Period Romance and Revenge C-drama The Glory with Chen Du Ling and Xin Yun Lai Ends as Surprise Small Hit for Tencent and Has Decent 7.0 Douban Ratings
Tencent is reportedly thrilled with it’s recently released period C-drama The Glory as it becomes a successful test case for the platform. The drama starring Chen Du Ling and Xin Yun Lai wrapped its short 30-episode run this week after breaking the 30,000 heat index on the platform and opened with a high-ish 7.0 Douban ratings, all better than expected. The Glory was adapted from the novel Noble Lady by Qian Shan Cha Ke and is her lowest rated novel and least liked so when Tencent purchased the rights to her more popular novels reportedly this one was given as an add on freebie. Last year the novel rights were coming to an expiration so Tencent decided to allocate a small budget to see what it can do in terms of filming a drama with low costs and hopefully make some back even with an okay run. It turned out to be a homerun for Tencent in terms of the level of success versus the low budget it invested, and will help Chen Du Ling level up a medium notch and also buoy Xin Yun Lai a small amount. The ending was reportedly nicely done so if you’re waiting this one should be safe to watch lol.
The leads acting was hit and miss but overall such an intriguing story with a hint of some over melo dramatics here and there but nicely tied together. I still have not fully watched the double but I was able to fully watch this drama. The side characters to me stole the show. Especially the older cast like wow. Had me at the edge of my seat like so much whiplash of things happening so it is definitely not a boring watch. Let’s just say no one is “good” and more so grey. The leads make it out alive but sadly with some characters deceased. In my opinion this story should be called The Gory because I just could not sense glory. So much revenge and avenge left and right not just from main leads characters. But that to me is how it seemed similar to the double in the conniving ways of the characters. I recommend for an entertaining watch. Yes some annoying characters but overall it worked. This might just elevate the leads to more projects but I will say the main male lead really needs to work on his facial expressions and female lead is getting there but still a work in progress.
I’ve finished this drama last night and was so happy with the ending. However, I just read another blogger’s post about the ending and I was so sad. I think the happy event at the end make me happy and not observe what the true ending is. I love this more than the Double for sure.
So the ending wasn’t good but there was a happy event? Do spoil me. Thx.
@gennita the main leads plus his daughter and family celebrate some festival I can’t remember with fireworks and she imagines all those passed and those alive celebrating with her like now that the evil is gone which is a despicable character they can rest in peace but her dream from the get go was to be with her actual family and have a home but reality is she settles with the main lead with the will to move on and live her life but with some bitterness due to the loss of a special someone of her family. She really wanted her blood ties but was left with none yet she lives on with a new hope to start her own. It was nicely done considering the extreme revenge theme and most end tragic or open ended. This was more melancholic but a happy ending. Don’t know if I made sense but I did not want to give too much away lol if I did my bad.
@Rero @Gennita
What I read in the blogger’s post that @Tfamily is likely referring to (see dramapanda dot com), is that as the FL imagines the dead characters joining the living ones in the celebration at that banquet that closes the drama, the departed (ghosts) are positioned at one side, and the live ones at a different side. And turns out that the ML is positioned with those already departed, and not with the still living characters, which implies that he succumbed to his illness (poison) after all. I haven’t watched the drama myself, just read up on posts about it during its run, so please take this with a grain of salt and check that end scene yourselves.
I noticed his position in the last scene as well, and assumed he had passed away…
I wish XYL was a more interesting actor. He really detracted from the drama for me. While I understand the character is supposed to be the cold and ruthless but warm for FL underneath type, I felt like I was watching a brick wall most of the time. Hopefully he continues to improve with time.
@adnana that makes sense cause he was poisoned and the doctor did say he was cured some but not all so he was bound to pass away just not immediately. So yah you are right I watched it again on the left the deceased and on the right those who lived makes sense. Kind of gives of Star Wars vibes lol but honestly that scene may be hard for some to grasp at first glance cause it did not register to me. So I guess it was not much of a true happy ending. But it still was executed pretty nicely despite this so I hope no one is to discouraged by it.
