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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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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Mediocre Plot but with satisfying ending
It’s about a former-policeman-now-bodyguard who is on a path of revenge for his best buddy’s death at the hands of a murder-for-hire. He suspected the commissioner for stopping his investigation into the death, resigned and stayed in Manila where his friend was killed to gather intel. It led him to Hwain Corporation when he was following a lead and inadvertently rescued the director for Now Foundation, a subsidiary of Hwain. He then secured a job as bodyguard to the director and started to poke his nose into the power struggle in the chaebol family which unravel twists that he never imagined, capturing the director’s heart in the process.Maybe I had my bar too high after watching Blood Free, this show somehow fell short to become an utter disappointment to me. Although the outline of the story is the same - enforcer turn bodyguard going undercover to catch the killer of best friend, falling in love while doing so - the tension and smoothness of the story flow had not been like Blood Free, and the romance thrown into it is just too awkward for someone bearing as big a vengeance as the ML. At least the hint of romance was very vague with Blood Free, whereas it had been too quick and too obvious for Red Swan. It’s understandable if it was the FL who was quick to fall for him, after all she had been in a loveless marriage for so long, but for the ML to fall in love at first sight like he did is just too unreal to digest. I also failed to feel the spark between them.
I also thought the FL looked too old compared to ML, maybe thats why i couldnt feel the spark? I know Rain isnt that young, but the FL just looked much older than him. I couldnt figure out what age the roles are supposed to be, but my guess would be late 30s early 40s maybe? Well out of curiosity I looked up the casts, no wonder she looked old, she was indeed older than ML and SML.
The fight choreography is top notch tho. I like how characters dont recover so fast from injuries like in most shows.
If youre not too into romance, this might not be for you. the romantic scenes made me cringe. I wanted to see the action, not longing stares between the leads, awkward hugs and cringy conversations.
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A show with mixed vibe
The show starts off with FL, Maisui, trying to find her adopted brother, Chen Qi, who killed her whole family back when she was barely 10yo. Her journey was entangled with many people of interests, mainly the ML, adopted son of Marquis Dingnan Shang Yizhi, who was actually son of the previous Crown Prince, and SML, a general of noble birth of a rival kingdom Chang Yuqing. She drafted into the army to search for the real mastermind behind her family’s extermination, inadvertantly rising to power from a mere foot soldier to the marshall of an army.This show has a very good storyline, as badly of an adaptation as it is, the only drawback is how badly the characters are written except for FLOkay they kinda messed up FL a little bit too but it’s acceptable. Compared to the book, they totally dumbed down ML from a proficient yet extremely ruthless and shrewd military officer who is also renowned for his excellent archery skills, to a basic puppet general who is madly in love and with no skills at all, how frustrating. But the biggest flunk of this adaptation piece is probably how they turned the show into ML’s story instead of FL’s as written in the novel, and changed the ML from Chang Yuqing to Shang Yizhi. Although the main character is Maisui throughout the novel, there are definitely more significant encounters of her with Chang Yuqing, more romance and grudge between them, but more importantly, the story shouldve been about Maisui and Chang Yuqing instead of Maisui and Shang Yizhi. Shang Yizhi is like the third wheeler in the novel, he got much lesser mention in the novel and definitely not a focus of the whole story.
Book aside, I’m actually impressed that it has the most convincing male impersonation by the FL. She was beautiful when dressed as a woman, but also manly as a man. She looks rough like a boy, she acts rough like a boy, she has a deep voice, and she doesnt have even a tinge of girlish trace on her when she was dressed like a man. Her complexion is even more tanned (indicating that she had had a hard life) than ML and SML (i commend the make up artist). Had she had a bigger body build, she wouldve passed 100% as a man and no one wouldve guessed she could be a female. When she was training in the army, she did everything everyone else does with no exception. She could wield the sword very well too and didnt look like it was flailed around her. However, in the book, she was supposed to be 1.7m, which would make her height not much difference from an average man. But in the adaptation, she was easily the shortest and smallest one around.
The only thing I dislike about this character is how easily she had fallen for ML. She initiated the first kiss (on the lips mind you!) and it happened out of nowhere! Like come on! There’s no spark and she suddenly falls in love? They barely have any chemistry too! Because they wrote ML to be this foolish stupid brat who never grow up despite his hardship (because he always has backup in the right places), and FL being the matured woman who grew up on the streets with wit and intelligence, both of them looked more like siblings instead of lovers, FL being the elder sister and ML the stupid younger brother. It’s so damn cringy each time they hug or kiss. Despite her shortcoming, I think she was the most pitiful character, as well as Chen Qi. Theyre merely the victims of court politics and selfish emperors.
FYI in the book, the first kiss was with Chang Yuqing, initiated by FL, but as a guise for her to escape from Chang Yuqing’s mansion when she was taken prisoner. I really cant get over the fact that they decided to change the ML from CYQ to SHZ. CYQ is obviously much more interesting of a character than SYZ!
Other important characters they didnt botch are Princess Shenghua (ML’s adopted mom and real aunt), General Tang and Mr Xu. They remained consistent throughout, although Princess Shenghua changed a bit from a loving innocent looking woman to a scheming one. But I still like this character because she is among the sound of reason around ML.
