The Autumn Ballad (2022)

Overall, I'd say it was a good series. I don't regret watching it at all. However, there was no unity in the story. It was a fragmentary scenario and was designed accordingly. This has taken the story apart. He took it to different things. That's why I sometimes even had the thought that I was watching unrelated things. An emperor, a firewood office, no administrative office, no sir majesty's story, no duke's story, and I was astonished as the story fell apart. I didn't expect the ending at all. In short, there was no unity. While there were those who loved each other, those who did not love each other came together. The events that happened when they were in love were reversed when they parted. In the end, qiu Yan, who said goodbye to everyone, did not say goodbye to qin xuan. The person who hugged his stepbrother did not hug his own mother. no matter how much grudge he has, he continued this grudge even in his last encounter, but I did not understand what grudge is. If he didn't give her the importance he gave to his brother and sent him to the mistress of the house, I found this much too much. Qiu Yan, who forgave her father and even her grandmother, whom she was so angry with, did not show these things for her own mother, who fell down for them. I don't think it was. Then, in the conflict between the two offices, even though the head of that administrative office shows love to Liang Yi, in the end, he tells his concubine that he still holds a grudge against the man, that he does not forgive him, and turns things around after him. On top of that, he becomes a minister. In other words, this becomes a drama in which the undeserving prevail. It becomes a drama in which the deserving are separated by defeat and left on their own. I didn't find them positive at all. But I really liked the actors. Especially Jeremi Tsui was the number one of the series. He is a humorous and comedic actor. I loved your game. I like Zhan Yu. Unfortunately, I didn't like the female actors very much. I have no favourites. But our experienced players were phenomenal. Especially female actors. They were elegant. Ma Ya Shu, Deng Ying, Rong Rong, Jill Hsu were my favourites. Generally traceable. But it is a series designed in such a way that nothing too much can be expected.

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Jeremy Tsui in one of his best roles

Excellent historical drama, beautifully acted (Jeremy Tsui & Qiao Xin in CL) with a bit of investigation, a bit of romance, a lot of intrigue.

STORY:
Meeting between a noble, smart and independent FL (far too much for this period LOL) and the ML, marquis, head of the secret police. Various love triangles in a period with intrigues and conspiracies, which they will resolve together.

Production of hight quality, lively, without downtime.
Excellent performance by all actors (Jeremy Tsui in one of his best roles). Great fight scenes.
Adapted OSTs.

A little too much twists (especially at the ending), otherwise it would be a Masterpiece
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Excellent drama historique, magnifiquement interprété (Jeremy Tsui & Qiao Xin en CL) avec un peu d'investigation, un peu de romance, beaucoup d'intrigues.

STORY :
Rencontre entre une FL noble et indépendante (beaucoup trop pour son époque LOL) et le ML, responsable de la police secrète de l'état. Triangles amoureux divers au milieu des intrigues et conspirations, qu'ils vont dénouer ensemble.

Réalisation de qualité, vive, sans temps mort.
Excellente performance de tous les acteurs (Jeremy Tsui dans un de ses meilleurs rôles). De belles scènes de fight.
OST adaptées.

Un peu trop de twists (notamment à la fin du drama), sinon ce serait un Masterpiece

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cute little drama for people who wants something short and cute :)

first of all spoiler warning, not too much but definitely spoilers!!

This was a cute watch. the lead have chemistry together. I wasn't a huge fan of the actress that played the female lead before but after this, I know she has potential to be a good actress. Her acting is not bad at all, but at time she can be a little stiff, and I feel at certain times, her acting is a bit modern considering this is set in Ancient China. At least her crying scenes are nice. The actor who played the male lead is actually quite a nice actor, although, his crying scenes made me giggle a bit. I heard about him before and I've seen a few dramas with him in it but he wasn't the main so this is my first time watching something he mained in.

The plot is quite nice, the investigation parts were interesting to follow a long with, but at times it was a bit unrealistic, but over all it was interesting. I loved the enemies to lover type feel that the mains had. At the beginning they hated each other but as they spend more time together they realize they aren't so bad after all. I love that trope so seeing how loving they were towards the end just made me really happy.

