There was this day, I had a little debate with my sister about who has watched more Chinese dramas. The debate led to us naming the dramas we watched and one drama my sister mentioned was “Under the power”. Honestly, I wasn’t even interested in watching the drama. My sister always mentioned it to me and I recently decided to just give it a shot. I have already watched the drama and this is my honest review on Under The Power.
There’s always something in the drama that will make you keep watching it. In my situation, it was Allen Ren of course. It wasn’t my first time seeing Allen Ren in action, I saw him in “The Destiny of the white snake”. The character of Lu Yi portrayed by Allen Ren is eye catching. A cold government official meeting a witty official, that’s a good plot.
The drama is about a constable Yuan Jinxia who was an orphan and luckily got adopted. Jinxia is more like a carefree and intelligent young woman who also loves food and money. Yes, She’s the same as those women who talk a lot, eat a lot, love money, always in their happiest moment no matter what the situation. Jinxia’s Character is similar to that one of Tang Min from The General’s Lady. Jinxia has been looking for her biological parents secretly and one day meets up with Lu Yi, the leader of the Emperial Guards as a result of a misunderstanding. Lu Yi is a cold young man and rarely smiles or socialize. After their first encounter, fate brings them together as a new crime investigation mission is assigned to both of their groups. Lu Yi keeps on bulling Jinxia and Jinxia also does her best to fight back.Then there’s this guy called Xie Xiao who made an impressive entrance in the drama during the whole ghost boat saga. Xie Xiao is Jinxia’s childhood friend and they reunite after a number years. Xie Xiao seems to be in love with Jinxia but Jinxia doesn’t even give him any attention. You can say Xie Xiao is being beaten by karma since he once ran away from his own marriage and he still didn’t notice Shanguan’s feelings for him. As cold as he looks, Lu Yi becomes a little jealous.
When Xie Xiao gets closer to Jinxian. It’s predictable how the story will end between the two as we have seen the same thing many times but hey, it’s not only romance that keeps the story going. There’s actually a reason behind Lu Yi’s cold character and the story behind his mother’s death. I loved the way the drama developed as it was reaching EP 20. The story of Shanguan and Yang Yue is very interesting. You can say it is hard to predict but doesn’t suspense make the drama interesting? I really like the way Yang Yue would do anything to help Shanguan, it’s really heroic and sometimes emotional.I still have to give credits to Allen Ren for his impressive act when he had mental issues which led him to revisit some of his younger days.
As the drama progresses towards the end, there’s an exciting action. The battle against Japanese pirates saga is worth watching plus they also spiced things up by adding guns and explosives in the mix. I had trouble catching up with some characters in the drama and i would mix up their names except for the leading ones( most consistent). The writers did a good job with the plot regarding Jin Xia’s real family. Yes, the ‘lovers to possible enemies’ twist is impressive but I think this storyline of a male lead being harsh towards the female lead to save her is outdated. Most Chinese dramas use this storyline especially when a mysterious identity is involved.
I liked the emperor character in the drama(fun to watch) and it’s actually seeing a Chinese drama that doesn’t mention anything related to the emperor’s family. I had fun watching the drama and I never skipped a single episode. Under the power is entertaining, realistic, you can even feel the emotions portrayed in the drama. I rate it 10/10. The cast & crew outdone themselves.
