Maiden Holmes (2020)

Ancient Sherlock Holmes in female body

I love crime dramas in general, and I was drawn to the title. Honestly, I didn’t have any expectations, but I was pleasantly surprised by this drama. The main actors are unknown to me, I have never watched any of their plays, but the chemistry between them is very good. The story is catchy and keeps the viewer in suspense and anticipation of the next case, while following the love story between the main characters. The supporting actors aren’t bad either, and they add a dose of humor to the whole drama. In addition to the crime plot and love story, there is also a background story about the origins of FL, which is quite mysterious. All in all, a refreshing drama in a sea of more or less similar stories.

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didn't really enjoyed it-

i was hoping to like this series- but it fell flat for me. I ended up dropping this series and couldn't finish. I couldn't get attached to the FL and her journey. each time she's tries to solve a case, she's captured or passed out and when she wakes up...she's in a a diff outfit/female clothing...like the bad guys changed her everytimes she blacked out...?! huh?

The ML is good but as he continues to grow his relationship with the FL...i can't help but see the comparison of his head size next to the FL. with each new episode goes by..his head seems to be bigger and bigger next to her and it became a visual problem for me. They didn't seem to match well or look compatible to me. I got disconnected with their chemistry and didn't feel it.

This series is definitely lighthearted and not as realistic- if you want a drama to fill in a gap while you're waiting on a completion or another drama- or a hangover drama (one you want to watch while you're trying to get over another one) i would say give it a try- it wasn't my cup of tea but i didn't feel like i wasted my time to give it a shot.

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Classic Confucius Thought

Morality:
1. CONFUCIUS GENDER EQUALITY. "EDUCATION KNOWS NO CLASS DISTINCTION".
Ep.15. 17:53,
Qi Wang(Prince Qi/Pei Zhao), uses it for,
- first to let the girls study,
- later to let Su Ci manage the detective department.
In Liang Dynasty,500AD. 1,000 years after Confucius lived, in 551–479BC.

2. AMBITION.
SOME HUMAN HAS AMBITION BEYOND THE EXISTENCE, ENDED IN FATALITY.
- Prince Yun is the emperor and Prince Qi uncle. He has ambition to overthrown the emperor, ended his life by his step nephew sword,Xie BN, in the Throne Hall.

- All noble girls who have desire to marry Prince Qi, ended in danger.

BUT, WHEN WE HAVE THE AMBITION WITHIN OUR EXISTENCE, SOMETIME IT ENDS IN SURPRISING, JOYFUL LIFE.
Su Ci, just has ambition to uncover her parents and ethnic betrayal case, without ambition to marry Prince Qi. Later, she gets the answer and also meets her husband in working, Prince Qi.

EXPOSES ZHANG LING HE AS HIS DEBUT.
- It works well. We can not believe MH is his first acting, even he does not have acting background.

- Suitable choice, ZLH character matches with Qi Wang. In real, he is serious, humble although comes from good background. In one of his China TikTok,he can act little flirt virtually. In acting, Qi Wang is serious but flirty to Su Ci, also can be flirty when disguissing in brothel.

- Many Behind the Scenes published. Many watchers hope the next season, the life after Qi Wang and Su Ci marriage.

FOLLOWS CLASSIC STORY ELEMENT.
@ Balance.
Placing comedians as balance. Ru Shuang and Xie Bei Ning have funny relationship, balancing Qi Wang and Su Ci serious case.

@ Everything is in balance and NATURAL. Romance, working, kissing, talking, comedy, serious.

@ The theme is morality.

@ The setting place shows ARTS as expression tool.

POSITIVE POINTS.
DEEP MEANING, NOT BORING, EASY TO WATCH.
It seems light drama but the fact, has deep meaning. Because it follows classic story, talks about morality.

TREATMENT to CREW VERY GOOD.
Treats ZLH well, guiding him some difficult scenes, when kissing wildly in cart,
or,
he has to tease Chen Yao in library ep.20? Watch the BTS also.

Much food for crew, ZLH tells in an interview.

They seem happy from the begining to ending. The director, Li Xiao Jiang and BTS crew have pleasant personality.

