Ashes to Crown Review: Rebirth, Scheming, and Politics That Flew Too Close To The Sun
- Jun 21
- 9 min read
Updated: Jun 23
A story of rebirth and revenge that gets tangled in its own web, but at least manages to still look good while doing so.
Title: | Ashes to Crown |
Platform: | Netflix, Youku, Youtube |
Release Date: | June 2, 2026 |
Episode Count: | 24 |
Genre: | Period Idol Romance, Court Politics |
MDL Rating: | |
Parental Guidance Rating: | TV-14: Violence (fighting and strangulation), Suicide, Fear, Gore (from fighting) |
Staring: | Chen Du Ling as Chu Zhao (Female Lead) Zhou Yi Ran as Fu Jiu/ Yan Lai (Male Lead) Tang Xia Tian as Xie Yan Fang Wang Rui Chang as Xiao Xun Gao Mao Tong as Deng Yi Wu Shi Le as Chu Tang |
Synopsis: Chu Zhao is reborn after she and her father are unjustly murdered by her power hungry husband. Determined to take charge of fate with her second chance at life and ready to beef with her foes, she becomes the Grand Princess, vowing to protect the young emperor who is surrounded by sharks in tiny man bun hats. Navigating the court proves to be a web of danger but she finds an ally in an unlikely guard and the two work together to wade through the schemes of traitors and get even. Our girl is out for blood.
The Cast
Left to Right: Chen Du Ling, Zhou Yi Ran, Tang Xia Tian, Gao Mao Tong, Wang Rui Chang, Wu Shi Le @MDL
_________Beware Mateys: There be Spoilers ahead!_______________
Ashes to Ashes
The intentioned thesis statement of Ashes to Crown was “the most brilliant schemes are the ones that ensnare the master”, but after finishing the show, I couldn't help but feel we landed more in this territory:
Don’t get me wrong— The drama had a serious tone and endeavored to do the thing. It spent its TIME on politics which takes up probably 85% of the plot and dialogue. The romance is but a sliver. And I appreciate that the power dynamics weren’t just slopped on as an afterthought to give a romantic drama teeth, but we got stuck in the weeds real quick. I loved the first 7 episodes. The first episode starts off like a roller coaster and I was buckled in. Our female lead was shafted and reborn, and watching her regain her footing in an unfamiliar environment was an engaging plot. I liked that just because she had prior knowledge of events, it didn’t mean that she automatically knew how everything would play out. I’m also glad we didn’t spend more than an episode on her past life which can really halt the pace. But alas, I counted my chickens too soon.
Chen Duling as Chu Zhao was pretty mid. I think she was hurt by the dubbing and a plot that couldn't decide who to give the main character energy too. But the story wasn't the only inhibitor, Duling's acting and movements were stiff and almost gave stage play vibes, and yet somehow her portrayal was still devoid of energy at the same time.
The chemistry between leads was… somewhat cute at first? (the hairpin and the ML teaching her to fight scene was good) but then it just got boring. Everything in the drama became a given—the couple is suddenly committed in love, and no further romance is needed to build the relationship, the men are pathological turncoats, the ladylike female lead is suddenly a strategist and warrior… there were so many plot points that were considered concrete with little grounding. The drama had a flash of a start, but sputtered to make it to make it to the finish line. So what happened?
Is the Male Lead In The Room With Us?
Sorry to this man, but he was out rizzed so hard. Zhou Yi Ran is a great actor. I know this. He killed it in Twelve Letters, but he really threw me for a loop with his performance in Generation to Generation earlier this year, and combined with his performance here, it got me thinking that maybe he's not well suited for period dramas. In his defense, admittedly both Generation to Generation and Ashes to Crown suffered from a script that didn't make it easy for him, but I fear that we are venturing into the territory of a good actor who is resting on their laurels a bit too early. While the script is guilty of thinning out the focus, I do think it's okay for a male lead (and female lead) to have to earn the position in a script because it gives the narrative the opportunity for the character to grow, provides suspense, and allows for the actor to show their chops. Unfortunately, Zhou Yi Ran played his character without hutzpah and didn't show much expression so he didn't stand out amongst the sea of men. In tiny bun hats (I can't get over these official hats, I love them).
