Cortanaherondale

I genuinely don’t understand why everybody is hating on this drama because I feel like the rating does NOT reflect how good it actually is. I’m honestly surprised by how much people are downrating it. This is a freaking good drama!

It basically felt like The Double and The Glory had a baby. It reminded me SO much of The Double, almost like a baby version of it, and considering The Double is one of my favorite dramas, obviously this was completely my cup of tea.

This was such an easy watch. It hooks you FAST—from the first episode, I was in, and it managed to keep me entertained throughout. I never really felt bored, which made it incredibly easy to binge.

I’m already a huge fan of revenge plots, especially an inside-job revenge plot, so I loved how committed this drama was to its revenge storyline. I know some people disliked how heavily it focused on revenge, but that was actually one of my favorite things about it. There are so many dramas nowadays that become completely consumed by romance, so I appreciated a show that said, “No, we’re here for revenge,” and actually stuck to it.

I also don’t necessarily need a revenge storyline, a court storyline, a huge romance storyline, and five other plots all happening simultaneously. Sometimes I just want ONE main storyline that the drama commits to, and that’s what this did.

And for the most part, the revenge was satisfying.

The storyline itself was pretty cohesive, although I’m not going to pretend there weren’t plot holes because there were—a LOT. There are definitely things that don’t completely make sense. But if you can overlook those things, the story carries itself really well. It’s definitely not a perfect drama, but I could turn a blind eye to its flaws because I was having such a good time watching it.

Now, THE COUPLE.

Oh my God, the tension between these two was INSANE.

I genuinely wasn’t expecting this much chemistry. What made their relationship work so well for me was the fact that they’re both morally gray, walking red flags who are willing to do basically anything to get their revenge. They both have their own goals, they’re using each other in different ways while simultaneously helping each other reach those goals, and the entire relationship feels like they’re playing with fire.

I LOVE this kind of dynamic.

More importantly, they stayed true to their characters. Both of them ultimately chose revenge over love, and I actually loved that decision. Their need for revenge is what kept them alive and drove them for years. I would’ve hated it if either of them suddenly threw all of that away just because they fell in love.

I also appreciated that the drama never shifted its entire focus toward the romance. Was I sometimes upset because I wanted more of them? Absolutely. But this wasn’t really a romance drama to begin with, so in terms of the story they were trying to tell, I understood the decision.

And honestly, they didn’t need that many romantic scenes because whenever they DID give us one, the tension was incredible. Their chemistry was genuinely one of my favorite parts of the drama. They felt very evenly matched, both as characters and actors.

Now, Xu Kai.

Give me Xu Kai in any costume drama because that man was looking DELICIOUS. He was eye candy throughout the entire show. His costumes, his hair, his entire styling—he looked gorgeous.

I also really liked his character, but I do think Xu Kai lacked a little bit of the edge this particular role needed. This is supposedly a ruthless, dangerous character, and I don’t think Xu Kai was always able to fully portray that ruthlessness and villainous quality through his eyes. There’s naturally a softness to his eyes that sometimes came through when I wanted the character to feel more dangerous.

I wish his performance had been slightly tougher.

At the same time, I don’t think the drama gave him enough opportunities to show a deeper range. They didn’t give him many scenes where he could really explore the character emotionally beyond being this controlled, serious person. Whenever he actually got angry, for example, I really enjoyed his performance, and I wish we’d gotten more moments like that.

So while I wouldn’t call his performance amazing, I still really enjoyed him, and I think some of my issues came from what the script actually gave him to work with.

Zhou Ye, on the other hand, had to do a lot of the heavy lifting dramatically.

I’ve seen people saying Xu Kai carried the drama, but personally, I think they BOTH carried it. If anything, ZY had the heavier acting material because her character was so dark, broken, hateful, and completely consumed by revenge.

Her performance wasn’t necessarily my absolute favorite acting-wise, but she was still incredible in the role. What I especially loved was watching her portray that insanity—the feeling of someone who has basically gone mad from hatred. This woman was ROOTED in her hate. Revenge had completely consumed her, and ZY really managed to portray that.

I also loved that her character never suddenly chose something else over avenging her mother. That revenge had pulled her forward all these years, and she remained committed to it.

Together, though, they were amazing. I genuinely loved watching them.

As for the second male lead, I really enjoyed him too, and I thought his acting was phenomenal. Unlike Xu Kai’s character, I felt like he was actually given scenes that required deeper, heavier acting, and he nailed them. I just wish we’d gotten more of his storyline.

I also found his romantic situation really interesting. At one point, he’s basically willing to marry Yuan and wait for her to eventually fall in love with him. So he’s perfectly willing to marry someone who doesn’t love him because HE loves her.

Then the brides are switched, and suddenly he’s forced to marry someone he doesn’t love—and now he’s the one on the opposite side of that situation.

