The Prisoner of Beauty with Song Zu Er and Liu Yu Ning Wraps Run as Hit Drama on Tencent with 6.4 Douban Ratings and Strong Word of Mouth
The period romance C-drama The Prisoner of Beauty ended its a few days ago and caps a successful month of May for Tencent. The drama was airdropped after female lead Song Zu Er was given the okay to resume her entertainment career and her other shelved drama The Demon Hunter’s Romance was airdropped into being a near solid hit for iQiyi. She can now notch two back-to-back hit dramas in her return as TPoB broke 30,000 on Tencent and had high viewership through its entire run. But it’s not just due to Song Zu Er as Xiao Qiao, male lead Liu Yu Ning was actually trending higher on character buzz thanks to playing the almost perfectly suited for him Wei Shao. This was my first drama in months that I followed from beginning to end, watching new episodes daily and marathoning the ending. I loved it, almost as much as I loved the closest C-drama of similar vibes and structure namely Love Like the Galaxy. LLtG is superior in every way to TPoB in depth and complexity of characterization and storytelling but TPoB was comfortable in its own skin and executed a beautifully presented and satisfying drama from beginning to end. Watching TPoB made me happy, what can I say, that’s all that matters ultimately for each viewer.
It deviated significantly from the novel and I ended up loving novel and drama equally but differently so now it feels like I have two different works to revisit in the future. TPoB had a happy ended with an asterisk, which was very tear inducing but acceptably foreshadowed and made sense contextually. If the drama had stuck to the more serious tones of the novel and the more complicated and intense politics it probably would have done better ratings and review wise, ultimately this is more romance novel-esque than hard hitting period fare so whether you like it or not will probably hinge on your taste for one over the other. The funniest aside from this drama run was Liu Yu Ning saying in a livestream before the drama that there was no kiss scene which made a lot of viewers sad since what’s a good romance without some smooches, especially when the novel was so heavy on that. It turned out that he was massively trolling and the drama ended up with lots of kisses and one very lovely and hot boating scene haha. If that piques your interest then this is the drama for you!
So happy for both of them especially LYN! With much hype and anticipation of when is it gonna air, they didn’t disappoint! Congrats to the team! I guess this quickened SZE’s rise back to her previous star power, good for her such a pretty and good actress! 😊
It was lovely and more romcom than I expected. The chemistry was great and I enjoyed every episode.I wish the ending was a bit longer and we didn’t get an immediate time jump but I liked the conflicts in the and thought that the character motivations were believable.
It was my first time with both leads and I am looking forward to see more of them.
Thanks @Koala for your 2cents. I was looking forward to your comment on the drama aft it wrapped.
I share very similar sentiments. I was happy they deviated from the novel as imo it was an upgraded character in Qiao Man and an upright, less grey Wei Shao. However I did not expect the tone to be mostly on the light and quirky. I did enjoy their bantering and comedic marital fighting, push and pull. Yet like you, i think the masses would prefer darker and intense version and the douban could have easily surpass the 6.4. That said it was an enjoyable watch, addictive at times. Like a guilty pleasure.
Ps i still hav trouble posting. Only in incognito mode am i able to post any comments.
What a great comeback for SZE. Girl can act and has goos chemistry with her male lead.
Not really enjoyed LYN’s performance but congratulation. He was good with that general outfit.
It is actually a light drama that we can rewatch anytime we want. So to get a high rating in review is quite difficult. Love the story and leads tho
It was okay, nothing spectacular hence the 6.4 rating. I was following everyday but not out of anticipation to see what is happening next but more just a drama to play in the background.
sometimes it only takes one show or movie to make you fall in love with an actor and for me The prisoner of Beauty was what made me fall in love with Lui Yuning. I have to say that for now I am smitten. lol. Good actor and he seems nice. I wish him the best for the future.
I have mixed reviews on this. Story wise it flowed well in the beginning but midway till the end it started getting full of filler stuff and awkward scenarios that felt forced and came out a bit corny. I know we are supposed to believe main actress is drop dead gorgeous and captivating but sorry to say it was a bit of a stretch since she is okay looking but drop dead gorgeous not so much. Their intimate scenes felt a bit awkward too.All the villains flow in the story also was awkward and felt at times randomly forced and exaggerated. Acting was done well but the flow of the story was just weird. I personally won’t read novel because I heard mixed reviews on the supposed intimate scenes people wanted were mostly forced intimacy which I just don’t vibe with. So overall it was okay but could have been much better if they cut back on the filler parts. Some boring and some interesting.
With the 40 episode limitation, I think it’d be hard to have the same ability to develop your story and characters like LLTG. I loved many of the side characters in LLTG. PoB had potential but didn’t have enough time to really flesh out many of the characters. Other than Wei Liang, and a little bit of Wei Qu, we barely saw any of the other generals. Wei Yan had potential as well, but his arc to power was so quick. One little fight won the hearts of all these new soldiers? The brother in law was basically a brainless warrior with no independence or personality of his own. Even the villains could’ve been better. The drama tried to say they became that way because of their circumstances, they weren’t necessarily born evil. Liu Yan said himself, it’s not that he views others as ants, but it’s that he is an ant. But we learn of their motivations basically through a few minutes of them talking. There’s no real emotional connection besides with the main lead couple and secondary couple with Wei Liang + Xiao Tao.
However, I like Qiao Man as a female lead way more than Cheng Shaoshang. Qiao Man was smart, considerate and admitted fault when she was wrong. Cheng Shaoshang was way too stubborn for her own good and impulsive. Of course I understand it’s because they grew up in very different environments. I also typically find SZE’s look kind of weird. Her nose distracts me, but she probably looks the best in this drama, much better than Demon Hunter’s Romance. Overall, I thought this was a nice light watch (minus the last few eps) and really enjoyed it!
imao, inserting LLTG HAHAHAHA. song zuer has been dubbed as a young Cecelia cheung in CHINA AND YOU CALLING HER WEIRD? STFU.
Song Zu’er has gotta be one of the best actors among this younger batch. There’s this one drama she was in years ago called Legally Romance with Tao that nobody talks about that’s one of my favorite dramas of all time so if you liked her in this you’d probably like her in that
I really love Song Zu Er in prisoner of beauty. impressive acting. First time watching her, does this drama is her breakhthrough or does she already popular ?
The Prisoner of Beauty is a decent watch with good pacing, nothing feels draggy so far. Love all the actors in it, and thankfully, there aren’t any annoying or extra characters just thrown in for drama…everyone feels purposeful and well-integrated into the plot.
I’m looking forward to seeing more from Liu Yuning and Song Zuer — really enjoyed their performances here!