On to my most cringey character, the ML. He must have been the most useless and weakest ML I’ve ever seen. He has absolutely no strong points at all, other than being kind hearted. It’s a total contrast to the Shang Yizhi depicted in the novel. He’s also too madly in love with FL that he would disregard a whole army’s lives just to save FL in situations that FL wouldve survived on her own, a total contrast to the book SYZ who would even sacrifice FL on the battleground for his own victory, that’s how big a shrewd he is. The book SYZ is so ruthless that he punished FL to be whipped 200times just because she was late to muster, because she drank wine with Tang Shaoyi the night before, and this happened when SYZ is already interested in FL, as he knew she was a woman very early on. Meanwhile, The adaptation SYZ has no deduction, analytical nor strategical skills and boasted to be extremely kind-hearted and soft. This version of SYZ could only survive as a puppet general just because he had FL and Mr Xu as his strategists, Lieutenant (later general) Tang Shaoyi for his muscle, and they do all his thinking and actions for him. Had he not have these people, he wouldnt survive a minute into a battle. Heck, he wouldve been dead before he could even assume the role at all. I am quite disappointed at how badly this character is written, because he had many chances to grow up and mature but it seemed that he never did. The book SYZ is a million times more interesting than this one. In the show, He was stupid, reckless and short-sighted as a bratty son of a noble family, and he was still the same as a Marshall of a huge army and even after becoming an emperor. It’s pathetic that even as emperor he still looks at Mr Xu asking what he should do to save FL’s life when she was set up by the ministers. What a loser, still clueless and stupid even after spending all those years on the battlefield with the brightest minds of the kingdom. And that naughty comedic tune whenever he was fooling around with FL is so annoying that I can never take this character seriously. His fake laugh also makes him sound stupid and foolish too. He drastically changed into a selfish and an evilly scheming man in the end which made me loath him even more. Now that is one similarity that they manage to capture the same as the novel. The book SYZ is as selfish and ruthless as the adaptation SYZ after he became an emperor. They are both greedy to cage FL in the palace as concubine, and theyre both scheming and shrewd who caused the demise of FL’s important people.
As for the emperor, I have Never seen an emperor so eager to kill his leading generals in the midst of a war with neighbouring country. Like seriously? He’s killing them left and right with no reason but fear of revolt. He would rather lose people whom he could rely on to defend and strengthen his empire as long as he can quench his thirst for absolute power with no contention. He was so messed up in the head that he doesnt even remember why he ordered for FL’s father to killed, a leading general of his too. All he knew was, “What if he pointed his sword at me? How will I defend myself,” I really wonder how does he think he can protect the throne from rival country forces when he has no capable generals to ward them off his land? Fear has ruled his world and messed up his head. The way they portray this character is also messy. Never seen an emperor so haggard and and beggarish looking like this one. He was distraught all the time and never looked like he can run a country. No wonder his sons are out of control and his court is in chaos with ministers scheming and stabbing each other.
The final 5 episodes are so boring, mainly on palace political scheming and harem jealousy. I like it how FL never dressed up as a girl even after she was forcefully created as Imperial Consort, even when ML summons her to see him in the palace.
Loved the final episode. Its a perfect ending. Glad they stayed true to the book for the ending. And it’s nice to see her wear her hair as a girl and no longer had to disguise as a man. But I’m still striking a star off for making the story deviate from the novel. The novel storyline is so much much better.
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Tough Women Never Back Down
It is almost impossible for me to pick up a romance piece, especially in a modern setting, but here i am after reading a review off facebook. I’ve only remembered Zhao Lusi from The Long Ballad and Love Like the Galaxy, and William Chan from The Mystic Nine, but i decided to give it a go anyway, not putting much hope cuz i have dropped 3 shows before this one mainly due to mainlead lack of chemistry. I am happy to admit Love’s Ambition had turned the tide.Xu Yan was leading a life under a fake identity as to escape her sad childhood memories of her parents. Setting out into the big city alone, she strived hard to make a better life, and seemed to hit the jackpot when she caught the eyes of Jinda Corporation heir, Shen Haoming. Determined to seize this man, she was willing to sacrifice it all, including her reputation when she decided to hire actors to pose as her parents with fake background. The marriage was a success, and she was showered with love and soaring career as a news caster, when thunder struck with the return of ML’s childhood friend who had been in love with him. Sounds like the typical love triangle script, but apparently, Xu Yan isnt the typical FL. As her marriage caught up in the rocks and her career hangs by the thread, she decided to take the high and hard road to break away when she realized Shen Haoming had not married her due to love but to make use of her relentless personality and working background to embellish his business profile. And when she thought she had moved on, it turned out she was pulled even closer to her soon to be ex husband.
Initially it seemed like FL was the typical gold digger, going out of her way to win the heart of future mom in law from hell, to the point of groveling to her. But i liked that Xu Yan did it elegantly with meticulous strategy. And to realize that the only reason she held on to Shen Haoming was because she truly believed his love for her was even sadder when the cracks appeared in their relationship.
Xu Yan is the embodiment of a tough and relentless young woman who is clear of her vision and mission in life. Although she loved ML to the point of disowning her own dysfunctional family, she had no problem letting him go when she saw that there was no future between them other than being nominal husband and wife. She would not live her life in such prison, and she was not afraid to wade the waters of fire to escape it. This is one of the few physically weak FL that I truly admire because damn she was a really tough cookie.
Love the chemistry between the mainleads. I didnt feel much for their relationship at first, cuz i thought ML was rather old for Zhao Lusi. But as the story progresses, i saw that they looked really good for each other, and when ML finally realized how he really felt for FL, it actually looked convincing. I can say i ship them both despite not having much impression of William Chan at the beginning.
Although this show seemed like a pure romance, it turned out to be more of life/family drama instead. I love the family dynamics portrayed in here. How FL’s relationship with her in laws would deepen beyond what i expected. There was no real villain here and no extreme jealous lover that pisses people off when they appear on screen. Even the big sister who seemed to be a real troublemaker in the beginning was molded to be Xu Yan’s bff at the end. The only characters that I could really hate to the end are in fact Xu Yan’s biological parents cuz there was no reconciling plot for them. They never realized or admitted their mistakes of sidelining Xu Yan which caused significant childhood trauma for her growing up.
This is a great light drama that people could enjoy without much distress for hateful characters. Although i am an action-wuxia lover, i can approve of this when there was no interesting titles to watch. Which was why i picked it up in the first place.
