Ode to Shangyang / The Rebel Princess revolves around the life of Wang Xuan (Zhang Ziyi), a noble lady who joins rebel general Xiao Qi (Zhou Yiwei) in unifying the kingdom.
The 68 episode drama will premiere on Youku in 12 hours (Jan 9th 10am CN time). The drama releases 10 episodes this weekend, and 2 episodes every Mon-Wed beginning next week.
Zhang Ziyi BTS, Themesong by Zhou Shen & Hu Xia
Royalty:
I just finished the drama. I loved it! The cast was superb, the costume and set were stunning, and the plot was interesting throughout. It wasn’t too slow paced, but the first 5 episodes felt like forever. By episode 10 they won me.
I absolutely loathe Zitan.
Would you care to elaborate why? I mean, seeing him be so ineffective at protecting the woman he loves makes me indifferent to him as a suitor and doubt his ability to rule – and no doubt about it, that man badly wants to be king – but I don’t feel too strongly about him.
I made that comment after the most recent episodes, where the heroine was doing her best to protect the city from a siege, and all Zitan could think about was romance. I also think Tony Yang is totally miscast as the first love.
Thanks for the clarification. I haven’t quite caught up with the most recent episodes yet.
Which website you go to see the most recent episodes? YouTube is not even up to there yet.
I watch episodes raw (7 episode head start on Youku). English Sub releases are based on the standard release schedule of 1 episode every night.
I’ve watched the first 3 eps in a breeze and I’m sold. The plot so far is nothing special indeed but the execution has movie feel to it and not just because it stars ZZY. No jarring editing/snail pacing that seems to plague every historical cdramas at least so far. Everyone’s acting is great. Yu Hewei is a standout. Very watchable.
I really am a fan of Zhang Ziyi (whatever anyone says about her acting and her current projects, I feel like she’s a pretty good actress) but still even I am skeptical about this. First of all like the previous comment mentioned, 68 episodes are quite the commitment and second of all the trailer doesn’t have anything that makes it stand out from rest of the C-dramas that have been broadcasting for the past 2-3 years. Generally the historical dramas have taken a better turn in terms of the quality (I’m not talking about webdramas) so that doesn’t stand out either.
Hopefully it’ll turn out good. Planning on giving this the benefit of the doubt and watch at least 10-15 episodes before passing judgement.
68 episodes! That seems like a huge commitment these days… (and whatever happened to that ‘edict’ that dramas were supposed to come in at under 50, wasn’t that the figure?)
The drama was filmed in early 2018, so long dramas were still in fashion (it initially submitted a plan for 80 episodes…)
Regulations to cap dramas at 40 episodes are still in the planning stages.
Omg I can’t believe it was originally 80 episodes. I thought 68 episodes were too much already. I hope they don’t drag out the drama like what some historical dramas have done.
I am at Episode 18. To be honest, I feel it quite a drag in terms of the plot and pace. I am not feeling I can hang on till 68!