#costumed-drama — Public Fediverse posts

Against the Current (review)

The Story

Shen Jia Lan, the eldest granddaughter of Grand Secretary Shen, is betrothed to Lin Jin Qi, the eldest grandson of the Minister of Personnel. But when turmoil strikes the imperial court, her grandfather is accused of treason and her entire family is massacred.

Jia Lan is secretly saved by Xu Wan Quan and his wife, who give her the identity of their recently deceased daughter. Now living as Xu Lan Xiang, she becomes a low-ranking maid in the very household her adoptive family serves, the Lin household, where her former betrothed is the master.

Armed only with her intelligence, she must navigate a treacherous household, guard her true identity, and rise above class barriers to reclaim her own destiny.

The Characters

• Xu Lan Xiang / Shen Jia Lan (played by Tan Songyun): The eldest granddaughter of a high official wiped out by a false treason charge, now living under a dead servant’s identity as a maid in the Lin household.  
  
• Lin Jin Qi (played by Liu Xueyi): The eldest grandson of the Lin family, once engaged to Jia Lan until the Shens fell, forced into a cold marriage with Zhao Xingtang instead.
  
• Zhao Xingtang (played by Li Meng): Jin Qi’s first wife, forced into a marriage of convenience and deeply resentful of it. 
  
• Du Cuique (played by Zheng Hehuizi): A poor military family’s daughter taken in by Jin Qi.
  
• Xue Guihua (played by Guo Keyu): Lan Xiang’s adoptive mother, who with her husband risked execution to let Jia Lan take their dead daughter’s place.
  
• Han Liang (played by Niu Junfeng): A poor scholar who gets to know the Xus.
  

What I like

The production is gorgeous. Beautifully shot, this drama is dripping with beauty and art. Even the posters and trailers are works of art! The production team also went to the trouble of recording as much audio live as possible. And it’s amazing that I could feel the winter chill through the TV, which is saying something given they filmed it during the hottest summer in Hengdian ever.

The Lin family dynamics. I braced myself for harem fights and poisonings when I heard this was woman-focused, but instead I got siblings who genuinely love each other. It doesn’t mean that everyone is on their best behaviour, but they love each other despite their flaws. It is so refreshing to watch a family pull together rather than tear each other apart.

Liu Xueyi’s performance is outstanding! It’s true, he’s my bias, but he had so many standout scenes in this drama! (In fact his acting was trending on Weibo and Xiaohongshu repeatedly throughout its run.) As Lin Jin Qi, he is a masterclass in deadly calm and authority, yet when he is with his family, he is loving and even a silly love interest. His jealous simp era is so funny to watch. Every micro-expression lands; the man can go from murder mode to puppy mode in a blink. The fact that he can make you laugh, cry, feel annoyed and angry at his character and yet still be loveable and relatable is amazing.

Its values are sweet and gentle; it does not glamorise revenge. After a thousand Cdramas where vengeance is the whole plot, watching our leads choose forgiveness and living well over payback was genuinely surprising.

No mid-slump. Each episode got more exciting, which almost never happens. The rebellion arc felt real and terrifying, not a dozen extras on a Hengdian set.

It is a character growth story, not a romance. The quiet, understated love between our leads, told through glances and gestures and poetry, is nostalgic in the best way. It treats the audience like adults. Warning: If you think it’s a romance drama, you’d have missed the true point and message of this drama. It’s not a romance; it’s about a woman’s perseverance after many tragedies. It’s about how women can still live their best lives despite the restrictions and injustices they face.

Besides Liu Xueyi, so many other actors had standout performances. So many good actors, and they all shone in their roles! I would say that almost every supporting actor in this drama was perfectly cast and memorable, and that is quite a feat.

I loved Zhenghe Huizi’s Cuique. I know a lot of people say that she was over the top, but like I said, I have always seen her in goody-two-shoes roles, and seeing her as an outright psychopath was actually quite a delight.

Of course, the ever-reliable Li Meng played a conflicted, tragic villain. Her character was a victim of circumstance and of the times. One popular piece of dialogue from her was where she lamented, “Will women ever go to school, never have to depend on their husbands or sons to survive? Will such a time come?” That moment went viral on social media, and it was such a good performance.

I also loved the actress who played Lan Xiang’s adoptive mother. She got my attention from day one, and so did her adoptive father. That actor was also a standout in Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty.

Fantastic actors, all of them. All of them pulled their weight, and there were no weak links.

What I don’t like

Lan Xiang’s plot armour can get a tad thick. Not always, but sometimes. As much as I admire her scheming, sometimes things go a little too well for her. It creeps in especially in the back half.

The last arc. It stretched credulity to the max. How did Lan Xiang guess the identity of the villain? That arc had a lot of logical holes. For a moment, I felt as if I was suddenly thrust into a fantasy idol drama! The tone shift was jarring and I was just glad it was over.

The jarring time jumps towards the end. A part of me understood that several episodes of watching Lan Xiang and Jin Qi enjoy domestic bliss could be boring, but the time jumps were often too sudden and left me bereft for more.

The understated romance is a double-edged sword. People who want loud, literal, dramatic moments will find it too quiet, and worse, won’t believe in the honesty and genuineness of Lan Xiang’s love for Jin Qi. The lack of a big “flip the tables” moment disappointed many as well. While it felt true to the characters, I am greedy; I wanted more of an obvious emotional payoff.

It can get a tad preachy towards the end. The show takes pains to explore every facet of how women suffered during those times (and now!), whether it be divorces, abusive husbands, lack of literacy and financial independence or forced marriages. After 30+ episodes, you can get a tad worn down by the messages. However, the story is told so well, and you love the characters so much you just want to continue watching anyway.

Addressing criticisms of the show

I’m going to do something really daring. I’m actually going to respond to some criticisms of the show, especially of a particularly famous influencer in the Chinese drama space.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4imtHkGDHlc&t=3s

I despair a little bit because some commenters are literally thanking AvenueX for telling them how bad this drama is so they don’t have to bother watching it.

Perhaps I cannot convince these people, but I hope you’ll be convinced after reading my review, to give this drama a try despite the criticisms you might’ve heard.

I’m going to address AvenueX’s criticisms one by one.

Production & Acting: While AvenueX acknowledges decent production values and “acceptable” acting, she’s disappointed in Tan Songyun’s performance. She feels that she’s miscast.

The idea that Tan Songyun is miscast is a popular criticism on Chinese social media. I think it’s understandable. Towards the end of the drama, I felt that Tan Songyun could have emoted better and expressed her love for Jin Qi more, but I think that has more to do with writing and direction rather than her performance. Otherwise, I think she performed quite decently.

As for whether she is miscast, that point is debatable. Could Lan Xiang have been better played by other actresses? Honestly, in the Chinese drama landscape right now, I cannot imagine anyone else playing Lan Xiang who has the same acting skills or presence. So if she is miscast, who could replace her? I cannot think of anyone.

The only actress I know who could match Tan Songyun in terms of skills would be Li Qin. However, she has an edgy, sharp aura about her and if she were to play a maid, her striking beauty would make her stand out too much.

How about Bai Lu? Like Li Qin, she’s too striking to blend into the background.

Tan Songyun plays Lan Xiang in such a way that she can do just that. You can believe that she is a maid; she has an ordinary person, girl-next-door aura that is very believable.

But it’s not just her looks that I’m talking about; she portrays Lan Xiang in a very delicate, reserved way that is required for the role. Yet she’s able to portray different facets of Lan Xiang’s character: the deep grief that she felt, the sorrow, the joy.

But there are moments when I felt that she could go further, but she did not. Whether this is due to the direction that she received or the writing, we will never know.

Personally, I cannot imagine any other actress playing Lan Xiang as well as Tan Songyun. Those who could (for example, Zhao Liying) are a lot older and would not have fit the role.

Bad writing: AvenueX says that there are significant logical flaws in the writing, calling the script lazy and inconsistent.

Was this drama perfect? By no means. In fact, I think there is a wide consensus that after episode 39 or so, the drama stumbled in terms of pacing and writing. (For me, the final dramatic arc stretched credulity and was unrealistic compared to the more grounded arcs of previous episodes.)

But bad writing? No. Flawed, yes.

I’ve seen far, far worse writing.

I felt that she did not give solid examples or justifications for why this drama’s writing was bad.

Her arguments were of the “trust me, bro” variety. She had not watched enough episodes to give a sound judgement of the writing quality of the drama.

Promoting terrible values and against feminism: A major portion of her review is a critique of the drama’s values and message. She said that supporting characters are treated as disposable objects and romanticises the male lead’s controlling and non-consensual behaviour.

I don’t even know where to begin with her comments that the drama promoted bad values and is harmful to youth. (That’s a head scratcher.)

If anything, the drama reinforces the fact that women are strong and resourceful despite the restrictions imposed on them. It also emphasises the idea of living your life well, de-romanticizes vengeance and tells you repeatedly to treat people kindly, no matter their background or station. Are these values harmful to young people? Mind-boggling!

The one thing I do not understand about her criticism is her insistence on imposing modern values and way of life on a Ming Dynasty setting. Back then, the Ming Dynasty had severe restrictions on women. In fact, of all the Chinese dynasties, I think Ming Dynasty women suffered the most restrictions and probably suffered the most socially. And yet, this drama showcased how women could exert their independence, autonomy, and agency despite these restrictions.

Every supporting character in this drama was given a unique storyline, so I especially do not understand what she meant by supporting characters being treated as disposable objects at all. For example, the maids who are her friends each have an intriguing story. Yes, some of them did end up in terrible places, some were abused, and some were even killed, but not all of them were in terrible situations or discarded. Some of them actually had really happy lives and were elevated through education and independence.

As for the criticisms that the male lead’s controlling behaviour was romanticised, nothing could be further from the truth! Jin Qi really received blowback for his controlling behaviour – from Lan Xiang, especially. In fact, one of the funniest remarks about Jin Qi on Chinese social media is that “nobody wants to be with Jin Qi”. Throughout the drama, characters worked hard not to bedded, liked or married to him!

The one thing different about Jin Qi was that although he started out controlling and patriarchal as per the men of that period, he was willing to listen to Lan Xiang, learn, and change his ways. That’s what makes him special, and shows that he is far from being controlling or toxic, like the way she painted him to be.

In fact, I like that they showed that he was not perfect, that he was misogynistic and controlling. Without that foundation, I wouldn’t have enjoyed his journey as much.

What’s the use of a male lead that is perfect from day one? What’s the fun of watching a character like that? He wouldn’t have been a real person; he would have been a fanfic male lead.

It has always been my personal principle to watch a review after I watch the drama, because I don’t want it to colour my opinion of the drama. I hope viewers will be more discerning when they watch reviews and not take a reviewer’s opinion (including mine, by the way) as gospel truth. You should always watch a drama and evaluate for yourself.

Thoughts about the ending

I approached this one as a character growth story, not a romance, and that is the lens that made it work. 

Our main couple start misaligned and slowly come together, and the romance is told through glances, touches, and poetry rather than grand declarations. 

It is a throwback to ancient Chinese storytelling, where meaning hides beneath the surface instead of being spelled out. That said, I was confused by some episodes, especially that big reveal when Lan Xiang found out that Jin Qi was the one who buried her family, and when Jin Qi found out Lan Xiang was truly Shen Jia Lan.

Episode 39, for one, didn’t spell out the change in Jin Qi, who went from a promising official destined for big things to choosing to retire as country gentry.

However, I grew to appreciate how brave the choice was, to convey his decision in a nursery rhyme and a series of poetic time transitions.

The ending underscores the theme of the whole show: do everything we can to live well, knowing that death lives right next to life. 

This was emphasised over and over again in the drama. For example, the second brother’s death was devastating, but he went surrounded by family, having worked so hard to leave them a child. 

There is no big “flip the tables” moment about her identity nor is the Shen family redeemed in her lifetime, and I know some viewers were disappointed by that, but it felt true to the times. The drama made the decision to portray life as realistically as possible, so no magical redemption/revenge arc was present.

I was pretty upset that Jin Qi died at such a young age. But then I had to grudgingly admit that the writers were really brave to stick the landing and the tone of the drama. This show had always been about reality and what happens in real life (well, except for the whole pirate arc thing, which felt like it was from a fantasy idol drama for a moment). I just wished, however, that they had let him live long enough to see his daughter’s wedding. ;(

His death was foreshadowed throughout the drama, though. If you remember, after his serious injury during the rebellion, the physician said that if he did not rest well, his life would be cut short. Besides that, years and years of battle injuries just compounded.

I know some people are wondering why he died so suddenly, but I don’t think it’s unheard of at all. People die of aneurysms and heart attacks all the time. He was probably suffering from a heart condition by then, or perhaps even an aneurysm from all those head injuries he sustained. He probably knew that his health was failing, but he couldn’t really articulate why. It’s definitely not beyond the pale that he died from one of these things.

However, I take comfort in the fact that Jin Qi lived his life very well. Despite dying young (which he couldn’t control), he didn’t spend years away from his family fighting battles and pleasing an emperor who would probably turn on him anyway. Instead, the bulk of his time was spent loving Lan Xiang and his children, watching them grow up, teaching and nurturing them. What a legacy he left behind! This is a life lived well.

In the end, it teaches us viewers that life is often unfair and uncertain. A long life is not guaranteed; dying as an old man is a privilege. So, be like Jinqi, live life well, prioritise your family over your career, and live so that every moment counts.

People had a lot of issues with Lan Xiang saying “one lifetime is enough” when Jin Qi said he wanted to be her husband in his next life. Many interpreted it as a kind of rejection of his love. However, I interpreted it as Lan Xiang telling him that he no longer had anything to make up for; he can be freed from this burden of “making things right” with her in his next life. I think she wanted him to be free of this guilt, and to live his next life free of that obligation. Also, tragically, she never thought it’ll be the last words that he’ll hear from her.

Lan Xiang and Jin Qi’s love is a quiet, understated kind of love. I never doubted that they loved each other deeply.

Final thoughts

I seem to be on a lucky streak this year. Many of the dramas I loved were ratings juggernauts in China (and even internationally, The Early Spring, for example). And when I say juggernauts, I mean absolute monsters that devoured half the market viewership.

Against the Current is probably one of the biggest yet. At one point its Yunhe market share was about 46.6%. While the accuracy of Yunhe is indeed debatable, multiple data platforms clocked it as the No.1 drama of the season. Any drama that aired alongside it did not stand a chance.

For me, it was especially thrilling to watch Liu Xueyi rise in recognition for his acting skills. I saw so many posts from Chinese viewers saying: “How did I not know that an actor this skilled and handsome existed?” They are now joyfully devouring his drama catalogue, and A Moment But Forever is enjoying a resurgence in popularity now.

This is a good sign for a Chinese entertainment industry that is seemingly in its “winter”. In the industry, there used to be a long-held belief that a drama can only succeed if a traffic actor is the star. The logic goes: as the actors have the “data” (i.e. social media following and fans), the investment will be a safe bet. 

This year, the trend seems to be reversing. Many Cdramas with hot traffic actors have ended up in the red while the dramas that didn’t have a traffic actor in sight were raking it in. 

Against the Current is the latest drama to do just this. (Liu Xueyi and Tan Songyun are not considered traffic actors even though they have starred in idol dramas before.)

The market has spoken loud and clear: We want well-scripted, well-acted dramas. Data isn’t everything.

Final rating: 4.5 out of 5

A rare drama that never treats you like a fool, and one I would rewatch in a heartbeat, even the parts that hurt.

PS: If you’re interested in watching more Tan Songyun and Liu Xueyi dramas after this, check out my reviews of A Moment But Forever, Kill Me Love Me , Princess’ Gambit (uhm, not so recommended) and Sword and the Brocade.

Zhan Zhao Adventures

The “Southern hero” Zhan Zhao is carrying vital evidence from an old friend about an unsolved case, intent on delivering it safely to the capital. But his foes are equally driven to stop him. Fortunately, he meets Huo Ling Long, the daughter of Linglong Villa, and Bai Yu Tang, an eccentric wandering hero nicknamed the “Golden-Haired Rat”. Together, they battle the powerful forces determined to overthrow the kingdom.

Characters

• Zhan Zhao (played by Yang Yang): A fourth-rank imperial guard and Justice Bao’s right-hand man, he is a righteous swordsman who seeks legal justice while unraveling a massive court conspiracy.
• Huo Ling Long (played by Zhang Ruo Nan): The independent and perceptive daughter of Linglong Villa who flees an arranged marriage to find adventure in the Jianghu.
• Bai Yu Tang (played by Alen Fang): A passionate, headstrong, and free-spirited martial artist known as the “Golden-Haired Rat”.
• Ding Yue Hua / Zhang Yue Shi (played by Zhang Yu Xi): A supporting character who forms part of the heroic ensemble navigating the dangerous factions of the martial arts world.
• Si Ming / Qiu Han (played by Yue Yang): A supporting figure tied into the complex web of influence spun across the imperial court and the underworld.
• Jing Yi Ming / He Bo (played by Xiu Qing): The master of the Shangqing sect who is entangled in the drama’s central mystery and conspiracy.

What I liked

• There were many classic wuxia moments, such as the lone warrior confronting a team of assassins in the rain or the blind wuxia matriarch who can kill you with just a flick of her sash. This fed my Wuxia soul. 
• Yang Yang is okay as Zhan Zhao, but then again, the Zhan Zhao I remember—maybe I’m looking through rose-colored glasses—honestly didn’t have much character development. Here, he gets the great character development treatment, and it’s really nice to watch.
• Yang Yang is quite suitable as Zhan Zhao, especially in the fighting scenes. He is exceptionally stellar in them, except that the camera crew seems to undermine that consistently (more on that later).
• It has good camerawork, one of the better ones I’ve seen lately.
• Great wuxia choreography for once! (A lot of dramas actually skimp on that)

What I didn’t like

• The pacing is pretty atrocious. Some cases take too long to solve and linger too much. 
• Some people say Zhan Zhao gets wounded and poisoned too often, to the point that it became a joke. I didn’t mind that because it is part of his character development.
• Bai Yutang, Zhan Zhao, and Ling Long’s characters are supposed to be a tight unit, but I don’t sense any team building, so to speak. Their team dynamics just aren’t good enough.
• Bai Yutang, a playful, gregarious, chaotic character, has been toned down so much. Fang Yilun 100% could’ve played him, but for some reason they didn’t let him play Bai Yutang to his full capacity.
• The fighting scenes are really good, but the camerawork undermines a lot of the beautiful choreography. I feel that with Yang Yang’s skills, you really shouldn’t have to do too many cut scenes. In the beginning, there were so many that I actually got nauseous due to the spins, quick cuts, and more. 
• The mystery and conspiracies are just bland and very predictable. I could see every twist coming my way, including the identity of a particular villain.
• Zhang Ruo Nan who plays Ling Long is so misplaced. I do not know why she’s there most of the time; she’s like a third wheel. Honestly, if you removed her character from the story, nothing different would have happened. That’s how poorly Ling Long is written. I also think Ruo Nan does not portray a wuxia warrior very well. She’s supposed to be highly skilled, but her fighting choreography is lacking.

Conclusion

Frankly, this show should have been a banger. It had all the right ingredients: my favourite wuxia characters, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, from the legendary Justice Bao series.

Yet, I I literally crawled towards the finish line because I found it so boring.

I just feel it’s a sad thing because this drama actually had all the right ingredients, but in the end, Zhan Zhao Adventures is just okay. Mid. Ordinary. Unexciting.

This is a disappointment due to the fact that there were so many expectations for this drama because of the IP. Granted, the IP is centuries old, and expectations are through the rooof. (Zhan Zhao has been played by over 80 actors, for one in decades!) It is very tough to beat classic interpretations like Kenny Ho’s Zhan Zhao, for example.

Final rating: 3

2.5 for the story; the wuxia fight scenes gave it a bump up to 3.

A good watch on a very slow Sunday when you just have nothing to do. Yang Yang is also pretty to look at, so 😉

The First Jasmine review

Ye Li, the granddaughter of the venerable Lingshan academy’s headmaster, descends from the mountain. The mountain has been sealed off by the order of the Dowager Empress, and she has only been allowed to leave after almost a decade because she was going to be engaged to the Prince of Ding, Mo Xiuyao.

The prince, however, is disabled from war. He’s bitter, out of favour and certainly not looking forward to beingg wed. In all appearances, Ye Li got the short end of the stick, but she turns her fate around and brings light to his household. However, she has deeper plans than being the best wife to Xiuyao…

The characters

Ye Li (played by Bai Lu): A descendant of the Lishan clan who marries into the fallen household of the Prince of Ding. Beneath her unremarkable surface, she methodically plans revenge against the court officials responsible for harming her clan.

Mo Xiuyao (played by Cheng Lei): The Prince of Ding, a wheelchair-bound man carrying deep family trauma who is pursuing his own path of vengeance.

Mo Jing Li (played by Cai Zheng Jie): The Prince of Li and Ye Li’s childhood sweetheart who operates from the shadows.

The Empress Dowager: An exceptionally capable former top student of the Li Shan Academy who rules the empire with an iron fist.

Ye Ying (played by Yang Shu Yi): Ye Li’s sister and the second female lead of the drama.

Mu Yang Hou: A ruthless marquis from the older generation of court officials and responsible for much of Ye Li and Xiuyao’s suffering.

What I liked

• The “show, don’t tell” approach: I absolutely love that the director and screenwriter relied on emotional restraint. Instead of spoon-feeding us with long, tedious monologues or voice-overs to explain a character’s fears, they trusted the audience’s intelligence. For instance, there is a simple scene where Ye Li runs through the pouring rain toward a carriage; not a word is spoken but it beautifully reveals Ye Li’s raw vulnerability without a single word spoken.
• Complex, layered characters: Zhou Na, who has written dramas I loved such as Feud and A Moment But Forever, is a master at character-driven stories. She builds every character with care, even the side characters, making them deeply memorable. Because she doesn’t overly explain their motivations, it gives us free rein to interpret their actions, which makes discussing the show so much fun!
• Bai Lu’s Standout Performance: For me, this is hands-down the most interesting and unique character Bai Lu has played to date. Here, she completely breaks away from the accusations that she always plays the same types of roles.
• A deeply moving journey: I am so incredibly satisfied with the emotional payoff. The show hooks you with an intriguing mystery and great character growth, and I found myself profoundly moved by the episodes, especially as we got closer to the end.
• I love the slow burn romance between Ye Li and Xiuyao.
• Love is shown as devotion: This may be a tiny bit of spoiler – many modern CDramas have a lot of kissing and skinship scenes. The First Jasmine leans heavily to the conservative side, so much so that I find myself gnashing at the lip for more “action”. However, I also loved that love is shown as acts of devotion and care – feeding your loved one soup, supporting him as he walked.
  

What I Didn’t Like

• Initial “Mary Sue” vibes: At the very beginning of the drama, I was actually quite confused by the female lead, Ye Li. She appeared so strong, overly capable, and multi-talented that I felt she was edging dangerously close to traditional “Mary Sue” territory. While this heartbreak is beautifully resolved once the truth about her situation is finally revealed to the audience, it was confusing at first. Those who didn’t stay around long would’ve missed a precious emotional payoff.
• Inexplicable behaviour of Xiuran: There was a moment in the drama where Xiuran’s behaviour defied logic. He came off as ungrateful, unnecessarily cruel and self-absorbed. Although he repented pretty quickly, it felt like the writing wobbled quite a bit there as it went against his character.

Additional thoughts

The acting is pretty good here

To date, this is probably Bai Lu’s most complex and interesting character, and likely her best work. While I don’t watch enough of her dramas to say that for certain—and I usually find her performances just okay—this one has really levelled up.

Bai Lu and Cheng Lei both do their own voiceover dubbing here, which is great because it adds to the emotional resonance of the drama. Bai Lu has significantly improved her emotional delivery; she used to sound quite robotic in previous attempts, such as Story of Kunning Palace, but she is so much better here.

A meditative drama that should be savoured

This is not the kind of drama you should watch live. It requires a lot of patience, and if you watch it as it airs, you will probably think the pacing is extremely slow. However, I feel this is one of a dying breed of dramas where time is taken to explore characters at a steady, leisurely pace. This enables us to appreciate the turn of events when revelations arrive toward the end.

At first, this may seem like a typical revenge flick, and you may think you know where the story is going, but the most worthwhile part is the journey of character development from the first episode to the last, especially Ye Li’s.

Ye Li may feel odd or “off” at first, and you’d probably think that her character being distant is Bai Lu being wooden or she’s written to be perfect like a Mary Sue. But as revelations come, you will totally understand. When you look back at those early scenes, you realise exactly why Ye Li was behaving that way.

Prince Li’s story is … underdeveloped

Beware of slight spoilers
The drama was written by the screenwriter Zhou Na, and even the side characters get fascinating development. However, I have to complain that Prince Li got the short end of the stick:

Theoretically, I understand his motivation as the rightful ruler who wants to take back the throne, but the drama did not develop him as well as it should have.

He could have been a deeply sympathetic character, but his obsession with Ye Li didn’t feel smart. He came off as maudlin.

As a result, you almost think that his motivations are childish and immature; that he just wants things because he feels he has a right to them.

The Empress Dowager is a fascinating character

Beware of slight spoilers

The Empress Dowager is another fascinating character. You understand towards the end why she did what she did. In this world, in Lingshan, she was one of the most capable students. Yet, as a woman, she is confined to the palace harem and subjected to the petty quarrels there. She felt that the only way for her to either survive this environment or elevate herself was through ruthless means.

Throughout the drama, I have always felt that while she is modelled after Wu Zetian, she was never ruthless enough to truly secure her position. Why preserve the lives of Prince Li and Xuyao and still give them positions in court? I feel it is almost her guilty conscience enabling her to do this; I have two theories:

1. Subconsciously, she allowed them to be there so that they would eventually take her down.
2. A part of her wants to be merciful, while another part feels she must be ruthless to ensure proper governance of the country. She’s constantly conflicted between the two.

She justifies a lot of her actions because of that. Was she wrong? Yet, when you look through the lens of history, you realise that so many other rulers have done what she did.  I suppose you can consider her a more human Wu Zetian!

Cheng Lei as Xiuran

Cheng Lei is great as Xiuran, of course. He portrays the prince in a magnetic way, and I enjoyed seeing the development his character got. 

The most interesting thing is how he reacted to the revelations around Ye Li. I loved how love is shown in subtle ways here: not outright kisses and soft-hued room shots, but instead through actions such as his character feeding her soup, doing household chores for her, or just holding her hand and playing along. As much as I love hot scenes, I feel that these tender moments conveyed his character’s deep love for her even more.

The ‘scandal’ that distracted viewers

If there is one thing I truly dislike, it’s the outside noise surrounding the show. It breaks my heart that the drama only managed a 6.3 rating on Douban. I strongly believe the score was unfairly dragged down because Bai Lu was caught up in severe public blowback over crazy “diva” rumours right as the show was airing, which is a massive shame considering the acting improvements she has made and how phenomenal the script is.

Final Rating: 4 out of 5

In a sea of “explosive”, fast-paced dramas – long or short – The First Jasmine is a rare drama that tries to take its time unfolding the stories behind the characters.

Seeds of Scarlet Longing

I admit it—I didn’t watch this drama because it had a compelling storyline or deep themes. The primary reason was that I wanted to support Zheng Yecheng, who I think does good work and need more publicity. Still, I was curious why he agreed to star in a short drama.

I was initially pretty amused by how Show didn’t waste any time—they went straight to the jugular with the sexy scenes.

It was hilarious to see how they were going to up the ante. In the beginning of the show, I was looking forward to every single episode, really anticipating every update. Unfortunately, it fell off the deep end midway.

In the end, as delightful it was to see Zheng Yecheng’s abs constantly, the importance of a solid story is still undeniable.

Like all short dramas, Seeds of Scarlet Longing suffered from a slapdash approach to storytelling. A slapdash story can still be palatable, but Seeds glossed over world building —the origins of the demons, the rebellion, were intriguing, but weren’t given enough of a foundation to be impactful. The characters were paper-thin, especially our main couple, and characters suddenly have changes of heart as if their brain had been hijacked by … the spirit of the screenwriter, I suppose!

The characterization is poor, to say the least, and our main couple suffered the most.

Also, the producers were truly trying to max out the sexy scenes by pushing the envelope as far as possible.

Stringing together hot scenes don’t automatically make a sexy drama. In fact, much of the scenes ended up very cringe as there was no solid character or world building backing up the scenes. Some were meant to be titillating, but they fell flat.

This is a pity because there was so much potential to the story, and the sexy scenes would’ve been so enhanced with a more solid story, and if they had spent more time establishing the “enemies to lovers” angle of our main couple’s story.

I couldn’t deal with how the couple went from zero to 100 so fast.

Basically, there’s no slow burn, or, hell, not even any burn. They just went straight to business without hesitation. (I mean, granted he was under a ‘love spell’, but after their first night, it’s as if they spent the whole night playing word puzzles or something.)

On the one hand, I liked the premise: the female lead has no social inhibitions, so she doesn’t think of sex as anything special or embarrassing. In fact, her transactional approach to sex was rather fascinating, and they could have done a lot with that! Instead we get the pixie xianxia heroine trope; innocent, naive, bubbly, and a little bit of an airhead even after multiple hot nights with our hero.

And our hero! What wasted potential. The writers could’ve shown his despair at being entrapped, his will stirpped away, by one of the demons he loathed. After all, it sounds like there’s nothing worse than becoming a love slave to the creature you’re hunting. But we see very little of that because he becomes a simp almost immediately.

For a relationship which began with such a rocky foundation, there’s hardly any friction in their relationship. (I think it lasted one episode.)

In the end, I guess Seeds of Scarlet Longing is okay—a short drama that you can watch while you’re stuck in a very long train ride.

However, it’s not Zheng Yecheng’s best work.

Final rating: 2 out of 5

Spill the DramaTea #4: The First Jasmine, Zhan Zhao Adventures and more.

The last few months have been intense, so I haven’t updated the newsletter, but here I am. I also haven’t been watching as many Chinese dramas as usual.

I tried to finish Zhan Zhao Adventures (emphasis on try). The drama had everything going for it except, for some reason, tension and urgency.

It’s not a terrible script, nor is anything terrible per se, but that’s the problem: it’s very mid. I expected Zhan Zhao Adventures to be a highlight drama—something amazing and memorable—but it turned out to be very ordinary. So, it’s disappointing, but it’s watchable and entertaining enough, just not memorable. (Review coming soon!)

I also finished The Ingenious One, a drama I’ve wanted to watch for the longest time, and I even led some discussions on it. It’s so pleasurable to watch wuxia that is good!

Watching this back-to-back with Zhan Zhao Adventures, you can really feel the difference in the writing—it is so tightly plotted and the characters are dynamic. You feel the teamwork and kinship among all members, vital for a wuxia drama, especially when a team comes together.

The Ingenious One is definitely a stellar production.

Meanwhile, The First Jasmine has definitely caught my attention. It’s written by the same writer behind A Moment But Forever and other beautiful dramas I liked, so I have a good feeling about this one. It’s also directed by a very good director. These two together usually work, but it’s still early days. Goodness knows what they will do to the story.

Bai Lu’s character, dare I say, is the most interesting to date. Ye Li is mysterious and very confident, but has a dark secret. Cheng Lei is dependable as usual, playing a disabled prince sorrowful about his family’s fall. However, he is working behind the scenes to right some things. Both of them are, actually.

I just finished The First Jasmine and would 100% recommend it. A solid 4 out of 5 drama for me. Review coming soon!

So, remember when I said life has been intense lately? Well, that came with lots of leave time, so I’m planning to catch up on plenty of dramas, chief among them: A Splendid Match, Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty III and IV, The Tang Mist, Fate Chooses You, and The Demon Hunter’s Romance.

What about new Cdramas in late June, you ask?

Besides The First Jasmine, not many dramas caught my attention. The Eternal Fragrance and Legend of Rosy Clouds seem … too light and too heavily idol-drama to pull me in.

None of the upcoming July dramas pull me in either. So it looks like I’ll be depending on my backlog for entertainment.

The Company (2025) review

Bi Zhi is a time traveler from the future on a mission to retrieve artifacts tied to the death of his close friend Ziyi, from ancient China.

After the time traveller Bi Zhi gets drunk, he accidentally drags a hapless young man, Beilu, through time. Both wake up thinking it was a wild dream. But Bi Zhi meets Beilu again, and is shocked by how the down‑on‑his‑luck vet‑in‑training is the spitting image of Ziyi.

The story has “episodic” story arcs. Some notable ones:

The General in the Mirror

Bi Zhi travels to the past to retrieve a mirror and finds it attached to a general’s armor. The general, Li Yansheng, has been talking to the mirror, through which he connects with Yao Yao, a disabled young woman in the present contemplating suicide. A bittersweet love affair blooms across time.

The Tianguang Market

Bi Zhi takes Beilu to the Tianguang Market, a purgatory‑like place outside time where people from different eras become trapped. There they encounter Lu Feng (from the present) and Xia Zhelan (from the past), who fell in love in the market and desperately seek a way to leave together.

The Mermaid Candle

In a war‑torn ancient era, a refugee girl named Chan’er discovers a magical candle. When lit, it summons A’nuan, a beautiful woman who claims to be a mermaid. A’nuan protects and provides for Chan’er for years, but her true nature is far more sinister, and the candle’s power may be something darker than simple wish fulfillment.

The Gu Family Escort Agency Mystery

Bi Zhi and Beilu search for a magical comb that belonged to Gu Huaijin, a woman from a family of security escorts. However, she is dead. But there’s more to the mystery …

Su Beilu’s Reckless Adventure

When Bi Zhi is drunk, Beilu gives in to the temptation to use his time‑traveling device to try to save his parents from their fatal 2005 car accident.

The Runaway Princess

Lu Feng returns, now remembering his time in Tianguang Market, and convinces Bi Zhi to take him back to Zhelan’s era.

The Game World

Chun Ge, feeling overlooked at work, stumbles into Bi Zhi’s shop and falls asleep on a mystical jade pillow. He wakes inside a wuxia‑inspired dream world where he becomes an instant martial arts hero.

What I like

If you’re a big fan of self-contained story arcs, you will like The Company. I really appreciate that the stories are neatly bundled up and tied up with no loose ends, making the drama easy to digest. You can watch story arc by story arc, and each one has interesting commentary on the cruelties of time and the human condition.

This is a quiet drama that doesn’t strain my brain too much. It has a definite beginning and end to each arc, and yet this format still manages to surprise me. It’s well-paced, fun, and digestible.

The show has emotional depth. I’m actually quite moved by some of the melancholy and bittersweet relationship stories. For example, in episodes two to three, “The General in the Mirror,” I’m really moved by this love affair between two characters literally separated by time. The only way they can communicate is through the mirror.

In episodes four and five, we discover a magical market that brings people from all time periods into this little dimension. I find the concept very cruel and wonderful at the same time. Two people fall in love in this place, but when they inevitably part ways, the impact of their time together still travels with them. This story is carried over more than one arc, and I find it the deepest, most moving story of the entire show.

I really like the originality of the show’s ideas. The Mermaid Candle story is actually my favorite—it’s extra creepy, with a lot of mystery surrounding the fairy of the candle. Eventually, it becomes a huge commentary on what people do when they are traumatized.

What I didn’t like

Unfortunately, the pacing isn’t great. The Game World arc feels like filler—one of the side characters gets his own adventure, but it doesn’t have the commentary or pathos of the other stories and worse, doesn’t connect to the main storyline in any way. It’s just about this guy who is insecure, then gains confidence in game mode. A very boring plot. You can totally skip it without missing anything, because his story doesn’t impact the main thread.

Conclusion

The stories are very good, and on the whole, The Company is entertaining. However, this drama probably won’t stir much conversation due to how contained and quiet it is. It’s moving at some bits, but it doesn’t grab you nor is it particularly memorable.

Final Rating: 3 out of 5

A deluge of Cdramas and I am watching at turtle mode

Currently watching Zhan Zhao Adventures but at turtle speed. It’s a wuxia, and that’s catnip for me but for some reason I am not binging it or watching it intently the way I did dramas like Fated Hearts or Ingenious One, which I just completed.

The fights are stellar, the story solid, but it isn’t addictive like I thought. Not sure why, but perhaps watching Cdramas at turtle mode isn’t a bad idea?

When Destiny Meets a Demon review (Dropped)

Let me start by saying this: I do not like transmigration dramas. It’s one genre I avoid like the plague. Alongside youth dramas, they sit firmly on my personal “I can’t watch this” list.

That said, I did give another transmigration drama by Wang Yilu a try once: Yummy, Yummy, Yummy.

It had potential because the idea of a comedy about a transmigrated family appealed to me, but things went sideways and I ended up dropping it, just like so many transmigration dramas before it.

So, when I decided to try When Destiny Brings the Demon for this month’s challenge, my expectations were not high. I told myself I’d watch two episodes, write a quick report, and move on with my life.

I’ve always found Wang Yilu, really funny. I first discovered her in I Am Nobody, so I already knew she had great comedic timing. Even though her previous transmigration drama lost me midway, the comedic moments before that were genuinely enjoyable and this show leans into that. At least in the first four episodes I watched.

Now, Arthur Chen: I knew nothing about him before this, but consider me educated. I have to admit this man is magnetic. I can absolutely see why people tune in just for him.

The first two episodes were pretty typical for the genre. What kept me going was Wang Yilu’s performance as a self-proclaimed salted fish (a lazy slacker). Watching her try to slack off but only to end up working hard for a scary Grandmaster anyway was comedy gold.

And the modernisms she brings to the ancient world was hilarious, calling Sima Jiao “boss,” asking about employee benefits, even mentioning KPIs. (Girl, I relate to your pain.)

I have to say, besides Arthur Chen being, er, hot, I found his character interesting. Maybe I just like powerful characters who are sealed for hundreds of years away by evil sect leaders (Yuan Zhong, is that you??)

I’ll admit this one goes down easier because of the pairing of Arthur Chen and Wang Yilu, and I mostly find it cute. Also, special mention to Sima Jiao’s black snake ! The most adorable aide ever.

When I started the drama, my interest level was about 60%; not a full-blown obsession, maybe slightly below “kinda interested” but enough to keep me watching.

However, life got busy, I got distracted by other dramas … and I just never went back.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the show per se. Fans of the drama said that the hugs and kisses between our leads were really sweet to watch, but I honestly wasn’t terribly invested in their relationship. They had chemistry, I suppose, but the show’s predictable xianxia transmigration plot didn’t have that extra spark that would make look forward to it at the end of a work day, let alone binge it.

Maybe I’ll watch it between intense shows, but the motivation is super low.

I think Destiny is a great pick when you’re in the mood for something light, funny, and easy to watch without overthinking.

Glory (2026) review

When Magistrate Lu Jianglai is assigned to solve a controversial case, he is targeted; he escapes but ends up falling off a cliff, his life hanging by a thread. Fortunately, he is rescued by Rong Shanbao, the eldest daughter and heir of the powerful matriarchal Rong family. He wakes up with no memory, and Shanbao, who knows his real identity, demotes him to a stable boy.

He becomes entangled in the Rong family’s high-stakes search for a son-in-law. Amid power plays and hidden agendas, he and Shanbao engage in a battle of wits that slowly turns into something deeper.

Characters

The Rong Sisters

The Rong “sisters” are not all biological sisters. Some are cousins. In the Rong family, the women are the ones that inherit the business, and all the women must have matrilocal husbands or be expelled from the family.

• Rong Shanbao (played by Gulnazar): The heiress of the Rong family.
• Rong Yunxi (played by Cheng Xiao): The second young lady of the Rong family; she is elegant on the outside but a ruthless schemer on the inside.
• Rong Yun’e (Third Sister) – A relatively quiet character who often sides with the more ‘powerful’ sister.
• Rong Yunyin (Fourth Sister/Mean Rong) – Spoiled, bratty, biological sister to Shanbao and Yunwan.
• Rong Yunshu (Fifth Sister/Scary Sis/Blind Sister) – Blind and often bullied by the others.
• Rong Yunwan (Sixth Sister/Wan Wan) – Mentally disabled sister of Shanbao and Yunyin.
• Xiangling (Cousin, referred to as “Chatty Cousin”) – Stands up to Grandmama.

The Suitors

• Lu Jianglai (played by Hou Minghao): The newly appointed magistrate of Chun’an County.
• Bai Yingsheng (played by Chen Ruoxuan): A penniless young scholar who catches the eye of one of the Rong sisters.
• Yan Bailou (played by Zhao Yiqin): The Rong family’s scion; though born into a prestigious family, he originally intended to become a monk, but was sent by the family to participate in the selection process.
• He Xingming – Obsessed villain who has an agenda against Shanbao.
• Yang Dingchen – Arrogant, mean suitor who will use dirty tactics to “win” Shanbao.
• Wen Can – Shanbao’s “cousin” who is infatuated with her.

What I Liked

I enjoyed some of the character dynamics and relationships. For example, I thought Shanbao and Jianglai’s inverted power dynamics amusing to watch. Jianglai’s shameless antics were a hoot and I liked that our leads are equally intelligent and cunning.

The reverse-harem drama trope: I liked how the in-fighting between women, so tiresome in so many harem dramas, gets a little twist in this one.

The gender role reversal elements (Jianglai as “concubine”, for example) are a fun way to explore how patriarchy impacts relationship dynamics. For example, seeing how the men fight and scheme to get Shanbao’s favour is hilarious and strangely eye-opening.

The schemes within schemes plot structure – you just don’t know what mad turn the plot will take.

Unexpected arcs for the characters – I won’t say much but I really enjoyed the way some of the characters grew.

What I Didn’t Like

Shanbao can be cold and undemonstrative, which makes me sometimes think that Jianglai is the one with the most emotional investment in the relationship. I totally understand why she is the way she is—but I wish she’d break her habit of emotional restraint with Jianglai.

Due to Shanbao’s undemonstrativeness and distance, sometimes the romance feels one-sided.

Shanbao’s and Jianglai’s plans working too perfectly: Simply put, they’re unrealistic. So many things could go wrong. But never mind, in this universe everything works perfectly – how convenient!

The last arc of the drama felt rushed; there was not much groundwork or setup about Jianglai’s background, which made the plot come out of nowhere.

The jade deus ex machina: Probably the laziest plot device ever – a piece of jade that seemed to solve all problems! It’s far too convenient, and I wish Shanbao relied more on her wits than flashing that “ancestral” jade to solve all her problems.

The villains were shallow, including He Xingming, the Duke, and others.

Conclusion

I generally enjoyed Glory’s interesting commentary on patriarchy and the role of women. Some of the character have interesting arcs too. I also enjoyed how the show subverts expectations while maintaining coherent storytelling, which is so rare these days.

However, I wished there was more emotional depth between Shanbao and Jianglai’s relationship. The actors have chemistry, but I just don’t get the same “tingle”.

A beautiful CDrama, for certain, but the plot contrivances can test your patience. The twists and turns do delight, but they defy logic and is far too convenient.

Ultimately, it is a fluffy, gorgeous, fun drama but forgettable.

Final rating: 3 out of 5

Pursuit of Jade (2026) review

After he is seriously injured in a battle, the Marquis of Wu’an is found by Fan Changyu, a butcher from the village of Li’an. As he hides from his enemies in the village, he grows closer to Changyu and they eventually get into a marriage of convenience so that she can keep her house.

Meanwhile, schemes are afoot when a mysterious “merchant”, Qi Min, makes an appearance in their idyllic village.

Characters

Xie Zheng (played by Zhang Linghe): The Marquis of Wu’an, and famous general, he was ambushed and severely injured, forcing him to hide in a village.

Fan Changyu (played by Tian Xiwei): A simple lady who grew up in a family of butchers in Lin’an Town. Her parents died tragically at the hands of bandits. Born with immense physical strength, she is fiery, resilient, and tough.

Li Huaian (played by Ren Hao): Born into a prestigious family, he is accomplished in both literary and martial arts. He is ordered by his master to travel south to Lin’an.

Yu Qianqian (played by Kong Xueer): Manager of the Yixiang Lou restaurant and best friend Changyu. She has a dark past she wants to forget.

Qi Min (played by Deng Kai): A mysterious merchant with a cruel bent. He has a history with Qianqian.

What I Like About the Drama

The director’s craftsmanship makes this drama an exquisite experience. His camera work is absolutely gorgeous; every scene is framed like a piece of art. He knows how to bring out the best in his actors. I had seen both leads in previous works, but they were never as impressive as they are here.

The story’s bones is strong … mostly. Although I feel that the director spent a bit too long in the village, I understand the logic. He wanted establish Changyu and Xie Zheng’s motivations later. Consequently, the first half set in the village was excellent, even if slightly dragged out before the court politics kicked in.

Zhang Linghe performs well here. He hadn’t impressed me before, even in the much lauded Story of Kunning Palace much less Princess Royale. However, he did very well here. I feel that the director knew how to direct him, and he thrived under that direction.

Like I said, the director has a deft hand at bringing the best out of the actors and building up the characters, so they came to life, even the side characters.

I loved the slow-burn romance between the main couple.

The female lead’s “strong woman” trope was handled well.

A surprise discovery: Deng Kai, the second lead. He is usually unremarkable in other shows—not bad, just not notable. But here, he gets a humongous glow-up. He is not only gorgeous here (that grey wig worked hard!); his character literally stole the show, and he has since blown up in popularity. (He’s now one of Shiseido’s brand ambassadors. Talk about fast rise!) I expect him to secure more prominent, perhaps, leading roles in the future.

