The Princess Wei Young (2016)

You know how, when you stumble on something so exciting and amazing that you just can’t help but tell your friends about it, even if it means going off on a tangent? This is that time, you guys.
Basically, it doesn’t matter if you don’t usually watch dramas from China, or if you don’t usually watch period dramas, or if you don’t usually watch long dramas. This drama is, objectively speaking, so splendid and magnificent that if you don’t check it out, you’d be missing out. Big Time.
Not even exaggerating, by the way.

1. The polish : Everything is carefully, lovingly, beautifully shot, costume and background music, everything is precisely, just-so perfect

2. The acting :The cast is a sprawling one, as befits the scale of the story, and from the principal characters to the secondary characters, to even the small, incidental characters, every single one is well-acted with his/her unique character, character development and plot twists adds a lot to the story and each character

3. The Romance : THE BEST, Great chemistry between the two main leads, with UH-Mazing cute scenes.

4. sisterhood and motherhood : this close palpable relations between main leads and secondary characters are so breath taking.

5. The villains : with their acting forced to hate them more and more with every passing episode.. they did great job

What a breathless, breathtaking journey. Equal parts brilliant and satisfying, and executed with such meticulous, fine care, The Princess Wei Young is definitely a drama for the record books.

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What a journey for Weiyoung. Though the latter half of the drama fell from grace somewhat, certain elements stuck through and made it overall an enjoyable watch. But it did not deserve 54 episodes of repetition that got seriously old past the halfway mark.

Story (6/10): For those who read the novel and are curious about the drama version, it would be wrong to even call it an adaptation for it is nothing like it. "Inspired by" is far more fitting and is to be used loosely here. In a nutshell, the drama version of Princess Wei Young is about a Liang princess who tries to avenge her fallen kingdom by taking up the identity of a forgotten, illegitimate daughter of a Prime Minister in the enemy state of Wei and along the way meets those who either want her dead or love her for her wits, character and bravery. Of course, the drama is littered with people who want her dead because how else will we know she is the heroine?

The premise is exciting enough, though nothing entirely original. But it did deliver in terms of entertainment for the first half and had everything you would want in a drama: good pacing, decent story, romance, action, a likable and brainy female lead who isn't afraid to punish her enemies seeing as this is a revenge drama. Then up until halfway, the story soon became draggy and repetitive with similar conflicts in different guises, lack of development/depth in characters who even seems to have gone through reverse development all of a sudden. Even Weiyoung who was supposed to be resourceful yet showed signs of being a damsel-in-distress in the presence of her Prince Charming (aka. Tuoba Jun), completed the transformation into a full on Mary Sue and in my opinion, stopped being everything we loved her for in the beginning. It no longer became a tale of retribution or justice, but pure laziness on the writers' part.

I blame the production for dragging the series out to 54 episodes, when it could have - and should have- wrapped up by 30-40 episodes.



Acting (7.5/10):

All I can say is if there is anything worth watching here, it's the chemistry between the leads Luo Jin and Tiffany Tang. The type to give you butterflies from the way they look at each other. Luo Jin is such a wonderfully talented and natural actor, he never overacts and his crying scenes are so well done. Not usually impressed by Tiffany Tang, but she did well here and I think a lot of it has to do with her chemistry with Luo Jin (4th collaboration and reel to real relationship!)
Didn't think much about the rest of the cast in terms of acting, but a few grew into their characters as the show went on. Vanness there is something awkwardly charming about the way he portrays his character - it grows on you even though his character becomes gradually more despicable. His dubber deserves a star.


Rewatch: For the romance maybe, and especially strong beginning up until episode 30 or so. Could skip the rest until the end. But sadly no, won't be rewatching this personally.


I almost feel like the drama deserves two ratings, one for the beginning up until episode 33 then for the rest.

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The story

Based on a book and on a real life empress, Princess Wei Young depicts the fight of a woman for justice and her love for a man that loved her back in equal measure despite the political plots, vengeful twists and turns and machinations to keep them apart. The drama however masked under a quest for vengeance is a pursuit of happiness in the form of love, greed, revenge, ambition and desire for power which contrasts with the reality of ancient times where love didn't rule the world and women were nothing more than possessions to be disposed off by their fathers into marriage to strengthen their family's power.

The characters and performances

Wei Young is an interesting character albeit mellow and reactive; she's doesn't set the pace, she follows it. She's soft even when she can't be bordering on aloofness, a contradistinction with her strength and drive on paper and most likely with her real life persona. Wei Young ought to be fierce, driven, determined, proactive and engaging, but she's not yet somehow despite the flaws the character is likeable.

