Yan Yu Fu / The Autumn Ballad 嫣语赋 [2022]

[Tofu]

I have not forsaken this drama, I promise! I'm up to episode 27 and slowly watching an episode a day until it airs again on Saturday. Haha! 

 

I am also annoyed with Qiu Min. She goes around saying things like she's matured but I don't think she is at all. Her thoughts are childish and to me, that's does not show maturity. 

 

I'm with you on Qin Xuan too, @abs-oluteM. I don't think their love was that deep so a part of me doesn't understand why he's so obsessed and unwilling to let go. I've been skipping a lot of the scenes with him and Qiu Min because I can't stand them. 

 

 

[abs-oluteM]

@TofuI am glad you didn't drop this considering that  you sold this drama to me ...

 

Drama is doing so well. This drama was filmed 2 years ago , if I am not mistaken. This is them now in 2022

 

[abs-oluteM]

The full video of the TenCent live stream

This was funny...

 

 

[peperomia]

I watched episodes 25-30 in one go. Maybe because I did so, the angst I felt when Qiu Yan left Li Yiang was short-lived because she realized she was wrong later. However, I totally agree that her reasons for leaving were not fully justified. When she told him, he had not officially confessed to her yet, but given everything they have been through together and how much he put at risk for her, she should have known her decision would break his heart. Later before she leaves, they confessed their feelings to each other. At this point, if not stay, it would be more logical if she tried to work something out with him – like a long-distance relationship. Still together while she is traveling and writing her book, and he is still at his post. When they parted ways, she said to herself that if Li Yiang asked her to stay, she would. I have mixed feelings about this. Yes, he could have, but she was determined to leave – it is a hard ask from him.

 

I totally agree the scenes between Qin Xuan and Qiu Min were very difficult to sit through. However, all along, I did believe that he deserved an explanation from Qiu Yan which he finally got it from her. She was quite honest too. LOL. To snap out of his mopiness and move on, he needed to know that she had used him and her feelings toward him was not love. She told him he needed look to the future. I think it is good that he refocused his energy and found a purpose in the Ministry of War. Also, after all this, it was also good to see his friendship with Li Yiang is still there.

 

I always thought there was more to Liang Yi’s father’s death. The mastermind knew Li Yiang’s inability to resist taking part in re-investigating this would be his weakness and set-up a trap on him. What I do not understand is why Liang Yi ran off and became a fugitive. I guess he thought the chances of proving his innocence while being arrested were slim. Anyway, if nothing else, a good thing from Qiu Yan traveling to Northern Liang is that she was able to give him the lead that the An Ling poison is from there and connect that his father may have died of the same poison. I miss seeing them investigating together so although brief, it was nice to see them put their brains together.

 

4 more episodes! I plan to watch them all together. I have been burned by many costume C-dramas so I stopped having high expectations. Hoping because there was a hiccup in the middle, we will get a happy ending. Logical or not. LOL.

[abs-oluteM]

13 hours ago, peperomia said:

4 more episodes! I plan to watch them all together. I have been burned by many costume C-dramas so I stopped having high expectations. Hoping because there was a hiccup in the middle, we will get a happy ending. Logical or not. LOL.

Agreed...they just need to give me a decent happy ending.

I started watching Novoland S2 today because I just wanted to see more of Jeremy. But his voice there is dubbed  I miss his deep sexy voice. 

 

QX is so funny 

 

 

[peperomia]

8 hours ago, abs-oluteM said:

QX is so funny

 

OMG...Jeremy is funny too. I can't believe he came up with that ending as her "ba ba". I would react the same as she did too. 

I have to say, I like his hair-style. Looks really good on him. Now I want to see him in modern-day romance drama. 

[abs-oluteM]

14 hours ago, peperomia said:

Now I want to see him in modern-day romance drama. 

I haven't seen him one - so far I am watching the historcal ones...but @Tofu thinks he looks better in historicals though..

 

These new stills are giving me hope 

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[peperomia]

I ended up watching 31-32 which were pretty good – the plotline and characters are tying together. Now I am more optimistic for a sensible finale. 