What I Didn’t Like

The court politics were vague. Bits and pieces of the story should’ve been sprinkled throughout the arc, but too much of it remained a mystery until the last arc. This left viewers clueless for most of the series.

We are left wondering: Who is who? Why are factions rebelling? Who are the scheming ministers? Because these elements lack foundation, the second half feels rootless and somewhat boring, despite dominating the runtime. The first half, though occasionally draggy, offered enjoyable character interactions. The second half, however, felt hollow and rushed—a typical rushed ending.

The romantic intensity didn’t reach the heights of Fated Hearts, which felt perfect with off-the-charts chemistry. Whilst I appreciated the romance in Pursuit of Jade, it didn’t feel “hot” enough for me. Ironically, the second couple was hotter and ultimately stole the show.

What I Thought About the Ending

The second half, however, felt hollow and rushed—a typical rushed ending.

Oddly, I had to force myself to watch the ending, which was happy, fortunately. There was a cute alternate ending where we explore what happened if the fire hadn’t happened. I felt sad for Qi Min. He would’ve been a noble crown prince

Final Thoughts

Interestingly, the drama faced significant controversy during its airing. I felt sorry for the director, as this was his first large-scale project since Blossom.

I’m unsure if the attention helped or hurt him, but any publicity is arguably good. Zhang Linghe faced scrutiny, coinciding with an NRTA report urging the industry to prioritise scriptwriting over “traffic stars.” Whilst the report wasn’t specifically about Pursuit of Jade, the timing was uncanny. There was much discussion about Zhang Linghe looking “too pretty” to be a general.

Admittedly, the director shoots in a way that actors seem to look ten times better than usual, and Zhang Linghe, whom I hadn’t previously considered handsome, was actually stunning here. This weirdly led to scandals labelling him the “Foundation General” due to heavy makeup. Odd because the “foundation generals” have been a thing for years, and somehow Zhang Linghe became the mascot for the issue somehow.

Overall, Pursuit of Jade is a really good show, one of those rare dramas that grabs you by the throat. However, unlike Fated Hearts, which wowed me from start to finish and remains endlessly rewatchable, I would likely only rewatch the first half of Pursuit of Jade. I didn’t enjoy the court politics enough to sit through the second half again.

Final rating: 3.5 out of 5

Blood River (2025)

Dark River is a mysterious assassin organization which we first saw in The Blood of Youth.

In Blood River, when the Patriarch of Dark River is severely poisoned. This presents a golden opportunity for the three Blood River families (Su, Xie, and Mu) to seize the “Dragon Sword” which will give them control over the assassin organization and great power.

Su Muyu escorts the Patriach to Qiantang City to find the famous doctor, Bai Hehuai. However, the Xie and Mu families are also lying in wait, aiming to kill the doctor and end the Patriarch’s life.

Characters

Su Muyu (played by Gong Jun) – The leader of Dark River’s elite Spider Shadow Gang is also known as the “Umbrella Ghost”, known for his unique fighting style of wielding an umbrella as a sword.

Bai Hehuai (played by Yang Yutong) – A divine doctor with superb medical skills.

Su Changhe (played by Chang Huasen) – Su Muyu’s sworn brother who has big plans to “reform” Dark River.

Su Zhe (played by Qiao Zhenyu) – The former number one expert of the Su family.

Mu Yumo (played by Peng Xiaoran) – Born into the Mu family, one of the three major families of the Dark River and adept at poisons.

What I Liked

The in-depth exploration about the complexity of being human, and on the nature of ‘good’ and ‘evil’: This is what The Blood of Youth excelled in, and I really enjoyed the quiet moments where the writers explored the bonds between Su Muyu, Su Changhe and their friends.

The complex relationship between the kingdom and the jianghu: Wuxias often explore the difficult and complex relationships in the jianghu. In The Blood of Youth universe, they also explore the complex interactions between the government, royalty and the members of the jianghu. This is something they do really well, and in Blood River, after the messy start, they truly leaned in on that, which I enjoyed.

Gong Jun did well as Su Muyu: I joked that Gong Jun might do well as the taciturn Su Muyu, because his character didn’t need much expressions. (Yes, sadly Gong Jun is not known for his acting chops.) But after the first few episodes, I had my doubts. I realised that Gong Jun may be more robotic than I liked. It took me a while, but I warmed to his, er, robotic ways and just accepted that Su Muyu is just someone so tightly controlled that he doesn’t let any expression leak through.

Interestingly, Gong Jun’s performance and Su Muyu’s character arc eventually became the only motivation for me to continue watching, and probably the highlight of the drama.

What I Didn’t Like

The slow, repetitiveness of the first 10 episodes nearly made me quit this drama. The first six episodes were a slog to endure: attack, dazzling fight, pursuit, attack, dazzling fight. And me having zero idea who’s who and what’s going on or why I should care.

Information overload: Too many characters were introduced at once, especially at the start. They didn’t give the story or characters time to breathe in the first ten episodes. Before we got to know any of them, they’re hurling swords at each other or dying. And with the deluge of characters coming at me, I think I need an AI-powered knowledge base to figure my way around.

The lack of true fights: This is “new wuxia” where fights seem ripped off from a video game. As a a result, many of them are a blur to me. It’s made worse by the fact that the fights are of the “finger fu” variety where they do a few twirls, wave their hands around and magical things erupt around them. However, episode 23’s sword fight stood out as genuinely wuxia-ish. If only they leaned more on that.

I don’t really care for the characters: I get that it’s the trend to make the story gallop from the first episode, but writers keep forgetting the golden rule: Make us care for the characters first. Tell us why we should bother with them. Instead, the show tossed, literally, six episodes of non-stop battles at us. Imagine how many viewers they’d have lost because of this, especially if they had never seen Blood of Youth or Dashing Youth before.

The acting isn’t great: Alas, many of the younger actors couldn’t convey the complexity of their characters well. The veterans, however, are great, especially Su Zhe (Qiao Zhenyu).

The writers still can’t write romance worth a damn: That was my main complaint with The Blood of Youth, but I didn’t mind as the romance was mostly garnishing. Here, it’s one of the main motivations for Su Muyu and not being able to “relate” or feel his no.1 motivation is difficult. We are just supposed to accept that Su Muyu and Miss Miracle Healer are an an item, but I felt zero chemistry between the two or any solid reasons why they should be an item.

Thoughts About the Ending

The naivete and idealism of youth is a big theme in the Blood of Youth, Dashing Youth and Blood River universe. There’s a certain amount of pathos watching young people have such bright hopes for the future only to have them fail because of the unwillingness of society to change or bend to their dreams.

Of all the spin offs, I feel that this particular pathos is the heaviest in Blood River. Does that mean watching this was futile? No, because at the end, it mirrors the very real journeys all of us face: We all have our hopes and dreams in our youth, but in the end, we can only achieve what we can, and maybe that’s enough.

Conclusion

Overall, I liked the drama, but somehow, the emotional impact was limp. Meaning, I barely felt moved by the drama. Something is just missing from Blood River. I rewatched Blood of Youth twice, something which I rarely do. Every character felt alive and amazing, and I loved the entire story. Here, I did not feel much connection to a lot of the characters and none were particularly memorable, except for Su Muyu and Su Zhe. While many people liked Su Changehe, he wasn’t much of a stand out character for me.

Story: The plot improved significantly after episode 7, with meaningful character moments replacing endless fight sequences.

Acting: Mostly poor to average for the young cast, though the veterans did well.

Camerawork: The action sequences leaned heavily on CGI effects. I suppose if you liked that you’d enjoy it, but I prefer a more grounded approach.

Rewatchability: Unlike Blood of Youth which I rewatched twice, Blood River lacks the same emotional pull for repeat viewing.

On the whole, I really enjoyed how the story centres around the messiness of human nature, the idealism of youth and its eventual squashing, and the complex interactions and relationship between the government/royalty and the jianghu.

However, the show is hobbled by its uneven pacing in the beginning, the info dump of characters and by actors who need more acting lessons.

In the end, while I appreciated the deep story it was trying to tell, and largely enjoyed the depiction of Su Muyu by Gong Jun, I was just left oddly hollow and detached. And I have to say that this is going to be one of those dramas that I quickly forget….

Final Rating: 3 out of 5

I’m just glad that the gritty storytelling of Blood of Youth is back here, even if it doesn’t quite reach the same heights.

Spill the DramaTea #3: Pursuit of Jade, Swords into Plowshares, How Dare You?! and more!

February brought Chinese New Year, which always means chaos for me, so I wasn’t able to write last month’s newsletter. But I’m back, and in March I find myself inundated with so many good Chinese dramas that I’m having decision paralysis deciding what drama to watch first.

If you have a wide range of tastes like I do, watching everything from idol dramas to super serious ones, you face a difficult time deciding what to watch. And that is my situation right now.

What I’m watching

“Pursuit of Jade” is definitely the hit drama of the season, and probably the most controversial.

Starring Zhang Linghe and Tian Xiwei, it’s about Changyu, a village woman who finds a badly injured man in the snow one day; she brings him back home, and one thing leads to another—they end up married. However, she doesn’t know that Xie Zheng actually a powerful, controversial general and nobleman.

A very typical idol drama, to be honest. But what’s winning about this drama is the director, Zeng Qing Jie. He was the director of “Blossom” and came out of short dramas. Qing Jie’s short dramas were the ones that made everybody suddenly interested in Chinese short dramas, but unlike those who came after him, he knows how to tell a story well.

His work never feels choppy or badly edited; it’s always beautifully filmed and complex. He is a master at using a limited budget to weave a beautiful story. Now that he’s been given more resources and two major idol stars, this drama is simply beautiful and very well told. He doesn’t just film things well; he knows how to light scenes, compose shots like paintings, and make the actors look extra gorgeous.

But what I appreciate most is that he knows how to bring out the best in actors—directing them so their characters feel authentic and move like their roles. So this drama is definitely a win for me, and I honestly think I’ll enjoy it to the end.

Unfortunately, this drama has also attracted controversy. Zhang Linghe apparently said something racist about Southeast Asians. Chinese humor isn’t always politically correct, and casual racism is, unfortunately, a thing.

This took many Western audiences by surprise, although we Southeast Asians are like, “Yeah, we know.”

And if that isn’t bad enough, the drama is also caught in a ratings controversy—people are questioning its high ratings. To be honest, I think it deserves high ratings, but maybe not that high, since the numbers put it on par with dramas that sparked national conversation.

Data manipulation is a persistent issue in Chinese fandom; it’s annoying, used as bragging rights by fandoms and to show investors their money paid off. Still, I feel it’s unfortunate because Pursuit of Jade is honestly a very good drama, and these controversies shouldn’t diminish the director’s skill or the actors’ abilities. So I say: go for this drama. It’s really worth it.

“Sword into Plowshares” is a rare historical drama—the kind that comes once in a few years.

Many idol dramas are set in fictional historical times and aren’t faithful to the period, but this one is really faithful, with Merchant Ivory–level quality.

It’s about the little-known Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period—a tumultuous time lasting about 70 to 80 years after the fall of the Tang Dynasty.

Imagine: the Tang Dynasty was probably China’s most prosperous, cosmopolitan, culturally rich era, but when it fell, it fell apart hard, fracturing into vassal kingdoms with one dynasty after another rising and falling in quick succession in decades.

It was a chaotic period and a rarely explored part of Chinese history, so I’m learning so much through this drama.

The story centers on Qian Hongchu, a prince from the more prosperous, relatively peaceful Wuyue kingdom. In a sea of chaos, Wuyue was a rare oasis of peace and prosperity, but up north, war is brewing, and eventually Hongchu has to leave his sheltered life to step into the battleground.

If you have time, try to watch it. These historical dramas don’t come often. It’s worth watching, even though the subject is heavy.

I do find it difficult to watch after work when I’m tired; the last thing I want is death and despair, and there’s a lot of it here. (But I promise, it’s absolutely worth it and I intend to complete it even if it takes me a year.)

To balance things out, I tried something fluffy: “Seeds of Scarlet Longing.” It’s a fun, trashy short drama; every episode is about 20 minutes. Short dramas are very profitable these days, so I’m not surprised the actor took the role. It was fun to watch, with lots of steamy scenes, but stitching those together doesn’t create genuine chemistry between the couple, which I felt was missing.

The worst part? Our female lead is one of those pixie-happy types, feeling very one-dimensional. I never fully bought into their romance; the enemies-to-lovers transition felt sudden and underdeveloped.

The premise: our male lead is a prince hunting jade demons; the female lead is a demon who needs to have sex with a man to survive every full moon (they call it “dual cultivation” hehe). With a premise like that, you’d think you’d feel invested but honestly, it was disappointing. I had some fun, but didn’t enjoy it towards the end because I just didn’t buy their romance.

“How Dare You” really caught me. I don’t usually like transmigration dramas, but I gave this a chance because I like the actor, Cheng Lei. What surprised me: this drama had surprising depth. The plot was coherent and tightly told—no fluff or filler dragging the story. Every episode was thrilling, character writing was super good, and the story wrapped up neatly (no big question mark, like most transmigration dramas).

Yu Wanyin travels into a novel where she’s the villain—but here’s the twist: the villain of the novel, Xiahou Dan, is also a transmigrator!

They find each other and try to survive the bloody twist and turns of the plot together. It’s a pretty good drama with surprising depth and I thirsted for new episodes daily.

“Generation to Generation” is a rare wuxia tale—though wuxia-lite, not quite Jin Yong–level yet.

Cai Zhao, who just want a happy life free of the jianghu, is forced to join the revered Qingque Sect, where she meets the withdrawn Chang Ning, a survivor of a family massacre. One thing leads to another and Cai Zhao and Chang Ning gets dragged into the affairs of the previous generation of heroes, left unresolved for decades.

The only thing that may deter people about this drama: if you dislike repetitive cycles or misunderstandings between the couple, you may not enjoy it as much. But if you’re okay with that, it can be quite fulfilling.

I haven’t finished yet, but I plan to take my time because I like the two main actors—they’re very good, and I’m enjoying their performances.

The dramas that I hope to watch

Ah, Ingenious One, a true blue wuxia that I’ve told myself multiple times to watch but never seem to be able to. I kept putting it off, hoping to watch it right before season 2 of the drama airs, but the next thing I knew, season 2 is here, and I’ve still not watched it! Ack.

I’m sad I can’t catch it live, but I’m also happy to watch both seasons back to back, slowly savouring it.

I’m behind reviews, but they’re coming!

Loving Strangers, Glory and more. (I’m super behind my reviews. There’s just been so many CDramas and I’ve been so super busy!)

So there you have it: what I’ve been watching the last two months. See you next month!

Celebrating the Flower Gods (贺花神) – Spring Gala Festival 2026

Admittedly, this isn’t a typical Chinese drama post (but it has CDrama actors!), but I was so wowed by the Spring Gala Festival 5-minute performance, 贺花神, that I had to share it with everyone.

This is the kind of performance that you need lots of context and knowledge to truly appreciate. Most Chinese audiences would’ve had basic Chinese history and literature lessons, but not most of the world. So I’m here to provide some context to this magnificent performance.

First, watch the performance below:

https://youtu.be/CELpUCjLzp8?si=piMkJt6qs8Iwygr8

The inspiration for this performance is The White Jade Monthly Cycle Set (白玉月令组佩), a Qing Dynasty artifact with twelve petal-shaped jade pendants. Each “petal” represented a month, carved with the representative flower of that specific month.
Source: Sina

The Flower Deities:

1. January: Lin Bu (Northern Song Dynasty)
2. February: Lu You (Southern Song Dynasty)
3. March: Lady Xi (Spring and Autumn period)
4. April: Yang Guifei (Tang Dynasty)
5. May: Zhang Qian (Han Dynasty)
6. June: Zhou Dunyi (Song Dynasty)
7. July: Xu Wei (Ming Dynasty)
8. August: Li Qingzhao (Southern Song Dynasty)
9. September: Tao Yuanming (Eastern Jin Dynasty)
10. October: Wang Zhaojun (Western Han Dynasty)
11. November: Bai Juyi (Tang Dynasty)
12. December: Goddess of the Luo River

January: Lin Bu (Northern Song Dynasty)

Plum blossoms
Played by Ning Li

“Thin branches cast slanting shadows on the shallow, clear water,
Subtle fragrance drifts in the twilight of the moonlit hour.”

The poet, Lin Bu, hailed from the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). He is a hermit of sorts, famous for considering plum trees and cranes as his only companions.

Most memorably, Ning Li played Song Chen in Ripe Town. He has appeared in Joy of Life season 2 and The Long Night and The Bad Kids.

February: Lu You (Southern Song Dynasty)

Apricot blossoms
Played by Liu Jun

The poet Lu You (1125–1210) lived through the fall of the Northern Song dynasty. When the Jin dynasty conquered the capital of the Northen Song dynasty, his family fled south. A poet, historian, and government official, he wrote over 9,000-10,000 poems in his lifetime, making him one of the most prolific Chinese poets ever. Lu You wrote poems describing apricot blossoms and their beauty.

Liu Jun has appeared in dramas such as Romance in the Alley, Guardians of the Dafeng (Emperor Jing) and The Tale of Rose.

March: Lady Xi (Spring and Autumn period)

Peach Blossom
Played by Qin Lan.

“The peach tree is young and tender, brilliant and bright are its flowers.”

Lady Xi (also known as 息妫, Xi Gui), one of China’s Four Great Beauties, was a princess from the State of Chen during the Spring and Autumn period (around 684-680 BCE). Forcibly taken by King Wen to the palace after he killed her husband and kingdom, she refused to speak a single word for three years.

Her life has been honoured in countless poems.

Qin Lan starred in The Ingenious One, Story of Yanxi Palace, among many others.

April: Yang Guifei (Tang Dynasty)

Peony
Played by Tang Shiyi

Yang Yuhuan (719-756), better known as Yang Guifei*, was one of China’s Four Great Beauties and the beloved imperial consort of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang. She is associated with the peony flower, which was extremely popular during the Tang Dynasty and symbolized wealth, honor, and feminine beauty – qualities that Yang Guifei herself embodied.

Tang Shiyi is the principal dancer of the China Song and Dance Opera House. I adored her “Once Upon a Time in Luoyang” dance where she played the controversial Princess Anle of the Tang Dynasty.

* Guifei is her title.

May: Zhang Qian (Han Dynasty)

Pomegranate Flower
Played by Hu Bing

The famous Han Dynasty explorer and diplomat Zhang Qian is historically credited with introducing pomegranates to China from Central Asia along the Silk Road.

June: Zhou Dunyi (Song Dynasty)

Lotus
Played by Wang Yang

“I alone love the lotus that emerges from the mud yet remains unstained.” A famous quote from his essay, “Love of the Lotus”, he praises the lotus flower as a symbol of purity and nobility, representing a gentleman who remains virtuous despite being in a corrupt environment.

Wang Yang starred in War of Faith, Joy of Life (he was Fan Xian’s beloved bodyguard) and Under the Microscope

July: Xu Wei (Ming Dynasty)

Hollyhock
Played by Zu Feng

Xu Wei (1521-1593) was a legendary Ming Dynasty painter, calligrapher, poet, and literatus. He was the founder of the bold, expressive ink wash painting style, as portrayed in this performance. Xu Wei painted and wrote poems about hollyhocks

Zu Feng has appeared in dramas like Welcome to Milele Village, Minning Town and Faith Makes Great.

August: Li Qingzhao (Southern Song Dynasty)

Osmanthus
Played by Li Qin

Li Qingzhao is celebrated as one of China’s most distinguished poets and is considered one of the greatest poets in Chinese history.

Her first marriage was deeply harmonious as her husband is a lover of poetry. After the fall of the Northern Song capital, she fled south, and her husband passed away shortly after. Her second marriage was not as harmonious as he mistreated her, and she divorced him, a courageous act for a woman then.

Li Qin recently appeared in Fated Hearts, which I adored.

September: Tao Yuanming (Eastern Jin Dynasty)

Chrysanthemum
Played by Yu Ailei

Tao Yuanming (365-427), also known as Tao Qian, was a famous Chinese poet from the Eastern Jin Dynasty who is particularly associated with chrysanthemums. He famously loved these flowers and often wrote about them in his poetry, especially celebrating their symbolism of integrity, resilience, and noble character blooming in autumn when other flowers fade. He is considered one of China’s greatest pastoral poets.

Appearing in Joy of Life (season 2), Hunting and Silent Honour.

October: Wang Zhaojun (Western Han Dynasty)

Hibiscus / Cotton Rose
Played by Wang Churan

Wang Zhaojun (c. 50-15 BCE) was one of China’s Four Great Beauties and a famous court lady of the Western Han Dynasty. She was sent to marry a Xiongnu chieftain as part of a peace treaty, leaving the Han court to live among the northern nomads. In one of the legends about her, it is said that on her journey northward, it was said that she was overcome with sadness and began to play her pipa in sorrow. A flock of geese, overcome by the music, forgot to flap their wings and fell to the ground.

Wang Churan has starred in How Dare You?!, Are you the One, Joy of Life season 2

November: Bai Juyi (Tang Dynasty)

Camelia
Played by Liu Xueyi

Bai Juyi (772-846) was one of the most famous poets of the Tang Dynasty, known for his accessible and socially conscious poetry — he often criticized government corruption and the suffering of common people. “The Song of Everlasting Sorrow” (长恨歌) is about the tragic love of Emperor Xuanzong and Yang Guifei. It is among his most famous narrative poems. Many of Bai’s poems are quoted in the Japanese classic The Tale of Genji.

Incidentally, Liu Xueyi also played a flower God in Love Never Fails, except that his true form is a Peony flower.

December: Goddess of the Luo River

Narcissus
Played by Li Yunxiao

Goddess of the Luo River is a famous figure from Chinese mythology, originally from a poem by Cao Zhi during the Three Kingdoms period. She is associated with the narcissus flower, which blooms in winter and is considered a symbol of good fortune and prosperity during the Chinese New Year season.

Li Yunxiao is a Chinese actress and Yue opera actress. You can hear her performing this in her sequence.

2025: The Year of the Hidden Gems

Did you hear? Apparently, Chinese entertainment is dying.

If you listen to CDrama pundits or spend enough time on Chinese social media, the narrative for 2025 is pretty bleak: the Chinese entertainment industry is “devolving”, production numbers are down (we’re looking at just over 200 dramas this year, with fewer on the horizon for 2026), and quality is supposedly in the gutter.

All of this might be true. But honestly? I had a blast this year.

True, I’ve always been that annoying “glass half full” person. But while everyone else is mourning the “golden age” or lamenting that it had been a sucky year CDrama selection-wise, I’m over here struggling to keep up with the deluge.

Maybe it’s because I’m a slow watcher, or maybe it’s because my tastes are broad enough to find joy in everything from high-prestige shows to “propaganda” dramas to idol fluff.

But I think it’s also because this year I uncovered so many underrated, hidden gems thanks to heavier involvement in Chinese social media. If you know where to look, you can really find great gems!

For most international viewers, shows like Love’s Ambition, A Dream Within a Dream, The Legend of the Female General, and Love in the Clouds were favourites.

But, as per my usual tastes, these international crowd pleasures just didn’t click for me. (Though Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty III, while not super popular in the international side, is wildly popular in China, and I got on that train hard.)

The hidden gems of 2025

Instead, I gravitated towards dramas that not many in international circles hear about, and which is why I want to shout about them in this piece.

• What a Wonderful World: An experimental masterpiece about mental states and perception. It lacks mass appeal and can be frustrating, but the storytelling is incredibly unique.
• Why is He Single?: I watched this at a time when I desperately needed a laugh after a hospital thing. It’s a delightful, cute comedy that delivered “humour is the best medicine”. Wallace Huo is the perfect fit as the eccentric bachelor and main character of this drama.
• Fated Hearts: This was the drama that could. It wasn’t a “S-tier” budget production, but it won over many viewers through its (mostly) stellar performances and mostly coherent storytelling. The best enemies-to-lovers CDrama ever.
• The Wanted Detective: An original script with a fantastic ensemble cast. This mystery-solving drama os flawed, but it has so much jeart that I didn’t care about its plot holes.
• Triple Echo of Time: Such a gem, but so, so difficult to access for most people. Right now it’s available on Youtube with English subtitles, but I have no idea if it’ll be accessible to all regions. It’s a drama about a middle-aged man who goes back to the past to convince his teenage self to change his life trajectory. But his 61-year-old self also travels back into the past to stop him from succeeding. An original script, solidly told – this production team is known for creating heartfelt dramas under a tight budget, so I hope they get more chances to create great shows.
• The Company: another time-travelling drama, this time about a supposed antique shop owner who travels through time collecting artefacts that have unusual supernatural properties.

My crown jewel: A Moment but Forever

I have mentioned this show approximately 10,000 times, and I’m about to make it 10,001. This is quite possibly the most profound xianxia I’ve seen in years.

Chinese viewers are calling A Moment But Forever a “return to classic xianxia,” and they’re right, but it’s a little difficult to explain to those who have not watched CDramas for decades like I did.

Basically, xianxia had been dominated by romance and young adult tropes and themes in the last few years.

“Classic” xianxia, or rather those that aired over ten years ago, often focus on the responsibilities of being a deity to mankind, and tend to be more focused on spirituality and morality.

The “popular” surprise: Feud

Although I said I’m the person who just doesn’t jive with internationally popular dramas, Feud was a rare exception.

It’s xianxia, yes, but I’d actually describe it as a “Marriage and Divorce Drama with Xianxia Characteristics.”

The first few episodes were a bit of a “troll”—they threw every annoying xianxia trope at me, almost convincing me that it was the “same old, same old”.

But after the “reveal” of the true plot, it became one of the most heart-wrenching, deeply moving, surprisingly philosophical CDramas I’ve watched.

The drama, however, was uneven in terms of storytelling, or not it would’ve been elevated to “treasure” for me.

The Okay-lahs

Okay, this is Malaysian-speak for “it’s good but not memorable”. To be honest, there are so many in this category for me this year it’ll probably be impossible to list them all, but the most notables ones would be Blood River, which I found serviceable but not emotionally impactful due to being hamstrung by mediocre acting and fighting scenes, and uneven pacing.

Endless Protection, had the reverse problem: it is a great production, had awesome acting and storytelling-wise, but not emotionally impactful to me. ;P This is probably due to the fact of having seen so many crime dramas from the West. Endless Protection is a very typical procedural crime drama to me.

The hall of disappointments

Well, okay, I can’t be optimistic about everything. There were a few heavy hitters that swung and missed for me:

1. The Jin Yong Universe: As a lifelong fan of these stories, my expectations were high. Unfortunately, the quality of the dramas (the universe is made up of short CDramas directed by different directors) turned out to be uneven. The Legend of Heroes and Nine Yin True Sutra lacked the production quality of the classics. But, admittedly, I haven’t had the time to watch the rest of the series. I’m holding out hope for Eastern Heretic and Western Venom, but honestly, I thought this universe would be a mega hit. Instead, it barely made any noise.
2. The Legend of the Magnate: It was beautiful to look at, but I guess I just don’t enjoy dramas that revolve around business (reminds me of my work too much lol). Plus, the lead had such plot armour; him succeeding in everything felt a tad “Gary Stu”; his success seemed to revolve around a series of serendipitous encounters, which made the story boring to me.
3. Princess Gambit: The trailer was elite. The drama? Barely watchable. I love you, Liu Xueyi, and it’s thanks to you that I even finished this one, but I usually wouldn’t bother. A classic case of marketing being better than the product.
4. Whispers of Fate: I truly, truly, truuuuuly wanted to like this. But I just found the drama ridiculous in general.

And to my surprise, while I enjoyed Cheng Yi’s Mysterious Lotus Casebook immensely (it literally was the CDrama that made me start this blog), I had zero interest in watching all of his dramas this year: Journey of the Legend Sword and Beloved, and Vendetta of An.

Personally, I think he’s currently stuck in “I’m an idol and I need to produce shows that please the fans” phase. Not to mention being signed to a rather controlling agency, so I doubt he can wriggle his way out of his obligations and film what he likes. Still, I hope he can elevate his acting skills and shine in future roles, because those three dramas did not showcase them enough and well, he’s still being criticised for his line delivery, and for good reasons, unfortunately.

I do like Cheng Yi, and I think he has massive potential, so I hope he can get rid of his idol baggage and rise beyond that one day.

Final Verdict: There are still CDrama gems to savour

Yes, the industry is slowing down. Yes, we are seeing fewer shows. But if you have a wide palate and the ability to sniff out CDramas that are quality but barely talked about, 2025 can be a great year.

In fact, compared to last year, there were far more dramas that I’m interested in watching!

My “Plan to Watch” list is overflowing (even more than before) and I have decision fatigue trying to decide which one to watch first:

China’s commemoration of 80th anniversary of its fight against Japan’s WWII surrender may have been politically charged and uncomfortable for some international folks, but it brought many great CDrama gems, many of which is now on my “plan to watch” list:

• Man’s Inhumanity to Man
• The Long Way Back
• Nanjing Photo Studio

I also watched a non-CDrama, a documentary, that is set in this period: The Sinking of Lisbon Maru, which moved me to tears. Unfortunately, my attempt at watching its film version, Dongji Island, was not successful.

They romanticised the event too much; the fishermen were tanned, muscular, barely-clad younglings led by Wu Lei. After watching such a respectful documentary retelling of such a tragic event, I could not take this movie seriously.

Others, not World War II related, include Silent Honor, In the Name of Justice and more.

So, while the doomsday clocks are ticking for C-dramas, I’ll be over here with my “hidden gems,” perfectly happy.

#CDrama #CDramas #China #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama #Fantasy #TV

Gemini (金昭玉醉) short Cdrama review

Gemini (金昭玉醉) is unabashedly aware of what it is, and it’s not apologisin’

This 28-episode short drama (each episode at around 15 minutes), has a The Double-ish premise — the usual revenge/reborn thing.

Princess Lu Zhao suffers at the hands of her husband, who covets her wealth. So, she throws herself off the mansion in despair. And as she lay dying, she wishes vengeance on the evil people and somehow attracts the spirit of the just deceased chief of a notorious sect that serves as the emperor’s secret police. This ruthless femme fatale, Xiao Jin Yu, died about the same time.

Her “twin brother” Xiao Ren (not biological, promise) tries to bring Jin Yu back through a dark ritual, but the magic gets complicated, and she ends up in the princess’s body and resurrects.

In her new body, Jin Yu no longer has the memories of her former sect leader life. So, with her newfound ruthlessness, the resurrected Lu Zhao toys with her former tormentors like a cat with her prey, wrecking vengeance.

And Xiao Ren decides that since she has no memories, it’s time to get close to her. So he protects her while wooing and flirting with her.

My thoughts about the drama

I had finished an intense work period and needed something light (aka brainless), so I thought to myself, hey why not just have a look — it’s only 15 minutes. .

Nine episodes later, and there are already poisons, dark magic, drownings, assassinations, black magic, mistresses, adultery, falls off cliffs, kisses, aphrodisiacs, and sibling-not-really romance — plus the removal of clothes. To Xiao Wei’s credit, despite Lu Zhao being doused with a love potion at one point, he doesn’t take advantage.

It’s deliciously trashy, and I am seated. 🤣

And you know what? The quality of this drama — the camera work and acting — is better than a lot of long dramas these days. It makes me wonder just why this is so.

Since A Familiar Stranger, I’ve been looking for short Cdramas just as good. Unfortunately, after the format became popular, there was a gold rush of sorts and quality dropped as cheap rush jobs became the norm. After a while, many short dramas earned the reputation of being low-budget, salacious dramas with unbearably choppy editing.

Fortunately, Gemini feels pretty smooth and is as good as A Familiar Stranger.

Although the drama’s plot and acting isn’t particularly unique, I think our main actors Zhao Jun Wei (Xiao Wei) and Zhu Li Lian (Lu Zhao) did well. The story, although melodramatic at times, doesn’t veer too far into ridiculousness. It is fun and engaging enough for me to continue watching episode to episode.

If you’ve not tried short dramas before, this is a good one to try!

Final rating: 3.5
Deliciously trashy, surprisingly well-made, and way too easy to binge.

#35Stars #cdrama #cdramas #chineseDrama #costumedDrama #tv

Spill the Tea #2: Whispers of Fate, Blood River, and so much more

November was a bit of a struggle, personally and drama-wise. Personally, I ended up dealing with a medical issue. Drama-wise, I’m still recovering from the masterpiece that was Fated Hearts, and finding a drama to fill that void has been tougher than expected. But I did attempt a few shows, as you can see below!

This month is the battle of the male-led dramas: Blood River, Whispers of Fate, Fight for Love and Sword and Beloved. Who will come out tops?

PS: Each time I do these issues, I realise that I watch a hella lot of CDramas a month. How do I do it? That’s a mystery!

1. The Four Big Boys
   1. Whispers of Fate
   2. Fight for Love
   3. Sword and Beloved
   4. Blood River
2. Just aired…
   1. Blemish Flaw
   2. Why Is He Still Single?
3. Catching up with…
   1. Love in the Clouds
   2. When Destiny Meets the Demon
4. Controversy Derails Lady Liberty

The Four Big Boys

Whispers of Fate

I’ll be the first to admit I can be shallow, but the styling in this drama is just… a lot. I find myself completely fixated on the male actors’ hairstyles, all the bits and bobs hanging off their robes, the dangly pieces in their hair, the gauzy clothes that flutter as they move. It all feels very pretentious and self-aware.

It’s not that the story is bad. In fact, the more I learn about the story, the more intrigued I am by the plot’s potential. But the over-the-top storytelling and directing style make it incredibly difficult for me to buy into this universe. My brain just keeps wondering how many hours they must spend in the makeup chair!

I’m also a bit wary of the central conflict. The entire drama seems to hinge on a single misunderstanding that could be solved if they were just locked in a room and forced to talk. (Though, to be fair, I’ve heard the other person wasn’t willing to listen.) I’m not a huge fan of plots driven solely by a lack of communication.

In the end, after following the plot via social media posts and recaps, I realized it just wasn’t for me.

Read why I dropped Whispers of Fate after 8 episodes.

Fight for Love

With the limited time I have, it was impossible to catch all the “big boys”. Interestingly, while I found Fight For Love had the best potential story of the lot, it seemed to have fared the poorest, with Douban releasing its scores three days early (!) at a dismal 5.3!

How does a Cdrama get scored when it had barely started its run? Something weird is going on here.

Like I said, I found the premise the most interesting of the “male lead dramas” I watched this month, but I just do not have the time (nor the mood) to watch a drama that is about devastating wars, betrayals, political battles and such. However, I will most certainly make the time for it in the future, as I found some of the side stories rather sweet and interesting.

Sword and Beloved

This is another C-drama that didn’t even entice me to watch, however it seems to be fairly popular. When it comes to xianxia, I need something that breaks the mould to really capture my attention. Sword and the Beloved feels like a very typical xianxia/xuanhuan: a powerful, ice-cold male lead meets a bubbly, pixie female lead who brings light to his dark world. I was bored just reading the summary. I’m sure it will captivate some viewers, but for me, it was just too generic.

The third in the big-budget trilogy which began with Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Red Moon Pact, word is this drama started out very well but derailed significantly midway to the point of no return. Alas, what a sad state of affairs for a drama so hyped up and highly anticipated.

Verdict: Didn’t start

Blood River

This was my attempt to move on from Fated Hearts. While it’s interesting enough to keep me watching, Blood River doesn’t come close to the rich, sweeping storytelling of my previous obsession.

The first six episodes were overwhelming, throwing a slew of battles and a dozen characters at me in quick succession. I nearly gave up! There was one episode where almost 20 characters appeared, and I was completely lost. Fortunately, it improved a lot after episode 9, and I ended up smoothly watching up to episode 30.

What drew me in was the character of Su Mu Yu, the assassin with the 18-blade umbrella (this is a prequel/spin-off of The Blood of Youth). The main actor, Gong Jun, was a concern at first. He was a bit stiff, but since his character is meant to be stoic, he grew on me after episode eight or so. He’s not terrible, and when he doesn’t express emotions, you can still feel it.

Blood River ended up being the most well-regarded of the male-led dramas of November, scoring a 7.2 at Douban to date.

Just aired…

Blemish Flaw

Started watching this because youtuber Avenue X mentioned that this was the same team behind the highly-praised Heroes. Watched up to six episodes, and I can say that it’s a thrilling psychological twister of a drama. Lots of potential with this one, because you’re just not sure whose version of the story is the correct one.

Why Is He Still Single?

You will know the answer to this question after 10 minutes of watching the show!

Ah, Wallace Huo! My crush from a decade ago! This time he returns as the cantankerous Mr. Yu who gives the impression that he’d much rather deal with the AI versions of his clients and the people around him. I found myself laughing out loud at some scenes, which is what I totally needed in November.

Catching up with…

Dramas that aired a while back…

Love in the Clouds

I was initially curious about this one because it had a solid Douban score of 7, which usually signals a good watch. However, I couldn’t even get past the first episode. The female lead’s peppy, zesty personality was a bit grating for me, and it didn’t align with the narrative that she’s a seven-time tournament-winning warrior.

There’s an intriguing enemies-to-lovers storyline somewhere beneath the surface, but the comedy didn’t land for me at all. In the end, I looked up what happens in future episodes, and I’m kind of glad I dropped it. It seems to be full of “noble idiocy,” back-and-forth, and miscommunication—a classic Xianxia trope that I find very tedious. It might be your cup of tea, but it just wasn’t for me.

Verdict: Dropped after 2 episodes 😛

When Destiny Meets the Demon

Who knew that I’d end up watching 15 episodes of a saccharine, transmigration drama? Is it the magnetic aura of Arthur Chen or his many kisses? To be honest, I found the story pretty typical and not extraordinary, but I’m still watching for some reason. The most annoying thing about this drama are the one-dimensional villains (sect leaders, as usual!).

Controversy Derails Lady Liberty

The career-defining drama for Tangyan was unexpectedly derailed by a scandal! This is such a bummer as I’ve been waiting forever to watch Lady Liberty. Who would’ve thought that it would end up being derailed by its scriptwriter, who supposedly bribed someone to make the police release her after an offence?

This is such a messy affair, and as this involves a major crime by China’s standards, there are huge doubts that it’ll ever air. I’m absolutely heartbroken—for Tangyan, and for the hardworking folks behind the drama.

#CDrama #CDramas #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama #Fantasy #TV

Whispers of Fate review

The Story

The drama is technically xuanhuan with some wuxia-ish elements thrown in: it’s both genre-bending and experimental. At its core, it revolved around Tang Lici (Luo Yunxi) and Liu Yan (Alen Fang), two characters with a complicated history involving a misunderstanding over what Liu Yan thought Tang Lici did to someone they both loved. Due to this, Liu Yan decided to kill hordes of people just to frame Tang Lici for revenge.

However, the CDrama also covered an expansive world where immortal beings were trying to manipulate and control humans for their own purposes. Tang Lici and Liu Yan’s conflict was just a side effect of this.

What I Liked

I was intrigued by Luo Yunxi and Fang Yilun’s characters, Tang Lici and Liu Yan, and I definitely liked the twisted dynamic between the two. I appreciated the philosophical concepts that the drama wove through the story (when I wasn’t distracted by the shiny headgear). I just felt that its best qualities were fogged up by the frippery and fluff.

The martial arts and special effects were dazzling. I get what people mean by Luo Yunxi looking really good when executing the martial arts moves. It was enjoyable to watch, though I’m more of a Cao Jun real-life martial arts moves kind of person. Still, it was very pleasing to watch.

The experimentation was fun. I also liked that it was trying to be out-of-the-box, genre-wise. It was both wuxia-ish and xuanhuan-ish. I love this kind of creativity, and that’s partly why I started watching.

It was just a pity that I had to go through … a lot to get to the parts I enjoyed.

What I Didn’t Like

The Costumes
I was actually looking forward to Whispers of Fate despite my deep reservations about the styling. It reminded me too much of Till the End of the Moon, and I was majorly turned off by the styling there.

Unfortunately, as predicted, the styling and character designs were off-putting to me.

I cringed each time Liu Yan appeared with his over-the-top costume.

You see, I have an easily distracted brain. Instead of focusing on what Liu Yan was saying, my brain – which has the attention span of a toddler – was immediately fixated on the bazillion baubles shining and twinkling in his hair. And then my brain went down a rabbit hole of wondering how Liu Yan put those baubles in his hair every day.

Then, I realized I hadn’t been listening, but then another character appeared with lots of blinky-winky things on his robes and my brain was again mesmerized by the baubles.

So, okay, this is probably a me problem, but seriously, Alen Fang and Luo Yunxi are gorgeous so they really don’t need to overdo things with them, ya know? I’m not sure why the production team thought it was a good idea, but perhaps it was all to bank on the Till the End of the Moon signature look… my theory anyway.

Purple Filming

You know the term “purple prose,” when writing is (to quote Google): “excessively elaborate, ornate, or flowery”? Generally considered bad writing.

Well, the storytelling, directing, and filming style of Whispers of Fate is what I call Purple Filming.

Characters posed after pausing for a few minutes to make a profound (presumably) statement. There were many slow-motion shots where the camera lovingly lingered on the chiseled contours of our hero’s face.

This was far more apparent in the first two episodes, by the way. The show seemed to tone it down by the fifth episode, except during battles, where you could be sure they would Strike A Pose.

The Acting Quality Was Not Great
And it didn’t help that some characters overacted or couldn’t act. Sigh. The less said the better (lest their fandoms come after me), but at least Luo Yunxi performed decently, though I wished Fang Yilun wasn’t so over-the-top with the moustache-twirling evilness. (I really don’t think he can do villain roles very well.)

The Core of the Story Was… Annoying

One of the tactics I use when I’m lukewarm about a drama is to spoil myself. Yup! I did that with Feud and ended up thoroughly enjoying it… only because I realized that beyond the abysmally slow start, there was a story I could root for.

I thought I could do the same for Whispers of Fate, but the more I found out about the story, the more I was like… are you for real?

Essentially, it’s the tale of two besties who had a falling out, and who should be locked in a room so they can finally talk it out.

Yes, I’m sure the “why” would be revealed eventually, but for those not in love with circles of miscommunication, it could be an excruciating wait for clarity.

Bloated Storytelling

I feel like I shouldn’t over-explain this, but the show took too long to get to the point. I was also mystified by why some characters were even there – I didn’t know what our female characters’ roles were, for one. There were also a few side characters who popped in when our hero was doing the mystery-solving bits, whom I promptly forgot about once they exited.

The Fandom Interactions Disgusted Me

The social media discourse around this drama (especially on Chinese platforms) was awful. Fans attacked anyone who dared to say anything negative about the drama. The comments had a curiously single narrative: If you don’t appreciate Whispers, it’s because you can only watch brainless stuff – aka, you’re too stupid to appreciate it. (Did they huddle together to come up with this excuse?)

Even fans of the drama complained about being silenced for saying anything negative, noting that they couldn’t even comment that the dubbing seemed off as it didn’t sync with the actors’ lips.

As a person who loved What a Wonderful World and Three-Body, I think I have a solid 🧠 in my noggin’. My taste is just different. However, the behaviour of the fandom was so bad that I’ve placed Luo Yunxi dramas in the “do not watch” category to spare myself from reading their interactions ever again. Petty? Yes. But I’d like to spare myself the mental pain.

However, not all Chinese fans are that unhinged. There were some who actually loved the drama and were less fandom-driven, who gave their honest thoughts, such as in this post below:

“Are we starting with the senseless angst trope? Shui Long Yin, you’d better hang in there!

Finished watching 31 episodes of the main story + 34 episode previews, and I’m a bit disappointed.

I don’t understand why the director made Tang Lici under the Bronze Tree look so miserable and so full of stares that it made me uncomfortable. This scene should have been about evoking empathy, not emphasizing shattered beauty.

Thinking about it, Tang Lici is always miserable. His throat has been cut, he’s been stabbed (more than once), he’s coughed up blood countless times, and this time he’s literally skewered like a kebab. He’s basically the ‘Final Destination’ of the Chinese entertainment industry.

I’ve held back my opinions on this, but today I just can’t. On one side, you have Tang Lici being brutally tortured and unable to wake up, while on the other, Liu Yan is completely unharmed and wreaking havoc on Haoyun Mountain.

Every time Tang Lici and Liu Yan go head-to-head, only Tang Lici gets hurt. Liu Yan is the perfect Heavenly Body; he’s never weakened or damaged, always has his full combat power, and can freeze Shao Yanping in a second or break the protective mountain formation of the Central Plains Sword Assembly with a single song.

I can understand that Tang Lici’s self-healing is affected by the heart crystal, but you can’t emphasize that he’s the closest to a perfect Saint Body while constantly showing his broken body! Isn’t that a contradiction?

A character like Liu Yan, who’s completely insane, makes me feel he’s used too many Gu insects and they’ve eaten his brain. He admires Zhou Fang so much, has he never woken up in the middle of the night and remembered Zhou Fang’s teachings?

This character has started to feel like a plot device. For the sake of the story, Liu Yan needs to be a complete psycho. But this so-called ‘perfect’ Heavenly Body, Tang Lici, is nearly killed by this psycho.

In the 34th episode preview, Gui Mudan is going to turn against the others, and I’m worried about how the plot will unfold from here.

After all this buildup—philosophical debates, subtle foreshadowing, and such a complex world setting—to have it all boil down to a single verse of Yin and Yang wanting to be resurrected… if that’s the case, I can only describe it as anticlimactic.

Such a simple motive can’t support the massive buildup that came before.

