One of the Best!
I have been putting off this title for soo long cuz I didnt quite like Zhao Lusi in The Long Ballad and I didnt think she would make a good main lead. But she definitely proved me wrong in Love Like the Galaxy. I must admit that this show stands almost at par with The Untamed and The Rebel Princess which are in my top favourite list, and her performance here was spectacular.The show opened up with 15yo Cheng Shaoshang - FL - finally reunited with her parents who had left her in her grandmother’s care since birth to go for war. On the way home from where her grandmother made her stay, she met with our ML the 21yo great young general Ling Buyi on the hunt for a criminal, which turned out to be FL’s grand uncle (grandma’s bro). She showed him where she suspected the man to be hiding, which was in a strawpile in front of the small hut she lived in. This is where FL caught ML’s eye. It was like love at first sight, though he had only seen her hand at that time.
When she thought her life would be better now that her parents are home, it turned out to be even worse when her tiger soldier mom could not accept the daughter that she turned out to be - illiterate, brash, full of trickery with a loose mouth of rebuttal. The mom tried to make up for those years she lost of raising and educating FL, but it made FL hate her even more due to the harsh educating method. The mom also openly favoured FL’s cousin who was well-read, gentle, and compassionate. As FL traverse her new life with a full family that she couldn’t seem to fit in, she learned to grow into a mature young lady under the wings of the empress when ML asked the emperor for her hand. ML was the last descendent of the Huo clan, which the emperor was hugely indebted to, thus had ML raised by the Empress. With FL, he too traversed his life to avenge the extermination of his clan while at the same time fighting for the woman whom he loved.
I totally totally love love love this show. I love how they are more focussed on the familial affection than romance between the main leads. Although FL had a hard time bonding with her mom, she was on an extremely good terms with her dad, her 2 brothers (1 was actually her twin), and the demure cousin. There was no sibling rivalry at all despite their 15 year-estrangement, which i totally love. Am so tired of sibling fights, bickering and getting jealous at each other all day long. Its non existence in the Cheng Household is totally heartwarming. The only tension would only come from the mom-daughter banter as FL keep stirring up trouble whenever she got criticized by her mom and bullied by other girls outside.
I totally get the FL character. Imagine the emptiness in her heart, she was abandoned as a baby by her family and left in the care of those who doesn’t love her at all. She grew up having to rely on her own self without the ability to love other people. And even when her family returned, she still found herself drowning with her mom’s constant criticisms and complaints of her shortcomings. She was drowning and eager to grab a life line, something that her parents should have provided but failed to do so, and that was why she was quick to accept her first bethrothal and then ML’s, thinking that it was her ticket to freedom.
Although I am not a fan of damsel-in-distress type of character, which the FL is, i totally love her guts. She has no physical prowess, with a body so frail that she would faint at extreme sadness or agitation, but her wit, intelligence and stubborness make up for that. Despite her gentle look, FL is extremely quick-witted, relentless and unyielding. She has no problem talking back to others with a sharp tongue in her defense, against whoever it may be. Her mom failed to appreciate her strengths, but the Empress did, and it is understandable that FL quickly allevated her as a mother figure. I was super satisfied when FL decided to stay with the Empress in isolation, leaving her home without much qualm. Back then, her mom had left her for the loyalty to the emperor, and now when she bade farewell, she said she too chose loyalty to the empress over filial piety. What a great “in your face” moment though FL had not meant it to be a revenge. I loved FL mom’s character because she is a tiger mom like me, but it is still so satisfying to see her take her own medicine. I can’t forgive her for favouring Yangyang and keep denouncing FL in public over and over again.
Leo Wu had proven his talent in The Long Ballad, so I totally know he’d definitely be able to pull off the fierce general look, and a love stricken lover. ML is basically hell bent on taking a revenge on his clan’s extermination, and is ruthless in seeking out the truth. Him being most favoured person of the emperor made him almost untouchable. Although he was busy investigating, he realized he could not miss out a chance at romance too. And so when FL’s first bethrothal was rescinded, he immediately asked for her hand in public, without even asking if she would be okay with it or not. It showed how much confidence he has in himself, and he made sure she could not refuse by shamelessly asking the emperor to do it for him, putting FL’s parents in a tight spot. ML is a resilient soul, very similar to FL, and as they get to know each other, they realized although they very much love each other, they still lost sight of accepting each other’s shortcomings, which had cost them very dearly.
This is the first show ever that I saw where the empress and the concubine got along with each other, and they are not even pretending to be just for the sake of looks. The Emperor is quirky and lovable and I totally ship them three. Their love for the ML and for each other is truly genuine and pure. And as usual, ML’s two sidekicks always get my vote of favourite goofy characters. I don’t know how they do it, but in most of military oriented shows like this, the ML always have two sidekicks with opposite characters, 1 usually serious and 1 goofy and every time, they always caught my eyes and make it to the favourite spot. Ah Qi and Ah Fei, you guys rock!
The fights are excellently choreographed, one of the best I’ve seen without the flying or superhuman sh!t, and this is also the first show that I’ve seen where people don’t vomit blood for every injury they have. In here, even as they were being hit on the abdomen repeatedly, all i see was water or saliva coming out of the mouth, and no blood. Now that is what I call realistic! It is so stupid to see injuries like sword wound or pierced by an arrow or beatings on the butt and yet they vomit blood. Duh 😒🙄 oh and the show doesn’t pull off any poisoning or amnesia trope either. 👍🏼
All in all, the screenplay is so damn good. It is 56 episode long, but it didnt feel like that due to how engaging the story is. And although none of the main and major support roles died, I still cried buckets due to the emotional rollercoaster they put me on. This title couldve gotten an all 10 points from me had they not slacked a bit on the music side. None of the OST caught my ears or stayed in my head, so there goes the music category.
However, this is also the first show that I wished it had a tragic ending. I wished FL died on that cliff on that few last episodes, and ML lived in regret forever. He had not suffered enough for abandoning FL at the earlier cliff scene. Too bad it had a happy ending instead.
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Strong FL and ML but too many plotholes
When I watched the first episode, i felt that it was really promising, with the FL as a modern soldier turned bodyguard leading a group of biologist in a forest looking for specimens.they were attacked by a giant serpent and while protecting the group, she fell into a cavern or some sort. As the FL was looking for a way out, she stumbled upon a dagger which transmigrated her to ancient time Longyuan Continent after she unsheathed it. The girl FL woke up in was an illegitimate daughter of the chancellor of Tianque, who had been mistreated all her life growing up in the mansion as her mom the concubine died early when she was a young. The story followed FL’s journey to find a way to return to her time, while at the same time standing up for herself in the family who had mistreated her. Turned out she had a body that is immune to all kinds of poisons, and the 4th prince -the ML- her evil sister was aiming for had taken a liking at the FL during the consort candidate lineup, and chosen her as the princess consort instead of the original arrangement by the emperor for him to be with FL’s sister.As princess consort, the FL had to keep dodging bullets thrown at her by her own family, the royal family and others who looked down upon her, while trying to find a way back to her time. She was also thrown into the royal political turmoil surrounding the ML while at the same time finding herself falling in love with him.
