Heart of Loyalty (2021) - Final Review
This is 6/10 stars ✮✮✮✮✮✮ from Pandafan🐼
Overall rating: 6 Stars Plot: 6 Stars Acting/cast: 6 Stars Couple chemistry: 6 stars Music: 7 Stars Re-watch value: 6 Stars Enjoyment factor: 6 Stars |
A romance-centric plot
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| A case solving CP pairing |
But alas! Heart of Loyalty is very much a romance-centric drama, and the investigative elements are definitely secondary in nature. The cases, such as they were, all point to an overarching conspiracy, which is so obvious as to be almost redundant. (I mean, a powerful secret organisation run by Pang Tai Shi, Justice Bao's traditional enemy, where co-conspirators have a rather obvious embroidered pattern on their clothing? *Sigh).
This is definitely not in the same league as The Imperial Coroner (which has a fantastic detective/investigation storyline) or even Maiden Holmes (which was also somewhat romance focused but had decent detective elements). Besides, while Mo Yan is certainly street smart, I think it's a stretch to characterise her as a genius, which is how she is described in the promo material. Maybe because of how it was billed, I went into it with overly high expectations.
What then of the romance? The drama essentially focuses on the stories of three sets of CPs.
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| Zhan Zhao and Mo Yan |
The main pairing is, of course, Mo Yan and Zhan Zhao. Although she styles herself as the "heavenly dog 神犬" to his his "royal cat 御猫,", I'm not entirely convinced by their chemistry and there's not much cat and dog bickering either.
Zhang Hui Wen's Mo Yan is super cute, but she feels more like an adorable little sister to Wu Xi Ze's Zhan Zhao, whose stiff acting does little to convince me that he is head over heels. Thankfully, there's very little angst and to the extent that there is a love triangle, the main love rival for Mo Yan's affections is a rather worthy Prince who respects and remains good friends with both Mo Yan and Zhan Zhao.
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| Xiao Chen 💗 Bai Ying Yu |
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| Su Zui 💗 Princess Zhao Yu |
The other CPs shared much more convincing chemistry - from the storyline between Mo Yan's 2nd brother Xiao Chen (the blind swordsman) and Bai Ying Yu, the high born young lady who has fallen on hard times, to that between Mo Yan's 7th brother and undercover agent Su Zui, who falls for the pert Princess Zhao Yu. (Incidentally, having the gorgeous Li Hong Yi play supporting character Su Zui probably didn't do Wu Xi Ze any favours as the male lead!)
There is, some rather rough and ready choppy editing (including a one year time gap) but of course, happy endings all round... The OST is also rather lovely to listen to.
Final thoughts
