AyasKCorner

After watching "Prisoner of Beauty", I thought I'd have beef with Liu Yu Ning's next characters. But turns out a character is just a character and Nan Heng is now on my "Ge Ge list" (🤭).

Before we get into this, please remember that this is MY OPINION and I'm not here to hate on the actors or anybody who disagrees with me. I can be very brutal but it's all lighthearted! Also SPOILERS AHEAD so keep that in mind. This is going to be another long one so let's keep this convo fun and respectful 💕.

The Good
Nan Heng
When I watched Prisoner of Beauty, I thought I'd have a bit of a prejudice against Liu Yu Ning's next character (joke) but then I met Nan Heng and fell in love. It's meant to be guys, it really is. Liu Yu Ning is a celebrity crush now and Nan Heng was a delight. I loved the character and how he was portrayed. He was such a caring guy and also super funny. He facial expressions when he'd have to save the Yi Meng were hilarious. Amazing character and has raised my standard for men in future historical dramas.

"White Head Same Heart"
I loved how they used "White Head Same Heart"! it was so clever and I love when that happens in dramas. When the lead isn't sure about the other but then they do something that only the two of them know about. Brilliant. It reminds me of a different drama I watched where they had a special kind of knock. Either way it's adorable from an English speaker perspective and a sucker for creative romance things like that. Stuff like this is why I love romance shows and I won't lie and say those four words didn't bump the rating up a bit.

Interesting start
The first few episodes of this drama were the best. I usually watch two to three dramas at the same time (different genres though) but this one had me hooked. I couldn't even watch the others because I always wanted to watch this one. I loved when Nan Heng had to save her, I loved how she was determined to get married to Gui Hong, I loved how desperate she was to escape her fate, and when she met Mr. Li. It was so interesting to watch Mr. Li, Gui Hong, and Yi Meng plan how they were going to kill Nan Heng. I thought this was gonna become the first historical drama that I loved... until it wasn't.


The Bad
It kind of lost the plot towards the end.
After everyone found out that Nan Heng was Mr. Li, some of the plot got lost. What happened to wanting to find the weapon of forging? Why did he even really need it? I will give them credit and say that she was still desperate to change the story at the end, so that was a plus. But it did start to get slow when the story no longer forced her to do things and force Nan Heng to protect her.

I also felt like they didn't know how they wanted to end the drama so they threw in the Gui Hong plot. I mean when you think about it, how else would the show end without her going back to the present time. The story should've ended when they had the first ending. I really didn't like how it ended with everyone alive and with a happy ending. The best ending was the very first one when Shangguan He died heroically protecting Yi Ting and they had that battle. The had so many foreshadowing moments that made it seem like he was going to die that I was lowkey expecting it. But when it went back in time twice so that everyone can live, it was a bit of a letdown. It should've ended the first way and Yi Meng should've went back to the real world. The ending when the actor for Nan Heng remembered her (somehow?) could've still happened or they could've done where she either forgets and then remembers or she thinks it was all a dream. Something would've been better than her staying there forever. Or did she? the ending was kind of confusing.

The show was a bit slow.
Even though I really did enjoy this show, I felt like there were more irrelevant scenes than relevant ones. I thought the whole point in her being there was to change the story and her fate. So why did we get one iconic scene every, like, 10 episodes? Most of the stuff that happens in the drama doesn't hit the same because it was just her existing in the times. I really enjoyed the show during the first part because her changing her fate and ignoring Nan Heng was her top priority. But after the first few episodes when he's forced to protect her, she's constantly avoiding him, and they are both forced to say and do stuff they don't want to, it all becomes slow. You're left thinking "Okay, we're on episode 30 and she still hates him. Where is this going?".

Song Yi Meng Was so MEAN
I'll never get over how mean Song Yi Meng was to Nan Heng CONTANTLY during the most of the middle part in the show. At first I understood where she was coming from. He was evil, she read the script, he tried to kill her, etc. But once he continued to prove himself to be misunderstood, I still didn't understand what her problem was. He constantly showed her that he cared for her, Always protecting her and looking out for her, and clearly being a misunderstood good guy. So why was she so cruel to him despite knowing how much to script changed. He was so clearly not the same Nan Heng from the script and yet she constantly undervalued all the things he did for her. As Nan Heng and as Mr. Li.

I especially couldn't stand how often she got mad at him just before they got together. It felt like she wanted a reason to hate him. She always made sure to stab him and twist the knife.

Why Did Nan Heng even like her so much??
I'm the kind of person who NEEDS to understand a character's obsession/love for another character. If you're gonna keep pining after a girl that rips you to shreds (emotionally) every episode, I need to understand why. And I didn't. She didn't really stand out at all. What I mean is that she acted like everyone else who misunderstood and distrusted him. It was kind of confusing that he loved a girl who hated him without a mask. Maybe it would've worked out better if she talked to Mr. Li (him in a mask) about how misunderstood Nan Heng was and that she wish she could trust him and not know the future. But she hated him no matter what was going on. What causes intense love from that?

I think his obsession would've made more sense if she defended him or trusted him at least once. Instead she would literally see him crying because of her words and KEEP GOING! That one scene at night in the snow was pure torture to watch. And she did that kind of this constantly. It was annoying on both their parts. She was annoying for ripping him to shreds constantly and for him still trying to get her to love him. I wish he stopped trying and only then did she realise how much she cared/loved him. But watching him get kicked in the face and then kiss the shoes that kicked him just because they were hers became so unrealistic (considering) and overdone.

Chu Gui Hong being evil felt random
Anybody else felt like Gui Hong becoming evil felt thrown in? How did the good guy turn so evil because he found out he was a story character? That one scene when Song Yi Meng put him in his place and reminded him of all the innocent lives he was ending, was so satisfying. But it was confusing how someone who swore never to let anyone wrongly be killed and then did that very thing.

I kind of think that he had such self hatred for wrongfully hating Nan Heng this whole time and just couldn't accept that he was wrong all this time. I really liked when Yi Meng's father said "No one can wake someone who's pretending to sleep" and not only do I say that now, but it really reflected Gui Hong perfectly. He was so convinced that he was the victim and Nan Heng was to blame, that he didn't realise that he was the actualy problem. Nan Heng did steal Yi Meng. It was Gui Hong's attitude and switch up that pushed her away. It's crazy that he didn't realise that even if Nan Heng wasn't in the picture, she still wouldn't have been with him.

We got a little off topic but the point is, him doing a full one 180 and killing everybody felt like they just needed a reason to end the show. It didn't really fit and I was sad that Gui Hong's story ended like that. I was kind of hoping he'd reconnect with Nan Heng... Oh well.