As usual, amazing writing. I always looking forward to your reviews as they always full of amazing observations.…
Aww, thank you for your sweet comment. I really appreciate it. 🤗🤗 Yes, there is a lot of nuance and details in the drama. Not to mention how visually stunning is the camera works and lighting. I'm gonna do a full review that include all of this when I have more time later.
For an examples, the many parallel scenes in the drama like the white outfits that both Runyu and Yinwan wore before their big 'sacrifice' scene. Or the gun scene where He Xian first trembling with fears when Ah Rong pointed out gun towards his head to how he asks Sawa to shoot him instead in the last episode - - you can see his growth and development in both scenes. Or how he is not accepted at Macau initially at the pier then the same scene where everyone is waiting for him to come out from the hotel.
Also, everything was set up way way before the events happened so it didn't just happen due to 'plots' but an actual way of life - - like the characters really living in this era and consume all the things they have there. Like the sweet soup that He Xian's family loves to eat, you can see the same exact soup Yang Chang bought for Mary in one of the scenes.
Not to mention all those tiny details that happen in the earlier episodes, you can see why those scenes are important - - it's not fillers but something that contribute to the greater plot later like the 'photograph' scene where Runyu accidentally spilled water on Yinwan's photo album or the 'hidden room' story that Yinwan tell He Xian. All of this, you can see how the camera work framed each scene to emphasis on the importance of it and how it will contribute to the overall story later.
And even the lighting could tell us a story. Who thought even lighting could tell us so much story of a simple scenes. Like the interrogation scene between He Xian and Huang Gongjie -- the lighting during that time show light and dark on He Xian's face to mirror his devious plan to have Ah Rong executed for something that he didn't do. The lighting between light and dark is shot excellently to show his inner thoughts despite his pure intention for his country. I thought the whole scene is so artfully shot with natural lighting. Also, the scene where Dr. Ku opened the curtain and you can see morning light shines through him & He Xian's face -- its an indication how the light symbolized new hope and how He Xian's perspective on that night has changed that made him even more contented to join the War on Resistance against the Japanese Imperial Army.
Not to mention a literal 'Buddha Hand' painting at the back of Dr. Ku when he is revealed as a Communist Spy 'Buddha Hand' in the drama. 😆 I'm still rewatching the drama right now and once I gather more, I will write it properly in my review.
What an amazing review. By looking at you score, I thought it will be full of complaints but your review actually…
Its very obvious that I really enjoyed all the scheming in the drama. 😆 I thought this part, it is excellently written since there are layers, stages and complexities to it and made the ML a genius chess master with how he manipulate and play people around him. Its actually scary when you realize how meticulous is his planning since the very beginning.
However, the overall executive on this drama is very problematic especially the last 4 episodes that made it from 'entertaining mess' to straight up 'trash' in the writing department where nothing make sense at the end. When writer defy all logic to insist on certain outcome with nothing to back it up, its just very insulting to the audiences.
Its gonna be long so brace yourself haha. Here, I'm going to compare it with RJL's other dramas since I usually rated his dramas between 8 to 9/10 in term of script quality. But for Love & Crown, like I mentioned above is only 4/10. Why? I try to explain it ''objectively'' below.
For me, highly rated drama needs to achieve not only solid scripts, strong theme, strong characters' writing, consistent pacing and editing but also there is nuance and details in the story - - something that you only get when you pay intention to the story. Also, dramas that show instead of tell is rated higher in my book. I also love cleverly and layered written stories where the leads actually not perfect with no plot armor to protect them.
With Love & Crown, I just don't understand why they do this kind of editing where everything seemed so uneven. Some character only appear after a few episodes then disappear and appear again when they are needed. And the funniest thing when leads only appear for like 2 minutes in one episode. They supposed to spread all of the plot equally so it appear seamlessly where all the characters supposed to exist individually in the story -- not only appear when it is needed by the plot. But what we get? It was like one arc, we go through it till the end and finished then they show another arc with different characters. This is the first time I've seen something like this so I was shocked with how uneven is the story. So, when you view this kind of editing, it seemed like Xiao Huan & Cang Cang took a scenic road from Kumor's camp to Jiangzhou since the timeline when they ride the carriage to when they arrive at the fortress equal to a few days Qing'er and Zhong Lin at Xushou.
