A show with mixed vibe

The show starts off with FL, Maisui, trying to find her adopted brother, Chen Qi, who killed her whole family back when she was barely 10yo. Her journey was entangled with many people of interests, mainly the ML, adopted son of Marquis Dingnan Shang Yizhi, who was actually son of the previous Crown Prince, and SML, a general of noble birth of a rival kingdom Chang Yuqing. She drafted into the army to search for the real mastermind behind her family’s extermination, inadvertantly rising to power from a mere foot soldier to the marshall of an army.

This show has a very good storyline, as badly of an adaptation as it is, the only drawback is how badly the characters are written except for FLOkay they kinda messed up FL a little bit too but it’s acceptable. Compared to the book, they totally dumbed down ML from a proficient yet extremely ruthless and shrewd military officer who is also renowned for his excellent archery skills, to a basic puppet general who is madly in love and with no skills at all, how frustrating. But the biggest flunk of this adaptation piece is probably how they turned the show into ML’s story instead of FL’s as written in the novel, and changed the ML from Chang Yuqing to Shang Yizhi. Although the main character is Maisui throughout the novel, there are definitely more significant encounters of her with Chang Yuqing, more romance and grudge between them, but more importantly, the story shouldve been about Maisui and Chang Yuqing instead of Maisui and Shang Yizhi. Shang Yizhi is like the third wheeler in the novel, he got much lesser mention in the novel and definitely not a focus of the whole story.

Book aside, I’m actually impressed that it has the most convincing male impersonation by the FL. She was beautiful when dressed as a woman, but also manly as a man. She looks rough like a boy, she acts rough like a boy, she has a deep voice, and she doesnt have even a tinge of girlish trace on her when she was dressed like a man. Her complexion is even more tanned (indicating that she had had a hard life) than ML and SML (i commend the make up artist). Had she had a bigger body build, she wouldve passed 100% as a man and no one wouldve guessed she could be a female. When she was training in the army, she did everything everyone else does with no exception. She could wield the sword very well too and didnt look like it was flailed around her. However, in the book, she was supposed to be 1.7m, which would make her height not much difference from an average man. But in the adaptation, she was easily the shortest and smallest one around.

The only thing I dislike about this character is how easily she had fallen for ML. She initiated the first kiss (on the lips mind you!) and it happened out of nowhere! Like come on! There’s no spark and she suddenly falls in love? They barely have any chemistry too! Because they wrote ML to be this foolish stupid brat who never grow up despite his hardship (because he always has backup in the right places), and FL being the matured woman who grew up on the streets with wit and intelligence, both of them looked more like siblings instead of lovers, FL being the elder sister and ML the stupid younger brother. It’s so damn cringy each time they hug or kiss. Despite her shortcoming, I think she was the most pitiful character, as well as Chen Qi. Theyre merely the victims of court politics and selfish emperors.

FYI in the book, the first kiss was with Chang Yuqing, initiated by FL, but as a guise for her to escape from Chang Yuqing’s mansion when she was taken prisoner. I really cant get over the fact that they decided to change the ML from CYQ to SHZ. CYQ is obviously much more interesting of a character than SYZ!

Other important characters they didnt botch are Princess Shenghua (ML’s adopted mom and real aunt), General Tang and Mr Xu. They remained consistent throughout, although Princess Shenghua changed a bit from a loving innocent looking woman to a scheming one. But I still like this character because she is among the sound of reason around ML.

On to my most cringey character, the ML. He must have been the most useless and weakest ML I’ve ever seen. He has absolutely no strong points at all, other than being kind hearted. It’s a total contrast to the Shang Yizhi depicted in the novel. He’s also too madly in love with FL that he would disregard a whole army’s lives just to save FL in situations that FL wouldve survived on her own, a total contrast to the book SYZ who would even sacrifice FL on the battleground for his own victory, that’s how big a shrewd he is. The book SYZ is so ruthless that he punished FL to be whipped 200times just because she was late to muster, because she drank wine with Tang Shaoyi the night before, and this happened when SYZ is already interested in FL, as he knew she was a woman very early on. Meanwhile, The adaptation SYZ has no deduction, analytical nor strategical skills and boasted to be extremely kind-hearted and soft. This version of SYZ could only survive as a puppet general just because he had FL and Mr Xu as his strategists, Lieutenant (later general) Tang Shaoyi for his muscle, and they do all his thinking and actions for him. Had he not have these people, he wouldnt survive a minute into a battle. Heck, he wouldve been dead before he could even assume the role at all. I am quite disappointed at how badly this character is written, because he had many chances to grow up and mature but it seemed that he never did. The book SYZ is a million times more interesting than this one. In the show, He was stupid, reckless and short-sighted as a bratty son of a noble family, and he was still the same as a Marshall of a huge army and even after becoming an emperor. It’s pathetic that even as emperor he still looks at Mr Xu asking what he should do to save FL’s life when she was set up by the ministers. What a loser, still clueless and stupid even after spending all those years on the battlefield with the brightest minds of the kingdom. And that naughty comedic tune whenever he was fooling around with FL is so annoying that I can never take this character seriously. His fake laugh also makes him sound stupid and foolish too. He drastically changed into a selfish and an evilly scheming man in the end which made me loath him even more. Now that is one similarity that they manage to capture the same as the novel. The book SYZ is as selfish and ruthless as the adaptation SYZ after he became an emperor. They are both greedy to cage FL in the palace as concubine, and theyre both scheming and shrewd who caused the demise of FL’s important people.