Touba Jun looked most often than not a lovesick man pining for the woman he loves. Without the period wardrobe he would be just another contemporary man running after his love. For a male lead he lacks spunk which might be attributed to how the character was written or how the director wanted it to be performed. Regardless Touba Jun is visually appealing to watch on screen therefore what is lost in character is gained in beauty, not entirely a bad thing if the drama was a period adaptation of Boys over flowers in the palace.

Chang Ru and Touba Yu are machiavellian scene steallers. Chang Ru is a weed pretending to be a naive flower that uses people to accomplish her own personal agenda without them knowing about it. Clever, manipulative and ambituous, she's an expert at deception like Touba Yu, the man she loves; the man that wants Wei Young. Both characters are complex and have such a strong presence on screen, that is fascinating to watch despite all their plotting and coniving misdeeds.

The music

The opening theme is A-Lin's A Moment ir Romance, a sweet ballad about loving someone until one has to say goodbye, wanting to be together. The closing theme, Gifted is sang by Princess Wei Young's leads Tang Yan and Luo Jin. Both reflect the story well and are sang beautifully.

Overall

An interesting story with a good cinematography, well crafted and visually stunning that is both enganging and moving, despite the flaws of the lead characters, that acted more like secondary characters in their own story. Someone's loss is another person's gain and Chang Ru and Touba Yu took the opportunity prsented to them and showcased episodes of pure magnetism on screen, therefore, for all the above I rate it 7 out of 10.

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Framing Weiyoung

Repetitive, boring, there may not be words that better describe Princess Weiyoung. Even a story based on conspiracy, betrayal and a hint of melodrama cannot abuse an appeal in this way. Okay, the protagonist is chased, she has many enemies, but is it necessary to use the framing tactics all the time? Didn't the writers realize that the protagonist being framed almost every episode tires the viewer, even those who like "tricks"? My discontent is huge that I refuse the biggest episode 34, which was the last one I saw, sad because the story seemed promising.

EDIT:

I finish the drama but my opinion remains the same

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This show started really well. The acting was great, gorgeous production with beautiful sets and costumes. However, the story quickly becomes repetitive, melodramatic and over-the-top, going from one situation of framing to another of our heroine. It got very tiresome watching our heroine suffer so much, and most of the drama's implausibility led to this suffering. I have to be able to be convinced that some of the events can actually happen, but asking the audience to swallow so much nonsense was a bit of an insult. If anyone can be convicted of a crime based on circumstantial evidence, then I am afraid it was very easy to kill an enemy. There were some plot holes, secondary characters disappear and some over-acting is also present. I liked the production, just not where it went later on.

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Here's my attempt at writing an informative review without spoilers:

First off, I really, really liked this drama. I had been kind of put off dramas around the time this drama was released (last half of 2016) so I'm surprised I actually gave this a shot - but I am so glad that I did.

I would like to point out that I didn't have high expectations for it because Tang Yan's roles in her other dramas at the time were making me apprehensive towards her ability to make her characters at least likeable (ahem - Diamond Lovers, anybody?). Anyway, this drama totally reminded me why I used to love Tang Yan - she does an exceptional job bringing historical dramas to life! Everything about her character in this drama was on point; her strong personality that made her an independent woman, combined with her generosity, loyalty, empathy and grace, sucked all the drama's best men towards her - a typical, yet always enjoyable plot-essential in Chinese dramas.

The story itself was really unique for a Chinese historical drama - usually they reuse and repeat the same clichéd plot involving a palace, the Emperor, and most likely more than a couple Empresses, but this time they introduced a strong female lead, only disguised as a princess in distress in the first episode. I loved how smart she was, because this made her a heroine who the audience would actually feel proud of when she accomplished things.

The drama progressed at a good pace for me; it wasn't too slow (except maybe at the end, but it could be a lot worse) or too fast, and the chain of events were linked really well so it all flowed and there was no room for confusion (which I find can happen quite a lot in historical dramas, as they tend to fit in complicated plots and it ends up clashing or being left unfinished because it doesn't fit with the overall storyline).

The best part about this drama was probably the characters. Each actor/actress seemed to be handpicked to fit their role perfectly, and I feel like every character (even the evil ones) was able to grow on me by the end.

The costuming and design were all amazingly done and looked realistic - definitely essential for a high quality drama.

Although the tag says "tragedy," the story itself is entirely open to interpretation on whether or not it is a tragedy (as all dramas are), so definitely don't be scared by this! Tragedy itself comes in all forms, and it doesn't just mean the story is super depressing and tear-triggering (I can assure you, there are plenty of cute, heartwarming romance scenes between the two main characters.)

