Du Hua Nian (2024)

Where the Fuck is ML??

In real life I hate politics, but when it comes to series or movies, I love watching the political genre. Watch this show for Zhang Ling He & its political genre. But they ruined it. I loved the political plot & twist & turns, but they reduced ML screen time to supporting characters. As Zhang Ling He fan, it's really disappointing. Even if it was any other actor, I could complain about ML's screen presence being so less. I know it is a women-centric drama, but in other dramas they use the ML character very well, at least doesn't reduce his screen time. I would've given it a 10 rating with all the political plot, but they destroyed it. I have a rating of 7 for the political plot & cast acting.

Pei Wen Xuan is smart and cunning, but his love for Li Rong is obvious. Throughout the series, they said he is smart but never showed properly. In the Story of Kunning Palace, ML's cunningness & smartness are shown throughout the series, but here they only said it didn't utilized it. Also, he didn't have a purpose other than to chase after Li Rong, which is another disappointment. In SOKP he had a purpose, but here there's none. Zhang Ling He's acting was good. It was visible from his expression that Pei Wen Xuan truly loves Li Rong & could do anything for her.

Li Rong is selfish. She never tried to understand Li Chuan, Pei Wen Xuan & Su Rong Qing. Li Chuan was struggling to rule, and was under a lot of pressure from noble families. Instead of helping & supporting him, she also did the same thing to him. I'm saying what he did to her is right, but she is the reason it ended this way. In Pei Wen Xuan's case, she always assumed that he didn't love her or support her. She never tried to express herself or never tried to communicate with him properly. At last Su Rong Qing, she trusted him so blindly, despite knowing that his family was being executed because of her brother. It was obvious that he wanted revenge. She never asked her brother the reason behind Su families family's execution. She is smart, no doubt about that. The way she ploted against those noble families was awesome. In this life she tried to change her fate & truly help & supported her brother. Also expressed her feelings for Pei Wen Xuan.

What's that ending dude!! Li Rong says she loves Pei Wen Xuan but still gives a lovey-dovey look to Su Rong Qing. The scene where Su Rong Qing tells the past of his brother & Pei Wen Xuan to Li Rong was so focused on Su Rong Qing. They wanted to show both sides of the story, but the execution was wrong. They would've edited the scene with both Pei Wen Xuan & Su Rong Qing telling the story at a time rather than focusing only on Su Rong Qing.

Su Rong Qing was also selfish. He would've done so much better. He would've helped Li Chuan in ruling. The fact is, he is also like othes, want noble families to rule nothing else.

Laughed how Pei Wen Xuan & Li Rong keep on arguing about their past issues. Love their bickering. Zhang Ling He & Zhao Jin Mai have amazing chemistry. I can see why they're cast in a new series so quickly.

Loved the friendship of Li Rong, Shangguan Ya & Qin Zhen Zhen. They're strong, independent women who wants to change the ruling systems.

I loved Shangguan Ya character. She fun-loving, smart & independent girl.

Laughed how Pei Wen Xuan didn’t even let Li Rong finish before agreeing.

Loved when Li Rong slapped Pei Wen Xuan's uncle. It was so satisfying. The way she came to save is so awesome. She was on fire.

Its cute how Pei Wen Xuan hugged Li Rong.

Laughed how Pei Wen Xuan was trying to seduce Li Rong.

Laughed when Tong Ye came running to Li Rong saying Pei Wen Xuan was missing & he ended up seeing her there.

Laughed how Pei Wen Xuan & Cui Yu Lang got into Li Rong's house by climbing the wall.

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Entertaining & intelligent story

The opening scenes don't do this show justice. The cast of 20-something idols clearly struggle with playing 40 year old characters, & the mismatch was so jarring I was actually ready to drop the show before even finishing the 1st episode. Honestly, why couldn't the producers cast age appropriate actors to play the 40 y/o main characters? If an audience is sharp enough to keep up with the story, surely they can differentiate between actors. But luckily those scenes didn't last long & I stuck it out.

