Unchained Love (2022)

Initially a Winner but loses some steam

I have had this on my watchlist for a while and have been eagerly anticipating this. I binged all the episodes released so far. The history of eunuchs in the Chinese Imperial Dynasties is an intriguing if not sad part of Chinese history, there were some who were puppet masters behind the scenes. I was excited to find out the ML plays a morally grey eunuch (real or not) who has been ruthless in his struggle for power while he plots his revenge. Dylan Wang is completely perfect for this part, his acting, mannerisms, and his subtle expressions engages the viewers as a scheming eunuch. I wasn't a fanboy of Dylan Wang in Meteor Garden but he has grown so much in the roles he has picked so far. His character has a strong presence and he seems to be well matched with the Empress Rong An as a foe. The actress who plays the Empress also played the stern mother in Love Like the Galaxy and she is a terrific actress, she is well suited as a scheming power hungry Empress. The focus of the initial episodes are a set up of palace intrigue and dirty schemes that the ML has to engage in order to survive and to grow his power. The story tellers haven't made the palace politics so cumbersome and complicated that it makes it hard to follow, they have done a pretty good job in the plotting and keeping it clean so viewers don't get lost.

Unchained/Forbidden Love starts off as a darker and more serious drama compared to LBFAD; they do try to add some comedic/lighter parts in the scenes with the FL when the story progresses further. The FL seems to have more screen time in the middle part of the series and pretty much all the screen time with her is the light comedic side of the series. Those have been okay. One scene that stood out between the ML and FL developing relationship is when she used the analogy of the ML as a day lily plant, on the surface the plant's roots are superficially poisonous which it has to be to survive a threatening environment but when you look closer at it, it can be edible and has a unique sweetness to it.

This is a high budget drama so the cinematography, costumes, and production values show that level of quality.

Compelling forbidden love story or not; I am here for the story of the scheming eunuch with DW and Imperial palace power politics.

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Expectations Exceeded

I came in with zero expectations when I started watching this show, but it ended with me having so much love and respect to it.

Admittedly, the first two episodes seemed slow for me. But as I continued watching, I couldn't helped but be sucked in the relationship of the main leads. What started as a relationship that's only a means to an end, developed into benefactress and backer, to a suprising friendship, then blossomed as lovers, and trusting partners.

The growth of almost all the characters, especially the main leads in the story carried the show. How they trusted and believed in each other is also one of the best parts of the show. There wasn't any third party romance in the story as one of the strong qualities of the main couple is that they learned to trust each other early on- which is a relief as love triangles are already so tiring to watch.

I also loved all the supporting characters and how they're all about supporting the main leads and their love for each other, while at the same time having their separate affairs as well. It was such a well written story that even if it was enveloped in political drama, I was able to enjoy it thoroughly.

Lastly, while I honestly wasn't able to feel the electric chemistry between the leads, they acted their roles so perfectly that as a viewer I couldn't help but root for their characters to have their happy ending. This is actually a huge deal for me; as a romance and chemistry bias viewer, I'm all about that. This show changed me. It made me realize that it isn't always all about chemistry; acting and storyline done right can still make a perfect drama, regardless of it.

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Most Frustrating and Infuriating Love Triangle

The storyline of massacring concubines when an emperor dies, the absolute power of the eunuchs, the heinous schemes of the various factions in the palace power struggle for the throne, and most of all, a forbidden love that the lovers go underground and the yearning look for each other from afar – all these, while cruel, are intriguing and make a great tragic and somber drama. The trailer looked so good and this was what I had expected. Instead, I was caught off-guard by what I saw -- a slapstick comedy, especially at the beginning.

The opening scene is a disaster. I was utterly confused and flabbergasted - is it supposed to be a serious and heart-wrenching drama with pains and deaths, or is it a comedy where deaths are being treated as jokes? Some viewers said this is meant to be a dark comedy. I was not alone; many other viewers were aghast.

Many viewers have come to watch Unchained Love for Wang Hedi after his bombshell acting in Love Between Angel and Devil, and this is exactly what its marketing team is counting on – an exploitation of his fame after his last aired drama. As much as I love Wang Hedi's acting in the previous drama, it doesn't mean I need to blindly extol him regardless of the story telling, actor selection and many other aspects of this drama. My review here is going to be blunt and unforgiving which may not augur well with many fans.