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Smashing Court Intrigue Drama
I have been putting off this title for so long cuz I do not recognize any of the cast and the fact that it was more to court politics than action drama. After so many years, I finally decided to watch this as I wait for Purple River S2 to fully release its episodes.Basically Lin Shu was the son of a Da Liang great General Lin Xie, and he survived the massacre of his whole army and family due to framing. Injuries sustained during the battle made his body riddled with fatal poison which treatment include flaying of skin and crushing the bones, leaving him with sickly body and different appearance at the end. All was endured so Lin Shu could return to the capital 13 years later as Mei Chang Su, leader of the pugilist world and a strategist coveted by the two Da Liang princes battling for the throne. Taking on the never crown candidate, the least favored with no court members connection Prince Jing, Mei Chang Su executed his carefully devised plan to redress his family’s treason case,
Gosh I almost missed a masterpiece. The fact it was not boring was one of the appeal. Court power struggle drama are usually slow paced and lots of talks instead of action, but this one had a somewhat appeal to keeps pulling you into it. The first few episodes were rather slow (and confusing) as they were introducing character backgrounds. The pace started to pick up significantly towards the 10th episode. I liked that the first person to recognize Lin Shu despite his different facial appearance was his grandmother, the grand Taihou. It was such a sweet moment and heart-wrenching especially when he could not help to squeeze the hand of his fiance when Princess Ni Huang pulled away. Every reunion in this drama was a tearjerker as each one realized how painful it was for Lin Shu to survive the massacre.
Everyone did a phenomenal job here despite me never seen them on screen before. My most favourite character was Prince Jing’s mother, then Concubine Jing and later Taihou at the end. Her character was the most intelligent and sensible of all, something that her son lacks quite a lot in terms of sensibility and self restraint. She knows when to advance and when to retreat, basically she is the sound of reason for the SML, Prince Jing, who was Lin Shu’s cousin and best friend.
The plots and strategies devised by Lin Shu in each hurdle were mindblowing and unexpected. I developed panda eyes and headache in the morning for a few days as i binge this cuz it was hard to put down the phone at night.
My only complaint is how flat the ending for Mei Chang Su had been. I was expecting an emotional scene with grand farewell by those he left behind, but it didnt happen. His character was just erased without much flare. Gosh i was so disappointed, was looking forward to see how Ni Huang and Prince Jing bade their farewells.
Honestly this was a masterpiece, and this is coming from me an action lover and rarely take on dramas of court politics genre.
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Playing with Emotional Damage
Ye Ping An is a traveling physician who boasts her ability to cure sickness of the heart. Entering the capital and opening a clinic, she faced accusations of using black magic, but also earned quite a few success stories as she cured patients. Using hypnosis to delve into the hearts of her patients, she built quite a reputation for herself. Until a murder happened involving one of her high profile patients, a court official at that, which she became a suspect of. Yuan Shaocheng, a low ranking official from the slum Mang Gutter, was eager to earn some merits to climb higher up the ladder, was set to solve the case and pin the blame on Ye Ping An. Is it really a straightforward case as he suspected of, or is it an elaborate conspiracy set off by hidden hands behind the scene? Is Ye Ping An really a victim of circumstances, or is she the one who moves the chess pieces around in order to uncover the sinister dark operation of kidnapping, sexual abuse and framing of a court official done by the upper echelon?Really love Liu Shishi’s role as Ye Ping An this time, i think i might even love her more than the badass Ren Xin of A Journey to Love. Ye Ping An isnt well-versed in martial art like RenXin, but she is extremely adept at playing mind games. She gets things done with Plan B, C and D in place in case of Plan A fails. She is very confident of herself, and handles people calmly and confidently, a countenance that could agitate even the most evil ones out there. Although she isnt physical combat capable, she certainly doesnt need saving by ML when she’s stuck in a tight spot, very unlike other physically weak FLs. Ye Ping An is more capable in handling the bad guys than most quickwitted FLs I’ve seen and she definitely doesnt shy away from hardship, even it means getting herself tortured in the dungeon, if that is what it takes for her to achieve her goal. Real badass there.
Am extremely impressed with Xuan Lu, who plays FL’s sworn sister Lu Danzin, this time. She is one of the most seen supporting actress in most of the dramas i watched, i mean i think i saw her everywhere, and this time she really showed how diverse of roles she can play. Other than the meek and physically weak characters i always saw her as, she can also play as brash and rough fishmonger too! Her accent and style when she played this undercover role in Kill My Sins has astounded me and she’s really into it, and when her character transformed into confused and angst, she really did well too. Hat’s off.
I’ve only seen Shawn Dou in Princess Agent, which he excelled there, and here he did extremely well as the lowborn official who strives to elevate the fates of people of his hometown, even at the risk of him tumbling down the rabbit hole of evil. This character is quite shady in the beginning, but later found his right path as his fate got entangled with FL. Both driven by interest, but moved on to become confidants later on.
I really like how the story incorporate subtle affection between the lead roles, though it might not have been romance, but they know they can be each other’s advantage but not rely on it too much. Both have their own skeletons in the closet, both carry deep feeling of regret and drive for vengeance, and both can help themselves out of any trouble without expectation of getting saved by the other half. Their dynamics is indeed very special and memorable.
I also love the sisterhood between Lu Danxin, Cai Lian, Ni Chang and Ye Ping An. Although they could not avoid having bumps in their relationship, deep in their hearts they know they have each other’s back, even when they are at their worst.
I know this story must have been set during Empress Wu Zetian’s reign, i mean, the prominent royal families Li and Wu are a definite giveaway, but somehow the dynasty was Da Feng? I know historically Wu Zetian’s reign had been Zhou Dynasty so I am not quite sure if this is supposed to relate to the historical Wu Zetian or not. But it was definitely a wild and fun ride to be in. The intricacies of conspiracy isnt as big as those in the drama Louyang (hey i noticed their constumes and hand salutes are similar too!) but still involved the game of thrones. Although Luoyang is more action packedthan this one, Kill My Sins captivated me with its amazing mind games. Liu Shishi and Shawn Dou deserves all the praise for their excellent performances. The rest of the cast did an amazing job too! Gosh I love everyone. There are hardly any weak female characters, even if they cannot physically fight. Even the most gentle, the ever so elegant Ni Chang, another of FL’s sworn sister she acquired in the capital, was strong and capable. The screenwriter was amazing to come up with this brilliant story.