Also, their reliance to the same troupe over and over again. How many times Cang Cang has been poisoned? 6 times in this drama? How many times everyone in the drama has been stabbed? How many times antidote has been used and cast away like it was nothing? All this are used as plot device instead of actual plot to tell a good story.
Also, the lack of nuance in the villains. Its a cardboard cut out villain who is hungry for power (Grand Tutor) and scorned jealousy female character (Du Tingxin) that you question why she has become so crazy without even logical reasons. She said she hates the Xiao family but why all her anger actually focus towards Xiao Huan alone? -- someone who actually always been nice to her from the beginning until the end.
And the makjang elements in the drama? So many ridiculous stuffs in the drama that you question how can the writer fits all this ridiculous stuffs in one drama. Buried alive? Checked. Falling in love with your own blood brother? Checked. Giving up your only cure? Checked as it happened twice. 😆 Poison your own daughter? Checked. Kill your own daughter? Checked. Getting poison 100x? Checked. Getting stabbed 50x? Checked. So many ridiculous stuffs happened in this drama that I lost count lol.
Also, the lack of strong theme. The drama centered around 'misunderstanding' despite the 'misunderstanding' has weight and earned, they focus too much on the angst with no actual pay off. They build up how this leads love each other but cant be together due to 'secret' yet after the secret revelation, there is not even one scene to address this 'misunderstanding', it seemed it just cast aside with no actual weight. Suddenly, the leads are already together again, flirting and start sleeping together. So much build up, but no follow up. And this got worst as the drama progressed as the leads barely has screen time to sell of this great love towards each other. Thus, it resulted with much frustration on the audiences who willing to stay but wasn't getting rewarded for their loyalty.
NOW, we compared it with Love of Nirvana with the same palace politic. Love of Nirvana is actually deal with complex issue that is thought provoking -- how ML is so desperate (we are talking about girls purposely disfigured their faces in order to avoid being sold) that he didn't even mind using unconditional methods to get his objective that he is even willing to hurt innocent people -- that is how desperate he is. But how the drama approach with how problematic this is? By showing again and again how he lose despite he is the most brilliant person in the room. And that takes a great writing to write such intelligent person that lose due to solid reasons.
And the flow of events that happen in the drama all has reasons. First we started with the events at the capital, then we moved to Nanling arc where we see, how people in the country are treated without justice despite they are the citizen of the country. Everything that happened in Nanling -- the corruption or sexual assaults case all contribute for us to see the reality of that time and to provide contrast -- if this is happen in a free country like Nanling, then its only worst when we finally move to Yueluo and see how the people are suffering there. All arcs has reasons to support the main theme of the drama.
Also, the nuanced villains in the drama including the Emperor. We hate Pei Yan but he is a nuanced character that made you understand his decisions. Like we all hate him when he cast aside the sexual assaults' victims but at the same time, you understood the reasons behind it. We are talking about the elimination of his entire family which including women & children if the case ended up more than a simple corruption case. Also, we hate him when he made Jiang Ci stabbed him. But little that audiences know that he did it to protect her as to show to his mother that Jiang Ci is merely a 'pawn' that he can case aside -- so, in that 1 move (Jiang stabbed him), he achieved 3 goals which is to appease the Emperor, his mother and also to protect Jiang Ci.
Also, the amount of complexity of the FL characterization between Jiang Ci and Cang Cang. Cang Cang is constantly written as Xiao Huan's weakness -- how many time did he has to sacrifice his life saving pill to save her? Then we compared with Jiang Ci, someone with no martial arts unlike Cang Cang -- yet, how many times we see her saved Wei Zhou in the drama? At one point of time, she cant fight so what did she do? She runs for help to save him when he was cornered and left to die in one of the wars. In contrast with Cang Cang where she constantly need to be saved by Xiao Huan. All RJL's female costars are written with complexity like this. Its one of the reasons what made his drama great since you actually see an actual strong women that have their own goals, desires and didn't exist just to be his love interests. This is actually a very important part of what made dramas compelling when FL character is written with respect and strength. While in Love & Crown, you can even sense internalized misogyny in the writing which really rubbed me the wrong way.
