kaister
I binged all 24 episodes in a day. The story caught between and light-hearted romantic drama and a serious court drama but honestly it is didn't do either well. However, the romance portion is probably much better the rest. It's a decent drama for what it is and I did enjoyed the drama from time to time.
First off, it's a low budget production but I never let the budget stop me watching any drama. I simply mentioned this to help people tempered expectation on what this drama is. Also, I'm not sure if it's a budget issue or writing issue but its budget production hinder the drama from being better than it is.
Story
Based on synopsis the story reminds me of Love in the Moonlight but nowhere as good. However it's very different if you look past the concept of a girl pretending to be an eunuch to enter the royal palace. So half of the story is about the romance between the ML and FL and the other half is about his political struggle to go from a puppet king to an actual king in control of his own destiny. What made me decided to keep on watching in the beginning is the ML protraying of a king. Early on, I think the very first episode, the FL disguised as a eunuch straight up told the ML that he looks a guy with power but is powerless to do anything...and that a stab in the ML's heart is exactly the situation he's in. The emotion that he display, the emptiness of his crown, the loneliness and hopelessness...I thought is done well.
He's a young king and the Empress ruled on his behalf as a regent the court is divided into Empress's side which wants to hold power and the loyalist side which want the king to rule on his own. He seems to useless puppet king but is actually really intelligent. So part of the early intrigue for this drama is his struggle to and when he slowly falls in love with the FL, the emotion that he display and hopelessly he has knowing the situation he's in and his inablity to protect people close to him.
Acting/Cast
Ash Zhu (ML - king) - Young king of Dong Cheng kingdom, Empress (not blood related) rule as a regent on his behalf. He has no actual power in the beginning and Empress side is doing everything to withhold power from him. Ran into FL in the beginning and befriended the FL because he found her interesting especially since she didn't realize he's the king. She was unruly but frank with her words, a level of honesty hard for him to see in the palace so he decided to keep her by his side and eventually found out "she" is in fact a women. Despite the fact he's being controlled by the Empress, he secretly building a plan to eventually rule on his own. He's very intelligent at times and very stupid at other times...especially when it's related to the FL. Yea...one of those character.
Ash Zhu not the best looking guy in cdramaland but I thought he did well in the drama. He displayed a wide range of emotion in the drama and his acting in very convincing for the role he's playing. I thought he did well.
Ma Meng Wei (FL who pretends to be a eunuch) - The daughter of a Shangshu (尚书). Her mother is comes from a lowly background so she wasn't raised as a noble lady. Instead she on the street smart side. Came disguised in eunuch to chase after a debt owed by one of the eunuch but instead ran into the king. Initially the she doesn't know he's the king. Despite the fact she's supposed to be street smart...she's the type of character that made a lot of mistakes that gets her into trouble. Now part of it is just the king withholding his plan to her. But other time it's totally her fault. For a person that snuck into the palace pretending to be a women, a crime punishable by death that could even affect her family. She sure act super reckless some of the time.
Now she fells in love with the king...sometimes she's seems very understanding of the situation. In other time, was so reckless she put herself in danger and ML.
She's ok I think. However, my view on her is tinted by the type of character she's playing. Needless to say, I'm not a fan of this type of character.
Lin Yan Qing (second male lead, fiancé of the FL) - He's in love with the female lead. He plays a very righteous character who came from noble family loyal to the crown. He's a noble fool...righteous to a fault. He's deeply in love with the FL but she never reciprocated her love. I know he's playing the tragic 2nd ML with the unrequited love. But I just never care to deeply about him. The tragic part about him is he has to struggle with his loyalty to the king despite the fact the king is essentially stealing his fiance. I thought the actor did well for what he's given. I'm just not too fond of his character.
Gong Zhi Yue (second female lead) - Childhood friend of the king and deeply in love with him. Unfortunately she's the daughter of the general, which is one of Empress's side. She is playing essential the same character as the 2nd ML. Like they're just mirrored image of each other. She's simply more tragic because she's literally in the middle of the power struggle. So she has to deal with her love and loyalty to the king vs her family. She did ok but at times she's just doesn't have a look of a daughter of a military family that's supposedly good at martial art and fought in war. She's more lady-like that the FL.
Empress - Token evil queen mother who desperately want to hold power from the king who's not her blood-related son. Nothing else to say. The problem I have with this character it's a shallow antagonist.
General - He's more interesting in the he's part of the Empress side but has his own agenda and ambition. Beyond that, he's also another shallow, token antagonist. In fact, he's friction and plan for his own ambition and what gave way for the king to take back his power.
Other characters - There are two guards (mainly comic relief) that know the FL and helps her when they found out she came to the royal palace. A 3rd FL (bratty princess of the king, in love with FL's fiance) and 3rd ML (king of nomadic enemy state, in love with the 2nd FL). FL's mother and father...also comic relief. FL's gangs of hoodlums...lol...but they're terribly underused and barely in the drama. An eunuch loyal to the Empress. All actor/actress are just...ok...The most compelling is probably the two guards...they played a pretty dynamic duo but strictly for comic relief
Music
Modern music in a historic drama...ugh. Nothing compelling. Weak overall. I hated the alt rock music that constantly played when the king did something "epic". You'll know what I'm talking about when you watch the drama. I thought some of the music that played in the romantic scenes are nice but it's nothing memorable. So music is lacking
Rewatch Value
Really no reason to rewatch.
