The Story of Ming Lan (2018)

I read other reviews saying that this was slow burn, even if it was slow it burned all the way. The intrigue, the planning, the counter plans was amazing.
The characters executed their roles brilliantly. You know you are good when your character is hated. I hated Big Madam Gu. If I could get in there and slap her face myself I was willing to do it. But her evil plot was foiled.
The main couple had good chemistry, their relationship was very real, with a range of human emotion.
This drama is a win, the costumes and the dishes were fantastic and modern. the modes of transportation looked precarious and small.
The plot was comprehensive, well written, no dragging or going around in circles. I didn't like the music too much, it didn't add anything to the overall plot or general ambiance of the drama.
Overall I loved this drama and will definitely be watching again.

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this drama is really good. tells the story of everyday life in that era, with conflicts that we can still meet today. the story is not only focused on ordinary love stories like other dramas, but the love story in this drama is more complicated but real, besides that the relationships between families are clearly illustrated here. the storyline is deliberately slow and in each episode is inserted a conflict, problem solving will be prepared in the next episodes, so that the audience does not become bored. every episode is always given lessons so the audience won't get bored

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huahhhh... finally i finished it!! i'm glad Ming Lan ended up with Gu Ting Ye!! They look cute when together!! When smart people end up with smart people HAHAHHAAA...

I hope as newly weds, both of them can share love and happiness together forever in real life!! Congratsss!! so happy for you both!!

I love when GTY helped ML, it's mean to be destiny!
Zanilia Zhao as Ming Lan and William Feng as Gu Ting Ye is the best couple!!!
When i have time i will re-watch this drama......

okay, let's move to another drama!!!!! Asssssssssssaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I was always trying to avoid watching this because I felt that it was too long. But by the tym I reached episode 30 I knew that 73 episodes was not going to be enough.
The story started out slow for me but once I got into it I finished the whole drama in 5 days. Minglan is such a loveable girl and honestly I never saw her with second uncle to begin with but I was proven wrong. The schemes with 4th sister OMG and that mother of hers I wanted to scratch their faces.
And the at first mistress of 2nd uncle I knew as he was trouble from that gentle pretense she did but I thot she was going to rily be a concubine then reek havoc. Man did she reek havoc that one. Great actress.
I loved how 2nd uncle finally won her over and she gradually fell for him.
This drama was just good on so many levels that they are not enough words to describe it. One of the best dramas I have watched.

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Aight, just so you know. I've dropped Zhao Liying's 3 dramas (not because of Zhao Liying but because I was lazy [long eps lol])
and this is the only one i continued watching.

I really like slice of life historical and this is the first SOL historical that I've watched. From her being a shu daughter to climbing up to become a Marquess' Furen. I loved the journey.

MC- she's a cunning girl but won't show others this side of her unless the situation needs her too. The people around her treats her unfairly and she only has her Grandma by her side. She's very practical and wants the easy way out. She's dense in the fields of love and this made ML frustrated with her, it got better of course. But i love the interaction between her and ML before the wedding more. After the wedding was full of scheming from the Gu clan, she dodged some bullet but others, she didnt.

ML- I don't like MLs with a child from their concubines im sorry :((. But other thna that, he's a very good father. He treats MC well before and after the wedding, doing his best not to give her some unpleasant rumours because of their time together. They have a good chemistry and this is good because they're married in real life <33

Side characters- some had character development some don't. The antagonists repented or died, the supporters lived a happy life. Special mention to Father because even though he's biased, the way he treated his child is already good compared to others.

The arc near the end scared the life of me. But fear not! Gu and Emperor has everything on the palms of their hands.

Overall I really liked it but it was unnecessarily long.

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The beginning definitely drags and I wasn’t fully hooked until maybe episode 30 but this is only because I like watching dramas where the lead couple gets together and tackles situations together which is exactly this drama! Strong female lead with a strong male lead! The romance isn’t the best but the story definitely adds on to its effect. Everything that our leads have gone through makes me really happy that they were able to get their happy ending. I just hope there was more to their happily ever after since the whole time our main leads were just trying to survive.

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So much family drama! Yes, this is a REALLY long series, but there is a lot of plot as we go from Minglan at 8 years old until she grows up. This show does take it’s time. It’s as if every line in the script is used and nothing is edited so things move quite slowly.

Fortunately there is a good cast and interesting characters, otherwise this wouldn’t work at all. But the cast of characters is so large that sometimes it takes half a scene before I figure out who they are. The romance is very slow-burn, but fun. The court intrigue is long and complex. The harem drama is among prominent families not the Emperor, but it’s no less bloody and scheming. A few bad guys are so over the top, you do wonder why ANYONE helps them.

If you’re in the mood for a luxuriously paced saga about a few families (with somecourt intrigue and fighting thrown in towards the second half), this is a good option.

