justiiine
This review may contain spoilers
Interesting and original setting, not fully exploited
This drama was an original mix of things which could be summarized as "good ideas, not always good execution".
You know these bags of cookies where they are good enough to keep you munching but not good enough to make you want to save or savour them? This drama is like that.
Genres
Romance: I wanted to watch this drama mainly for the romance. Well, I would say don't come for this. The main couple's relationship is almost not developed for the first 20 episodes. There is no meaningful kiss until episode 42! Their relationship goes from nonexistent to deep and dramatic almost overnight, no real flirty infatuation phase. In the later part of the drama it's more of an old married couple dynamic with tacit understanding.
Bromance: this one wasn't expected but the relationship between Xia Chun Yu and Bai Chong Ye is complex and well brought on screen. I found it more interesting than the romance.
Time travelling: as everyone already said, bonus point for avoiding landing in the royal palace for once. The setting in an organized bandit gang was an interesting change.
Ye JiaYao doesn't really try to fit in which is in a way more realistic than other time travelling drama. She also brought some kind of feminist values to the past which was a pleasant surprise.
History: I'm not an expert in Chinese history but I'm pretty sure this drama is all over the place in terms of historical accuracy, it doesn't look tied nor faithful to any specific period. It's not coherent in the social organization either: in similar situations, women are left unscathed because everyone is nice, while in other similar cases there is rape because the past was ugly. Same for punishments, they can be super light and silly or completely over the top and violent for similar crimes.
Food: it didn't occur to me to consider this a food drama despite the title x) it's definitely not the main focus although it gets more attention in the second half of the drama.
Sets and costumes
It's historically all over the place and some people complained about how random and inaccurate the costumes are. If you look at it as a fashion exercise for "fusion" style, this is actually quite good. The bandit leaders have badass-historical hybrid uniforms while Ye JiaYao wears modern interpretation of traditional dresses (I loved that purple dress she wore for a good third of the drama!).
The sets are good but not breathtaking. There is a bit of Chinese steampunk here and there when they try to create flying machines or substitutes of kitchen appliances.
Story
As I said, the romance aspect is not this drama's forte especially in the first half. However the bandit organization intrigues were more captivating than expected. It had some political tint but with avoiding the whole woman plotting under protocol typical of palace dramas… until the second half of the drama where it turned into that :(
I don't know if it was the official intend but this drama is really split into 2 seasons of 28 episodes each. The first half is more self contained with one main story line and set of characters. The second season has multiple successive story lines and somewhat one underlying thread to tie the entire drama together and come to an end. Both seasons have entirely different casts save the main couple and Prince Yu. Even if the second season has endearing new characters, it's a bit hard to part with the cast of the first half after growing attached to them over 28 episodes. The 2 seasons are almost independent but some elements of the second season explain what was left unresolved in the first season and you can see what was planted from the start that you didn't notice. The second season has more cliche and unnecessary parts. Essentially everything connected to Liu Li doesn't bring anything to the overall story and is just there to frustrate the viewer x)
Characters
Ye JiaYao can look superficial and childish at the beginning of the drama and her strengths are only revealed later. She is actually way smarter than she looks, is resourceful and brave. She is not a damsel in distress and is often actually the one saving others. I don't think I've ever seen a female character standing her ground and her independence like that in a drama. She is also not swayed head over heels for the male lead and keeps some common sense (beginning of season 2).
Xia Chun Yu is a total male Mary Sue (or whatever the male equivalent is called). Intelligent, cunning, charming, handsome, unbeatable warrior, never dies from any injury and recovers from pierced organs overnight… He was too perfect to show much depth of emotion even if we can see him navigate his grief and remorse for his actions throughout the drama.
Bai Chong Ye was the most interesting character, playing a lot of mind games with everyone to protect his clan, his family and himself as a bandit boss. His personality was nuanced between his criminal background and his accountability as the head of the fortress with people's lives depending on him. You can also see some glimpse of self-consciousness of his commoner social background despite him being well educated.
Prince Yu is another complex character who would have deserved more exposure in the first season and more nuances in the second season. He was too easily caricatured near the end while they had managed to make him an ambiguous villain already.
I won't do the whole cast but just a quick mention for Ding Qi for whom the second lead syndrome was dangerously strong. It's a shame his character was discarded in a quick black and white way, there was definitely something to do here by bringing his changes over more episodes.
Overall
Really interesting mix in an original setting. It was not fully used to its full potential and the in-law family drama part was completely unnecessary. It would have been better to tie the whole drama together in one shorter season of 35-40 episodes instead of doing this weird unequal 2-season split.