Final Thought
Would I recommend it? It seems like I have a lot of negative and very few positive. One thing I like is that some of the voice is not dub. Like ML is original voice but FL is dubbed. Again despite it lousy writing and token character, it is decently enjoyable the first half. I thought second half as pretty lousy. There's a certain mystique to the character when you don't know what's going to happen to them. However, once it's fully reveal...you're like....hmmm that's it. Meh
First off, it's a low budget production but I never let the budget stop me watching any drama. I simply mentioned this to help people tempered expectation on what this drama is. Also, I'm not sure if it's a budget issue or writing issue but its budget production hinder the drama from being better than it is.
Story
Based on synopsis the story reminds me of Love in the Moonlight but nowhere as good. However it's very different if you look past the concept of a girl pretending to be an eunuch to enter the royal palace. So half of the story is about the romance between the ML and FL and the other half is about his political struggle to go from a puppet king to an actual king in control of his own destiny. What made me decided to keep on watching in the beginning is the ML protraying of a king. Early on, I think the very first episode, the FL disguised as a eunuch straight up told the ML that he looks a guy with power but is powerless to do anything...and that a stab in the ML's heart is exactly the situation he's in. The emotion that he display, the emptiness of his crown, the loneliness and hopelessness...I thought is done well.
He's a young king and the Empress ruled on his behalf as a regent the court is divided into Empress's side which wants to hold power and the loyalist side which want the king to rule on his own. He seems to useless puppet king but is actually really intelligent. So part of the early intrigue for this drama is his struggle to and when he slowly falls in love with the FL, the emotion that he display and hopelessly he has knowing the situation he's in and his inablity to protect people close to him.
Acting/Cast
Ash Zhu (ML - king) - Young king of Dong Cheng kingdom, Empress (not blood related) rule as a regent on his behalf. He has no actual power in the beginning and Empress side is doing everything to withhold power from him. Ran into FL in the beginning and befriended the FL because he found her interesting especially since she didn't realize he's the king. She was unruly but frank with her words, a level of honesty hard for him to see in the palace so he decided to keep her by his side and eventually found out "she" is in fact a women. Despite the fact he's being controlled by the Empress, he secretly building a plan to eventually rule on his own. He's very intelligent at times and very stupid at other times...especially when it's related to the FL. Yea...one of those character.
Ash Zhu not the best looking guy in cdramaland but I thought he did well in the drama. He displayed a wide range of emotion in the drama and his acting in very convincing for the role he's playing. I thought he did well.
Ma Meng Wei (FL who pretends to be a eunuch) - The daughter of a Shangshu (尚书). Her mother is comes from a lowly background so she wasn't raised as a noble lady. Instead she on the street smart side. Came disguised in eunuch to chase after a debt owed by one of the eunuch but instead ran into the king. Initially the she doesn't know he's the king. Despite the fact she's supposed to be street smart...she's the type of character that made a lot of mistakes that gets her into trouble. Now part of it is just the king withholding his plan to her. But other time it's totally her fault. For a person that snuck into the palace pretending to be a women, a crime punishable by death that could even affect her family. She sure act super reckless some of the time.
Now she fells in love with the king...sometimes she's seems very understanding of the situation. In other time, was so reckless she put herself in danger and ML.
She's ok I think. However, my view on her is tinted by the type of character she's playing. Needless to say, I'm not a fan of this type of character.
Lin Yan Qing (second male lead, fiancé of the FL) - He's in love with the female lead. He plays a very righteous character who came from noble family loyal to the crown. He's a noble fool...righteous to a fault. He's deeply in love with the FL but she never reciprocated her love. I know he's playing the tragic 2nd ML with the unrequited love. But I just never care to deeply about him. The tragic part about him is he has to struggle with his loyalty to the king despite the fact the king is essentially stealing his fiance. I thought the actor did well for what he's given. I'm just not too fond of his character.
Gong Zhi Yue (second female lead) - Childhood friend of the king and deeply in love with him. Unfortunately she's the daughter of the general, which is one of Empress's side. She is playing essential the same character as the 2nd ML. Like they're just mirrored image of each other. She's simply more tragic because she's literally in the middle of the power struggle. So she has to deal with her love and loyalty to the king vs her family. She did ok but at times she's just doesn't have a look of a daughter of a military family that's supposedly good at martial art and fought in war. She's more lady-like that the FL.
Empress - Token evil queen mother who desperately want to hold power from the king who's not her blood-related son. Nothing else to say. The problem I have with this character it's a shallow antagonist.
General - He's more interesting in the he's part of the Empress side but has his own agenda and ambition. Beyond that, he's also another shallow, token antagonist. In fact, he's friction and plan for his own ambition and what gave way for the king to take back his power.
Other characters - There are two guards (mainly comic relief) that know the FL and helps her when they found out she came to the royal palace. A 3rd FL (bratty princess of the king, in love with FL's fiance) and 3rd ML (king of nomadic enemy state, in love with the 2nd FL). FL's mother and father...also comic relief. FL's gangs of hoodlums...lol...but they're terribly underused and barely in the drama. An eunuch loyal to the Empress. All actor/actress are just...ok...The most compelling is probably the two guards...they played a pretty dynamic duo but strictly for comic relief
Music
Modern music in a historic drama...ugh. Nothing compelling. Weak overall. I hated the alt rock music that constantly played when the king did something "epic". You'll know what I'm talking about when you watch the drama. I thought some of the music that played in the romantic scenes are nice but it's nothing memorable. So music is lacking
Rewatch Value
Really no reason to rewatch.
Final Thought
Would I recommend it? It seems like I have a lot of negative and very few positive. One thing I like is that some of the voice is not dub. Like ML is original voice but FL is dubbed. Again despite it lousy writing and token character, it is decently enjoyable the first half. I thought second half as pretty lousy. There's a certain mystique to the character when you don't know what's going to happen to them. However, once it's fully reveal...you're like....hmmm that's it. Meh
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