Square Pavilion (2024)

Diplomatic impunity.

Go East starts out as a fresh and interesting workplace comedy about Sifang Pavilion 四方馆, which was an institution that hosted guests and envoys from all four directions 四方/sìfāng during the Tang dynasty. Sifang Pavillion is essentially a Ministry of Foreign Affairs; they handle diplomatic issues from issuing visas, facilitating trade, solving diplomatic cases to negotiating treaties. Yuan Mo is loosely attached to Sifang Pavilion and helps oversea foreign visitors at the city gates, under the indulgent eye of Director Ye Deshui. He is a clever fellow with a predisposition for wine, snakes and bird brains but he lacks ambition and shirks responsibility. Alas, he spots a real strange bird, Ashu, at the gates and makes the mistake of his life by stopping her. She invades his personal space, poisons him, bullies him, frames him, helps herself to his hard earned money and turns his life upside down. This poor man is so alone and lonely that he sucks it all up as if he was deprived of attention his whole life. As it turns out, the Man in White, the deadly leader of the Faceless assassins are after her. To help her, Yuan Mo gets co-opted taking on a proper role at the Sifang Pavilion, where he proves himself by solving a few tricky diplomatic cases.

Ashu as a character did not work for me from the get go. She debuts as an entitled bully who blames the hapless Yuan Mo for all her issues, makes unreasonable demands and causes no end of trouble for him. She doesn't bat an eye when her servants openly disrespect him and never apologizes or feels a smidgeon of remorse. She puts herself in harm's way repeatedly with her noble idiocy and half baked schemes, endangering everyone that has to rescue her. This is an ungrateful creature that tramples all over the male lead and is so lacking in intelligence and survival instincts that it is a miracle she didn't perish long ago. I never connected with any Zhou Yiran's roles and her portrayal of Ashu is callous and supercilious to the point that I didn't root for her. Her piteous and repetitive crying scenes made me yawn and roll my eyes. For sure, these scenes are exaggerated for comedic effect but her constant smug expression made her seem mean instead of endearing or comical. None of the female characters are written in a flattering way. Yuchi Hua is also a termagant and is a cliché gender bender character whose only contribution is as token muscle. But at least she softens up and she shows she genuinely respects and cares for Wang Kunwu. This is the latest in a disturbing trend of dramas where the female characters get a free pass for toxic behavior towards male characters who pretty much just roll over and play dead. When did it become so unfashionable to have balanced relationships where men and women just treat each other well?

The only thing that salvaged this drama for me is Tan Jianci's incredibly funny and moving performance as Yuan Mo. This is a refreshing role for him and his comedic timing and expressions are spot on. The character itself is not super well written either; he fell for Ashu too quickly and I remain baffled as to why; he lets her walk all over him and he is super intelligent but ultimately only applies himself for her. The gaping difference between Tan Jianci and Zhou Yiran is that he made me love his goofy, slightly wimpy, deeply wounded Yuan Mo flaws and all; a character who seemed to not quite dare to live until he had to find himself for an ungrateful wretch with the brain the size of a watermelon seed. (Why didn't I live thousands of years ago so he could have found me instead?) Even though they looked cute together, the chemistry between them seemed more friendly than passionate so as a couple, they didn't move me. All those wasted Tan Jianci kiss scenes! But I enjoyed the camaraderie between both couples and the broader Sifang Pavilion team and the hilarious rivalry between the East Court and the West Court. Ye Deshui was MVP for me; he delivered as many comedy gold moments as Yuan Mo did and I loved the hilariously pragmatic way in which he ran Sifang Pavilion and appeased domestic and foreign conflicts.

Plot-wise this drama starts out well as I was genuinely intrigued by the foreign relations premise of the story. The first two cases are interesting and tight and the satire made me invested in the team. After that, the romances starts to take center stage and the to-ing and fro-ing between couples I didn't really care for was not funny enough to keep me engaged. That is also when progressively larger holes in the plot emerges and it snowballs into an avalanche at the end. Along the way, the tone of the drama shifts from silly and hilarious to one where the writer kills off good characters with diplomatic impunity. There was only one good twist in the entire plot, which was who saved the Yanle princess. The identity of the princess was too obvious you couldn't have missed it. Likewise, they cast an actor with an unmistakably prominent feature as the mysterious Man in White. He was flagged early on as a suspect in the Red Lotus case and his identity was just given away during Ashilan's kidnapping. Both these reveals were too early, erasing any sense of suspense. I thought Ashu was as dumb as bricks until they get back to Yanle which is when I realized that in the land of the blind, the one eyed woman is queen. The final reveal of the Man in White's motive contradicts the entire plot because given his identity, he never needed any Yanle princess; in fact a cooperative fake one is much better than the real thing. The smart thing for him to do would have been to eliminate her from the start. This is also what Long Tuqi should have done but Yanle is the land of the dumb after all. Even though it ends in a satisfying way, it was a hollow victory because they won because they were out-dumbed by the antagonists. It is this drama's most unique feature; a race to the bottom where the protagonists and antagonists vie to under smart each other.