As for the emperor, I have Never seen an emperor so eager to kill his leading generals in the midst of a war with neighbouring country. Like seriously? He’s killing them left and right with no reason but fear of revolt. He would rather lose people whom he could rely on to defend and strengthen his empire as long as he can quench his thirst for absolute power with no contention. He was so messed up in the head that he doesnt even remember why he ordered for FL’s father to killed, a leading general of his too. All he knew was, “What if he pointed his sword at me? How will I defend myself,” I really wonder how does he think he can protect the throne from rival country forces when he has no capable generals to ward them off his land? Fear has ruled his world and messed up his head. The way they portray this character is also messy. Never seen an emperor so haggard and and beggarish looking like this one. He was distraught all the time and never looked like he can run a country. No wonder his sons are out of control and his court is in chaos with ministers scheming and stabbing each other.

The final 5 episodes are so boring, mainly on palace political scheming and harem jealousy. I like it how FL never dressed up as a girl even after she was forcefully created as Imperial Consort, even when ML summons her to see him in the palace.

Loved the final episode. Its a perfect ending. Glad they stayed true to the book for the ending. And it’s nice to see her wear her hair as a girl and no longer had to disguise as a man.

Read More

A redemption for Princess Agent fans

This is like another journey back to Eternal Love days. It’s about a spirit who is also the God of War in her realm, who falls in love with a human during her short stint of falling in the mortal realm. This human, however, turned out to be an ancient god who decided to experience mortality due to boredom. Because of his status as the only ancient god left to govern the world, he could not reciprocate her love, and she, being the main general of her realm, understood that they were just not meant to be. Well, turned out she understood and willing to forget her love, but the ancient god had a hard time of letting her go. Things happened, and their fates got entangled even more.

Honestly I did not have much high hopes on this series when I first saw its trailers. They looked over the top and ML looked silly because they featured Xing Yun. I thought it was going to be strong FL with weak ML (didnt read any synopsis before it was aired).

Another doubt that I had was because of Lin Geng Xin. I tried watching his other works after his superb performance in Princess Agent but I was met with disappointment. Didnt finish Zhao Yun God of War because he was so bad in it. So I had my doubt when I heard about LoSL. It was a mixed feeling because I really love his character as Yuwen Yue in PA but he fell short in his other tv series. Amazingly it turned out he did really well as an ancient god. I thought I wont see any better performance of a god after seeing Vengo Gao in Pillow Book (forgot the official tv title), but amazingly Lin Geng Xin managed to surpass my expectation.

Most xianxia shows that I watched mostly had sad/open endings which is obviously less than satisfying, mostly frustrating (still cant get over the traumatic ending of Princess Agents, cuz the book had such a lovely ending!). Many claim to be adapted from novels and yet they really love to deviate from it. I finished reading the Yu Feng Xing novel and am happy that it had a happy ending, but then I didnt know if the tv series would be faithful to it, which kept me on edge as I watched the show.

And as the story progressed, I was quite happy that they try to stay on track with the book. Only minor deviations/add on like the scenes of You Lan and Fu Rong Jun, and the ending scenes with Jin Niang, which didnt happen in the book. You Lan actually got more screen time than the author wrote her on the book.

The good:

- no contradicting personality of any of the characters. The general acted like a general, the pauper like a pauper, the king as kings, the diety as dieties and so on. There’s no strong FL but with damsel in distress attitude when around ML, no clumsy trying to act cute scenes, no immature/ridiculous actions etc.

- There are no silly misunderstandings, stupid jealousy, ridiculous confusions around the love relationships. FL is clear about her stand on this topic, and she stayed true towards the end.

- Actors display superb performance, I couldnt really find any flaw with any of them.

- Costume is super gorgeous and not overly extravagant.

- Music is sooooo breathtaking and easy to catch on.

- storyline is easy to follow hence not many loopholes to pick on. However, this also means that the story is much too simple and straighforward.

- I really love that they decided to do the last episode. It was a bonus because it didnt happen in the book. This one episode is the only moment that we get to see Shen Li and Xing Zhi as a real normal lovey dovey couple with both of them acting cute with each other. It was so fulfilling. A real closure of both LoSL and PA combined.

The bad:

- there’s no real tension/conflict. Both Shen Li and Fu Rong Jun didnt like the arranged marriage so no conflict there. Both Shen Li and Xing Zhi know that theyre not meant to be together due to their respective responsibilities, so there’s no conflict there. In fact, Shen Li is more adamant about this more than Xing Zhi. At least Xing Zhi thought of living away quietly with Shen Li, but Shen Li never did. I truly enjoyed the moments when Xing Zhi was treating Shen Li’s torture injuries, I think that was the only sweet moments of them as lead general and ancient god setting their huge responsibility to the side to enjoy the brief moment with each other. There’s no love triangle either cuz Shen Li rejected Mo Fang right from the start. Her heart is set on stone and she never deviates.