The writers love leaving suspense and planting foreshadowing; intricate plots are a good thing. But don’t overcorrect and turn it into just showing off skills. Any narrative technique must serve the story itself. Being obsessed with ‘plot twists’ but forgetting the story’s origin and ending, where the form surpasses the content, is ultimately not worth it.”
Source: http://xhslink.com/o/46GGH437C2W

I felt validated when the reviewer said how the complex plots, culture, and philosophical debates were just garnishing for a weak plot.

Unlike most international viewers, I’m not impressed by these things. I could see how the drama tried waaaay too hard to be profound. A good story doesn’t need all these philosophical debates and cultural bling-bling to be truly deep. Look at A Moment But Forever, whose style is very simple and whose culture is reflected in the actions of the characters, not in long-winded debates about fate.

So, I wasn’t imagining things – my review was spot on! I felt like a genius for having concluded this by episode 8.

At the end of the day, the directors leaned too much on fanservice: making Luo Yunxi look like a “fragile, tragic, broken” character because that’s what his hardcore fans love.

Whispers of Fate is the ultimate hurt/comfort fiction, and most dramas don’t go there like this one did.

Why I Dropped the Drama

All I know is after watching 8-9 episodes, I just couldn’t get into it. The main culprits: I was unable to appreciate the aesthetic and the acting – it was too over-the-top for me.

But the main killer was the ineffective storytelling, and how the drama dragged out the miscommunication between our main characters for so long.

I’m also really not into (okay, I dislike) the tragic, fragile, misunderstood hero who is inches from dying trope. I was okay with Li Lianhua from Mysterious Lotus Casebook, but that was generally a solid wuxia and they didn’t dig into the trope so intensely like this drama does.

I kept up with the drama by reading recaps on xiaohongshu (Chinese social media) until the end. All I can say is that I was right – it’s not a show I could enjoy. A lot of people do, however. But not for me, and my time is too precious.

It’s a pity because reading the plot points of later episodes, the world does sound interesting.

It’s just that the thought of having to slog through this drama’s convoluted storytelling exhausted me.

Some dramas I enjoy like a yummy dessert; some are kinda like soup where you need to hunt for the good bits and fork out the unpleasant bits. I am just not the target audience.

But Maybe You May Like It

There are folks like me who are turned off by the purple filming and the plot revolving around miscommunication, but there are also people swearing up and down that it’s the most profound thing they’ve watched.

I’ve come to conclude: different strokes for different folks.

I think those who appreciate this drama love the emotional intensity it gives them. They get to experience the emotional highs and lows of the characters, and this drama excels at that.

The viewers who don’t, tend to appreciate structure and technical details more and are only swayed by the emotional intensity if this is supported by the writing and characterisation. I belong to this group.

Anyway, despite my sharp words about this drama, I truly wanted to enjoy it. I really did see potential in the story between Liu Yan and Tang Lici. But you can’t disguise a weak story with a convoluted storyline, over-the-top Chinese styling, and call it profound.

Final verdict: Dropped

I found it an overperformative attempt at telling a grand fantasy opus, but it felt flat.

#CDrama #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama #Dropped #Fantasy

Fated Hearts Cdrama review

The Story

During the Battle of Pingling, Jinxiu Kingdom’s red-clad female archer, Fu Yixiao, struck the eldest prince of Susha, Feng Suige. Seriously injured, the Susha army was forced to withdraw.

However, shortly after the battle, Fu Yixiao falls off a cliff. When she comes to, she has lost her memories and is pursued by assassins. She is rescued by a healer, who patches her up, but Yixiao later encounters her old enemy, Feng Suige, who is also seeking treatment at the same medical clinic.

Seeing Fu Yixiao in this state, Feng Suige believes that there’s something more to the Battle of Pingling. Why is someone trying to kill the hero of Jinxiu? Suige believes that there’s a mastermind underminding the Susha army.

So, he offers Yixiao a “partnership”: work together to uncover the mastermind behind the conspiracy

Thus, the two, sworn enemies a month ago, now rely on each other to get to the bottom of this. And eventually, relianced turned to love.

Characters

Fu Yixiao (played by Li Qin): Fu Yixiao was once a renowned archer and military commander of Jinxiu.

Feng Suige (played by Chen Zheyuan): Feng Suige is the eldest prince of the emperor of Susha Kingdom.

Xia Jingshi (played by Chen Heyi): As a prince and military comnander of the Zhennan Army of theJinxiu Kingdom, Xia Jingshi appears to be gentle and reserved, but in reality he is powerful and ruthless.

Feng Xiyang (played by Xia Meng): The beloved princess of Susha Kingdom fell in love with Xia Jingshi at first sight when she was young.

Murong Yao (played by Zuo Ye): Suige’s best friend is the son of a Marquis who defends the border up north. He spends his days enjoying himself and has a reputation as a useless nobleman and a playboy.

What I Liked

Great pacing, tight plot: I’m not the sort of person to binge a drama, but it captured my attention so thoroughly that I binged 10 episodes in one day. And unlike most dramas, it didn’t have the final arc failure – the story was steady and believable till the end.

Its sophisticated approach to character development and moral complexity: The writing adds genuine nuance to every character, showing how people can be foolishly focused on the wrong priorities, failing to recognize what truly matters right in front of them and falling into evil deeds because of it.

Compelling parallel character journeys, such as that of Suige and Xia Jingshi, both princes of their kingdoms Both characters face similar circumstances. They have unfavored positions in their respective courts with limited support, yet their responses reveal their true natures. Suige builds genuine loyalty and develops real skills through honourable means, while Xia Jingshi manipulates others through false kindness, ready to discard them when convenient. Suige always fights at the front of his army while Jingshi hides behind people whom he has brainwashed to protect him to the death. Even Suige and Yixiao had similar journeys, mishaps and betrayals, which makes them one of the best-matched couples in CDramaland! ;D

The sibling relationships are deeply moving. I have gotten so tired of the murderous royal sibling trope, so this was a breath of fresh air.

It’s probably the best enemies-to-lovers romance I’ve seen: a true partnership where both leads fight side by side. No noble idiocy, “I’ll keep this from her for her own good” situations. Li Qin and Zheyuan have fiery chemistry!

The best female general/warrior of the year: This is the year of female generals, and most have failed. Shadow Love probably had the worst female general I’ve seen. But Li Qin radiates and projects lethal competence without trying to be masculine.

The acting is stellar: The argument between Murong Yao and his father, and the emperor’s soliloquies. There are many standout moments and scenes in this drama.

Story complexity and coherence: I’ve gotten so used to uneven pacing, logic fails, snooze-worthy arcs that to have a drama with such a coherent, well-aced story was an utter miracle. The drama strikes an excellent balance between explicit storytelling and leaving room for audience interpretation.

What I Didn’t Like

Chen Heyi’s (Jingshi) poor acting: No hate for the actor, but let’s name a spade a spade – he cannot act. This made most of Jiangshi’s arc unbearable. He is outacted by everyone, so his weakness is very apparent in this drama.

The cinematography occasionally becomes unintentionally comedic with its excessive use of dramatic lighting where strobe-like spotlight effects during romantic scenes. Amusingly over-the-top, but this director is known for his flares, though he has toned it down a lot in this drama and it doesn’t distract me too much.

Thoughts about the ending

The ending is one of the most satisfying I’ve watched; it had a conclusion that honours the characters and their journeys. The drama excels at building that foundation. They invested significant time making the characters nuanced and complex, clearly establishing their motivations and desires.

For example, when Suige doesn’t immediately claim the throne at the end of the drama, it felt completely right because the groundwork has been thoroughly laid: Being emperor was probably the last thing he wanted for himself and Yixiao.

The “why” of their choices is crystal clear.

While some say the succession question was unrealistic, I actually appreciate how they handled it.

Suige not becoming emperor turns out to be the happiest possible outcome for him. Being trapped on the throne would have meant constantly watching his back, dealing with a court where he lacks widespread support, navigating palace politics filled with duplicitous courtiers, and managing people he fundamentally doesn’t want to deal with. Both he and Yixiao have consistently expressed their desire to live peacefully with the people they love, and the drama delivers exactly that.

The ambiguity around the Chenyang, the second prince’s status works well. He’s spending time away guarding the tomb—whether he’s abdicated or will eventually return remains purposefully unclear.

I feel that Suige understands his younger brother isn’t suited for the ruthless world of court politics. The second prince is too pure, too genuine for a life surrounded by two-faced schemers.

Even if he could develop the necessary skills, as we’ve seen in recent episodes, it would destroy his gentle nature and leave him miserable. He deserves a happy, simple life, and Suige cares too much about his brother to force that burden on him.

As for Xiyang, with Suige serving as regent, she’ll receive proper training for leadership. As he told her many episodes ago, he will be the first to defend her and fight for her rights.

So, in the end, Suige is Regent, living peacefully with his beloved Yixiao, whom he now calls “fu ren” (wife). They have married and I’m pretty sure am on the way to having many kids.

The revenge arc also provides deeply satisfying closure, with each villain receiving consequences that fit their crimes—from Murong Yao’s death at Suige’s hands to the poetic justice of various other antagonists meeting their ends.

Personally, although the Alliance arc slowed down the pace, I felt that the lull served a crucial narrative purposes. Suige had always idealized his mother and viewed the Alliance through rose-tinted glasses. Part of his rejection of his father’s edict stemmed from wanting to live his mother’s life. He needed to discover that even in a supposed utopia, life is difficult because people remain flawed. Despite his mother being a founder, it meant nothing—no privileges, and the sect had become toxic despite her ambitions.

Suige also needed to understand the value of imperial power. Being reduced to his weakest state through severe injuries taught him how powerlessness impacts not just himself but everyone around him. Being forbidden to leave represented another form of helplessness.

His romantic ideals about life away from the palace needed that reality check. Eventually, he realizes that without power, he cannot protect his people. This arc is where his character embraces power, though I’m confident he won’t become as Machiavellian as his father—he’ll avoid repeating his parents’ mistakes while living the life he wants and using his authority responsibly.

I really appreciated that they showed the true costs of his injuries. He didn’t bounce back with a magical cure; he had to claw his way back to health and lucidity. This makes the eventual vengeance feel even more justified, and we as the audience can fully enjoy it with him. He didn’t know how good he had it until he lost everything, including his mind—a very necessary character arc.

Anyway, I enjoyed this drama so, so much. Probably the most satisfying costumed romance drama this year for me.

Conclusion

Story: The narrative exceeded expectations for an idol drama, delivering surprising depth and complexity. The character arcs feel authentic, with protagonists who are genuinely flawed yet entirely believable in their motivations and growth.

Acting: Except for Heyi (Jingshi), the actors’ performances were all strong, with standout moments. Of particular note was the veteran actor who played the emperor – he had several soliloquys that made me just stare in amazement. I didn’t know Chen Zheyuan at all before Fated Hearts, but he really delivered Suige’s ruthlessness and his battle scenes were really well down: He was athletic, filled with brutal punches, kicks and sword swipes.

Costumes and Sets: Gorgeous costumes, but I wish they didn’t make Suige so beautiful and pale. He is a battle-hardened general, after all! Oh, but “I ate well”, as us Chinese would say.

Camerawork: Okay, in general but the excessive dramatic lighting effects during romantic moments ended up being funny.

Rewatchability: High

Final Rating: 4.5 out of 5

When a drama can make this binge-reluctant viewer to abandon all restraint and devour multiple episodes in one sitting, that’s the mark of genuinely captivating television.

#45Stars #CDrama #cdramaReview #CDramas #CostumedDrama

Rose Finch (short CDrama review)

IQIYI is calling it “Rose Finch”, WETV is calling it “Rosefinch”. That side of me that demands uniformity is annoyed.

Short dramas have long been the domain for lesser-known talent to make their mark. And this is where the director of Blossom, Zeng Qing Jie, made his name with short dramas such as Provoke, A Familiar Stranger and Butterflied Lovers.

However, short dramas have a reputation where racier scenes can be shot. After dramas such as Provoke and such, this type of quality became rarer. Familiar, tropey dramas with subpar acting were pumped out like crazy. There was the understanding that quality doesn’t matter—people want the juicy bits.

Well, until Rose Finch.

This article suggests that:

• Quality actors are moving in to film short dramas
• Rose Finch sets a new benchmark in terms of quality for the drama format

Executive producer Yang Xiaoming stated, “Zhuque Tang is an exploratory step toward premium content. We aim to shift the industry from ‘fast and shallow’ to ‘short, refined, and excellent’ through high investment and top-tier production.”

A Sina article says that investment was around $40mil as opposed to the usual single-digit investment:

“Many people say that the production of our short drama is a dimensionality reduction attack on the industry. I think it is more like a transfer of advantages, which makes use of our years of accumulation in the field of long dramas,” said Yang Xiaoming.

So, Rosefinch is claiming that it is setting a new standard for quality storytelling for short dramas. Well, has it?

First, if you’ve not watched this 15-minute-per-episode drama, can I entice you to do so with cutie pie Da Huang?

Probably tastes like chicken

I mean, ignore the severed limb, but she’s a cutie, no?

Ok, if that’s not working then, maybe stay around for the qipaos.

As someone who doesn’t have the figure for this demanding dress, I can only live vicariously through these women.

Here’s what I think of the drama so far.

The mystery

So we have a killer who killed one of Gao Ying’s girls in a brutal, ritualistic way. Look, I used to eat lunch/dinner while watching that old criminal drama, Bones. But yewouch the violence in this one made my eyes weep a bit. I have no idea how it passed censorship but hooboy, don’t watch this before bed, guys.

Our detective duo

One’s a straight-laced, by the book, idealistic detective – Zhao Xuan. (The kind who will get tossed into a river for, er, trying to solve riddles he isn’t supposed to, and well, yes, he did get tossed in said river.) And wait, why is he a supporting role? Er, does that mean what I think it means?

Anyway, his partner is a medical student who now is his coroner, and who could be, well, crazy.

On account of talking to his dead wife. I mean, so what if he has entire conversations with a dead person? Good talent is just so hard to come by during those times, you know?

And Xia Mo is extremely talented indeed, being able to see details most people miss, and having zero gumptions about dead bodies.

“I see dead people”. Like, sometimes on the coroner’s table, sometimes at my lunch table.

The acting is stellar

I mean with actors like Qin Jun Jie (Heroes, The First Shot) and Wan Qian (loved her as the empress in Secret of Three Kingdoms), you will get it in spades.

Wan Qian is especially good as the intimidating lady triad boss Gao Ying.

What I like about her is that you suspect she has some kind of gentleness or kindness in her, but then she does something brutal like stick a knife into her brother.

You got sibling problems? Don’t share DNA with the Gaos.

I mean I suppose if you have a father like your scary dad, who is the string puller of the entire town (or maybe nation), you’d behave like this too.

Daddy problems = guaranteed with this guy

Thoughts about the ending

Despite the gore, I loved how uplifting it was.

In the end, it was the women who saved themselves—uniting to defeat the mobsters and their accomplices, led by the formidable Gao Ying.

My verdict

I watched this on a short flight back from holiday-land, and it held my attention. I loved the old Shanghai vibes, though I’ll admit the violence shocked me.

Not for the squeamish!

For a short drama, this is impressively high quality. I love the sets, the costumes, and most of all, the acting. The storytelling isn’t bad, though it may test the patience of some viewers, and it leans heavily on shock value for now. I hope it gains more depth later—and that they improve the editing, which currently feels a bit jumpy.

I also found the occasional humour jarring. The show should lean harder into its gloomy, film noir tone. The comedy just doesn’t quite land—but to be fair, I’m notoriously hard to amuse. I once found a film beloved in mainland China for its comedy seriously unfunny, so your mileage may vary.

I’m mostly enjoying Wan Qian’s performance as Gao Ying, and I’m curious about where the story’s heading. The twist of Gao Ying becoming part of the sleuthing duo was very surprising—and something I didn’t expect at all.

Final verdict: 3.5 out of 5

A pulpy, dark short drama about women’s rivalry and eventual unity. The lead is fantastically strong, though the odd attempts at humour sometimes clash with the tone.

#35Stars #CDrama #CDramas #China #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama #Republican #TV

Moonlit Reunion (子夜归) review

The story

In Chang’an, a fragile peace is maintained between the human world and the hidden realm of demons.

Wu Zhen, a socialite and sister of the Empress by day and half-human, half-demon Cat Lord by night, keeps the chaotic forces of the Demon Market in check.

Her carefully balanced life is upended when she meets Mei Zhuyu, an upright and low-ranking official of the Arcane Appraisal Bureau, the city’s largely ineffective supernatural investigation arm.

To the public, they are a noble lady and her current suitor, engaged in a playful daytime romance. However, Wu Zhen and Zhuyu end up solving supernatural crimes together.

Unbeknownst to her, Zhuyu also possesses his own hidden talents and is secretly investigating a dark conspiracy tied to a tragic event from the past.

Characters

Mei Zhuyu (played by Xu Kai): A powerful member of the secretive Changxi Palace, Zhuyu is on a mission to find out what happened to his family.

Wu Zhen (played by Tian Xiwei): The Duke of Yu’s spirited second daughter and sister to the Empress, Wu Zhen is famous in Chang’an as a carefree socialite. But she’s the “Cat Lord,” ruler of the Demon Market.

Liu Taizhen (played by Wang Jiayi): Known as the “Snake Lord,” Liu Taizhen is one of the two guardians of the Demon Market.

Wuzi Shu (played by Wu Junting): Wuzi Shu is Wu Zhen’s trusted deputy. His true form is an ancient tome containing the world’s hidden secrets, granting him wisdom and mystery beyond human reach.

Mei Si (played by Yi Daqian): Mei Zhuyu’s cousin.

Huzhu (played by Fan Shiran): Huzhu is a fox spirit and close ally of Wu Zhen.

Shuangjiang (played by Shan Jingyao): Zhuyu’s junior of the same sect.

Pei Jiyaa (played by Zhu Zhengting): An aloof young lord whose proud nature masks the complexity of his double life.

Elder Hui (played by Zhang Shi): A member of the elder council.

What I liked

• This is the most gorgeous, colourful xuanhuan or zhuōyāo (demon hunting) drama I’ve seen. I thought Feud was beautiful. I thought Immortal Ascension was breathtaking (only to dump us into uninspiring sets after the scenery). Well, I have to say Moonlit Reunion just takes it even further. Goodbye pastels, cheap gold armour, and washed-out lighting. This show embraces colour.
• Tian Xiwei is eating up this role as a notorious “playgirl” socialite. I love her character’s playful, haughty, who-cares-about-the-rules attitude. We don’t get enough characters like these, especially female ones. Demon king by night, glamorous socialite by day—I love her superhero persona.
• I also really love the actress who plays Lady Liu. She truly embodies the cold Serpent Lord in both attitude and looks.

What I didn’t like

• Info dump. The first episode drops us into the middle of the story with zero foundational groundwork. Why are you introducing all these characters to me? Why should we care about them? What are they doing? Speaking of which—what kind of world are we in?
• Weak world-building. I wish we were given a better idea of how the world worked. I wish we got to see what Zhuyu does beyond staring stoically as he goes about his business. I wish we understood more about the nature of demons.
• I felt zero chemistry between Wu Zhen and Zhuyu. I think this is due to Zhuyu being so, well, stoic about everything and not doing much beyond reacting to Wu Zhen’s antics. He seemed bland beside her.
• The main theme or storyline seems disjointed, barely built upon, barely there. As a result, I still don’t feel anchored in the story. It just feels like a disparate number of short mysteries swirling together.
• It’s… boring. Many episodes were slow-paced, and it took me a while to get through them.

Thoughts about the ending

Before the ending, there was amnesia.

All I can say is that if it takes a mind wipe to “solve” a couple’s problems… maybe they shouldn’t be a couple in the first place? It’s a cop-out, and it doesn’t help that amnesiac Wu Zhen is like a Stepford dream wife—totally in love and childlike. There’s just something… weird and empty about it.

If it takes a memory wipe to make your relationship work, I’d be seriously worried.

Wu Zhen’s body is being consumed by the Undecaying Bone’s energy. With time running out, Zhuyu decides to use a forbidden time-reversal technique to find a way to save her, despite the risk of annihilation.

This arc was so rushed that towards the end, we still do not know how Zhuyu survived this—or why he is now a cat demon.

Conclusion

So, you’re probably wondering, do I like the drama? For the first 10 episodes, I enjoyed it for what it is: a fun, light romp. It’s very easy to digest and perfect after a very heavy day at work (or while watching very heavy shows).

But after episode 10, with the pace and the storytelling not improving, the main storyline being so weakly fleshed out, and the acting being so wooden… I lost interest.

Alas, I have a hard time cheerleading a show written as haphazardly and badly as this.

Here’s the rundown:

Story: I think the story’s shallow and lacks connective tissue. Sure, sometimes we need saccharine, but we also need substance. There isn’t much of it here.

Acting: Xu Kai can definitely have chemistry with his co-stars (he had oodles of it with Jing Tian in Wonderland of Love), so I’m not sure why he seems so wooden here.

Costumes and sets: The show is absolutely freaking gorgeous.

Camerawork: I think the only reason why I like Moonlit Reunion so much is that I get to see well-shot pretty things flit past on my screen.

Final rating: 2 out of 5 stars

I’m pretty forgiving by nature, but Moonlit Reunion was, to put it bluntly, pretty boring.

#2Stars #CDrama #CDramas #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama #Fantasy

The Wanted Detective Cdrama review

The story

Xiao Beiming, the top detective of Daqi, was framed for murdering his foster father on his wedding day and forced to flee. Three years later, he returns to the capital to clear his name and join forces with his ex-bride, Xueman.

The problem is, she is also his foster father’s daughter and doesn’t believe that he is innocent.

However, Xueman and Beiming soon discover that the real culprit is more wily and devious than they expected.

Characters

Xiao Beiming (played by Wang Xingyue): The top detective of Daqi, an orphan who was raised by the “King of Constables”, Zhong Yunchi.

Zhong Xueman (played by Xiang Hanzhi): The only female detective in the Divine Constable Battalion. She is also Xiao Beiming’s junior apprentice and fiancée. They grew up together and fell in love.

Zhuge Kongyun (played by Deng Kai): The son of the chief of the Daqi Secret Investigation Team. He grew up with Xiao Beiming and Zhong Xueman. He is proud and arrogant, and a bit of a peacock.

Feng Qingzhuo (played by Chen Youwei): Master of medicine and poison, and also a coroner.

Tong Shuang (played by He Luoluo): An ordinary constable in the Divine Constable Camp who is not very ordinary.

Huo Dairong (played by Zhang Nan): General Huo’s daughter, who gets embroiled in a conspiracy involving our team.

What I liked

• I love that The Wanted Detective is an original script. So, there are no expectations or hullabaloo about it straying from “the original novel”, which is great. The twists and turns kept me guessing all the way.
• Wang Xingyue delivers a compelling performance as Xiao Beiming. (He does his own voice acting and it’s pretty good.) I am all about the character arcs, and I adore the “fall from grace” storyline. In the first two episodes, we see how his arrogance and overconfidence end up being his downfall. I was annoyed with Wang Xingyue in The Double and Perfect Match, but I thought he was a great fit as Xiao Beiming.
• The Fugitive-esque premise hooked me: a detective chased by another equally smart detective (Zhuge), with his ex-fiancée as an enemy. I really enjoyed the idea of a team ensemble solving crimes while redeeming our hero’s reputation.
• Tight writing. The mystery feels layered and well executed, and the crime, wuxia-ish vibe of the drama was great.
• The team dynamics! I love ensemble team dramas like these. We don’t get them enough.

What I didn’t like

• The drama lost a few good opportunities to be a higher-rated show, namely due to some illogical twists.
• The drama failed to establish the romance between our leads; this would have heightened the tension between them even further.
• (This is spoilerish.) Our hero gets nerfed in the silliest way possible. For a complex crime drama, that was a low-brow, dumb reason to get our male lead poisoned. Fortunately, it was a minor flaw that didn’t diminish my enjoyment.
• Xueman doesn’t seem to be a very good detective. I don’t get why her character jumped to conclusions so quickly, which resulted in quite a bad situation for Beiming. Some detective she is.

Thoughts about the ending

When I finished The Wanted Detective, I couldn’t get the final episode out of my mind.

A quick warning: if you haven’t watched this drama yet, do yourself a favour and skip reading this section. Seriously. This is one of those stories where spoilers can genuinely ruin the experience, so tread carefully.

Okay, ready? Let’s proceed.

At first, I wasn’t fully convinced that Tong Shuang was the villain. It felt a little too convenient. But the more I thought about it, the more his strategy made sense. What better way to keep an eye on your enemies than by pretending to be one of them?

I have to give major credit to the actor, though. He completely nailed both roles! He felt like two entirely different people as Tong Shuang and Yeshua—and can we talk about how stunning and menacing he looked in those hanfus as Yeshua? This actor is definitely one to watch.

What I really appreciated about the villain’s writing was how understandable his motivations were, even if his reasoning was flawed. He believed he was justified because life had been cruel to him. But as Beiming pointed out, a difficult past doesn’t give you the right to ruin countless lives. He could have chosen a different path, like that poor Haiya orphan who was the first Yeshua candidate and decided to pretend to be an idiot rather than keep killing.

I truly think Tong Shuang cared for Beiming and even his Haiya followers. You could see the pain in his eyes each time one of them died. In his mind, they were all soldiers on a battlefield, united in their mission for revenge against the Qi Kingdom. And it was clear his subordinates were fiercely loyal—they saw him not just as a leader, but as someone worth following.

I also believe he genuinely cared about the sleuthing team, especially Beiming. In those quiet moments when they were alone, his concern felt real, especially when Beiming was suffering from the poison.

One of my favourite parts of the final episode was the flashback showing Tong Shuang watching the team grieve at his graveside.

He probably did care, like I said—but he was too deep in his plans, too consumed by the first Yeshua’s influence, to imagine another way to live.

It was so poignant when he told Beiming in the end: If there is another life, it’s better that we do not meet again.

I have to admit, I felt a little bitter that the sleuthing group seemed to move on from his death so quickly. But then again, how do you mourn someone who betrayed you like that? Maybe it’s easier to just let go.

This is exactly how a villain should be written: so layered and compelling that even when he meets his end, you can’t help but wish he’d had a chance at a better life.

I really wish more villains were written this well!

Conclusion

If you approach this drama as a romance, you’ll be sorely disappointed because it treats romance mostly as an afterthought. The romance isn’t the focus (Wang Xingyue and Hanzhi have more sibling chemistry), but that’s fine by me—I’m here for the mysteries and Beiming’s character journey!

What The Wanted Detective excels at is being a team/brotherhood drama. If you liked Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty, you’ll probably like this one, though it is not of the same calibre or standard.

Story: The drama isn’t what you’d call super addictive or extraordinary, but it’s good enough to entertain me, and it has a coherent storyline—more than I can say for so many C-dramas these days.

Acting: Pretty good on the whole, especially Wang Xingyue and He Luoluo.

Camerawork: Okay cinematography, nothing too lazy.

Rewatchability: High.

Final rating: 3.5 out of 5

The Wanted Detective scored 7.0 on Douban initially. I would say this is a solidly above-average drama.

#35Stars #CDrama #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama #Detective

Summer 2025 CDramas – the hits and the misses

Summer Cdrama season this year was flooded with dramas. Unfortunately, it also coincided with a very busy time in my life, so I wasn’t able to watch a lot. Yet, I was so amazed I saw this much.

Let’s start with the good stuff. These are the dramas that lifted me out of a very busy and not-so-well period.

1. The pleasant surprises
2. Dramas I enjoyed but is just average
3. The big disappointments
4. First Impressions, not completed

The pleasant surprises

Feud
Genre: Xianxia
Two powerful, immortal enemies, bound by a fate that prevents them from killing each other, navigate a complex love-hate relationship while confronting deep misunderstandings and a threat to the world.

Read the review: Feud

I generally don’t like xianxia dramas these days because they can be clichéd, but Feud, together with A Moment But Forever (which was more of a spring drama), really brought something new to the table. The first 10 episodes of the drama were actually quite a slog to get through, and if you didn’t know the twist was coming, you probably would have given up.

I like this drama because of the emotional depths it went to; it was very, very moving for me. I thought everyone did brilliantly, including Bai Lu and Joseph Zheng. It’s an original script, so nobody knew what was coming, and I found the live discussions very fun. A good drama.

The Wanted Detective
Genre: Detective mystery, costumed drama
An elite constable, framed for murder on his wedding day, returns years later to clear his name and uncover a sinister conspiracy with the help of his allies.

This is another one that surprised me. I didn’t think much of it at first because, I’m getting tired of detective dramas set in ancient times; it’s getting overdone. But I really like this drama because it was a good ensemble piece; they developed the friendship between the characters a lot.

I also found the author wrote the villains in a compelling way. Towards the end, I couldn’t help but rewatch the final episode again and again because the villain’s arc was so moving. That’s the sign of well-done character writing. If you’re into that, you will really like The Wanted Detective.

Granted, it has a lot of flaws—flaws that could derail some people from enjoying it—but it didn’t bother me because I’ll put up with a lot more. In the end, it’s a drama that actually improved episode by episode; the last episode was one of the most thrilling and moving.

Read the review: Wanted Detective

Rose Finch
Genre: Detective mystery
In 1929 Shanghai, a string of brutal murders targeting showgirls uncovers a dark conspiracy tied to a powerful underground network. A forensic doctor, a sharp-witted detective, and the owner of a lavish dance hall form an unlikely alliance to expose the truth, risking everything to shine a light on the city’s darkest secret.

This short drama caught me by surprise. I really enjoyed it because it was very pulpy, the performances were so good, and I loved how the story ended. At first, you think, “Oh, women are again being abused,” but the theme is really about how women tend to battle and hurt each other just to stay on top, and that’s been the case for ages. The beginning of the show felt like that: women are victims because they are not united. But towards the end, it’s their unity that makes the difference.

I adore Gao Ying, the tough adopted daughter of the local mob boss. This is how strong characters should be written. The fun part is you don’t really know where she stands for the first 10 episodes. The only thing I don’t really like is its strange sense of humor, which took me some time to get used to. It threw me off a few times; I felt like they should just stick more to the dark tone of the drama.

Read the review: Rosefinch

Dramas I enjoyed but is just average

Duel on Mount Hua: Nine Yin True Sutra
Genre: Wuxia
This is prequel to Legend of the Condor Heroes centers around Mei Ruo Hua, a woman hell bent on revenge. By fate, she becomes a disciple of Taohua Island, renaming herself Mei Chao Feng.

I really like the story. Zhao Yiwei, of course, does his work so well and I have no complaints there. But I hate to say this: Meng Ziyi just cannot act. She really could not carry the show, and neither could her partner; she didn’t have any chemistry with him. So both of them really brought down the show.

But on the whole, I thought the story was very good. I’m generally very forgiving of wuxia because we get so little of it these days, so I enjoyed the heck out of it even though it was not exactly well-made.

The big disappointments

The Princess’s Gambit
Genre: Costumed romance
A princess enters a political marriage to gain freedom but soon finds herself entangled in dangerous court intrigues, forming an uneasy alliance with her cunning and ruthless husband to survive.

Read the review: The Princess’s Gambit

I’m the type that tries not to expect too much from the CDramas I watch, but when I saw The Princess’ Gambit’s trailer months and months ago, I felt it in my bones that this drama was going to be good. I thought: “Wow, what can actually go wrong?”

But I forgot this is Cdrama land, and things just go wrong.

It started so well. The first 10 episodes were thrilling. Liu Xueyi was magnetic as usual. Although I found Meng Ziyi lacking in the acting department, she was at least fit for the role.

But the drama fell off a cliff when her character literally fell off a cliff—which is kind of funny, actually.

The thing about Chinese dramas is that actors rarely get the full script when they choose a project. I just pity Liu Xueyi so much because I think he’s been hoodwinked so many times. The show starts well, and then they use it to promote their minor actors. (A common modus operandi in idol dramas.)

The show suffers because new actors get too much screen time, and their acting and storylines are usually bad. This is what happened to The Princess’s Gambit—poor Liu Xueyi suffered the same fate in Kill Me Love Me.

Moonlit Reunion
Genre: Costumed fantasy romance
The daughter of a duke, who hides her ability to see spirits and her role maintaining order in a hidden Demon City, forms an unlikely partnership with a Taoist exorcist.

It looked like utter perfection. The first few episodes were actually quite sickening by how beautiful everything was. I’m shameless enough to say that I stayed because everyone looked so beautiful: the sets, the makeup, everything. But the scriptwriter was either on vacation or an AI.

For one, this story had so many random plot threads and characters. I can’t help but think this is yet another drama promoting new actors.

We got a lot of pointless stories that don’t go anywhere, and the main plot line was so sketchy and rarely visited. The drama ended extremely hastily with so many unanswered questions.

The inexplicable part is that Xu Kai, who played the main lead, Zhuyu, was so wooden. I don’t know what happened to him; it’s as if he decided to take a light day at work. I know he’s capable of better, seeing his work in a Wonderland of Love. He’s just better at roles where he’s a playful, a bit of a rebel. Maybe he just doesn’t suit playing stoic characters. There’s an art to playing them compellingly. Unfortunately, Xu Kai can be stoic, but not boring … but he was both stoic and boring.

I dropped it at episode 33 because I realized I just couldn’t go on anymore and had no interest at all in seeing how it wrapped up.

Shockingly, Moonlit Reunion got a 6.6 score on Douban, which I think is way too high for a drama that was so badly written and acted.

Read the review: Moonlit Reunion

First Impressions, not completed

Shadow Love
Genre: Fantasy costumed romance
A female general rescues an amnesiac man, and as they fall in love, they must face the challenges that arise when his forgotten identity as a prince from an enemy state is revealed.

I just started Shadow of Love; I watched the first episode and don’t mind it. It is extremely campy, though, and they should take every opportunity to ensure that Cheng Lei goes shirtless—which I highly appreciate!

It’s a drama that knows where its worth is (on Cheng Lei’s muscles, if that’s not clear enough), so that really shows you how “deep” this drama is.

To be honest, I have a very hard time believing Song Yi as a general. It’s not about physicality; you can be thin and wiry and still exude that commanding aura.

I think the person who did a female general very well was Zhao Liying in The Legend of Shen Li. She also worked out for months, eventhough we don’t get to see her muscles, we certainly saw the way she carried herself with that spear. When she walked into a room, you knew you weren’t supposed to mess with her. Yet, at the same time, she was very feminine.

You don’t command the respect of thousands of men if you are not authoritative. And Song Yi simply doesn’t project that aura.

But okay, fine. I’ll suspend my disbelief with Shadow Love. This is a fantasy drama where the male lead literally shrinks into a child in the first episode—so realism isn’t that important here.

Shadow Love did open with a very low Douban score in China, however. In general, I agree with Douban scores, but this one feels more like a 5.5 than a 4.8.

I think everyone was still pissed off from Legend of the Female General and its unrealistic depiction, so they saw another drama badly depicting a female general and decided to punish Shadow Love for it.

The production quality is below average, nowhere near Moonlit Reunion, so it deserves some deductions. But acting-wise, it’s okay. Fluff is fluff, but this is not godawful fluff, just average fluff 😛 So, it deserves at least a 5.3.

In the end, Shadow Love is campy fluff that knows its worth: Cheng Lei being shirtless as often as possible.

Read the review: Shadow Love

Immortal Ascension
Genre: Xianxia
An ordinary young man leaves his village with a mission to cultivate to become an immortal.

It’s beautiful … but a little formulaic with the “let’s see if he can upgrade his power in this story arc”. But this kind of stories have a huge following and audiences are starved for some male-centric adventure dramas so I’m not surprised it blew up. But for me? It was rather bored lol. Sorries! I may pick it up again …when I’m in the mood again.

#CDrama #CDramas #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama

The Princess’ Gambit (桃花映江山) Chinese drama review

To save her brother, Princess Jiang Taohua of Beiyuan offers herself as a bride in a political marriage to the Qi Kingdom.

Though born royalty, she is more prisoner than princess. Her entourage is not there to serve her but to guard her, and she is dogged by countless assassins.

In a twist of fate, she finds herself compelled to marry the formidable Shen Zaiye, a man widely feared for his ruthlessness and deep involvement in Qi’s power struggles.

Furious at being deceived into marriage, Shen Zaiye grows wary of his new concubine—especially when he discovers she is no pampered princess, but a woman with a Machiavellian cunning that can match his. Is she his most dangerous enemy, or his most perfect partner?

Characters

Shen Zaiye (Liu Xueyi): The ruthless and cruel “left” chancellor of the Qi Kingdom. Hated by the royal family and noble houses, but highly favoured by the emperor.

Jiang Taohua (Meng Ziyi): The princess of Beiyuan Kingdom. Ordered by the Queen of Beiyuan to marry into the Qi royal family to secure peace. (No, to act as a spy!)

Mu Wuyin (Gao Han): The Fourth Prince of Qi. He is not favoured by the King of Qi, appearing isolated in the power struggles of the court.

Meng Zhenzhen (Liu Lingzhi): Shen Zaiye’s legal wife who has a kind and demure facade, but is a hidden viper of the Meng family planted next to Zaiye.

Mu Wuxia (Bian Cheng): A member of one of the princes and as shady as they come.

Xiang Qingying: Shen Zaiye’s sister. While she enjoys traveling the world as a hero, she can be quite naive.

What I liked

• Liu Xueyi’s acting, of course! Now, it would’ve been perfect if they had allowed him to use his original voice.
• I also admire the quiet restraint of Liu Lingzhi’s character, Meng Zhen Zhen, a conflicted schemer trapped by her duty to the clan. Great actress, and hope she gets more roles.
• The cinematography is above average. There is no heavy use of filters nor overly bright sets, so the drama is beautiful to look like.
• The costumes, which are made by the same stylists for the drama Kill Me Love Me, are beautiful.

What I didn’t like

• It was really, really tough getting used to Liu Xueyi’s dubbed voice. Liu Xueyi is one of those actors whom you really shouldn’t dub because he’s just that good. While the voice actor was not bad, he doesn’t hit the same emotional highs and tensions like Liu Xueyi can. (We know that he did those lines better as the trailers were dubbed by Liu Xueyi.)
• Oddly, for such a fast-paced drama, I found it difficult to really get into the drama. As a person who is more interested in character development than twisty plots, this could be the reason. I couldn’t connect with the characters in the first 8 episodes. They seem more like chest pieces than actual people.
• There was a lack of chemistry between Zaiye and Taohua … most probably because there were so few moments of emotional intimacy or vulnerabilities between the two. And this is probably due to …
• The story literally fell off the cliff after Taohua … fell off a cliff. But after that, the plot got stuck for 10 very long episodes in one spot with our characters going in circles, stuck in a tangle of misunderstandings. And we’re forced to endure …
• Excessive side-plots of supporting characters we don’t really care about. Case in point: Qingying, a paper-thin character who barely has any history or personality. And a very long story of the third prince and Empress Lu of Beiyuan.
• The last eight episodes was a mess of rushed and illogical plots. Even the set-up is illogical. For example, we get characters travelling one foreign country to another in mere days. And maybe I’m being pedantic, but I can’t get over the fact that Taohua travelled, on foot, to a dusty, dessert city, in an expensive hanfu, her head full of golden, dangling jewellery, her make-up perfect. How she was not robbed on the way to the desolate city, is a huge wonder.

Thoughts about the ending

Well, what can I say? It is a happy ending according to the script, which said that they “lived happily till the end of their days”, but it was shot in a way that could lead to some people thinking that it’s a dream, or in heaven or something. But since it ended like the script (though with some weird jokes from Qingtao edited out, thank god) I, like most of Chinese social media, believes it’s a happy ending.

But would it kill them to show us a happy montage of them in their new, simple lives in the mountains like they fantasized throughout the drama? That’s what we want the most after so much turmoil.

Conclusion

This drama had so much potential, but I suspect it fell victim to Chinese entertainment industry drama. Meaning, the drama was used as a promotional vehicle for younger idols, and that meant investment money directed the direction of the script.

Apparently around 11 scriptwriters had their turn butchering, I mean, writing their script. And it would seem that each of them had their own agenda, which meant one thing: Goodbye, cohesive plot!

It’s saying a lot that I think Kill Me Love Me had a better plot than this one, and that Love Never Fails is far more engaging! (Both are Liu Xueyi dramas.)

I do feel that it’s a waste of Liu Xueyi’s talent, but since this drama was taken up during his days with an unsupportive agency, and he hadn’t made much of a splash back then, it was understandable that he didn’t get the pick of his scripts.

My only prayer is that he gets better scripts soon!

If you’re interested in a quality drama starring Liu Xueyi, I highly recommend A Moment But Forever. It’s probably his best role so far, though I think Murong Jinghe in Kill Me Love Me is where he showed outstanding range.)

As for Meng Ziyi, I wasn’t super impressed with her acting abilities even in the hit drama Blossom. I suspect in that drama, she was directed well, but in this drama, she wasn’t. I hope she demonstrates a better range in her next project.

Story: Choppy, uneven, exaggerated and unsatisfying. I wish there was something good to be said about it …
Acting: Liu Xueyi, as usual, did very well. Meng Ziyi, aiks, not very well. I feel that she doesn’t have much range beyond widening her eyes.
Costumes and sets: The stylist is the one that styled for Si Teng and Kill Me Love Me, known for their lush costumes, so this one is as beautiful, though not as distinctive as those two dramas.
Camerawork: Slightly above average
Rewatchability: To be honest, very little, because the story arcs were not very enjoyable to me.

Final rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

#25Stars #CDrama #China #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama #LiuXueyi #MengZeyi #TV

Feud ( 临江仙) review

Li Qingyue, an insignificant disciple of the Jingyun sect, finds herself in a unique position when she gains the attention of the mighty immortal deity Bai Jiusi who “agrees” to marry her.

However, Bai Jiusi hasn’t fallen head over heels for her. Instead, he believes that she’s playing a game with him. This belief lies in a centuries-old feud he has with Hua Ruyue, a powerful goddess and someone he loved and hated.

Characters

Bai Jiusi (Joseph Zeng Shunxi): A deith whose element is ice. Hua Ruyue’s husband. As they were birthed from Hongmeng and made from the same source, they’ve been entangled in each other’s existence since the dawn of time.

Li Qingyue (Bai Lu): An unremarkable junior disciple of the Jingyun sect.

Hua Ruyue (Bai Lu): The fiery goddess and Bai Jiusi’s former flame. She has a deep grudge against Bai Jiusi.

Fan Ling’er (He Ruixian): A 200-year-old immortal with great craftsman skills.

Zhang Suan (Chen Xinhai): Li Qingyue’s senior at the sect. He secretly likes her.

Xiao Jingsan (Hong Yao): An immortal with shady motives.

What I liked

• Well-developed characters with solid arcs of their own. Excellent character writing!
• It’s beautiful. I like that it broke the trend that divine realms and everyone in it had to be in white, pastels or gold. Instead, the sets and costumes are colourful and seem to get a lot of inspiration from Dunhuang art.
• The complex exploration and depiction of love, especially between a married couple. It dared to go to plot places that more generic xianxias would not dare explore.
• The acting of the main leads is great! They sold me with their performances.
• It’s an original script! We need to celebrate these.

What I didn’t like

• The show took way too long to get to the meat of the story. It painted itself too hard as a tropey, cookie-cutter xianxia (presumably to get a bigger ‘gotcha’ reaction when the real plot is finally revealed). Impatient viewers would have abandoned the drama before it got to the good parts. In fact, I nearly did! Out of curiosity, I decided to spoil myself and discovered that the drama was more than it seems.
• The writing quality is uneven and felt as if it was a case of “too many cooks spoil the broth”. The writer, Zhao Na, who also wrote the mostly-wonderfully-written A Moment But Forever is credited as the first draft screenwriter, but Ren Yanan is credited as the final screenwriter, so we can imagine what changes happened to the script on the way to the screen.
• Some plots were left unexplained.
• Some plots didn’t make sense. (For this, look at the spoilery section below)

Spoilery thoughts about the drama

They tried a little too hard to be mysterious in this drama. Some dramas explain too much. This drama, explained a little too sparsely. This made for entertaining discussions online. People’s speculations about the plots were more entertaining than the actual plot!

Most of my problems with the script were in episodes 1-10, or Ruyue pretending to be the naive, innocent human Li Qingyue. It didn’t make sense that Qingyue would behave the way she did in private if she was Ruyue in disguise. For example, at one point Ling’er spoke threateningly to Qingyue in private, and I wondered if they were putting on a show for the secret cameras in the room or something.

Then there was the main villain’s plot. Just … what was it for? If Jingsan wanted to bring his family back, and he realised the only way was to use the Time Dial that he invented, and it required his sacrifice, why go through all that trouble manipulating Bai Jiusi and Hua Ruyue? Why divide them like this and ruin their lives? If it was to erase a name on the Infinite Steele, the monument that holds back the demon realms, wasn’t there a simpler way to do this?

Far too many questions, and they could do a little bit more explaining with this one!

Thoughts about the ending

It was a most philosophical ending, leaving viewers with a lot to chew on: The role of the divine, forgiveness after unforgivable acts, and rising above hatred and regaining love that was lost.

In the end, Hua Ruyue discovers that while she cannot change her present, she could gift the people in the past a different future, creating a parallel timeline in the present.

I respect the writers for not using that convenient time device to change the future and wiping out our couple’s tribulation in the process. As the deity of time said, you can’t change the past, but I guess you can spin off another existence.

I really did want Bai Jiusi and Hua Ruyue to get their son, Shi An, back. Badly. And I was disappointed that it didn’t happen. But I acknowledge that a “reset button” would’ve cheapened their suffering and would’ve rendered one of the drama’s biggest themes meaningless: Actions have consequences.

