Legend of Lu Zhen (2013)

Strong female lead

I started this drama because i like seeing strong woman in historical dramas working hard for her position.

Half the drama is exactly this. So what differs dramatically from others drama of this kind is, that the main girl is not totally good. I hate this part in most historical dramas, that the main girl always saves the bad people and don´t get justice herself. In this drama she will take her revenge and doesn´t prevent that the evil will be punished.

The other half of the drama is the love between her and the prince. Don´t let you misguide from the synopsis. The drama is full of romatic scenes between them.

The story was not really unique. Many things were like in all that other dramas i watched, but there were a few scenes that surprised me. I couldn´t stop myself and watched this drama in only a few days.

I would recommend this drama everyone who likes romance with a strong female lead that goes her own way.

If you think 59 episodes are too much, i need to say here that the runtime of each episode differs. It started with 40-45 min per episode, then it got to 30-35 min and the last few episodes were only 20 min long. It was really easy to watch this drama.

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This is my second review for a Chinese historical drama, I'm glad it's for ''Legend of Lu Zhen" and what's more a drama with my dear Zhao Zanilia, she's absolutely gorgeous and I think I could watch anything with her .
The story is pretty good , and it's easy to follow Lu Zhen and Gao Zhan's journey even if it's not all rosy for them as they constantly fight for their love and for being happy like any other couple.

My review will be a bit long , I only wanna say what I think about this drama : the good/ bad points and my opinion about the characters because there are so many good and evil ones here.

1| Good Points :

-The cinematography is absolutely stunning , and I think that everyone would agree with me on that aspect, I love taking Screeshots , and for this drama I had many opportunities to do that and then contemplating those awesome landscapes and gardens in the palace .
-I have nothing to say about the acting , all the actors did their part , the ones that are supposed to be evil are really evil and we hate them so much that we only want to see them dying in atrocious sufferings because that is the only thing they deserve , as for the good ones I wanted to see them rise and stand for themselves ( is not it, Lu Zhen ? ) .
-The show is really addictive between ep 25-54, I was completely glued to my screen and always wanted to watch the next ep , so for that I have no complains even if there are certain things that bothered me .
-The main couple : Oh this Gao Zhan , he is such an admirable man who did everything to show his love for his dear Lu Zhen he was not afraid to claim his love for her , only at the beginning he was hesitant because he was afraid that Lu Zhen's safety would be compromised .
-Lu Zhen , I really admire this girl who was able to climb the ladder very fast ( of course she had many supporters without whom it would not have been possible but she was a smart girl and because of that she succeeded in everything she did ) , my only problem with her is her naiveness , how is it possible to believe everyone and think that from one day to the next they became reliable , I just say No No No !


2| Bad points

-Too many schemes in this palace and always the same who suffer greatly .
-Too many deaths , of course in this kind of drama it is unavoidable but that was so rushed , and it always makes me laugh when a character dies for the sake of friendship , but of course that's only a fiction so we forget about it .
-Characters that are overly obsessed with something that is not their property.
-Music , it was always redundant , come on ! Nothing striking and that's a pity , because in Historical dramas the ost is supposed to have a significant place and makes the scenes more memorable or I would say more captivating but that was not the case here !
-Men are not enough represented in this drama and that was really missing , yes I'm a gurl and of course that bothered me ;D But in counterpart we have 3 adorable and faithful men , so I'm fine with it .


As for characters I'll go to the essential .  And be careful it can contain spoilers , I'm not the type who can write a review without spoiling , so I'm warning you !

\\\\\\\\There are so many great characters who made the drama more appealing and interesting , of course I loved the main couple , how they trusted and cared for each other , that was simply great to watch . I was always smiling when they were together because it was full a passion and it felt so real ! But actually there are other characters that were shining and even more than Lu Zhen because they were complex and really well written and the one that comes to my mind right now is none other than the wonderful Huan Yun, she's such a great woman full of hartred at the beginning but she grew up to becoming a beautiful woman with a big heart , she started to understand the man who is next to her since forever and I think that's why she bacame the understanding Empress we got to see at the end . I would lie if I say that I did not hate her but it was only in the beginning when she was crazy and did not wanted to face the reality .
I particularly like the emperor , how he is nothing like his horrible mother , such a gentle man always willing to give a hand to the ones that are worth of his help , he is also the most caring husband I've ever seen in dramas , and for that he goes to my all time favorite supporting actors ! I also loved his friendship with Lu Zhen he was so protective of her , helping her as much as he could because he was aware of her true value.
Of course , Shen Jia Yan was among my favorite characters too , I was happy to see a man like him around Lu Zhen .
So I talked about the 3 main guys , they were all fantastic and I remember the first time I saw Shen Jia Yan I screamed with joy, I was so happy seeing another MAN in this drama full of women , oh my what a relief !
I aslo have to talk about Dan Niang because she's like me , always eating pastry , and talking about it , she only needed to have her daily pastry and there are days I feel like it too , if I have my candies nothing else matters to me ^^
I also have a thought for Wang Xian who was like Huan Yun and became an admirable woman , Du Si Yi the most reasonable woman of all , the Gugu the best confident ever and so on …
For the evil characters I won't say much because I truly hated them , Ah Bi comes first you know in whole dramaland the girl I hate the most is Zheng Er from Lan Ling Wang and Ah Bi is next to her when it comes to harm other without regret . And the other villains are hardly worth mentionning.////////


