I called it early and the show didn't let us down. For those of us who love a more historically grounded period show, this was a gift. Most C dramas these days are largely trope driven but this one is perhaps one of the more character driven shows to get come out this year. Well-constructed antagonists as well as wonderful but flawed protagonists.
In the end the Yu family were their own worst enemy. Evil is not the absence of good per se but the corruption of the good. They took every virtue and exploited it for their own purposes. How much evil was perpetrated in the name of filial piety in this show?! Not just by them too. Overreach and greed was their undoing. They couldn't stop or help themselves so in the end they had to be stopped. They were powerful and in the end that power destroyed them from within first. The cracks were already showing with their only progeny -- an utter disappointment from start to finish. I disagree with Tingyun when she says that Lady Yu was just an ornament for her husband. Lady Yu loved being at the centre of everything and in control of her pawns. She was addicted to power as much as her husband and wasn't afraid to use it in service of transcient wealth and glory.
I think this drama (TRTS) is overrated and overpraised. I can't even enjoy it from the middle until the end. This…
Different tastes I imagine. For me Pursuit of Jade was good for about 15 episodes and then it became mediocre in the middle. The last 10 episodes were an absolute mess. The political stuff was written by a child.
I'm torn between who is more ridiculous -- Father Fu or Yu Jingxiu. Dad feels like he just stepped out of a Jane Austen novel as a pompous figure to be mercilessly mocked and ridiculed. Cutting his nose to spite his face. What idiot airs his family's dirty laundry in public? Another man elevated above his capability. Yu Jingxiu is turning into a joke. A tantrum-throwing toddler who is upset because he can't get that shiny new toy. He has had everything handed to him on a silver platter. But maybe that's the problem. He's been overindulged into oblivion.
I will hold my praise until the whole drama is completed. I praised Royal Betrothal at the beginning (and many…
The difference is I didn't like Royal Betrothal from the first couple of episodes. It didn't impress me at all. Didn't give me that "must watch" feeling. Didn't care for the female protagonist either.
So far this is one of the better written C dramas I've seen this year. It takes the subject matter seriously and the character motivations are well threaded into the plotting. Everybody is scheming to some degree or another even if they think they're above all that.
Yu Jingxiu is certainly a hypocrite. He's the quite the schemer too. Quite manipulative and very willing to throw a woman's reputation under the bus if it suits him. Whether he knows it or not, he is his mother's son. It's also interesting how Fan Yake is turning out. She really knows how to push Jingxiu's buttons and get what she wants out of him. Her inferiority complex also makes her misread Mrs Yu's intentions and consistently frames herself as a victim.
I love heist shows especially ones invoking The Italian Job. This show is a hoot. Haven't laughed so much since Teach You a Lesson. And a contract marriage on top of that. What's not to like. Ji Sung seems to be drinking from the fountain of youth. The wedding was just... LOL. It's a refreshing take on the genre.
This turned out to be one of the better C dramas I've watched in the last two or three years. A pleasant surprise actually. Usually when I'm done with a C drama, I seldom have the urge to revisit. But this one is very charming and honestly Chen Yanyun is one of the best male leads I've seen in far too long a time. It's almost as if a lot of recent C dramas are terrified to have a good male lead lest he overshadow the female lead. But it doesn't happen here. Most things feels plausible within the set-up. These days just about every ML has a trauma or chip on his shoulder so it's refreshing to have one who is an adult, who is a thoughtful idealist and maneuvers politically without losing his principles. I wasn't acquainted with Ci Sha or Ren Min before but I've become a fan of their pairing. Honestly, I didn't think the last five episodes were that bad. Yes, the show did end abruptly but truth be told, C dramas in general are just woeful with endings. In all my years of watching C dramas, I can say confidently that this show certainly doesn't have the best ending but it's not the worst. Frankly I thought far less of the final arc of Pursuit of Jade and Veil of Shadows.
Ugh... Just when you think Ye Xian has grown up a little, he does something over-the-top stupid. She's right. He's exhausting to live with. At his core, he's a drama queen.
The leads are truly a splendid match. Such a likeable adaptable pair. The young emperor is pretty impressive too. I suppose he has a good teacher. Chen Yanyun is absolutely my favourite kind of ML. Clever, patient, able to work the big picture and play the long game. He gets Jinzhao from the word "go" and is thinking way ahead. It's a better show than I thought it might be. It's far more political (yay!) than I had expected. Politics is everywhere even at home. Nice to see Jinzhao learning to accommodate and navigate the Gu family nest of vipers with flair.
A large dollop of Taxi Driver, a dash of Mary Poppins and a sprinkle of To Sir with Love.
