Meng Xing Chang An (2021)

Pointless Revenge Drama

Could there possibly be a more repetitive or boring drama? It doesn't seem likely. I feel like it wasn't the FL trying to take revenge on the aristocracy so much as it was the writers of this drama, taking out all their malcontent about the industry on us, the viewing public.

Could they possibly have dragged the simple revenge premise of this drama out any further than its 49 episodes of non-stop clichès on repeat? I highly doubt it, but I don't want to find out.

If this story formula sounds interesting to you: protagonist attempts to find some information, gets sick, almost dies, gets healthy, repeat ad nauseum, then you'll probably enjoy this non-existent plot drama. Now that I think about it, it only takes place in a handful of rooms inside a palace, so even the setting, and the incredibly dull costumes are like a claustrophobic cry for help.

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Worth to watch - Chess game.

This drama is worth to watch. I like how the actor portrays his role in this drama. The story will play your mind. You have to think. You need reasoning. I like how the story goes. It keeps me hook to this drama. Overall its 100/100 for me! The plot of the story is good! The OST will keep playing in your mind as well as in your heart. The FL is naive but she has a good heart which captures the interest of the Emperor. The villain of the story, I can say everybody here is suspicious that’s why you need to think deeply. You need to understand the flow of the story. The secrets will unfold as the story goes. I love how the story unfold little by little. How the Majesty strategic game plan comes ito fruition. Qiyan is the wisest of them all. I really love how he played to win the battle

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Not perfect, but underrated all the same.

STORY: 9/10

I admit that I am biased in this regard because stories about tortured and pitiful princes/kings/emperors are something that I enjoy watching and reading about. Stand By Me falls right into that category so it didn’t take much to get me invested. It’s a story about Qi Yan, a young, pitiful and misunderstood emperor who, despite having no power, is desperately trying to gain control over imperial court which is controlled by Qiu Ziliang, a eunuch and the most powerful figure in the empire. It’s also a story about the relationship between Qi Yan and his Sword Bearer Cheng Ruoyu and how they fight together against the odds that are stacked against him. Qi Yan’s trust in Ruoyu and her unwavering loyalty to him stayed consistent throughout the show and there were no annoying misunderstandings between them. They understood and respected each other but that didn’t stop them from acknowledging each other’s flaws. I personally found that type of relationship quite refreshing. Their relationship (and thus the romance aspect of this otherwise political drama) was nicely incorporated and instead of feeling unnecessary and forced it felt essential to the story.

ACTING/CAST: 7/10

Well. Some were good, some were terrible.

Cheng Yi did an amazing job. His portrayal of Qi Yan wasn’t lacking in any way, but that was to be expected. He’s really good at playing tragic characters and he makes their suffering look poetic and beautiful. He made it easy for me to empathize and root for Qi Yan.

Zhang Yu Xi was okay. I’m not sure what I think about her acting myself. She wasn’t bad per se, but I feel like this wasn’t the best role for her. Cheng Ruoyu was supposed to be someone naive (compared to the powerful and extremely intelligent court schemers) and cheerful, but she was also supposed to be a great martial artist and powerful swordsman. Her physical appearance made it hard for me to take her as a serious martial artist. She’s too skinny and she looked too weak. She did a good job with emotional scenes tho. Her crying was believable and chemistry between her and Cheng Yi was unquestionably there.

Lulu Xuan as Qiu Yanzhi & Han Dong as Prince Guang were also good. Han Dong’s portrayal was especially impressive. I couldn’t decide where he stood until the end. Was he a good guy? Or a bad guy pretending to be good? His ambivalence made the whole drama more interesting to watch.

Mickey He as Qiu Ziliang was laughably bad. He pretty much ruined every scene he showed up in and turned a character with so much potential into a caricature. If there is a reason why at times I couldn’t take this drama seriously it’s him.

Supporting cast was so-so. They weren’t the worst but their acting could’ve been better.

MUSIC: 9/10

It was good and fitting. BGM was there to elevate certain scenes and it never felt out of place & the original songs were lovely. I especially liked their lyrics.

