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The Irony of Nirvana is the main theme in this tale of conspiracies chaos and corruption
A curious and carefree Ci ventures out from the safety of her village in the mountains to explore the world below only to literally land in the middle of a political firestorm.Ci’s journey led her to the political home of Pei, where she learned medicine , became an enemy, friend then lover of Wei. She traveled to surrounding villages to bring healing and kindness to the people, and justice for women, landed in the royal palace as a princess, and encountered a couple of wars along the way. Her adventures were nothing short of exciting .
The conspiracies and corruption could at times be convoluted but it was interesting to watch the characters investigate and try and unravel the mess. The show missed an opportunity with the Shadow Sect. Their secrecy and strategy made for an intriguing part of the story but was dropped halfway through the series due to the plot turning more towards war and political wrangling in the palace.
Though Pei started off toxic and controlling towards Ci he evolved nicely into a man who recognized the error of his ways and in turn became a fierce ally of Wei and Yueluo. But like other plots within the series, his political endgame of wanting to raise his status in the court was essentially dropped.
The leads, Wei and Ci, had chemistry and a lot of potential but unfortunately that potential wasn’t fully realized. They had some sweet moments but didn’t become a couple until the last few episodes and even then they barely shared any scenes due to the war. I think they kissed once, finally, in the second to last episode and that was only because they had sex. SMH. There were some missed opportunities for them to be physically closer ie hand holding, kisses, hugs, which would’ve given their romantic bond more credence.
The last few episodes got bogged down with too many war strategy meetings and battle scenes. Sadly, the ending was disappointing but not surprising. My heart broke for Ci. She lost everyone she loved most, which was painful to watch. And though I was not a fan of Pei, I felt so bad for him. For in the end he lost everyone he cared about either due to death or by their choice to leave him. Granted much of that was his own fault but it didn’t make him less sympathetic due to the losses. This was a good series. The acting was good and overall the plot was strong. However, if you’re looking for a romance drama you won’t find it here. It’s mostly a political conspiracy and war drama.
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engaging serious plot, entertaining enemies-to-lovers; biggest weakness is female lead's development
I started this drama with very high hopes. I enjoyed all three of the main actors (li landi, ren jialun, and xu zhengxi) from previous dramas. The fight scenes looked great, the acting was pretty good, and the cinematography wasn't bad. The conflicts and motivations of each character were clear in the beginning. But as you watch on, you'll see that the female lead seems to have the least depth to her character. The drama felt very much weighted toward wei zhao's story and pei yan's story. They felt like the true main characters by the end, and the true equals of the show, rather than it being between the female lead and male lead.And that's not a bad thing, but the problem is that they didn't elevate jiang ci's character. Her character's agency and fierceness disappeared over the course of the drama. She constantly felt stuck in the same place (literally, sometimes!) and rarely saved herself. Even her anger over wei zhao's white lies (and straight-up lies) felt a bit tamed. Toward the last third of the drama, it felt like so many men around jiang ci were making decisions for her, making decisions about her status and life. She had no say. She could not leave where she was. We didn't even get to see her on screen very much. It was beyond frustrating. I almost dropped the drama.
By the final third of the drama (around 30-35), when one more serious sub-plot tried to surface, I gave up on this dragged out storyline and just skipped a lot of it. I just wanted to know what happened at the end.
The drama started so high, but ended as just 'meh' for me. I couldn't bear how much the female lead was suffering because of the men in her lives.
If you like stories that have less romance and more of the scheming and battles (and sad tragic realities of war), this did pretty good. I was really sad for the state of Yueluo, who have to send slaves to the Liang state and who have to suffer humiliation from the Liang state. That pain is really well shown.
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one of the better ones in 2024
I like it because each character was reasonable normal people, they had their own motives, their own thoughts, and their actions portrayed it. They were their own person. Not something made up randomly for the plot. Something very rare in CDrama. My favorite would be the MFL and SML's mother. When I started this series, I didn't expect that I'd be watching till finished. Not because anything wrong in the first few episodes, but it's just petty me LOL.. I can't relate to ML description as the most beautiful man in the capital with the actor, another actor's face kept on popping in my head LOL... But hey... the actors ability and storyline in the end wins against my pettiness.. I finished the whole 40 episodes hehe .... Please give this Drama a try 👍Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
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Worth every minute of my time.
This drama has now become my all-time favourite. After seeing "Until the end of the moon", I really thought that no other drama can top it in terms of storyline, ost, casting and acting but I have finally found the one to do that.This drama itself takes place in the Liang state where Wei Zhao (also known as Xiao Wuxia, played by Ren Jia Lun) seeks to find the truth about his father's and family's downfall. Whilst on this journey, an unfortunate girl, Jiang Ci (played by Landy Li) unintentionally foils his plans, leading to their fates intermingling for the rest of the drama. Based on this description alone, you can discern that this is an enemies-to-lovers trope, and it is, and by far, it is my favourite representation of this trope in all the c-dramas that I have seen.