LOW COST, OPTIMAL RESULT.
We can see they really save budget but it can perform well. Sets the scenes outdoor much. Just in small area,it shows war, horse riding, lake, cave, even small waterfall, tomb.

In low budget, they can do artful scenes as an important tool to play viewer emotion.
Ep..? in cloudy rainy day, gloomy Qi Wang sitting in his gazebo with deep thought, slowly Su Ci in girly white clothing, coming across the garden pathway with a white umbrella, to console Qi Wang.
Ep..? Near a small waterfall, Qi Wang and Su Ci sitting side by side, talking about their relationship journey.

NEVER FORGET OLD LIFE.
They like celebrating daily matter by food, sitting talking at home. No need a restaurant. All homecooked by Fei Yuan, the little attendant. Good food good taste, happyness comes.
_ _ _
LACKS OF
There is distraction, too many crime cases, while they also have big political intrique to overthrown the emperor.

There are some scenes to stress the emotion.
- By exposing rape cases more than one case. For me rape case is enough for one case, the other case can be kidnapping or "almost dying"crime.
- By exposing Su Ci sudden,too emotion, without investigating. She stabs her sword to hurt/kill Qi Wang, right after she hears Qi Wang and his confidante talking about her parent betrayed case and she thinks Qi Wang is the killer.While, SC is a smart detective leader.

The ending part becomes too cramped because too many cases before.

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Super fun mysteries + cute, romantic couples = light-hearted detective show

Woww, I loved this show so much! It does a great job in not adhering to tiring tropes such as evil second female lead, super nice second male lead, love triangles/unnecessary entangelements, etc. Watching this show made me feel at ease with how wonderful the main and secondary couples were, how well they worked together, and how much they loved each other. It was balanced with an intricate mystery that the characters worked to solve as they grew together.

PROS
❀ It had a couple of well-done tropes | Including hidden identities and revenge for family. Each mystery the team solved became a step towards solving the main villain's plans, which made for a solid storyline that I didn't get tired of.
❀ A+ teamwork | I don't have enough words to express how much I love the main team that comes together. We have a detective (FL), general/prince (ML), martial artist (my fave himbo), poisoner (wish we got a character arc for her), and chef (so cute). Perfectly balanced with a fun/friendly dynamic. I absolutely loved their camaraderie and antics.
❀ A+++ romance | Phew... I ADORED the romances. It was so nice to see how gentle, kind, and loving the male lead Pei Yan Zhi was. He first encounters the female lead Su Ci while she's investigating and is impressed with her... after that, their fates become intertwined. Su Ci is a dedicated detective who is observant and sharp-witted. Her keen eyes are a great complement to PYZ's sensitive hearing. She's pretending to be a man to figure out the truth behind the death of her Bai Liang clan in the past, which has to do with a sinister plot going on.
❀ Don't change the woman, change the society | The script had inspiring female leads that you really want to root for. I loved how once PYZ realizes SC is a woman, instead of trying to mold/change her into someone who conforms to society, he makes plans to change society itself so she can fit in. Wow,,, the dedication.
❀ Mystery plots were pretty well-done | While the detective work was pretty superficial (conjectures based on observations and such), I like how they were all related to the bigger plan going on. The villain wasn't the most developed, but he made for a satisfactory antagonist to beat. There was also surprisingly good fighting choreo too!
❀ Aww @ the brother relationship | I liked how the kid emperor was good bros with PYZ rather than wary of him for wanting to take the throne. The whole time, PYZ is loyal to the emperor without need for any rewards and in general tries to stay away from court politics. We stan a humble and smart male lead.
❀ Another bullet point for the romance that made me gush | When the leads get together, I love how physically close they were and how well they worked together to solve crime. Also, A+++++ kiss scenes. There's not a lot, but a couple of them were quite swoonworthy.
❀ Happy ending that makes you want more | The ending is definitely satisfying but I would have loved some extra episodes of the characters doing more detective work. Their teamwork is just impeccable!!

CONS
✕ Misunderstanding level: 3/10 | There's a (kind of) necessary misunderstanding that lasts for literally an episode. It's a grave misunderstanding for sure that was caused by the FL's momentary emotional response, and it gets resolved super quickly. No misunderstandings just for the sake of screentime.

