Definitely Not for me, should've dropped ?
I regret finishing this even with fast forwarding and skipping the eps.I was definitely not the intended audience for this show- the young and ignorant me might have enjoyed this show.
I did like the relationship both characters had with their roommates and friends with Song zhi. It highlighted her naivety and showed her as a college girl with dreams and passion- and both did look cute together. Song zhi and Song yan's interactions were soo hilarious.
This show was not for me.
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Exquisite cinematography, well developed characters & a satisfying end.
HOLY LORD I'M TOTALLY OBSESSED WITH THIS SHOW!!I love the depth, the schemes, the mystery of the plot but even more so the cinematography is epic-
Usually it takes me a few eps to be hooked by the show but here episode one enthralled me soo strongly, it does take a slight dive after the initial high but after that the quality & consistency of the characters remains the same throughout until the final conflict- it was weird seeing them trusting the emperor despite hs past transgressions and also very hard to believe that they'd let their hard work go naught and have fallback plan thankfully that didn't happen, it was along the lines of fooling the audience, artfully done in my opinion.
Also loved the story of the ex husband & his loverhow it first showed that people do change, how upbringing and environment affects people, i really enjoyed watching their arc.
This show had a really competent plot, an amazing cast, with brilliant acting, great fighting sequences and ofc the amazing cinematography.
The ending ngl this one had by far the most fulfilling ending instead of just the usual 10 minutes of happily ever after this one had a lot- and seeing Song Mo & Dou Zhao being the tired parents of a kid with boundless energy and rejoicing when she goes to school was soo hilarious and the best!
This show is a MUST WATCH!!
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This review may contain spoilers
A potentially riveting show that fell prey to misunderstandings and clichés.
This show is one that I kinda watched out of spite because of how gravely disappointed I was with everything that went down after the initial few episodes.I was hooked by the charming & intelligent general whose strategy in times of unrest were rivaling that of our male protagonist and despite them being on the opposite ends, both vying for the same power they were forced to cooperate-? How cool was that??
They both were giving the vibes of fighting with tooth and nail without ceding an inch and the chemistry between the secondary couple was also really cute BUT....That's where everything started to go downhill and in the end it became a landslide that buried a potentially amazing story to cliches, dog blood and characters doing extremely illogical things out of "love" but the thing was the Li Ni & Ayin from the initial episodes would never let go of their interests even n the face of their feelings, they'd be vigilant towards each other and would be scheming behind each others back!
The thing was they caught feelings wayy too fast and after that came the usual MISUNDERSTANDINGS--Utterly absurd!
The antagonists in this show survived for so long just because of the misunderstandings between the main characters- they were extremely 2D, lacking any depth and their motive was what- LOVE? Like babes are we fr??
I hate when female antagonists are reduced to baseless caricatures lacking any intellect and losing everything for the sake of love and just to push forward the romance line of the main characters aka becomes the spices for drama
the same case was for the second male lead, the absurdity of everything really made me wanna yank my hair out- the political plot was also sidelined for the romance which well was ofc hopeless.
The ending-??? Whyyy???Her jumping out of the coffin was..ugh not fun at all.
Overall,
A Slower burn with more time for the feelings to develop & marinate, less misunderstandings, antagonists with logical motives, more about them surviving the political uprising together would've made this show a much better experience.
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This review may contain spoilers
He's problematic (Unhinged~). She knows it. I know it. Still ATE IT UP!
• This show was a really good time for me, it messed up multiple times however the good scenes had me obsessed!• MU QINGYAN (ML)
I love my characters a lil' crazy and Mu Qingyan was an embodiment of that and also I was really into his Green tea behaviour and the way he was acting all pitiful, he was so good at it, that at moments I couldn't tell where his (Mu Qingyan's) acting began and where his actual feelings lay.
He was extreme, making decisions for her, manipulating her and everyone around him for his benefit, single mindedly focused on his revenge but all that was understandable due to him being a demonic art practitioner and backstory (I..might be excusing him 😅)
He does seem too emotionless, lil' wooden dare I say only exhibiting extreme emotions like jealousy, hate & anger strongly.. I'd like to believe that it was a character setting rather than a performance flaw.
• CAI ZHAO (FL)
Now.. another thing that I loved about this was CAI ZHAO, Our FL. It might be because I came from Youthful Glory, I found the FL to be more assertive, strong and intelligent.
I loved how her longing and feelings for him were really palpable instead of being subtle and understated.
Her subsequent actions of supporting him despite her principles was really charming.
She was really clear about her feelings towards Qingyan and everybody else...I loved how she clearly rejected the SML, and loved his confession too - it was soo respectful towards her, and him being her friend later on...I dare say, this is the few times where I'm not tormented by the SML, I genuinely liked his arc of falling in love with her despite it being unrequited.
• MQY pretending to be a dodder flower clinging to her for support was so peak 😂 and loved how she believed in him a lot, saved him many times and also look at this quote🫴 -!!
