This review may contain spoilers
She is Dominion, He is Devotion
This show….where do I begin.
I came into it thinking the story line sounds pretty much par for the course, revenge, hidden identity, eunuch vs. royalty blah blah.......... but my cynical self is really surprised at how much I have enjoyed this drama. For a short drama, they have done an amazing job. The plot is a lot more intricate than expected from a short drama, with actual problems and cunning solutions that require creative thinking and not just moral high ground. The characters are detailed, there is massive development on both the leads' parts and the chemistry is oh so good! Despite the heavy content there are moments of comic relief just so your heart can at least rest for a moment. The settings, the costumes, the make up, all was in line and contributed towards the storytelling.
The game of chess/ Go - I saw the game as a character in its own right in this drama. And it had so much to say. This short drama managed to convey the intricacies of the game a hundred times better than Captivating the King did in 1/4th of the run time. Kudos!
Cast - absolutely top notch. FL and ML had my heart fluttering, butterflies in my stomach with their chemistry, their soulful gazes and their determination to do the right thing from the beginning. FL as king made my justice-seeking self sit up and cheer in her court scenes. Every time I thought this puppet king was finally defeated, she would show up and show them all down. I have only seen one other FL play the king with the right attitude where you are forced to believe this is the king and that was in My Uncanny Destiny.
The ML was the most flawed hero I have seen in Cdramas in a long time. He was afraid, he was torn between loyalty, love and duty, between his hatred of his foster father and his fear of his secret, yet looked for the right person for the throne for the beginning. He was able to apologize and ask for a second chance, is progressive and fair, yet at the end chooses sacrifice instead of fight, perhaps a result of the complex he has lived with all his life… one can only speculate. I found it hard to justify the last act as he left the FL to make the hardest decision ever, and to live a long, lonely and difficult life.
The villain had me hating, fearing and disgusted by him all at the same time. Wanting justice done, seeing his flaws and the larger than life persona that was so well played by the actor, I wonder if any of his future dramas will be overshadowed by this character for me. And they even threw in a moment of comic relief for him (when the aunt comes up from the underground, she says “ husband, you have major trust issues” He looks so flustered and tells her to be quiet, he did the hen-pecked husband thing really well in that micro-moment!
The plot - Tight knit, fast paced and logical. Until the end….. there were ways to tackle the prince issue…. I wish ML had kept the faith until the end and allowed our genius FL to come up with a solution. Knocking off a few points just for the writer’s need to make us cry.
PS: After In blossom I only have one request: Li Ge Yang can you please not die in at least one drama???
I came into it thinking the story line sounds pretty much par for the course, revenge, hidden identity, eunuch vs. royalty blah blah.......... but my cynical self is really surprised at how much I have enjoyed this drama. For a short drama, they have done an amazing job. The plot is a lot more intricate than expected from a short drama, with actual problems and cunning solutions that require creative thinking and not just moral high ground. The characters are detailed, there is massive development on both the leads' parts and the chemistry is oh so good! Despite the heavy content there are moments of comic relief just so your heart can at least rest for a moment. The settings, the costumes, the make up, all was in line and contributed towards the storytelling.
The game of chess/ Go - I saw the game as a character in its own right in this drama. And it had so much to say. This short drama managed to convey the intricacies of the game a hundred times better than Captivating the King did in 1/4th of the run time. Kudos!
Cast - absolutely top notch. FL and ML had my heart fluttering, butterflies in my stomach with their chemistry, their soulful gazes and their determination to do the right thing from the beginning. FL as king made my justice-seeking self sit up and cheer in her court scenes. Every time I thought this puppet king was finally defeated, she would show up and show them all down. I have only seen one other FL play the king with the right attitude where you are forced to believe this is the king and that was in My Uncanny Destiny.
The ML was the most flawed hero I have seen in Cdramas in a long time. He was afraid, he was torn between loyalty, love and duty, between his hatred of his foster father and his fear of his secret, yet looked for the right person for the throne for the beginning. He was able to apologize and ask for a second chance, is progressive and fair, yet at the end chooses sacrifice instead of fight, perhaps a result of the complex he has lived with all his life… one can only speculate. I found it hard to justify the last act as he left the FL to make the hardest decision ever, and to live a long, lonely and difficult life.
The villain had me hating, fearing and disgusted by him all at the same time. Wanting justice done, seeing his flaws and the larger than life persona that was so well played by the actor, I wonder if any of his future dramas will be overshadowed by this character for me. And they even threw in a moment of comic relief for him (when the aunt comes up from the underground, she says “ husband, you have major trust issues” He looks so flustered and tells her to be quiet, he did the hen-pecked husband thing really well in that micro-moment!
The plot - Tight knit, fast paced and logical. Until the end….. there were ways to tackle the prince issue…. I wish ML had kept the faith until the end and allowed our genius FL to come up with a solution. Knocking off a few points just for the writer’s need to make us cry.
PS: After In blossom I only have one request: Li Ge Yang can you please not die in at least one drama???
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