- CGI is quite over the top. The earlier episodes of Shen Li as a phoenix looked cartoonish. Not seamless enough. But some of the battle scenes and the ocean freezing scene was great.

- Lack of good battle scenes with the villains because theyre just not strong enough until Feng Lai emerged. Yes even Fu Sheng was not really strong. The only memorable battle scenes of Fu Sheng was only the North Sea (eh was it the east sea, i get confused) battle which forced Shen Li to burn everything to crisp including herself. That was it. The torture scene was disappointing too. The torture by Fu Sheng and treatment by Xing Zhi was more gruesome in the book. But hey since they tried to stay true to the book with all the important details thenI’ll let this slide.

I watched the series twice back to back because I just couldnt have enough of them. Am thinking of rewatching again in near future. Basically, I’d rate this one as one of the great pieces that I’ve watched, on par with Ten Miles Peach Blossoms and The Untamed. Cuz it was much as hard to move on from those.

Read More

Fun enough to keep me watching

The plot is very light and comedic, mainly revolves around the building of relationship between the Crown Prince and Hua Liuli, amidst the lingering espionage from neighbouring warring country. Hua Liuli is a daughter of prominent general of the nation and had been crowned as princess for her parents’ military contributions, and invited to live in the capital, where in reality she was actually held as political hostage because the emperor was wary of how big an influence both her parents wield as mighty generals and worry that they might steal the throne with their huge army. Upon her arrival at the capital, she acted like a weak, sickly maiden to avoid people (especially the emperor) from getting wary of her, where in reality she was quick witted and very good in martial art.

The palace drama in the harem and the political conspiracy is minimal with ridiculously comedic kind of vibe so they tend to look stupid.

I didnt like how the ML (crown prince) look. He looked like a gaunt porcelain statue whose face been dabbed with too much fair coloured foundations and he had very weird face expressions. He tried too hard to look like a calculative, evil, indifferent crown prince. I think FL did okay although the part she acted as a sickly maiden is rather exaggerated (not sure if they intend to do it this way as it is a comedy). The acting is mediocre and they include so many awkward moments of proximity between the ML and FL which I failed to find the spark. I find them pretty lame.

The costume is sooooo over the top with ridiculous-looking dangling hair accessories and ugly flowy dress. Colour combination of the female dresses are botched too. The female’s makeup looks weird too as they put the blusher around the eyes instead of cheeks, and they drew the eyebrow wayyy across the temple.

I just realized everytime they want to portray a character of being sick, it’s always with the slight fake coughing. It’s like even when the character says,”i have a headache/stomach ache,” they would always cough. It’s so annoying.

The first kiss being on the forehead is pretty sweet though. I’m getting sick of lip-kissing between two yet-to-profess-their-love persons. It’s unrealistic in the ancient society that doesn’t even let females and males to mingle freely.

Towards the end the FL became rather stupid though, the plot also became rather ridiculous. So there’s a revolt going to happen and they know when the rebels will take action, one wouldve thought they had prepared backup properly. But nooooo, they had to make it dramatic by going about on how Liuli was going to mobilize the whole Hua army from outside the capital to storm into the palace as backup. Even funnier thing is that the emperor also knows about the plot and feigned sickness, and only came out when the mastermind revealed herself. Interestingly, the emperor conveniently forgets that a band of murderous assassins are pursuing his Crown Prince outside the palace while he was having a chat with the mastermind. I wouldve thought it’d be a brilliant plan by the scheming Crown Prince or even the quickwitted Liuli. It was big disappointment instead.

The show ended with a wedding of course.

Read More

One of the best shows out there

I had to admit Zhang Ziyi was the main reason why I clicked this title. I thought she’d play a great empress or wife of a seasoned general. Was taken aback when she came up in 1st episode playing a teenager(15/16yo i think) instead. Wth? She looked like she could be the wife of the father! How ridiculous. And they didnt even put much effort in make up to have her look like a teenager. She looked bare faced throughout, although I admire her beauty, it’s definitely the beauty of a matured woman. I could accept if her role had been a princess in her 30s, but come on, to have 39yo to play a teenager/young adult role is pretty hilarious. She looked as old as the rest of the cast who plays the ministers and their consorts 🤦🏻‍♀️

However, I stuck through the show because it had a good storyline. She’s a talented actress, of course she could pull through despite the obvious seasoned look. I must say that this series is really fast paced, there are no wasted pointless scenes, and I can’t seem to put down the screen. One episode seduces me to continue to another and I feel bad when I had to put the screen down so my life wont be halted. I even brought the phone into the bathroom to watch while doing no 2 and bathing, finished bingeing all 68 episodes in 4 days!

