Secret Twelve Palace (2019)

Ok start and good cinematic filters

Story a d Production:
While the beginning it was somewhat interesting, it kept getting worse with the plot and script. I personally liked the cinematography or the filter style, but that's it. Besides of that everything was kinda underaverage to bad imo.

Acting/Cast: The cast felt fairly young and doing an OK job. But they never felt emerged into their characters imo, but it might be due the direction and writing. The characters are pretty flat, so no one left a deep impression.

Overall: Had a good start with it's own style, but the flaws stood out too much.

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I tried to like it

This type of drama is right up my alley - a princess refusing to be a passive, pretty flower in the palace but choosing to be strong and help her family/have some righteous purpose, and meets her true love while she's doing just that. The cinematography, acting and costumes were fine. However, I was really disappointed with the story and tried my best to push through, hoping that it would get better but it just never did, unfortunately.

COSTUMES: worn at the wrong time
The costumes looked fine, but the costume choices for certain scenes just weren't well thought out. For example, the princess escaped from the palace at night in an elaborate, light-coloured dress with a long cape that dragged on the ground like the train of a wedding dress. When the ML and his assistant was breaking into the the palace at night (that was planned!), they did not dress up in dark clothes but just went in their regular clothes (which were light coloured).

LOGIC: lacking
At times, the princess is highly intelligent and alert, observing and stringing along clues to solve a case. At other times, she is so unskilled to be unable to tie a rope around someone's hands, or to recognise that she is a princess who can't really fight and should not enter certain clearly dangerous situations since she would only distract the others by needing to be protected. I know that female characters in cdramas usually "sa jiao", but she was written to be so insufferable that it grated on my nerves. She also gets mad at the ML for too long a period of time, and for reasons that really don't make sense.

As the ML puts himself into a dangerous situation to investigate the case, his colleagues in his society just keep quiet about everything they know (and have already been investigating!!!) to "keep him safe", except that he just makes decisions he regrets later because he doesn't have the information they know. To no one's surprise, he steps right into said danger.

The SML has all the evidence presented to him that the ML is not at fault, but he just stubbornly goes ahead to try to kill the ML, then as he returns from murdering the ML, questions why he murdered the ML and calls the ML his only xiongdi (brother). Am confused because this character is supposed to be intelligent.

THE ROMANCE: no chemistry
I couldn't get behind the couple. I was confused as to why they fell in love in the first place. I know they're going for the "FL and ML banter because they like each other" but I felt absolutely nothing for them. Apparently her heart hurt when the ML almost died but nothing that they went through seems to warrant that kind of emotional connection.

THE ACTORS
None of this is on the actors. I liked the FL in the Sleepless Princess.

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