So after an year and a half I finished “Ashes of love” and thought to rant about all I have been feeling. It’s my second chinese costume drama and I didnot like it as much as I expected. I hated almost all characters, I mean everybody were manipulative. RY was the manipulations were extreme but I find myself unable root for either XF and JM too.
I hated how the drama twisted his indifference by giving the notion that he was unaware of everything. How come he didnot notice the atrocities of his evil mother towards his brother? And he never reacts until it is connected to JM. His mother killed a whole tribe, killed his brother’s mom and almost killed his own brother all under his nose and are we still to believe that he was unaware of it? It’s so hard to believe that. The show did made it look like the emperor had it hidden but how can someone be this ignorant to not notice the crimes committed by.multiple people around him? The brothers were shown to have a close bond but still XF was unaware about the healing of RY. He literally had sex with JM ( who was engaged to RY that time) while his brother was mourning his mother and he thought about apologizing for his mother only the next day that too asking RY to call off the engagement? 🤦♀️🤦♀️ He was shown to be not ambitious but keeping aside the love story with JM, XF doesn’t have much quality that make you root for him. He is just a privileged prince without an ounce of responsibility. There is so much hypocrisy to his charcter that I almost started hating him towards the second half of the drama seeing his indifference towards his mom’s crimes.
Coming to the other characters, there is moon immortal whose skipped mostly because that character irked me a lot. Towards the end of the show there is a scene where tells RY that he is close to XF only beacuse XF opened up to him. How come he was unaware of the years worth abuse on one nephew? How he never took a stand for RY while showed support to XF in multiple situations. There were times when he defended the emperor’s actions and utterly ignored most of his crimes. The mortal arc love story was a result of his manipulation and I wonder if he will do the same “red string” manipulation if was RY in XF’s place.
I low key liked the water god and wind god but they were too kind hearted for this mean world.
Coming to JM, I have mixed feeling about her. The character felt weak esp when there are strong females like the demon princess who actually creates an impact. The whole pellet arc was messed up and plot was all over the place because of it. It made her so indecisive and stupid that she was actually jumping from one decision to another, getting engaged to RY while sleeping with his brother, confessing love to one and marrying the other ??. I mean you know who you want to be with and even your dad said he will support whatever decision she makes, still she agreed to marry RY only for her dad while confessing to XF that she loves him.
So basically this was hyped as a love story, but all I could watch for three fourth of the series was bad people getting away with the crimes. And it’s an example for a show that make the villain relatable and the leads boring. The only good thing was I have three actors who I liked and whose other works I want to check out.
People talk about how annoying FL is because of her naivete but its the ML I cannot stomach, and yet I see excuses made for his character over and beyond. RY’s spiral is understandable and he’s portrayed as bad but XF is spoiled and entitled and yet he’s supposed to be loved by the audience and its infuriating that it works because female viewers fawn over him and also the “love story”. Best thing about this drama is the OST “Unsullied” from Mao Buyi. And although I dislike JM, I appreciated Yang Zi’s acting especially her crying scenes.
wandering spot
November 26, 2021 at 8:14 AM
So after an year and a half I finished “Ashes of love” and thought to rant about all I have been feeling. It’s my second chinese costume drama and I didnot like it as much as I expected. I hated almost all characters, I mean everybody were manipulative. RY was the manipulations were extreme but I find myself unable root for either XF and JM too.
I hated how the drama twisted his indifference by giving the notion that he was unaware of everything. How come he didnot notice the atrocities of his evil mother towards his brother? And he never reacts until it is connected to JM. His mother killed a whole tribe, killed his brother’s mom and almost killed his own brother all under his nose and are we still to believe that he was unaware of it? It’s so hard to believe that. The show did made it look like the emperor had it hidden but how can someone be this ignorant to not notice the crimes committed by.multiple people around him? The brothers were shown to have a close bond but still XF was unaware about the healing of RY. He literally had sex with JM ( who was engaged to RY that time) while his brother was mourning his mother and he thought about apologizing for his mother only the next day that too asking RY to call off the engagement? 🤦♀️🤦♀️ He was shown to be not ambitious but keeping aside the love story with JM, XF doesn’t have much quality that make you root for him. He is just a privileged prince without an ounce of responsibility. There is so much hypocrisy to his charcter that I almost started hating him towards the second half of the drama seeing his indifference towards his mom’s crimes.
Coming to the other characters, there is moon immortal whose skipped mostly because that character irked me a lot. Towards the end of the show there is a scene where tells RY that he is close to XF only beacuse XF opened up to him. How come he was unaware of the years worth abuse on one nephew? How he never took a stand for RY while showed support to XF in multiple situations. There were times when he defended the emperor’s actions and utterly ignored most of his crimes. The mortal arc love story was a result of his manipulation and I wonder if he will do the same “red string” manipulation if was RY in XF’s place.
I low key liked the water god and wind god but they were too kind hearted for this mean world.
Coming to JM, I have mixed feeling about her. The character felt weak esp when there are strong females like the demon princess who actually creates an impact. The whole pellet arc was messed up and plot was all over the place because of it. It made her so indecisive and stupid that she was actually jumping from one decision to another, getting engaged to RY while sleeping with his brother, confessing love to one and marrying the other ??. I mean you know who you want to be with and even your dad said he will support whatever decision she makes, still she agreed to marry RY only for her dad while confessing to XF that she loves him.
So basically this was hyped as a love story, but all I could watch for three fourth of the series was bad people getting away with the crimes. And it’s an example for a show that make the villain relatable and the leads boring. The only good thing was I have three actors who I liked and whose other works I want to check out.
kx
November 26, 2021 at 9:58 AM
People talk about how annoying FL is because of her naivete but its the ML I cannot stomach, and yet I see excuses made for his character over and beyond. RY’s spiral is understandable and he’s portrayed as bad but XF is spoiled and entitled and yet he’s supposed to be loved by the audience and its infuriating that it works because female viewers fawn over him and also the “love story”. Best thing about this drama is the OST “Unsullied” from Mao Buyi. And although I dislike JM, I appreciated Yang Zi’s acting especially her crying scenes.
wandering spot
November 26, 2021 at 10:36 AM
Yeah the OST was beautiful. And I did not liked Yang Zi’s acting too I felt it was overdone at many scenes.