✨"I'll use every possible way to save you. If I cannot save you, I will help you fulfill your wishes, If you want Revenge, I'll help you take revenge."✨
• Supporting Cast were really cool too, I love a reformed villain tho in this case she was mostly a cannon fodder, also love women supporting each other!! I really liked how many female characters not just the FL were strong, or overcame their initial challenges to become a better version, saved the world and all, Su was 'always courting death' which was veryyy naive(I'm being polite here) and acted impulsively however she reformed without losing her initial naivety- became more stable and I really liked it.
• Pacing - really awful. Tho I was hooked by the initial chapters but then the journey till chapter 10 was perilous at best, the pacing was off, where the story is going wasn't making any sense, evrything felt quite all over the place.
I was considering dropping the show had it not been for the fact that I was too curious about Cai Zhao's aunt and also MLs dad was played by Li Yunrui (Blossom).
It didn't help that the editing was also not fun.
• The Generation to Generation thing- I love a plot that involves multiple stories, timelines so it didn't feel messy or too much for me at all. The past of the previous generation aka the parents, aunts/ uncles and their friends was deeply entertaining!
• PLOT
Uh..now the entirety of it was . The antagonist's identity left no mystery, and the motives were quite shallow too...and the ending on how MQY got well is also really glossed over.
This show definitely had the potential to be far more compelling with a stronger antagonist, reasonable motivations, and more mystery.
VISUALS
Action sequences were absolutely gorgeous, the CGIs, special effects were so breathtaking.
🫴✨ Overall ✨
This drama messes up with skewed pacing, bad editing and weak antagonists, with questionable plot choices.
But despite it all, it just hits the right spot for me.
I love My Qingyan's manipulation, acting as a dodder flower, the extremity of his character and Cai Zhao's clarity in feelings towards Qingyan, towards SML and her giving up everything for him- supporting him with his revenge ( aka his sole goal in life, his reason for trying to survive so hard)
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FL gambled with her Intelligence and lost. A compelling start to a very tragic downfall.
Ugh. I'm so disappointed with this show like it had the perfect opportunity to have a compelling story, filled with tension (cuz the chemistry between leads was 🔥) and high stakes but unfortunately it fell prey to the cliches- be it amnesia or the so called incredibly strong antagonists losing their brain and doing incredibly stupid things so that the leads could catch them.VISUALS
Incredible costumes, amazing setting and really nice cinematography.
CASTING
Amazing. All the actors really fit the characters well, Shen Zaiye looked like an incredibly shrewd minister who doesn't even deem the princess worthy enough to match him, and a princess who had escaped her cage, and now must try to carve out the life she deserves while trying to protect her brother.
Look, the premise was so incredibly promising - the show itself isn't all that bad, but pretty generic and full of cliches.
The initial episodes till the cliff scene or even before that are totally worth watching the rest can be skipped, fast forwarded.
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Sweet and incredibly cute, it really healed my soul and changed my views of modern cdrama.
I donno what crack they put in this show but I WAS Blown away!! I was giggling, swooning over soo bad.• The story in itself was nothing special, even a bit bland plot wise... But this was more about Nie Xiguang's journey to improving herself and reaching new heights in romance and career both.
• LIN YUSEN (ML)
Lin Yusen is THE Soulmate material. He loved her but waited for her patiently, told her to not be burdened by his feelings, always supported her, trusted her.
But he's not the cold, broody generic ML though on first impression he does seem so but as we get to know more of him, him teasing her, his hobbies all shine through pointing towards the presence of his personality!!
He's her mentor, friend, confidant, support- the ever present shore where she can rest on.
• ROMANCE
Their relationship development was amazing - it had this subtle sensuality to it while also being incredibly cute, they became close confidants, friends and then lovers, this slow and gradual progression gave the show it's unique charm.
I also didn't mind the initial few episodes which were about Xiguang's life in college, her past with THE crush (also eww man, you're gross for what you did), because it actually gave us insight into her character.
• VISUALS
As if the story wasn't cute & healing enough, the visual storytelling is done so well.... it's like being in a museum surrounded by beautiful artifacts without feeling overwhelmed because each artifact stands out on its own, telling it's story...a bit convoluted (meaning: everything is really gorgeous, but it doesn't feel too much)
The color grading followed this cotton candy kind of theme (incredibly sweet) like the story itself and I loved it.
• ENDING
This one had THE best ending I've ever seen in a Cdrama!! The way everything was tied up together so nicely with a bow, and the baby daughter..? So cute!!
It's Exemplary. That's the kind of ending I deserve from every show.
• Generally not into modern C dramas as I get bored easily with them, and the power imbalance induced by boss & employee relationship is not my cup of tea (tho here, its not a boss employee, but still a workplace romance, she's a novice at her job which leads towards power imbalance, but it doesn't happen). And this one changed my opinion, I really enjoyed this soo much.
Totally recommended.
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Visually Stunning with a weird end that left me hanging for closure.