So This is a drama I will only recommend for those who don't care about watching a drama that shows cruelty in all its different states and who are not looking for some sweet romance , but it's enough to read the synopsis and you'll definitely know if it's for you or not .
Oh and I almost forget to thank my dear friend DragonA. who watched this drama with me ^^

As for rewatching value I would gladly rewatch ep 25 to ep 54 as they were really addicting , according to my opinion .

I just have few words to say about my rating , I hesitated between 8 and 8.5 because I found the drama to be very captivating but there are so many things that seemed very strange at least for my taste so I decided to be 100% objective and give a proper rating .

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One day, I was browsing through Viki and I found this drama. I am so glad I did because it was one of the best one I have seen! The love story between the Prince and Lu Zhen was amazing. Don't let the number of episodes scared, you the episodes are only 45 minutes long, but it get shorter.

Story: I thought it was interesting. Out of all the mainland drama I have seen none of the plot intrigue me like this one. The first female prime minister; how cool is that right? This drama is about her journey to becoming a prime minister and her love story with the prince. How at a certain age she started to feel thing she never feel before. Of course there are people that don't like her, but she doesn't let them be. She takes revenge against them. She is one of the strong female lead that I like.

Acting: I didn't know the leads actor before I started watching this drama, but they both did a good job; Even the supporting cast. Gui Gui was so funny and cute. I really hate the antagonist.

Music: I only like the opening theme.

Rewatch Value: I would totally watch it again, but probably not for a while because 59 episodes is too long.

Overall: I really enjoyed it. Even though, they argue for the most random things. I really hope Chen Xiao and Zhao Yi Ling date because they are so cute.

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This was definitely interesting a lot of back stubbing sabotage jealousy blah blah blah... And women had all the power. It's like the emperor and crown prince where pawns on chase board. The chemistry was just right. The romance was great and the acting was spot on. This drama was more about love,betrayal and conniving it has very little politics which was disappointing. Because no matter how much I hate real life politics, I love drama politics but this one was more like many women liking the crown prince. The problems weren't that strong and tragic except at the end. And the plot was full of lies the king dint make her prime minister to be with her or whatever. Overall it was okay

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This drama is the story of a girl that, in order to find justice for her father’s untimely death enters the palace and how she has to overcome the hurdles that come from rising through the ranks and falling in love with a coveted prince. Lu Zhen is a fictional character within a real historical period that falls in love with a romanticized prince Gao Zhan, which becomes the emperor in the latter episodes. The drama was released on 2013 and it has the feel of an older production with less than perfect war scenes, choreographed fights, and some acting. Been that this is Lu Zhen’s story, the drama was too long and, although she zooms through the ranks and finds a steadfast reciprocated love, the story if full of constant chaos, miscommunication, and sacrifice. SPOILER ALERT: In the last episode, the story gives quick closure to many characters past ten years after the antagonists are gone. The drama is not a bad one, but it is not a great one either. The leading couple has good chemistry and several lovely moments but nothing that will linger in the viewer’s memory for too long.

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For most people, the one that introduced them to Zhao Liying aka. Zanilia Zhao was the journey of the flower or the princess agent or even the boss and me. But for me, this was the drama that introduced me to Zhao Liying, or perhaps Chinese dramas. This wasn't really my starting point, but this was the drama that hooked me to the deepest part of my soul and the reason why I'm a drama fanatic, even up until now, I've watched countless of drama throughout the years, yet, this still remains to be my absolute, number 1 favorite, its not because its one of the first Chinese dramas that I've ever watched, well I can't deny, it is one of the first dramas that I've ever watched, by that I meant from the 6th drama to the 10th drama I've ever watched. But that wasn't the reason why it's my favorite for years, I can't really pinpoint why it's my personal favorite, but I can tell you why it could be your favorite, the acting (not only the main leads but everyone else in the drama) was just superb!!! like legit, not even kidding, in terms of acting among all other dramas, I would say it's one of the best. The chemistry, the everything, I just love it to death. The plot is also amazing, It's unique, unlike any other overall, although there were still some clique moments. The music, it just ties everything together. It's just perfect for the theme of the drama. I really, really love this drama. I'm not gonna exaggerate on how many times I've watched this drama, but I've watched this drama at most 20 times. And this isn't even an exaggeration as I'm the type of person to get bored easily when watching the same thing, but this thing just hooks me up like a drug. This is by far, the most number of times I've rewatched a drama, so yeah... This isn't really a very helpful review, but I hope y'all can understand what I mean through this review and how good this drama is.

