Under the Power (2019)

I loved it!!!!!!!

There is so much romance!!! The story always surprises you, oh I absolutely loved this!!!!!!!!!!!! The romance is incredible! They have chemistry! I want to see them together in another series!!! This male lead in his uniform is completely astonishing!!! I love the female lead too, she is humble and powerful and great! I hope to see more series like this with the romance over the top and all of that. Some parts were a bit scary like when thr antagonist was in the screen but he is so scary! Hahaha still I just loved this series! There is action, great effects! Great actors, the music is magical! Thank you for this amazing series!!!!! I love all the actors. 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍 The song is beautiful!!! I want to find it!

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A sweet slow burn detective romance with well developed supporting characters and subplots

This is a gem of a detective romance historical. I've watched a couple of this genre (Miss Truth, Maiden Holmes--both I liked very much too) but this is the first one that is of this length (55 episodes) which allowed for expansion of subplots and supporting characters' growths. When watching this show, you'll want to pay attention. Skipping through will take you out of the mystery and investment in characters. This drama is kind of like if our main characters (and supporting characters) went on side quests (in this case, on cases) and all of it relates back to the main plot of fighting the antagonists. The majority of the show is the characters on that journey and away from the capital where the ministers and emperor live.

There are some focus on the political plot and several names--that I personally never quite connected to who is who--but I like that it's not a big mess about ministers fighting and scheming against one another. It's mostly one main clan/villain group from the ministers VS our main characters. When the story show scenes about those ministers, emperor, and talking, it doesn't take too long. The main focus is the characters figuring out mysteries in the cases and trying to get evidence to fight the antagonist.

Allen and Seven's acting and chemistry as Lu Yi and Yuan Jinxia is a perfect combo. Allen plays a perfect cold stoic imperial guard who gradually shows his feelings. Seven's Jinxia is lovable with perfect comedic timing and also perfect tearful and sorrowful expressions. Her tears make me want to cry too. And she can fight! Like actually fight and hold her ground. A lot of times, the FL is written to be clever but not able to physically fight, which is frustrating as then she becomes a bit of a burden and in need of saving. Jinxia generally fights her way through things and it's only through the real tough situations that she needs saving from. (In fact, she saves the male lead a couple times! Love it.)

This is your classic dislike-to-love couple and their slow burn romance is well done. Truly, I think this is one of the slowest burn romances I've seen in a Chinese drama. They're not going to fall in love within the 5th or 10th or even 15th episode lol but all the set-up of trust and believing in each other's capability is there and it's SO good. It's well written and organic.

The supporting characters too had my hearts. One great thing is that the actors really look like characters from this time and era. I don't know how quite to explain it. For some dramas and some actors, they look like they're actors wearing costumes rather than genuine characters in this time setting. I love that the characters in this show all look like genuine characters.
I adore Shangguan's development and her romantic arc with Yang Yue and their romance is also well done.
Xie Xiao is a hilarious character, at times a bit annoying, but endearing.
Lin Ling and Uncle Begger! I adore them too.
Han Dong as Yan Shi Fan, the antagonist/villain, is great; he has such a beautiful face, but he's so evil. I love to hate him because he's such a terrible person with such a beautiful face. Well done, Han Dong! I hate your character so much.

I only have two criticism:
1) the panning into their eyes or fists is not a good directing move. Maybe to general viewers, it's not as abrupt, but I never got used to those cut close-ups. Yes, Allen and Seven's expressive eyes are great, but I would like to see their whole face rather than just their eyes. It's too awkward to see just their eyes personally.
2) Sometimes, the political subplots or the antagonist don't feel connected to the main story with the main characters. It's not as strongly connected. I'll be watching our main characters and then we'll have a cut away to something happening back in the capital and I'm like "oh right, there are some schemes happening here. Forgot about that." Ultimately, our main characters come back to the capital and these schemes become stronger, but I think since our main characters are away for quite a while doing their investigations, the stuff happening at court is put in the back of mind. Also, I think because of this issue that as the series reach about mid-way point, the plot does feel a tiny bit dragging. Because the main characters are off on their own plots, the subplots feel irrelevant and dragging even though it'll become important later.

