Under the Power (2019)

Don’t let the cover photo fool you. This series is a bona fide romance. And it soars above the rest of the field thanks to the talents of its leads, Ren Jia Lun and Tan Song Yun. While neither are classically beautiful, they are a perfect match in terms of their youthful looks and acting styles.

Ren Jia Lun’s strength is that he can act with his eyes. You can literally map his Lu Yi’s growing feelings for Jin Xia through how his eyes for her changes over time. He has this gaze that is just for her and her only. Since Lu Yi is rather cold and inscrutable, Ren Jia Lun needs to convey just enough emotion without being too obvious. He does exactly that and so much more with his nuanced performance. You can see how love gradually changes Lu Yi from a ruthless man who is just doing his job to a man who wants to do the right thing.

Tan Song Yun is cute as a button. The squeaky dubbing and wide-eyed acting work against her at first, but she eventually settles into her role as the greedy, gluttonous, sharp-witted Jin Xia. She matches Ren Jia Lun glance for glance, gaze for gaze. She does comedy well and has me laughing so hard every time Jin Xia pulls some stunts that grate on Lu Yi’s nerves. Unlike Lu Yi who undergoes character growth, Jin Xia remains her kind-hearted, heroic self even through the worst of times. That’s not a bad thing, as she is the moral anchor in their relationship.

Romance aside, we get to see one of the most twisted, sickest villains in Yan Shi Fan, played by the versatile Han Dong. Though Yan is somewhat human in his tenderness towards Lin Ling, he is a beast to almost everyone else. I like watching the interplay between him and Lu Yi, with each trying to read and outmaneuver the other. Very often writers would downplay the bad guy to make our hero look good; thankfully that doesn’t happen here. Yan is a true threat with a clear advantage over Lu Yi in terms of experience and influence in court. Even though Lu Yi smartly avoids his traps, it ultimately takes a group effort to end the stalemate and bring him to justice. It’s fitting that Yan’s own arrogance plays a part in his downfall.

The series generally does a good job in fleshing out the characters, their personalities and motivations. While the plotting isn't perfect, it manages to avoid many of the pitfalls. It doesn’t dumb down our couple or throw any stupid misunderstanding in their way. There are no OOC moments. Without giving away spoilers, I will say that the ending is one of my all-time favorites. It’s serene and simple, but effective in capturing the essence of Jin Xia and Lu Yi’s love. Theirs is a love story I will remember for a very long while.

The only thing that keeps this drama from being a nice round 9.0 was the secondary couple's romance. It drags the story down and forces me to use my FF button.

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One of my favourites

I only watched this show because I liked period pieces, however I'm not a fan of crime dramas so I nearly skipped over it. I'm very glad I didn't.
I had never seen Allen Ren (Ren Jiu Lian) in anything before and Wow i'm glad I got to see him in this. He played Lu Yi fantastically. Not only the 'normal' Lu Yi who as the second in command of the Jin Yi Wei, a pretty emotionless and stubborn buy. In fact Lu Yi is actually introduced in a way that is more traditionally that of a villain than a hero which show how dark he is at the beginning. However AR also plays the character going mad as well as regressing to a childlike state (which I had to say I found cute) and not many actors could do such a thing. The actress playing Jin Xia was also great in how she balanced a strong female character with her almost childlike personality.
The chemistry between the couple was amazing on screen (I have heard it said that AR has no kissing clauses in his contracts, well he didn't in this show), you could tell just from looks and simple touches that something was going on and the two characters were meant to be together.
The costumes and music were also fantastic as were the sets. However there were things that let this production down a bit.
The story started out great and was something very different to most shows, however it soon turned into the well used 'my family hurt your family and I need revenge' trope that people can see coming a mile away. This change in direction ruined what could have been a really good story and made any surprises for the audience impossible.
Also some of the secondary characters seemed a bit two dimensional to me. Xie Xiao in particular never seemed to evolve much, all the way through he was obsessed with what he wanted and never seemed to understand anyone else's feelings. First it took him far to long to understand the basic concept that running away from his wedding might hurt the other person and then he took far too long to understand Jin Xia didn't like him (despite her telling him often enough).
Little things like that can make this show rather annoying in places but generally it's a fantastic show to watch, especially when it focuses on the two main leads or is early on when they are simply solving crimes and the cliché storyline hasn't come to light yet.