What follows is a complex & weaving tale of 2 people given 20 years of their lives back to start over from an horrifically destructive end. They retain their memories & manage to redefine their relationship with each other & reshape their destinies. While this is a simplistic overview, the journey the story takes is exciting & fascinating with enough plot twists to keep your attention. Even though you expect a triumphant outcome at least for the leads, you don't quite know what to expect for all characters involved until the very end, and a satisfying ending it is.

This is only the 2nd time I have seen Zhao Jin Mai, who has already been quite active in the business. My first time seeing her was in the very disappointing Admist a Snowstorm of Love in which she was cast in a very limited & poorly defined role that was a complete waste of her talent. In Princess Royal she takes the role of Li Rong with commanding ease. I noticed a few alumni cast from Joy of Life, all accomplished & skilled actors who enhanced this production.

All in all, Princess Royal was a very entertaining & intelligent story.

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Disappointed…

This became unintentionally long cause at one point I just started talking about anything lmfao)

If ongoing reviews were a thing, yall would’ve seen how highly I thought of this drama at first lmfao

I think, the word “exemplary” once came to mind (during that consort’s final moments in court earlier on)

They took such care with the characters and story in the beginning.

It should be a crime for dramas to let you down this badly.

We wanted something different…

And at first, this was the something different.

This was a story where the fl was the heroine not just the love interest.

And not just in name only.

This was her story. Her journey and man was it a great watch

There were flaws throughout but I could tolerate them because I was having so much fun.

The Princess Royal was riding highhhh and then it crashed

It crashed horribly after ep.30

The last 10 episodes were a pain to get through

It revealed her as an indecisive hypocrite and spent an ungodly amount of time on an issue that was already resolved in ep.2-3 by framing it as some irreconcilable injustice.

We wasted 3 episodes on things we already knew or could’ve been explained in 15 minutes.

And then came the illogicalities.

The noble houses siding with a woman who’d previously tortured members of their houses and had them executed

A betrayal in the barracks for no apparent reason other than to create a conflict ig?

The others would be a spoiler.

They should cut out episodes 35-37, and cut out that drawn out death in ep.40, if they want to save even a fraction of this busted story

The casting director must’ve been asleep during the casting of this drama.

The sml, crown prince, Prince Su and Consort Rou’s actor(s) were casted for what?

There was also something not quite right with the fl’s acting.

I will say that regarding the criticisms about the sml being more like a ml than the sml: this is the most second male leadiest sml ever lmfao

The obnoxious yearning, the self righteousness, the inflated sense of worth he feels he holds in the fls heart/mind, the surface level/paper thin perfection and the need to control her couched in a pretense of protection

The only issue was her unreasonable attachment to him and that the story permitted the narrative of “missed opportunity” between them to persist til the end.

Don’t know what the writers were thinking but they weakened their romance with this.

You can’t have one person single-handedly carrying a relationship. It should be a partnership with mutual love and respect but it felt more like something Pei Wenxuan was painstakingly carving out of desperation.

I can’t root for that. It gives me the ick.

They also seemed afraid to position him fully as the villain of the story. Even til the end.

There seemed to be a disconnect between what they were trying to tell and what the viewers saw/experienced.

By the end, Li Ring and Pei Wenxuan were no longer characters I cared all that much about.

There was a point in the story where it felt like the writers gave up and patched together an ending because they had to.

It went from having fleshed out characters with an identity, personality and goals (from mains, sides, antagonists) to paper thin plot devices.

I want to give this a 6.5 so badly but I really liked it at first so a 7/10 it is.

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This show is not for the people who like fluffy romance or romantic stuff.

I started watching this show because this is one of the dramas where FL was more powerful than ML. This show has a very political base and less romance and the romance is integrated so well with the plot that you get the sense of genuine love from both ML and FL. I thought the time travel plot was overrated but how they realized the past mistakes and worked for it. The consistency of Pei Wenxuan is remarkable though Li Rong's character was a bit stupid as she will move her opinion to whoever is in front of her. And the SML character is so stupid like he was given a second chance to turn around and make things better but what did he do go and make it worse in this life. Watching Su Rongqing make his life and people around his life more and more miserable was frustrating to watch. but I liked how things turned around and the emperor got the result of his trust and Li Chuan's way of protecting his love and family. The acting of all the actors is fabulous.

