Amazing plot with amazing acting
My first impression before starting on this drama was that this must have been one of those arranged marriages with a quiet despondent young master who only marry after being forced by the family.I never expected to see an ML who is so ruthless, fierce and full of hatred lord of the clan as portrayed in Episode 1. He didnt even bat an eye to refuse the marriage ordered by the martriach of the family, my fav Lady Xu. It took a battle for him to finally agree to the marriage, and it was only done for his pride and not because he bowed to the family’s wish. He is resolute, he is strict, but has a soft, kind nature that he didnt like to show much outwardly. He held back this nature because he didn't want his hatred and grudge towards the Qiao clan to dissipate hence failing to avenge his grandfather, father and brother’s death due to Qiao’s inaction in a battle 14years prior. I’d say the ML is actually the one who went through a full-fledged character development, from a ruthless, blood-thirsty, power hungry, vengeful warlord into someone filled with love and cherishes a woman born into the enemy’s clan.
Meanwhile, Qiao Man the FL has become one of my favourite FL of all time, despite me always leaning towards physcially strong with martial ability FL all this while. Although the FL here was physically weak and possess no martial prowess at all, I think she still stands with the badass of all badasses FL out there. Her intelligence and strategical prowess is top notch, and she is able to tactically curb any hurdle that came her way with ease, without needing much saving from ML. Her mental strength is even sounder than ML itself. While ML was almost swayed by the silent enemy, it had not been the same with FL. FL is someone who is extremely eloquent with amazing debate ability and extremely calm and coherent composure. She didnt need to raise her voice or snap at people to gain the upper hand. Her arguments are flawlessly calm which can stun even the fiercest lord. She knows when to advance and when to retreat like a true born strategist. I like her character on screen better as she is more fluid and scheming than the book FL. The book FL is just a flat, straight arrow with vision only to capture ML’s heart enough so he would extinguish the hatred towards her clan, nothing more nothing less. There was not much strategizing by her in the book. On a side note, the actress is dang good at crying! All the heaving and sniffling and hiccupping, i’ve never seen a crying scene as convincing as hers! It’s so close to reality. Kudos to song zu er!
I really love the 2nd ML Wei Yan portrayed by Liu Duan Duan. I have seen him in Joy of Life as the Third Prince and The Rebel Princess as General Song. I can see that he has the tendency to adopt weird characters with rather heretic nature. In TPoB he plays the cousin of ML who lusts after FL. Although he was infatuated with her, he knows he cannot move beyond his imagination. He still holds the brotherhood with ML quite dearly, and when he could no longer contain the situation, he immediately retreats to his paternal family to mend his broken heart. All three characters I have seen him play have a certain eerie demeanour with sinister look, as if he had something evil brewing behind the scene. Theyre really interesting characters which add darkish colours to each show. On a side note, the 2D portrait drawn by Wei Yan was the first portrait that i saw bore exact resemblance to the actual person. In other shows I always wonder how the hell do they find people with portrait that looks nothing like the person they were drawn after. 😂
I am happy to say that this is the first tv show that I watch on streaming platform which I never use the fast forward button. Every scene is worth watching and I have no interest at all to skip. I especially love the side couple Wei Liang-Xiao Tao who became most anticipated than even the main couple. Their antics are amusing yet fiery. Usually with goofy side couples like this one i’d just abuse the FF button and skip them all, but not on this show. Unbelievably the FF button stays pristine all throughout the show. What a feat on my part!
If xiao tao-wei liang won my vote as my favourite couple, the four Wei generals - Wei Liang, Wei Qu, Wei Xiao, Wei Dou - won my vote for most favourite side characters. Unexpectedly, they became the source of comic relief for this show in contrast to the fierce and ruthless look they pose in the first 2 episodes. Wei Xiao had been hell bent on killing FL in the first few episodes, eager to shoot her dead with his deadly arrow but at the end he was the one entrusted to escort and protect her to Boya to get reinforcement for ML’s troops. Such an irony and a full swing turn of event indeed.
Another thing that I love about this show is that all misunderstandings or conflicts are resolved in a timely manner with no excessive over-reaction involved. The plot is even more engaging than the actual novel it was after. Events in the book are mostly flat and non-dramatic (other than battle scenes) compared to the adaptation, which is why i totally love the TV FL compared to the book FL. Although I usually dislike adaptations that don't adhere to the novel’s plot, it is not the case for this show. I truly think the adaptation is even better than the novel. Although the novel is filled with spicy, dark and lustful side of the ML, I actually liked the innocence of the couple on screen more. They definitely hired the right people for this production.
The only thing dragging down my rating is the songs. They're not too catchy and memorable. I only have plans to add 1 of the songs into my playlist, the rest are really just so-so.
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Went Beyond my Expectation
During a battle between Yao Kingdom and Taijin, General Li Shuang was separated from her troops and pursued by Yao forces. Injured and bloodied by the battle, FL was encircled and left with no way to run, when suddenly a sudden force from her feet surged outward, pushing back her pursuers. A kid plopped in front of her, and went to fight off Yao troops and helped her escape. Having no memories, riddled with injuries and no clue on his background, Li Shuang took him into her camp and gave him a name, Jin An. Little did she know the kid was actually a product of a botched witchcraft placed on Prince Annan, Duan Aodeng, the commander of Yao army, which transformed him into a fighter with supernatural strength and abilities with side effect of memory loss and his adult body turned into a child. And because Li Shuang’s blood had dripped into his mouth when he laid on the ground after escaping the wizard’s cave, a blood oath had been forged between them, which tied their fates together for a lifetime.Ryan Cheng has proven himself yet again as Duan Aodeng/Jin An. I have seen 3 of Ryan Cheng’s dramas so far, and one thing i noticed is that, he stripped and goes off bare chested in all of them 😆 But this is definitely the first drama that i saw him acting cheeky and carefree. In other dramas that I’ve seen, he had always taken the cold and aloof kind of roles, where it’s always the girl who chases after him. This is a new look on him, where he’s the one fawning over the girl, indulging her to ridiculous extent while being coy and sulky. This definitely casts a different light on him and he acted out the role immaculately perfect. That being said, his character as Prince Annan is of course much more interesting and injects more depth compared to the lovesick puppy Jin An. Although I didnt like how badly he treated FL during their first meeting, it is unavoidable as they were ultimately two generals of opposing kingdoms.
Although generally Song Yi is fine as Li Shuang, personally i felt she was too physically scrawny for the role. In reality, it is literally impossible for somebody who trains daily and fight battles for years not to develop somekind of muscle. I had served in the Navy before and even though i am small in stature even for a woman, even the skinniest of us would still develop some muscle. Muscle is literally a side effect of those heavy workout, and yet I just saw skin and bones on Song Yi, much like those noble young ladies who does nothing all day long but play music, recite poems or embroider. It’s just not convincing enough. And her shrieking voice when she commands the troops makes it worse. The way she wields weapons is also not really convincing, maybe due to fact that she was just too skinny to look formidable in the battlefield. But other than this physical shortcoming, her depiction of Li Shuang is somewhat acceptable. Song Yi’s Li Shuang might not have been among the best female generals out there, but she is borderly acceptable. She exudes the air of resolution and bravery, and that is what the novel’s Li Shuang is all about. I like that the show manage to add more personality to Li Shuang compared to the novel, being short as it is. Although, I still cringe when she acted cheesy around Jin An, like she turned to be a whole different person than that general who leads troops on the battlefield.
The SML Crown Prince turned out to be quite a surprise. They actually decided to turn him into a shady character from the upright and honest novel’s Crown Prince. I guess it is necessary for the sake of the plot. The actor basically played the very same character he took up on Kill Me Love Me, so he’s definitely done this rodeo hence it is quite hard to be bad at it.
