9
36
1
This review may contain spoilers
First Arc Stronger Than Second
Picked this up on a whim as a lot of the cast was familiar to me and I wanted to see an ancient crime solving drama. The storyline seemed to hold up for the first arc. Unfortunately, the second one was much weaker and the ending was sort of left on its own.
Pros: I enjoyed very much the chemistry between the FL and the SML and this had to be one of the stronger second male lead syndromes from a show that I probably had in a very long time if ever. I would have to say the ML had a good heart, but for the entire first arc was a spoiled manchild that you just wanted to throw away. The storyline was pretty good. I liked the strange cases that they all had to solve and how that little yamen became like a little family and they all took care of each other. The FL had a very rough childhood and didn't remember a lot of it, but she was very strong and very smart and relied on herself a lot sometimes a little too much because she had no fighting skills and would get herself into situations that she needed others help, but because she was stubborn, she wouldn't ask until unfortunately it was either too late or someone had to run in and rescue her.
This was another show which focused on women essentially being nothing more than window dressing, but with an FL that was strong and capable, and willing to do anything and everything it took to regain her freedom, even when it seemed impossible. I really liked that about her a lot. The other characters (other than the leads; even LW grew on you towards the second arc) that I enjoyed were the rest of the yamen crew, 2nd and 3rd Qi brothers, LS (kid couldn't read the room to save his life but was funny), JMC though tragic as her life was.
Cons: I have to mention the FL in the cons as well because I feel that she was miscast in this role. The actress herself is 32 years old and she's supposed to play someone who's 18 and a virgin. Most of it was very unbelievable. It was obvious that she was very intelligent and could get herself and other people out of situations that an 18-year-old usually would not be able to. I had seen the actress previously in a modern SWAT military type thing and she did a great job there. Here I felt that she was emotionless even when she smiled or cried, her face didn't move that much and when she was angry, other than raising her voice, it didn’t translate. I think that it could've been handled better.
I also didn't feel any romantic connection between her and the ML even after everything was explained and done and we understood why she couldn't be with SML or vice versa but the whiplash of her emotions from SML to ML was instant almost and was very unbelievable. They had enough episodes to make it better and flesh it out in a way that would make sense for the audience.
Most of this was in the second arc, which was very weak, especially where all of the antagonists were concerned I didn't feel like any of the antagonists were believable or people you could legitimately hate as antagonists, other than the obsessed creep QY. On top of that, said obsessed creep wasn't even given a proper death. He just fell into fire; you could call it symbolic, considering that he was the one who killed her parents through fire, but I felt he needed to suffer more. What he did throughout the entire show was just too disgusting to have him end so quickly. Furthermore, the other two antagonists were given ridiculously light sentences. Just because LW showed that her father could be reformed. Meanwhile, her father was essentially responsible for the deaths of over 250 people and multiple communities starving. Furthermore, the ML was punished for trying to save people. It did not make any sense to me. The end was almost deflated, felt a lot like the directors just threw their hands in the air and said "let's just end it however and call it a day" which was sad and the entire second arc brought the score down for me.
Would I recommend it? Honestly, if you want something simple to watch without investing emotions into it, this is a good show.
Pros: I enjoyed very much the chemistry between the FL and the SML and this had to be one of the stronger second male lead syndromes from a show that I probably had in a very long time if ever. I would have to say the ML had a good heart, but for the entire first arc was a spoiled manchild that you just wanted to throw away. The storyline was pretty good. I liked the strange cases that they all had to solve and how that little yamen became like a little family and they all took care of each other. The FL had a very rough childhood and didn't remember a lot of it, but she was very strong and very smart and relied on herself a lot sometimes a little too much because she had no fighting skills and would get herself into situations that she needed others help, but because she was stubborn, she wouldn't ask until unfortunately it was either too late or someone had to run in and rescue her.
This was another show which focused on women essentially being nothing more than window dressing, but with an FL that was strong and capable, and willing to do anything and everything it took to regain her freedom, even when it seemed impossible. I really liked that about her a lot. The other characters (other than the leads; even LW grew on you towards the second arc) that I enjoyed were the rest of the yamen crew, 2nd and 3rd Qi brothers, LS (kid couldn't read the room to save his life but was funny), JMC though tragic as her life was.
Cons: I have to mention the FL in the cons as well because I feel that she was miscast in this role. The actress herself is 32 years old and she's supposed to play someone who's 18 and a virgin. Most of it was very unbelievable. It was obvious that she was very intelligent and could get herself and other people out of situations that an 18-year-old usually would not be able to. I had seen the actress previously in a modern SWAT military type thing and she did a great job there. Here I felt that she was emotionless even when she smiled or cried, her face didn't move that much and when she was angry, other than raising her voice, it didn’t translate. I think that it could've been handled better.
I also didn't feel any romantic connection between her and the ML even after everything was explained and done and we understood why she couldn't be with SML or vice versa but the whiplash of her emotions from SML to ML was instant almost and was very unbelievable. They had enough episodes to make it better and flesh it out in a way that would make sense for the audience.
Most of this was in the second arc, which was very weak, especially where all of the antagonists were concerned I didn't feel like any of the antagonists were believable or people you could legitimately hate as antagonists, other than the obsessed creep QY. On top of that, said obsessed creep wasn't even given a proper death. He just fell into fire; you could call it symbolic, considering that he was the one who killed her parents through fire, but I felt he needed to suffer more. What he did throughout the entire show was just too disgusting to have him end so quickly. Furthermore, the other two antagonists were given ridiculously light sentences. Just because LW showed that her father could be reformed. Meanwhile, her father was essentially responsible for the deaths of over 250 people and multiple communities starving. Furthermore, the ML was punished for trying to save people. It did not make any sense to me. The end was almost deflated, felt a lot like the directors just threw their hands in the air and said "let's just end it however and call it a day" which was sad and the entire second arc brought the score down for me.
Would I recommend it? Honestly, if you want something simple to watch without investing emotions into it, this is a good show.
Was this review helpful to you?