I liked the FL in the earlier parts of the show cuz she’s good at the portrayal as an arrogant,confident and self-reliant young lady, the personality that is apt for a soldier and bodyguard of modern time. She’s also very beautiful and pleasing to the eye. However as the story progresses, i found her to be rather stiff and wooden in intimate and romance scenes. She liked to put up a puzzled/clueless face in such scenes, and she’s really bad at sad scenes too. The emotion just didnt come through. Also, she’s just too mischievous and lively as princess consort compared to the serious persona she had in the first episode as a weapon wielding soldier. The contrast is just too big. I would expect her demeanor should be closer to Ren Xin’s in A Journey to Love as she was member of the armed forces before transmigrating. Maybe the writer forgot that she was a transmigrator rather than a native of the ancient time.
The number of times FL got kidnapped and captured hence tortured by ML’s and her enemies is also ridiculous to the point of being comical. It just seemed like FL’s superpower is getting kidnapped and captured repeatedly right up towards the end. How can a modern special force get so bad at defending herself all while posessing superb ancient ability like sword wielding, cultivating inner power and qinggong, archery and horse riding? It became comical because these ancient abilities had nothing to do with her special forces training or even the ability of the original owner of the ancient FL’s body. 😂 she just automatically became good at everything after transmigrating. Funnier even that she became good at everything and yet still need to be saved by ML over and over again. Gosh the plot repeats so much that I literally rolled my eyes and laughed. One thing i was grateful is that they did not use the common and ever so popular “got injured, in a coma, woken up with an amnesia” plot.
As for the ML, i thought he looked too old to portray a 20yo+, and isnt as handsome as most ML of other shows that i’ve seen. But one thing i had to admit, he looked very masculine and manly befitting the role as a prince who rose to power by his achievements on the battlefield. He basically volunteered to go to war at 14yo just to escape the awful life he had in the palace. The actor grew into me just like The Rebel Princess’ General Xiao Qi who didnt give much impression in earlier episodes but grew into the audience as the story progresses. The ML’s emotional expressions in all of his scenes came through unlike the wooden FL. The way he looked at FL also looked convincing, in the beginning when he was intrigued by her origins, and later as a longing lover. The happiness, sadness, anger, crazy, basically everything was executed perfectly well, as opposed to the FL who would always looked confused/clueless even when she was supposed to be looking into the eyes of the love of her life.
The show also had a ridiculous amount of flashback scenes which some can be repetitive too! Omg, i fast-forwarded so much of those. They also love to do slowmos which i ff too. What a waste of time. I guess thats why i manage to finish everything in under 3days. There’s many unnecessary scenes which are lengthy! I didnt like the scenes with second ML so i ff most of them too.
Other casts arent impressive too, many had to work harder. The supporting ML looked so awkward around FL and some of the other casts overact. I also fail to understand the plot about finding music scores to discover the origin of ancient FL. And it is also funny that the distance between kingdoms looked so close that they can move from one capital to another in a matter of a short time like they just went through a portal or something. Gosh so many plotholes and the plots are predictable too! The ending is also too stereotypical for time travel genre.
However all in all it is an enjoyable show. Both the FL and ML are likable and they looked good for each other. I could feel the attraction between the two. The storyline on the other hand, needed better writing. I understand that it was a novel adaptation, so it is acceptable that the plot might have been cramped to fit into 40 episodes.
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Straightforward Romance with a Slightly Brilliant FL
I have never heard of the names of any of the actors in this series, so u can say my review is very unbiased as i picked up this title just by the whim of the moment. Finished it within 3 days too.
The story started off with a somewhat cute cartoonish creature flying around the FL, Nan Yan, which i first thought was her fairy friend or pet. But then it was revealed that even she herself doesnt know that this creature resides inside her. Then a mysterious ML comes along, then a few others she befriends with as she was supposedly curing ML’s heart disease which was similar to her mother’s.
First off, i gotta say FL is one of the brightest and quickwitted characters ive ever watched. She just looked soft, gullible, and easily manilulated, but as the story progresses, it is revealed that she’s the exact opposite of that. Yeah in the first one third of the story, she was weak in physical and magical strength, because she only focusses on her medical skill and not interested in cultivating. But after the first love tribulation, when she came back strong and reknowned as the top demon slayer, with the combination of the intelligence and strength, she became someone you dont wanna mess around. And the best part of this character is that, in situations where FLs of other typical drama would go down the rabbit hole of misunderstanding and grudge against their better half, Nan Yan did not! Ha!
As for the ML, i like it that he manage to put on two very different attitude and demeanor of he as Shao Cang and later as Yin. Shao Cang appears to be arrogant and yet humble in his own way, aloof as the monarch of his sect and yet still cares of lives around him. While Yin, although still has the aloof aura as he doesnt really interact with people due to his demonic possession, has a much brash attitude and rather harsh in his actions.
Other supporting characters are all great. Costume are nice to look at and doesnt look too flamboyant.
The thing i dislike about the series is how badly the editing is. One scene jumps right to another in the middle of a conversation, which i sometimes had to backtrack to confirm if i had been spacing out and missed anything. This scene would eventually be explained in another scene through flashbacks. So yeah they wanted to keep it a surprise as not to reveal everything in a streamline fashion, but cutting in the middle of a conversation is such a turnoff. I keep getting dumbfounded as the scenes dont tally with the next that i eventually stopped backtracking and just went with it. Sure enough, that dumbfounding scene would then be explained later.
I feel that there is not much chemistry between the main couple. I almost felt it between Shao Cang and NanYan, but later when he came back as Yin, it somehow got diffused and became lost. The villains keep popping out episode after episode but Sen Luo is probably a major disappointment after they build up his reputation as the owner of three divine hearts and conqueror of 5 demon prisons which cannot even be vanquished by the best demi god of the realm - he can only be imprisoned while the demi god himself perish later on. All these hype and this demon lord get kicked out of the scene just like that? There was hardly any battle at all. And those banter between Yin and Sen Luo made it look like this demon lord is a mere joke instead of second biggest villain.
SPOILER BEYOND THIS LINE_____________
I dont get the point of Yin having to be killed by Nan Yan in the last episode too. The drama is just nonexistent as two minutes later (3 years by the story) he would resurrect yet again. There’s no explanation of why or how he manage to live again though. So I see it as pointless. The last episode seemed rushed especially the the last battle between the lovers.
