Another Tragic Second Lead
After we watched a drama, we often remember the tragic handsome second lead in the story more than other character in the story. This happened for me in this drama.Li Rong, the princess of Xia, was married to Pei WenXuan. Although she did not have much say in the choice of her spouse, the two fell in love. Unfortunately, WenXuan's past engagement to the concubine of Li Chuan, the young emperor, became a point of misunderstanding between the two. With the misunderstanding not properly explained, it resulted in their turning against each other. Thinking that WenXuan had poisoned her, Li Rong ordered the assassination of her husband.
The two woke up from death returning to 20 years ago before they were married. This time, things were more complicated - they were not the only ones who returned with the memories of what might be to come. The other person who also returned was an antagonist who wanted to kill Li Chuan that Li Rong and WenXuan supported, to stop him from becoming emperor,.
In the past one year, this was the third drama I watched which was about a second chance in life. The previous two were The Kunning Palace and Marry my Husband (Korean). Both of these were very good, so I was a little sceptical how this was going to measure up. It turned out to be an interesting story. Zhang LingHe was once again the lead actor (as in Story of Kunning Palace). However, in this drama, he was a little more subdued but infused some humour in an otherwise very serious drama. His jealous reaction to RongQing was entertaining and funny to watch.
There were numerous interesting characters in the story. WenXuan had a hard time convincing Li Rong of his love. Li Rong grew up in the palace with a hardened view on love and a strong sense of distrust. Portraying one who was tough and guided by logical, she actually had a weak emotional side and was completely devastated when she discovered the people she trusted and loved betrayed her.
The handsome talented Su RongQing, who was deeply and secretly in love with Li Rong, was an obsessive and stubborn personality. He had the chance of becoming the prince consort to Li Rong but he threw it all away to pursue his obsession with protecting his family and the noble families. He would protect her with his life but yet stand in opposition to her chosen path. He was obsessed both in love and in his pursuit. He was not quite the villain as he pursue all these with actual selfless goals but insisted on taking a misguided path. So I term him an anti-hero.
Then there was the old emperor who was determined to fight the nobles whom he believed had been standing in his way of building a better country and fighting the war against the northern invaders. However, his obsession led to him to be blinded in the choice of succession to his throne.
The last 4 episodes were intense and suspenseful. I was restless watching it. Although recent Chinese dramas tend to be less tragic, the writer could easily flip the story for either side to win in the last few episodes.
There was not much to criticise except to nitpick on some small matters. When RongQing fell over the cliff with Li Rong trying to save her, they both ended up on the river bank all wet but with their hair wear almost intact. Surely falling all the way into the water should have done more damages.
The last piece of music played by RongQing on the qin was quite lame - like a piece from an old Cantonese opera. I thought they could do better. Really lame compared to the piece played by Rong in this drama, or those play in The Double or The Kunning Palace.
Also in this drama, all the men were such faithful lovers, other than the old emperor. Lol. I don't see this happening in real life - after being rejected, most men would move on eventually and some move on very quickly; only an exceptional few lingers.
Nevertheless, I highly recommend this drama. I think it's greatest strength was in portraying the characters in the story. They were each with distinct characters and personalities.
Was this review helpful to you?
Not all lives are equal
As you can guess, the seven times were in seven lives, although there was a double counting. In one of the lives, they retained their memories and knew each other. Still, you watched seven stories, each different. And all the stories were interesting.Xiang Yun was a cloud which became a fairy with the help of the Marriage Pavillion Master. She was tasked to find a marriage partner for the God of War Chu Kong, but instead she was chosen to become his partner for tribulation, against her will.
The God of War had his primordial spirit damaged as he fought the demonic Cang Hai 30,000 years ago. A heavenly prophesy said that Cang Hai was going to be resurrected soon. It was therefore dire that the God of War repaired his spirit asap to fight the powerful demon monarch. The only way for him to repair it was to reincarnate several times in tribulation. Each tribulation would be successful if the partner would sacrifice herself for him in the reincarnation.
What I like about this drama?
1. Each life was an interesting story. The first reincarnation was funny and three were tragedies. So you would experience a range of diverse emotions.
2. Overall, the drama scored well on the hygiene factors. The cast performed well. The costumes were lovely and the CGI was beautiful. The music was pretty good too.
3. Ding Yu Xi looked his best as the cat demon with his heavy fur coat. But period drama hairdos did not suit him and he did not look good in them. While as the cat demon, his hairdo suited him best.
What I do not like about this drama?
1. The theme of loving someone over a several lifetimes has become quite cliche beginning with Ten Mile of Peach Blossom (3 lifetimes), Love and Redemption (10 lifetimes), Love and Destiny (over 2 lifetimes) and more if I care to check out.
2. The chemistry between the male and female leads was a little lacklustre. So it did not quite bring out the romantic feeling.
