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[Current Mainland WebDrama 2019] The Legend of Hao Lan / Beauty Hao Lan 皓镧传


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6 hours ago, ForgottenSoulx said:

How is this drama now people were disliking it at the start but did it get better?? 

 

Also is it following history alot or more fiction?? 

Don't expect the show to follow history because that would be controversial. Zhao Ji is not a figure the Chinese have high regards on. At the rate they are going now, I am expecting they will turn LBW into the stalker of Haolan once YR is dead and there's Lao Ai who will have obsessive love for her. Honestly, even LBW is on the borderline of being obsessed of her. Almost all men are obsessed of her and almost all women are envious of her. That is why she is the LEGEND here.

 

It does get better but again, don't expect any kind of Yanxi level. Personally, I don't really like the female lead. She doesn't have the kind of compassion and gratefulness that Yingluo has despite being also smart and cunning. She always have a predetermined mindset on people without care to understand the motivation behind certain action and that's why I couldn't really take a liking on her.

 

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3 hours ago, SailBeneteau said:

 

@therewillbeddl

@lyserose

Has anyone thought about whether the historical accounts of Zhao Ji (aka Hao Lan) are actually correct?? To my knowledge, the historical facts were reported by a court historian (Sima Qian who was alive around 135BC-86BC, much after Qin Shi Huang); it is known that he really hated Qin Shi Huang and wanted to show that his birth was illegitimate. We know now that Sima Qian is/was an unreliable historian on this matter.

 

Why can't we enjoy the creation of Hao Lan's story (circa 2019)? I applaud the creators/producers/directors/actors/team of Legend of Hao Lan for telling a story we can enjoy...

 

My two cents only!

As I mentioned earlier, I do know that Sima Qian harboured great resentment towards Qin Shi Huang and being a historian of Han Dynasty who succeeded the Qin Dynasty, some details could be fabricated. After all, history are written by winners.

 

But then, it would be interesting to watch a translation that doesn't veer too far from what is "widely" known despite this being a drama and not a documentary. When you choose to put on spotlight on a controversial figure as in Zhao Ji, some creativity on the scandalous elements would be very much appreciated. Again, I do understand nobody wants to watch a drama where the heroine is of low moral but my point is still the same.... it would be interesting to place Lao Ai in other kind of plot other than an obsessed admirer, or that LBW handed her over instead of being "Fuheng-ed".

 

I can't really applaud the creative team behind Haolan because it is far from creative. As pointed by @danielassny The "all men are in love with her and all women are jealous of her" troupe is too cliche. As I said earlier, if not for the reunion of NY and WJY and my enthusiasm on history, I probably wouldn't stay watching.

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39 minutes ago, danielassny said:

I find it weird when people can justify YR's action in denying HL everything with regards to his death. To me, his action just simply meant that he is a jerk. People would be harsh if this happened in K-dramas, the infamous troupe of NOBLE IDIOCY.... but any action of ROBBING the other party's (in a relationship) involvement isn't fair at all and unacceptable. 

 

He has been a jerk after all. He hides his sickness from her, listening too much to the poking of his mom, Siluo and even Princess Ya, driving her further away from him which obviously meant he never trusted her, and then angry with her when she couldn't understand his true intention (which ofc for the so-called most noble reasons). He has been denying her every chances in making decision with regards to the life that they shared and their relationship. If this action coming from LBW, I am sure a lot would called him whatever sick names they could come up with. Guess, I don't feel bad that I dislike YR from the get go. I really still dislike YR until the end.

 

Even then, I still find it's weird that HL doesn't know that he has been sick all along. I mean you share the same bed with that man and you couldn't tell that he is sick? If she cares enough, she could have known even without being told. This, I blame on the lousy writing.

 

I think we were discussing specifically YR's decision to burn his gifts to Hao Lan, and we pretty much all agree that that was a manipulative move. With regards to his health, yeah I wasn't fond of his decision either. He told her that she should trust him and come to him if his mom made her life difficult, but he didn't do the same for her :\ 

 

As for listening to the toxic persuasion of others, again, without seeing those eps (and only seeing brief previews and the discussions here), I feel like it was jealousy with LBW more than lack of trust for Hao Lan. He still firmly believed that HL didn't cheat and that Zheng'er is his son, but he was jealous of any remaining affections she has for LBW. It sounded like while he was swayed by others, he still said that as long as he was alive she was his queen. For him to be affected by the words of others after holding steadfast devotion for so long, I think it's pretty realistic and nuanced. I can't wait to find out the full story behind all of this! (And again I think this drama is all the more interesting because everyone here is severely flawed).

