Ruyi’s Royal Love in the Palace (Chinese Drama, New)

After much anticipation and countless delays, Wallace Huo’s new historical palace drama is finally out! This one tells the epic love story between Emperor Qianlong and his first love, Ula–Nara who eventually became his Empress. Now, since this story used real figures in history so it should come as little surprise that Ula-Nara’s love with the emperor didn’t end well…dang, history!

I checked out the first couple episodes mostly because of Wallace Huo and the hype this show had received thus far…unfortunately, I was not impressed. Wallace Huo and his co-star Zhou Xun are both seasoned actors so their acting was great but that wasn’t enough to save the show for me. First, the show started way back when our two leads are young newlyweds but as beautiful as Zhou Xun is, she really couldn’t pull off the teenage look. (Wallace Huo looked a bit out of place as well…but he wasn’t made to stand right next to a bunch of much younger men so the age difference wasn’t so glaring.)  Two, actress Zhou Xun’s low and husky voice is just too out of place in a historical palace drama. I usually hate it when C-drama uses voice dubbing but this is one instance where I think it would have been nice. Third, someone needs to fire whoever was in charge of the audio post-production. The show inserts these jarring music that I think was suppose to help to set the tone of the scene but just ended up being a big distraction.

With a few surprisingly solid palace drama out currently and me being so averse to sad endings, I am afraid I see no reason to give Ruyi’s Royal Love in the Palace a second chance.

 

This week is extra quiet in terms of new shows so I have the luxury to go over some on-air dramas that made it on my watch list. 
Sweet Combat (Chinese Drama, Finished)

I am pretty behind on this one (about 2/3 way through) but I found the show to be an easy watch. There are no super bad villains or gigantic heavy issues…which is actually kinda nice for a college romance, so I find myself putting this one on whenever I just need something sweet and relaxing to watch.
Story Of Yanxi Palace (Chinese Drama, Almost done)

I am about 50 episodes in on this one (the show is currently 62 episodes/70). I was pretty addicted to this one for a while and it was certainly thrilling to watch our heroine defeat each baddie who dared to mess with her…but I started to lose interest when a new group of baddies showed up to replace the first batch and by the looks of it, the next batch is already being groomed to take their place as well. My other problem with the show is that the show is a tad bit depressing. The first batch of villains were the ones you love to hate but the second batch is the ones you kinda see why they had to turn evil because of the messed up palace they live in…as for the third batch? I am afraid that will be the craziest batch. My complaints aside, the show has done a great job in making it a joy to watch our spunky heroine outsmart each of her enemies. Unrealistic? Oh, definitely…but still gratifying anyway.
The Rise of Phoenixes (Chinese Drama)

This one is getting better and better! The story is quite heavy on the palace intrigue so it was a bit difficult for me to get into but I LOVE our two leads and their wonderful chemistry together. The palace intrigue itself is actually quite interesting as well which of course tells you how good the show is since I am usually super impatient with that sort of plot line. Unfortunately, I am not finding English subs on this one yet. Anyone tempted to follow this one raw?
My ID is Gangnam Beauty (Korean Drama)

I am not entirely sure why I like this one enough to follow it. The story itself is fairly predictable and the villain is especially disagreeable but I find myself liking this one anyway. The show is quite good at setting up squeal worthy moments between our two leads…and any show that can make me squeal like a crazy fangirl is a show worth following. Another thing I do like thus far is that My ID is Gangnam Beauty doesn’t come off preachy even though it deals with a lot of social issues. I really like the fact that the show doesn’t make our heroine into a victim that needs to be pitied. In fact, the show makes it plain that our heroine herself needs to change the way she views others first before she can truly free herself from the judgment of those around her.
Born To Be A Flower  (Japanese Drama)

This J-drama sort of has a split personality. Our two leads’ romance is super cute and hilarious. But, the moment the scene switches to our heroine’s messed up family then it turns into a show about psychos. I love the cute romance but am not so sure I have the mental capacity to handle how crazy twisted our heroine’s family is. Still, our two leads are so endearing that I see myself finishing this one…even if I have to skip certain parts.

 

All text copyright @ www.Ninja-Reflection.com

Related Posts