This review may contain spoilers
Usurped Throne, Cursed Offsprings.
It tells the story of a wrongfully imprisoned prince and a commoner not so commoner girl navigating through palace struggles, revenge, politics and eventually love.
What I like:
The acting.
Every single character delivered their part naturally and effortlessly. Special mention to the crown prince Ning Sheng, you're telling me he's not a villain in real life?
The budget.
I've watched a handful of palace dramas but have never seen a filming location(The palace specifically) as detailed, grand, luxurious and realistic as this. Despite how grand the palace looks I find the clothing for female characters mediocre or even below mediocre.
What I don't like:
Conveniently placed characters.
Minister Xin who "works" for the crown prince is actually our ML partner with the same goal as ML. The top girl at Lanxiang brothel who serves high ranking officials is also with ML, they have the same goal. Our ML was able to convince general Gu Yan who also works for the crown prince to betray him after ONE conversation. The eunuch/spy the emperor planted by ML side got soft hearted and delivers info beneficial to ML and even defends him instead of only reporting as he was told to by the emperor. Now I don't know if I like this particular aspect of the drama or not cause I do like my main characters overpowered but witnessing this in the first few episodes made me feel his opponents are weak and doomed from the start. I wanted to feel some fear for ML.
Guilt doesn't let them think.
It genuinely infuriated me how the crown prince, second prince and fifth prince easily fell for traps. Why did they? Cause they've been overcome by guilt and are scared of being exposed at any second. A saying in the drama goes "A clear conscience is a soft pillow to sleep on at night".
The pacing.
The beginning was good but from episode 40 the drama started to lack something, i didn't know when I stopped caring about it. Watching it felt like a chore I just had to get done, in the end I couldn't bear it.
Neutral about:
The emperor.
He has the looks of emperors you see in ancient scrolls, has the aura of one and doesn't fret in the midst of troubles. At first I liked him cause he is resolute, owned up to his mistakes, knew what was going on in his kingdom and how to tread in handling his officials.
The romance between our leads.
They do have chemistry but because of how the drama was written their love story became more and more ridiculous!
Should've spent my time watching something else.🤷🏽♀️
What I like:
The acting.
Every single character delivered their part naturally and effortlessly. Special mention to the crown prince Ning Sheng, you're telling me he's not a villain in real life?
The budget.
I've watched a handful of palace dramas but have never seen a filming location(The palace specifically) as detailed, grand, luxurious and realistic as this. Despite how grand the palace looks I find the clothing for female characters mediocre or even below mediocre.
What I don't like:
Conveniently placed characters.
Minister Xin who "works" for the crown prince is actually our ML partner with the same goal as ML. The top girl at Lanxiang brothel who serves high ranking officials is also with ML, they have the same goal. Our ML was able to convince general Gu Yan who also works for the crown prince to betray him after ONE conversation. The eunuch/spy the emperor planted by ML side got soft hearted and delivers info beneficial to ML and even defends him instead of only reporting as he was told to by the emperor. Now I don't know if I like this particular aspect of the drama or not cause I do like my main characters overpowered but witnessing this in the first few episodes made me feel his opponents are weak and doomed from the start. I wanted to feel some fear for ML.
Guilt doesn't let them think.
It genuinely infuriated me how the crown prince, second prince and fifth prince easily fell for traps. Why did they? Cause they've been overcome by guilt and are scared of being exposed at any second. A saying in the drama goes "A clear conscience is a soft pillow to sleep on at night".
The pacing.
The beginning was good but from episode 40 the drama started to lack something, i didn't know when I stopped caring about it. Watching it felt like a chore I just had to get done, in the end I couldn't bear it.
Neutral about:
The emperor.
He has the looks of emperors you see in ancient scrolls, has the aura of one and doesn't fret in the midst of troubles. At first I liked him cause he is resolute, owned up to his mistakes, knew what was going on in his kingdom and how to tread in handling his officials.
The romance between our leads.
They do have chemistry but because of how the drama was written their love story became more and more ridiculous!
Should've spent my time watching something else.🤷🏽♀️
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