Rule the World (2017)

Through the course of this drama, I have felt so many emotions. Sometimes all of them in just one episode. I have felt sadness, regret, love, betrayal, anger. I have laughed and I have cussed people out. Even now, as I’m writing this review two days later, I have a lot of mixed feelings about this drama.

Firstly, I would like to express that this drama is not for the faintest of hearts. Especially if you are someone like me who detests polygamy.

You may say, “Well every historical drama has harem! It was the norm then.”

I will say, Ofcourse I do understand. Harems are to be expected in a historical drama. Especially one that surrounds Royalty.

The difference is here is that there are two types of harem dramas.

One, where the Male lead already has an established harem when the female lead walks into his life, and the female lead is the last addition in his harem because he’s fallen in ‘love’ with her (Example: Oh My General).

And two, where the Male lead loves the female lead but keeps on marrying more concubines and having sexual relations with them whilst saying that he loves the female lead (Example: Rule The World, this drama. )


There is a very prominent difference in these two types of dramas. An undeniable difference not everyone can build a tolerance to or endure.

I, personally, have a heart too weak to endure such pain. I can not.

Please watch according to your tolerance level and preference :)


Adding on, exclusive of the first point, I am quite fond of the this drama. That is the only reason why despite of being so hurt with the Male lead’s “situation/actions” I kept on watching till the end. The actors all did a wonderful job, especially the female lead.

Can I express just how much pain I felt when I saw her smiling through her pain and acting as if seeing the Male lead getting his other wife pregnant or marrying more women wasn’t hurting her ? I probably can’t fathom such a situation without tearing up. She was that good. She was very good.

I suppose that is why I’ve been able to hold such a soft spot for this drama. Initially I was so upset I rated the drama as 7/10. Then it went up to 7.5/10. For the past two days I refused to change rating but I can’t help it. Now, it’s 8/10.

Despite the apparent change that they must have had to do due to the time-travel ban, the story flowed smoothly and everything (except the stupid harem angle) seemed to have a purpose.

If there had been a different circumstance. Without so much marrying of the Male lead and the pregnancies of his wives — I may have given this a 9.5/10.

I can’t help but lament, out of all the men who loved her. I wish she had been with Cuyen. I wish.

I also wish we could have seen her future writer self get with the publishing company’s president/director dude at the end, instead of the side by side laughing fade to black thing they did.

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This drama has lots of shadows of Bu Bu Jing Xin (i.e. female lead transmigration, Qing era, reverse harem, throne fight among princes, loosely based on actual historical events, etc) so for those who like BBJX and are looking for a similar show, this is not a bad alternative. But to manage expectations, this is going to be a relatively pale/ weak alternative (but still better than nothing).

STORY (No spoilers)
The script/ plot for this show can be pretty loose and sloppy, unlike BBJX's strongly and tightly woven one. While you do have a lot of time skips which you will need to figure out by yourself, this is nothing compared to quite a few incidents of script illogic peppered throughout the show which got worse towards the end. There were quite a few incidents where I found myself wondering what was going on with a certain situation and never really got an answer so I had to make up my own in order to just move on with the show. Some people might not find this to be bothersome but I personally found it off-putting and I couldn't really immerse myself in the story because of it. It somewhat spoiled the watch experience for me.

Also, aside from our main leads, other key supporting characters were left hanging without closure by the end of the show. It's a bit strange how the show kept introducing new characters as it progresses but never really brought many of them to completion. Again, this might not be too bothersome for some people but I personally was a little dissatisfied with how they got shafted, especially for characters which the show starts introducing and giving quite a bit of screen-time towards the last 5 episodes or so. They were brought out into the limelight at the last minute but at the end I was left wondering why and for what purpose. I get the uncomfortable impression that they were toddled out to either introduce new actors/ actresses or to pad out drama episodes.

The politics and throne-fight were interspersed throughout the show but, in my opinion, it really took a backseat to the romance so for viewers who like shows with deep and complex political machinations, you will be disappointed. However, for viewers who are uninterested in this aspect of a show, you'll likely enjoy it more because this show comes across quite heavily romance-weighted.