The soundtrack is more to instrumental, which somehow fits the mystery setting of this drama.
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Twisty Face Swap
For a miniseries, this is really one of the good ones with little plotholes and superb acting. It doesnt look cheap either. It’s the first series of Ryan Cheng that i saw he finally kept his shirt on, but so far, he hasnt managed to get away from the general role. Guess he just has the face and physique of a formidable man of the battlefield, though on this one, the setting is mainly in his mansion instead of the battlefield. There’s only 10% action, and the rest is drama. Okay by me even though im an action fan, because the storyline is interesting and solid.Was this review helpful to you?
Fast Paced, Gripping Plot, Subtle Romance - exactly the way i like it!
An informer from out of the town was killed together with his daughter on the streets of the capital and caught the attention of the Interior Guard Services and Court of Judicial Review. One of the killer was apprehended before he could kill himself, but before proper interrogation can be done, he was mysteriously killed in his cell. A mortician, Gao Bingzhu, stepped forward to admit the murder and was taken into custody immediately. On his way during prison transfer, he was attacked but managed to survive by killing the assassin. But because he fled the scene, all the deaths of the guards were pinned on him, and because he was spotted at a minister’s mansion during his son’s wedding, the minister’s death was also pinned on him. A huge chase ensued between the Interior Guard and ML, headed by Wu Siyue, FL. But as she pursued the fugitive, more truth started to come out one by one, and made her question if he was truly the criminal she should be after.One thing that is obvious about the show is it’s extremely fast paced from episode 1. I’ve never seen a mystery/investigative drama made this excellent. Mystery/investigative genre has never been my go-to drama, cuz they usually bore me to death, i have dropped many of such drama that it became my bane genre. But somehow this title attracted my attention upon reading the many positive comments. I had to say the thing that attracted me is when they said the FL is strong and brilliant. It definitely did not disappoint. There was so much action going on, a lot of fighting and chasing. However the cameraworks made me dizzy cuz sometimes they set the POV on the characters involved during the chase, with the shaking and jittering of the camera as if the cameraman was running with the cast. How the relationship between the main characters come together is also done brilliantly well. A fugitive, an enforcer, an eccentric anti-social youth sound like an unexpected combination, but they came together flawlessly. And the plot twist in the last 3 episodes is definitely unexpected. The useless character turned out to be the most vital of all. i totally did not see it coming. The excellence of this adaptation made me want to read the novel to see how much they deviate from the original work.
Am really impressed with the actor playing Gao Bingzhu. I first saw him in The Mutation and it didnt leave much of an impression on me, and since this is just a filler title that i picked up as i wait for full release of Shadow Love episodes, I had little expectation, especially when it was a mystery/investigative drama. I had a bad experience with The Wanted Detective so I only started on this title solely due to the many positive comments of it and my hunch. And boy I am not disappointed at all. Huang Xuan definitely gave his all to this character, he was fierce and grudgeful when facing the enemy, nimble and powerful when he was fighting off the bad guys, and yet his anguish and sadness was so exceptionally conveyed in his sad scenes. I teared seeing him crying his eyes out, having to bottle everything up for 5 whole years living in guilt made the well burst big time. And to finally know who the assassin really was broke him even further. Who wouldve thought a guy from the slum who has nothing to his name, not fame, not glory, not even money, had two women fawning over him, ready to die for him? And yet he was not meant to be with either of them. What a sad, broken man he is. He has my 10 rating for his performance here. Totally changed my view of him from where i saw him first on The Mutations.
I really like the FL Wu Siyue played by Victoria. She is a proud, strong, brilliant, stubborn woman with great martial art. She works at Interior Guards Services that are mainly guards for the royals. The head of the service was her brother and she hated being known as Madam Wu as it would link her to her brother and gives an impression that she was there due to privelege of connections. Although she and ML started out as enforcer and fugitive, she began to empathize with him after they got through life and death together, and decided to help him uncover the truth. And most importantly, this character doesnt need constant saving like the usual FL, because:
1. They have a character who is the don-in-distress which is the SML,
2. She and ML alternately saves each other 😆
Oh boy, i really love ML and FL chemistry. There’s just one thing that always bothered me with this character, that is how weird her hairline was. The wig looks too obvious and not streamline enough, which gives it away. There are many close ups of FL, so her hairline always becomes the first thing that grabbed my attention. Not trying to nitpick really, i am aware that female characters usually wear wigs especially to make up the buns on their heads and its length, but this is the first time that saw a weird hairline on a female character so it catches my attention each time. Wardrobe and make up department were not meticulous enough in this part.
Anyway, on a side note, how Wu Siyue confronted her colleague and the antagonist, believing they could not have been the real criminal/traitor despite many evidence against them is how I expected Xueman from The Wanted Detective shouldve behaved with her husband who was obviously set up. Not emotional, very clear-headed, objective, and not strike the other party at first sight. The reason why i dropped that title was because the FL is written to be so incoherent with her supposedly brilliant background. Screenwriters should work harder to make their main characters believable and not contradict its nature that they created, like how Louyang’s brilliant screenwriters did.
The SML, Baili Hongyi, is an anti-social, aloof and hard-headed second son of the Baili family who is renowned for their crasftmenship. Baili Yan, his father, was the Minister of Works, and he too worked in the same ministry before his resignation. Known as a talented and educated most eligible bachelor, he is also known as a food reviewer, a highly sought after one by restaurants in the capital that were willing to go tooths and nails to get into his review waiting list. His life is considered sheltered, before the murder of his father on his wedding day, which plunged the family into the whirlpool of conspiracy and sinister plots of the court. This character reminds me a lot of the FL in Melody of a Golden Age. One who doesnt know any self defense, keeps poking his nose where it didnt belong not bothering to inform anyone of his whereabouts, and keep needing saving when he’s stuck in a tight spot during his investigation. If MoGA’s FL keeps needing saving by the ML (yea the rule of the script kind), this Baili Hongyi keeps needing saving by either FL or ML, and most of the time by both 😆.