All in all, it was a good drama. Interesting storyline, Qi Yan's character, his and Ruoyu's beautiful relationship and Cheng Yi's amazing portrayal were things I enjoyed the most.

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Brilliant!

This drama is the best of the best in it's genre! An amazing Chess game using the lives of people. This drama will give you a rollercoaster ride of emotions from start to finish. The cinematography, directing, casting, acting, storyline! Everything is perfect! The main couple will definitely make you fall in love and cry at the same time. The heart wrenching journey of lovers til the end makes this drama even more beautiful. The unconditional loyalty of the FL to the ML will warm your hearts. I highly recommend this drama to everyone who enjoys mind buggling, heart wrenching and filled wisdom drama! For those who are willing to cry every episode, with tissues and water beside you, then this is for you. Nevermind the ratings because I give it a perfect 10 score! Enjoy watching!👍👌😍

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Beyond words, complicated yet wise plotting

At first few episodes, people might think this is a boring drama as it does involve lots of talking but let's talk for real, not many dramas can pull of the angsty, dramatic and thrilling vibes this well. This drama in particular does it job by perfectly depicting real life situation. Loyalty is word that many can spell not even one are guaranteed to portray it well. As for the scheming and ideas braining in the storyline, you'll always be surprise by who and what they did. It's not a basic cliche drama at all. If you focus well and see the point there, it does involve many real life situations. From family aspects to friends, backstabbers, and foes, not to mention the political condition which is also brilliant as it shows to what extent people are willing to go to achiece greater reputations while feeding their greeds. Things can happen anywhere anytime no matter what we planned. The unexpected twists and turns make it even better. The characters growth are also well written, not to mentuon that we got ti know different back stories of different characters including the villains themselves. I love it so much.

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I may not have finished watching, but hear me out!

Okay this review will be honest based on my own personal views of this show. If you can’t take it then feel free not to read it :)

Okay first off, the plot? It was decently alright, however it is rather complicated you gotta kinda pay a little bit of attention to kinda get the political dispute going about in the story with the characters. I guess I can’t argue much about that being that it is a historical political drama so it’s likely a given.

But it is not totally totally political but there are politics involved in terms of why the main leads are doing what they are doing.

But the story? I say it’s alright because it has romance, love, history, politics, action and loyalty. The women in this drama aren’t totally fragile and delicate the main leads are awesome in their own way. Their independent smart strong women portrayed in this which is always appreciated.

The male leads are of course, vested in their own personalities and are rather determined in fulfilling their personal missions for whatever tragedy that have be fallen upon them in the past or something.

There is also deception, betrayal between the characters which is awful to watch cos the leads are always being targeted although they mean well.

Their acting are top notch. The male lead really has the looks and feel of being an emperor so that makes it even more appealing to watch however, Zhang Yu Xi was a brave strong skilled and loyal swords woman which is just awesome cos she’s like the ideal badass heroine we all need in these shows.

And of course the leads fall in love and the idea of bodyguard and boss romance? How’s sweet and swoon worthy is that?

The villains are of course assholes and the ones who deceived the good are too mean eggheads. But yes I guess it just makes the audience sit at the edge of their sits whenever there is a plot twist.

I have not finished the drama cos the last few episodes aren’t out yet. I also skimmed through a little bit of the later episodes but I did a great job in following the previous ones all the way. Although I skimmed through it doesn’t affect my personal review on how well the show is.

In terms of the intimacy? Hmm, have not seen that much yet. So hopefully there will be progress cos I mean both leads are pretty skilled in making us swoon when they have intimate scenes. But cmon as viewers we would like a little sauce but so far not yet. But the scenes of the leads helping one another out so that they don’t die is definitely swooning.

You gotta watch it for yourself to form an opinion on your own. But I hope my review can help you in some way and open an area of discussion.

