"The Ballad of Horrible Families, Take Two".
If it was up to me, I would rename this show: "The Ballad of Horrible Families, Take Two".
This is a reincarnation tale, where the protagonist Dou Zhao gets a do-over in life. Armed with the knowledge of her last life, she awakens as a young girl and dedicates herself to changing fate. Her destiny, however, is tied to that of Song Mo, who died by her side in the previous life and seems doomed to experience the same betrayals and heartaches in this one.
This may sound silly, but going in, I didn't realize how politically heavy this drama would become. The previews made me think it would be more action and fighting with some politics sprinkled in for good measure. This is not the case. If you are looking for an action packed story--without the political backstabbing and family bickering--this may not be the drama you're looking for.
The acting is spot on. The connection between the male and female leads was fantastic, and even the characters we hate are played convincingly enough to truly despise them. So, why only a seven?
1. The first episode was amazing, but episodes 2-17 were very rather tedious. I get that there was a lot of things to go through--betrayals of both familial and imperial natures--but I nearly dropped the show so many times. How much time does it take to point out that her step-mother is evil, his uncle was innocent, her father is purposefully blind to the injustices around him, and his father wants to kill his own son?
2. Once the two leads are finally together, the show picks up, but it didn't leave much time to explore what the two of them would be like romantically. We get to see very little of their love life. They are either planning strategy, fighting injustice, or being ignored for minor characters. For characters that actually get together rather early for a c-drama, we are permitted very little insight into that. The little we could see was constantly interrupted. Some of this was humorous. Song Mo’s soldiers were fantastic, but Duo Zhao’s cousin literally interrupting their wedding night to talk about her own romantic issues? Wow.
3. I personally feel there were too many characters for the allotted time. The story around Song Mo and Duo Zhao was great, but their friends, cousins, siblings, uncles, parents… Trying to get through plots and endings for each character left the last bit of the story too stretched. The main duo was barely in the last six episodes and they had some serious complications going on! Less time about her friend marrying a psychologically damaged man and more about how they are doing with one of them slowly dying from poison, please. I realize this is following a book, but the extra plot lines were just too much.
4. Also, on a personal note, this show may me very angry at times. As shown in the previews, both of the main leads have truly horrible families. From parents to in-laws, and half-siblings to step mothers--it's worse than a harem. Selfishness, cowardice, 'justified' cruelty--you name it, it happens. Neglect, miscarriages, characters who are harmed (even killed) simply out of carelessness. People who crave nothing but power and those who stand by and do nothing while those they love are abused and mistreated. Meaningless punishments and pointless justifications—truly horrible things happen and the perpetrators have the audacity to claim innocence, hiding behind tradition and family loyalty like that excuses their behavior. It has been a long time since I watched something where people die for no reason and scapegoats are created simply to appease someone's pride. The number of people consumed by greed and selfishness was off the charts. Even the Emperor was shocked that Song Mo resented him for betraying his uncle—the emperor’s best friend since childhood and the only parental character shown in a good light.
If you can watch that sort of thing without getting really worked up, it is a good tale. There is no doubt the actors all put their hearts and souls into their performances, and there were some truly beautiful moments. For my own blood pressure, I think I’ll be taking a break from something with this much corruption. Otherwise, I’m likely to jump through the screen and take out the evil doers myself!
This is a reincarnation tale, where the protagonist Dou Zhao gets a do-over in life. Armed with the knowledge of her last life, she awakens as a young girl and dedicates herself to changing fate. Her destiny, however, is tied to that of Song Mo, who died by her side in the previous life and seems doomed to experience the same betrayals and heartaches in this one.
This may sound silly, but going in, I didn't realize how politically heavy this drama would become. The previews made me think it would be more action and fighting with some politics sprinkled in for good measure. This is not the case. If you are looking for an action packed story--without the political backstabbing and family bickering--this may not be the drama you're looking for.
The acting is spot on. The connection between the male and female leads was fantastic, and even the characters we hate are played convincingly enough to truly despise them. So, why only a seven?
1. The first episode was amazing, but episodes 2-17 were very rather tedious. I get that there was a lot of things to go through--betrayals of both familial and imperial natures--but I nearly dropped the show so many times. How much time does it take to point out that her step-mother is evil, his uncle was innocent, her father is purposefully blind to the injustices around him, and his father wants to kill his own son?
2. Once the two leads are finally together, the show picks up, but it didn't leave much time to explore what the two of them would be like romantically. We get to see very little of their love life. They are either planning strategy, fighting injustice, or being ignored for minor characters. For characters that actually get together rather early for a c-drama, we are permitted very little insight into that. The little we could see was constantly interrupted. Some of this was humorous. Song Mo’s soldiers were fantastic, but Duo Zhao’s cousin literally interrupting their wedding night to talk about her own romantic issues? Wow.
3. I personally feel there were too many characters for the allotted time. The story around Song Mo and Duo Zhao was great, but their friends, cousins, siblings, uncles, parents… Trying to get through plots and endings for each character left the last bit of the story too stretched. The main duo was barely in the last six episodes and they had some serious complications going on! Less time about her friend marrying a psychologically damaged man and more about how they are doing with one of them slowly dying from poison, please. I realize this is following a book, but the extra plot lines were just too much.
4. Also, on a personal note, this show may me very angry at times. As shown in the previews, both of the main leads have truly horrible families. From parents to in-laws, and half-siblings to step mothers--it's worse than a harem. Selfishness, cowardice, 'justified' cruelty--you name it, it happens. Neglect, miscarriages, characters who are harmed (even killed) simply out of carelessness. People who crave nothing but power and those who stand by and do nothing while those they love are abused and mistreated. Meaningless punishments and pointless justifications—truly horrible things happen and the perpetrators have the audacity to claim innocence, hiding behind tradition and family loyalty like that excuses their behavior. It has been a long time since I watched something where people die for no reason and scapegoats are created simply to appease someone's pride. The number of people consumed by greed and selfishness was off the charts. Even the Emperor was shocked that Song Mo resented him for betraying his uncle—the emperor’s best friend since childhood and the only parental character shown in a good light.
If you can watch that sort of thing without getting really worked up, it is a good tale. There is no doubt the actors all put their hearts and souls into their performances, and there were some truly beautiful moments. For my own blood pressure, I think I’ll be taking a break from something with this much corruption. Otherwise, I’m likely to jump through the screen and take out the evil doers myself!
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