Legend of Yun Xi (2018)

Poison-harmful and harmless

Han Yunxi,played by Ju Jingyi,is a talented doctor,who is well versed in poisons but has an ugly carbuncle on her face.Unexpectedly,she gets married to Long Fei Ye,played by Zhang Zhehan,on the insistence of the emperor of Tian ning,who is highly suspicious of his brother,the male lead.
The plot has good twists and turns to keep one engaged throughout the drama.
Especially,Han Yunxi uses poison to deal with many diseases and problems and wins the admiration of Long Fei ye in the process and falls in love with him.
The pace of the drama is also very good.
All the scenes were well written, especially the cat and mouse games played by both the emperor and Long Fei Ye.
The fights,sets,costumes,and acting of the actors were nice.
I specially liked the role of Gu Qishao,played my Merxat.He is very sincere,helpful,caring, clear headed.His acting is too good and his characterisation is very good.
The chemistry of lead actors was also good.
Everything about this drama is good.A good watch.

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No real suspense - can't take the characters seriously

First of all, I dropped it after dragging myself through the drama since about episode 20.
It has become so boring.

What I liked:
Yunxi is a lively, vibrant and forgiving character. The actress carried the show for me and made me watch on. In the beginning I didn't like her for several reasons, but either I've gotten used to it or she outgrew those reasons a little.
The male lead finally has some expressions after that many episodes. He is handsome.
The costumes are nice, they did a fine job with interior decorations. The rooms were crafted well.
I like the way they started to weave in Dr. Gu's character, they managed to be a little more subtle about it.


What I disliked:

The sound effects/ music:
Omg. Who commited that crime? I'm not talking about the Intro and Outro songs, I skipped them.
It was just... NOISE. HUGE noise. When they wanted to add suspension or make a point, it seems somone thought it a good idea to let the orchestra hit their instruments all at the same time and then throw them in the trash. Repeatedly.
It really diverted the attention from the drama to the off-music, sometimes to the point where you lost track of what was happening. The worst effect/music choice I've come across so far in a drama.
I give it a 5, because I think the other music was at least decent. But described sound/music was desastrous.

Plot:
In the beginning there was some plot, but it gradually became less and lost traction. Now even if new plot elements seem to plop up, I feel bored about them and don't bother investing emotionally.
The comedic relief didn't work for me. Yunxi didn't have enough funny scenes to make up for it and I started to strongly dislike Tang Li's character, who seems to was supposed to be a comedic role.
They kept it flat. The plot doesn't really happen, it's quite often only talked about and without finesse - no suspense, compared to other dramas.

Romance:
It can't find itself solid ground. The reasons to develop a good romance between the leads are there, and yes, there are kiss scenes included up to episode 27 and I suppose "some right scenes". But the feelings don't carry at all.
The second male lead? Nope. Unfortunately they gave him too much boring screen time in scences that lead to nothing really.

Actors/characters:
This is probably my biggest misfit with this drama: I can't seem to invest emotions in any of the characters but Yunxi. And I really had to warm up to her first, too since I felt she had a forced entry.
The male lead often doesn't do it for me. He seems too little involved with his surroundings and some of his decisions are not what I'd expect from a male hero, even controversial. Somehow he doesn't pop out, he just looks handsome, that's it.
The characters stay superficial to me.
Places where the story could build rapport with the characters and viewers are often lost, when the story cuts beginning threads of thoughts or character changes off or overtheatrically ridicules them.
I CAN'T TAKE THE CHARACTERS SERIOUSLY.
Also, lots of characters are really dislikable to me for too long a period of time. It's not well balanced for me to really enjoy it.

Rewatch value:
Maybe only the kiss scenes in a fast compilation. The prospective dragging will likely keep me from trying to finish this show.

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The story could have been shorter...

I did enjoy watching the story, and loved the acting of the cast.

At the beginning it was more interesting and intriguing, and towards the end it was like overdoing it with the sacrifices. I don’t mind having that part in the story, but too much sacrifice is overkill in the end of the story. I don’t mind sad ending stories, or being creative on how the ending goes, but here, it is just an overdoing it ending.

I did like the acting of the main characters, Han Yunxi, Long Fei Ye, and Gu Qi Shao, and the other cast actors. Long Fei Ye stone face look is great, and Yunxi strong female role was great as well. Gu Qi Shao well he is quite an interesting character in the story and loved how the story progressed around him, and it was touching how he truly loved Yunxi.

I did enjoy how the story progressed, but I think the story could have been shorter and continued to be better without the extra additional events that kept the story to be dragging its feet.

The rewatch value for me is a maybe for some of my favourite episodes that are at the beginning and the middle.

Overall, I did enjoy watching the story.

