in the show. I also continued to like him a little despite the fact that I know he's up to no good. Ultimately, he continues to make poor choices and continues a downhill skid. He teaches one character to be a strangler vine. Act innocent, take nourishment and slowly grow to devour the host. He didn't explain that it's a self-strangler vine. He's a romantic ML in Autumn's Concerto-7.2, and he's surprisingly good. He starts toxic - this actor seems natural in such a role, but he comes around. Sadly, AC starts great but as the ML improves, the show declines and the 2nd half is not nearly as good as the first. Mao Xiao Tong (Love O2O-6.8 - the show, Reunion: The Sound of the Providence S2) plays Li Chang Ru. The schtick is that she isn't nearly as pretty as Chang Le, but she really is. She's gorgeous.
Lee Hsin Ai (1931 Love Story) is Li Chang Le, the ultimate mean girl. She is stunningly gorgeous. And she is a self-absorbed Antoinetta. She wants what she wants and when she doesn't get what she wants she wants to go scorched earth on everything. She's not even that bright, but she still manages to do lots of damage. No matter how evil this character is, I loved the sound of the actress's voice. That's impressive.
Back to prince-ss Tuo Ba Di. She's the feisty type who shows love by way of pulling braids, shooting arrows at heads, and other abuse. Minde is /hit/. He's also utterly clueless. He still thinks the princess is a prince. If one watches Chinese dramas, one gets used to the way a woman can dress up as a man merely by changing her hairstyle or putting on a hat. They're always still so laughably and obviously female. It's something the audience is expected to roll with. When the princess is missing Minde, she starts yelling at him and threatening him in her head. She's intermittently threatening to beat him up and crying. Minde has a stunning emotional scene in episode 21. It's moving. He's quite the fighter too. He gets some of the best action scenes. The Director is Li Hui Zhu (Warm on a Cold Night) and the screenwriter is Cheng Ting Yu (The Sword and the Brocade-8.6).
As for a theme, Chinese historical features that involve palace intrigues have the common threads of pride and fear. “We can only be safe if we are victorious in the end,” Jun’s mother asserts. She's the crown princess and that's how she feels. It's very busy. So many plots. There's an immodest number of deaths. There's 4 weddings (one never got out of the planning stage) and too many funerals. Don't get too attached to anyone. A death or two in the later episodes made me very sad. Always watch the quiet ones.
The art of the show is very grand. The costumes are marvelous. Changle's wedding headdress is obnoxiously over-compensating and it suits the situation. Ep30 has a big battle scene in which 1000s of soldiers approach the old city. The music is good. The sets are gorgeous. The expansive halls lined with lacquered wood are so regal. I decided to ask an AI search engine about the process by which they produced lacquer. It's much more labor intensive than I realized.
“Ancient Chinese lacquer was made primarily from the sap of the lacquer tree (Toxicodendron vernicifluum), a process refined over millennia… The sap, called urushi, was collected by making incisions in the bark of lacquer trees, typically in summer when sap flow was strongest. Trees needed to be at least 10–15 years old, and only small amounts (about 200–300 grams per tree) could be harvested before the tree was exhausted… The raw sap, a grayish-white emulsion, was filtered to remove impurities like bark or debris. It was then stirred and heated gently (below 40°C) to evaporate excess water, creating a smooth, viscous lacquer. Sometimes, pigments like cinnabar (red) or carbon black were added for color… Lacquer was applied in thin layers to a substrate, usually wood, but also bamboo, cloth, or metal. Each layer (often 20–30 per object) was brushed on meticulously, requiring a dust-free environment and high humidity (70–80%) to cure properly. Each layer took days to harden through a chemical process called oxidative polymerization, triggered by the enzyme laccase in the sap… After each layer dried, it was polished with fine abrasives like charcoal or whetstone to achieve a glossy finish. The process was repeated for durability and depth, sometimes taking months for high-quality pieces...” It goes on. I have appreciation for these historical sets.
In the opening episodes it's obvious that this story is well written. The layout, the plot, the characters, and the dialogue are all smart. It does follow a familiar template, and it does wander too much. It is bittersweet. So is life. Overall, it's a worthy watch.
QUOTES🗣
Hatred often becomes the chains that pen us down.
Acting on impulse only brings failure.