Also, I’m also moved that the writers chose to honour such a realistic path for a married couple. Because in real life, so many couples never survived the death of their child. If a convenient reset button had been pressed, it would send the message that a couple’s love can only survive if the child is alive. But by retaining Shi An’s death for our main timeline couple, it sends a hopeful message that love can survive even such disasters, and that even gods cannot conveniently reset the consequences of their actions.

In the end they finally passed their love tribulation, but oh wow, this has to be the most traumatic and difficult love tribulation I’ve ever seen!

Still, even though I am satisfied with our couple’s ending, the last four episodes left me oddly hollow.

For one, there are unexplained plot holes. For example, they never explained that resurrection formation Xiao Jingsan made Ruyue cast. Why would Jingsan help her to resurrect her child if it didn’t help his cause? How would it help him in his quest to blot out the name? Was that even his true motivation?

I think if anything, the plot holes made the discussions about the drama more intense, and for once, for the right reasons. Often, writers and producers of a show would shoot a frustratingly open-ended ending, inciting viewers to generate lots of social media chatter, only the chatter is mostly viewers screaming at the producers for producing such a vile ending.

This time, it isn’t so. Viewers are genuinely debating the villain’s motivations, our couple’s decisions and the parallel worlds. Now, that’s how you generate after-drama chatter on social media! And you don’t need a vague, open ending for this!

I’m glad at least that Bai Jiusi didn’t end up with the dreaded reborn without memories thing, but retained all his memories. That somehow, despite the bitterness of their love tribulation they were still able to ascend beyond that. And that’s, well, godlike!

In the current timeline and the new ones that Ruyue created, Bai Jiusi and Ruyue will be happy, and no longer will they be parted by the schemes of others. Their love has literally survived the cruellest of love tribulations.

And at the risk of sounding blaise and crass, our version will have another child one day, and that’s a kind of hope.

Conclusion

Story: The writing is choppy, with a 10-episode delay into getting into the real meat of the plot. This could drive less patient viewers away. Some plots seem to end nowhere and some themes don’t seem consistently executed. But the character writing is stellar, even for side characters.

Acting: Bai Lu has been accused of “phoning it in” by playing the same characters over and over again. I don’t watch enough Bai Lu dramas to be a good judge of this. To me, the most important question is this: Does the actor fit the role?

Here, Bai Lu fits it and then some, and so does Joseph Zeng.

Admittedly, I was a little sceptical about Joseph Zeng. I first saw him in Mysterious Lotus Casebook and later Snowy Night, TImeless Love. Thanks to his big eyes, people think he can only play playful and idealistic heroes. But a cold, divine lord? Even I had my doubts. But Zeng delivered and then some. He sold me the role, and that’s all that I care about.

In one pivotal scene, I actually found myself tearing up. In general, it’s very difficult for CDramas to make me cry, so this means that their performance has moved me emotionally.

Costumes and sets: I am absolutely enthralled that the divine realm is for once, looking close to how Chinese heaven looks like, full of colour and uniqueness. Gone are the white, pastels and muted golds at last!

Camerawork: Above average, but not what I call amazing.

Rewatchability: Some heart-wrenching moments may be difficult to watch, but there are bright spots of fun that I’ll probably watch again and again.

This drama is for those who love more philosophical xianxias in the same vein as A Moment But Forever. However, if you’re looking for a xianxia with strong “CP vibes”, or one that will have romantic sweet moments, this may not be for you, as romance is just a veneer in this drama. In Feud, the philosophical exploration of love, marriage, fate and divinity takes centre stage.

Final rating: 4 out of 5

#4Stars #baiLu #CDrama #CDramas #China #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama #Fantasy #josephZeng #Xianxia #zengShunxi

Love Never Fails (落花时节又逢君) Chinese drama review

“Broadcasting is a victory.” In 2022, Love Never Fails suffered a massive blow when leading actress Yuan Bingyan was officially implicated for tax evasion.

The tax evasion scandal was a big deal in China—so big that it effectively destroyed Yuan Bingyan’s career. In China, if there’s even a hint of scandal around a drama, it could prevent it from airing.

There was a smidgen of hope when the drama got a broadcasting permit. Then nothing. So much so that rumours eventually appeared that investors had written off the dramas as a loss.

Then, around 2024, rumours appeared saying that the production crew was replacing Yuan Bingyan with another actress and that male leads Liu Xueyi and Ao Ruipeng had actually rejoined the crew to reshoot some of their scenes.

I didn’t believe them until the drama dropped with little warning in late April.

What can I say? The drama’s ups and downs were more exciting than the actual plot!

The Story

Jin Xiu, the Flower Deity of the heavenly realm Zhongtian (or Central Heavens), doted on a red camellia flower since childhood. The emperor, displeased that Jin Xiu was developing feelings that could get in the way of his development as the future emperor, destroyed the camellia flower.

However, Jin Xiu managed to save the camellia by piecing back her shattered form with his finger bone. He sent her to the mortal world so that she could grow and cultivate in peace, safe from the schemes of Zhongtian.

Centuries later, Hong Ning, the camellia, achieved human form. One impulsive moment reunited Hong Ning with Jin Xiu. She vowed to find the deity who had saved her life, not knowing that Jin Xiu was the deity!

Their fates were then entwined from that moment on, lasting several lifetimes.

Characters

Jin Xiu (Liu Xueyi): The flower deity whose original form is the golden peony. He is being groomed (or pruned!) to be Zhongtian’s emperor.

Hong Ning (Hu Yixuan): Formerly a red camellia in Jinxiu’s garden, she is sent to the mortal realm to cultivate. She returns to heaven, determined to repay the deity that had saved her.

Kunlun (Ao Ruipeng): Jinxiu’s rebellious and fun-loving brother causes a lot of trouble in the heavens, but he loves his brother deeply.

Lu Yao (Xu Xiao Nuo): Jinxiu’s bethrothed, a nine-tailed fox and Great Maiden of the Northern celestial realm.

Lu Jiu (Jing Yan Jun): Lu Yao’s brother who has been neglected by their father due to him having only three tails.

Bai Cha (James Yang): A white camellia demon and a friend of Hong Ning.

What I Liked

• Liu Xueyi and Hu Yixuan are both great actors and had surprisingly good chemistry! They handled the comedic and serious parts deftly. This is especially impressive since they only had two weeks to film scenes together.
• It was pretty funny and entertaining, which was surprising. This was the kind of drama to relax with at the end of a tough day at work. One stand-out moment was when Hong Ning accidentally transforms into Jin Xiu. Watching Liu Xueyi act like a teenage girl was a treat!
• I usually can’t stand cute pixie xianxia heroines (TM), but Hu Yixuan was not just palatable but delightfully cute. I actually miss Hong Ning’s cute naivete as her character became more serious and mature.
• Some side characters had lovely character development, such as Lu Jiu. His ousting from his clan, his gratitude and devotion to Jin Xiu, and then his reunion with his sister were well done.
• For once, we got to see brothers who truly loved each other. I really enjoyed watching Jin Xiu and Kunlun support each other through their many, many trials.
• While a tired trope, I really enjoyed how each “lifetime” reinvigorated the story. It was like watching different stories starring our favourite characters in one drama.
• Hong Ning’s development from a clueless pixie to someone mature and independent was delightful to watch.
• I’m really impressed with the technology involved in replacing Yuan Bingyan. It wasn’t an AI face swap like I had feared. (The face swap in Brocade Odyssey was rather painful to look at.) Instead, actress Hu Yixuan spent two months shooting alone in front of a green screen and then a few weeks to reshoot scenes with Liu Xueyi and other cast members. I cannot imagine how difficult it must be, reacting to nothing but a green screen!

What I Didn’t Like

• The dated xianxia plot. It was indeed tragic that this drama aired at a time when the xianxia genre was declining and people were tired of the “love over several lifetimes” plot. If it had aired four years ago, it could have been a hit.
• The ‘obsessive love’ plot. Watching this after A Moment But Forever was rough! A Moment But Forever was more complex and philosophical, while Love Never Fails was “assembly-line” xianxia, sometimes mockingly called “baby xianxia” by Chinese netizens due to its simpler, more romance-focused plot.
• The repetitive torture of Jin Xiu could get to you. It felt as if they were just torturing him for the sake of it. Jin Xiu taking all that punishment nobly was slightly aggravating towards the end. I wished he could have been less passive and more proactive in protecting Hong Ning and escaping his father’s awful clutches. But no, he just reacted to things.
• Paper-thin villains. Bai Cha, the Heavenly Emperor and Empress—I’m looking at you.
• The repetitive thwarting of our couple’s romance was, well, repetitive. Towards the end, I had to take a break from all that torture before watching the final arc.
• Lord in heaven, must all celestial emperors and empresses be so nasty? It was like a rule in all Cdramaland that heavenly rulers were cruel. I wondered what divine right they had to rule over mortals if they were no better than them. Heck, they were worse!
• How passive Hong Ning and Jin Xue are! They’re often reacting to them instead of being proactive in countering them. I suppose if they had a strategy, it’ll be called “let’s be sitting ducks”.

Thoughts About the Ending

I thought maybe we should have named this drama Wedding Interruptus instead. Never had I seen characters try to marry so many times only to get thwarted each time. It got to the point where when Jin Xiu and Hong Ning finally married in the special episode (only available on Mango TV), I was bracing myself for it to be thwarted yet again.

With Cdramaland’s bad reputation for unnecessarily unhappy endings, I had been genuinely worried things would unexpectedly turn tragic or, horror of all horrors, open-ended.

As I watched the drama, I could only console myself that with a title like Love Never Fails, it would live up to its promise!

Fortunately, no—our lovely couple ended up safely in each other’s arms for all eternity, reincarnating over and over again and falling in love with each other through different lifetimes.

Liu Xueyi had earned a reputation for playing characters who ended up widowers, so I was glad Jin Xiu succeeded in marrying his sweetheart this time. (Though, mind you, he had had another successful marriage in Qing Luo.)

Here’s to more successful weddings in the future!

* Annoyingly, the wedding takes place in the first extra episode that you can only watch on the MangoTV. It’s about 16 minutes long, and I think it’s worth it.

Conclusion

My friends, watching this after the deep and philosophical A Moment But Forever had been rather… difficult.

Love Never Fails was everything I hated about xianxia: a dumbed-down, shallow, romance-focused plot with passive, “love-brained” heroes and a cookie-cutter, assembly-line story I’d seen a million times before.

Honestly, without Liu Xueyi, there would have been very little to attract me to this drama. He was known for his powerful acting, and while he didn’t have as many powerhouse scenes here, he still grabbed me due to his sheer talent and charisma (and, er, looks).

I was a little kinder to it than I would have been if it hadn’t been led by the capable Liu Xueyi and Hu Yixuan. I was especially impressed with her because she had spent two months shooting with just a green screen and no castmates, only filming with Liu Xueyi for two weeks.

This drama’s difficult production history had also earned it some sympathy points from me.

Still, despite its unimaginative plot, it was charming in its own way. It was a relatively stress-free drama to watch after a hard day’s work. (Okay, fine, maybe not completely stress-free, but the first ten episodes had been especially sweet and funny, and our leads had great comedic chops.)

I’d say just watch this without many expectations, and you’ll be entertained.

Final rating: 2.5 stars out of 5

#25Stars #CDrama #CDramas #China #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama #Fantasy #LiuXueYi #LiuXueyi #loveNeverFails #netflix #review #reviews #romance #TV #Xianxia

Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty season 2 (drama review)

Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty season 1 was my comfort watch during the tail end of the pandemic. iQiyi had dropped the entire season free on Youtube, which totally boggled my mind as it seems like a totally unChinese thing to do (speaking as a Chinese myself) to offer someething 100% free, but with the number of ads I had to endure watching it maybe they’re making a killing.

The strength of Strange Tales is the relationship between our two main detectives: The hot-tempered, obstinate, stubborn-as-hell Lu Ling Feng and the sly and charming Su Wu Ming, the legendary sleuther Di Renjie’s disciple.

Its episodic nature was also a draw, which meant that I could watch episodes arc by arc and take a rest.

It doesn’t have the usual “idol traps”. (For one, this drama isn’t considered one.) While Yang Xu Wen is indeed a looker, there are not many gorgeous men here, and the romance is dialed down so low I completely forgot that Su Wu Ming and Lu Ling Feng both have love interests now!

This drama’s season 1 was fairly popular in China, can season 2 do just as well?

The story

The team is once again embroiled in several mysteries:

Mara’s Defeat
Su Wuming is called out of seclusion after Lu Lingfeng disappears on a case. Apparently the god Mara is out hunting for souls… has Lu Lingfeng become his latest victim?

The Death of the Coroner
A coroner is found mysteriously murdered at his funeral shop.

Mo’s in a Snowstorm
On the way to their new outpost, the team gets stranded at an inn in the middle of a snowstorm. Many strange things happen at the inn, starting with them having to “prove” their worth to lodge at the inn.

Qianchong Dock
The team tries to board a ship on a mysterious dock, but finds themselves at the centre of a strange mystery.

Tongtian Rhino
Rebel factions from an old empire threatens to kill off the Tang Dynasty.

Drunk in Yunding

Letter from Shangxian Hall
A man is found dead in a bathtub after having read a mysterious letter.

Provider
The team finally reaches the West, and meets a prominent and mysterious family with many secrets.

Characters

• Su Wu Ming (苏无名) – Played by Yang Zhi Gang (杨志刚) A brilliant detective and disciple of the famous detective, Di Renjie.
• Lu Lingfeng (Yang Xuwen): Su Wuming’s sworn brother and capable partner in solving cases.
• Wu Ting(Liu Zhiyang): assisting the duo with key insights.
• Pei Xi Jun (裴喜君) – Played by Zhai Zi Lu (郜思雯)
  A clever and resourceful woman who assists in the investigations.
• Fei Ji Shi (费鸡师) – Played by Chen Chuang (陈创)
  A quirky and eccentric character who provides comic relief and assists in solving cases.
• Xue Huan (薛环) – Played by Shi Yun Peng (石云鹏)
  A young and talented individual who aids the team in their investigations.
• Princess Taiping (太平公主) – Played by Yue Li Na (岳丽娜)
  A powerful and influential figure in the Tang Dynasty, involved in the political intrigue of the era.
• Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (唐玄宗) – Played by Zhang Zi Jian (张子健)
  The emperor of the Tang Dynasty, whose reign is marked by both prosperity and mystery.

What I liked

• The writing is solid.
• The cases were not only intriguing and kept me guessing, they had an emotional payoff and a deep message. It’s not a mystery box for mystery box’s sakes.
• The friendship between our main detectives remain solid and entertaining.
• There were character growths for almost everyone.

What I didn’t like

• The female characters remained bland, even if they had more things to do in the second season.
• The romance for Su Wuming and Lu Lingfeng feels rather forced. Fortunately, this isn’t a romance drama!

Final thoughts

The second season of this drama was, in my opinion, better than the first—or at least of equal quality. The writing, camerawork, sets and costumes have gone up in quality.

Our duo still retains their contrasting and delightful personalities, even if they are sworn brothers now.

While the first season focused on building the relationship between Su Ming and Lu Lingfeng, the second season deepened their friendship while introducing new obstacles.

At the end of the first season, Liu Lingfeng’s true identity was revealed (though never really confirmed, leaving it a big question mark). This explosive revelation complicated their crime-solving work and the dynamic between the now sworn brothers because it forced the team to navigate political sensitivities to ensure Lu Lingfeng’s safety. This adds lovely layers of tension and intrigue to the story.

Su Wuming took the noble idiot route as a result, acting unilaterally, making choices for the team without consulting them. (Which of course, didn’t go down well with any of them.)

While this behavior frustrated some viewers, I actually thought it was in line with his personality and an understandable trait for his character.

It created significant tension within the group, which, in my opinion, was necessary to keep the story engaging. Without this friction, the drama would have lacked the emotional stakes that made it so gripping.

That said, the season wasn’t without its flaws. Our two female leads is still bland compared to our male cast, who were far more interesting and memorable.

And the romantic subplots? Oof, it felt forced, especially the one between Su Wuming and his love interest. Their relationship lacked natural chemistry, and I couldn’t help but feel that a platonic friendship would have been more compelling.

Thankfully, romance isn’t the focus of the show, so these moments didn’t detract too much from the overall experience.

Where the drama truly shines is in its mysteries and cases. Each case is not only creative and unpredictable but also carries a deep emotional and social message. One standout mystery involved the coroner—a poignant and emotionally charged story that kept me guessing until the very end. Another favorite was the Mo’s Inn mystery arc, which felt like a classic whodunit reminiscent of Cluedo. The team gets stranded at an inn during a snowstorm, surrounded by mysterious characters whose motives are unclear. The twists and turns were masterfully executed, making it one of the most enjoyable episodes of the season.

Another memorable case was Tongtian Rhino, which explored themes of legacy and fate. It told the story of someone dragged into a life they never wanted, simply because of their family’s history. The emotional weight of this story stayed with me long after the episode ended. Similarly, Letter from Shangxian Hall was another brilliantly written mystery that delivered a powerful message by the end.

As you can see, drama’s biggest strength lies in its writing. While the acting was uneven in some parts, the main male leads were the glue that holds the drama together, and without them, the story would not be as fun. The supporting characters also played crucial roles, particularly Fei Ji, whose quirky personality provided much-needed comic relief.

One of the most surprising aspects of the second season was how quickly Lu Lingfeng’s identity was addressed. The first case of the season revolved around his disappearance, which immediately set the tone for the rest of the series. This arc introduced a cult-like faction aiming to topple the Tang Dynasty, and it featured some of the best fight sequences in the drama. The eccentric painter, played by a singer who also happened to sing the show’s credit song, was another standout character.

While the drama isn’t entirely historically accurate—costumes are tailored more for appeal than authenticity—it still captures the essence of the Tang Dynasty era. The production quality has noticeably improved, with exotic settings like the western regions and the caves adorned with ancient art adding richness to the story. The fight scenes remain stellar, and the cinematography, while not groundbreaking, is solid and effective.

Themes of justice, loyalty, and brotherhood are central to the drama, especially in light of Lu Lingfeng’s secret identity. Throughout the season, the bond between Su Wuming and Lu Lingfeng is tested, but they ultimately prove their loyalty to each other. Their relationship is the heart of the show, and seeing it withstand political intrigue and personal challenges was deeply satisfying.

The second season left me eagerly anticipating a potential third instalment. It’s rare for Chinese dramas to have second seasons, let alone third ones, so if the series continues with the same level of quality, it will undoubtedly stand out as a unique and remarkable production in Chinese entertainment history.

What’s even more impressive is that the drama doesn’t rely on big-name traffic actors to succeed. Instead, it proves that strong writing, good acting, and high production values are the keys to creating a compelling story.

So, what are you waiting for? This drama is a rare gem that combines intricate mysteries, emotional depth, and stellar production quality.

If you haven’t watched Season 1 yet, I highly recommend giving it a chance. (Yes, I feel you need to watch Season 1 to truly enjoy the team dynamics to the full, even if the mysteries are self contained.)

Here’s hoping the team behind it continues to create more exceptional dramas in the future, because we sure need more of those in CDramaland.

Final rating 4 out of 5 stars

#4Stars #CDrama #CDramas #China #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama #StrangeTalesOfTangDynasty2

A Moment But Forever (念无双) review

I’ve never seen a platform (or industry) more determined to set up its own drama to fail.

Like many Chinese drama viewers already tired from years of blah xianxia dramas, I went: “Meh, another xianxia.”

First, A Moment but Forever’s first trailer 100% did it dirty. If the goal of the producers was to create the blandest, most generic xianxia trailer, they’ve succeeded handsomely.

I barely even registered that Liu Xueyi, one of my favourite actors, was in it. And when it finally did, I went: “Tis a pity, I don’t think I can endure this factory-line xianxia for him.”

Fortunately, I came across a random post ranting about how the promo didn’t do the script justice; I found out more about the story and was intrigued. I read some of the novel, and got really invested in following the drama if it airs.

Then, the drama’s airing got delayed and delayed … and delayed some more, until most fans despaired at ever seeing it. So, when it finally aired I breathed a sigh of relief that I was finally going to see it.

The drama was heavily mocked by China’s very terrifying fan circles; many mocked it for being a “middle-aged fairy drama”, as if people older than thirty don’t deserve to star in this genre for some reason.

Anyway, long story short: The expectations for this drama was so abysmal that most people said it would be a failure. So, I was bracing myself for a tepid xianxia. But I ended up being surprised by it!

Hilariously, on xiaohongshu, most of the comments I saw were: “I didn’t intend to watch the drama, but I ended up binging all six episodes and now I’m going to office with panda eyes”.

Now let’s get to the meat of the review, and why I say it’s worth your while despite its less-than-stellar marketing and appearance.

The story

In the war between gods and demons, the artifact, “God’s Left Hand” used by the Heavenly God Taihe to seal demons, is cut off and falls to Mortal Realm.

Taihe and the other gods fall into an eternal slumber.

The Youhu fox clan, having discovered the artifact, has used it to get rid of their enemies, the War Demons, and establish their dominion over the world. In a realm cut off from the divine, they are now the gods of the world.

The goddess Wu Shuang (Tang Yan) is sent to the mortal realm to take back the Hand, which will kill Yuan Zhong (played by Liu Xueyi), the high priest of Youhu Clan, who is now host to God’s Left Hand.

She enters the Youhu Clan as Ji Tanyin, to become Yuan Zhong’s personal maid. But during her time with Yuan Zhong she discovers that he is not as evil as people say, and that there’s more to the story of the High Priest of the Youhu clan.

What I like about it

Here are big reasons why you should give the drama a try:

The acting is great!

Now, I wasn’t surprised by Liu Xueyi’s performance having followed him from his days of playing second leads (and almost always outshining everyone else). I expected him to put in a great performance, and he seems to have one scene that wows people in almost every drama he’s in. The scene in the prison is really amazing.

Since I have only watched Tang Yan in Blossoms Shanghai I didn’t know what to expect from her, especially in a genre so different from Blossoms Shanghai.

I’m glad to report that Tang Yan is fantastic. Her voice may make some people brace themselves for the dreaded bubbly xianxia girl (TM), but I reassure you that her character, Tanyin, is nothing like that.

She is straight-forward, sharp-tongued, unimpressed by authority and has this “stop wasting my time with nonsense” air about her that I adore. What’s more, she is a very smart, likeable and honourable character. I’ve not seen a character like hers in a xianxia for a long, long time.

The writing is solid

The scriptwriter is the writer of Love and Destiny, a xianxia praised for its plot. She knows the importance of laying the foundation of making us care for the characters.

Sometimes, it does feel as if some things were left out, but it’s by design.

For example, we, the audience knew (or guessed) at the beggining that the little cute fox that woke Tanyin from her slumber was Yuanzhong. We find out that Tanyin has been searching that fox for a long time.

We are left scratching our heads, wondering why she’d care so much for that fox. Only in a later episode do we find out that Yuanzhong had been talking to her through the jade for years, and she grew fond of him. When he abruptly stopped, she couldn’t let him go and wanted to find out what happened to the little fox.

We, the audience are screaming at the screen. “It’s Yuanzhong! The guy you’re trying to take that arm from!”

Only to find out later that she already knew, and we see a scene where she discovered the half of the jade the little fox had spirited away.

Was this because the writer forgot about it and inserted it later?

No, it’s mostly to create a sense of anticipation in the viewers, the “I really need to watch the next episode” feeling that not many writers can pull off convincingly.

There’s no love at first sight either. Both Yuan Zhong and Tanyin started out suspicious of each other. However, you can clearly see their relationship getting warmer and warmer in a logical manner as the series progresses.

I really loved how she wove Tanyin and Yuan Zhong’s stories together, and I can’t wait for them to finally fall in love.

They do not insult the viewers’ intelligence

There’s no Dude Who Tells You What’s Up, something that I really hated in another xianxia that I mildly enjoyed: Love of the Divine Tree.

Writers of factory-assembly-line xianxias are just too lazy these days, turning characters into Exposition Machines that tell us what’s happening instead of showing what’s happening.

For example, I love how they dramatized the strained relationship between Yuan Zhong and Tang Hua. The longing odd looks they send each other, the reactions both have when other people mention their names. You know they have a history, and then we see by episode 6 that they were besties and Yuan Zhong’s imprisonment changed Tang Hua.

I love this careful storytelling, no right-hand man or woman just being Exposition Machine asking: “Hey, you guys used to be best friends, what happened?”

The message and heartbreak of their lost friendship was communicated merely by the actors’ expressions.

I love that they don’t treat us viewers as simpletons who needs everything to be explained to.

Interesting and well-written side characters

This is a rare drama that gives its side characters proper arcs and growth. Except for most of the War Demons, which felt like paper mache villains, most are memorable and fascinating.

It’s a return to xianxia’s roots; it’s deeply philosophical

Many Western viewers have only come to watch xianxia in the last few years. While it’s great that more foreign viewers are now watching Chinese dramas, this is a personal heartache of mine, because what they think of as xianxia isn’t really the “classic” or “true” xianxia of old.

There are many ways modern xianxia like Love Between Fairy and Devil, and Till the End of the Moon have diverged from its xianxia roots.

However, one primary way is that modern xianxia has abandoned the idea that one can become gods through meritocracy and by cultivating the right virtues. In the old tales, anyone can become gods. Even rocks! One attains immortality by cultivating the right mindset, their abilities, and doing good deeds.

Instead, in modern xianxias you see that one becomes gods or immortals because of their race or through mastering some kind of magical spell.

This “you are an immortal because you’re born into a race” is a modern injection from webnovel writers who are possibly influenced by Western fantasy*. And since most modern xianxia these days are adapted from webnovels, we get this transference.

Many long-time viewers like me have longed for a return to xianxia’s more meritocratic, Taoist and Buddhist roots.

What’s more, the purpose of immortals have been lost, with many xianxia dramas focused on the love affairs between immortals, when the many xianxia of old focuses on immortals caring for human beings and rescuing them from peril.

*Many Chinese dramas are adapted from webnovels. I’d say a majority of them. This can be problematic, but that’s a very long story for another day.

What I didn’t like about it

• The drama’s last arc was really rushed, and our villains were dispatched too quickly and unconvincingly.
• That ending. Not a bad and terrible ending by any means. (I’ve seen so much worse. Look at the ending section for more information.)
• Admittedly, the set design and costumes were rough in the first few episodes. There were some costumes and hair pieces that made me go: What in the world was the stylist thinking? But I have to say, unlike most folks in China, it didn’t bother me so much that it turned me off watching the drama completely. That honour belonged to Burning Flames.

At the end, the flaws of the drama is mild to me, and despite my complaints about the ending, it did not spoil the drama or my appreciation of the drama.

About the ending

I’m not going to go into much detail about the ending. For that, do read my episode recap and analysis of A Moment But Forever, where I go into detail about my theories about what happened and why I firmly believe it’s a happy ending.

But I’ll be honest with you, when I heard that it was an open ending, I wanted to scream.

However, I was quite relieved after watching the ending that it was not one of those frustrating open endings, but one that firmly leaned towards a happy ending.

In a way, it is thematically fitting for the drama. (After all, the Chinese title, 念无双 basically means “Missing Wu Shuang”, but what can I say?

The ending was unnecessary and for once I want the director to stop trying to be ‘arty’ with endings like these.

Viewers want closure, (and if possible, kisses and babies) and in this day and age dominated by fast food dramas, they do not have patience for philosophical endings. Give them some closure, give them some sugar after so many episodes of bitterness.

I was mostly upset that this open ending would affect its Douban scores. And I was right, It opened at 6.7, gradually rose to 6.8, though in my mind, it deserves at least better than Love Under the Divine Tree’s 7 above rating. (To me, a 7.2 Douban score would’ve been fair.)

I liked Divine Tree well enough, but that xianxia had vastly inferior writing and acting, and it just rubs me the wrong way that it got better marks just because it had a crowd-pleasing ending.

Final verdict: 4 stars

Like so many Chinese dramas these days, it is highly flawed, but it came very close to perfection and is probably one of the best written and performed xianxia in years.

#4Stars #AMomentButForever #CDrama #CDramas #China #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama #Fantasy #LiuXueYi #LiuXueyi #TangYan #TV #念无双

Si Jin (quick review)

Si Jin feels like it’s written by scriptwriters who decided to have a brainstorming session at a bar where they downed a dozen shots of Tequila Sunrise and wrote the script on the back of paper napkins.

On the way out of the bar, they bumped into each other, and their napkins fell into a heap. They then take ten more shots of vodka for liquid courage, and pieced the tattered pieces into what looks like a plot and hoped for the best.

Honestly, it’s one of those dramas that I’d just abandon half way out of sheer irritation, but for some reason I watched it to the bitter end.

Okay, let’s get to the basics:

1. The story
2. What I liked
3. What I didn’t like
4. Final Verdict: 1.5 out of 5 stars

The story

Jiang Si (Jing Tian), the fourth lady of Dongping Bo Mansion, is reborn after dying at the hands of her lover, Yu Jin (Zhang Wanyi). Determined to rewrite her fate, she breaks off the engagement that would ruin her life and set out to prevent the tragedy that will destroy her family.

Yet, fate has other ideas. Yu Jin, finds her and still seemed determined to be around her.

What I liked

Gorgeous production
The drama is visually stunning, with lavish costumes and sets that suggest a high production budget.

Zhang Wanyi is more charismatic than usual, or maybe for once he looked different from his other roles (the ponytail look is a highlight!). But, to be honest, compared to actors like Liu Xueyi, who has at least one amazing or innovative performance in every drama, I feel like Zhang Wanyi doesn’t stretch his acting muscles very much.

Da Huang! This lady “Chinese rural” dog star is just an adorable addition.

Some engaging side arcs
The subplot involving the curing the princess’ blindness and her romance with Minister Zheng was really sweet and had more chemistry than the main couple.

One villain’s ultimate send off was satisfying: Call me blood thirsty but I really enjoyed seeing them suffer lol.

The liberation of the sisters from their abusive husbands was satisfying to watch too.

What I didn’t like

Illogical plot twists and very, very weak writing
Characters act inconsistently or unrealistically for the time (e.g., Jiang Si insulting the Crown Prince with no consequences).

Major plot holes and nonsensical resolutions, like a dead body disappearing without explanation or Yu Qi ignoring Jiang Si’s suspicious actions. Who needs plots to make sense, amirite? As long as we have unexpected twists and turns of a short drama. That’s what the Tiktok generation wants, right?

The adaptation has simplified and dumbed-down the novel The drama either cut or softened many of the novel’s darker, more intricate political schemes, making the story feel shallow and almost cartoonish. For example, the emperor has been weakened from a cunning strategist to an inept ruler.

Lack of chemistry in the main romance
Compared to Jing Tian’s pairing with Xu Kai in Wonderland of Love, her dynamic with Zhang Wanyi feels less convincing. There were forced conflicts, and an unconvincing pathway to love.

Bad story structure
It’s a rebirth story. So you’d need to know how her previous life was like. For some inexplicable reason, the writers chose to only show a few seconds of her former life before she was reborn. Throughout the series, we are shown flashbacks of what happened, which resulted in disjointed storytelling.

Writer, it ain’t hard. For us viewers to be invested in the character’s story, we’d need to know how she suffered in her first life so that we’re invested in her second life! And you need to set that as a foundation right at the beggining.

Final Verdict: 1.5 out of 5 stars

Si Jin is beautiful but illogical. Its only redeeming qualities are the visuals, Zhang Wanyi’s performance and some interesting side stories, but it massively fails in logic, and the main romance, which lacked both chemistry and addictiveness.

I suppose If you can ignore plot holes and just enjoy the aesthetics, it’s watchable—but don’t expect anything beyond pretty brainless TV candy.

#15Stars #CDrama #CDramas #China #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama #JingTian #SiJin #TV #ZhangWanyi

Kill My Sins review

Kill My Sins stood out to me because it is an original script and is played by more mature actors. This is unique in the realm of Chinese costumed dramas.

Tip: You can read my episode-by-episode detailed analysis of Kill My Sins while watching it.

The story

The wandering physician Ye Ping An arrives in Chang’an to set up a clinic where she quickly earns a reputation as a witch for her mysterious treatments. When she gets accused of murder, the ruthless magistrate Yuan Shao Cheng, a low-born man who is quickly rising the ranks of power, sets his eyes on her. But he doesn’t realise that this is part of Ping An’s 18-year journey of revenge.

Characters

Ye Ping An (played by Liu Shi Shi): A physician specializing in psychological conditions, but seen as a witch by most.

Yuan Shao Cheng (played by Shawn Dou): A ruthless official in the Justice department who is eager to cement his power and gain more power.

Wu An Kang (played by Zheng Ye Cheng): An accomplished general who is loyal to the Emperor, and is a scion of the prominent Wu family.

Lu Dan Xin (played by Xuan Lu): Ping’an’s loyal friend and fellow sleuth who is focused on seeking revenge.

Cai Lan (played by Ding Jie): Another friend of Ping’an who is also seeking justice for wronged women.

What I liked

1. Complex villains: I appreciated that the villains were layered and multidimensional.
2. Strong female lead character: Ping’an’s character is a unique female character and there should be more strong women like her in Chinese dramas.
3. Equal relationship between the male and female protaganists: I love the equal and balanced relationship between Yuan Shaochen and Ping’an. They really regarded as equals in intelligence and ability and have such healthy regard for each other’s abilities. I loved how they just trusted each other to make the right (or wrong) decisions.
4. Original script: This is based on an original script, not adapted from a webnovel! And with a plot this complex, I’m impressed. I hope that the producers were not discouraged by the less-than-ideal viewership and would continue to create dramas like these. (FYI, some of the producers created In Blossom, which is also an original script.)
5. Production quality: The camera work and art direction are excellent. Fans of Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty will recognize the signature style, which I really appreciate.

What I didn’t like

1. Overwhelming narrative: The narrative feels very confusing, even for someone like me who usually doesn’t struggle with heavy, detailed dramas like We Are Criminal Police. There are too many details and characters to keep track of, and it’s easy to feel lost.
2. Lack of emotional anchor at the start of the drama: In the first few episodes of the drama, the story was told in a way that doesn’t give me a strong emotional connection to the characters. Why should I care about their revenge or their traumatic pasts? The flashbacks were also frustratingly vague, offering only glimpses instead of a full narrative. For example, I wish there had been a proper flashback episode showing how the three girls met during the fire and how Yuan is connected to them. This would have helped establish a stronger emotional foundation.
3. Convenient plot twists: The plot sometimes feels too convenient, with twists and turns that rely heavily on things going exactly as Ping’an expects. It feels like the plot has “plot armour”.
4. Exhausting to watch: This drama is not an easy watch. It’s heavy, with its themes of death, revenge, and abuse, and it requires a lot of mental energy to keep up with all the details. After a tough day at work, I often find myself reaching for something lighter, like Love of the Divine Tree, where I can just zone out and enjoy the pretty visuals.
5. Not relaxing: This drama is definitely not relaxing. It’s exhausting to watch, especially when I’m already busy and tired. I don’t blame people for dropping it because it demands so much attention and emotional investment.

Thoughts about the ending

Kill My Sins ended very satisfyingly, with most threads tied, and our hero and heroine safe after achieving their goals. One can’t wish for more! (Well, okay, maybe a less rushed story.)

Sure, I wished romance happened between them, but I think they would’ve gotten into each other’s way. I think love would’ve complicated their already difficult missions and it would’ve made it almost typical in terms of plot.

Conclusion

Ultimately, this drama is a tale of how people who started out with honourable intentions, who can be defined as “good” people, ended up losing their way and causing much evil.

Sure, this drama was topsy-turvy in many ways, with the first 7 episodes being so overwhelming that those not committed to figuring out the tale ended up dropping off.

I also think original scripts like these should be celebrated.

For so long, Cdramaland depended on webnovels to adapt, and this is something I grieved. Because, honestly, not every webnovel should be turned into a TV series.

Although this drama wasn’t perfect, it showed us that CDramaland is still capable of producing original, non-webnovel adapted work, so I hope they continue to produce these.

Final rating: 3 out of 5

#3Stars #CDrama #CDramas #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama #KillMySins #LiuShiShi #ShaunDou #TV

Towards the Truth review

Towards the Truth was so ignored by iQiyi that it didn’t give it any promotion or even proper English subtitles! While I can understand most of what was said in the drama, the characters do use flowery and poetic language that befuddles me at times, so out comes the translating app. (I’m even thinking of recapping and creating subtitles for this drama so that more people would be able to appreciate this drama.)

All this effort is worth it as it’s a gem of a Chinese drama – an original script, at that! And we should always support actors and productions that have talent so that they get noticed more.

Where to watch: The drama can be found on the iQIYI app, but it has machine-translated subs.

The story

Ten years ago, the entire Shen clan was massacred, leaving only the young Shen Shaowen alive.

Shen Shaowen managed to pass the imperial examination to become an official. But when he begged the emperor for permission to investigate the massacre, he was outplayed by court politics and was demoted to a commoner.

Now an ordinary chef, Shen Shaowen has resigned himself to a lifetime of bitterness, unable to find out what happened to his clan. However, he possesses a special ability that makes him especially equipped to be a great detective, and mysterious, powerful figures want to tap into that power.

Characters

Shen Shaowen (Wang You Shou): A former official demoted to ordinary cook, Shen Shaowen has special abilities that makes him an extraordinary investigator.

Gongsun Li (Zhang Chen Xiao): Son of the minister of revenue, he gets involved with Shen Shaowen due to a mystery involving the minsitry.

Li Qin Er (Jin Jia Yue): A mysterious woman who forcibly recruits Shen Shaowen to work for her master. She has the ability to entrance people.

Zhan Mao Er: A bandit who eventually gets involved with Shen Shaowen’s little detective outfit.

Old Li/Lao Li (Natas Asoka): A constable who took in Shen Shaowen when he was at his lowest.

Rong Hua (Liang Yong Ni): A princess who likes solving mysteries.

What I liked

• The acting is solid, especially Wang You Shou and Natas Asoka’s. Wang was recently in The Legend of Taotie. Natas’ acting was especially good to me, because he played multiple roles that were so different from each other that I couldn’t figure out the third role he played until after!
• For a low budget drama, it didn’t have a “cheap” look or feel at all. In fact, I’d say the camerawork and costuming is better than some expensive dramas like 2024’s Sword and Fairy, for example. They make do with what they have in creative ways.
• The team dynamics is good. Every character is memorable.
• Shen Shaowen’s character is fascinating, especially his mysterious abilities.

What I didn’t like

• The plot feels rushed and skimmed over.
• Some plot points are not logical.
• There are still unanswered questions … a possibility of a second season, though I highly doubt it will happen. The drama, however, ends satisfactorily, so no cliffhangers.
• The BL elements were rather obvious and the foundation wasn’t properly laid out for me to truly appreciate the “coupling” of Shen Shaowen and Gongsun Li. Just why was Gonsun so into Shen Shaowen?
• Gongsun Li doesn’t really have much of a function in the team. A scared-y cat and no detective skills to speak of, I suppose his ability is his connections to the nobility and his purse strings.

Final thoughts

Once in a while, there comes a drama where you think to yourself: If there was more justice in the world, and if the Chinese entertainment industry wasn’t so driven by traffic stars, capitalists and corrupt producers, the drama would’ve gotten more exposure.

Of course, we won’t know exactly why Towards the Truth was treated so badly, bereft of promotion or funds that even its machine-translated subs couldn’t pass muster. Meanwhile, you side-eye big-budget dramas starring idol actors who are pretty but bad at acting gobbling up the good scripts.

(I know I sound bitter, but as a long-time Chinese drama fan since the 1980s, I 100% am.)

Towards the Truth has flaws. Big flaws. But it’s an earnest production, an original script in a sea of clumsy web novel adaptations. Its main lead Wang You Shou reminds me so much of Liu Xueyi, an actor who have heaps of acting talent but lack the resources and backers to land good scripts and big-budget dramas. So, he languishes in low-budget dramas with bad scripts. Sigh!

However, Wang You Shou being the main lead of many dramas is a good sign, and the fact that he’s one of the main leads for Douban highly-rated sleeper hit dramas such Young Blood I (7.8 rating) and II (7.8 rating) gives me hope that he’ll one day snag that big break. May he get a Blossom one day!

Anyway, back to the script and story of the drama. Towards the Truth has a script that gets almost good enough … but falls short.

If it had been a little bit more polished, and better fleshed out, I can easily see it joining the ranks of underrated classics like Ancient Detective and the 2024 drama Heroes.

This is one of the rare dramas that I wished they had bumped up to at least 24 episodes so that we could get more depth.

And that’s what frustrates me about Towards the Truth. There is such potential in the story if only it was better fleshed out. And while the drama ended satisfyingly with no cliffhangers, I was hungry for more of Shen Shaowen and his fellow sleuthers.

While they left the possibility of season 2 open, seeing what happened to Ancient Detective, I doubt it’ll ever happen. Sigh.

For one, Shen Shaowen’s clairvoyant abilities have so many possibilities, but so much of it is skimmed over due to the slim number of episodes (16 in all).

if there’s one thing I liked about his abilities, is that the writers placed limitations on it. Each time he uses his abilities, he gets physically weaker and may end up losing his mind. This prevents his abilities from being a convenient deus ex machina in solving mysteries.

In fact, so serious was his limitation that he tells Zhan Mao’er to be his “sword”, not just when solving cases, but on that day when he finally loses himself completely. He actually makes Zhan Mao’er promise to kill him if that happens, and Zhan promises somberly that he’d be the one to do so. This is how you write “realistic” powers in a drama!

Another thing I liked about the drama is that the team has excellent chemistry. However, due to the speedy gonzalez nature of its plot, they went from being hostile and suspicious to each other to being best buds in just a few episodes. (In Gongsun Li’s case, something more? hahaha)

The team could use a lot more conflict before finally solidifying into a team, just like how the Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty team did.

And some of the plot points was a little unbelievable, so it’s pretty hard to take mysteries seriously sometimes.

So, here’s how I rate the drama, with 8 being above average, and 7 being average.

• Camerawork: 8
• Sets and costumes: 8
• Acting: 8
• Story: 7

Final rating: 2.5

#25Stars #CDrama #CDramas #China #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama #Fantasy #Mystery #TowardsTheTruth #TV #underrated

Perfect Match – is it as bad as people say?

So, I watched the first two episodes of Perfect Match. I’m the sort of person who is more motivated to watch a drama if people talk badly about it—I’ll check it out just out of curiosity. Initially, I didn’t feel I’d be watching it because a drama primarily about romance isn’t my kind of thing, but after hearing all the hullabaloo on Reddit and xiaohongshu about it, I wanted to see for myself whether it was as misogynistic as people claim.

I actually like the drama’s concept: A gaggle of sisters arrive in town with their eccentric mother who is determined to marry them off to good husbands. Very Pride and Prejudice, which is my all-time favourite Jane Austen novel (besides Emma, that is.)

But in the first episode, I already have a problem with Chai An (Wang Xinyue) when he lectured his cousin’s wife, the second Li sister, about being a bad wife due to her “jealousy” and “hot temper”.

While I found the whole exchange sexist, I wasn’t entirely surprised by it or even offended because this was something a man would say during that time period (Song dynasty).

As I continued watching, I realized the main issue with Perfect Match isn’t entirely because of the misogyny or sexism (though it contributed quite a bit). For one, there are far worse dramas with more blatant and problematic misogyny that are popular and celebrated. (Readers of this blog will know that I have massive problems with Story of Kunning Palace for that reason.) Compared to those dramas, Perfect Match isn’t that bad.

See, the real problem with Perfect Match is that the male suitors are all very unlikable.

I presume that Perfect Match is a Chinese drama targeted at women. So, you’d think that the writers would make the story somewhat appealing to the demographic by making the male suitors of the sisters somewhat likable.

After all, the “reforming rakes into loving husbands” trope is one of the most popular romance plots there is, so the problem isn’t that they are not suitable husbands. The problem is that these rakes are just not the kind of suitors a woman would want.

Chai An giving his cousin’s wife a lecture on proper wifely behavior was arrogant and rude. Is he a senior or respected family member? Who was he to give her a lecture.

And then, interfering with the livelihoods of five women who have no other means of support was dishonorable. These women lacked male support, which meant that if their business failed, they could end up destitute.

Then there’s the ball-kicking incident. I didn’t mind the idea of the scene, but the execution was poor. If it had been framed as an accident, it might have worked better. Instead, it felt like he did it on purpose to hurt one of them, which left a bad impression.

To me, the main issue with the drama is the writing. We all love reformed rakes, and with five suitors, there is so much potential for a compelling narrative about their redemption.

However, the writers failed to make these men worth rooting for early on.

Modern viewers have short attention spans, after all, and you need to show that these men have redeemable qualities at least by the second episode.

If the men come across as outright unlikable or abusive from the start, why would any woman want to root for these men?

Women want to see dependable, responsible men with good hearts, not irredeemable jerks. You have to give viewers a reason to root for the characters early on and this drama failed to do it early.

I will probably give this drama a few more episodes to see if it gets better, but I think this drama is meant for those who are very patient and who won’t take the men’s shenanigans too seriously.

After all, it’s supposed to be a comedy.

I think.

#CDrama #CDramas #China #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama #PerfectMatch

Brocade Odyssey episodes recap and review

Set in the Tang Dynasty, Ji Ying Ying’s (Seven Tan) family fell from grace when her father was wrongly accused of the crime of insulting the emperor. She grew up to be a scrappy young lady who runs a dyeing workshop.

