Freespirit1221

It's a great romance drama. The leads have great chemistry, and a slow burn and healthy relationship, with good communication, no unnecessary long misunderstandings, temporary breakup, or toxic love triangles. A lot of little details were handled quickly and logically. I enjoyed it so much. I laughed and giggled a lot, and sometimes got emotional throughout the progress of the drama.

After a very long time, "The Prisoner of Beauty" is the second drama that I watched when it was airing, after "The Demon Hunter's Romance", also starring Song Zu Er as the female lead and it just finished airing at the end of April. Both are great dramas that I enjoyed a lot, and both have an ending that left me so empty afterwards.

Everything in this drama was great until the last few episodes. When I reached around episode 30, I got so nervous. Because there was so much sweetness until then that made me so worried about what was about to happen towards the end. There were only a few episodes left while there were still a lot of hardships they had to go through. A big war was waiting for them ahead! I got so scared of how everything was wrapped up.

The ending felt so rushed to me. Yes, it's considered a happy ending but it's also heartbreaking at the same time. It's an unsatisfying happy ending. Well, at least our leads have a happy ending ever after. None of them died or got separated. However, our other beloved characters had to die, while the endings for the villains are too light. The war happened too fast and ended so abruptly, within half of an episode. I just wish it would last a little bit longer. There should have been at least 1 or 2 more episodes! A lot of things were left unexplained and not clearly resolved.

I used to watch a lot of old Chinese dramas as a kid and teenager, but I haven’t watched so many new titles, partly because I was scared of their endings. I'm not sure why, maybe due to China's censorship or some cultural reasons or something, why do they have to build up the most lovely character ever just to kill them off at the end, leaving them a miserable half who miss them to death, every single time? I’ve watched quite a few dramas with similar endings. Oh my God! I can never get over Wei Liang's death. He is my only regret in the whole series. And they had to kill him off in the most tragic way, as an innocent lone guy being betrayed and stabbed to death while trying to bring some flowers back home to propose to his girl? That's the most cruel thing ever! His death is unnecessary too. There’s no need for him to die at all. He deserves the best, and definitely deserves a happy ending with his Xiao Tao. I laughed a lot every time he appeared. His brotherly relationship with Wei Shao and 3 other Wei generals is so beautiful, and his love story with Xiao Tao is literally the cutest thing ever. Poor my girl Xiao Tiao now is left alone in this world with a promising wedding that can never happen. Why? Just why? I really don't understand. There are a lot of ways they can keep him alive. Xiao Tao gifted him a heart-protecting mirror! Why not let that mirror save his life instead? What's the point of Xiao Tao giving that to him when it was never used?

Before I started watching this drama, the fans of the original novel had confirmed that the drama would have a 'super sweet ending for all of the characters', except for the villains obviously. And now it turned out to be a bittersweet happy ending. What's going on with Chinese screenwriters?

By the way, the music in this drama is amazing. Every song suits the scene perfectly, and stirs up my emotions a lot. I especially love the theme song performed by Liu Yuning himself. His voice is beautiful. I've downloaded the whole playlist and keep listening to the songs on repeat for now.

The acting is also great. Song Zuer and Liu Yuning nailed their roles as the leads. Others also did a good job. I didn't enjoy the second male lead's performance much at first, but he did quite well in the second half. I am also very happy to see Liu Xiao Qing here as Wei Shao's grandmother. I literally grew up with her dramas. Seeing her as a gentle loving grandmother feels interesting and a little bit strange to me, as she used to play main badass and wise female leads in my memory. I used to have a nickname that was one of her roles when I was a kid. Ho Yun Tung's cameo role as a schola is so funny too. I also grew up with his dramas. He's a talented actor. :)

I really love the message of this drama about love and marriage. Romance is the focus of this drama and it's done perfectly, as I mentioned above. The leads have a genuinely healthy relationship where they both treat each other with care and respect. There are a lot of lines in this drama that have become my favorites. One of them is the last line, which basically means that both sides need to put efforts in a husband-wife relationship so that it can last. The husband gives in to his wife, while his wife’s heart also only puts on her husband. They both give in to each other for their relationship to work. This message is also implied in the original title of the drama, which I understand as 'give in', instead of 'prisoner', based on my limited knowledge.

Seriously, if only they didn't kill off my beloved Wei Liang and gave him a happy ending with Xiao Tao, "The Prisoner of Beauty" would be 10 out of 10 for me, despite its rushed ending. I absolutely love this drama but just can't let his death slide.

Overall, even though I don't like the ending very much, I have no regrets when watching this drama. It's totally worth watching. I will definitely re-watch it.