I saw a lot of people and I mean a lot, posting about New Life Begins. One of my friends also couldn’t stop recommending it to me so I decided to watch it. My review on New Life Begins starring Bai Jing Ting and Tian Xi Wei, will include the following section, first impressions, story, other things worth to mention and end it with a conclusion. Without wasting time, let’s go straight to the next section.
First Impressions.
Like always, I’m only going to focus on the first five episodes on this sections. I will start with the opening theme since it’s the first thing you will come across when you’re watching a drama. The opening theme isn’t that special, but it did give me a hint about the usage of food in the drama. First episode opened up with a little background information on the nine states and how they sort of ‘got under’ one state which is the Xin state.
It then follows the Li Wei and her family making their way to the Xin palace for the selection of a concubine. You know, parents always hope to see their children fail, but these ones wanted to see the Li Wei fail the selection. She also doesn’t want to be chosen as the concubine during the selection. Li Wei planned to degrade herself to escape the selection without risking the lives of her family members… actually they didn’t mention that, I just guessed it since it’s a historical drama. The selection was for the Princes who were unmarried. So far, the relationship between them isn’t that good.
There is also favoritism from the parents which negatively affects the bond among the young lords. With five episodes, a lot number of topics were touched. The internal conflicts continue day by day, there’s still no clear answer on who’s the villain and who’s reliable. These five episodes were mainly focusing on the selected concubines and their adaptation to their new life.
They also served as a slow yet deep introduction to the important figures in the palace. So far, I would also recommend this drama to my friends after watching only five episodes. I believe my impression on this drama will last and might even affect my view on other drama… the bigger question is will I still speak so highly about this drama after watching all episodes?
Story.
The story isn’t confusing at all from the beginning. Everything is explained in a simple manner, the sequencing is perfect. The story is mainly about Li Wei(Tian Xi Wei), who didn’t want to be chosen as the concubine, but things didn’t go the way she planned when the Sixth Prince (Bai Jing Ting) ruined her plans. Li Wei encounters her childhood friend Hao Jia from …. state who is elegant and beautiful.
Li Wei was then chosen to be the concubine of the Sixth Prince Yin Zheng, who has stomach problems. Upon her arrival, Yin Zheng’s illness relapsed and Li Wei misunderstood the situation and thought Yin Zheng will die within a month. Li Wei was soo excited when she heard the news… it’s not like she hates Yin Zheng, she didn’t want to be the concubine in the first place.
As kind as she is, she wished Yin Zheng good and healthy life in his next life and she also promised to take care of him until he died (rests) after a month. The two develop feelings for each other and suddenly Yuan Ying, the princess of Jin states appears. Yuan Ying’s appearance was needed to improve this Li Wei character, it was going to bore the hell out of me. Yuan Ying trained Li Wei and I was an improvement in the Li Wei’s behavior and mindset.
Romance.
I obviously would start with the main leads, but I want to start with another couple this time. Princess Shangguan Jing and the Fifth Prince Yin Qi contributed a lot when it comes to romance. Their love story is a bit cliche ( badass women falling for a weak man), but I only care about the content and execution. You know, it’s not even surprising that I’m mentioning this couple first because we have Chang Long as the Yin Qi .This guy is unappreciated as a talent, he goes all out whenever the camera starts rolling.
So him and the princess, he didn’t want her at the beginning. He had his eyes on the sweet Hao Jia, who happens to have other plans with the Second Prince. He was forced to marry a the princess who comes from the Dan state where men are inferior. Shangguan is obviously used to being domineering so she was always rough on the poor guy. Their relationship was so entertaining especially when they started to fall for each other.
Yin Zheng and Li Wei had the best, if not the greatest chemistry this year. They didn’t need loads of kiss scenes to solidify their romance, it was all written on their faces. From the very first day they met each other, there has never been a dull moment with them. I appreciate the last 10 episodes focusing on improving their relationship and interactions, they did need a little push.
My Favorite couple is Sisi and her husband. These two are well matched and I’m so happy they didn’t sabotage their relationship. It’s just two introverts who enjoy each other’s company instead of socializing. Although they barely appeared on screen, their presence made me soo envious of them. They can understand each other’s thoughts in an instant especially when they want to escape from gatherings and other social activities.