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Updated Review at the bottom

The first two episodes will draw you into the storyline. Afterward, I just felt my life slipping away and could not bear to finish the series. First, there is no sever mistreatment that Minglan receives from her family, just pettiness. I would almost say it's very similar to Cinderella, her step-mother, and step-sisters. The antagonists are not sinister, just annoying and petty. Deal-breaker: There are many episodes of two characters talking almost half or three-fourths of the episodes with nothing exciting or essential that would genuinely help the development of the story. Honestly, you can fast-forward frequently and still get the gist of it all. I love historical plots, but this isn't it. It's hardly a romance. I would place it under the light romance category. I truly do not want to add any spoilers, but again some conversations last too long and scenes that could have ended within the first several minutes. This series could have completed within 20-30 episodes. It's painful to watch at times.

Also, I don't know what was going on with the background music... It just added to my frustration. SMH. I was rooting for this series. Maybe I'll come back around to it after I've cultivated a few months. It sucked at least 5 hours out of me.

***I'll update when I have viewed the entire series.

During the quarantine, I did finish this series. The main characters' chemistry together melted my heart. It took a while, but I grew on me. Everything came to full circle.

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What Starts As a Thrilling Ride Dwindles Into Everybody Hates MingLan's Marriage

Episodes 1-45 = 10 🌟
46- 73 = 1🌟

I completely enjoyed the first half, the second half after her marriage into Gu family was just annoyingly repititive, all kinds of clownish antagonists who didn't even make sense anymore. Seems like the writers just let loose a ton of psychos thinking like 1 year olds and stirring shit up just for kicks. Forcing a concubine the first time was understandable, the next 3-5 times were just so ridiculous even someone from 10 families away tried and nearly got away with it, really?

This left me with a sour taste in my mouth just like Yanxi Palace and I swore never to watch palace harem dramas ever again , as this was more of family slice of life I decided to give it a try but still ended up with a shitload of crap in the second half

I don't know what it is about Cdramas, very few maintain great stories and pacing to the end, unfortunately this was one of those. I used to be a stick it out to the end kinda gal but I've learned my bitter lesson so now, if it starts to go wonky I throw the entire drama away. I really tried even up to episode 60 to see a redeeming arc, something to light up the spark again but damn did this get out of hand, even villains who should have been set in their place 30 episodes ago were resurrected to display hair pulling, eye rolling levels of stupidity that even I couldn't stomach anymore and oh, it's never their fault, they're never wrong, it's always the MCs fault 😩🙄

Even Ming Lan the titular character seemed to lose the smarts that had me keeping late nights to catch up with in the beginning and just became a shadow of her former self, so consumed with "what people will say" or some other dumb shit

As for the romance aspect, I expected her to at least reciprocate the depth of love GTY showed her at least 10 episodes earlier. Damn girl I know you had a hard life but can't you SEE how much you mean to him? All of a sudden Ming Lan who can see and read people's intents 10 miles away suddenly didn't UNDERSTAND what love is, she was literally like a log of wood in all intimate scenes with her hubby and only loosened up after all hell had broken loose. This was super underwhelming for a freaking 73 EPISODE drama.

All in all I'll give this a 6, infact 5 as I'm already getting super annoyed typing up this rant, sorry, review 🙄

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My first 10!

So, I stumbled upon this drama and since I hadn't heard much about it, I was not expecting it to be better than the typical period Chinese drama. Boy, was I wrong! I had been so used to watching dramas in which there is little to no character development, but this drama has perfect character development. So much so, that within the first 6 episodes, I had to take it easy (I wanted to hurry up and get to the first conflict), but then I relaxed, and by episode 6 I started to really enjoy every episode. This was the first drama that I couldn't figure out who the male lead was right off the bat, and I loved the pleasant surprise when I finally figured it out. I had been rooting for him!

I am on episode 41, so I hadn't yet finished the drama at the time that I am writing this review. I admire the relationship between the female and male lead because it's so different than other romantic period/historical c & k dramas. Both the female and male lead had hardships and setbacks for most of their life (before marriage), and through those hardships they overcame societal pressures. In most dramas, one of the leads is usually rich & perfect, while the other is usually poor/middle class & has a major character flaw. Although, this is just a drama, the characters are so relatable; I love the way the male lead handled stress and pressure (specifically between episodes 20-41),and the beautiful smile he has (wow)! I love the fact that in his marriage, he didn't care about following the rules of his artostricatic family, nor did he expect his wife to do so. This is so crazy but it kind of gave me a realistic hope for the future in my personal life. I am about to get a little personal, but I think it will make this review so much better. I realized this year that I had been following what I thought I was supposed to do, and like, because it's what everyone does. For example, would I celebrate valentine's day with my future husband because it's meaningful to me? or would I do it because it's what couples do? The point that I am making is like the male and female lead in episodes 39-41 had decided to live in their marriage freely while respecting one another, I will do the same! The only con is the concubine's cry and baby-like behavior between episodes 6-34. I admit, I forwarded over a scene or two because I got tired of hearing her whining lol. Overall, I am pleasantly surprised by this drama. There's only one other drama that I've watched that I'd give a rating of a 10 to, and it's Mr. Queen!

UPDATE:
WOW! The two leads were married to one another in real life. Also, she is the lead in Princess Agents, another Chinese drama that I enjoyed.

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