Most of RJL's scripts are like Love of Nirvana -- even for his modern dramas like Twilight where the script is one of the most unique script I have come across in Cdramas. Love of Nirvana particularly has so much nuance and details in the scripts. Like the 'I want you' swing scene in Love of Nirvana. During the last arc, the 2 leads always talk in metaphor or dialog within dialog so a lot of things are said even without words are spoken between them -- the writing, directing plus the acting are simply fantastic since the nuance of the scenes are portrayed when you just watch their interactions in silence. But during this particular scene, Jiang Ci finally say what's truly in her heart that is why the extra sadness. The whole of their conversation on that swing is not really what being spoken at that time but what truly they meant is 'the future that they might not have together.'
So, having used to the quality that RJL's scripts always offered, or the very clever writing like The Demon Hunter's Romance offered, Love & Crown just lacked in so many aspects. There is a reasons why I have been dreading this drama since it was announced 2 years ago. Its Huanrui's script, they are known for writing awful scripts like this. I'm just glad that they cant forced him to take terrible scripts like this anymore now that he has left the agency. :D
That said, the performance of the casts truly put depth and substance to otherwise terrible script. Like I could write analysis on Xiao Huan as a character based on RJL amazing portrayal. Or how interesting and layered Qing'er is. Or Cang Cang and her character developments in the drama. The casts put nuance in their characters that made all this analysis possible and that indeed talents when you can shine even with terrible materials.
Yes, they air dropped this drama in April last year to test the water after SZE has proven not guilty for her…
This drama is one of the few dramas that actually achieved both in term of popularity and as well highly rated at douban with 7.6/10. Cnetz highly praised this drama since it reminds of them of the famous Chinese Ghost Story.
I remember when it was air-dropped last year, it started with 2% market share and tripled the day after and achieved the highest peak at 26% -- basically the #1 drama for April 2025. :D
I think Reading Class will air probably this year, hopefully.
Just adding this for new watchers. This drama has a lot of hidden details for us to discover on our own like the 'protection spell' that Xuanye gave to Banxia. It wasn't just a simple 'protection spell' as you can see there are effects on him everytime he gave her that -- sweat on his forehead, white hairs & cold hands. This is the kind of details I love in my dramas since once you realize it, it gives you different perspectives of their relationship -- on why his love towards her has always been silent, selfless with heavy depth of sacrifices. Thats why he always reluctant to give her that spell initially as it has karmic consequences to his lifespan and fate -- the reason why he has all the memories despite everyone forgets.
Not to mention the Butterfly Demon that you can see making 'appearances' in different arcs in the drama.
I’m still thinking about this drama, especially after seeing SZE & RJL all chatty at award show 😭Was…
Yes, they air dropped this drama in April last year to test the water after SZE has proven not guilty for her tax evasion scandal. But despite being air-dropped, this drama is very popular at China and dominate the ratings for how well written is the script and how good is the acting and chemistry. It ended up becoming one of the dramas with highest viewership for last year. For something with lack of marketing and promotion, what the drama achieved is simply remarkable.
Your review is very impressive. Thank you so much. Reviews like yours will sure help reluctant viewers like me…
Thank you. Reading your comment made me happy. 🤗❤️
Its the intricate details in the script that made this drama so special to me. The layers of it and how you can trace some events 7 or 15 episodes before it happened what made it impressive.
And some of the details, they left it for us to connect on our own like the Protection Spell that Xuanye gave to Banxia. It wasnt just a simple 'protection spell' as you can see there are effects on him everytime he gave her that. This is the kind of details I love in my dramas since once you realize it, it gives you different perspectives of their relationship -- on why his love towards her has always been silent, selfless with heavy depth of sacrifices.
Also, if you realized, each arc gives you different genres. Like in Mirror Demon case, its like you are watching a melodrama love story that spanned thousand of years which involves obsessions and betrayals with lots of sad love songs in this arc. And in Puppet Demon case, its like you are watching horror movie with how eerie and spooky is the whole arc. Then when it comes to Painting Demon arc, its like you are watching a sitcom. 😆 The director purposely framed and directed each arc differently with different background music as well to give us all this different effects.