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Compelling Court Drama

This review is way too long, but I have a lot of thoughts.
The first 25ish episodes were fantastic! They were compelling, twisty, and smart with morally grey and interesting characters. There were several times that I stayed up too late because the plot took off and I had to see how the Emperor was going to get out of the trap laid for him.
But then we hit a lull and for like 15 episodes Qi Yan was suddenly sidelined because he got stabbed like 5 times and was apparently dying. He moped around in his flowy red robe like an ailing Victorian child practically the whole time. Not only that, but for these stretch of episodes he seemed to get kinda dumb (as in: his plans weren't well thought out and he was being fooled by everyone else), which really undermined the character he was presented to be at the start of the show.
Also, I'm not sure I understood why he was dying. Maybe it was the translation, but when the doctor was like, "You may die in five months or five YEARS," I was lost. I don't understand the huge time gap there. I thought he was only stabbed? Did it get infected? Was it poisoned? Am I actually too stupid to follow what was going on?
It was at this point that I started to skip because they felt like filler episodes. But I kept going because I was already invested in the plot and the characters.
The romance didn't really work for me, but I didn't hate it. I just thought they had no chemistry, and no offense to the FL, but I didn't think the actor fit the the part or played it well.
The Duke was a good villain (I think this is due to the actor), but there were times that it felt like he wasn't as smart as we thought and was mostly just lucky and too firmly rooted in his position to give it up easily. I also wish that he and Qi Yan had more time to stew with each other. I wanted to know more about their relationship before it went sour. Also! Completely unrelated, but when the Duke goes feral at the end and whips off his robes and his hair goes crazy, I died laughing. Which I'm sure wasn't the intended reaction.
Lastly, I'm not sure what to think of the ending. There seems to be some confusion about whether Qi Yan is alive or not. To be honest, I assumed that he'd faked his death, but we didn't really get that much of a confirmation, so I'm not sure. But in either case (him dying or pretending to fake his death to live as an ordinary person), I don't really like it. I know that he didn't want to be Emperor and it brought him nothing but pain, but at the same time it felt a little cheap for the audience to sit through almost 50 episodes of him STRUGGLING to hold onto the throne only to give it up (or die) in the end.
I'm complaining a lot, but I actually really liked this drama. It's one of the few cdramas to hook my attention and hold it through almost the whole thing. I tend to give up somewhere in the middle, so the fact that I finished this is amazing for me. Which really speaks to the plot and characters of this drama. I just wish that the fat had been trimmed story wise and that the Emperor had actually been allowed to be the MAIN character throughout the whole thing.

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Keeps you on your toes!

From the very first episode, it was extremely confusing initially, but it makes you want to understand more. My curiosity grew each episode to the point I wonder which character is trustworthy and which is not.

Needless to say, the drama kept me on my toes, it is definitely like a chess game. Every single character is involved in each scheme. Whether good or bad, betrayals by blood, trust, friendship; even as a viewer you can't really trust anyone.

Each character/actor/actress was amazing in this drama!

This was my first Cheng Yi drama, he plays Qi Yan.
Let me just begin by saying, he is an AMAZING actor, I was blown away by the way he acts in subtlety. Not many actors can act the way he does. They can get away just acting cold, emotionless but that's just boring to me. That's not acting to me, Cheng Yi was able to use his facial muscles and give such minuscule expressions - the pain, hurt, happiness, sadness - in subtle ways that I'm basically his fan now. Haahha Moving on, Qi Yan as a character was interesting. At first I didn't know which side he stood, he basically put a lot pressure on himself, refusing to believe anyone because everyone just wants to betray one another except for Cheng Ruo Yu. She is the only person he trusts in the end, therefore he has tried many times to save her despite him being in danger. Its clear he cares for people he loves, even if they do not have good intentions he still cares and that's very kind of him. He's been used like a puppet, but eventually grow to become a true king.

Chen Ruo Yu played by Zhang Yu Xi - her acting didn't bother me much, there are definitely parts where I felt it wasn't natural "acting" but otherwise I'm pretty satisfied with the way she acted here. The character she plays is basically like a passive character, she does not exactly take sides unless she was betrayed. She was appointed the Sword holder of the King, basically a body guard with top martial art skills. However, she doesn't kill unless that is the last option.. Also another selfless character, being used by certain people in this drama. She doesn't really remember her childhood with her sister until the last couple of episodes. She's a fast learner for sure. very good in knowing what to do in a quick, unpredictable situations.

