Under the Power 锦衣之下 [2019]

[NiteWalker]

Editor: @stroppyse

 

How can two individuals who were never connected actually be connected in every single sense? One is the cold blooded high official of the brocade robe department, LuYi, while the other is just a lowly constable at the Six Doors Department with a knack of detecting and tracing evidence, JinXia. Their paths had never crossed before; however, fate brought them together over a case, and from then on their paths are completely intertwined.
 
JinXia and LuYi are as different as day and night, but each complement the other in the matter of their work. So they end up working hand in hand to solve one case after another, until they figure out how to settle their differences so that they can continue their walk together.
 
They start at loggerheads with each other and end up falling in love. Things are going well until old evidence pointing to old enemies slowly emerge one by one.  It takes sacrifice from both sides and also understanding from both sides to battle the old skeletons that had been kept in the cupboards for over several decades.

LuYi’s father was the cause of JinXia’s whole family being killed by the emperor, all because of the word ‘Pride’.  This was later exposed as being caused by the main antagonist of the whole story, Xiao GeLao, who held a position in the emperor cabinet. Also, he turns out to be the main culprit behind the cases that happen, one after the another.
 
Both JinXia and LuYi have to work together to bring Xiao GeLao down, and also to compensate for the deed that was done by LuYi’s father towards JinXia’s family; the deed which had caused her to be orphaned and adopted later on. After taking down Xiao GeLao, LuYi also surrenders himself as atonement for the wrong his father had done towards JinXia’s family.
 
The story ends with LuYi being pardoned by the emperor after spending 2 years in prison and being reinstated to his original position. The emperor had softened his heart after dreaming of LuYi’s father who had saved him once before from a blaze. JinXia and her aunt, the only two survivors of the massacre of the Lin Family, had both forgiven LuYi the moment he shouldered the responsibility for his father’s sin and surrendered himself to the officials.
 
What first pulled me into this drama was because it had a smart female heroine for once, instead of all those damsels-in-distress which get a little tiring. JinXia may sometimes be clueless and clumsy but she does have brains and a knack of connecting the dots. Also, she basically gobbles her food down; her capacity leaves LuYi dumbfounded a couple of times throughout the drama.

 

 
The slow romance and slow burn between LuYi and JinXia will have you panting for more. Their rapport in working side by side will have you glued to the seat for more, not to mention the times when they bicker back and forth. JinXia’s little nick name for LuYi during these times is the Emperor of Hell.
 
After the drama ended, it left me scrambling for the book since this drama was actually adapted  from the book by Lan SheShi with the same title ‘Under the Power’.
 

 

Plot/story:  8/10, Over all, the story is good. It does get a little draggy towards the end as expected due to the need to resolve the political differences and fight for redemption.
 
Cast/acting: 8/10 Good casting and acting from both Ren JiaLun as LuYi who managed to look both formidable when he had the brocade uniform on and cute during a part when he was poisoned and his mental state became at 8 years old. Took off some points for some of the Japanese scenes and also scenes with LuYi’s great grandfather that wasn’t as believable. SongYun managed to be the cute JinXia and the smart JinXia as needed, and was able to create different rapports with both JiaLun and LuHong who played YangYue, a boy she had grown up with.
 
Production value: 8/10 I like how the drama was able to show that no matter how much you want to forget the sins you commit, the sins do actually eat you inside out. The only thing I didn’t really like was some of the CGI which seemed a little fake. However, I was able to overlook most of it because of the superb acting by SongYun and JiaLun.
 
Re-watch value: 9/10 It is definitely worth a rewatch, especially in those times when I can’t find any other dramas that I want to watch.

 

 

[Alice Wonderland]

very well written @NiteWalker you'd motivated me more to continue watching, haha, of course slow watching still, e,..ya, you know why. haha. 

 

those scenes picture are interesting, he always look so grumpy but I know deep down his heart, he is soft as tofu, haha. Tsundere guy, look harsh outside but very soft hearted inside. I bet it must be about his mom's past right? well, I am just still on ep 3 not moving yet. haha. I believe the answer is waiting for me on the next episodes.

[SilverMoonTea]

I will continue to watch this. My memory said I left when about around 39 eps 😀. I actually quite liking it, I remember it gets kind of too political and I get distracted with other dramas lols. For the love of Allen Ren that get rekindled deeply, I shall revisit this 😄.

 

Thanks @NiteWalkerfor the review and synopsis, I need to refresh my memory too. 

 

@Alice Wonderland I actually lazy to press FF button, I need to get up and walk to do so. Lols. 

 

@TofuDid you watched this before?

[NiteWalker]

1 minute ago, SilverMoonTea said:

I will continue to watch this. My memory said I left when about around 39 eps 😀. I actually quite liking it, I remember it gets kind of too political and I get distracted with other dramas lols. 

 

For the love of Allen Ren that get rekindled deeply, I shall revisit this 😄.

 

to be honest, the politics is very minimal in this series....

 

i totally love the whole series and it was also because of this series that i love Ren JiaLun, infact we do have a thread for UTP too lols...because i love them too much lols

[Alice Wonderland]

Welcome back @SilverMoonTea happy watching

 

Watch from phone, then it is pretty close for you to just tap to skip the unnecessary part. Lol