Overall, the first half of this drama can be enjoyed as a spoof kind of along the lines of the Austin Powers movies but lacking any underlying intelligence. It is worth watching just to see Tan Jianci do comedy and romance watchers who can ship the couple may enjoy it more than I did. I found it a very mediocre watch, one that feels like a 7.0 more often than not. But I am going to throw in a 0.5 for the fresh premise and Tan Jianci's phenomenal, funny and moving acting to call it 7.5/10.0 overall.

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Comical yet seriousness, in house fights yet warmth of relations, common yet pretty engrossing

I must say..tan jian ci's acting skill is literally off the charts. He actually gets engrossed so much and adapts the character very nicely. It's like he isn't TJC anymore but yuan mo only. So naturally portrayed and even ah shu is doing really well too. The story has very fine comedy and warmth between relations and friendships. Overall, its a good watch.

PS- They are very quick and to the point on every love story. No side angles and no drooling over some boring plots. Love partners are clear and really quick in confessing and accepting. Though a little slow paced in the middle but still likable.

Actually yuan mo and ah shu are being shown as having mysterious backgrounds. Both the characters are as broke as hell and too much into fun;). As of now they both want to enjoy the life. Though the story is all set to dive into past mysteries but the essence of drama which is fun comedy and love is not lost at all. This drama fairly portrays how common people are in their daily lives. The storyline might be common but when you watch it, it doesn't seem to be conmon. I didn't understand what made the story stand out from all other similar dramas out there. May be the main story is common but all side stories, side characters, direction and everything is so new to me. And the acting in here, i am at loss of words. Acting is so beautiful, if has given a new life to the whole story. Even if i talk about cast, it's not disappointing. Just give it a try and you won't hate me for recommending.

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Man in White Seemed 1 Step Ahead but YM was A Master GO Player

I added to my watchlist after I saw TJC in UTS before his breakout role in LYF. I didn't know he had a comedy background so was very interested to see how that would play to his versatility. Also him being a professional ballroom dancer helped in the last episode. I was only familiar with certain supporting characters including the main antagonists from other roles. Man in White for a good chunk of was one step ahead of everyone and killed more people than we could count. But he didn't count on the brain power of YM or ML.

Pros: I liked most of the comedy and the friendships amongst the two couples as they got together. Yes, YM was my favorite but I also really liked WKW and the antagonist. The best part about this show was that they didn't reveal who the antagonist was other than a vicious predator who killed everyone and everything standing in his way. Had us guessing though most guessed right as even netizens dug into things like the ear and mole similarities lol. The Faceless as these assassins called themselves which had to be one of the cheesiest names ever but whatever, their ruthlessness was obvious. The MVP of this show hands down was Envoy Kang or Uncle Kang that raised both AS and "Fatty" to assist them in bringing all of the people down even though he didn't get to see that day himself. YM's parents, WKW's friends, and for AS to avenge Uncle Kang each delivering a blow to MIW who turned out to be AS's prince brother but just from a different mother. Bastard was power hungry and would kill literally anyone standing in his way.

I really liked how the East and West Court went from hating each other to being a family and winning the alliance with the other states as well as standing up for one another. YM went from an immature money grabber to someone who his parents would be very proud of. It wasn't until AXY lost SS to MIW that he realized what real priorities were and who and what was important in life. His father was absent but cared in his own way; still I don't care about that relationship. Mr. Yu was essentially YM's adoptive father and I loved their relationship. Other great characters were all the envoys, Duomi, his bodyguard, the ministers too, Ji and Shen, YCH with WKW best 2nd couple!

The story moved along quite well and I liked how they were able to work once they understood Sifang Pavillion was a family. Comedy always ensued when alcohol and even a pet snake was present. Or just general tomfoolery. Costumes especially from the different states, OSTs, were done very well. Some of the sets were nice.

Cons: What I didn't like about the series is that it AS started as a squatter in YM's home and ordered him around like she owned the place. Who does that? Only because he had a good heart did he allow that, had it been anyone else, she would been drop kicked into another location. She was really ungrateful, even landing him in prison for her own misconduct. But it was how quickly their feelings developed that was really a bit whiplash-ish. From all that, to fine roommates and then beds together and smooches.

