Final/Personal Review about Court Lady: Apology in advance for the in-between rant but it was needed and it'll be worth it.
Court Lady is a good period drama and certainly among the best historical Cdramas of 2021; but I will be honest it's the typical cdrama, excellent start, draggy middle and a 'that's it' end but way more acceptable and logical I would say. There was an unnecessary misunderstanding between the leads that lasted for too long, an unnecessary death and I believe the producers and screenwriters didn't draw out all the potential of the ML character, they also centered the drama around 'Forgiveness' so a lot of villains did not get the ending they deserved. Despite this, keep in mind that it's Xu Kai, he never gave us disappointing drama, they are either decent, good or great. Li Yitong also gave us some good dramas, it wasn't until I read her catalogue that I realized that she starred in Royal Nirvana, Bloody Romance etc... Now let's get into it, I realized that a lot of watchers quite lack a good level of maturity and open-mindedness when watching period drama because there is a lot of nonsense being said in the comments that annoyed me a lot. The title 'Court Lady' is/was self-explanatory, y'all should have seen all those potential obstacles coming. The FL is court lady and what does a court lady do? Stays in the palace most of the time and takes care of royals and their matters. I don't understand why y'all were frustrated when the 'realistic & logical' circumstances of the protagonists didn't permit them to be together 99% of the time. You can't watch 'serious' period dramas like Court Lady with a thorough modern mindset and your love for mediocre period drama, you will end up disliking it. How do you expect the FL who is a court lady and the ML who is an important military official who is in charge of guarding frontiers&cities or going to war occasionally to have as much interactions as protagonists of contemporary dramas or protagonists of mediocre period dramas that give you modern vibes when watching them? I find y'all too unreasonable ? every chance the protagonists got to meet up, they seized it, made up for the dry moments and left us satisfied till the next meet up specially with Chu Mu's shenanigans come on there was never a dull moment with them together; they also had a lot to lose so they couldn't do what they want, I thought this was quite understandable.
If you're going to watch an historical drama, be more open-minded, read or watch more about that historical period and try to project yourself back in that time to feel and understand what's happening. That's why some of y'all ended up frustrated with Court Lady, you're watching because it's your fav actor or actress in it but actually don't understand nor try to understand that cultural and historical period of their country they are trying to demonstrate us and I think it's quite disrespectful of their hard work. I suggest some y'all to start reading those historical Cnovels you will understand a lot of things better.
Some y'all said that the political plots and palace plots are boring. Of course you will find them boring because you are so used to overly cruel most of the time unrealistic evil plots of villain from barely good dramas that you can't see nor recognize more likely to happen|realistic evil plots of villains in a great dramas. This drama gave us good emotional complexity, good political game, and good plots from the protagonists and the antagonists, nothing was excessive.
Remember this drama before everything is a 'HISTORICAL' drama not a 'ROMANTIC' one, romance was just a subgenre. The real thing you was supposed to do when watching this drama, was to pay attention 99% of the time to the historical plots not the love stories of this or that character.
Some y'all even said that Court Lady cannot compare to Story of Minglan and Princess Weiyoung. Now I am flabbergasted that some of you even put Story of Minglan and Princess Weiyoung in the same sentence. SOM is top-notch drama, it's in a whole different lane, it's not comparable at all. PW is our typical barely good drama (excellent start, draggy middle and half satisfying end) it's started with an intelligent strong FL who shows she gets sh%t done then turned into a melodrama where the FL is an always damsel in distress who needs to be saved by ML. In more than 50 episodes the protagonists couldn't take a break from the villains, it was an emotional torture and a rollercoaster. I will never forget that neverending feeling of frustration when I watched PW because the plots were so damn ridiculous and unrealistic. The only scenes I loved were the end it was indeed impressing and the good moments between the protagonists but that was it. Such a disappointment to the novel.
On the contrary, SOM despite being a 73 episodes drama. There was never a dull moment nor long lasting frustrating moments. The protagonists, yes they did fall into evil plots, but they actually counterattacked. Nobody was overly naive nor victimized 99% of the time by an omnipotent all-powerful villain, literally everybody could get it. Actually Court Lady reminded me of SOM, I felt the same emotions I had when I watched SOM and I always say that any drama that reminds me of SOM is a great drama. I am not saying all period dramas should be like SOM with high IQ, lucky and strong protagonists because it will get boring even in real life people differ in personality, IQ and luck; but what I am saying is, don't take the used cliché of overly naive FL, always victimized protagonists, always omnipotent and all-powerful villains of those damned Chinese screenwriters and producers as standard when watching historical Cdramas. ?
To continue with my feedback, Court Lady also gave me vibes of Ming Dynasty (yes historically speaking it has some inconsistencies but nonetheless stays a great drama), vibes of Story of Yanxi Palace, Secret of the Three Kingdoms and The Rebel Princess. The protagonists and side characters have a good level of brain and maturity and don't make you question your intelligence. There is no overly good guys and overly bad guys, everybody (yes, the protagonists also) has actually a grey area. To me things are very logical 95% of the time when analyzing all the plots we have watched, we have the royals who reign supreme and the noble class and commoners that have to put up with them, their selfishness, their lack of consideration ect... If you take it from this perspective from the beginning, for sure you won't struggle to understand some of the situations that happened, the decisions taken and their consequences in the drama.