Story: Is there a future for a eunuch and an emperor's woman to share an illicit love, and to elope to live a happily-ever-after life? Xiao Duo (Wang Hedi) and Bu Yinlou (Chen Yuqi) think there is. However, there are many treacherous obstacles they must cross, and heartaches to bear before they can finally find safety. If caught, both are doomed, and will die of horrid deaths. The sense of danger spurs the story on.

The first half of the drama is chaotic, in its writing, editing, and acting, with a supposedly horrendous hanging scene made into a slapstick comedy. As the drama progresses, the whole story becomes a rom-com with the couple going about their romantic activities, while all the other plots become insignificant side stories. Editing is terrible, making an already incoherent script even more confusing and the relationship unconvincing. The actual plot picks up at around episode 23 when the actions thicken and danger looms, and the whole story becomes more captivating.

Acting: Many viewers have given high rating here because of Wang Hedi, regardless of whether the drama deserves it. Others find Chen Yuqi's acting lackluster; most complain about her lack of facial expressions and her unnatural wide-eyed stares. For me, I only have issues with her acting in the beginning. As she gets more into her role, she seems to have improved. However, her expressions and actions don’t seem to synchronize with the situations of the scenes from time to time. The Bu Yinlou character has two personalities: she is very smart, but she acts silly in front of people to fool them. For this, Chen Yuqi appears to capture the essence of the character albeit inconsistently, but she lacks the charisma that makes this character lovable. As for Wang Hedi, his acting is convincing, and his styling is cool. However, how the camera captures his face at times has given him a rather unflattering impression.

Romance: The romance is not a love at first sight, but its lack of emotional development in the initial episodes, probably due to scene deletion, makes the rocket-speed romantic relationship feel weird and uncalled for. Despite their later treacherous encounters, their romance doesn’t capture my heart.

My Verdict
Disappointing, unnatural acting, poor writing, flabbergasted storytelling, dog blood.

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Dylan Wang does it again!!

Gosh Dylan Wang is on fire with his dramas, all of them I LOVED!
I love him in these roles where he's "evil" but is actually a softie. He was so intelligent and sweet in this series. I love the FL too, she's a really good actress and I loved her character. Bu Yinlou is seriously so smart and the two have such good chemistry!!!

ALSO the other two couples are so flipping cute!! Loved the progress between them and it really gave more depth into the series!!
And the villains were so good too lmao it was so annoying to see the actress Zengli as the villain because she was also annoying in Love Like the Galaxy.

Sadly, he second half of the series kind of started to drag a bit. I was really wondering when the King would find out. Other than the storyline feeling rushed a bit in the end, I really enjoyed the series!!

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Wang Hedi & Yukee actually very very good pariring

Ok this is not easy doing reviews without biases, Wang Hedi is my favorite male actor but here we go!

The Story - Ok, its a bit hit and miss. I would say the drama 36 episodes is a big build up. Is the story entertaining? I say so.
Most dramas will have stale patches, I would say during the middle was a rough patch however the start and ending i felt the drama at it's strongest.....

The Main Leads..... Wang Hedi for me is the best male lead, his presence alone in dramas is exceptional!.... I think he did play this role with great precision again, great follow up drama from 'Love Between Fairy & Devil'.... as a big fan, what are his strengths? I say its the protector of the female lead roles.... I see it all the time with him eg. Miss the Dragon, Meteor Garden, Evernight 2, Rational Life and now Forbidden Love.... Yukee, okay I have watched 4 of her dramas this year and me personally dropped all of them, except this one.... I think she did excellent too as Female Lead, played the role as intended and did exceptionally well in being 'the girl worth fighting for' which is to compliment Wang Hedi's strengths. Did Yukee out-perform Esther? I say no however doesn't matter as both actresses delivered high level performances, Esther might of just nudged it!

The Supports.... Ok this is one if you would of asked me half way through the drama, I would have said very poor however as the drama progressed so did the cast, they each came alive and found relevance. I actually started going on MDL to see what next projects each would be involved in....

I think this is a drama that you give to young/inexperienced cast would have failed, but because it was an experienced cast they managed to make this drama quite enjoyable. Fully recommend you watch this drama!