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Subpar execution, expected twists, predicted ending.
A doctor was framed for malpractice, forced to admit guilt, had his medical license revoked and jailed for two years only to return as a lawyer 5 years later to exact revenge against those who threw him under the bus.Kinda lame storyline, right? Wait til u see the ML, he’s even worse. Can only hold one type of expression throughout the show - furrowed eyebrows, agitated/confused eyes with constipated look. A pure downer when the main poster made him look so dashing and sinister. The only things that kept the show from falling apart are the fiery prosecuter ex fiancee of his - the FL, and the conniving korean american lobbyist - the SML - who keeps stirring the pot with unexpected moves.
The ending plottwist is also expected, u kinda get the hints as the show progressed cuz they showed too much. I wouldve prefered if they had made do without those hints.
I wish these kdrama directors would make their actors who supposedly play characters that lived abroad to take conversational english classes so that they can deliver their english lines right. It’s really cringy to see how these supposedly koreans living abroad who came back only to speak English that no audience can really understand. The only one who can speak decent english on this show is Jayden’s sidekick. Honestly I dont really expect them to speak with an accent like native speakers, but at least pronounce them right so people can understand without relying on the english subs. So far that i’ve seen, the only character that managed to pull off korean-living-abroad role is Stella Hwang from Partners for Justice, and thats because the actress Stephanie Lee is Korean American. That is how the english should be delivered for roles who are supposed to be from abroad. And if the actors cant speak it, the least the directors could do is not include english in their lines. It makes the roles less convincing when they speak poor english.
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Nice warm rom-com but rather mediocre storyline
It’s about a bandit, the FL, whose stronghold had been raided by the army after she snatched a tribute of Yeming kingdom to Pei Kingdom. She was thrown into court political struggle when the official leading the raid saw that she had an uncanny resemblance to his daughter, who died after jumping off a cliff in response to the arranged marriage to the Crown Prince of Pei, the ML. The official, the Prime Minister of Pei, grabbed the chance to threaten FL into posing as his daughter to become the Crown Princess, lest all occupant of the stronghold be killed. She had to do the Prime Minister’s bidding as she racked her brain to rescue people from the stronghold. Along the way, she grew to like the Crown Prince, who was wary of her at first, but eventually he too had fallen in love with his wife whom he consider just a spy from the Prime Minister’s residence. As the story progressed, mysteries and plots get revealed, but one thing remained for sure, the love between the Crown Prince and his princess.I dont know where to start with this one. It’s definitely a hearty romantic comedy, but fell short of all the other aspects. The storyline, the conspiracy plotting, the court politics, the fightings, oh well like I said, everything. But the music scores are fun and catchy, although sounded much too modern for a period series. Although nice, it’s really annoying that there was too much of these interlaced songs in the scenes, especially romantic scenes, which made it sound repetetive and annoying.
Although the FL is good in acting, i think the ML has much work to do. His expressions sometimes doesnt fit the scene. He is supposed to be this intelligent, kind-hearted, quick witted Crown Prince, but ended up showing the audience someone who is adorably stupid and too slow to react in intense situations. He was shown to be quite bad in martial arts, and other characters have also mentioned this multiple times along the show, but suddenly without training much or studying from great masters like a wuxia series would show, he just suddenly become good at swordplay towards the end of the show.
Plotholes are aplenty in this one, you cant really make sense of the scenes presented unlike a high budget show has. Oh yes I blame the budget. They definitely dont have a budget high enough to hire good screenplay writers, action choreoghrapher and wardrobe manager.
Not only does the storyline strewn with plotholes, the fighting scenes are also horrendous and painful to watch. Too slow, too rehearsed, and too much wirework. Definitely not one of those that run like fluid while keeping us on the edge of our seats. They look cheap and too mediocre.
Lets not make me start on the costume the filmset. Theyre much too modern-looking, both the costume and the set, looks weird to see those designs in a period setting. The head gears are also too dangly. The make up is nice though, although I cant figure out why they had to make the FL wear such moisty lipstick that made her lower lip look swollen and bleeding. Another too modern look.
All in all, its just a show with two beautiful leads. That’s it. Definitely wont rewatch it. Recommended if youre into light romcoms. At least this is better than Royal Rumours.
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This review may contain spoilers
Fun enough to keep me watching
The plot is very light and comedic, mainly revolves around the building of relationship between the Crown Prince and Hua Liuli, amidst the lingering espionage from neighbouring warring country. Hua Liuli is a daughter of prominent general of the nation and had been crowned as princess for her parents’ military contributions, and invited to live in the capital, where in reality she was actually held as political hostage because the emperor was wary of how big an influence both her parents wield as mighty generals and worry that they might steal the throne with their huge army. Upon her arrival at the capital, she acted like a weak, sickly maiden to avoid people (especially the emperor) from getting wary of her, where in reality she was quick witted and very good in martial art.The palace drama in the harem and the political conspiracy is minimal with ridiculously comedic kind of vibe so they tend to look stupid.
I didnt like how the ML (crown prince) look. He looked like a gaunt porcelain statue whose face been dabbed with too much fair coloured foundations and he had very weird face expressions. He tried too hard to look like a calculative, evil, indifferent crown prince. I think FL did okay although the part she acted as a sickly maiden is rather exaggerated (not sure if they intend to do it this way as it is a comedy). The acting is mediocre and they include so many awkward moments of proximity between the ML and FL which I failed to find the spark. I find them pretty lame.
The costume is sooooo over the top with ridiculous-looking dangling hair accessories and ugly flowy dress. Colour combination of the female dresses are botched too. The female’s makeup looks weird too as they put the blusher around the eyes instead of cheeks, and they drew the eyebrow wayyy across the temple.
I just realized everytime they want to portray a character of being sick, it’s always with the slight fake coughing. It’s like even when the character says,”i have a headache/stomach ache,” they would always cough. It’s so annoying.
The first kiss being on the forehead is pretty sweet though. I’m getting sick of lip-kissing between two yet-to-profess-their-love persons. It’s unrealistic in the ancient society that doesn’t even let females and males to mingle freely.
Towards the end the FL became rather stupid though, the plot also became rather ridiculous. So there’s a revolt going to happen and they know when the rebels will take action, one wouldve thought they had prepared backup properly. But nooooo, they had to make it dramatic by going about on how Liuli was going to mobilize the whole Hua army from outside the capital to storm into the palace as backup. Even funnier thing is that the emperor also knows about the plot and feigned sickness, and only came out when the mastermind revealed herself. Interestingly, the emperor conveniently forgets that a band of murderous assassins are pursuing his Crown Prince outside the palace while he was having a chat with the mastermind. I wouldve thought it’d be a brilliant plan by the scheming Crown Prince or even the quickwitted Liuli. It was big disappointment instead.