 

I think HL had suspected something is up because in one ep YR's eunuch mentioned that she had been asking him about YR's health a lot and it has become difficult to hide. And note that they might not always sleep together, and can go several days without seeing each other. When YR got really sick, I could imagine that he would just make up some excuse not to see her. And since he had always been sickly since he was young, she probably was concerned (hence the asking the eunuch), but didn't think too much of it.

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@SailBeneteau well, from my reading (from few sources only) LBW gave Zhaoji Lao Ai to cover up their scandal. But this piece of info is so contradicting from the flow of drama now... The writer purposely show how hard HL fell for LBW, turned to him when she face any obstacle, longed for him even she already got marry to YR and still have some feeling for LBW after 8 years. If in the last 6 episodes she suddenly become a lusty Zhaoji like the one in histrory, that is a total richard simmons kind of plot writing from writer. The writer also emphasis LBW's obsessiveness over HL especially after time skip. If he suddenly gave HL a male pet just to cover his illicit fair, that writer must be crazy and I want to slap him silly. 

 

@danielassny i hope this is just my misinterpretation. When HL knew YR's sickness, she kinda blame LBW for didn't let her know. Is it true? 

 

 

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Also interesting to note that even LBW himself discovered YR’s true intentions behind his decisions (framing Siluo, Princess Ya, basically getting rid of everyone considered a threat, and preparing HL and their son’s future after his death), while HL realized much later...considering how smart she usually is. 

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11 minutes ago, therewillbeddl said:

Also interesting to note that even LBW himself discovered YR’s true intentions behind his decisions (framing Siluo, Princess Ya, basically getting rid of everyone considered a threat, and preparing HL and their son’s future after his death), while HL realized much later...considering how smart she usually is. 

Yes! Came back here to say that I just watched ep 56 and now everything is clear! Yiren actually didn't believe his mom and Siluo, it was all an act!

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7 minutes ago, therewillbeddl said:

Also interesting to note that even LBW himself discovered YR’s true intentions behind his decisions (framing Siluo, Princess Ya, basically getting rid of everyone considered a threat, and preparing HL and their son’s future after his death), while HL realized much later...considering how smart she usually is. 

 

@therewillbeddl Thanks for the note! I must keep watching! It is not surprising that YR knows what's "really going on"...

 

I have found some Youtube/interview clips with the actors. They explain their characters in some insightful ways:

 

1) Mao Zijun explains Ying Yiren:

<

 

2) Wu Jinyan explains Hao Lan:

<

 

3) Hai Lin explains Princess Ya:

 

<

>

 

4) Nie Yuan explains Lu Buwei:

 

<

>

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54 minutes ago, insertusernamehere said:

Yes! Came back here to say that I just watched ep 56 and now everything is clear! Yiren actually didn't believe his mom and Siluo, it was all an act!

It was all an act but still noble idiocy is the biggest crime in any drama. I still reiterate my opinion that he robbed her from her rights in making decision. It's like how I always get annoyed with my colleagues. making decision all on her own and claiming credits for it, so will appear like she is the clever one or in this case, YR will emerge as the noble one. What the heck? Secondly, I will consider that person as downgrading my intellect to think that I cannot be trusted in any of life decision or that my mouth is so big that I will leak all his grand planning and finally, he is so full of himself to want her to thank him for his so-called selfless action and lives in regret for how she misunderstood him. Again triple what the heck?????

 

1 hour ago, kyoko22 said:

 

@danielassny i hope this is just my misinterpretation. When HL knew YR's sickness, she kinda blame LBW for didn't let her know. Is it true? 

No. Not really. The way I see it, HL always have a prejudice towards LBW that he loves power more than anything which is partially true. She always thought that he schemed everything.

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1 hour ago, insertusernamehere said:

I think HL had suspected something is up because in one ep YR's eunuch mentioned that she had been asking him about YR's health a lot and it has become difficult to hide. And note that they might not always sleep together, and can go several days without seeing each other. When YR got really sick, I could imagine that he would just make up some excuse not to see her. And since he had always been sickly since he was young, she probably was concerned (hence the asking the eunuch), but didn't think too much of it.