Now this is the real palace conspiracy and politics is all about, it kept the audience on edge with one intense episode after another. I truly admire FL and ML. ML, although not handsome with rather big nose which bothered me during the earlier episodes, had me charmed with his outstanding performance. He looked perfect as the boorish man from a poor family background who spends his whole life on the battleground. He’s not flawlessly handsome with boyish look like the typical ML, he’s not ‘mad’ madly in love like any typical ML (and yet we can still feel his ultimate love for FL), and he carries the countenance of a courageous intelligent general and strategist really well. I like ML’s look with the goatie in the final parts though. He looked so much more handsome this way. I never liked men with face hair but he’s one of those men who looked extremely handsome with them.

This show is so good it even has one of the most intense, believable and astonishing battle scenes that I’ve seen on screen. My heart was pounding throughout the battle as I was anxious to see what would happen next. And whats more important is that they really go all out on the battle sequence, arrays, armors, heavy equipment and they don’t use CGI! Thats a pretty big WOW, right? The show really exudes magnificence and grandeur in every detail. I’m not sure how accurate to the book this show is, but I’m glad I didnt read the book beforehand else it wouldve ruinned the suspense.

Im just frustrated that in every scene of them reuniting, there are no touching moments. They just look at each other longingly and then the next scene came up where everyone’s safe. So frustrating. But honestly this is one of the best shows ive seen so far. Although I wouldnt rewatch the entire show, I definitely would rewatch some real good episodes. I am actually rewatching episodes with the main casts and battle scenes.

The only thing I dislike about this show is the fact that almost every other male character who is supposedly around the same age as FL’s character, and not related to her immediate family, seem to fall head over heels for her. Come on, they even made the supporting character to fall in love with her too! One of my pet peeves on dramas like this is when the FL seem to be the love interest of every other male characters, and they all obssess over her. Come on, so she’s a beauty, but to be the centre of everyone? So cliche!

Oh and I agree with other reviewers that the title doesnt really reflect on the story. Definitely not a Rebel Princess, FL was like one of the most obedient ones out there. Intelligent, yes, rebel, definitely a no. I guess they chose that title to make it intriguing. At least I clicked because of the title, then after reading the synopsis only knew that ZZY was in the lead casts. The story did not disappoint of course. One of the must watch shows out there and I would definitely recommend to people.

Read More

Truly a masterpiece!

I just cant move on from this drama. Everyone did a great job in it, even the small roles!

I read the novel first and thought that it was a total masterpiece despite not really into BL. I was actually reluctant to start watching this because the novel had excessively explicit sexual scenes. I didnt have much impression of Wang YiBo and XiaoZhan as I dont really know them and havent watched any of them on screen before The Untamed. I was actually curious when people keep talking about how great their friendship was when it's clear the novel had them hooked up as lovers. To be honest I was skeptical and delayed watching because I was preparing for the worst. However the drama proved me wrong as they manage to stay truthful to the novel despite a few changes to show bromance instead, which I truly adore! It's definitely different from typical love story like the other wuxia dramas that I've watched. There's no silly female characters chasing after the male leads, I hate it when they flock around male leads like leeches. And I dont care how much other people keep saying that they have BL element in this, I personally see those scenes as bromance!

I especially LOVE the sibling relationship between Jiang Cheng, Jiang YanLi and Wei WuXian. The pain suffered by WWX and JC when JYL died was so heartbreaking and I cried each time. In fact, I actually like the drama more than the novel, especially the scene where WWX broke down after JYL's death. I love the ending too!

Watched the special edition twice to relive the memorable moments after I finished with the full version, watched the anime version (up tp season 2) too, and still cant get over this. Watched behind the scenes shots and was surprised WYB was actually more goofy than XZ. It takes considerable talent to play the cold stoney Lan Zhan with someone of that character, and my hats off to all of the cast to be able to make the characters real. It was indeed really hard for me to move on from this story.

This is indeed one of the best cdrama I've ever watched. My only regret was not watching it much earlier!

Read More

Every villain got what they deserved.

The show started off real fast paced (but slow burn towards the middle) as FL was carrying out an assassination on ML, Peng Cheng Wang (Prince of Peng City), the regent of the historical Liu Song Dynasty. The assassination turned out a disaster (of course, duh). She hid in an orphanage and was later found by Madam Shen who recognized the jade bracelet she was wearing, immediately identifies her as the Shen’s long lost daughter abducted as an infant during a battle in the north. The bracelet was actually given by her best friend (another assassin of course) with a promise to help find her birth parents, before the bff died as a distraction so FL could flee the botched assassination venue. FL grabs this chance and takes refuge in the Shen Mansion, a family of top general of the empire, as she plans for her next move to finish her failed assasination on ML and Minister of War Lu Yuan. It seemed like the team of assassins were driven by the belief planted by their master that Lu Yuan was a corrupt official and Peng Cheng Wang was an incompetent ruler who covers up for the corrupt officials in his court. They both needed to be killed because of their crimes to Liu Song Empire and its people.

