Palace: The Lock Heart Jade (2011)

To be honest I liked the Korean Version a lot more. (Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo) I really enjoyed the first episodes of this drama but felt the middle part was boring and dragging and some things that happened really bothered me. I wont go into details or I would have to give you spoilers.

The one thing I liked about this one better compared to the Korean version is the ending. If you watched Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo you know how it ends and if you didnt, well, one of the tags is Tragedy so you can guess. This one has a happy ending, which I liked, I just felt that they should have put more effort and time in it. I felt the ending was rushed compared to every other plot in the drama that took forever and felt really draggy.

I enjoyed parts of this drama and thought the ending was better compared to Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo but I had to skip a lot of scenes as I felt bored which I dont think ever happened while watching the Korean version. For that reason I cant give this drama a better rating. I will probably never watch it again, it was a one time watch for me, while I will probably watch Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo again in the future, although I already know how much I hated the ending.

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good and funny beginning, then overloaded plots

I'm watching this movie in 2024, 13 years after the premiere, and I was interested in it because of the 2 main actors, Yang Mi and Feng Shao Feng, whom I saw in several newer dramas and I liked them very much.

A historical drama with a frequently used plot of time travel. The girl travels back to the Qing dynasty and becomes involved in the intrigues of the princes and the palace. From the experience of watching this type of films, I already know that they usually don't end well, so I try to avoid them, but I wanted to see these actors Yang and Saho Feng as they acted when they were younger. I can't stand these palace intrigues, especially when blood is constantly spilling and there are corpses, misfortune and fanatical princes rising to power everywhere.
The film had its ups and downs. The beginning was very good and funny, but then everything turned towards drama, which cost me a lot of nerves and anger towards the character of the 4th prince, whose calculation and using everyone around him for his own purposes irritated me so much that I fast-forwarded the scenes with him because I didn't I could stand this character. The bright ray of this drama were the 2 characters of FL Qing Chuan and the 8th Prince Yinsi, who delighted my heart with his beautiful and sincere smile at FL. The chemistry between the two main characters is undeniable, they are made for each other in this drama. All the romantic scenes are beautiful. The rest of the characters, apart from the 14th prince, are negative and pathetic to me. There were a lot of unresolved holes in the plot, which was also irritating, especially the introduction of the second FL in the middle of the drama, which was identical to Qing Chuan and now I completely don't understand why they had to introduce it before the wedding and in such a way that the prince consummated the marriage. not with the real FL - a completely unnecessary thread and bringing nothing but chaos... and who was this twin, did she move from the same time, because where would she come from? Another pointless thread, as the mother of the 8th prince tried every day at night to calculate the place and time of a possible transfer with a compass, but then all she had to do was ask the court astrologer and he was given the approximate time of the solstice and the phenomena of constellations in the sky and it became an unnecessary scandal... then finally, not after the return of the 8th prince's mother, we don't know what happened to her, whether she returned to her own times or not... she was supposed to take care of FL's mother after her return, but then she was gone.
Characters:
FL Qing Chuan, a young girl who accidentally found herself in those times and tried to find herself. There she found her favorite prank from the books of the 4th prince with whom she immediately fell in love, although he did not notice her at the beginning, and Su Yan even wanted to murder her several times because she was preventing him from achieving his goal and so FL continued with her in love until practically the 22nd episode and was often irritating in rejecting the true feeling of the 8th prince, who, although at the beginning treated FL in advance, fell in love with her and played pranks on her, but it was just to get attention. Then FL was actually the cause of the tragedy of the 8th prince, because she persuaded him to ascend to the throne with his brother, and as a result, the 8th prince was finally destroyed by the 4th brother.
8 Prince Yunsi – very nice, with a beautiful smile, sensitive and understanding towards his brothers, who would be the perfect emperor for me, if only they gave him a chance. He could give up his position for his beloved FL, if only she wanted to be with him. He protected and defended FL, he forgave her when she hurt him, he was angry when she rejected him so many times and gave him no hope. underestimated by the Emperor.. I really loved this character and I'm glad that in the finale, at the last moment, the director and the author of the script gave him a chance for a better life together with FL in modern times, it was a very good move and I would like to thank the director for such a finale.
4 prince - for me a figure of evil with elements of a psychopath's character - this was his behavior. He plotted, schemed, intrigued, conspired and did not hesitate to use other people's hands to kill, according to the principles of "the end justifies the means" - this is what we call people in my country who strive to kill dead people and have no remorse. Here I see that it is explained by destiny, which is naturally excessively abused by both the 4th Prince and the Consort De. Halfway through the drama, he suddenly fell in love with FL, probably after the situation when she defended him from the dagger with her own body, because I haven't seen any change in his feelings towards her before. But for me it was still calculation, not love and a matter of having what he wanted, so for me he didn't know how to love. He just wanted to have it like the imperial throne and that's all. And finally, it was obvious that the guy had a problem with relationships and he used all women for his purposes. At the end, he promised FL that he would not hurt his brother, the 8th prince, and he did not keep his word, because out of jealousy and anger, he erased his name from the family genealogy books and threw him in prison for the rest of his life. What a very forgiving and "brotherly" emperor - terrible... For me, people who, striving for power, destroyed others and took advantage of others have the features of a tyrant and dictator, not a good ruler, so I was surprised when the old emperor chose this son as his successor.
Concort De - the mother of the 4th and 14th prince... she looked so decent and good, but in the end she turned out to be an infanticide and an intriguer.
Emperor Kangxi - he disappointed me greatly. I thought he was a really wise ruler, but this man was actually behind all the events that the 4th prince carried out and, as you can see, he allowed the brothers to quarrel and the 4th prince to destroy others. It was shocking to me. Finally, he criticized the work and involvement of the 8th prince, but praised the 14th, for some reason, for sitting on the border with the army. If he had given this army to the 8th prince, he would probably have done well too because he had very good skills. The emperor's decision to announce the 4th prince to his successors was incomprehensible to me, because the 4th prince, despite expressing the opinion that he wanted to take care of the country and the people, due to his character traits and these actions, he denied being a good ruler. Although I come from Europe and Christian values are in my blood, so I probably don't understand the Eastern idea of the prototype of a good ruler. Generally speaking, for me the tradition of having many wives and cocubines is strange, especially since it is obvious that these wives and cocubines and their children will compete with each other for power, so why bring it on yourself and the state by establishing such a harem. Unless it is supposed to serve the purpose of natural segregation and elimination of opponents, and the throne is won by the smartest and cruelest one who defeats everyone else in the family... I can't understand it.
Su Yan - I was completely disappointed with this character, I thought she would develop in a good direction, but she decided differently about her life and went in the wrong direction - blind love led her astray... it's a pity..
Summary
Plot - a good idea, but it had many holes and too many threads were introduced and too many bad things happened - overloaded; beautiful costumes, very good acting, OST music so-so, I rate it as average, unfortunately, the sounds of timpani/drums during the killing scenes were the weakest.
The ending satisfied me, because I think that FL and the 8th prince deserved to live peacefully together - they had no chance for it in the Qing dynasty, so the only chance was to live together in the present day. That's why I'm grateful that the director found such a solution.
However, I won't watch any more, because there were too many bad moments for the main leads, so I don't want to get upset again.

