Maiden Holmes (2020)

Watch for the Romance

I was recommended this drama a while back but forgot about it and then was reminded again because I'm watching Tiger & Crane with ZLH and this was his first drama. Though called Maiden Holmes, there's less emphasis on the case solving and more about the Romance of the leads. So watch for the romance.

Pros: I love the Fab 5! Their dynamic is great from episode one. You've got the FL who pretends to be a man by cross dressing to clear her family's name after being what she thought to be the sole survivor of that massacre. Her detective skills are pretty good and she has solved many cases. ML is the prince who is ousted from office by his rebellion seeking uncle (also the main villain of the piece). Thankfully his brother was the new emperor and had a good relationship with him where he could help him out. SFL is a genius doctor and SML is a great martial artist though can't read the room for nothing is quite dumb most of the time. Adding on is ML's teen aid who's a great cook. The chemistry between the leads is obvious especially when the ML turns those seductive eyes onto FL, it's like ok it got a bit warm in this room. Furthermore, the kisses are real! And there are enough of them. For ZLH's first gig ever, he was hella convincing especially in terms of being intelligent and trapping the bad people. The entire group really complimented each other. Misunderstandings if not immediately cleared up, are done so in a smart fashion. There are a few baubles with FL temporarily seeming to lose her sensibility but she regains it more or less quickly. Good fight scenes when they happened.

Obviously a lower budget production but it worked out. The villain was obvious from the get go. The one moment that made me legit shed a tear was when ML's guard sacrificed himself to protect his prince towards the end. That guy was awesome the entire time and it really brought forth their strong friendship. Comedy was decent.

Cons: The cases though leading to the main antagonist weren't very strong and they could never bring someone in alive. Once our group had the evidence, the evildoer was either disposed of or killed themselves. Every single time to the point that it was laughable. You were just waiting for it each time a new case popped up. Also while the SFL thought the FL was a dude, she developed a crush on her and that whole thing was rather cringey. Suspended logic also was a must for a lot of things; like the cave thing because they had to figure out their misunderstanding and realize they were soulmates from a young age, add a really great kiss at the end and then it was worth it lol!

The showdown in the last two episodes was relatively lackluster as it just had the villain walk around the throne room yakking about his plans only to be outsmarted by the ML.

Would I recommend it? Only for the romance of the leads and the moving along storyline. It's a good in between series especially if you like an intense seductive ML ;).

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handsome ML

This drama is for you if you enjoy watching dramas where girls disguise themselves into a male. Overall, the drama is quite a pleasant drama to watch , the reason i watched it was because i found the ML really handsome and lets be honest but his acting in the drama was really good for a newbie. Also, the ML was really cool and swag in the drama, the drama is quite well balanced in terms of romance, mystery and friendship. Although there were many cute and sweet scenes , there were also moments where the FL just jumped to conclusion and accuse the ML which can be quite typical but that did not make the drama a bad experience. The only thing that got me really frustrated was that the girls was voice change when she was a 'male' and when she was a female as it was just very fake and cringe. Furthermore, this drama is suitable for you if you like dramas with a lot of friendship with multiple couples.

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Slow and tedious

Being a cynic and an unemotional person isn't a choice I made but rather it's an unconscious sensory output that seeps into many aspects of my life; consequently, I have less tolerance for things I deem illogical. Therefore, if one goes through my MDL reviews it might feel as though I'm just a hater who's never satisfied or is too proud. However, I genuinely find it impossible to process anything that calls for too many suspensions of disbelief.

And therein lies my problem with Maiden Holmes. How does the writer expect me to believe this woman could have survived the very risky job of an investigator with barely any martial arts skills? For an investigator who crisscrosses dangerous terrains I would assume it would be a job requirement to know how to protect not only themselves but also their witnesses and nothing about whatshername says she has such capabilities. Yes, she is a sound detective who knows how to reach conclusions that solve cases, however, she's also the most uninquisitive person ever. Right in front of her were two people who weren't who they said they were and even with the copious numbers of obvious clues, she remained lost, unable to put two and two for four. This I found to be nonsensical and unbelievable.

