Rise of Ning: Spoiler-Free Review
- Jul 20
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 22
Title: | Rise of Ning (2024) 锦绣安宁 |
Platform: | IQIYI, WeTV, Youtube (free) |
MDL Rating: | |
Genre: | Period Idol Romance |
Episode Count: | 40 |
Parental Guidance Rating: | PG: Minor violence and murder, non explicit beatings, attempted assault, fat shaming |
Staring: | Zhang Wan Yi (Si Jin) Ren Min (A Splendid Match) Ci Sha (A Splendid Match) Wu Yu Heng (Shadow Love) He Nan (Yummy Yummy Yummy) |
RBTS Rating: | 3.6/5 Stars (Mostly an idol romance, with some inner household scheming and a ML who does his thang in a political side plot)  |
Synopsis:
Despite being the first-born daughter of an official, Luo Yi Ning grew up being mistreated by her father's concubine. With help from Luo Shen Yuan, Yi Ning's estranged half-brother, she moves back home and navigates family drama while investigating her mother’s death. In the process, Shen Yuan learns that Yi Ning is actually a child from another family, and an unexpected love begins. @MDL
Stay Tuned: Full Review Still to Come!
Spoiler-Free Mini Review:
The goose was the best character of the whole show. Shout out to that goose.
Rise of Ning was a mixed bag for me. I enjoyed it, but it had a lot of flaws. I couldn't stand that the female lead had the voice (and character) of a toddler, and that the Male Lead was mumbling and monotone. The makeup was heavy, especially on the Female Lead; they really struggled to style here. And the constant fat shaming of Luo Yi Xiu (2FL) was not funny, and super inconsistent with historical body standards. She's a perfectly normal size. I've seen this actress in 2 dramas and if I had a penny for every time her weight was written into the storyline and pointed out by a character, I would have two pennies. AHHHHHH!
The original web novel, like source material of The Double and the Legend of the Female General, had our Female Leads reborn after betrayal. The drama skirted around this better than most, but you can see the narrative struggled to patch up the plot holes where this should have been.
But my biggest gripe falls on the "sister or suitor" trope, where the Male Lead has a love interest who he either thought was his sister at one point, were raised as siblings, become step siblings, or he thinks there is a possibility they are biologically siblings. And Rise of Ning falls under the category. It's a little too Cassandra Clare for me, and it's a trope that's been popping up more and more lately with dramas (both K and C) like Speed and Love, Love for You, and Link: Eat Kill Love. The sibling question is cleared up early on the Male Lead's end, but others were kept in the dark for WAY too long.
While I didn't like some aspects of the drama, I thought the leads had a cute relationship and I'm always down for some inner chambers scheming. Rise of Ning felt like a hybrid knock off of The Double and The Story of Minglan, and while it didn't measure up to either, it's a tried and true formula that pulls me in every time. The cinematography was pretty good, as well as the sets. I also wasn't bothered by the obsessive 2nd Male Lead this time. I thought he had an interesting story and if you liked their pairing, the actors reunited for a third time (also in the Longest Promise) in A Splendid Match.
Story=3.5 (no more suitor or sibling storyline, please), Acting=2 (Yikes from FL, ML, and 2ML.), Production Quality=3, Rewatch Value=4, Ending=4, Enjoyability= 4
Trailer:
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