All in all, everyone should give this great romance/historical drama a try. If you love a strong, smart, yet loving heroine, good plots, evil characters who do grow on you, amazing character relationships, and visually appealing/eye-worthy images, then this is the drama for you.

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The loop of framing Wei Young.

The drama went from solid 9 to 5.5, the plot went from entertaining cunning politics and schemes to repetitive ploys as if everyone got repetitively hit by the white truck of doom and got amnesia every few episodes, deciding to create the same schemes over and over again, for 54 episodes. Not to mention the IQ of the characters going from 150 to -10 as the drama progressed.

You know a show is full of clownery when a character that just has been tortured is being asked “Is it very uncomfortable?”...

I think the most disappointing aspect of the show were all the female characters. All the lead ones, except for Wei Young, had one focus and one goal only - to get the guy they love to love them back. All of them were scheming, plotting, risking their families’ and their own lives for dudes. How pathetic is that? Some characters were literally identical - copy paste. While at first they seemed to show some diversity of personalities, the second half reduced them all to just obstacles on the female lead’s path.

Every few episodes I tuned in for another “Who framed Wei Young this time?” game. By like 5th time it should be obvious that whenever someone accuses Wei Young for anything, she is innocent. The fact that even characters that did not even have a chance to meet her, and she did not affect in any major way wanted to kill her became a comedy of itself.

While I loved the female lead at first, the same traits that made me appreciate her, later became a reason for my dislike. Being patient, more reactive than proactive, acting low-key, never attacking first made sense in the early episodes - she had no power and no allies. Not being hot headed and thinking things through before jumping to action was smart at that time. Enough is enough though. When 90% of people around you want to see you dead, it’s high time to slowly eliminate them one by one, and not just react to what they try to do to you.

Male lead was a boring low-key psycho, who did some amazing job with gaslighting Wei Young in the last few episodes. There is close to nothing to say about him. He was supposed to be intelligent, good, noble, strong, empathetic, without flaws… boring?

I know a lot of people liked Tuo Ba Yu, but for me even he barely delivered as a character. Making his internal conflict more prominent would be better. I felt like with all his plans, he did not really risk that much when he took detours for personal reasons.

Since all the villains' motivations were either weak or boring, there was not that much thrills nor excitement. It’s obvious the female lead will not die 30 episodes before the drama ends, so all the life risking situations did nothing to me. For all the scheming, not that many people died and that’s a bummer.

That said, the drama for sure delivers in terms of acting. Tiffany Tang is a goddess in terms of looks and quite a talented actress. She did an amazing job acting as Li Wei Young. Sure, playing an 18 years old in your mid 30’ mid be a lot, but her performance was strong enough I did not even pay attention to how ridiculous that casting was age wise.

Production wise it has some amazing shots. Some locations they filmed at were breathtaking. There was quite a lot of work put into the details of the set designs. One thing I have to praise the show for is the make up - no one looked like a ghost with the foundation too shades too light cutting off when the neck starts.

Overall, the first 20-25 episodes were quite fun. The set up was strong enough, motivations of the characters clear. But then I got another 30-35 episodes of exactly the same thing. It was the same story told over and over again with few details changed. Instead of this person framing Wei Young for some crimes, it’s this person. How much of that can I take before I fall asleep?

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First of all, I do like the acting and chemistry of the two main leads Weiyoung and Tuoba Jun. They look good together.

I have not seen the novel but I think the main issue in this drama is that the characters seem to lack dimension. The good are just pure good. The villains are pure bad - Chiyun Rou, Chiyun Nan, Li Changle, Tuoba Yu. Their decisions are pretty predictable and you can't really see much conflict in their choices. The most interesting character would probably be Chang Ru.

The realism of the production also is a bit disappointing. Characters escaping a fire scene unscathed with perfect hair and no dirt o soot on their face or clothing. One of the main supporting character charging out to a serious battle scene with a broad smile on his face (wot?!). A background calefare maid (no agenda) in a serious scene smiling broadly as if posing for a camera. Do they not vet the scenes? O.o It is also the first time I've seen a merrygoround torture for a historical drama lulz

Acting wise, Tiffany Tang and Luo Jin did great in their roles. It feels like they can handle better more complex characters. However, it feels like some actors are overacting like Li Changle and Tuoba Yu. It feels like they are just trying to act the role. When good actors do it, you would feel they are the character they play and not just acting. The acting in Goodbye My Princess was way more impressive despite having a somewhat cliche plot and using relatively unknown lead actors.