Next, the FL was supposed to be pragmatic and sensible yet she lacked the wisdom needed to make her character believable as someone who could solve these cases without being constantly saved by the ML. She just bumbles into dangerous situations without forethought or any idea of how to save herself.
Thirdly, and with all due apologies, the actress playing the FL can't act. Mostly she has one expression and that is what she gives us from start to finish. She either looked depressed, downcast, or unhappy with the ML and for the most part, we got a rotation of these three with a few quick smiles thrown in.

Lastly, the dialogue. Oh my god, do these people ever stop talking?!! Something that could have been said with four words would instead be done with a dozen and this directly impeded the flow of the story which sometimes meant having to try to remember what was the original question or line of thought.

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THE MOST HANDSOME MALE LEAD

I've actually finished this drama for almost a month, and now I'm just writing my little review for this drama.

Honestly, I decided to start this drama when I saw the trailer for this drama and I was attracted to the male lead, although overall I don't know the actors and actresses who play in this drama, but I was quite surprised after watching it because they all performed their roles perfectly for this drama especially ZhangLingHe who debuted for the first time in this drama, almost made me can't believe this is his first acting because he looks so perfect for his first performance, his good looks are also a plus for this drama .... after drama this is me trying to find another modern drama ..

I also really like the storyline of this drama, why? because most of the ancient Chinese dramas I watch are wuxia or xianxia dramas, and this drama provides a different story about how suchi played by Sebrina solves cases one by one in order to restore the good name of her family who was sentenced to death ( one tribe) by the royal family for being accused of murdering the king, and of course she is accompanied by a prince and also very handsome young general "prince qi". Besides that, the chemistry between the two of main role in this drama is really amazing, strong and good, it really lives up to the romance of love in this drama. Besides the main character, the sweet love story between SFL and SML is also very funny. if you are looking for an extraordinary love romance drama you should never miss this one drama.

besides that I also really like the songs in this drama. Honestly, I actually find a lot of Chinese dramas with strange chanting sounds in my ears and some even sounding bad. This drama really provides a soundtrack that I like, starting from the opening song, ending song and several songs that are inserted in every scene in this drama.

I have repeated this drama for the second time and overall I like it. 9/10 for this drama ... I hope my review is useful for those who read it. Thank you.

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Detective Su is the female version of Sherlock Holmes

This drama is one of my favorites, just the plot twists and story kept me interested in watching all episodes. Sabrina Chen as Su Ci was beautiful to watch and Zhang Ling. His gentle and kind portrayal of Prince Qi was superb. I can't believe his first drama and his kissing scenes with her were swoon worthy. He should be getting more lead roles in the future. Their chemistry was tops. Well written script, beautiful ending for strong Su Ci and Ru Shuang, not rushed. I'm happy that Su Ci kept her career after the marriage unlike other dramas. For Bei Ming, glad he did not die.

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Ancient Sherlock Holmes in female body

I love crime dramas in general, and I was drawn to the title. Honestly, I didn’t have any expectations, but I was pleasantly surprised by this drama. The main actors are unknown to me, I have never watched any of their plays, but the chemistry between them is very good. The story is catchy and keeps the viewer in suspense and anticipation of the next case, while following the love story between the main characters. The supporting actors aren’t bad either, and they add a dose of humor to the whole drama. In addition to the crime plot and love story, there is also a background story about the origins of FL, which is quite mysterious. All in all, a refreshing drama in a sea of more or less similar stories.

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Finally a logical plot and it is a good thing!