IMHO〰🖍
📣8 📝8 🎭8.4 💓7 🦋5.5 🎨9 🎵/🔊8 🔚6.5 🤗7 ▪ 🌞4.5 ⚡6 😅2.5 😭4 😱2 😯3 🤢4 🤔5 💤0
Shazams:
天若有情 (電視劇《錦繡未央》主題曲), by A-Lin
Age 11+ Language: @$$hole ×1, b!+ch ×1; Rated - Teens 13 or older
Re-📺? The future is Hard to see
In order of ~lite & trite~ to ~heavy & serious~ you may also like:
🎎 -
The Sleepless Princess 9.1;
The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8;
Overlord 8.4,
Legend of the two sisters in chaos-7.7 (the ending is bittersweet),
Under the Power 8.6,
The Princess Royal-8.3,
The Rebel Princess 9.1,
The Sword and the Brocade 8.6 (in ancient Chinese opera style),
Ruyi's Royal love in the palace (episodes 1 - 49 are a 9.3. While looking up it's historical accuracy, I learned how heartbreaking the rest of the show is. It's over 80 episodes, so that's a hella-lotta hurt. I am not up for it now, so I stopped at episode 49, which is a perfect ending).
The Rise of Phoenixes 9
🔮🐉-
Love Between Fairy & Devil 8.9;
Douluo Continent 9.4;
Handsome Siblings 8.7;
Ancient Love Poetry 8.6;
Eternal Love Of dream-7.4 20
Love and Redemption 10
⚡/😱/🚀 -
House of Flying Daggers-8.5 04
Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Saber 9-Kung-fu!;
Bloody Romance-7.3 18
💘 -
Romance junkies only: Accidentally in Love-6.5 ‘18 B-level scripting, acting, and directing, but still fun/strangely relaxing to watch,
Well-Intended Love-7.5 Rom-porn - extra points for the dopamine but many object to an outrageous stunt the ML pulls,
Boss & Me-7
When I Fly Towards You-7.8,
You are my destiny-6.8 cute and sweet and 1/2 padding,
Meteor Garden-7.4 - 70% flowing 30% dragging and BOF is better,
Hidden Love-7.8
Li “Wei” Young was born in February. She's a jinx. She must die, says Madam, her evil stepmother. Wei's mother was the foot washer woman, and Madam will never forgive her for diverting her husband's eyes. Wei was raised by a modest family in the countryside. Before she arrives at the Li household, Madam intends to have her murdered.
Madam's murderous intent reaches far beyond Wei, though. She plotted the murder of King Hexi's whole family by framing him for treason. Xin Er escaped but was injured and dying. Wei took her home and nursed her back to health. Wei saved her. The two women have some time together while Xin recuperates. When Wei is murdered, Xin Er is with her and fights back. She manages to kill the assassin and hide the body. She knows the Li family is behind multiple intrigues and deaths; now they're trying to kill one of their own daughters! The woman who raised Wei is terrified that she'll be blamed for Wei's death, so they concoct a plot to replace the deceased Wei with Xin Er. The real Weiyoung is gone. Xin Er is marked for death and must hide. Xin Er was already determined to seek Justice for her own family. Now she wants justice for her savior, Wei, as well. What better WAY than to be WEI and watch the Lis while right in their household?
Now there's 2 daughters in the Li residence and 2 female cousins. Madam will make sure that HER daughter, the legendary beauty Chang Le, gets all the benefits, though. TPW is a 2016 release that is rated 8.3 on MAL. It is 1 season consisting of 54 45-minute episodes. I'll get this out of the way here: TPW is great, but falls short of being the masterpiece that The Rebel Princess-8.5 or Stories from Yanxi Palace-10 is. I can heartily recommend it, but when stacked up against the greats, like Rise of Phoenixes-9.5, it takes foot-washer status. It is still worth watching.
Madam is shocked that Wei made it to the house alive. When she didn't hear back from the first assassin, she sent more to set fire to the inn where Wei was staying. Thankfully, a kind stranger, Tuo Ba “Jun” (Luo Jin of The Long River & Three Kingdoms, who looks like he's Elon Musk's handsome little brother) saves her life ~ quite heroically. This actor is another superb Chinese romantic ML. His looks are fine, no complaints, but it's his voice, presence, and delivery that turn him into a nice package. He even looks manly in lace. One of his outfits is trimmed in black lace and it's gorgeous.
As Madam gets to know Wei a little better, she despises her. This is not a woman who acts like a humble maiden raised in the countryside! Wei has dignity, presence, a way with words, and self-respect. Madam concocts another plot to ensure Wei's death: She's poisoned and dumped for dead and the mountains. Fate brings Jun to her once again. He saves her life and nurses her back to health. He's called home suddenly, so he leaves Wei a letter requesting that she meet him at a certain place & time, but the letter is lost and Wei never receives it. She heads back home because she still has a mission; this is one brave woman. The Li house is in a state of excitement. The youngest Prince has returned home! Chang Le can hardly contain herself. She's determined to marry him. They're all invited to the banquet that his mother is holding. Even the illegitimate daughter, Weiyoung, is invited.
