Love like White Jade (2021) - Final Review
This is 6.0/10 stars ✮✮✮✮✮✮ from Pandafan🐼
Overall rating: 6 Stars Plot: 6 Stars Acting/cast: 7 Stars Couple chemistry: 7 stars Music: 7 Stars Re-watch value: 4 Stars Enjoyment factor: 6 Stars |
Love like White Jade (2021) is a bit of a mixed bag - there are some hilarious romcom moments that will have you laughing out loud, but the drama also drags out too long with some not terribly memorable middle episodes and a mystery so obvious that the final denouncement is anti-climatic at best. That said, it is easy on the eye and and one of those frothy dramas that can be fun to watch when you want some mindless eye candy.
SPOILERS AHEADS
A mixed bag of a plot with cute leads
I have already provided a spoiler free synopsis 👉here, but in short, Love like White Jade is a fairly stock standard historical romcom. The premise is all a bit implausible, but throw in adorable leads and double identities, and there is quite a lot of scope for a decent romcom.
For those who wondered if this drama has any links to Nirvana in Fire, the answer is no. Langya Pavilion in Love like White Jade is a prestigious organisation that has a fleet of the most highly trained "maids" on the planet (well versed in literature, arts, and martial arts) and so are highly sought after by the richest families for their expertise. They are not maids in the traditional servant sense. Rather, Langya maids are considered the crème de la crème. So if you can secure one for your household to assist the young master to academic glory and martial prowess, it is a sign of the ultimate prestige.
Shui Wu Xia, played by Wan Peng, is our no nonsense heroine, and the highest ranked Langya maid. She falls for masked vigilante Shen Qing Li (played by Zhang Yao) who is of course also the indolent young master Jiang Bai Yu by day and her (unwilling) student.
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| Bai Yu v Shui-ge |
The two make a romcom cute couple, but their constant bickering camaraderie has more of the "com" than the "rom". I mean, he calls her (affectionately) Shui-Ge (ie. Brother Shui in Chinese) for crying out loud. That said, Zhang Yao's fresh faced-complete-with-adorable-dimples Bai Yu is rather endearing and when he smiles sweetly at a also sweetly smiling Wu Xia, fluffy romance does fill the air. There's also a lovely closing theme song called "If" 如果, sung by Zhang Yao, which serves as lovely background music at romantic moments.
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| Masked: aka the Clark Kent effect? |
Anyway, this implausibility does allow for some entertaining romcom moments, because inevitably the male lead becomes his own main rival in love and the heroine has a few humorously uncomfortable moments when she thinks she may have been unintentionally two timing her masked hero with her unmasked hero. There's also some hilarious scenes where Bai Yu hams it up and pretends to go nuts to persuade his matchmaking Grandmother to allow him to break his engagement with Wu Xia so that she can be with him as Sheng Qing Li.
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| Jiang Tian Ling and Zhe Zhi 💕 |
But the gag gets a bit old after a while, and the drama seems to go around in circles in the middle episodes where we are given almost too much detail and screen time to the other two sets of lovebirds in the drama and other plodding plot points. Though cute, these side stories did not add to the plot and were not terribly memorable. I did, however, like the side plot romance between the earnest Jiang Tian Ling and the older and more sophisticated femme fatale Zhe Zhi and their overcoming of obstacles together, including parental disapproval, different societal standing, and illness. That side plot was sweet and rather touching.
Final thoughts