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This whole show was a mess, so this entire entire show so absurd and funny at the same time, with a bit of excitement when watching it. The cast was great, and you start liking the people who help Lu Xhen such as the Empress Dowager, however you start hating her after watching it, and start liking the princess, Xiao Huanyun more. To be honest Xuanyun is a very good person in my opioion.

The entire show was also a ruckus. The only reason why Lu Zhen became a court official was to prove her innocence and get revenge on her dad, however she became a maid and slowly climber up a ladder, so she literally gets revenge near episodes 40, and it literally takes her like 20 minutes to get revenge and it’s over. Like girl you already got your revenge and that’s the only reason why you even entered the palace. But still choosing to stay in the palace, causing even more chaos.

I would really like to complain about the costuming. The colors to the outfit, like different level of court officials wear specific colors is very helpful, however the clothing itself needs an upgrade, and don’t even get me started with the hairstyles, the so called “chopsticks” in their hair. Lol

Now the part that gets me really mad on the show, is literally everyone in the show dies. Like whether their good or bad, literally most of the support leads and main leads die. Like wow, the king and queen die, then empress dowager dies, all the people that we hated in the show dies, like goodness gracious we go through all this trouble and Lu Zhen and Gao Zhan still couldn’t even end up together. Like the show would have been way simpler if the king and queen didn’t die.

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Wow, what a long but awesome drama! I love Zanilia in here, her acting is very versatile and this drama shows true range in her abilities (she’s not a zombie w/ no emotions).

This drama was addictive from beginning, but the last three episodes had me like MEH. Anyways, the store is about Lu Zhen who is her father’s first daughter, but is mistreated by her step mother. Her skills in helping the family business, makes her step mother & uncle jealous so they plot against her to get rid of her. While on the run, she bumps into Prince Gao Zhan, who’s stepmom is ALSO plotting against him he is the emperor’s favorite son. Both of them lose their fathers, and is framed for killing their father. However, Gao Zhan is able to find evidence he is not responsible, but by then his brother had already been thrust onto the throne. Their journey, is Lu Zhen working her way up from a palace maid to become a 6th rank official, to re-address her father’s murder and seek justice (and mishaps along the way).

This drama had so much romance and lovey-dovey between Lu Zhen and Gao Zhan. Both actors were fantastic, and had great chemistry. I haven’t seen Zanilia in another drama because CDYY that is THIS lovey-dovey, and the two leads match and look cute together. The ending was a happy ending. My only gripe is how many times they have a falling out, relationships right? I do love how faithful Gao Zhan and Lu Zhen were to one another. Gao Zhan rejected so many ladies for her.

The bad guys in here are endless. The Empress Dowager (Gao Zhan’s step mom) is such a evil bee-yotch. The whole time she’s blaming Gao Zhan and Xiao Huanyun for her son Gao Yan’s downfall/demise, but it was her own!!! Shen Ah Bi, is also another ruthless, mean girl but got bit by karma in the end. She was a hopeless romantic for Gao Zhan, but he already had someone else on his mind.

The side characters are so cute. I love Dan Niang, as she loves to EAT. She’s a cute character, wish she had a better ending for herself.

Overall, great drama. It’s not historically accurate. I looked up both Gao Zhan and Lu Zhen’s character, and in real life they were bad guys!

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Well done Cdrama! Another story of an amazing STRONG woman in the history books. The lead actor chemistry was heartfelt with each supporting cast member doing an FAB job in their roles. Hands down this MIL-Empress Dowager is an evil beast that devours power and no one is exempt from her feasting or killing spree. This is a long series yet it has so many twists, turns, and interesting storyline each episode moves quick. Bottom-line: Story of a smart, savvy, naive young girl tossed out into the wilds of world by a greedy family only to placed in to Palatial - Political hell, fall is love and ascends to high ranks based on her intelligence, resilience and tenacity. Music: was OK, appropriate for movie YET nothing memorable. While watching this JANG OK JUNG kept running around in my head, so if you liked JokJ, give this a try. Well done filming, and just enough wuxia to remind you you're watching good Cdrama.

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Chinese historical dramas have become a joy to me. The costumes and settings are elaborate and beautiful. Legend of Lu Zhen added to the visual enjoyment with a good story and interesting characters. The story line is monotonous at times, because of the same "bad" people scheming against the same "good" people. However, the romance and chemistry between the characters is excellent. The best part of this drama is that all the women are strong and smart. The main men are great because the love they have for their women never waivers.

Zhao Zanilia is really pretty and I like the way she expresses herself. I think I will watch Boss and Me soon. Chen Xiao is also a good actor and really cute. I think they had great chemistry together. All of the acting is good.

I enjoyed the music.

It is too long to rewatch.

If you like strong women characters and great cinematography then I recommend this drama.

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