I actually loved the sister/SFL. Her character honestly had a lot of depth to her, she didn't feel flat. All of the things she did towards the end were acts of jealousy towards her sister. After being in her sister's shadow all these years and her sister clearly didn't treat her very nicely (of course she still care about her). When she needed her sister the most, she was never there. For example, that one scene where it was thunderstorming and the SFL is terrifed of thunderstorms. She simply asked her sister to hug her. She was in a super vulnerable place and she just need her sister, her blood-related sister, to hug her and the she didn't even do that. I understand she was trying to tell her that there isn't always going to be someone who can take care of her and she needs to know how to take care of herself, but would it kill you to freaking hug your sister?? She got fed up with everything especially after being SAed. Everything she did was honestly not completely out of line. I am definitely not saying the things she did were the right things to do, but you have to understand she was SAed, and no one was there for her. Her sister was always super harsh on her even when they were children. Yes, she cared for her but she was still super mean to her just because her personality wasn't as strong as her sister's. I honestly relate to the SFL just a bit.

I really didn't like the 2nd meal lead much. He was honestly really annoying. He isn't as annoying as other drama SMLs but not likable. He treated SFL so badly. She should no have drugged him but she reflected on it. He kept reminding her how she wasn't as good as her sister. It just got on my nerves.

This drama also has a very strong feminisms message, which I loved. The female lead's birth mother likes her brother over her and basically neglected her when they were children. This was very common back then and is still very common today. The female lead wanted to prove that she can be anything a man can be, and even more. The female lead is strong, independent, and courageous. I understand towards the end why she didn't forgive her birth mother, because I wouldn't have either. Sure she doesn't hate her anymore but that doesn't mean she has to forgive her. She basically neglected her daughter, she was never there when she was growing up simply because of her sex.

Would I rewatch this? No. But I would recommend this someone who just wants something to pass time because drama honestly isnt as bad as I thought it was going to be.

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The acting from the leads was amazing!

When I first started watching this drama I was wondering how the main leads would end up together because of the prejudice the male lead had against the female lead. Watching their relationship unfold was very heartwarming and the acting from both leads was amazing. Some of my favorite scenes in this drama are during ep 20 - 30 most of which involve the leads opening up to each other more. Some things that I did not like about this drama were some plot lines and the addition of some characters which I felt were not necessary to the plot. Also, some of the actions of certain characters toward the end made no sense to me based on what we had previously seen from them. I'm mainly talking about some redemption plots. They seemed a bit random towards the end. Other than that, I loved this drama. I was on the edge of my seat every week waiting for new episodes. It's been a while since I have felt like this about a drama. Definitely planning on rewatching and I recommend this drama to anyone who likes romance and adventure.

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LIANG YI, QIN YAN, QIU XIAO, QIN MIN

Jeremy Tsui (Liang Yi) has thick makeup, we can see how heavy the make up which was awful. He has such a handsome face, the make up didn't do him justice, should be fired that make-up artist. He didn't look natural at all, his face (the best asset) covered with the thickness of face foundation - could see foundation line on the edge of his lip - he didn't look healthy. Qin Yan was cute, natural beauty and they both have a great chemistry but when she acted 'sad, concern' she appeared like 'grimace' which didn't look good on her. She's a tall girl which unusual for female in costume drama, she's care-free which uncalled for to the period of supposedly time. The best of all is the chemistry between Lead actors as the loving interaction was genuine and comfortable to each other. I like the story, all intertwined and flowing (if avoid water-fill stories) there were twists which unpredictable at the end of story, and every actors did a good job taking parts in their roles.

Even for Qin Min, she's beautiful but she's such a bore! Self pity, unwise, selfish, weak, coward, all things that I despise in any character. Wayne Liu (Qiu Xiao) did good with his character, kind of soft and kind heart man - not the right man for Qin Yan to choose. The Emperor was an easy target, didn't have influence or weight in governing country. All in all is a good drama but there're water-filled story in between episodes such as Qin's Women in Royal Academy, it's on and on about Qin Min plastering Qiu Xiao like we're ready to knock her head into sense. The sweetness relationship between Liang Yi & Qin Yan is admirable, they shown their affection openly and his Mom blessing their union. The ending is sweet...