Overall, a delightful and interesting show with a strong cast and acting. The 55 episodes is a little bit intimidating to get through, so watch this when you're in the mood to pay attention and for detective historicals with slow burn romance.

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The drama is too long to have investigative plot for 55 episodes. Dropping it.

Under the Power was recommended by my friend, so I started watching it, and I am dropping it after 13 episodes for the following reasons:
1. It is too long, 55 episodes.
2. It is too long to watch the lead CP investigate corruption/mysterious murder for that long without any other twist.
3. I love Seven Tan but think Allen Ren is not good. He is a one-dimensional actor with the same facial expression for every emotional or non-emotional scene.
4. The pairing of them is not that great.

Nowadays, I have no patience for anything over 40 episodes unless it is split into two parts or has great plots and good pairing CP like Who Rules the World or Love like the Galaxy, or the Rebel Princess (which has 68 episodes, and the acting is good.)

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Never expected i'll gonna like this drama. But this drama have all the aspect to be like. Like all the character here. From the main lead, second lead until the antagonist. For the story itself yeah still ok.

Ren Jialun played as Lu Yi (LY) is so perfect. Even though he have like sour face for almost the entire drama, but i really feel his face even though sour but still likeable ^_^. His sour face can't make us hate or make our eyebrow flinch with not like :p. I really like the changing in his character. From really cold & strict to the book, he even not slightly soft with Yuan Jin Xia (JX) who is he know is a girl, to became soft and approachable, especially when he with JX we can see the face became so much softer. I also like how the writer show us LY struggle in the last episode where he have to protect JX but at the same time he didn't want to hurt JX.

This is the second time i watch Seven Tan, i really like her, will gonna see her other drama. I like her character JX, she is goofy, tomboy but also sensitive & a little bit sly sometimes ^_^. Like when she want to trick Lin Ling to treat LY with the gun.

Like ChineseDramaFan i also rarely to like an antagonist. The character Yan Shi Fan (SF) played by Han Dong is perfect. Even though he so vicious but somehow he didn't make me hate him like other antagonist character. SF himself really arrogant to the core, even until the last where LY arrest him, he still not show regret or fear, not even just a little bit.

The only one i really can't stand in this drama is the water scene. Oh that water scene really hurt my eyes. So so bad.... The other still ok.

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This is definitely a rewatch for me. OMG... Thanking an MDL member for recommending this drama to me. Allen Ren is the best... I love this actor! He was very believable in playing the character of Lu Yi... I want to watch everything he has done. I just finished last week watching Ms. Crow and Mr. Lizard which was also great. Allen Ren has this persona about him and those eyes hypnotized the heck out of someone and that someone is me. At 32 years of age, I mean, wow! Look at all the drama he has under his belt and all the dramas he has coming out. What a great actor! He is married, wishing him a long-lasting marriage. Seven Tan also did awesomely in her character. I can't say too much about her because this is her first drama for me watching her. The visuals, the martial arts, costumes, and everything is right about this drama. All of the main leads were awesome, and I'll be checking some of them out as well. Of course, the story couldn't be told without all of the support actors and actresses. Thanking the whole team for telling this story. I can't believe there was not any brutal love competition triangle in this drama. lol

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This movie has a good cast , the start was good and i could not stop from binge watching it but then some where around ep 17 story started to go downhill it picked up again after ep 33. Too much repetition of the same story. Most times i was getting bored and wanted to stop but Allen Ren kept me hooked up to the series. I will watch it for him. FL is strong but little annoying i felt she was overdoing it and she does not have much acting skills, i have watched another of her series and she did the same type of acting in that so not very impressed with her, i liked the second FL better. Good part of this movie is it has strong female leads and good martial arts.

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Rare worthy drama; CP with great rapport & chemistry

You can be put off by the length of drama ( i try to stick to Cdramas less thn 40episodes) BUT

These are why you should give this drama a try:
1. Leads that have something special in terms of character: ML, Lu Yi is someone not just cool but ice cold when it comes to criminal, ruthless and unfeeling as req by his job. He doesn't spare much attention to other things but work to be done, criminals and spies to be caught and justice fulfilled. He's a skilled martial artist but he isn't invincible. He is intelligent and cunning but careful and meticulous. FL is daring, has good tracking skills, is bold but can sweet talk and change her tune to save her own hide. She's also a skilled martial artist as trained by her master and can defend herself. She has an infectious personality and like her name last word means Summer) exuded warmth.