Ironically, as she keeps on failing to kill Lu Yuan, she met a merchant who was also investigating Lu Yuan and this dude manages to convince her that killing won’t stop Lu Yuan’s corruption as another would just fill up his spot. The merchant, whom FL calls as Old Man (she was 18 and the dude was supposed to be 30+), convinced her to team up with him and topple Lu Yuan using rule of law. Things happened and they later developed feelings for each other. Then the decree came that the daughter of Shen family is bethrothed to Peng Cheng Wang as reward for their contribution in winning the war in the North, and FL decided to take this chance to kill ML on their wedding night. Meanwhile, Lu Yuan’s smuggling of weapons for private army was foiled, but the Shens were implicated as Lu Yuan slips out of their grasp with a mere slap on the hand by ML. This only angered FL even more and her hatred for ML grows. She got her biggest shock on the wedding night, as she only saw the face of the Peng Cheng Wang she hated to the core as she stabs her poisoned dagger into his belly, and he turned out to be the Old Man she fell in love with. She tried to kill herself after stabbing ML as to not implicate the Shens for her assassination crime, and because she regretted her actions, but ML instructed his personal bodyguard to take her away so the imperial guards wont catch her. Later things happened, plot after plot, surprise after surprise, villains after villains, misunderstandings and slanders came one after another, and they stick together through thick and thin.

I love the FL character, she’s one badass assassin who doesnt let injustice to happen. She thrives in jianghu, and is smart and witty enough to stand up against the palace harem bullying (yeah come on how can anyone bully an assassin, right?). And having an elder sister (the first wife) as back up does wonders to her too. She doesnt really need any saving, she can take care of herself although of course ML will need to be the saviour every now and then, even though he’s inferior to her in terms of fighting skills and brawn, so he depended on his power as regent and his scheming and manipulating skills. She is also very intelligent and isnt one of those characters who love to panic and jump to conclusions with baseless suspicions . I guess she learnt a lesson after being fooled by her master into wrongfully thinking that ML is a bad person when he was not.

One of the most pitiful but righteous characters must have been Princess Consort Xie, ML’s first wife. He had to marry her in accordance to the emperor’s decree, but never loved her. Never consummated the marriage and Empress Dowager had to make it a rule for him to have dinner at specific dates at the Princess Consort’s place or he wouldnt have even visited her at all. For someone who loved her husband in totality, her heart was so pure that she never envied the love FL gets from their shared husband when she entered the household as concubine. Instead she saw FL as a companion, BFF, whom she was willing to protect and support. I almost thought the Empress Dowager would be able to corrupt her mind against FL due to envy (like the plot of most drama), but it never happened. She stayed true to her character to the end.

Although I like this show, i find that the repetetive plot of getting poisoned, memory loss, faintings, fake deaths to be pretty annoying. I love the part where they dismantle the villains plans, but the journey to get there is quite annoying with things that I mention above. I find the scenes after ML got stabbed by FL was pretty dramatic and admirable, him braving his way through the pain for several days before succumbing to his injury and went into coma, as to cover up for his newly wedded wife’s actions.

Also I cannot wrap it around my head how come these assassins dont know how their target looks like? That is so messed up. The production couldve made the merchant’s disguise better and not reveal his face throughout their time together, maybe FL recognizing ML as the merchant on their wedding night using the tokens they exchanged if anything at all, but they didnt. It was quite early through the show that FL saw through his fake moustache and took it off (revealing his true face), I really thought she would identify him as Peng Cheng Wang but she didnt! So the whole team of badass assassins didnt even know how their target looks like before killing them?! These righteous assassins killing corrupt officials to keep them from ruining the prosperity of the nation didnt think that knowing how their target look like so they dont kill the wrong person was important. Really? 😑🙄 So messed up.

There were so maaaaaaany fillers and side love stories which I fast forward most of them, but I just need to give a special mention of FL’s handmaid XiaoXin as super duper annoying with her loud and unruly character. Looks much too exaggerated. So they wanted to make her that fun character who brights up people around her, it just went overboard. Characters like this would never survive in the palace as palace maid, she’d be dead by day 2! I was fascinated by ML’s personal bodyguard Xu Zhan too, he looked so feminine that when he wore full body armour and helmet during the North war, I didnt recognize him and thought he was a female character i hadnt noticed before! I also cannot wrap it around my head how they could let Zijin tag along to the north border for the war too. I could understand when FL wanted to go cuz she definitely has the qualities to fight a war, but Zijin? I almost thought she had hidden talent or skills to contribute, with those dramatic horse riding, serious look on her face and wearing full body armour including helmet, but when they were ambushed by the enemy, she became a burden to Shen Zhi (her love interest who is also FL’s eldest brother of the Shen family) as he needs to fight while holding her hand to protect her. What a disappointment. So they made her go to the north so ML, as regent and commander of the north army, could grant them a marriage 🙄 just for that. Bleerghh that is just too cheesy, man. Another annoying characters are Shen Leqing and Lu Wan. One a conniving scheming vengeful ungrateful person who didnt know when to stop, while another was super naiive and stupid who wasnt even sure of her bro’s crimes and yet think that he was wronged and decided to get revenge. Such easily-manipulated expendable pawns.