One day, she meets Yang Jing Yuan (Zheng Yecheng) who seems very interested in her. He has an ulterior motive, which is to get the “Shu red” brocade technique that her father was famous for.

Eventually, her childhood friend Zhao Xiu Yuan and the prince of Nanzhao Kingdom will come to covet Ji’s dyeing skills and her family’s secret dyeing recipe, the very same one that got her father killed.

1. Episodes 1-3
2. Episodes 4-6
3. Episodes 7-10
4. Episodes 13 and 14
5. Episode 15
6. Episode 16
7. Episode 17
8. Episode 19
9. Episode 20
   1. Spoilers for Episode 21
10. Episode 21
11. Episode 22
12. Episode 23
13. Episode 24
14. Episode 25
15. Episode 26
16. Episodes 27-28
17. Episode 29
18. Episode 30
19. Episode 31
20. Episode 32
21. Episode 33
22. Episodes 37-38
23. Episodes 39-40
24. The review
25. Final rating: 7.5

Episodes 1-3

Ji Ying Ying was once from a wealthy official’s family. Her father was the “brocade officer”, an official in charge of the lucrative trade. At a time when silk and the art of Shu brocade was highly prized, the position was a very important one.

However, one day, Ying Ying’s father was framed by enemies and literally killed in front of her eyes.

Since then, she’s had a big fear of the colour red, which is really inconvenient if you’re in the dyeing business.

Episodes 1-3 is about how Ying Ying went from being that frightened child being chased out of her luxurious home to building a business despite her family’s fall from grace. She grows up to be a scrappy young woman who is a very cunning and capable businesswoman.

We see her struggling with the brocade or silk tycoons who push small dyers like her around. While she wins one battle after another, she is always bringing her family closer and closer to possible ruin, because the more she wins, the angrier the tycoons get.

One formidable one is Mrs Hua, who is a merchant who monopolizes the trade and controls the river where they wash the silk.

Zheng Yecheng is Yang Jin Lan, a scion of the powerful Yang family who returned to his hometown after years gallavanting around as a swordsman with an official title.

He is the only one willing and brave enough to take on the position of Brocade Officer because the previous officers have been dying mysteriously.

So far, so stereotypical and cookie-cutter. And honestly, when I first watched the first episode, I was rather worried that nothing would make it rise above this predictable plot.

Fortunately, the leads are Tan Song Yun and Zheng Yecheng. While Yecheng’s role is pretty similar to the ones he played before – the aloof official – Song Yun glimmers and sparkles as Ying Ying and she’s the reason why I keep watching.

Frankly, I would not have been interested in watching it, because under a more inexperienced actor or a bland one, this would have been a really boring drama.

I mean, to be honest, in the first two episodes, I was pretty bored to the point where I was actually doing housework while watching it. I missed chunks of it and had to rewatch the whole thing again and again, which is kind hilarious, because I actually watched episodes one to four a few times just to make sure that I got all the points. Hey Youku, I think I just contributed to your heat index.

The other interesting I can say about Brocade Odyssey is how they did an AI switcheroo on Zhang Huowei’s face. (He plays Zhao Xiu Yan, Ying Ying’s childhood sweetheart, but I’ll call him Robo Zhao from now cos he’s about as unreal as one.)

Actually, the AI swap was done pretty well (though at some angles it still looked like Zhang Haowei), except when they really focus on his face, and then you realise that his mouth doesn’t quite look natural. Of all things to change, I think that was the most difficult to manage. When he talks, it feels as if I am watching an anime character. That said, I wonder if this will set a precedent for the future – what to do with scandalous, troublesome actors.

Anyway, I hope Robo Zhao’s role is a tiny one, because if he is going to be really prominent for 40 episodes it’s going to be a darn weird, uncanny valley experience.

Despite its bland, cookie-cutter plot, I really appreciate Brocade Odyssey’s more relaxed, happy vibe.

After a quarter filled with really intense dramas with sad endings, one after another, it’s great to relax a little. (Unless the writers get “creative” with the ending, and if they do that I’d be taking a plane to China to “be creative” with the writers.)

So, Brocade Odyssey aired at a timely moment, and I think this is what saves it from being ignored. If it had aired during the competitive period when Love Game in Eastern Fantasy aired, it would probably be drowned out.

At first I thought Youku made a mistake airing this right after Pearl Girl, because do we really need another scrappy young woman building a business during the Tang Dynasty?

Well, maybe we do, especially how dark and depressing it became. Maybe it’s kind of smart to air something similiar, but happier!

Episodes 4-6

By episode three, things really pick up and get more interesting. Remember what I said about mad tycoons in the previous episode recaps? Well, Mrs. Hua deals a big blow to Ying Ying. These three episodes focus on their feud coming to a head, with Ying Ying at her lowest point. She realizes that her plotting and scheming have landed her beloved brother in a terrible position—humiliated and forced to work for people who abuse him.

Mrs. Hua forces Ying Ying to do the unthinkable to save her brother: betray her loyal merchant comrades when they need her most. Losing their support for her business, and more importantly, their friendship, is utterly devastating for her.

However, while Mrs. Hua proves to be formidable, she has a powerful backer behind her—the twice-widowed Madam Niu Wuniang, who is equally intimidating.

Robo Zhao, Ying Ying’s beau, comforts her. I still wish he’d go away, but apparently, he has a prominent role and will eventually turn into a possessive antagonist. Well, his unreal AI face will suit that role perfectly.

Meanwhile, we discover that our Brocade Officer, Mr. Yang, has daddy issues. Honestly, if I had a penny for every hero without daddy issues, I’d be very poor indeed. Yang continues to help our heroine, but one can’t help but wonder what his true motives are for becoming a brocade officer. Surely, it’s not just to spite his father and outshine his sibling, as we’re led to believe? I suspect he has a bigger mission.

As you can see, Brocade Odyssey maintains its light-hearted vibes. Even though there are tense moments, the show never ventures into complete darkness.

I believe dramas of all kinds have their place. A drama doesn’t have to be deep, dark, or depressing to be worth watching or considered quality. Brocade Odyssey fulfills a need we all have when it comes to dramas: to be happily entertained, and it does this well.

That said, while Seven Tan and Zheng Ye Cheng deliver charismatic performances, I do worry because I can almost predict every twist and turn of this drama—and so far, I’ve been right. (Honestly, my brain zoned out a few times, and I fast-forwarded through parts of episode 6 out of impatience. Hah!)

While it has been quite predictable for me, there’s comfort in familiarity, common tropes, and well-told stories.

What do you think of it so far? Are you… kinda yawning and wishing for bloodshed and mayhem like me? LOL.

Episodes 7-10

Personally, I found episodes 7-10 rather boring—not because nothing was happening, but because everything felt predictable to me. (Oh look, Ying Ying is overcoming impossible odds yet again.)

But don’t worry—there’s light at the end of the tunnel, I promise!

This time, Ying Ying suffers a significant setback. She’s imprisoned and accidentally causes someone’s death, which reawakens her trauma. She confides in her good friend, admitting she never imagined she’d attract enemies as ruthless as Niu Wuniang.

To make matters worse, she loses Robo Zhao to Wuniang. This raises the question: Did he really have no choice, or was he simply revealing his true nature? I believe it’s the latter. He could have fought for Ying Ying, but he didn’t. I suspect the fear of losing his power and status outweighed his fear of losing her.

He tells her that without power, he can’t protect her. While there may be some truth to that, he also deludes himself into thinking that even after marrying her enemy, he can win her back. In his mind, it doesn’t matter what unscrupulous actions he takes to gain power, as long as he can reclaim her. He proves this by crossing her ultimate red line: claiming the Shu Red Silk for himself and stealing it from the Ji family.

Ying Ying is clever enough to recognize that he’s being threatened and coerced into marrying Wuniang—he admits as much. However, the reason she turns away from him isn’t because she’s deceived by Wuniang’s schemes, but because she sees a terrible quality in him: his willingness to do anything for power, even if it means betraying those he claims to love.

So, the “Evil One” marries Ying Ying’s beau. Look how happy they are! A match made in hell, I guess. ;D

I felt a tiny smidgen of sympathy for Wuniang. With a father like hers, it’s no wonder she resorted to such ruthless tactics to survive and rise above being used as a pawn. In her twisted mind, she believes that by being as ruthless as he is, she’ll finally earn his favor and be seen as his equal. Oh look, more daddy issues!

Meanwhile, Yang Jinglang moves in quickly the moment his right-hand man mutters, “Now is your chance.”

Behold, the human male in courtship mode

https://youtu.be/RktnGuzX0Wc?si=kyem5NOR5HzsQSMd

Now, Zheng Yecheng is trained in Peking opera, which includes some martial arts training. It’s a treat to watch him perform a full-on sword dance. (I really wish Zheng Yecheng would star in a true-blue wuxia drama someday—he’d be a natural fit. But even the little we see here is impressive.)

He performs the sword dance while reciting one of Li Bai’s famous poems. It’s obvious what he’s doing, though I doubt Ying Ying fully understood. Let me simplify it for you with this image:

Episodes 11-12

Well, so much for the sword dance. Ying Ying probably thinks all men are trash and unreliable now, but Jilang makes a valid point: underdogs can’t defeat the powerful out in the open.

This leads Ying Ying to a lightbulb moment—she realizes that Yang Jinglan is the “Future Friend” from her childhood. Of course, we all saw this coming earlier, and I groaned a little when they rolled out the childhood connection tropeTM. That said, this is one instance where it feels like a nice fit.

It seems (to me, at least) that Yang has always liked her, but Robo Zhao (back when he wasn’t so robotic) was always her first choice and constant presence. Perhaps Yang took on this mission for her, with his master serving as a powerful incentive to finally act.

I appreciate how smart Ying Ying is to team up with him and demand an equal partnership rather than playing the damsel in distress. She vows to dye the true Shu Red Silk and decides to undergo some extreme exposure therapy. (PS: Kids, don’t try this at home, especially while standing on slippery rocks near big red boulders.)

I loved the moment with her father, though. Maybe it wasn’t real, but I choose to believe it was his spirit connecting with her, offering comfort so she could overcome her fear.

While episodes 7-10 were pleasant but slow, I assure you things pick up after episode 11. Stay tuned for my next update!

Episodes 13 and 14

“I know I’m a man who is afraid to die, but I am even more afraid of my wife not being able to rest in peace!”

I am so moved by Mr. Huo. He truly loved her. Wipes away tear. Like Wuniang, I assumed he’d save his own skin, but there he was, putting himself in harm’s way just to avenge his wife.

PS: I appreciate how the love for one’s significant other is portrayed in this episode. Mr. Huo is willing to risk his life for his wife, Jilang is willing to scheme and sacrifice to ensure her safety and make her dreams come true, and then there’s Robo Zhao, who thinks becoming a devil and seizing power is the best way to win a lady’s heart. Eh.

Back to the chaos. General Niu proves to be even more ruthless than we thought. (Though I have to wonder why Jilang and Ying Ying brought their most important witness into the belly of the beast. I would’ve wrapped that guy in armor to keep him alive.)

But thank goodness for the magical metal fish deus ex machina badge that saves the day! Whee.

Of course, that’s not the end of it. He sends assassins after Ying Ying… or does he? Turns out it’s all part of Jilang’s sly plan to put the general on edge.

I finally understand what Brocade Odyssey is all about. It’s a Big Boss game disguised as a drama. Each arc introduces an even worse Big Bad. Bwahaha!

Except you don’t gain any magical power points with each level. (Sad face.)

I’m looking forward to their eventual elimination because we know an even scarier Big Bad lies ahead. But perhaps it’s all worth it, as Ying Ying finally achieves her lifelong dream of reinstating the Shu Red Silk under her family name—specifically, under her own name.

Meanwhile, a new power enters the scene… what does this guy want?

Random thoughts:

• I adore Sang. Once a small-town bully, he’s now come into his own, demanding justice for the downtrodden. May he win his loved one in the end. (And, uh, stay alive.)
• I’m still not sorry for Wuniang, even if there are intriguing moments between her and her maid that suggest she might have a kinder side. Sure, they could give her a redemption arc where she realizes the error of her ways, but I still want her to suffer. I’m heartless that way.
• General Niu needs to suffer ten times more than her, though. Life won’t be fair otherwise.
• Robo Zhao shows he’s even capable of turning against his own family for power.
• It’s always a joy to watch 大师兄 (Senior Brother, aka Tang Lian) from Blood of Youth! I like the actor every time he appears on screen. I do wonder who his true master is in this drama—probably someone royal, for sure.

Brocade Odyssey is such an interesting drama. Interesting in that sometimes I can’t wait for the next episode and am tempted to buy express episodes (until I remember I’ve never had much luck with Youku—I won’t be able to watch express episodes despite paying for them, damn it). And sometimes, I’m so bored that writing a discussion post feels like squeezing water out of a rock. This is one of those times. Sigh.

Episode 15

Ying Ying is literally chasing after the mysterious Bai Sheng, whom we know is up to no good. Clearly, he wants the Shu brocade technique for himself, and Ying Ying is his target.

To be honest, I zoned out for most of this episode. The pace was too slow, and nothing much happened.

Episode 16

Pin’er, in a bout of rebellion, decides to go on an adventure with Ying Ying to Gubei Village, where people… worship a brocade? Of course, the Yu Brocade Master, who was frightened off by Niu Wuniang, happens to be there too. The brocade holds special meaning for him because his son wanted to recreate this village’s brocade pattern but tragically passed away before he could.

Meanwhile, Jinglan is off doing more exciting things, like shooting apples off a general’s head. (Kidding… but not really.) He’s actually trying to recruit said general to his side to deal with General Niu.

Episode 17

Poor Sang gets friendzoned so hard by Pin’er that he can barely walk upright afterward. Fortunately, my fear that Sang would revert to his ne’er-do-well ways was unfounded, as he takes his responsibilities seriously and helps Ying Ying with the auction.

Meanwhile, our dear Jinglan is understandably angry that Ying Ying went off on an adventure and is now heavily involved in business with a shady man. He makes his intentions pretty obvious to Ying Ying, who isn’t as clueless anymore (I think) but isn’t willing to go there.

Are the ladies in this drama just unable to recognize a good catch right in front of them unless the guy is dying in their arms or something? Okay, I take that back—writers, don’t you dare go there. But honestly, as much as we kinda like this modern “boss girl, I don’t want to marry, career first” approach to female characterization, I just don’t feel it in this drama. I get that women back then couldn’t do business if they were married most of the time, but this drama isn’t really about realism. So, why couldn’t our women have it all?

There are so many men chasing after Ying Ying at this point that I have to chuckle. There’s Bai Sheng, the mysterious merchant who is probably some kind of kingpin and definitely not a good guy.

Then, of course, there’s Robo Zhao, who is still after her despite being married.

And finally, there’s Jinglan—who, as we all know, wins her heart in the end. He’s the only one who made her wishes come true and did the best thing she could ever ask for: clearing her father’s name.

They share a romantic moment, but as is typical in CDramas, she isn’t ready to take things further with him yet. He’s sweet enough to say he’ll wait for her. (YOU’RE GONNA REGRET IT, GIRL. THEY ALWAYS DO.)

It’s clear that Ying Ying likes him but feels it’s not the right time because she’s just starting to build her business and wants to focus on it. Understandable. Very career woman of her.

Episode 19

Jinglan succeeds in his mission to nab a key witness: the logistics officer who not only orchestrated the brocade swap decades ago but also killed Ying Ying’s father.

People, you don’t have a great track record of keeping your key witnesses alive. You’ve gotta do better this time. Spoiler alert: they don’t.

Meanwhile, Robo Zhao gives Ying Ying a big speech at their usual bridge, claiming he turned his life into hell because of her. For a few seconds, I actually felt a smidgen of pity for him—but it turns out he’s still an asshole. Not just an asshole, but a delusional and deceptive one.

He genuinely believes it’s her fault that he ended up humiliated. When she stomps off at his pathetic excuses, he commits the worst act yet: he abducts her, forcibly marries her, and is presumably about to rape her when Jinglan barges in and gives Robo Zhao the beating of his life.

But I don’t think this is the last we’ll see of him.

The way he married her was so cowardly. He didn’t even have the guts to do it openly or proudly, with her mother’s consent, because he knew what he was doing was absolutely despicable and unhinged. Even this final act of his so-called “love” was done in a cowardly, dishonorable, and covert manner.

I think Ying Ying was crying not just because of what she was being put through, but also out of disbelief at what he had become. It was the absolute death of whatever affection she ever had for him, and grief over the loss of who he once was and what he had turned into.

I thought Seven Tan acted this scene brilliantly, conveying her grief through her eyes alone.

Episode 20

How I feel about everybody this episode:

Ugh, Jinglan’s noble idiot era has begun. Madame Ji gave him “the talk,” and he’s gone off on some dangerous mission. Again.

While Ying Ying is no longer clueless about Jinglan, her mom throws a wrench into their budding romance. I seriously want to strangle that woman now because she’s always making the wrong decisions for her daughter. She doesn’t know her daughter well enough (or doesn’t want to) and ends up making society-acceptable decisions that Ying Ying would hate.

As a result, Jinglan is convinced not to pursue Ying Ying—just when she finally declares her intention to accept his advances.

I’m glad, though, that Ying Ying isn’t buying his “we’re just allies” talk or accepting this noble idiocy from him. She promises to wait for him.

Lord, I already want this “break” to be over. It’s so tedious. I’m not looking forward to the next few episodes because it feels like they’re going to drag this out. How many episodes will they be apart? It better not be more than two, because my patience is running thin.

Meanwhile, Wuniang is living her worst nightmare—under the control of yet another husband and chained up! She married Robo Zhao thinking he’d be her ticket to freedom, believing he’d be easy to control. Instead, he’s turned the tables on her and wrested control with the full blessing of her father.

Do I feel sorry for her? Nah, this is exactly what she deserves. It’s one of the worst punishments she could get, especially after gloating at his beaten-up face after his “wedding.” They deserve each other.

Unfortunately, she’s clever enough to use his mom to convince Robo Zhao to marry Ying Ying. Again. Lord.

I don’t know what she’s up to, but honestly, whatever.

Spoilers for Episode 21

Yes, dammit, they’re dragging this out. Ying Ying’s aunt visits. Can I be honest? I really don’t care about this aunt. We’re getting drama with relatives? Really? I know Chinese New Year is coming, but you don’t have to remind me of my yearly trauma this early! Wake me up when it’s over

As I’ve said before, the problem with Brocade Odyssey is its uneven pacing. This drama needs to balance the conspiracy parts with the business parts. The business moments are pretty boring, while the conspiracy parts are exciting enough to make you wish you could watch the next episode immediately. But the pacing is all over the place. As you can see from my thoughts on the previous episodes, when it slows down, it really slows down.

Episode 21

Poor schmuck—I knew Ji Yaoting would be rejected hard by Yu. I sense a pattern here.

All the men in this drama want their beloved women to be themselves, but the women are commitment-phobic and value their independence. I think the drama is driving this point a little too hard. Having three women do the same thing feels repetitive, lol.

Aunt is trouble, all right. Now Ying Ying has to get involved with that shady foreign merchant who works for Bai Sheng because of it.

Jinglan’s secret mission in Nanzhao is interesting, especially compared to the business-Zhao and Bai-is-up-to-no-good plot back home.

Episode 22

Niu Wuniang is going batty because her plans have landed her in deep trouble, but I still have no sympathy. That said, why is Wuniang so attached to her maid? I wish there was some backstory because it’s driving me crazy.

I knew Aunt would be trouble, but that much trouble? Really? Poor Mum is now in prison, accused of murder, and Ying Ying has to beg for help from everyone important. It must’ve been hard for her, pride-wise, to do this. And if that’s not bad enough, Yaoting is publicly tortured.

Honestly, this whole plot is still boring me, despite the murder and mayhem, because I can see everything coming from a mile away.

Episode 23

It’s safe to say that Bai Sheng is the mysterious Prince Bai of Nanzhao. It also looks like General Niu has been secretly dealing with Nanzhao, likely with Prince Bai.

I’m not convinced that marrying into the Yang family was Ying Ying’s only way out of this situation. Maybe I’m not paying enough attention, but can someone explain exactly why this was her only option?

Since it was Madam Yang’s idea, perhaps she was motivated to secure the only maker of the Shu Red color for her family. Ying Ying, desperate after everyone else refused to help, agreed—even if the possibility of real help was slim.

Episode 24

First, Zheng Yecheng’s fight scenes are top-notch, as usual. His escape from Nanzhao is beautifully filmed.

They’ve really put effort into the fight scenes. Can we just stick Zheng Yecheng in a wuxia drama already? Like, now?

Anyway, Jinglan returns just in time to snatch the bride. Again. He proposes that Ying Ying switch grooms, she accepts, and then he faints dead away. (I was touched that his dad and family were so worried for him. Despite his aloofness, they do care for him a little.)

Later, Jinglan wakes up and… wait, did he just offer a divorce “when the time is right”? Jinglan, she didn’t even ask for it!

So, they have another wedding, and this time, instead of being a concubine, Ying Ying becomes Jinglan’s rightful wife. (Chinese New Year’s Eve dinners in the Yang family are going to be so awkward. 😅🤣.)

Just as things seem to settle, General Niu gatecrashes the wedding to arrest Jinglan. Ying Ying can never have an ordinary wedding, it seems.

This is where Jinglan finally reveals his backer: the Crown Prince himself! (Knew it had to be royalty.)

To be honest, I had high expectations for this episode, so I’m deflated that we’re back to the “we’re only allies” square one, relationship-wise. Heck, even Ying Ying looked disappointed, haha. I mean, come on—at least a forehead kiss?

Episode 25

Oh, finally, our main couple is over their “does he/she love me” routine and has actually said it. Okay, in their reserved, shy way, but they said it nonetheless.

I thought the murder case was solved rather… conveniently. Honestly, it could’ve been easily disproven! If the true murderer hadn’t confessed due to the trickery, then what? Eh. But by that point, I was so fed up with the whole case that I just wanted it over so our couple could move on to the real important stuff: their relationship.

I wanted to say that Jinglan and Ying Ying did everything backward as a couple, but actually, when you think about it, marriages back then often happened this way. Most couples didn’t know each other before getting married and only started “dating” after marriage.

So, our couple had a very typical Chinese marriage. (Well, if you exclude the bride-stealing and lack of ceremony, that is.)

I’m glad to say I wasn’t bored during these two episodes. Even though nothing substantial happened plot-wise, many significant things unfolded between our couple. For one, they’re finally getting to know each other as husband and wife and have become more than just allies.

That little scene in front of her house was endearing. Ying Ying never got to have a proper ceremony and was essentially married in haste and secrecy, without even her mother’s knowledge. So, it was sweet that Jinglan gave her that moment, including getting the Crown Prince to provide betrothal gifts! With the Crown Prince blessing their marriage, who dares gossip about them or call the marriage a farce now?

We also learn that Jinglan is the Crown Prince’s junior brother—they shared the same master, the former Brocade Master who was murdered. His backer isn’t just some aloof dignitary but someone he shares a close bond with. That’s a good thing.

Episode 26

Of course, it took our couple about 1.5 episodes to get to the confession scene, where he finally admits that he likes her as more than an ally. Jinglan, you sure took your sweet time, lol.

I like that Ying Ying was prodding him toward that moment. Thanks to the talk she had with her mom in the previous episode, she realized that all her suspicions about his feelings were confirmed.

Jinglan made things very confusing for her (no thanks to Mum’s interference, though she at least apologized for it). It kinda makes his reluctance to admit they were more than allies on their wedding day somewhat understandable. I think he’s just not used to being in love and didn’t want to scare her off by saying, “I really want you to stay,” when he wasn’t sure how she felt about him. (Hey, maybe she’s like Yuniang and her other friend, both wanting to be single, independent women, right?)

I thought the confession scene was kind of cute because he acted like a shy teenager. And while some of us might want them to be a bit more demonstrative (ahem), I found it beautiful that right after she kissed him on the cheek, he took her to see his late mother’s memorial. That was a meaningful gesture.

Both were finally cementing their affection for each other and their commitment to stay together as husband and wife. All that divorce nonsense can be chucked out the window. (I hope, though, since this is only Episode 26, meaning there are 14 more episodes to go. Who knows what’s going to happen before the end?)

Okay, confession time: I was dreading the kissing scene because Seven Tan is… not known for her kissing scenes. I winced my way through her kissing scene in The Sword and the Brocade, but she did okay here. At least she smiled? Lol.

Also, don’t you get shivers when Jinglan addresses her as 夫人 (furen, dear wife)?

Let’s hope noble idiocy doesn’t raise its stupid head again.

Anyway, in these episodes, we also get a glimpse of how horrific her life would’ve been if she had married into the Yang family as a concubine. For one, everything she worked for would’ve been taken by the Yang family. Her fate would’ve been very grim indeed, and for an independent woman like Ying Ying, she probably would’ve withered away.

So, yes, we’re all glad she ended up marrying Jinglan!

The Yang uncle is 100% going to cause trouble for Bloom Society, for sure.

Here’s the edited version of your text:

Episodes 27-28

I’ll be honest—I’m totally bored of Second Uncle’s shenanigans, Wuniang’s scheming, Bai Sheng’s antics, and Robo Zhao’s moping. All of them are just making life difficult for Ying Ying, and of course, we know she’ll prevail eventually. I’m at least pleased to find out that the Yang matriarch is on Ying Ying’s side. But honestly, I could barely pay attention to what was happening on screen because it all felt so predictable and pedestrian.

The one highlight of these episodes is Jinglan’s dad attempting to mend bridges with his son, asking, “Shouldn’t I be given a second chance?” This is probably the most earnest speech from a CDrama dad ever. I almost wanted Jinglan to give in right then and there, but while he’s clearly moved, he isn’t going to make it easy for his father—though he has softened a bit. It’s sweet that Ying Ying is trying to be the bridge between them.

Episode 29

I’m super moved that Jinglan gave Ta Xue a beautiful memorial and grave, but… how in the world did he drag his body all the way to this mountainous area? Didn’t the horse die somewhere far away in enemy territory? Okay, maybe the grave is empty, or perhaps he sent people to retrieve the body later. But this little detail bugs me immensely, lol.

“My life feels like it’s fallen into the abyss again.” I felt a smidgen of pity for Wuniang as she recounted being beaten by her previous husband. It’s sad, in a way—she’s been abused all her life by the men around her. Having only known abuse, she believes the only way to rise above it is to become as cruel as her abusers.

Episode 30

Okay, but isn’t the whole “traveling into the West and encountering great dangers on the road” plotline so similar to The Story of Pearl Girl? I couldn’t help but think that throughout the episode.

Also, I couldn’t help but shake my head at the whole adventure. It felt very… unnecessary, almost? Like, what did you think would happen, Ying Ying? Yuning did warn you. This isn’t a walk in Hengdian Studios, lol. And I have to say, Cheng Dalan died in such a horrible way—omg.

But at least our favorite older brother got to spend some alone time with Yuning, even if it was with bandits, haha.

Episode 31

General Niu receives some doublespeak and hidden messages from his superior, basically warning him that he’s overstepping his boundaries. The commissioner doesn’t know the full extent of his nonsense, so he might not be as merciful if he finds out!

Robo Zhao’s prayer for Ying Ying’s safety left me speechless. I mean, you’ve done everything to destroy her life and put her in harm’s way, even colluding with the enemy… and now you’re praying for her safety? Maybe, I don’t know, stop doing all that? Make it make sense. LOL.

Yuning and Older Brother Ji (I actually can’t remember his name now, lol) spend some alone time with the bandits, but fortunately, Jinglan and the gang save them. At least Yuning realizes she wants to be with him now. I knew it’d take a near-death experience to get them together, lol.

Prince Bai finally reveals himself.

PS: That field of flowers green screen is so fake, omg, lol.

Episode 32

The start of Noble Idiocy #2, as Prince Bai frames Jinglan for attempting to “assassinate” him.

Okay, Robo Zhao, what’s up with your Sadako hairstyle? It’s creeping me out. I suppose it’s meant to show that you’re sad and falling apart, but I’m like, yeah, you totally deserve it. Slow claps.

Strangely enough, I think he looks better this way, LOL.

Niu Wuniang is also praying, but alas, her prayers aren’t answered. Her beloved companion and maid (or something more, heheh) is killed off-screen, and Wuniang loses it.

Ying Ying returns only to find that Madam Yang is in a coma. We know where this is going—hah! Second Uncle is predictably responsible for this.

Episode 33

Wuniang has completely lost it, hallucinating her maid Yu Yuan. It would’ve been a fun story if it was actually the ghost of her maid influencing Wuniang to exact vengeance on her behalf, lol. Sadly, Wuniang meets her predictable end; of course, being the person she is, she frames Robo Zhao on her way out. Well done, Wuniang.

Yeah, I have zero sympathy for either of them, though I did feel a little aggrieved that her dad didn’t even flicker an eyelid over her death except to rail at her for being a useless daughter. His last gesture—imprisoning Zhao (and probably planning to kill him soon)—is mostly to look good to the public: “Don’t let people say I never cared for her as a father.” It’ll be a great day when he’s unalived.

I am NOT looking forward to Jinglan’s second noble idiocy arc, as you can see. I 100% understand why Jinglan did what he did—to protect Ying Ying from being punished alongside him if things go south. Still, I wish they hadn’t done this a SECOND TIME because it feels repetitive.

I’ll come right out and say it: Brocade Odyssey needed to be at least 40% shorter. At this point in the story, it feels like they’re going around in circles.

Episodes 37-38

The pace finally picks up again!

These two episodes are all about Jinglan suffering in prison and Ying Ying scheming to get everyone out. Poor Jinglan is drugged, beaten, and tortured nearly to death by Bai, who’s obviously taking out his jealousy on him. Bleh.

Anyway, thanks to help from Robo Zhao (of all people), Jinglan finally escapes and reunites with the “rebel” refugee forces from Yizhou.

I found it sweet that Jinglan’s dad is supporting him at the camp, especially after they receive the bad news about Zhuge.

大师兄*, dang it, you died again! (PS: Blood of Youth reference here 😉).

*Senior brother

Zhuge dies tragically, and Jinglan rescues his body. As Jinglan grieves, he imagines Zhuge talking to him like he did before. I’ll miss his sarcastic sense of humor. 😢 Sigh, despite not liking Zhuge’s death, it was at least meaningful and made sense.

Episodes 39-40

Robo Zhao begins his redemption arc and becomes the sacrificial lamb that allows everyone to return to Yizhou. I’m not sure how I feel about him being redeemed (because, honestly, I wanted him flayed alive for all his stupid schemes and the way he treated Wuniang and her maid), but since he manages to outwit Bai, I’ll give him a big 👍.

Later, Prince Bai dies trying to save Ying Ying. Okay, bye.

Honestly, if he were truly ruthless, he would’ve let Ying Ying die. So maybe he’s just a marshmallow inside? RIP—love brain killed him. ⚰️

Ying Ying cries over him. Wait, what? Girl, why? Someone explain this to me, lol.

This is no Xiang Liu x Xiao Yao (Lost You Forever), and I’m not feeling it. You can’t expect the audience to empathize with a man who brutally tortured and poisoned Jinglan, the beloved Absolute Green Flag. These scenes feel wasted on us. And Ying Ying, knowing that her beloved was literally hacked to death in a dastardly game of Go and probably went through hell in prison… I can’t compute how she could have that kind of reaction.

And can assassins just go around killing a Nanzhao prince like that? I’m confused. 😅😆

Back in Yizhou, Older Brother Ji, Yuning, and Jinglan trap Niu and try to take him down. But General Niu is a tough bugger—much respect for being such an effective big bad.

Poor Yuning. She fought so well. Her death wasn’t meaningless, but poor Older Brother Ji, you deserved forever with her. 😢

(BTW, I found it odd that we saw so much of Ying Ying grieving over Bai but hardly anything about her bestie. Feels weird. 😅)

At least Ji helped take down the big bad.

All is finally peaceful. What’s sweet is that Jinglan has finally thawed his relationship with his father and stepmother. He’s even joking with them! Imagine that.

Jinglan and Ying Ying marry for the second time. Yay! Dang it, can’t we see the ceremony?? We didn’t get it the last time.

Ying Ying becomes Lady Very Important and heads off to see the emperor.

Everyone lives happily ever after.

The review

Darlings, I’ve never worked so hard to finish a drama before, LOL. If I weren’t doing these recaps, I probably would’ve dropped it when the Nanzhao arc started—out of irritation—and just fast-forwarded to the happy moments in the last episode. It just felt like they were prolonging an already repetitive story.

The thing about Brocade Odyssey is that it’s not bad; there are some parts that are really, really good—namely, the chemistry between Seven Tan and Zheng Yecheng, even if it’s not explosive. I also appreciate how coherent the story is. These days, sadly, all you can hope for in costume idol dramas is that they make sense until the very end, and Brocade Odyssey does make sense until the end.

The problem is that the plot is very bland and predictable. It’s a comfort watch for sure, but not one that will leave a lasting impression.

One criticism I have is that for a drama about silk and brocades, the color grading didn’t do the fabrics any justice. Everything looked muted. I expected a drama about silk and beautiful embroidery, especially around the color red, to be eye-popping, with every frame filled with gorgeous patterns. But we barely see that. We don’t see how silk is harvested from silkworms or how brocade patterns are woven, though at least we get a glimpse of the complexities of dyeing silk.

The art of making brocades is just a mask this drama wears to make it appear deeper than it is. In the end, it’s still a typical costume idol romance drama about a heroine and her many suitors and the drama that comes with it.

If anything, I think the drama suffers from being “old-fashioned.” As I watched it, I kept thinking this drama would’ve been a hit in the early 2010s. Back then, tropes like delusional and possessive second leads (or third leads!) were common, and all this would’ve felt fresh.

But now, audiences want more than repetitive stories about second and third leads causing drama for the One True Pair. They want, I don’t know, some substance?

That said, Seven Tan and Zheng Yecheng get top marks for putting in the effort with their acting. I have no fault with them, except that I think Zheng Yecheng’s character lacked depth beyond being the Absolute Green Flag suitor with no flaws at all.

Final rating: 7.5

#BrocadeOdyssey #CDrama #cdramaReview #CDramas #China #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama #episodeRecaps #Recaps

January 2025 drama watching diary: Under the Skin, Secret of the Three Kingdoms, Towards the Truth, I am Nobody 2 and more

January was a month of too much social media drama and Chinese New Year! That means the whole of China would soon have nothing much to do, so a lot of the stations and platforms are rolling out their best dramas during this period to catch this lull period.

So, with the social media drama, things ramping up at work thanks to the new year and having to prepare for Chinese New Year myself, I just couldn’t cope with deluge. That’s how little my RAM processing power is in January, so I don’t have much brain cells left to watch Chinese dramas.

Instead, I ended up watching older dramas instead of the new ones.

Under the Skin

I watched this drama after seeing We Are Criminal Police, which is considered one of the best dramas of 2024. This probably won’t do Under the Skin any good.

The acting in Under the Skin was better than the average idol drama and the main character, played by Tan Jianci, an artist who solves crimes, was fascinating enough. The cases are also interesting, and it was fascinating to see how art is used to crack cases.

But Under the Skin felt like a “juvenile version” of We Are Criminal Police.
Of course, we shouldn’t compare these dramas: they are two separate types of crime dramas. However, We Are Criminal Police’s acting, camerawork, atmosphere, and script writing was so, so good. The first 25 episodes was just simply stellar. So, I am a tad puzzled by the hype around Under the Skin. Was it because this was all new when it came out?

Overall, I’d rate it as a slightly above-average drama.

Secret of the Three Kingdoms

It’s like the story, Prince and the Pauper, but set during the end of the Han dynasty right before the Three Kingdoms period.

This is a very opulent drama compared to many idol costumed dramas today. Made me realise how production values have deteriorated in a span of a few years!

The acting for most of the case is above average, especially for the main female leads.

However, the male lead, Ma Tianyu, who plays the Emperor, just cannot act!

(And it’s also infinitely odd that I happen to be watching his drama when he became the “main character” of a scandal that consumed Weibo in January.)

Despite that, the story is riveting, and I can easily watch four episodes during the weekend at a go, something I don’t usually do.

I’m currently at episode 25 out of 54.

Towards the Truth

This drama on iQIYI has received so little attention that they didn’t even give it proper human translators to create the drama’s English subtitles. Yes, the machine translated subs are poor, but the quality of the drama is actually really good, with the camerawork, production values and acting comparable to big-budget idol dramas.

Surprisingly, it also seems to be tinged with a bit of supernatural flavor, which is rare in Chinese dramas. It’s a typical costumed mystery-solving drama that seems so popular these days, but our main character has “special eyes” that enables him to see things nobody can.

I think this drama deserves more attention and better promotion, but since the latter won’t happen, I hope more people will discover it.

PS: I thought the relationship between the two main leads seemed very BL-tinged, and I’m not the type to see BL relationships everywhere!

I am Nobody 2

I loved the first season, and the first four episodes of season two are high quality, with excellent special effects and comedy.

However, I’ve paused it because I have so much on my plate in terms of drama watching. It’s only 13 episodes long, so it’ll be a quick watch.

I will probably go back to it only after I finish Secret of the Three Kingdoms (because my Viki subscription is expiring in mid Feb, I have to prioritise!).

Other dramas on my radar

• Under the Moonlight: I really want to watch this costumed mystery drama but just don’t have the time to watch it live! Too many choices right now, dear god.
• Flourish Peony: I also want to watch this soon. And since the subs are said to be dire, I’ll wait untill I can have access to better subs.

#CDrama #CDramas #China #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama #Fantasy #TV

Judge Dee’s Mystery

Judge Dee’s Mystery is inspired by the character Di Renjie (Judge Dee), based on a real-life, celebrated judge during the Tang Dynasty.

The character first appeared in the anonymously authored 18th-century Chinese novel, Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee (狄公案; Dí Gōng Àn).

Around the 1940s, Dutch diplomat Robert Van Gulik came across the book in a second-hand bookstore in Tokyo and translated it into English. He later wrote his own Di Renjie stories.

The character became even more renowned after filmmaker Tsui Hark’s made the acclaimed Detective Dee films.

This drama starts at the very beginning before Di Renjie becomes that renowned detective. We see how he develops into the official revered for his detective skills.

In this adaptation, he is a man haunted by a tragic past. After being implicated for a crime, he volunteers to solve it. Thus, begins his career as a famous detective.

What I liked

• Zhang Yi We’s charismatic presence as Di Renjie. I can’t tear my eyes away from him. He may not play a “traditional” version of Di Ren Jie, but I sure love his wuxia, broody version. One of the pet peeves I have is seeing reviews that state that they avoided the drama because “the male lead wasn’t attractive”. To me, he’s a real man with imperfections. He looked like a man who had seen and been through things. He may not be idol-pretty, but he is real-world manly.
• Unlike many people, I didn’t mind that the writers messed with the traditional depiction of Di Renjie in film. (Most adaptations depict him as sly, witty and sometimes even a bit of a bumbling (pretend) idiot.) I liked that they explored his origin story here. It is tragic, sad and filled with mystery.
• Bonus mention: The actress who played Empress Wu Zetian is appropriately intimidating and regal.
• The romance between Di Ren Jie and Cao An is endearing. Di Ren Jie is so lousy when it comes to romance that it is cute to see his comrades stepping in to intervene for him. If Hong Liang (his mentor and old manservant) hadn’t stepped in at one point of the story, it may very well be that they would never be together.
• The Zhang Ruoyun arc! I must say he really added “life” to the drama. (In case you’re wondering, Zhang Rouyun is the lead actor of the critically-acclaimed Joy of Life, which propelled him to fame.) Rouyun’s character, so mysterious, shady and ultimately, shocking, gave the drama a big shot of electricity that it needed.
• The cinematography, the acting—chef’s kiss.

What I didn’t like

• The female sidekick is very annoying and often causes more trouble for the team than help them.
• The mysteries are rather … unmemorable and bland.
• Despite loving the production quality, acting, the cases … somehow the drama lacked the emotional “oomph” that makes a drama addictive. I’m not exactly sure why this is. My theory is that while the production and acting is technically good, many of the characters felt bland and colourless, even Di Renjie. The writing does not move us to really connect with the characters.
• Certain elements were revealed far to late in the story. This lessened the impact of pivotal arcs, especially the second last arc.
• They never revealed why Di Ren Jie’s father did what he did in episode one. Hopefully they’d give more clues in Part 2 besides Di’s sad memories of the event.

This was supposed to be Youku’s Big Drama of the Year, but for some reason it fell flat. I’m not entirely show why as it’s a well-made drama.

However, if you loved Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty, you will enjoy this. It wasn’t the big blockbuster hit that I’d hoped but it is definitely better than the average fare that came out in January and February this year.

Final rating: 8

#CDrama #China #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama #DetectiveDee #DiRenjie #TV

Dropped: The Rise of Ning

Luo Yi Ning may be the only legitimate daughter of the Luo family, but she is unfavoured and grew up in a separate household, far away from the main family.

One day, she decides to return to finally solve the mystery surrounding her mother’s untimely death. She reunites with “Third Brother” Luo Shen Yuan, the despised son of the family whose name isn’t even included in the family register. They form a bond due to their outcast status and he helps her in her quest, and she in turns help him rise above the stigma of being a family outcast.

Gradually, she comes to trust Shen Yuan, but he appears to be hiding a mysterious secret….

Thoughts

I was actually planning to watch The Rise of Ning after the drama ended but became curious enough to watch it live because everyone (meaning those in the Chinese drama forum I dwell) seemed so disappointed in it.

(Proof positive that sometimes negative reviews help promote a drama!)

You can also thank a coronovirus (no, not that one) for making me watch this drama, because the cold laid me flat, and I could only stare at TV all day. I thought, well, why not watch one or two episodes and see if I can go on?

The next thing I know, it’s the 11th episode!

Out of curiosity, I visited Douban to find out what people in China were saying about it. Wheeew these people are brutal. I’ll address the criticisms below:

Ren Mi’s voice in the drama
I actually do not have a problem with the pitch of her voice. I thought it was lovely and utterly feminine for a well-bred lady of the times. What I had issue with is her line delivery. It’s very flat and lacks the nuance needed to convey emotion. It’s very apparent when she is talking to other characters who use professional voice actors or are great at line delivery like Zhang Wanyi.

I don’t think it’ll be as noticeable for non-Mandarin speakers, but it was painful even for a mid-level Mandarin speaker like me. But, er, I got used to it? Eventually I stopped noticing it altogether.

Discount version of Story of Ming Lan
I really do not like women-fighting-each-other dramas. I usually endure that plot line if I find another plot line interesting in a drama, or else I’ll actively avoid it.

I’m definitely over evil concubines and their equally evil offspring. And I, most of all, do not enjoy watching women pull down other women, even for entertainment. Actually, especially for entertainment.

And yes, unfortunately, The Rise of Ning went down this predictable route. However, I’m glad evil concubine (TM) got her just deserts pretty quickly.

Awkward not-really-sibling eventual love
Yuning knows Sheyuan as her brother, so I’m not sure how she can one day wake up and think, “Oh man, he’s kinda hot!”.

And the second male lead is actually pretty compelling (and I hear he was a big favourite among novel readers to win Yuning and I can’t blame them. Chi Sa is pretty magnetic).

But since I’m not here for the romance, I can shrug this awkward plot line away. Those of you more invested in romantic plot lines, however, may not be able to and that’s understandable.

But I think reducing or boxing The Rise of Ning to just a harem drama is a mistake. I feel that this is a drama about the growth of two characters: Yuning and her supposed half-brother, Luo Shenyang.

In fact, I find myself eager to see how Shenyang escapes this stifling, terrible home to grow into someone that the family will be forced to respect and reckon with. To me, that’s the plot line that I’m interested in.

The most interesting story to me is Luo Shenyuan’s eventual rise to prominence, which I’m sure his no-good father will milk to his advantage despite the horrid, yucky way he’s treated him.

That said, I dropped the drama

I know, I know you’re probably thinking, what? After all the nice things you said about it?

For me, the major stumbling block for me was that I just couldn’t buy the plot. There’s very little logic and, man, that Luo family! Do the men in there have terrible luck choosing wives or what? 🤣

Also, just wanna say that the Yuning’s father is the worse Cdrama dad I’ve watched in my entire life. I really want to see something horrible happen to him. 🫥 Enduring him is a sore point for me and reduced my enjoyment of the drama by a lot.

And the way everyone just gets over shocking revelation after revelation and carries on to have tea parties like yesterday’s news about kidnappings, murders and other nefarious plots by relatives is just a blip in the weather.

How the Luo family did not end up being shunned by all in sundry in the nobility by now is a wonder.

And yet, although it has a total “dog blood” plot, I find myself dozing off from boredom 😴.

Zhang Wanyi is reliably good, and I don’t have a problem with Ren Min (although Wanyi is definitely a superior actor).

I just don’t find their characters very believable or interesting.

(Just to add: I hope that Wanyi gets more diversified in his role choices because his character looks and roles are starting to blend into each other!)

Everything seems to go so easily for them. Ren Min is so smart, she anticipates almost every plot against her.

Shen Yuan is probably the blandest character Zhang Wanyi has played, a veritable Gary Stu who is an academic genius and a martial artist and the ringleader of an underground spy/rebellion/investigative group. Yet he barely has enough funds to live, as his family has restricted his expenses due to his unfavoured position as an unofficial son.

