Not my show, didn’t like FL
I’ll admit upfront that I didn’t finish this show. I watched about 25 episodes, then skimmed the rest. This was the first show I quit after a really solid effort to stick with it. You can decide if it invalidates my review, or read ahead to see why ;-)
Ultimately I think this just wasn’t a show for me. Many other people liked it, I just couldn’t quite get into it.
From the description, this show promises to be a feel-good story of female empowerment. The setting is the Song dynasty, which I believe was a bit more liberal (but don’t quote me, I can’t find the source anymore), making it possible though still difficult for women to succeed on their own.
The main couple, Zhou Pan’er and Gu Qianfan, get off to an amusing start. I liked the banter between them, legit funny at times. They get together fairly early and have a good, healthy relationship. Thanks to Song dynasty liberalism (maybe), they are able to go on many lovely dates.
At the same time, Zhou Pan’er is making her name as a teahouse owner, along with her two gal pals. They even pick up another down-on-luck girl later. It’s the perfect setting to watch these young women defeat stereotypes and rock the world. That so much of the drama simply shows Pan’er and friends overcoming daily obstacles is probably why some have called this a slice-of-life drama.
I think my main issue with the show comes from my inability to connect with the female lead. Pan’er is a capable leader who solves problems with confidence. This by itself is great; Blossoms in Adversity has a similarly capable FL doing similar things, and I really liked her. But I think Pan’er- who in the source material was, I believe, actually a courtesan- is going more for a graceful, classic-beauty persona, and I personally just did not like it that much. I tend to like down-to-earth personalities.
Liu Yifei is a veteran actress and I believe she’s very good, but somehow I just couldn’t connect with her portrayal of Zhou Pan’er. Her mouth was hanging open a bit too much. And she was doing something with her voice… this show was, I believe, not dubbed (good for them!), which means occasional audio issues. But her voice seemed to have this weird sheen on it- that was not audio issues- as if she were trying to make it sound ethereal. For the first few episodes, I thought it was really pretty, but by around episode 10 it was driving me crazy. It just felt so pretentious. I even tried it myself, to confirm that it can be done on purpose and isn’t just her natural voice.
The voice thing seems like a minor detail, but for me it combined with the rest of her “elegant and beautiful” act to make the entire thing seem pretentious. It’s definitely not what they were going for, but if you start to see the FL as putting off saintly airs, then the show becomes much less enjoyable.
As for the ML, Gu Qianfan is a great, devoted boyfriend. I seem to see these a lot in Cdramas. I like his casual style and swagger, that’s done well. What’s done less well: he is supposed to be some master fighter, but he keeps hyperextending his shoulder when swinging a sword outward. It makes his fighting look messy and weak.
Similarly, Yinzhang (already everyone’s least favorite of the sisterhood!) is supposed to be an amazing pipa player, but her nails are SO long. Although I haven’t played a pipa, I would think anyone who’s played a string instrument should know to cut their nails.
These are all quibbles, but I guess I was hyperfixated on these details because I just didn’t like the show. I noticed them right away and then couldn’t stop seeing them.
Then there’s her ex-fiancee. At the point I stopped watching, it was undetermined just how much of a scumbag he is. But up to that point I had some sympathy for him and felt her campaign against him, as well as what happens to him, was over-the-top. It seemed so artificial, like show writers wanting to give justice to all wronged women while demonstrating Pan’er’s mettle (it might also have been a plot device, I’ll grant that). The much more realistic thing would have been for her to just swallow the insult and move on with her life. It made me empathize even less with her… like, if they made me feel sorry for her, I might have liked her more, but they went the opposite way.
I liked Sanniang as well as some of the other characters, like Zhaodi and Chen Li. But at the point where I found myself sighing and rolling my eyes whenever the main character showed up, which was often, I decided to just stop watching the show.