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Looks older than it is

Personally, the Qing dynasty is the most intriguing in that it spanned nearly three centuries and had not one but two long-reigning Emperors who innovated and reformed the arts, religion, cultural, and political spheres. The dynasty officially ended in 1912 so it's not that farfetched to say there may be a few living centenarians who witnessed its demise. All that to say it's one of my favorite dynastical dramas to watch and I've seen a few good ones such as Yanxi Palace and Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace. This, on the other hand, is abysmal, especially the cinematography which looks dated as if film stock was used instead of digital; adding to that, the color saturation made every hue bleed at its edges. It was like watching a b & w movie that had been badly colorized.

Similarly, the plot was weak. A watered-down, palace drama with terrible characters that strayed so far from history that it's neither a true historical retelling nor a fictionalized version. What tf did I just watch?

Another review said much of what went through my mind so I won't regurgitate the same, however, I can't stress enough just how terrible this series is. Even Yang Mi couldn't save it.

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I'll be fair, I've only seen one episode, so maybe the rest are better. To be honest, the first episode already put me off. Granted, I recently watched Startling By Each Step, which has a very similar plot to this, so I couldn't help but compare the two.

If you're looking for a deep plotted, serious period drama, I wouldn't really watch this. But in all honesty, I can see why people like it as good old light hearted fun.

For me personally, I'm not a fan. From the costumes, to the premise, it's everything I thought 'Startling by Each Step' would be, and thus, not really my cup of tea.

Actors:

I've actually seen many of these actors in other period dramas that I've liked, so it's no fault of theirs that I'm not partial to this one. The leading lady in particular is well known for her acting prowess in other shows and continues to do well here.

Music:
Typical pop, nothing much to say about it there.

Rewatch Value:
...I didn't even make it past the 1st episode once.

Overall:
For history buffs or lovers of deep story lines; no.
For something lighthearted; yes.

For anyone who's watched Startling By Each Step first; no.
I actually wish I'd watched this before and maybe I wouldn't be quite so biased as I am.

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This story was very much like Scarlet Heart which I absolutely loved. But I felt that this was basically a similar story but there was another take on it. Although I wasn't the hugest fan of the 4th Prince and loved 8th Prince and really felt sorry for him. The story itself was pretty well thought out and intriguing to follow. And the main female was fabulous in her acting and loved her. The story did pull at your heart strings and at time I felt that it was hard to follow sometimes but from the beginning the director understood how to use cliffhangers so it wasn't too hard to watch.

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