CaroK
This is starting to grow on me, as in the Emperor seems more than a pouting, petulant git. FL is still a bit too Leroy Jenkins for my taste, but I’m going to stick with this for a while.
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The Legend of Grave Keepers Episode 1
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I’m not quite sure how I settled on this, but it’s dumb. It’s also fun dumb if you’re in the mood for it. What’s more, I think the ML knows it’s supposed be dumb fun, because he’s playing it in a slightly over-exaggerated manner. Given the credits, it looks as if things may attempt to turn more angsty in later episodes, but until this annoys me, I think it will likely be my current “watch an episode at lunch.” Costumes and CGI are not so great that I’m missing anything by viewing on the iPad instead of the TV. In short, one side guards the tomb, one side raids the tombs, but doesn’t steal, just to keep the guardians honest. Naturally, those guarding are now considered corrupt, and the Tomb Raiding side is deteremined to prove it. But there’s someone in their midst feeding information to the other side. Oh, and a romantic FL whose appearance and trouble is casually tossed off as if they’re just letting us know we’ll be getting to her later.No, don’t try to think deeply about this one. Just turn it on and let it go.
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From the opening credits, it’s clear we are not to take this particularly seriously. It’s light, cute, funny, and has all the weight of a order of cotton candy. We’ve got general who doesn’t want to marry a princess who doesn’t want to marry him. We’ve got a street performer who looks suspisciously like said princess, but she’s about to end up in an arranged marriage with a bandit (not a very good one) due to her father’s debts. This episode establishes Xiao Wan Zi and Mei San Shao fairly well, and lets us in on San Shao’s secret identity. We also get to meet Xiao Bao Ye, who’s being pursued by his chieftan’s daughter, which is why his chief wants him to get a wife. The acting is light and San Shao has an appropriate stick up his butt, though there are some depths hinted at which could provide humor in future episode.The big mark against this series, though, is Lu Ying Yao, the princess whose place Wan Zi will end up taking to further the plot. We meet her only briefly and she’s not fleshed out, coming across as a whiny brat who either does not care about/does not understand the consequences of refusing a marriage arranged by the Emperor. Yes, San Shao’s trying to get out of it as well, but he produces something he things might be a plausible barrier and doesn’t argue when the trick doesn’t work. At this point, Ying Yao seems to be the weak point, along with the fact the two ladies don’t meet by the end of the first episode so we can’t set the switcheroo in motion . I have to wonder if this feather-light plot might be too light for 30 episodes and will we see padding?
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But it would have been nice it we could have seen more of why Shu Mu and Fu Rou are now on the same page with one another again. There's a hint there were some evening shenanigans (with her adjusting her hat when she appears in the morning), but can we have our leads *talk* to one another like adults. More time was spent on the conversation between the Crown Prince and King Han, which was good to see. It would have been better if the conversation had happened an episode or so earlier, instead of potentially taking away from the leads.But that's one of the problems of this series. We start with a romantic comedy featuring two charming and attractive people who are fun to watch. Then they're torn apart, which to be expected, but the series began to center on palace intrigue and not our leads. Now, in the home stretch, there's a certain rushed feeling because all those intrigue threads need to be tied up, and we need to get our leads back together, along with our secondary couple. Suddenly, it feels like there's no time.
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