Ban Shu Legend (2015)

I really love this drama (watched this 4 times and planning to watch this the 5th time)
The thing that I love about this drama is the superb cast. The actress who played Banshu is not a very popular actress but I must say, she exceeded by expectations! Banshu is a very rash and cheerful girl, and the actress played the character really well. Really love it. The actor who played Wei Ying is also not a popular actor but I am charmed but him. He has the looks, the charisma...and his daily outfit in the drama is a white robe (prince charming), I am not surprise that his character managed to charm so many female characters in the show coz I am here being separated by a screen and could still get charmed. His acting skills are just bonuses.
Banshu's character can be a little rash at times and her actions are often exaggerated but I love her so much! She doesn't really know the palace etiquette and doesn't act like the normal gentle female teacher (????teacher who tutors the female students), but this is what make her special. She often does not care abt her image and behaves how she wants to behave. But what makes her so likeable is that she is so selfless. She cares a lot abt Wei Ying although he always reprimand her, places people before herself, saves her students' lives more than once despite them not liking her, and so on. Although she is very strict with her students and punishes them even though they are all daughters of high ranking officials, she is actually doing them good. For example, she makes them run around the court yard after seeing them all skinny and frail and she even gave the child emperor a good beating after the males students from ?? (an imperial all boys school)played a prank on her. It's very heartening to see her managing to earn the utmost respect of all students in the end.
The empress dowager in the story is not your typical evil old lady. She is actually quite young. She's the one who instructed Banshu to tutor the female students and gave her the permission to change the way the girls behave. After that, she ordered Banshu to teach the males form ?? coz she's disappointed that only 2 students signed up for the imperial exams and that all professors in charge of teaching the male students are all on sick leave (including Wei Ying) because of the palace fire. She sent Banshu coz she knows that Banshu fears nothing, not even high ranking officials' sons or daughters, and Banshu's duty is not only to teach poems blabla, but also instill the students of both schools good moral values.
Wei Ying is a ??? teaching the students of ??? He is very loyal to Liu Xuan (??, his lover whom he could not save. Hence, he is always stuck in the past and could not forget abt Liu Xuan. He even waters the plants that Liu Xuan had planted for 3 years straight without fail. In the end, he realizes that his love for Xuan has reduced to friendship and the one he loves is actually Banshu.
There are some characters who are there for some comedic effect, such as Huo Heng and Yao Juan. Yao Juan is another female teacher who is always taken advantage of by the students coz she is short-sighted and timid. She often walks into things because of her bad eyesight but that's okay, she's also very loveable.

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After watching for 42 episodes, what I gained at last is pure frustrations. I was hoping a better romantic plot but my wish didn’t come true. I had waited quite a long time for english subs, so that I completed this relatively old drama just now(2020).But there are still some points that I find it fun to watch, Here are some of my opinions on this drama;

Good points;
1.Colourful casts
Well, I am surprised by the supporting casts which seem like a collection of soon-to-become famous casts; Dilraba Dilmurat, Sun Yi, Vengo Gao, Sophie Zhang, and Merxat Yalkun, Guan Xiao Tong in one drama. This is just wonderful.

2.Character of female lead
Female lead(played by Jing Tian) is joyful and easy going girl.She is strong and has quite amazing problem solving skills.It is quite fun to watch this kind of strong female lead character.

3.Love Triangle & multiple side couples
I am not a fan of love triangle but I must admit that I like this one. Deng Zhi( played by Li Jiaheng) is captivating, personally I find him more interesting than male lead.
Other side couples are even better than the main couple too.

Bad Points

1.Romance
Romantic entanglement is poorly written.ML spent most of the early episodes by missing his old lover.Even after he is together with FL, he is still missing his old lover.Besides, I find ML pretty useless and indecisive. His time with FL is mostly spent by scolding and lecturing FL.
Then at the later episodes, his old flame suddenly appeared, and his decision making skill is pretty useless.
I am quite frustrated with the portrayal of the male lead after all.

2.Poor Chemistry between the two leads
Though I like Zhang Zhe Han in Legend of Yun Xi, I find that his acting is stiff and have poor chemistry with Female lead. I can’t find the couple’s sweet moments either.This is probably my first time that I don’t want FL to be together with ML.

3. Plot holes
I think several points in plot don’t make sense. For example, FL wasn’t well-versed in literature at first, but after learning for one or two months, she suddenly became a very good teacher.
Her reunion with her brother is also poorly directed, it can be made much better.

Overall
First few episodes were quite good. Though I don’t like the romance part, I still like how FL survived in the palace and many supporting casts.
It can be made much more better but what’s done is relatively an average drama.

This is just my opinion, if you have free time, you can try it.

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