OSOUVERAINE
France
Ming dynasty or the story of mad emperors...
With this historical drama we don't know exactly when the storyline sticks to real facts and when it doesn't. We get poor psychological developments and emperors are finally shown in their ordinary madness or worst scheming sides.Costumes are great, sceneries too. Epic war actions are quite very well depicted and give this drama real great moments. There are also poetic and beautiful scenes.
But finally my feeeling is that this drama could have been so much better ! The first part has funny moments but maybe because of my cultural gap I didn't understand the interest in bringing no relevant comedy scenes to this drama. Those scenes were rather boring and slowed the story progression . The second part of the drama is complety the opposite, quite serious and tragical.
The soundtrack is really really good and brings intensity to this drama.
Lead actors are terrific. Zhu Ya Wen (Zhu Zhan Ji) is amazing. I didn't know this actor before and he really deserves a best actor award ! I love the way he plays and give strenghth to his character : dumb, submissive and
caring as the imperial's grandson, smart, assertive and brave as a royal investigator and finally fearless as a warrior and rather mad as an Emperor. What an interesting character he is ! One can only regret not seeing him in more love scenes with Sun Ruowei. With such a talented actor it's a real pity not having given him more sensivitive and emotial love lines.
I also loved Rebecca Tang, she is so charismatic but her character (Sun Ruowei) is just unrealistic. I really didn't understand her psychology. As Empress Dowager she is just amazing with a perfect acting. Sun Ruowei is this drama's main character but she is too much idealized as a female strong historical persona. Compred to her, Ming's Emperors seem all to be mad, unhappy and finally rather ill fated.
Overall, this drama has very good moments. It's worth to be watched by all historical drama lovers.
Was this review helpful to you?
Oh my god, everything that happened was so expected ! So many clichés ! Tong Da Wei was charming but playing such a fool character ! Was there a single smart character in here ? I don't think so. A bunch of loosers and sick people who are so far away from reality and without any consistance. I recommand episode 30 where a marriage proposal's scene was such a waste although the actors were just beautiful and emotional ! What was the screenwriter's intention ? It was so ridiculous !
What about Wang Yibo ? He was 19 when he shot this drama and he actually shows great acting potential. If you are a Wang Yibo's fan, watch this, you will see him dance, roller-skate, drive a Ferrari, ride a motorcycle and even sing ! He even plays a model and an idol (such a piece of cake) ! And he will also cry (real tears please !) and kiss a girl... Honestly his acting is good but his character is just a nonsens.
The whole casting was rather excellent and saves this drama which really deals with love but in the worst way. If you want to watch a thrilling love story with unforgettable moments and lines, you'd better pass your way.
If you want to see how good actors can save a drama you can give it a try !
Was this review helpful to you?
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
The height of romanticism with happy ending
Three things I hate the most in dramas : 1. when you are told that you are in a novel and you happen to see parts of the writer’s life instead of focusing on the main story ; 2. when the female lead has modern values (like romantic love, freedom, equality between men and women) while the story takes place in remote times where women were considered as one commodity to serve their "owner ; 3. when there are too many historical nonsens.Well, then I should have dropped this drama, but I didn’t. Partly because of the actors and the story itself, partly because of the staging, sets and dialogue’s quality. It’s quite easy to become a fan of the show if you are a girl. You want to know what will happen to Dong Ge, Jurchen’s most beautiful woman, the one everyone wants to marry ! The one who doesn’t want to marry ! It may sound boring but surprisingly it isn’t. The twists of the story as well as the chemistry between the main characters (Dong Ge and Hong Taiji) keep us in suspense and it is a pleasure to watch many particularly moving and sweet scenes.
This is a romantic story, both Dong Ge et Hong Taiji want to feel and share the same kind of love. Both are waiting for their « one and only ». Sometimes, it is too much ! To me, Hong Taiji is an awesome romantic character. I don’t want to spoil anything but he saves her many times, even from her own death….
Dong Ge and Hong Taiji are cousins. She is older than him (7 or 8 years older) and sees him like a child. When Hong Taiji,s mother dies, she makes them promise to look after each other and support each other. They have a special bond that will gradually turn into love. Episode 19, their first kiss :
« Dong Ge : It can’t be…
Hong Taiji : What’s wrong ?
DG You are Nurhaci’son !
HT : So is Daisan !
DG : it’s not the same ! You are my aunt’s son. I promised her to take care of you !
HT : But, you are !
DG : No, no ! This is not right ! I am much older than you ! Besides I am also… Anyway, Hong Taiji, it’s impossible for us to be together !
HT : Dong Ge, to me nothing is impossible ! It’s only impossible for me to loose you. »
Was this review helpful to you?
