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The Temptress and The General
As lovestories go, this was delicious.
It could be considered a love pentagon with 3 weak sides. Lu Zhou is engaged to Wei Rao- Jundai but is married to Wei Rao- A Chou because he was on his deathbed. Han Lou is a mad and ambitious man who falls for the ambition and madness he sees in Wei Rou- A Chou while Zhong Kai is the hapless 2nd male lead just here to fill the numbers I guess (but we love him still).
Achou and Jundai's fortune reverses and A Chou becomes the undisputed Wei Rao.
Lu Zhou is tempted my her strength and care for the people, which mirrors his but hers has grown without being born with a strong foundation as well as every advantage life could give you unlike him, how could he not be tempted. But he was very clear: her love for the people is real, her insaitable hunger for power, just like Jundai, which is the crux of his disgust with his origin fiancee, is even more real.
Their love story is a slow enticement of each other. Neither wants to love each other but one needs it and the other is desperate to give it. All 3 men in her reverse harem were willing dive into a scandalous love story with her but he proved he was strong enough to carry the weight of her ambitions while cradling her heart gently, while the others "players" became fodder of two person lovestory.
It is also a dark romance because she does make him walk on the darkside even though mostly keeps his principles and she doesn't trully let him commit crimes with or for her. At the end we haven't seen how far this bad romance will lead them but we do see him ready to follow her to swallow a country.
The Temptress and the General. I love it
The Script
I have to give it up for the script. Transitioning from a backhouse drama to palace intrigue drama and it doesn't seem forced or like a break in the story. It's one of the best I've seen.
It works well because the character Wei Rao doesn't get smarter or more connected magically because she's fighting palace drama now but she just looks like a person driven to madness and dragging all her tormentors with her.
She keeps winning not because she is "smarter" but because she bets big with stakes other people are unwilling to lose.
Although side characters disappear but it doesn't feel like they are forgotten but that their stories are occurring less dramatically offscreen.
All the drama plot points were smart and the resolutions didn't make the antagonist stupid just so the protagonist could win but actually smart.
Without being too obvious they gave us a sweet conflicted ambitious manipulative tended hearted and cold character. The Emperor's wet nurse, Consort Li and Wei Rao are all cut from the same cloth; they are on one hand clearly trully down to eart and caring people but they are on the other hand cold blooded manipulators willing to shamelessly trade on their looks for the upperhand. Wonderful character writing 👏👏👏
Noteworthy Performances
Tian Xi Wei performs Wei Rao by bending her head but keep her gaze upwards with malice. With Achou she keeps her head up; A Chou has a lot of inferiority-fighting pride, so she never wants to bend her head or back but Wei Rao likes to fake gentleness and pitifulness so she's always slinking and babying her voice.
Both characters are so different from what she played in POJ; I am truly impressed. They are both fundamentally not likeable persons- black to gray achetypes; compared with the lovable Chang Yu. Just looking at their face you can feel how different Achou and Wei Rao are from Chang Yu. Very impressive work by Tian Xi Wei👏👏👏👏
Dai Gao Zheng- I have seen him in a mini- cdrama and I loved to hate him then and I have loved to hate him again. He has a very attractive punchable face and he did a wonderful job with the character Han Lou.
Yan An- Wonderful to see him as the lead. He has such wonderful presence and aura. And his physique is really perfect for the role of a battle hard general (in an idol drama!?!).
It could be considered a love pentagon with 3 weak sides. Lu Zhou is engaged to Wei Rao- Jundai but is married to Wei Rao- A Chou because he was on his deathbed. Han Lou is a mad and ambitious man who falls for the ambition and madness he sees in Wei Rou- A Chou while Zhong Kai is the hapless 2nd male lead just here to fill the numbers I guess (but we love him still).
Achou and Jundai's fortune reverses and A Chou becomes the undisputed Wei Rao.
Lu Zhou is tempted my her strength and care for the people, which mirrors his but hers has grown without being born with a strong foundation as well as every advantage life could give you unlike him, how could he not be tempted. But he was very clear: her love for the people is real, her insaitable hunger for power, just like Jundai, which is the crux of his disgust with his origin fiancee, is even more real.
Their love story is a slow enticement of each other. Neither wants to love each other but one needs it and the other is desperate to give it. All 3 men in her reverse harem were willing dive into a scandalous love story with her but he proved he was strong enough to carry the weight of her ambitions while cradling her heart gently, while the others "players" became fodder of two person lovestory.
It is also a dark romance because she does make him walk on the darkside even though mostly keeps his principles and she doesn't trully let him commit crimes with or for her. At the end we haven't seen how far this bad romance will lead them but we do see him ready to follow her to swallow a country.
The Temptress and the General. I love it
The Script
I have to give it up for the script. Transitioning from a backhouse drama to palace intrigue drama and it doesn't seem forced or like a break in the story. It's one of the best I've seen.
It works well because the character Wei Rao doesn't get smarter or more connected magically because she's fighting palace drama now but she just looks like a person driven to madness and dragging all her tormentors with her.
She keeps winning not because she is "smarter" but because she bets big with stakes other people are unwilling to lose.
Although side characters disappear but it doesn't feel like they are forgotten but that their stories are occurring less dramatically offscreen.
All the drama plot points were smart and the resolutions didn't make the antagonist stupid just so the protagonist could win but actually smart.
Without being too obvious they gave us a sweet conflicted ambitious manipulative tended hearted and cold character. The Emperor's wet nurse, Consort Li and Wei Rao are all cut from the same cloth; they are on one hand clearly trully down to eart and caring people but they are on the other hand cold blooded manipulators willing to shamelessly trade on their looks for the upperhand. Wonderful character writing 👏👏👏
Noteworthy Performances
Tian Xi Wei performs Wei Rao by bending her head but keep her gaze upwards with malice. With Achou she keeps her head up; A Chou has a lot of inferiority-fighting pride, so she never wants to bend her head or back but Wei Rao likes to fake gentleness and pitifulness so she's always slinking and babying her voice.
Both characters are so different from what she played in POJ; I am truly impressed. They are both fundamentally not likeable persons- black to gray achetypes; compared with the lovable Chang Yu. Just looking at their face you can feel how different Achou and Wei Rao are from Chang Yu. Very impressive work by Tian Xi Wei👏👏👏👏
Dai Gao Zheng- I have seen him in a mini- cdrama and I loved to hate him then and I have loved to hate him again. He has a very attractive punchable face and he did a wonderful job with the character Han Lou.
Yan An- Wonderful to see him as the lead. He has such wonderful presence and aura. And his physique is really perfect for the role of a battle hard general (in an idol drama!?!).
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