It has been a while since I watched a historic drama that focuses on the fights in the harem (aka among women). I really love fights between women because women are the most petty and the worst people to make enemies with. And many of this "drama" can still be seen in today's society, same tricks same methods, some things just doesn't change even after thousands of years.
The Book is really long, there is a grand total of 7 volumes, to put things in perspective, Ashes of love has only 2, . Should I start on it? The book seems very different from the drama, and seems like there are way more characters in the book, I have only briefly flipped through volume 1.
Brief overview: Set in the Ming Dynasty, an era where the wife and concubines are of different statuses. Luo Shiyi Niang (portrayed by Tan Songyun, for the rest of the review I will use Luo Shiyi without the Niang as her name literally means the eleventh Lady and she refers to herself as Shiyi, meaning eleventh) was born lowly into the wealthy Luo family, as her birth mother is only a concubine. When her elder sister Yuan Niang fell sick, Luo Shiyi was forced to go into an arranged marriage with Xu Lingyi aka Hou Ye(portrayed by Wallace Chung) to secure the position of the Luo family. As a lady of a lowly status, who marry into the Powerful and becomes Xu Lingyi's legitimate Wife. She has to navigate each and every schemes among the concubines with each of them eyeing her position.
What so awesome about it:
I loved the plot and all the schemes that Luo Shiyi has to go through. And the amount of plotting that went into the story was pretty awesome. The first few episodes itself was more than enough to pull me in with how calculative and planned each and every step the women of high status in the Ming Dynasty have to go through. From planning your children's spouse from a young age, to balancing of power in the courts and at home through marriages/ concubines/ children. It's amazing what just a few women in the backyard can plan for their own good.
I liked how the drama differentiated the statuses of Wife vs Concubine. Even though I have watched many historical dramas, I did not fully appreciate the differences in the status. It was during the marriage of Luo Shiyi vs Qiao Lianfang. The difference of 娶妻 (marrying a wife) vs 纳妾 (taking in a concubine), was very well portrayed. As it was in the Ming Dynasty where it is common for the wealthy to have multiple wives and concubines I assumed it wasn't considered a bad thing to be a concubine. Looking at Qiao Lianfang's process of being brought in secretly through the side gate, cannot come in through from the palanquin, don't have any ceremony for her. Really contrasted the differences with Luo Shiyi's marriage where she has a band playing for her as she is brought into the Xu's family and Luo Shiyi has to pay her respects to the mother and is recognized by law and the society. Throughout the show only the legal wife gets to be brought out together with the Husband and concubines can only be secretly kept at home only in the backyard.
Also what this show was really about the trust between the Wife and Husband. Which contrasted well with the lack of, with the women who needs to scheme to try and get Xu Lingyi's attention and love
PS. Also I loved the OST of this drama, sang by ZHOU SHENG, Together. Tan Song Yun and Wallace Chung both contributed one song each too to the OST.
Recommends: Yes. If you like the harem mess and Women's fight. The last 5 episode was a drag, but your love for the characters that you have built from the front will last you through the end.
Ranting:
I felt that the drama was the best during Yuen Niang to Qiao Lianfang's arc (and the short instances where Xu Lingyi was romancing Luo Shiyi). Showing the powerplay between the women in the house, from the old to the young. The later part (the last 5 episodes), where the Ou family came in and drama tried to be more political, the drama felt very rushed and glossed over.
Also the love line is very very drawn out and slow. They married at ep 7 and only consummate the marriage at 35. There is 28 episodes in between where they took their time to fall in love and the whole part of I dunno if he/she love me because maybe he/she is just being polite or just sorry towards me. It got to the point, me and my mum who was watching this drama together was betting if that episode would be a good night starting, because as drama viewers we were so bored with all the flirting with nothing happening. So honestly, the romance is not at the pace where I was happy
Tang Shaotian (Actor of Ou Yuanxing) not kissing... what a BIG waste. The directors and producers need to watch how good he is at My Little Happiness, I was quite upset. Also as a second lead, he went missing for more than half the show, which is quite disappointing for me. (I started this drama because he was in it ><)
I was also secretly hoping to see who is acting as the emperor in this series. But then no one ever appeared. Only his all mighty name is used and thrown around which annoyed me.
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| I love the beautiful windows |
All pictures credits to baidu
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