I would like to ask you about Colonel Sawa & his Japanese subordinate in the last episode. When Col Sawa superior…
At that time when Sawa received the call from his superior, it's the near the end of WWII but not yet the end. The promise to protect the Japanese to their homeland only happened months later after the phone call.
Ok, the reason why Sawa and Yamaguchi didn't take the boat to Japan since they are trying to escape justice from Japan authorities. The moment Fearless Bao was caught trying to kill the patient at the hospital, Consul Imai already deduce that it was Sawa who is the mastermind of Fukui's assasination. Consul Imai, despite being told to us about being clueless and stupid, is actually far from clueless. Try to watch his face expressions when Sawa keep feeding him nonsense, he alresdy sense that something is wrong on the first night he is at Macau. And the phone call to Sawa, he said 'You should know what you did'. And the later phone call Sawa received fully cemented this since the Superior said to him: 'The Japanese will conduct INTERNAL investigation on Sawa agency'. That's why before Sawa left Macau, he burnt all documents trying to erase his past crimes. That is why Hong Gongjie's confession is crucial to his execution later since it is a solid proof of the crimes he did at Macau esp by killing Fukui. Sawa and Yamaguchi is executed by the Japanese at the end due to their war crimes.
One of the reasons why I love this drama since they do lot of 'show instead of tell' so, you get all this by watching and pay attention to detail and not by narrative told to us by the characters. This is usually a sign of a well written dramas. 😊
Agreed, the characters are united to fight for the common good. I really enjoyed it as I didn’t have high expectations…
I usually have high expectations for RJL's dramas since his script choices are usually full of nuance and complex in nature. And this drama actually marked a new high for him since it is written by a Fengtian award winning writer and aired on CCTV during prime time slot.
And it's about finance and economy which is my work field so I wondered how accurate they potrayed the part of it in the drama. Safe to say, I'm impressed. The writer did his research. :D
I actually learnt many things in this drama and that is such a valuable experience for me.
I think Hexian & Qiwen are my fave CDrama couple this year. They just full of love and supported each other with not an ounce of doubt and hesitation. He Xian always look at Qiwen with complete adoration, love and lingering eyes. ❤️
Best drama of the year for me. Everything was perfectly executed even the ending which they actually spent time to tell us the fates of one by one of our beloved characters.
Impeccable writing that mix history, knowledge and also patrioticism. Supported by excellent and heartfelt acting by the casts which are written with nuance and great detailing. And last but not least, directed by a capable director that totally understood the vision of the story and bring to life this tale of Macau during their most tribulance time in history.
I think what makes me appreciate this drama the most is that it's not the usual communist VS nationalist political ideology but simply a united Chinese people fighting oppression by the Japanese Imperial Army. Mostly all of the war resources they get in this drama are given to the nationalist front army that fought the war at that time. No prejudice, no shade and no propaganda to show who is right and who is wrong. Also, I love how the women are written here. They are shown as a backbone of the country just like the men.
A drama that is nerve-wracking, sprinkled with angst yet full of silver linings at the same time. I come into this drama with full expectation and comes out of it feeling even more satisfied. 🤗 9.5/10
I was not ready for Zixia and Master Sanyu to die. When they hold hands for that scene, ohhh my my heart!! 😢 Seriously, this drama is too nerve wrecking for something about financial warfare 🤣
Anyway, Sawa actually is very intelligent and very nuanced as a villain. All his actions, despite some might view as reckless actually managed to put He Xian is many difficult spots. However, He Xian is just more brilliant and 1 step ahead of him everytime. And his biggest weapon is his heart and compassion that made his actions and decisions has weight and supported by many, even the non-Chinese. Soemthing that Sawa and the Japanese didn't have since they rule by fear which makes them lose in every situation.
When he decided to back down from the Shi On shipping mess, he sent a clear message to the Portuguese that always seeing the Chinese as someone they can offend but not the American or the British that is so so so far away. It hurts to see this kind of scenes since you can see this in today's world as well. They governed in an island with 96% Chinese population yet this is the people they can offend but not the Japanese or the allies forces.
And I was like served the Macau government when they are caught red handed by the Japanese for smuggling the diesel yet He Xian, the nice man that he is keep savings them and their poor decision makings while governing Macau.
