Under the Power

I almost passed up another good one cuz the title wasn't that interesting. I don't know who comes up with the English titles for Chinese shows/movies, but they need to work on creating better ones. This one turned out to be another binge-worthy series filled with comedy, romance, revenge, brotherhood friendship, family ties, camaraderie, power struggle, cat-and-mouse games, betrayals and double-crosses, mysteries and cases to solve, well choreographed fight scenes, and a ghost ship, to boot. Boasting a wonderful cast who had perfect chemistry with each other, there were no eyesores, even the villain is quite handsome. And the ending, though rushed, was very satisfying.

I took away a star for: 1) the typical unnecessary long drawn out scenes, 2) stupid acts by supposedly very smart people, aka female lead who winds up being a damsel in distress situations simply due to her impulsiveness, 3) repetitive dialogue ( I hate lazy script writing), and 4) the excessive use of closeup shot of eyes to convey emotions...throughout 55 episodes, it really got tiresome and annoying.

I've found another star to love! Ren Jialun, aka Allen Ren, whose portrayal of Lu Yi was simply divine! I can't wait for "Autumn Cicada" to be available. I enjoyed the performance of the female lead, too, but for some reason she didn't seem to embody much star power (although I'm sure she has a huge legion of fans). I just watched her in "Go Ahead" and felt the same. Perhaps, it's the fault of the script writers who made her out to be that way. She's quite effective in these cutsie impish roles, but I hope she'll get opportunities to showcase some more well-rounded acting.

This drama about heartless Field Commander Lu Yi (Ren Jia Lun) and sunny constable Yuan Jinxia (Tan Song Yun) is compelling and enjoyable.

When they first meet while investigating a crime, Lu Yi, the son of the Commander of the prestigious Embroidered Uniform Guards, looks down on lowly constable Yuan Jinxia. However, her intelligence, analytical skills, optimism and warmth impress him. As they keep working together in several more cases, his admiration turns to love.

Aside from the romance, I also love how well the cases are written, eventually showing them to be pieces of a large case involving corruption and treason. The mystery about Jianxia's parentage and the entanglement with Lu Yi's family is fascinating. The camaraderie between the leads and other characters is heartwarming. It is riveting to watch how the protagonists turn the tables on the villains.

The reason I could not give this a 10 is because of fillers that dragged the drama down, such as too many flashbacks; some scenes were even shown several times. Without these fillers, the number of episodes could have been reduced. Also, I really hate the trope where a character denies his feelings just to spare his beloved some anticipated pain in the future, never mind the current pain being wrought.

Over-all, this had been a great watch, totally worth my time.

I started to like the show but I'm getting annoyed with the leading actress. It started out good but as the show continues her overacting kills the mood. I find myself struggling to keep interested whenever she's in it Why does the writers make her out to be a whiny, gluttonous, clinging weak constable? It's not cute nor funny. It's annoying as heck. The question that pops in my head is "why the heck is she even a constable when everything about her isn't so great at anything other than whining & being scared about ghosts and evils. Then clinging onto to the leading actor like a monkey?? Was it even appropriate behavior for this time period??" .. ugh... every episode the leading actress says "sir" more times counting all my fingers and toes plus yours... but I must force myself to watch it to the end and see why the other reviewers think its so good...

In this special year, I spent more time at home and felt so bored. To kill my time, I found many movies and TV series to watch. One day, it occured to me that some Upers in Bilibili said this is a great one because of its fascinating acting, so I watched it at March. Three months have passed, but I am still crazy about Jialun Ren!!(Or we call his old name Guo Chao, hahaha)

It is a while long time that I really want to go to write a review for a Chinese drama. Seriously, I know this movie still has a lot of mistakes on it but the acting of the leading roles were impressive me. They makes me believe they are Lu Yi and Yuan Jin Xia from the novel eventhough the film has a lot of changes to compare with novel, however, I love both drama and novel. There are a lot of people criticize that the criminal cases in the drama were not interested at all but this is a wuxia rom-com, the main points focus on the emotional developement of couples. It is a long time I did not see a drama with formula 1-1( there are a lot of drama with 1 man and a lot of women love him or 1 girl but there are many men fall in love with her), no misunderstood between them,... It is what I look for a long time after a lot of complicated dramas.