“The Song of Glory” Hugely Disappoints Viewers
Mainland Chinese historical drama The Song of Glory <锦绣南歌> initially drew high expectations and excitement when it’s air date was confirmed. Starring Joy of Life <庆余年> actress Li Qin (李沁) and The Bad Kids <隐秘的角落> actor Qin Hao (秦昊), the drama was considered a potential hit as the main leads are well-seasoned actors who received positive feedback from audiences. Yet, viewers are turning their heads after watching a few episodes due to poor writing, a weak and cliche plot, and a lack of story development dragging down the unflawed performances of the leads.
Viewers’ expectations of the drama subconsciously heightened after Qin Hao, who is riding his second wave of popularity, previously asserted in a live stream that he “will not film bad dramas because of money.”
However, it appears that he has chosen a bad apple this time, as viewers expressed that his acting is wasted in such a poor drama. They pointed out that the great casting cannot even save its bad plot.
The Song of Glory is a sister drama of The Princess of Weiyoung <锦绣未央>, which stars couple Tiffany Tang (唐嫣) and Luo Jin (罗晋). Both dramas follow the story of a smart heroine who gets entangled in political chaos, evil female jealousy, and an unexpected romantic twist of fate while seeking revenge. Just as in The Princess of Weiyoung, The Song of Glory heroine Shen Li Ge (played by Li Qin) assumes the identity of a daughter from a noble family and relies on her courage and wits to outsmart those who seek for her demise.
Same Formula
Set in the Liu Song Dynasty (420-479), the action-packed and politically-driven storyline with an intensifying romance interwoven in between is commonly found in many past historical dramas such as The Legend of Lu Zhen <陆贞传奇> and Untouchable Lovers <凤囚凰>. On top of the same old cliche storyline, The Song of Glory‘s plot involves a mix of the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties like other dramas. The history during this period is less well-known to the public, and there are many confusing aspects, so viewers believe the scriptwriter and producer are hoping to use this to their advantage and create even more nonsensical scenes.
Hard to Connect with the Heroine
Although viewers are glad that the heroine does not follow the same character development as many other dramas in which they go from naive and silly to mature as they face hardships, they still had great trouble in empathizing with her. While the audience praised Li Qin for her great performance, they blamed the scriptwriters for the superficial character design. They complained that the character’s background and motives were not persuasive enough for them to fully emphasize with her character. For example, the first episode revealed that Li Ge’s good friend A Nu willingly sacrificed her life to save Li Ge. Li Qin’s crying scene was emotionally heartbreaking, but there was no narrative logic as to why A Nu made her decision.
Lack of Story Development
The consensus was that the series failed to show the process of how the outcomes are achieved. The characters can feel sadness, pain, and hatred that motivates them to act on something, but there is no logical reasoning behind these emotions to support viewers’ understanding.
Source: Sohu
This article is written by Minna for JayneStars.com.
don’t know what’s wrong w/ these people, well-known actor with a history of good rating doesn’t guarantee the success of any drama but a good story w/ captivating plot does. it’s not all about the actor, i can see people getting turned off if the acting or the actor is despicable but better to do w/ a good plot less well known cast than w/ a well known actors but bad story.
@m0m0
That’s wrong, actor with huge trafficking will guarantee success. Li Qin and Qin hao don’t have that huge traffic, LOL! They have some fans, but they don’t own a huge water army behind their back.
Princess Agents is 1000 times worst, however, the success isn’t small just because of 1 actress alone. Yes, ALONE. Nobody else’s even combine fans with hers, she alone handled all the traffic.
I guess Li Qin could’ve cheat, but she chooses to let her fans say what they truly think instead of encouraging them to fake-praise her just for her sake. I honestly will not be surprised at all to see terrible dramas getting best ratings, if these actors cheat there is no way anybody will know. But I guess there are still those who still want to play by honesty.
I like this drama, it might be cliche, but in a different level compare to other historical dramas that were produced after Joy of life.
Fake News anyone!
Hmmm I have this in list to watch. Not very familiar with any of the actors/actress. Let me know if I should even try to invest watching this!
@angeltien it is a very good drama to watch… i am watching this drama now and so far i like it very much..great plot too..worth to watch
@angeltien It is not a bad drama. This drama is actually very interesting. Idk why ppl said it’s not good. Most if not all of the historical dramas somewhat have similar elements, etc. Li Qin did a really great job leading. I’m not a fan of hers, but I started to like her becuz of this drama.
I havent watched this yet. I’ll still give it a try
@aktf you should watvh..it is great drama
@annie I started today! so far I like the drama alot!
Don’t know why many people said it’s bad.
nothing wrong with this drama…i like this drama
better than others drama
A lot of dramas have similar storylines but I think this dramas executes much better than the ones the article is comparing with. 10 EPs have been cut out of this dramas but it still flows better than Princess Weiyoung. And the acting is much better and it does not drag. It has very nice choreography for fighting and dancing. The comments I hear in the forums is that they feel Qin Hao is old but his age suits his character. I think some people are used to having twentyish idols as leads and cannot get used to other options even though it suits the story better.
I am glad that Li Qin is leading. She gives her role lots of personality. I like this drama very much. Eddie Cheung is in this as well. Songs are nice as well.