Romantic everlasting loves
This drama is all about love. You take it or you leave it. Dylan Wang's imposing acting makes the difference.I came to this drama after watching "Love between fairy and devil" I was quite impressed with Dylan Wang's charisma and amazing acting. There are many similarities between the two dramas but the main difference stands in the interest of the stories themselves. In "Miss the dragon" you will soon find out that what matters the most is the relationships between main characters not the storyline itself. So you may get a little bit bored and frustrated asking : where is this drama leading me ? We have really beautiful and quality scenes but will the plot get more interesting ? What do the screenwriters aim to ? Why are they focusing on relationships rather than the plot development ? Everything is just a pretext to watch main leads characters live their love surrounded by wonderful and fairylike landscapes. It's all very romantic and beautiful. That's it.
If you don't believe in everlasting love and get bored with a man's devotion and protection, this drama is certainly not for you. 4 lives and 4 deaths for the mortal girl and always the same everlasting romantic love. When the story finally comes to an end with the real plot development it becomes really goood. Episode 34 is maybe the best one. Last episode is really great too. In the firts episodes, it was really funny to make immortal Dragon King try to understand humans and behave like them. He doesn't know how to repay Liu Ying's kindness. He reads human books such as "the legend of white snake" and try to act just like it is said in the book ! How funny that was !
This show is beautiful for the eyes but lacks intense happenings. The plot is dragging too much so it's hard to rate this drama too highly. 8 is a good compromise to congatulate the actors, the Director and pointing out the great soundtrack !
Was this review helpful to you?
A love story so enjoyable to watch !
No need to say too much, this is kind of modern cinderella love story : no chance this is to happen in real life !So enjoyable to watch, every girl would like to have such a handsome boyfriend even though he seems not to know that a girl is not just an object or a toy you can control as you like ! The guy is a jerk but he finally tuns out to be so considerate... I didn't like him that much at the beginning, but I just loved the couple relationship.
Very nice actor's chemistry and many everlasting hot kisses make you share and feel their love ! I was just thrilled and hooked on this couple.
I enjoyed this K-drama very much. Please yourself and watch it !
Was this review helpful to you?
Ethan Juan is just hilarious
Woaw ! This comedy is just brilliant. I laughed all way through and loved all the characters but Anna. Among all the very funny scenes and crazy ones, there is also a big tragic event that is very much unexpected. Maybe the very last episodes are a bit draggy and don't bring any better value to the storyline but still I enjoyed watching them for their crazy moments.The actors were all very funny. Ethan Juan was so hilarious : just watching to his facetious cute and silly expressions makes you burst into hysterical laughs. Episode 18 is a real comedy master piece !
Great show, only Baron Chen's hairstyle disappointed me !
Filmed on 2008, this very good entertainment hasn't aged at all. It's a real 'must watch' comedy.
Was this review helpful to you?
In this spy drama the enemy is the japonese invader. The action takes place in Shanghai during World War 2. This gives good opportunity for spying actions and double agents purposes. The historical background is very important here cause the disguiser, Ming Lou (Jin Dong) has 3 different identities : he is officially part of the pro-japonese Shangai's government, undercovered Shangai's KTW ( kind of Chinese CIA) leader (code name Viper) and hidden leader of Shangai communist underground forces (code name Cobra). This character is of course mature, mastermind with great understanding and capabilities. He is playing a chess party and every piece of it should be sacrified if there is no other way.. He belongs to the wealthy Ming's family directed by Ming Jing (Liu Min Tao), the authoritarian Old Sister (hidden communist). The 2 siblings also have an adopted little brother they raised up since he was 3 or 4 years old, Ming Tai (Hu Ge). He is spoiled up a lot cause he is more treated as a precious son rather than a brother. Ming's family members have very strong and deep loving bonds and feelings and this is quite important for the whole plot and actions and psychological issues. At the beginning of the drama, Ming Tai is a student and gets kidnapped and trained in the army to become a brilliant KTW spy. Once he becomes a spy in Shangai, the real plot starts and it's just amazing.
I won't say more about the story but it is brilliant and will take your breath away.... I loved Ming Lou character who is perfectly performed, high in emotion and in turmoil but also cold and mastermind when needed. Hu Ge is also great playing a 20 years old guy but he was actually 32 when filming this.... so it 's a bit weird ! All actors where so good in this drama and I especially loved Song Yi who was really gorgeous in Yu Man Li's character. While watching this show, you will laugh, you will be thrilled and may shed a tear...
Was this review helpful to you?
Was this review helpful to you?
Was this review helpful to you?