And that's the drama's major strength, really - the strong emphasis on Romance in this show. For romance-junkies (like me), this will be a huge draw and can offset a lot of the drama's weaknesses. Our female lead, having the title of 'most beautiful woman' among the Jurchens, will inevitably attract a lot of suitors, some of them creepy and some of them swoony. The show spends quite a generous amount of time focusing on her romances and as the main couple eventually get established, the drama gives us quite a bit of sweet-cute couple time and goosebump-inducing love declarations or love actions which would delight any shippers' heart. This is actually quite a delightful surprise, considering that this is a historical C-drama where romantic gestures and skinship tend to be extremely limited and constrained due to the cultural and historical setting. So, viewers will be pleasantly surprised with this drama's romance offerings.

Our main couple are also left in a very good place when the drama ends so for those viewers who dislike the way historical C-dramas tend to have tragic or open endings, well, you don't have to be worried about that for this drama.


ACTING/ CAST
I found the acting here to be more than serviceable across the board - a pleasant surprise considering the youth of some of the cast. I didn't think any particular actor or actress stood out from the rest and the characters felt that they had equal weight in their screen presence.

Our main leads and key supporting characters did well in bringing their characters to life but if you're looking for handsome flower-boys as eye candy, you will likely be disappointed. I do like my pretty/ good-looking male leads, but the broad masculinity and bulky manliness of our male characters on show here, couple with their authoritative air of walking, standing and moving, is very attractive to me.

One also needs to get over the Qing hairstyle shaved-head look for the males, but I hope such an aesthetic won't deter new viewers from watching because it would be a shame to miss out a potentially interesting show just because of hairstyles. I'd like to encourage fence-sitters to consider overcoming their misgivings and to give this show a try.


MUSIC
Limited soundtrack which can come across rather repetitive towards the end. Background music is serviceable.


RE-WATCH VALUE
For me, the romance scenes are the only ones worth re-watching. There are several nice ones!

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SPOILER ALERT!!!!

This is a super good drama but this is a definitely a slow burn one. And by i mean slow is a really sloooow one.

STORY
(-)
I feel like it kinda similar to Bu Bu Jing Xin but in a way it also kinda not(?). I feel like BBJX has a more clear storyline that is enjoyable to watch throughout the entire series without skipping it, but sometimes in this series, i have to skip watch some of the scenes (especially in the earlier episodes). But it doesn’t mean that the story is bad, I just don’t prefer to watch the throne fighting scenes which sometimes could be too much for me to handle. I also find it very confusing with the time jumps because suddenly it could skip a year or two. Also, its very frustrating to see almost all the male character is trying to use her ESPECIALLY HER BROTHER LIKE WTH DUDE.

This is a harem drama since this is a historical drama and includes royalty

(+)
I know that some people might hate the idea of polygamy (i mean me too) but this drama is a historical drama and thats what i came here for. I want to see and be able to experience how its feel like and i think thats the beauty and the pain from a harem drama. But TRUST ME, this is not your typical harem drama like (Yanxi Palace, Ruyi royal love) because this drama takes place when the Qing dynasty first establish. There is only a little power struggle within the harem but that’s not the main focus of it (they only show a little bit of the consorts fighting each other).

There is also no Empress dowager or the mother of the emperor or the grandmother whatsoever that literally could control the emperor or bind him with the rules in the palace. Basically the male lead character are the one in charge of the rules (since he is the one who will become the first emperor). So i find it very new that there is so much that the male lead could do because there’s nothing holding him back.

Also usually in a palace drama, the male lead even though he only love one girl (which is the female lead) he still have feelings or favor his other consort. In this series, the male lead is respectful to his other wives but he really makes a clear statement of who is the one he love, and proves it to his actions.

And lastly, what i find very new and very interesting is that, usually in a historical drama, since the system is patriarchy, the women usually do a lots of bows and kneeling (especially if the male lead is an emperor) but this drama don’t really show that from the female lead. And shes not the type of weak or timid character but also, not as badass like fan bing bing character in Empress of China. I like it cause it’s balance between the two.

