The Sleepless Princess (2020)

A good and lovely drama

Hmmm........ I never wrote a review before, but this time I had to.

It's a very good drama with a heart warming love story. I never seen a drama like this before. Actually this is my first time watching a historical drama and believe me you will fall in love with historical drama if you watch this drama.


Now I am loooking forward for their another drama with together.

If you are hesitate to watch the drama, let me tell you, your'e missing a good drama.


In a word this is the best historical drama I had ever watch in my life.

Fall in love with the drama, story, cast, acting, in a word, with everything.

Mind blowing drama 😍😍

Leggi di Più

Entertaining and pure fun to watch

This was such a fun drama. Its one of the few dramas with fast pacing and development. Everything that happens just further the story. There are barely any politicking or boring moments. My favorite parts was whenever the leads are together. Especially the first time when he stayed the night with her. She kissed him on the nose while asleep and he was so flustered! It was so cute!! Their chemistry was so natural. She is also not afraid to push him away when he gets too close.
Princess Chu Yue is so cute! This is the first drama I've seen Hu Yi Xuan. I love getting to watch actors I haven't seen and falling for them and their characters. Chu Yue is our modern day fangirl. She loves fantasy books and daydreaming about a hero to save/love her. Being a princess, she just wants freedom to live like the characters in the books. Little did she know... she has already marry a great hero. She was also the cutest mouse, pig, dog... awww.
Xue Yao has such a pleasant face for an (not so) intimidating general. I wish his character would smile more. It was so fun to watch him get unconfortable when Chu Yue becomes extra flirty and make him blush. We always see the guy teasing the girl, I loved that it was the other way around!
Su Nan Nan had great development. At first she was like a spoiled child crying for what she wants. But when she was defending Chu Yue, her morals as someone who can fight showed us that she is more then a jealous side character. She will defend the weak no matter what. Her schemes to win Xue Yao never worked, but it was fun to watch.
Prince Shun was such a conflicting character. I didn't want to like him nor hate him. When he realize he had real deep feelings toward his sister, he was shocked and locked himself away. He was still annoyingly getting in the way of the leads. In the end, he only wanted the best for Chu Yue and as long as she is happy he would always support her. I'm glad he didn't abandon her because their background growing up together was so sweet, it would have been a waste if he left. I also liked what he said about Xue Mu, that he became just like the man he use to look down on.
Naxi entering the drama was ...I guess just to give us another hurdle (heartbreak). She was so psycho.  
There is a great shocking twist to the story about the brother. Its so bitty sweet but I really liked how it was done. I didn't see it coming. 

Leggi di Più

There is a nothing bad in story . It is totally fictional based so enjoy it acco6

A princess who had nightmares when she slept at night and those become true that's why she didn't sleep at night and sleep when sun rised . Hence she became sleepless Princess .
When she tried to change the future ,she faced the adverse effect .
After facing so many adverse effect she had gone for long-lasting sleep .
Her husband waited so long for her to wake up but she didn't wake up and ultimately he took a decision and drama was over.
Drama was good and actors and actresses's acting were also good.
I like it the whole story except ending .
If you didn't like ending then watch sleepless Princess special .

Leggi di Più

Entertaining ... comes with mixed feelings

Having watched up to E20, I would say it reminds me a little of Legend of Yun Xi. Both female characters are strong, resilient and optimistic but the FL here is more bright and tends to smile a lot more, as compared with Yun Xi. I don't know if it's her, but this is the second time I have seen her (previously watched her My Dear Destiny) and she gives me similar feels in both shows. The ML reminds me of Yun Xi's ML as well - cold, comes with his own emotional baggage but eventually is thawed by the FL. The only reason I say I have mixed feelings is I acknowledge that Yun Xi's ML had more considerations and responsibility - he had to revive a kingdom in honour of his ancestors, and he was poisoned, so he wasn't about to throw himself into a relationship. But the emotional baggage that the ML in this show carries is really not in the same league, though I know his brother was everything to him.
The hot and cold / push and pull of emotions is really a disservice to the FL whom I particularly feel sorry for, and it confuses me as to the direction of the show. The tropes are there, there's danger, there's the saving of the damsel in distress and there's the initial mutual dislike the FL and ML have for each other, plus some noble idiocy thrown in for full measure. The saving grace though is the ML is somewhat of an eye candy but the person who dubbed his voice over has a really low pitch and at times, it's hard to catch what he is saying.
As for other characters, the FL's royal brother is endearing and my heart was wrenching with grief as he dealt with his own demons but I like how he is loyal to her and puts her above everything else. The FL's maid has got pretty good acting and I hope she does well in the future, with her own main roles - she's got the looks and the skill to boot.
I will still continue to watch this show, if that's the question you are wanting an answer to. The romantic scenes they have together are shot quite well and I do feel for the both of them, the characters at least give me some reason to be pulled into their story and to cheer them on. If you want lovey-dovey scenes, there are quite a few. Just wish I could fast forward to the end now and see what happens to her that explains the beginning of the story (as the tale begins as a recounting).