3. While all the stories in this drama were interesting, the story when their fate began was a yawn as the drama dwelled on a lot of trivials. The director was trying to create these lovey-dovey moments when their romance began and their lives became intertwined into the future. But it ended up becoming quite boring. Somehow the two leads did not have the chemistry to pull this off .
Overall, this drama is entertaining and worth watching. However, I won't rate it among the highest league.
Was this review helpful to you?
If we have a chance to relive our lives, can we change our lives? Or is it all fated?
Wow... completely mesmerised.Jiang Xue Ning was an unscrupulous woman who schemed and plotted her way to the position of empress. But her reign was short-lived as Xie Wei, someone she had once saved, rebelled and seized the capital together with Yan Lin, her childhood sweetheart. As Xie Wei stormed her palace, she pleaded with him to spare the life of Zhang Zhe, a righteous man who had loved, pitied and helped her, but was sentenced to death as a result. She regretted her evil ways and offered her life for his.
She fell to her death, but to her surprise , she woke up as her 18 year old self. Armed with the knowledge of the 'future', she set to right the wrongs she had done. But along the way, things started to happen again as what she had experienced in her 'previous' life. She wondered whether it was all fated. Were things going to turn out differently for her? Would all the tragedies happen all over again?
What I like about this drama?
1. The story was very interesting. Although there had been a lot of back to the past type of dramas and movies, what made this interesting was someone had the opportunity to redress her wrongs. So you would be wondering how things is going to turn out for her this time. The previous and the current lives were very well intertwined.
2. The chemistry between Bai Lu and Zhang Ling He, the two main leads, was amazing. More accurately, the chemistry between Bai Lu and all the three male leads were amazing. What made it more interesting was that it was difficult to tell in the earlier two thirds of the story who she would choose among her 3 suitors, or would she somehow end up with Prince Linzi again, this time against her will? Even though she said to Yan Lin she only treated him as a good friend, but would his sincerity changed that? Would the stern and scary Xie Wei win her heart? And when she and Prince Lanzi ran into each other again, would Prince Lanzi mistook her for his love and rekindled feelings for her? Would she and Zhang Zhe whom she felt so indebted be together in this life?
3. Zhang Ling He was an amazing actor. He portrayed such a diverse set of emotions so well - the evil traitor, the psychotic, the stern dignified teacher, the jealous lover and the emotional nephew when he saw his uncle. He is one of the few actors who looks handsome when stern. And of course Bai Lu was very good too: the nasty resentful teenage girl, an empress full of regrets and the determined girl fighting for the people she cared for.
4. The overall cast did very well with very little shortcomings among them.
5. The costumes were beautiful and the backdrop was good.
6. The drama started with the scriptwriter not wanting to end the story as a tragedy was interesting: a departure from a scriptwriter drawn into the story as one of the characters. Also, this hit a note with me as I dislike tragedies which left me unhappy.
7. Although an intense drama, there were light-hearted and seriously humorous moments, for example when the carriage driver flipped the carriage curtains only to revealed Xie Wei kissing XueNing, to her stunned father, in old conservative China. And the way the fake Dingfei made fun of his 'father' was rather amusing. When his annoyed 'father' told him he was a disgrace to the family, he gleefully offered to change his surname to Yan (the rival family), and I burst into laughter.
8. There were touching memorable moments, for example the series of events leading to Yan Lin going into exile - Xie Wei recited a poem at Yan Lin's coming-of-age ceremony - the poems were all hinting at what was to come - and his playing the qin at the city gate when he was exiled.
8. This was one of the few occasions when I actually liked the ending. There were the last moment twists.
What I dislike about this drama?
1. There were some comments on Mydramalist about flashing bright light in the background but I was so engrossed in the story that I did not notice.
2. Music was generally good and two of the theme songs were melodious, but not outstanding. I must say music standards seemed to have deteriorated in dramas released since the pandemic. I did not come across many outstanding pieces that left a lasting impression except for those in Till the End of the Moon.
3. A couple of scenes were rather contrived, for example the two scenes that Xie Wei ended up in bed with XueNing.
What I liked about this drama largely outweighed what I do not like. You can therefore understand why I gave this drama a rating of 10.
This time I made an effort to check on the director and screenwriter as well. The director is Chu Yui Bun whose accolades include Starry Love, The Blue Whisper, The Long Ballad, Skate into Love, Eternal Love of Dream, Ashes of Love. Success of a drama production depends a lot on the teamwork: excellent cast, director and script are the obvious, then there is the editing, makeup artist and more.
To add an advice: don't watch any trailer on how the drama would end. Let it hold you in suspense until the end. Then the twist and turns would be less predictable and more striking.