Drama rating dropped to 6.9 on Douban and the views on yunhe are not so great : so far 20M per episode on average (Which is nothing to write home about for a Tencent drama). It got some buzz especially from the fans of the show who try and compare it with The Double saying the latter is inferior but yeah I doubt it will have the long lasting effect of The Double.
The question is do you want to watch good drama or you just enjoy to watch the rating ?
The Glory is mediocre
I also think the Double has an edge over the Glory in terms of everything. I watched 8 eps and then was distracted to more intriguing Kdramas. I have no desire to pick up the Glory again but may pick up Korean the Glory soon LMAO.
I watched 1 episode a couple weeks ago and put it on the backburner as the leads didn’t captivate me. I would say it’s probably the plot doing its work. The older female audience tend to like stories about harem/family politics between women, so these type of dramas typically do well.
I tried!
I tried!
Hanyan was just trying to slice everyone with her hairpin.
I watched it until ep 18 then got lazy and dropped it altogether. But I understand why viewers are pleasantly surprised with it.
What’s good
– Story is pretty fast-paced and eventful.
– Overall good production. It’s not big budget but the costumes and sets are nice. The background music/effects are on point and heightens the drama. The camerawork is, for lack of a better term, quirky/not boring.
– The veteran actors were all great. The mom was phenomenal. I’ve seen her in other dramas and she’s always so arresting. This is my favorite character of her so far.
– The characters have layers, and their relationships with each other are all complicated. I haven’t seen such complex child-parent dynamics in recent memory.
– It’s only 30 episodes. Any show that planned a fixed number of episodes from the get-go (as opposed to just being cut short by the censors) is always a positive for me.
What’s not that good
– FL is graceful and pretty but I find her acting, especially the crying scenes, lacking. The ML sometimes exhibits glimpses of potential and your acceptance of his portrayal directly impacts your enjoyment of the show.
– Some logic lapses which I can easily overlook but the screenwriter could have easily fixed too (ie. change execution date from tomorrow to a few days later).
What’s neutral/interesting
– Novel is nearly unrecognizable from the usual Qian Shan Cha Ke formula. Screenwriter is the LBFAD writer, if I’m not mistaken.
Aftewrwards, I ended up bingeing the recently concluded Undercover High School which is both fun and total eye candy (my first Seo Kang Joon drama). The Glory is now firmly in my “dropped in a fade-away sort” list.
The traffic of the finale of “When the Goose Returns” exceeded 570 million!
Despite the haters comment and (not reliable) Douban rating . This series is a hit! and some people hoping for season 2
For those who still arguing and attacking without even watch it and just relying on pathetic douban rating, open your eyes….look at the traffic that is the key not the rating LOL
https://www.msn.com/zh-cn/news/other/%E9%9B%81%E5%9B%9E%E6%97%B6-%E5%A4%A7%E7%BB%93%E5%B1%80%E6%B5%81%E9%87%8F%E5%86%B2%E7%A0%B45-7%E4%BA%BF-%E9%99%88%E9%83%BD%E7%81%B5-%E8%BE%9B%E4%BA%91%E6%9D%A5%E6%84%9F%E6%83%85%E5%9C%86%E6%BB%A1-%E5%8D%B4%E8%BF%98%E6%9C%893%E5%A4%A7%E4%BC%8F%E7%AC%94%E6%B2%A1%E8%A7%A3%E5%BC%80/ar-AA1CgO0k?ocid=msedgntp&pc=ASTS&cvid=d885e27be8a04345933d359933185078&ei=11
Since I wouldn’t pay extra for the express package, I still unable to view the last 5 episodes. Sad!
It was the most amazing wonderful peice that i have seen so far. The story the plots were
fantastic never got me so engaged in a series before but this did and it did it pretty good