Leggi di Più

Horrible

So bad in so many ways. Everything that a badly written c-drama can be. My two stars are for the male lead. Absolutely could not stand the female lead. Wanted to slap her she was such a nutjob. The costumes were ok. The Prince was also incredibly creepy in this and his relationship/feelings for his sister were definatley not normal. I know he finally came to realize it but still really weird. There are many great dramas out there so I would most definatley not waste my time on this one.

P.S. Watched the Special and it al least gave a more satisfactory ending for the viewers. I imagine the writers got so much hate mailregarding the original ending they had to come up with something quick.

Leggi di Più

Insomniac princess who has a complicated background

I was freaking excited seeing the preview trailer, I waited so long for almost all eps to broadcast before i strated watching. To be quite honest the story line is a let down. I was mainly excited because there were a lot of cute scenes in this preview.

Characters-
Female lead- cute, quirky princess who can't sleep at night . When she was young, a rock that can tell the future went into her body. Thus making it hard for her to fall asleep at night, if she does fall asleep she'll either have dreams about the future, or she'll turn into an animal of the zodiac ( which for me was kinda weird)
Male lead is a guard in the palace . He is trying to find out happened to his elder brother who died in the palace. He doesn't trust the princess and her motives.
Second female lead - aka little b*tch , she likes the male lead and does things to get him to like her. initially she was trying to break up the male and female lead... but then afterwards she began friends with the princess. however the second female lead does something in the story that doesnt really make sense.. Which causes a rift in the female and male lead's relationship. ( that was when they were pretty much friends already...)
Princess' brother ( no blood relation) - He is very protective of his sister. Secretly he's in love with her. He's not a strongly developed character.
Third female - aka biggest b*tch... she comes in towards the later parts, and her story honestly is super annoying. Basically she is the slave of the male lead because he conquered her land. Turns out she is the princess in her land. She likes him and wants to marry male lead.

Storyline- To me the first 10 episodes i would summarize as getting married, the female lead trying to escape/ get a divorce, they argue, male lead is suspicious of her.The first 10 episodes was hard to get through... 11- 20ish episodes had more of the sweet and romantic development. I enjoyed that part of the drama.
Summary in shirt : She gets married, tries to get divorce papers/escapes, but always is forced to come back , finds out he's her insomnia medicine, fall in love, gets divorce , misunderstanding, wants to be together, evil female involvement, ... The storyline is not smooth and female lead has such a busy background/identity. It would of been so much better if the focus was on male lead being her insomnia medicine and her dreams help see into the future?

Romance; I love their chemistry and romance!!! Princess is shy to show her emotions and feelings nor is the male lead. I love them together and the time they spend together, love their kissing scenes. I just wish their relationship wasnt so bumpy like being together, getting apart, being together, getting apart....

only two more episodes left, so we'll see how it is.

Leggi di Più

Strong story, acting, comedy, & angst but dinged half point due to ending & 1 characterization

***This is a general review, but the bottom half of this review will contain spoilers***

I've watched a lot of romcom historical dramas this past year and they are generally cute with more focused on the romance and less to do with serious consequences tied within the serious or political plot. The Sleepless Princess, however, balances that very well, giving us a romantic comedy and also providing compelling plot threads that makes it an interesting watch throughout. Even more, the show does well in balancing comedy and angst. It begins as a romantic comedy, but the foreshadowing of future sad/tragic scenes are hinted in the beginning as well and I am impressed when I watch the show again. It's a well directed drama. It has great actors who make you feel the full swing of emotions.

Before I talk about things I liked, I want to make sure I mention that there are TWO endings. Folks watch the show and are disappointed by the end, but there is a "special episode" aka an "episode 36" that may satisfy those people. For others, though, episode 35's ending was fine even if it was ambiguous.