Finally, it would be great if there could be a prequel to this drama. I was wondering how XueNing became the empress given a domineering Dowager who had someone else in mind for the position, and a scheming rival who more than matched her wit. But the main cast for the prequel must match this drama. Of course, this would be a tall order as I had not seen many sequel successfully completed or had seen sequels which were disappointing flops.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Gosh... nearly every key individual dies
Initially I thought this is an abridged version of the Royal Nirvana and did not pay attention. Then someone mentioned this was an epilogue that would explain who was Xu Chang Nian. So I started watching it to my regrets.The prequel, Royal Nirvana ended on a positive note - the Crown Prince was entrusted to go to the border to calm the situation as his uncle was assassinated. Lu WenXi was happily pregnant awaiting her baby and presumably the return of her prince.
Gosh, in this sequel nearly all the key people died. If you enjoy an emotional torment, go ahead and watch this. For all my ranting about the pessimistic story below, it was a good production. You can stop here if you do not want to know the rest of the spoiler as I am going to spell them all out.
Encouraged by the head of maids Jiang, the empress feeling sorry on how she had neglected her youngest son, the fifth prince, killed herself in an attempt to help and keep her youngest son stay on in the capital. The fifth prince turned evil, plotted against the Crown Prince, was set up by WenXi and was caned to death with the emperor not attempting to save him. Zhang Shao Yun was shown in a positive note as an anticipating uncle as his sister was expecting but was killed by Feng-en's soldiers when delivering medicine for the Crown Prince. Li Ming-An was killed by Feng-En. Gu Feng-en, embittered by the assassination of his father wanted the Crown Prince to overturn the emperor and claim the throne. When the Crown Prince instead plotted against him and decrowned himself to declared him a traitor, he committed suicide.
The Crown Prince returned to the capital disgraced, depressed and committed suicide. His son was born an orphan - the mother WenXi committed suicide after giving birth to join her husband in the next world. Xu Chang Nian as it turned out was the son of the Xiao DingQuan's uncle, the former crown prince who was forced to kill himself. The emperor put all hope on his grandson and appointed Xu as his tutor - I am surprised with his suspicious nature that he would appoint him as tutor knowing Xu was actually his nephew and had possibly a claim to the throne.
Actually, I blamed WenXi for all the trouble (or more correctly the writer for crafting it that way). If she had not misinformed the fifth prince to set him up, all the sequence of events would not be sparked off. She could have shaken off the control of the fifth prince by simply telling the Crown Price that the fifth prince had captured her brother to control her. In the earlier sequel, her father and brother was imprisoned because she failed to pass a message as she went searching for the lost seal and were eventually killed. Her interfering did not end well in both instance.
In the previous sequel, while it was a sob story but at least it ended in a positive note. In this sequel, the good turned evil; the evil who started to show their human side died. The Crown Prince after all his effort to safeguard his position killed himself. I would rather have kept the positive image of Feng-En and the fifth Prince as righteous people. Also Shao Yun and Li Ming-An did not deserve to die as they were good people. This sequel practically killed all belief in the humanity and the fight for righteousness.
Also, while explaining who Xu was, it created more mystery - why the fifth Prince said that if Xu was indeed the son of the previous Crown Prince, then he (the fifth Prince) was as good as dead was incomprehensible.
This sequel was certainly one of the most tragic story I had watched so far, beating Nirvana in Fire in being tragic. Nirvana should not be used in this drama - this is supposed to be the ultimate state of bliss and final goal of Buddhist - in this drama, it is the ultimate suffering.
I applauded the cast for their excellent acting but condemn the production team for being masochistic and taking pleasure in pain. If I were the writer, I would have crafted this sequel to focus on the story behind the death of Xu's father as that would have been sufficiently tragic and more interesting.
Was this review helpful to you?
An Epic Production in the same league as Nirvana in Fire
This drama is under rated on mydramalist. I say it is in the same league as Nirvana in Fire and a similar genre.It is a rarity to see Zhang Zi Yi in a drama. For those of you who have watched Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon which is an international success, she acted the rebellious girl who ran away from a marriage.
This drama is very well produced. The story is convoluted and captivating, and the cinematography is fantastic, with costumes and a good looking cast to match. The acting is excellent and the chemistry (or animosity) of the various couples are impressive. There are many sub-plots, each with suspense and mysteries that keep you glued to your seat to find out what is going to happen next. The ending theme song is melodious. The backdrop is beautiful and the battle scenes are very well choreographed.
It talks about Princess ShangYang who is the daughter of the Prime Minister Wang Lin. She is in love with the Third Prince and aspires to marry him. They are forced apart by the Prime Minister who wants to strengthen his power and she is betrothed to a outstanding general from a commoner background, Xiao Qi. She is forsaken on the wedding day as Xiao Qi leaves her behind in the capital. Xiao Qi is in a bid to avoid being roped into the political side of the Prime Minister although he has become rather fond of her after a couple of encounters. Being captured by Helan Zhen who is exacting a revenge on Xiao Qi is the start of their adventure and the Princess shifts her affection to him when he risks his life to rescue her.
I feel a bit sorry for the main villain in the story. He is overly ambitious, very cunning and ruthless. Yet he has this soft side to him as a father. He is a capable person but unfortunately has set his eyes on the wrong goal.