I never liked characters who throws themselves cheaply at the one they love, especially when the person doesnt like them back, Liu Ran played by Song Yi was such character. But her devotion to Baili Hongyi even when he was so cold towards her somewhat grew on me. I didnt like this character in the beginning, but her patience and indulgence made her character hard to hate when it was towards the middle. I feel sorry for her, but i still couldnt ship them both. The awkward scenes between them as they were supposed to warm up to each other look too forced, especially Liu Ran’s desperate acts in attracting Baili’s attention. I feel like their couple story is a waste of time and takes too much off the fast-paced plot. Maybe theyre supposed to be the tension relief to the gripping storyline, but i feel that their romance isnt necessary.
I am more interested in the subtle attraction between Gao Bingzhu, Wu Siyue and Yao Niang cuz they didnt have to try too hard to make it work. The ambiguity of their relationship is somewhat more intriguing than the married one, even though i’ve always had a soft spot for marriage of convenience where the love grows after marriage than before. That said, this character began to get on my bad side when she started to cling to Baili unnecessarily, getting in the way of his investigation efforts and disrupting his plans. Maybe this character really had a purpose - to be the SML’s bane on his road to the truth 🙄 other than her irritatingly coquettish crybaby personality, the notion that 80% of her script only contains the word “Er Lang” is also rather annoying.
And what’s up with FL’s bro Wu Youjue? I didnt see him doing anything about the informer case that the empress asked him to investigate, and yet when there is progress, he was the one being rewarded bu the empress when everything was from FL’s efforts. It seems like the only thing he does on the show was to threat to kill people whenever FL goes missing or in danger while investigating the very thing the empress asked. She’s just doing her job, it’s her job to be in the middle of danger, she was supposed to protect the capital after all 🙄 if you don’t want her to be in danger then why did you let her enter the service in the first place? This character is very hot-tempered and ridiculous, threatening people left and right just because his sister goes missing, lol is this supposed to be the head of a department? So unprofesional and unrealistically impractical incompetent fool is all he is. How laughable. All he knows is to blame everyone around him for any mishap that his sister encounters. I wish somebody would just smack some senses into his empty skull for once. It’s really funny that the empress think so highly of him when he literally does nothing in the background but cough all day long. And whats even funnier is that the court won’t accept a talented man with an extra finger but is fine having a sickly man lead two departments that deals with security of the kingdom. Thats even more laughable than Wu Youjue’s ridiculous temper! However as the story unfolds, I started to understand the reason this character exists, though I am still puzzled why Liu Feng was thrown into the plot. Now this character’s utter pointlessness level is off the charts.
I really love the comic relief Bai Lang. He was there almost every time ML needed some helping hand. He is like his unofficial sidekick. Bai Lang was one of the kids ML knew from Unwelcomed Well who got away and made a living in the capital. He was originally a swindler to get by day by day, until he met ML again while he was fleeing the interior guards.
It’s a first time that i saw in ancient costume drama where the characters stop at a post station to change horses before continuing their pursuit. Before this i’ve only read such practices in novels where long and hasty journey would require frequent change of mounts since the horses are made to run all the way and without this change they wont be able to cover the intended distance before the horses tire themselves out. Such attention to details shows how meticulous the production is.
It’s too bad the soundtracks here aren’t much of an impress. Only 2 caught my attention but unfortunately it’s too slow to be included into my running playlist.
All in all, it was an extremely fun ride eventhough the ending might not fly with some audience.
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Promising Story that Could Have Been Better
Chu Qiao woke up to find herself a slave in Yuwen household after surviving a nerve-wrecking cruelty at the hands of the noble youngsters - becoming a target in their hunt, fighting off wolves in the process while trying to escape their arrows. The sole survivor of the ordeal, she was left to recuperate by herself in a shed in Yuwen household, where she found out that her other name was Jiang Xiao Liu, and that her adoptive brothers and sisters were also slaves in Yuwen household. As she tries to survive in the compound, she decided to try to catch the 4th master eyes, Yuwen Yue, for protection, while she look for ways to escape. Yuwen Yue realized her potential when he saw how she survived the hunt, and took her under his wings and began training her to become a spy. Yuwen Yue was actually the heir to a spy network for the kingdom, as his grandfather had been its leader. Just when he thought he began to feel differently towards her, Chu Qiao found an opening to escape the household and went along with Yanxun, a hostage prince from Yanbei whom she befriended while living in Yuwen household, as he was going to return to Yanbei. To their dismay, the emperor’s approval for him to return to Yanbei was a ruse to execute his entire clan for mutiny. Yanxun was placed under house arrest with only Chu Qiao by his side. Drawn to Yanxun due to his ordeal which she felt similar to hers, she stayed with him during the house arrest, and together, they started to devise a huge plan to escape the capital and return to Yanbei.First off, although I loved Chu Qiao as a character, i found Zhao Liying rather stiff at times. I loved her chemistry with Lin Geng Xin who played Yuwen Yue though. They rocked the relationship even though they mostly bicker with each other after her escape from the capital. Lin Geng Xin was okay here, and i love his ice lake scene the most. His anguish when he realized he could not be with Chu Qiao due to the difference of allegience was genuinely conveyed. Zhao Liying could really cry too. The ending was devastating and I cried each time the scene comes on.
The costumes are so smart looking, even the women dresses are so nice. And dont let me start with the songs, gosh the songs are truly the bomb. This is the first drama that I saw of Zhao Liying, which i first watched in 2020 during the covid lockdown, and I instantly became a fan. I rewatch this now for the 3rd time i think, cuz the sequel is coming up next year.
Although the ending ripped my heart to pieces, reading the novel definitely provided some consolation, since the novel was indeed a thousand times better than the adaptation.the novel Chu Qiao and Yuwen Yue were even more badass than depicted on screen. I know the production could not help but tweak the storyline since transmigration/rebirth plots are frowned upon in China, but mannn, they really missed out a lot and instead created many plotholes in the adaptation. I guess I can only dream of the novel becoming real on screen.