Three episodes in... What's really interesting and I think what's at the heart of this generally satirical show is the incentive structures which enable the school violence. It's not possible to eradicate bullying altogether but it might be easier to target the underlying problems. Certainly there are bad actors behind each case that muddy the waters but there are features of modern life and culture eg. social media that exacerbate certain tendencies.
I'm watching this because of the talented Zhou Yiran but honestly the opening episode of this drama is pretty much the set-up of the vast majority of period micro dramas featuring rebirth. 😆 In the FL's first life she married a scumbag who ends up killing her and her family. Then the rest of it is the execution of her revenge.
The pacing of Season 3 is really over all the place. It's probably the biggest problem followed by the fact that the cases aren't as intriguing or complex. Still the team work is good and I intend to keep going to the end.
Thematically, this is a much deeper and richer script than I had initially given it credit for being. Certainly more sophisticated than your average so-called idol drama. I find the gaslighting around in/justice rather fascinating. The mental gymnastics indulged by the perps and their accomplices certainly has one reeling. There's obviously a hierarchy of virtues at play and justice ranks pretty low in the scheme of things. Things like family honour/interests take precedence over everything. In the case of the Jin family, they pay lip service to talent with the Suwen Assembly but really there's a fair bit of gatekeeping going on. I felt a Mozart-Salieri moment there a la Amadeus. Poor Jin Xuewen. He certainly wasn't a paragon of virtue but the Jin family could have done a lot more to support him and Bai Yutang after the death of their parents. Their "guy", the one they handpicked for the top job was the monster they help create. He'd peaked early and lived most of his adult life knowing that he was a lesser toxicologist to his dead cousin.
Poor Bai Yutang. Being constantly gaslighted by so-called relatives. He should burn the entire place down. An institution that was created to save lives is now complicit in cover-up and murder.
4 
In the end the Yu family were their own worst enemy. Evil is not the absence of good per se but the corruption of the good. They took every virtue and exploited it for their own purposes. How much evil was perpetrated in the name of filial piety in this show?! Not just by them too. Overreach and greed was their undoing. They couldn't stop or help themselves so in the end they had to be stopped. They were powerful and in the end that power destroyed them from within first. The cracks were already showing with their only progeny -- an utter disappointment from start to finish. I disagree with Tingyun when she says that Lady Yu was just an ornament for her husband. Lady Yu loved being at the centre of everything and in control of her pawns. She was addicted to power as much as her husband and wasn't afraid to use it in service of transcient wealth and glory.
For me Pursuit of Jade was good for about 15 episodes and then it became mediocre in the middle. The last 10 episodes were an absolute mess. The political stuff was written by a child.
Yu Jingxiu is turning into a joke. A tantrum-throwing toddler who is upset because he can't get that shiny new toy. He has had everything handed to him on a silver platter. But maybe that's the problem. He's been overindulged into oblivion.
Yu Jingxiu is certainly a hypocrite. He's the quite the schemer too. Quite manipulative and very willing to throw a woman's reputation under the bus if it suits him. Whether he knows it or not, he is his mother's son. It's also interesting how Fan Yake is turning out. She really knows how to push Jingxiu's buttons and get what she wants out of him. Her inferiority complex also makes her misread Mrs Yu's intentions and consistently frames herself as a victim.
It's a refreshing take on the genre.
She, on the other hand, has wisdom beyond her years and grows even more when we get to the end of the show.
I wasn't acquainted with Ci Sha or Ren Min before but I've become a fan of their pairing.
Honestly, I didn't think the last five episodes were that bad. Yes, the show did end abruptly but truth be told, C dramas in general are just woeful with endings. In all my years of watching C dramas, I can say confidently that this show certainly doesn't have the best ending but it's not the worst. Frankly I thought far less of the final arc of Pursuit of Jade and Veil of Shadows.
It's a better show than I thought it might be. It's far more political (yay!) than I had expected. Politics is everywhere even at home. Nice to see Jinzhao learning to accommodate and navigate the Gu family nest of vipers with flair.
Three episodes in... What's really interesting and I think what's at the heart of this generally satirical show is the incentive structures which enable the school violence. It's not possible to eradicate bullying altogether but it might be easier to target the underlying problems. Certainly there are bad actors behind each case that muddy the waters but there are features of modern life and culture eg. social media that exacerbate certain tendencies.
I would say it's roughly the same percentage of period micro dramas. 😀
He's a very versatile actor with a musical theatre background.
Poor Bai Yutang. Being constantly gaslighted by so-called relatives. He should burn the entire place down. An institution that was created to save lives is now complicit in cover-up and murder.