I think this drama is almost perfect. There only two things I do not like about this drama. The first is the length - it is too long. With 68 episodes, you can expect some draggy moments. But overall, it is well paced. The second is the ending. I think the ending is a very weak - the choice of the eventual emperor to ascend the throne is too cliche, perhaps influenced by the last dynasty. I do not think there are many of such emperors in history. With no strong empress dowager behind them, they would all be overthrown by their imperial relatives.
Was this review helpful to you?
Power-struggle, romance and jealousy
This drama will capture your attention within a short time into the first episode. The usual hygiene factors rolled in: handsome actors, beautiful actresses, good acting skills, great on-screen chemistry between the leads, exciting story, lovely cinematography and lovely ending theme song. I certainly put it among the top dramas I had watched.54 episodes is a good length for this story – sufficient to cover the story in sufficient depth with only a few lull moments. I had seen worse ones with draggy time-fillers.
Tiffany Tang and Luo Jin had this amazing chemistry and on checking the Internet they were married in 2018, no doubt falling in love while acting together in the numerous dramas they shared.
In this story, there were two classes of villains – the totally evil like the ChiYun family and the deceptive third sister whom you would hate throughout the drama, and those who showed a bit of conscience like the Tuoba Yu whom I empathised with at moments.
Storyline was quite sensible and realistic – no far-fetched scenes, at least none of those magical cure by internal energy transfer kind of crap, although there was a couple flying scenes in the first episode but the 'flyer' was aided by someone. These are interesting in fantasy dramas but spoil a period drama.
There were a few lovely music pieces like the ending theme song but the melody in the opening theme song is a little lacklustre.
However I must say a lot of similar themes were repeated over and over in Chinese dramas and in this – heros/heroines got framed again and again, disguise was so good they fooled everyone – wonder why no one picked up the difference in the voice, the villains were always lucky in their evil ways, and of course revenge which is a beaten to death theme in Chinese drama. If a couple of the framing scenarios were removed and the drama was shortened, it could work better.
I have a bit of a spoiler here – it had a sad ending although I cannot say it is a tragedy. The prelude of each episode gave away too much of how the story concluded although not the entire final ending.
Was this review helpful to you?
Excellent for most part except the end
This drama was excellent for the first 42 episodes. In my mind then, I was going to rate it a full 10. On the positive aspects, the lead actress was stunningly pretty and the lead actor very handsome, and they had amazing on-screen chemistry which made their flirting scenes very romantic and sometimes amusing. The story was interesting, romantic and full of suspense, characters were complex and the cinematography was great. If there had been a tightening of the plot, this drama could have rivaled some of the other top drama productions.But after the 42nd episode, it started going downhill, the plot weakened and it ended with a ridiculous ending. It was melodramatic. Xiao Feng spent a lot of time with Gu Jian but the two did not have much on-screen chemistry. There was a lot of screaming and shouting at each other. The three lead characters were going absolutely crazy, each insisting on getting ahead with their own ways and refusing any compromise. The ending was meant to be dramatic but it ended up as an anti-climax. After all that ChengYin did for her, I was expecting Xiao Feng would eventually be won over. It reminded me of the ending in 'The Rise of Phoenixes' - a let-down.
The christian teaching of forgive and forget could give the characters a life. The princess was so driven by hatred, she did not know how to love properly. The crown prince was so possessive and vindictive. Had he cut some slack, the princess might have been won over.
If you absorbed by the tearjerking you may overlook some of the flaws in the plot.
Chinese dramas always mixes in some ridiculous wuxia medical methods which always mysteriously cure someone of severe injuries. And this drama is no exception. I can accept this in a fantasy (xianxia) story. For a supposedly historical romance epic, it spoils the realism of it. And the 'forget thy love' ravine was a further strain on this.
Additionally, there was some major illogical views - the crown prince pretended to be nasty to the crown princess in order to keep her from harm. I do not understand this logic as no one was planning to harm her. In fact, it made the empress more angry with his concubine and made enemies out of the princess and the concubine.
There were a lot of stupidity in the story. The crown prince was plotting for the empress to fall into his trap of trying to assassinate him. Yet there were no hidden bodyguards near enough to protect him and he ended up severely injured.
A weak script spoiled it for the production team. However, it is still worth watching if you are not too critical.
I thought I was going to re-watch it but after the ridiculous ending, I decided not to because it had spoiled my mood and impression of the drama.
Was this review helpful to you?
A second chance in life.
A second chance in life seems to be the recent popular theme in dramas, be it a rebirth, reincarnate or time reversal. This was the fourth drama I watched over the last 12 months that features a second chance in life. The others were Story of Kunning Palace, Reborn Rich (Korean), The Princess Royal, Marry my Husband - they were all very good. I was wondering if this drama would measure up to the same standards.As it turns out, this drama was very good and had all the hygiene factors: most importantly an interesting storyline with a mystery to uncover. This was supported by a good cast, excellent chemistry between the leads, fast-pace, lovely costumes and excellent backdrop.
