Nancheng Banquet (2024)

Waste of a Good Female Lead

This drama had a great start, featuring a highly skilled female assassin as the FL, paired against a highly intelligent, also incredibly skilled Commander of the Qianyuwei (elite guards). Even if it had all the usual tropes, it could have been an enjoyable watch.

Unfortunately, the screenwriter took the amnesia trope and stretched it out for far too long. Literally from part of ep 1 to over 4/5 of the show, our amazing, smart FL was dumbed down to a silly, whiny, clingy brat. To add salt to our injury, the show even had to use an irritating child-like voice for her voice. Occasionally, we can see her subconscious act out and we see her true skills but for the most part, she was just plain annoying. They tried to show that even in the dumbed-down state, she was still smart but it was all mostly petty tricks or some glib excuses to get out of trouble. Honestly I still don't get how the ML would even fall for someone like that.

Speaking of the ML, he was the typical cold, stoned-face Commander who often chose noble idiocy, pushing the FL away for her own good. On a few occasions, he would return her affections (especially when she showed signs of wanting to let go of him) and he would pull her back, only to push her away again. Then all of a sudden, he decided that he cannot lose her after a certain discovery. That left a bad taste in my mouth since he did not think she was worth fighting for before his discovery.

The great visuals kept me hanging on. Wang You Shuo and Zhao Zhao Yi are gorgeous to look at and they had good chemistry with each other. Since this was a filler show for me anyway, I was able to ignore the ridiculous dialogue and silly behavior. Their acting was fine, nothing stellar but that was due to the limitations of their characters. The other characters did not leave a strong impression,

I did like the costumes, setting and the OST. The last few episodes were better as the FL regained her memories which is why I did not rate this lower. It is too bad though since these episodes also showed how much better the drama could have been,

Overall, I would not recommend it though unless like me, you just want to look at eye candy and not think about anything else.

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OK watch if you are fan of ML or FL

Mediocre fluffy drama enjoyable to watch on the side. It's low budget but If you like actress Zhao Zhao Yi from Romance of Hua Rong, you might enjoy this drama. The FL is not standard pretty but she's a much better suited for these cross-dressing characters. 1. She's taller & 2. She's not as ideal Chinese beauty & 3. She's not skeleton skinny. Of course, it is still not believable, but she is playing an Eunuch so kind of ok. She's also better at delivering the silly comedy lines so a great choice for this type of drama.

Expect the usual cliches:
Memory loss
Early years encounter
Piggyback ride
Disappearing Kung Fu

Enjoyable Fluff until mid-way when you realized that smart female assassin with lost memory NEVER had any character development. She's been basically reduced to a lovesick bimbo. WASTED potential.

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