Chen Du Ling and Zhou Yi Ran’s Revenge Politics Period C-drama Ashes to Crown Premieres Today June 2nd on Youku
While I was waiting for the Bai Lu and Cheng Lei C-drama The First Jasmine to drop next week, getting in earlier in a surprise is Ashes to Crown (翘楚 Chu Qiao) with Chen Du Ling and Zhou Yi Ran. It’s her first big female lead drama role since breaking out with The Glory last year and this looks right up her alley. Wronged woman with smarts and cunning takes her second chance to change her fate in the game of thrones in whatever kingdom she’s in. The previews look intense and I like the poster designs and strong color saturation of the visuals, but genuine don’t know if the two leads will have the requisite chemistry and equals sparring that makes this work. I also realize what Zhou Yi Ran has been for me, he’s the C-drama version of Song Kang where you can tell productions and agencies are trying to make him the next It Boy but his own acting limitations are the ceiling he can’t break (yet).
Ashes to Crown preview:
Basically her Glory 2.0. Another rebirth/revenge drama. Next!
He is just so bad but Tencent’s prince so we aren’t getting rid of him any time soon.
I feel like this drama will be mainly the Chen Du-ling show so ZYR may not have much to do, like the ML in her previous revenge drama, Glory. I thought CDL was great in Glory after not vibing with her acting in other stuff so I’m looking forward to this.
The drama initially gives off the vibe of a vertical series, and the directing isn’t top-tier. However, the plot itself looks quite intriguing. While CDL’s acting is unimpressive as usual, ZYR does a fine job so far. He is definitely a better actor than Song Kang. I’ll continue to see how it goes. There are no other interesting costume dramas to watch at this moment anyhow.
I dropped the drama after a few eps. The plot lacks internal logic and fails to hold my interest.
I watched 4 ep and I stopped. It is just not good.
Its so bad. I realized while Chen Duling is pretty and graceful and generally a visual treat, her acting is just not good enough for me to watch if the plot isn’t good enough. And this drama is not The Glory level.
Agree, writing is not the greatest in this drama. I’m bored already.
The loud music attempting to make scenes dramatic is so distracting. The constant shade of red is definitely an artistic choice I cannot get behind. The scene cuts/transitions are basically nonexistent. The whole drama is so jarring to watch. I love ZYR but I had to drop this.