The storyline is based on a videogame where main characters join together to kill Boss monsters and take from them energy pills ! So this isn't enough to make a 50 episodes drama... you'll get then many secondary stories .... The main story is progressing too slowly and is spoiled by too many characters who don't even give any better value to the show. We are eager to know more about the main characters and their ineractions. Over all, many hilarious scenes make us enjoy this drama. I recall episode 19 which made me laugh to death ! The different love stories of this drama make us feel frustrated. Don't expect to find in here intense emotional love story, there isn't even one single kiss !
Of course, main character Baili Tusu (Li Yi Feng) is quite interesting and you really want to know whether he will get rid of his evil aura and if he will finally share Qing Xue (Yang Mi)'s love feelings. You will also be quite interested in discovering Ouyang Shao Gong's wherabouts and obsession to revive his lost beloved wife. Is he really a friend to Baili Tusu ? Honestly, actor Qiao Zhen Yu gives mystery, charm and genuineness to Shao Gong,
Most of all, acting is the very good point of this drama. Li Yi Feng is impressive and handsome as he always is and Qiao Zhen Yu just outstanding ! Support roles actors are currently well known chinese actors, some of them were at their early beginnings ( Zheng Ye Cheng, William Chan, Vengo Gao, Leon Zhang...) so this make this drama a must watch one ! Ray Ma is very funny, playing a spoiled young man in love with a young fox demon girl... I think Yang Mi's and Dilraba Dilmurat's ways of acting are much more interesting in this drama than in their recent ones.
Finally, I enjoyed watching this drama, the 10 last episodes are really thrilling, lively, and really entertaining !
Was this review helpful to you?
Immortal Samasra or how to get disgusted with Xianxia Cdrama
After watching Part 1, I couldn't write a review. I really didn't know what to say, the show was far away from my expectations. I couldn't say the storyline was bad it wasn't but it wasn't good either. How could I agree with the fact that love between immortals was forbidden ? This sounded really silly to me. How could deity who are supposed to be a billion times more clever and wiser than humans could forbid the more valuable thing in the world ? How could such an evil law have been established in Heavenly Realm ? That was absolute nonsense to me !So, of course forbidden love will be there and you'll have to pay for it !
As always, to redeem yourself there is the mortal realm. But you have to cross the river of forgetfulness. For Yandan (Yang Zi) it will take 800 years, her spirit was about to burst into ashes for she couldn't forget her loved one Yingyuan (Cheng Yi). It was terrible to watch her unable to cross the river... Finally Yingyuan will help her and will punish himself. To save his own life, he will have to live as a mortal and find 4 artefacts to heal his heart and not perish for ever. That's when part 2 begins.
I really hoped Part 2 would be better than Part 1, but it wasn't. Too many plots, too many flaws and interactions between Heavenly realm and mortal realm when they are not supposed to be. A nonsense again ! The storyline went on more and more messy with our two lovers more and more disappointing us. Few love scenes, I love you, I don't love you, I love you, I can't love you, I forgive you, I can't forgive you, I love you, I die for you, You can't, I can... Oh my God ! Why is it like this ? Why is it all so boring ? No consistance in this love, only sufferings. Why do we always have this kind of actions ? Why love shoud be painful with misunderstandings and grudges ?
More terrible than the uninteresting storyline is the fact that the actors themselves were jsut boring ! Yang Zi is Yang Zi : always the same facial expressions, always the same kind of xianxia's character. She was more fresh in Ashes of love, for sure. Cheng Yi is just the puppet of himself in here, or shall I say a shadow. In Love and redemption, he was so much into his character, but in here he seems tired, I didn't sense any sincerity. His facial expressions were just a mask he put on, always the same mask. How boring ! How disgusting !
Can producers and directors give him a chance to play real different characters, some comedy where we can laugh with him, where we can laugh because of him ?
This show was really not enjoyable. It's a waste of time watching it. The end is ridiculous. Part 2 is not good at all.
If you want to enjoy yourself in a Xianxian Cdrama, you can watch Love between fairy and devil, full of love and nice moments (best 2022 cdrama for me until now).
Was this review helpful to you?
Police officers fighting against drug trafficking : but who is really who ?
This drama is dedicated to policemen who sacrifice their lives for the ideal of a drug-free world. "The brave and fearless anti-drug police". Of course we have clichés with some protagonists here, but actors are so good that we really appreciate all the characters.The staging and script are really effective, creating a real suspense both on the story development and characters personality. At the end of every episode, a twist or turnaround holds our breath ad we really get eager to know what will happen next.
Here the bad guy is not that bad, there this good guy is just a scum ? Little by little you get the keys that let you know who really is who and why they got there.
To me, what makes this drama an outstanding one is really the cast : actors really add value to characters. Li Yi Feng and Stephen Feng are perfect, so are Samuel Gu and Gong Hai Bin. For the latter ones, you go from love to hate and vice versa.