I am one of those people that like watching dramas that make my brain work, that make me think deeply. The political game was complexed and great. There wasn't a dull or excruciating moment, you won't be sad for too long. The protagonists are dependable, they actually fought back and it doesn't matter who you are they will get back to you (specially the ML family) wether you are a royal or a powerful minister in court, you will get it from them you're not unaccessible. The protagonists specially the ML are the living 'Try me b%tch' sentence ?. The protagonists are as smart, courageous/bold and ruthless as the antagonists. Means that are generally used by antagonists in period dramas, are actually used by the protagonists and I can say that I was surprised, I thought the protagonists will typically fight back at the end but no they fight back from the beginning to the end.
The protagonists also have self-love which is great. Sure, they are madly in love but they also care a lot about their family, their country, their success and their career. They actually want to prove to each other 'I am worthy of you'. They aren't the typical madly in love protagonists that only think about their love, start plots of missing persons dear to them and forget about it. Nothing is ever forgotten with Court Lady protagonists. Overall for me it's a 8.5~8.8 score drama because you know those damn Chinese screenwriters and producers have to always drag some misunderstanding and put in some dumb revenge/love plot, if not they won't be satisfied. Court Lady is now among the historical dramas that I actually brought me the closest to a time period in Chinese history. Court Lady is what the producers and screenwriters of Weaving Tale of Love thought they were doing.
Final thoughts: Tang dynasty is now one of my top favorite historical period in Chinese drama. The aesthetic is just incredible. Weaving Tale of Love (also Tang dynasty setting) despite the disappointment gave us looks, aesthetic decor and sceneries it's undeniable; same for Court Lady. I have read and watch informative videos about Tang dynasty and I have learned that being plump was considered a beauty standard back then. If they ever produce another period drama in Tang dynasty setting, I will be so happy if they cast a plump FL (for real!!!) (in fact in 2021 we should have seen plump FL casted in any asian dramas/Dreaming back to the Qing Dynasty is the only drama that I could say the FL was somewhat plump apart for the ruined story line I actually love all the casted actors). I am eager for this to happen quickly in the future but I can wait because when you taste Cdramas or Kdramas you won't be able to stop, it's an addiction ?
Court Lady is a good period drama and certainly among the best historical Cdramas of 2021; but I will be honest it's the typical cdrama, excellent start, draggy middle and a 'that's it' end but way more acceptable and logical I would say. There was an unnecessary misunderstanding between the leads that lasted for too long, an unnecessary death and I believe the producers and screenwriters didn't draw out all the potential of the ML character, they also centered the drama around 'Forgiveness' so a lot of villains did not get the ending they deserved. Despite this, keep in mind that it's Xu Kai, he never gave us disappointing drama, they are either decent, good or great. Li Yitong also gave us some good dramas, it wasn't until I read her catalogue that I realized that she starred in Royal Nirvana, Bloody Romance etc... Now let's get into it, I realized that a lot of watchers quite lack a good level of maturity and open-mindedness when watching period drama because there is a lot of nonsense being said in the comments that annoyed me a lot. The title 'Court Lady' is/was self-explanatory, y'all should have seen all those potential obstacles coming. The FL is court lady and what does a court lady do? Stays in the palace most of the time and takes care of royals and their matters.
I don't understand why y'all were frustrated when the 'realistic & logical' circumstances of the protagonists didn't permit them to be together 99% of the time. You can't watch 'serious' period dramas like Court Lady with a thorough modern mindset and your love for mediocre period drama, you will end up disliking it. How do you expect the FL who is a court lady and the ML who is an important military official who is in charge of guarding frontiers&cities or going to war occasionally to have as much interactions as protagonists of contemporary dramas or protagonists of mediocre period dramas that give you modern vibes when watching them? I find y'all too unreasonable ? every chance the protagonists got to meet up, they seized it, made up for the dry moments and left us satisfied till the next meet up specially with Chu Mu's shenanigans come on there was never a dull moment with them together; they also had a lot to lose so they couldn't do what they want, I thought this was quite understandable.
If you're going to watch an historical drama, be more open-minded, read or watch more about that historical period and try to project yourself back in that time to feel and understand what's happening. That's why some of y'all ended up frustrated with Court Lady, you're watching because it's your fav actor or actress in it but actually don't understand nor try to understand that cultural and historical period of their country they are trying to demonstrate us and I think it's quite disrespectful of their hard work. I suggest some y'all to start reading those historical Cnovels you will understand a lot of things better.