And by the way, i am totally loving FL’s sidekick Liu Xin played by Shi Ce. This character used to be a common physician before she was called to treat FL’s battle wounds and later became the army physician. She kinda became best friends with FL ever since. I really like that she was the kind of girl who isn’t afraid to speak her mind, confess when she likes someone and take a step back when she is rejected. It’s like a modern, sensible girl in an ancient body. Her cheeky, innocent demeanor is the comic relief in this show.
The fighting sequence here is very good. Duan Aodeng’s sequences are formidable and fierce, while Jin An exudes mystery and darkness with excellent seamless CGI. Only one thing doesnt sit right by me - a general using bow and arrows as her main weapon is honestly extremely unrealistic. Bow and arrows are naturally not feasible for close combat, especially when the arrows are very limited. i literally laugh when i saw FL flipping left and right shooting out those arrows in most of her hands-on fights. Like seriously? 🙄 Dear screenwriters, please get real. There’s a reason why generals use swords or spears or any other inexhaustible short range tools as their main weapon on the battlefield, and it’s definitely not just for show.
Except for Song Yi who shouldve spent more effort developing some muscles and strength and screenwriter’s unrealistic choice of having FL use bow and arrow as main weapon, everything else is picture perfect, though i do feel that the romance had been too cheesy. In the novel, there had not been many romantic moment between the main leads cuz it was always only the ML obsessed over FL due to the blood oath, while the FL had always been suspicious of him even though she did feel indebted to him for his many rescues of her and her troops. Guess they changed this so the show wouldnt be too bland and short.
And i like the fact that they made ML’s transformation sound ‘sci-fi’ish, when the original idea had been more to sorcery. At least it’s more bearable with the futuristic sounding than sombre eerie music.
The songs are really nice, some slow and endearing while some catchy and groovy. The set and costume are convincing and nice to look at.
I like how they expanded the plot from a 49ch novel. Some can be boring, but most are enjoyable, the pairings of side couples are real cute and heartwarming. It’s definitely one of the good adaptations put there, following the novel’s main plot closely without planting much holes on its sideplots. Very brilliantly executed with such limited source from a short novel.
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Action packed with a rollercoaster of laughters and tears
The show is about a top assassin, Ren Xin, who had been framed and imprisoned of killing the empress of An kingdom, who happen to be her benefactor. She had to escape prison, fake her death, change her name to Ren Ruyi, and later reinfiltrated the An kingdom’s spy organization’s branch located in a rival kingdom to track down the mastermind behind the empress’s murder and avenge her. With a twist of fate, she encountered the head of spy organization of the rival country, Ning Yuanzhou, and striked a deal with him, tagging along with the envoy entourage to her own country to teach the envoy in return for NYZ gathering intel to help her get her revenge. Many things happened along the way, and she started forming a bond with the members of the spy agency in the entourage, and a special liking towards NYZ.I like it how the show had a solid premise, good storyline and they executed it in perfect gracefulness and rather fast paced too. Although it started out in a serious and intense premise, they manage to blend goofy scenes seamlessly within. The goofy parts were well executed and didnt looked forced, leaving me smiling or laughing throughout - definitely didnt look out of place or annoying like those in Fighting for Love. Despite the goofy scenes, they were able to execute the action and serious scenes tremendously well too. The action scenes were superb, the choreography was on point and well executed. The intimate scenes between the leads were well paced. With this show i can really feel and make sense of how they fall in love with each other despite coming from rival kingdoms, without having senselessly overbearing and cringe-worthy proximity moments like those in Ancient Love Poetry.
The only show ive ever seen Liu Shishi in was Scarlet Heart, although she acted well in it, i felt that her face didnt really suit to be in ancient drama, cuz i thought she looked too modern. I changed my mind when i saw this show. Maybe its due to hairdo, costume, age or makeup, but she looked perfect in AJTL as a retired top assassin on a mission to avenge the death of the closest person to her. Now this character Ren Xin/Ren Ruyi is one of my favourite FLs of all tv shows I’ve seen so far, the writers wrote her really well with almost no flaw at all. She is strong, quick-witted, resourceful, brave, resolute and capable with a sound and collected mind despite facing conflicts of interest. Basically she is the badass of all badasses of the mortal world, while Shen Li from Legend of Shen Li wins that spot for the fairy fantasy category. Although ML being the understanding other half, contributed too. I liked A Mai from Fighting for Love too, but the writers slightly botched it with poor decision-making when in comes to love in the earlier part of the show. Ren Ruyi did not suffer from this. I guess I had to give it off to the the writers for not messing up. FL was constantly with a sound mind and not the type who would get emotional. Although she did went berserk quite a bit when the red uniform guards killed her adoptive mom, and ML ended up knocking her unconscious to stop her. But hey, even a flawless character had to have some flaw or else theyd be inhumans.
My most favourite character of the whole show is Yu Shisan, one of the spies in the envoy entourage. He’s easily the most handsome of the spy group, he’s not shy to flaunt it too as he is proud to be known as the shameless, flirty playboy who has a way with girls. He was extremely popular and admired by female inmates and workers in the prison (he was imprisoned for kidnapping a noble’s daughter) because he loves to do make up on them (and obviously because he flirts with them) before ML picked him up to join the entourage mission. He’s the goofiest person in the group, most of the goofy scenes are caused by him, but also the closest to ML, being a good listener and confidant to ML, especially with regards to dealing with FL. ML also revealed to Yu Shisan of how bad his condition was before the final showdown of the emperor rescue, and entrusted Yu Shisan to take the rest of the troop to safety if ML couldnt make it. And I totally ship him and Chu Yue. Theyre the cutest not-yet-a-couple ever!
Princess Yang Ying is probably the character with the most progress. She started off as an extremely timid, weak with zero self confidence, unfavored princess of the late emperor, born in the cold palace and looked down even by the palace maids, let alone the rest of the harem,but later grew into a full fledged ambitious, capable, confident, resourceful and quick-witted princess aiming for the throne. She is the youngest sister of the current emperor, who was lovesick with the only palace guard who showed her kindness thus willing to do anything to marry him. When her brother the emperor was taken hostage by Emperor of An kingdom, she volunteered to be the envoy to deliver the ransom in return for her to be granted fiefdom and ability to choose her own husband. Because one of the conditions of ransom is it must be delivered by a prince, she had to disguise as one and learn everything a prince should know during the trip. She was slow at learning at first, but the moment ML, as the head of security of the entourage, changed her tutor to FL, she made great progress in terms of learning capability and the building of her character as a pompous and snobbish prince with ample political & court knowledge. I must commend the actress, she definitely nailed it as a male impersonator. Although she looked soft and delicate as a princess, she also managed to pull off the look of a snobbish yet graceful teenage prince and as time passes, i no longer see her as a girl. This is the second character after Fighting for Love’s FL that I ever saw able to pull off as a male impersonator, and she did it perfectly well without even having to try too hard to act as a tough boy. I’m glad they didnt forget to bind her chest, i hate it when characters are portrayed to be disguising as a male and yet the chest totally gives them away, and lets not even get into the girly voice and acts. Fortunately, those cringy parts that give away male impersonation are nonexistent in this show. Well done!
Another interesting character is Qian Zhao, one of the spies with medical expertise. He’s literally the medic for the entourage. He is very quiet and reserved, only speaking when necessary, but in fact is very stubborn and steadfast in his decisions. Nobody could stop him when he set his mind to kill FL when he found out she was a spy from An, and everybody had a hard time persuading him against seeking revenge from Emperor Wu for his reckless decision of going to war with misleading intel and information which resulted in high war casualties. The only thing stopping him from finishing the emperor off was the flare signal from nearby fortress indicating that they were under attack. Even ML admitted in the end that he had everyone else figured out but Qian Zhao.
