Ning An Ru Meng (2023)

Who said only bad girls have all the fun

Do-over seems to be the plot du jour at the moment. While most shows in this genre would focus on righting wrongs and get revenge on antagonists, this one took a different approach.

In this case, the FL was a cruel and ruthless Queen in her past life. Her path to the top was awash with the blood of both friends and foes. In that sense, she is trying to stop herself going down the same path again and right her own wrongs! This is certainly a more novel take on this genre. I’m excited to see how will the writer spin this yarn.

This review will look at this drama from two different angles. On one hand, the series is very entertaining, full of engaging characters and it is gratifying to watch the progress of the FL in her “new” life. However, if we look at the series with more critical eyes then we can see issues with the pacing, narrative and acting.

There is no doubt that this is a S class production. Sets are lush (love to see their Hengdian bill), costumes are beautiful if a tad generic. There is a big cast so important scenes are well populated with extras.

Bai Lu has the titular role and she owns it. She plays both the evil and good roles with aplomb. My only reservation is that while she is supposed to be a maiden about 18 years old in Life 2.0, she can look and feel a lot older. I suppose that is because in Life 1.0, she did and saw things that would age any mortals. It does make her character a little out of focus in earlier episodes as she dances between an innocent teenager and the ghost of an evil Queen. The question of whether she would flip to the dark side cannot be ignored.

This highlights one of the major issues for me. The show is filled with flashbacks of Life 1.0. This is particularly true during earlier episodes where it is almost like watching a mashup of two dramas. The drama tries to distinguish them by dulling the colour palette of the L1.0 scenes. Nevertheless, this can be quite jarring as the trigger for a lengthy flashback might be a simple chance meeting and suddenly, we are watching an epic battle. Even if we don’t get a flashback, she might pause and have an internal monologue about what she did wrong and what she should do now.

These sudden scene changes can give you a whiplash and it slows the forward momentum. It is also confusing when we try to decipher the significance of each event based on snippets of dialogues and jumbled recollections. What is worse is that Life 1.0 is actually more intriguing and exciting compared to the early part of Life 2.0. She is trying so hard to be good, she is boring. I almost want to watch L1.0 more than L2.0 until about the 1/3 mark. I understand why they did it but by making Life 1.0 so dramatic and impactful, it takes the wind out of Life 2.0's sails.

What I have to say next is not going to be popular. The ML is tall and handsome but his acting left me cold. Most of the time he is stoic and occasionally he gets angry. That’s about it. His dialogue delivery feels flat. Another issue is his approach to romance is quite caveman like. It makes him looks brutish when he isn't. The sad fact is that the two other 2ML's radiate serious second lead syndrome.

On the other hand, acting from the ensemble cast is good. There are the odd weaker links, but the more senior members have certainly earn their keep.

To be honest, the series is much more enjoyable in the second half. By then, the FL's plan to change her destiny is finally in place and she surrounds herself with a group of fast friends. The last few episodes are the best. Packed with epic battles, court intrigues and swoon worthy moments. What more can you ask? The ending is satisfying with all the loose ends tired up nicely.

I commend the writer for being innovative and I did enjoy this drama. However, I was distracted by issues which I can't ignore. It lost a point because of that.

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Terrific Actors. Riveting Story.

After watching this, I realized that Bai Lu is actually a good actress. I have watched her in two dramas before this and didn't really think much of her acting skills. Its not that she didn't stand out, she is terrific and charming, but the scripts just weren't right for her. Kunning palace was such a terrific script, with a lot of plot holes and missed potential, regardless it was riveting until the very end.

And after watching Zhang Ling He play the role of Xie Wei / Xie Ju'an, I have come to realize that he was made to portray historical characters. He is so unrecognizable from his modern day roles, where he reminds me of a teenager. In his historical roles, he bring us a different aura, just like he did with his role in Love Between Fairy and Devil. I'm going to check out few of his other dramas as well to see more of him. In some scenes in Kunning Palace, he kinda overdid it and we have to ask the directors what were they thinking. For example, the first scene where they introduced him, they gave us a close up of his neck. It just looked so damn funny. But apart from some of these weird instances, he did a phenomenal job with this character.

You'll Keep Guessing Who The FL ends up with until the last few episodes (Spoilers below)
Let's begin with the adorable Yan Lin, he brought light to Ning's life. While she never showed any romantic affection for him, she cherished him a lot.
With Zhang Zhe, the story was so complex that it wasn't fully explored. Even though it seemed slow paced, it felt like there were a lot of missed opportunities to make their story flow. After claiming to like him so much, Ning seem to have given up way too quickly on what could have been between them and so did he. Despite her being a stranger to him, he was attracted to her and we can see in his expression that it was not just because of her looks.
Xie Wei / Xie Ju'an, the reason I was glad that it didn't work out with Zhang Zhe. While Ning would have had a sort of peaceful life with Zhang Zhe, he would never truly have understood Ning as a person. He was a bit too rigid for her, sometimes that makes a good choice but the chemistry between Xie Wei & Ning was just too strong to notice anything else.