2. Story/plot: The first few episodes developed very well. In very few scenes we got the gist of the main characters. It was vy engaging. And although the Male and Female leads started on the wrong foot, their negative interactions were magnetic. The cases and how ML-FL goes abt solving them adds mystery and intrigue and also becomes the mechanisms that lets the leads understand and overcome their initial misconceptions abt each other. Ep 1 to 45: the story was fantastic, rarely boring. I even like the secondary love story although that arc had some repetitive elements but the 2characters was worthy of your time to see to their own happy ending

3. The love story: Its rare that an investigation, historical C drama can develop such a moving and deep love story. Rarer still that ML and FL are on the same wavelength. Their every interaction was like pilling stone upon stone..until it becomes a strong fort of its own
With each passing case and time working along each other: trust, bond and understanding was built. ML begins to find sth else other than work and crime thats interesting. He begins to have reason for good mood and his smirk turns to fleeting smile. His eyes usually cold and shrewd becomes warm when he looks at the FL. FL comes to understand him. Admires ML's intelligence, sense of justice and finds theres that someone that she could rely on. He would have her back. As the story progresses, the depth and lengths they each go to protect one another (in dangerous situation, in sickness and death) shows how devoted they are to each other. Despite my description, their interactions are sometimes really cute and funny and sweet. You have to watch it to get what i mean

4. The acting: Perfection for the scoring and I couldn't deduct. Tan Song Yun was always likable as an actress but this her role as Yuan Jin Xia was the best yet. She gave life, warmth and depth to her character. Ren Jia Lun was new to me but oh boy did they made an excellent casting in him..he made Lu Yi outstanding. I'm calling this duo Big Eye Couple. And they put their eyes to beautiful use. They were so good with the eye gazing.. so much emotion conveyed even when little or no words were spoken. That chemistry that they could develop from just glancing at each other or smiling at each other or conveying fear was hands down amazing.. it made so many scenes moving and oh so unforgettable. Han Dong was a brilliant antagonist, he was really fleshed out and not your typical puppet villain.. he was scary in intensity, in his cunning and psychotic personality.

Why i deduct little on the score.
Ep 46 to 54: I didn't like the final arc of the story. I felt birth secret thing that was revealed and the repercussion from it detracted the beauty of the story. It was there for heart wrenching and sad reasons. Yet It took away the precious beautiful thing between the leads. Ep 55 was a rewarding episode. That mooncake scene was brilliantly written and delivered beautifully. It concluded well but perhaps a bit rushed.. given the hardships they faced (and viewers had to bear) last 8 episodes it would have been nice if we were given a bigger reward.

Rewatch: I already missed the leads. I love how FL is very open with her affections for ML and openly admires and admits her admiration for him. Given how cold he was in the beginning, his first confession was really moving. And later on how he surprises her when he doesn't mince his words to convey how important she is to him. So worth rewatching.

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LU YI & JIN XIA FAMILY COMPLICATION

Love the comedy, action, social standing on background story of this drama. I love Allen Ren and Seven Tan, they're so cute together. One had OCD and the other one was free spirited - a girl whose appreciated the value of money. There were great interaction to get to know each other better, support and sacrifice and in love. Implacable Lu Yi was so gorgeous in his layer of robes, could't see speck of dirt. Being in uniform, Lu Yi was the best dressed officer as far as I am concern but when he's out of layers - he's not buffed at all - just a skinny lad. Seven Tan delivered her character very smoothly, I think Lu Yi fallen in love with her in how much Jin Xia always found reasons to touch him. Kind of the breath of fresh air after so many C-drama stories were about intrigue, greed, power, and jealousy. I love the dynamic relationship between Lu Yi and Jin Xia, not just the cuteness together but also professionalism when they're on the job. Besides 2 ML, Han Dong (Yan Shi Fan) and Li Qin Qin (Jin Xia's adopted mom) did amazing with their characters.