The writing continue to deliver. I can't wait for tonight's episodes!
Love last night episodes! Talking about great writing. Folks, this is how you do it.
Qiwen is definitely one of my fave FLs this year. That talk she did with the 3 of guys cemented why I love this writer's writing of the women in this drama. They are written as flawed characters yet so delicate and strong at the same time.
When Qi Wen said:
'Stop acting like our saviours.' 'We are braver and stronger than you.' 'Do you think she is less brave and responsibled than you?'
In that 5 minutes speech, she gave perspectives to the 3 guys. Stop one from doing noble idiocy, another from wallow from his grief and another from worrying too much. 🤣
I love Qi Wen. This is what you called silent strength and devotion. He Xian just look at his wife -- astonished with the strength and resolute she had in her.
I love how the writer keeps saying in the drama - - women have their own mind, strong even with their small bodies, know what they are doing and do not need saviours. Yes, this is how you write strong women characters.
Yeah it's a masterpiece. I'm enjoying it, but I'm constantly on the edge. The guys really won't get any rest 😭.…
Yes yes I really like Wanqi as well. He is like He Xian little fanboy lol. He is so cute. Have you seen the latest episodes? This drama is great. I love the writing so much. So so so well written.
The British lady definitely dead. She was shot in the chest and Yang Chang saw it with his own eyes. :(
Wait.. you are talking this relatively about wanqi..so it means that all of these are truly real stories??
Yes, this drama is based on true story and events - - of course they dramatised some of it. 😆 The writer went to Macau 20 times in order to research the events there and interview people. All the characters like He Xian, Wanqi, Kelin (doctor), Hoshan (Portugal guy looking Chinese that work at the shipping company) are all based on real people. He Xian (real name Ho Yin) is called King of Macau for all his contributions during the war and after. His story has become folklore with how people loves him there.
That's why we can rest since this drama going to be a happy ending since all those characters only die very late way way after the war. And Wanqi for an example only died in 2014 while He Xian in 1983.
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For an examples, the many parallel scenes in the drama like the white outfits that both Runyu and Yinwan wore before their big 'sacrifice' scene. Or the gun scene where He Xian first trembling with fears when Ah Rong pointed out gun towards his head to how he asks Sawa to shoot him instead in the last episode - - you can see his growth and development in both scenes. Or how he is not accepted at Macau initially at the pier then the same scene where everyone is waiting for him to come out from the hotel.
Also, everything was set up way way before the events happened so it didn't just happen due to 'plots' but an actual way of life - - like the characters really living in this era and consume all the things they have there. Like the sweet soup that He Xian's family loves to eat, you can see the same exact soup Yang Chang bought for Mary in one of the scenes.
Not to mention all those tiny details that happen in the earlier episodes, you can see why those scenes are important - - it's not fillers but something that contribute to the greater plot later like the 'photograph' scene where Runyu accidentally spilled water on Yinwan's photo album or the 'hidden room' story that Yinwan tell He Xian. All of this, you can see how the camera work framed each scene to emphasis on the importance of it and how it will contribute to the overall story later.
And even the lighting could tell us a story. Who thought even lighting could tell us so much story of a simple scenes. Like the interrogation scene between He Xian and Huang Gongjie -- the lighting during that time show light and dark on He Xian's face to mirror his devious plan to have Ah Rong executed for something that he didn't do. The lighting between light and dark is shot excellently to show his inner thoughts despite his pure intention for his country. I thought the whole scene is so artfully shot with natural lighting. Also, the scene where Dr. Ku opened the curtain and you can see morning light shines through him & He Xian's face -- its an indication how the light symbolized new hope and how He Xian's perspective on that night has changed that made him even more contented to join the War on Resistance against the Japanese Imperial Army.
Not to mention a literal 'Buddha Hand' painting at the back of Dr. Ku when he is revealed as a Communist Spy 'Buddha Hand' in the drama. 😆 I'm still rewatching the drama right now and once I gather more, I will write it properly in my review.
However, the overall executive on this drama is very problematic especially the last 4 episodes that made it from 'entertaining mess' to straight up 'trash' in the writing department where nothing make sense at the end. When writer defy all logic to insist on certain outcome with nothing to back it up, its just very insulting to the audiences.