- Spoilers Ahead - 

 

I am happy Qiu Yan quickly hurries back to Li Yiang’s side (also that Qin Xuan understands her heart and lets her go). Li Yiang did not want to drag her into his dangerous situation, but she shows him she is wearing their couple bracelet and tells him she wishes to live and die together with him. Very sweet. Love seeing them investigating and enduring hardships together again. Li Yiang even realizes it is best to never separate and the safest for Qiu Yan is to always keep her in his line of sight. 

 

So sad about Miss Shi and Mr. Yao. It was heartbreaking to see Li Yiang lose more of his friends. Yuan Long seemed saddened over Miss Shi’s death too. He buries them which shows some compassion from him.

 

I would not have guessed the turn of events with Yuan Long and Consort Guo. Who knew Consort Guo’s origin is Northern Liang and is the one who killed Liang Yi’s father because he found out about it 6 years ago. However, she is not part of the spies and has no intentions of hurting Dashuo. She plead with him to help her protect her son, the Crown Prince, for the well-being and future of Dashuo. Li Yiang considers that the Crown Prince would be a good emperor and complies. Consort Guo promises she will take responsibility for his father’s death after they root out the masterminds. Although Yuan Long and Liang Yi have their differences, they are results of misunderstandings of each other’s intentions and yearn for power – they actually share the same care and patriotism for Dashuo. Good to see them willing to working together for the sake it -with Qin Xuan included too. Liang Yi questions whether his decisions to cooperate forsakes Song Jin (probably his father too), but Qiu Yan comforts him and tells him it is apparent that is because he puts the interests of the country before personal grievances.

 

I was hoping Qiu Min would show there is some good in her by saving Qiu Yan, but nope – she is still proving to be terrible to the core.

 

13 hours ago, abs-oluteM said:

I haven't seen him one - so far I am watching the historcal ones...but @Tofu thinks he looks better in historicals though..

 

Ah okay. This is my first time seeing Jeremy and in historical which I agree totally suits him well. As for a modern day drama, I think if he is styled right and he speaks in his own voice, it could potentially work for him. The line-up for his future projects look like they are all historical so that is great for Tofu. 

 

I have been eyeing his investigative drama called Trace which has his voice. Too bad no Eng subs. 

Edited March 5, 2022 by peperomia
Typos.

[Tofu]

I'm caught up and ready for the last two episodes! I'm so glad I did not watch episode 30 last week. I would not have survived waiting for new episodes. I am still heartbroken at Song Jin's death. Why did they have to kill him off? This tribute video was posted on Weibo for him. 

 

I think you summed up episode 31-32 pretty well, @peperomia! I have nothing more to add. I like that all of them are coming together and I am not surprised Yuan Lang's personal bodyguard was a spy. 

 

4 hours ago, peperomia said:

I was hoping Qiu Min would show there is some good in her by saving Qiu Yan, but nope – she is still proving to be terrible to the core.

Agreed, I thought that she was going to redeem herself but she didn't. I don't care what happens to her from now on. I do think that Qin Xuan deserves a better partner even if I find both of them annoying. 

 

4 hours ago, peperomia said:

Ah okay. This is my first time seeing Jeremy and in historical which I agree totally suits him well. As for a modern day drama, I think if he is styled right and he speaks in his own voice, it could potentially work for him. The line-up for his future projects look like they are all historical so that is great for Tofu. 

There are some Chinese celebrities I think should always stick to historical dramas and Jeremy is one of them. I think he's so charismatic and it elevates when he's in historical clothes and he's not dubbed.  I'm pretty excited that majority of his upcoming dramas are going to be historical. I think Be My Princess is a combination of both modern and historical -- it's set in modern times but both leads play actors and their drama together is a historical one. 

 

@abs-oluteM I think he looks good in Legend of the Phoenix too, but I have not watched that one.

Spoiler

 

 

[abs-oluteM]

@peperomia @Tofu I am all caught up too. I was surprised about the Noble Consort and the whole Northern Liang spy stuff. It was more complex than I had expected. My favourite thing about ep 31 and 32 was that the leads realise that they being together made a lot more sense. I am glad the writer did not fail me here ...since I was so annoyed earlier. I especially like the scene where LY realised taking QY with him and having her in his sight was way safer for her. 