All in all i think the whole production team did a tremendously great job with this show. I really couldnt find any other loopholes other than the hand injury of Deng Hui that went missing the next day after his hand was stabbed by Emperor An. The make up artist and director must have forgotten the script. Anyway, I wonder who wronged the writer team so badly for them to come up with such a huge massacre of characters. It saddens me but the show was so good I cant seem to hate it for making me cry with each episode after Ep34. For a show that is laden with goofy scenes all over, i was so not ready for the last 6 episodes that are pretty tragic and tearjerker. Boy sometimes I hate this show for being so damn good at bringing laughter and tears to its viewers.
If youre like me who love shows with strong leads, action packed with non-domineeringly sweet and non-cringy love story, and do not mind a tragic-possible-emotional-damage-inducing ending, then this might be for you. If youre all that but cant handle super tragic ending, well, maybe stop watching at Episode 34, 35 is where the massacre starts. But if u want closure to all power struggles, then stop at 38. I just cant wrap it around my head why didnt they just end the show with 38. It was actually perfect. Somehow they just had to drag in more episode just to break our hearts. 😭
Despite hating the ending, I just cant seem to strike off a star from my 10 rating. The show was THAT good!
I am currently rewatching the show and realized ML’s near death situation on Ep 20 and his ultimate exit on Ep40 were both due to saving that brat I dont want to mention. The first time because that brat recklessly went for the leader of the assassins despite his mediocre (in my eyes) martial skills, and the second time when he again, stupidly went into the enemy’s camp ALONE to supposedly kill/capture the marshall. The first time, ML saved him because he was An emperor’s envoy keen for peace between the two kingdoms hence they needed his support, and the second time because he was An kingdom’s regent. Well, the second time was because he didnt want FL to go on the suicide rescue mission, and because he knew how much that brat meant to FL. This sorry piece of sh!t, gosh i hate him so much that I didnt want to even mention him when i wrote this review the first time because i didnt want to reveal spoilers, but when i am rewatching right now, damn i just had to say this at least once. Okay finish rant!
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Fighting for the right cause with a huge price
I was attracted to Love in Pavilion without knowing anything of the Fox Spirit Matchmaker universe, solely due to Liu Shishi after her superb performance in A Journey to Love. Although she hasnt climbed into my favourite actress list yet to stand alongside Zhao Liying, she definitely left a mark in my mind.The story is really engaging from start to finish without much boring scene. The opening scene of the masked group joining hands with the Dongfang sisters to fight off demons already ignited enough spark to keep me watching. Then the clash at the Nan Gong household only fuels the fire even more.
They didnt leave us the audience to lament in sorrow much after our main leads started to fall out due to FL Dongfang Huaizhu’s distaste of political strategic manoevres by ML Wangquan Hongye, as they pitched in the ‘back to the future’ arc as ML went to rescue FL 20years in the future. Then came the Beast Kingdom part where they started to get lovey dovey and then the showdown in Tushan & Beyond the Boundary. Real fast paced despite being a show about love stories.
Although I fast forwarded much of romance scene of the other side couple (but not enough to miss the whole of their own love story), basically I get the gist that this is a show that lays out multiple love stories around the main leads. Some unrequited and many managed to get reciprocated although all met with a tragic ending.
Basically this is one of the superhero story of how huge power comes with huge responsibility and may cost you your whole life.
Liu Shishi is gorgeous as ever, of course, i think she ages like wine. She looked better in ancient costume now compared to the one I saw when she was younger. Her talent is unquestionable, she carries her character well as the gentle and aloof but strict Dongfang Huaizhu, then a 180deg turn as the evil and scheming Left Guardian Huaizhu of Sky City 20 years in the future. Her romance scenes are all on point except for the kissing part cuz she looked rather stiff. But romance and sad scene are definitely her forte!
I am not familiar with the actor playing ML, but I just thought he looked weird and too pale here. Do they purposely do his make up to look like a vampire? He looked so pale and gaunt. But putting aside his looks, his acting is equally superb with Liu Shishi’s, especially the sad scenes. Simply powerful. But to be honest I kinda prefered if the one who played Zhang Zheng to cast as ML instead. He had the looks of handsome, decisive and scheming person. 😬
The songs are so pleasing and brilliant, especially the opening OST Divine Fire by Yang Bing Yin, oh gosh so beautifully done. I have a playlist costume drama OST that I listen to when I run, and realized that most of the songs here mostly sung by Yang Bing Yin, Zhou Shen, Sa Ding Ding, Liu Yuning and Zhang Bichen. I guess my ears also have a preference. So yeah I’m adding Divine Fire to this playlist next. The slow songs for romantic scenes are equally great, although I wouldn’t add them as I am not into slow type of songs.
This is the third show I’ve seen with Liu Shishi as the FL, somehow it makes me wonder if she has the tendency to pick stories with tragic ending? 😆 but honestly, i must thank the super traumatic character massacre of A Journey to Love for hardening me to face tragic endings in other shows. They don’t affect me much anymore after I cried buckets for A Journey to Love.
All in all, if you hate sad endings and can’t handle them, then avoid the Fox Spirit Matchmaker series (3 in total - Love in Pavilion, Sword and Beloved and Red Moon Pact) at all cost. But if you love the actions and can handle tragic endings fine, then hell yeah you can definitely binge this! This is definitely one of the best productions of 2025.
SPOILER BEYOND THIS LINE!!!
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I cant get over the last arc at the Beyond the Boundary. It’s totally the others’ fault that they still follow ML even as he already left them to go alone into the Boundary despite knowing their future. i mean, at least ML tried to change something by leaving them behind. And the fact that they didn’t help much other than making things worse for ML is even more frustrating. Their fights didnt weaken the Black Fox, in fact only feeds its power as their hatred after seeing their beloved getting killed is absorbed by Black Fox. More importantly had Yang Yitan remained behind, Black Fox wouldnt have known all ML’s moves in advance and ML’s shield wouldnt have been broken.
The Black Fox only started to engage and absorb the Grief Tree in Tushan’s power (at which point FL can start to purify the tree, thus weakening Black Fox) after ML started to go crazy when his sister was killed and seeing all the others dead. This wouldnt have happened if they had stayed behind as per ML’s original plan. I believe if ML hadnt been distracted and his mental strength weakened after seeing their deaths, he wouldnt have been controlled so easily by the Black Fox to kill himself. After all, all she did to convince ML to kill himself was by blaming the others’ death on him. So yeah, i think the real reason why ML’s life was ripped to shreds was due to the other Masked Group members who recklessly and stupidly follow him across the Boundary.
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One of the best of short stories ive seen so far
When i looked back to my watchlist history, i found out that I have never rated short series like this above 7, except for My Journey to You. Cuz most are mediocre works with low budget that seem to be the constraint for hiring good screenwriters. So I am quite surprised that this show became the first of the short series category that manage to keep me engaged and interested the whole way from start to finish. Im not sure if it’s low budget though, cuz the cinematography is pretty impressive and the battle scenes and fights didnt come out as low quality cgi.I have never seen the main actors before, but their performance is impressive. Especially the one playing the FL, Mo Qingchuan. She isnt portrayed as a beauty like most badass FLs ive seen before, her character feels more grounded to reality. You dont need characters with exceptional beauty to make a story work its magic. Mo Qingchuan escapes this trend, her character is flawless as a general who fell due to betrayal by the people she trusts the most, and then comes back for blood and revenge.
The ML, although at first I thought it’s weird that he would fall for his master, since I know in chinese culture, a master is like a parent, and to bear any feelings towards them beyond this relationship is considered taboo, almost like incest. But then i realized, he was as conflicted about his feelings as much as I am about his. Haha. At first it was admiration, then perhaps empathy, which in the end he realized he could not bear to see his master hurt as a lover. Guess when Mo Qingchuan severs this master-disciple tie towards the end to refrain from implicating ML, I bet what one of the many sentiment he felt then had been relief. Now he wouldnt be committing incest if he ever got together with FL, right? 😆 all in all, i think the actor did good with the character. however in terms of looks, i felt he appears to be a bit too young for the actress, though in the storyline i think his character’s age wouldnt have been much of a gap with FL’s. Maybe around 2-3 years gap.
