CKDramaddicts
Canada
Gorgeous setting, costumes, great chemistry, lovely OST; much better than Maid's Revenge
I've seen two dozen short-length mini dramas this year and more than that last year, and I can safely say this is one of the best ones I've seen -- up there with A Familiar Stranger, Si Shi Hao (Yes, Her Majesty), and The Killer is Also Romantic -- which is no surprise, given it's the same production team for all but Her Majesty. They do a great job building chemistry and tension between the leads with just a few strands of wet hair, a touch, a look. This is clearly still a melodrama -- lots of slow-motion effects, etc. but somehow it all works and doesn't feel ridiculous like Maid's Revenge.
The story isn't overly sophisticated, but it does a nice job with some well-worn tropes (revenge, childhood friends) and the entire supporting cast was also solid. The chemistry between the leads was 🔥🔥. The lovely Daisy Li Muchen was perfectly cast in a role that required her to be believeable as a school-girl-ingenue-seductress-out-for-revenge and I hope to see her playing more lead characters going forward (Jiang Susu is also quite a contrast from her role as a kick-ass tomboy gamer girl in The King's Avatar). Zhao Yiqin has really matured as an actor as well since Wait, My Youth (which I absolutely loved despite what I thought was only average acting) and My Girl, Fake Princess, etc. and it's great to see him back on screen again.
The costumes for both leads were beautiful as was the setting. I was also impressed with the level of detail incorporated into a short production like this -- at one point, you even see an old, ornate glass bottle of aspirin, for example (I can't speak to the accuracy of the bottle itself, lol). The music also really suited the mood and era; I especially loved Zhi Ru Chu Jian (Only Like Our First Meeting) by Zhou Zhiping.
This relatively new genre of drama is great when you're worried about bingeing on an addictive 40-episode full-length series when life is busy and you need sleep 😅, but the quality can be incredibly hit and miss (you know it's bad when you can't even get past a 3-minute episode!). I definitely recommend Provoke to anyone who liked Maid's Revenge -- it's got all the revenge, hot chemistry, and over-the-top melodrama without the excessive physical aggression, and has a much better ending and much stronger cast.
The story isn't overly sophisticated, but it does a nice job with some well-worn tropes (revenge, childhood friends) and the entire supporting cast was also solid. The chemistry between the leads was 🔥🔥. The lovely Daisy Li Muchen was perfectly cast in a role that required her to be believeable as a school-girl-ingenue-seductress-out-for-revenge and I hope to see her playing more lead characters going forward (Jiang Susu is also quite a contrast from her role as a kick-ass tomboy gamer girl in The King's Avatar). Zhao Yiqin has really matured as an actor as well since Wait, My Youth (which I absolutely loved despite what I thought was only average acting) and My Girl, Fake Princess, etc. and it's great to see him back on screen again.
The costumes for both leads were beautiful as was the setting. I was also impressed with the level of detail incorporated into a short production like this -- at one point, you even see an old, ornate glass bottle of aspirin, for example (I can't speak to the accuracy of the bottle itself, lol). The music also really suited the mood and era; I especially loved Zhi Ru Chu Jian (Only Like Our First Meeting) by Zhou Zhiping.
This relatively new genre of drama is great when you're worried about bingeing on an addictive 40-episode full-length series when life is busy and you need sleep 😅, but the quality can be incredibly hit and miss (you know it's bad when you can't even get past a 3-minute episode!). I definitely recommend Provoke to anyone who liked Maid's Revenge -- it's got all the revenge, hot chemistry, and over-the-top melodrama without the excessive physical aggression, and has a much better ending and much stronger cast.
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