 

My favorite scene

 

And dear dear QM ...what an awful  person she is. I think she's quite unredeemable when she decided not to save her sister in episode 32. And I am glad that QX has never one been moved by any of her efforts to show him how much she cared. I hope right to the end, he will never reciprocate her affections as she doesn't deserve it.

 

@Tofu  The Legend Of Pheonix is next on my list. Novoland is a strange and mindless drama. The plot is just not my taste even though I like the FL. 

By the way is he also called Jones? He's got so many names. LOL!

 

I think we should have a good ending. Waiting to see  @40somethingahjumma and @IpohBanana 's impressions too.

 

 

[abs-oluteM]

What just happened? I am shocked

Spoiler

 

 

46 minutes ago, abs-oluteM said:

I think we should have a good ending.

Scratch that! 

[Tofu]

@abs-oluteM The last 10 minutes were really unnecessary. It was just the drama's way of separating the two leads -- which makes no sense considering how much they've gone through. Qiu Yan lied about poisoning his mom because she wanted to protect him (mom was the one who poisoned the dad, not the doctor like they assumed). I'm glad they met at the end, but was it that difficult to have them hug?! They were just staring at each other for so long. 😩

 

That redemption arc came too late for Qiu Min. I'm no longer invested in her that I didn't care to watch her talk about her growth. 

 

I still found this drama enjoyable despite some of the flaws during the latter half of the drama. I love the leads' chemistry and I hope they do another drama together. 

 

 

[peperomia]

@abs-oluteM @Tofu OMG…what sort of ending did I just watch? Woke up early to as well. LOL.

 

While I did not have high expectations for the finale and willing ignore plot-holes, even some unrealistic character developments, the episodes prior teased the couple would be heading toward a smooth happy ending. What is so hard with truly following through with that? Why add a makjang twist to Li Yiang’s father’s death and use it torture him once again? Not sure how long they separate, but I guess I will take that he knew her better than that and they eventually reunite. Still leaves bitterness in what could have been a decent ending though.

 

1 hour ago, Tofu said:

I'm glad they met at the end, but was it that difficult to have them hug?! They were just staring at each other for so long. 😩

 

Ugh. I felt the same. Better they reunite than never - but seriously, at least a hug would have done the couple more justice.

 

1 hour ago, Tofu said:

I still found this drama enjoyable despite some of the flaws during the latter half of the drama. I love the leads' chemistry and I hope they do another drama together. 

 

Totally agree here. The highlight of the drama was always Liang Yi and Qiu Yan and Jeremy Tsui and Qiao Xin did an excellent job. From the bits of their promo videos, I could sense they get along well too. They also hypothetically talked about a second project. Would be nice if they do another drama together.

Edited March 6, 2022 by peperomia

[40somethingahjumma]

This is why Ladies and Gentleman (if there are any lurking about)... I detest noble idiocy with a passion. 

 

The final twist was obviously just filler... not great... but what was really awful was the noble idiocy that came after. 

 

Do these people have no original ideas? Noble idiocy once was bad enough... but again... Is Qiu Yan such a one-trick pony? And is Liang Yi really so pathetic that he needs mollycoddling?

 

What a bizarre turn of events... it's like a bad Shakespearean comedy without the trickster doing his number at the end. 

I'm going to think of that last 15 minutes as an alternate universe.

[40somethingahjumma]

The leads doing their best to redeem a dog's breakfast of an ending.

 

https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cayb8fhlZU9/?utm_medium=copy_link

[peperomia]

@40somethingahjumma The noble idiocy (for the second time) was so unnecessary. I felt so bad for Liang Yi. I understand Qiu Yan had good intentions and wanted to protect him. However, he was already grief stricken by his mother’s death. Fabricating her lie, believing it was for his well-being, hurt him more than help him. He is a grown man. If the truth is his mother had poisoned his father, he had the right to know and face it. She should have just let him find out and stayed by his side when he needed her the most. Wasn’t that the meaning behind their couple bracelets? LOL. I was also dumbfounded by Qiu Yan willing to give up the evidence against Yuan Lang for this as well. She could have taken him down and avenged her father’s and Song Jin's deaths. I would have loved to see that!