The music is catchy too, i love this kind of music. It’s rare to see good music from short stories like this.
All in all, i am satisfied with the show. It’s not too short or too long, the pacing is perfect, the intrigue doesnt falter, and the actors’ chemistry is great. A complete recipe for a good story. Now i feel bad that it was not based of a novel, cuz if it had been, i wouldve been scrambling to read it right now.
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One of the best shows out there
I had to admit Zhang Ziyi was the main reason why I clicked this title. I thought she’d play a great empress or wife of a seasoned general. Was taken aback when she came up in 1st episode playing a teenager(15/16yo i think) instead. Wth? She looked like she could be the wife of the father! How ridiculous. And they didnt even put much effort in make up to have her look like a teenager. She looked bare faced throughout, although I admire her beauty, it’s definitely the beauty of a matured woman. I could accept if her role had been a princess in her 30s, but come on, to have 39yo to play a teenager/young adult role is pretty hilarious. She looked as old as the rest of the cast who plays the ministers and their consorts 🤦🏻♀️However, I stuck through the show because it had a good storyline. She’s a talented actress, of course she could pull through despite the obvious seasoned look. I must say that this series is really fast paced, there are no wasted pointless scenes, and I can’t seem to put down the screen. One episode seduces me to continue to another and I feel bad when I had to put the screen down so my life wont be halted. I even brought the phone into the bathroom to watch while doing no 2 and bathing, finished bingeing all 68 episodes in 4 days!
Now this is the real palace conspiracy and politics is all about, it kept the audience on edge with one intense episode after another. I truly admire FL and ML. ML, although not handsome with rather big nose which bothered me during the earlier episodes, had me charmed with his outstanding performance. He looked perfect as the boorish man from a poor family background who spends his whole life on the battleground. He’s not flawlessly handsome with boyish look like the typical ML, he’s not ‘mad’ madly in love like any typical ML (and yet we can still feel his ultimate love for FL), and he carries the countenance of a courageous intelligent general and strategist really well. I like ML’s look with the goatie in the final parts though. He looked so much more handsome this way. I never liked men with face hair but he’s one of those men who looked extremely handsome with them.
This show is so good it even has one of the most intense, believable and astonishing battle scenes that I’ve seen on screen. My heart was pounding throughout the battle as I was anxious to see what would happen next. And whats more important is that they really go all out on the battle sequence, arrays, armors, heavy equipment and they don’t use CGI! Thats a pretty big WOW, right? The show really exudes magnificence and grandeur in every detail. I’m not sure how accurate to the book this show is, but I’m glad I didnt read the book beforehand else it wouldve ruinned the suspense.
Im just frustrated that in every scene of them reuniting, there are no touching moments. They just look at each other longingly and then the next scene came up where everyone’s safe. So frustrating. But honestly this is one of the best shows ive seen so far. Although I wouldnt rewatch the entire show, I definitely would rewatch some real good episodes. I am actually rewatching episodes with the main casts and battle scenes.
The only thing I dislike about this show is the fact that almost every other male character who is supposedly around the same age as FL’s character, and not related to her immediate family, seem to fall head over heels for her. Come on, they even made the supporting character to fall in love with her too! One of my pet peeves on dramas like this is when the FL seem to be the love interest of every other male characters, and they all obssess over her. Come on, so she’s a beauty, but to be the centre of everyone? So cliche!
Oh and I agree with other reviewers that the title doesnt really reflect on the story. Definitely not a Rebel Princess, FL was like one of the most obedient ones out there. Intelligent, yes, rebel, definitely a no. I guess they chose that title to make it intriguing. At least I clicked because of the title, then after reading the synopsis only knew that ZZY was in the lead casts. The story did not disappoint of course. One of the must watch shows out there and I would definitely recommend to people.
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Pretty sad love story
I had just finished Legend of Shen Li, and was curious about Lin Geng Xin’s performance in Scarlet Heart as people had been writing good things about it. I have been putting this off for quite a while (actually ever since I finished Princess Agents in 2020) because I am not fond of palace drama, but i decided to give it a go after his stellar performance in LoSL.Oh well, I was right all along, palace love drama is just not my thing. It was an ordeal to get through the episodes, they were so draggy with longwinded love triangles and political conspiracy drama(well its more to a picky father who is constantly angry at his sons, and of a brother who is constantly suspicious and angry at his brothers, a vast contrast from the true palace political drama like Joy of Life etc), especially when i dislike the ultimate love interest of the FL. The only consolation is seeing the development of 14th Prince friendship with FL even though I knew it had never been about love. Its her friendship with the princes that was beautiful, although I have always wondered how come such energetic and interesting character didnt have a single friend among the princesses. But hey I’m fine with that because if they were to add princess characters then the show might have to drag the episodes out over 50 to include more female drama. Still didnt stop me from wondering.
Anyway, I think it’s quite boring with FL’s inner battles and constant love conflicts. The brotherly love of the princes towards her is super sweet though, and that was among the things that kept me going. As I said, the genre isnt my cup of tea as I am more of wuxia/xianxia/action fan with strong FL characters who are not damsels in distress.
I dislike the ML right from the start, though, even when I didnt know he was the ML. I think Nicky Wu doesnt look good as a half bald man with pigtail, he looks weird and extremely unapealing. All the other princes look waaaaaay better than him and more handsome. As the show progressed, I fail to see any spark between FL and ML even as they were developing feelings for each other. It looked much too sudden that the FL would shift her love interest to the least caring prince among all, especially when she knew he would become the emperor which would mean a whole life of her tip-toeing around the volatile figure. Maybe it is just me, I just couldn’t see the the chemistry and explanation of how she would suddenly fall in love with him, especially when he forced himself on her the first time. Just because she didnt want to become Crown Prince’s consort so she suddenly asks to marry 4th prince? Damn thats too weak of a turning point.
I kinda gotten tired of how she would cry at everything too. She cries when she’s happy, she cries when she’s afraid and she obviously cries when she’s sad. She also has this one kind of expression on her face and that is what she wore throughout the show. I am not fond of her looks too, but hey, it kinda grows on you as the show goes on. It still didnt stop me from fast forwarding all those draggy love scenes though, especially the love scenes between the two (those after ML ascended the throne are even more cringier than others, thank god they were not many), I honestly enjoyed the arch on the 8th prince and 10th prince with their consorts and 13th prince with his mistress. Those felt more genuine than the main love story. 8th Prince story was the most devastating while 10th prince was the only one with a happy ending.
Even though I got tired of FL crying, I must admit there are scenes that moved me, like the one of her begging for 13th prince, the pure friendship turmoil between the princes and FL, and the one where she begged for 8th prince to divorce her sister who was in the verge of death. So much unrequited love in this show, it’s so tiring to feel for every one of them. They were all pitiful. Oh I think the one playing Ma’ertai Roulan is the most beautiful of all, she had the perfect look for ancient costume. Her character’s love story is so pitiful I couldnt help but feel her pain.
Despite the boring storyline and the excessive crying of the FL, one thing I really commend this show is how closely accurate to the history this show was. Between the plot of 4th prince usurping the throne and the emperor passing it to him, of course they would have to choose the more conflicting plot. The cast did a stellar job. And I’m soooo glad it had been only 35 episodes to endure compared to more than 50 episodes of other palace shows out there. Wished it was less. The first 10 episodes were soooo dragy it was such a pain to go through. But the last 5 episodes were golddddd! I never expected the surprise in Ep 33. 14th prince definitely became the star role in the last 3 episodes, he was practically the knight in shining armour whisking the maiden away to safety. No wonder people had been praising of LGX’s performance here. Before watching, I thought his role was a passing small role with little significance, which was also one of the reasons I kept putting off to watch the show.
I think the ending never bothered me because I never shipped the MC love story. It was an apt ending for both and everyone involved. Am so glad she died in 14th prince arms instead. The bosom childhood friend that she used to quarrel with and afraid of, but in the end became her saviour from the Forbidden City prison.