I also feel that YM got bullied a lot by her and then later her royal maids. Like the man loves her and sacrifices a lot for her and she doesn't even tell him her plans and throws her weight around just because she was the recognized princess by Yong but from Yanle. I'm not a fan of those kinds of tactics. Making the woman seem stronger by bullying isn't the right way to do it.

The CGI, costumes on guards appeared very cheap. Also I saw someone mention it in the comments but the bad guys aka Mutu, LTQ, and even big bad himself MIW got a lot dumber. Maybe because he was on home turf and he didn't think YM could find connections to take him out. The other two were never smart to begin with and so everyone of the good guys working together and even using MIW, took them out, though as mentioned above, the last and much deserved assassination was the most deserved and done by the 3 people he harmed and thought he got away with it. Just shows to never let your guard down no matter what. Also the ending was rushed with the wedding, pregnancy, etc and the 7 minute little extra, tying some loose ends could have been better incorporated into the last episode. But it did show proper humor because comedy was ever present in this show.

Would I recommend it? I would. It was very entertaining and funny. There were some misses and a lower budget but worth for all those moments even the tear jerking ones. I say, it's worth it.

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Refreshing blend of humor, nostalgia and melodrama

Go East follows the coming-of-age journey of Yuan Mo, a reluctant antihero who loves eating, drinking, and money but hates working. He is smart and witty, yet often runs around like a chicken with its head cut off. To earn a quick buck, he shamelessly concocts schemes. However, beneath his perceived cowardice and loudmouth behavior, the story slowly reveals a deeper trauma, adding layers to his character and hinting at an emotional backstory.

In terms of production quality, Go East featured stronger acting across the board and excelled in making the Hengdian studio sets, on-location shots, and other settings appear visually cohesive. The lighting, cinematography, camera work, and editing were all solid, working seamlessly together to complement the genre without distracting from the storytelling. Although the background music and soundtrack didn’t offer any standout tunes, they effectively accompanied the drama, subtly enhancing the overall atmosphere.

Adding to its charm, Go East evokes a sense of nostalgia, particularly for those of us who grew up watching Chinese dramas of the '90s. The comedic timing of misspoken words leading to humorous situations—like Yuan Mo wanting a new home because he’s tired of sleeping on the ground, while the realtor thinks he’s been overindulging with his maid—brings a sense of lighthearted fun. Additionally, the portrayal of political etiquette, humorously resolving interpersonal misunderstandings—such as trading Yuan Mo’s freedom for Yuqi’s transfer to Si Fang Pavilion—is delightful. When I’m not laughing outright, I’m chuckling at the absurdity of the circumstances.

However, the second half of the series takes a different turn, shifting into a palace melodrama. This change, while still engaging, detracts from the charm of the first half, which was brimming with comedy and quirky cases. As the story leaned more heavily on Ah Shu's arc, we lost much of Yuan Mo’s presence, which was one of the show's early strengths.

Tan Jianci’s decision to tackle a comedic role in his acting repertoire has undoubtedly helped expand his versatility as an actor. His portrayal of Yuan Mo, with his unruly and untamed personality reminiscent of Stephen Chow’s iconic characters, also showcases Jianci’s own talent for facial exaggerations and subtle micro-expressions, adding depth and humor to the performance.

In the end, Go East offers a refreshing blend of humor and nostalgia, making it a delightful journey for anyone who appreciates the charm of comedy dramas. Tan Jianci’s portrayal of Yuan Mo stands out as a significant step in his evolution as a versatile actor, marking this series as both entertaining and memorable.

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if only it weren't for the romance

I started this drama with no particular expectations, knowing none of the actors nor what the story was about and... I have mixed feelings. Particularly about the romance and the very last, rather rushed and dumb, episodes.
Go East starts strong with a fresh and funny workplace plot and well enough fleshed out characters and it would have soared higher if it didn't fall in the all too used and familiar romantic narration between two leads who share no particular chemistry.
Because, in my opinion, what really set this drama apart from all others aired this year are the platonic and friendly relationships between the characters, how they get together to become one big, chaotic and yet cosy family, and the love route just dragged it down.
If I were to give this drama two separate ratings, it would go like that:

first half: 8.5
The first half of the drama focuses on the Sifang Pavilion and the shenanigans and developing friendships of the people who work there, taking care of hosts and guests from all countries and their (diplomatic) needs. It's all very light, at times silly and above the lines, and every character has just the right comedic timing and expressions to make one, if not laugh out loud, at least giggle a little.
The best relationships (chemistry wise) in this part are the ones between Yuan Mo and Yu De Shui (father-son/partners in crime) and between Yuan Mo and Wang Ku Wu (two opposites who get to know and trust each other with their lives).
We even have some cases that need to be investigated and solved and, although not extremely clever, they were engaging and well written and made me love this drama all the more. Up to this point, I was ready to say Go East was to become one of my favourite shows ever.
But then came the