The show ended with a wedding of course.
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Truly a masterpiece!
I just cant move on from this drama. Everyone did a great job in it, even the small roles!I read the novel first and thought that it was a total masterpiece despite not really into BL. I was actually reluctant to start watching this because the novel had excessively explicit sexual scenes. I didnt have much impression of Wang YiBo and XiaoZhan as I dont really know them and havent watched any of them on screen before The Untamed. I was actually curious when people keep talking about how great their friendship was when it's clear the novel had them hooked up as lovers. To be honest I was skeptical and delayed watching because I was preparing for the worst. However the drama proved me wrong as they manage to stay truthful to the novel despite a few changes to show bromance instead, which I truly adore! It's definitely different from typical love story like the other wuxia dramas that I've watched. There's no silly female characters chasing after the male leads, I hate it when they flock around male leads like leeches. And I dont care how much other people keep saying that they have BL element in this, I personally see those scenes as bromance!
I especially LOVE the sibling relationship between Jiang Cheng, Jiang YanLi and Wei WuXian. The pain suffered by WWX and JC when JYL died was so heartbreaking and I cried each time. In fact, I actually like the drama more than the novel, especially the scene where WWX broke down after JYL's death. I love the ending too!
Watched the special edition twice to relive the memorable moments after I finished with the full version, watched the anime version (up tp season 2) too, and still cant get over this. Watched behind the scenes shots and was surprised WYB was actually more goofy than XZ. It takes considerable talent to play the cold stoney Lan Zhan with someone of that character, and my hats off to all of the cast to be able to make the characters real. It was indeed really hard for me to move on from this story.
This is indeed one of the best cdrama I've ever watched. My only regret was not watching it much earlier!
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A redemption for Princess Agent fans
This is like another journey back to Eternal Love days. It’s about a spirit who is also the God of War in her realm, who falls in love with a human during her short stint of falling in the mortal realm. This human, however, turned out to be an ancient god who decided to experience mortality due to boredom. Because of his status as the only ancient god left to govern the world, he could not reciprocate her love, and she, being the big shot general of her realm, understood that they were just not meant to be. Well, turned out she understood and willing to forget her love, but it turned out the ancient god had a hard time of letting her go. Things happened, and their fates got entangled even more.Honestly I did not have much high hopes on this series when I first saw its trailers. They looked over the top and ML looked silly because they featured Xing Yun. I thought it was going to be strong FL with weak ML (didnt read any synopsis before it was aired).
Another doubt that I had was because of Lin Geng Xin. I tried watching his other works after his superb performance in Princess Agent (PA) but I was met with disappointment. Didn't finish Zhao Yun God of War because he was so bad in it. So I had my doubt when I heard about this show. It was a mixed feeling because I really love his character as Yuwen Yue in PA but he fell short in his other tv series. Amazingly it turned out he did really well as an ancient god. I thought I wont see any better performance of a god after seeing Vengo Gao in Eternal Love of Dream, but amazingly Lin Geng Xin managed to surpass my expectation.
Most xianxia shows that I watched mostly had sad/open endings which is obviously less than satisfying, mostly frustrating (still cant get over the traumatic ending of Princess Agents, cuz the book had such a lovely ending!). Many claim to be adapted from novels and yet they really love to deviate from it. I finished reading the Yu Feng Xing novel and am happy that it had a happy ending, but then I didnt know if the tv series would be faithful to it, which kept me on edge as I watched the show. And as the story progressed, I was quite happy that they try to stay on track with the book. Only minor deviations/add on like the scenes of You Lan and Fu Rong Jun. You Lan actually got more screen time than the author wrote her on the book.
The good:
- no contradicting personality of any of the characters. The general acted like a general, the pauper like a pauper, the king as kings, the diety as dieties and so on. There’s no strong FL but with damsel in distress attitude when around ML, no clumsy trying to act cute scenes, no immature/ridiculous actions etc. Shen Li was strong, and she fights her own battle without waiting to be saved.
- There are no silly misunderstandings, stupid jealousy, ridiculous confusions around the love relationships. FL is clear about her stand on this topic, and she stayed true towards the end. SML never try to fight for her affection too, he knows the boundary and all he wanted was only for FL to be safe.
- Actors display superb performance, I couldn't really find any flaw with any of them.
- Costume is super gorgeous and not overly extravagant. I especially love love love costumes of the generals here. So smart looking and yet not overly done.
- Music is sooooo breathtaking and easy to catch on.
- storyline is easy to follow hence not many loopholes to pick on. However, this also means that the story is much too simple and straightforward with not much complicated plot thrown in.
- I really love that they decided to do the last episode. Most adaptations usually skip the very last chapter (prologue) and made audience feel dissatisfied. This show managed to capture every little part of the novel and made it into the screen. This one episode is the only moment that we get to see Shen Li and Xing Zhi as a real normal lovey-dovey couple with both of them acting cute with each other. It was so fulfilling. A real closure of both LoSL and PA combined.
The bad:
- there’s no real tension/conflict. Both Shen Li and Fu Rong Jun didnt like the arranged marriage so no conflict there. Both Shen Li and Xing Zhi know that theyre not meant to be together due to their respective responsibilities, so there’s no conflict there. In fact, Shen Li is more adamant about this more than Xing Zhi. At least Xing Zhi thought of living away quietly with Shen Li, but Shen Li never did. I truly enjoyed the moments when Xing Zhi was treating Shen Li’s torture injuries, I think that was the only sweet moments of them as lead general and ancient god setting their huge responsibility to the side to enjoy the brief moment with each other. There’s no love triangle either cuz Shen Li rejected Mo Fang right from the start, even after she realized who Xing Zhi really was. Her heart is set on stone and she never deviates.
- CGI is quite over the top. The earlier episodes of Shen Li as a phoenix looked cartoonish. Not seamless enough. The underwater scene is badly done too. But some of the battle scenes and the ocean freezing scene was great.
- Lack of good battle scenes with the villains because theyre just not strong enough until Feng Lai emerged. Yes even Fu Sheng was not really strong. The only memorable battle scenes of Fu Sheng was only the East Sea (eh was it the north sea, i get confused) battle which forced Shen Li to burn everything to crisp including herself. That was it. The torture scene was disappointing too. The torture by Fu Sheng and treatment by Xing Zhi was more gruesome in the book. But hey since they tried to stay true to the book with all the important details so I’ll let this slide.
I watched the series twice back to back because I just couldn't have enough of them. Am thinking of rewatching again in near future. Basically, I’d rate this one as one of the great pieces by Zhao Liying that I’ve watched, it was hard to move on from like how i felt after watching Ten Miles Peach Blossoms and The Untamed. I actually watched this show three times.