First of all, I really enjoyed this show. Binged it easily. The good thing is that they have well defined characters and the plot is well crafted. Being largely a detective story, crimes have to be solved and that leads to clues to the bigger conspiracy as the show progressed.
If you watch a lot of Chinese dramas you will know that most of them suffers from 2 problems, mid show drag and weird plot twists towards the end just so that they can introduce drama (oh how the OTP will suffer) or fix plot issues. In this case, I'm happy to report that the pacing is fine and the main plot did not take a weird detour so that we arrived at the logical end point in good order.
While the story was good in general, the main plot was telegraphed fairly early on and we are just watching to see how the main characters work it out for themselves.
Another plus for the show is that the OTP and the 2OTP have great chemistry and they are steadfast once they confessed their loves. There are no love triangles or prolonged misunderstandings. What angst there is is light and the characters thought it through or talked it out which is quite refreshing. There was a good amount of skinship and hot kisses which were done well (most of the time). It was also nice that the weight of the plot swung between the love line, light comedy and detective story fairly often and smoothly so that you are not getting bored with either. The only slight negative is the acting of the ML (I believe this is his first lead role) can be a little stiff at times but otherwise he is fine and his interaction with the FL is very good. I would definitely recommend this for a light drama with low angst and some nice romance thrown in. Oh final thought. I can't escape the feeling the mains characters are like the setting of a computer game. You have the charismatic leader, the brawny fighter, the healer and the brainy "wizard" :).

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Mediocre storyline but great romance and comedy

If the storyline and plot were not so cliche and predictable this could have rated much higher. The romance was well done and very sweet with multiple couples. And the comedy was just perfect. But with the name “Holmes” the audience is going to expect a thrilling Sherlock Holmes style murder mystery drama that’s deep and unpredictable. Instead we get a predictable drama that reveals the bad guy right away. All of the mystery and suspense then disappears. Some of the cases they solve are interesting but not enough to save the plot. And then very cliche typical political power struggles we see in every drama nowadays were added. It’s too bad because this drama had so much potential. It’s not bad, I liked it and I’m glad I watched it. But with such great chemistry between the leads and super funny comedy, it could have been so much better if the crime solving part was done right.

What really works for this drama is the lead couples chemistry. Their romance and the romance of the secondary couple are what really makes this drama worth watching. That and the comedy which is sprinkled throughout at just the right moment when there’s too much angst or sorrow. I also like that even though there are some sad or upsetting parts to the story, they never go on for too long making you feel like you’re watching a melodrama.

What really hurts this drama is that it tries to be a witty crime and mystery drama but most of the cases were predictable and too easy to solve. Then it tries to capture your interest with political intrigue and with the main leads having lost loved ones due to betrayal. But it’s hard to get invested in these plot lines because we see this same basic storyline over and over again in almost every historical dramas involving politics. Because of these things it starts to feel a little draggy towards the middle.

But if you hang in there the action picks up and it gets better towards the end. It may not be the best ever drama but it’s truly worth watching just for the cuteness of the romances and the well paced comedy.

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Disappointing

This series was not what i had expected.

Although it had a good FL with strong character, and the crime solving was on point, it was just a kinda boring series, that dragged on and the endless dialogue. the ML lead was okay, not much can be said about him, as i felt he didn't have much of strong character and relied on the FL.

This is the drama version of the perfect trashy romance, It is not overly ambitious in terms of plot and will not satisfy hard core fans of the detective genre but overall it is an unpretentious hidden gem that will bring you on a delightful romantic journey. At times I found myself fast forwarding episodes just to finish it. this is one series you can walk away do what needs to be done and come back and you will be able to pick up where you left off.

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The Perfect Husband

I enjoyed every second of this drama.
The ML is gorgeous and perfect in all aspects. He respects the FL, protects her and doesn't give up on her even when she kinda loses it and lashes at him ( dont get me wrong, i dont blame her because her family was slaughtered when she was a kid and for a second she thought the ML had something to do with it. Today you could call this scene as a sign of PTSD). The flow of the story is very natural.
I also enjoyed the fact that they solve the mysteries as a team and the credit doesnt go to the main couple alone.
The music is great and suits the drama very well.