———-*SPOILER BELOW THIS LINE* ————

I *love* (-_-) how every good characters can get sliced and stabbed with swords, stuck with arrows and still can jump around the next day (or in an instant in FL’s case) as if nothing happened. With exception of Shen dad and elder brother, their deaths are pretty gruesome and tragic. But the rest of the characters are a-okay with all those injuries, so no worries!

The ending is one of those with question marks. At first I thought FL killed herself so Peng Cheng Wang would not be stuck between his love for her and the emperor’s decree of not sparing her as she was an assassin. It went pretty dramatic with ML’s joyfully running to meet with her only to see the place empty, dropping the decree he was holding. Then there were flashbacks of the FL drinking (poisoned?) wine and later looked dead, but the next thing they show was events three years later with ML doing great in court, and later went to the secret place FL brought him once upon a time, and there he dined with the joyous FL. So another fake death? Sheesh.

I thought they’d have kids by then though. I was a little disappointed that there was no 3yo dining with them at the end. Though I can say it’s a happy ending. At least to me. But because I am one of those who hates sad and open endings, I’m taking off 1 star due to this horrible Ep53. Wished they had ended the show at Ep 52.

Read More

Pretty sad love story

I had just finished Legend of Shen Li, and was curious about Lin Geng Xin’s performance in Scarlet Heart as people had been writing good things about it. I have been putting this off for quite a while (actually ever since I finished Princess Agents in 2020) because I am not fond of palace drama, but i decided to give it a go after his stellar performance in LoSL.

Oh well, I was right all along, palace love drama is just not my thing. It was an ordeal to get through the episodes, they were so draggy with longwinded love triangles and political conspiracy drama(well its more to a picky father who is constantly angry at his sons, and of a brother who is constantly suspicious and angry at his brothers, a vast contrast from the true palace political drama like Joy of Life etc), especially when i dislike the ultimate love interest of the FL. The only consolation is seeing the development of 14th Prince friendship with FL even though I knew it had never been about love. Its her friendship with the princes that was beautiful, although I have always wondered how come such energetic and interesting character didnt have a single friend among the princesses. But hey I’m fine with that because if they were to add princess characters then the show might have to drag the episodes out over 50 to include more female drama. Still didnt stop me from wondering.

Anyway, I think it’s quite boring with FL’s inner battles and constant love conflicts. The brotherly love of the princes towards her is super sweet though, and that was among the things that kept me going. As I said, the genre isnt my cup of tea as I am more of wuxia/xianxia/action fan with strong FL characters who are not damsels in distress.

I dislike the ML right from the start, though, even when I didnt know he was the ML. I think Nicky Wu doesnt look good as a half bald man with pigtail, he looks weird and extremely unapealing. All the other princes look waaaaaay better than him and more handsome. As the show progressed, I fail to see any spark between FL and ML even as they were developing feelings for each other. It looked much too sudden that the FL would shift her love interest to the least caring prince among all, especially when she knew he would become the emperor which would mean a whole life of her tip-toeing around the volatile figure. Maybe it is just me, I just couldn’t see the the chemistry and explanation of how she would suddenly fall in love with him, especially when he forced himself on her the first time. Just because she didnt want to become Crown Prince’s consort so she suddenly asks to marry 4th prince? Damn thats too weak of a turning point.

I kinda gotten tired of how she would cry at everything too. She cries when she’s happy, she cries when she’s afraid and she obviously cries when she’s sad. She also has this one kind of expression on her face and that is what she wore throughout the show. I am not fond of her looks too, but hey, it kinda grows on you as the show goes on. It still didnt stop me from fast forwarding all those draggy love scenes though, especially the love scenes between the two (those after ML ascended the throne are even more cringier than others, thank god they were not many), I honestly enjoyed the arch on the 8th prince and 10th prince with their consorts and 13th prince with his mistress. Those felt more genuine than the main love story. 8th Prince story was the most devastating while 10th prince was the only one with a happy ending.

Even though I got tired of FL crying, I must admit there are scenes that moved me, like the one of her begging for 13th prince, the pure friendship turmoil between the princes and FL, and the one where she begged for 8th prince to divorce her sister who was in the verge of death. So much unrequited love in this show, it’s so tiring to feel for every one of them. They were all pitiful. Oh I think the one playing Ma’ertai Roulan is the most beautiful of all, she had the perfect look for ancient costume. Her character’s love story is so pitiful I couldnt help but feel her pain.

Despite the boring storyline and the excessive crying of the FL, one thing I really commend this show is how closely accurate to the history this show was. Between the plot of 4th prince usurping the throne and the emperor passing it to him, of course they would have to choose the more conflicting plot. The cast did a stellar job. And I’m soooo glad it had been only 35 episodes to endure compared to more than 50 episodes of other palace shows out there. Wished it was less. The first 10 episodes were soooo dragy it was such a pain to go through. But the last 5 episodes were golddddd! I never expected the surprise in Ep 33. 14th prince definitely became the star role in the last 3 episodes, he was practically the knight in shining armour whisking the maiden away to safety. No wonder people had been praising of LGX’s performance here. Before watching, I thought his role was a passing small role with little significance, which was also one of the reasons I kept putting off to watch the show.