Li Yi Feng is the real hero here, he doesn't die at the end and I am very pleased with it.
These 24 episodes are really worth watching !
Was this review helpful to you?
Identity game, how to win when you don’t know who’s playing on your team
After having watched so many Xian xia dramas I needed to watch something completely different something that would get me really thrilled just like when I watched « The disguiser ».« Autumn Cicada » became the drama I obviously needed to watch, mainly because of the actors.
From the very first episode, you know exactly what you’re going to get : spy games, bloodshed and heroism. « I wow to strive all my life for Communism. The Party interest prevails anything else. I will never yield, never become a treator » these are the words of Shanghai communist underground’s leader before shooting himself in the head on December 1941.
Autumn Cicada, undercower Japanese Major Ye Chong, has just arrived in Hong Kong while the Chinese communist underground in Hong Kong has to be reorganized. Japanese forces are blowing up the Communist Party ; activists are left with no leader. Who to contact in Hong Kong for Autumn Cicada to accomplish the mission he was supposed to be given? The « who is who game » starts and will really end on last episode !
At times when watching the drama, you may think that from both sides (Japanese intelligence officers and communist underground people) there is a lack of keen intelligence, so that actions tend to drag. Still, you really want to know who between Major Ye Chong and Major Miyamoto will have the last word…. These two characters keep us in suspense, the actors are so talented that it’s hard to take sides for either. Maybe that’s the reason why you keep watching the series ! Of course you can’t side with the Japanese but you can understand and support Miyamoto from a human and psychological point of view. After all, he only fulfills the tasks entrusted to him.
In this series, too much space is given to telegraph messages that one has to decipher or locate, espionage revolves a lot around that. The action and development of the story prevail over the relationships between the characters. This does not allow a good understanding of feelings between them or their psychology. Some characters are simple stereotypes or have no realistic basis. Take the example of Ye Chong’s brother : ask him anything, he can help. Yet he is not a magician nor a God! Ye Chong would have been helpless without him yet we know very little about him and his status, he is just another Ye Chong not knowing how to get in touch with Shanghai Communists underground . Anyhow the drama ends up stating : « This series is to commemorate every hero who fought in the war of anti-Facism. » That’s what we got ! Who cares about the script flaws ?
I like spy and republic era dramas especially when the action takes place in Shanghai, so right now I am thinking about watching « Sparrow » (a 2016 drama) I planed to watch long time ago...). Let’s go !
Was this review helpful to you?
Whoever fights against drug trafficking organizations is a hero
Nothing has to be perfect in this kind of drama, the most important thing is how the show manages to captivate your attention to bring you to the next episode. Being a hero is one of those dramas you want to watch at once to know more about the relationship between the two main characters and what will happen to them.One is a cop (Chen Yu) who works at the counter narcotics detachement, he is supposed to be the good guy. The other one is some kind of a mysterious character ( Wu Zhen Feng) who wants to rehabilitate his father's honor (he was believed to be a drug dealer as he died while drug trafficking). He looks like the bad guy who seeks to connect two organized bands that do not longer work together. He uses extreme means and doesn't seem that successful. All we know is that he wants to avenge the unjust death of his father and looks for a drug boss named Dong.
Theses 2 characters are childhood friends but their bond is not that clear. When the drama begins they haven't been in touch for 3 years and Chen Yu is convicted that Wu Zhen Feng is a drug dealer and drug addicted. And we think so too. We don't know exactly who is Zhen Feng. We might see him as an informant, a cope undercover, a fool who aks for death. We don't know. As the drama goes on, we can see how police forces are investigating but also how drug organizations work. We also have some scenes where we are explained that drugs destroy families and people, and whoever fight against drug trafficking oranizations is a hero.
I was really interested in watching Wang Yibo and Chen Xiao working together. I was not sure of Wang Yibo's acting : he did a good job in the Untamed but not in Legend of Fei. Surprisingly, I found him very good in here. He was perfectly suited to his character and could express the right emotions when they were needed. Chen Xiao is a great actor but I think that Zhen Feng's character was a bit difficult to deal with. He had to endure the will of the drug dealers and was a little passive at times. I would have liked to see him in more winning fights. I also would have liked to see more scenes between Wang Yibo and Chen Xiao. Their characters have many things to say and explain and share with us. I would have liked to know more about their past lives when they were like brothers. So, a bit frustrated here ....
I would say a word about the OST. I really liked it. The closing theme is really moving, not surprising at all it's sung by Ayanga : Bear.
This drama has good pace, good actors and good storyline. Sure, you'll watch it till last episode.
Was this review helpful to you?
