Nam Gonzales
Legit Strong FL but the Men are not demonized
|Riddled w/ cliches but the KEY IS IN THE DETAILS|
My Uncanny Destiny’s main premise about a cross dressing monarch who falls for her enemy might not be new, but the way the producers directed and wrote the characters to be 4D without being too angsty is just so refreshing!
I don’t know who the writer is and their other work, but the way they decided to pace out the story by having subplots in each episode that contributes to the overall story arc made each episode exciting and relevant. We don’t see a lot of those useless, draggy scenes, repetitive misunderstanding between the leads, or side characters stealing the spotlight because most if not all of the episodes had a climax that had you wanting to watch the next episode. The writing was so on point that I don’t even mind that they teased about a 2nd season because the current season was tied up nicely.
|70% comedy and romance, 30% court intrigue|
Several costume dramas posing as rom-coms end up as being trying hard angsty, court intrigue dramas which is irritating. This is why I appreciate the fact that MUD never forgot it’s true rom com identity by giving us a lot of extremely cliche that it’s hilarious scenes, together with interesting romantic scenes throughout the episodes. That’s not to say that there’s no hardships in the story but rather that these obstacles are presented in a very matter of fact way and resolved in just 1 or 2 episodes. No need to drag the drama in several episodes. Likewise, we have to appreciate the directing because even with the limited budget, the team knew that for rom-com it’s more effective to concentrate on your characters than big sweeping battle scenes or boring repetitive court scenes.
I hope other writers/producers can learn from this team that even if they want to milk their stars, they should create stories that end properly and none of those misleading 24 episodes but are in fact 50 episodes but divided to 2 seasons so you’re left hanging in season 1. I’m looking at you drama with popular C starlet.
| Female characters are strong without being Mary Sues and demonizing the male characters|
I can recall several recent dramas define “strong” female leads as mary sues protected by plot armor — incredibly strong just because, doesn’t do or like feminine things, genius tactician, that doesn’t bow down to anyone (basically toxic traits in female form). What sets MUD female characters apart from the recent ones is that most if not all of them represent women in different shapes, form, and personalities and how they are strong in their own way.
We have the cross dressing FL, who proves she doesn’t only need to be good in kungfu to be a great heroine but she also needs to empathize with the people around her, and also use her brain to solve her problems. She’s not averse to asking help from the people around her (even the male characters) because she acknowledges everyone’s strengths.
We have several supporting female characters that are also strong in their own way. The spoiled princess that’s very witty and ingenious in her tricks that she was also able to use it to help her friend and change her man for the better. The initially irritating jealous girl that had a character arc turning her into the FLs friend. The doormat concubine that showed her loyalty and kindness that acknowledged her worth and fought for her own happiness. And the female villain/s that used her abuse to fuel her ambition making her a worthy opponent of the FL.
The male characters were not your typical aggressive, domineering type but more like the whole rainbow of male characters. The brawny, slightly dumb, ambitious, but patriotic general. The smart, suave, but playful 2ML. The bumbling adoptive family. And finally the smart, capable, confident, but also goofy ML that can plan as well as the FL but also knows when he needs to support the FL to do her thing.
|Ok chemistry, but not as addicting as LBFAD|
I thought I’d seen all kinds of romantic scenes, but MUD managed to show some interesting new take on kiss scenes. The ML and FL have ok chemistry which made their romantic scenes believable. If I were to compare the chemistry, it would be like Minglan’s chemistry with her ML — like soul mates turned lovers. Not as fiery but still as fun.
My Uncanny Destiny’s main premise about a cross dressing monarch who falls for her enemy might not be new, but the way the producers directed and wrote the characters to be 4D without being too angsty is just so refreshing!
I don’t know who the writer is and their other work, but the way they decided to pace out the story by having subplots in each episode that contributes to the overall story arc made each episode exciting and relevant. We don’t see a lot of those useless, draggy scenes, repetitive misunderstanding between the leads, or side characters stealing the spotlight because most if not all of the episodes had a climax that had you wanting to watch the next episode. The writing was so on point that I don’t even mind that they teased about a 2nd season because the current season was tied up nicely.
|70% comedy and romance, 30% court intrigue|
Several costume dramas posing as rom-coms end up as being trying hard angsty, court intrigue dramas which is irritating. This is why I appreciate the fact that MUD never forgot it’s true rom com identity by giving us a lot of extremely cliche that it’s hilarious scenes, together with interesting romantic scenes throughout the episodes. That’s not to say that there’s no hardships in the story but rather that these obstacles are presented in a very matter of fact way and resolved in just 1 or 2 episodes. No need to drag the drama in several episodes. Likewise, we have to appreciate the directing because even with the limited budget, the team knew that for rom-com it’s more effective to concentrate on your characters than big sweeping battle scenes or boring repetitive court scenes.
I hope other writers/producers can learn from this team that even if they want to milk their stars, they should create stories that end properly and none of those misleading 24 episodes but are in fact 50 episodes but divided to 2 seasons so you’re left hanging in season 1. I’m looking at you drama with popular C starlet.
| Female characters are strong without being Mary Sues and demonizing the male characters|
I can recall several recent dramas define “strong” female leads as mary sues protected by plot armor — incredibly strong just because, doesn’t do or like feminine things, genius tactician, that doesn’t bow down to anyone (basically toxic traits in female form). What sets MUD female characters apart from the recent ones is that most if not all of them represent women in different shapes, form, and personalities and how they are strong in their own way.
We have the cross dressing FL, who proves she doesn’t only need to be good in kungfu to be a great heroine but she also needs to empathize with the people around her, and also use her brain to solve her problems. She’s not averse to asking help from the people around her (even the male characters) because she acknowledges everyone’s strengths.
We have several supporting female characters that are also strong in their own way. The spoiled princess that’s very witty and ingenious in her tricks that she was also able to use it to help her friend and change her man for the better. The initially irritating jealous girl that had a character arc turning her into the FLs friend. The doormat concubine that showed her loyalty and kindness that acknowledged her worth and fought for her own happiness. And the female villain/s that used her abuse to fuel her ambition making her a worthy opponent of the FL.
The male characters were not your typical aggressive, domineering type but more like the whole rainbow of male characters. The brawny, slightly dumb, ambitious, but patriotic general. The smart, suave, but playful 2ML. The bumbling adoptive family. And finally the smart, capable, confident, but also goofy ML that can plan as well as the FL but also knows when he needs to support the FL to do her thing.
|Ok chemistry, but not as addicting as LBFAD|
I thought I’d seen all kinds of romantic scenes, but MUD managed to show some interesting new take on kiss scenes. The ML and FL have ok chemistry which made their romantic scenes believable. If I were to compare the chemistry, it would be like Minglan’s chemistry with her ML — like soul mates turned lovers. Not as fiery but still as fun.
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