CASTING / ACTOR
The chemistry between the two lead actors is sooooo good. And i really like Raymond portrayal of Hong Taiji. He is not the typical flower boy in Chinese drama. He really manage to portray a character which not only masculine and manly but also show how much authority he have when he talk or walk, and I think that is very attractive.

The female actress, Tang Yixin, did also an excellent job on portraying Dong Ge, a princess with a modern concept of love. Just by looking at her eyes you can tell how much sorrow she held and by the end of the series, you could see how much character development she went.

This is my first ever review of drama in any platform and I decided to write this long review because i find this drama very interesting and very very goood yet so underrated.

You could watch this series on youtube with an engsub but if you’re from Southeast Asia like me, the video might be blocked in your country so you could watch it in dramacool except for ep 45 because it’s not yet subbed . The only thing you could do is watch ep 1-44 in dramacool and watch ep 45 on Youtube using a VPN that the server is based on outside of Asia.

I hope this is helpful ♥

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Jin Dynasty Cheesy Pleasure

Once in a while, when I want to just turn my brain off and watch something unapologetically romantic, I turn to a guilty pleasure drama like this one.

Why is this a guilty pleasure drama? Make no mistake, this is a cheesy platter of a drama. The acting, and the dialogue are pure cheese! 100% cheesy goodness.

It's about a woman who is trapped and forced into marriage over and over again. Because she is beautiful, she gets used as bait over and over again, in a feudal bid for land.

Many men desire her because of her looks, and there is a love triangle with two men she grew up with. As you might or might not know, I actually like love triangles quite a lot. Especially when a female character has feelings for both MLs. That's more realistic and logical, for a FL to figure out her feelings over time.

What is unique about this particular drama is that it transports you into the world of the Jurchen Dynasty. It's a dynasty that isn't shown very often in Chinese dramas, and when it is, the people of that dynasty, I guess because they were a minority run empire, are usually depicted as somewhat savage, or eccentric, or "ethnic", and rather primitive. Not so with this drama though.

There's nothing very remarkable about this drama. It's a romantic drama with a simple storyline, and there isn't any depth to it. The FL and ML are good in their roles. It's a guilty pleasure romantic drama for when you are looking for one of those.

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The height of romanticism with happy ending

Three things I hate the most in dramas : 1. when you are told that you are in a novel and you happen to see parts of the writer’s life instead of focusing on the main story ; 2. when the female lead has modern values (like romantic love, freedom, equality between men and women) while the story takes place in remote times where women were considered as one commodity to serve their "owner ; 3. when there are too many historical nonsens.
Well, then I should have dropped this drama, but I didn’t. Partly because of the actors and the story itself, partly because of the staging, sets and dialogue’s quality. It’s quite easy to become a fan of the show if you are a girl. You want to know what will happen to Dong Ge, Jurchen’s most beautiful woman, the one everyone wants to marry ! The one who doesn’t want to marry ! It may sound boring but surprisingly it isn’t. The twists of the story as well as the chemistry between the main characters (Dong Ge and Hong Taiji) keep us in suspense and it is a pleasure to watch many particularly moving and sweet scenes.
This is a romantic story, both Dong Ge et Hong Taiji want to feel and share the same kind of love. Both are waiting for their « one and only ». Sometimes, it is too much ! To me, Hong Taiji is an awesome romantic character. I don’t want to spoil anything but he saves her many times, even from her own death….
Dong Ge and Hong Taiji are cousins. She is older than him (7 or 8 years older) and sees him like a child. When Hong Taiji,s mother dies, she makes them promise to look after each other and support each other. They have a special bond that will gradually turn into love. Episode 19, their first kiss :
« Dong Ge : It can’t be…
Hong Taiji : What’s wrong ?
DG You are Nurhaci’son !
HT : So is Daisan !
DG : it’s not the same ! You are my aunt’s son. I promised her to take care of you !
HT : But, you are !
DG : No, no ! This is not right ! I am much older than you ! Besides I am also… Anyway, Hong Taiji, it’s impossible for us to be together !
HT : Dong Ge, to me nothing is impossible ! It’s only impossible for me to loose you. »

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HUGE SPOILERS AHEAD! (A CHARACTER REVIEW)

THIS PARTICULAR STORY, I WOULD LIKE TO SAY THAT IT IS ONE OF MY MOST FAV QING DYNASTY DRAMA OF ALL TIME!

