I've got 3 episodes left and the twist in Episode 20 was a WOW. Listen people, I know this looks like a Chinese CW show but you REALLY have to give this one a try. The charm is THRU THE ROOF.
I enjoyed this show but got a little lost at the end. Can someone who's seen this answer a question please?
(If you haven't completed the series, stop here because spoiler below.)
Okay, at the end, Lin hands herself over to the authorities for (her illegal activity), but I wasn't quite sure what the judgment/punishment was? My wife believes that instead of prison she was sent to a psychological hospital and was also (essentially) put on probation for some years. Was that it or was it something else? Thanks to the person who answers this for us.
I liked the first half more than the second one. By the end I felt dizzy. Too fast, did not feel attached to the…
Nailed it Laura. When the characters planted a sword and transported up and away, at first I thought Star Trek. The next morning I was like, no, that's a video game thing. And then I was like, wait, this entire film feels like an adapted video game... to please gamers. It 'explained' the pace to me, but like you -- way WAY too much 'shiny keys' action.
lol I'm not going to rewatch anytime soon because I'm catching up on all things Zhou Xun. Just saw LAST LETTER and it was pretty good... but it kinda started her storyline but then moved onto others... bait and switch... in that ultimately she was a supporting character in an ensemble. More coherent than MING, though.
This is one of those rare stories that both has one... and yet doesn't. I'd describe this a surreal noir in color. Worth seeing if a Zhou Xun fan but only for the curiosity of it.
Having seen my first Ann Hui film (Our Time Will Come) I eager awaited this film. I dove on it when it appeared on YouTube. In general I was disappointed.
It was like all sorts of interesting characters were in place and yet the director seemed too timid and disorganized to do much of anything with them.
It felt like a first draft of an Art House picture. Art House movies often 'explore' things. And think that's okay. It isn't. Exploring means you never wrote a proper script and so you're just wandering around shooting pretty people in pretty places. Hoping something of value comes of it.
The premise was really simple. A girl desperate to complete her education moves in her with 'Madam' Aunt who connects her to an old nice enough Sugar Daddy. Meanwhile she falls for a Playboy who warns her not to get to attached to him. Oh and the Madam has an interest in the Playboy and resents the girl for stealing his attention.
To me that's the first act. A first act must end a quarter into the story. It takes 56 minutes to get this all set up, which explains why the movie is 2.5 hours long. It takes this long because there are extra characters this story doesn't need.
The student the Madam takes an interest in? Goes nowhere. And what IN THE WORLD was the amazing Janine Chang doing in this story, playing an unflattering and worse unnecessary character? These two characters ate up screen time that should have been given to the Sugar Daddy's relationship with the girl -- that almost kept entirely off screen.
This mess of a first act lead the story nowhere. The girl is outright warned by Eddie not to get too attached to him, she does it anyway -- and her heart gets broken away. A braver screenplay would have revealed that the Madam was sleeping with him all along.
This could have been a story about pimp and ho. Meaning the Madam informs the girl to abandon her studies and be the 'ho' to Sugar Daddy. That THIS is how life works and you can't romanticize your way out of it with Eddie because the, the Playboy, is really the owned Plaything of the Madam.
I mean that's what this story ultimately was about, right? As Tina Turner said, "What's love got to do with it?" And that, by the by, is one depressing message to sell... but LOVE AFTER LOVE fails to sell it properly.
Sorry but this is a masterpiece. I don't even like this genre and it was the one of the best I've ever seen. I'll give it a 9.3 because there were some extra silly spots (too silly) and one impossibly fast recovery of a wounded person (even for something this cartoonish). Otherwise WOW.
A very well made production. Instead of one hero and one villain, all the people of the village were our heroes and the Japanese are collective villain. This made the film feel longer than it was. The acting was great. Amazes me how many wonderful Chinese actresses there are.
I wish there were more Chinese dramas this well done, with an amazing script, mature actors, beautiful costumes,…
If you can believe it I found it see Joan Chen.. only to be tricked. But then I was thrilled to see the 'secondary wife' from LAST EMPEROR playing the Dowager!
Just finished watching this, and this show is AMAZING. I wonder why its kinda underrated compared to story of…
It's my understand ing that Yanxi aired first. And I suspect people got so attached to those actors playing those roles they simply couldn't switch to a whole new set of actors.
I suspect this because Zhou Xun IS Ruyi, to me. To invest myself in this show as I have means I won't simply move to a similar show anytime soon. And I seriously doubt you can top this cast.
I know you asked a year ago but I feel that strongly about it.
I'm 57 years old. I've watched a LOT of quality television but very little Chinese dramas. In fact RUYI was my first. I was hoping it was a show starring Joan Chen, lol, who I've missed since Twin Peaks. I'm on episode 79 and here's few thoughts I'd like to share --
1. This show, not even complete, is already #9 in my Top Ten Hour Long Drams list EVER. The original Star Trek is #1. The Columbo movies, The Prisoner, Twin Peaks, Downton Abbey are near the top. Recent shows Stranger Things, Bates Motel, and Tales from The Loop are also there. Ruyi was #10 but I realized it was so damn engaging and epic it nudged The Crown down a notch. Some would say The Crown is a far better quality series, and that would be true, but Ruyi is simply more addictive and engaging. Meaning if I had to burn one series to save the other for a second watch, I'd burn The Crown.
2. This show has flipped my American household upside down. We watch is 3 times a week. Monday and Wednesday and Saturday morning are 'Ruyi' days. (We do not believe in watching faster than that or you can't spend a day or two absorbing what just happened.) Only when we rewatched Downton Abbey was it twice a week or so.
