kathleentheturtle
California, USA
Rambling Thoughts & Nit Pickings on Are You the One?
Here’s my essay review on the drama. Grab a cup of tea or coffee, because it’s long and full of spoilers if you venture into the later parts of this essay.
To briefly give a synopsis of the drama, Lu Wen, a bandit leader who upholds justice and helps the poor has been at odds against Cui Xingzhou, also known as Prince Huaiyang (think a feudal lord) for quite some time. The two are equal in combat skills, cunning wit, and strategies, running laps around each other. The bandit leader fights to help the poor, and the prince fights to protect his lands and people. But one day, at the base of a mountain called Mount Yang, Cui Xingzhou (Prince Huaiyang) and his soldiers find an unconscious woman named Liu Miantang, on death’s door with her tendons severed, floating in a pool of her own blood. Believing her to be the beloved concubine of Lu Wen, his rival, Prince Huaiyang does everything to save Liu Miantang’s life to lure out Lu Wen. However when Miantang wakes from her coma, having suffered from her injuries, she has lost 3 years worth of memories and mistakens Xingzhou as her husband. Miantang affectionately calls him Cui Jiu, believing this to be the man she married 3 years ago. Cui Xingzhou (Prince Huaiyang) seizes the opportunity to assume the identity of “Cui Jiu” and plays husband to the amnesic Miantang hoping to catch Lu Wen once and for all. The deeper Xingzhou plays into this fake marriage, the more he begins to fall for Miantang. As Miantang regains her memory, and Xingzhou’s feelings grow, can their love prevail against the betrayal and deception?
This is my short review, which is spoiler-free:
After watching 40 episodes of this drama, I would rate this an 8.5/10. If you’re a fan of the classic movie, Overboard starring Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, you probably will enjoy this drama. The 8.5 score from me stems from really enjoying the fake marriage trope and chemistry between our leads, and Zhang Wanyi nailing his performance. However, there were several missed opportunities in the drama that could have made this a much stronger story.
The drama makes it a point to let us know that Cui Xingzhou/Prince Huaiyang has a rivalry with Lu Wen. Once Lu Wen’s identity is revealed, they failed to show how these two opponents are of equal footing, and I felt they forgot about this story. At the same time, the female lead, Liu Miantang, who was found injured and lost her memory, had made it a point to seek revenge for what had happened to her, amongst other things. But then the drama also seemed to forget this arc and she became a supporting player in her role in exacting her revenge. She was relegated to helping the 2nd male lead instead.
Overall, I enjoyed the drama, but I lament how much better this could have been with tighter storytelling. There are times when I felt the drama struggled with what vibe they were going for: slow pace, serious, comedic, deeper impact on storytelling? There were moments throughout the drama that felt like it dragged, which they could have utilized the pacing better to show a proper reconciliation between Miantang, our female lead, and Xingzhou, the male lead. Then have the two actually work together in a revenge arc.
If you’ve not watched the drama and don’t want spoilers, please stop reading here. Otherwise, you can find the rest of my lengthy review here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1v5qDdwFiLcxvOmpbqx05gF4wOdSh8O3CRJXgu2fzdos/edit
To briefly give a synopsis of the drama, Lu Wen, a bandit leader who upholds justice and helps the poor has been at odds against Cui Xingzhou, also known as Prince Huaiyang (think a feudal lord) for quite some time. The two are equal in combat skills, cunning wit, and strategies, running laps around each other. The bandit leader fights to help the poor, and the prince fights to protect his lands and people. But one day, at the base of a mountain called Mount Yang, Cui Xingzhou (Prince Huaiyang) and his soldiers find an unconscious woman named Liu Miantang, on death’s door with her tendons severed, floating in a pool of her own blood. Believing her to be the beloved concubine of Lu Wen, his rival, Prince Huaiyang does everything to save Liu Miantang’s life to lure out Lu Wen. However when Miantang wakes from her coma, having suffered from her injuries, she has lost 3 years worth of memories and mistakens Xingzhou as her husband. Miantang affectionately calls him Cui Jiu, believing this to be the man she married 3 years ago. Cui Xingzhou (Prince Huaiyang) seizes the opportunity to assume the identity of “Cui Jiu” and plays husband to the amnesic Miantang hoping to catch Lu Wen once and for all. The deeper Xingzhou plays into this fake marriage, the more he begins to fall for Miantang. As Miantang regains her memory, and Xingzhou’s feelings grow, can their love prevail against the betrayal and deception?
This is my short review, which is spoiler-free:
After watching 40 episodes of this drama, I would rate this an 8.5/10. If you’re a fan of the classic movie, Overboard starring Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, you probably will enjoy this drama. The 8.5 score from me stems from really enjoying the fake marriage trope and chemistry between our leads, and Zhang Wanyi nailing his performance. However, there were several missed opportunities in the drama that could have made this a much stronger story.
The drama makes it a point to let us know that Cui Xingzhou/Prince Huaiyang has a rivalry with Lu Wen. Once Lu Wen’s identity is revealed, they failed to show how these two opponents are of equal footing, and I felt they forgot about this story. At the same time, the female lead, Liu Miantang, who was found injured and lost her memory, had made it a point to seek revenge for what had happened to her, amongst other things. But then the drama also seemed to forget this arc and she became a supporting player in her role in exacting her revenge. She was relegated to helping the 2nd male lead instead.
Overall, I enjoyed the drama, but I lament how much better this could have been with tighter storytelling. There are times when I felt the drama struggled with what vibe they were going for: slow pace, serious, comedic, deeper impact on storytelling? There were moments throughout the drama that felt like it dragged, which they could have utilized the pacing better to show a proper reconciliation between Miantang, our female lead, and Xingzhou, the male lead. Then have the two actually work together in a revenge arc.
If you’ve not watched the drama and don’t want spoilers, please stop reading here. Otherwise, you can find the rest of my lengthy review here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1v5qDdwFiLcxvOmpbqx05gF4wOdSh8O3CRJXgu2fzdos/edit
Esta resenha foi útil para você?