I think the ending never bothered me because I never shipped the MC love story. It was an apt ending for both and everyone involved. Am so glad she died in 14th prince arms instead. The bosom childhood friend that she used to quarrel with and afraid of, but in the end became her saviour from the Forbidden City prison.

Read More

Memorable wuxia drama

This is one of the best xianxia series I've ever watched, action packed with court conspiracy (which I love to skip though). Best thing is Main Character is not quite the best in cultivation but can survive each battle cause he's witty and intelligent. No mushy-mushy love scenes so you can forget this series if youre looking for one, and not quite the harem type too. As for me, this is definitely my cup of tea.

Arthur's Ning Que is so on point and adhered to the novel's Ning Que. His air and antics are truly spot on and I cant really see anyone else playing this role. Song YiRen's Sangsang is superbly played, she really looked and behaved like a teenager, I was shocked to see that the actress is already 27yo! Thats truly a wow!

I love the action sequence. This series gives off particularly special air which made it stand out compared to other series. The plots are unique and unpredictable. Real nice adaptation indeed.

Read More

Must have been one of those Grade C Cdramas

I was scrolling when this title came up. The synopsis looks promising, as it depicted how an unfavored noble daughter gets bethrothed to a seemingly evil general, fell in love at first sight and tries real hard to help her husband in solving problems her husband faces. Sounds like a strong FL who may not know any kungfu but bright in the head. I immediately imagined Ming Lan (from story of Ming Lan) type of character. I needed a breather after the fast paced and breathtaking ride of Legend of Shen Li which i just finished watching twice back to back. So I thought, 30 episodes, I can finish this quick, must have been fast paced too.

Boy did I get fooled. Instead I was met with one draggy episode after another, with an FL who is immature, stupid, childish, lack serious foresight, incredibly insecure and jealous girl who has no chemistry with the ML. The only strong point that she has is her skill of lock picking. Other than that she’s useless. I seriously pity the general character to have that unfortunate fate of falling in love with this stupid girl. I find it really stupid that she immediately thought that tribal princess wants to steal her husband, and when it’s all over, all misunderstandings settled, suddenly there’s another princess coming in and she immediately thought she was out to steal her husband too. My god i just had to drop the series when she shamelessly met with the princess in secret before her official arrival to the mansion. Immature, stupid, shameless. That’s all I see of this pathetic FL. Not her fault I guess as she was only going with the script. It’s lazy writing. I hated it. It could’ve been much better story. That’s what happens when You hire grade C scriptwriters I guess. I’m just mad cuz it could’ve been good and now I have to continue my search for a good series. Wasted almost 11 hours of my life. What a bummer.

Read More

Incredibly Fast Paced Court Politic Drama

This must have been one of the most interesting series out there, beautifully written and done!

I dont really like court politics/conspiracy stories, because they tend to be boring and draggy. I am more of action-wuxia fan, but this one drama is somewhat different that managed to keep me glued to the screen. The plots are engaging and move fast with no boring, pointless dialogues. each of the characters are interestingly captivating, I mean in the novel Wang Qinian and Gao Da were actually serious characters and yet on screen they changed it to be humourous, which is really great! I love they made this series to be comedic! I didnt really like Haitang in the novel, but on screen, gosh, both of them Haitang and Fan Xian really hit it off like a true couple! I thought onscreen Haitang suits him more than Wan'er! Xin ZhiLei's Haitang was superbly done, I've loved her from Candle in the Tomb, and here she really didnt disappoint. Uncle Wuzhu is so damn cute and interesting and I think he's the most handsome actor in the cast, I love him!

in Ep 1, I was particularly disappointed at the male lead because his looks doesnt really match the novel's fan xian (he's supposed to be exceptionally handsome, and the prettiest even when compared to the rest of the female characters, Wan-er and Haitang actually felt insecure because he is prettier than them haha. in my head I was thinking of Wang Yi Bo or Deng Lun or the sorts, so was disappointed to see Zhang Ruoyun's 'normal nice' looks). However ZhangRuoYun makes up to it by his superb acting which truly matches the novel's Fan Xian character. His looks kind of grows into you, and his smile is particularly adorable. I think he's a perfect Fan Xian even if his looks isnt the prettiest/most handsome compared to other casts. Oh-oh I love the young Fan Xian actor too! That kid is truly amazing, I was cracking up at his antics!

I love how the screenwriters’ adjustment of the novel plots that didnt really jeopardize the flow of the story. I'm happy that some characters in the novel didnt show up like Fan Xian's maidservant/childhood bosom friend which he later slept with (and later married her as concubine) although he's already married to Wan-er, gosh i really hate him for that, thank god the on-screen Fan Xian already sworn to love Wan-er only in his lifetime. Honestly the novel Fan Xian's soft spot for the ladies is truly getting on my nerves, it's really great that the onscreen Fan Xian didnt adopt this bad habit. I just finished the drama a few hours ago and realized that the only one Fan Xian killed in the series is Cheng Jushu. Onscreen Fan Xian is definitely more humane with strong self righteousness, compared to the novel Fan Xian who is ruthless and shameless - The novel Fan Xian killed for the first time at 12, he was the one who tortured Si Lili in the dungeon, and he was also the one who broke Xiao En's legs to prevent him from escaping. The cdrama changed all these and made him look so pure and innocent, which I have no problem with, of course!

