Nelly
Canada
Pretty good for a harem story!
OVERALL
This drama has a lot of things going on: murder-mystery, slow-burn romance, harem drama, political intrigue...but somehow, they combine nicely into a plot that is, if not the best, definitely entertaining enough to keep you watching until the end! Watch it if 1) you like smart female leads, 2) you need plots with few holes, where everything serves a purpose to the story, 3) you want to be surprised by a few plot twists. Think twice if 1) you need fast-paced, smexy romantic scenes, 2) you hate harem drama or political intrigues, 3) you are easily and greatly bothered by repetitiveness in dramas.
THE STORY
This drama has a lot more strengths than weaknesses, but the weaknesses weigh a lot, so they are worth considering. Let me start with the good. First, one thing that's clear about this drama is that it pushes a feminist agenda. FL is gifted in embroidery and wants to work for the people, but women at the time had to marry and stay at home, and that's one of the main conflicts of the series. I found this to be one of the best aspects of the show because the drama depicts the condition of women and Shiyi's frustration and avantgarde personality in a very realistic way. She's the odd sheep in the herd and it's really hard work for her to try to do what she likes to do. Secondly, I really enjoyed FL, Shiyi. What's great about the FL of this drama is that she's strong and smart, but in a feminine way. These days we see lots of strong FLs but they tend to lean more towards typical masculine traits (eg. Changge from Long Ballad, FL of Oh My General of My General and I), or be somewhat non-gendered and not caring about either masculine or feminine stuff. Shiyi is absolutely feminine. Her hobbies are typically female and she does all typically female tasks well. I think it's great to show that femininity can come with the strength and the smarts too. Another thing that's cool is that you can see how much power and influence she has over everyone around her, because all character and relationship developments in the drama are linked to her. She's just boss. And then one last positive aspect of Sword & Brocade is the romance. I personally am very bothered by love lines with crappy development, and it's kind of on the rise these days. It's common to see the OTP fall in love out of nowhere or go through a decent "falling in love" period, but the falling in love doesn't actually make sense. That's not the case with this drama. It takes FOREVER for the love to bloom, but it's realistic, and I was living for it. The journey is just as important, if not more, than the destination, and I'm glad this drama got it.
On the bad side, for someone like me who's not particularly fond of harem stories, Sword & Brocade feels EXTREMELY repetitive. It's literally 40 episodes of scheming evil women. The murder-mystery and political intrigues spice it up a bit, but by the end, I was kind of getting tired of the never-ending harem drama. It felt like more of the same. Always some girl trying to shame, frame and ruin another girl's life, and sometimes with no valid reason. The ML's mother was not helping at all; she was like a broken record. 40 episodes of her doing and saying the same thing, over and over again. Another think that irked me a bit were the few inconsistencies. There aren't a lot, but there are one or two instances in which the behavior of a character (especially FL at some point) seems extremely out of sync with how the character's been portrayed, or an event felt too forced/ridiculous. These issues aren't bad enough to make you stop watching, but they do make the experience of watching Sword & Brocade less enjoyable with time, especially the harem drama, so beware!
THE ACTING
It worked! In general I have no complaints for the main cast. I liked Wallace here more than in General & I, his character was MUCH better. Same thing for Songyun, I tried watching Under the Power before but couldn't stand her character. Shiyi is much better. Chemistry-wise, there are some sparks between them but it's not the most impressive couple in the chemistry department. They make up for it with cute and fun scenes though, so it's fine! I didn't like the stereotypical character of Consort Qian, but the acting was okay. Honestly, my only complaint is the acting of one of the kids - but it was kind of hilarious too, so I let it pass!
THE MUSIC
Quite good. Won't keep listening to anything now that the show's over but it actually left a positive impression on me!
REWATCH VALUE
I'm writing this review after watching the drama a second time, so it definitely is a drama you can watch again. However, maybe not without skipping some parts!
This drama has a lot of things going on: murder-mystery, slow-burn romance, harem drama, political intrigue...but somehow, they combine nicely into a plot that is, if not the best, definitely entertaining enough to keep you watching until the end! Watch it if 1) you like smart female leads, 2) you need plots with few holes, where everything serves a purpose to the story, 3) you want to be surprised by a few plot twists. Think twice if 1) you need fast-paced, smexy romantic scenes, 2) you hate harem drama or political intrigues, 3) you are easily and greatly bothered by repetitiveness in dramas.
THE STORY
This drama has a lot more strengths than weaknesses, but the weaknesses weigh a lot, so they are worth considering. Let me start with the good. First, one thing that's clear about this drama is that it pushes a feminist agenda. FL is gifted in embroidery and wants to work for the people, but women at the time had to marry and stay at home, and that's one of the main conflicts of the series. I found this to be one of the best aspects of the show because the drama depicts the condition of women and Shiyi's frustration and avantgarde personality in a very realistic way. She's the odd sheep in the herd and it's really hard work for her to try to do what she likes to do. Secondly, I really enjoyed FL, Shiyi. What's great about the FL of this drama is that she's strong and smart, but in a feminine way. These days we see lots of strong FLs but they tend to lean more towards typical masculine traits (eg. Changge from Long Ballad, FL of Oh My General of My General and I), or be somewhat non-gendered and not caring about either masculine or feminine stuff. Shiyi is absolutely feminine. Her hobbies are typically female and she does all typically female tasks well. I think it's great to show that femininity can come with the strength and the smarts too. Another thing that's cool is that you can see how much power and influence she has over everyone around her, because all character and relationship developments in the drama are linked to her. She's just boss. And then one last positive aspect of Sword & Brocade is the romance. I personally am very bothered by love lines with crappy development, and it's kind of on the rise these days. It's common to see the OTP fall in love out of nowhere or go through a decent "falling in love" period, but the falling in love doesn't actually make sense. That's not the case with this drama. It takes FOREVER for the love to bloom, but it's realistic, and I was living for it. The journey is just as important, if not more, than the destination, and I'm glad this drama got it.
On the bad side, for someone like me who's not particularly fond of harem stories, Sword & Brocade feels EXTREMELY repetitive. It's literally 40 episodes of scheming evil women. The murder-mystery and political intrigues spice it up a bit, but by the end, I was kind of getting tired of the never-ending harem drama. It felt like more of the same. Always some girl trying to shame, frame and ruin another girl's life, and sometimes with no valid reason. The ML's mother was not helping at all; she was like a broken record. 40 episodes of her doing and saying the same thing, over and over again. Another think that irked me a bit were the few inconsistencies. There aren't a lot, but there are one or two instances in which the behavior of a character (especially FL at some point) seems extremely out of sync with how the character's been portrayed, or an event felt too forced/ridiculous. These issues aren't bad enough to make you stop watching, but they do make the experience of watching Sword & Brocade less enjoyable with time, especially the harem drama, so beware!
THE ACTING
It worked! In general I have no complaints for the main cast. I liked Wallace here more than in General & I, his character was MUCH better. Same thing for Songyun, I tried watching Under the Power before but couldn't stand her character. Shiyi is much better. Chemistry-wise, there are some sparks between them but it's not the most impressive couple in the chemistry department. They make up for it with cute and fun scenes though, so it's fine! I didn't like the stereotypical character of Consort Qian, but the acting was okay. Honestly, my only complaint is the acting of one of the kids - but it was kind of hilarious too, so I let it pass!
THE MUSIC
Quite good. Won't keep listening to anything now that the show's over but it actually left a positive impression on me!
REWATCH VALUE
I'm writing this review after watching the drama a second time, so it definitely is a drama you can watch again. However, maybe not without skipping some parts!
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