Chen Du Ling’s Ashes to Crown character Chu Zhao has just earned 200 million character popularity points, just two days after the Chinese historical romance drama premiered on YOUKU.
YOUKU celebrated the milestone with, I will admit, a very cool-looking visual of the Chinese actress, along with the comment:
With profound vision, meticulous planning, neither arrogance nor humility, she masters the game with wisdom!
And I say, “I will admit”, as, sadly, other than some of the visuals, Ashes to Crown is the worst Chinese drama I have attempted to watch all year. Bar none.
Why nothing is good about Ashes to Crown
The pace of the Chinese historical romance drama is crazy fast (I guess that does happen when you try to cram over 300 chapters of a novel into 24 episodes of a drama), the plot makes little logical sense (especially the childish political intrigue), and the performances of Chen Du Ling and Zhou Yi Ran are amateurish (surprisingly, as both usually turn in solid performances).
Both are also miscast in their roles, but especially Yi Ran.
Throw in that the writing is laughably bad, the dialogue even worse, and the entire thing lacks any real substance.
Hell, even the background music doesn’t fit the scene it’s musically illustrating.
RELATED: A slew of Ashes to Crown stills and character visuals have dropped
And don’t get me started on Chen Du Ling’s voice actress who seems to think voicing a grown woman with the voice of an eight-year-old child is what audiences want. (Believe me, most don’t, as the comments about Du Ling’s voice all over social media/rating sites show).
Interestingly, it’s not just me and other non-Chinese drama viewers on various sites who dropped this junk in the hot potato pile one or two episodes in, as Chinese viewers are savaging the drama on Douban as well.
If that level of savagery continues, I have a feeling Ashes to Crown will be Chen Du Ling and Zhou Yi Ran‘s worst Douban-rated drama of their careers. As it should be.
Douban comments about Ashes to Crown
Comments from Chinese viewers on Douban, are predominantly either 5 out of 5 (from obvious Chen Du Ling or Zhou Yi Ran fans due to all the over-the-top gushing going on) or 1 or 2 out of 5 from more discerning viewers.
The latter include short and not so sweet ones like this:
Who wants to watch wooden puppets perform? They’re all wooden puppets, it’s unbearable to watch… …Eye-watering…
while another Douban reviewer went into great, and extremely well-written, depth about everything they detested about the drama:
How was the voice dub chosen at the start? How did they manage to make the dub completely mismatch the female lead’s face? How were the male actors selected? Not one of the four is good-looking. The male lead is scrawny and effeminate, with a thin frame and thick foundation. He’s given countless close-up shots with high-key lighting, but when he stands there, he’s just a child exuding zero sexual tension. His portrayal of a hero saving a beauty is utterly unconvincing, and playing a general has zero fit. Every time there’s a horseback riding scene, his frail build makes it painfully laughable.
And then there’s the plot. How did you write this? The female lead’s father commands 200,000 frontier troops, plus a “Dragon Might Army” that the late emperor ordered him to train. Apparently, two entire armies. Yet he’s easily taken down with such idiotic plot devices that even Hongguo (a platform known for cheap web novels) wouldn’t touch this anymore.
Do you even understand what 200,000 troops mean? With 200,000, you could purge the emperor’s advisors or even rebel and claim the throne yourself. In the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao wiped out Yuan Shao’s 110,000 troops with just 20,000. At the Battle of Julu, Xiang Yu used only 50,000 men to break 400,000 Qin forces. And the female lead’s father commands battle-hardened frontier troops, so they should be highly combat-effective and overwhelming in numbers.
From 200,000 soldiers, picking just a few shadow guards to protect the female lead would be enough to assassinate her ex-husband 800 times over, let alone allow him to place her under house arrest. Plus, the show establishes the father as a loving parent. So is he too dumb to think of using shadow guards to protect his daughter, or did the screenwriter forbid it?
Also, there’s no explanation of where the ex-husband’s forces come from. He inexplicably succeeds in usurping the throne, declares himself emperor, and somehow gains the power to confine the female lead. Can’t write a coherent plot? Just skip over it entirely. Then, under the pretext of celebrating the female lead’s birthday, the ex-husband summons her father, forces him to disarm, accuses him of treason, and annihilates the entire Chu clan.
Yes, although the female lead’s father had long been dissatisfied with and suspicious of her ex-husband, he lets his guard down completely. No precautions, no backup plan, no ability to fight back. Who’s the real idiot here: the father or the screenwriter? Hard to say. Does the screenwriter think this is good writing?
This absolute annihilation of the plot, and the actors, then goes on for another 1,500 words or so, as the viewer was apparently incensed with how poor the drama turned out to be, and with both Chinese viewers eventually giving the drama a 2 out of 5 rating.
As, let’s face it, as they, and other Chinese viewers are saying, everything about Ashes to Crown is so bad it’s impressive. (I have also noticed over the last few years, the Chinese seem to be far more discerning when it comes to what they will put up with in their dramas compared to non-Chinese, as abysmal Douban scores versus much higher scores on sites like My Drama List for utterly terrible dramas prove).
But, hey, if you’re enjoying the drama, who am I to stop you. Enjoy away!
And, enjoy the celebratory visual for Chen Du Ling’s character, Chu Zhao, grabbing 200 million character popularity points as well.
As, hell, even if the drama is awful in every respect, she’s a decent actress who deserved a better script and a better director.
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