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Kendini tekrar etmek

Merhabalar. 1.bölüm heyecanlı başlasa da sonra geriye dönüp aynı anılar ve bilinçle devam etmek çok iyi bir şey değil sadece kadını beklerken ona aşık 2 erkeğinde aynı deneyimi yaşadığını bilmek sıkıntılı idi hikaye başarılı olsa da oyuncularda bu diziyi pek kurtaramamış bütün kusurlarına rağmen diziyi sevdim ve sonuna kadar izledim Hikaye parça parça anlatılıyormuş hissini verdi bir gelecekten bir geçmişten bölünmüş gibiydi bir bütünlük içinde dizi akmadı oyunculuklara gelirsek oyuncu seçimi fena değildi Zhang Ling He nin en iyi dizilerinden biri değildi yine de onun için seyrettik kadın aktris Zhao Jin Mai'yi ilk defa seyrettim ve dönem dizilerine yakıştırdım müzikler orta karardı ve fena değildi tekrar izlenme değeri bana göre oldukça zayıf sonuç itibariyle yine bir emek ve zaman harcanmış yapımda ve yayında emeği geçen herkese teşekkür ederiz.

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Zhao Jinmai & Zhang Linghe - 20 Years of Marriage Vibes! (in a cute way LOL)

Actually, I finished watching this last year but was late giving my review. So here's what I think;

I like this drama . it's heavy on political intrigue but still has that signature young adult drama vibe. Why do I say that? Because their love story actually begins when they're 18, which happens because they're 'reborn'. So even though their souls are those of 40-year-olds, being reborn as 18-year-olds (I forgot Pei Wenxuan's age at 'rebirth', but I remember Li Rong was 18) makes their love story feel like a young adult romance. That's why even though the political storyline is pretty heavy, it's still suitable for young viewers.

Speaking of cinematography, this drama showcases pretty good camera work. The camera angles and lighting are quite good, though the video editing leaves something to be desired. The scene transitions are rough, and the way they end each episode is pretty abrupt (in my opinion). But when it comes to costumes, makeup, and hairstyling, I'm all for it. They're made to look absolutely gorgeous. Especially Zhao Jinmai's makeup, it's flawless, and she literally glows on camera. Zhang Linghe's wig is great too, he looks manly and super handsome with his hair.

As for the storyline, like I said, this is clearly aimed at young viewers. The political intrigue is exciting, with various problems being solved one after another. The only disappointing thing is Li Rong's inconsistent character when facing choices. Sometimes, instead of trusting her own husband, Li Rong trusts the second male lead more. It gets to the point where it's actually annoying for me.

In conclusion although there are some shortcomings, this drama is quite interesting to watch. The chemistry between Zhao Jinmai and Zhang Linghe is absolutely amazing!

A little side note: I used to doubt Zhang Linghe's acting abilities, but in this drama, I can see that he worked really hard and his acting skills have improved a lot!◝(ᵔᗜᵔ)◜

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Pei Wen Xuan deserved better!!

Just finished this drama and it lowkey felt like a chore to finish it. The story was a bit boring yet interesting enough to finish it.

I found there to be very little chemistry between the two leads, but their acting was good enough and I felt the respect they had for each other as actors. ZJM could work on her facial expressions a bit. More feeling!! Some of her crying/sad scenes were not convincing enough to me except the one where SRQ revealed everything to her in that cave. I liked her acting there. I enjoy a good crazy dramatic scene (ahem, Consort Rue). ZLH needed more screen time!!

Li Rong was such a selfish person with big trust issues (understandable). Her character was so annoying and she did not deserve Pei Wen Xuan's love!! He was way too good for her. PWX loved her way more than she did. I do appreciate that they had good communication in certain scenes and cleared up some misunderstandings. And like many other's already talked about, Su Rong Qing had too much screen time. He was pretty much the ML in this drama and the whole story felt like it revolved around him.