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Fun to watch drama (drama without the drama !!!)

Overall - 9 out of 10
Fun to watch drama (drama without the drama !!!)

PLOT - 5 stars: Well written and directed, very interesting investigations leading to the main plot
CAST - 5 stars: Great chemistry between main couple as well as the supporting cast

(-1) for better dialogs/conversation (Script writer)

I really like the 5 of them sitting at dining table & discussing the investigation. Each of them may come from a dis-functional family but together, they create friendship and trust. They support one another, provide a helping hand when needed and build their relationship from the family meal. There are mis-understanding and obstacles but they use love and trust to resolve instead of hatred or jealousy.

Best kissing scenes in all Cdrama !!!

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Blandly Okay

Skip to the final section for a quick, spoiler-free rating.

Maiden Holmes (Chinese title: 少女大人) is a 2020 Chinese drama about a female detective and a prince. Disguised as a man, Su Ci works as a constable of the Mingjing Office in the capital. In actuality, she is the sole survivor of a clan wiped out years ago after being framed for high treason. She meets the Prince of Qi, battle-scarred and recently forced to forfeit his military power by his uncle the Prince of Yun, and their paths become entwined. Danger, heartbreaks, friendships, and political struggles follow.

The drama is actually less dramatic than how I made it sound—and definitely much less dramatic than other existing summaries out there, so much so that I went into it with higher expectations than what the drama ended up delivering. But despite me quickly adjusting those expectations, Maiden Holmes still fell short of good.

Before I get into why, let’s start with some positives.

Structurally Sound Procedurals
I really enjoyed the set ups to some of the mystery cases. They’re not particularly well-executed at times as a lot of them are predictable, but you can see that the writers went the extra mile to make them believable and intriguing crimes. My favorite is the serial killer case—it’s the only one of the bunch where I didn’t foresee the actual culprit until it was obvious. Su Ci is, by all means, a great detective. She’s genuinely good at her job and takes pride in what she does.

What’s more, her crime solving skills are one of the few things the drama shows instead of tells, which is rare whenever a drama protagonist is declared to have a specialty skill. They tried to model her after the BBC’s version of Sherlock Holmes in the beginning though, which resulted in this utterly ridiculous moment in episode 2 of her deducing that a pigeon is too burnt to eat:

Thank goodness that didn’t last long.

Reasonable, Adult Characters
I’ve never seen such a perfectly reasonable bunch of main and side characters.

When it’s revealed to the friend group that Su Ci is a woman, Rushuang stayed angry for, like, one afternoon before forgiving her.

After Su Ci’s true gender gets exposed, the Prince of Qi becomes “woke” and makes it a mission to promote the idea of female officials and feminism in the workforce.

When Fu Ziyou rejects Princess Yun Chuan, she wishes him all the best and lets him be instead of becoming embittered.

Even the Empress Dowager and the Emperor’s relationships with the Prince of Qi are amicable and cordial, when in every other drama there would’ve been suspicions and doubts abound.

Every notable “good” character in Maiden Holmes communicates with each other. They’re almost always on the same page, hold similar points of view, and are all incredibly understanding and empathetic to each other’s plights.

Consequently, there are no direct major conflicts between any of them. No philosophical disagreements, no opposing points of view, no discord due to conflicting allegiances, no differing principles shaped by different upbringings. Even the eventual reveal of Xie Beiming’s adopted father, which leads to him to question where his loyalty lay, gets quickly resolved with some heart-to-heart bro talk with the Prince of Qi. Which brings me to Maiden Holmes’ biggest flaw…

Not Enough Antagonism
The Prince of Yun is a stock villain at best. You can spot his villainy a mile away, and it’s beyond obvious every step of the way that he’s directly or indirectly responsible for most of the crimes in the drama.