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Torn Between Duty and Love
I first saw Liu Xueyi on Kill Me Love Me and i liked him there, though not so much when he turned into a lovesick puppy (unlike the novel), so I am expecting he would do well here. I was right. He convinced me as Yuan Zhong, the immortal youth who conquered the Divine Hand forged by Goddess Wu Shuang, later used by his clan to kill the enemy - the expelled divine clan, War Demon - and subsequently suppressed by these elders he held in high regard afterwards cuz they were afraid of his power. Wielding a divine power at a young age, the teenager was eager to please his elders’ and obey all their commands, ending up being imprisoned for 40 years in the name of secluded cultivation. He was released later but not not before the divine hand’s power sealed by a necklace the elders made him wear. He lived as the High Priest of Youhu immortal clan for 20 years, patiently scheming his way out of his elders’ clasp. And having been subjected to 60 years of suppression that left his body frail and sickly, resentment began to form and tainted his pure heart, but one being believed he was a good person - Diety of Craftsmen, Wu Shuang.I think Tiffany Tang did a terrific job as Diety Wu Shuang. After the great war, primordial Diety Taihe was injured and went into slumber, his divine hand severed and thrown into mortal world, and the ascension ladder was broken, restricting any dieties from descending into the mortal world in their physical form. The only way out of the divine realm was through the sea of oblivion that would rot away divine powers. Of all of them, only Wu Shuang was willing to go through this sea to retrieve the divine hand she created, as she could rely on her creations instead of her divine power to get through it. Initially tasked to kill Yuan Zhong and retrieve the hand so Diety Taihe’s primordial spirit can be restored, she later changed her mind as she deemed Yuan Zhong a good person and cannot be killed. She promised the elder dieties that she would accompany Yuan Zhong til he dies naturally before retrieving the hand. And one of the promises include her not to have any emotional attachment with him and reveal her identity as a diety.
Although i did not have high hope when i started watching this drama, i found that the story really engaging, especially when the ML’s continuous suspicion of FL didnt annoy me, even after her mortal body died for him twice. I usually hated prolonged misunderstanding, but this show managed to get me hooked. I especially love FL’s resilience and strength, she would not waver under any circumstances at all. They both did not turn into hopelessly lovesick puppies, which intrigued me even more.
It is also one of the rare shows where the ML needs constant saving by the FL (well she’s supposed to be the superior being anyway) and i enjoy them very much.
It is the first time i saw Tiffany Tang and in some scenes i couldnt help myself from seeing Liu Shishi in her. Dont you think they have an uncanny resemblance?
The sparseness of the divine realm weirded me out though, was it due to budget constraint? Or was it something that could only be understood with the novel? There were less than 10 individuals in the divine realm so it is definitely weird compared to other xianxia i’ve watched. And i wonder why their ‘supposedly’ dieties are all with unimaginable flaws like humans? Whats the point of being god then? If a god can succumb to human flaws then theyre not god at all. It’s weird that some people would worship these flawed beings, on screen or off screen.
The songs are good too and gave quite an impression on me.
Edited: I decided to read the novel, and found that the storyline in the novel is quite different than the adaptation. But i like the changes the adaptation made to FL’s character though, especially the ‘saving ML’ every time. 😆 in the novel, ML wasnt quite a don-in-distress, he actually saved FL quite a number of times cuz he couldnt accept a mere mortal woman would protect him. And the reason she proposed to the diety elders to wait for ML to exhaust his natural life before reclaiming the hand was also different than the novel’s. In the novel, the waiting was due to the consequence of taking the hand forcefully (by killing ML prematurely) cuz that would mean messing with the hand’s fate (it’s with ML now so it’s fate is tied to him instead of Taihe) of which doing so would cause Taihe’s remnant primodial spirit to completely disappear. It was not because she believed ML was a good person that shouldnt be killed. They kinda romanticized the connection between ML and FL a bit here by having her standing her ground because she believed he was good, when in the novel, her sole motivation to venture into the mortal world to retrieve the hand was due to her thousands years old love for Taihe and she insisted to wait because she didnt want Taihe to disappear.
All in all, the novel was fun, and although the changes of the adaptation was acceptable, i honestly prefer the novel’s ending than the adaptation’s.
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Too Cheesy of a Xianxia Love Story for my liking
Xiang Yun was a cloud that was enlightened by the Red Thread Master of the Marriage Pavilion in Heavenly Realm 3,000 years ago, and has since worked as a lowly fairy there. She had a very strong bond with the Red Thread Master, almost like a daughter to him. Meanwhile Chu Kong is the Heavenly Realm God of War, who had just woken from slumber. He had his primordial spirit damaged after defeating the all feared demonic Moluo Queen Cang Hai 30,000 years ago and was told by his brother the King of Heavenly Realm, Haoxian, to go through love tribulation to repair the damage. The mischievous Xiangyun decided to reap some benefits while she still can, and auctioned Chu Kong for interested parties to tie the knot with him. Caught in the act, Chu Kong was enraged and went after her. By some twist of fate, the red thread that was supposed to be tied between Chu Kong and his loved one ended up tying itself on Xiangyun instead, and accidentally they both fell into the mortal well and unwillingly went through their first love tribulations together. And thus they had to go through 6 more afterwards while trying to repair Chu Kong’s primordial spirit, but inadvertently uncovered a deep horrible secret of their past.Dunno why Ding Yuxi kept accepting projects with badly written FL. I mentioned bad because i read from the discussion that FL’s personality was different in the novel. This is the second time i saw him with such FL after Melody of Golden Age. This time his FL is physically weak, whiny, crybaby and a damsel in distress. I was close to dropping again (i did with melody) but i forced myself to continue cuz first, i really am curious of the story behind their lost memories and second, i didnt want to drop another of his work because his first show White Cat Legend had left a significant impression on me. Although im not a fan, i saw that he’s got the potential of a good actor.