What really pissed me off was the story between Jiang Xuehui & Shen Jie. Shen Jie seemed like such a powerless character that it was hard not to feel sad for Jiang Xuehui and kind of curse Shen Jie for not having spine.

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cliche c-drama "do over" story

Despite its cliche premise, this drama is very promising at the beginning when heroine Jiang Xuening first resurrects into her younger self. Armed with knowledge of the future, she can gleefully manipulate the situation to her will and the first ten ish episodes are enjoyable if you don't squint too hard.

However knowledge from the future is not the same as intelligence, despite the writers' attempt to equate the two. As the plot becomes more muddled somewhere past the halfway mark it becomes clear that neither Jiang Xuening or Xie Wei are very rational or smart. The "politics" makes little sense and moves forward through the help of deus ex machina.

Furthermore the romance is filled with all sorts of strange baggage which is meant to be romantic but gets increasingly odd and kind of unpleasant. To make the ML more "dominant" and edgy, his personality has a definite violent and stalkerish tendency which is meant to be explained away by his dark past. I guess this is what market research shows girls are into in Asia.

One can give credit to the staff for doing a good job of putting the production together, but it can only be considered a polished c- drama and unfortunately not a top tier one.

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A Slow Fall From Grace

Rated 🧜‍♂️

I thought this show was going to be my first Unicorn rating. But of course, in those last 10 episodes, everything started to fall like the Xue family. For the most part, the entirety of the show is a back and forth between the FL's love interests and the slow death of the Xue family. I mean, they get a few swings in but really not as much as I thought they would, not as much as they should have considering how much of a presence they had.

Plot - The first 10 episodes had a great setting. The Fl grew up in poverty and dreamed of being the empress. She uses all wiles and tricks to get what she wants only for it all to backfire and end with her death. In a world without magic, this is explained by showcasing the title. It's a young author's story who is frustrated with the demands from her publisher and continues her novel as a rewrite. This is how the FL wakes up as her 18 year old self and is given a chance to 'rewrite' her story.
She carries a lot of guilt and sadness for her past behaviour and this haunts her for the most part of the show, trying to give back the positions she stole and right who she wronged. This narrative carries on for the most but slowly starts to change over to our ML as we discover who he really is and what is true motives are.
The hidden plot is basically the Empress Dowager and her brother have been conspiring to get the Xue family onto the throne and bring in a new era. I can't help but feel a little disappointed that with this iron clad presence, they did not have the weight that I thought they would have. I mean they tried but for the most part, Duke Xue was pretty useless and the kids were stupid.
They were stopped at every attempt they made. I guess that makes for easy watching but it got kind of funny after a while, as the whole show had nothing to do with the FL redeeming herself at all, and was just a slow dismantling of the Xue family's supposed power which we didn't really get to see a lot of.

As the the relationship between the FL and her 3 suitors, one was the childhood friend trope, one was what you expect from a romance story and the other was just a messed up person grappling for something sincere, so of course we get the third one.
It didn't really feel anything for the first suitor but loved that he became a handsome young general in the end and I like to think that he ended up with the Princess. I think they would have made a cute pair.
The 2nd one, as much as a prince charming that he was, he didn't suit the FL's personality. He was never seen to be anything other than the proto type of justice and noble character. Having said that, I did like him and didn't think the FL deserved him. Would have been nice to let him move on and show him doing so rather than just being that friend that's pining after another man's wife.

And the 3rd one, our ML, was doing well up until the cave scene. Desperation in your mental illness is one thing but I felt like from then on, this intense, all or nothing character just wasn't done very well. It didn't feel romantic to me. It just felt like a desperate man with severe PTSD begging the FL to stay in his life, no matter how romantic they tried to make it. At times, it even felt abusive but then I don't like being controlled either so I have a hard time imaging a woman like the FL would fall in love with the ML. It would have made more sense to have given stronger hints and scenes of her feelings developing earlier with the ML, or developing sexual tension to help round out the dark and sexy vibe they were going for, but instead they focused on building up the love with suitor no.2 just so she could randomly break up with him because she suddenly thought his mother's death was her fault, again.

Overall, I just don't feel like the relationship between the ML and the FL was well developed enough. Yes, too broken people with traumatic backgrounds falling in love but this just felt like being relentlessly pursued and then suddenly being in love. It was a bit of a failure and as much as I can give credit for getting away with as much of a sex scene as they could, it gave a similar vibe as to when Mr. Gray was popular. Dark and intense love is not abusive, emotional manipulative and controlling. I don't find that sexy at all. The icing on the cake is grabbing her by the throat twice, to force a kiss. Yeah. No. We were crossing into r*pe fantasies at time and that shouldn't be anyone's thing. Yes, I am kink shaming.
It should not be up to the FL to 'save' the ML and be his medicine. When two broken characters come together, you really have to show the understanding and feelings growing between them and I don't feel satisfied with what I saw.
The ML bullying his son at the end just seemed mean spirited with a does of gaslighting.