The king has 3 top candidates for the next crown prince: The two oldest princes and Jun, the son of the deceased crown prince. Pressure is rising on the king to make a choice. The king also has a daughter who loves to parade as a prince: Chen Yu Qi plays Tuo Ba Di. This actress is pure gold. I love her. She went on from her stellar performance here to star in Ashes of Love-6.4, which, it would appear, I didn't like as much as anybody else did, but she really shines in Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Sabre-9. At the same time, the Li residence has females galore. They also have cousin, Liang Li Minde (Liang Zhen Lun from Ordinary Person Character), but only the Princess pays him any mind - and that's to torture him. The oldest Li and the heir is brother Li Min Feng (Nan Fu Long from Arsenal Military Academy) but he's an idiot, and no one wants to hang with him.
Visits, dinners, outings, sacred journeys, mournings, celebrations… It seems there's always a reason for the princes to be around the Li women. Wei wants to hate Jun, he's the son of the emperor who ordered her father killed, afterall. She tries to be cold with him, but even when he's tempted to give up, he just keeps coming back for more. Wei can't keep up the ACT much longer. Her feelings keep growing.
In the meantime, Madam is working her black magic. Wei prevails in the first couple rounds, so Madam wants her dead all the more. The tactics get more harsh. Wei is in constant peril. Chang Le could practically kill her with looks alone. Prince Jun only has eyes for Wei, so Chang Le's eyes are also laser focused on Wei.
From there it's one move after another. There's a bunch of princes and Li women and they are of a similar age, so they are checking eachother out and falling in love, though it's not always mutual. Princes, plural, means there will be a fight for the throne - the moms get involved in that. All the while, Chang Le and her mother just can't stop. Then another party, who had seemed to be a friend, jumps in and creates havoc.
Tiffany Tang (Blossoms Shanghai, My Sunshine-6.5) is “Wei” / Xin Er. I'm not sure why I've often felt on-the-fence about her. It may come down to her voice being slightly thin and nasally. She does a very solid emotional scene in a later episode. Her acting is fine - high average, maybe better? There is this lightweight feel about her. I don't dislike her at all, but this is the second feature in which I've seen her, and something, yet unidentified, is nagging at me. Luo Jin is a good romantic male lead. His earthy voice is a rich umber. We believe his attraction to her. He maintains a sense of humor, or lighthearted air about him.
Vanness Wu portrays prince Tuo Ba Yu. This actor has some strange unexplainable likability factor. I kept liking him despite the fact that he attempted to kill a bunch of innocent people rather than grant them a refuge early in the show. I also continued to like him a little despite the fact that I know he's up to no good. Ultimately, he continues to make poor choices and continues a downhill skid. He teaches one character to be a strangler vine. Act innocent, take nourishment and slowly grow to devour the host. He didn't explain that it's a self-strangler vine. He's a romantic ML in Autumn's Concerto-7.2, and he's surprisingly good. He starts toxic - this actor seems natural in such a role, but he comes around. Sadly, AC starts great but as the ML improves, the show declines and the 2nd half is not nearly as good as the first. Mao Xiao Tong (Love O2O-6.8 - the show, Reunion: The Sound of the Providence S2) plays Li Chang Ru. The schtick is that she isn't nearly as pretty as Chang Le, but she really is. She's gorgeous.
Lee Hsin Ai (1931 Love Story) is Li Chang Le, the ultimate mean girl. She is stunningly gorgeous. And she is a self-absorbed Antoinetta. She wants what she wants and when she doesn't get what she wants she wants to go scorched earth on everything. She's not even that bright, but she still manages to do lots of damage. No matter how evil this character is, I loved the sound of the actress's voice. That's impressive.
Back to prince-ss Tuo Ba Di. She's the feisty type who shows love by way of pulling braids, shooting arrows at heads, and other abuse. Minde is /hit/. He's also utterly clueless. He still thinks the princess is a prince. If one watches Chinese dramas, one gets used to the way a woman can dress up as a man merely by changing her hairstyle or putting on a hat. They're always still so laughably and obviously female. It's something the audience is expected to roll with. When the princess is missing Minde, she starts yelling at him and threatening him in her head. She's intermittently threatening to beat him up and crying. Minde has a stunning emotional scene in episode 21. It's moving. He's quite the fighter too. He gets some of the best action scenes. The Director is Li Hui Zhu (Warm on a Cold Night) and the screenwriter is Cheng Ting Yu (The Sword and the Brocade-8.6).