ACTING & CHARACTERS
Everyone was great in their roles, but especially have to give it up to our two main leads: Zheng Ye Cheng as Xue Yao and Hu Yi Xuan as Xu Chuyue. They have incredible chemistry together and are a perfect match. They both balance the lightheartedness and romantic well with the serious and angst. Their happiness makes you happy and their sadness makes you cry along with them. I was thoroughly impressed with them and really hope that in the future, we get to see them act in another drama together.
Xue Yao is a cold and cautious general and that leads him to do some harsh things to the FL at the beginning, but you can sympathize with his character when you think about how much he and his family has gone through and how the loss of his brother affected him. A confident person who isn't arrogant to keep being mean to the FL once he realizes his mistakes/misunderstandings. When he realizes his mistakes, he always tries to remedy it and becomes kinder and softer. His complexity is well written and well acted by Zheng Ye Cheng.
Xu Chuyue is such a lovable wonderful character. She's naturally cute and her comedic timing is great. I adore her so much. (On a personal note: I'm so glad she doesn't pucker her lips out to make her look cute because it's so annoying to me.) She is similar to the "naive cutesy clumsy girl" type in romcom historical dramas, but what I love is that she doesn't do pointless screaming/yelling at ML and is often pretty smart herself. She's at times naive but she's not clueless.
Xu Xingchen: Oof, I came to really appreciate him. In the beginning, even with his cute face, I was suspicious of him, but he is a righteous man after all and his devotion and care for his sister wins in the end. I appreciate a character with this kind of dignity.

STORY:
As I mentioned above, sometimes in these romcoms historical comedies, the "serious" or "political" plots aren't taken as seriously or explored as seriously, but not this one. The political and serious plot threads are connected to their romantic development and the twists that are revealed is shocking and heartbreaking as our leads deal with the knowledge. I enjoyed it greatly and appreciated this balance.
At times, there were some misunderstandings between the main characters that frustrated me, but it is often resolved within an episode or a couple episodes, so it's not dragged out for an outrageous amount of time fortunately. Even more, the story makes it believable to see how the characters realize their misunderstandings, so it feels natural.
The supporting characters like Xu Xingchen, Taoyao, and Su Nannan have really good growth and depth that I appreciated. I can't say the same for Naxi (I talk about her characterization under the spoiler line.)
There are some really great comedic scenes that made me laugh so much. There are also some great angsty and sad scenes that are very well written, well directed, and well acted.
Essentially, this drama has a lot of scenes that are original, well acted, well directed and so it was very memorable.
That ending, though, was good, but could've been better. And less ambiguous and sad. (I talk more about this underneath the spoilers line.)

SOUNDTRACK:
Strong osts with strong vocals and lyrics, really cementing the mood of the scenes. For example, Henry Huo (and Yisa Yu) sings the main song (he has also sung an OST for The Romance of Tiger and Rose). A show's soundtrack can really make or break the show. There are one or two songs that are upbeat and light-hearted, but the rest of the songs are moving ballads. I've been listening to the album all week and can still see the scenes in my head when I hear the songs. Well done, truly.

CINEMATOGRAPHY:
What can I say? Chinese historical dramas always have great visuals, props, and designs. The CGI is always worrisome but fortunately there's not a lot of that in this drama. There are some really beautiful costumes in this drama and a lot of great shots. The action scenes aren't edited too much, so it flows pretty well and looks natural. Props to the director because this show could've been handled messily, but it wasn't and it was given the thoughtfulness and detailed it deserved.

*********SPOILERS BELOW. PLEASE DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED THE DRAMA*****************
*********SPOILERS BELOW. PLEASE DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED THE DRAMA*****************
*********SPOILERS BELOW. PLEASE DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED THE DRAMA*****************

One specific thing I love:
The fact that Xue Yao became the author and took over for his brother Xue Mu. That broke me in a good way. Also, XUE MU. He is SO SOSOSO good and we only got a few things about him, but I love him with my whole heart. His death hurt me so much. Tao Yao's death too. Ugh. :(( they were both pure people.

This is where I talk about some suggestions/changes I would've done to make this drama a 10/10 for me.

1) Naxi: they straight up made her a villain and her story to revolve around romance and wanting Xue Yao. That was my biggest disappointment with this show. She was cunning and manipulative, which made her a good antagonist, but the whole thing behind her about wanting Xue Yao--that reasoning was disappointing and made her character fell flat. Instead of her wanting Xue Yao because she "truly loves" him and wants him for her husband, I wish it had gone a route like this: she wants Xue Yao so that she can kill him for Xue Yao's killings of her father & people. And so then her friendship with Xu Chuyue, which becomes actually genuine, makes Naxi conflicted because she grows fond of Xu Chuyue and doesn't want to hurt her friend, but she still made a promise to avenge her family. This would've been a more compelling storyline.
Also, the whole thing with Prince Ning...it was hilarious and that one moment of Prince Ning disregarding his life for her is kind of believable, I suppose since he's kind of a dummy, but anything to do with them getting together is impossible. Also, Naxi might've been moved a bit by Prince Ning's actions, but not to an extent where she would go back for him or whatever. Their little side story is not the best part of this drama.