Yet by the end, you gradually get the feeling that he actually does fall in love with his wife.

I loved the irony of that dynamic. He was originally willing to make someone who didn’t love him marry him because he loved her, only to end up marrying someone he didn’t love because SHE loved him. That’s actually such an interesting trope.

At the same time, Qingru got off WAY too easily.

Why did this woman get a happy ending?

She literally stole her sister’s husband and somehow acted like SHE was the wronged one. I wanted her to suffer before we got anywhere near the second male lead forgiving her or potentially falling for her.

I wouldn’t even have minded her eventually getting a redemption arc and ending up with him. But give her consequences first. Let her suffer, actually understand what she did, learn from it, genuinely change as a person, and THEN give me that relationship. Instead, I felt like she was forgiven way too easily.

I also really wish we’d gotten more of the dynamic between the male lead and second male lead because they had amazing chemistry together. There was so much potential there.

Outside of the characters and storyline, technically, this drama was BEAUTIFUL.

The OSTs were gorgeous, the acting overall was really good, and the cinematography—oh my God.

BREATHTAKING.

Especially during the first half. There were some genuinely stunning shots.

And THE COSTUMES.

This dynasty is absolutely gorgeous aesthetically. The styling throughout the drama was incredible, especially for the women. The dresses, pearls, headpieces—everything was top-notch. Honestly, some of the best costuming I’ve seen this year. Everyone looked stunning.

And a special shout-out to the supporting cast because some of the side characters’ performances were AMAZING. There was some genuinely fantastic acting throughout this drama.

Now, my biggest problem with the show: it desperately needed more episodes.

I genuinely think another 10 episodes could have benefited the story tremendously, especially because I HATED how underdeveloped the male lead’s revenge storyline was.

The drama spends so much time developing her revenge, which I enjoyed, but HIS revenge should have been just as important.

His family was MASSACRED. Seventy-two members of his family were killed!

And yet I never felt the weight of his revenge the way I felt hers.

That’s crazy because his storyline had so much potential. I would’ve loved to see how he survived, how he reached the imperial court, how he became the Emperor’s right-hand man, and everything he had to do to put himself into a position where he could finally take revenge.

His story was just as interesting as hers, and they barely explored it. Technically, this wasn’t only her revenge story. His revenge was a huge part of the entire plot, yet somehow it constantly felt secondary.

Give me another 10 episodes and SHOW ME HIS STORY.

Another thing I actually liked was that you were constantly questioning who the real villain was. Every time you thought you’d figured it out, there was someone else behind them, until eventually everything led back to the grandmother.

Oh my God, I HATED HER.

To me, she was basically the biggest villain of the entire drama, and I don’t think anything justified what she did. I also think some of these characters deserved much harsher endings, especially the grandmother and the First Madam. Some people got off way too easily considering everything they’d done.

And this brings me to the final stretch.

The first half of this drama? INCREDIBLE. I was completely hooked.

I was still really enjoying it later on, especially through the wedding storyline, but after the wedding, the drama definitely loses some of its spark.

It becomes SO focused on wrapping up the revenge that we barely even see the male and female leads together anymore.

And that genuinely pissed me off.

This has become such a regular thing in C-dramas lately. You reach the final few episodes and suddenly the male lead basically disappears into the background. Why?

The drama worked because of BOTH of them.

So having Xu Kai basically become a background character for the last five episodes was frustrating. Unfortunately, I’ve experienced this enough times this year that I’m apparently getting used to it.

I also REALLY wish we’d gotten one extra episode dedicated to their happily ever after.

The final episode spent so much time on the father. His acting was superb, don’t get me wrong, and he absolutely got what he deserved. Honestly, that entire family needed burning. I HATED them.

But I would’ve much rather had more time at the end to properly wrap up the characters we’d spent the entire drama following. Instead, we basically got some flashbacks and a very quick conclusion.

So yes, the ending was underwhelming.

I wanted a tighter, more satisfying wrap-up. Give me more of the leads. Give me their happily ever after. Give me some time to actually breathe after spending the entire drama watching these people suffer and destroy everyone around them for revenge.

But overall, I still think Spring of the Blade is a really enjoyable drama.

Is the revenge plot groundbreaking? No.

Does it bring something completely new to the table? Not really.

But does it need to?

It gave me a revenge story I genuinely enjoyed, great chemistry, amazing cinematography, gorgeous costumes, very good acting, interesting characters, and a story that kept me entertained enough to binge the entire thing without getting bored.

It’s not perfect. It has plot holes, some characters deserved better development or harsher consequences, the male lead’s revenge desperately needed more exploration, and the ending could’ve been much stronger.

But none of that changes the fact that I had a genuinely good time watching it.

If you love revenge dramas and don’t need romance to dominate the entire story, I would definitely recommend it.

The rating seriously does NOT reflect how enjoyable this drama actually is.