For my second review (third? Do two reviews of the same series count as one review?), I've chosen a series I recently finished watching, and that -- unless you're Chinese or a fan of Asian dramas -- you've probably never heard of.
I know what someone's bound to say. "But Nerissa! I thought you were going to review period dramas!"
Well, technically it is a period drama -- it's set in a historical period (ancient China in this case), and everyone wears (amazingly beautiful) historical clothes. I've no idea how accurate the historical setting and clothes are, as I'm not Chinese or an expert on Chinese history, but I suspect the answer is "not very". Still, it counts as a period drama! And anyway, this blog will include reviews of anything I feel like reviewing, and I feel like reviewing this series.
Now for some general information on the series. It's based (pretty loosely, apparently) on a Chinese novel called The Poisonous Daughter and (even more loosely) on historical events. You probably won't recognise any of the actors, unless you watch a lot of Chinese dramas, and more to the point I've never seen anything else they've been in, so I won't list any of their other roles.
I also won't go into detail about the plot, mainly because there are fifty-four(!) episodes and so many plot twists they could make you dizzy. Instead I'll give a vague overview, a list of the main characters, and my thoughts on the series.
First, what's it about?
At first the plot might seem simple and predictable. The first episode introduces us to Feng Xin Er (note for people who don't know about Chinese names: the surname always comes first. Feng is her surname, Xin Er is her name), the princess of Northern Liang. Her father is falsely accused of treason by General Chiyun Nan, who murders her entire family. Xin Er swears revenge, and takes on the identity of Li Wei Young, the prime minister's illegitimate daughter, hoping this will help her get her revenge.
The plot gets more complicated from there on, encompassing subplots such as a struggle for the throne between two brothers and their nephew, Xin Er/Wei Young falling in love with the aforementioned nephew while one of the brothers falls in "love" with her, the real Wei Young's stepmother attempting to murder Xin Er...
As you can probably guess, this series has a lot of plots and subplots. Rather than attempt to explain them any more (no point in confusing my readers too much 😊), I'll move on to the characters and what I thought of them.
This list is roughly in order of "characters I hated" to "characters I loved". It wasn't supposed to be that way, but I took screencaps in a very odd order and had to sort them into something resembling a coherent list.
(WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!)
Chiyun Rou (left) and Prime Minister Li (right)
These two are right at the bottom of my list (though technically at the top of it here... 🤷). Chiyun Rou is basically a typical wicked stepmother. She wants the best for her own children, Li Chang Le and Li Min Feng, at the expense of her nieces, nephew and especially Wei Young. She hates Wei Young so much that she sets out to kill her, and only succeeds in getting her son killed and causing her own death. Good riddance!
Prime Minister Li isn't quite as bad as his wife in that he doesn't try to kill any of his family, but he does nothing to stop his wife or children, so I dislike him almost as much as Chiyun Rou.
Chiyun Nan
Chiyun Rou's nephew, which should tell you a lot about his character, and the murderer of Wei Young's father, which should tell you everything else. The only good thing I can think of to say about him is that at least he's not a coward. I certainly didn't cry when he (finally) died.
Li Chang Le
Chiyun Rou's daughter. She's basically a less intelligent version of her mother, constantly plotting to get rid of Wei Young and get Tuoba Jun to marry her, and constantly being found out. She goes from being a bratty nuisance to being actually dangerous when she tortures Wei Young, and she becomes a truly despicable villain when she murders Crown Princess Consort. I spent the whole series waiting for her to die.
Tuoba Yu
One of the Emperor's sons. Do you ever see a character and not know what to think of them? One minute you hate them, the next you feel sorry for them while still hating them? That's how I feel about Tuoba Yu. His main goal is to become Emperor, and he succeeds... for a while. But unlike Tuoba Jun, the methods he uses to get there are underhanded to say the least.
And then there's his treatment of Wei Young (how dare you force her to marry you, Tuoba Yu? And how could you possibly think that would end well?) and Chang Ru (he really should have married her. They're just made for each other). No amount of "Pity me because I had a terrible childhood" can make me overlook how downright horrible he is.
So... why did I cry at his death?
I've no idea. Maybe it was because he died saving Wei Young. Maybe it was because he was killed by the woman who loved him. But whatever the reason, his death is actually sad.
Li Chang Ru
Chang Le's cousin. At first she seems to be one of the few kind, good-hearted people in the Li family. But then she reveals her true colours, and shows how cold and calculating she really is.