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This isn’t a love story, this is a story about freedom, and what a powerful story…

“…I keep saying I don’t feel like it or that I don’t want to, but no one listens to me, or what I want to do. He wants me to obey and listen to him… I feel like I am a dead thing. I don’t deserve the right to my own feelings. I am not even allowed to be unhappy or sad, but I am a human being….”

You might get confused and think this is a love story, but no, not at all, this is a story about FREEDOM. It depicts very painfully although beautifully the struggle in the past ( in many places it’s still present) of people born in inferiority of conditions. Poor people versus rich people, people born with status versus commoners. But specially, and for CENTURIES women, being a woman was the worst that can happen to you being born in a patriarchal society, women had to submit themselves to the will of men, treated and owned as objects. I cant even imagine the pain, helplessness and frustration all these women have endured and suffered over the years, we are so lucky ( in some countries) to live freely like we do.

The script in this drama is so powerful, clever and witty…I am in awe. It’s unpredictable and free of clichés, what a formidable story.

The true hero of this drama is the female lead who refuses to give up to her own identity, ideas and feelings and starts fighting with all her might to be able to live free and will prefer to die instead of subduing herself to others. Just pure strength, willingness and passion. I absolutely adored this character, one of a kind female lead and I hope I get to see many more like hers in other coming dramas.

Our ML is absolutely amazing too, love the development of his character, I have Watched many shows starring Dylan Wang, and I like his range, his eyes are expressive and believable. His chemistry with the FL was palpable as well, too bad the majority of scenes were eliminated and we were left with crumbs, but the show was so good it compensated a bit.

The acting in general is outstanding but we need to make a special mention to the actor playing the antagonist, the emperor. He will make you hate him and pity him many times throughout the series, his performance was very powerful.

So what’s the ONLY bad thing about this drama?? THE EDITING!!!is one of the worst I have ever seen, and not only on the final episodes, from the beginning, they eliminated a lot of very meaningful scenes and seems like they rushed a lot of parts. This is one is one of those shows that needed slow burn plot lines, it needed a few more episodes to let us see all the storylines having a proper closure. They didn’t allow it to be as exceptional as it should be, not that is not absolutely amazing already, but it could have been so much more.

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36 Episode Too Long......

I honestly watched because I wanted to see more of Dylan Wang's work. In this drama, I found that he did his best in a role that did not utilize his talent to the maximum. The plot and all it's nuances were weak and lack the pull and engagement I was expecting. Perhaps I had high expectations? Every episode to me was slow paced. I fast forwarded a lot to skip all the palace eunuchs internal palace politics, Lady Bu Yin Lou and her palace adventures, the Fu Wang who whines when he was weak and also the same when he started to have mis-guided bravery in his pending role as the future Emperor and so much more. Seems like I am the one whining now, sorry.

But, if one is a fan of Dylan, I guess one could put up with it, because I did. Never failing in his sultry demeanor. Otherwise, you might want to gently skip this one.

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This is one of those dramas that started off great and it goes downhill from there. If I split it in parts, there are some parts which I absolutely love but the parts that are done poorly are too glaring to ignore.

So the drama started off with a built up story about Xiao Duo's journey to revenge his twin brother. You become invested in the whole revenge plot only to be distracted by the evil (and crazily obsessed) emperor. There are so many moving parts that everything ends up losing its meaning because it was only good at the build up.

Let's talk about the story. I wish they stick with the revenge plot until the end because they have done such a good job building the foundations about it at the beginning. You have this mystery villain that is difficult to catch, empress in the palace who is power crazy and greedy ministers. That is like a perfect formula to a good, big, dramatic revenge story. Instead, they have wasted the potential of these characters with poorly developed story plot. The three villains are not really that bright after all. They seem to always be losing which makes you wonder how they survived that long. Xiao Duo's determination to revenge seems minuscule towards the end because he was so focused on Bu Yin Lou.

They did a good job building the emperor's character from this cowardly weakling who wants nothing to do with the court to a crazy, evil and obsessed emperor, still a coward though. If they had focused on that from the beginning instead of pushing us to be invested in Xiao Duo's revenge, it would have been a solid story.

