This drama has many of the Dream of Splendor’s cast, and it kind of starts out like Dream of Splendor too: a female lead who is determined to be financially independent; a guy who is all secretive goes on a mission with an arrogant attitude, and the next thing he knows, he is on the floor twisting and squirming because of poison, and the only one who can save him is our girl.
EPISODE 1 (and a bit of 2) RECAP
The drama begins with a noble lady Ma Zhuohua (Jing Tian) running away from an arranged marriage and planning to make it as a scholar instead.
On the way, Zhuohua shows us that not only is she well-read and open-minded, she also works part-time as a physician. So money is not really a problem for her.
While running around trying to hide from her family, figuring things out for herself, and giving people cough drops, she runs into the male lead Liu Yan (Feng Shaofeng).
Let’s lay out a few things about him.
Liu Yan is a war general, and according to… his own flashbacks, he is a war general who has endured extreme hardship and brutality on the battlefield. While maintaining perfect skin, it seems.
I understand skin filters are necessary in this type of drama, but did they have to go to this length to make him look flawless? Look, I’ve seen Feng Shaofeng in Minglan and I’m pretty sure he has lines on his face. Which isn’t a bad thing at all. This is a military leader we’re talking about here. He hangs out with horses, harsh weather, all-nighters, and bad food on the road, let his appearance reflect that.
Anyway, Liu Yan has also been betrayed by someone he thought was good. And now he is seeking people who may be connected to this traitor for an investigation.
But one day, just when Liu Yan thinks things are going his way, he and his important correspondence get poisoned. The woman dies but Liu Yan manages to drag himself to a safe location – a warehouse in the backyard of a brothel.
Zhuohua, coincidently, has been asked by a woman from this brothel to come and check on a dancer earlier, which she did. Afterward, the woman asks Zhuohua for another favor, which involves walking to the backyard to heal someone else.
Now, as Zhuohua strolls around that poorly lit backyard without questioning the motive of these ladies who keep asking her favor after favor, she hears a cough coming from a building with no light inside. And what do you know, that naïve-and-oblivious-female-lead gene kicks in and she enters the building.
Even when it is clear that there’s no slighting inside the room, she still doesn’t retreat back out. So do I feel sorry for her when a man grabs her from the back and looks like he’s about to knock her dead? Not really. But then, I already know nothing’s going to happen to her — it’s episode one.
That man in the dark room is Liu Yan. He has been poisoned and doesn’t know what to do right now to save himself.
Grasping the situation, Zhuohua gets her gear out and starts performing acupuncture on the guy, which makes him wince and grimace. I’m pretty sure she’s doing something wrong because acupuncture isn’t supposed to hurt this much.
Also, don’t people back then usually place the tip of an acupuncture needle above a burning candle to disinfect it before using it or something?
While working, Zhuohua makes some comments on the man’s appearance, specifically, she mistakes him for a prostitute who works at this brothel. Oh… so maybe the skin filter is on purpose? He’s supposed to look flawless and girl-like?
One little note here: Liu Yan’s sidekick – not very likable.
He frowns and scowls the entire time – which I hope there’s a legitimate reason for – and when Liu Yan tells him that a woman just comments on his girly look, the guy is like: Oh yeah? Let me go and kill her.
Buddy, you’re on an important mission. Are you really going to waste time chasing after someone because they don’t worship your boss’ feminine features?
COMMENTS
So far, the drama is very watchable. They take the same tropes other dramas employ and use them in a considerate manner. The female lead is a doctor from the get-go, which might feel like a lazy method to show that she is “smart and capable” without actually putting her through tests. Though, the good thing is: Jing Tian is selling it well. The character isn’t too showy about it and the drama is not having her perform any miracles (yet), just regular first-aid stuff.
But then, acupuncture is a very difficult medical intervention to perform, and they just let her go around sticking needles into people without sterilizing them, so… yeah, there’s that.
As of now, I can’t say I’m rooting for the lead couple, mostly due to Feng Shaofeng still acting very self-conscious in front of the camera and not exactly being in character yet. Secondly, I also can’t say that the first encounter between them is well done — guy is half-dead and reluctantly clinging on to girl for help. It is rather cliched without any creative spins to make it different from other dramas. There are a number of actors and actresses who can make the audience empathize with their characters’ physical pain, I don’t believe Feng Shaofeng is one of those actors yet. At least not in this drama.
But it’s only episode 1 and the plot has great potential, so I’m optimistic.
The costumes might be a bit on the unauthentic end, but maybe the storyline can make up for that.
And if the sidekick guy gets better in later episodes, do let me know.