Dou Zhao was married to Marquis Wei Ting Yu in an arrangement marriage. She discovered to her horror that he was having an affair with her sister, Dou Ming, and was hoping that she would die soon as she was in poor health. Leaving the Marquis residence in disgust, she ran into General Song Mo who was infamous for his cruelty and ruthlessness. Song Mo wanted to avenge the death of his uncle, General Jiang, a loyal capable close friend of the emperor, and to track down the person behind the conspiracy.
Setup by Prince Qing who succeeded in rising a rebellion and Marquis Wei, they were both accused of adultery and killed by the same single arrow. Prior to this, the monk Yuan Tong handled Dou Zhao a Book of Truth and told her that her fate was intertwined with Song Mo.
Both Dou Zhao and Song Mo woke up to their childhood years. Song Mo could only vaguely remember segments of his previous life and thought it was a dream. Dou Zhao on the other hand was fully aware that she had re-tracked to her past and had the chance to change her fate, and assumed the maturity of an adult.
In the new life, Dou Zhao witnessed the suicide of her mother and was concerned that she might be unable to change the future. Much worse, she was forced to honour her engagement to Marquis Wei again and failed to free herself from the arranged marriage. For an intelligent woman, Dou Zhao's plot to escape the marriage seemed very silly.
I was glad to see Meng Zi Yi in a lead role of a successful drama. Since her appearance in the outstanding drama, The Untamed, she seemed to have not landed any significant lead roles and had not benefited from the success of this drama like Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo had. She is one of the best looking female Chinese actresses, aside from her good performance.
However, the death of General Jiang was not so much of a mystery to us, the audience. We knew from the first episode that Prince Qing who had made use of Song Mo in rising the rebellion was very likely behind this. Song Mo had no memory of how his previous life ended and was therefore clueless. But as the audience, we could pretty much guessed. It was just a matter of finding out how it all happened.
It was very trying to watch this drama as the bad guys seemed always to be ahead of Song Mo and Dou Zhao with their sabotage. In this new life, the personality of some people and their lives turned out quite differently due to Dou Zhao's interference. It was also sad to see how the evil ones who now turned out good died due to the evil deeds of others. And the good ones turned bad. As always, people were not what they appeared to be.
For me who had watched a lot of Chinese dramas, the theme of a fight over the throne was a bit stale.
For 34 episodes, this drama was not as long as many Chinese dramas and the pace of progress was good.
The English titles of Chinese dramas need a lot of working on. This drama's title could be more interesting and closer to the Chinese title like 'Purple Blossom', than a plain 'Blossom'. Often, the poetic sentiments of the Chinese titles were adulterated.
These days were a major departure from a few years ago when every other Chinese dramas had a tragic ending. In recent Chinese dramas, it is the fashion to have loving couples giving birth to offsprings as a show of happy ending. Almost like an echo of the government who now wants the people to have more kids.
Overall, I highly recommend this drama. Its rating of 8.9 on mydramalist, which is a very high rating, is well deserved.
Was this review helpful to you?
A woman with four suitors
It is a really good production: an excellent cast who acted well, good looking actors and actresses, CGI is good, cinematography is great and costumes are lovely. So all the hygiene factors are there.What I like about this drama?
1. Yang Zi had excellent chemistry with her 4 suitors. And she acted according to her relation to them: fear of the demon lord yet fond of him, anger with the betrayal of her real lover and dignified jealousy of his fiancee, gentleness and devotion to her lost cousin when she discovered him, and polite respect for her last suitor on the scene, who demonstrated his fondness of her. I think she was at one of her best. And she looked stunning dressed as the princess.
2. The story was well paced and interesting enough to keep me pursuing the drama to the end. Out of the 39 episodes, I can only recall one episode which was a little draggy. And this was probably because I had mistakenly skipped this episode and went back to catch up with it and I knew what was going to happen next.
What I dislike about this drama?
1. I felt that while Xiao Yao's selected fiance was a good choice, his relationship with her was the most shallow. So I felt it is a bit of a shame.
2. And since the drama ended prematurely, the conspiracy behind the Tushan family was unexplained and the lover's betrayal was not clarified - poor guy who was so much in love with Xiao Yao and had done so much for her.
But overall, I would give this drama a thumb up and highly recommend it.
It looks like there is a part 2 to this drama. Frankly when I watched some of the trailers of the follow-on, it looked trashy, with the main character Xiao Yao (Yang Zi) nearly marrying every of her suitors, and two of them died. I do not like tragedies. I like to have a good feeling after watching a drama, not sick in the stomach.