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What a Roller-coaster, amazing one.

I don't know why but I feel so giddy when I watched this drama. Ahh yeah because of the roller-coaster it's giving me. The way the plot progressed even until 40th plus episodes was very satisfying to me.

Male Lead, Lu Yi, a cold-blooded imposing Imperial Guard but a righteous one. Very wise, always keep his composure and loyal to everyone he befriended. When he fell in love... I definitely enjoy seeing how his always fierce, frowned face turned soft whenever he looked at Jinxia. He loved to tease jinxia and bossed her around. Ofc he was very protective of her. The way he was wounded then got up, run and rode the horse when he knew the FL was in danger just very impressive. He was also so sweet to Jinxia, he took her to go on dates together.

Female Lead, Yuan Jin Xia, a very skilled baillif, friendly, hilarious and quite the smooth talker. She was also a very forgiving person and brave in defending who was wronged. When she fell in love with Lu Yi, she loves him fiercely and openly. The length she went through for Lu Yi was so admirable and that earned lifetime devotion from Lu Yi. Not to mention, the way she bravely fought the enemies was marvellous.

Very thankful to whoever involved in making the Embroidered/Brocaded Uniforms because it was so pleasing to the eyes and sooo stunning.

I love how it showed other characters life too. It was a rough start for Shangguan Xi and Yang Yue but they made it and they were so cute. I didn't see any progress about Dr Lin and Uncle Gai tho humph. The adorable Lan Xing Quan and the impetuous Xie xiao.

I feel like this drama definitely deserves a 9 star from me but... The ending was cute, it just for me, I'm greedy, I want to see them get married, their married life, and I want to see how was everyone doing.

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A total joy to watch!

I am so happy that I have discovered this series. I came across it by chance. I did not know either the male lead or female lead so I never knew about this series. I watched Detective Dee, but I did not remember #AllenRen, didn't even think he was handsome. But in this series, I really enjoyed his acting that I started to realise how handsome he is, especially in his royal guard uniforms. I now rate him one of the most handsome Chinese male actors.
I think the story line is simple. The special effects are not that great. But I don't watch series or movies to look for flaws or perfection. I watch to enjoy and feel good. And this series deliver just that - fun to watch and it feels good. I enjoyed it, especially the chemistry between Jin Xia and Lu Yi. She is cute, smart and lively. He is handsome and his smirks and intense gazes are just gorgeous. Other characters are also complementing each others well.

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This is my first time to watch a a drama played by Ren Jualin and truly I was amazed. This drama entitled Under The Power was an amazing historical romantic chinese drama. Yes, it was an awesome romantic drama because of its plot that the ML and even the FL offered their sacrifices to each other inorder to eradicate the villain in the story. Indeed, if you are about to watch this drama, I suggest that you should not let your finger press the fast forward button because every scene is worth to watch. Every character in the drama played their part and totally gave justice to their role. I dare you to watch this drama. Truly, this is my first drama having Allen Ren as the male lead. He was such a versatile actor. I really liked his role here as a cold emperial embroidered guard named Lu Yi. He was fascinated by the wittiness of a female guard named Yuan Xia. They really played a good couple in the drama. I also loved the ending. It's worth to watch. I am now a certified fan of Ren Jualin's works?

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What a lovable mess this show is.

I don’t think I have any brain cells left to write this review, but at least I’m truly happy. I’m not even sure my brain can grasp what I have just watched.

This drama is a pure form of entertainment. Name a trope, and you will find it here: hidden identity, crossdressing, male lead going from borderline psychopath to cute lovely sweet boy with the power of love, poisoning, double poisoning, fake identities, making masks from human faces, crucifying people on torture devices, raping girls on the wedding night (which was amazingly called "doing the nasty" in the show), almost biting someone's lips off... and there is more.

I love the separate cases the main leads dealt with, BUT the main plot that unfolded as the drama progressed was weak. I truly couldn't care less about all the past events. Maybe if it was shown as more of a vital part of the drama itself, I would be more engaged.