As for a theme, Chinese historical features that involve palace intrigues have the common threads of pride and fear. “We can only be safe if we are victorious in the end,” Jun’s mother asserts. She's the crown princess and that's how she feels. It's very busy. So many plots. There's an immodest number of deaths. There's 4 weddings (one never got out of the planning stage) and too many funerals. Don't get too attached to anyone. A death or two in the later episodes made me very sad. Always watch the quiet ones.
The art of the show is very grand. The costumes are marvelous. Changle's wedding headdress is obnoxiously over-compensating and it suits the situation. Ep30 has a big battle scene in which 1000s of soldiers approach the old city. The music is good. The sets are gorgeous. The expansive halls lined with lacquered wood are so regal. I decided to ask an AI search engine about the process by which they produced lacquer. It's much more labor intensive than I realized.
“Ancient Chinese lacquer was made primarily from the sap of the lacquer tree (Toxicodendron vernicifluum), a process refined over millennia… The sap, called urushi, was collected by making incisions in the bark of lacquer trees, typically in summer when sap flow was strongest. Trees needed to be at least 10–15 years old, and only small amounts (about 200–300 grams per tree) could be harvested before the tree was exhausted… The raw sap, a grayish-white emulsion, was filtered to remove impurities like bark or debris. It was then stirred and heated gently (below 40°C) to evaporate excess water, creating a smooth, viscous lacquer. Sometimes, pigments like cinnabar (red) or carbon black were added for color… Lacquer was applied in thin layers to a substrate, usually wood, but also bamboo, cloth, or metal. Each layer (often 20–30 per object) was brushed on meticulously, requiring a dust-free environment and high humidity (70–80%) to cure properly. Each layer took days to harden through a chemical process called oxidative polymerization, triggered by the enzyme laccase in the sap… After each layer dried, it was polished with fine abrasives like charcoal or whetstone to achieve a glossy finish. The process was repeated for durability and depth, sometimes taking months for high-quality pieces...” It goes on. I have appreciation for these historical sets.
In the opening episodes it's obvious that this story is well written. The layout, the plot, the characters, and the dialogue are all smart. It does follow a familiar template, and it does wander too much. It is bittersweet. So is life. Overall, it's a worthy watch.
QUOTES🗣
Hatred often becomes the chains that pen us down.
Acting on impulse only brings failure.
IMHO〰🖍
📣8 📝8 🎭8.4 💓7 🦋5.5 🎨9 🎵/🔊8 🔚6.5 🤗7 ▪ 🌞4.5 ⚡6 😅2.5 😭4 😱2 😯3 🤢4 🤔5 💤0
Shazams:
天若有情 (電視劇《錦繡未央》主題曲), by A-Lin
Age 11+ Language: @$$hole ×1, b!+ch ×1; Rated - Teens 13 or older
Re-📺? The future is Hard to see
In order of ~lite & trite~ to ~heavy & serious~ you may also like:
🎎 -
The Sleepless Princess 9.1;
The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8;
Overlord 8.4,
Legend of the two sisters in chaos-7.7 (the ending is bittersweet),
Under the Power 8.6,
The Princess Royal-8.3,
The Rebel Princess 9.1,
The Sword and the Brocade 8.6 (in ancient Chinese opera style),
Ruyi's Royal love in the palace (episodes 1 - 49 are a 9.3. While looking up it's historical accuracy, I learned how heartbreaking the rest of the show is. It's over 80 episodes, so that's a hella-lotta hurt. I am not up for it now, so I stopped at episode 49, which is a perfect ending).
The Rise of Phoenixes 9
🔮🐉-
Love Between Fairy & Devil 8.9;
Douluo Continent 9.4;
Handsome Siblings 8.7;
Ancient Love Poetry 8.6;
Eternal Love Of dream-7.4 20
Love and Redemption 10
⚡/😱/🚀 -
House of Flying Daggers-8.5 04
Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Saber 9-Kung-fu!;
Bloody Romance-7.3 18
💘 -
Romance junkies only: Accidentally in Love-6.5 ‘18 B-level scripting, acting, and directing, but still fun/strangely relaxing to watch,
Well-Intended Love-7.5 Rom-porn - extra points for the dopamine but many object to an outrageous stunt the ML pulls,
Boss & Me-7
When I Fly Towards You-7.8,
You are my destiny-6.8 cute and sweet and 1/2 padding,
Meteor Garden-7.4 - 70% flowing 30% dragging and BOF is better,
Hidden Love-7.8
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