This review may contain spoilers
A Girl in the Tang Dynasty Falls Short
A Girl in the Tang Dynasty had an interesting premise, but the execution completely fell flat for me and here's why:
I remember being confused and bored for most of A Girl in Tang Dynasty but I kept watching just to see what the outcome would be. I skipped through a lot of the episodes because the pacing felt very slow and like the story was dragging without real development. The production quality started to feel cheaper as the show went on. I kept noticing the lace coming off of their wigs and other small details that made everything feel low budget and pulled me out of the story.
This show’s official plot is supposed to be about Hua Xiaofei, who hits rock bottom, falls into a coma, and in that unconscious state finds herself in a prosperous imperial city where she tries to build a business from scratch. In the capital she meets Xu Ziqi, a commander of the imperial guards who is secretly working to expose corruption involving the merchant guild. Together they gather evidence of bribery and monopoly and bring it to the Emperor, which leads to justice being served and eventually her marriage to Xu Ziqi and rise as a legendary female merchant by the end of the series.
But here’s the thing: **it never actually made sense on screen to me**. Right from the beginning it was never clearly explained how she died or why she was even in this other world, so I was left guessing. Or why Xu Ziqi suddenly loses his beard and makeup?? At times it *felt* like her ancestors were telling her things or like there was some kind of spiritual or time-travel element, but the show never actually said that in the beginning it really just comes from the coma situation, which I didn’t realize at first because it isn’t clearly portrayed. I honestly couldn’t tell if she was supposed to be dreaming, connected to her ancestors, or what was going on because it never committed to explaining it.
By the end she sort of randomly comes back to life and everyone survives their death then everything is wrapped up, which felt extremely convenient and unearned since the rules of the story weren’t set up well. Even though the premise is about her becoming a smart businesswoman and exposing corruption, it *never really felt like she successfully made money in a meaningful or satisfying way* the business stuff mostly just kind of happened without much real payoff or tension.
Overall, it felt like a stretched-out version of those low-budget short dramas with episodes that drag on, which is exactly the kind I usually avoid. The only reason I stayed until the end was because I liked Joey Chua (蔡卓宜) and Yan Xi's (冯仕吉) chemistry. I found their romance very entertaining to watch. Other than that, I found the series boring and confusing to watch.
I remember being confused and bored for most of A Girl in Tang Dynasty but I kept watching just to see what the outcome would be. I skipped through a lot of the episodes because the pacing felt very slow and like the story was dragging without real development. The production quality started to feel cheaper as the show went on. I kept noticing the lace coming off of their wigs and other small details that made everything feel low budget and pulled me out of the story.
This show’s official plot is supposed to be about Hua Xiaofei, who hits rock bottom, falls into a coma, and in that unconscious state finds herself in a prosperous imperial city where she tries to build a business from scratch. In the capital she meets Xu Ziqi, a commander of the imperial guards who is secretly working to expose corruption involving the merchant guild. Together they gather evidence of bribery and monopoly and bring it to the Emperor, which leads to justice being served and eventually her marriage to Xu Ziqi and rise as a legendary female merchant by the end of the series.
But here’s the thing: **it never actually made sense on screen to me**. Right from the beginning it was never clearly explained how she died or why she was even in this other world, so I was left guessing. Or why Xu Ziqi suddenly loses his beard and makeup?? At times it *felt* like her ancestors were telling her things or like there was some kind of spiritual or time-travel element, but the show never actually said that in the beginning it really just comes from the coma situation, which I didn’t realize at first because it isn’t clearly portrayed. I honestly couldn’t tell if she was supposed to be dreaming, connected to her ancestors, or what was going on because it never committed to explaining it.
By the end she sort of randomly comes back to life and everyone survives their death then everything is wrapped up, which felt extremely convenient and unearned since the rules of the story weren’t set up well. Even though the premise is about her becoming a smart businesswoman and exposing corruption, it *never really felt like she successfully made money in a meaningful or satisfying way* the business stuff mostly just kind of happened without much real payoff or tension.
Overall, it felt like a stretched-out version of those low-budget short dramas with episodes that drag on, which is exactly the kind I usually avoid. The only reason I stayed until the end was because I liked Joey Chua (蔡卓宜) and Yan Xi's (冯仕吉) chemistry. I found their romance very entertaining to watch. Other than that, I found the series boring and confusing to watch.
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