2) THAT ENDING: Look, Xue Yao would NEVER hurt Xu Chuyue so he would NEVER jump off a cliff so that they both die together. Even if the show wants it to be open-ended with that possibility, I'm shutting that down right now. He was at a weak moment where he missed her dearly, but he would never do that.
Here's my version of the ending:
Xue Yao finishes telling the story to the kids who all run away. Xue Yao is a little disappointed that she didn't wake up right at that moment and maybe he walks away for a second to breathe and get fresh air (get it? Fresh air? So he doesn't cry? Callback to like episode 3.) and then Xu Chuyue calls his name. He turns around and she's smiling brilliantly like that one time when she was going to get on the carriage. She's awake and healthy and beautiful. He goes to her, still crying, and she kisses his tears. They hug and kiss and smile and are happy. THE END.

This would be a proper happier ending than the "special happy-ending episode" where there are continuation issues. The special issue gives them a kid and have them go travelling around, which is fine, but the last part about the Naxi and Pring Ning.....no. Just, no. They apparently got together during the time she saved him from the poison smoke, but that would be impossible since Xu Chuyue already changed the timeline, so. That's impossible. That part of the special episode, I don't agree with.

Also, I get why Xu Chuyue couldn't just "come back" because throughout the entire series, they already said that she would become a living dead person, even reinforced by her father. So, on an emotional level, I GET it that it's not that easy for her to just WAKE UP. But then, I truly wish the storyline had embedded a thread of a possibility to save her through some other means and have Xue Yao spend time looking for that alternative way to save her. Her sacrifice to save everyone was monumental, but c'mon, this is a romcom historical, why can't we get a happy ending for our lovers, who went through SO much already? Give us that happy payoff after all this angst. COME ON.

*edit after some days of thinking and rewatching some scenes*: so, her father DID say that being a living dead person is the worst way to die because she'll outlive everyone but won't be able to respond to the outside world. Since that is the case...then I would accept Xue Yao taking her and them dying together. Because at least that way she actually gets to die with him and not him dying while she lives around. In a way, it's a mercy for Xu Chuyue. But I don't know how I feel if Xue Yao took them both to die so early and so young...

Leggi di Più

Some characters over stayed their purpose and the story was getting tired

I did not really enjoy this drama. Half or more than half of this drama was spent on the Imperial brother butting his nose into female lead’s business and romance , trying to constantly take the princess away, it was very annoying and there was not much romance in this drama they had not enough chemistry because she kept on trying to run it was just dragging on and on smh... and the bombshell about the general’s brother also was just the writers trying too hard, the breaking up and getting together was irritating it happened too many times in a35 episode drama I didn’t really like it, this is the first time I haven’t really enjoyed a wuxia drama

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Poor xue mu

The most intriguing and unpredictable part is the love of xue mu..
So sweet yet shocking me 😭😭😭

The story is quite fast and unpredictable. Even it was feel strange at the beginning, but after second episode, this movie was very addictive..
The custom quite good and colorful.. The chemistry among the actor was there.
The best role is the poker face xue yao.. I really love her cool face and his sharp look.. Really fall in love 💋

Anyway i saw a support player wear masks at the screen, anyone notice? Considered that the movie was taken during the covid pandemic, i think i saw it clear, but who knows?

Surely will watch it twice ❤️❤️

Leggi di Più

Predictable

This is a good show, but since like episode 10 for something I have realized that the secret group was his long lost brother. And like any other romance dramas, the emperor has to be bad but no one knows it. And the husband has to be mean on the outside until you really get to know him. This is a good show the actors are good too. But the plot is really predictable and doesn't have any sparkle in it. I have also started watching it in 2x since I feel like it is being dragged on a bit, with all the other characters that the main dude supposedly flirted with before. Honestly, I think since like ep 20, they should've ran away and eloped and never came back.

Leggi di Più

.. Catched my heart..

I love everything in this drama, good storyline, good casting, good music, good scenery and good in everything..

Zheng Ye Cheng was so HOT in this drama🌹❤️
Watching him makes me want to hug him..

Sometimes when i watch chinese drama, I have to skip a few episode because its boring but for this drama I have to watch every episode and I patiently wait for english subtitle every week..

The test that they have to go thru to prove their love really make me love them more. I really hate all the people around them who selfishly tries to snatch this couple hearts. I love this couple so much....
Pity the ML, he loves her so much but because of the FL father, he has to control himself and pity the ML lead, she loves him so much but because of her father, she has to sacrifice... 😭😭
Just pray for happy ending... I am still waiting english subtitle... Congrats to all involve in this drama, Love...

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