Zao Zuo Shi Guang (2023)

Cute Couple -- Wily and yet Charming FL + Multi-faceted ML

Having watched this drama, I must say that I enjoyed the ride! :)

What I liked:
- The leads are good-looking. Oh man, the two leads are gorgeous to look at and so cute together.
- I like a smart FL who can take good care of herself and Hua Liu Li (HLL) does just that. She can take good care of herself and others around her. I like her charms and her gift of the gab. She can be coquettish. She can be feisty. She is a capable person.
- I like a devoted ML who loves and protects his sweetheart. The ML is very handsome and very manly. I think he acts well too because in front of HLL, he is all puppy-eyes and wanting her attention. However, when it comes to being the Crown Prince and handling his duties, he is all intelligent, competent, courageous and a force to be reckoned with. He is THE MAN, for sure.
- Yuan Wei (YW), HLL's maid, is the best maid ever. HLL and YW are so cute together. She looks adorable and she is smart and capable too.
- Tian Jia Min (TJM) and her mother, Princess Shun An, are so cute. TJM is all bark and no bite. She became reluctant and yet, good friends with HLL after both girls were kidnapped and went through "thick and thin" together. TJM's mother is always fan-girling about HLL's mother. So cute.
- The king is a nice man and a good king/ father (on the whole).
- HLL's family members are nice. They support her and have her interests at heart.
- Yun Han understood the error of his ways and stopped betraying ML.
- I like that Ying Wang and the third prince are not out to usurp the Crown Prince's position. The brothers actually co-exist nicely despite the machinations of their scheming mothers.
- The "Easter egg" endings are funny.

What I didn't like that much:
- Psycho plotter/ mastermind who has a Jekyll and Hyde personality. Atrociously manipulative. I do understand that we need to have some tension and suspense and something happening in the plot but he was a pain to watch. So nasty and horrid.
- Song Shu dies in the end which made me cry too. He really held the fort and was a father/ brother figure for HLL.

Overall, the plot is engaging and riveting enough (IMO). I truly enjoyed watching both FL and ML. They are good-lookers who light up my screen. Their acting is also good. There is also a lot of heart in this drama. I highly recommend this drama! It is a pretty fun watch!

Citeste mai mult

El Oh El...why do y'all grade this so high?

To be honest, this drama was not meant to be some kind of high-budget blockbuster...and they didn't try to be either. So they had that going on for them. Production-wise, the set, cast, decor, and costumes were up-to-par. It wasn't one of those dramas where you could clearly see the fresh silver or gold paint peeling off the very obvious plastic armor or swords. The dresses weren't pretty per se, but I really liked the hairstyles. They felt different from what we are usually "served". Loved that for them.

The acting was ok because there were plenty of industry veterans cast in it. Not the A-rated kind, mind you, but the kind that could deliver their lines in ways good enough for me to believe them most of the time. Well...except for the main actress and her ridiculous plotline. I got tired of her antics very quickly because they kept making the same "jokes" about her character over and over again. Like, we get it. You're a "sick, young lady", wink wink. Can we move on now?

And then she spent the whole drama over-powdering her face ghostly white. Meanwhile, her neck was a whole different shade of light paper bag brown. A mess! I think they did it for the plot...but these actresses are known to go heavy on the bleaching creams, so who knows.

Anyways, she was supposed to be strong, intelligent, a fighter, and a strategist in disguise and we literally got to see her fight 2 times and it wasn't even that good. They did a really bad job of transposing the actors and their double because you could clearly see that it wasn't the actors anymore. Additionally, the fight scenes were really badly choreographed.

My next bone to pick is more with Jeremy Tsui than his character. Jeremy Tsui is weird lol (not as a person, cause I don't know him like that but as an actor). For an actor of his background and caliber. This man has been in the industry playing main for a long time now. So, you expect his dramas to gradually get better and to be good...but somehow most of his projects always fail to deliver. This one included. I don't know who keeps casting him to play the "cold young prince/general/CEO/popular actor..." turn simp in those B-rated idol dramas, but they need to quit it. This man would be so much better as a villain or an antihero in a serious drama in my opinion. Something about him is very...ahjussi even though he is only 37.

And what kills it for me every time is that his other male counterparts look decades younger than him playing his older brother. Nasty work, I tell ya! He has an "old face" and clearly cannot pull the "young prince" character anymore, so why do they keep casting him in those young roles? The female actress could have pulled 18 (not really, but whatever) but trying to pass Jeremy with a face that looks blatantly "stretched" from all of his plastic surgeries and Botox...is not the move. He makes the dramas feel "dated" like we're still watching a drama from the early 2010s. He is coming off as one of those "idol actors" who never transitioned to serious roles. Like he failed to launch or something. Can you imagine Wu Lei still playing an 18-year-old young hero 20 years from now? His team needs to let Jeremy age physically and career-wise. I could say a lot more...but I don't want to be too mean, and my mama raised me right lol.