The characters in the series also play their roles extremely well and there was no particular complaint that I could make regarding the acting or execution of these characters. There weren't any plot holes in terms of motive or background of the characters and this made it such a more enjoyable watch as everything that the characters did had a purpose. The actors did an exquisite job in playing their characters -- I really don't think there could be another cast that could pull off this drama as well as this one did. There was a point where I really hated Pei Yan (you'll understand if you watch the drama) so you can really tell that they were mastering their roles.
The plot of the series was also interesting. As it is a historical c-drama, you can expect a lot of politics however, unlike the other c-dramas that bombard you with a bunch of irrelevant side quests that the characters go through, I didn't feel this way about this c-drama. All the politics in this drama served their role wonderfully and it was actually comprehensible and beginner-friendly for all those who are new to this genre of c-dramas. The romance, of course, is there. I don't know how else to put it but it's just the perfect amount of angst, yearning, passion and sincerity.
The ost of this drama OH MY GOODNESS. I cannot express how well they chose their ost. All of the songs as well as where they were placed throughout the drama made it all the more beautiful as the osts really capture the moment on screen; they made the heartwarming scenes even more cutesy and the depressing scenes even more heart-wrenching. They're definitely going into my favourite ost playlist!
All in all, should you watch this drama? Yes. Should you give it your full attention? Yes. Is there any advice I would give to future watchers? 😇😭🤧
Happy Binging!
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O roteiro não é ruim, mas a maneira em que o casal principal se conhece é questionável, como é possível se apaixonar por alguém que lhe apunha-la 'a primeira vista'? Algumas vezes os roteiristas/escritores testam a paciência daqueles que vão ler/assistir suas criações. Tirando algumas incongruências do roteiro e algumas falhas da direção, o drama é muito bom, principalmente, graças ao elenco que entregou atuações brilhantes. Os personagens são dúbios, mas gostáveis, fazendo com que ora torçamos por um, ora por outro. Não é apenas um roteiro sobre intriga e luta por poder, mas sobre o quanto cada um está disposto a perder para garantir a segurança e o bem estar do outro. A direção poderia ter se esmerado um pouco mais para dar uma finalização que estivesse a altura do drama, mas, mesmo assim, ficou bem emocionante. O 'gato sem vergonha' é aquele personagem que deixará saudade e será lembrado por muito tempo. Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
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drama of two halves
I have mixed feeling about this as the last two story arcs were comparatively poor. Up to this point the plot unfolded at a modest but gripping pace that allowed the viewers to understand the different complexities of the main characters. Jiang Ci and Wei Zhao changing relationship from antagonism to love felt credible for the most part, spurred on by Jiang Ci understanding of the impact of Emperor Liang's genocidal policies on WZ and the Zhengrong residents but I have reservations about the Stockholm syndrome aspect of this relationship. The second half of the drama is disappointing. The third arc involving the Shifu was trite and cliched and did a disservice to the development of complex characters in the first half of the drama. The final arc dragged and was predictable and involved too many flashbacks,Generally, the actors portray the main characters well. But Ren Jialun’s acting is still a bit underwhelming and Ji Landi portrayal of J CI does not really convey the “free spirit” of the character, which is a big part of why J Ci opts for WZ not Peil Yan. On the other hand, Xu Zhengxi delivers a great performance as s the ambitious and manipulative Pei Yan. Still, it is one of better new costume dramas of 2024 (i.e. excluding season 2 /3 dramas), which have so far been disappointing.
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What you get when two people are allergic to happy endings.
These two motherfuckers are really allergic to happy endings, huh? Not a single one of their dramas that I have completed had a happy ending. But that's not to say I didn't choose this upon myself. I've been digging sad endings recently, and this was added to my list of to be watched immediately. And the thing that made drop everything and watch this? THE FACT THAT THE ML WAS A RED FLAG.Honestly, I forgot how fun it was being absolutely colour blind. This man isn't even red, he's full on black. And the kicker? I was fully supporting and crying for him. Istg, something about the reds and blacks man, they have a way to play with my emotions. And lets not forgot how pretty Allen is with that pony tail.
