Drama Addict
New Zealand
This review may contain spoilers
It's a pretty dark ending
If you have depression, do not watch this drama. The ending is very dark: no couples are eventually happy, the country is thrown into chaos and yet another child emperor ascends the throne.
On a positive note, the support cast is good looking and does a very good job. There are some good music pieces.
I come across a lot of positive reviews of this drama but I think it is mainly because of Bai Lu and Ren Jia Lun, the current popular heartthrobs. The chemistry between the leads is excellent.
For most part of the drama, it is the romance between Cui ShiYi (Bai Lu) and Zhou ShengChen (Ren JiaLun), so there are a lot of building up of their romance and emotions. It is mainly all the lovey-dovey moment - loving each other and could not express and having to hold back, each with their constraints. If you are not into these, it is also very slow moving. Battle scenes are quite lacklustre as these are just secondary.
There are a lot of comments that the story is great but I differ in my opinion. I say the production and directing are great as it brings out a lot of emotions - if the ending is that dark, with good directing it is hard not for anyone to cry although I did not.
The story is rather strange and rather unrealistic. And here are why I say that:
1. Minister Cui Guang supported the child emperor to the throne expecting his niece Cui Shi Yi to become the next empress only to find to his horror that the new Empress Dowager has other plans - to keep her as crown princess by appointing the child emperor's elder cousin as crown prince. She has become the fiancee of the new crown prince instead. Unless this story is not of Chinese background but of some minority tribe - passing a fiancée to a cousin is hardly acceptable in Chinese culture much less appointing an elder to become a successor. But with a surname Liu, it is implying the Chinese Han dynasty. And why appoint an older successor - just to avoid marrying the mute Cui ShiYi?
2. Minister Cui then requests for Prince Zhou Sheng Chen to become his niece Shifu (teacher). Again very weird: pushing a young girl into the care of a bachelor prince although he might have vowed to stay single and not to have children. Perhaps for the protection of the Prince for the Cui family?
3. Prince Zhou stubbornly refuses to leave the entrapment when the conspirators uses the Liu royal family and court as hostages. Why would a general with a peerless track record of success on the battlefield be suddenly so stupidly bigoted. His military advisor arrives in time to save him. If his advisor is smart enough to come to the rescue, surely Zhou knows better to leave at the urge of his own team and his hostages. Eventually the hostages are massacred and he dies of torture. Why would a big 'killer' be so easily swayed especially since these hostages are not close to him? I expect him to be a better strategist.
4. When someone important jumps from the city tower, why do the soldiers not try to help but instead concentrate on driving helpers away.
These are all important turning points in the story. The development of the story is not naturally and is very obviously to dramatise. All movies and dramas dramatises, but there is a difference between doing it realistically or creating obvious conveniences, and this story sounds more like the latter - it needs great skills to do that realistically.
On a positive note, the support cast is good looking and does a very good job. There are some good music pieces.
I come across a lot of positive reviews of this drama but I think it is mainly because of Bai Lu and Ren Jia Lun, the current popular heartthrobs. The chemistry between the leads is excellent.
For most part of the drama, it is the romance between Cui ShiYi (Bai Lu) and Zhou ShengChen (Ren JiaLun), so there are a lot of building up of their romance and emotions. It is mainly all the lovey-dovey moment - loving each other and could not express and having to hold back, each with their constraints. If you are not into these, it is also very slow moving. Battle scenes are quite lacklustre as these are just secondary.
There are a lot of comments that the story is great but I differ in my opinion. I say the production and directing are great as it brings out a lot of emotions - if the ending is that dark, with good directing it is hard not for anyone to cry although I did not.
The story is rather strange and rather unrealistic. And here are why I say that:
1. Minister Cui Guang supported the child emperor to the throne expecting his niece Cui Shi Yi to become the next empress only to find to his horror that the new Empress Dowager has other plans - to keep her as crown princess by appointing the child emperor's elder cousin as crown prince. She has become the fiancee of the new crown prince instead. Unless this story is not of Chinese background but of some minority tribe - passing a fiancée to a cousin is hardly acceptable in Chinese culture much less appointing an elder to become a successor. But with a surname Liu, it is implying the Chinese Han dynasty. And why appoint an older successor - just to avoid marrying the mute Cui ShiYi?
2. Minister Cui then requests for Prince Zhou Sheng Chen to become his niece Shifu (teacher). Again very weird: pushing a young girl into the care of a bachelor prince although he might have vowed to stay single and not to have children. Perhaps for the protection of the Prince for the Cui family?
3. Prince Zhou stubbornly refuses to leave the entrapment when the conspirators uses the Liu royal family and court as hostages. Why would a general with a peerless track record of success on the battlefield be suddenly so stupidly bigoted. His military advisor arrives in time to save him. If his advisor is smart enough to come to the rescue, surely Zhou knows better to leave at the urge of his own team and his hostages. Eventually the hostages are massacred and he dies of torture. Why would a big 'killer' be so easily swayed especially since these hostages are not close to him? I expect him to be a better strategist.
4. When someone important jumps from the city tower, why do the soldiers not try to help but instead concentrate on driving helpers away.
These are all important turning points in the story. The development of the story is not naturally and is very obviously to dramatise. All movies and dramas dramatises, but there is a difference between doing it realistically or creating obvious conveniences, and this story sounds more like the latter - it needs great skills to do that realistically.
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