From Left to Right: Zhou Yi Ran (ML) in When I Fly Towards You, Twelve Letters, Generation to Generation, Ashes to Crown
The character of Fu Jiu (ML) is also to blame. He is absolutely dwarfed by the roles of Deng Yi, Xie Yan Fang, and Xia Xun. These fellas had more stake in the plot and more real estate in scope and maybe even in screentime. Having so many meaty roles made it more of an ensemble casting where the male lead just didn't stand out (which is ironic given the controversy of billing Zhou Yi Ran as equal to our FL, Chen Duling). The drama took its time introducing the fellas and their scheming, whereas we are just told that Fu Jiu is this monster fighter and that's kind of it. Zhou Yi Ran is the smallest of the men with the most snatched waist so it's interesting that they chose him for the rugged fighter, and visually I couldn't dispend my disbelief, even when they gave him fighting scenes to make him shine.
His chemistry with the female lead was building at first but then completely dropped off which made it harder to digest his story as his driving motivation was solely supporting Chu Zhao. And don't get me wrong, I love that for our girl, but the story didn't do enough to make me believe that the devotion was warranted. The actor of the ML is 7 years younger than the leading actress, but I don't think the age difference was much of a factor here, this snafu is on the writers.
Snakes In The Grass
This brings us to the fellas. And these queens of court slayed their roles... at least in comparison to the other actors.
Gao Mao Tong as Deng Yi (Grand Mentor): GMT impressed me as Deng Yi. He was versatile in micro-expressions and made the character seem sleezy, noble, pathetic, restrained, and outraged all at the same time. His character motivation was weak in that he just wanted unspecified wealth because he grew up poor and I wish we had more backstory on him.
Tang Xiao Tian as Xie Yan Fang: This is the first role of TXT where I see the vision. He usually plays more scholarly characters but make. this. man. a. villain. He was the devil lurking underneath it all but carried a restrained air that never devolved into the grand princess twirling in The Double and I appreciated that. The scene where he was putting the shoe on Chu Zhao was bone chilling. But once again, the character was dimmed a bit by his whack motivation.
Wang Rui Chang as Xiao Xun: WRC was the weakest of the three snakes but he played his role well. Xiao Xun was a forgone conclusion as we saw his end goal in the past life, but WRC did a a fine job at adding more layers to the character.
Paula-tics
I am in no way for the patriarchy but the shoehorned wedge of the women's literary gathering felt...shoehorned in. The political plot is a web of four competing motivations: 1) Xie Yan Feng wants the Xie clan to rule 2) Xiao Xun thinks he should rule 3) Deng Yi wants ultimate power, and finally, 4) Chu Zhao wants to "rule behind the curtain" to protect the young emperor and her father. These four contrary ambitions are the over arching conflict and maybe the writers were just trying to expand on Chu Zhao having a presence in court and show how she was making a difference outside of the palace to enforce her as the most justified, but it felt too random. It was nice to have a break from the the constant undermining and exhaustive planning, but it had no presence beyond the section it was crammed into. I appreciated the underlying message but it felt too 'every woman needs to own an ancient business' to me.
Production, Production, Production
The Good: This drama was eye candy. The costumes, the sets, the coloring were a chefs kiss and when the plot got boring, its why I continued to watch the show. From the vibrant red of the throne room to the casual chessboard jacuzzi of Chu Zhao's room, the director put a lot of thought into how the sets were arranged to tell the audience more about the characters. Everyone was styled up to the nines and the looks were flattering.
The Confusing:
WHAT WAS WITH THE CUPS? What do they mean? Is it a secret advertisement? Is this the next evolution of product placement? Were they a historical replica and the drama felt so proud they had to repeatedly zoom in on them?? I need answers!!
