Today let’s review The Story Of Pearl Girl Chinese drama which stars Zhao Lusi and Liu Yunming and Tang Xiao Tian. The drama premiered late last year and oh man, I didn’t have time to watch it. But like they always say, “better late than never”. Without waisting time, let’s get straight to the review. It will be a quick one
First impression
First impressions last and I vividly remember how good the first five episodes where. I came with huge expectations for this drama. It was trending when it was airing, actors where also promoting it. Plus, we have Zhao Lusi and Liu Yuning as the leads, of course we have to expect a lot from them.
Quick Note: I already knew Liu Yuning’s fate from the time he made his first appearance. He’s always doing something to hint his ending.
Quick Review
A good drama needs a good storyline to keep viewers engaged. The story of pearl girl has a good storyline but it was near being a basic business storyline. Don’t get mad now, hear me out.
The story is about a slave girl who managed to leave the Cui farm. She discovers her mother has been secretly taking care of her as the inspector of the slaves. Unfortunately her mother was killed in front of her when they were escaping. This leads to Duanwu (pearl girl) getting on Yan Zijin’s ship and she works for him.
She’s smart and stubborn by nature but yet inexperienced when it comes to life outside the pearl farm. She keeps challenging Yan Zijin and he also toughens her up by putting more challenges on her. The story is all about The pearl girl, who finally gets her freedom and becomes a merchant. For me that’s basic, but that’s not the entire storyline.
Yan Zijin In The Spotlight
There’s a plot about Yan Zijin seeking revenge for his family. Yan Zijin and Duanwu’s paths for revenge lead to the same group of people. This made a smooth injection of Yan Zijin’s story into the main storyline about Duanwu. Yan Zijin’s story also gave us more background about Duanwu and how she’s connected to Yan Zijin. The problem with this plot is, it kind of overshadowed Duanwu as a character and Yan Zijin took over the steering wheel for a long period. It felt like it was no longer the story of pearl girl but the revenge of Yan Zijin.
Cui Shijiu
Then here comes the daughter of the Cui family who’s obsessed with making her family great. Her arrival introduced us to more characters who would broaden the entire storyline. Cui Shijiu is originally an enemy of Yan Zijin and Duanwu since her family has history with their families. Plus she just had this heated anger towards Duanwu. Again, her arrival made Duanwu look less of the leading character for the story. It made Yan Zijin look more powerful, Duanwu was just under his shadow.
Biggest Miss
Here’s the biggest miss with the storyline. I still don’t fully understand the plot of these two princes. I don’t get how come the other prince who’s said to be evil is barely active. There’s also something most of us still question. Cui Shijiu’s backer in the government was under this evil prince’s protection but then he switched sides to the other princes. Here’s what’s confusing me, he used to mention this evil prince everytime he was communicating Cui Shijiu. This evil prince was the one backing them up and doing all the evil, then how come did they suddenly switch?
The Story of Pearl Girl Ending
The story of pearl has a happy ending, judging from what I saw. I didn’t like the way they ended the drama, it was an open ending with lots of questions. I only like that they chose not to go for the usual route.
Conclusion
As much as this review sounds negative, I did enjoy watching this drama. It was an emotional rollercoaster ride. We witnessed Duanwu’s growth to greatness. I did love the costumes, the acting and even music. I highly recommend watching this drama if you haven’t watched it yet.
