Story of Ming Lan is a Chinese drama set in the Song Dynasty Starring the Newlywed couple William Feng (Feng Shao Feng) and Zanilia Zhao (Zhao Liying). The Couple have announced that they are expected a child to arrive in 2019.
The 73 episode drama explore the life if Ming Lan from early childhood to teens to adulthood to marriage life.
I have watched the first 10 episodes of the drama. Considering this drama has 73 episodes the drama starts of as very interesting but then goes into a slow space. The slow pacing of the drama seems to bother many viewers and people tend to see it as ‘boring’. I personally don’t have a problem with the pacing considering it going to be 73 episodes the pacing was kind of expected.
The drama has very beautiful tones. Although the scenes appear dim and a bit washed out it contrasts with the beautiful costumes and background scenery of flowers. Giving the scenes pops of colour.
Although its only been 10 episode we get to see how MingLan’s character development is progressing through the hard challenges she has to face with dealing with her troubled siblings and being on guard from the enemies in the household. I’m excited to see how her character will become stronger facing harder challenges as she gets older.
Although both leads haven’t had proper interactions yet we will have to wait till later episodes as they both already have a handful on their plates.
So far my favourite characters would be the grandma, the teachers, and the ML Nanny. The interactions with the female Elderly characters are hilarious and its great to see these actresses get the limelight they deserve. As senior actors are easily overlooked. The scene in episode 9? was great comedy relief.
I first saw actress Shi Shi as the Empress in the drama Ever Night. Seeing her play the troublesome ‘evil’ sister in Story of Ming Lan is quite interesting as there is a difference between the characters. So far I like her performance as it is not too overdone.
So far I would say the drama is at a slow pace with very interesting characters. I’m worried that the drama will drag and get boring but I am excited to see what is to come.
Reasons to watch:
- Great Cinematography
- Beautiful Costumes
- Interesting Female Lead
- Historically Realistic
- Enjoyable Performances
- Educational Scenes
- Comedy Scenes
Reasons to not watch
- Pacing
- Bothersome Characters
- Not for people who get annoyed easily
- Not for inpatient people
My Current Rating: 7/10
The Avid Watcher 