A League of Nobleman (2023)

Good but not stimulating

This series is a bit difficult to describe because the acting and character chemistry were pretty good. The plot (with exception of the ending) flowed relatively well. But for a 29-episode series, it was lacking that "entertaining" factor and the entire series felt like it was playing to a single note. The drama wasn't dramatized enough and the humor wasn't humorous enough. The cases and mysteries that revolve solely around the protagonists were interesting in the beginning but started to falter when they began to poorly insert new characters. And the ending is really where it begins to crack because there wasn't great character development for the aforementioned new characters and some existing ones. They made attempts to do so with some flashbacks but unsuccessfully. However, as with other average series, this one was still entertaining enough to complete with some time skips. Not much actions scenes and no romance (which I usually prefer).

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I wanted to love this

Another completely biased review from me to you

Jing Bo Ran as the ML is mesmerizing, and I could listen to him recite the phone directory and I would be enthralled. However, this series never really clicked for me.

The character Lan Jue was not a good guy, definitely on the darker shade of grey. 🩶I'm all for morally grey characters who are tormented because of something something in their past, but you know that the actions they are taking are all for the greater good. Here the character seemed to be doing bad things for expediency sake. His friend whose name escapes me but was the army dude(? ) had super good chemistry with him. Half the time I felt like saying guys, get a room already!💖 I did like their interactions.

The Zhang Ping character was, let's face it, just fucking irritating. In a real-world environment he never would have survived the first encounter with the empress. There is such a thing as a innocent, naive hero doing the right thing but this character was just dumb as dirt and would have deserved to be offed in the first episode. 🤣 His little noodle friend I guess was taking the place of what would ordinarily be the high-pitched voice toddler female in these shows whose purpose is to screech a lot and to fall down?

The empress was the typical evil queen. 👑What else can I say, nothing new here.

A long time friend of the grey guy, Shulin, showed up and it turns out that grey dude and him had quite a past together, including living together on an island in the middle of a lake, which was pretty cool. Seemed like they had a very special relationship happening, but grey dude hosed it up and they parted.

The ending sucked imho. Shulin, it turns out, was (maybe?) the empress's real son who was abandoned as an infant, so he planned to take down the empress. Which is what dumb noodle guy and grey dude wanted to do all along. But instead of working with Shulin to overthrow the evil empress they turned their backs on him and betrayed him, which in turn made him go batshit crazy 🦇and try to destroy the world. Cause, stuff.

Anyhow, it seems like more people liked this than not, so don't let me review stop you from watching it. You may enjoy it too.

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Loved it

It was so aesthetically pleasing: beautiful lighting, clothes, and photography. The wigs were a bit :P, except for Lan Jue's. extremely interesting mystery storyline and cool detective work; I loved how all the cases were intertwined with the leads personal stories. Cool, diverse leads; all of them have satisfying character development and endings. Profound interpersonal relationships. They cared for each other in a very deep way, and the bromance was so on point. The beginning is a bit lukewarm, but it gets more interesting as the story unfolds, so you need to really give it a chance and trust the process. I liked the ending; it felt satisfying and thrilling without the feeling of it being rushed or having any unfinished plots. I wish we could see more of Kurou and Shulin's relationship and dynamic when they were children.

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handsome actors and beautiful cinematography!

The costumes and accessories look pretty good quality (idk if it matches the era) and the directing was amazing. I liked the color scheme which seemed to match the vibe of the drama. I love Jing Boran's character LJ. He's so good looking and his role is actually reasonable and smart. On the other hand, Song Weilong's character ZP who's supposed to be a smart detective is so naive who just wants to expose the truth with no fear of death and in historical times especially because he's a commoner, that attitude is dumb and will get him targeted and will get people around him killed. I just found Song Weilong's character and acting to not match the drama. I preferred the bromance between Lan Jue (Jing Boran) to be with Mowen and Zhang Ping (Song Weilong) to be with Chen Chou. Zhang Ping's status and aura just doesn't match with Lan Jue who has a dignified and elegant aura. I loved the colors and the deep meaning and symbolism everywhere. The music was also elegant and had a mysterious vibe which I thought was very fitting. Overall, I thought it was a good drama except for 2 main parts that I felt fustrated at because they were being hypocritical.