It's dragging the whole Japanese pirates case or zombies, half of the drama was about it. Jin Xia found out Lu Yi's father was involved of the killing her entire family (& clan) based on the order of Emperor. Although their love affair were blooming and promised to love one another, Lu Yi felt guilt of his father's involvement so he voluntarily went for his execution. Emperor realized his wrongdoing by ordered execution of Jin Xia's family later and pardoned Lu Yi. Yeah, it's complected background causes but the end of story was very fulfilling. I think 55 episodes is way too long - 30 something episodes would be more proportion.....I skipped on not so interesting plots.

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Slow burn love story with amazing leads

Just finished watching this last week. A drama with happy ending, beautiful locations, stunning clothing, variable story lines, and mixed of characters/personalities. The embroided gown/uniform was just stunning!! A period/historical/fantasy/romance /love triangle heaven for C-drama lovers.

Some spoilers coming next! I wasn't very keen with Lu Yi character at the beginning. He was just a sour resting face guy who wears a stunning embroided gown. He was ruthless, a bit of a snob and thinks very highly of himself. BUT, later on, when he started to smile more and confesses his love to Jin Xia, you can't help falling in love with him too. He is so handsome when he smiles! Jin Xia, on the other hand, was a happy go lucky, ass kicking, albeit a little bit childish and annoying at the beginning, somehow turn into a helpless young woman towards the end, again a bit annoying. It would have been great if her character could be strong all the way throughout the drama. But, happy ending nonetheless (sigh!!)

Couldn't really get into Xie Xioa character at all. He gets to clingy and almost cringe worthy when he was declaring his love to Jin Xia. This guy cannot take no for an answer. Da Yang's romance was watchable and I am glad for a happy ending for them too.

Now, lets talk about the baddie, the one and only Yan Shi Fan. My goodness, he is a nasty piece of work, but with his one green eyes and devil may care demeanour, you can help but love him too (maybe it is just me). His acting was spotless and you can feel the fear in your heart when he flicked his fan.......A tall and handsome bad boy, what more can you asked for.

The opening and ending songs were so good and stuck in your head long after the drama ended. I like it that much, they are both in my playlist now. Really touching songs and Allen Ren singing voice is so haunting and soothing. I like the ending so much, I even re-watched Episode 55 again.

Highly recommended and a must watch C-drama. As for re-watchable - definitely a few re-watchable episodes.

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A Very Engrossing, Attention-grabbing Wuxia Drama

I usually distance myself from any wuxia drama which is not any of Jin Yong’s adaptations. No reason in particular, it’s just I cannot imagine there’s a good wuxia drama with exciting jianghu conflicts and a complicated love story and revenge usually resulted from it. Moreover, there are not many wuxia dramas (good or not) in this xianxia era so I’ve generally been stuck to historical/palace/mystery/crime/political genres. And to be honest, I was just planning to watch Dear Mayang Street (merely because I’m a fan of Xu Weizhou) but I‘ve never seen Tan Songyun in any drama before (I don’t watch Go Ahead, sorry! >_<) so I thought I’d just watch this drama to get a glimpse of her acting.

And here I am now, a month later, crazy over it. And falling so hard for Ren Jialun, too.

One particular factor that made me choose this drama over any other of Tan Songyun’s to try is the theme and the background setting. Yes, it’s about jinyiwei―those (in)famous Imperial Guards of China’s Ming Dynasty. Brotherhood of Blades I & II are my favorite Chinese wuxia movies and this drama is set in the same dynasty with the same jinyiwei background and pretty much the same vibe (even the same style of directing and fighting choreography, if you ask me). So the first time I dived into it I was already hooked up, though the two main leads really provided me with so much laughter. But honestly, the thing that I initially thought was sort of weird about it was its soundtracks. Zhou Shen’s opening song and Heart Wall sang by Ren Jialun himself got me thinking, “why so sad? it’s a mystery wuxia drama, anyway.” But of course, this drama is NOT really about mystery, if you just put aside the female lead’s family background.