second half: 6.5 (7 if I REALLY stretch it)
My main problem with this part is how everything - the comedy and satire, the friendship and growing trust between the characters, the role the Sifang Pavilion has in managing the many foreign envoys and investigating "mysteries" - gets diluted and put aside to the benefit of the romance when the romance has no reason to be to begin with.
It just doesn't make sense for Yuan Mo to fall in love so fast (or at all) with A Shu, a young woman who did nothing but complicate his life, bringing him endless trouble and problems, threatened, bullied and poisoned him since their very first meeting and put his life in literal danger by framing him and getting him to prison. She all but invades his home and personal space, throwing away his stuff and planting poisonous flowers and plants all over his garden (and even brings in a snake - which was a very cute snake, I admit, but one Yuan Mo was terrified of), unapologetically helps herself to all his money and gets mad at him when things don't go her way or her - rather hard to achieve - demands are not met.
And he... falls in love with her. Head-over-heels-I-would-die-for-you sort of love. Given their past (and a very recent past at that) I just couldn't understand their romance and that really took me out of the story. I would have perhaps excused it if it were treated as a slow burn, but there's nothing even remotely slow about the way he falls for her.
Does it get better along the way? Yes...? But also not really. I could see she too ends up caring for him a lot, but that didn't refrain her from keep on telling lies and go on quests that put her life in danger (and consequently his and her friends, since they were the ones that always had to save her) nor did she defend him ONCE when her servants bullied and physically beat him for literally no reason. No, at times she even gave the impression of finding these mistreatments funny.
They would have worked a lot better as bickering friends and nothing more, since romantic love really wasn't necessary for the plot to move forward. (But in my opinion the writers should have done a better job with A Shu altogether).
Conversely, I really liked how they slowly built the romance between Wang Kun Wu and Yuchi Hua. It felt more organic, balanced and realistic (plus, absolutely zero toxic behaviours in sight) and it just made a lot more sense than the main couple.

This one issue aside and, as I've already mentioned at the very beginning, a rushed ending where all the villains (major and minor alike) suddenly turned rather dumb and cartoonish when they were depicted as interesting and dangerous up until that moment, I would still recommend this drama, because there is some rather good writing, the jokes and satire never miss, the (non-romantic) chemistry between the actors works and the characters are for the most part memorable and well written individuals, with their own motivations and personalities, dreams and flaws. All in all they all get their arc and character growth and the actors were capable enough to translate that on screen.
I really just wish they'd done a better job with the lead couple.

- Mei

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A thrilling one time watch worthy drama.

I watched n completed this only for TJC . N he didn't disappoint at all. His acting was top notch. I started this without any expectations but was pleasantly surprised that the genre turned out to be my fav, a bit mystery plus comedy,so I enjoyed the ride. The only thing which was negative for me was the casting of FL. Should have taken an actress who suited the role n had an aura of princess. She didn't look like a princess, she suited a wanderer who steals her way through shown in start but not as a princess. Sorry to her fans if my opinion offends you. Didn't even feel any chemistry between anyone, they all looked like bffs only, i don't have complaints with any ckt. But there's no romantic chemistry between anyone. Hope to see better show of tjc next time.

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Tan Jianci rocked his role as Yuan Mo

As many of us, I started watching because of Tan Jianci. I was so sad after LYF... but as soon as I started Go East, I started smiling. What an amazing actor he is, his character, Yuan Mo, is so different and he simply rocked it.

What did I like?
The story. It was full of suspense and mystery, I liked the rivalry of the two courts, the way the ML and FL interacted.
I also had my part of heartbreak.
What I loved most was Yuan Mo (Tan Jianci). His love for Ah Shu was so pure and earnest, he was wonderful. I also loved his wit, he was always so clever, I laughed aloud during his funny moments, I also loved the fact that he was not a warrior.
The mysterious Man in White was a great villain.

What did I like less?
The hairdo if the people of Mobei. I liked Prince Duomi (well, probably because I think Xu Hai Qiao is cute), but what were those snakey things beside the cheeks of the Mobei people?
I didn't like the fact that sometimes something incredible happened and in a flash-back we got many informations to explain it afterwards ton make it work.
Some of the villains, as Mutu, were portrayed as to dumb.
The sidestories were ok, but not exhilarating, I think there was place for more. A soon as the story switched back to the main couple, I almost forgot them.