Qiu Yan Zhi - one of my favorite characters in this drama cause of how intelligent and calculating she is. She's basically living a double life, the adopted daughter of the antagonist. But also spoiler alert sister of Chen Ruo Yu. At first she was just a confusing character because I couldn't tell whether she was a friend or foe towards Chen Ruo Yu, But in the end we found out her real motive was to avenger her grandfather & family. Everything she learned from the antagonist is used against him. There were definitely sorrowful sacrifices she had to make but in the end, she was able to fulfill her own wishes. Her relationship with Chen Ruo Yu was quite interesting because of the way she acts towards the aforementioned character. She's really nice towards CRY, always coming to her rescue along with the king. At first she says she does it for herself, but in reality she did it to protect the one she loves.

The actor playin Qiu Zhi Liang, Mickey He, was great, he just looks 100% crazy every single time he's on, sometimes I wonder if his expression was sarcastic or not. Its quite funny if you don't take him seriously. lol His character is very powerful for a eunuch because of the military soldiers he possesses and he's able control the king like a puppet. Amazing job for an antagonist honestly.

As you watch the drama, there's more antagonists unfolding, especially the characters you didn't expect to become a villain. In the end, this drama is like a strategy game - everyone trying to kill one another, usurp the throne, etc.
There's no love triangle in this drama, which is a plus. But the main characters goes through a plethora of mountains to be together.

The end was ..bittersweet. Definitely recommend if you like strategic historical dramas that keeps you on your toes.

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Messy plot w/weird editing, staging, and pacing. Enjoyable for Cheng Yi.

* This is my first Cheng Yi drama. I clearly see why he's so popular. Phewwwww boy. *heart eyes* for SURE.

* I don't see the fuss with Zhang Yu Xi as Cheng Ruo Yu. She acts just fine.

* Cheng Ruo Yu's character here at the beginning is insolent, stubborn, naive, and pig-headed. By episode 4, she's already invaded the Emporer's personal space, directly defied him multiple times, refuses to offer a greeting/parting bow, gives him attitude, and even TEARS HIS SHIRT SLEEVE OFF before throwing it on the floor and defiantly stalking off with an attitude. GIRRRRL WHAT. I've watched enough palace CDRAMAS (lol) to know that any of those would have been enough to execute her. Her hard-headedness astounds me. Naivety is one thing, but completely passing off all decorum is suicide in that type of world. At the same time, it seems like that's already their rapport - the physical closeness and bluntness. They've gotten fairly comfortable with each other in a short period of time and they've already established a bit of chemistry and had more skinship in 4 episodes than I've seen in most CDRAMAS put together. Totally not mad about it from the perspective that it usually takes like 35 episodes for 1 handhold in these types of dramas, lol.

*I'm looking forward to seeing how this drama unfolds, especially the dynamic between Duke Qiu and Qi Yan. I'm admittedly a big whump lover and can already sniff out the conflicted tortured soul vibes from our pretty Emporer. He's done a lot of terrible things as shown in his flashbacks, and I'm hoping for solid explanations or proper atonement.

* Holy bananas, Qi Yan with his hair loose and in his red robe. I can watch that all day. A__A

* I've seen some remarks from other commentators about the plot not making much sense- not seeing the fuss. I'm following it just fine. It's really not complicated and it's held my interest very well, so far.

* I've read that Cheng Yi is known for "spitting blood prettily" - 11 episodes in and I haven't been gifted with that sight yet, lol.

* Qi Yan was (and still is) a filial and loving brother to his older brother, the previous Emporer. That much is and has always been clear, but even more so with the few flashbacks, we've been seeing recently. I like the relatively morbid tokens he's kept from the people he's cared about and feels responsible for. That he keeps them close to his heart still, and talks to them as if they're in the room. He's a very lonely person.