 

Awww, Jeremy and Qiao Xin completed the hug for us. They are charming together and why I stuck through to the end. Please do another project together. Just no plotlines turning each other into vampires and no "ba ba" time-travel plot twists. LOL.

[40somethingahjumma]

I've been working most of the afternoon and evening so I'm only free now.

 

The final act aka the last 6 episodes were a  mixed bag for me. Episodes 31 and 32 were decent for the most part but Episodes 33 and 34 were all over the place in terms of storytelling. What really irks me is how the showrunners framed the OTP's entire dynamic as a zero sum game. It's stay or leave. It's my way or your way. Leave or be left behind. It's leave to be free or leave to protect as if leaving is the only answer to all their problems. It's almost as if the leads are completely boxed in by a particular set of false dichotomies. For two so-called intelligent people they are so completely narrow in their thinking about freedom, independence and love. I don't think the last four episodes do the the characters any favours with all the script-led decision making and actions. In fact, it was odd to me that just about all the best deductions came from QIu Yan. She's the one who is suspicious of everything and everyone -- where's the Liang Yi from the previous two acts? I'm sure someone will say that the show is trying to show a reversal of positions. Now that he's the fugitive, she's the one in the limelight who is supposedly doing much of the heavy lifting. 

 

I don't really like this kind of "after the fact" type of storytelling. In Episode 28, out of the blue she tells him that she's going off to see the world and then he says he will let her go and has a good cry all by his lonesome self. There's conveniently no communication or negotiation. He looks bad, she looks worse. Then just as she's about to leave in Episode 29, he starts to panic and it forces him to act impulsively. Then only does she tell him why she's headed off. This is basic storytelling 101. If you're making a radical shift in direction even if it's just seeming and for a short time, there should be some explanation/justification for it. Otherwise, it calls into question a character's sincerity and motives. Later we find out of course that the reason why the show sends her off to Northern Liang is because the final case is about Northern Liang spies. It's so convenient that she happened to be there prior to Liang Yi's arrest. So really all that girl power talk is just  that and serves as a convenient ploy to get her to a particular location and make Liang Yi suffer a bit. And poor Song Jin -- why? Again it's all about removing all but a few mechanisms of life support for Liang Yi so  that... what? He would be forced to work with the troublesome Yuan Lang? Probably. He would have to eventually regardless. Suddenly Qiu Yan's pretty good in a fight... and Liang Yi goes "Oh, you've been practising". 

 

Qiu Yan takes off on her tour at the kindness of LIang Yi who is funding this. Just how independent can Qiu Yan be? So the temporary separation was supposed to help Qiu Yan see the light? She loves him and needs to be where he is. Now she says that she cares more about him than her freedom. So why does she do another runner in Episode 34? This one even more ridicuous than the previous one.

 

Episode 33 was probably the worst in terms of editing and pacing. I don't know why they couldn't have given us another episode to properly tie up the loose ends. I would be up for it. But after all the hyping of the conspiracy's mastermind, he's there and gone in a matter of minutes. The cave scene was too much tell and not enough show. What the heck is Min'er even doing in all these dangerous situations? So that she can have a near-death experience and get her epiphany? Yeah, whatever. 

 

Episode 34 was fine for the most part and then the last minute twist which was shock for shock's sake -- did nothing to enhance the story and only made Qiu Yan look sillier and more impulsive than usual. What's the point of the separation? She didn't even manage to get published all that time. But he did. So what does that say about girl power? So it's still a man's world. 

 

The ideas for the Bad Guy Plot were actually good but it sort of went boom, crack and fizzle. Like it was just a plot device. Like the unseen Crown Prince turn new Emperor. Hope he's better than the last one. 

 

It's all the more disappointing because it was so good for 27 and a half episodes. 

