Period C-drama Love and Crown with Allen Ren and Peng Xiao Ran Opens with Anemic 4.8 Douban Ratings as it Limps Towards Finale
I would love to take poll and find out when other viewers dropped Love and Crown. I dropped at episode 22 and when I checked back this week I realized it has 35-episodes total and I wonder if others have the fortitude and tenacity to watch it all. I was genuinely worried about brain damage so had to quit but honestly it’s stayed shits and giggles level of bad that remains almost entertaining to watch. The opening Douban ratings are a bottom of the barrel 4.8 and depending on if the ending is a rocks fall down and everyone dies it might actually rise because that would be a guns blazing way to exit. The original female novel writer’s flaming of the drama’s nearly everything, especially ragging on female lead Peng Xiao Ran while praising solely male lead Allen Ren, led to Peng Xiao Ran speaking up for herself that she only got a few scripts before filming started and also that a woman should not drag another woman down. On principle she is right but goodness her character is just absurd levels of stupid in this drama and her usual limited acting skills does herself no favors. Overall I may swan back in for the final episode to see how this sucker wraps up.
Allen Ren does not have looks nor the acting skills, why does he continue getting roles?
Because lots of people think differently?
I haven’t seen him in so many dramas but have been impressed and moved by the characterisations I’ve seen. He is possibly typecast, which can get one note/boring but he isn’t blank or stiff, conveys emotion subtly and naturalistically. I find myself very absorbed and always feel empathy towards his character. They’re invariably sad and suffering to quite some extent.
And yes, I find his sensitive looks and performance attractive, unusually for me, tending to go for the more rugged, stronger looking or humorous, funny type.
Doubt I’ll watch this, though.
Agree about his sensitivity / X factor. I don’t think AR is remarkably good looking or talented but he is gifted with a special onscreen quality. The camera loves him. He needs to pick the right roles , good scripts , good directors and invest his own money to up the production values. I always check out his dramas because he can be so affecting. I am still haunted by his Prince Nanchen in Changan Memories. He was also good in TDH’s romance. I checked L& C just for him and it looks so dated with tacky production values and the script is so bad.
I didn’t like him in The Blue Whisper (or maybe I just don’t like xianxia as a genre) and also in other dramas he was in that I peeked into. But he absolutely captivated me in The Demon Hunter’s Romance. Finally, I get the appeal. But it was a one-time win for me so far.
You might like him in Changan memories/ One and Only. It’s one my fav cdramas and made me want to visit Xian in China to see the ancient city walls and eat flat bread and lamb soup like the two leads in their doomed romance.
I dont know much about details but why author of novel blames the actress? Shouldnt she blame the screenwriter or team who turn novel into script instead? Its not like it was written so amazing and PXR didnt to fair to the character anyway I mean… seriously I dont get it.
I didnt fully watched it though I checked many scenes of leads together.
I love Peng Xiao Ran in other shows so I do not think her acting skills r lacking! She just needs better scripts ? And it’s not fair to blame her. She is only told to follow the script. It’s not like she has so much power in the entertainment field to throw the script back at the writers n ask them to re write it?
Honestly, the writer should be ashamed. The actress acting is the last of the drama’s issues. Leading man is his typical and nothing to praised.
I fine Peng Xiao Ran one the few truly elegant and graceful woman on TV, similar to Liu Shishi. I really wish she get good roles as she can deliver.
Such a shame this production is so bad. I was looking forward to Allen Ren and her together in a drama.
She totally is like Liu Shishi! I didn’t see it until you mentioned it but yeah she definitely has that air to her of just being refined.
Saying PXR’s acting skills limited is arguable. I watched only a few eps of another drama of her that I don’t even remember the name of the drama. LOL. But I could tell she expressed pretty well to convey her emotions. I don’t recall anything else in the drama including who the heck the ML was. LMAO. I heard a lot of praises about her in Goodbye My Princess, the adaptation of one of my fav novels, Eastern Palace (東宮), written by a popular Chinese romance writer, Fei Wo Si Cun (匪我思存). I did not watch GMP though since I was so haunted by the tragic story and too traumatized to revisit anything relevant. LMAO. But I believe she won the hearts of a lot of fans with impressive performance in GMP.
As to Allen Ren, what interesting points can I say about him? NONE! LOL. For me, Allen Ren is like a male version of Bai Lu who’s just there continue doing her own things on screen that I completely feel unrelated to, and bored. LOL
Yeah Allen Ren and Bai Lu both seem to just be going through the motions in all of their dramas in recent years instead of actually playing a character. I skip most of both of their dramas. PXR was the only reason I even cared about this drama. The writer shitting on her yet praising Allen Ren who plays the same exact character in every show of his is absurd.
That’s a really good point. AR has been playing the same character for the longest of time. Is it really praise when he should do even better?
As for PXR, I’ve seen improvement. She’s not even the worse of the others top billing actress. To make it like it’s her fault, is laughable. At some point, these writers/director need to take accountability.
Wow the writer blaming PXR but praising the piece of wood that is Ren Jialun is insane. Pick me behavior, seriously. PXR is doing fine with the garbage script she has to work with. And her blaming an actor at all is insane when the work itself is such trash. It’s like when that one director was blaming Luhan for a film’s failure. So vile.
Glad Peng Xiao-ren stood up for herself and the hard work of the staff! It also reminds me that sometimes we shake our heads at actors picking bad scripts, but sometimes, they only get the first few episodes and sometimes, the script gets rewritten.
The actress is amazing, the drama is the one that sucks, and I dropped it at episode 1. We are in 2025 but they still start the drama with a misunderstanding
Didn’t need to drop it as I was wise enough not to start it.
Why would I want to see Allen Ren grimacing his way through yet another role? He has neither looks nor acting skills and usually zero chemistry with his female co-stars. He is good at playing the system and cozying up to the right people, that’s why he keeps getting roles other than the ones that his previous agency served to him on a platter.
It’s a shame to waste good IPs on people like this while so many talented actors linger in supporting roles.