Despite him being a constant hindering presence, that’s all he does—he hinders. He’s a very reactive character, always taking actions after he learns what the good guys are up to. The problems he creates for them—the framing and mass murdering of the Bai Liang clan, the military sabotages, the secret amassing of an army and supplies—all happens either before the drama’s present-day, or off screen. That doesn’t make for a very exciting baddie.

I think he would’ve been an okay villain for any other set of protagonists. But for a group like Su Ci, the Prince of Qi, Rushuang, and Xie Beiming (and I’d even count the Emperor, who loves and trusts his brother a little too unconditionally for someone so close to his throne), who are somehow able to resolve every interpersonal misunderstanding and internal strife, he’s just an ineffective opponent. This is especially evident during the anticlimactic ending episode, where his every move gets countered and rendered useless by the Prince of Qi.

Major Pacing Issues and Plot Driven Conveniences
Maiden Holmes is also riddled with pacing issues.

For instance, in episode 23, when Su Ci is explaining why a victim’s blood splatter didn’t match witness accounts, she spends three whole minutes giving her friend (and thus us, the audience) a forensic breakdown on the angles of blood splatters. She could’ve easily proven her point in ten, fifteen seconds top.

It’s like that all throughout. Conversations that could have taken two or three lines of dialogues drag on for minutes. Scenes that could have taken a minute drag on for five. There are fluff and filler moments everywhere, killing the momentum.

There are also random moments of convenience. For example, in episode 18, the main suspect for poisoning Princess Yun Chuan just… leaves a major piece of evidence behind. And it gets played off as, “Oh no! I, a seasoned and professional spy and assassin, escaped. But I, a seasoned and professional spy and assassin, forgot the one piece of evidence that could implicate me and my superior.” Now, of course, things like that happen in real life. But it’s narratively stupid to do so without setting this character up to be someone who would forget.

The Romance? Cliches Galore
One of the first notes I wrote while watching Maiden Holmes episode 1 was, “This episode be like: How Many Cliches Can We Stuff Into 35 Minutes” because I counted no less than five instances of tropey moments: the slo-mo and dramatic music when Su Ci and the Prince of Qi first meet, the forced-by-circumstance groping, the handcuffing, the obligatory underwater kiss, falling on top of each other, Su Ci’s hair coming undone…

Please, enough! You can’t substitute the development of real love and intimacy with… whatever that crap is!

The first moment of real chemistry between Su Ci and the Prince of Qi doesn’t happen until episode 6 when she swears to repay him rescuing her with three stipulations of his choosing, which I feel was the first time their relationship spoke for itself. From there on, bolstered by the fact that the good guys in this drama are incapable of having fundamental disagreements with each other, their romance goes on to be relatively unproblematic and free of sustained troubles. Which is okay if you’re into that sort of thing in a drama.

On that note, another thing Maiden Holmes does have going for it is the lack of love triangles. Props to that.

Final Rating and Recommendations
Is Maiden Holmes good? No, I think it sucks. It’s bland, repetitive, cheesy, preachy, superficial, and clumsy story-telling. It feels as if the writers were so caught up in trying to make the drama faultless that they neglected to make it interesting. Every rising problem gets resolved instantly. The protagonists are never truly challenged because the plot shields them so much. You’re never once in doubt that the good guys are going to win at the end of the day.

But on the flip side, it’s not without its saving graces. The characters communicate with each other, for once. The actors and the costumes are nice to look at. The detective/procedural parts of the overall story actually exist, and are sometimes well done. It’s very much a “safe” story, one that you’re guaranteed to come from away emotionally intact.

If you’re looking to get immersed and excited by conflicts, plot twists, and dynamic characters, look elsewhere. But if you just want something feel-good and predictable, Maiden Holmes is the drama for you.

My Rating: 3.5/10
(Note : This is the first drama to be given the lowest rating) Luckily I managed through the story . Thank God for that !

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