In my opinion it was Tan Jiancis performance who made this drama such a good watch. Without him it would have been average.
But as it is, you won't regret if you watch it.

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Can't stop laughing watching this drama for the first half of the drama

I started watching this drama because of Tan Jianci.. I was skeptical at first, but it was fun to watch especially the first half of the drama. Every episode is so funny, full of humor, and yet still serious when solving cases. Especially the added BGM makes it all the more comical.

After that the drama moves on to the history and political views, which is when romance is added into the show. And I don't really like the romance between the ML and FL, because the romance feels forced to be there or maybe because the timing when the romance started was not the best. The CGIs are not the best, there are view scenes where the green screen edges cropped badly.

The actress who plays Ah Shu has good acting but her chemistry with JCT is not the best, also Yuchi Hua's acting was awkward at first -- especially when she did action scenes but in the later episode of the drama it gets better. I can already guess that Ah Shu is the Yanle's princess and she'll somehow seize the throne.

IMO it was Tan Jianci's performance that made the show fun to watch, but I won't rewatch this drama. Or maybe I'll rewatch it only for the first half of the drama before the romance starts.

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Go East doesn't go south

I was pretty excited for this drama, especially because it has Tan Jianci as a cute derpy lucky smart dummy and Du Chun as a cold on the outside but warm on the inside army man settling down for the people he loves. According to the trailer, I expected something slightly different, but the reality did not disappoint. The storyline is pretty basic, we have random encounters growing from resentment and teasing into romantic love on the backstory of the evil guys wanting to command a country. This drama is labelled as comedy and it truly is light hearted and stupid cute. Slightly exaggerated at times, but it's okay, I like such comedy. However, the comedic essence subsides with the progress of the storyline and it gets slightly more serious but still with the comedy elements.
There are few things I dislike about this drama - the first one is a pet peeve of mine and the other one is, that the storyline feels a little all over the place since episode 12ish. It is probably due to the fact which I described in the previous paragraph, that the atmosphere gets more serious than comedic as the story progresses and it feels like the main plot is getting scattered. The pet peeve of mine is the element of The Misunderstanding™. I personally do not think that misunderstandings are a funny element, because the writers usually write it in a way which makes the emotions negative because of the misunderstanding. I skipped parts of that episode because I literally cannot handle it. If you also dislike this, don't worry, you won't loose the storyline in this episode even if you skim through said episode.
Other than this I really don't have anything negative to say about this drama. It's good, it's silly, you'll laugh, you'll shed some tears. I'm pretty sure that we will get happy endings for the couples and even if we don't, it will be fine. I love to see Tan Jianci in this genre, I think the character of Yuan Mo fits him really well. Same goes for Du Chun, I especially love his martial arts scenes. I also love both strong female leads. At first I thought that Yuchi Hua will be overbearing and annoying, but she's awesome. I'm not much of an OST person, I'm here for the story and actors, so I can't give you an opinion on that. Overall, a very catchy and nice drama.

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2/3 very addictive, but the last part is a little disappointing

PLOT: The ML, a smart and casual employee of Sifan Pavilion (foreign Affairs), takes in the FL, a refugee from the neighboring country (princess incognito, hunted). She becomes his maid. They solve some problems together and fall in love. But the Faceless gang, accomplices of the neighboring Regent, continue their shenanigans. The princess ends up being recognized.

+++ the ML, Tan Jian Ci, forms a very cute CL with Zhou Yi Ran.
+++ Coherent story, accompanied by 1 effective direction. Good mix of romance, humor, mystery.
+++ generic in GOT style.

### The plot becomes a little empty, boring (ep 28 & following...) with caricatured characters, blatant coincidences and plotholes in Yanle's part.

=> A great start, which falls apart a bit at the end.
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PLOT: Le ML, smart et désinvolte employé des "affaires étrangères" recueille la FL, réfugiée du pays voisin (princesse incognito, pourchassée, en fuite). Elle devient sa maid. Ils résolvent ensemble qq pbs et tombent amoureux. Cpdt le gang des Faceless, complice du Régent voisin, poursuit ses manigances. La princesse finit par se faire reconnaitre.

+++ le ML, Tan Jian Ci, forme un CL très cute avec Zhou Yi Ran.
+++ Story cohérente, accompagnée d'1 réalis° efficace. Bon mix de romance, humour, mystère.
+++ générique à la GOT

### Le plot devient un peu vide, boring (ép 28& suivants ...) avec des personnages caricaturaux, des coïncidences flagrantes et des plotholes dans la partie à Yanle.

=> Un super début, qui s'effondre un peu sur la fin.

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