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The Double (墨雨云间) final review

overview: episode no. -  40 episodes, genre - costume

originally the well beloved and highly accomplished wife of the year's top scholar, shen yurong, xue fangfei finds herself tipped into the darkest pits of terror and betrayal when her husband murders her in the depths of the night. barely clinging to life, she is saved by jiang li, the disgraced daughter of the high and mighty jiang family who had been exiled from the capital for years. but when jiang li suddenly dies at the hands of her abusers, xue fangfei vows for revenge for her and her saviour. taking on jiang li's identity, she returns to the capital to take back all that was owed to them both. yet she does not expect that a certain duke su, xiao heng, would be watching her every move.

l⃣e⃣ t⃣’ s⃣    b⃣e⃣g⃣i⃣n⃣

GUYS. UGH. THIS DRAMMAAAAA. the plot? stunning. the romance? beautiful. the scheming? so. good. the logic and scheming within this drama was well written and well thought out. and don't even get me started on the CHARACTERS. the main characters were fleshed out and exciting, with fully dimensional psyches and motivations which were carried through beautifully by the acting. I can't wait to start yapping honestly- buckle in guys, it's going to be a fun one.

o⃣u⃣t⃣     o⃣ f⃣     t⃣ e⃣ n⃣

𝖆𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖓𝖌 - 8/10

𝖕𝖑𝖔𝖙 - 7/10

𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖗𝖆𝖈𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖘 - 9/10

𝖕𝖗𝖔𝖉𝖚𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 - 7/10

𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕒𝕝𝕝 𝕒𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕒𝕘𝕖 - 7.75/𝟙𝟘

o⃣u⃣t⃣    o⃣ f⃣    f⃣ i⃣v⃣ e⃣

𝖍𝖎𝖉𝖉𝖊𝖓 𝖌𝖊𝖒 𝖛𝖆𝖑𝖚𝖊 - 💎💎💎💎

[ at this point, everyone within cdramaland has heard of this drama. it's not much of a hidden gem anymore. however I do think this drama is special in that we haven't had a revenge arc period drama quite like this in agessss and I think the double really will be a trailblazer for this genre in the next year to come, especially with chen duling's the glory (贵女) coming out soon ] 

𝖗𝖊𝖜𝖆𝖙𝖈𝖍 𝖛𝖆𝖑𝖚𝖊 - ✨✨ ✨ 

[ very slayful. but it's not exactly a comfort series for me, and also not really so detailed enough as empresses in the palace to watch again so kind of eh ig. ]

‘keep reading’ for detailed review

𝖕𝖑𝖔𝖙 - 7/10

overall, the plot was well explained and well plotted, and the schemes were very logical and flawlessly executed and the way that information was revealed was simply delicious. the character developments were also very well paced and fitted well with the plot's progression. though I must admit I was little put off by how quickly and conveniently jiang li was just killed off in the first episode- like a little montage over a couple of episodes where xue fangfei and jiang li got to know each other over few days wouldn't have costed the drama many minutes.

like love o2o, some places were only well executed and well explained mainly because the script had written it to be that way. some questions that could have easily toppled the whole situation which could have easily been asked were also very conveniently not raised.

in a similar vein, jiang li's set up was also conveniently perfect for xue fangfei's progression in the plot, like her family's station in the country and her alignment with xiao heng's plans. it's a little too perfect. some challenge to this perfect alignment would have added further layers to the story which would have been very interesting. however I can see why the scriptwriters didn't choose to do that, further layers would have been more complex and with how much the drama already going on, it's a lot to handle for 40 episodes.

nevertheless, it was very good and very enjoyable. it got to the point and is the perfect definition of a 爽剧 and executed it exactly. also! the ending was simply amazing. I loved the message that life is what you make of it and while some situations are genuinely terrible, it's what you choose to make of it.

𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖗𝖆𝖈𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖘 - 9/10

THE CHARACTERS. the CHARACTERS IN THIS SHOW. they stole the show and simply RAN. they were cooking, serving, eating - the whole schebang. they were all super well written, multi-faceted and I loved the message of taking agency and responsibility for your actions instead of bending to reality. this is a show worthy of it's hype.