All this aside, I do think this show is incredibly beautifully shot. The city has lots of canals, and the cinematography is just beautiful. I love the setting. So the show gets a 5 from me (which is what I give a show I’m not into), but +0.5 for the beautiful setting.
Ultimately I think this just wasn’t a show for me. Many other people liked it, I just couldn’t quite get into it.
From the description, this show promises to be a feel-good story of female empowerment. The setting is the Song dynasty, which I believe was a bit more liberal (but don’t quote me, I can’t find the source anymore), making it possible though still difficult for women to succeed on their own.
The main couple, Zhou Pan’er and Gu Qianfan, get off to an amusing start. I liked the banter between them, legit funny at times. They get together fairly early and have a good, healthy relationship. Thanks to Song dynasty liberalism (maybe), they are able to go on many lovely dates.
At the same time, Zhou Pan’er is making her name as a teahouse owner, along with her two gal pals. They even pick up another down-on-luck girl later. It’s the perfect setting to watch these young women defeat stereotypes and rock the world. That so much of the drama simply shows Pan’er and friends overcoming daily obstacles is probably why some have called this a slice-of-life drama.
I think my main issue with the show comes from my inability to connect with the female lead. Pan’er is a capable leader who solves problems with confidence. This by itself is great; Blossoms in Adversity has a similarly capable FL doing similar things, and I really liked her. But I think Pan’er- who in the source material was, I believe, actually a courtesan- is going more for a graceful, classic-beauty persona, and I personally just did not like it that much. I tend to like down-to-earth personalities.
Liu Yifei is a veteran actress and I believe she’s very good, but somehow I just couldn’t connect with her portrayal of Zhou Pan’er. Her mouth was hanging open a bit too much. And she was doing something with her voice… this show was, I believe, not dubbed (good for them!), which means occasional audio issues. But her voice seemed to have this weird sheen on it- that was not audio issues- as if she were trying to make it sound ethereal. For the first few episodes, I thought it was really pretty, but by around episode 10 it was driving me crazy. It just felt so pretentious. I even tried it myself, to confirm that it can be done on purpose and isn’t just her natural voice.
The voice thing seems like a minor detail, but for me it combined with the rest of her “elegant and beautiful” act to make the entire thing seem pretentious. It’s definitely not what they were going for, but if you start to see the FL as putting off saintly airs, then the show becomes much less enjoyable.
As for the ML, Gu Qianfan is a great, devoted boyfriend. I seem to see these a lot in Cdramas. I like his casual style and swagger, that’s done well. What’s done less well: he is supposed to be some master fighter, but he keeps hyperextending his shoulder when swinging a sword outward. It makes his fighting look messy and weak.
Similarly, Yinzhang (already everyone’s least favorite of the sisterhood!) is supposed to be an amazing pipa player, but her nails are SO long. Although I haven’t played a pipa, I would think anyone who’s played a string instrument should know to cut their nails.
These are all quibbles, but I guess I was hyperfixated on these details because I just didn’t like the show. I noticed them right away and then couldn’t stop seeing them.
Then there’s her ex-fiancee. At the point I stopped watching, it was undetermined just how much of a scumbag he is. But up to that point I had some sympathy for him and felt her campaign against him, as well as what happens to him, was over-the-top. It seemed so artificial, like show writers wanting to give justice to all wronged women while demonstrating Pan’er’s mettle (it might also have been a plot device, I’ll grant that). The much more realistic thing would have been for her to just swallow the insult and move on with her life. It made me empathize even less with her… like, if they made me feel sorry for her, I might have liked her more, but they went the opposite way.
I liked Sanniang as well as some of the other characters, like Zhaodi and Chen Li. But at the point where I found myself sighing and rolling my eyes whenever the main character showed up, which was often, I decided to just stop watching the show.
All this aside, I do think this show is incredibly beautifully shot. The city has lots of canals, and the cinematography is just beautiful. I love the setting. So the show gets a 5 from me (which is what I give a show I’m not into), but +0.5 for the beautiful setting.
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