SPOILER ALERT!
1. The first situation was with Lady Yuzhen, where she was punished for taking revenge on someone who hired men to sexually harass her. The revenge didn't harm anyone except the initial person who sent the men. Zhang Ping went to her and victim blamed Yuzhen, showing absolute no sympathy.
2. The second is with the real prince. The prince was literally killed by his own mother, the Empress Dowager when he was a kid and got replaced. He grew up hateful which is definitely reasonable!! His rescuer's whole village was also massacred because they saved his life. Then he wants revenge for himself and his rescuers and claim his royal status back only for the 2 people he trusted to betray him also (ZP and LJ) for "the greater good" even though the Empress Dowager literally framed both their families and killed them. Like I thought y'all wanted the truth no matter what! Like I agree the real prince was causing chaos to the world but the world betrayed him first. I agree that the real prince shouldn't be the emperor but I didn't like how they invalidated his experiences

also I was so shocked at the end when Lan Jue said he had a kid!

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CHOOSE BETWEEN DRAMA OR NOVEL

I read the novel and watch the drama, they are two separate entities, same characters but totally different story line. Drama is more ambiguous than the book. Zhang Ping was a skinny 20 something scholar, dull personality and had little words to say whose involved with 2 murder cases, which he helped to solve them. To be survived in the capital, Zhang Ping's selling noodle where Lan Jue came for a bite and had little interaction. Chen Chao was Zhang Ping's roommate and a scholar from the same hometown, he's not selling noodle or help investigation and both failed in national examination. Lan Jue was a vice minister of Rites, a youthful look (matured) man with a son (single father) very smart and collected. He's there witnessing the proceeding and process of Zhang Ping involvement in every cases. Wang Yan was assistant Minister of Justice who helped Zhang Ping investigate cases, even the young Emperor gave him so much leeway and face.

Too bad the book was translated only up to chapter 27 (150 chapters more is delayed) while the drama went wild without any similarity (little to nothing) of story line. In my opinion, you either read the novel or watch the drama, because how different creativity on the plots not for the better though. Some hallucination, illusion of water work was uncalled for, some fantasy that didn't have any place on the book. Song WeiLong was acting 'bouncy', swinging when he walk- flap his hair, blah expression. While Jing BoRan wore generous lip gloss, sensitive, romantic and dreamy. If this is BL drama, for sure BoRan will be the feminine side of character, just the way he dressed up, hairdo, act flamboyantly. Wang Yan (Hong Yao) had better acting than these 2 ML, testosterone element than 2 ML. It's weird when this drama was about solving mystery while water illusion could make someone tell the truth, may as well use that ability than digging dirt and rumbles.

Ep 18 and haven't seen Wang Duo yet, his character as Gu QingZhang hasn't appeared (none mention on the book) I am more curious about Wang Duo's character and his part in the drama. Too many characters with mental disorders (don't like it), illusion (an instance of a wrong or misinterpreted perception of a sensory experience: Oxford dictionary). Story disconnected. Main actors miscast, mischaracterized of characters, full of fillers, editorial failed. It seem this drama was intended as BL but got butchered (censor) because of new rule that rendered as failure (big time) drama.

The book author Da Feng Gua Guo disassociated herself from the drama saying that the Show Team was only borrow the characters and title but the story lines was entirely the creation of drama screenwriter(s) which made sense with the impression I am getting. As the author blasted Song WeiLong, I can understand it the way I look into his poor performance. If the originality is the best, so novel is the choice, just be patient with the waiting for continuous chapters. I am down to it, Novel it is for me.

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