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Mediocre
When I started on this one I was ready for horrible acting and story, but to my surprise, the story up to the middle of the show is actually quite okay and acceptable for a low budget production. The acting is okay too, and for once I kinda got engrossed into the show. The leads are ordinary looking couple, so it kinda relate to the audience since we are generally ordinary. You don’t need extra handsome ML and super cute gorgeous FL to make a story works. Just good story and good acting actually suffice. Up to Episode 21, everything looks good and acceptable to me.Then they went on to use the misunderstanding trope. Get the wife jealous with another woman so she would leave the husband then the bad guys won’t harm her. WTH man. Like seriously? With all the things that she knows of the bad guys, they’d just leave her alone just because she left you, is it? Whoever came up with this stupid idea? The budget is so low you cant even hire bright people to write the story is it? Youre so damn close to the ending too!
So thats it. Dropping it so fast and I actually wrote this review right after I hit the stop button. What a waste of my time.
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One of the Few Adaptations that Surpasses the Novels they’re based on!
The FL Chu Yu was determined to get to the bottom of her father’s death and her brother’s serious injury on the battlefield of Fengling, which she suspected to be because of traitors, and won’t stop at nothing even if it means her reputation ruined, scorned and misunderstood by her mom and sister, and marrying a dead general, Wei Jun, who had fallen in battle. This is Chu Yu, a girl who will not stop for no one and nothing until her goal is accomplished. This is how she met with ML, Wei Yun who was the youngest brother of her dead husband. 6 of Wei Yun’s brothers perished in the battle of Baidi Valley including his father the general of Wei army, and he returned home with their bodies in tow, but inadvertantly faced the accusation of crime for valor due to the battle being lost along with the lives of seventy thousand soldiers. Chu Yu, as the eldest mistress of the mansion, received him in the capital and later fought for his release. Although Wei Yun was very wary of her motives of marrying his dead eldest brother and continuoesly opposed her presence in the family, he finally came to an agreement with Chu Yu as he realized both Fengling and Baidi Valley’s battle losses had been connected. With that, both of them started to work hand in hand to investigate, which turned into a blossoming forbidden love.I love how they changed some parts of the novel which turned out even better on screen:
- the Song brothers to be good with each other, Song Wenchang was very lovable instead of being at odds with Song Shilan,
- The Wei widows to be more involved in the earlier power struggle instead of merely ornaments and actually possess real martial skills instead of only Jiang Chun,
- FL to have more fights and battles,
- Chu Jin is softer and not as jealous as in the novel, repents much earlier too.
I liked how they changed the plot into Zhao Yue becoming North Qi’s emperor instead of usurping Sui’s throne, cuz this version is more believable than the novel’s plot. It always bothered me how ridiculous Zhao Yue’s ascension to the throne in the novel, and the scriptwriter managed to turn this lousy arc into a masterpiece by having Sui internally disrupting North Qi political scene instead.
I liked how ML’s personality stayed true to the novel too, that he would not trade Chuyu for anyone or anything, even if it means defying the emperor. Novel’s ML and FL have always been resolute and firm, and the fact that ML’s loyalty had always been for the land and its people and never for the emperor made it easier for them to look believable instead of the usual blind loyalty to the throne that common generals usually exhibit. In the novel, Wei Yun had no qualm to replace the emperor for another when he saw him not fit for it. So I liked how the adaptation Wei Yun cared nothing about the emperor’s ridiculous expectation of him being a War Saint and would not compromise. And most importantly i adored how the scriptwriter made their relationship pure and sincere, instead of having them sneaking into each other’s room to sleep together and having a child out of wedlock like in the novel. The adaptation’s ending is also much more fulfilling than the novel. A+ for that.
I dont get the blatant accusation about victoria song abusing power by reducing Ding Yuxi’s scenes, cuz in the novel, Wei Yun is always secondary to Chu Yu. The novel is about Chu Yu and Wei Yun’s mentions are even much lesser than what’s shown on the adaptation. I like Ding Yuxi as an actor, I watched this adaptation partly because of the novel and him being the main lead, and even then i felt the production had expanded wei yun’s character much more than what the novel had of him. Not that I am complaining of course, i totally love DYX as Wei Yun, but i dont mind his scenes being lesser than Victoria Song’s Chu Yu because I know that the original novel is a female-centric piece.
By the way, IMPO this is definitely Ding Yuxi’s best show that I have seen so far. And I am glad that he finally met the perfect co-star. I had been extremely disappointed of the FL’s opposite him before this, their characters are always lacking one after another, so I am glad Victoria Song lived up to my expectation. Her action scenes were finely executed and she spared no effort to make it look grand whenever she needs to display Chu Yu’s martial prowess. Other than her being great with action scenes, the credits must also go to the action choreographer. All the fights here are amazing.
The subtle romance here is also perfect for my taste. Theyre not cheesy or cutesy, but more to mature romance that doesnt need the couple to be all too handsy and kissy with each other everytime they meet. I can’t stand the romance when DYX was with younger female actors in the shows that i’ve seen him in, cuz their characters tend to be the whiny-clingy kinds, which I completely abbhor (i have dropped his shows due to clingy cutesy FL which had gotten on my nerves more than my love for DYX). So his pairing with Victoria Song is perfect in my eyes.
Again, hat’s off to the screenwriter and actors who managed to make Zhao Yue-Grand Princess’s love into something worth to sympathize. I felt nothing for this couple in the novel, and I didnt think Grand Princess was that much in love with Zhao Yue too, but somehow in this adaptation, i could feel how deeply they love each other but torn due to loyalty. I actually felt sad for their ending here.
Anyway, honestly my rating couldve gone higher had not for the lack of memorable songs here. None manage to catch my attention and most are slow ballads. Can’t really rate any higher for that section. Too bad. But this is a good piece, i don’t understand how the rating turned out to be so low.
SO PLEASE DONT GET FOOLED BY THE GENERAL RATING ON MDL.
I am betting those are done by Song’s haters. I don’t get from where the hate was coming, i mean i have seen Luoyang and she was great there too. So I dont get it really, was it because she wasnt young, pretty or whiny-cutesy enough like how DYX’s FLs before this were? 🙄 how dense.