When I mentioned they share the same bed, it was just a generic reference. He could be sleeping alone at time and ofc, there's Siluo. Sure she knows he has always been sick since in Zhao but his health apparently deteriorates and his cough is getting worse and still she could not see beyond it. And HL by nature is someone who would investigate should she find something suspicious. She knows about medicines for the epidemic area being tempered and she fights over the issue but she doesn't follow up on anything with regards to Yingren's health despite suspecting something not adding up?

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1 hour ago, danielassny said:

When I mentioned they share the same bed, it was just a generic reference. He could be sleeping alone at time and ofc, there's Siluo. Sure she knows he has always been sick since in Zhao but his health apparently deteriorates and his cough is getting worse and still she could not see beyond it. And HL by nature is someone who would investigate should she find something suspicious. She knows about medicines for the epidemic area being tempered and she fights over the issue but she doesn't follow up on anything with regards to Yingren's health despite suspecting something not adding up?

I don't think he sleeps with Siluo after Hao Lan comes back; she mentioned that he didn't visit her for half a year in the ep when HL came back. But yes I agree that was an oversight by the writer, given that HL is smart, so smart that she recognized fake Yiren back when they were in Zhao. I have to say though the whole plot twist was satisfying to watch - I'm only at 56 so all the things you mentioned about him wanting her to live in regret, I haven't seen yet, but if that was true, then that is not a great move by Yiren! And I never disagreed with you about him taking away her decision power - like I mentioned above, he wanted her to share her difficulties with him, but he didn't do the same for her. If he hid the plan from her because he thought she would leak it, I'd be very surprised - that seems out of character for him, given he fully knows how capable she is. He even wanrs Siluo to not mess with Hao Lan for Siluo's own good. I guess I'll have to wait and see! 

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Not to defend YR because I too think he should have talked things through with his wife as that is what married couple should be doing, but in response to that, YR said that as a king, there is nothing he couldn’t resolve, hence why he thought he had the duty to make decisions regarding HL and YingZheng’s future by himself. I feel like part of it has to do with his status, being prideful and making all the decisions as he thinks he should as a king holding absolute power, so perhaps things would’ve been different if they were an ordinary married couple. Yu Zheng leaked some dialogues from the original script and I remember one of them being that YR did what he did so HL won’t have the burden to try to outsmart everyone and tire herself out like she did in Zhao. The script was revised and a lot of it was changed, so who knows. 

 

WJY’s opinion on HL/LBW and HL/YR. She thinks the former has a love/hate relationship, partners with similar direction and interests, but that shouldnt be aligned with love. As for the latter, she thinks they slowly grow closer and closer like loved ones/family. 

 

 

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3 hours ago, lyserose said:

As I mentioned earlier, I do know that Sima Qian harboured great resentment towards Qin Shi Huang and being a historian of Han Dynasty who succeeded the Qin Dynasty, some details could be fabricated. After all, history are written by winners.

 

But then, it would be interesting to watch a translation that doesn't veer too far from what is "widely" known despite this being a drama and not a documentary. When you choose to put on spotlight on a controversial figure as in Zhao Ji, some creativity on the scandalous elements would be very much appreciated. Again, I do understand nobody wants to watch a drama where the heroine is of low moral but my point is still the same.... it would be interesting to place Lao Ai in other kind of plot other than an obsessed admirer, or that LBW handed her over instead of being "Fuheng-ed".

 

I can't really applaud the creative team behind Haolan because it is far from creative. As pointed by @danielassny The "all men are in love with her and all women are jealous of her" troupe is too cliche. As I said earlier, if not for the reunion of NY and WJY and my enthusiasm on history, I probably wouldn't stay watching.

 

@lyserose

 

If this drama stayed closer to the "wider known Sima Qian pseudo stories and claims", I --and others I know -- would not continue to watch.  The reason is simple: a creative scandalous take on a female character in history who may be free-from-scandals is slander. Slander (from Sima Qian's account or otherwise related) is unfair and inhumane. From an entertainment point of view, slander is just cruel.

 

As a creative story that follows the format of "period drama", some cliche characters would be expected (aka. the palace intrigue types), but there is still much diversity to be found: Xiaochun (the wizard-physician), Situ Yue, Han Qionghua, Gongsun the general, prince Yi of Zhao, Gao Haoyang, etc etc etc!!!!