OVERALL
While this drama was more romance-centric than mystery-solving, I liked it exactly like that. The characters' antics always made me laugh and the female leads had a subtle, quiet strength that was really attractive. This is best for a light watch where you can gush at the characters and their romances with detective work in the background.

(Note: My rewatch value is set to 5.0 always as a default as I'm not the type to rewatch dramas EVER. Thus, I do not take it into account when calculating overall score.)

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Cute level headed couple & friends on a crime solving journey together

This show features a crime-solving cross-dressed heroine on a journey to avenge her clan. Although the cases and mystery aspect wasn't extremely well written, it was enough to move the plot forward and showcase the characters and their relationships. This is one of the only shows where I've seen the leads actually staying together for the entirety of the show. The ML and FL both have a brain which they often put to good use. The group of friends with different strengths helping each other out was very pleasant.

Chen Yao is my favourite cross-dresser. Even though she doesn't actually look like a man, she is more convincing with her posture and demeanour than most of the rest. The ML is new and really handled it well for his first time. The chemistry and kisses between the leads are wonderful and totally what you'll like if you want a romance fix.

Overall I'd say this was a very pleasant show, great for when you don't want extremely long-winded complex plots or extreme emotions. A fun show!

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Good drama under the radar, recommend to watch

I started watching it because the FL Sebrina Chen.
Up till now i have been watching until episode 13, i will recommend it to anyone who are interested in Chinese drama. Definitely one of those good drama under the radar.
One thing I am surprised is that this is the debut drama of the ML. He nailed it for his first drama, the charismatic he deliver in this character is very well. Another potential rising young actor.
Sebrina Chen, she is good too and I have just started following her in her drama My Unicorn Girl, both are her disguising in male character.
The story is moving well, not dragging yet until now and fast tempo in a good way. We will see how it turns out to be in the coming episode.

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Unbelievable Female Lead who pretends to be smart

Perhaps this is an unpopular opinion, seeing that many viewers seemed to like this drama. But not for me. After watching this drama for a few episodes, I just could not get into the story. I just cannot believe that everyone cannot see the FL is not a man. She even has bust and wears red lipstick. Okay, perhaps that's the stylist fault. But I just couldn't get over that she is just bitchy, rude and arrogant. How am I supposed to be convinced that she is like Mr. Holmes? I know Sherlock Holmes is also arrogant in his own way, but I don't see him as mean; I see him as rather blunt and impatient.... hahahaha. I digress. Anyway, I dropped this drama because I don't find the story and investigative cases engaging enough to stay and watch.

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HUH?

I read the synopsis and thought that this drama would be good. However, I found this drama fairly "huh" and boring from the start. I tried to continue with it to let it build up and intrigue me but as I continued watching, I simply felt annoyed and frustrated and disappointed.

What I didn't like:
- The ML is cute but he didn't have a lot of chemistry with the FL. I know that I'm sort of early into the drama but things did not seem to be the way I would like...
- The FL seems constantly shocked by the ML. I expected a smart detective like her to be more composed and shrewd. It was strange and jarring to watch her being so startled by her interactions with the ML.
- The 2nd ML and 2nd FL - I do not know if I can call them second leads - were insufferable to watch. Their acting wasn't good and the man appeared like a big, bumbling idiot.

As I couldn't continue watching it, I decided to drop it and move on to other dramas which probably appeal more.


[I respect other reviewers and their individual choices. There are plenty of dramas out there to suit every taste. Direct your support or lack of to the drama itself. If you support this drama, good for you and please continue to. Please write your own good reviews. If you do not support this drama, please also write your own review. I am just a reviewer. We are reviewers. Not personal attackers. We review. We do not attack. Reserve your opinions for your reviews and not for the reviewer who is responding to the drama itself and not to other external aspects. I am responding to this drama that I have watched and I am not personally attacking any actor or actress in real life. It is all based on this particular drama only/ this particular reel life only. I do not know the actors and actresses in real life and I am not hating on anyone. This is my honest review on this drama which I have tried watching.]

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