It indeed starts with a mystery, though, where the Palace loses an important beachline defense map and the Imperial Guards are investigating it (oh, I so LOVE the opening scene where Lu Yi is doing his job so ruthlessly, and that’s when I fell in love with RJL’s acting at the first sight! >_<). But then the one instigating the theft is reported dead at his home, so the Imperial Police Department takes the case. This is when Lu Yi and our female lead Yuan Jinxia meet for the first time and, of course, do not have good opinions about each other. But then the two (different) security departments under the Emperor have to work together to solve the case, which brings them to even bigger and more mysterious and treacherous cases leading up to the political conspiracy of the higher-ups.

I really, really thought it’s a mystery wuxia drama until later on I realized that there is so much romance and where the entire narrative leads us. But even then I wasn’t sure if I should call it a romance wuxia drama or something, because even if it’s all about Lu Yi and Yuan Jinxia gradually realizing and revealing their feelings for each other and blatantly caring for each other in front of others (poor Cen Fu! :DDD), I sensed that romance is not what this drama is about. And it is proven once we get into what Yan Shifan is doing in Hangzhou―Lu Yi-Jinxia’s romance is all what we see on screen, yes, but deep under the surface it’s about corruption and court politics and rotten officials and revenge and all that. And their love story is entangled in this huge mess, and that’s what makes this drama so much interesting to me.

Truth to be told, the court political conflict here is actually so much more complicated and engrossing than that in Nirvana in Fire. The problem is it’s not as well-written, and pretty badly directed, and very badly edited that sometimes I had to pause and thought, “oh, wait...” because I felt that some parts of certain scenes were missing. But thankfully, the acting of almost the entire cast is just amazing. I already know what Ren Jialun actually is like as a person after watching Back to Field S4 (once again, I watched that show for Xu Weizhou―who was a guest in two eps―but he was there, too, with Tan Songyun), but I’ve never seen his acting before. And that opening scene when Lu Yi is torturing the prisoner has truly caught my heart. I remember being shocked and thinking, “oh, WOW! Ren Jialun!”, because when you can be a very different person on screen and in real life, then you are a good actor. That’s it.

And of course I have to applaud Tan Songyun’s performance. We all know there are just so many dramas with cross-dressing female characters recently, but I can say that TSY is the only actress who can do it really, really well. You want a tomboyish girl, she gives you a tomboyish girl. Almost no make-up, absolutely no pretence, just naturally doing what she needs to do. And, oh yes, please don’t forget about Ye Qing. Her character is not exceptional, but her acting is really good. And even the actress who plays Zhai Lanye has done a very good job! Love her :).

And now, can we talk about Yan Shifan? Yes? Okay. We all know he’s the main villain in this drama, surely nothing good can be said about him. A corrupt official? Yes. A cunning politician? Yes. A man with a BDSM sexual preference? Yes. BUT, he only loves one woman in his entire life. This side of him, I think, is very interesting. It makes him more human than what we can see from the outside. And Han Dong does his character very, very, very well. I just LOVE his acting as Yan Shifan. It makes him very eccentric, makes the audience “oh I hate you so much but you are so charismatic just how can I deal with this?!” And his triangle love story with Zhai Lanye and Lin Ling is so much more engaging than that moronic, cliche, annoying one between Lu Yi-Jinxia-Xie Xiao. No joke, really.

I just wish this drama could be better made: better written, better directed, better edited, with better CGI and overall setting (coz seriously, one fake house for almost ALL the officials’ family home setting? one place for both the Imperial Guards Office and Wu Shuoxu’s residence?). And I surely wish they didn’t end the story that way. I mean, it’s not rushed (or, too rushed), it’s just a little bit awkward. Why don’t they show it when Lu Yi confronts the Emperor about the Xia family’s case―the way Mei Changsu confronts the Emperor (played by the same actor, by the way) to clear his family’s name, I mean, that’s pretty much the same thing, right?―and only having Yang Yue tell Jinxia about it in the middle of the street? WHY? And some time after that, the Emperor just pardons everyone like nothing really happens -___-

All in all, however, it’s still a pretty good drama with good premise and good acting and I enjoyed it very very much. It really is a pleasant surprise for me.

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