3. This series has inspired us to watch other movies with these leads. We've been devouring anything we can find with Zhou Xun. We're also Janine Chang fans. One movie turned us into an Eddie Peng fan. We even watch little scrappy movies from actors we don't know. And we've already phased in MISSING PERSONS so that when Ruyi ends we can still see two of the actresses from Ruyi. Plus we have Rebel Princess on deck and some drama Zhou Xun did as well. We LOVE it all.
4. As much as I hated Xin Zhi Lei's character -- she is an epic actress with global potential. The people that own the Bond franchise should create a China double agent character for her. I'm not kidding. And I think the movies should be in Chinese with subtitles.
5. Since YouTube knows I'm watching this stuff and that I like to cook, it nudged Chef Mandy in my face. I now no longer need to order Chinese food out. The recipes are straight-forward and the results are just WOW. Her Channel is SOUPED UP RECIPES.
6. I can't tell you how little I care if RUYI'S ROYAL LOVE is accurate. Never EVER let the truth get in the way of a good story. The writing, direction, acting, casting, staging, design, costumes, music are EXTRAORDINARY. And I get they're doing all this on a kind of soap opera budget. It's like where a cheesy soap meets the budget of THE LAST EMPEROR.
7. If you've watched a ton of Palace dramas and feel this is nothing special -- you're wrong.
1 
(If you haven't completed the series, stop here because spoiler below.)
Okay, at the end, Lin hands herself over to the authorities for (her illegal activity), but I wasn't quite sure what the judgment/punishment was? My wife believes that instead of prison she was sent to a psychological hospital and was also (essentially) put on probation for some years. Was that it or was it something else? Thanks to the person who answers this for us.
It was like all sorts of interesting characters were in place and yet the director seemed too timid and disorganized to do much of anything with them.
It felt like a first draft of an Art House picture. Art House movies often 'explore' things. And think that's okay. It isn't. Exploring means you never wrote a proper script and so you're just wandering around shooting pretty people in pretty places. Hoping something of value comes of it.
The premise was really simple. A girl desperate to complete her education moves in her with 'Madam' Aunt who connects her to an old nice enough Sugar Daddy. Meanwhile she falls for a Playboy who warns her not to get to attached to him. Oh and the Madam has an interest in the Playboy and resents the girl for stealing his attention.
To me that's the first act. A first act must end a quarter into the story. It takes 56 minutes to get this all set up, which explains why the movie is 2.5 hours long. It takes this long because there are extra characters this story doesn't need.
The student the Madam takes an interest in? Goes nowhere. And what IN THE WORLD was the amazing Janine Chang doing in this story, playing an unflattering and worse unnecessary character? These two characters ate up screen time that should have been given to the Sugar Daddy's relationship with the girl -- that almost kept entirely off screen.
This mess of a first act lead the story nowhere. The girl is outright warned by Eddie not to get too attached to him, she does it anyway -- and her heart gets broken away. A braver screenplay would have revealed that the Madam was sleeping with him all along.
This could have been a story about pimp and ho. Meaning the Madam informs the girl to abandon her studies and be the 'ho' to Sugar Daddy. That THIS is how life works and you can't romanticize your way out of it with Eddie because the, the Playboy, is really the owned Plaything of the Madam.
I mean that's what this story ultimately was about, right? As Tina Turner said, "What's love got to do with it?" And that, by the by, is one depressing message to sell... but LOVE AFTER LOVE fails to sell it properly.
I suspect this because Zhou Xun IS Ruyi, to me. To invest myself in this show as I have means I won't simply move to a similar show anytime soon. And I seriously doubt you can top this cast.
I know you asked a year ago but I feel that strongly about it.
1. This show, not even complete, is already #9 in my Top Ten Hour Long Drams list EVER. The original Star Trek is #1. The Columbo movies, The Prisoner, Twin Peaks, Downton Abbey are near the top. Recent shows Stranger Things, Bates Motel, and Tales from The Loop are also there. Ruyi was #10 but I realized it was so damn engaging and epic it nudged The Crown down a notch. Some would say The Crown is a far better quality series, and that would be true, but Ruyi is simply more addictive and engaging. Meaning if I had to burn one series to save the other for a second watch, I'd burn The Crown.
2. This show has flipped my American household upside down. We watch is 3 times a week. Monday and Wednesday and Saturday morning are 'Ruyi' days. (We do not believe in watching faster than that or you can't spend a day or two absorbing what just happened.) Only when we rewatched Downton Abbey was it twice a week or so.
3. This series has inspired us to watch other movies with these leads. We've been devouring anything we can find with Zhou Xun. We're also Janine Chang fans. One movie turned us into an Eddie Peng fan. We even watch little scrappy movies from actors we don't know. And we've already phased in MISSING PERSONS so that when Ruyi ends we can still see two of the actresses from Ruyi. Plus we have Rebel Princess on deck and some drama Zhou Xun did as well. We LOVE it all.
4. As much as I hated Xin Zhi Lei's character -- she is an epic actress with global potential. The people that own the Bond franchise should create a China double agent character for her. I'm not kidding. And I think the movies should be in Chinese with subtitles.
5. Since YouTube knows I'm watching this stuff and that I like to cook, it nudged Chef Mandy in my face. I now no longer need to order Chinese food out. The recipes are straight-forward and the results are just WOW. Her Channel is SOUPED UP RECIPES.
6. I can't tell you how little I care if RUYI'S ROYAL LOVE is accurate. Never EVER let the truth get in the way of a good story. The writing, direction, acting, casting, staging, design, costumes, music are EXTRAORDINARY. And I get they're doing all this on a kind of soap opera budget. It's like where a cheesy soap meets the budget of THE LAST EMPEROR.
7. If you've watched a ton of Palace dramas and feel this is nothing special -- you're wrong.