Dong Lan Xue began with a scattershot approach to the story, not entirely sure of what it wanted to be. I honestly dropped it after the first episode as it felt like the cast and crew had knocked back one too many double espressos laced with an illicit drug. The characters and story moved fast and erratically and one "time traveling" character was particularly annoying. Fortunately, I went back and gave it a second chance. When the writers took a deep breath and detoxed and decided to focus on the Seventh Prince and Shen Yan, the story began to gel.

For people well versed in historical Cdramas, the story was a familiar one. An evil Crown Prince caused misery for Shen Yan and other innocents due to his greed and desire for power. Seventh Prince had suffered a childhood trauma due to the Crown Prince's mother, the Evil Empress abetted by his father the Emperor, whose evilness has yet to be determined. Seventh Prince and Shen Yan teamed up to extract revenge on those who had caused them pain. They were not afraid to shed blood…a lot of blood to get there. Many of the more deadly scenes didn't make much historical sense but they were fun in a vengeful way so I just rolled with them and it was exciting to watch Shen Yan have her way with the Crown Prince's armored henchmen. There were also some very sensual scenes for a historical Cdrama, but well done. In around 90 minutes they told a story that often takes 50 episodes for other dramas while leaving enough story for part two of the revenge pact.

Dong Lan Xue was a short web series with high production values at least where sets and costumes were concerned. Once they settled the cameraman down and the pacing from the first few episodes, even those production values improved. The fight scenes were as good as any in a longer drama. I particularly liked Shen Yan being allowed to be a badass. They didn't shy away from her past as a prostitute or try to glamour or gloss over it. Too often they weaken actually strong female leads. They chose her background and stuck with it, not feeling the need to dumb her down or take away her power or voice. They also didn't remove her sensuality as she had chemistry with the Seventh Prince and with the Prime Minister's daughter.

Dong Lan Xue proved that longer isn't always better although I would have liked to have seen some of the story gaps filled in and it would have been nice to watch the whole thing uninterrupted. The main leads worked well together and the plot was fairly coherent if not historically plausible. All in all, after the first few episodes it became a highly addictive and entertaining watch.

7/7/23