However, if I should ever write the ending of this drama, I would give it a twist and end it like this:
Cang Xuan ascended the throne on the support of the clans in the central plain. He fulfilled his promise to Xiang Liu and gave one of the mountains as a burial ground for the dead ChenRong warriors. Hong Liang, the ChenRong last defending general was impressed. He proposed a peace truce on the condition of a marriage alliance with the heir apparent (would be Crown Prince if the kingdom had not fallen) of the ChenRong royal family and Xiao Yao who was both a princess of HaoLing and a close cousin of the new emperor, therefore representing both kingdoms. The heir-apparent's identity and whereabout had been kept secret all these years to protect him from assassination. And he requested for all treasures of the ChenRong's royal family and the rebuilt ChenRong palace to be returned as a dowry for the princess and all the remnant ChenRong warriors to be pardoned.
CangXuan did not like the idea that an heir apparent existed and could potentially gain support for the re-built of the ChenRong kingdom. While Xiao Yao tried to get in touch with Xiang Liu to find out what was going, but he passed a message to her that the heir apparent was good looking, capable and in love with her, and encouraged her to agree to the marriage.
Before any decision, Cang Xuan revealed his love for Xiao Yao and promised that if XiaoYao should marry him, she would be the new empress as his current wife was only a concubine. Possibly, the old emperor was leaving the empress position for Xiao Yao when he decreed that Shen was to be the concubine and not the queen. Xiao Yao replied that she loved him as a brother and did not have any romantic feeling for him but want to support him with all her ability to bring prosperity to his kingdom.
Saddened by the news that her real lover had just fathered a child, Xiang Liu's indifference and her shallow relationship with her fiance, she agreed to the marriage alliance to bring peace to Cang Xuan's kingdom. Her father, King of HaoLing, supported her decision to breakup her current engagement and marry the ChenRong heir apparent. Her fiance was heart broken. Cang Xuan however promised only the palace as dowry as the treasures of the ChenRong kingdom had long been awarded to the different mandarins who helped in the overthrow of ChenRong and to pardon all the remnant warriors if they lay down their arms. But the King of Haoling backed his daughter up with a generous dowry.
On the wedding day, the ChenRong heir apparent fetched XiaoYao from the ChenRong's mansion in a red cloak with a hood covering his face and a crystal mask. At the ceremony altar at the palace, Xiao Yao could see through her veil that he looked familiar. Xiyan anti-ChenRong faction with the silent approval of Cang Xuan and her ex-fiance, attempted to assassinate the heir apparent. In the fight, the red hood and mask was lifted from his head and it was revealed that the heir apparent is Xiang Liu! Xiao Yao was surprised and stunned for a moment but stepped in to defend Xiang Liu. The assassination failed as Cang Xuan ordered his guards in to protect her. Xiao Yao suspected that it was Cang Xuan's conspiracy to murder her husband and left with Xiang Liu to QingShui where they lived in seclusion. Her real lover, after realising his marriage is a sham, arrived only to see her leave with Xiang Liu. So Xiao Yao was lost to Cang Xuan, her ex-fiance and real lover forever.
Like my review or ending, give it a thumbs up. Let me know which you like in the comments. lol
Was this review helpful to you?
This drama has a very young cast - the key leads are mostly less than 30 years old. It seems the China drama industry is replacing an entire generation of older established well-known artistes who are now in their late 30s or older, with a younger generation of new heartthrobs.
The male lead Chen Xing Xu does a great job acting 4 different characters. I must say the make-up specialist/s did a great job too. If you observe carefully, the four characters look slightly different with YouQin looking a bit more chubby, Mei looks much thinner, La Mu very scruffy and Wen Ren very refined, in their features.
With a theme of a mixed up in the wedding carriage, you would expect a lot of humour, and it does provide a lot of comic relief. And the drama is packed with actions.
Of the Chinese dramas I have watch post pandemic (but did not check whether they are produced pre or post), numerous are very good productions. This drama, Till the End of the Moon (still my favourite post pandemic production), The Blood of Youth and so on are all very good.
Improvements I must say the Chinese drama production needs are
1. New themes and creativity. The Chinese drama industry is seriously in need of this. After watching the huge number of Chinese dramas as I had, the dramas started to look the same although the storyline might be different. Boredom is somewhat setting in. This is of course going to be a big challenge. Producers like to emulate the themes of successful earlier productions and what have been tested, succeed and allowed in the greatly politically controlled environment. This is precisely why The Untamed did so well - of course the leads did fabulously well but most importantly the storyline was quite unlike the rest.
2. For this drama, it is overall very good but lack memorable moments like Nirvana in Fire and Ten Mile of Peach Blossom, or intense emotional expressions like those of Luo YunXi in Till the End of the Moon and Ashes of Love.
Was this review helpful to you?