I never imagined DYX has such a diverse acting skills (glad i didnt drop it earlier). He actually excells really well impersonating FL’s gestures and countenance, acting cutesy and all, when they swapped bodies during one of their tribulations, while Yang Chaiyue who plays Xiangyun did it rather badly. Like how she walks, sits and holds things, they did not look like how a man would do (eg when sitting together with just the two of them, DYX would close up his legs and droop his shoulders like a lady would sit, and while YCY shouldve sat with knees apart and straight shoulders like how a man would sit, she did the exact opposite). I am impressed to see DYX running while lifting his nonexistent skirt when he was wearing male attire like how a girl would run lifting the front of her skirt to prevent from stepping on it. He’s really into the character swap! I was expecting YCY to stumble on her skirt when she first woken up to the body swap because naturally a male in tight attire wouldnt have run while lifting the front of his skirt (cuz he had never worn one). Sadly she didnt forget to lift the skirt so yeah, her impersonation is generally inferior. I considered that some men might still lift the front of his robes while running, and yes ML wears huge flowy robes while in Heavenly realm, but then how man would lift the robe while running is very different from how a girl would do it, and YCY did the girl version instead of a man. It’s the little things like this that matters when it comes to gender swap to determine how good the actor is.
As for the FL, i have to admit the actress Yang Chaiyue is ethereally beautiful especially in her heavenly fairy attire, but i find her character is written not to my liking. She likes to speak in whiny voice, and her personality is written to be childish and babyish, which i find very irritating. I dont blame the actress, it’s the screenwriter who wrote her as such, although I read from the discussions her personally is quite different in the novel. I like her briefly as the domineering ever so confident queen better, but this only covered a small part of the show. She returned to the cutesy whiny personality even when she regained her lost memories, probably because she was reborn as Xiangyun and this was her new life and personality.
I find the set of Heavenly Realm very funny cuz some locations looked like a giant space station with rings rotating around it. and whats up with vomitting blood and never bothered to wipe it clean even hours afterwards? Just to remind viewers that they vomitted blood is it? It really irks me that almost all cdrama is like this. It’s like seeing somebody eat with food crumbs sticking on their mouths and never bothered to wipe after eating. It’s gross. It is instinct to wipe if something spills over our mouths right? Even if it was saliva we would instinctively wipe it off, i cant help but be bothered when seeing stains of red or purple that should have been blood to remain there like it didnt exist. So disgusting. Why did i mention this here and never did in other reviews? Cuz there are tonnes of blood vomitting here, almost in every other episodes especially towards the end.
Anyway i fastforwarded many of the couple’s romantic scenes cuz i was only enduring them to see how they unfold the secret 30,000 years ago and take revenge for the lost souls.
Btw i really love some of the songs like My Love and Break Through. They kinds got stuck in my head so this kinda upped the rating a bit.
If you like sweet cheesy kind of love story, you should adore this one. If youre more into action, then skip it. 😆
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Selfless and Selfish Love
Helian Xi’s last memory before dying had been his wife stabbing him in the heart. Somehow he came back to life to see his whole Liangchuan clan attacked by Yangzhou, his wife Princess Feng Yuan from Yangzhou is believed to be one of the culprits. Because he had pledged to safeguard the safety of his people with his blood, the clan was saved by sealing them in a divine tree in Lingchuan. Once sealed, the tree died and only with the return of the twinned branch in ML and FL’s possession can the tree be revived and the clansmen restored to life. ML went on rampage in Yangzhou palace for revenge and to find his wife so he could take back her twinned branch, but unfortunately she was nowhere to be found. Fast forward 3 years later, the Crown Prince of Shouyun was supposed to wed his sweetheart Liangchan, but she was attacked before the wedding. The masked men had wanted to end her life but was intervened by ML. He discovered that Liangchan looks exactly like his wife. He kidnapped her but found out Liangchan had no memories about her past life prior to 3 years ago. ML made an agreement with Crown Prince to let Liangchan regain her memories before doing anything. But when she started to remember, things turn out to be very different from what ML had remembered it to be.I can say this show probably has a quite high budget. The pictures, the props, the actors, the edits are actually pretty impressive for a miniseries. At least it surpassed my expectation. The actors are very talented and able to portray their characters convincingly well. ML and FL’s expressions are on point and can really deliver. They looked good together too, i can feel the spark even when ML was supposed to hate FL before he knew what really happened. The conflicted and longing look of his was very convincing, that I-really-wanna-kill-you-but-I-love-you kind of look. The plot is engaging and amazingly did not have much plotholes expected from miniseries. The songs are great too. So nice and didnt sound cheap and copied at all.
Gotta to warn readers this story is very dark, gloomy and sad. A beautiful story, but not for those who can’t handle sappy drama.
SPOILER BEYOND THIS LINE____________
The only thing that ticks me is the ending. FL’s ending is pretty much expected, i dont really have a problem with that, but for the ML i think they really botched it. How come a leader of a tribe who also has a daughter in tow could make that decision? It looked stupid and selfish, unbecoming of the ML’s character as a leader who treasures his clan in the beginning of the show. As i dont believe in suicides in the name of love, i deem it stupid, weak and selfish, awfully disrespectful to FL’s sacrifice. At least hers was made for the whole clan and cant be considered suicide cuz am pretty sure FL would really want to live if she could survive the twinned branch extraction. A real man and leader wouldnt have made that decision that ML did. What, just because the main villain died and the clan is back to life, now he can abandon them to their own devices, disregarding their future and even his daughter’s? He didnt even appoint a proper leader to succeed him! What a selfish and shortsighted man! Awfully disappointing so am taking off 1 and a half star for that. Good thing is at least the side couple came through.
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Not a Zombie Show
Not quite a zombie series, but more to alien invasion, although the invasion only happened to this one tiny island. Chu Sijing, a jinyiwei captain, came to the Ninghai in the name of investigating a plague, where Bo Yan, a Ninghai army sergeant was assigned to be his guide cum assistant during this investigation. The Ninghai army was not as welcoming as they saw him as a representative of the people of the court who is looking for an excuse to stop the building of the Ninghai wall, so they keep refusing to cooperate to ML’s demands about the strange disease going on the camp. During one of his night ventures, he came across a group of islanders doing shady business, who ran off upon seeing him. As he was chasing them, he was stopped by Captain Lei. This picqued his interest to go to Wumu Island to investigate them, thinking the army was trying to hide something by denying his request to visit the island. And as he swam to the island with Bo Yan guiding him, they discovered a more sinister mystery running rampant on the island that could jeopardize the army and the kingdom’s general population as a whole.At first the story sold the cult idea, then mystical powers, and eventually turned out to be an alien entity who was trying to control the human population. It’s kinda weird because of the ancient setting, I kinda think it wouldve been more interesting had in been in a modern time.