There are much better palace historical dramas out there with more depth and interesting characters - Empresses in the Palace, Yanxi Palace, Rise of Phoenixes, Legend of Mi Yue. This is something decent to watch if bored.

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Princess Weiyoung is like comfort food - tried and true but pushes all the right buttons.

This was truly a very enjoyable drama from start to finish - I was pleasantly surprised by how it managed to captivate me. The underlying plot itself is not special - it is a revenge drama about a Liang princess whose family was executed after being framed for rebellion against the Wei kingdom by the Prime Minister's wife's powerful Chiyun family. She assumes another identity (Weiyoung) and infiltrates the Prime Minister's household as his second daughter of lower birth to a common mother. It has some clear parallels to Nirvana in Fire but the main protagonist is a clever young woman and her "revenge" is more reactive as opposed to proactive and calculated. Another difference is there is a big romantic element, it is more light hearted, fast moving and less complex. However, this is nowhere near on the same level and maybe it captivated me because my expectations were not high.

The casting in this show was superb - literally all of the characters good and evil did a remarkable job with their roles. The two main leads are a real life couple and the chemistry between them is undeniable and heart warming. The male lead plays a powerful young Wei prince who is so enamored with Weiyoung that he is willing to give up his kingdom and his life for her. I think of the two, Luo Jin (Taoba Jun) is the better, more charismatic and versatile actor. Tiffany Tang's Weiyoung was clever, resilient and completely adorable but her performance was undeniably aided by the overall strength of the supporting cast. There were quite a few villains in the show - ones that you will love to hate (Prime Minister's wife and her nephew); ones that were so ineptly evil you had to laugh at them (Prime Minister's eldest son and daughter); and the more complex, ultimately pitiful ones that had some good in them (the Nan-an Prince and his lover). The Prime Minister's wife has the most evil villain eyebrow movement I have ever seen outside of a cartoon. And you will learn how evil and hate can take the form of such a lovely and innocent face. I found myself moved to pity for some of the villains even thought they satisfyingly got their just deserts, which speaks to the layered complexity of the characters. There are two charming supporting couples whose story lines did not deviate much from the main plot and did not go on excessively. Finally the show kept to a bare minimum the childish, petulant and immature female role stereotype that ruins many otherwise good shows.

Without giving anything away, there were some good twists in the story that sees friends turn into foes. I did think that there was excessive plotting against Weiyoung and maybe one or two of those plots could have been eliminated. Nonetheless due to the strength of the cast, any repetitiveness it was barely noticeable because everyone was such a pleasure to watch. Objectively speaking the plot isn't that original but it has all the elements of a true crowd pleaser: it moves fast, it will make you laugh it will make you cry; it will make you love, it will make you hate and it will surprise you a few times.

[KIND OF SPOILER BUT NOT REALLY A SPOILER ALERT]


One of the best things about Chinese drama is that a happy ending is not a foregone conclusion. Hollywood still doesn't get it - when its a foregone conclusion that it ends happily ever after everything becomes predictable and forgettable. This one will keep you guessing and hoping to the bittersweet end and maybe that is one of the reasons why it lingers with you.

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This drama started off good but became weak after the middle part so I started to fast forward a lot of the scenes cause it felt so unbearable for me of the constant same plot being dragged over and over...Some of the computer effects were really bad which made serious scenes funny. The fightning scenes themselves were nice and enjoyed it, some of the support cast story were okay to watch but not something which will shine the main leads spotlight.

I can't say I regret watching this, it had its nice parts if only they did not forget main females actual backstory revenge as most tmes it felt like it did not exist anymore. The preview and opening of chinese dramas will contain major spoilers and this one ranks high on it, because of ending preview I expected to see empress ki rise to power style but Wei Young revenge went very weak as it went on. It felt unsatisfying as you get closer to the end. And some the characters went unlogical at times even unreasonable just to make more people be against main female.

Would I recommend watching this? Depends, even if you fast forward the scenes you won't miss much, villains were very gliche and story went predictable. Maybie it would be more enjoyable for a first timer but I have seen these similar troupes in many C-dramas so it was weak for my tastes. I will not rewatch this, its not worth it. Was thinking If I should give it 7.5 or 7 but I did not "liked it", for me it was "okay" drama to watch if you really enjoy seeing the main girl figure out schemes and climbing her way to the top to fall down over and over and get back on top then yes watch it. I mostly miss the first half of the drama and would have given 8 but went 6.5 near the end.

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