IF THERE IS SOMEONE WHO LIKES LOVE TRIANGLES, THEN THIS IS IT. (HOWEVER, FL HAS SO MANY ADMIRER ONE CAN'T COUNT). THIS DRAMA MUST HAVE THE MOST NUMBER OF SECOND MALE LEAD SYNDROME NAMELY DAISAN, CUYEN, DORGON, AND MAYBE WUKEYA. THERE ARE OTHERS TOO LIKE NURHACI, BAINDARI, AND JIE SAI WHO ARE JUST BEHIND HER BEAUTY, LUSTFUL AND DON'T VALUE HER TRULY.

ACCORDING TO ME, THE VILLAIN WOULD BE HER BROTHER BUYANGGU WHO JUST WANTED TO USE HER TO ACCOMPLISH HIS OWN NEEDS. REALLY SPITEFUL!

FL: THERE WERE MANY UPS AND DOWNS IN HER LIFE EVEN THOUGH SHE WAS JURCHEN'S MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN. THE MAIN CAUSE OF IT WAS HER MODERN WAY OF FINDING LOVE. SHE ISN'T SOMEONE WHO WANTS TO DEPEND UPON MALES. SHE STRIVES HER BEST TO GET WHAT SHE WANTS. HER CHARACTER WAS GIVEN JUSTICE BY THE ACTRESS AND HER EMOTIONS WERE DEEP AND WELL EXECUTED.

ON THE CONTRARY, SOMETIMES I DIDN'T UNDERSTAND WHY SHE MADE PARTICULAR DECISIONS BUT ALL THE WAY SHE WAS GOOD.

ML: I DON'T EVEN HAVE WORDS TO SAY ANYTHING ABOUT OUR HERO HONG TAIJI. HE IS THE MOST ADMIRABLE ML FROM QING DYNASTY WHO HAS ONLY EYES FOR OUR FL HIS WHOLE LIFE. HE IS MATURE, UNDERSTANDING, SUBMISSIVE TO FL, LITTLE JEALOUS IN A CUTE WAY. EVEN THOUGH FL HAD SO MANY ADMIRERS, HE DIDN'T TORMENT HER BUT RATHER SUPPORTED HER ALONG THE WAY WHILE PROTECTING HER. DRAMA HAD SO MANY SMLs BUT ML'S AURA WAS SO STRONG IT DIDN'T DIMINISH HALF WAY.

SMLs:
1) DAISAN: IN MY PERSPECTIVE, HE WAS THE MOST DESERVING SML OF ALL DRAMAS. EVEN THOUGH YEARS PASSED BY, HIS LOVE FOR FL DIDN'T CHANGE AND HE DIDN'T ACT AGAINST FL'S CHOICES. GRADUALLY, HE EVEN LET HER GO TO ML.

2) CUYEN: HIS CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT WAS SO GOOD! AT FIRST, HE FORCEFULLY WANTED FL LIKE HIS FATHER NURHACI, BUT AS TIME PASSED, HE STARTED TO UNDERSTAND THE SITUATION IN A MORE MATURE WAY. HE WAS THE MOST FEARLESS PURSUER OF FL WHO DIDN'T EVEN THINK ABOUT HIS FUTURE ASPIRATION AND EVEN HAD MANY ARGUMENTS WITH HIS DAD REGARDING THE FL. HE WAS A HERO. THE LAST TIME WHEN HE MET HER IN JAIL WAS THE MOST EMOTIONAL MOMENT OF THE WHOLE DRAMA.

3) DORGON: HE IS THE REINCARNATION OF CUYEN. HE DID COME IN FRONT OF FL WITH THE SAME PASSION HE HAD IN HIS LAST LIFE. JUST THE SAME WAY, HE WAS NOT AFRAID TO GO AGAINST THE RULER FOR THE FL. IN BOTH OF HIS PAST AND PRESENT LIFE HE WAS KINDA CUTE BUT THIS ONE WAS BETTER THAN BEFORE.