*Duke Qiu really is an insidious bastard.

* Those oopsy-daisy trip & land in your arm moments crack me up since it's already been used like 3 or 4x. Still not mad about skinship, lol.

"Note it!" HAHA.

* I don't trust Qi Yan's uncle, Prince Guang, for some reason. Not at all. I worry for Qi Yan.

{{{ Episode 18 Update: }}}

*Still following the plot very easily. I like the moving pieces and the backstory that's unfolding for our main characters.
Lots of BIG moves in these latest episodes that are exciting.

*Only qualm so far is the OST is a little sloppy and its disjointedness can break an otherwise emotional or passionate scene. That's been a little frustrating here and there. Not that the songs in and of themselves are bad, but they ebb and flow in a jarring way sometimes, instead of using smooth or more organic transitions.

* I'm not a fan of Qi Yan's Eunuch Huai Zhi. It might be the dubbing, but I'm really bothered by his acting and his crocodile tears

*I like Qi Yan's fortitude, both mentally and physically. Even when injured, he tries not to show it and tries to push through instead of creating dramatics out of it.


{{{Episode 35 Update}}}

* Never mad about a Qi Yan scene with his hair loose. My goodness, gracious, is he beautiful.

* His cry face is gorgeous.

* Whump. Whump. Whump. Yum.

* Still hate Eunach Huai Zhi. I can't pinpoint if it's the over-dub, the facial expressions, the crying sounds, or a mixture of each (probably the latter). He really, really, takes away from the gravity of any scene he's in. He's horrendously cast and it's frustrating because he's often paired with Qi Yan in scenes, so I'm forced to bear through it.

* Still like Cheng Ruo Yu.

* Plot is still good, although I'll be honest, I've skipped through a bit (a lot...) here and there to get back to Qi Yan. These later episodes have so much exposition and plot movement, that the many players overload the screen and sometimes take away from what drew me in the first place (Cheng Yi). Despite skipping through, I'm still easily able to grasp the many machinations of the plot.

* The romance is cute, I like how in-tune they are with the other; although, they're not immune to miscommunication and crossed signals (the good ole "shes better off far away from me to keep her safe so let's say the opposite of how we're really feeling to push her away" trope came in a few times. There were also moments that were very clearly meant to be romantic but Ruo Yu misinterpreted the meaning - I don't know HOW but she somehow manages). Still, any miscommunication is typically quickly squashed so we're not having to deal with a ton of wasted time between the two pining for the other.

* OST is pretty. Still jarring at times in the way it is edited, but I like the OST between Qi Yan and Ruo Yu.

{{{Episode 42 update}}}

* I've grown pretty impatient of all of the continuously moving plot chess pieces throughout but I'm still mesmerized by scenes with Qi Yan and his awful godfather, Duke Qiu. There is a scene in Episode 42 that is especially profound in its intensity between the two. I think this scene is acted gorgeously with abuser vs victim being the main mentality that came to the forefront. You can see young Qi Yan here, afraid of Duke Qiu - a frightened boy in Emporers clothes. I really liked this scene and watched the physical intensity between them several times. The way he pulls at Duke Qiu's clothing desperately. It was all very heartbreaking to watch.

"You cannot let me suffer the pain of heartbreak alone."

{{{Episode 44}}}

* I don't even know what's going on anymore. LOL. Not because the plot is hard to follow, but because I lost interest in it and just skip through for Qi Yan's scenes. It really doesn't help that I was watching this simultaneously with The Rise of Phoenixes and literally every aspect of that show is better than this one. Production, story, acting, plot, cinematography, set design, etc. Literally everything. Still, I'm not mad about the whump with Qi Yan all the time- I live for that all by itself.

* Cheng Yi and the bloody lip. Came in around a quarter of the way through, and never left. Yeaaaaa. :)

* I like the voice actor for Cheng Yi.

*At some point, probably around Ep. 41 or 42, I became less impressed with Ruo Yu. Her emotional scenes aren't as impactful or convincing. It honestly might just be the overdub or the editing. I don't think it's wholly the actress's fault.