Some y'all said that the political plots and palace plots are boring. Of course you will find them boring because you are so used to overly cruel most of the time unrealistic evil plots of villain from barely good dramas that you can't see nor recognize more likely to happen|realistic evil plots of villains in a great dramas. This drama gave us good emotional complexity, good political game, and good plots from the protagonists and the antagonists, nothing was excessive.
Remember this drama before everything is a 'HISTORICAL' drama not a 'ROMANTIC' one, romance was just a subgenre. The real thing you was supposed to do when watching this drama, was to pay attention 99% of the time to the historical plots not the love stories of this or that character.
Some y'all even said that Court Lady cannot compare to Story of Minglan and Princess Weiyoung. Now I am flabbergasted that some of you even put Story of Minglan and Princess Weiyoung in the same sentence. SOM is top-notch drama, it's in a whole different lane, it's not comparable at all. PW is our typical barely good drama (excellent start, draggy middle and half satisfying end) it's started with an intelligent strong FL who shows she gets sh%t done then turned into a melodrama where the FL is an always damsel in distress who needs to be saved by ML. In more than 50 episodes the protagonists couldn't take a break from the villains, it was an emotional torture and a rollercoaster. I will never forget that neverending feeling of frustration when I watched PW because the plots were so damn ridiculous and unrealistic. The only scenes I loved were the end it was indeed impressing and the good moments between the protagonists but that was it. Such a disappointment to the novel.
On the contrary, SOM despite being a 73 episodes drama. There was never a dull moment nor long lasting frustrating moments. The protagonists, yes they did fall into evil plots, but they actually counterattacked. Nobody was overly naive nor victimized 99% of the time by an omnipotent all-powerful villain, literally everybody could get it. Actually Court Lady reminded me of SOM, I felt the same emotions I had when I watched SOM and I always say that any drama that reminds me of SOM is a great drama. I am not saying all period dramas should be like SOM with high IQ, lucky and strong protagonists because it will get boring even in real life people differ in personality, IQ and luck; but what I am saying is, don't take the used cliché of overly naive FL, always victimized protagonists, always omnipotent and all-powerful villains of those damned Chinese screenwriters and producers as standard when watching historical Cdramas. ?
To continue with my feedback, Court Lady also gave me vibes of Ming Dynasty (yes historically speaking it has some inconsistencies but nonetheless stays a great drama), vibes of Story of Yanxi Palace, Secret of the Three Kingdoms and The Rebel Princess. The protagonists and side characters have a good level of brain and maturity and don't make you question your intelligence. There is no overly good guys and overly bad guys, everybody (yes, the protagonists also) has actually a grey area. To me things are very logical 95% of the time when analyzing all the plots we have watched, we have the royals who reign supreme and the noble class and commoners that have to put up with them, their selfishness, their lack of consideration ect... If you take it from this perspective from the beginning, for sure you won't struggle to understand some of the situations that happened, the decisions taken and their consequences in the drama.
I am one of those people that like watching dramas that make my brain work, that make me think deeply. The political game was complexed and great. There wasn't a dull or excruciating moment, you won't be sad for too long. The protagonists are dependable, they actually fought back and it doesn't matter who you are they will get back to you (specially the ML family) wether you are a royal or a powerful minister in court, you will get it from them you're not unaccessible. The protagonists specially the ML are the living 'Try me b%tch' sentence ?. The protagonists are as smart, courageous/bold and ruthless as the antagonists. Means that are generally used by antagonists in period dramas, are actually used by the protagonists and I can say that I was surprised, I thought the protagonists will typically fight back at the end but no they fight back from the beginning to the end.
The protagonists also have self-love which is great. Sure, they are madly in love but they also care a lot about their family, their country, their success and their career. They actually want to prove to each other 'I am worthy of you'. They aren't the typical madly in love protagonists that only think about their love, start plots of missing persons dear to them and forget about it. Nothing is ever forgotten with Court Lady protagonists. Overall for me it's a 8.5~8.8 score drama because you know those damn Chinese screenwriters and producers have to always drag some misunderstanding and put in some dumb revenge/love plot, if not they won't be satisfied. Court Lady is now among the historical dramas that I actually brought me the closest to a time period in Chinese history. Court Lady is what the producers and screenwriters of Weaving Tale of Love thought they were doing.
Final thoughts: Tang dynasty is now one of my top favorite historical period in Chinese drama. The aesthetic is just incredible. Weaving Tale of Love (also Tang dynasty setting) despite the disappointment gave us looks, aesthetic decor and sceneries it's undeniable; same for Court Lady. I have read and watch informative videos about Tang dynasty and I have learned that being plump was considered a beauty standard back then. If they ever produce another period drama in Tang dynasty setting, I will be so happy if they cast a plump FL (for real!!!) (in fact in 2021 we should have seen plump FL casted in any asian dramas/Dreaming back to the Qing Dynasty is the only drama that I could say the FL was somewhat plump apart for the ruined story line I actually love all the casted actors). I am eager for this to happen quickly in the future but I can wait because when you taste Cdramas or Kdramas you won't be able to stop, it's an addiction ?