If you're bored and there is nothing else to watch...I would still not recommend this lol. But you don't gotta listen to me lol. Watch whatever, they are you 22 hours to waste and you may be like me a nd like to watch bad dramas anyway. So...go crazy!

Citeste mai mult

Started out promising but ultimately disappointing

I wonder if other viewers have different standards or is grade inflation the norm for drama reviews as well. The premise of the story is interesting enough but this show is severely let down by very poor writing and pacing. This drama is based on a book and since I have not read the book, I do not know if it is the original story itself that is dumb or script changes that made it dumb. For a story about a strong FL with brains and martial arts skills, the FL got to demonstrate her martial arts for a total of 3 times lasting less than 5 mins over the course of a 24 episode long season. That can be forgiven if the intrigue and subplots were more interesting, but all the schemes are transparently obvious to anyone with half a brain. Suspense is near zero. Comedic relief is there but too infrequent to make it truly entertaining. That whole “I want to be a feeble beauty” schtick was entertaining for 5 episodes but got old very fast and every time the FL repeated it, you just want to roll your eyes and fast forward the show.

The worst is the ending. The writers suddenly decided to have no consequences for all the pretty boys who might have any female fan following. The Jinpo second prince suffered no consequences (not even a confrontation) for attempting to kill the ML and FL, multiple times!!! The triple agent Yun Hao appeared to have died in the arms of the woman he cares out (which would be a satisfactory death) but appeared alive with no explanation given. This is an agent who could have died multiple times in the whole show.

Very very disappointing overall.

Citeste mai mult

Very lighthearted drama!

Before I get into the drama itself, I would like to talk about the actors. The female lead is Meng Ziyi and I have enjoyed her performance in numerous dramas and I really like the type of roles she picks which are usually intelligent female roles. The male lead is Jeremy Tsui and I have also watched quite a few of his dramas. I did not like Journey of Chongzi and decided to drop it but I did like The Autumn Ballad.

I think the plot is pretty simple and does not get into palace politics as much as other dramas. It had a great balance of comedy, palace struggles, and romance. Overall, the plot was refreshing because I wasn't so anxious all the time about what was going to happen and it's a very lighthearted drama. There were some plot twists but I wasn't totally shocked about it because they were foreshadowed way in the beginning of the drama. I think the relationship between the two leads had great chemistry and their moments were very cute. Something I did feel a little off about was that they seemed very close straight off the bat but that is also one of the reasons everyone felt like a family. The costumes and scenery were also beautiful and I was so glad to see all the women dressed so exquisitely. Something that was off again was that the maid was definitely not dressed up for her status. Her outfits would be the equivalent of a noble lady, but even so, my eye never left Meng Ziyi's outfits. The ending was also satisfying and there's nothing wrong with this drama. it does not have much action or scheming as other palace dramas. The plot was pretty simple and good for taking a breather from more plot-heavy dramas.

Citeste mai mult

Royal Outwitting

Watched this solely because I follow MZY and wanted to see Jeremy act. I'd have to say that I liked the second part of the series way more than the first. It was all about who was smarter and could outwit whom.

Pros: The series didn't have a shortage of people trying to get one up on the other but LL and YS were very well matched though all the slapstick things I did fast-forward. The costumes were beautiful as was the music and sets. I really liked how LL made friends even out of her "enemies" so most of the support were awesome like her maid and his assistant, the guards. YH was a really tragic character but I'm very glad he survived though I disagree with the decision of his to make YX think he was dead. Both deserved each other's love as they were essentially alone in the world other than their friends. I have faith that as they both grow in their independence, they will find their way back to each other. One was essentially sequestered most of her life from the outside world and the other was a tortured slave that had to fight on two fronts. Other than our leads, these two deserved a happy ending more than anyone else. RIP Uncle Song; now that's a real hero.

Cons: Didn't like the fake illness of FL in the beginning at all. The fake coughing was so obvious, anyone with half a brain saw through it. There were different ways of writing to show weakness without being so idiotic about it. Once they got rid of it, the series took on a stronger stance. The last episodes felt rushed; the introduction and subsequent reveal of the mastermind felt lackluster like even though they blurred him out most of the time, you knew it was him. The only real surprise of a villain was the consort that barely had any screen time so it didn't seem to jive with the story. All of her actions, seemed like an afterthought. It was abhorrent that though HT made an attempt on the CP's life, he wasn't dolled out any punishment but instead was just allowed to portray a victim going back to his country. He had no heart so there was no love for the FL; allowing innocent people to die for his greed, should have had him at least in prison. At least the CP killed the mastermind, though a poisoned arrow would have been more appropriate given what he'd done to YH all his life.