And their romance? I suppose it developed pretty well but truth to be said, I felt zero chemistry between the two, unlike the chemistry I saw between the couple in Are You the One (also starring Zhang Wanyi).

And I know lots of folks seem to like bad boy Lu Jiaxue (Ci Sha, pic below) but I dislike guys who just won’t accept a no from the women they like.

It got so annoying and creepy I just ignored him when he appears. The main problem, really, is that his character lacks the depth necessary to make him more sympathetic. At least for me.

And since my main motivation to watch The Rise of Ning was to see “the rise of Shen Yuan”, I literally lost all interest when he achieved prominence in the family and society.

That said, there are some things I did enjoy. Such as the second wife, Lin Hai Ru and the Duke. I lived for Hai Ru’s eyerolls and sarcastic remarks, and the Duke is such a lovely dad, it’s like a balm to the Luo patriarch’s horrible arseholery.

Besides the fact that I really dislike harem dramas and dog blood plots, the truth was, after Kill Me Love Me, every Cdrama seems to pale in comparison 😅.

I wanted something as emotionally intense and character-driven, and The Rise of Ning just wasn’t it.

Still, I tried to gamely finish it. I would play the drama in the background while I work, sometimes doing housework and not paying attention!

After a while I thought to myself: Just why am I watching this when I’m just not interested? I realised that I was just watching The Rise of Ning just out of habit and sheer desire to mark it as “complete” in MyDramaList.

So, I decided to call it a day.

Conclusion

It was on the whole, okay entertainment, but not enjoyable enough for me to finish it.

As I’ve not finished the drama, I won’t rate it.

#CDrama #cdramaReview #CDramas #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama #Dropped #Fantasy #review #romance #ZhangWanyi

In my efforts to dispel the myth that China only produces modern dramas are mostly romantic comedies or “real life/social” dramas, I always like to go digging around for rare, barely-talked-about gems.

China does produce edgy stuff such as sci-fi, thrillers, and dark fantasy but the sad reality is that they’re often not promoted or distributed to foreign markets. And if they are, they are badly subbed. Three-Body was a very rare breakout that went worldwide, thanks to the original novels’ huge popularity internationally.

While it’s understandable why international viewers are drawn to wuxia dramas as it’s a very unique Chinese literary/story, some of you who are more adventurous and motivated may want to hunt down Pandora’s Box. (And hunt down you may have to, because it’s only available on the Chinese app, MangoTV.)

This 2021 12-episode drama is dubbed “soft science fiction”. It is set in Japan. It gives out a dark, gothic, serial killer mystery vibe, but yet I got really curious about its sci-fi aspects. I did some research on Weibo, and it appears that the drama talks about time travel and the power of human consciousness. Oh mysterious.

I’ll be frank. This is probably not a drama for everyone. It is 100% not for the casual viewer. It’s probably something high-brow like Three-Body, which involves lots high falutin’ concepts and whose writers will not spoonfeed the story to you.

So, if you like dramas where you have to figure things out, this could be worth a try.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTW74rhBB_8&t=13s

According to the synopsis:

Li Tian (Zhang Rui) is ​​a young physics student at MIT whose mother Mei Xueyan (Gong Cien) who works in the music industry, dies in a in a bizarre accident in Japan.

At the same time, he receives a mysterious videotape from Japan and realizes his mother’s death was not an accident.

Somehow Li Xiufu (Liu Xueyi), a punk rocker is involved in this mess.

Liu Xueyi rocks the silver-haired Goth look by the way. In the trailer and pictures, he gives out a very “cult leader” vibe – could he be the ultimate baddy?

As usual, I admire Liu Xueyi’s dedication in playing diverse characters. While his character Li Xiufu is rarely mentioned as a favourite among fans, most probably because it’s a pretty small role, it showcases his ability to play varied characters.

Note: If you happen to go to Mydramalist and saw the comments or the low MDL rating, please don’t be discouraged from watching it. MDL does not review unpopular, out-of-the-box dramas well. (Read: If there are no popular celebs starring in it, no romance or a straightforward plot, MDL reviewers will usually ignore or trash the drama).

https://dramatea88.wordpress.com/2024/11/08/pandoras-box-tianmu-crisis-%e5%a4%a9%e7%9b%ae%e5%8d%b1%e6%9c%ba-a-scifi-drama-thats-worth-a-look/

#CDrama #CDramas #China #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama #LiuXueyi #PandoraSBox #SciFI #TV

Who Rules the World (review)

This was actually one of the earliest Chinese dramas I watched after returning to Chinese drama-land after a long hiatus. I knew nothing about the two main actors’ fame (Yang Yang and Zhao Lusi were major liu liangs or “traffic actors”), so had no preconceived notions about their acting abilities to influence me. (Liu liangs get a bad rap for their acting skills, essentially.)

1. The characters:
2. The Story
3. Final Rating: 3 stars out of 5

The characters:

Hei Feng Xi / Feng Lan Xi – played by Yang Yang
Hei Feng Xi is a skilled martial artist known for his intelligence, strength, and his calm and calculating demeanor. He has a secret identity.

Bai Feng Xi – played by Zhao Lusi
Bai Feng Xi is a powerful martial artist who is carefree, spirited and fights for justice.

Huang Chao – played by Zhang Fengyi
Huang Chao is a scheming and ambitious prince who seeks to conquer the world and challenge the rule of the kingdoms.

Feng Ju – played by Liu Ruilin
Feng Ju is the half-brother of Feng Lan Xi and a prince of the Feng Kingdom, who harbors ambitions of his own.

The Story

Hei Feng Xi and Bai Feng Xi are two heroes of the “jiang hu” (martial arts world).

Hei or “black fox” as he is called by Bai Feng Xi, is cool, confident, and mysterious. He is the leader of the Fountain Abode, which keeps tabs on the world. He trades in information; he’s like the CIA and is feared by most people.

Bai Feng Xi is impetuous, adventurous, free-spirited and hot-tempered. She doesn’t like “Black Fox”, but can’t help but be drawn to him after being pulled into a series of adventures with him. And this is the same for Hei Feng Xi who is used to people being wary or afraid of him, but is befuddled by Bai’s refusal to be cowed by him.

Two of them have hidden identities. And this will play a factor in their many adventures together.

At the same time, the empire is rocked by a conspiracy—the imperial tablet has been stolen, and all the kingdoms are trying to capture it to claim the imperial throne. But there’s more than meets the eye here.

My thoughts

I was pleasantly surprised by how good Who Rules the World turned out to be.

One of the aspects that stood out the most was the dynamic between Bai Feng Xi and Hei Feng Xi. Both are mature characters, equal in terms of power and abilities, which felt refreshing.

Bai Feng Xi is assertive, confident, and independent, bringing a sense of balance to their relationship. It’s not often you see such a strong female character in a wuxia drama, where both leads complement each other in terms of skills and strength.

Another element that really impressed me was the CGI. I’m so used to seeing subpar effects in many dramas that I was taken aback by how well it was executed here. The visuals were much better than expected, and it added to the overall atmosphere of the show without distracting from the story. It felt like real care went into the production design, making the world of the drama more immersive.

The fight scenes were also beautifully done. I later found out that Yang Yang, who plays Hei Feng Xi, is a classically trained dancer, and that really shows in the way he moves during the combat sequences. Still, it was a little too little and brief for my liking. I wanted more and felt like I was given more beyond lots of fan waving.

However, I ended up losing interest after a major plot point. In fact, I felt the show should’ve ended at that happy occasion, but instead the story segued into a clumsy last arc that I had just no interest in.

In the end, I watched the last few episodes while doing other stuff, a sure sign that I’m just trying to “get over it”.

Ending

The drama had a bittersweet ending. Honestly, I wanted a way more sugar-coated ending but I hear the book ends happily. Not sure why it’s such a thing in Cdrama-land to have these types of endings, but if you want a happier ending, read the novel instead!

Final Rating: 3 stars out of 5

#3Stars #CDrama #CDramas #China #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama

Rise from the Ashes (quick review)

Our heroine had been burnt alive by her husband in her past life, so when she is reborn, she decides to make her ex-husband suffer. After her horrific death, she deserves all the vengeance! But in this life she discovers something new: Her “young uncle” is actually an imposter and has a vendetta of his own. They decide to be partners in vengeance.

My thoughts

Me and mini-dramas. I gravitate towards them like moths to a flame. Maybe this is because I long to recapture the satisfaction I got from watching the famous mini drama, A Familiar Stranger, and to relive the satisfaction of binging a story in a day in a CDramaland of 40-episode dramas.

Unfortunately, Rise from the Ashes, isn’t it, though there are some aspects that makes it come tatalisingly close.

The good bits

• Above average camerawork and production quality for the genre.
• The leads are better than the average in this genre. In fact, I can say that the leads are better actors than those in many S-level dramas.

The bad bits

• Uneven tone. Humour intrudes at the strangest moments. Our heroine swerves from smart, vengeful queen to 撒娇 (sā jiāo) girlfriend. It’s like she’s Jekyll and Hyde, but Hyde is a cutesy aegyo, pouty female.
• Story with plot holes as big as a sinkhole. Half the time I have no idea how they got away with half the things they did. You disguise yourself as an uncle to a family, everyone remarks that you look so different and for some reason nobody questions your existence for most of the drama? I have a difficult time following their revenge plot.
• This is a typical rebirth revenge drama. I daresay that if I have not seen this trope far too many times, I would probably be more receptive to it. Dear Lord in Heaven, I’d be glad that Cdramaland gets tired of this because I certainly am.

Initially, I was attracted by the above average production, but I have to say, towards the end it felt very odd. Sure, people get their just deserts, but I found the path towards it rather weird and illogical.

Great if you don’t mind all those holes and just want to soak in the pretty, because there’s lots of it here.

Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

#1Star #CDrama #CDramas #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama #ShortDrama

Kill Me Love Me review

Liu Xueyi is an actor I’ve been watching for a long time. He really stood out in his second male lead role, In Blossom, even if the acting and storytelling of the drama were … inconsistent, so I really want him to be in a drama that really propels him to the big leagues soon. This is one actor that truly deserves to be there.

Kill Me Love Me could be it. (Cross fingers)

If you have not watched Kill Me Love Me, be sure to avoid the spoilerific Watch Log and head straight to the non-spoiler Final Review section instead.

1. The story
2. Characters
3. Watch Log
   1. Episodes 1 to 3
   2. Episodes 4 and 5
   3. Episodes 6
   4. Episodes 7
   5. Episode 8
   6. Episode 10
   7. Episode 11
   8. Episode 12
   9. Episode 13
   10. Episodes 14 to 15
   11. Episodes 16-18
   12. Episode 19
   13. Episode 20-22
   14. Episode 23
   15. Episode 24
   16. Episodes 27-32
4. Thoughts about the ending
5. What I liked
6. What I didn’t like
7. Conclusion
8. Final rating: 3 out of 5 stars

If you’re accessing this from Mastodon, please head to my blog and bookmark the page as it’s not the final edition. I will be updating it until the drama ends.

The story

Prince Murong Jinghe of the Great Yan Dynasty is known as the “lunatic prince”, the “butcher general”. Ten years ago, he led his Weibei Army to reclaim Qingzhou, a lost territory. But soon after his army entered the city, a devastating fire broke out. The people of Qingzhou, angered, accused Murong Jing He of ordering the fire, massacring the people in retaliation against the people for their alleged betrayal of Great Yan.

Mei Lin lost her entire family in the fire. Consumed by vengeance, she joins a secret organization called Shadow Works, where she undergoes years of brutal training. After ten years, Mei Lin receives her first mission: Kill Prince Murong Jinghe, her greatest enemy.

Characters

• Murong Jinghe (played by Liu Xue Yi): A hated prince who is said to have ordered the death of countless civilians ten years ago.
• Mei Lin (played by Wu Jin Yan): An assassin and survivor of Qingzhou. She is tasked with killing Murong Jinghe.
• Murong Xuanlie (played by Baron Chen): They may be brothers, but the crown prince schemes against Murong Jinghe actively.
• Yue Qin (played by Bi Wen Jun): A prince of Xiyan who is a hostage in Yan. He knows Mei Lin from the past.
• Luo Mei (played by Zhao Xiao Tang): A general of Yan and childhood friend of Jinghe.
• Zi Gu (played by Huang Ri Ying): A princess of Xiyan sent to marry the Emperor of Yan as a gesture peace.

Watch Log

Read this part only after you’ve watched or while watching the Show. You’ve been warned!

Episodes 1 to 3

What can I say? Drama hooked me in immediately, especially with THAT kiss. Sweet, summer chile, I wasn’t ready.

I mean, the red robe ☝️ (and its occupant) says everything you need to know about why I’m watching Kill Me Love Me live 🙃

OK, fine, it has a thrilling, pulpy plot involving an assassin and a crazed, murderous prince, so what’s not to like?

Episodes 4 and 5

I thought it was rather brilliant that Murong Jinghe used his awful reputation to save Mei Lin. As he was explaining to the emperor, who doubted his plan, “If they could believe the general of Weibei army massacred Qingzhou, they would have no problem believing I’ve become a lecher.”

Ouch, dad, did you hear that? No, you didn’t, because you belong to the cohort of stupid emperors in Cdramaland who can’t see your sons plotting right under your nose. UGH. Cdrama dads are going to be the death of me.

Xiyan prince – Giving Meilin those cakes was a chance for the enemy to use his act of kindness and also, even if he did execute his plan, it would’ve destroyed the Xiyan peace treaty. Dude, you’re as naive as your sister. Oh dear, I hope you wise up quickly in the Yan court because it ain’t for the naive. I’m not that enthused about the second male lead coming in.

Mei Ling’s hallucinations – At first I was eh about the whole hallucination that Mei Ling was having. Sure, it was a little funny, but it kinda broke the angst/tension for a bit, but it was insight into her inner thoughts which Jinghe will never see.

Jinghe’s encounter with the lady general – it’s rather sad that he had to put on this act of being an indolent shadow of what he was, but you have to do what you have to do to execute your plan. But imagine having all your loved ones view you as a useless, hopeless case, not sure how it doesn’t eat him every day.

I can see that he’s been “lightened” a bit, and you can see he has a good streak beneath all that darkness. Still, I hope they don’t do it too quickly.

Episodes 6

The second male lead comes in with his schemes and I’m like, go away you irritant. You’re taking precious time from our couple and wasting our time with your impossible mission. But alas, it’s an unspoken rule of CDramaland to have a second male/female lead to cause trouble and it would seem that our Xiyan prince Yue Qin and General Luo Yin is it.

I’m pretty glad that in this episode, Jinghe told the Crown Prince to stop his “concerned brother” act because I think I’m genuinely going to puke if he continued all that smarmy acting.

It’s good to see the claws unsheathed, and our men declaring war on each other. Still, it’s pretty heart-breaking to know that when they were boys they created mischief with each other and generally had a friendly relationship (at least on Jinghe’s part). The handprints in the memorial hall is a haunting reminder of their lost brotherhood.

I wonder what happened to their relationship. (Looks sideways at the emperor.)

Episodes 7

I’m actually surprised that Mei Lin is over her hatred for Murong Jinghe so quickly. 10 years is a long time to hate someone and want to see him dead. But I suppose our assassin is a practical lady who just wants to get on the business of avenging the dead, and she sees an ally in him. And as the mystery behind the embroidery comes to head, she must see him as a fellow victim of the massacre and form some kind of emotional bond with him.

Uhm, can’t wait for the inevitable severing of ties when she finds out that he’s her Master. eheh.

Of all scenes in this episode, I did not expect Murong Jinghe to do some embroidery with Mei Lin. Hey, this is what bonding is all about! (He’s probably the first male lead I’ve seen doing embroidery with the heroine!)

In this episode we see our Crown Prince smoothly lying his way into General Luo’s heart. She’s not buying it for now but the trailers seem to indicate something else. Girl, run! But you’re second female lead so you’re destined to do something to trip our main couple so, I don’t think you’ll be running anytime soon.

Got to say that I admire the ruthless efficiency of the Crown Prince’s plan – it had demolished Jinghe completely 10 years ago. Not only was he left disabled, his reputation was completely ruined in the eyes of the nation and the people that mattered – his loved ones.

I think if there’s anything to be said, is that Jinghe belongs to a family where there’s a … trust deficit. The heartbreak of knowing that your family will believe the worst of you must be unendurable. And seeing how the two brothers were before, the Crown Prince have always had this malicious, lying streak, and the young Jinghe appeared naive or unaware of it.

So far, I’m still loving the pace of the storytelling, though I’m a little uncertain about the humorous moments. I just want them to retain more of the angst, ya know? But that could make the show very dour indeed. However, the comedy moments didn’t work with me. Oh well.

But I’m sure more suffering is coming, so angst will be returning. I’m seated.

Episode 8

Murong Jinghe and Mei Lin go … dating? More cute moments with our “couple” as they put on a show for the whole of Yan and the Crown Prince to convince him that, nah, he isn’t up to anything and he’s 100% a lecherous bastard.

The crown prince makes moves with General Luo and she’s not impressed. Yue Qian gets a shock when his manservant’s Shumo plan to smuggle Mei Lin out of Yan goes horribly wrong. Murong Jinghe manages to capture Minister Zhang, one of the Crown Prince’s henchmen.

NGL, episodes 8 and 9 were the eps that got me really worried and fearing for the drama’s health. I don’t think the writers (or perhaps Wang Jinyan) managed the transition from stoic angry assassin to semi-bubbly accomplice very well. I found the comedic moments between Jinghe and Mei Lin rather painful and wanted them to stop lol.

Episode 10

My faith in the show is raised when Jinghe’s public displays of crackheadedness make a reappearance. Hello, mad prince! I missed you! Our fake couple ramps up the Public Displays of Affection. Oddly this was far more tolerable for me than their cutesy moments.

And then more palace intrigue stuff. More please! So much so that it leaves General Luo mad and the Crown Prince smirking that he’s winning General Luo. (Yeah, no.)

Episode 11

The crown prince and Jinghe fights over “ownership” of Minister Zhang in a dramatic way.

I’m enjoying the poisonous banter between the Crown Prince and Jinghe. Ah, shades of Joy of Life, where Fan Xian and the second prince exchange pleasantries laced with threats. Jinghe and Crown Prince’s exchanges may not be as delicately terrifying as our JOL duo but it’s really wonderful to see two great actors – Liu Xueyi and Baron Chen – duke it out.

(Speaking of Baron Chen, you really need to check out Meteor, Butterfly, Sword.)

Something shifted in episode 10.

While episode 8 and 9 made me wonder if the show had jumped the shark, 10 and 11 made me worry a little less.

I was especially ecstatic when I saw trailers for eps 12 and 13. 100% celebrated when I saw that our “couple” is back to being furious with each other. Yay! Can we keep them this way, please?

Also, Mei Lin, if you thought what he did with the 10 beauties was bad, wait till you find out about that master of yours …

To be honest, I initially worried about the direction of the show. But after rewatching the trailers and the feature on how they made the drama, I regained some of that lost confidence because I could see that there are some exciting upcoming arcs, and I really want to see them played out, such as a rebellion by the Crown Prince, a war, some shenanigans with dead bodies with Jinghe being the unhinged prince again…

So, I’m back to enjoying the drama. Maybe I’m just an eternally optimistic person who can see the silver lining in everything. Maybe it’s the sight of Jinghe in his resplendent burgandy robes, staring down at Mei Lin as she dances. (Damn you, producers, for weakening my rational side.) Who knows? I’m just enjoying myself.

To be honest, I never really wanted Jinghe to be thoroughly dark despite what the trailers hinted. I knew that it also wouldn’t be 100% possible with the rules in Cdramaland right now, but most of all, I don’t think I’d have enjoyed it very much if he was truly callous, cold and basically mad like he is in the novel.

In my heart, I knew Jinghe would be a green flag cloaked in red. But my disappointment stemmed from the poor character writing of Mei Lin and the awkward transition of Jinghe being menacing to … nice? I get that’s the face he shows the people at his side, but I feel that it was too quick with Mei Lin.

Perhaps it’ll improve.

I’m quite pleased with Jinghe’s character writing, however. (Ok except for the quick acceptance of Mei Lin.) And even the Crown Prince has a good treatment by the writers. But Mei Lin needs better definition and steel to reflect her supposed deadliness and resilience.

So, I think I’m on the side of, “I’m still enjoying this drama, but I’m lowering my expectations a tad.”

I have to remind myself that Legend of Shen Li lost me for a good half a dozen or more episodes, so much so that I nearly gave up on it. Then, somehow magically around the 20th episode or so, it regained its initial spark, and it ended up being one of my favourite dramas of 2024.

Episode 12

The Xiyan prince is about to leave and he can bring the beauties with the burnt mark home, but of course, the crown prince has other ideas. Meanwhile, Jinghe and Mei Lin fall out when she discovers just how ruthless he can be to achieve his plans.

(Uhm ya, you don’t know half of it, lady)

Episode 13

The royal hunt is on and the Crown Prince is up to no good. Well, so is Jinghe as he’s intent on capturing Li Qi, a man who is connected to the tragedy at Qingyuan 10 years ago. But his plan involves jumping off cliffs…

Here’s what I can say, it is funny how quickly the story improved once the Xiyan prince left and we don’t have to endure 2ML shenanigans (for too long anyway) 😆

His little arc in ep 12 is pretty interesting tho. Try not to spoil yourself before watching it.

Anyway, I was super concerned about the drama, as I said, esp with episodes 7-9, that the show had jumped sharked. My primary concern was tha they were going to shortcut their emotional and relationship growth by making them be cute with each other from the get go.

But something turned at ep 10, and I can say at eps 12 and 13 that the tension, darkness and Murong Jinghe we knew in eps 1-3 is baaaack. Even Mei Lin seems better defined and her character writing is more solid.

Our couple is back to threatening each other and dang it Liu Xueyi somehow makes threats sound like seduction.

But what really shocked me, was the last 10 min of ep 13. Such a short scene, but a massively important one as Mei Lin finally realised the depth of suffering Jinghe had gone through.

It was a scene I never ever thought I will see in a cdrama, a kind of humiliation that is so awful in its rawness it will make you turn away in shock.

I am so used to Cdrama heroes being portrayed as perfect, always with beautiful skin, always suave and sure of himself.

But here, Jinghe is at his lowest in front of possibly the worst person: someone he has growing feelings for.

I am not going to spoil you about what happened, because this is a scene that needed to be seen to feel the impact.

Personally, I am actually agog that the producers a actually went there! But I really, really liked that they did. That’s brave writing.

Liu Xueyi and Wu Jinyan acted the heck out of that scene. That quiet, respectful way she treated him. She didn’t say a word and went to gather wood.

His devastated look as he was forced to LOOK AT THAT LOG as Mei Lin drags him away… the whole scene left me speechless really.

Perfectly acted, all of it. And both actors hardly said a word to each other during this time. I can see that LXY WJY are not the type of actors who want to pose and look pretty for the camera all the time, that’s for sure.

Honestly, I am glad Liu Xueyi was given this moment because he really showed what he was capable of here.

And ya know, I am not the type to cry when watching any drama. Heck didn’t even cry watching the Titanic, but I almost did with this one, because this is a humiliation none of us want to ever endure.

Anyway, they have An Important Conversation after the whole thing which will define their relationship now. If they ever do have lovey-dovey moments in future ep, it will feel more organic than forced.

Episodes 14 to 15

Jinghe’s night terrors AKA can we get him a therapist?

Mei Lin sees Jinghe at a vulnerable moment once more as he suffers through a horrible nightmare of the moment he was nearly beaten to death and crippled. So fierce was the dream that it left him trembling for a few good minutes. Again, Mei Lin just quietly does what needs to be done, no fuss as she gathers herbs to help Jinghe sleep. I love her style. She knows that Jinghe doesn’t need sweet words but practical help.

Though I have to be amused at his earlier attempts to literally get in bed with her. I thought he would’ve benefited from a cuddle or two but Mei Lin is having none of that LOL

As usual, this was a great performance from Liu Xueyi and Wu Jinyan.

The best fight I’ve seen in a while

For one, it has some of the most intense and well done fight scenes done in a Cdrama since forever. I wrote about it in my last post.

A contrast between the princes

Some will question why the writers included that small storyline with Commander Yang of the prison camp and his subordinate. I actually thought it was brilliant – episodes 14 and 15 contrast how the two princes differ in their treatment of their men.

The Crown Prince does command loyalty, but it’s all through deceit. Just like how he deals with all the people in his life, from General Yin to the Emperor, he projects an aura of kindness and benevolence and strikes at his enemies from the shadows when they least expect it. (Luo Mei will be his latest victim 100%.)

His men think that he’s a great man but will almost always realise it too late what he really is, as Yang’s subordinate finds out. RIP. Commander Yang, I hope you don’t get too big a shock in the afterlife when you find out the truth.

Meanwhile, Jinghe is the total opposite. He projects an image of a decadent and murderous bastard who is willing to kill people for amusement, but in truth, he is kind and loyal to his men. He worries for Qingyan when they separate, and when one of his men died during that massive battle in the bamboo forest he grieved so deeply that Mei Lin and Qingyan had to drag him away.

Both princes command loyalty in their men, but only one is truly loyal to them.

A quiet interlude So they had to go through hell (well, a snowstorm anyway) to reach an isolated, idyllic village.

Btw can I express my appreciation to the producers for filming in actual places? It was soooo satisfying to see a fight in an actual bamboo forest and a whole village! According to a BTS video, they hardly shot in the studio. After the tense, angsty episodes of 13-15, it’s good for our leads (and our brains) to have a vacation lol.

When I saw these scenes in the trailer, I just couldn’t imagine HOW Jinghe and Meilin’s relationship could’ve ended up being so … sweet!

But in episodes 13-15, our couple has seen each other at their worst; they’ve fought side by side like comrades and they’ve saved each other numerous times. The next step, love, is 100% more logical than episode’s 8-11’s cutesy moments. I’m so so glad that my fears about the drama devolving into a frivolous mess didn’t come true. And thank god for the intensity of ep 13. This couple really needed that moment.

(Speaking of which, I had fun reading through Weibo’s reaction to ep 13 – I posted the Weibo reactions to ep 13 on my Tumblr, so you can read it if you like.)

Anyway, 100% for sure they are going to have a Meet Yourself slice of life time in that village where they connect and ya know, get “heated up”.

Darlings, you know what that means, right?

PAIN IS COMING!

My not favourite moments

Xiyan prince is back. WAIIII. I get you need to be second male lead and all, but can you like stop taking up so much screentime? Each time we switch to Xiyan I just legit want to throw a mantao at the TV

Episodes 16-18

Many people complained that these episodes were “out of sync” or that the drama suddenly became another genre. But these episodes stuck with me for a long time. So much so that I rewatched them over and over again. For some reason, they were just so meaningful to me, as impactful as the pivotal episode 13 where we saw Murong Jinghe at his very lowest.

For me, the most meaningful and moving scene was this one – of them dancing around the bonfire.

I couldn’t really articulate why before, but today I decided to write down what I saw in it that moved me so much.

After a while I realised that that dance around the bonfire was a celebration; Jinghe and Meilin had been in pain for so long, tortured by their mission and inner demons, but the dance around the fire marked a turning point in their journey.

These are the reasons why their time in the village was so important to their growth:

It was a reminder and restoration of their true selves

Were they deluding themselves to forget about the outside world, their mission, and their vengeance and indulge themselves in this bucolic paradise? I think in that beautiful village, it was impossible to hold on to the darkness. And who would blame them to indulge in some peace and tranquillity?

During this time, away from the stifling confines of the capital and from the people who smiled at them but held daggers behind their backs, they could finally relax … and fall in love.

A dose of hope that their lives could be more than just about vengeance

Meilin and Jinghe had led such tightly focused lives for ten years: It was for vengeance, and nothing else. There was no space for anything else. Certainly nothing happy.

In this village, there was suddenly a new focus: Love. This made them realise that there was life beyond their quest to take down the crown prince.

Not only do the villagers give them a more human reason to strive for their goal, they could now focus on living for each other.

A reminder of why they have to do what they need to do

By living side by side with the villagers, they are reminded about the ultimate reason why they are fighting for justice and vengeance — to preserve and protect the lives of these good-hearted common folk, so that their children can still run in the fields, and the village could celebrate and have tables of food.

For Murong Jinghe, it’s a restoration of his faith in the common folk

For Jinghe, his time in the village is especially profound. He has never lived as a commoner. His life had always been about privilege and responsibilities. He’s used to being served and bowed to by these folks, and the only other experience he had with commoners is being crippled by them.

In episode 2, we see Jinghe say bitterly, first to Mei Lin and then to his dead mother, that for 10 years, he had regretted the mercy and restraint he had showed towards the people of Qianzhou, because it only resulted in him being crippled and his men dead.

His time in the village was important to give him an insight into how normal people lived and a reminder that they are more than irrational monsters.

When he played with the children, interacted with the village aunties and even sweet, hapless Wei, he is reminded of their humanity. They are kind, good-hearted villagers. These are the people he was meant to protect.

They are no longer the weapon-wielding objects of his hatred, his tormentors, but people with dreams and hopes, whose lives should stay free of fear.

When they danced around that fire, I truly celebrated with them because of all the healing they had done. This village helped them heal.

And notice in this scene that the frame pans back to the bonfire. I think, intentional or not, this is symbolic. Fire has been the source of both Meilin and Jinghe’s tragedies. But this time, the fire is at the centre of a celebration. The meaning of fire has been transformed.

Episode 19

First, have THIS face ☝️

Two, steal his armour and horse

Three, hide the target of your bro’s frantic search at his wedding reception and let her strut out like a queen

Four, ignore your brother completely when he talks to you and talk to his bride instead

Five, ride away like a king

Six, make his bride run after you

Let’s face it, Jinghe is a total drama queen, but man, does he know how to use this skill to his advantage. He wanted people to spread the news of him being alive and well? What way to do it than to gatecrash your bro’s big day with maximum style and drama?

Luo Mei – there are two ways our general will go from here on:

a) Get so pissed off at Jinghe that she joins forces with the Crown Prince to bring him down

b) Pretend that she’s with the Crown Prince so that she can get intel to help Jinghe

I am leaning towards b, mostly because Luo Mei’s character has not shown any tendency to be petty and she puts the safety of her nation first most of all. So far, the writers in this show have been quite consistent with their character writing, so I’m expecting it to be the same.

But hey, you can never know.

Other thoughts:

• I can’t tell if Luo Mei is just naturally expressionless or is it the actress. Hard to judge with her interaction with the Crown Prince if she really means what she says or is playing along. Oh well maybe that’s the purpose lol 😅
• It’s so sweet in a way to see the emperor so excited to hear the news about Jinghe … until he gave him the speech about betraying the people. You are going to so regret this, dad
• Zigu still believing the worst of Jinghe despite what Meilin told her is so annoying 🙃
• Yue Qian be plotting 😑 When is he going to be over?

Ep 20 trailer omaigawd after The Rise of Ning, I’m so done with elders fainting at crucial moments.

Also, ok now we have a valid reason to hate Yue Qin (besides him being a c@kblocker) – he has been a double agent for crown prince all the while. Can someone lend me a cudgel? Need to use it for something.

Episode 20-22

I made this gif so that Luo Mei can slap the Crown Prince endlessly.

You can thank me later.

Our crown prince is peak Evil Villain in these episodes.

Gotta give credit where credit is due: Baron Chen is doing a phenomenal job as the villain. We have pathetic villains, dumb villains, smarmy villains, but he’s not any of those. We all can’t wait to slap him all together. Good job Baron! *slow claps*

He’s that dirt you find at the edge of your sink that you can’t seem to scrape off. And then when you do scrape it off it’ll give you some kind of deadly disease. That kinda villain.

He manages to corner Jinghe to a desperate situation and poor Eunuch Liu !

What a good man, loyal till the end. I loved that little flashback of him and little Jinghe where he taught the rascal a secret gesture which Jinghe used to communicate the emperor’s poisoning.

Jinghe’s suicide mission

Also speaking of nefarious substances, you want couple goals? Most couples get matching T-shirts. Murong Jinghe and Meilin gets matching poisons . Can you significant other do that, huh?? (Talk about spoiling the market.)

Admittedly, when I first found out about Jinghe’s decision to be a lab experiment, I went: I know you love her and all, but bro, talk about terrible timing!

But the more I think about the more I think this is pretty much what Jinghe would do. Ruthless and calculative even with himself, he knows that his time is running short, and what with the crown prince now holding the reins of power (with Luo Mei’s army at his command on top of that) and Jinghe about to execute a suicide mission, he had very little room to manouever.

He had so little confidence that his plan would work that he had his memorial tablet installed in the secret room where he meets with his comrades.

The Reveal
And the whole I am the Shadow Master reveal in episode 23 – initially I thought it was an act of noble idiocy. I mean, yes, it was (as if my girl needs rescuing), but in his eyes, he knew that the only way for her to give up on him completely and not put herself in harm’s way is for her to find out in the most brutal way he was the one who poisoned her and caused her endless misery for ten years.

(By the way, did you know that Liu Xueyi crafted 3 different voices for his different personas? You can actually notice the subtle shifts in his voice acting the first 4 episodes of the drama when the personas were present then. I will say this, but Liu Xueyi is someone that you should never ever dub (like Zhang Wanyi) – he is pretty masterful with the line delivery. If you hear him speak in real life, it is NOTHING like the voices he uses in his dramas.)

Back to the whole Yue Qian and Jinghe shall make Mei Lin’s decisions for her arc, the Reveal actually made a lot of sense, and him handing her over to Yue Qian is an expedient and efficient way to keep her alive. And I shall give Yue Qian a pass this time because we have plenty of time later to hate him once Crown Prince exits the stage.

Still, Yue Qian’s “I love her” got me thinking, like how, lil prince? You knew Meilin for only 1.5 seconds and you’re in love with her? You say you want to give Mei Lin a choice and here you are bargaining with Jinghe like she’s a chess piece? Yeah, I’m really convinced.

Anyway, I just have to say I’m so proud of Mei Lin for not falling for Jinghe’s I never loved you because I’ve been an evil bastard all along . I love that this drama never relied on misunderstandings to heighten tension. Meilin is smart as a whip, and she does us proud.

Luo Mei in love? Hard to tell, really

Meanwhile, the Internet is screaming at Luo Mei for falling in love with the crown prince. But I think the scenes of her crying in front of the altar and even killing Eunuch Liu is her coming to terms with the fact that she made a Big Mistake and wrestling with what she must do to preserve the Yin family honour.

I am still not sure if she really loves the prince or is upset that she got conned, because the actress is *not the most expressive* of persons. (Does she have working facial muscles? Asking for a friend.)

Anyway, episode 22 ends in the best way, with Jinghe making his last stand and running his suicide mission. The trailer for episode 23 is murderous (in that it will murder me), and 1 day seems like a damn long time to wait.

Episode 23

Jinghe is beaten and stabbed to every inch of his life in this episode

And really, really paid for his loyalty to the Weibei army and clueless dad

Yet, despite losing 50% of his blood and at death’s door, dreaming of snow

He still looks gorgeous

Life is unfair

Jinghe’s desperate battle

Murong Jinghe’s suicide mission is in full swing as he storms the castle gates (so to speak) with his men. They are vastly outnumbered, and Jinghe isn’t confident that he’ll make a dent, but he is going to try anyway. It’s his last ditch attempt to save the emperor as previous attempts to give him the antidote had failed .

We get a big skirmish, and as far as palace skirmishes go, it isn’t bad, though the fighting scenes in this episode is not as good as episode 14’s or even Mei Lin’s battle with the Crown Prince’s men in episode 22.

It’s a bloody battle and I’m actually appreciative of the director really hurting Jinghe instead of making him some kind of superman with crazy wuxia skills. (Though hilariously on Weibo, some people complained that Jinghe’s martial arts must be bad cos he got hurt so much lol.)

Also, can we say yay to the Lu Lingfeng spear moment we got!

Why did Meilin go off with Yue Qin?

Damnit, Yue Qin c@!kblocker #1, you’re back with a vengeance and I’m back to hating you full time. But in case you missed it Meilin decided to go off with him because if he she didn’t, apparently his life would be in danger. Why do I think this is an absolute bullshit lie

Jinghe was left stumbling after her, unable to stop her.

But there’s probably another reason. She’s fulfilled her revenge (though denied having a hand at it towards the end, she bitterly said to Yue Qin at one point), and she no longer has any other reasons to stay around. And I think Jinghe’s admission of being the Assassins’ master rattled her, despite her logical reaction. She probably needed a break from Jinghe and to regain her confidence and some peace.

Thus ends the Crown Prince arc, but I’m with the camp that he got off too easy. I wanted a public trial damnit, not a quiet dispatch in a dark prison. Though, maybe for him and his big ego, such an ignomious death was probably fitting because he’s being told by the emperor, that he doesn’t even warrant a public execution, he should be quickly dispatched like month-old rotting food at the back of the fridge – quickly and with as much disgust as possible.

The emperor

One thing that dissatisfied me with this episode was that he didn’t even visit Jinghe after he fell from battle. Hey, dad, he literally took a sword for you, not once but many times, and not even a visit? Most probably it was an oversight from the writers/producers’ part, as they prob wanted to prioritise Meilin’s bedside visit, but having the emperor just be there, would go a long way to convey that he was concerned.

Alternatively, it could be that the emperor was in a tight spot. Both of his sons had fought with each other. One was downright evil in what he did, killing loyal officials and then poisoning him, his other son, meanwhile, had a secret army (and a secret assassin’s league but don’t tell dad). This does not look good for him, and he needs to show that he’s above it all and in control.

Still, one significant moment that you probably missed was the emperor admitting, in court, no less – that he didn’t teach his sons well, Qingzhou’s disaster was also his fault; basically putting the blame on himself, and declaring that he will write what amounts to a public admission that he fucked up.

He didn’t have to do that; he could’ve downplayed it or just blame the Crown prince entirely, but he took some of the blame.

This is a very BIG move for an emperor in China back then as this is almost close to admitting that he was wrong and had failed the people, and the philosophy behind the Mandate of Heaven is that the emperor is given the right the rule only if he serves the people well, but it’ll be removed if he does the opposite. that admission puts him in a vulnerable position politically.

That little surprised look Murong Jinghe gave showed just how significant this move was.

This is the emperor apologising to his son in the most public way possible. Rather moving, really.

And as Jinghe walks out of the hall, he sees his dead men (including the warrior that died in episode 14), walking back ot the palace, finally able to return home with dignity after having their names cleared. And Jinghe and the Weibei soldiers bidding each other farewell. 😭 What a moment. SNIFF.

Luo Mei’s decision

As I suspected, Luo Mei comes to Jinghe (and the emperor’s) rescue, though that doesn’t excuse her killing Eunuch Liu in the last episode, though it’s said that Liu was begging her to kill him, so maybe she was right to do so.

But what happens next got me scratching my head. She … decides to visit the crown prince in prison in her wedding gown, and it seemed like she really does love the Xueling.

Like girl, you must’ve smoked that incense good, it changed your brain chemistry and downgraded your IQ or something.

Yes, I did not understand how or why Luo Mei would STILL be in love with the prince, despite knowing that he’s traitorous bastard, This is probably down to the actress’ inability to portray the nuance needed for such a role. Luo Mei is reserved, cold and it probably takes an exceptional actress to convey her slowly falling in love with Crown Prince, being torn by what she discovered by him etc. Instead, it left me confused by it all. Eh.

Did the crown prince get off easy?

Life is unfair, but his death by poison in a dark prison cell is kinder than Li Qing’s death by fish scale flaying (whatever that means but it sure sounds painful as eff), but this is inline with royals getting a kinder punishment than commoners back then.

What’s bizzaro to me was that final “love scene” between Luo Mei and our crown prince. Felt zero emotions for them during this scene. And are they telling me that the prince did all those evil things for looooove?

And why was Luo Mei the one to deliver the cup of poison?

—

Final verdict: A fantasic episode but I felt that there were moments where they could’ve upped the emotional stakes and tension more.

Episode 24

I told myself that I’ll only watch Kill Me Love Me episodes on Thursday.

WHO WAS I KIDDING BWAHAHA

I pounced on this sucker the moment it was released like I was a Swiftie trying to buy Taylor Swift concert tickets. Pathetic lol

Luo Mei sets off

Luo Mei caused quite a ruckus in fandom in the last episode, with lots of people confused by her love for the Crown Prince, but I’ve come round to thinking that she just had a soft spot for someone who expressed love for her. Her redeeming moment was when she thanked Jinghe for helping her choose correctly.

So, in essence, she was blinded by love (I guess?) or desire to be loved, rather, and snapped out it in the nick of time, but the price is high.

Do you hate me?

But yes, we finally get THE CONVERSATION between the emperor and Jinghe. It’s interesting that he has this conversation in the same place he prayed to the empress and Jinghe, asking their forgiveness for not pursuing/revealing the truth behind Jinghe’s “death” and letting the Crown Prince continue unconvicted.

And the Emperor asks the million dollar question: Do you hate me?

Lemme think, dad. You exiled your crippled son to some cold corner of the kingdom, never defended his honor and basically stripped him of everything that made him who he was by believing the Crown Prince’s lies. I don’t know? What do you think??

Jinghe, surprisingly, said almost as quickly: Yes, I hate you.

Well, that was refreshing!

But quickly toned it down with a diplomatic answer, like a dutiful subject would do. The emperor wasn’t buying it and basically said that he was lying to him.

And yes, the gloves come off and Jinghe demands, why didn’t you believe me? Why didn’t you investigate?

And, the emperor basically told Jinghe that he was a convenient explanation to appease kingdom about the Qingzhou disaster, he had to placate the kingdom, and that well, it wasn’t a convenient time to investigate.

You can see immediately that the emperor realised he done f**ked up, as Jinghe instantly clams up and goes back to loyal subject mode, and gives a flat, diplomatic answer: “I understand. You’re the emperor of the nation, not just my father.”

The emperor tries to bridge the gap, but stops himself. He probably realised that he totally deserved that cold shoulder.

And he finally admits his real motives: Greed. This is interesting because during his “confession” a few moments earlier, he admitted that he told Jinghe that he had convinced himself that Jinghe was greedy and thus caused the massacre. But now he admits that he was the one that was greedy.

This is what I love about Kill Me Love Me. The writers (when they’re doing great anyway) doesn’t feed me the story nor overexplain things lest they think I’m too stupid to get the subtext.

Also, with actors like Liu Xueyi and Jiang Kai (who plays the emperor), it’s a delight to interpret the microexpressions being exchanged. I love that Jinghe refuses to meet the emperor’s eyes when he speaks those “diplomatic” lines, but only does so when he’s truthful.

(But with less than capable actors, however… it can be confusing, as we endured with Luo Mei.)

Is the emperor a bad dad? Well, yeah. But in the pantheon of bad emperor dads, he is at least trying to be better.

Xiyan Xiyan Xiyan

Yeah you can hear my lack of enthusiasm about the whole thing happening o’er there.

I have this theory that Yue Qian may not be this arc’s Big Bad, but my confidence is shaken somewhat when he starts mooning about making Meilin his Princess Heir … despite telling her that he wants to give her freedom.

Sorry man, but the actor is not capable of being Big Bad #2. I’m thinking that the Xiyan general and the king could be the real antagonists and Yue Qian is just there to make things worse for everyone LOL

Budding romance?

And then there’s this moment with Zigu and the emperor. Er, I’m seriously not sure what to think between the two. Is it more like a father-daughter relationship, or, er, something more? In this episode there seems to be an indication it’s more than that. LOL. Oh dear, I can almost hear international fans screaming in horror. (On Weibo I don’t hear as much of this, interestingly.)

Although marriages like these is common practice back then, I’m not sure what to feel about it. It’s just awkward for me lol. I guess I’m just a modern gal.

Qingzhou’s restoration

I’m actually very excited for this storyline. It gives our poor dejected prince something to do besides mope over Mei Lin and water plants. It’s a full circle for his story, and it’ll help him heal by restoring Qingzou after what the crown prince did.

Something interesting I found on Weibo was that some users commented that the reason why Jinghe didn’t tie his hair up was because he was never given a coming-of-age ceremony due to being framed for the massacre. I think that’s part of the reason, but it’s also part of his “mad prince” persona, who doesn’t care for the rules of propriety, who is very far from respectable.

But now that he’s cleared of the crime, about to be made crown prince (as heavily hinted by the emperor) he can now put up his hair like any respected official.

Episodes 27-32

I bought Xpress episodes but goddamn it there’s some bug that prevents me from unmasking it, but I’m a tech nerd so I have my ways. I wrote a whole lot of thoughts and then Reddit decides to erase it randomly lol. Tech is not playing well with me tonight.

Warning: Sincerely, don’t click on this before watching the episodes.

Yue Qin’s craziness

Er, YQ going all Count Dracula was weird, but I guess it works to cause more drama for Meilin.

Jinghe’s mad era

Yue Qin, you had ONE JOB.

He deserved all the punches Jinghe gave him.

But, yeah omg it’s so sad to see Jinghe completely off his sanity. You may wonder why, but he’s been through hell for ten years, and Meilin was the only hope he had for a better life beyond revenge. The thought of revenge sustained him, and I think if he hadn’t met her, and successfully executed his plan, he probably would’ve killed himself from the despair.

He also probably blames himself like hell for what happened to her. In that speech to her “corpse” he said, “It’s my fault that you died. I harmed you. It was me who handed you to someone else”.

It must’ve been difficult for Qingyan, already a mother hen, to see him deteriorate to this point. And stopping him in the nick of time before he killed himself! The poor man has been to hell and back for his master, seeing him at his very worst to … his happiest to his very worst again.