Yin Qi(Chang Long) Vs Yin An (Liu Guan Lin).
This is what I never expected to witness in the drama. I thought Chang Long was carrying the drama on his back with his comedic acting like he always does, but then Liu Guan Lin came into the picture. When Liu Guan Lin showed up I was like “finally, Chang Long has someone to challenge him”. These two actors did their best to bring laughter and I just couldn’t decide who was more entertaining. We have Yin Qi who married a badass princess and we have Yin An who has a wife and 16 concubines. I enjoyed every scene they appeared in and I would love to watch them in another drama.
Weak Villain and Poor schemes.
Yin Song, the crown Prince is the main heel / villain in this drama. His character lacks a lot in terms of being a threat to the babyfaces / heroes. I can sense the devil in him whenever he’s at home, acting like a God in front of his wives. The way he talks and treats women does certify him as a villain, but it becomes another story when we start to involve men. Yin Song is only dominant to women and inferior to men.
This is the problem with his character, he bullies women only and how do you expect viewers to consider a guy like that as a threat? Once you start standing up for yourself, he retreats and will never dare cross the line. From the beginning, I thought he was going to be a big villain … one of the best I’ve seen this year, but I only got someone who depends on his women to give him ideas.
How can you be afraid of someone like that? They keep mentioning how powerful he is in dialogues, but his actions are quite the opposite. His schemes are nothing but an insult to people’s intelligence. Yin Song is probably the most protected villain, the writers always came up with excuses for his “weakness”. Blah blah ” Sixth Prince has evidence on him but he doesn’t want to submit it to the lord of xin state”, that’s a pretty dump excuse to protect the villain which brings me to the next point.
I didn’t expect to witness such poor schemes in this drama. Every time Yin Song plotted against Yin Zheng or others, they always found evidence against him. All schemes were made obvious and all characters in the drama knew who was behind the schemes, but they all turned a blind eye. There’s a scene around episode 26-28 where Yin Zheng was set up by Yin Song. Yin Zheng was ordered to go to Dai state for negotiations and he happened to go against the edict and helped the Dan state after his negotiations with the Dai state. His actions got him in trouble and they all said he never negotiated with the Dai state.
This is where I paused the video and wondered “why? why do they have to insult my intelligence? I may not be the smartest of them all, this plot was very simple and again, the writers protected Yin Song by adding more irrelevant excuses. Firstly, two officials were with Yin Zheng when he went to Dai state for the negotiations, but no one brought this up. Secondly, wouldn’t it save everyone’s time if the lord of xin asked the lord of Dai whether Yin Zheng presented himself at the negotiations or not? Won’t that give all the angry officials an explanation?
Time Travel Vibes.
On the first 10 /15 episodes, most of Li Wei’s dialogues and monologues sound more modern. It’s not just the dialogues, even the character itself is built for a time travel drama. Her actions gives those “time travel” vibes like the female lead in “The affairs of drama queen”. Her vocabulary is more advanced than other characters and sometimes they don’t even understand her. Her massive strength also keeps me wondering whether she’s from the same world or not. I would mistaken this drama for a time travel project if I only watched the highlights (on Li Wei’s part of course).
Conclusion.
A good story with a good ending, there’s absolutely no need for season 2. This drama promotes women empowerment and friendship. Li Wei was no one special when she came in the palace, but she met other women who felt like they were trapped in a luxurious cage. They fought for their own freedom to do whatever they wanted do, they want same opportunities as men. Their friendship also got stronger every time they met challenges and they eventually became one big family.
Their friendship also brought the Princes closer and closer. At the beginning, Yin Zheng was only close to Yin Qi, but their wives saved the brotherhood. I also like the fact that they didn’t use the usual “betrayal” route just for the sake of keeping the story alive. I was keeping a very close eye on Hao Jia thinking they could use her when they don’t have anything left to add in the story.
Hao Jia’s character started off as one of those scheming women who would betray anyone to get what they want. The title perfectly fits the content since the drama is about women who left their states to get married in a new foreign state where their new life began. I’m recommending this New Life Begins with the rating of 9/10 and I would rewatch it if I have time, make sure you watch it.