Star-studded drama
This is a star-studded drama. Aside from the leads, the attractive Guan Xiao Tong and the handsome Song Wei Long, you will see a lot of familiar popular faces, including Xu Kai, Bai Lu, Wu Jin Yan (Wei Ying Luo from Yanxi Palace) and the handsome Merxat Yalkun (Mi Re Xia Ti).Unfortunately, this drama does have some glaring flaws. Episodes 1 to 16 are fantastic as the story is original and different from most Chinese dramas I had watched. Guan Xiao Tong acts the arrogant, promiscuous Princess ChuYu who is the emperor's favourite sister as well as Zhu Que, a look-alike assassin trained by the Tianji Sect. Engaged by the princes who are unhappy with the Emperor Liu Ziye of the Liu Song country, a cruel and psychopathic youngster, she is assigned the task of assassinating the emperor. The Tianji Sect plots to let Zhu Que impersonate ChuYu. ChuYu has a harem of male attendants which Zhu Que has to deal with; one of them is the shrewd, perceptive and mysterious Rong Zhi. These episodes are full of suspense as Zhu Que attempts to get close to the emperor while avoiding discovery that she is an impersonate, as well as hilarious as she returns to her palace to be surrounded by men trying to serve her.
The only complaint I have in these episodes is ChuYu's weird hairstyle which looks like an oversize sweet potato sticking on her head - the only competition is Medusa's hair of snakes. ChuYu's hairdo would have been more appropriate in some fairytale stories for the fairy godmother and not quite fit for a period drama.
From episode 17, the story suddenly takes a turn. From this point onwards, the story changes its setting in Liu Song to Wei, a rival country which is often at war with Liu Song. Here, ChuYu (Zhu Que) arrives as the princess sent as the bride to forge a marriage alliance and brings about peace between the two countries. As it turns out Rong Zhi is the Prince Regent in Wei and he marries both Prince ChuYu and Ma XueYun acted by Zhao LuSi on the same day. Neither Rong Zhi nor ChuYu seems to remember their past encounters. This has prompted comments on YouTube that it is a repeat of the Goodbye My Princess story. Also, ChuYu (actually Zhu Que) seems to have suffered a setback in intelligence and a personality change from a trained assassin to a clueless princess.
The only link between the first 16 episodes and the rest of the story is the lame appearance of a story-teller who says he is going to send ChuYu to Wei as his audience are unhappy on how he ends the first part of the story. This transition is very awkward. The cast is almost entirely swapped and from this point onwards, the popular stars appear: Xu Kai, Bai Lu, Wu Jin Yan, Merxat. All the momentum build up during the first 16 episodes are lost and the story starts anew. It is almost like there are two separate stories with some very loose links between the two, and ChuYu's harem of male attendants have all disappeared except for Rong Zhi.
There should have at least been some explanations why ChuYu and RongZhi do not remember the past but it is lightly glossed over. The drama seems to have been written by two different writers. Other than this awkward turn in the story, both stories are quite interesting. And the second part is quite unlike Goodbye My Princess although the theme is similar and therefore lacks originality.
The chemistry between the leads is great. Song WeiLong looked very mature for his age in this drama - I was surprised how young he was when this drama was produced. And you have Wu Jin Yan as the cunning Empress Dowager befitting her previous role as Wei Ying Luo in YanXi Palace. Of course, the star-studded cast does outstandingly well. Zhao LuSi acts a psychopathic woman driven by jealousy, a departure from her usual characters.
Additionally, the Wei costumes for the ladies are pretty but rather monotonous - they are all the same with a stiff shawl and wide skirts. It is almost like the production budget has all been spent on the stars and they have to save on the costume design budget.
So if you overlook these awkward points, this drama is quite interesting to watch. I have given this drama a 8.5 for its star-studded cast, excellent acting and an interesting part 1 - higher than its current rating on mydramalist.com.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
It's a pretty dark ending
If you have depression, do not watch this drama. The ending is very dark: no couples are eventually happy, the country is thrown into chaos and yet another child emperor ascends the throne.On a positive note, the support cast is good looking and does a very good job. There are some good music pieces.
I come across a lot of positive reviews of this drama but I think it is mainly because of Bai Lu and Ren Jia Lun, the current popular heartthrobs. The chemistry between the leads is excellent.
For most part of the drama, it is the romance between Cui ShiYi (Bai Lu) and Zhou ShengChen (Ren JiaLun), so there are a lot of building up of their romance and emotions. It is mainly all the lovey-dovey moment - loving each other and could not express and having to hold back, each with their constraints. If you are not into these, it is also very slow moving. Battle scenes are quite lacklustre as these are just secondary.
There are a lot of comments that the story is great but I differ in my opinion. I say the production and directing are great as it brings out a lot of emotions - if the ending is that dark, with good directing it is hard not for anyone to cry although I did not.
The story is rather strange and rather unrealistic. And here are why I say that:
1. Minister Cui Guang supported the child emperor to the throne expecting his niece Cui Shi Yi to become the next empress only to find to his horror that the new Empress Dowager has other plans - to keep her as crown princess by appointing the child emperor's elder cousin as crown prince. She has become the fiancee of the new crown prince instead. Unless this story is not of Chinese background but of some minority tribe - passing a fiancée to a cousin is hardly acceptable in Chinese culture much less appointing an elder to become a successor. But with a surname Liu, it is implying the Chinese Han dynasty. And why appoint an older successor - just to avoid marrying the mute Cui ShiYi?