Our main leads were truly an amazing duo. After we got past Lu Yi abusing his position to abuse Jin Xia (dude literally kicking her injured leg at the beginning episodes) the romance became truly adorable. Enemies to lovers is one of my favorite tropes, but the fact they made it into "enemies to lovers to enemies to lovers" just made me laugh my ass off.

That said, Jin Xia was an awesome character. She was smart, driven, hardworking, brave (when the situation needed it), forgiving but also funny and a bit over the top. I could not stop smiling whenever she was on the screen. She is just one of the characters that make you happy as you watch them grow.

I also appreciate the fact that the 2nd lead was so useless and annoying. Xie Xiao made the watch so much easier for me. No need to fear SLS. It won't happen.

I wished we saw more of Yan Shi Fan. I wanted to see more of his behind the scene schemes. There was something about how he dealt with things and interacted with people that made me more curious and interested, but I didn't get enough. I mean, the drama went into some details about his character. For example, I know he has a foot fetish: 6.6 inches is the best length. I just wished he was more integral to the story in the first half. Sometimes he was completely gone for a few episodes which made him less scary and imposing.

That said, the whole cast did a great job with the acting. Nothing felt over the top. The emotions were clearly visible and fitting for the scenes. I definitely felt the chemistry between all the characters and couples.

Objectively speaking, though, I should not rate it higher than 5. Some plot lines were just lazy. Whole Chun Yu Min story is questionable at best. Some directing choices were ridiculous. The underwater scenes (which also made me call the show "underwater wuxia") were iconic bad. This is CGI level -100. The weird close ups on characters' eyes were more often than not, too much and made me feel uncomfortable.

But... the show is what it is. It was crazy fun. I did not laugh so bad for ages. Binge watched it in a few days. Once I started watching, I could not stop. The entertainment value is as high as it can get. And for that, I don't feel bad about giving it 7.5. Not to mention, the opening soundtrack is beautiful.

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TL;DR (Too Long; Didn't Read) at the end

Story:
I loved it. As an avid fan of all historical dramas (keep in note this is a romcom, so there's obviously historical inaccuracies) and all things history, I always keep an eye out for historical inaccuracies. Admittedly, I'm not particularly well-versed in Ming China, especially under the emperor in the show, but I can say that this show did a very good job at sticking to the original historical facts and "story line." Yan Song, Yan Shi Fan, Lu Ting, Xia Ran were all real people and Yan Shi Fan's actions, such as connections with wokou pirates, conspiracy against the emperor, etc. were all real. In fact, there's an opera written about his downfall.
The romcom aspect of this was great; I loved watching it. I personally can't stand plain romcoms, as I find the plot rather pointless and just fluff. However, with the historical aspects, this romcom was very consumable and engaging. It's definitely a slow burn romance, but it's cute and I shipped them right off the bat.
I loved the characters so much- I loved how they were all good people. It was realistic how hard it was to put down a crush and their reactions were very genuine. The characters' responses to adversary was amazingly realistic.

Acting and Cast:
Wow. They were phenomenal. Admittedly, I'm always super easy going on Chinese actors, especially cute ones (ehm... Ren Jialun), but I genuinely loved their acting. Their mouths matched the sounds or words they were saying (some young, popular actors nowadays in China are just counting/saying random things and the sound is dubbed on). They cried and it looked realistic. I really enjoyed the cast together because they had such amazing chemistry too. All the couples just felt right.

Music:
The music isn't the best-- like "I would listen to that in my free time" good-- but it's still amazing. The music always matches the mood and I really liked the songs. I actually did go and find the songs on Youtube to listen to again.

Rewatch:
Very few dramas make me cry (I believe I'm at the third drama to make me cry), but by god, this one did so many times. Once, I cried twice in the same episode. Let it be made clear too- I watch a lot of dramas and I rarely cry. But this one genuinely made me cry... I'm not particularly ashamed to admit it either.

TLDR: Amazing show with a great story, a cute cast with amazing chemistry, and good music. Definitely recommend.

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Just finished the 55 episodes, currently 42 already subbed at Youtube, continue with no subbed in Chinese. This is one of historical C-dramas that have a low viewers for international fans but became a rave in mainland, so I wrote this review to ensure peoples that into romance, mystery and a bit of comedy genres to give it a try for this drama. I think you will love it like I do.