Its gonna be long so brace yourself haha. Here, I'm going to compare it with RJL's other dramas since I usually rated his dramas between 8 to 9/10 in term of script quality. But for Love & Crown, like I mentioned above is only 4/10. Why? I try to explain it ''objectively'' below.
For me, highly rated drama needs to achieve not only solid scripts, strong theme, strong characters' writing, consistent pacing and editing but also there is nuance and details in the story - - something that you only get when you pay intention to the story. Also, dramas that show instead of tell is rated higher in my book. I also love cleverly and layered written stories where the leads actually not perfect with no plot armor to protect them.
With Love & Crown, I just don't understand why they do this kind of editing where everything seemed so uneven. Some character only appear after a few episodes then disappear and appear again when they are needed. And the funniest thing when leads only appear for like 2 minutes in one episode. They supposed to spread all of the plot equally so it appear seamlessly where all the characters supposed to exist individually in the story -- not only appear when it is needed by the plot. But what we get? It was like one arc, we go through it till the end and finished then they show another arc with different characters. This is the first time I've seen something like this so I was shocked with how uneven is the story. So, when you view this kind of editing, it seemed like Xiao Huan & Cang Cang took a scenic road from Kumor's camp to Jiangzhou since the timeline when they ride the carriage to when they arrive at the fortress equal to a few days Qing'er and Zhong Lin at Xushou.
Also, their reliance to the same troupe over and over again. How many times Cang Cang has been poisoned? 6 times in this drama? How many times everyone in the drama has been stabbed? How many times antidote has been used and cast away like it was nothing? All this are used as plot device instead of actual plot to tell a good story.
Also, the lack of nuance in the villains. Its a cardboard cut out villain who is hungry for power (Grand Tutor) and scorned jealousy female character (Du Tingxin) that you question why she has become so crazy without even logical reasons. She said she hates the Xiao family but why all her anger actually focus towards Xiao Huan alone? -- someone who actually always been nice to her from the beginning until the end.
And the makjang elements in the drama? So many ridiculous stuffs in the drama that you question how can the writer fits all this ridiculous stuffs in one drama. Buried alive? Checked. Falling in love with your own blood brother? Checked. Giving up your only cure? Checked as it happened twice. 😆 Poison your own daughter? Checked. Kill your own daughter? Checked. Getting poison 100x? Checked. Getting stabbed 50x? Checked. So many ridiculous stuffs happened in this drama that I lost count lol.
Also, the lack of strong theme. The drama centered around 'misunderstanding' despite the 'misunderstanding' has weight and earned, they focus too much on the angst with no actual pay off. They build up how this leads love each other but cant be together due to 'secret' yet after the secret revelation, there is not even one scene to address this 'misunderstanding', it seemed it just cast aside with no actual weight. Suddenly, the leads are already together again, flirting and start sleeping together. So much build up, but no follow up. And this got worst as the drama progressed as the leads barely has screen time to sell of this great love towards each other. Thus, it resulted with much frustration on the audiences who willing to stay but wasn't getting rewarded for their loyalty.
NOW, we compared it with Love of Nirvana with the same palace politic. Love of Nirvana is actually deal with complex issue that is thought provoking -- how ML is so desperate (we are talking about girls purposely disfigured their faces in order to avoid being sold) that he didn't even mind using unconditional methods to get his objective that he is even willing to hurt innocent people -- that is how desperate he is. But how the drama approach with how problematic this is? By showing again and again how he lose despite he is the most brilliant person in the room. And that takes a great writing to write such intelligent person that lose due to solid reasons.
And the flow of events that happen in the drama all has reasons. First we started with the events at the capital, then we moved to Nanling arc where we see, how people in the country are treated without justice despite they are the citizen of the country. Everything that happened in Nanling -- the corruption or sexual assaults case all contribute for us to see the reality of that time and to provide contrast -- if this is happen in a free country like Nanling, then its only worst when we finally move to Yueluo and see how the people are suffering there. All arcs has reasons to support the main theme of the drama.