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Gory Version of Family Feud
Chief Inspector Cha Suyeol, the ML, was transfered from narcotics to major crime when two bodies were discovered with modus operandi similar to a serial murder 23 years prior. Reason for his transfer was simple, the serial killer from then - Jeong I Sin, had been enlisted to help with the current investigation and her demand had been to work with her son, ML. ML totally detested his relationship with Jeong I Sin and never regarded her as his mother. Little that he knew, when Jeong had confessed to the crimes back then, her condition include protecting ML’s identity, to change it completely so he had no relation to Jeong and for him to be raised into a good person. The lead investigator then, now the captain of Major Crimes, became ML’s adoptive father as he was the one entrusted by Jeong to raise her son. As they close in to the copycat killer, more truths from her crimes 23 years ago emerged, which unlocked more memories from ML’s childhood that he had tucked far away and never wanted to revisit.I felt that the ML looked too boyish and young to play the chief inspector, and he made rather weird facial expressions when trying to convey his feelings. That very first expression he made during his first visit to Jeong was super weird that i couldnt distinguish if he was angry at Jeong or mocking her. Honestly i failed to see him as a police officer but more as a distraught, angry boy mad at his mom whom he thought had wronged him horribly as a boy.
I really love the one who played Jeong I Sin though. She nailed it as a serial killer complete with complex thought process and eerie vibe. Although her moral seemed questionable when she talked about her crimes, her motherly instinct kicked in when she reminisce about her time with ML as a boy. It was clear that she had nothing but ML’s best interest in all her moves, then and now, despite knowing how hateful her son was at her.
Although this was about a serial murder that seemed to be committed by a random stranger who may have idolised Jeong as a serial killer, it turned out to be much closer to her as a young mother when she first committed her crimes. It was hard not to see this as a family feud between not-siblings. The context was interesting, i would love to see Jeong back in action when they revealed the hint of Season 2 at the ending.
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It’s All Just Business
This is one of those titles that features a charcter being reborn in ancient time from modern era. Guo Qilin played a successful businessman of modern era who got struck after a brawl with his treacherous business partner. He woke up to find himself transmigrating into the body of Ning Yi, a young man about to be married into Su family as payment for his debts. Su family is a prominent merchant in Jiangning and his bride-to-be, Su Tan Er played by Song Yi, was fighting for the family seal which would designate her as the family head and owner of the family business. Ning Yi reached an agreement with her, that he would help her get the seal and she would settle his debts and divorce him once she obtained the power. Originally focussed on freeing himself from the shackle of marriage, Ning Yi realized he had more things tied up to Su Tan Er, one of them being his heart.I have been putting off this title for so long cuz i am not quite a romance/drama enthusiast but the lead actor was kinda interesting since i first saw him in Joy of Life as Fan Sizhe, the elder brother of the main character Fan Xian. After i’ve finished up all my watchlist, i am left with no interesting title to watch, so i decided to finally start on this after adding it to my watchlist since months ago. Oh boy i almost missed a rather good piece. At first I thought it was romance comedy genre because it was marked as such on the platform i watched, but truthfully romance made up like less than a quarter of the whole show. But comedy it definitely is. The plot takes off right from episode 1 with no boring acts at all. The comedy was on point and worked really fine, and the mainleads were not as bad as i thought they would be. They were actually really good and they clicked right from the start, the chemistry is just too apparent despite their characters being together by marriage of convenience. On a side note, this show is like a whole reunion of Joy of Life with the actors playing Fan Sizhe’s mom and dad in Joy of Life returning here as his mom-in-law and mentor.
The ML surprised me with his acting performance. He displayed much wider range of emotion here on My Heroic Husband than what I saw him of in Joy of Life. Being the main lead played a part of course, and his acting ability played even bigger part. I don’t get why people would criticize his appearance when his ability overshines that. And since I don’t regard looks as the appealing factor for main characters, he is just perfect as Ning Yi for me. So what if his looks is average? He’s a far cry from ugly so I can’t understand the hate. Plus I am very surprised that he can really cry. After numerous miserably undelivered crying by casts of The Journey of Legend, it made me appreciate the crying ability of Guo Qilin. He is in fact waaay better than some actors I have seen. The quivering of his chin as he started to cry and shaking of his extremities during intense scenes is very convincing. Another note is that he did not play a perfect hero. Although Ning Yi displayed his skill in boxing as he fought off some characters in the earlier episode, he is generally a character with little self defense skills. He might be able to fight off those who doesnt normally fight like family guards or entitled young masters of other merchant families, but in the face of real martial practitioners, he is totally defenseless. So we get to see this character needing saving quite a lot. But rest assured, he is not the annoying kind of don-in-distress.
And I must say this is Song Yi’s best role among the 3 that i’ve seen her as. Su Tan Er was not as irritating as Liu Ran in Luoyang and not as physically unconvincing as Li Shuang in Shadow Love. Su Tan Er is perfect for Song Yi in terms of built and character, packing a will of steel with sheer determination and talent in trading. However, this character’s supposed limelight is dimmed when many of her successful business strategies came from Ning Yi. But either way, they make up one formidable power couple with Su Tan Er providing resources and Ning Yi being the brain.
It’s also really nice to see the one who played wei liang from The Prisoner of Beauty. It’s the third show I saw of his, and they all had him portray such a loveable loyal sidekick. He’s truly a natural at comedic scenes. And it surprised me to see the exact scene from Prisoner of Beauty here. Or i should say PoB had the same exact scene as My Heroic Husband, since this series came out first. The scene i was referring to was when they were being led around by Geng Zhi looking for tourist spots but ended up finding a whole different things. That plum drink tavern turned into public toilet, hot spring into a mud puddle and not finding the beach were exactly the same in both dramas. It was hilarious. Then i realized both had the same director so i guess thats how the scenes got duplicated especially with the same actor playing the goofy guide.
All in all, this show is entertaining and not boring to watch. There are some plotholes, like why would the rebel gang decide to make Ning Yi their military advisor out of the blue, and what role did Grand Preceptor He really play cuz he kinds got offed quite too suddenly, or how did the emperor’s son in law looked older when the emperor seemed just in his early 30s, but honestly these shortcomings get overseen by the whole entertaining plot. Like for real, give it a shot. Even an action packed lover like me found this title entertaining 😆
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Smashing medical drama
This title is definitely smashing as medical drama, especially when they centre it around unpopular field - pain management and contraversial euthenasia. Such a fresh and rare aspect of the medical field.I love every single part of the medical department, but abhorrr the romance department. At first i couldnt quite like the FL, kang si young, because she was such a crybaby and damn too clingy. And then i hated ML towards the end because of how he left FL hanging without so much of a word. Didn’t even finish watching the last episode cuz it’s too cringy for my liking.
I also think the ML is a coward when it comes to romance. it is always FL who is chasing after him, and even towards the end, he wouldnt speak his mind about his feelings for the FL without some nudging by others. What a lame guy. Dont know how many times did I roll my eyes at those scenes and end up fast forwarding them. Btw if it were me, I wouldve never gotten back to ML . Somebody who makes decisions about the relationship without even considering the other party’s views, even if he thought it was for her own good, is not fit for a relationship. Guess he expects his other half to just read his mind and be understanding and just agree with whatever decision he makes about their relationship. 🙄 So yeah. Hated every part of the romance scenes, i fast forwarded most of it especially those of the side couples. I’ve had my fill cuz i was only watching for the intense medical parts and not the cheesy romance.
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I would want a lawyer like Cheon too!!