As usual, it was mesmerising to see Liu Xueyi in this segment. Now we can proceed to …

Thoughts about the ending

Seriously just a warning not to proceed and unclick before watching the drama. I think you should watch the show before you do this, trust me lol.

Yes, right, so remember what I said about NOT CLICKING THE ENDING? I was impatient and decided to do so lol. I just wanted to be over the anxiety of waiting lol.

I suppose for a CDrama, it was a better ending than I thought. I think mentally, I prefer to end the drama at their wedding and not proceed – and if you prefer to remember them at their happiest, maybe end it there.

Uh, Zigu dying. Why? What was the point of her arc beyond: Life sucks and then we die? lol

I think the cruellest thing was that on Weibo, the wedding scene was leaked first so everyone thought it was a good ending.

Then the express episodes landed and now people are hella mad.

Let’s not get started with MDL lol, they be rioting there.

I think, thematically, it didn’t make sense to end it this way, what with the talk about undying flowers and all that. It should’ve ended the way the novel did, happily with them as emperor and empress.

However, since they said that she got to live to be empress, I’m of the opinion that he managed to prolonged her life somehow, and he joined her quite quickly after. Life does happen, I guess. Why do we Chinese people like tragedy so much hahaha

That little scene of them meeting if the Qingzhou fire hadn’t happened, however, was a little cruel lol. Like yeah, remind us about the what if, thanks!

I think for me is I find it hard to process that Jinghe got to live with the guilt that he caused her early death for the rest of his life. It just doesn’t feel like a good closure for him What do you think about this?

Personally, I think the scriptwriters wanted to be artsty & memorable rather than conclude the story in a satisfying way for the audience.

But so yeah, I’m heartbroken but yet at the same time I’m rather pleased that they still got to spend some time together. This was the same feeling I got from Mysterious Lotus Casebook. You can only do so much to twist fate to meet your needs. In the end, your previous actions and decisions will catch up with you, no matter how noble your intentions in the present.

I wrote such a long essay about the ending that I turned it into a separate post: Kill Me Love Me reflections about the ending.

(Funny story: My post eventually got picked up and translated into Chinese by someone I was following on Weibo. Thought about meta!)

What I liked

• Camerawork – The crew actually bothered to shoot in actual locations. You do not know how rare this is! It was a delight to see these beautiful locations instead of pretending that this studio set was a forest, a town or a temple.
• Fight scenes – I thought Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty 2 was great. This exceeded it!
• Kissing scenes – The steamiest, most real and emotional kissing scenes that have ever graced Cdrama screens!!
• Solid, high-tier acting – Liu Xueyi and to an extent, Wu Jinyan, has set the bar so high for me I couldn’t move on to other dramas after that unless it was that good. And … no other dramas matched this quality of acting for me this season. Sobs. It has ruined me.

What I didn’t like

• The script fell short of what it could be, had plot holes, and did not coherently communicate the drama’s themes. If they did that better, the ending would’ve been more appreciated.

Conclusion

As you can see, the drama had mostly good points for me, and very few bad points … except where it mattered, the script. Sigh. It was NEARLY there!

This made this a tough drama to rate, so I’m going to use some math!

• Fighting scenes: 9 (the best I’ve seen in years)
• Acting: solid 9 for Liu Xueyi and Wu Jinyan
• Writing (Script): 7 (sigh). It has moments of utter brilliance and is especially good at character development, but fumbled many major plot points. The last arc was a big, big drag.
• Costumes: 8
• Camerawork: 8 (they took pains to film in actual places, and didn’t do much studio work! Highly appreciated.)

And I average out the score to …

Final rating: 3 out of 5 stars

#3Stars #CDramas #China #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama #KillMeLoveMe #LiuXueYi #LiuXueyi #TV

There’s something very nice and relaxing about watching a fake couple be a couple.

The story

Liu Mian Tang seems to have an idyllic life—a gentle, loving husband and a comfortable home. But there’s one issue: she doesn’t remember any of it. All she knows is that her husband, Cui Jiu, has devotedly cared for her and spent the family’s fortune to nurse her back to health after she was gravely injured by bandits. In gratitude, she vows to be the perfect wife and help him rebuild their finances.

However, there’s a hidden truth—Cui Jiu isn’t her real husband, and she isn’t truly the dutiful wife she believes herself to be.

In reality, Cui Jiu is Cui Xing Zhou, Prince Huaiyang, and he’s using her as a pawn in a scheme to trap the notorious rebel, Lu Wen, because he believes that she’s the notorious rebel leader’s concubine.

Characters

• Cui Xing Zhou (Zhang Wan Yi) – A prominent feudal lord, Prince Huaiyang rescues Liu Mian Tang and nurses her back to health … while pretending to be her husband.
• Liu Mian Tang (Wang Chu Ran) – She was found badly injured and amnesiac. She mistakes Cui Xing Zhou for her husband.
• Zhao Quan(Zhang Chi) – Loyal and humorous companion to Cui Xing Zhou
• Nanny Li (Xu Mei Ling) takes care of Cui Xing Zhou’s household.
• Zi Yu (Chang Hua Sen) – A mysterious figure who used to be Lu Wen’s accomplice.
• He Zhen (Yuan Yu Xuan) – daughter of a prominent merchant who longs for something more
• Shi Xue Ji (Liu Ling Zhi) – a prominent official’s daughter who ends attracting Zi Yu’s attention
• Sun Yun’er (Huang Can Can) – Prince Sui’s adopted daughter and co-conspirator. She loves Zi Yu.

Thoughts

What I liked

A strong female lead who is comfortable in her femininity
Wang Chu Ran was perfectly cast as Liu Mian Tang. Big kudos to her performance because she did very well here.

Want Chu Ran exhibited the grace, elegance, and gentility of a refined lady of the house. I found her character unique. She’s a “traditional wife” figure, yet possesses the qualities of a warrior. These days, many producers choose the easy way out when it comes to portraying strong females — deck them in armour, make them loud and commanding, and worse, bully the men in some way. Liu Miantang is proof that you don’t have to do all that to portray feminine strength. A woman can be perfectly feminine, a dutiful wife and yet be strong. I find this very unique in our current CDrama landscape.

Zhang Wanyi’s deft handling of angst and comedy
This was my first time watching Zhang Wanyi and I like what I see. (Yes, yes, I’ve not watched the megahit, Lost You Forever, yet.) Very few actors can handle angst and comedy skilfully, and he demonstrated his versatility with this role.

The uplifting portrayal of women
I am impressed that the female characters were written in such a balanced and progressive manner. I loved that Shi Xue Ji, a demure and timid woman who doesn’t appear to be strong at all, demonstrates her strength in quiet ways. I’m even surprised that a villainess ends up being given a sympathetic portrayal towards the end.

Our main couple’s mature and beautiful relationship based on mutual respect
Besides the understandable imperfections of our couple, what also appeals is that, despite the lies, our couple has a healthy way of being husband and wife. It is very calming and relaxing to see a couple who supports and is kind to each other.

While I agree with many that there should be more “spice”, I strongly disagree with the complaints that they lost their chemistry , and had a “mother and son” vibe after they wedded for real.

I found that stage of their relationship very comforting, actually. By then, they were almost an “old married couple” who’ve had their routines down, and have become so comfortable with each other that they’ve fallen into “old familiar routines” of relating with each other.

I found it terribly sweet. I like that their relationship is not all about skinship and big demonstrations of love, but just complete trust and support for each other.

Fun and memorable side characters
In most dramas, I just don’t remember the side characters much. But in this drama, not only do I remember their names, but their quirks. Nanny “what a sin” Li, Mr. Fang the hapless bodyguard/fellow con-artist, Mo Ro the long-suffering manservant, Mr. Zhang the quarrelsome neighbour, and even Lord Beizhou, who ended up being roped in as Cui Xing Zhou relationship advisor, despite technically being his enemy!

These minor characters appeared for just a few episodes, but were so memorable, likeable and well-rounded that it was so satisfying watching them celebrate along with our couple when they resolve their romantic difficulties!

No “creative” twist ending just to be memorable and to juice up social media attention.
You know what I mean. I was really, really worried that the producers would go that way and cook up a tragic ending just to get people ranting on social media (and earn them some after-drama buzz.) I’m glad they honoured the story and the characters.

What I didn’t like

The make-up/filtering
I don’t know why they need to slap so much foundation on the actors’ face or make it so smooth. It was distracting.

Relatively poor production quality
The camerawork. You can say it never goes beyond standard idol fare with overlit sets.

Downgrading political or war plots
Indeed, the political conspiracies and Liu Miantang’s past as the rebel leader was all very vague and not properly fleshed out.
The battles didn’t look convincing, and major political shifts are just brushed away or happens off-screen. Still, I suppose the nice side effect is the romance plot remains the highlight of the story, which it should be.

Conclusion

One thing notable about Are You the One, was that its initial Douban scores was a very high 8.0. This led people to believe that this was not a genuine rating, and it was somehow manipulated by fans or that, hilariously, they don’t have enough anti-fans. The rating has since then settled to a 7.8 rating, which is still considered very high for an idol drama. (Many idol dramas would count themselves incredibly fortunate to touch a 7 rating.)

Still, despite what people say about Douban ratings, not only do studios in China take it seriously, I generally feel that it’s a good enough rating barometer and waaaay better than My Dramalist’s, which I can most assuredly say is very fan driven.

As for me, I chose to believe the Douban score because there are very good reasons for its Douban ratings, which I have already listed above.

A rare drama that you can rewatch to lift your spirits on a dreary day.

Final rating 8.5

https://dramatea88.wordpress.com/2024/09/30/are-you-the-one-review/

#CDrama #CDramas #China #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama

I wasn’t sure if I’d like this drama, but it turned out to be a sweet surprise, even if it had a few major hiccups towards the end.

1. The story
2. Characters
3. Thoughts
   1. What I liked
   2. What I didn’t like
4. Conclusion
5. Final rating: 8

The story

Princess Li Rong and Pei Wen Xuan, a commoner from a respectable family of officials, married at the age of 18.

Their marriage began with love and hope but quickly devolved into suspicion and bitterness when palace intrigue took over their lives.

Wen Xuan can only watch helplessly as Li Rong takes in a fallen nobleman, Su Rong Qing, as a companion, and divorces him in all but name.

After 20 years in a loveless marriage, their lives end at each other’s hands because of vicious court politics.

But after dying, the two inexplicably “wakes up” as their 18-year-old selves. Can Pei Wen Xuan and Li Rong redo their lives and avoid their tragic fates?

Characters

Li Rong – the crown princess. The emperor asks her to choose a man as her consort from a list of suitors; many of them were not considered ideal candidates. Li Rong believes that she chose badly in her first life and wants to correct that now that she’s given a second chance.

Pei Wenxuan – He doesn’t hail from one of the great houses and is considered a “representative of the common people”. He finds himself unexpectedly winning the hand of the crown princess in his first life. Will he do the same in his second life?

Li Chuan – The crown prince. Devoted to his sister but disdained by his father, the emperor.

Su Rongqing – A promising young official from one of the great houses.

Su Rongyang – unlike his younger brother, Rongqing, Rongyang has chosen to lead a more carefree life free of court politics.

Shangguan Ya – the eldest daughter of the powerful Shangguan family, the power behind the throne, she is more than a demure lady.

Thoughts

What I liked

• Zhang Ling He’s performance is a lot better here than in the Story of Kunning Palace, and I think they made the right choice to dub him because I wasn’t keen for a repeat of his robotic performance.
• The leads had good chemistry and for the first time I wished they had pushed the boundaries and made them more expressive of that chemistry. (I want more steamy scenes, okay??)
• The story acknowledged that there’s no black and white decisions in life, and that people are not entirely evil or good. Sometimes, they are forced to make decisions that are evil due to survival or desperation. It doesn’t make it right, but it makes them understandable.
• Knowing what we know of what really happened to Shangguan Ya and Su Ronghua in their past lives, I’m really glad for their second chance.
• It’s a hoot to see so many Joy of Life cast members here!

What I didn’t like

• I really didn’t like the background music, it is bland, too modern and out of place.
• I’m very impressed with the actress playing Shangguan Ya – she balances her playful and ruthless sides very deftly.
• The rebellion towards the end looked very small and not very convincing.
• The last arc was chaotic and Su Rong Qing’s arc overstayed its welcome to the point beyond its natural limits, to the point of usurping Pei Wanxian’s screen time. Sadly, towards the end, he became a side character in his own story.
• Compared to Li Rong, Pei Wanxian wasn’t as complex or layered a character. Tragically, even Su Rong Qing was a more complex character compared to him. It was very different in the novel. He was, honestly, too much of a simp here.
• The special episode was chaotic even if it was sweet. It just felt very out of tone with the rest of the drama. (The special is actually quite close to the novel’s extras). This is one of the rare times I wished the writers did something different instead. As I had to pay to watch it, it was not a very satisfying purchase for me.

Conclusion

All in all, The Princess Royal was actually an entertaining enough drama, and its strength lay in the exploration of complex characters and their motivations.

However, I can understand why novel readers are upset.

For one, the romance never rose beyond “sweet romance” when the novel was very much not a sweet, teenage romance but a mature one with our characters doing adult things.

Sure, Chinese dramas will never go that far to show full-blown steamy scenes, but Legend of Shen Li managed to show that level of depth without it becoming soft porn.

In the end, the drama was still “good enough” but one can’t help but wonder if it could’ve been better if they tried to be more gritty.

Final rating: 8

https://dramatea88.wordpress.com/2024/08/22/the-princess-royal-review/

#CDrama #CDramas #China #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama

Joy of Life (Season 2)

Joy of Life, season 1 and 2, is not a drama to binge.

It took me a couple of months to watch season 1 because the plots were so heavy. I took many breaks, often detouring to lighter dramas.

I stopped at around five episodes of season 1’s end, and once I knew the season 2 air date, I watched those last episodes.

I think this strategy helped me embrace season 2 better.

1. Podcast episode
2. A word about Joy of Life season 1
3. The story
4. The characters
5. Episode logs
   1. (Episodes 1 to 6) Ressurection & brothels
   2. (Episodes 7 to 15) Vegetables & the Censorate
   3. (Episodes 16 to 23) The imperial examinations
   4. (Episodes 24-26) A marriage lull
6. Episodes 27 to 28: You are a mistake.
   1. Episode 29 to 30: Chrysanthemum Viewing
7. Final rating: 4.5 out of 5

Podcast episode

You can also hear my thoughts about the drama.

PS: it’s not an audio version of this article, by the way. This article has a lot more depth.

https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/x6iI2vcyfKb

A word about Joy of Life season 1

Joy of Life season 1 was a big, big, bit hit.

For many, it seems strange that the drama was a hit. For one, it feels like a typical guzhuang drama (costumed drama) with costumed characters strolling around Hengdian studios. What made it stand out?

For one, JOL is a rare fantasy historical drama that is not dominated by idol actors. (Idol actors usually come from non-acting backgrounds. They are often “high traffic” stars that have a huge following due to social media savviness or they got famous as singers or were stars in reality show. As a result, most are not professionally trained.)

JOL has A-class actors, directors and scriptwriters running the show. So there’s better acting, script and cinematography than the average fare. There are a number of veteran actors like Chen Daoming in the drama, and it’s a delight to watch them.

JOL’s story is also “genre-bending” and very unpredictable. And better, almost every side character is well-written, acted and are so unique, even if their appearances were brief.

Not that it was perfect – the first 12 episodes of season 1 was was draggy, but it built the foundation for us to fall in love with the story and the characters.

The comedy, however, is not for everyone. It has a very typical Chinese flavour with many Chinese puns and cultural references.

The story

In season 1, we meet Fan Xian, a man with 21st-century memories who finds himself in ancient China.

Or at least, what he thought was ancient China.

He led a charmed life, even if he was an illegitimate son of a prominent minister. He is protected by powerful men, among them a seemingly ageless and indestructible bodyguard named Wu Zhu, and the head of the kingdom’s secret service. And the emperor seems to be interested in him, for some reason.

At the end of season 1, Fan Xian “dies”, stabbed by Yan Bingyuan, the man he travelled to the north to rescue.

But is he really dead?

When season 2 begins, we discover that Fan Xian has faked his death to elude the schemes of the second prince. But faking your death is akin to lying to the emperor, and if the Emperor finds out what he has done, it’s off with his head!

How does Fan Xian get out of this fix?

FYI, one of the major reveals of season 1 is that Fan Xian is the emperor’s son through Ye Qing Mei. Fan Xian grapples with this reality and also navigates the court, knowing that if his identity ever comes out, he and his loved ones will be in more danger.

Season 2 covers the middle of the 730+ chapter novel; season 2 gets into more “scheming” territory as Fan Xian tries to build his alliances to survive vicious court politics. So, all those big questions about his mum and the mysterious temple are pushed aside, though not utterly ignored, for now.

The characters

There are so many interesting characters in Joy of Life that it’ll be difficult to list them all, but these are the most important ones, and some of my favourites:

Fan Xian – Our lead hero who has memories of the 21st century. Gary Stu and terroriser of chief eunuchs. Admittedly, due to his Gary-Stu-ness, it took me awhile not to feel like slapping his face each time I watch him on screen. But in season 2, he truly grew on me as he became more embroiled in court politics and has become more flawed, conflicted and ruthless.

Uncle Wu Zhu (sixth pic)- Everyone’s favourite killing machine uncle. He has watched over Fan Xian since he was a baby. He is ageless, mysterious and is a match for Grandmasters. Like Fan Xian’s mother, Ye Qing Mei, Wu Zhu comes from the mysterious “temple”.

Emperor of Qing – The emperor who is always in his loungewear but is probably planning your assassination while pouring you a nice cup of tea. Fan Xian once said that he always felt like the most intelligent person in the room with everyone … except the emperor. He is always ten steps ahead of everyone, is very unpredictable and ruthless, even to his family.

Cheng Ping Ping – My second favourite uncle. Looks like a nice uncle but is a murderous bastard with a nice smile. The head of the Overwatch and possibly the second most powerful man in the Qing kingdom.

Fan Jian – Fan Xian’s adopted dad and a minister of revenue. He loves Fan Xian like his own, and among Fan Xian’s many dads, probably loves Fan Xian in the most unconditional way, without agenda or motives.

Princess Royal– Otherwise known as Fan Xian’s batshit crazy future mother-in-law from hell. She once owned the Imperial Treasury and Ye Qing Mei’s legacy, but is forced to give it to Fan Xian once he marries her daughter, Lin Wan’er.

Crown prince – Son of the empress. Many assume he’s not very bright, but it is a facade; he hides his ruthlessness behind a genial personality.

First prince – A military man who prefers to stay out of the capital, he has been summoned back to the capital to marry the North Qi eldest princess.

Second prince – He doesn’t do much to hide his viciousness. He kills, schemes and discards people like used handkerchiefs, but meets his match in Fan Xian, who has now decided that he is Enemy No.1.

Third prince – The youngest of the princes. Largely ignorant of his father and brothers’ scary ways, he is the most sheltered of the princes.

Haitang Duo Duo – The Saintess of Northern Qi. Will beat up all the men without breaking a sweat and has surprisingly not done so with Fan Xian yet. But it’s coming, pretty sure of it. Fan Xian’s good friend, despite what everyone says about it being something more.

Wang Qi Nian – Fan Xian’s right-hand man. He made lying such a cute, loveable thing to do.

Fan Si Zhe – Fan Xian’s brother has brain cells that are focused on enhancing money acquisition. He may be a doofus in many things, but he’s a genius with money.

Fan Ruo Ruo – Fan Xian’s little sister and biggest cheerleader. She wants to be more than a married woman and Fan Xian wants to make it happen for her. She plays an important role in the grand scheme of things.

Li Wan Er – In season 1, she was a character so bland, I only remember her as “Chicken drumstick girl”. Fan Xian’s love interest – she truly grows into a more unique character in season 2.

Episode logs

Do not proceed if you have not watched Joy of Life 2! This sections has spoilers galore.

(Episodes 1 to 6) Ressurection & brothels

People, especially Chinese viewers, were actually quite upset with the first six episodes because they were not in the novel and also because it seemed awkward.

As usual, I seemed to go against the crowd – I loved them LOL. They seem like a light transition from the heavy events of season 1’s last arc and a gentle reintroduction to the Joy of Life universe.

I particularly enjoyed the introduction of Wang Qi Nian’s family, which humanised him even further. And I’m loving Fan Xian’s stepmother more and more as I watch these episodes. Scenes that stood out for me:

• Fan Xian getting angry at Si Zhe. This was a rare time, after Teng Zijing, that we see lose control and act out on his anger.
• Of course, that scene with the vegetable seller in front of the brothel. How he literally hung on to tell him what was inside only to die from his wounds.

One criticism I agreed with is that sometimes, Joy of Life’s comedy doesn’t always land and is, well, lame. For example, that moment where Ba Ba told Fan Xian her name. His reaction to her name made me ask if there’s some cultural element I might be missing, but it turns out that it was just that – he was amused that she was called 爸爸, the modern word for “father”.

And the product placements! As much as I am happy for JOL2’s financial success, they were so distracting.

Also, I actually wished they hadn’t reenacted the last scene of season 1, because it felt so weird to suddenly seem him, er, thin. If they had just started with the scene where the emperor was running down the halls after hearing the news of Fan Xian’s “death” and then to Fan Xian arriving at the gate, I would’ve totally accepted his weight loss as due to his “walk” back home from Bei Qi.

(Episodes 7 to 15) Vegetables & the Censorate

I suspect that this is the arc where most people will fall off because it’s very “talky”. Yet, some of us adore this, because we see the beauty behind the “talkiness” – it takes a masterful scriptwriter to hold your attention in a static stage like the hall where ministers hold court with the emperor. In episodes 10 and 15, I marveled at the fact that most of the episode took place in that boring room, yet I was absolutely riveted.

In the course of watching this show, I thought to myself – why doesn’t everyone appreciate Joy of Life 2 the way I do? Why did some people go in the opposite direction and deem it a deep disappointment?

One can only conclude that Joy Of Life 1, if you think about the 3-part structure of a story, is at the beginning where new discoveries of the world and characters are taking place. There are new and exciting revelations throughout the season.

Season 2, which is the second part of the 3-part structure, is bound to lose that sense of newness and excitement as it builds upon the discoveries of the first part. As a writer, this is the “shit gets real” arc where our hero stumbles, and discovers he’s not as invincible.

As I said before, I didn’t really like Fan Xian in season 1 because I thought he was a Gary Stu who got everything handed to him. He has powerful protectors and allies, is highly intelligent, wealthy, and has a cocky attitude on top of all that.

It is in this arc that I truly ended up liking Fan Xian as a flawed, real human being.

It is also in this arc that Fan Xian discovers that while he may be smart enough to outwit ministers, he cannot outwit the emperor.

He must have gotten his ability to use people as tools for his plans – to quote Minister Lin “to use them to do his dirty work” – from his real dad, the emperor. (But we will discover that the emperor is way more adept at this game than he ever will be.)

And I enjoyed the “fun and games” feel of the first few episodes of the arc as we try to figure out what Fan Xian is doing with Eunuch Dai and the bribes. It was hilarious to see everyone confused, and as usual, Zhang Ruo Yun acted the heck out of it. It turns out that this was Fan Xian’s convoluted way of forcing the court to investigate the second prince. If the emperor won’t do it, I’ll make the court do it! A dangerous game to play, especially with someone like the emperor.

But at the end of the arc, when Fan Xian’s “tool” – the Chief Censor, Minister Lai, – got out of control, accusing everyone including the emperor of corruption – he knew that his fun and games and overconfidence was going to hurt someone.

And in that poignant scene in the rain, as he tries to vainly shield Minister Lai from the rain, knowing that he had caused this man’s death … it hits Fan Xian hard that his schemes will get innocent people killed if he’s careless or fail.

It turns out that accusing the emperor wasn’t Minister Lai’s big mistake, as Chen Ping Ping later explained. His mistake was going to Fan Xian and work with him on a joint investigation.

The emperor wants Fan Xian to be a “lone minister”, one with no allies in court. Not only does this isolate him so that Fan Xian is easier to control, but because the emperor wants the Overwatch as his personal “blade” to do whatever dirty work he wants. He doesn’t want anyone else in the pot, nor does he want anyone influencing Fan Xian. The Overwatch is his and his alone. And Fan Xian’s allegiance must belong to him 100%.

Yes, Fan Xian got his cunning and scheming from his dad, the emperor. But he got his idealism and kindness from his mother. Unlike his father, his heart would bleed if his “tools” end up hurt in his schemes. And that what makes him different … and a threat to the emperor, because while he understands the Crown Prince and Second Prince’s thirst for power, he doesn’t understand kindness.

(Episodes 16 to 23) The imperial examinations

This appears to be a simple arc where Fan Xian champions poor scholars, but turns out to be even more complex than Fan Xian (and us viewers) anticipate.

It seems like an odd arc to follow the heavy and depressing Censorate arc. Indeed, the transition was awkward at first, but eventually I think becomes a good transition for Fan Xian’s arc where he realises that the emperor is always 10 steps ahead of him (and 20 steps ahead of everyone else). It gives the audience a clear view of how absolutely frightening the emperor can be. (Woe to the sons to have a father like this, seriously!)

We eventually find out that the whole thing with the examination, is the emperor using Fan Xian’s idealism and heart for justice, for his own purposes. Fan Xian ends up inevitably being the emperor’s tool to remove the prime minister.

I can’t remember which character said this (I think it’s either the Chancellor or the Grand Princess), but the emperor is the kind of person who will not get his hands dirty to achieve his plans, but by manipulating other people to do something without them even realising that they’re being used!

The “banter” between the emperor and the prime minister was astounding. Like Fan Xian, we are absolutely clueless at what’s happening, but it turns out that the chancellor was literally fighting for his life in that scene. (And even then, he got only a temporary reprieve because the emperor sent assassins after he headed off to his “retirement”, something Fan Xian only managed to only prevent after figuring out Cheng Ping Ping’s riddle at the very last minute.)

The plotting, machinations, the hidden meanings behind the layered dialogue is what makes JOL2 such a delight for some … and utter boredom for others.

This is the kind of drama for people who loves to puzzle out things, who prefer to have their plot hinted at, not told, but it can be frustrating for those who don’t feel like doing all this work.

Definitely not an arc that will spoonfeed you the plot or the characters’ motivations. I think this arc is primarily to demonstrate the depth of the emperor’s machinations, and what a dangerous opponent he is.

My favourite moments:
Fan Xian riding down that lane in view of all the scholars like some hero to not just show the scholars but also to the plotters that “he’s watching”.

The chancellor’s “banter” with the emperor made me sweat eventhough I had absolutely no idea what was going on. I knew shit was happening but I have no idea what that shit is lol.

Favourtie character moments:
Fan Xian taking in that poor scholar (whose whole village was killed) as his retainer. For a poor scholar like him, during those times, having his village destroyed meant that he is now impoverished and homeless. Fan Xian literally saved his life by doing this.

Random thoughts

What is it about Chen Dao Ming that when he walks into a room, you just have to pay attention??

Fan Xian cooking pastries for Deng Zi Yue and Wang Qinian is a nice touch to show his care and regard for his subordinates. I’ve never seen a guzhuang hero doing this!

Don’t you just love it that the characters do not tell you they hate each other through internal monologues, but through polite dialogues with each other? I particularly enjoy the smarmy, fake smile, hate-laced interactions between the Crown Prince and the Second prince.

Deng Zi Yue – that intense scene between Fan Xian and the groveling Deng Zi Yue was fantastic to watch. Surprisingly some Chinese netizens hated that scene, saying that Fan Xian was hypocritical for treating him that way. I thought the scene was appropriate – Fan Xian was forcing DZY out of his meek, hardened shell. The man was so used to making himself so small to protect himself that he needed shock therapy. At one point, Deng Zi Yue admitted to Fan Xian that was all he could do – to protect himself. I enjoyed seeing him emerge into the righteous, brave man he was before court politics ground him down.

(Episodes 24-26) A marriage lull

I call these episodes “a nice break”, because we all know that’s what they do before all hell breaks loose. (I find it interesting that in the novel, the wedding happens much earlier. I think the scriptwriter thought as I did, what better way to create a lull before future explosive events than a wedding?)

Of course, the events leading up to these “joyful” episodes weren’t as joyful, because Ling’er had to bid her father goodbye as the emperor decided to get rid of him in the most elaborate conversation about retirement ever.

That scene where Fan Xian had the audience with both his fathers – one biological, another his “real” dad, was hilarious. The whole “show” they put on for the emperor was so hilarious that you could almost feel the emperor rolling his eyes hard.

Frankly, I expected far more trouble for Fan Xian but it turned out to be a rather uneventful wedding. Well, except for the whole second prince barging into his wedding reception thing and Ye Ling’er trying to tell Wan’er about Fan Xian being involved in her brother’s murder.

And I thought it was hilarious that Shi Zhe and Da Bao tried to interrupt Fan Xian’s wedding night, with Si Zhe in the couple’s bedchamber preventing them from enjoying some alone time! And Uncle Wu Zhu visiting at that time too!

Come on, guys. Give them that time alone – they totally earned it!

It’s so sweet that the Overwatch came to greet the couple in the morning.

There were many other beautiful moments in this mini arc, but my favourite moment was Fan Xian insisting that his stepmother sit in the chair beside his father, so that he could give her his full respect, and that in his eyes, she is his mother. The joy in her eyes was beautiful to see. Quite a journey for their relationship, because when he arrived in the household, they were suspicious of each other, and she seemed like a typical scheming stepmother, but has stepped up to be a full-on mum to Fan Xian.

This is what I love about this show, that you end up loving all the characters, no matter how small they are in the scheme of things, that you’re genuinely happy when they are happy.

Episodes 27 to 28: You are a mistake.

“You are a mistake,” says Wu Zhu.

This, of course, raises many questions. How did Fan Xian get his memories? DNA? Soul transference? Did he get his memories from an actual person? Was he that person? So many questions.

Seems like Fan Xian’s mother was hiding literal bullets in a secret room. Why did she not destroy them according to the temple’s rules in the end? I think at the end of her life, she realized that Fan Xian would need this to fight the Grandmaster, whom Wuzhu casually implies is a monster.

Also, Fan Xian’s Poison Master Dad is such a sweetheart. He gave Fan Xian the cure for his wife’s illness, which is tuberculosis, apparently.

Treasury Bonds: Si Zhe comes to the rescue as he explains a 21st-century concept to this ancient kingdom folk.

This is Fan Xian’s ingenious way of restoring Nei Ku’s coffers which the Princess Royal had emptied.

Side note: There was this hopeful moment when Shi Zhe came really close to coining the term for this “new” (or rather, recreated) financial organization and system only to flub it towards the end.

That scene was so funny. Unfortunately, this is one of the moments where you really need to understand Chinese to get the joke. I relate to Fan Xian’s frustration, by the way, because Shi Zhe came so close to coining the word 银行 (yīn hǎng), which is “bank”.

Shadow’s obsession with Uncle Wu Zhu is rather cute but will be very problematic for Fan Xian in the next few episodes.

Episode 29 to 30: Chrysanthemum Viewing

In one very sweet scene, Fan Sr plays dominoes with Si Zhe and his family. This is a tradition that Fan Xian started in Season 1 if I’m not mistaken. So, it’s sweet that they are carrying on this tradition.

As with most Chinese families, love is not expressed with words, but with gestures. And this was a very elaborate gesture from the dad saying that he loves Shi Zhe and wants him to stay.

Meanwhile, Fan Xian is confused as to why the emperor is showing him favoritism during the Chrysanthemum Viewing Festival. I don’t think it’s coming from a place of love, if you know what I mean.

While he may be one step ahead of everyone when it comes to the emperor, Fan Xian could never figure out what the emperor is up to, and that makes him nervous.

Also, each time I see Chen Daoming, I just get so inspired. Honestly, with the quality or lack thereof of scripts for costumed dramas these days, Joy of Life 2 is a miracle. So many dramas just collapse towards the end so, it’s just amazing that we have a coherent plot and superb acting till the end of season 2.

We also have an indication that the Emperor is more than what he seems in this episode. Can I say that the fight between Fan Xian and the man in white is spectacular? That little spin he decides to do to create that wind effect? So cool!

Also, that little moment when the Emperor decided to risk his internal energy to save Fan Xian gave us a little glimpse of his humanity.

Fan Xian’s problems with his internal energy come to a head in episode 30 and Shadow’s obsession with Wu Zhu causes our hero some problems.

I’m touched, however, by how his adopted and real families reacted. Poor Fan Sr! Of all of Fan Xian’s dads, I feel that he’s the best, and the one who genuinely loves and cares for him, though Poison Dad is a close second.

Though, I could never really figure out if the Crown Prince was genuinely worried for Fan Xian or putting on a show for everyone.

In the novel, it seems that he was putting on a show.

Meanwhile, the Second Prince is probably off celebrating somewhere.

(Speaking of which, I’m going to miss the crown prince, or rather, the actor Zhang Haowei. The actor was involved in numerous scandals recently, and he “decided” to take a break from acting. It feels, however, that the “break” is rather permanent.

There’s no doubt that Zhang Haowei be replaced. I wonder who will be the lucky actor? It’s going to be so bizarre to see somebody else, but since they replaced another actress in season 2, I don’t think the team will hesitate, but the crown prince is not exactly a bit role….)

The whole sequence with Fan Xian hallucinating and laughing is so funny. He was also speaking modern Chinese, which confused the heck out of everyone. Of course, again, this is another moment where you need to understand Chinese to appreciate the humor.

But this funny moment has the unfortunate effect – the emperor now realizes that Fan Xian is like his mother. Meaning, that he probably has knowledge that nobody else has. The knowledge that the emperor probably covets and is also afraid of.

I could almost see the emperor already scheming. How does this change the game?

Final rating: 4.5 out of 5

#45Stars #CDrama #CDramas #China #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama #Fantasy #JoyOfLife

In Blossom review

It’s been a long time since I live-blogged a drama. This is because dramas in the last few months have not caught my attention in such a way that makes me want to do so.

Admittedly, this drama caught my attention because of Liu Xueyi, an actor who caught my attention in Blood of Youth, Love and Redemption, and Qing Luo. I’ve always known that he was more than just a pretty face, that he was a very talented actor and just inches away from breaking out into the big leagues.

I really think In Blossom could be the drama to do it.

If you have not watched In Blossom, do avoid the spoilerific Watch Log and head straight to the non-spoiler Final Review section instead.

And if you’re following this blog from Mastodon or Tumblr, do bookmark the In Blossom page and revisit it as the Mastodon post doesn’t automatically update.

Table of Contents

1. The story
2. Main characters
3. Watch Log
   1. Episode 1 and 2
   2. Episode 4
   3. Episode 7
   4. Episode 8
   5. Episode 11
   6. Episodes 8 to 16
   7. Episodes 17 and 18
   8. Episode 21
   9. Episode 22
   10. Episode 24
   11. Episode 28
   12. Episode 29
   13. Episode 32
   14. The ending (spoilers)
4. Final review
   1. What’s not great
5. Final rating: 3 out of 5 stars

The story

When the handsome, very eligible Pan Yue married Yang Caiwei, the city of Heyang was astounded. She was the last person anyone would expect to capture Pan Yue’s heart: She is scarred and works as a despised undertaker and apprentice coroner.

But then, tragedy strikes. Yang Caiwei dies on their wedding day mysteriously and Pan Yue becomes the main suspect.

But unbeknownst to everyone, Yang Caiwei has become Shangguan Zhi, the ingenue who traded faces with her so that she could marry Pan Yue instead.

Yang Caiwei believes that Pan Yue killed “her”. Determined to uncover his crime, she worms herself into his world, becoming his assistant.

Meanwhile, Pan Yue, who is now the magistrate of Heyang, suspects that she is responsible for his wife’s untimely death.

As the two try to solve the mysterious death of Pan Yue’s bride, they end up embroiled with the shady world of the Four Major Clans, and possibly a conspiracy involving the royal family.

Main characters

Pan Yue – Young, handsome, eligible, rich and beloved of royalty, Pan Yue is probably the most admired and eligible bachelor in the kingdom. But he only has eyes for Yang Caiwei, a scarred woman who was his dearest childhood friend. He has been searching for her for a decade and he has finally found her.

Yang Caiwei – Formerly from the nobility, Caiwei has fallen onto hard times after her father, a former Justice minister, falls from grace and her parents are murdered. She was working as a coroner and grave digger when Pan Yue finds hers.

Shangguan Zhi – The sister of Pan Yue’s good friend, she’s obsessed about her looks and Pan Yue, and 100% believes that he will marry her.

Bai Xiao Sheng – A street-smart hustler and Yang Caiwei’s best friend.

Zhuo Lan Jiang – A mysterious young vagabond who is Yang Caiwei’s good friend.

Watch Log

Episode 1 and 2

Not gonna lie, I was distracted by the fact that Zheng He Hui Zi, who played Yang Caiwei in episodes 1 and 2, won’t be around after because I love her performance here. I’m going to miss her a lot once Ju Jingyi enters the picture. I liked Zheng a lot as Tao Zi in Wonderland of Love and I hope she gets bigger roles in the future. I think she’s a very natural actress and talented.

Ju Jingyi is definitely very okay as a villain. She needs to do more of these roles!

And what can I say about Liu Xueyi? He’s hard carrying the show. I said to a friend that at this rate, he’s going to collapse from metaphorical exhaustion lol. He has a magnetic presence that I can’t quite define or explain. There was one shot of him appearing in silhouette at the door and I went 🤤

Episode 4

I was pretty surprised that the inevitable confrontation between Pan Yue and Shangguan Zhi aka Caiwei took place so quickly. By the way, I’m liking dak, gothic, moody Pan Yue so much. I want to say, “never change, Pan Yue”, but that won’t be fair, foisting such a miserable state of being to our dashing hero.

I definitely love that he literally wears his grief. The white streaks in his hair – what people assumed was a “vanity move” – was the result of terrible grief. And those gorgeous dark robes! It took me a while to realise that he was wearing the Chinese mourning colours of white, blue and black.

Episode 7

So we find out what happened to Pan Yue right after Yang Caiwei’s “death” and it isn’t pretty. Liu Xueyi is acting the heck out of Pan Yue’s deep grief. Can a person look hot when he’s so grief-stricken? Well, Liu Xueyi can totally pull it off.

Episode 8

I love how this show subverts the typical trope of “accidental kiss happens when they fall on each other”, only instead of the male lead falling onto his lady love it’s the opposite!

Episode 11

I’m now on episode 11. I’m pretty shocked that I’m watching so quickly – that’s usually a good sign that I really like the drama. I hope it doesn’t crash and burn like Yong’an Dream, which I had such high hopes for but eventually gave up midway because of the zero chemistry I sensed between the leads. JJY wasn’t as bad as I thought. I think all those comments made me “ready” for her performance lol. But ngl, I keep thinking, “If only…”

Liu Xueyi is 150% delivering here, and looks like I’m in for some fun times with his character lol.

Episodes 8 to 16

What I love about this drama so far:

• The grieving widower trope – uhm, yeah, just irresistible to us females.
• Liu Xueyi’s performance. Damn, he nails the “broken-hearted widower only lives for revenge” thing. And there’s something about the way he carries himself that is magnetic. The camera adores him in this show. Thanks, director! I’ve always known him as an impeccable actor and was pretty annoyed (for his sake) that he has been in supporting roles for so long. But I stumbled on this Twitter post where he said the supporting roles helped him to play protaganists today. (There’s a reel of the roles he had played since he was 16! I particularly dig the punk biker role with the grey hair. Have a look)
• The emotional connection to the cases – the Lantern Festival serial killing case really hit me in the heart at the end. I couldn’t stop thinking about the story, the tragedy of it all! Now that’s how you write stories. Despite the technical superiority of Judge Dee’s Mystery – better mysteries, camerawork, acting, it didn’t give me the same “oh God I need the next episode” now feeling like In Blossom provokes.
• The big emotional reveal we’re dying for – this keeps us watching episode after episode, wondering, “Will Pan Yue finally find out that his wife, Yang Cai Wei, is still alive and next to him? (Though technically since he didn’t really marry her but Shangguan Zhi, so are they really married?

Episodes 17 and 18

How to look cool in front of your lady love:

Step 1 – Spruce up

Step 2 – Declutter

Step 3 – Pour yourself some tea

Step 4 – Sip slowly

Step 5 – Smile like an idiot when she’s not looking

Results – 😅

Some people may think this is out of character for Pan Yue, but it is precisely because it is so out of character for him that makes this scene adorable. Liu Xueyi’s comedic timing and expressions was on point in this scene!

It is just so lovely to see the forlorn shadow hovering around him finally lifted now that He knows she’s alive and next to him.

Meanwhile, our second lead is busy ruining Pan Yue’s every single attempt to date Caiwei.

Episode 21

Finally, that episode we’ve been waiting for. Yang Caiwei knows that Pan Yue knows she’s not Shangguan Zhi!

That was a fine act by Liu Xueyi when Pan Yue was blind and crying for Yang Caiwei at the hillside. It was uncomfortable watching him so anguished 😢

Also, Yang Changwei finally knows that Pan Yue knows, and that kiss! (And the long lingering camera focuses on Liu Xueyi’s muscles 🤪 when he’s in the bath. Thanks, Mr Director, I truly appreciate it 😆)

Also, Pan Yue’s assistant (Ze) forever being that fly on the wall there to witness their big moments. 😆

There’s also a little sweet moment between Jiang and Bai Xiao Sheng. Kiss her damnit.

I wasn’t surprised by the reveal of who the mastermind in the wheelchair was. But now there’s another big bad in the capital. Hmm!

I know some people seem disappointed that the show is becoming less gothic and lighter in tone, and that Pan Yue is even getting quirkier, but I am loving the change. How about you?

Episode 22

I continue to love the camera work in this show. It is not exactly top-tier, but some scenes are beautifully framed, making the shot look like something straight out of a painting. Love this scene of Pan Yue walking down the corridor.

Not that it should surprise anyone, but Pan Yue, as you know, literally “wears” his grief. His hair turned white from sorrow, and after YCW’s “death”, he wore only blackwhite or occasionally dark blue, always in mourning. If he wore colours, it is always about work (going undercover).

However, his clothes are now brighter and colourful, reflecting his happiness as he is freed from the guilt that was weighing him down.

That emerald robe on him in this episode is a delight. 🤭

Episode 24

One thing I love about this show is how confident and forward the women are. They are not the typical, shy wilting flower types who are reluctant to express their desire for their men. I love the Uno reverse card they did in this scene, where Pan Yue is trying to be the smooth and seductive Cassanova, only to have Caiwei turn the tables on him, pin him to the shelves and and declaring what she thinks about his physical attributes instead 🤭

Episode 28

Me, after viewing this: OMG Pan Yue don’t you die on me

People on social media: OMG he is so pretty when he faints.

Admittedly, Pan Yue is gorgeous even when he faints.

Episode 29

I did it. I submitted to the power of Express episodes. Dang you, Youku, take my money. I have to admit they’re terribly ingenious with the whole thing. First, they charge you for advanced access; you can view an episode six hours ahead of time. And they did not announce the Express package ahead of time lest you decide to skip on the advanced episodes option to get the Express option. I bet you that advanced episode viewers do not get an automatic upgrade and have to pay more to get the express package.

Fortunately, I did not fall for the advanced episodes because it was just useless for me as they land during working hours and I don’t want to be distracted at work. But I did fall for express episodes, yes I did. But I’m really glad I got them because MyDramaList and Twitter was a minefield of spoilers, with an idiot, I mean, someone posting a damn video of a character’s death the moment the express episode was released. If anything, I often buy express packages to spare myself the pain of being spoiled.

But I shall go ahead and talk about this drama.

I think it’s credit to the writers that I’m driven enough to buy express episodes. The only drama I did this with was Mysterious Lotus Casebook. It’s not that the mysteries are especially well-written or compelling, but that I truly, truly care for the characters and want to know how they fare.

Episode 32

All I can say is that I breathed a sigh of relief. CDramas has had this unfortunate trend of going sideways in the last 10 episodes or so that I was holding my breath from episode 28 onwards.

My thoughts about the ending below, hidden in the expanded text.

The ending (spoilers)

I love it. Love, love, love it. Am very satisfied and happy with the ending.

But yes, I feel sad for A-Jiang eventhough I expected it because his tragic end was so heavily foreshadowed. Eventhough I wanted badly for him to live for Xiaosheng’s sakes, I knew somehow, that his tragic end was fiting for the story.

But this tragic though? It’s awful that he literally died a painful death. Writers, you’re too cruel!

Also, I didn’t think he was very smart at the way he went about seeking revenge. For a man who is supposedly clever enough to control a sect and get rid of a rival sect by his own lonesome, I expected more of him. But perhaps his competence was all an illusion because, after all, his dad was still alive and may be pulling strings in the background and mitigating his inexperience.

I wasn’t so sure where they were going with Pan Yue, however. He could meet the tragic end of his real-life counterpart, who was falsely accused of treason and executed along with his family. So, I was genuinely scared that the writers would decide to mirror history and our poor Pan Yue would meet the same end.

But fortunately he did survive, and had a rosy end with his lady love. To bad I didn’t feel a smidgen of chemistry between Liu Xueyi and Jiu Jingyi at this point, so what would’ve been the pinnacle best ending ever felt hollow for me.