You know these bags of cookies where they are good enough to keep you munching but not good enough to make you want to save or savour them? This drama is like that.
Genres
Romance: I wanted to watch this drama mainly for the romance. Well, I would say don't come for this. The main couple's relationship is almost not developed for the first 20 episodes. There is no meaningful kiss until episode 42! Their relationship goes from nonexistent to deep and dramatic almost overnight, no real flirty infatuation phase. In the later part of the drama it's more of an old married couple dynamic with tacit understanding.
Bromance: this one wasn't expected but the relationship between Xia Chun Yu and Bai Chong Ye is complex and well brought on screen. I found it more interesting than the romance.
Time travelling: as everyone already said, bonus point for avoiding landing in the royal palace for once. The setting in an organized bandit gang was an interesting change.
Ye JiaYao doesn't really try to fit in which is in a way more realistic than other time travelling drama. She also brought some kind of feminist values to the past which was a pleasant surprise.
History: I'm not an expert in Chinese history but I'm pretty sure this drama is all over the place in terms of historical accuracy, it doesn't look tied nor faithful to any specific period. It's not coherent in the social organization either: in similar situations, women are left unscathed because everyone is nice, while in other similar cases there is rape because the past was ugly. Same for punishments, they can be super light and silly or completely over the top and violent for similar crimes.
Food: it didn't occur to me to consider this a food drama despite the title x) it's definitely not the main focus although it gets more attention in the second half of the drama.
Sets and costumes
It's historically all over the place and some people complained about how random and inaccurate the costumes are. If you look at it as a fashion exercise for "fusion" style, this is actually quite good. The bandit leaders have badass-historical hybrid uniforms while Ye JiaYao wears modern interpretation of traditional dresses (I loved that purple dress she wore for a good third of the drama!).
The sets are good but not breathtaking. There is a bit of Chinese steampunk here and there when they try to create flying machines or substitutes of kitchen appliances.
Story
As I said, the romance aspect is not this drama's forte especially in the first half. However the bandit organization intrigues were more captivating than expected. It had some political tint but with avoiding the whole woman plotting under protocol typical of palace dramas… until the second half of the drama where it turned into that :(
I don't know if it was the official intend but this drama is really split into 2 seasons of 28 episodes each. The first half is more self contained with one main story line and set of characters. The second season has multiple successive story lines and somewhat one underlying thread to tie the entire drama together and come to an end. Both seasons have entirely different casts save the main couple and Prince Yu. Even if the second season has endearing new characters, it's a bit hard to part with the cast of the first half after growing attached to them over 28 episodes. The 2 seasons are almost independent but some elements of the second season explain what was left unresolved in the first season and you can see what was planted from the start that you didn't notice. The second season has more cliche and unnecessary parts. Essentially everything connected to Liu Li doesn't bring anything to the overall story and is just there to frustrate the viewer x)
Characters
Ye JiaYao can look superficial and childish at the beginning of the drama and her strengths are only revealed later. She is actually way smarter than she looks, is resourceful and brave. She is not a damsel in distress and is often actually the one saving others. I don't think I've ever seen a female character standing her ground and her independence like that in a drama. She is also not swayed head over heels for the male lead and keeps some common sense (beginning of season 2).
Xia Chun Yu is a total male Mary Sue (or whatever the male equivalent is called). Intelligent, cunning, charming, handsome, unbeatable warrior, never dies from any injury and recovers from pierced organs overnight… He was too perfect to show much depth of emotion even if we can see him navigate his grief and remorse for his actions throughout the drama.
Bai Chong Ye was the most interesting character, playing a lot of mind games with everyone to protect his clan, his family and himself as a bandit boss. His personality was nuanced between his criminal background and his accountability as the head of the fortress with people's lives depending on him. You can also see some glimpse of self-consciousness of his commoner social background despite him being well educated.
Prince Yu is another complex character who would have deserved more exposure in the first season and more nuances in the second season. He was too easily caricatured near the end while they had managed to make him an ambiguous villain already.
I won't do the whole cast but just a quick mention for Ding Qi for whom the second lead syndrome was dangerously strong. It's a shame his character was discarded in a quick black and white way, there was definitely something to do here by bringing his changes over more episodes.
Overall
Really interesting mix in an original setting. It was not fully used to its full potential and the in-law family drama part was completely unnecessary. It would have been better to tie the whole drama together in one shorter season of 35-40 episodes instead of doing this weird unequal 2-season split.
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