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My stomach cramped from laughing too much
FL is Song Xiaoyu in a modern world, who landed a job as main actress in a costume tv series A Dream of QingNing. She was reading the script at home when she fell asleep and woke up in the story, as the main lead character she was supposed to play - Song Yimeng. She was bewildered that this character would eventually become paralyzed after a failed jumping off the tower suicide, so she tried hard to alter the course of storyline by not acting out the written plot, which was her falling in love with the male lead 7th Prince Nan Heng who would later cheat on her with her sister Song Yiting which drove her to the failed suicide and the killing of her whole Song clan by ML. Things did not turn out as she had wanted because she keeps getting killed and reset again each time she try to deviate. And there starts the adventure of her unwillingly cross paths with ML, finding out that they’re stuck with the script rule “ML will always save the FL”, sparking a long super exhausting story of laughter-and-anger-inducing misunderstandings while carrying out the written plotline in the process.I have never seen an ML so misunderstood as 7th Prince, Nan Heng. His father hates him, his uncle used him, his brother fears him, the common people detests him, and the one he loves avoids him like a plague with pure prejudice. Such a tortured soul who had been suffering since a little boy just because his father decided to marry his mom for political balance and later hated his guts just because he was his mom’s son. It’s a wonder he could grow into the good-natured man that he is, although he hides this good side of him pretty well to protect himself, ruthlessly fighting the enemies at the border which how he earned himself the all-feared title God of Death. He took so many punishments on behalf of the people he cherished, and none actually thanked him for it or even mention it to others. It’s so frustrating how badly ML is treated in the first 3/4 of the show. However, although my general description of the ML sound like the typical roles Liu Yuning took up - broken, hurt, fierce, lovestruck - it is actually a new role I saw him in as he constantly become the source of laughter in the comedic scenes. It really puts some new perspective of him for me.
Cant stand the FL. She is annoying, selfish, stupid and reckless. The first few episodes was fun, but when she keeps on being prejudiced towards ML despite all the obvious proof against it, i just cant stand this character. It’s a blessing that she had an extremely intelligent and quick-witted younger sister Song Yiting who often knocks some senses into that pea-brain of hers. FL often gaslights ML and is so mean towards him for 3/4 parts of the show. She acts all hurt when ML didnt reveal all his strategies and tricks to overcome the enemy, and yet she herself never really come clean on why she keeps pushing ML away with all those unexplained quirks she displays. It’s frustrating to see her hurting ML over and over again just because of a mere script. I get that she is afraid of the script coming true, but cant she be kinder to him ? She had zero confidence in ML in that 3/4 of the show before ML proved to her that he could help her divert the iconic scene she feared so much to happen. It also irks me that ML keeps chasing after her despite her cruel attitude towards him. I just cant ship them. If not for the ML i wouldve dropped this long ago. I have no grudge against the actress, she is astonishingly beautiful with amazing acting skills, its just too bad this character is so poorly written that it makes it really hard for me to tolerate her.
The sweetest, purest soul goes to 18th Prince NanRui, the supposedly Crown Prince who acts like a spoilt child. Although he was at odds with ML in the earlier episodes, and I quite hated him then, but it was clear this was due to his insecurity and gullibleness. This character is also consistent throughout the show, although he eventually realized he had laid his loyalty in the wrong man, his sincerity, kindness and compassion stays strong all the way to the end. He was so loving towards the SML, Chu Guihong who he considered as his true blood brother instead of a cousin and ready to concede the crown prince title to beg th Emperor and ML to spare SML’s life after the attempted assassination, and when ML disclosed the secret about the script world, the first thing he blurted out was how painful ML must have been in to have died twice during the resets. And instead of worrying about getting himself injured or killed as ML laid out the plan to save the emperor, this Nan Rui was instead anxious about ML getting killed while luring SML’s troops away. Such a compassionate soul. It’s hard to really hate this character even when he was in cahoots with SML in the earlier parts. And his pairing with his bodyguard Ji Xiang is the cutest. One a blabbermouth with a kind heart, while the other a stone with no facial expression and even lesser spoken words, except display of immense loyalty towards his master.
As for the SML, Chu Guihong, he had the most character transformation of all although in a negative way. From the pure and innocent SML who acts only as ML’s love rival, he became a full fledged villain who is blinded by pure obsession to overcome ML using any means necessary. It’s really sad cuz their friendship had been beautiful in the beginning and I was hoping they would reconcile and SML stayed being a good person.
By the way, what kind of bastard of a father suspects a 9yo child of his to lead assassins to kill the wife? Like seriously? Any other sane adult would first suspect the rest of adult in the entourage. Why the hell was the blame pinned on the ML, Nan Heng, right off the bat? I cant fathom how this stupid emperor’s brain works. Blaming a 9yo for killing the empress using assassins? For real? You blamed the child for 19 long years and never really figured out any loophole in the investigation? 🙄
I have trouble handling the emotional rollercoaster the show thrusts into its audience. One minute the father is at his son’s throat (literally) and made the audience feel so angry at the father and pity the son, and the next scene was of the son running to attend to his collapsed mom, who actually fiegned sickness to trap her son and future bride in a room so they would sleep together (in a comedic way). What the frick 😂😂😂 one minute i was so angry and feel ML’s heartbreak for his bastard father’s action, and the next i was literally laughing my arse off at the trapping scene. And that is just one of many comedic scenes in the show. And they didnt look forced or slapstick at all like most comedy shows I’ve seen. I was in a restaurant one time and cant stop myself from laughing like a banshee that i had to put down the phone to continue watching at home else people might think i’m crazy. The show had so many references to other costume drama such as A Journey to Love and Love like the Galaxy, even having the themesongs of these series played in that scene even. Imagine how much cramp my stomach had to sustain? 😂 each time ML was forced to take the hits as he tried to kill the FL to figure out if he had been under her spell was hillarious as F. I had to pause the playback so my laughter would subside first, else I’d miss the next scenes.
Although the plot kinda slowed down and mellowed around 30 episodes, gradually look absurd when the screenwriter also went into the world to fix the storyline, it picked up its pace again in the last 3 episodes when they went to fight against the script. The ending, although rather draggy with after-climax scenes, is apt and fitting, brilliant even that explains the series title. It’s a happy ending btw so you guys who avoids tragic endings can watch with ease.
I liked the songs and bgm in this show. Especially the cowboy-like wild west background music during comedic scenes 😆
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Great story but they botched it with an annoying ending
For a spy wuxia show, I had to commend that this is definitely one of the best I’ve seen so far. When i first started out, i thought it was going to be the usual ‘spy assassin goes in for a target, assasssin and target fall in love with each other, assassin tries to kill target but failed and then target would go against his own men to protect the assassin’ trope. However as i watched on, they actually have more in store.Basically FL is an assassin trained by an evil organization Wu Feng, whose aim is to control and dominate the martial world. One of the sects still left standing against Wufeng threat is the Gong family, who resides on a hill. This is where FL was supposed to go. She takes on the identity of a bride candidate, Yun Weishan, to enter the hill. The brides were supposed to be for the eldest and heir of the family, Young Lord Gong Huanyu, and the next line after him Gong Shangjue. Upon FL’s entry into the hill, she discovered that she might not be the only one that Wufeng sent in. Sometime later, a Wufeng assassin was discovered among the bride candidates, and later the Leader of Gong family - The Sword Wielder - and his heir Gong Huanyu were both killed while interrogating the assassin. As Gong Shangjue was not on the hill at that moment, the least talented, playboy, useless second son of the Sword Wielder - Gong Ziyu, the ML - was forced to take the helm as the Sword Wielder as the family’s rule stated that the Sword Wielder’s position can never be vacant. This was met with strong objection by both Gong Shangjue upon his return, with his brother Gong Yuanzhi strongly standing by his side, so they keep trying to make things difficult for ML to investigate his father’s and brother’s deaths while questioning ML’s ability to lead and protect the Gong family. FL also discovered that there was another Wufeng assassin among the brides, Shangguan Qian. As FL was chosen by ML as his bride, and Shangguan Qian chosen by Gong Shangjue, more sinister and mysterious events began to unfold, more deaths occurred, and the pressure rose upon ML to prove his worth, hence he was forced to go through the trial of the three realms while at the same time investigating Wufeng’s activity that is threatening his family.
