Jane Austin's novel in a Chinese imperial setting
If you are looking for lots of fighting scenes - this drama is not for you. If you are looking for passionate love - this drama is not for you. But if you like well written scripts, consistent, logical, without plot holes, depicting complex relationships and full of interesting, engaging characters - you'll love it.
For me this drama has the vibe of 19th century novels, like Jane Austin's ones, where the background got as much attention in weaving as the main romantic story. All the secondary and tertiary characters are very well written, their actions are motivated and logical, understandable even if not justified. And most of them are not black or white but multifaceted and realistic. Even the righteous main characters are not cristalline: they are cunning and may be ruthless.
I love the pacing of the episodes 1-30: it is not fast, but very even. There are no boring streches you may find in many c-dramas (with, for example, the whole episodes of cooking and eating) and there are no avalaches of events either. The narrative develops in a steady rythm keeping you engaged the whole time.
I would've given this drama 10/10 if it ended on the episode 30. Unfortunately the producers decided to glue other six episodes with a whole new set of characters - much less engaging and "underwritten". Frankly, this whole part would be better off as the season 2 with 20 episodes that would've given them space to really develop the stories of those people.
The acting is fantastic. All the actors really delivered, portraying this little society full of realistic characters and their complex relationships.
It goes without saying that Hou Minghao's playing was - as always - impeccable. With his incredible versatility he is able to play convincingly a lowly scheming servant, and a proud ruthless official. Gulinazha was outstanding in portraying a cool-headed, intelligent and just leader of the family.
The whole cast was great, but I'd like to mention especially Zhang Nan in the masterfully played role of the blind sister, Zhao Yiqin who very convincingly portrayed his character with the unexpected twist and brilliant Li Fei (Richard Li) in the role of a villain.
For me this drama has the vibe of 19th century novels, like Jane Austin's ones, where the background got as much attention in weaving as the main romantic story. All the secondary and tertiary characters are very well written, their actions are motivated and logical, understandable even if not justified. And most of them are not black or white but multifaceted and realistic. Even the righteous main characters are not cristalline: they are cunning and may be ruthless.
I love the pacing of the episodes 1-30: it is not fast, but very even. There are no boring streches you may find in many c-dramas (with, for example, the whole episodes of cooking and eating) and there are no avalaches of events either. The narrative develops in a steady rythm keeping you engaged the whole time.
I would've given this drama 10/10 if it ended on the episode 30. Unfortunately the producers decided to glue other six episodes with a whole new set of characters - much less engaging and "underwritten". Frankly, this whole part would be better off as the season 2 with 20 episodes that would've given them space to really develop the stories of those people.
The acting is fantastic. All the actors really delivered, portraying this little society full of realistic characters and their complex relationships.
It goes without saying that Hou Minghao's playing was - as always - impeccable. With his incredible versatility he is able to play convincingly a lowly scheming servant, and a proud ruthless official. Gulinazha was outstanding in portraying a cool-headed, intelligent and just leader of the family.
The whole cast was great, but I'd like to mention especially Zhang Nan in the masterfully played role of the blind sister, Zhao Yiqin who very convincingly portrayed his character with the unexpected twist and brilliant Li Fei (Richard Li) in the role of a villain.
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