4) WUKEYA: HE WAS A YOUNG MASTER OF WAERKA WHO SAVED FL'S LIFE WHEN SHE WAS KIDNAPPED BY BAINDARI. ALTHOUGH HE DID NOT EXPRESS HIS LOVE TO FL, EVERYONE CAN SEE HIS ADMIRATION FOR FL. I WOULD HAVE PREFERRED MORE OF THEIR INTERACTION 'CAUSE THEIR CHEMISTRY WAS GOOD. HE WAS THE MOST GENNTLEMANLY FIGURE AMONG OTHER SMLs.

5) NURHACI: HE HAD SOME INCONSISTENCY IN HIS ATTITUDE TOWARDS OUR FL BUT ALL THE WAY HE LIKED HER THE SAME WAY AT LEAST ACCORDING TO HIM! HE JUST WANTED HER TO HER HIS PRIMARY CONSORT BUT FL WASN'T WILLING TO SURRENDER SO OVER THE COURSE OF TIME HE LOST HIS TEMPER AND EVEN TRIED TO HARASS HER SOMETIMES BUT STILL LET HER DO WHAT SHE WANTED TO EVERY TIME. HE ALWAYS PUT HIS AMBITIONS IN FRONT WHILE FALSELY DELUSIONING AND WANTING FL.

SFLs:
1) GEDAI: SHE WAS FL'S HANDMAID FROM A RESPECTED CLAN BUT STILL WAS NOT ARROGANT AND FAVOURED HER MASTER (FL) WHOLEHEARTEDLY TILL THE END. SHE LIKED ML BUT WASN'T DRIVEN BY JEALOUSY AND NEVER THOUGHT OF HARMING HER! REALLY A PERSON OF ADMIRABLE CHARACTER.
HER BOND WITH FL WAS MOST PRECIOUS AMONG ANY OTHER FL-SFL FROM OTHER DRAMAS. THEY WERE SO DELIGHTFUL TO WATCH. I PRAYED EVERY DAY WHILE WATCHING THE DRAMA, THAT MS. SCREEN WRITER PLEASE DON'T LET THEIR PRECIOUS BOND GO DOWNHILL BECAUSE OF ANY REASON. AND SCREENWRITER MUST'VE HEARD MY PRAYERS! HAHA :)

2) ABAHAI: I KINDA FELT SOMEWHAT SAD FOR HER. NURHACI ONLY TOOK HER AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR THE FL AND NEVER REALLY LIKED HER. SHE LIKED DAISAN WHOLEHEARTEDLY (AT LEAST ACCORDING TO HER) BUT IT WASN'T RECIPROCATED BY HIM. HER END WAS SO BAD BUT SHE MAYBE DESERVED IT.

OVERALL, I LIKED THE DRAMA. IN BETWEEN SOMEWHERE, THE PLOT WAS STUCK BUT AFTERWARDS, IT AGAIN CAME ONTO THE TRACK. I LIKE FL AND ML'S CHEMISTRY ABOUT HOW SWEETLY HE WOULD INDULGE HER EVERY DEMAND! MAYBE I WON'T REWATCH IT BUT IT WAS SO GOOD THAT AFTER A FEW YEARS I'LL SEARCH FOR THEIR KISSING SCENES ON YOUTUBE ESPECIALLY THEIR FIRST ONE. IT WAS SO HILARIOUS! IT'S WORTH WATCHING IT ONCE!

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It is outright astounding and brilliant, too.

The storyline with the present day was brilliant! I have a question for the Hair Team, was that Raymond Lam's real hair in the last episode? Anyways, The storyline didn't go back n forth as some do. I did take a point off of the storyline rating because you had Tina Tang play DongG kind of wavering at times in the personality of the character. If I could have another kid I would name him "Daišan", love that name. The costumes helped me get into the characters of that era, which is very good. I didn't notice any background music to busy being focused on the storyline but still rate it at 8. I loved the other characters of the 3 brothers but then I saw Qu Chu Xiao towards the end, he is one of my fav actors. Those eyes of his... unt uh uh. Thank you Rule the World team for a marvelous Drama Series.

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