A Break From Tragic Endings: Watching "Under the Power"

by Kairi of the Sky, March 10, 2020

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Being an avid fan of historical dramas, especially from the mainland of China, I’ve been stabbed in the heart multiple times because after spending a significant amount of time – well, most of the time they have a minimum of 50 episodes – you get a heartbreaking ending that gave me a week of depression and sometimes nightmares.

But don’t get me wrong, many of them were beautiful tragedies. It must be done, and it made more sense to leave it that way. Now, after watching Goodbye My Princess which made me use a lot of tissues, I don’t have the energy to watch another tragedy, and luckily I found a new gem for those who wanted to take a break and have a light plot, funny, action, great costumes, suspenseful but romantic historical drama called Under the Power.

This is the story of Lu Yi of the Jing Yi Wei who is commissioned to investigate crimes and political issues that can harm the emperor’s dynasty. He is assisted by Yuan Jin Xia of the Liushanmen. The two accidentally become involved in a conspiracy. These are the reason to watch this great drama.

CAUTION: This article contains minor spoilers for Under the Power.

**WARNING** After watching this I’ve never felt so SINGLE in my whole life.

Starring Allen Ren as the ruthless, talented and serious Lu Yi, and a genius, constable, bright girl that has a deep love for food and money – Jinxia portrayed by Seven Tan – gave us a drama full of crazy funny moments while discovering their love to each other. It’s the first time that I watched their acting, and they never disappointed me. They made a good team in solving crimes as well as the regular scenes which made my heart flutter for them. Their opposite personalities truly gave us fluffy moments between the two leads.

Sometimes it is really annoying how weak the female characters in dramas are, but what I love about this drama was the strong female lead. She is not your typical Damsel in Distress. Jin Xia has great kung fu, analytical and observation skills as a member of the government office that doesn’t need a savior in a difficult situation. Not to mention the other characters such as the villain, strong wife of a general as well as being genius medical practitioner, she gave a strong impression in the drama.

A historical drama is not complete without a great fighting scene and mischievous plans of the characters. Although it didn't have a high budget especially for CGI effects (I don’t mind at all because it's only required for a few scenes), the hand to hand and sword combat was marvelous, especially Jin Xia (I remember Xing Er from Princess Agents). And shout out for Han Dong that played a devious lunatic villain who I really wanted to punch. That’s how great he is.

Don’t get me wrong, it was crime, thriller and not a full romantic historical drama. But I really appreciate the great pace of the romance between the characters, especially Lu Yi and Jin Xia. From a serious and unsmiling character of Lu Yi, Jin Xia melted and changed his perspective in a good way. It was never a cat and mouse courtship, but a straight forward admiration of Jin Xia to Lu Yi and how he responded to her, especially when they were already in an official relationship. I’m literally squealing every time. And the bonus part is, if you're adapted already to historical dramas that give us only a few episodes of being lovey-dovey, here even at the start of the drama, you felt that sparkling connection from them.

YES, guys!! It really is!! Even though there are many heartbreaking moments for both of them, well it’s not a historical drama if there are no teary-eyed moments, and we didn’t see their marriage as stated in the novel, it was tears of joy and not tears of anguish. If you wanted to take a break from tragedy, this is the drama for you. So you better start this now and appreciate Allen Ren’s superb acting!! :)