I just loved how everyone was so smart in this. There was no dumb characters, no damsels in distresses, and no motivations that seemed flawed. I thought Jiang Ci was going to be someone I didn't like because she seemed naïve, BUT I'M SO GLAD SHE PROVED ME WRONG. I just loved how she was a no bullshit, no nonsense girl. And that slowly, she started to see the ML's side, but still stuck to her own views and morals. Writers usually fuck up these kinds of characters. but they did a fantastic job with her.
And did I fucking cry a river when everyone was more than willing to sacrifice themselves for Wei Zhao? 1010%. Every single one of those scenes made me sob. And no matter how much they wished for his happiness, it was always in his fate to die. I swear, the way I could hear my heart breaking when they showed the marriage sealing from both their POVs. And that ending? "Your father's been waiting for us at home." — Yeah, I did this to myself and now I have to forever live with the consequences. We didn't get enough of their love story, and I will never forgive the writers for that. THEY DESERVED SO MUCH BETTER!!
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Shameless cat??
I am in shambles. Cried too many tears, it’s not okay. I think it took me a bit long to watch the first ten episodes, but once I reached episode 10/11, I just inhaled the show. It had me hooked and anticipating it the same way “Eternal Love” did earlier this year!!🤭🤣 I was just always looking forward to watching more!I loved the OST (so sad that it’s STILL not on Spotify 💔) and the styling in this show! Although, Wei Zhao’s assassin’s wig was … not my favorite to be honest!! But everyone looked so, so dashing⚔️🥹, and I really enjoyed the scheming and plotting throughout the show. If you’re into scheming plots, political/internal power struggles with a pinch of heartbreaking romance, then this show is great! Also, Li Landi’s acting was so good, I need to watch more of her shows! RJL was great as expected and Jeremy Tsui had a very impressive and intense screen presence as well; everyone acted amazingly in this show!!
My favorite episode was probably the one during this Winter party when our leads were dressed in red, both looked so good (and HAPPY and WELL). Anyway, I have a headache now🤣💗 Ren Jia Lun, I deserve compensation after this and “One and Only”!!!!!💰
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Not bad
Good character development. The story went a way I didn't see it going, which was nice. But not my favorite ending....Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
Fell a little short because of the romance
This story would have been much better if they left the romance completely out. I get that romance is CDrama’s kryptonite and without it, maybe some people won’t want to watch it but it is not needed in every drama. CDrama’s tend to try to force romance no matter if the situation is murky and it takes so much away from the story sometimes.The Good
Started strong steeped in some mystery with a murder/revenge plot. The original plot was actually engaging and intriguing. The main characters were all setup nicely, had strong acting and were a great fit for their roles. Costumes, makeup, wigs and sets were decent as well.
The Bad
The romance. I love a good romance story like the next person but the connection between main leads felt lackluster and partly due to the extreme treatment he put her through. This caused a huge disconnection of even wanting to see romance or even believe it. Again, the romance was not needed or warranted after all he had done. It became forced and became the identity of the story as it went on towards the end. They could have been great allies since their stories intertwined but the shallow romance left the ending for the main FL unsatisfying for me. I also did not like that the two MLs were dubbed. I don’t think it was necessary since both can dub themselves.
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Un beau jeu d'échecs
Les 20 premiers épisodes sont brillants ils méritent du 11/10 ! Des joueurs d'échecs très forts, perturbés par une variable inconnue, intelligente elle aussi !Les 20 suivants sont plus lents et il y a moins de calculs.
La production est énorme, il y a de belles scènes de guerre, et les acteurs sont tous excellents.
La romance ne se voit pas du tout, pas de bisous langoureux donc, mais des jeux de regards, et pour "la nuit de noces" une image des deux bottes côte à cote près du lit..
J'aurais mis 10 si la fin été bonne, mais ils aiment des fin à la "till the end of the moon", des fins bien tristes, avec une femme seule avec un bébé.
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If Only…..
I am so heartbroken!!! Why does most Ren Jia Lun series have tragic endings?? If we could for a minute forget that there isn’t a happily ever after in this drama, I would have given it a solid 10 stars, 15 if possible. The story was amazing, the conspiracies, the politics, the quick thinking leads, the soundtrack was like icing on the cake, not to forget the amazing costumes of Ren Jia Lun and Jeremy Tsui. I’m sure the makers of this series have attended to every minute detail in the show to bring us an amazing series, if only they could give the leads a happy ending after all they went through. I suffer from the second lead syndrome in most shows, but even if Jeremy Tsui was an amazing second lead, I didn’t get the second lead syndrome, this shows just how good he was in character. What do I even say about Ren Jia Lun! He was amazing, he is the champion of sacrifices, subtle glances for romance, and tragic climaxes. On top of it, he looked super awesome too! As for Landy Li, she was perfect in her girl-next-door personality and I loved her chemistry with RJL.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
