Love Like White Jade (2021)

A Jade Drama with a Dent

Love Like White Jade (白玉思无瑕) is a drama produced by MangoTV. Love Like White Jade is a historical romcom drama mixed with some elements of mystery. The story narrative mainly revolves around Jiang Baiyu (played by 张耀 – Zhang Yao ) who puts on a façade of being a playboy, however behind he disguises himself as the hero Shen Qingli to find the murderer of his father 7 years ago. The female lead is Shui Wuxia (played by万鹏 – Wan Peng), Shui Wuxia is a maid from Langya Hall, Wuxia is an excellent maid in every aspect. “Maids” from Langya Hall tasks is to help young childe to excel in their studies, basically being a secretary/ assistant, instead of being a “maid” who cleans and cook. From then one the narrative unfolds, with them falling in love, developing friendship, and finding the truth behind 7 years ago.

Plot: The drama plot is straightforward and uncomplicated which makes viewers understand it easily; it does not have frequent flashbacks. The pacing of this drama is excellent at the beginning ¾ of the drama. On the ¾ of the drama, the story unfolds casually and not rushed. The element of romance, comedy, friendship is blended seamlessly, even though the mystery genre is weak. There is not enough building and logic on the mystery/ criminal cases, the mystery story filler also has plenty of plot holes; which resulted in a weak ending. The ending lacked climax and intensity, as the truth was uncovered in the most ridiculous manner and the antagonist was finished so easily.

There are 3 couples in this drama, and I like how all couples supported each other no matter what. And there is tremendous character growth in each person and couple, they grow together to become a better person. Moreover, there are no excessive misunderstandings between the couples. Misunderstandings are solved in a mature way, and the other 2 couple's love and chemistry are also very strong. Also, what I like about this drama, is that the Jiang brothers did not scheme each other, instead, they had each other backs. The friendship part in this drama is not really that deep, but when one of them is in trouble, all of them had their backs. That is probably what I liked; it was realistic. Every one of them had their own life and routine rather than sticking with each other 24/7, but when any critical moment comes, they are there. And I can also sense a little feminism in this drama, which I LOVE!!

Cinematography and CGI: This drama cinematography is just like another idol drama cinematography, with excessive lighting, close-up shots, quick transitions, and a bright color scheme. There is nothing particularly commendable about the cinematography. The martial arts scene in the drama is decent for a low-budget drama, it is not too sloppy but it is not commendable too. There are some fighting scenes and qinggong (light skills) in the drama that I find kinda funny (where Qingli and Wuxia fly after throwing money on the streets). For the fighting scenes, it was okay, the choreographed actions are mediocre. Moving on, the CGI in this drama is bad but okay at the same time. As this is a low-budget drama, you shouldn’t expect grandiose CGI, choreographed sequence, etc. The CGI was bad, like for example the scene where Qingli and Wuxia met at the roof, the CGI was like from an animation movie. But with the combination of Qingli and Wuxia outfit color scheme, it did not become bad, it becomes bearable yet funny at the same time.

Acting: Zhang Yao and Wan Peng’s acting is commendable!! Zhang Yao manages to show the 2 sides of Jiang Baiyu, the playboy and Shen Qingli, the marvelous hero. Wan Peng also did a good job in portraying her role. The secondary actor and actresses also did a good job, even though some of their actings were awkward, it was still bearable. Not so bad, to the point that you cannot continue to watch.

There is nothing particular to be remembered about the music, the music fits in the scenario well, but it is not memorable. The only unique thing about the music is the opening music. The opening music is really upbeat and modern, unlike other historical dramas. Probably by hearing the opening music, you can guess what the genre of the drama is and where it is going to.

In conclusion, Love Like White Jade is a good drama to watch when you are looking for something light-hearted that makes you smile from time to time. Watching this drama does not require 100% concentration, you can watch this drama while doing other activities. As for the setbacks, the setbacks in the drama are not really visible and give off a big impact on the drama if you do not pay attention to it. Overall, it is a GOOD WATCH!!

P.s. Jiang Baiyu/ Shen Qingli's voice dubber in this drama feels so similar to Zhang Yao’s character in Love in Between, which is another plus point for me!!

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It was cute until it got old...

From the opening theme song you'll already know that this isn't your typical historical drama... it's essentially just a rom com (with a lot of comedy) but with historical costumes.
I really loved this show from the beginning until I want to say somewhere in episode mid-20's, and then it lost all its charm because of the stupid draggy stuff that unfortunately happens when drama-writing gets lazy. And the ending was too cliche and not even mildly satisfying, making the middle draggy plot not worth enduring in my opinion :(
And from the behind-the-scenes, we know the drama-writing is pretty lazy. The director commented on how he had to change a few scenes because the script wasn't realistic enough.

This show reunites Wan Peng and Zhang Yao from When We Were Young, giving them completely different feels. If you shipped the 2ML x 1FL couple from that show, you'll find this main pairing satisfying I guess. In this sense, it was an okay watch for some sugar and fluff (and typical rom com predictability).

The songs are pretty fun (and you might find videos of the leads dancing to the catchy opening theme if you look for some behind the scenes)

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