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Amongst the 2022 releases so far, this is one of the better ones. Watched this around April. The female lead is not a damsel in distress, the characters are morally gray, and there were a lot of twists. The acting was okay and the plot was enjoyable. There were laugh out loud and sweet scenes that were done well, especially in the mid episodes. However, there were too much unnecessary deaths, and the last couple of episodes, especially the last one just went crazy. The author probably was high when he/she wrote that. Didn’t make sense at all. Let’s all forget episode 34 happened.

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Light, funny and entertaining - Surprisingly good!

Surprisingly this series is good! Rare China mainland series with the actress and actors real voices! Love it!
Good acting and chemistry. But I feel that the chemistry between Qiu Yan and Qin Xuan is better compare to the main male lead.
Good pacing and good placing of humor here and there. The ending a bit rushing though, Maybe there will be second season?

Moral of the story, don't involve in politics and revenge as it will never end. The whole things would not happen if Liang Yi follow his father will and maybe is Qiu Yan words that made him keep the hatred for so long LOL

All character seems to become a good guys at the end, which is a bit not realistic to just give a happy ending.
And some scenes a bit unrealistic too, like when Yuan Lang want to check Su Yi Wan identity. How fast a burn scars heal? People should can tell if the scar is just newly had or long time ago happen, how come no one notice and just rub the solutions to the scars, but color wise it should also different?

Qiu Yan character a bit irritating in the beginning, but she changed from her life experiences, Qiao Xin portray the character well.
Her outfit a bit not good though, Qiu Min outfit are nicer, Qiu Yan one like too big on her which make the fabric stick out around the neck area.

Overall even with some unrealistic scenario, this series is entertaining, funny, and have a nice music too. Recommended to watch!

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Qiao Xin ia a hard worker actress.

Such a beautiful drama.

Not many netizen know QX, and many despise her. But she is the real warrior actress. When other actors or actresses are protected by their agents, given facilities, assisted, QX stands on her own merits. Although she was tackled a lot of time, despise reproached, but she learned from her failure to move forward and from her pain, she became stronger.
From the drama ode joy 1 and 2, she began to be known. But because her roles was about a quiet, obedient character, then her facial appearance was not too beautiful at that time, making her stagnate, even her contract with her agent at that time was forfeited! In her downfall she rose, become stronger, and she fought.

This drama is a drama at a very low cost, without advertising, without facilities, a very 'choking' budget, an underrated drama. However, because of the beautiful storyline, anti-mainstream, and strong female characters, steadfast against the currents of the era, this drama has become one of the best drama costumes in 2022!

So... QX acting skill successfully portray the female main role character very well, since than, her acting began to be noticed. The benefits of this cheap project are not 'little'! This drama becomes a 'dark horse' drama to be reckoned with...

A high recommended drama to watch, it even gets a lot of praise from artists and audiences.

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Fast paced storyline that swerved after two-thirds

I really enjoyed the first two thirds of the story. As another reviewer, ChineseDramaFan puts it, this story is segmented nicely into 3 parts - 1st part of meet-cute where both leads mutually hated each other, 2nd part of warming up and getting to know each other; and 3rd part of falling in love and fighting together.

Having a modern lady ahead of the time she was born, Qiu Yan is an admirable woman who work smartly and persistently to never let fate dictates her. Matching her wit and determination is Liang Yi who is ambitious and steadfast in making hard decisions in his quest for justice (as well as his personal revenge). The overlay of their romance story is investigations and suspense. However, since it's a predominantly romance first, then suspense second, there are quite the loopholes for the mystery cases. Despite the flaws though, I truly enjoyed the interactions, chemistry, and romance developments of the leads.

Thanks to the fast pacing, there weren't too much time to delve into the flaws before we will be rewarded with humorous "battle of wits" between Liang Yi and Qiu Yan. Their romance progress was also not the typical plots you'd see in other idol shows. One typical example is how we would expect the male lead to save the female lead when she is in trouble. However, the "how part" of Liang Yi saving Qiu Yan is rather unexpected and entertaining to watch. I also love their relationship dynamic. They both listen to each other, sarcasm and all, and respect each other. They are each other's equals, and surely an ideal relationship if there weren't so many external dramas thrown in their way.

