A C-drama where romance & palace politics meet
I randomly picked this one up after seeing it on Iqiyi a few weeks ago. Going in with no expectation I was pleasantly surprised throughout. Firstly, I want to say that this is more of a palace drama than pure romance. Fated Hearts is basically separated into two different parts; The first half which focuses on our two main leads and the second which focuses primarily on the palace politics.
One of the strongest aspects of Fated Hearts is probably that there are no clear villains or heroes, sure we of course root for our main couple, but I honestly understand the motivation of some of the “bad” characters”. Most characters are also morally grey, including the main leads which I like because it brings more overall depth to the characters and even if a “villain” dies you actually kinda care.
I think the acting in this is also very strong for a “mainstream/idol” C-drama, I was especially surprised by Chen Zhe Yuan who is definitely the star here. I haven´t seen him in anything else but I will look up his previous work now. Li Qin is also solid but I do think she has less to work with here, especially in the second half of the show where she is a bit forgotten about which is a bit of a shame. Their chemistry really works as enemies to lovers, even if I wish the slow-burn was a bit more slow because I was kind living for the hate/love relationship. Xia Meng's character as the sister is also a stand-out, even if her character is kinda dumb in the beginning she probably has the strongest character arc in the entire show.
Most of my issues with Fated hearts are general gripes I have with C-dramas overall. Like the excess makeup and smoothing filters, the fact that our main leads look perfect even if they're dying. But I´ve seen worse cases of this so it is not too distracting here. I think the pacing is fine except that I do think the ending is a bit rushed and they´re a few episodes in the middle that are a bit slow.
Overall, I think this is a very solid C-drama that most would enjoy. Helps that the intro is a banger as well!
One of the strongest aspects of Fated Hearts is probably that there are no clear villains or heroes, sure we of course root for our main couple, but I honestly understand the motivation of some of the “bad” characters”. Most characters are also morally grey, including the main leads which I like because it brings more overall depth to the characters and even if a “villain” dies you actually kinda care.
I think the acting in this is also very strong for a “mainstream/idol” C-drama, I was especially surprised by Chen Zhe Yuan who is definitely the star here. I haven´t seen him in anything else but I will look up his previous work now. Li Qin is also solid but I do think she has less to work with here, especially in the second half of the show where she is a bit forgotten about which is a bit of a shame. Their chemistry really works as enemies to lovers, even if I wish the slow-burn was a bit more slow because I was kind living for the hate/love relationship. Xia Meng's character as the sister is also a stand-out, even if her character is kinda dumb in the beginning she probably has the strongest character arc in the entire show.
Most of my issues with Fated hearts are general gripes I have with C-dramas overall. Like the excess makeup and smoothing filters, the fact that our main leads look perfect even if they're dying. But I´ve seen worse cases of this so it is not too distracting here. I think the pacing is fine except that I do think the ending is a bit rushed and they´re a few episodes in the middle that are a bit slow.
Overall, I think this is a very solid C-drama that most would enjoy. Helps that the intro is a banger as well!
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