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To make it clear, the story line is nothing new and quite predictable. In this drama, it was really the characters that added spice and their unique traits which added flavour to the mix.

1. PLOT
It is quite a typical plot if you have watched a lot of historical dramas and in particular, fantasy ones involving different dimensions. So if you are just venturing into this genre of dramas, I do believe it will mostly be interesting and likeable for you guys. However, if you are not new to the scene, this drama might bore you as you would be able to generally gauge how the whole series will play out. Personally, I watched the first few episodes and it started to get bland for me because all the scheming, trickery and relationships could be guessed easily. For some reason, I just gritted my teeth and continued. Eventually, with the support of the wonderful OSTs, I managed to weather through the next few episodes. It got better mainly because of the characters and I encourage you to continue watching if you can tolerate repetition because it does get interesting. Furthermore, the world building is quite unique with the Gu-abetted men and that was a plus point for me to keep watching because it was a different angle to take in these dramas.

2. CHARACTERS
It was the characters which made the story interesting. Each and every one of them all became so loveable to me. With Long Feiye, I adore how he is so stoic for the first half or so but I could see the progress of his relationship with Han Yunxi evident in him becoming more open with is display of outward affection. I like how he is so steady and sharp with every calculation. He really cares for his friends and family, going out of his way to help them. Yunxi is so persistent, resolute in her decisions, honest and also unknowingly cruel. I respect how she makes clear her affections for Feiye especially towards Gu Qishao but also the part in the end where she forced Qishao's hand. Overall, I believe the characters made the drama so lively and eventually lead me to feel so attached to this dimension.

3. EMOTIONS
Since I grew attached to the characters, undoubtedly the emotions would be overwhelming for me. The one that struck me the most was how painful Gu Qishao's journey through this story was. H efaced so many adversities and nothing was easy for him. The part where Yunxi forced Qishao's hand n a certain matter was acutely painful No one was there to support him and he was the lone wolf to contend with the whole process, the event prior to, the aftermath and the visuals. I realised what a cruel hand the story dealt him and I felt deep sympathy for him. The relationship between Consort Dowager Yi and Yunxi was a deeply satisfying one for me. I truly enjoyed their relationship progress and that was a true enemies to lovers trope right there. Their progress invoked so many emotions because you can see every single stepping stone they took was a wonderful one which makes me miss the drama so much more as I am writing this review a few days later. Of course, we cannot miss out the main leads of the story. Unlike the rest, Theirs was a love that is normal and beautiful in its own way but it did not make me yearn for the story not to end. In fact, it was their chemistry that made it memorable for me. They were so good working together, one person healing with poison, the other toiling tirelessly for his people. i loved that ultimately they supported each other out in the open and behind the scenes, they did even more to hold each other up, be it consciously or unconsciously.

There were no jarring plot holes and their acting was also good but not memorable. I did find the first few episodes confusing as well with how it was structured to go from the present then to the past to a flashback and then replay that present scene all over again.
Overall, the characters and their resulting relationships made the drama impactful for me and I urge you to endure the first quarter at least in order to enjoy the drama.

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The story has a very interesting premise, I was hooked from the start since there was a colorful cast of characters, a constantly evolving plot, and a central conflict at play. The characters are very dynamic, since they are constantly forced to make difficult decisions. One minor flaw is the lack of new scenes, since I was constantly going to the same places over and over again, just with different events taking place. But this is where the drama exceeds, since there was always something there to hook my interest.

My major criticism is in the last few episodes. There were a lot of repetitions throughout the drama, but the ending was very rushed, especially since they could of fleshed out the events in more detail. The plot really starts to fall apart during these episodes, since what was going on in them didn't make a lot of sense. Finally, the ending should make sense if you paid attention to earlier details, which is why it's worth rewatching.

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Chemistry and the background story that bonds the main couple is beautiful!!!!

The chemistry between all the characters was so good. I just binge-watched it in 2 days and worth it. Even though I skipped some of the parts that the leading actors weren't in it, I enjoyed watching it. (Han Yun Xi and Long Fei Ye ) Both female and male leads are powerful, clever, righteous, loyal, caring, and protecting, supporting each other with respect.
Also, these aspects do not create a boring story. The love that develops between them, how they start to understand each other how their surroundings got effected from it, also how their background story connects to each other creates a heartwarming, sweet, also sad, mournful, funny and enjoyable story to watch.
I really like the chemistry and the acting of Yalkun Merxat. His character Gu Qi Shao as the second lover of Han Yun Xi does not create a flow in the drama. His character is also respectful, supportive, caring towards her but it does not affect the plot of the drama in a negative way. And he is not annoying kind of a second lover. He portrays his character lovable, caring and strong.
I highly recommend this drama!