The flow of the whole drama is so horrible, it's difficult to like the drama. This is how I feel throughout the drama:
1. The grand starting with introduction to Xiao Duo as this powerful eunuch in the palace and Bu Yin Lou as this smart lady who does a good job surviving in whatever difficult situation she is in. The emperor (useless 'huang ye' at that time) seemed to indicate some serious drama is coming. I was excited to see how the revenge plot develops and how Xiao Duo plots all his chess pieces in the palace.

2. I became fond of Xiao Duo's relationship with his subordinates and his cold attitude. The way both him and Yin Lou got closer together is very natural, too. The emperor's obsession with Yin Lou was starting to become annoying because the reason he "fell in love" with Yin Lou was quite forced and it's starting to take the spotlight away from the revenge. Love at first sight, sure but the obsession is farfetched in my opinion.

3. Then you have the romance scenes which is very choppily edited in my opinion. I understand the censorship but it is very badly edited. The revenge comes to an end with great disappointment. The three villains are really easy to defeat and because of the emperor's plot, this revenge has already lost its meaning.

4. Don't get me started on the ending. I have no idea why the scriptwriter would write an ending like that, but at that point, I'm just glad that the drama is finally ending. The drama became draggy with all those failed attempts at escaping, it's like an end to this never ending loop with that final episode. I was starting to become frustrated with this constant attempt to save Yin Lou out of the palace when to be honest, the emperor is not really that difficult to kill. With Xiao Duo's connections and network, it's not difficult to kidnap Yin Lou out of the palace and hide her in a place where the emperor can't reach. The ending without a proper closure is like a cherry on top.

Overall, I really think the story needs a lot of tightening. I like how all the main characters are portrayed, though. They seem to have some good chemistry, too. What a waste, the story is underwhelming.

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Lazy ending!

First of all the acting was great. Dylan Wang seems to be getting better each time I watch him, especially with the subtle facial expressions and body movements that are needed to play a character like Xiao Duo. The other actors did a great job as well, especially the actor (who personally I have never seen before) who played one of the most insane and neurotic emperors I've seen in a while. When you hate a character that much......you know the actor is doing a good job!

The costumes and sets where lovely and I greatly enjoyed the music, it worked very well. I greatly enjoyed the drama. Even though the plot was a bit tropey at times, they didn't linger too long on it and it didn't ruin the over all fun of the drama itself. Which leads me to my biggest problem with the show.......the last episode, or rather the last half of the last episode..........what was with that ending?

There are open endings and then there are lazy endings and the end of this show was simply just lazy! for reason which I explain below.
1. You had a strong couple in Yilou and Xiao Duo and they run off into the night at the end giving us a message that if you can't beat the system, run away from it! Is that really what the writers had been aiming for the whole season? I doubt it.
Also we last see the two running down one of the many allyways in the imperial city.......did they get out? did they get caught? did they live happily ever after and have kids that they told the story to? We will never know because the ending never tells us.
2. The prince had gone into the imperial city to rescue the woman he loved........Princess Hede..........and what happened with those two? Again we don't know because the plot seems to completely forget why the prince went with Xiao Duo or that the pair loved each other at all. We never see the two get together or even try and look for each other. What a waste of that relationship.
3. The beaurau lieutenants who spend all their lives following Xiao Duo. I love their characters (although i can't spell their names so I wont try) and yet again they seemed pushed to the side and almost forgotten about. we don't know if they follow the main pair into a free life or go out on their own. one is married to Yilou's ex maid but do they stay with their ex employeers?........again nothing given us at the end to say anything about this unusual extended family.
4. The emperor. He ends up collapsed on the floor at the end. OK....is he dead, unconscious, faking it? Again we are given no information on his condition or what happened to the country afterwards.

The ending is simply lazy and ruins alot of the hard work put in for the rest of the show.
If you want a show with an ending which summarises the shows message and characters really well, this definitely isn't for you.

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Royal Romp Best Served with Humour

Chen Yuqi and Dylan Wang are delightful pairing as a imperial consort and eunuch respectively in this faux historical romantic comedy. It is a quirky mix of genres that don't always blend well especially in the final phase of the drama, where the show feels like it outstays its welcome. The show is at its best when it doesn’t take itself seriously and remain within its comedic purview.

