Just finished a drama series
Now my internet life so empty. No catching up on next episode of Palace.
So in my typical post-series catharsis, I have to write a blog post to memorialize my thoughts n feelings for the drama.
Palace 宫锁心玉
So it’s about this girl Qing Chuan who travels back to the past and gets into a love triangle between the 4th prince and the 8th prince. The historical accuracy of the drama got me up and reading about the history of Yongzhen emperor and the Qing dynasty, which in reality was only about 300 years odd past. So now I am armed with a romantic version of a portion of Chinese history - not an entirely bad way to educate, really. I would watch this for homework if I majored in Chinese history.
Having said that, I had the most bizarre obsession with period dramas. I think its the elaborate costumes - just watching them makes me feel like getting married in them - they are really really creative with the hairstyles and pretty costumes. Though usually I don’t watch mainland China movies cos I can’t stand the accent. Reasons why I like this show
1) Period drama w pretty costumes is satisfying
2) Plot like Meteor Garden! How to fail! 4th Prince as Hua Ze Lei and 8th Prince as Dao Ming Si - sure win. Exactly the same trademark scenes!
3) Actors are good-looking and they are actually pretty darn skilled! Very convincing. Even if i discriminate against mainland China accents/productions in general, it is pretty not bad. 8th prince also rocked the half-shaved look (one night I dreamt of him as my shining knight in a period costume)
Qing Chuan is played by Yang Mi.
8th prince by this dude called Feng Shao Feng who is actually quite dashing. Gorgeous in a Qing dynasty way actually.
All’s well ends well, 8th prince loved her so much he traveled into the future to look for her - though it could have been developed into so much more! But still it was an awesome happy ending.
However as with Boys over Flowers (the korean version of Meteor Garden), I liked the bittersweet unrequited love story of the 4th prince more. Ok, so it’s pretty unbelievable that Qing Chuan liked and dumped 4th prince so completely but for the plot’s sake…… She has to be with the 8th prince. Its so conflicting cos I know who she’ll eventually end up with but yet the disappointment of the 4th prince was so devastating.
My absolute favourite bit of the whole drama is this letter 4th prince or the now Yongzheng emperor writes for her. It’s the man with all the power in the world but powerless to force her to love him back.. Wow. And not to mention I’m a sucker for poems, even more so when they are so beautifully written in the Chinese language. Absolute melt to the max.
Mickey He plays the not so handsome n not so tall 4th prince - he pens this letter to Qing Chuan in a last bid to win her over. It touches her but she’s 8th prince’s devoted wife by now. SIGH why so bittersweet! Somehow I like this pairing more - I keep thinking what would have happened if they really got together. Then the 4th prince won’t be so tragic and marry + hurt 2 women he never loved like he loved Qing Chuan.
Also at this point (last episode) I find out this letter are the exact lyrics to the 片尾曲 of the song! Later on I discover it was sung by Mickey He (who plays 4th prince!) - he’s actually a singer. Total heart-gripping as the songs plays and as the episode ends tragically for him..
Some pictures of them to end off my rambling self-indulgent post..
I’ll post the lyrics next!