 

 

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26 minutes ago, therewillbeddl said:

Not to defend YR because I too think he should have talked things through with his wife as that is what married couple should be doing, but in response to that, YR said that as a king, there is nothing he couldn’t resolve, hence why he thought he had the duty to make decisions regarding HL and YingZheng’s future by himself. I feel like part of it has to do with his status, being prideful and making all the decisions as he thinks he should, so perhaps things would’ve been different if they were an ordinary married couple. Yu Zheng leaked some dialogues from the original script and I remember one of them being that YR did what he did so HL won’t have the burden to try to outsmart everyone and tire herself out like she did in Zhao. The script was revised and a lot of it was changed, so who knows. 

 

WJY’s opinion on HL/LBW and HL/YR. She thinks the former has a love/hate relationship, partners with similar direction and interests, but that shouldnt be aligned with love. As for the latter, she thinks they slowly grow closer and closer like loved ones/family. 

 

 

 

@therewillbeddl

Glad you found this clip! :)  It is interesting to hear what the actors think/thought of their characters. Refreshing!

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http://p.weibo.com/show/channerWbH5/1034:4341025255411668

From the last scene(boat scene) i guess we can pretty much conclude that the writer doesn't follow the history. 

From the synopsis in Baidu, Zhenger get more restless on LBW's power and think his father's death got something to do with LBW. I think this is also the time he know his mother's affair. So he confronts HL and wants to kill LBW but HL begs him. So he exiles LBW to Laoyang and HL follows LBW. Base on some bts photos and the video above, it is pretty consistent with the synopsis

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12 minutes ago, kyoko22 said:

http://p.weibo.com/show/channerWbH5/1034:4341025255411668

From the last scene(boat scene) i guess we can pretty much conclude that the writer doesn't follow the history. 

From the synopsis in Baidu, Zhenger get more restless on LBW's power and think his father's death got something to do with LBW. I think this is also the time he know his mother's affair. So he confronts HL and wants to kill LBW but HL begs him. So he exiles LBW to Laoyang and HL follows LBW. Base on some bts photos and the video above, it is pretty consistent with the synopsis

If that is true, they are deviating a bit too much from history. Which is weird because WJY did say that nobody has a good ending, anyway lets wait and see. 

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@therewillbeddl hahaha. That also possible. Could be the boat scene is just HL's or LBW's dream. What I salute about editing team is they always give misleading previews. So as the trailers. I thought when HL said 'In my life, i will never forgive you', it was said to LBW. Never expect it is for YR. Again and again the preview tricks me. 

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@SailBeneteau To each of its own. It's good that you can enjoy this creativity but I was expecting a different kind of creativity. While I do understand the lack of actual historical records, this being a drama and not a documentary, and that nobody wants to watch an immoral heroine, I would expect a better twist than the exhausting drama troupe. 

 

I still enjoy this drama but ofc, having come from Yanxi, I definitely have to lower down my expectation. 

 

I again agree with @danielassny No matter how I view it, I couldn't find YR's action justifiable regardless that he is a king or what. I have been in this kind of situation placed by my own father. I was robbed into making a decision on our family and life's matters and no matter whatever good intention that he had, I still couldn't accept that I was robbed of my rights. Again, why should I be grateful when I was never asked if this is what I wanted? The one who outlive the other is the one who has to go through the aftermath - either you consented it or not. Tell you, this is not acceptable. Noble idiocy is never acceptable. 

 

@kyoko22 @therewillbeddl As much as I like LBW and HL together but this is really veering way off history. 

 

Oh, based on the video.... it seems like this LBW will pursue HL. Since WJY keeps rehearsing the lines to call in guards to take away LBW., he must have sneaked into her bedroom. God, why are they making him into a pervert?

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@lyserose The writer can stick to the history which all characters don't have a good ending. Or technically stick to the history but the main couple still have the happy ending. I mean the writer can create a fake death to LBW and HL and they meet in Louyang. Well, cliche. But the way they promote the drama using the fame of Qianlong-Yinglou couple, LBW-HL earn at least an open ending. If not, the writer will be curse to death by the shippers there. Haha.

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@lyserose Garghhh... They are trying hard to destroy LBW. Climbing into the bed of dowager queen who obviously has no interest to bed him and still mourning her late husband and I am sure in a matter of time everyone will start calling him a pervert and whatever sick names out there. Idk but I feel like this writer have a thing for forced skinship, she or he must have thought that this is cute instead of sexual harassment which is not ok.

 

So you see, the writing is pitching hard a noble idiot vs a pervert. You make the bet, which one will emerge as winner? I feel like slapping this writer. All the good merits of LBW with how he schemed his way to the top and even assisted in installing an impossible king could just be crushed because of this silly kindergarten level writings. I am mad. 

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