Another Decent Rebirth Drama
Don't get me wrong, it's not that this drama is bad at all, but I have to be honest that there hasn't been anything so far that makes this drama stand out amongst the dozens of rebirth dramas that have already been made. FL was killed in her last life, gets reborn 10 years into the past and tries her best to avoid all the conflict she met in her past life. She's reunited with her brother, her father, and her sister, all of which she ended up losing in her last life. But most importantly (to me, not to her), she meets her lover once again, but this time a lot earlier than expected. The beginning angst is that he was the one who killed her in her past life (gasp, I'm sure you've read the synopsis), but personally I'm still not sure if it was him because I THINK he didn't release his arrow and this was someone else's doing.
But without further ado, here's my review so far :)
First off, FL, Jiang Si, is an intelligent young lady and you can tell immediately as soon as she returns back to 10 years ago, she already has many plans to make sure things go her way this time, and she can brilliantly come up with different ideas on the spot when she faces the unseen difficulties as well. I would like to mention at the very beginning of the drama, it shows that she desperately wants her family to be safe, and that's all she worries about, but I felt like it lacked a bit of depth and emotion when she is able to see them again (and keep in mind the were wronged and killed off in her past life). I felt the same thing when she met the ML, Yu Jin (Yu Qi) again - her supposed lover who betrays her, yet she doesn't show any emotion after having spent many years with him in the past, or any indication that she has a lot of knowledge as to who he is as a person. It seems crazy to me that after spending all that time together, it's as if she wasn't able to learn a single thing about him. If she did, they aren't portraying this very well. Either way, Yu Qi is actually just his fake identity, and his real identity is the 7th prince, but he was framed as a bringer of misfortune since birth and had never wanted to reveal who he really is. Because of FL having a mysterious emblem on her neck in this life, what was supposed to be a quick trip turns into Yu Qi actually staying in Da Zhou to further investigate FL to see if she's secretly a traitor to their nation. He ends up working for the capital administration office and he and FL both work together to solve cases and capture the bad guys as their story unfolds.
I'm enjoying their little banters and it seems like it's a slowburn, but for a 40 episode drama I guess it technically isn't. Yu Qi is strong, intelligent, but also a little silly and petty, which really reminds me of his character in Are You the One. Whoever styled him with that long hair in the flashbacks needs a raise bc that man looks amazing in that hairstyle and I'm gonna have to see him in that style in a future drama (pretty please). FL is like I said, intelligent and able to stand on her own without the ML, but it's cute to see them worry and protect each other regardless. I can't say I love the actress' portrayal of Jiang Si, something seems a little off and I think she isn't delivering the lines as I would expect them to. Once again, there's a sort of emotional pull that this drama is lacking that doesn't allow me to empathize with, well everyone really. Zhang Wan Yi does a pretty good job though, I wonder how his future emotional scenes will play out.
Naturally, there are evil people that want the FL dead and that's the annoying ass princess royal and her daughter who don't have much character development as it seems they're just evil because they want to be. Trust me, you're gonna HATE them. I hope that little weasel actually gets whats coming to her in the end. Another thing I didn't expect was for some of the storylines to be so violent/aggressive. It reminds me a lot of western dramas, for example the portrayal of the abuse of women, women trafficking, etc., these are not things you see often in cdramas and when you do, they aren't as extreme as they're shown in this story. It doesn't necessarily add anything to the main plot, but perhaps it was just for more dramatic viewing?
Overall, really not that bad, an entertaining watch if you like period dramas with romance, but it really is another typical rebirth revenge plot.
But without further ado, here's my review so far :)
First off, FL, Jiang Si, is an intelligent young lady and you can tell immediately as soon as she returns back to 10 years ago, she already has many plans to make sure things go her way this time, and she can brilliantly come up with different ideas on the spot when she faces the unseen difficulties as well. I would like to mention at the very beginning of the drama, it shows that she desperately wants her family to be safe, and that's all she worries about, but I felt like it lacked a bit of depth and emotion when she is able to see them again (and keep in mind the were wronged and killed off in her past life). I felt the same thing when she met the ML, Yu Jin (Yu Qi) again - her supposed lover who betrays her, yet she doesn't show any emotion after having spent many years with him in the past, or any indication that she has a lot of knowledge as to who he is as a person. It seems crazy to me that after spending all that time together, it's as if she wasn't able to learn a single thing about him. If she did, they aren't portraying this very well. Either way, Yu Qi is actually just his fake identity, and his real identity is the 7th prince, but he was framed as a bringer of misfortune since birth and had never wanted to reveal who he really is. Because of FL having a mysterious emblem on her neck in this life, what was supposed to be a quick trip turns into Yu Qi actually staying in Da Zhou to further investigate FL to see if she's secretly a traitor to their nation. He ends up working for the capital administration office and he and FL both work together to solve cases and capture the bad guys as their story unfolds.
I'm enjoying their little banters and it seems like it's a slowburn, but for a 40 episode drama I guess it technically isn't. Yu Qi is strong, intelligent, but also a little silly and petty, which really reminds me of his character in Are You the One. Whoever styled him with that long hair in the flashbacks needs a raise bc that man looks amazing in that hairstyle and I'm gonna have to see him in that style in a future drama (pretty please). FL is like I said, intelligent and able to stand on her own without the ML, but it's cute to see them worry and protect each other regardless. I can't say I love the actress' portrayal of Jiang Si, something seems a little off and I think she isn't delivering the lines as I would expect them to. Once again, there's a sort of emotional pull that this drama is lacking that doesn't allow me to empathize with, well everyone really. Zhang Wan Yi does a pretty good job though, I wonder how his future emotional scenes will play out.
Naturally, there are evil people that want the FL dead and that's the annoying ass princess royal and her daughter who don't have much character development as it seems they're just evil because they want to be. Trust me, you're gonna HATE them. I hope that little weasel actually gets whats coming to her in the end. Another thing I didn't expect was for some of the storylines to be so violent/aggressive. It reminds me a lot of western dramas, for example the portrayal of the abuse of women, women trafficking, etc., these are not things you see often in cdramas and when you do, they aren't as extreme as they're shown in this story. It doesn't necessarily add anything to the main plot, but perhaps it was just for more dramatic viewing?
Overall, really not that bad, an entertaining watch if you like period dramas with romance, but it really is another typical rebirth revenge plot.
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