About the supposed – “cliffhanger” ending. I’m not sure why people say it’s a cliffhanger. It’s more like a teaser, a possibility etc. It will not ruin the entire series for you nor will it render it “unfinished” in any way. The entire arc is needly wrapped up, so don’t worry, proceed it peace.

Just who is No.1? Well, who knows at this point. Despite its popularity, I highly doubt In Blossom will get a second season, so I have no idea why in the world the writers thought inserting this would be a good idea.

Final review

Sure, In Blossom was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but Pan Yue (or rather, Liu Xueyi) gave me so much joy. Liu Xueyi’s magnetic presence was the entire drama for me, seriously. Darling, please grace me with your abs and dark, embroidered hanfus once again. The world needs this community service.

With CDramas being the way they are, I really expected it to just go sideways sharply towards the end, but it didn’t! The storytelling, while not perfect and sometimes terribly convenient, held up till the very end. No fillers, no unnecessary side quests. No jealous rivals that bjorked everything up.

I would say this has bumped off Wonderland of Love as my favourite lite, cracktastic drama. Finally, a drama I can happily rewatch! I thought the story, while problematic at some bits were tightly woven throughout.There were no weird, unnecessary side quests, noble idiocy moments or side characters that fill up the space but don’t do anything.

What’s not great

Yes, they be downsides for this drama too.

The awful make-up
Dear god in heaven who did the makeup? Especially for Ju Jing Yi’s? Because those fake eyelashes are killing me inside. I don’t know if it’s the camerawork or the makeup but sometimes the makeup feels too obvious (even on the men) and it takes me out. Also, I swear, I was totally horrified to see tape on one actor’s face at one point. Hello, styling crew, were you asleep when putting on those wigs? Because I kept seeing the glue marks. I don’t usually notice these things, but the eff-ups are so glaring I could not ignore them.

But thumbs up for the wardrobe folks tho. Those robes on Zhuo Lan Jiang and Pan Yue are gorgeous. The women’s seem blander in comparison.

Ju Jingyi’s performance
In Blossom created an unexpected storm in the teacup: Ju Jing Yi’s acting.

Her performance just doesn’t match the skills of the first actress who played Yang Caiwe, Zheng He Hui Zi.

After going through the five stages of grief, knowing that I won’t see her again, I settled in with Jing Yi’s acting, which I eventually decided wasn’t terrible. Not good, but not terrible. A fine distinction. Though, I really, really miss Zheng He Hui Zi’s subtle physical mannerisms. The way she struts around, not caring if the world thinks she’s ugly.

Jing Yi moved around like a delicate flower. I wished she’d adopt Zheng’s more broad movements. I also missed the way Zheng projected this determined yet resigned air about her. Jing Yi’s Caiwei was too bubbly and perky. What I would do for that glimpse of sad determination and resignation of Caiwei’s again.

Again, I don’t think Jing Yi’s performance is terrible. Fun fact – I have a list of bad actors whose shows I refuse to watch because they’re just awful. But Jing Yi is not on that list. Yet.

But admittedly, this is my first drama with her, though I did watch a few episodes of Legend of Yunxi and barely remember her performance there. If it’s true that she is the same in every single drama, my patience would run very thin indeed.

The chemistry between our main couple, alas, is sadly lukewarm
Not at arctic levels like our couple in Yong’an Dream, but far from what I call “hot” or “phew we need to see them kiss more.”

A lot of people abandoned the drama due to the switcheroo, especially since they had a hard time transitioning from Zheng He Hui Zi’s better acting to Ju Jing Yi’s less nuanced one. I asked a friend – why did we continue when others didn’t? And, honestly, it’s down to a few things:

1. Liu Xueyi
2. Pan Yue’s character growth

I’ve noticed Liu Xueyi’s talent for a few years already, most notably in dramas such as Blood of Youth and Qing Luo. Not only is he an Adonis, he can act circles around the main leads of the dramas he’s always a second lead or a supporting actor. In Blossom is finally his chance to shine, and he delivers incredibly well, especially since the styling of his character is absolute perfection with those gorgeous embroidered robes, the white streaks of his hair and more.

Another reason why I continued watching In Blossom is because I’m not the sort to watch dramas nor is romance a primary motivation for me to watch a drama.

Meaning, I’m not the sort to ship anyone or even watch a drama purely for the romance. I’ve always been primarily attracted by character growth. And the more potential there is for that, the more I want to watch a show.

Watching Pan Yue change from confident, romantic hero to being a gothic, mourning, driven-by-vengeance widower was fascinating to watch. And towards the end, when Pan Yue regains the spark he had in the first two episodes, we are delighted for him.

Usually, Pan Yue’s romantic life would have been a wonderful enhancer to this journey, but due to Jing Yi being overshadowed by Zheng’s impactful performance, and due to Zheng and Liu Xueyi having such dynamite chemistry and Ju Jing Yi’s inability to surpass or even match that … well, darling, we have a problem.

So, Pan Yue’s peak happiest moment, when he finally reunites with his lady love, feels hollow.

But is this enough to forsake the entire show? Well, it really depends on your primary motivation or drive to watch the drama. Like I mentioned, I’m not the sort to ship anyone, not even the main couple. In fact, I tend to watch dramas where there’s little emphasis on romance.

So, if you’re the sort of person who’s interested in Pan Yue’s character growth or just want a simple, rip-roaring, wuxia-ish tale, In Blossom will be right for you. However, if you’re looking for a hot romance you can swoon over, you may have to be extremely forgiving of the acting performances or look elsewhere. Like Wonderland of Love, The Sword and the Brocade or of course, the doyen of sizzling chemistry, Dream of Splendor.

Final rating: 3 out of 5 stars

#3Stars #CDrama #CDramas #China #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama #drama #inBlossom #liuXueyi #romance

Yong’an Dream came to me at a time when I was craving something fluffy. It didn’t seem 100% fluffy, however. It had a mysterious and near-tragic edge that piqued my interest.

The story

Shen Wen Qi, the Minister of Works ends up in prison when the West Canal of Yong’an collapses. His daughters, Shen Ran, and Shen Zhen, fall from grace as a result. Shen Zhen, the youngest daughter, had always led a sheltered life. Unfortunately, she has now caught the attention of Lu Shi Yan, the imperial prosecutor responsible for investigating the case.

But Lu Shi Yan is interested in her for another reason – he has been having dreams about Shen Zhen. About an alternate life where she was both a lover and an enemy …

What I liked

• Jeremy Tsui was appropriately menacing as Liu Shi Yan. He had the bearing and gravitas to be the arrogant court official who thinks he knows everything.
• The second and third lead couples were actually fascinating. Shen Ran is a married woman, but how is she and Zhou Su An supposed to act on their attraction? Su Heng is besotted with Shen Zhen, but at least he thinks he is until he meets the beautiful but tom-boyish woman who is supposed to be matched with Shi Yan. I legit would watch a CDrama centered around these two couples.

Now, while I was mostly positive about Yong’an Dream in the beginning, I ended up fast-forwarding most of it by episode 12. So, what happened? Let me count the ways.

What I didn’t like

• I don’t sense any chemistry between our lead couple at all. I kept waiting for it to happen, and found it ironic that I was far more interested in the second and third lead couples!
• Jeremy Tsui was good as usual, but sadly the Ouyang Nana, while not awful, was not good enough to elevate her very stereotypical, bright and perky, blandly-written character to something special.
• Some characters end up being unnecessary roadblocks to our main couple’s happiness. It was an eye-rolling, lazy way to create drama and tension in the story. This was when I began to check out.
• The dreams that Shi Yan gets about an alternate life with Shen Zhen are never coherently explained. If I hadn’t known about the novel’s plot, I wouldn’t have any idea what to make of it. Is it prophetic? Hallucinations from too many mushrooms? No idea. I understand that censorship prevents the second life trope from happening, but surely they have more creative ways to explain the dreams besides sticking it there and hoping we would get it?
• The whole “she cries and he ends up in pain” schtick got old really quick.

Final rating: 7

All in all, watching Yong’an Dream is like eating a cake, expecting it to be as delicious at it looks, only to end up finding out that beneath the frosting the cake was made of cardboard.

I really felt sad for Jeremy, especially after hearing that he’s retiring from acting. (He made this announcement while this drama was airing.)

Jeremy is an actor I felt has lots of potential but is quickly aging out from the idol dramas he’s always starring in. There are rumors that his agency was pressurising him to act in these dramas and blocking his efforts to branch out, so I don’t blame him for quitting if this is true. But as these are rumours, I guess we’ll never fully know the truth.

Yong’an Dream was not a drama I wanted him to end his career with. Fortunately, he has more dramas coming out. So, I hope they will be much better than this one and that he ends his acting career memorably rather than with a whimper.

https://dramatea88.wordpress.com/2024/03/22/yongan-dream-review/

#CDrama #CDramas #China #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama #TV

What’s wrong with my princess? (mini drama, review)

General Murong Qiu Yu was infatuated with the second prince Li Mo, she aided him in seizing the throne. However, Li Mo and her sister Murong Xin Er betrays and kills her. But the gods are merciful and she is reborn; Qiu Yu found herself back on her wedding night with the seventh prince, Li Jian. Qiu Yu decided to join forces with Li Mo’s rival, Li Jian, to ensure that Murong Xin Er and Li Mo face the punishment they deserve

What drew me to watch this?

Found this short drama through a random search and am enjoying it immensely. Each episode is 10 minutes. I would have preferred it to be 30-minute long so that I don’t have to repeatedly watch the opening theme song 😆

The premise caught me immediately. Everyone wants a do-over, a second chance, especially after you’ve effed up so majorly in your life that you were betrayed by people whom you thought loved you.

What I like about the show

• The acting was quite good, not Zhang Yi Mou material, but good enough not to distract me.
• The sets were not the best. But it wasn’t flimsy or cheap.
• The premise was great though I felt the prince trusted her too quickly.
• The show demonstrates that you really do not need 40 over episodes to tell a good story! The tone is largely serious but there were some comedic moments, like when our main couple realised that they have started to like each other but our Murong was just too clueless to get Li Jian’s advances!

What I didn’t like about the show

• I felt that our heroine succeeded too easily and I waited for the inevitable middle arc where she will fail only to rise up again … only, well, she outwitted them all because of her knowledge from her previous life. But hey, that’s what makes it satisfying.
• The world also don’t seem well fleshed out. The world felt very “small”, more like a fiefdom than a kingdom.
• I had a hard time believing that Murong was such a capable general. They never really showed that part of her, but instead highlighted her as a wife, daughter, sister and daughter.
• The characters the villains were nothing really extraordinary. We do not know why the step sister is the way she is, nor why the second prince wanted to kill his brother. (I’m just assuming it’s the usual, “I want to be crown prince” motivation.) But having too much sympathy for the villains of a revenge drama is probably counter-productive! That said, the actors for the villains acted their socks off and was quite despicable, which made their ends satisfying. I felt a smidgen of sympathy with the ruthless way one of them was dispatched.

Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5

This is a tightly written story and the quality of the production isn’t bad at all. A satisfying revenge drama! 😁
You can watch the series on Youtube, condensed into a 3-hour movie.

https://youtu.be/RCKc0Xe5HEk?si=s5T-1uR6hK2j_Crl

#25Stars #CDrama #CDramas #China #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama #miniDrama

Meteor, Butterfly, Sword (review)

In this martial arts world, two major clans dominate: The Dragon Gate Clan, led by Sun Yubo and the Twelve Flying Peng Clan, led by Fan Xuan. These two clans are constantly trying to outdo and annihilate each other.

Watching all this with shrewd eyes is Gao Lao Da, the madam of a brothel who secretly operates an assassin’s group. Gal had rescued four orphans and turned them into assassins: Ye Xiang, Shi Qun, Meng Xinghun and Xiaohe.

When Gao agrees to send one of her assassins to kill Sun Yubo, she inevitably steps into the hot feud between the two powerful clans.

The lives of the four assassins get irreparably changed as a result, with Meng Xinghun and Ye Xiang at the centre of it all.

This show was adapted from a wuxia novel by Gu Long, first published in Taiwan in August 1973.

Cast and characters

• Gao Lao Da (Wang Yan) – The leader of an assassin’s group. She rescued three orphans and turned them into assassins.
• Meng Xing Hun (Baron Chen) – An assassin disillusioned with his lot in life.
• Sun Yu Bo (Roy Liu) – The warlord and leader of the powerful sect.
• Lu Xiang Chuan (Victor Huang) – Sun Yu Bo’s right-hand man
• Sun Xiao Die (Ivy Chen) – Daughter of Sun Yu Bo.
• Ye Xiang (He Gang) – An assassin who questions his purpose after meeting Xiao Die.

My Thoughts

In CDramaland, Jin Yong’s novels get much love, with TV adaptation after adaptation being made year after year. Gu Long’s novels? Not so much. Perhaps it is because they are often grittier and darker. It’s a mystery to most Gu Long fans, honestly, because Gu Long novels are as good as Jin Yong’s.

Still, Meteor, Butterfly, Sword will probably never pass China’s strict censors today due to its numerous dark themes such as rape, prostitution and Machiavellian, murderous “good guys”. (If you find these themes uncomfortable, you’ve been fairly warned.)

People had to do what they do to survive, and the prime example is Gao Lao Da, the brothel madam, who became a prostitute so that she and her charges – Ye Xiang, Shi Qun, Meng Xinghun and Xiaohe – could survive. But perhaps the price of survival is too great, as she ends up being too focused on weallth and power, using her brothers as tools and earning their hatred towards the end.

I first watched Meteor, Butterfly, Sword around 2010, and fell in love with this deep, dark and complex tale of an assassin trying to escape his past after falling in love.

Unfortunately, I lost my original DVD set (probably a casualty of one of my overzealous minimalist de-stuffing purges), so I have been looking for Show online forever. To my delight, I found the entire series on YouTube with English subtitles one day and quickly started rewatching it.

Meteor, Butterfly, Sword was as good as I remembered it! (It’s even better now that I can watch it with good English subtitles – I originally watched it without). You know it is a good sign when you binge up to 11 episodes of the show in one afternoon.

Every episode of our Show is a banger. There are no fillers or let up in the storytelling pace. I sorely miss complex, dark stories like this, where things are not sugar-coated and people are in shades of grey.
While this was a 2011 production, I find it interesting how rough and real people looked. No perfect hair or pretty men. They were manly, ya know? They didn’t have to be idol-pretty to have a presence. For one, I loved the actor who played Sun Yubo, the ruthless sect leader. What a presence!

(Fun fact: Since I watched the Show right after watching Mysterious Lotus Casebook, it was extremely weird to watch the actor He Gang as a righteous assassin when he was the total opposite in MLC. 😆 That’s a good actor right there.)

After I completed all the episodes, I felt sad, suddenly. Shows like Meteor, Butterfly, Sword are a rarity these days. I’d be glad and super grateful if one was made each year.

I find it tragic that most international audiences, who got into Chinese dramas via streaming platforms such as Netflix will never get exposed to these shows, and that’s a pity.

This is an anecdotal observation, but I noticed that a lot of internationals started watching CDramas during the pandemic. The shows that roped them in were The Untamed and Love Between Fairy and Devil. (And I have to confess, these were dramas that I started watching but just couldn’t and do not understand why people love them so much.)

While I am glad they got started in Chinese dramas, I hope that some of these folks would branch out from idol dramas and watch older dramas and realise that there are lots of great shows that were made before 2020.

So I feel like it’s my mission of sorts to expose them to older shows, and hope that they will somehow appreciate these gems from the past.

Note: You can watch Meteor, Butterfly, Sword on YouTube with English Subtitles.

Final rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Meteor, Butterfly, Sword deserve so much more than 7.5 rating it has on My Drama List. It is easily an 8.5 show, better than the modern CDramas rated with the same rating being produced these days.

#4Stars #CDrama #CDramas #China #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama #Wuxia

I’ll confess to you – this is going to be a short list. Many reasons:

• I’m generally quite picky and drop a lot of dramas
• I only watch one or two Chinese Dramas at a time, and Cdramas are so long that I will take some time to go through them.
• Half my CDrama watches this year are from previous years such as Dream of Splendor (2022) and Meteor, Butterfly, Sword (2010).

PS: You can also listen to the podcast episode.

Here are my Top 5 CDramas in descending order:

No. 5 I am Nobody

Imagine seeing an anime or manga come to life, and you’ll get I am Nobody’s unique flavour.

In fact, it was originally based on a popular manhwa, and it actually has a Japanese anime version.

Show has frenetic energy, an irrepressible spirit and loads of humor. I found myself laughing out loud at so many scenes.  I really enjoyed this drama’s wacky, cartoonish vibe, and how it mixes wuxia tropes into the background of modern China. Just such a breath of fresh air in Cdramaland.

The plot is fast-paced, there was never a moment where I wanted to skip. The tone switches seamlessly between silly and crazy to serious and heart-wrenching, and unlike another show, Back from the Brink which failed at this juggling, these moments never felt out of place and were never jarring in this show.

The characters were also unique and I can seriously say that I like almost everyone on the show, including the villains. Some really surprised me because I really ended up caring for them.

>> Read my review of I Am Nobody

No. 4 Wonderland of Love

I enjoyed Show for what it was: Pure entertainment.

Because I watched this when I was having my first bout of COVID, I am admittedly a little more affectionate towards it. I desperately wanted something happy to watch when I was sick, and Wonderland of Love delivered happiness in spades.

Still, this was an idol drama that punched above its weight. There were shockingly surprising flashes of brilliance in Wonderland of Love.

Like, in episode 30 and 31, it demonstrated that it could rise above its idol roots to become something more. I swear, I felt like I was watching a movie in those episodes.

But, it is still very much an aggressively idol drama where our two leads are prettied up to such a big degree that I can’t take them super seriously as war leaders.

There’s also pathetic villains, plot holes, convenient solutions. They really diminish the drama and it could’ve been a really, really good show if they had sustained the cinematography, emotional gravitas and storytelling of episodes 30 and 31.

At the end of the day, whether you will enjoy Wonderland of Love, depends on how far you can ignore its flaws and go along with the flow. It is best for people who like the drama’s tropes: brotherhood and star-crossed lovers.

>> Read my review of Wonderland of Love

No. 3 Ripe Town

I looked at Ripe Town as more than a serial killer crime drama.

To me, the story that really impacted me the most was not the whodunit, but to watch the effects of corruption on a once-great dnyasty.

For quick context, this takes place towards the waning years of the Ming dynasty, and Ripe Town is like a focused view of how corruption affected one village and her people. You get the idea that this decay, multiplied many times over throughout the whole country, was what enabled the Manchus to take over and for the Qing dynasty to begin.

With the rot infecting the justice system, the entire foundation of the empire was going to crumble sooner or later as good men are sacrificed on the altars of deceit and vengeance, to the detriment of the entire civilisation.

This was such a surprise drama for me in 2023. I’ve long resigned myself that the Cdramas of old, where cinematography can be beautiful and like works of art, are gone.

These days, it’s all about “let’s just make a minimum viable product, push it out quickly, rake in the cash and move on”. Why bother with setting up the lighting properly, or giving our characters appropriate costumes? Let’s just cast traffic actors even if they don’t fit the role!

But here, not only do they shoot the dramas beautifully, the set, the costumes are characters of their own. The village building’s moss-covered walls, the characters wear clothes made of rough linen and even have patches of odd-coloured fabric to show that the dress has been mended over and over again. There’s dirt on people’s faces, and the lighting is appropriately moody and overcast.

Ripe Town gives me hope that there are still some people in Chinese entertainment industry who are still willing to invest the time in making good dramas, so here’s hoping that more dramas of this calibre will be shown in 2024.

>> Read my review of Ripe Town

No. 2 Mysterious Lotus Casebook

This is one rare Chinese drama where I wished there were 80 episodes. 40 episodes flew by like that, and was just so well done.

Mysterious Lotus Casebook is about honor, courage and doing your best to live and rise above bitterness and hatred.

It’s a classic wuxia tale of brother, chivalry and honour. If you love stories about heroes going on adventures in the jiang hu, you will like Mysterious Lotus Casebook.

If you want to hear my full thoughts about Mysterious Lotus Casebook, you can read my review on the blog or the first Drama Tea podcast episode.

>> Mysterious Lotus Casebook review and podcast episode

No. 1 A Journey to Love

This story gets its high marks due to its mostly tight storytelling, an outstanding cast, great character development, and strong portrayal of women.

Of all the dramas I’ve watched this year, A Journey to Love has the best designed characters who develop organically. The female characters are especially well-written, especially Yang Ying, who grew from a scared, sheltered pampered princess to a fierce lioness and budding political strategist.

What I am actually impressed with is that even bit side characters like Official Du and Emperor Wu turned out to be well-fleshed characters that we end up caring. I loved how every character, no matter how small, got a character arc.

However, it tried to squeeze in too much at the end, and the vague-ish ending didn’t help matters either. Seriously, what happened? There are some parts that I wished they had cut out such as (ahem) Li Tong Guang’s airtime so that we could make more room for a proper fleshing out of the resolution.

It is tragic, however, that due to the many negative comments on social media, many people would give this drama a pass. Because A Journey to Love was a beautiful journey.

It’s not a perfect drama for sure, but I’ll talk about the drama in depth in my next podcast episode which would most probably air at the start of January 2024.

>> Read the A Journey to Love review

Honourable mention: The Blood of Youth

Technically, it started in 2022 and finished airing in 2023, so I will include it as an “honourable mention”.

I wasn’t enthused on its video-game vibe and “finger fu” fighting scenes, but the drama had solid casting, interesting characters and great storytelling. Out of curiosity, I watched the original donghua and loved it too.

Worth a look!

>> I’ll be sharing the review of The Blood of Youth by the end of this week. Stay tuned!

https://dramatea88.wordpress.com/2023/12/27/2023-top-5-chinese-dramas/

#CDrama #CDramas #China #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama #Fantasy #TV

The Story of Kunning Palace was one of the popular Cdramas of November. But does popularity = good storytelling? I weigh in.

I’ve also written an in-depth ⁠review for Story of Kunning Palace⁠ – it includes a watch log where I make quips and observations of what happened in (almost) each episode.

https://dramatea88.wordpress.com/2023/12/10/season-1-episode-6-story-of-kunning-palace/

#CDrama #CDramas #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama #TV

Story of Kunning Palace review

Started watching: Nov 20, 2023
Final update Dec 5, 2023

There was a lot of buzz about the show so I decided to see what the fuss was all about. However, I eventually grew annoyed with the increasing overcomplexity of the plot. One needs to be in the mood for such things and I suspect I wasn’t. So, I bailed around episode 12 and escaped to Wonderland of Love.

I returned after I completed Wonderland, feeling completely satisfied by the good watch. I have to admit that I felt a lot of dread returning to Story of Kunning Palace. In fact, a lot of people advice me to drop it already because I don’t seem to like it. However, I am driven by the mystery that is Xie Wei.

And like Back from the Brink, the other drama I abandoned and later resumed, I found myself drawn back in. But what’s my final verdict? Stay tuned.

You can also listen to my podcast review of Story of Kunning Palace.

Note: If you have not watched the show yet, be sure to avoid the spoilerific Watch Log. Head on to the spoiler-free final review instead.

1. The story
2. Characters
3. Watchlog (beware of spoilers)
   1. Episode 1-6
   2. Episode 7
   3. Episode 8
   4. Episode 9
   5. Episode 10
   6. Episode 11
   7. Episode 12
   8. Episode 13-20
   9. Episode 17
   10. Episode 21
   11. Episode 22
   12. Episode 23
   13. Episode 24
   14. Episode 25
   15. Episode 27
   16. Episode 28
   17. Episode 29
   18. Episode 30
   19. Episode 32
   20. Episode 33
   21. Episode 34
   22. Episode 36
   23. Episode 40
4. What I like about the show
5. What I didn’t like
6. Thoughts about the ending
7. Final review
8. Final Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5

The story

Xuening was an empress in her former life, but she did many, many bad things to get there. It all ended badly with rebels invading the palace.

When she finds herself “reborn” into her 18-year-old self, she decides to lead “a good life” and do right by the people she had harmed in her past life.

Characters

The Xue family – A scheming, bloodthirsty lot whose sole purpose in life, apparently, is to bring disaster on everyone as they scrabble for power. Unfortunately, the empress dowager is from this family. Duke Xue is the main villain of the story. If there’s proof for “bad genes”, this is it.

The Yan family – An honourable military family and blood enemies of the Xues. A long time ago, they were connected by marriage, but not anymore. They are still grieving the loss of Xue Dingfeng, a young boy who died during a rebellion 20 years ago, andwas the son of the current Marquis Yan’s late sister and the Duke of Xue.

Xie Wei – a court official with mysterious motivations and plans

Jiang Xuening – an empress in her first life, she’s now an 18-year-old determined to avoid palace life

Zhang Zhe – honourable court official for the justice department.

Yan Lin – Xuening’s best friend and long-time admirer and scion of the Yan family.

Watchlog (beware of spoilers)

Read this part only after you’ve watched or while watching the Show. You’ve been warned!

Episode 1-6

So, I watched Only for Love first, and I have to say that Bai Lu is so much better here, it’s crazy. Bai Lu is very believable as an empress. The way she speaks, looks, and carries herself as an empress was very impressive.

Zhang Ling He is not bad. Here he is playing another cold, shady character. I would say that this is his best role to date, though I cannot say that he’s amazing like some fans say. I’m sorry, my friends, but he’s nowhere even near Hu Ge level. He has potential, but just slightly above average for now. For now, I feel that he has trouble emoting intense scenes and can overact during those scenes.

And they didn’t edit out that actor who had that scandal and caused Kunning Palace to be on hold? Good for him.

Wait what, there’s a modern scene in the middle of it all? Eh. What’s going on?? That was so weirdly jarring!

Joy of Life had the same thing and it threw me off completely because it makes it hard for me to buy the story.

Incidentally, we see a moth flying around the sleeping writer. Fun fact, in Chinese mythology moths are said to be the manifestation of the spirits of the dead. If we see a moth in the house after someone passes away, we are not to kill it because it is said to be the spirit of the person who just passed away, and they were visiting.

So, my theory is that the actual spirit of the empress, sparked by the writer (or maybe she influenced the writer) returns to the past. Without the writer as a catalyst, she couldn’t do that.

Liking it a lot so far. I find the cinematography interesting especially at the start, even if I found the premise (or how she reborns) hard to buy.

PS: Xuening is such a b***h. Even she admits that she was one. “I used to be so arrogant and difficult,” she says at one point.

My experience with the first six episodes of this drama can be summed up with this gif:

Episode 7

Initially, I thought Zhang Ling He did quite well with his dubbing. While he is not bad at playing a morally grey character, now I really think he needs to be dubbed because he sounds like he’s reciting a dictionary and has as much emotion doing it. I die a little each time I listen to him talk.

Bai Lu is slightly better but I hate to say it, but she’s also not good at emotional delivery.

Episode 8

I am at episode 8 of Story of Kunning Palace and I am starting to lose interest.

At first, it was novel to not know what the heck is going on and just experience this world of political intrigue but now I am annoyed. Probably because I am watching it at the end of the day when my brain cells at no longer powered up, but I can’t follow the story at all.

Unpopular opinion: The drama has a poor narrative structure.

I will continue to watch it as I do want to know what the hell is happening but this is tinged with a dash of resentment and annoyance 😂

I think people who like this drama likes the novelty of being in the dark and just being thrown around by the various plot twists. But I have no patience for this at the end of a tiring work day 😑

Episode 9

Am I the only one who feels that the sudden interest Xie Wei has for Ning’er very odd, especially since she found out about that jade scepter thing and his involvement in it?

Also, finally glad there’s an explanation of why Xie Wei was so cold to her despite their meeting four years ago. Can’t help but think it could be made clearer from the start.

Why is Yan suddenly cold and standoffish from Ning’er? Is it because he wants to protect her from his family’s shaky standing?

Episode 10

I realised what kind of drama Story of Kunning Palace is – a puzzle story! The kind of story where viewers try to solve the mystery as the story plays out.

I really do not like the empress dowager. So, Ning’er had to deal with her as a mother-in-law in her first life, I assume? Not fun!

Yes, I have more questions than opinions right now. I’m still at the “what the heck is goin’ on” stage.

I’m also not feeling the supposed vibe/attraction between Ning’er and Xie Wei yet. And I wish they could move away from the school setting lol.

Hmm … I think part of the reason why I do not seem to like this drama as much as I don’t really like palace intrigue, and I especially do not like cattiness between women which is why I avoid palace harem dramas. Well, not at this time of my life when I just want to be happy after work.

Episode 11

Why do I feel that the young child Marquis (who was tragically killed) is actually Xie Wei? Is that why he’s helping the Yan family? Because they’re literally his family?

I really shuddered at the story of the 300 souls who died in the rebellion. Honestly, I get really upset at the thought of kids being harmed in any way, and when I saw the poor boy’s mother crawling toward that fire pit, my heart about gave out.

Children harmed in shows can make me avoid it like a plague. I didn’t watch Game of Thrones because I accidentally watched a video on Youtube of a certain character being burnt at stake. That scene traumatised me.

Still, I have a feeling some of them are still alive and are somehow connected to Xie Wei – judging from his reaction.

Episode 12

At this point, I’m watching only because I want to know what the heck is going on with Xie Wei. I’m over the mean girls nonsense at the School for Spoiled Noblewomen, I’m tired of the palace politics, I’m tired of the scheming Xue family and I just want some meaty reveals to land, damn it. I’ve been told it gets better, and more reveals will be coming my way.

But to be very honest, I feel no emotion at all to most of the characters. Maybe a smidgen of curiosity about Xie Wei. But it’s like watching pieces moving in a game of Go, every character a featureless piece on the board.

To quote a person on mydramalist, where I sometimes hang out: “I’m emotionlessly watching right now.”

Episode 13-20

These episodes were a blur for me as all I can think of is: “Xie Wei be plotting.”

Episode 17

Perked up in this episode because blood was shed.

Goes to show I need mayhem and murder to stay interested.

Episode 21

Xie Wei probably thinking, “OMG why am I always rescuing Ning’er, damnit.”

Episode 22

Waitaminute so Ning’er’s cover story is that she and Zhang Zhe are siblings in love and are eloping? Uhm, yeah, I guess that’s a good cover story, I guess! (Zhang Zhe seems equally horrified by the cover story. Poor lad, his tender sensibilities have been terribly violated.)

I should re-listen to this bit because I think something is lost in translation here.

Meanwhile, me on the side of the rebels, wishing Duke Xue, his son and his army could be buried under the landslide.

Episode 23

Yes, Xie Wei, that’s the way to a woman’s heart: By threatening to kill her. * slow claps *

Episode 24

Ah,poor Zhang Zhe, you have second male lead syndrome so hard.

And the romance between the girl and that businessman is so sweet.

Episode 25

The fake Xue Dingfei plot is so delicious. To think that Duke Xue was actually wanted to kill his own son like he’s an inconvenient thing OMG 💀

Episode 27

I understand Xuening’s mum, truly. She loves her but just doesn’t know how to express it beyond yelling at her to improve.

Zhang Zhe to Xie Wei: “You’re very suspicious.”
Me: No shit, Sherlock!

Episode 28

Aww come on, Emperor. So you’re okay with one night of sex with that hellion in exchange for many nights of misery with the Xue family? Talk about priorities. And it’s kinda eeew because they’re close relations.

Also, the number of times women were slapped in this drama was … 💀

Episode 29

I cannot wait to see the Xue family’s bad end because I am 100% sure it’ll be terrible and I’ll be so happy.

Episode 30

LOL that eff up when Xie Wei’s men saw him giving Xuening a tender kiss. Yeah, boys, you guys better stay low for a few days.

Xuening is clearly afraid of Xie Wei due to her past life experiences with him. Can you fall for the person terrified you in your past life? I suppose that’s the deliciousness of this romance. (It’s not my thing, but I can see how it’s a thing for many people.)

Also. Is there some kind of cdrama law where it says that you cannot wipe off blood trails from your lips? It drives me bonkers when they don’t wipe it off. Is it like some kinda badge of honour??

Episode 32

OK I feel a smidgen of chemistry between Ning’er and Xie Wei. I suppose there’s hope for my icy heart after all 😂

Gosh my heart bleeds for Dingfei’s mum. No wonder she never recovered and no wonder he is so angry with the Xues. 😭

OK those CGI wild cats was rough 😆

So, yeah the kiss. Errr yeah I don’t know what to think about it. 😅 Not my thing I guess, forced kisses.

I guess he’s trying to scare her into leaving him. I think?

Yea I really do not understand why people are saying, oooh this is hot. Uhm noooo. Not for me, darlings.

Episode 33

Oooh the reunion between uncle and nephew. This was what I was waiting for. I don’t care about the romance between Xie Wei and Ning’er (sorry guys), but this? Yes this is what I was waiting for. 🥰

The princess is so brave. Now that’s a heroine I love.

Uh. Do people actually find this hot? 😅 (Shudders)

Episode 34

Okay, apparently I spoke too soon. My heart is indeed icy and utterly irredeemable, at least in the ways of Xie Wei + Ning’er fans (I kid, I kid, please unseathe your claws).

Xie Wei demanding to know why Ning er is afraid him while roughly pulling her around and hand-grabbing her by the neck? I don’t know dude, take a wiiiild guess??

Then he forces her to stab him and says, “Now, can you not be afraid of me?”

Girl, run. And oh yeah, if a dude makes you stab him and declares that’s enough to help you get over your fear over him. Tis not romantic, my girlfriends.

Okay, really, I am legit confused why anyone would think these two are couple goals 🤪🥴 Are we even watching the same show? 😶

I guess red flag guys are not my thing. At all 😬

Episode 36

Half of me is hate watching Show. The other half is loving it.

People are complicated beings.

LOLOLOL.

—

Fans of Xie Wei and Ning’er – squee they did it! It’s so hawt!

Me:

Episode 40

So I just finished Story of Kunning Palace. And my feelings can be summed up here:

While I super liked how the Xue family got dispatched (I play those scenes on repeat, cackling to myself), a big part of me is glad that it was all over and I can now slam the door behind me.

What I like about the show

• The revenge plot was the one that kept me watching the show. It was engrossing and mysterious. I did not care for the romance between Xie Wei and Ning’er at all and wish they’d left it out.
• The plot really picked up after episode 13 or so, especially after they leave the palace study group. If you find yourself frustrated, try stick around for that long and re-evaluate. I had to take a break and then return.
• Interesting side characters that do not feel useless.
• Scary effective villains that you will absolutely loathe and wish dead.
• The fight choreography, while making some of them look like supermen, is chef’s kiss at times.
• A satisfying ending where everyone gets their just desserts. No quickie five second flashes here!

What I didn’t like

• I think the narrative structure isn’t great. More could be done to establish what Ning’er was like before her “rebirth” so that the viewers are invested in her efforts to change her past. The use of flashbacks can be very difficult to keep track of.
• Zhang Ling He’s voice acting leaves a lot to be desired. I like his voice, but he sounds far too flat and emotionless. Bai Lu’s voice acting isn’t good either. I felt that they should’ve been better dubbed.
• Although I understand why the modern-day snippets were included (to pacify China’s censorship), they were so jarring I choose not acknowledge their existence.
• You know what I regret? Not wearing sunglasses while watching it cos the director’s love for intense lense flares and for shining the damn light strainght into the viewer’s eyes was giving me migraines. And that was not an exaggeration. I was getting actual headaches!
• The drama’s final arc felt really rushed. The final confrontation with the bad guys didn’t look realistic at all. Zhang Zhe was just standing around looking confused. Why was he even there, really?
• The long internal monologues that Xuening has – am not a fan. Again, it shows that the narrative structure needs work if you have to rely on info dump devices like these.
• Some character arcs were left hanging – the romance between the crown prince and Ning’er’s sister for one. That’s it??
• The limited OST. Hearing the same songs again and again and…
• Xie Wei and Ning’er’s romance does not elicit warm, fuzzy feelings in me. It borders on toxic. (Look at the final review below for why I feel this way.)
• I’m sorry but Zhang Ling He may have potential, but he’s not amazing here. Slightly above average perhaps, but he overacted a few scenes. I kept fantasizing having other actors play Xie Wei. Liu Xie Yi or Cheng Yi perhaps. Oh what it could’ve been.

Thoughts about the ending

I am utterly, completely shocked that this ended happily and mushily. But I feel that a show like this should end tragically or in an open-ended way to be tonally consistent. And I’m saying this as a softie for happy endings! I’m evil, I know.

I would’ve probably liked it if I liked or rooted for the couple, but lordie this couple’s romance is so problematic the happy scenes just didn’t land.

Final review

I think there are perfectly understandable reasons why I was turned off by this show. Besides its technical and storytelling flaws, I disliked many of the tropes in this drama:

• Scheming palace ladies
• Reverse harem

And most of all, this: A physically and verbally aggressive male lead.

I’ll come out and say this: Xie Wei and Ning’er’s relationship is very unhealthy. It taps into the girlhood fantasy of “reforming your man”. Spoiler alert: You can’t reform men like that, girlfriends. Trust me. Leave that to a shrink.

I understand how some people may look at it as an “opposites attract” thing, or that “he had such a hard life and is traumatised”, but to me, they are not good enough excuses to justify this behaviour.

So, I found it hard to overlook Xie Wei’s aggressive expressions of “love”. I’ve never been a fan of this thing that seemed so popular in Kdramas and CDramas: the hand grabbing, the physical yanking, the forced kisses, yelling or rough handling.

Call me old fashioned, but I prefer my leading men to be respectful of their ladies and treat them as equals worthy of respect. No treating them like immature kids that need schooling. No disrespecting their decisions. No physical aggresion. If this is a big thing for you like it is for me, you will have a hard time embracing Story of Kunning Palace’s central romance. And since it makes a large part of the story, a big part of it would be unpalatable for you.

I don’t care if someone calls me “overly sensitive” for this, but we should never, ever glorify abuse between couples of any kind and call it romantic. This trope needs to die.

Okay, but are other aspects of the drama watchable at least?

So, let’s say you ignore the romantic aspects of this drama and focus on the puzzle that is Xie Wei and what happened 20 years ago. If you’re in the mood to solve a mystery without being spoonfed, this is the drama for you. If you want to park your brain one side and just experience something or be swept away by the story, this may not be for you.

In one forum I was at, someone said they actually created a chart to keep track of the plot threads in the story. If that’s your jam, great, but if you are annoyed that you have to do all the work, this is definitely not for you.

Another puzzle drama that I can think of that did a better job with flashbacks was Westworld, season 1. Viewers are not fed the story, we do not know what happened, we are plonked in the middle of the story. The forums went mad with theories. It turns out that the story was actually told out of order, and the flashbacks were actually a story told out of order.

This drama does get better after we leave the petty court politics of the noble ladies’ study club around episode 15 or so, and when the revenge plot finally starts getting going and our characters literally move out of the confines of the palace into the world.

So, yes, I have a complex love-hate relationship with this drama. And if you’re confused about where I stand, I don’t blame you.

Should I have dropped this drama? Well, I thought the revenge plot was worth sticking around for, but it did get wobbly towards the end.

As a revenge drama, it is good enough. As a romance, it is problematic. Veeery problematic. 😬 I will rate the revenge plot an 8. But the romance line would be an abysmal 5 for me.

So, while I consider this drama slightly above average in a busy Cdrama season, its popularity was iverblown. Why it has become so popular with international fans will be filed under the folder “mysteries of the universe that I will never understand.”

And despite how it managed to hold my attention, how intriguing the plot twists were and the emotional gravitas of the whole revenge … I cannot overlook its many technical flaws – the bad directing decisions, the choppy narrative, the bloated first half and the rush towards the end …

This was a difficult drama to rate.

Here’s my verdict:

Final Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5

#25Stars #CDrama #cdramaReview #CDramas #China #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama #TV

Yu Qing Luo (Wang Zi Wei) is many things. A medical genius. A single mum. And an amnesiac.

Seven years ago, she was found by the river without her memories and pregnant. After becoming one of the most famous physicians around, she sets out to learn about her true identity and find a father for her son.

One day, Qing Luo meets Prince Ye Xiu Du (Liu Xue Yi) of the Kingdom of Feng Cang who was pretending to be the unscrupulous playboy, Ye Pian Zhou.

Qing Luo and Xiu Du battle political conflicts together and their mutual attraction. But we know how this ends!

What I like about the show

This is such a sweet watch! What I call “something to watch while doing work” TV. I mean, it is rare to have a single mum as a heroine and the hero being totally okay with that. That premise alone attracted me to the show, and Qing Luo certainly delivered.

I honestly didn’t expect to like Qing Luo at first. I usually dislike shows with a bratty kids and I found their antics not cute, but annoying. Yet, I stuck on and the next thing I knew, I was near the end.

It is definitely not as intense as wuxia shows like Mysterious Lotus Casebook but there’s a lot of comfort in revelling in a simple story of a man falling in love with a single mum.

I loved how respectful Xiu Du is of the Qing Luo’s decision to prioritise her son in all things. The fact that he sincerely loves her son despite his bratty ways is another ovaries-melting moment.

Speaking of which, Liu Xue Yi is another Chinese drama actor who needs more prominent roles. He was Wuxin in The Blood Of Youth which is an ah-mazing wuxia drama and was supposed to be the lead actor in an upcoming drama but the actress was charged with tax evasion, so the show was shelved. 🙃

I wish the cast and crew of actors who were charged for tax evasion were not penalised this way 😩

But anyway, the acting was on point, despite the weak script. The plot can be very contrived and full of deus ex machinas. It can be terribly convenient how everything falls into place. Some of them can be laugh-out-loud hilarious. It is no exaggeration to say that amnesia happens a lot in this drama. Their poor brains must be rattled so much!

But as long as you focus on the fact that you’re watching to see cute moments between the trio, and not expecting Nirvana in Fire levels of plotting, you’ll be fine.

Rating B

https://dramatea88.wordpress.com/2023/11/03/qing-luo-review/

#CDramas #China #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama #romance

Back from the Brink review

The ancient dragon Tian Yao had the worst wedding day ever. The woman he loved and was about to marry betrayed him by dismembering him, stripping him of his dragon scales and then sealing his body parts in five places. Fortunately, his soul manages to escape and he reborns, but with hardly any power. He encounters Yan Hui, a Taoist woman disowned by her sect, who happens to possess his heart protection scale. Tian Yao uses Yan Hui to retrieve his stolen body parts, but eventually they grow fond of one another and set on an epic journey to recover his body and restore balance to the world.

Characters

Tian Yao

An ancient dragon who was far too naïve for his own good, he learned the hard way not to trust humans — especially the Taoists who hunt down spirits like prey.

Yan Hui

A Taoist disowned by her sect, she is a free-spirited adventurer who believes spirits are equal to human beings.

Bai Xiao Sheng

A mysterious man who practices “dark arts”, he has an agenda that involves Tian Yao and Yan Hui.

Su Ying

Honestly, she’s the big bad for me, the one who caused Tian Yao the most pain. A stern, cold-hearted Taoist master, she has only one goal in mind: To use Tian Yao’s body to keep her lover alive.

You can also watch the review here:

https://youtu.be/rCy2U3Mhzo8

Or have a listen to the episode on Spotify.

What I like

The dynamite premise

Seriously, wasn’t that story that grabbed your heart? A once mighty dragon falling down to low depths, betrayed by the woman he loved. That was what attracted me to the show.

Neo Huo as Tian Yao

He was really good. Congrats to his stylist! He sure did a good job because Tian Yao looked really good.

Sympathetic villains

What I found pleasantly surprising was how three-dimensional the bad guys were. They have good, almost relatable reasons to be bad. Well, except for the big bad. He was just nasty.

But for some of them, even the loathsome Su Ying, I find myself sympathetic to their grievances and hope somehow that they can getter a better life in the next life.

Interesting romance side plots

There were other couples in this drama whose romance I enjoyed. Some ended well, some tragically, and I felt for all of them.

What I didn’t like

Uneven tone

Is it a comedy or a tragedy? When the cutesy Pokemon-like spirits drifted into view, I just got thrown out of the moment. Was I supposed to think about it as a cute fantasy or an epic, dark fantasy? It veers from both themes wildly throughout the series.

The bad CGI

I have seen worse, but couldn’t they have stuck to the tragic tones of the story and do away with Pokemon visuals? I found it jarring.

Nosedive in script quality midway

I dropped this drama at episode 15 when the story took a turn for worse.

The tiresome love triangle

Bai Xiao Sheng (pic above), whom I really thought was unique and different, morphed into a stereotypical jealous second male lead. He deserves way more than that sad role. (Fortunately, they dropped this nonsense later.)

And then, Tian Yao did something mind boggling that didn’t make sense.

To add oil to the fire, the three of them ended up wandering around this alternate dimension, the love triangle dynamics in full force. And then there was something about pixie kids…

It took me about a month to brave this drama again.

But this time, I skipped the annoying episodes and started at episode 20.

To my surprise, I binged the episode in a few days. The storytelling improved a lot and the storu got decidedly more interesting and ironically, it wasn’t the main couple that pulled me back in but the story of the King of Qinqui and his twin brother.
Wow, the actor played both roles amazingly.

Conclusion

It will take a very patient viewer to stick with Back from the Brink and appreciate it.

Show is something that makes me sigh in sadness. It could have been soooo good.

If only the plot didn’t take a nose dive at episode 15.
If only the cutesy CGI was done away with.
If only they could be consistent with the tone of the show.

While the two leads were not mind-blowingly great actors or have awesome chemistry, they were good enough. But they were hobbled by the subpar script.

Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5

#25Stars #CDrama #CDramas #China #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama #Fantasy #Xianxia