I had little expectation for this show as I had just recovered from the awful Doctor Lawyer.The story is about a quirky lawyer who charges only 1000 won of consultation fee to his clients. He is crazily goofy with mysterious background but clearly has an exceptional investigative techniques. While FL is a pampered granddaughter of a lawfirm moghul who is also a lawyer in training. She first met ML in the courtroom as he represented a pickpocket suspect while she the prosecutor in training. They started off really bad and she had real horrible impression of him. As her training term ended in the prosecution office, she was expected to finish training in a lawfirm, which her grandfather moghul tasked her to go to ML’s firm instead of the his lawfirm, the Baek Law Firm. That is the start of their adventure unraveling the ugly reality of white collar criminal world.
I especially ship the love story in this show although it was shown as ML’s past only. In this part of the story, ML as the junior prosecutor was really quiet, cold and reserved but fierce in the courtroom. He didnt make many friends at work, and people call him the crazy person from seong dong. He didnt speak to people unnecessarily and Lee Juyeong, an attorney from Baek Law Firm, represented the person he was prosecuting, and called him an antisocial. But she was attracted to him after their first courtroom session, and kept appearing around him when he least expected it. She didnt look desperate or clingy, just curious and fascinated at how ML carries himself. She wanted to be friends with him, and said that if she managed to make him smile for the third time, he would have to go on a date with her. LJY managed to make him smile three times, and they stayed friends for two years before he went down on his knees to ask for her hand in marriage. That scene was truly unexpected cuz ML had always been reserved and cold, he never really express how he feels to others. Although his proposal had been sudden, i could feel the spark between them. It proves that you dont need any awkward proximity scenes between the ML and his love interest to show that they fell for each other, and you dont need staring contests between the them to display their deep love for each other. Mind you, they dont even share romantic, cheesy dialogue with each other, the most romantic thing they did was to hold each others’ hand, and yet i could feel their chemistry and love for each other. It’s truly beautiful and I cried hard when the incident happened which robbed her from ML. The story started off so goofy of ML as the attorney that I never expected how emotional the scenes from ML’s past would be.
I totally love love love the supporting character Na Yejin, the senior of ML in the prosecution service. Her character was so laid back in the beginning i thought she’s just a minor neglectable role. Damn she appeared more and more towards the end and became ML’s key in prosecution to take down the bad guys. I love her cool and yet take no nonsense character. I love her attitude, her expressions, the way she talks, well everything about her! The actress is really good.
ML is shown to be goofy and acts like a coward, but when needed he could fight his way out and take down the enemy. They dont have much of fighting scenes, but it doesnt bother me as an action packed freak, because this show is anything but boring.
I hope there’d be season 2 although i highly doubt it. I wish more of kdrama would follow american series format that renews every year, like The First Responder or Taxi. Kdrama has lots of promising and good series that can be a syndicate, like Prosecutor for Justice, GRID, The First Responder and Taxi, but they rarely go for it. It’s just too bad.
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This review may contain spoilers
A merman was caught by an evil fairy Shunde, a disciple of the Immortal Master who basically revered by all beings in the immortal realm as he is the most powerful. He was sent to Flower Valley, one of the places where Spiritual Masters whose sole job as the enforcer of the realm’s rule lives. They catch and neutralize spirits and immortals who violated this rule. The merman was sent to be trained by Ji Yunhe and Young Master of the valley, where he was supposed to submit and serve as Shunde’s attendant. Ji Yunhe has always been renowned for her skill of taming spirits and immortals by manipulating their hearts while Young Master and the rest of the spiritual masters usually resort to more violent means. As she started to manipulate the merman to win his trust, little did she know she would fall in love with his absolutely innocent nature. At first she was just doing it because it was her task, and that she needed to win the competition so she would be able to escape from the valley with her little attendant Luoluo to live in an immortal island free of restraint and control, but as she got to know the merman and how he was wrongfully taken by Shunde, she later decided to help him escape. The merman fell in love with Ji Yunhe and gave up his tail and pearl for her, only to be heartbroken by Ji Yunhe, done so that he would be willing to run away from Shunde’s clasp without her. The merman held huge grudge against Yunhe for deceiving him and betraying his love, and this sets out a series of misunderstandings, breaking of hearts and mind, in their journey to finding a true meaning to love and friendship.
This show has the most pitiful character of all that ive seen/read so far. Ji Yunhe had been tortured and in pain for most of her life, being used as experiment subject by Master of the Valley and later embroiled in the power struggle of the world. She was physically tortured when she was in Flower Valley and Immortal Master’s Mansion, she was mentally tortured when she was in North Abyss, went through separations and deaths, and yet she still stood tall, not losing faith in life and humanity. She was stubborn and steadfast despite all hurdles that come her way. Dilraba has once again proven me wrong, she’s not just a pretty face. Her chemistry with the co-star is stunningly strong. Although i think she would have to work on the ‘sick look’ more, other than droopy eyes and weak neck. The time when she was waiting for death at North Abyss while being mentally tortured by ML began to look cringy as it dragged for so long. I get the arc was long because they wanted to show how badly ML was hurt by Yunhe’s refusal to admit her love for him, but like i said before, the droopy eyes and weak neck got cringier as the show went on (taking half a star off for this). I like the reborn arc. She was the happiest and most adorable in this. The reunion was also cute.
My first expression when I saw the snippet of the show was that the ML didnt quite have any appeal. I have never seen his work before so I dont have any expectation, but as i watched on, he turned out to have given a spectacular performance. He nailed it as a wary person wrongfully captured even though he hadnt spoken a word, he nailed it again as a person who was innocent and childlike, and he did it again as a vengeful master of the North Abyss. And he had amazing chemistry with his co star. I mean I couldnt find a flaw on his portrayal of the prince of merman kingdom, Chang Yi.
Dilraba is an actress with a non-conventional look. The first time i saw her in Eternal Love, I thought she was at least of mixed blood or even not chinese at all. So finding a child actor with a resemblance wouldve been hard. How can she grow into the adult her if she looks very chinese as a child, right? So i think The production scored jackpot when they hired Kristina the child actress. I first saw her in Legend of Anle, playing the child character for Dilraba too, she was perfect for the role! To see her again here in The Blue Whisper is a joy. It showed the production’s care for details.
I especially liked the Heavenly King too. I first saw him as Crown Prince in The Long Ballad, a character that is extremely irritating and overbearing. To see him carrying a total contrast of that character as a sensible and kind king in this show is amazing. His face expressions nailed every aspect of how a revered king should behave, despite being just a child.
One thing that i love about xianxia is that death usually isnt the end of the story. There would be second and third chances so there wasnt really room for tragic endings. Glad that this show doesnt massacre important characters and let them stay dead. It’s A different take on mortality and long lasting love, which made us feel good and happy.
I regret that I didnt watch this show sooner. I thought it would be boring. Glad it wasnt so.
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Every villain got what they deserved.
The show started off real fast paced (but slow burn towards the middle) as FL was carrying out an assassination on ML, Peng Cheng Wang (Prince of Peng City), the regent of the historical Liu Song Dynasty. The assassination turned out a disaster (of course, duh). She hid in an orphanage and was later found by Madam Shen who recognized the jade bracelet she was wearing, immediately identifies her as the Shen’s long lost daughter abducted as an infant during a battle in the north. The bracelet was actually given by her best friend (another assassin of course) with a promise to help find her birth parents, before the bff died as a distraction so FL could flee the botched assassination venue. FL grabs this chance and takes refuge in the Shen Mansion, a family of top general of the empire, as she plans for her next move to finish her failed assasination on ML and Minister of War Lu Yuan. It seemed like the team of assassins were driven by the belief planted by their master that Lu Yuan was a corrupt official and Peng Cheng Wang was an incompetent ruler who covers up for the corrupt officials in his court. They both needed to be killed because of their crimes to Liu Song Empire and its people.Ironically, as she keeps on failing to kill Lu Yuan, she met a merchant who was also investigating Lu Yuan and this dude manages to convince her that killing won’t stop Lu Yuan’s corruption as another would just fill up his spot. The merchant, whom FL calls as Old Man (she was 18 and the dude was supposed to be 30+), convinced her to team up with him and topple Lu Yuan using rule of law. Things happened and they later developed feelings for each other. Then the decree came that the daughter of Shen family is bethrothed to Peng Cheng Wang as reward for their contribution in winning the war in the North, and FL decided to take this chance to kill ML on their wedding night. Meanwhile, Lu Yuan’s smuggling of weapons for private army was foiled, but the Shens were implicated as Lu Yuan slips out of their grasp with a mere slap on the hand by ML. This only angered FL even more and her hatred for ML grows. She got her biggest shock on the wedding night, as she only saw the face of the Peng Cheng Wang she hated to the core as she stabs her poisoned dagger into his belly, and he turned out to be the Old Man she fell in love with. She tried to kill herself after stabbing ML as to not implicate the Shens for her assassination crime, and because she regretted her actions, but ML instructed his personal bodyguard to take her away so the imperial guards wont catch her. Later things happened, plot after plot, surprise after surprise, villains after villains, misunderstandings and slanders came one after another, and they stick together through thick and thin.