I loved the other supporting characters like Qin Zhen Zhen, Shangguan Ya and Su Rong Hua. And the actress of Consort Rou played the heck out of her role! She was a very convincing psycho! LOL

What bugged me was in Episode 35 where they switched Prince Su after he passed away with someone who was basically the same person. That was ridiculous. But then suddenly everyone knew he was imposter? They just knew!! There was no big reveal so it was underwhelming. And nobody really mourned for Prince Su except the Princess Hua. Consort Rou was so fixated on power, she mourned for like a few minutes and then boom - back to being power hungry.

Also, goodness gracious SRQ was basically half of Ep 40 with his dramatic antics. And near the end 3 years into the future, where the heck was Li Rong and Pei Wen Xuan's kid?!

I do enjoy a good political drama, but this one dragged on. This shouldn't have been 40 episodes long. 30 episodes would have been fine. I do believe this is worth a watch if you like the leads. Who knows, you might enjoy it more than me!

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Another drama to the list

I have never seen a lot of historical dramas but it's actually my first time seeing such a story of time traveling. If you like such a badass woman in court then I could recommend this to you. It's not the typical badass but a person who can rule the country, not leading to the war. Also it's my first time getting angry to a character, how they cast Heyi as the villain, how he had this calm, scholar demeanor but with a evil intensions. How i also got angry and annoyed to a female character, when it shows Li Chuan's side of a story. Now understand why he killed her.
It's not focus on romance, but a descent amount of romance. Love how Jinmai acts, it suits her well. it suits to the character.

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Under power, relations are bound to be broken

So, first of all i agree by the people who are saying Zhang ling he doesn't get much screen time is true. He is such a great actor in this drama his acting was very good his visuals was very pretty and sexy. The married couples bickering, cute moments, and the steamy scenes were so so much good but my complain here is they were very short lived and left us craving for more.

I even noticed that the male lead often got ignored or invalidate in so many scenes. And us as audience was not ready. He even got stabbed in fields and the princess just asked him to go after bickering. Its like he was the original victim. He helped everyone in so many matters but he always become sidelined in so many situations.

And what was wrong with writers and producers? They tried so hard to convince us that SML is innocent. But he was not innocent.

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i have a love-hate relationship with this drama

Zhang Linghe and Zhang Jin Mai's chemistry is what keeps me watching this drama LOL. I love moments of them bickering to each other. I just love how good ZHL portrayed his character so good (I want to have a husband like him who is so down with their wife HEHE). ZJM's acting is also a masterpiece, but hated the part when she was with SRQ. She slayed being LR fr!

It's such a waste that they didn't let us see their child in last ep. It was PWX's dream tho, they could've just done it for us since SRQ has more screentime than him LOL. Overall, I love the drama, the story, the characters, and ZLH.

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either I die with you, or take you home

ok first thing that i like ab this show is that i love love loooove the development LR & PWX had. love how PWX AAALWAYS reassures LR that he is for her & would literally die than live without her. my girl just has a lot of trust issues bc of all the things she's been through and i'm glad for PWX's character for not creating more headaches for her and always being there for her. and i couldn't imagine anyone else but ZLH playing that role ! i feel like the main leads did a really great job potraying the characters. i could literally go on about them bc they were so!! memorable!!

plot was interesting until SRQ/SML became the main part of the plot LOL i feel like it shouldn't have been dragged for that long. during the final episode he had more lines than PWX did ? which was funny bc tbh i couldn't care less about him. his obsession w the princess was weird, can't stop reminding her that he's in love with her like ok.........noted. the politics are just the usual tbh.. wish there were more scenes w the ML without it cutting to SRQ on to the next scene, but i'm satisfied enough with what's given (and i also have our generation to look forward to ZJM & ZLH together heheh). the second lead's couple(s) story urmmmz it was interesting at the start but then it was just bland (at least to me). feel like i skipped through a lot of scenes once it was ep20-25 because there were a few draggy scenes @_@ would've been perfect without the dragging or if it was a 26-30 ep show i tink

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