{{{Episode 49}}}

* Tissues. Have them.

*Strange ending because it's a bit....open ended?

* I was pleasantly surprised by 1 or 2 major characters at the end. I was wrong about them and it was fun to catch myself in the mistake (even though I sorely lacked in knowing the full context of the plot after having skipped through the last quarter of the series, lol.

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Don't mess with the eunuch.

Unfortunately, the times of the Tang dynasty and not only show the often bloody political influence of eunuchs over the centuries.
It is the 9th century and the court is ruled by the mighty eunuch Qiu Zi Liang (the prototype is the figure of another eunuch, Qiu Shiliang), who after the historic incident in Ganlu (the Sweet Dew incident, December 14, 835). ) takes a cruel revenge on officials and their families who, together with Emperor Wenzong, planned to eliminate him from the political game and deprive him of influence. Qiu Zi Liang murders families and factions favorable to the Emperor, with the apparent help of the young, ambitious heir to the throne, Qi Yan. But what we see does not quite turn out to be true. The game of appearances begins. Whose intrigue will be more effective, who will outsmart the enemy, who will actually win, we don't really know until the last episode. The young emperor, eunuch, uncle or Prince Guang (the prototype of Emperor Xuanzong II).
The bloody, cruel times of the struggle for power are well reflected in the plot of the film. From the somewhat caricatured character of Qiu Zi Liang, the arrogant, confident and cunning eunuch, to the personal protector of Emperor Cheng Ruo Yu, her sister seeking revenge for the family tragedy, various secondary generals, to Prince Guang, so impenetrable and mysterious, to a tormented but quite clever emperor. And here my applause for the good use of the historical background to show the characters of the drama and the development of the romance against the background of political games.
I liked the main characters of the drama, Qi Yan played by Cheng Yi, more than in Love and Redemption. This time, although he was stabbed quite a few times, he did not spit out hectoliters of blood as in Love and Redemption. As for the acting, I have no objections and I think that he coped brilliantly in both dramas.
As for the figure of the ever faithful, loyal guardian of Cheng Ruo Yu, I have only reservations about the credibility of being a great adept of martial arts. Being so frighteningly thin and without muscles, she just wouldn't have raised her sword. But I understand that actors are picked up on lines and various phrases require featherweight from them.
Mickey He's acting was great too, though caricatured. It is an attempt to give a certain personality to the character played. Controversial, annoying, disgusting, cruel.
Impenetrable, cold and then warm and caring Qiu Yan Zhi, applause for Xuan Lu.
In general, acting is a plus, although the characters of the drama themselves did not really convince me, as did I have small reservations about the logic of the plot.
Music made me nervous sometimes and sometimes it made me laugh. As in the drama Once and Only, the music was perfectly selected and worked together to add value to the drama, here I felt the singer was singing desperately when there should be silence. The soundtrack itself, however, is ok.
I don't know if I will be able to watch this drama again in the near future, because at times I felt torment, though not as intense as the young emperor.

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A political drama

Story: 8/10
Story first started off being more romantic, and subsequently moved to a political game with a small element of suspense (half the time I didn’t understand what was their “strategy”, maybe too complex for my understanding but carried on with the show). It became slightly draggy at the middle to end of the show (e.g. when it became clear that Ruoyu and Yanzhi were sisters but they never got to recognize each other until the end of the show, or Qi Yan just being sickly for the last half of the show, or the antagonist Cheng Xi who kept coming back to mess things up).

Acting: 9/10
Qi Yan (Cheng Yi) and Yan Zhi (Xuan Lu) acting kept me going throughout the show! Fighting scenes were decent, including Qi Yan’s archery!
Generally a sucker for strong female leads, even though Yan Zhi doesn’t know martial arts but she shows maturity in her thoughts, whereas FL Ruoyu was a martial artist but a rather childish character in this show.

Music: 9/10
Rewatch: 6/10

Overall: 8/10
Overall a decent watch, but unlikely to rewatch!

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