I love the FL character, she’s one badass assassin who doesnt let injustice to happen. She thrives in jianghu, and is smart and witty enough to stand up against the palace harem bullying (yeah come on how can anyone bully an assassin, right?). And having an elder sister (the first wife) as back up does wonders to her too. She doesnt really need any saving, she can take care of herself although of course ML will need to be the saviour every now and then, even though he’s inferior to her in terms of fighting skills and brawn, so he depended on his power as regent and his scheming and manipulating skills. She is also very intelligent and isnt one of those characters who love to panic and jump to conclusions with baseless suspicions . I guess she learnt a lesson after being fooled by her master into wrongfully thinking that ML is a bad person when he was not.
One of the most pitiful but righteous characters must have been Princess Consort Xie, ML’s first wife. He had to marry her in accordance to the emperor’s decree, but never loved her. Never consummated the marriage and Empress Dowager had to make it a rule for him to have dinner at specific dates at the Princess Consort’s place or he wouldnt have even visited her at all. For someone who loved her husband in totality, her heart was so pure that she never envied the love FL gets from their shared husband when she entered the household as concubine. Instead she saw FL as a companion, BFF, whom she was willing to protect and support. I almost thought the Empress Dowager would be able to corrupt her mind against FL due to envy (like the plot of most drama), but it never happened. She stayed true to her character to the end.
Although I like this show, i find that the repetetive plot of getting poisoned, memory loss, faintings, fake deaths to be pretty annoying. I love the part where they dismantle the villains plans, but the journey to get there is quite annoying with things that I mention above. I find the scenes after ML got stabbed by FL was pretty dramatic and admirable, him braving his way through the pain for several days before succumbing to his injury and went into coma, as to cover up for his newly wedded wife’s actions.
Also I cannot wrap it around my head how come these assassins dont know how their target looks like? That is so messed up. The production couldve made the merchant’s disguise better and not reveal his face throughout their time together, maybe FL recognizing ML as the merchant on their wedding night using the tokens they exchanged if anything at all, but they didnt. It was quite early through the show that FL saw through his fake moustache and took it off (revealing his true face), I really thought she would identify him as Peng Cheng Wang but she didnt! So the whole team of badass assassins didnt even know how their target looks like before killing them?! These righteous assassins killing corrupt officials to keep them from ruining the prosperity of the nation didnt think that knowing how their target look like so they dont kill the wrong person was important. Really? 😑🙄 So messed up.
There were so maaaaaaany fillers and side love stories which I fast forward most of them, but I just need to give a special mention of FL’s handmaid XiaoXin as super duper annoying with her loud and unruly character. Looks much too exaggerated. So they wanted to make her that fun character who brights up people around her, it just went overboard. Characters like this would never survive in the palace as palace maid, she’d be dead by day 2! I was fascinated by ML’s personal bodyguard Xu Zhan too, he looked so feminine that when he wore full body armour and helmet during the North war, I didnt recognize him and thought he was a female character i hadnt noticed before! I also cannot wrap it around my head how they could let Zijin tag along to the north border for the war too. I could understand when FL wanted to go cuz she definitely has the qualities to fight a war, but Zijin? I almost thought she had hidden talent or skills to contribute, with those dramatic horse riding, serious look on her face and wearing full body armour including helmet, but when they were ambushed by the enemy, she became a burden to Shen Zhi (her love interest who is also FL’s eldest brother of the Shen family) as he needs to fight while holding her hand to protect her. What a disappointment. So they made her go to the north so ML, as regent and commander of the north army, could grant them a marriage 🙄 just for that. Bleerghh that is just too cheesy, man. Another annoying characters are Shen Leqing and Lu Wan. One a conniving scheming vengeful ungrateful person who didnt know when to stop, while another was super naiive and stupid who wasnt even sure of her bro’s crimes and yet think that he was wronged and decided to get revenge. Such easily-manipulated expendable pawns.
———-*SPOILER BELOW THIS LINE* ————
I *love* (-_-) how every good characters can get sliced and stabbed with swords, stuck with arrows and still can jump around the next day (or in an instant in FL’s case) as if nothing happened. With exception of Shen dad and elder brother, their deaths are pretty gruesome and tragic. But the rest of the characters are a-okay with all those injuries, so no worries!
The ending is one of those with question marks. At first I thought FL killed herself so Peng Cheng Wang would not be stuck between his love for her and the emperor’s decree of not sparing her as she was an assassin. It went pretty dramatic with ML’s joyfully running to meet with her only to see the place empty, dropping the decree he was holding. Then there were flashbacks of the FL drinking (poisoned?) wine and later looked dead, but the next thing they show was events three years later with ML doing great in court, and later went to the secret place FL brought him once upon a time, and there he dined with the joyous FL. So another fake death? Sheesh.
I thought they’d have kids by then though. I was a little disappointed that there was no 3yo dining with them at the end. Though I can say it’s a happy ending. At least to me. But because I am one of those who hates sad and open endings, I’m taking off 1 star due to this horrible Ep53. Wished they had ended the show at Ep 52.
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Too Many Plotholes to Handle
So FL is General Zhou Chu who just came back with her troops from the frontier bearing victory, and went to report to the king for commendation. Little did she know, her troops had been marked as collateral damage when the king decided to elevate her vice general as the crown prince. Turned out the Prince was sent in disguise in order to claim military merits, and upon his return, to prevent him from possessing too much military power as he was granted the crown prince title, the king had his troops eliminated. A few survived the massacre in the palace compound, one of them being FL who was picked up by their arch enemy from rival kingdom, Sheng Kaifeng. He used a secret technique to poison the FL and control her, making her his pawn by sending her back to her homeland to seek revenge against her vice general who is also her sworn brother in arms.I’ve never seen a disgraced general who’s supposed to make a comeback for revenge be as reckless, weak and stupid as the FL on this show. After seeing strong FL who are also female generals leading troops in Fighting of Love, Princess Agent, Qingchuan’s Veil of Vengeance, and Legend of Shen Li, this Zhou Chu is a disgrace for that title. She acts like a naive foot soldier who couldnt see other than one step ahead of her. She incredibly lack calm and reservation, and she definitely falls behind so far out in terms of tactical manoeuvre. That ‘controlled by enemy due to poison’ trope is astronomically weak to justify how childish her actions are on this show because many happen while she is very much in control of her own body and mind. She also constantly needs consolation by ML, always needing rescueing by ML, and always needed to be restrained by ML cuz her childish act of trying to bulldoze her way through her revenge would definitely cost her life and others around her. Her trying to sound heroic just make me roll my eyes each time. And that bewildered look on her face when she shouldve stayed calm and composed when caught off guard by ML and Sheng truly make me look down on this character even more. The only scene I saw her look a teeny wee bit formidable was when she broke into Sheng Kaifeng’s camp to rescue her troops in the first 10 minutes of the first episode. Starting from there, her credibility as a general is thrown down the drain. The actress isnt all that good in romance and sad scenes too.