Acting- Not bad for the most part. Really didn't like how the ML would try to make his voice deeper when he arguing with the FL as if that made him sexier. It sounded a bit silly to me because I could hear how forced it was.

Music- I really loved the soundtrack to this. 'Won't see you in 3 thousand lives' is already on my playlist.

Rewatch - Overall, it was a good watch and I was invested for most of the ride. I guess I could watch it again if the mood takes me.

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Chemistry off the chart

I'm not entirely a fan of this trope, i.e where the audience is taken into a story written in modern times. This part however only had minimal screentime in the beginning and at the end of the actual story so I enjoyed this series ❤️

*******SPOILER ALERT********

Story: I'm only giving this a 9 rating as the concept of Ning'er reliving her life to change her destiny was sometimes a bit 'unrealistic', what I mean by this is the fact that she's completely different to what she was in the previous life. Her being a scheming individual that only wanted to be the empress, which is a person with different values. This is my only gripe with the actual story.

Actors did a great job in portraying their respective characters. Special mention to the ML, Zhang Ling He who did an excellent job portraying Xie Wei, he really looked crazed at times, unhinged, obsessed and in love with the FL, Ning'er. Bai Lu did a good job as FL. They had great chemistry. I also enjoyed the acting of the following actors, Wang Xing Yue, Zhou Jun Wei, Liu Xie Ning, Jiang Xiao Lin (bodyguard of Xie Wei), also the other bodyguard of Xie Wei who's name I can't find under the supporting actors.

Other actors that also caught my attention is Zhou Da Wei, Melody Tang, Qin Tian Yu, Yu Zhong Li, Cui Shao Yang(really played the part of a playboy and fake Xue Dingfei well) and Yu Zong Li as 'sister' of Ning'er.

Production and Visual FX : 8.5

Ost: 8.5

Rewatch value : 8 will rewatch if there's nothing better to watch

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such a slow burn romance

this story was the most intriguing slow-burn love story that was well and very well brought to life. From character development to plot line each move and dialogue was well considered as well as well presented by the actors. From start to end many questions had to be answered. The excellent part is that not all of them were kept to the end to be answered and some of them were on purpose revealed to the viewer to increase as well as decrease the anxiety of the viewer. Zhang Lianghe did a good of portraying Xie Wei (Xie ju’an). another notable actor other than Bai Lu was from Zhou Jun Wei. Overall worth a watch.
{also beware of the kiss scene. they where wonderful}

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Very Entertaining Story

This one features a FL who goes back in time to fix mistakes made the first time. The supernatural element is gotten around by the censors by having this actually be a story that the author is creating. This has modern scenes framing the story, but these modern scenes are short and add nothing to the plot.

The FL is capable and strong. Because she lived this life before, she is able to use her knowledge to change or attempt to change fate from the first time. It’s interesting because in changing circumstances, things don’t play out like she expects. We get just enough glimpses of her past life to see the difference but we aren’t overburdened by flashes of the past.

If you don’t like a dark hero, then this is not the drama for you. Xie Wei is not your typical Chinese drama lead. He is scheming, ruthless, and legitimately mentally unwell. The translation was schizophrenia but his illness get closer to PTSD. Nevertheless, though he is super intelligent, he is hampered by this fugue state he gets in when it snows. I felt the actor playing him overdid it with the crazy eyes at times. But overall his character was interesting and intriguing.

The romance is slow burn. It doesn’t really ramp up until the last 10 episodes or so, though there is enough of it throughout the show to keep even romance fans like myself interested. Highly recommended.

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Bravo! Bravíssimo!