At first, I didnt put much high hopes on this show. But as I watched on, the story began to get very interesting as there is extensive character background and building along the first 10 episodes, where we can see from various perspectives of the other roles. There are a lot of flashbacks for this character building, but instead of getting annoyed of so many flashbacks, i got more curious and empathatic towards the other roles, even as they go against ML. I especially liked Gong Yuanzhi’s character, he was supposed to be this arrogant teenager who always thought his brother Gong Shangjue is the rightful owner of the Sword Wielder position. His sinister smirks, although makes me cringe, they have a certain charm. When I looked at Gong Yuanzhi, his character seemed so similar to a character in Robin William’s Hook movie, Rufio.
I especially loved how they portray the multi-faceted types of love - Love between biological siblings, love between step/foster siblings, love between father and son, love between leader and subordinates, and of course love between lovers of opposing sides. It’s really beautiful and intricately written that I was left very impressed.
Love the costumes in this show. They match the dark setting of the Gong residence, with dark monotonous colours instead of bright and over the top that is usually the case in wuxia shows, especially in female wardrobe department.
The songs are slow and melancholic, although it grows on me as I watched on, they failed to put a print in my head.
One thing that i find weird is that everyone seem to talk like theyre whispering to each other, other than the squabbling scenes between ML and 2nd ML. All the whispers and talking in low tones gives a more darkish mystery vibe to the already dark setting of the show. The only cheery thing around the compound comes from the goofy characters which i will mention next.
Fighting sequences didnt look too CGIed, it has more earthly real life feel to it. Although they still use the usual wuxia theme of getting poisoned over and over again and recover like it has no aftermath at all (other than the fortnight flies which affected their inner strength fortnightly).
Usually with other shows, I wouldnt pay much attention to side characters and their love story, most of the time I would just fast forward them, but in this story, i kept watching and got amazed at how they play everything out. Even the goofy side characters that acts as a comic relief to a serious piece like this, such as the Eldest Young Lady Gong Zishang and Xiaohei - Young Lord Hua - kept me hooked. At first i was disgusted with Gong Zishang as she was portrayed as a flirtitious woman who likes to watch undressed men, with goofy over the top hand gestures and body movement, but as i watched more, she is really fun to watch especially when she keeps chasing Jin Fan - ML’s primary guard - while being clueless that the one who was always hanging out with her in the lab - Xiaohei - likes her. The fun part of this show is really fun, the mysterious part really mysterious and the sad part turned out super sad. Really love the plot twist towards the end.
SPOILER BEYOND THIS LINE!!!
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The fact that the brother that ML had always looked up to and love turned out to be the villain and the brother that he thought was always against him and hate him turned out to be the one who really love him is honestly so brilliantly executed.
When i started to watch this series, i am ready for a tragic ending cuz spy stories usually have that. After going through the trauma of character massacre in A Journey to Love, i don’t really think any other death can hit me that much anymore. So yeah. I was ready for ML or FL plus Jinfan or Gong Yuanzhi to die. I thought the careless act of letting FL go back to her hometown without any bodyguards is purposely to get the character killed, so am ready for that already. So imagine how dumbfounded I am to see the ending just ML with a surprised look to see whoever it is at the door of the compound? Dammit why end it like this. Honestly I was ready to see somebody handing over a box or a rug containing FL’s head. But they decided to put up an open ending instead! Are they trying to hint for S2 or what? Why just that? Gosh I dont know whether to get angry or excited. Duhhh. Just be done with it already. I am okay with ML and 2nd ML losing their lovers. Why the cliffhanger? Grrrr. I am also dissatisfied that the evil Shangguan Qian had a happy ending, free of shackles of Wufeng and Gong family. Why did she get to live a quiet life? I wouldve given 10/10 for story if they hadnt put up such a lousy ending.
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Jumanji Cdrama Style
Wang Cui Ha is an average editor working for a company that produces drama. She is tasked to edit a novel for an adaptation, and while reading through the novel, she somehow woke up as Yu Wanyin, a supporting character who is the emperor’s consort, that met her demise quite early in the story. To her surprise, when the emperor summoned her to his chamber for the first time, she found out that he too was a transmigrator when he managed to communicate with her in english. As both characters, The emperor and concubine Yu were secondary characters that would die very soon in the novel, Yu Wanyin decided to ally with the emperor to change the course of the story into their favour.I started this series with a low bar for a romcom. Actually i did not look at the tagged genre, i just assumed it was romcom due to the opening theme and the early scenes of the series. And because most of novel transmigration series that ive seen rarely manage to hold my attention span (other than A Dream Within a Dream, that one was good!), i did not have much expectation on this, despite it having one of notable actor Ryan Cheng. Boy was I wrong. Other than the FL who was written so perfectly well, i really love the twisty unexpected plots too. And i was so not ready for the emotional turmoil they had in store in the last 10 episodes. The cast managed to induce enough emotion that i could really feel through the screen. Why did i mention Jumanji although there was no wildlife coming to life from the book into the real world? It was the Emperor, Xiahou Dan. He was trapped inside the novel for more than 10 years, basically growing up inside the book, which reminds me of the character in Jumanji who was trapped for almost 20 years inside a game. Such a sad life. So sad that he had to guard against others while growing up, getting poisoned by the Empress Dowager in order to drive him into madness.
Although both ML and FL were transmigrators, i could really feel the bonds they developed for the 2D characters they met in the novel. They did not look or feel fake like how i felt with other novel transmigration series that I’ve seen. I noticed that the main reason I don’t quite like novel transmigration stories is because the transmigrator’s relationship with other novel characters look fake (as they are a real person from a real world while the others are just creation of the author). Amazingly it was not the case in How Dare You! For this one, I’ll have to commend the screenwriter and the cast for making it look and feel real.