Would I recommend it? This is a series for those days when you just want to watch something semi-lighthearted. So if you've got those days and you like the actors, you'll get your proper fill.

Citeste mai mult

It was funny and charming for from ep 1-15, but was boring and stupid afterward.

Royal Rumours is a historical RomCom about an ice-cold Crown Prince, Ji Yuan Shu, and his love interest Hua Liu Li, a general's daughter.

The drama was interesting and funny for the first 15 episodes and got boring afterward. I fell asleep watching it. I believe Jeremy Tsui is being typed cast on the same cold, ice-cold, arrogant, yet soft in most historical dramas.

His onscreen chemistry with Meng Zi Yi is much better than Yang Chao Yue in "The Journey of ChongZi," which I dropped because of the horrible acting of YCY, and the dubbing was unbearable.

Meng Zi Yi is a better actress than YCY, and the plot for this drama is better than TJOCZ. I didn't like episodes 16 to 24 and didn't bother to rewatch them because I fell asleep.

Overall, I am giving it a 6.0, and if you have not started, I would not bother with it.

Citeste mai mult

Cdrama-land needs to stop taking this author's beautiful novels and butchering them. Her stories are rich in dialogue, humor, intrigue, and drama. They deserve production budgets that can properly portray the rich world that the author has presented, as well as actors who can take on the complexities of the characters. When I read the novel, I couldn't put it down long enough to eat or sleep; even going to the restroom seemed like a hindrance to finding out what happened next. This drama, on the other hand, was so boring that it took me several times just to get through the first episode. The acting also made me cringe. It's like they went through the novel and purposely took out everything that made the novel and its characters shine.

While some productions are able to elevate the original work, this one is among the many that cheapen it.

Citeste mai mult

Note: I always rate dramas based on my enjoyment, I don't care about any those technical things etc.

When I watched the trailer I knew this would be one of those light dramas, and I was actually expecting a low budget production, and to my surprise this one was actually really well produced and frigging hilarious!! The location, outfit etc looked really well made, the actors acting were pretty good, nothing too cringey whatsoever. For the ost, music etc, they didn't really stick on my head, meaning they're just okay (nothing bad), unlike the usual distinguished music/ost in the blockbuster dramas.

Highly recommended if you're looking for a good laugh.

Citeste mai mult

Surprisingly entertaining hidden gem

Ji Yuan Su and Hua Liu Li's love story is a fluffy romance. A lovely watch that is easy on the eyes. This show has a lot of feel-good, lighthearted moments with cute romances.
The fight scenes could have been more exciting.

In historical dramas, no one has ever matched Jeremy Tsui's performance. He's ideal for the role.

The chemistry, interactions, and tiara of Princess Hua Liu Li blew me away. Hua Liu Li is a strong princess with her own mind. Meng Zi Yi portrays the character of Hua Liu Li admirably.

All of the supporting characters were fantastic. If you enjoy historical dramas, this is a must-see.

Citeste mai mult

A Pleasant Surprise

Nothing too complicated about this storyline. A few plot holes and loose ends, but overall, a decent watch. The actors did a fine job in my opinion. When you really like or really despise characters, you know that the actor did his/her job well. In this one, there weren't a lot of characters to despise, but there were quite a few to love. Jeremy Tsui did a great job as usual - his expressions say even more than his words do, and I love that about his acting. He can relay such emotion with one stare that it melts your heart! I'm a big fan of PDA, and this one didn't have too many scenes like that, but the attractions and feelings were portrayed well, and even felt sweet in some scenes.

Can we talk about the familial roles in this one? Finally, there wasn't the heartless emperor or the wicked stepmother/sister/auntie/uncle. The families had their moments but were so much nicer and more unified. I really liked that a lot.

The ending was a little bittersweet for me, I like Karma and got very little of it this time. The couple I liked a lot didn't quite get much but leaves something to your imagination (which doesn't suit me - I want hard facts and gratification). There were a lot of very touching, heartwarming scenes which I appreciated and enjoyed as well. Still, I didn't fast-forward through much of this series which says a lot for me.

A good watch if you're looking for something sweet and simple (and you're a fan of Jeremy Tsui).

Citeste mai mult

Slowly Lost Interest Over Time

- Read the novel it was based upon and was excited for the adaptation (Times Spent in Pretense)
- Slowly lost interest in the story over time
- Only kept watching for the side relationship with Yun Han and Miss Du, but ended up being disappointed with that as well (like I'm glad he's alive, but why didn't he tell her? Why did he just let her leave? Do we not get a final scene with them?)
- Final ending just didn't seem to fit with the rest of the story and felt very abrupt
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Citeste mai mult