O roteiro é bom, os personagens bem construídos e o desenvolvimento do enredo bastante satisfatório.
Quando um drama tem capítulo especial, geralmente, é porque a finalização deixou a desejar, mas neste drama o especial é apenas um brinde da direção com cenas que não foram utilizadas na edição, pois em nada alteram o magnífico trabalho apresentado. Este drama, inicialmente, tinha a previsão de um número maior de capítulos, mas na edição ficaram apenas 38.
A direção conduziu o drama de maneira espetacular, as cenas eram bem acabadas, a coreografia das lutas impecáveis, edição sem erros graves, equilíbrio perfeito na emoção despertada nas cenas e cenário ou CGI maravilhosos. O efeito da borboleta utilizado no primeiro e no trigésimo oitavo capítulo é de uma sutileza indescritível. A ideia genial do diretor de refletir imagens no olho do cavalo e, também, nos olhos do casal protagonista, trouxe brilhantismo ao drama. A captação de cena de chuva no telhado no capítulo 6, remete a ideia de uma "tempestade" se aproximando para modificar os fatos. O diretor Chu Yui Bun costuma utilizar de recursos cativantes e prender a atenção logo nos primeiros capítulos, Neste drama ele tinha, além de seu talento indiscutível, um bom roteiro e um elenco de primeira grandeza. A finalização é bem elaborada e condizente com o desenrolar do trama.
O elenco esbanjou talento, não há nenhum personagem que não tenha sido muito bem representado. Bai Lu brilhou soberana do início ao fim, suas cenas foram viscerais. Senti cada emoção da personagem ao longo dos 38 capítulos, pude rir, chorar, sentir raiva, medo, desejo... A cena da morte de Fang Yin é de partir o coração, não só pelo seguimento da história, mas, principalmente, pela atuação de Bai Lu, seus olhos assumiram toda a dor da perda e depois todo rancor pelo assassino da amiga. Em várias cenas as palavras eram desnecessárias, pois os atores se esmeraram em incorporarem seus personagens.
O figurino é lindíssimo e a trilha sonora agradável.

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Strong Cast Performance mees Quality Production. Must-watch.

Stellar cast with an entralling plot. Absolutely loved the deep, mysterious vibe of the ML. His deep voice and stern facade really played well into the character. Fell in love in EP 1 with his 1 word "可". Bai Lu is again, inexplicabily beautiful in a Costume drama. Enjoyed the strength and straigtfowardness of the FL, actions & thoughts made sense, though she did fall into a more Damel in Distress personality towards the end. The chemistry though was excellent. There was always some kind of tension between the leads that all the more made viewers anticipate their ending.

The plot is where I thought could be more improved. While the pacing and arcs were decently written. many of the excellent premises were not woven and fully made use of. I fully expected the ML's schizophrenia to play a larger role towards the end. It would have been nice for the FL to also show more maturity in her behaviour considering she was "reincarnated" from an empress. Character growth kinda fell backwards from empress to a 19 year old girl..

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binge-worthy

This is one of my 2 favourite dramas of 2023 (the other being The Blood of Youth). Would regularly watch 3-5 episodes at a time, probably took me less than 2 weeks to get through entire drama from start to finish.

For me the sign of a good c-drama is when I don't fast forward through scenes or episodes or just drop the drama entirely. This drama had a great story and the plot moves forward every episode, never once had the urge to skip scenes. The cast was excellent and there was not a single actor or character that annoyed me or felt out of place. It's about a lady that goes back in time to try to fix the past. It is a similar concept to Bai Lu's other 2023 drama (Till the End of the Moon) but Kunning palace is far superior to that one. It does a good job of inter-twining her past life with the present as she seeks to change outcomes. I could nitpick at some of the familiar plot devices used in this drama, for example, the evil empress dowager or the corrupt high-ranking official but there was so much that was good about this drama that these can be over-looked. Also liked the music in this drama and how it was used, they don't overdo it with the song interludes which was a nice change. Finally, the ending although a bit predictable was very satisfying and much better than many of the c-dramas from 2023.

This drama is a definite binge watch, once you watch the first few episodes you will be hooked

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Started ok, Finished Wonderful

The high score attracted to look into it. Than i saw Bailu and Zhang Ling He and i was convinced to proceed further :). At the beginning i was thinking why is so high rated, yes they play well, yes is filmed nicely, yes to the environment, yes to the music, but i couldn't get that emotions to keep me engaged. Is a lot of Palace dialogues and plans on revenge from different sides of the story. From ep 12 it started to move a little bit, emotions between Ning and Zhang Zhe won me to continue. I felt that love from both sides, the sadness, the helpless, the powerless, the sacrifice - played beautifully.
All story goes well, I can't say that it was something really new, but the way story goes along and how is transmitted from flashbacks and back is executed gorgeously.
The last 10 episodes made me stay hooked wholly. The first kiss is absolutely dashing, ohh boy Xie Wei - this is when i said, is all worth watching it - don't get me wrong i am not a pervert :)), but sometimes in the dramas you need this to won the scene. It was rough, craving, longing for it and i could feel his desperation, the strong desire for love and caring.
Overall is a beautiful masterpiece, absolutely all characters played well, the bad ones, the good ones, the passer by's. I loved the many locations and places they used, the decorations, the nature, this gives richness to the drama. A little bit of abuse of camera to go into eyes and see the others, or the faded colours, it didn't spoil too much, but overly done is not good either.
The only thing i didn't like is the sister story - the prince didn't tell her that she is not the chosen one, yes they show at the end as a happy family, but it got me very frustrated (i know on those time that was something ordinary, but i still don't like it :)).
Enjoy!!!

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