The ML, on the other hand, is pretty good. The emotions he tried to convey came through, although I cannot fathom at which point did he decide to fall in love with this pitiful general who he had always thought a man. The show being a miniseries with less than 20 min per episode may contribute to this cuz everything seemed rushed with considerable plotholes.
The music category came to be the saving grace for this show as it seem to get stuck in my head after a while, hence the medium range of the overall rating. And the performance of the actor who played ML and SML also saved the rating from getting a solid 4 or below.
Though i like the ML and SML, I just couldnt handle this whiny FL so i just had to drop it. Sorry not gonna waste any of my time over this anymore.
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What a Messy Journey
Xiao Mingming was a wuxia novel writer who was facing confrontation from his colleague at the office. Frustrated about going forward with his novel progress, he stayed up at night to work on the novel using an AI software and at some point he somehow woke up as the novel’s protagonist, Xiao Qiushui. Although XMM wrote XQS emerging to be a top warrior at the early age of 20, he realized he had transmigrated into XQS’s body before all the many cheat-powerups he wrote for the protagonist happened. The AI software made contact with him and gave him some quite ridiculous tasks, which sound impossible to achieve with his mediocre martial ability, in order for him to exit the novel world. With that, he embarked on his journey to initially find a way out but eventually found himself treading the road to find his self worth.It is hard for me to admit that this time, Cheng Yi falls short from my expectation, as Mysterious Lotus Casebook had been my first show of his and he was superb there. MLC set the bar very high, which tJoL failed to reach even halfway.
First off, I feel that the supposedly familial relationship between ML and his “storybook” family lacked substance that it made me fail to relate to the deep attachment that ML somehow grew for them in that short time that he spent with them after his transmigration, especially when ML was well aware that he was in a mere storybook and trying to get out. The sentiment just looked too fake, same goes to the camarederie that they try so hard to emulate among the youth gang that ML led (dang i forgot the name they made for their group). And since i could not relate to the relationship the screenwriter tried so hard to force down the viewers’ throats, I find all those crying and grief by most of the characters look fake too, their unconvincing crying ability only made it look worse. And it really gets on my nerves when ML turned into a crybaby after his fallout from his brothers. He cries at almost everything when it comes to his family, and those flashbacks that supposed to conjure up the lamentful feeling on the viewers? - Epic fail. Screenwriter tried too hard, showed those flashbacks too repetitively and eventually failed miserably to reach to the audience. Though I can’t speak for others, at least i can speak for myself as a viewer.
The most useless character without any depth is probably the first bro Xiao Yiren. It is quite a shame that the screenwriter decided to paint him as a dense and brainless little fellow when his background made him up to be quite a remarkable person who is supposed to be one of the most eligible bachelors out there. For an elder brother who was supposed to be a role model for his younger siblings, he has no respect and trust for his brothers at all, and would rather believe an outsider than his own blood. He is so gullible and yet showing so much shortfused temper when XQS admitted he was the one who took Liu Siufeng in. I mean, how is he any different than XQS with Liu Siufeng? Did he forget that he was ready to bring in the Sword King into the bunker? That little brother of his literally died to prevent him from doing this and now he was all worked up because the break-in happened anyway as if XQS wanted it to happen? For someone who was supposed to be intelligent and wise as a young leader of a sect, he showed none of this. Their brotherhood isnt convincing even in the earlier episodes as I mentioned before. He kept getting duped and influenced over and over again like an oblivious little puppy who had just ventured out into the world. This, when it was written that this character was supposed to be the most experienced of Jianghu among the three brothers. Oh what an absolute joke. This character is just one of many who acts incoherent to their written background, like the screenwriter got fedup halfway and said “to hell with it,” and then went on to write in blindfold. I am particularly disappointed with Crazy Yan because he also fell into the screenwriter’s ‘to hell with it’ syndrome when this character plumetted steadily from top fighter to top loser with unremarkable and very forgettable ending. Gosh Crazy Yan couldve been so much more with greater impact. But nope. The screenwriter said ‘to hell with it’ so to hell it goes.
I also find the supposedly subtle romance between Tang Fang and XQS to be too unreal. I just don’t see the spark. And that marriage promise between them looked lame and corny instead of comical that the screenwriter intended. Basically the whole plot of this show is too messy and all over the place with characters behaving incoherently against their written predisposition. The screenwriter failed to create comedic scenes that it ended up being slapstick and forced. There’s also too much chivalry speeches before fighting and useless draggy scenes that my fast forward button had to work overtime and my thumb constantly on overdrive. Everything didnt seem to work into becoming the scenes they were supposed to be, it’s simply an epic failure.
The premise looked too similar to the cdrama ‘A Dream within A Dream’ that i felt the screenwriter was trying too hard to copy its style, but this time the end product seemed to be of Grade D when ADwAD had been Grade A, especially when they started to show signs of possible other modern person transmigrating into the storybook (like how the screenwriter went into the story to rectify the plot in ADwAD) on episode 26. Like for real? I don’t watch much of novel transmigration drama so I am not sure if this is a common trope, but the similarities between the two that I’ve seen is just too cringy when one failed too miserably.
I think ML and FL are particularly lousy at crying scenes, especially ML with his supposedly overdone red eyes, like he sprayed too much onion juice into his eyes before the take. And this didnt look great when he’s supposed to cry (fakely) every few episodes that i began to label him a crybaby. Honestly Cheng Yi should stick to cold and aloof type of characters, he’s great with those - Li Chenzhou was awesome, and avoid characters that have more than two crying scenes until he learn to cry convincingly. The only one who looked good at crying here is the one who played Xiao Xueyu, i can really feel her devastation when she realized her third brother might have perished, but thats just about it. The rest of the cast failed miserably, they should go back to acting school specifically to learn how to cry. Other than the lack of substance, this unconvincing crying is also why I could not feel the sadness when characters started dying. Unlike A Journey to Love’s pointless and unnecessary character massacre that left me bawling at each death even when on rewatch, the character deaths here on TJoL seem pointless and “meh”. I failed to feel for them, sorry.
Poison trope is abundant here. People keep getting poisoned left and right but none of it really do anything but make people faint or deplete neili (but they regain them shortly after since they had no problem fighting with inner strength). And of course when any of the mainleads gets poisoned, stabbed, sliced or crushed, all they suffered was fainting which theyd just get up and start kicking again after a good night sleep. After episode 20, i contemplated on dropping this title so many times, the only thing that kept me going was the curiosity of the real mastermind in the mask.
Such a lengthy negative review, is there anything positive at all? Well the fight choreograph is good, hat’s off the the action choreographer team! All the hand-to-hand combat and swordplay turned out to be impressive and not boring. They look fierce and yet also graceful. I especially love ML’s swordplay cuz he looked formidable with every swing like he really trained hard for it. Same goes to rest of the cast. If only they tried as hard at crying too.
Oh and before i get accused of being a hater or biased for this review, to be honest, of all the casts, i only recognized Cheng Yi from Mysterious Lotus Casebook. Although i have seen Eleanor Lee in Fake Princess I didnt recognize her until I saw the list of casts when her character made an appearance while I was watching (I like to look up the casts in accordance to character appearances to see if i have seen them in other drama). So you can’t say I am biased against the show or any of the casts because Cheng Yi actually left a deep impression on me for his performance in MLC, and I was more satisfied of Eleanor’s performance on Fake Princess than her co star, so I actually started watching this title with a pretty high expectation. Being an objective viewer, I cant possibly rate any higher when the show doesnt match even the baseline of my expectation, even if it had my favourite actors on it (Cheng Yi isnt my fav actor, but i have rated low for some series starred by my fav actress Zhao Liying).
So that’s it. You might like this if youre a Cheng Yi fan, but if you’re not, oh well don’t put too much expectation before watching and maybe you won’t be as disappointed as me.
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