Royal Feast-no feast at all

(1) Very poor script and worse still the deliverance of bad writing and directing
(2) Ghastly make-up - looks like morgue make-up especially for the actresses
(3) Zero chemistry between the leads
(4) No main plot-the story jumps from here to everywhere as if the writers didn't know whether to concentrate on the leads' romance/story, palace food during the Ming dynasty, palace machinations or historical presentation, and at the end shows a bit of everything.
(5) Poor acting from the lead actress (Wu Jinyan). Her acting is crude even in Story of Yanxi Palace and in Royal Feast, she's like a moving stone. She looks as if she was forced to be there, never "belonging" to any scenes or parts of the story". I even find there are lots of scene of her looking arrogant and "higher than thou" although the scenes are totally unrelated to her expressions.
(6) It's about "Royal Feast" but the drama doesn't dwell too much on that - shows mainly the aesthetically pleasing food, the cutting and a bit of cooking but no more about the nature of the ingredients, the food itself, etc. It's like watching "A Bite of China". The production also skimmed on ingredients (never seen such a bare kitchen, what more a royal kitchen!)
(7) The good things - the props and designs are gorgeous. The costumes look stunning although there are (being a Yu Zheng's production) a few irregularities. Xu Kai looks very good in Ming costume.

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A draggy, at times boring drama but why did I finish all 30 episodes?

This is a slow-burn romance drama about first love and all about it, nothing else. The pace is like "no hurry at all" and I have to use the fast forward button on many scenes.

Why I kept on watching:-
(1) I'd watch any drama with Tan Song Yun in it regardless of the male lead. She has the ability to form great chemistry with all male actors she has worked for - the latest was in Flight to You where she was incredible with Wang Kai and his grumpy/annoying character. Although in her early 30s, her baby face makes her able to act out schooling or teenage girls to a T.

(2) Great looking cast. Jing Boran looks good in this drama compared to his last contemporary drama I've watched (The Psychologist) and totally different from A League of Noblemen. It's always enjoyable to watch nice looking actors on screen.

(3) For the romance-so many kissing scenes, warm moments, romantic vibes, the list goes on...For the romance part, this drama scores 9/10! Plenty of sweetness and eye-candy indulgence!

(4) I'm glad those parts of those annoying family disputes and third party interference are kept to the minimum. No long winded melodramatic scenes, it just concentrates on the leads' love story and their lives.

(5) Good cinematography especially those scenes in Jining. Love the winter paradise. A beautiful love story and winter/snow flakes are great chemistry.

What I hope could be better:-
(1) Those irritating and tiring flashbacks-they are necessary to tell the background story but do they have to do it so many (and many) times and at irregular intervals. I'd prefer they do all the flashbacks in one go instead of having it in almost every episode and many are repeats too.

(2) 30 episodes is too long due to the flashbacks and repeated scenes. It's incredulous how they dedicate one full episode (episode 30) to flashback-just about the leads' school days. It's totally unnecessary and exceedingly boring.

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A slow burn romance that makes your heart tingle

This is one of those rare dramas that I re-watched despite the sad ending (already known beforehand because it's adapted from a famous Chinese novel).

I recommend it because:-
(1) The leads are a relief for tired souls. Who doesn't like eye candies in dramas? As usual, Allen Ren looks gorgeous in costume dramas. He makes a good CP with Bai Lu here.
(2) The cinematography and designs are outstanding, gives you a sense of "ancient" - the attention to details such as the furniture , books, costumes, surroundings, etc takes you out of daily life's troubles/headaches.
(3) The OST is enjoyable, some of the best for 2022.
(4) The romance is slow burn, but romantic. No passionate kisses or bed scenes, but the director presents it in such a way that you feel warmth and good about the love story. I always believe that you don't need idol-like romance if it is well-carried out i.e. the top acting. A longing glance here, a smile there, the intensity in the eyes, many stolen moments....aren't they more exciting than the usual "straight romance"? The leads did a very good job here.
(5) The plot is well-carried out - i.e. the palace machinations, irritating scheming and politics are kept to a minimum, just enough to give the background to the story. No overdose of second or third leads either. It's all about the ill-fated romance between the leads.

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I want back my hours!! Does this plot even work today?!!

Cliche or age-old plots can also make great dramas i.e.Once We Get Married.

But not for this drama. The bad script makes the plot cringe-worthy and overused.

My intention was to explore the drama but went beyond 10 episodes mostly out of curiosity about the leads' initial divorce and if they would reconcile. Alas, it turns out nothing worthy of the time!

A recommended watch only if you really, really:-
(1) Enjoy such plots-love before marriage, break-up, reconciliation, angst, melodramatic situations, etc.
(2) Like the chemistry between the leads (forget about the second leads-very mediocre). I personally thought Wang Chu Ran looks great in this drama, a total eye-opener after watching her in Royal Feast (good but not outstanding).
(3) Wang Chu Ran & Peng Guan Ying are eye candy for sore eyes. They look good together and nail their part. For me, it's the only factor I managed to fast-forward the whole drama. That was the real pull for me in the beginning episodes but alas, the bad script really can't save the day.
(4) Want to release stress and tension by ranting and howling about the story

What was so wrong for me:-
(1) The length is too long. Shortening it to around 20-25 episodes would do the damage repair to the horrible script/storytelling.
(2) It should have stopped at episode 31 because all the episodes after that were unnecessary. It feels draggy, out-of-focus - simply "water injection" to forcefully add more episodes.
(3) Because of the length, they added in all the unrealistic/cliche/melodramatic/ridiculous plots all at once from episode 31 on-wards- come on, the female lead's father has cancer and died? The boy's (Ning Xiang) cancer recurrence? Amnesia? Go back to Africa again and re-meet? Gosh, it was unwatchable.
(4) The ending is also a rush after all that dramatic twists. So, does he remember her or not? So, do they start all over again or what?

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A pacifying end to the sad prequel

After the roller-coaster bad ending of Forever and Ever, I guess this serves as the "anecdote" that we want for the main leads.

What I like about it:-
(1) The story is simple and straight forward-no old cliches and over-used plots that are synonymous with romance dramas i.e. horrible mothers-in-law (there's one here but her evil intentions wreak limited influence on the story, just an annoying and irritating character), break-ups and reconciliation, cold and overbearing male lead, unrealistically virtuous female lead, that kind of flow....
(2) As with its' prequel, the OST is very nice
(3) No overdose of skin-ship either but it exudes warmth and romantic feelings through the leads' interaction with each other.
(4) A decent romantic drama to binge on.

What I don't quite like:-
(1) Maybe it was intended to follow the male lead in the drama to a T, I find Allen Ren's styling in this drama a bit dull. Compared to Zhou Sheng Cheng the graceful general, this modern version is a bit of a bumbling and awkward character, oftentimes boring.
(2) Again, because it's adapted from a novel, nothing much can be changed on the characters and plot. However, it'd be nice to provide some background story on certain incidents other than getting them across through the mouths of the leads.
(3) And why can't the do something about the styling of the second (or third) female leads - the girl who makes dress and likes the evil step-brother. She practically wears the same dress and beret throughout the drama.

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