I absolutely LOVED the main villains in this drama. they were so well written, so despicable but so understandable. shen yurong really stole the show; his psyche was so well written and his arc at the end was absolutely fantastic to watch. I loved the grand princess too, even though half the time I was too busy shivering in my boots to admire her, she served some serious cunt. her ending at the end was also such a fucking punch to the gut.

also guys. can we PLEASE talk about xiao heng? like. i rarely say this shit, but he can step on me and I would not mind.

𝖆𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖓𝖌 - 8/10

overall, the acting was pretty good! the casting for all the characters were very on point, wu jinyan just has that knack for acting characters with that kind of fire and she killed it for sure here. her chemistry with wang xingyue was also through the roof- like.

however I think at times the direction took away from the acting a little, like the crazy camera zooms and the melodramatic moments, but my biggest pet peeve is the direction of some more light-hearted sillier moments in the drama. like it was a little over the top. and also it didn't really fit in with the rest of the drama's vibe- which grated me a little bit.

𝖕𝖗𝖔𝖉𝖚𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 - 7/10

kind of falling in line with the above, the production definitely leaned towards a more melodramatic kind of vibe with the big zooms and the close ups and the crazy schemes, which wasn't exactly my cup of tea? the music was also soooo loud. the colouring and lighting of the actual footage were pretty decent tho. but I did like the costumes and the styling. they were very beautiful and the cohesive from character to character. I also really liked the use of colour and the traditional patterns in the costumes which were maybe a little more true to history in comparison to the soft pastels and tulle of typical idol costume dramas. my favourite costume of the show was probably xue fangfei's green huaixiang set- that was so pretty- her makeup also looked so good.

.

𝖇𝖔𝖓𝖚𝖘!!

favourite characters

xiao heng (yeah yeah im a simp)

shen yurong ( he's SO FANTASTICALLY WRITTEN, who's with me)

.

𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖈𝖗𝖊𝖜 (source mydramalist)

lead actors : wu jinyan, wang xingyue, li meng

directors : lu haojiji, bai yunmo, ma shige

screenwriters : ren yanan

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i'll never get over them ♡

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Flowing asthetic in chinese xianxia and wuxia culture(novels, movies, dramas)

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Look how happy she is about FL's lack of interest in marriage.

Just gals being pals. Murder pals.

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Women's Day has been so heavily co-opted by bourgeois feminism but let's never forget that it originated from the labor movement under the organization of socialists like Theresa Malkiel and Clara Zetkin. It was always meant to be the International WORKING Women's Day.

Theresa Malkiel was a Jewish refugee & sweatshop worker turned head of the Socialist Party of America's Women's National Committee, and Clara Zetkin was a prominent leader of the German socialist movement.

It was a Women's Day gathering in Petrograd that snowballed into the Russian Revolution, a fact often erased.

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*gently taps the sign*

Useful post (mostly about hanfu but with a mention of kimono)

I’m not that confident about hanbok so feel free to correct me

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new member of Li manor

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Doing something for you is the same thing as doing something for myself. You and I are one.

Shangguan Qian & Gong Shangjue MY JOURNEY TO YOU 云之羽 (2023)

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taking my folks to see Nezha 2 again tonight 🥰

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Love Between Fairy and Devil 苍兰诀 (2022) Dir. Yi Zheng – Episode 11

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I’ve breached the 30 episode mark and my huang yimei x su gengsheng ship has been officially tied to shore bcs ZHENGHUA AND SUSU ARE SUCH A SILLY BUT SUCH A HEALTHY CUTE COUPLE I CAN’T-

currently on the first few episodes of tale of rose (玫瑰的故事) and I NEEED huang yimei and su gengsheng to aggressively make out. LIKE. their chemistry on screen? fuck zhuan guodong, su su and yimei is where it’s at.

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Blossom 九重紫 (2024)

“I remember the woman in the fox mask told me…” “What’s wrong with being unconventional?”

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Blossom 九重紫 (2024) Dir. Zeng Qing Jie – Ep. 10

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🫰🏼 hard to move on from these two

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"What flower is this? You seem to cherish it a lot." "It's called purple crape myrtle. Just some wild flowers."

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Blossom 九重紫 (2024) Dir. Zeng Qing Jie – Ep. 33

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Gifs from baihe live action adaptation When We Met/Fireworks of Yesteryear, based on an AU extra from What Era Do You Think This Is/Kissing a Gardenia by Qi Xiao Huang Shu.

(these are clips from today's livestream screening; the full 34-minute film will be uploaded to Bilibili in a few days)