Wonderful love story, but the plot has lots of problems

What I discovered after watching The Sword and the Brocade
- Women are bloody scary when they're having tea with you
- Forehead kisses are better than bedroom scenes
- Ming dynasty mother-in-laws are scarier than the T-1000.

I had long avoided *The Sword of the Brocade* for the following reasons:
- I was super not impressed with Tan Song Yun's performance and was majorly annoyed with her aegyo character in *Under the Power*.
- In general, I dislike harem dramas intensely. I just don't like watching women bully each other.

But for some reason I am suddenly in a romantic mood for mature, adult, slow burn, arranged marriage romance and the *The Sword and the Brocade* delivers.

I really loved Shi Yi and Ling Yi's gradual attraction to each other and I love Wallace Chung and Tan Song Yun's performance. I believe that Tan dubbed herself, and it really brought a lot of nuance and colour to her character.

I didn't find Wallace Chung attractive at first, but he is so manly, honourable and considerate as Ling Yi that these qualities end up making him very attractive indeed.

And yes, yes, this is one of those dramas with misunderstandings between our couple, but it's not at epic proportions like Love and Redemption.

I don't seem to mind misunderstandings and lack of communication in romance dramas as I find them morbidly enjoyable. But if you hate this be warned as the Show has one major arc with that.

(Also, I'd like to report that Wallace Chung is such a good kisser. Like, no fish-eyed kisses, people! But one filled with intense passion and desperate hunger. *Fans self*.)

However, I confess that I skipped or fast forwarded a lot of scheming concubine parts because I can't stand a lot of that. At times I found the mother-in-laws (both Madam Xu and Luo) intolerable.

Yet, despite their horrid scheming, I have a lot of sympathy for the concubines. I felt their pain and sorrow when Ling Yi rebuff their efforts to gain his attention. As for Qiao Lian Fang, the primary evil concubine? Nah, she deserves everything she got lol.

But while it tries to convey the painful lives of concubines and women in ancient Ming dynasty times, but it was clumsily done.

And as with so many Chinese dramas, for some reason, the last 10 episodes was a rush of betrayals and schemes, a lot of them lacking logic.

If I were to rate the way they had written romance between our main couple, it would be an 8.5.

But for the plot involving the evil Ou family, concubines and more? Oof, it'll be a 6 or less.

So, I can only give it an slightly above average rating rather than excellent.

But I still highly recommend this drama if you like watching slow burn romance and arranged marriages. Our leads are really good and you will really enjoy their performances.

Rating: 7.5

I wrote a longer, more detailed review here: https://dramatea88.wordpress.com/2024/01/09/the-sword-and-the-brocade-review/

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