It’s the first time I saw Sandrine Pinna, she played a portuguese captain with a mission to bring back one of the monsters to present to her emperor. I think it is rather weak to have a foreigner to risk all her men just to help ML fight off the power behind the monsters. Somehow that doesn’t fly. And why would a bunch of portuguese sailors speak spanish? Lol. I wonder if the term “to shoot/fire” is really fire in spanish. Sounded like a direct translation. Because to shoot in malay wouldve been “tembak” and not “api (fire)”. 🤭
I’m not sold on the ending too. Why would Wo Zhan the alien entity would want to strike any deal with ML? did it really think ML was really “that” special and that it could control him like it did his twin bro? I had a hard time concentrating to the show, maybe thats why i might have missed things here and there. I dont know, this show somehow lack the wow factor to keep the audience on screen. It’s a drag to finish it, and it only had 12 episodes!
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Palace Struggle of a Warrior Queen
Usually I have a problem with tv shows that are too long with draggy unnecessary sideplots and scenes thrown in senselessly, this time I feel that this tv show needs more episodes to really give proper narrative and adequate closure to the audience.Basically it’s about the historical Queen Woo’s struggle to manoeuvre against palace conspiracy right after the King dies out of the blue due to poisoning. The show spans about 24-36hours but with up to 28years of flashbacks that reveals the background of each key characters especially the couple the King and Queen. Queen Woo was born to a tribe in the North, was raised like a boy with military and martial prowess, aspired to be a great general, but ended up sacrificing for the tribe to be wedded off to one of the kingdom’s princes guarding the border with no chance for the throne. The original bride had been her sister, Woo Soon, but she was adamant on marrying the Crown Prince (she wanted to be the Queen so badly) and would rather die if she couldnt. So to avoid the tribe from rejecting the marriage decree, Woo Hee stepped up and volunteered to wed and live in the treacherous North border with the second prince, Go Nammoo. Much to their surprise, before the King died, the second Prince was appointed as the successor instead of the Crown Prince due to his military might and merit, for the late King entrusted for the second prince to repossess the land conquered by Han. When the second prince (now King) died after being poisoned, thereforth starts the Queen’s struggle to maintain her late husband’s reign legacy and to fight for her own survival. At the same time, the palace’s ministers struggle to find the real culprit behind the King’s demise.
The FL, Queen Woo Hee was the perfect Warrior Queen who is both intelligent and profound in military & political strategy, and possess significant physical and martial prowess, enough to fend for herself and others around her. During the less than 24 hours chase to select the King’s successor among her brother-in-laws by marrying them, she showed how a leader should decide and act during emergency, and upon her return with future King, showed how a general should lead her troops in facing the crown prince’s and the third prince’s rebellion. FL was resolute, firm and brave. She doesnt second guess herself, and most importantly she trusted her subordinates enough to lay her life for them. A true warrior queen.
The ML, i consider Eulpaso as the ML although not paired with FL romantically, is a key figure during her reign. She spends most time with this Prime Minister than her own husband since the King is frequently away for war all year round, this the Prime Minister had become her confidant, discussing military/political strategy with each other and guessing the King’s move on the battlefield, while playing huge-axx chess. As the Queen ventures out to acquire the successor right after the King died, ML held the fort in the palace as he tread the dangerous waters of palace intrigue to find the one behind the King’s assassination. He also became the Queen’s lifeline when the Queen was about to be caught up by assassins sent by the Third Prince.
The SML, the King, who looked messy and haggard in the first episode as he was shown to fight the Hans for years, i almost couldnt recognize the actor Ji Chang Wook, turned to be so dang smashing when he finally trims the beard and dons the dragon robe once he finally returns to the palace. Too bad it turned out that palace conspiracy proves to be much more fatal than the heinous battlefield he grew up in. No sword, spear or arrow could take his life, but a mere cup of wine did when he finally returns to the comfort of his own palace. The King died right in Episode 1, though he made a comeback in later episodes as numerous flashbacks detailing his origin and rise to the throne. And although he loved his wife so very dearly, he knew his responsibility to the kingdom outweighs everything else. He even gave the Queen a vial of poison, telling her to either kill herself or the enemy with it if there comes a time she is in danger/held hostage
, because he would never waver and give up the throne for her life. It was cruel, but that is just how the monarchs had to live their lives, as pawns to power. Just like how the Queen didnt take much time to decide to marry one of her brother-in-laws upon her husband’s death to ensure her survival and to ensure her control over the kingdom her late husband had painstakingly built.
Being a show with only 24 hours span, the writers made sure there is enough action to keep the audience on the edge of their seats. The Queen’s carriage chase by assassins sent by numerous tribes and prince was epic and it showed how formidable the Queen is as a fighter. The chase for the King’s poisoning case is pretty much engaging too, with riddles to whom it really was. At one point i even suspected the Queen because she was about to get deposed due to ministers’ pressure, but they never revealed who it really had been even towards the end. What a bummer.
The ending is anticlimax too because they ended it right after she yelled for the gates of the fortress to open, as she leads the troops to clash with the rebels, just like her late husband wouldve done. Although they did slide in snippets of the Queen’s victory, it was just too short and not quite satisfying. We the audience needs moreee! Historically Queen Woo reigned for more than 40 years as Queen and Queen Dowager, couldn’t they extend the episode up to the new King’s enthronement? 😭 it’s such a bummer!
The rating coould’ve been higher had they made a proper plot with satisfying ending, maybe up to 12-14 episodes instead of just 8. 😒
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