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Poor pacing, bad screenwriting
I never bother to write reviews, unless when a wasted potential pisses me off so much that I wished I was the screenwriter instead.
First, I must praise:
The production quality is just breathtaking. You will astonished by the beauty of Song philosophy, literature, and clothing. And you will be touched by carefully-picked cast and the actors' efforts to showing the emotions of their complex characters. Well- ignoring the fact that Huaiji looks too young to be 30 and Li Wei looks too old to be 16.
Then, I will criticize:
This drama is nearly perfect in every single aspect EXCEPT for the plot. The screenwriter and director turned what was originally a story focused on the Eunuch and the Princess's romance into a COMPLETE biography of the Emperor. The Emperor was glorified into a perfect figure who never makes mistakes. We are forced to justify his actions and believe he is always right no matter how crazy and unreasonable. An anti-feudal, anti-ethics satire turned into poetry written solely to praise the Emperor?? That is so disrespectful when it comes to adapting somebody else's works.
I will admit, this drama tells a very interesting story. Interesting BUT exhausting. It's insane how they tried to cram what could have been three individual dramas into one: The emperor and politics, the empress and the harem, the princess and the eunuch. The audience alternates between multiple people's perspectives in a single episode alone, which causes information to become scattered and lose focus. From a family perspective, we see a selfish father who gets any women he wants, but married off his daughter to someone she doesn't love as compensation for his birth mother's family. However, if this was broken down into different dramas, we will get a proper, political side to the story- how the arranged marriage was actually protection for the Princess from the next Emperor-in-line.
So where is the climax? THERE IS NONE. Things just happen and we're forced to move on quickly. All the meaningful foreshadow scenes (from Huaiji's childhood) which were supposed to lead to powerful realizations were all but watered down. The climax in the novel occurs when the Princess breaks the law. But this doesn't happen in the drama until a sudden change of focus near the end of the show, with a very rushed open ending that left us in confusion. The drama ends with the Emperor's death, when there is actually more to the story.
First, I must praise:
The production quality is just breathtaking. You will astonished by the beauty of Song philosophy, literature, and clothing. And you will be touched by carefully-picked cast and the actors' efforts to showing the emotions of their complex characters. Well- ignoring the fact that Huaiji looks too young to be 30 and Li Wei looks too old to be 16.
Then, I will criticize:
This drama is nearly perfect in every single aspect EXCEPT for the plot. The screenwriter and director turned what was originally a story focused on the Eunuch and the Princess's romance into a COMPLETE biography of the Emperor. The Emperor was glorified into a perfect figure who never makes mistakes. We are forced to justify his actions and believe he is always right no matter how crazy and unreasonable. An anti-feudal, anti-ethics satire turned into poetry written solely to praise the Emperor?? That is so disrespectful when it comes to adapting somebody else's works.
I will admit, this drama tells a very interesting story. Interesting BUT exhausting. It's insane how they tried to cram what could have been three individual dramas into one: The emperor and politics, the empress and the harem, the princess and the eunuch. The audience alternates between multiple people's perspectives in a single episode alone, which causes information to become scattered and lose focus. From a family perspective, we see a selfish father who gets any women he wants, but married off his daughter to someone she doesn't love as compensation for his birth mother's family. However, if this was broken down into different dramas, we will get a proper, political side to the story- how the arranged marriage was actually protection for the Princess from the next Emperor-in-line.
So where is the climax? THERE IS NONE. Things just happen and we're forced to move on quickly. All the meaningful foreshadow scenes (from Huaiji's childhood) which were supposed to lead to powerful realizations were all but watered down. The climax in the novel occurs when the Princess breaks the law. But this doesn't happen in the drama until a sudden change of focus near the end of the show, with a very rushed open ending that left us in confusion. The drama ends with the Emperor's death, when there is actually more to the story.
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