The Bad: Why are we out in these Han Dynasty streets dubbing Chen Duling? Her natural voice would have fit this character much better than the dubbed voice! The dubbing for other characters was also uneven and the subtitles were atrocious! The lighting and color grading were inconsistent, and putting the literal spotlight on characters felt cheap and gave people jaundice. Don't get me wrong, I really liked the block color use in the drama-- it was unique and draws the eye, but it was color without depth. It felt like the director, Yang Long, was going for a Zhang Yimou color symbolism palette but he stayed in "Idol" territory and totally missed the genius behind Zhang Yimou's color code (examples shown below). Zhang Yimou used color to show the state of mind of the character, to further the story, and to say what he wanted in a way that would, allegedly, get past censorship. In Ashes to Crown, Yang Long used color to make the shot look good, which isn't a crime and it does look really good, but it could been more than that.
Unfinished Business
The show had quite a few unfinished thoughts:
Who on earth was the child Deng Yi was talking too? Was it himself? Why was the child there? Was he crazy? I get that the director needed a way to have Deng Yi explain his plans aloud but why couldn't he have just been talking to a lackey if the director wasn't going to explain the child hallucination?
What was with the Deng Yi and Chu Tang pairing tease?
Why are Chu Tang and Xiao Xun paired together on character maps? Was that a cut plotline? Was it in the book?
Why was Deng Yi killed instead of exiled?
The random internal evil Chu Zhao moments were not expanded on the real world to warrent its existance. There should have been a more visible struggle with Chu Zhao wanting power for the sake of power, because she had a clear, just motivation so it felt like a peice of someone elses story tagged on. I mean, maybe it was a big part of the book? I think the director thought he was cooking here, but this was not the LOTR Smeagle he thought it was.
The "Twisty" Narrative of the Omniscient
Throughout Ashes to Crown, many of the "twists" were merely the result of an "unreliable narrator" hiding their full plan from the audience. However, it happened to such an extent, especially at the end, that I think it's fair to say the show suffered from an unreliable script writer. Having a gotcha moment with a trail of subtle clues along the way is perfectly fine, but intentionally leaving out major plot points and then having flashbacks reveal the "real" story becomes lazy writing when it happens too often and without valid foreshadowing. Chu Zhao's final reveal at the end was nonsensical: how on earth could she have predicted everything so perfectly that the double edged knife would do its job?? C'mon, guys. I did like that the show made us doubt the young emperor for a hot second, but we all knew Fu Jui was gonna be fine. He has the man on the poster plot armor.
The Ashes and The Crown
Ashes to Crown had ambition and I give that full points, but it tripped over itself with repetitive politics, an unconvincing male lead, plot holes that would make someone with trypophobia flee the earth, and production consistency issues. There was a dream here to be Machiavellian but the story flew too close to the "idol" sun and turned to ashes along the way (I can't resist a good pun). The crown goes to the fellas who gave it all they got, the beautiful costumes, and the monochromatic coloring of the drama. The storyline didn't quite live up to the intention of a serious portrayal of someone caught up in their own machinations, but ironically the drama itself is the result of just that.
RBTS Overall Rating: 5.8 | ||
Story: | 5 | I enjoyed the first 7 eps of setting the scene and I'm glad we breezed by the rebirth, but it became monotonous scheming with very little to show for it. |
Acting: | 6 | There is worse, but Chen Duling did not feel at one with this role, and the ML actor was checked out. The three fellas were good, which in comparison, felt groundbreaking. |
Production Quality: | 6 | Bad: Subtitles, Dubbing, Heavy AI use, Inconsistent lighting Good: Pretty shots, great costumes and sets |
Ending: | 6 | Could have been worse...but very orchestrated (by the writer, not characters) |
Enjoyability: | 6 | I mean, I finished but there were too many episodes that were just so boring. |
Trailer:
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