Play time is over, let’s get to business which is being Chinese drama addicts. After watching Side Story Of Fox VolantSide Story Of Fox Volant, I needed some time off to digest what I witnessed. I have been watching a lot tragic dramas in the last few weeks and my mind got a little messed up so I decided to stop with the reviews and watch short dramas. I stumbled upon an short drama called Decreed by fate starring Chen Fang Tong, Li Jiu Lin and Wu Cheng Xu. I picked the drama because it only has 16 episodes and I thought, why don’t I write a review about this?
First Impressions.
My first impressions is only based on the first four episodes. For this section, I will only discuss the first episodes and then the rest of the drama will be discussed after that. There have been a number of name changes in the drama, I will stick to the names they frequently used. As expected from a drama that is fully invested in comedy, the story isn’t something serious. It’s a good story to begin with, more like My sassy princess but with a different version. Wenren Jing is one of those mischievous princesses, we’ll get back to her later. She is the center of the story, everything revolves around her including the two handsome men who just entered in her life, Fang Xianxun and Lu Tianxiao.
Although there isn’t much to discuss about the developing story, the writers do know how to build suspense. I was asking myself why do the two men keep their identities a secret? How will they meet face to face? Who will Wenren Jing chose because she seems to be interested in both even after the wedding. They kept the identity of Wenren Jing’s husband a secret for us to figure out, they won’t give you everything on the silver platter. On the other side, there is Fang Xianxun and Lu Tianxiao who are both generals investing a similar case. From the beginning, fate was slowly bringing the two guys together. They just couldn’t escape from it. If it isn’t Wenren Jing, it’s a crime investigation. Both of them clearly shown they aren’t the villains but the case they’re investigating might bring unexpected situations. With Wanyi being on the spotlight a couple of times, there might be something big waiting to be unveiled like a bride on the wedding night.
Story
I would be lying if I said the story isn’t something worth spending time on. The story has a lot to offer, with the Wang Yizhi and the Hong family’s plot raising the bar. It’s not a regular story you’d find in Chinese dramas but it still had its own flaws. A lot of times, the two generals were playing around with Wenren Jing. They rarely went out and focused on the job they had to finish. They’re the two highly skilled generals with numerous victories but they forgot their mission just to play the jealousy game? It really doesn’t make sense to me. In the beginning, they were promising, they looked serious and determined to finish their missions. Wenren Jing then turned them into weaklings and I lost interest the whole Wang Yizhi case and their investigation. Yes, they did sent their followers to do some investigation but come on! They were even investigating unnecessary things ignoring the clues in front of them, I guess it’s true when they say love makes one blind but it’s two in this case.
Fighting scenes.
The drama showed it wasn’t a high budgeted project, they didn’t have a large number of extras and soldiers. This obviously means that an ambush might not be that convincing because they’re small in numbers. Even the city gates had less than 10 guards and general Yin had a army with him but I only saw less than 50 people. This affects the effect of fighting scenes in the drama. The martial art choreography wasn’t bad for a short drama. One thing I noticed was Lu Tingxiao’s sword technique, it looked more like one of those techniques used in Wuxia dramas by immortals.
Characters.
Ye Rong/ Wenren Jing played by Chen Fang Tong, is just one of those naughty princesses. She’s actually the general’s daughter and she grew up without the care of her parents. She’s smart, loves being independent and being free. I’m actually surprised that she managed to connect with both male leads. Their interaction was more fun to watch. Chen Fang Tong is the reason why I watched this drama in the beginning. She was awesome in My Kungfu Girlfriend and Maid’s RevengeRevenge so I wanted to watch her other projects. She has never disappointed me and seeing her being able to portray different characters like a piece of cake, she will be a mega star in the coming years.
Li Jiu Lin played the character of General Yin/ Lu Tingxiao. I loved the character and how he competed with Fang Xianxun to win Wenren Jing’s heart. He was cold as ice in the beginning but eventually changed his behavior and I began to love him. Li Jiu Lin is no stranger to me, I watched him in You are my destinyYou are my destiny, Time Flies and you are here and even Legend of the Phoenix but his characters were the same boring ‘third wheel’ type. I’m happy to see him portraying a different character and he seemed like he was really having fun being Lu Tingxiao.
Wu Cheng Xu played Fang Xianxun, who is my favorite male character in the drama. From the very first moment he appeared on screen, I have been cheering for him. He’s a pretty cool and fun guy to be around. I wouldn’t say he held the whole drama on his back but his presence was needed. In terms of familiarity, I know Wu Cheng Xu from The long ballad as a bodyguard. He was Xu Feng who fell in love with Changge’s bodyguard Luo Shiba.
Wang Yizhi wasn’t convincing as a villain. He did have all the tools to be the devil in the story but his ending was just wrong. He appeared to be a smart guy through out the drama but he suddenly became dumb when they were hunting him down. It’s like he had to lose because of the storyline.
Conclusion.
Another drama with a cliffhanger. There’s definitely a need for the second season of Decreed by fate. The story isn’t yet complete and my instincts tells me that the story just began. From my view, the first season was just to test waters and see how we would react. I’m giving this drama a rating of 8,5/10 and I only recommend it to those who just want to watch something light and funny. Don’t watch it if you want something with an advanced story, fighting scenes and many characters with endless schemes plus misunderstandings.
