This review may contain spoilers
Surprisingly enjoyable
I was never on the double train when it first came out and so many people were raving about it. I tried watching it thrice and never quite got beyond the second ep for whatever reason. I just found Duke Su rather camp and the constant wind blowing from god knows where in every scene got to me. But one day my mum wanted to watch it, I accompanied her and the rest was history lol - we binged like close to 30 eps over 3 days. I'd have to say this turned out to be a very enjoyable ride, but it's not without its flaws
Pros:
- The acting from the cast is pretty good and it was what kept me going. Special nod to Li Meng (Princess Wan Ning) - absolutely unhinged lol, Joe Chen - I've never seen her this evil and scheming and Wang XY, what gorgeous costumes he had throughout the show and if I didn't look up his age I'd have thought he was 30. He has such gravitas and presence on screen for serious roles like that but can play up the theatrical side of Duke Su as well. Also his makeup etc here is the best I've seen him in
- Story is gripping and the pace is good enough, open loops get tied up at some point and I kept watching beause I just wanted to find out what happened next.
- Chemistry between the leads is good enough. There's rapport and they play off each other well. I wouldn't call it terribly romantic or sparky, but I just liked that they had each other's back throughout in some way.
Cons:
- There are some arcs that take really really long to close off. Jiang Li's entire family story is played over the first 10 or so episodes. Tbh this was what initially put me off the series, but if you are able to sit through all of that, it turns out quite ok. There's another arc with the Ye family and yet another with Xue Fang Fei's real family so it can get a bit tedious and annoying
- I didn' find Jiang Li/Xue Fang Fei to be the empowered woman that she was portrayed to be. Plenty of times, she managed to get something done or get away with something because of Duke Su's help. She'd have died a long time ago if not for him.
- Duke Su's role in the story, he was the real pawn lol. He was jsut there to further Jiang Li's story/intentions, alot of giving from him.
- I thought their relshp from allies to romance was abit too sudden for me. One moment shes all vengeful and all, then the next moment she's super soft and worrying about him out loud. I couldn't buy Wu Jinyan's portrayal in those scenes. This is a small point though.
On a whole, one of the best historical costume drama plots I've seen in awhile. C-dramas are rarely well-written and always fall apart somewhere, so I was surprised this didn't and was actually pretty intense and pacey. I had to take mental breaks in between to rest my mind haha
Pros:
- The acting from the cast is pretty good and it was what kept me going. Special nod to Li Meng (Princess Wan Ning) - absolutely unhinged lol, Joe Chen - I've never seen her this evil and scheming and Wang XY, what gorgeous costumes he had throughout the show and if I didn't look up his age I'd have thought he was 30. He has such gravitas and presence on screen for serious roles like that but can play up the theatrical side of Duke Su as well. Also his makeup etc here is the best I've seen him in
- Story is gripping and the pace is good enough, open loops get tied up at some point and I kept watching beause I just wanted to find out what happened next.
- Chemistry between the leads is good enough. There's rapport and they play off each other well. I wouldn't call it terribly romantic or sparky, but I just liked that they had each other's back throughout in some way.
Cons:
- There are some arcs that take really really long to close off. Jiang Li's entire family story is played over the first 10 or so episodes. Tbh this was what initially put me off the series, but if you are able to sit through all of that, it turns out quite ok. There's another arc with the Ye family and yet another with Xue Fang Fei's real family so it can get a bit tedious and annoying
- I didn' find Jiang Li/Xue Fang Fei to be the empowered woman that she was portrayed to be. Plenty of times, she managed to get something done or get away with something because of Duke Su's help. She'd have died a long time ago if not for him.
- Duke Su's role in the story, he was the real pawn lol. He was jsut there to further Jiang Li's story/intentions, alot of giving from him.
- I thought their relshp from allies to romance was abit too sudden for me. One moment shes all vengeful and all, then the next moment she's super soft and worrying about him out loud. I couldn't buy Wu Jinyan's portrayal in those scenes. This is a small point though.
On a whole, one of the best historical costume drama plots I've seen in awhile. C-dramas are rarely well-written and always fall apart somewhere, so I was surprised this didn't and was actually pretty intense and pacey. I had to take mental breaks in between to rest my mind haha
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