Also, the nuanced villains in the drama including the Emperor. We hate Pei Yan but he is a nuanced character that made you understand his decisions. Like we all hate him when he cast aside the sexual assaults' victims but at the same time, you understood the reasons behind it. We are talking about the elimination of his entire family which including women & children if the case ended up more than a simple corruption case. Also, we hate him when he made Jiang Ci stabbed him. But little that audiences know that he did it to protect her as to show to his mother that Jiang Ci is merely a 'pawn' that he can case aside -- so, in that 1 move (Jiang stabbed him), he achieved 3 goals which is to appease the Emperor, his mother and also to protect Jiang Ci.
Also, the amount of complexity of the FL characterization between Jiang Ci and Cang Cang. Cang Cang is constantly written as Xiao Huan's weakness -- how many time did he has to sacrifice his life saving pill to save her? Then we compared with Jiang Ci, someone with no martial arts unlike Cang Cang -- yet, how many times we see her saved Wei Zhou in the drama? At one point of time, she cant fight so what did she do? She runs for help to save him when he was cornered and left to die in one of the wars. In contrast with Cang Cang where she constantly need to be saved by Xiao Huan. All RJL's female costars are written with complexity like this. Its one of the reasons what made his drama great since you actually see an actual strong women that have their own goals, desires and didn't exist just to be his love interests. This is actually a very important part of what made dramas compelling when FL character is written with respect and strength. While in Love & Crown, you can even sense internalized misogyny in the writing which really rubbed me the wrong way.
Most of RJL's scripts are like Love of Nirvana -- even for his modern dramas like Twilight where the script is one of the most unique script I have come across in Cdramas. Love of Nirvana particularly has so much nuance and details in the scripts. Like the 'I want you' swing scene in Love of Nirvana. During the last arc, the 2 leads always talk in metaphor or dialog within dialog so a lot of things are said even without words are spoken between them -- the writing, directing plus the acting are simply fantastic since the nuance of the scenes are portrayed when you just watch their interactions in silence. But during this particular scene, Jiang Ci finally say what's truly in her heart that is why the extra sadness. The whole of their conversation on that swing is not really what being spoken at that time but what truly they meant is 'the future that they might not have together.'
So, having used to the quality that RJL's scripts always offered, or the very clever writing like The Demon Hunter's Romance offered, Love & Crown just lacked in so many aspects. There is a reasons why I have been dreading this drama since it was announced 2 years ago. Its Huanrui's script, they are known for writing awful scripts like this. I'm just glad that they cant forced him to take terrible scripts like this anymore now that he has left the agency. :D
That said, the performance of the casts truly put depth and substance to otherwise terrible script. Like I could write analysis on Xiao Huan as a character based on RJL amazing portrayal. Or how interesting and layered Qing'er is. Or Cang Cang and her character developments in the drama. The casts put nuance in their characters that made all this analysis possible and that indeed talents when you can shine even with terrible materials.
I remember when it was air-dropped last year, it started with 2% market share and tripled the day after and achieved the highest peak at 26% -- basically the #1 drama for April 2025. :D
I think Reading Class will air probably this year, hopefully.
Not to mention the Butterfly Demon that you can see making 'appearances' in different arcs in the drama.
Its the intricate details in the script that made this drama so special to me. The layers of it and how you can trace some events 7 or 15 episodes before it happened what made it impressive.
And some of the details, they left it for us to connect on our own like the Protection Spell that Xuanye gave to Banxia. It wasnt just a simple 'protection spell' as you can see there are effects on him everytime he gave her that. This is the kind of details I love in my dramas since once you realize it, it gives you different perspectives of their relationship -- on why his love towards her has always been silent, selfless with heavy depth of sacrifices.
Also, if you realized, each arc gives you different genres. Like in Mirror Demon case, its like you are watching a melodrama love story that spanned thousand of years which involves obsessions and betrayals with lots of sad love songs in this arc. And in Puppet Demon case, its like you are watching horror movie with how eerie and spooky is the whole arc. Then when it comes to Painting Demon arc, its like you are watching a sitcom. 😆 The director purposely framed and directed each arc differently with different background music as well to give us all this different effects.