Main Story plot :

Lu Yi as the Head of the Brocade uniform Guard, assisted by his subordinate Jin Xia, together they solved a lot of mystery case, which leads to the main villain at the palace. The story followed Lu Yi's boldness and Jin Xia's wittiness and watching both of them fall in love and fighting for their difficulties together.

The strongest point in this drama is :

- the character of the main couple with perfect cast and the wonderful chemistry.
Allan Ren Jia Lun is a bomb at here, he is not those typical good looking guy that you fall at first sight. But along with the story goes, eventually you will fall in love with him as Lu Yi character. The tsundere type, from his fierce face as head of the guard to soft smile when he fall in love, wearing brocade guard's uniform, he really makes Lu Yi's character alive.
As for his soulmate he met later, Jin Xia played by Seven Tan Song Yun, is a happy, witty, sweet mouth and loyalty to the bones type. I need times to get used to Seven Tan, because in first episode she is not really outstanding (the same with Allen), but along with the story goes, she is blended well with the character, especially in the last few episodes.
I must give an applause to the writer for their romance developing, every moments counts from the first time they met until the last moments on finale. And boyyyy their chemistry is really wonderful!! I love how they portray their love, and honestly I don't even need kissing and skinship scenes to feel the romance in the air. And more to relieved is no headache triangle love, dragging scenes and stupid misunderstanding between them.

- the simpleness of the plot
The politics & mystery plot is not too complicated. The mystery is quite interesting and there is some big fight scenes. If you're into detail & serious politics plot like NIF, you will be disappointed.

- the villain
Han Dong is really great here, he plays Yan Shi Fan so well that you cannot 100% hate him even he's really arrogant & sadistic.

The downside :

- flaw cgi.
It's not a drama that throw a big budget on cgi. I'm a little bit disturbed with some of the scene, especially the water scenes, the horse ride scenes, etc.
- annoying SL
Too dragging love scene between the SL, Xie Xiao character is too stupid and annoying. Luckily they fix it in the last few episodes.
- few gaps of the plot here & there.

Overall : I'm highly recommended this drama!It's quite compact but light weight as well. The OST is okay too but maybe due to copyright there is a silence moments here & there (you won't find it on raw version). I love the actor and looking forward to Allan Ren Jia Lun's works after this. Enjoy!

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For the beginning the detail are quite clear,but furthermore the details are increasingly lacking, and many scenes that are displayed are cut off and unclear,and sometimes the events that occur are not explained,solving problems too hastily,,that's the deficiency that exist in many Chinese dramas

aside from that, this drama is good enough to watch,worth it for watch,,not very boring,,for the first i hesitate for watch because of the characters role, but i think its good enough,not as bad as I thought, just not used to it,,, but the story is too simple

some scene that make me enquire:

Mr zhao already stole the money to redemption zhai lan ye, and the night before isnt they already meet? Why zhai lan ye still kill mr zhao? And say he unfaithful man?

Wrong editing scene at ep 15 minute 34++ and when they pass out when in longdan village,, some scene has been cut at the last minute of the episode, didnt understand the meaning,and what happend to them

Ep 26 xiao xin's death not show the scene too

When uncle beating by yan shi fan is left face, but the bruise on his right face

How about wu an bang heir? If xie xiao what to be army with general qi?

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I almost give this drama a miss because of their ''poor editing'' on very first 3 episodes ( OMG ....thats suck !!!) and because of pending on CLOY I came to it. Rather than saying I ''crushing'' on this, Ive fallen (lol) .
There are not much to say about this drama except for Acting skill - Chemistry - Romance (decent)
Tbh, the male lead abit over-acting with his face on few eps at first ( i felt so) nevertheless his acting getting better and better especially his exceptionally expressive eyes.
You can tell the romance between 2 lead actor/actress just by their eye contact. even their romance screens are decent , not so much but still their performance outdone afterall.
Anyway, this drama has brought me back to historical C-drama what I dropped long long ago after hundreds of boring actings, lame stories and too-frequent faces.
Good job guys! Congrate to Luyi (Renjialun) for this hard-work paidoff.

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