I'm telling yall I picked this up because of Tian Xiwei and also she kicked her suitor off the window in ep 1 and I was all in for this gorgeous woman.FL is the empress's sister, a county princess who is an old maid, unruly & frivolous and our ML is calm and composed celestial master trying to find the truth about his parents death...it was all really fun but i lost interest very quickly maybe because i felt the stakes were not high enough..?The stakes were high- but the lighthearted tone somehow contradicted it I guess.
My inexplicable dislike might be due to the fact that i'm really done with nonchalant, emotionally inexpressive men and ML's emotions were shown quite subtle ofc due to his character, his feelings were like slowly simmering beneath still water.
I also genuinely dislike when antagonists do the bad deed due to their obsession with the main character and it's really hard to achieve nicely.
Minor villain (Mr. Changming's motivations weren't clear enough).
But I absolutely loved Snake Lord & Mei Si together (A very CHALANT MAN HERE!!) and Xuan Hui- oh boy they were soo cute together. I love love Snake Lord sm, like My lady's calm, composed, intelligent and just totally amazing ofc im gonna love her.
The ending was cute (the last 10 mins only!!- the body exchange part, the rest was atrociously unlikable)
Overall, a fun show with amazing special effects that fit in seamlessly, really nice editing and cinematography really suited the tone of the show. I liked it, it was visually appealing but there was something about the story and plot that just wasn't for me.
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Striking Visuals, No Misunderstandings, Clear Communication, strong female lead- A drama done well!
What I really liked about this show was the Female Lead, and ANY show that does its female characters well is a great show.The initial episodes really had the high energy, tension, intrigue that was tantalising though the middle part got muddled through, a little draggy even but there were moments that made me really stick to and complete the show.
Not strictly enemies to lovers as marketed but the strong dislike between the leads due to their original roles/ duties were clearly palpable and carried out really well by the actors.
I really liked the casting and acting of the characters especially with Fu Yuxiao, Li Qin really brought this red clad general to life, she was absolutely the formidable general one who's capable, composed and intelligent.
I also loved how the characters were really consistent to their original goals & ideals. Ml doesn't end up becoming the emperor but instead left the governance to his sister. (love women in power)
They also have the most equal relationship. She literally lashed him back so they could be even to cooperate, the chemistry absolutely fire. They both experience betrayal together, help each other through the grief, protect each other and COMMUNICATE, NO MISUNDERSTANDING, He ALWAYS asks for her opinion and help cuz she's his partner.
Also I kinda didn't mind how the second couple went-? Loved the Princess's arc (possibly a villain arc but she was just collecting the dues) And the chemistry between her & the emperor was absolutely divine- he needed to be useful, to be worth enough for someone to ask for his help and she wanted her revenge. I loved how she went from this naive & sheltered Lil princess who thought she can fix him to scheming and using all her wits for revenge.
The Emperor was cunning, but also a philander in ways the contradiction in itself made him interesting, loved this arc, kinda saved the show as it went through the draggyness.
I was totally expecting more depth into the alliance and how it'll affect the main plot, kinda felt that it was underutilised.
💌 In conclusion-
The show is totally watch worthy with strong female character who's a general and behaves like one,ML who's kind, understanding ISN'T GRUMPY OR BROODY, CLEAR COMMUNICATION, NO BREAKUP, NO MISUNDERSTANDING, HE ENDING. Also doesn't help that the action scenes and visuals were absolutely gorgeous.
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Warm Comfortable kindof drama
Cute & Charming with a female character that's resilient, persistent and really strong. ML is also soo cute but has his own flaws that he actively tries to workout and they both encourage each other to be a better version of themselves- I really loved that, aside to that tho...the story is pretty mild, can be used as a palate cleanser but the plot in itself does not leave anything much to say...tho the journey is really beautiful.The secondary couple? Initially it was a no no noo for me but the SFL was really rational and charming so much so that I really came to enjoy her story too.
Overall a really fulfilling and fun ride!
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A show that really delivered whats promised +Intelligent & cunning FL!
STRONG FEMALE CHARACTER!! Ahh hell yess!To everyone who recommended this to me? may your hands never sweat during a handshake, may you never bump your elbows into sharp corners.
💖"I love him. I'd give everything for him if he wins I'll be there beside him if he loses I'll fall with him." 💖
My fav part of this story was Manman and it will always remain so, because the way she used her intellect for the survival of her family, or the people- it really showed that women of that time whose only power came from beauty and their wit which they used to subtly manipulate things in their favour- It just amazing.
Also the enemies to lovers with her being the enemy's daughter was real and I loved how Wei shou's conflict about his feelings towards her was shown- and the chemistry was absolutely decadent.
I loved the casting, acting and the visual detail that went into the show because the setting was gorgeous, the camera language changed according to the main characters emotions, the darkly gothic scenes during their enemies stage, the soft tone as they fall for each other was gorgeous. I love everything sm!!
Love the side characters so much, also the antagonists were not dumb at ALL. (A Rarity that makes this show epic!!)
One of the best historical dramas I've watched!
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