And although both main characters do not know any martial art, viewers can still feast on good action choreograph executed by those around the mainleads, their shadow guards, and Mr Bei.
I am actually impressed with Ryan Cheng. I’ve seen quite a lot of his works starting from My Journey To You, and I must say he managed to develop chemistry with all his co-stars that I’ve seen so far. That is talent, on his part and his co-lead of course, but I can only comment on his performance since I’ve seen many of his works and not quite as many of his co-stars.
I am especially smitten by the wonderful themesongs, notably Blazing Light by Curley Gao. The first time i heard it, i quickly told myself this must be curley gao and when i searched for the song on youtube, yup it was her indeed.
All in all, this series went waaaaay beyond my expectation that i feel it deserves a high rating. Kudos to the cast and production team!
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The Girl who Braves the Storm
Hua Zhi is the eldest granddaughter of the Hua family, her grandfather being the imperial censor. She travelled far and wide with her grandfather as child and got an early taste of the free world. When she could no longer pose as a boy servant in her grandfather's travels as she’s grown up, she returned to the family mansion only to be labelled as an idler with no noble-lady characters, constantly looked down upon and criticized by her own parents and uncles, even her own grandmother did not like her. Everything changed when a circumstance led to the banishment of all of Hua men, while the women were left penniless as their properties and wealth was confiscated by the court. Unwilling to let the family sink further, she decided to become the glue that keeps the family together, the lifeline that keeps the family afloat, and contested against her third aunt for the helm of the household. As head of the Hua household, she went on to thrive and expand the family's wealth with the sole aim to redeem the Hua men's freedom from banishment, meeting Gu Yanxi, nephew of the emperor posing as a commoner, along the way in a relationship that soon developed into affection despite him being the person who raided the Hua Mansion earlier on.The story really is engaging and intriguing except for the corny relationship buildup and romance between the mainleads. Honestly I failed to see the spark. I liked both characters as an individual but I can't see them as a couple. The typical trope of claiming each other as fiances and husband and wife in unwarranted situations are also just too lame and cliche.
I love Hua Zhi as the resilient, relentless and courageous young girl trying to hold up her family in her arms and brave the storm, her headstrong character really gets to my soft spot. She isnt the kind of girl who takes no nonsense and willing to do anything to achieve a goal, even if it means to lower her pride as a noble lady, which even the maids of the household find it hard to do. Although FL is not physically strong, her quickwit made up for it. She is the kind of character that would initially look like a burden and liability in a combat, but could turn the tide just by using her wits. However, as a girl with a crush, she was just too clingy and touchy-feely. Always trying to lean on ML even when they had nothing between each other and started throwing herself into his arms and kissing and holding him every chance she could get after they thought they had feelings for each other, gosh those are really too much and look fake-ish. I could relate if she was a time-travelling modern girl or a transmigrator, but as a genuine lady of the ancient world, this kind of acts are not something usual, they looked cheap even, as those are acts only seen in women of brothel, not in a noble young lady. This is the only flaw in the writing of this character, putting in modern girl's thirst for men's affection before marriage into an ancient one. I skipped most of their scenes cuz I just can't stand the sight of them trying to get the romance on as they looked awkward. And those comedic scenes they try so hard to do, especially the bethrothal misunderstanding, were wayyyyy too corny. They majorly looked like half-assed comic that failed to deliver the punchline. Instead of smiling or ROFLing in my heart, my lips moved into a cringe instead even without me realizing it.
I have seen so many romance stories of unrequited love of couples that shouldve never been separated, A Journey to Love being one of them (gosh I still bawl my eyes out each time I rewatch), but this is actually one of the series that I hope the main couple's relationship never work out. IMPO, the storyline is standalonely strong enough without this romance thingy, which looked so much like a distraction. It's too bad they (the novel writer or the screenwriter, whoever is responsible for hyping the romance) decided to make it the secondary focus as if the original storyline can’t stand on its own, so i ended up skipping so many of this couple scenes after Hua Zhi realized Gu Yanxi’s real identity.
My only drive to finish the show is how Hua Zhi was going to bring the Hua men back, and how Gu Yanxi going to end up with his seemingly good-on-the-surface-but-volatile relationship with the imperial family. To be honest, their respective personal stories are a thousand times much more intriguing than their romance, which i feel was taking up too much of the screentime. The only couples that i felt a wee bit for were Hua Pingyang-Yunniang (forth uncle and aunt) and ShenHuan-Gu Shaoyao. They really looked like couples who enjoy each other’s company, the adoration for their other half is clear in their eyes. Somehow i failed to see it in the main couple. So im left unconvinced to the end.
I totally love the rest of the cast, they acted really well and cried well too! Each sad arcs came through and after seeing many awful crying skills of actors in other series, I came to appreciate the sad scenes here. I find the one playing Gu Shaoyao particularly good, I could see bright future for her if luck is on her side.
The story was good all throughout the show only to falter in the last 3 episodes that seemed too ridiculous. I love the ending where they had a reunion. Forth uncle was truly adorable it’s a pity his scene was so little.
The songs are okay, but the background music is spectacular. The opening themsong by Curley Gao is phenomenal. Action scenes are fine too but not quite exceptional. Honestly i could give this story a solid 9 -9.5ish had not for the bland romance they tried to fit into the plot. Too bad for that.
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Entertaining Hilarious with Few Flaws
Chen Xiaoqian is a screenwriter stumbling a block when the future lead actor for her story, Mr Han criticizes her work saying it unrealistic and forced her to rewrite it. She pushed through the night and made changes to her story while having a cold, and fell asleep after her wrote the final touch. Opening her eyes next, she could not believe that she had woken up in her own story as a supporting character, the unruly and reckless Third Princess Chen Qianqian who would die on episode 3 of the script she wrote after being poisoned by the groom she stole, Crown Prince of neighbouring city Xuanhu, Han Shou. When she managed to avoid being killed cuz she basically know everything about the plot, she realized the key to her escaping the story is to stay alive til the end of the plot, falling in love with Han Shou in the process.Looks like typical transmigration plot, and it is quite cliche, but i must say the show managed to keep my attention with the amazing performance of its actors. I usually hate whiny characters like Chen Qianqian, but somehow the way Zhao Lusi executed her role isnt cringy at all. And i think this is the second co star of Ding Yuxi that I saw didnt make me cringe and hate them. The first being Victoria Song from Fight for Love.
The plot is okay although rather typical, only the last 2 episodes made me roll my eyes when the heroine-turned-villain usurped the minister of war position and somehow able to rule the city. Like whaaat? 🙄
I liked the plot twists, loved how much chemistry the mainleads had, and loved how smooth the story was. Action was so-so since this is a romance-centric show after all. The songs were catchy, though i wont be adding them to my playlist. Overal, it’s an okay show and i didnt regret the time spent.
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