Chang Ru is probably the best villain in the series because of how well she hides her villainy. It takes most of the series for Wei Young to realise what she's really like, and by that time she's done more damage than Chang Le ever does. Her murder of Bai Zhi is one of the most chilling, heartbreaking scenes in the series, and it's when I started really hoping she'd die soon.
And yet, her death is sad too. I don't feel quite as sad about it as I do about Tuoba Yu's, because she was trying to kill Wei Young, but I wasn't as happy to see her die as I thought I'd be.
Tuoba Di
Tuoba Yu's (half?)sister, and a bit of a spoilt brat. Unlike her brother, she isn't interested in plotting and scheming. Instead she spends her time pretending to be a boy and tormenting unfortunate guards. Until she grows up a bit, that is, and becomes less spoilt and more likeable. Her romance with Min De is my second favourite pairing in the show. (More about the first later...)
Jun Tao
Wei Young's bodyguard. Sometimes she's funny (her interactions with Cheng De, and the "blood sisters" ritual), and sometimes she's terrifying (her duel with Chiyun Nan). She's always awesome, though, and her determination to protect Wei Young makes her one of my favourite characters.
Li Min De
An orphan adopted into the Li family... or so he thinks. When his actual parentage is revealed it causes all sorts of complications. Min De is awkward, and frankly a bit of an idiot. (How could anyone mistake Tuoba Di for a boy? It's not as if she even makes much effort to look male beyond wearing male clothes...) But in spite of that it's impossible not to like him. And he's part of my second favourite pairing, so that's something else in his favour.
Tuoba Jun
Tuoba Yu's nephew, and one of the candidates for the throne. It's obvious from the start that one: Tuoba Jun would be the best Emperor, and two: he and Wei Young are meant for each other. He's kind, noble, and well-meaning... though sometimes he does the stupidest things. Seriously, Tuoba Jun, how could you ever believe Wei Young killed your mother? His marriage to Chang Le is especially grating, but he was basically blackmailed into it so I can sort of forgive him for that.
He and Wei Young are my favourite pairing in this show, so I cheered so hard when they finally got married. And then my heart promptly broke into dozens of fragments, because he's secretly dying and he doesn't even tell her... *sniff* Unsurprisingly, I needed lots of tissues when he died. ðŸ˜
Feng Xin Er/Li Wei Young
And now, our heroine (and my favourite character)! Xin Er/Wei Young (Xin Er is her real name, but she's called Wei Young for practically the entire series) starts out wanting only one thing: revenge for her family. But she gets caught up in other people's schemes, and falls in love with Tuoba Jun, and gets Tuoba Yu's unwanted attention, and generally faces a lot of challenges before she finally gets her revenge. Considering all the things she goes through, it's great to watch her slowly defeat her enemies and finally get to marry the man she loves. (And then he has to go and die... ðŸ˜) Anyway, I was cheering for her the whole way through.
So, what did I think of the series?
I really liked it, but it has its flaws. Chiyun Rou's attempts to kill or discredit Wei Young get repetitive after a while. And then when she stops plotting, Chang Le and Chang Ru take up where she left off. It drags on and on and on until it should be obvious to everyone in the palace that someone is framing Wei Young.
That's one thing that exasperates me. Another is the subplot about Tuoba Yu and Chang Ru. It should really, really be obvious to Chang Ru that Tuoba Yu will never love her, so her continual pining after him becomes just plain annoying.
And finally, there isn't enough time given to Tuoba Jun's reign! Tuoba Yu should have died about ten episodes earlier, and the rest of the series should have been about the years when Tuoba Jun and Wei Young ruled together. It can't have been all plain sailing, especially with Tuoba Jun's knowledge that he was slowly dying, so surely the writers could have found enough plots to fill ten episodes? I especially wish we got to see more of their son Hong, and maybe even a bit of his rule after his father's death. But no, it compresses all those years into about thirty minutes, and ends with Hong's coronation! Very disappointing.
Would I recommend it?: Yes, definitely, if you don't mind a lot of violent scenes and some implausible plots 😊
Is it available online?: Yes, on Youtube. It has (sometimes poor) English subtitles, if you're like me and don't speak a word of Chinese 😃
Rating: 6/10 or 7/10. When I think about the things I didn't like about it, I'm tempted to give it 6/10. But when I think about how much I enjoyed it overall, I feel more like giving it 7/10. So... as a compromise, how about 6½/10?
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