-----Zhang Zhehan is so charismatic and handsome omg just in love after watching Legend of Yun Xi also so happy that he has another drama with Ju Jing Yi their chemistry and acting is so beautiful together. Can't wait to watch!

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I think most people have watched Legend of Yun Xi (LYX) before they move on to The Blooms at Ruyi Pavilion (TBRP). As for me I am the opposite as I watched TBRP first then after long consideration only decided to watch LYX. Why? Sorry to say this I find TBRP storyline is not as interesting as LYX. Even though half of the castings from TBRP are from LYX except Merxat Yalkun & Hu Bing. Luckily both did not acted in TBRP or else it will be a waste for both great actors to act in such a boring drama.
Everything in LYX is fine except few things as followings :-
1) ML role - Zhang Zhe Han acting skills is super stiff or wooden over here. Idk if it's due to that role he is acting or he doesn't have the acting skills. Most of the time he was like staring at empty space in this drama.
2) The ending is like meh or huh..........it is a waste this drama starts off well but ends abruptly. I am not going to comment further on this as you may watch & find it yourself.
3) As usual this cdrama always shown repetitive scenes like keeps on flashing back on the past events between the ML & FL or the FL with the 2nd ML.
Other than the above mentioned points if compared to TBRP, this drama spins off better & no wonder fans of ML & FL couples are looking forward to TBRP. My advise is if you are a great fans of ML & FL of LYX then by all means proceed to watch TBRP or else you may drop it.
Finally, I really feel sad the 2nd ML - Merxat Yalkun always ends up getting a sad ending role. I think it's time for him to get a better ending role than those sad ending & supporting roles.

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Fell Flat For Me

Story: the story was pretty one note for me, and fell flat a lot of times. it seemed repetitive, and there was way more flashbacks then i think we needed, esp of scenes we already saw before. i do not watch romance dramas, so i knew going into it i would dislike the romance story, and it felt also pushed into the plot rather then a large plot point. i think the show would have been successful without any romance at all, and just political drama. it had a good backdrop of the drama when it came the palace and the harem, but they were not given the same attention as the main CP. I was even intrigued by YaoGui valley a lot, but that was also not given the same attention as the Qin Household.
Acting/Cast: I knew going into this that ZZH and MR are good actors. I am an MR (Mi Re) fan so I knew that I would be rooting for him, but I expected ZZH to have something else in this role. While Prince Qin was a flat role it left me not caring for his end goal and for his romance. He had some scenes where he showed emotion but to have that has the main lead is weird since its hard for the audience to connect. Now I did not like JJY's acting. She at times felt one-demonsional. I was not sure why, but she did not feel natural to me when she acted. While she is a pretty face I do not believe her acting was amazing, but she did what she needed to do. Now for Merxat I can go on and on, since I am one of his fans. But I can say that I really enjoyed his acting. I can be critical of persons acting even if I stan them, but I do believe he stole every scene he was in and his emotions were portrayed with so much raw power, and naturalness that I felt the pain he was in. He created a character that completely fleshed out in mannerisms, quirks, and microexpressions that I felt Qishao was one of the most well-rounded characters in the show.
I do think the supporting cast did a good job (I liked the actor for Tang Li and for Concubine QIng).
Music: I can only remember two of the OST's for this show so it is not memorable for me.
Rewatch Value: I would not watch it fully again. I may watch some scenes again because of the emotional power they had (mainly Qishao's scenes) but this is not a drama I would enjoy watching again.

Overall, I think the show was too many episodes and it needed more closure. I appreciate the costumes and the ambiance the show created. I think if you are a fan of the actors you are more likely to watch the show since it drags on and gets too repetitive. I caught myself dozing off or fighting to continue an episode. Thank being said, I do believe that Merxat did an amazing job in this role, and if it was not for him playing the role of Qishao and carrying the emotion through emotionally charged scenes it would not have succeeded. The show needed some editing but it was not the worst show I have watched,

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I can recommend this drama, as a good drama

There are some positives and negatives about this drama:
Positive:
-I really dig in with the cast. All of them did a very great job within this drama, some scenes are very memorable and quite amazing as well.
-FL and ML are very charisma with each other. They have a very up and down relationship from stranger to crash to lover and then to stranger to lover
-This drama has amazing OST both opening and ending songs. I also download them for myself as well.
Negative:
-The story did have some flaws regarding FL that describe as genius. Even though she is very good with poison but most of many main plot she use her magical bracelet to help find many major clue that help her solve the cast; which make it quite easy from each plot to each plot, and somehow discredit her as a genius poison master.
-This drama has a question ending regarding FL since the drama has both sad and happy ending version. And the happy ending version make me curious about how FL comeback to life, and the origin of the magical bracelet; as well as the reason to have a sad ending version since the FL have that magical bracelet anyway.

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