Ok, the reason why Sawa and Yamaguchi didn't take the boat to Japan since they are trying to escape justice from Japan authorities. The moment Fearless Bao was caught trying to kill the patient at the hospital, Consul Imai already deduce that it was Sawa who is the mastermind of Fukui's assasination. Consul Imai, despite being told to us about being clueless and stupid, is actually far from clueless. Try to watch his face expressions when Sawa keep feeding him nonsense, he alresdy sense that something is wrong on the first night he is at Macau. And the phone call to Sawa, he said 'You should know what you did'. And the later phone call Sawa received fully cemented this since the Superior said to him: 'The Japanese will conduct INTERNAL investigation on Sawa agency'. That's why before Sawa left Macau, he burnt all documents trying to erase his past crimes. That is why Hong Gongjie's confession is crucial to his execution later since it is a solid proof of the crimes he did at Macau esp by killing Fukui. Sawa and Yamaguchi is executed by the Japanese at the end due to their war crimes.
One of the reasons why I love this drama since they do lot of 'show instead of tell' so, you get all this by watching and pay attention to detail and not by narrative told to us by the characters. This is usually a sign of a well written dramas. 😊
And it's about finance and economy which is my work field so I wondered how accurate they potrayed the part of it in the drama. Safe to say, I'm impressed. The writer did his research. :D
I actually learnt many things in this drama and that is such a valuable experience for me.
Impeccable writing that mix history, knowledge and also patrioticism. Supported by excellent and heartfelt acting by the casts which are written with nuance and great detailing. And last but not least, directed by a capable director that totally understood the vision of the story and bring to life this tale of Macau during their most tribulance time in history.
I think what makes me appreciate this drama the most is that it's not the usual communist VS nationalist political ideology but simply a united Chinese people fighting oppression by the Japanese Imperial Army. Mostly all of the war resources they get in this drama are given to the nationalist front army that fought the war at that time. No prejudice, no shade and no propaganda to show who is right and who is wrong. Also, I love how the women are written here. They are shown as a backbone of the country just like the men.
A drama that is nerve-wracking, sprinkled with angst yet full of silver linings at the same time. I come into this drama with full expectation and comes out of it feeling even more satisfied. 🤗 9.5/10
Anyway, Sawa actually is very intelligent and very nuanced as a villain. All his actions, despite some might view as reckless actually managed to put He Xian is many difficult spots. However, He Xian is just more brilliant and 1 step ahead of him everytime. And his biggest weapon is his heart and compassion that made his actions and decisions has weight and supported by many, even the non-Chinese. Soemthing that Sawa and the Japanese didn't have since they rule by fear which makes them lose in every situation.
When he decided to back down from the Shi On shipping mess, he sent a clear message to the Portuguese that always seeing the Chinese as someone they can offend but not the American or the British that is so so so far away. It hurts to see this kind of scenes since you can see this in today's world as well. They governed in an island with 96% Chinese population yet this is the people they can offend but not the Japanese or the allies forces.
And I was like served the Macau government when they are caught red handed by the Japanese for smuggling the diesel yet He Xian, the nice man that he is keep savings them and their poor decision makings while governing Macau.
The writing continue to deliver. I can't wait for tonight's episodes!
I thought it was obvious in my comment that is what I meant.
Qiwen is definitely one of my fave FLs this year. That talk she did with the 3 of guys cemented why I love this writer's writing of the women in this drama. They are written as flawed characters yet so delicate and strong at the same time.
When Qi Wen said:
'Stop acting like our saviours.'
'We are braver and stronger than you.'
'Do you think she is less brave and responsibled than you?'
In that 5 minutes speech, she gave perspectives to the 3 guys. Stop one from doing noble idiocy, another from wallow from his grief and another from worrying too much. 🤣
I love Qi Wen. This is what you called silent strength and devotion. He Xian just look at his wife -- astonished with the strength and resolute she had in her.
I love how the writer keeps saying in the drama - - women have their own mind, strong even with their small bodies, know what they are doing and do not need saviours. Yes, this is how you write strong women characters.
The British lady definitely dead. She was shot in the chest and Yang Chang saw it with his own eyes. :(
That's why we can rest since this drama going to be a happy ending since all those characters only die very late way way after the war. And Wanqi for an example only died in 2014 while He Xian in 1983.