2. Minister Cui then requests for Prince Zhou Sheng Chen to become his niece Shifu (teacher). Again very weird: pushing a young girl into the care of a bachelor prince although he might have vowed to stay single and not to have children. Perhaps for the protection of the Prince for the Cui family?
3. Prince Zhou stubbornly refuses to leave the entrapment when the conspirators uses the Liu royal family and court as hostages. Why would a general with a peerless track record of success on the battlefield be suddenly so stupidly bigoted. His military advisor arrives in time to save him. If his advisor is smart enough to come to the rescue, surely Zhou knows better to leave at the urge of his own team and his hostages. Eventually the hostages are massacred and he dies of torture. Why would a big 'killer' be so easily swayed especially since these hostages are not close to him? I expect him to be a better strategist.
4. When someone important jumps from the city tower, why do the soldiers not try to help but instead concentrate on driving helpers away.
These are all important turning points in the story. The development of the story is not naturally and is very obviously to dramatise. All movies and dramas dramatises, but there is a difference between doing it realistically or creating obvious conveniences, and this story sounds more like the latter - it needs great skills to do that realistically.
Was this review helpful to you?
Could have been better
This drama has an interesting start to the story - a swap of souls between the emperor and a maid. This leads to a lot of hilarious moments as the maid is infatuated with an imperial guard captain. Demonstrating her affection in the body of the emperor, it causes a lot of misunderstanding that the emperor is gay.The story goes on to give a twist - there is a double conspiracy going on. The maid is not who she thinks she is, and the emperor has other hidden agenda. This twist is interesting if the transition is properly developed, but unfortunately it is a bit awkward.
But the second twist in last episode was the worst. There seems to be this obsession with time travel, crossing dimension type of science fiction in Chinese drama. When it is not well developed and does not flow naturally with the story, it really spoils the drama as it stands out like a sore thumb.
For 20 episodes of half hour each, this is a very short drama. If you are not too concern about the flaws in the story and are in just for a laugh, this makes a light-hearted comical entertainment.
Was this review helpful to you?
If you like soap operas, this is for you...
The cast has this ''cry-on-demand'' ability and comprises very good actors/actresses. I watched this drama because of the lead actor Kim Ji Han (aka Jin Yi Han) as I was mesmerised by his performance in Empress Ki - he speaks not only through words but also his facial expressions - and of course his good looks. And for the guys, there are plenty of good looking actresses.The story centred around 3 ''orphans'' from different backgrounds - one is actively searching for his roots having lost his memory, one knows his roots and has a secret to hide, and the third is kept in the dark by the father who refuses to reveal the truth. Complications arise as they meet each other, fall in love, unaware of how their past lives have crossed and how they are related.
You would be glued to the drama as you pursue the mystery of what happens in the past and what is going to happen to the different characters. Get ready your handkerchief for the sobbing moments. Romance, sadness, humour - you will experience all these watching this drama. It is a trigger for a wide range of emotions.
What I really appreciate of this drama, aside for the range of emotions it evokes, is the diverse combination of personalities portrayed: kind and considerate but naive, kind but outwardly cold and smart, a ''bum'' but actually has an outstanding hidden skill, appears calculating but actually is very caring inside, scheming but has a soft emotional side, evil and non-repentant, brash and unpretentious but upright, and the list goes on. A very realistic portrayal of human personalities - none of those perfect non-existence character who is good in everything. The story as a whole is very well woven together.
However, the story is not entirely realistic - the bad guys seem to conveniently overhear important secrets at the right moment so they could scheme. Similarly the good guys would overhear those same secrets to be shocked or find out the truth. Since I cannot even figure out what my colleagues are talking about across the office, I could not see how people could pick up secrets so easily. Characters are always just keeping secrets and telling a white lie in the premise of saving others from getting hurt by the truth, or as they are too proud to admit their pain - this theme is so cliche, or is it cultural?
This was a long 122 episodes melodramatic soap drama although each episode is only a short half hour long. Still that would make over 60 episodes of the typical hour long drama series. There are a lot of draggy moments. I tapped the 10s forward icon a lot when the conversation got lengthy and not a lot was happening, when watching the drama. The ending is not quite strong - so very typical of long dramas. The evil ones should be punished heavier. It seems like writers and directors are just happy to have hold your attention to the end and not quite care how they end it.
In spite of some shortcomings, this is a very entertaining drama. If you like romantic soap operas, this is for you.
Was this review helpful to you?
At some points, it got a bit tiring when yet another scheming got them into massive hurt. However, the drama did keep me following episodes after episodes.
This drama deserves a place among the top Chinese dramas. If you like dramas like Yanxi Palace, you would like this.
Was this review helpful to you?
