This review may contain spoilers
Weak storyline but happy ending
If you looking to watch a romance drama, you will most likely enjoy it, and parts of it will give you butterflies and satisfaction when it comes to catching the “bad guy”. But the storyline was lacking, a lot.
The romance between the ML and FL:
There was a huge disconnect in the storyline between the way in which they fell in-love. Based on the characters of these two, and what they were doing for one another, it would make sense why she would like him. He does everything for her and had to save her many times, including her father. But from her side, she seemed very disingenuous, ungrateful, and seems to have put in minimal effort to earn his love. That would make it hard for a viewer to comprehend or understand why he had such strong feelings for her. I know one of the reasons was that he thought she was smart- which she was. The jealousy scenes- I didn’t know if I should laugh or get annoyed because some parts were a-bit unreasonable.
She was very frustrating to watch, especially when he was putting her first but she would tramp on his efforts. But she does redeem herself in some parts of the series.
I enjoy watching romantic historical dramas- so I thought this would be a good watch but the things that came out of her mouth are things that would come out of an evil and jealous “concubine” mouth in another historical drama- like when she constantly speaks about her reputation and strategises how she would come across. Her acting when Mr Wen killed his loyal subject and committed suicide for her, was terrible and lacked the proper emotional response.
The entire storyline:
The entire storyline focused on the embezzlement, corruption and the tax evasion of the Su family. And then after a satisfactory justice scene where their corruption was exposed, Mr Wen kidnaps Ming Tan (FL) out of nowhere and he commits suicide after being cornered. But there are a lot of unanswered question.. Why did he commit suicide for her? Besides him being mesmerised by her beauty and talents to identify quality merchandise- I wondered was so groundbreaking about her impact on him that he would lead to him sacrificing his life for her. The writers should have inserted a moment in their time together that would make it make sense that he would sacrifice his life for her. Example: It would make more sense for Liu Mo to like her, and commit suicide for her due to the kindness she showed him when she gave him the Zither. That you can take as a reason.
I feel like for the most part the ML was extremely smart, he thinks far ahead, and was a great fighter. Their love starts out as a contract marriage, but it was clear he took a liking to her already- in the contract she lists that he cannot make improper advances on her, but once they were married she seems frustrated that he did not pursue her, due to this I thought there would come a scene where she out of frustration asks why, but it seemed it was just brushed over and they didn’t address that. You have to make assumptions based on the many holes in the storyline. When the FL thought that the female general was a concubine that the ML liked and was jealous, this was an opportunity for the writers to have her now show her feelings towards him and for them to build based on that. But it was a lost opportunity. She just accused him, and then when he tells her she’s a general then they just joked about it and moved on. Hence, it was hard to be hooked on their romance.
Positives:
The exposure of the Su family was poetic. I enjoyed seeing the dancer get a second chance, and her role in the plot twist. I also enjoyed the romance between the support roles, it was sweet. The female general and Jing Ran developed a deep connection and you watch it grow. The ML and FL do have a lot of cute moments between them two, and they do progress in their love. And the ending is happy and sweet.
I don’t think this is the worst drama, it is an okay watch. But parts do leave you confused and frustrated.
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