This review may contain spoilers
A feast for the eyes boasting an impressive array of performances from a stellar cast. Tian Xi Wei steps into the leading role with apparent ease, embodying the rough physicality, optimism, determination, and tenderness of Changyu in such a way that it is impossible to imagine another actress in her place. Changyu the character manages to straddle several tropes without ever fully reducing to a single stereotype. There's plenty familiar about her, but she manages to feel dynamic and multi-faceted in a way many female leads (especially physically capable warrior-types) fail to, in no small degree thanks to TXW's embodied performance.
The story manages to spin a high-stakes adventure full of intrigue without ever getting bogged down in long-winded court scenes or tedious politicking; a refreshing change for a genre normally obsessed with the intricacies of nobles scheming and legal minutiae. Equally refreshing is the focus on rural life and the attendant array of relatable and grounded difficulties. Though conflicts eventually escalate to a grand scale, we first get to know our characters in the context of trying to put food on the table, keep a roof over their heads, and look out for their friends and neighbors. In my opinion a much more sympathetic set-up than your standard "wealthy heir or heiress sparring with vindictive relatives over obscene wealth"(while casually surrounded by indentured servants).
The fight scenes and choreography are perhaps my favorite out of any c-drama. An incredibly satisfying fusion of crunchy, impactful realism and heroic acrobatics. TXW's physical performance shines here again.
The first arc of the show is incredibly solid. Great pacing, organic character development and gradual heightening of the main romance, conflicts, and stakes. Changyu and her friends are immediately likeable and interesting, and getting invested in their stories is deeply enjoyable.
Where the show starts to stumble is when we leave our starting village, about a third of the way through story. Events and character actions quickly begin to shift from believable and consistent to convenient and contrived. The characters' trajectories become unclear, the logic behind their choices and circumstances often vague or confusing.
Yang Zheng and Changyu's romance is repeatedly delayed by increasingly forced narrowly missed reunions, and inevitably resolved conflicts and disagreements that fail to address the issues one would actually expect their relationships to have. Characters are captured, escape, survive, and die as is convenient to the story. Changyu is desperate to find her sister, until she's not. Yang Zheng assumes Changyu of all people is waiting calmly at home for her sister to magically return. Qian Qian is reduced to a sad prisoner for most of the show, until she suddenly escapes off-screen and somehow immediately crosses paths with our protagonist in the middle of the wilderness. When the villain's grand scheme finally plays out, his nefarious ambitions coming to fruition after dozens of episodes of build up... he's immediately defeated (in a very awkwardly framed and strangely empty-looking sequence). Like, in 20 minute of screen time, he goes from triumphant to near-death, not because of some cunning counter-maneuver from our heroes, but because they rallied a modest number of soldiers off screen from the forces everyone knew they had available. Talk about an anti-climax.
There's more I could nitpick, but none of it is enough to truly offset the show's excellent production, acting, and stellar first act. At its worst, Pursuit of Jade remains a step above the majority of its peers, and though its unfocused writing stops it from fully living up to its potential, I finished the show feeling that in many ways, the bar for c-dramas had been raised.
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