The other part that makes this show good is the ideology of what Qiu Yan represents. She has a few memorable quotes in the story on woman's intention and seduction as well as how she continues to wish to be woman in her next life or next next life - having faith in the progress of woman's rights. I love it - Qiu Yan is not all talk and blame, unlike the contrast which Qiu Min's character portrays in the story. This is empowering, and a good message for other female audience.

However, once the story reaches towards the end, I find it becoming too convoluted. It's not even about the not-so-strong mystery cases anymore. While the big bad reveal is kinda surprisingly, I did not find myself really enjoying the latter one third of the show. Some of the character motivations are also puzzling and difficult to overlook the logic flaws.

Still, I'd recommend to watch this drama. The enjoyable parts of The Autumn Ballad are truly enjoyable, and to a certain extent, the main characters are inspiring. So have fun with this drama, until it's not.

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Unpopular review

In first episodes, you’re hooked to the strong fl character who goes against principles & values of the time and fights to decide her own fate. The mysteries and many twists & turns makes the drama different and interesting … at first.
Yet, more the story unfolds, more you realize that the fl is just a fickle, childish, stubborn girl who doesn’t hesitate to throw her family under the bus based on her intuition rather than believing in any of them. She is lucky to have met Liang Yi who saved her from her infortunes so many times and Qin Xuan who loves her sincerely.
She actually ruined & hurt so many people simply because she prefers to trust her intuition rather than trusting anyone and accepting how others could be different than her.
Her lack of values made me hate step by step the fl. Now at episode 22, I am fast forwarding episodes to finish it quickly.
I’m also not convinced by the actors play in this drama, I didn’t find this chemistry btw the leads that so many talked about. And because the script writer wanted to focus on the twists, many opportunities to make the fl & ml shine we’re missed.
And once you’ve seen them all, you can’t watch this drama again, as you know it all.

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UPDATE BELOW. SORRY FOR THE CAPS, I AM EMOTIONAL.

(This first part is my original review before I finished the series)

OH HOW I HOOWWWWLLLLEEEDDDDD!!!!! This show has many of the most outrageous banters in the asian dramaverse.
The FL is strongheaded and seems to be unafraid of anything. Her life, her rules. She outshines all other girls, and not always in a good way. The ML is more like "Oh you want my help? Let me think about it while I lean on this wall looking cool with my smouldering eyes broad shoulders tiny waist and smexy voice." He is one cunning bastard. But of course he is a good person deep down inside, and a patient man too. I am now at episode 20 and we can already see the budding boy in love that he is, silently crushing while helping his dream girl dealing with murder, suicide, defamation, and other annoying things happening in her life. She is just too busy for romance, you know.

Episode 21 is also a milestone for Qiu Min, FL little sister. It is a "WTF girl" moment but also "You go girl, go get what you want" moment.

The villain is smart and also, a cunning bastard. Going against him is like playing chess. He can guess your next move so you better think carefully. Quite satisfying as an opponent, really.

I will update when I finish but for now, I'm ready for more romance.

MY UPDATE AFTER FINISHING THE SERIES

Ok, no more romance. At least nothing worth mentioning. Our ML is just very understanding that he would never keep the free spirited FML tied in a romantic relationship, not even trying. LIKE, DUDE FR. HAVE YOU NEVER HEARD OF BEYONCE'S PUT A RING ON HER. And the FML just doesn't tell that she is actually willing to stay. 'If only he would ask', she says silently. PEOPLE, COME ON. Who wrote this shit.

Now, the little sister. It is not a 'You go girl' moment, apparently. But more like 'You go and never come back, girl' moment because she goes full unhinged from eps 21 onwards. Again, who wrote this shit???

To make things worse, the FML has to pretend that she is someone with a totally different identity, in front of the whole townspeople. Oh she looks the same, sounds the same, same height and everything, but she is not HER, because HER is dead. She is a totally different girl that has nothing to do with HER. And the whole town fell for it. SOMEONE FIRE THE WRITER ALREADY PLEASE.

It could have been very good. What a missed opportunity.

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