The series starts off with plenty of hilarity as Chen Yuqi’s Bu Yinlou attempts to survive the rough and tumble of palace machinations using her wits. She’s an inveterate gambler and manages to get extricate herself from various problems sometimes with the aid of Dylan Wang’s Xiao Duo, a supposed eunuch in charge of Zhaoding Bureau and other law enforcement agencies. The leads are suspicious of one another’s intentions at first but later become allies and eventually lovers. The banter between them is a hoot especially when they misunderstand each other and there are many laugh out loud moments in those early days.

The pair inevitably find themselves in a love triangle with the recently crowned emperor Murong Gaogong (Peter Ho) whose obsession with Yinlou is… incomprehensible all throughout. He evolves from being a timid prince to a raving  paranoid megalomaniac — a caricature rather than a fully fleshed out character. Even when he finally finds out that Yinlou and Xiao Duo are doing the hanky-panky behind his back, he reactions are insanely pathetic. He barely knows Yinlou except for a brief childhood encounter and yet he expends all his energies in obsessively holding on to her to the point of absurdity. As a result of not having his way with her, and suffering one disaster after another he spirals into self-destructive madness. Even though he suffers the fate of all cuckolds, there’s not a lot that’s sympathetic or likeable about him. Instead he is primed as a figure of scorn.

Where the show goes wobbly is when it tries to be serious and soapboxes about the freedom for individuals to choose within the palace walls. Theirs is a forbidden love but Yinlou seems an unlikely mouthpiece that speaks truth to power. The downside to this is that it takes one right out of the experience because let’s face it, nobody cares anything about individual freedom in the days of emperors. Luckily for them, the leads have the intelligence and enough friends to help them with Yinlou’s jail break. But by then, one has had a gutful of a very deranged monarch whose grasp on reality diminishes daily. Where would the opinionated leads be if they had no brains? Dead, would be one possibility. Or contentedly living out the rest of their lives in the palace eating and drinking from the emperor’s table grateful for not being dead.

In some ways I’m surprised that this got made. Or that it even got past the scissor happy censorship with as much as it did. Many of the passionate scenes purportedly got the chop and yet when Yinlou slaps the emperor she gets away with it. Her statements railing against his tyranny are far more radical than all the snogging between the leads. Perhaps it’s the low budget nature of this beast. I can only speculate that those who let this pass think somehow that hardly any one will be watching this and an emperor who is over-the-top crazy can’t possibly have any modern day parallels.

All in all, it’s far more enjoyable when one suspends all manner of disbelief.

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Confusing genre dissappoint expectation.

The trailer of this drama last year created a hype among Dylan Wang's fans, me included. We saw palace setting, unusual starting point for a revenge story, some actions, and how a powerful eunuch confronted corrupt officials bravely. I personally expected that it would be a kind of a serious political historical drama. I was really suprised knowing this drama falls into comedy and romance category.

I think, it is okay. Romantic and comedic drama is not bad, as the story is quite funny in the beginning. I expected it would be a kind of a warmhearted story, beautiful, and touching. A story that makes you fall in love with the power of love. Love can destroy any barriers as we found forbidden pairings here that somehow makes us understand why this drama initially titled Forbidden Love: Xiao Dou (a fake eunuch) and Bu Yinlou (a consort), Xiao Dou and Rong'an (an empress), Bu Yinlou (ex concubine of former emperor) and Murong Gaogong (the emperor), and Wanwan (emperor's sister) and that Yuwen guy (emperor's enemy brother).

However, the story turns out to be psychological with some degree of violence and madness. The theme of this drama, dissappointingly: Love drives you crazy, turns you into rebel and makes you break social norms and morality. Really, unchained love. It is not meaningful at all. Its romance and comedy is not sweet anymore in the front of such dark story. So, the story is the weakest of this drama, IMO.

I know some people watch this because of Dylan Wang is the star. Me is not exception. But, the essence of watching drama is not to see some actors and visuals, but mainly to enjoy stories and have fun. The acting of all actors is good, but I hope their talents can be used for a good story, too. The music is not so good. That comedic/ funny backsound is out of place frequently. When the course of event turns serious and emotion is depressing, why they put comedic music there (such as in episode 34). I cannot laugh at all.

The only positive thing in this drama is the acting. But, it is not enough for this drama worth our time to rewatch it.

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