 

 

[Tofu]

11 hours ago, 40somethingahjumma said:

The leads doing their best to redeem a dog's breakfast of an ending.

Even the leads knew they should have given us a hug!! 

 

@40somethingahjumma I thought that when both of them realized they needed to be with each other during the Northern Liang spies case, that we weren't going to have anything else happen. The noble idiocy is so unappetizing the second time around. I had forgotten majority of the things that frustrated me until I read your post and @peperomia's. I read it going, "Ugh, I know! I hated that too!" the entire time. 

[abs-oluteM]

QX has a sense of humor. 

Even if the budget for this show wasn’t high , there’s no need for the last 10mins & Liang Yi’s bad hairstyling at the end . Lol!

 

This is how the drama ends for me.  

 

[IpohBanana]

@Tofu @abs-oluteM @40somethingahjumma I have to confess I have been watching here and there, stalling till it ended before I decided whether I would embark on the whole thing. There's this thing about a bad ending that puts me off a show till I have really nothing else to watch (and because of Jeremy's voice, I was wanting this to be so badly a good story). So, finally, it was Sunday, and just past 8pm MY time, which is China time. So, there I was,  watching the beginning of E34 (me thinking to myself "This doesn't look too bad, nothing like the preview"), then as usual I fast-forwarded till the last 10 minutes (me thinking "oh, so this is the scene where the mother dies...hhmm"). Then off she sits like a hobbit or Gandalf (whichever) on the back of a cart with her feet dangling, making her way into the world.... (hhmm... this isn't going to end like that right???).  Then I see her trying to publish her works (this looks really lame and whose kid IS that??). And then comes Jeremy dressed in a strange attire and his hair looks erh odd (does that look like a Japanese costume, well the bottom-half-like-skirt/kilt looks like one). And then he finds her, there's the look of amazement in her eyes and the smile (gee, isn't this like half of the Korean shows,  "Faith aka The Good Doctor" comes to mind" where they just stand and stare at each other???)

 

Ok, I might just hold my horses a bit or watch and stop where it's still good. sigh. I heard March is going to bring with it a couple of interesting ones, Drama Gods??? hello??? will you make sure 2022 does better than this fare?

Edited March 8, 2022 by IpohBanana

[abs-oluteM]

On 3/8/2022 at 4:25 PM, IpohBanana said:

Ok, I might just hold my horses a bit or watch and stop where it's still good. sigh. I heard March is going to bring with it a couple of interesting ones, Drama Gods??? hello??? will you make sure 2022 does better than this fare?

I heard from @40somethingahjumma that The Royal Feast is good...are you watching that one?

 

So I am still in my Jeremy phase. I dropped Novoland S2 because the plot was just all kinds of nonsense - I still don't understand what is the underlying conflict and story even after 8 episodes  . This is one reason why I sometimes have reservations  with historical fantasy shows. Anyhow I started watching Legend of Pheonix , and though it is going to be quite an angsty set up , I found myself binging 6 episodes straight. 

 

These two are adorable 

 

[40somethingahjumma]

Listen to @abs-oluteM and I yak about Autumn Ballad in this podcast episode that was recorded yesterday. 

 

https://40somethingahjumma.substack.com/p/podcast-the-autumn-ballad-final-review?s=w

 

We talk about what we liked about the drama, what we loathed about the final act/ the last episode and how we rate it.

 

Enjoy!

[Tofu]

Even WeTV acknowledged the ending was bad. Hahaha!! 

 

[abs-oluteM]

I didn't realise how much I like the pairing till I kept watching videos of them...

This has subs...and I cracked up so much when Jeremy described the sort of drama he wants them to do next - he wants to play a soldier and she can be the daughter of a officer or maybe a spy. . Sounds like an angsty  melodrama. She said that he suits playing republican genre. 

 

 

[NiteWalker]

i finally pick this up!!! and honestly the whole thing was pretty cute and nice....

 

they could actually gave us a better ending to be honest..... @Tofu @abs-oluteM @40somethingahjumma @peperomia

 

did i wait too long??? hahaha....