thoughts on ้็ Pursuit of Jade (spoilers ahead)
Just finished the drama and I have to say I was pretty disappointed by how badly they dropped the ball on this *sigh* I mean, it's ๅคๅถๅง so I'm not even expecting jaw-dropping plot twists or serious contemplative stuff, but given how entertaining the first half of the drama was, this was quite a letdown. Anyway, the (mostly) positive things first:
Fan Changyu best girl. Cannot blame Wu'an Hou for ่ง่ฒ่ตทๆ and just agreeing to marry her because Mood, dude. Interestingly, in the Ming Dynasty, there was a famous female general named Qin Liangyu (same ็ as Changyu, also the "jade" in the title of the drama) and I believe parts of this drama were filmed in her birthplace, Chongqing.
I loved the First Princess Qi Shu and Fan Changning <3! Yu Qianqian was OK as a character but I got annoyed at the ending that revealed she was a transmigrator. Why was that even necessary? Yes, there were some asynchronisms like her inventing pepper spray and knowing about CPR and dental cavities. But this is fantasy historical China, surely they could have invented another way for Gongsun Yin to know CPR and just had Yu Qianqian be a really smart woman to think up referral discounts and pepper spray instead of undermining that and having her know these things only because she is a modern person?
Speaking of Gongsun Yin though, I LOVE him. He's easily my favourite male character, not just for his comedic timing (and the actor accidentally falling down stairs and getting his sleeves caught on stuff at exactly the right moments โ and most importantly, without breaking character!).
ๆ็ชๅฐ้ aka pig butchering squad were very cute but the random dude (Kang-po's grandson?) that got forcibly inserted after the battle arc and clearly can't act was annoying. On Wu'an Hou's side, his Xie Wu, Qi, etc were also adorable.
Changyu's amazing luck picking up all the best parental figures like Zhao-dashu and Zhao-daniang, and Tao Dai Fu. The supporting cast for this show was great.
Yan Yikuan has such good screen presence. I really liked him in "ๅผไบบไนไธ I Am Nobody 2" and happy to see him again.
There was a lot of interesting cinematography that called back to the shadow-puppet play right at the beginning of the drama, with actors positioned in places of shadow and light, emerging from shadow, separated by screens/screen windows. I wish they had expanded on that symbolism a little more and also not had so much of it focused on the two leads, especially since Xie Zheng and Qi Min are such obvious two sides of the same coin and narrative foils.
I also particularly liked two songs from the OST, "ไผ้ๅฏปๅฅนๅ็พๅบฆ" by Zhang Bichen which of course gets its lyrics from the poem by ่พๅผ็พ Xin Qiji, ใ้็ๆกยทๅ
ๅค The Green Jade Plate โ The Lantern Festivalใ and "้ฃไบ่ตท" by Xu Hebin which unfortunately turned to be more like a song snippet even in full.
And now for the negative:
The editing and pacing started to go downhill after around EP25, and honestly most of the stuff after they both went back to the capital was unwatchable. IDK if it's an issue with the original novel or the scriptwriter just being not very good with the political intrigue part of things, but it was choppy, messy, and convoluted, and honestly characterisation for Fan Changyu in particular was also kinda out of whack.
Perhaps it's a personal pet peeve but illogical and obviously weak plot points really pull me out of a drama. How much strength do you think it takes to behead yourself cleanly?! Also old men that refuse to share their secrets before a big battle are obviously going to die so that the story gets prolonged, it just makes me roll my eyes.
Given how much time was given in the earlier episodes to let the leads do their ็ๆฅ็ผๅปๅๆณ (unnecessarily long, tbqh) the plot at the end had very little breathing room. It just felt like someone recited the remaining plot points to tie up loose ends (and of course try to convince the audience that Wei Yan was actually not such a bad guy, y'know) in one long breath. Also, why was the big battle between Wei Yan and Xie Zheng anyway? The guy who is trying to usurp the throne is right there, perhaps settle that first before you guys have your badly choreographed anti-climatic fight?
Not sure how to recommend this show to others, tbh. Stop watching after EP25? Or watch the rest of it on fast-forward maybe, skipping to the scenes you want to watch. Anyway, frustrating and an unfortunate waste of a promising show. I feel like I enjoyed another drama by the same director, "ๅฟตๅฟตๆ ๆ The Killer is Also Romantic" [watch it here for free] much better even though it was like a microdrama โ the entire series is only about 3.5 hours long total. (It's like Mr & Mrs Smith but ancient China, no big names but really fun.)