I’m currently reading the novel and has came up to the 598th chapter, and the adjustment of the ending of this season 1 is something that didnt really happen in the novel, which kept me on the edge and made me reaaaaaally curious of where it would lead to. I hope the diversion from original novel wouldnt be too huge, because Yan Bingyun is one of the most important confidants of Fan Xian’s. I just cant bear if the adaption decided to make them as enemies instead 😞 Am planning to rewatch JoL after I finish reading the novel.

Can't wait for the Season 2 in 2022! and I hope it has more episodes than this one, 46 is just too dang short, I cant get enough of FanXian-Haitang duo hah!

Read More

Great Sequel

The second season closely adhere to the original novel, with slight changes which I truly prefer much more than the novel. The adaptation changes actually gave more humanity to Ye Hongyu and shows the strength of the Three Addicts, which is very admirable. The changes also made the story tolerable because the novel is super lengthy with draggy scenes. Im pretty much happy with the cuts the adaptation had made where they skip those draggy scenes without jeopardizing the main plot. Although many people say that this season is draggy, for those who reads the novel would know that this is already shortcut compared to the novel! The production team did a brilliant job indeed!

Although there were numerous actor changes, for me its not much of a distraction. However I still liked to see Arthur Chen as Ning Que more than Dylan Wang. Generally Dylan's acting is ok, he definitely able to nail it as the NQ who is matured yet lovesick as depicted by novel writer. Its just that I feel that Arthur suits Ning Que more, I guess. Dylan just didnt have the 'air' that Arthur gave off on screen. Also the character change of NQ from season 1, from cheeky, mischievous, filled with grudge, shameless to matured, slightly dumb and love sick boy in season 2, is exactly like the novel writer wrote him to be, so I saw nothing wrong with Dylan's NQ unlike the other complaints. Dylan nailed it, Arthur also nailed it, but I felt the NQ character is somewhat made for Arthur, rather than Dylan, that is all.

The rest of the actors did amazing job, and I actually liked the mischievous Emperor of this second season more than the lofty one in the first season hahaha. The actress who played Ye Hongyu and Lu Chen Jia were superb! The current Lu Chenjia gives off strong air of Flower Addict, and her character is more believable and tolerable than the Lu Chenjia in the novel. I really liked the changes that the screenwriter made on her character development. Current Ye Hongyu shows a stronger front and air than the previous one in season 1, although I have to say YHY in season 1 is much more beautiful than Season 2. But regardless of that, I loved the season 2 YHY than the YHY in the novel and Season 1 YHY (I feel like that novel YHY acts more like the devil than someone devoted to Tao). Needless to say, I truly love Mo 'mary-sue' Shanshan. Her willingness to step back and watch NQ and SS be together for once, doesnt look forced or fake. It actually felt sincere and the actress did so well! The way the novel writer did it in the novel is amazing, and how the actress portrayed this character is super accurate with no cringe-worthy scenes. Gosh, I love Mo Shanshan!

Mr First, Mr Second and Miss Third are amazing trio, exactly as depicted in the novel. Oh god I truly love the Academy people. They're true family even though NQ only walked into their life a little over a year and yet theyre willing to sacrifice everything for him. The adjustment for Tang Xiaotang's scene rescuing Chen Pipi is a total blunder though. IN the novel she was supposed to be this truly strong lady character with body made of steel, she was supposed to freaking defeat the Papal cavalry guarding the Peach Mountain forgodsake, and arrived at Chen Pipi all bloody and heroic, and yet on screen, the rescue was made as pathetic with her running and stumbling all over while calling Chen Pipi's name like some lovesick maiden. What a disappointment!

However, I especially love the adjustment from the novel where the screenwriter actually included reunion of NQ and General Ma Shixiang. I was so disappointed by the novel because they never met after NQ left Wei Cheng for the Academy exams. Delighted as hell when I saw the series actually included tonnes of scenes between the two. That actually gives some closure to the readers who would love to see the father-son-like interaction between them.

The only thing thats lacking is the battlefield scenes. They're ridiculously cheapskate! Where the novel says THOUSANDS of cavalry, I can see only 30-40 people at most on screen. And the scene where the King marches into battle out of Wei Cheng, how come there's only 20-30 people escorting him? Where are the thousands of elite soldiers? And the heavy armour cavalry ambush, my god, THAT IS NOT HOW HEAVY ARMOUR CAVALRY LOOKS LIKE! How come the invincible heavy armoured cavalry thats feared throughout the land dresses exactly like NORMAL light cavalry? Where are the heavy armour that needs constant maintenance which only Tang could afford?? Gosh, The production team should learn a thing or two from Princess Agent, Eternal Love or even Ashes of Love team when it comes to battle scenes. Ever Night battle scenes are truly pathetic and disappointing!

Anyway, Cant wait to see season 3. and I hope Arthur comes back to the team....

Read More