Choice Husband is the first 2023 drama I’m writing a review on. I had to finish my 2022 drama watch list before I can jump on the 2023 watch list. After all the work I’ve been doing the past few weeks, I just wanted to watch something that can lighten my mood up. Choice Husband seemed like a good drama to get the job done, but let’s just see if it really did its best.
Choice Husband Synopsis.
The story is about Shen Miao, the daughter of the wealthiest man in Yangzhou city. Although she has Wealth and a beautiful appearance, no one wants dared to marry her because she is thought to bring misfortune to her future husband after her two fiancés ran away before the marriage. Later, Shen Miao meets a talented young scholar named, Pei Yanzhen, and love blossoms between the two. However, under unforeseen circumstances, she marries Song Xiyuan.
Choice Husband Cast
Zhang Xue Ying as Shen Miao
Xing Zhao Lin as Pei Yanzhen
Wang Yi Lun as Song Xiyuan
First Impressions on Choice Husband
The first episode started with a little preview and then time skipped to the previous year. It started the whole story from the beginning, how Shen Miao ended up having two husbands and other stuff like that. Pei Yanzhan’s real identity should’ve been kept secret from the start. It’s indeed a wise move to hint to us about his identity, but it shouldn’t be so obvious. I already knew his real identity in just three episodes and it’s all thanks to the Empress dowager. She revealed his identity in the first episode and ruined a good plot.
Choice Husband Review
Story with a bad build-up
This storyline of Shen Miao and her two husbands is indeed rare. I could say I’m happy about it, but I’m not. The story is not bad at all, it’s just that I got annoyed and this rarely happens to me. Shen Miao’s marriage with Pei Yanzhan made me love this drama. I was watching with no complaints until their divorce. They also introduced Miao’s next husband Song Xiyuan. That’s when I started getting a different feeling from the story.
The reason Shen Miao and Pei Yanzhan’s divorce wasn’t solid enough. I ignored it and continued watching. Then Miao suddenly married Song Xiyuan about 2 weeks after her divorce. While I’m still digesting their marriage, she’s now pregnant and I just got irritated. Miao doesn’t even know who the father is. She doesn’t even know when she got pregnant. They start the debate on the pregnant and how far Miao is. The royal family also got involved and it really didn’t concern them.
Every second of this storyline just made me mad and I no longer found most of the things funny. I swear I would have dropped this drama on episode 9 if I didn’t download all episodes in advance. I didn’t see any improvement with the royal family saga and the Empress’ schemes. She spent most of the time talking, but her actions don’t complement the threads she makes.
Then it got interesting
With the bad build-up, the story surprisingly got interesting. They stopped circling around Pei Yanzhen and Song Xiyuan’s silly fights over Miao. I didn’t enjoy watching them competing on every episode as if they were brainless. So they stopped wasting time with the love triangle and gave me a reason to continue with the drama. The battle between Pei Yanzhen and The Empress Dowager got more heated especially with the Emperor being caught up in the middle.
It was the final showdown and the great general Qin returned to help the Empress Dowager. It was a win-or-die situation for Pei Yanzhen, everyone went all out. The Empress Dowager got to show her ruthlessness, which she lacked in the beginning. She became the real villain, not the talkative Empress Dowager who used silly tricks.
Blame it on Yanzhen
I didn’t like the way they created misunderstandings between the leads. Pei Yanzhen was the one taking the blame for everything. Shen Miao didn’t eat lunch, “let’s pin it on Pei Yanzhen”. Shen Miao’s neck is scratched by Song Xiyuan’s assassin, “let’s ignore it and pin the whole assassination attempt on Pei Yanzhen even though it was set up for him.” What kind of logic is that? I’m not taking sides here nor do I favor Pei Yanzhen. Shen Miao also has to be blamed for nearly 60% of the incidents that took place. Song Xiyuan is also involved in everything, but he never gets blamed. All the heat goes back to Pei Yanzhen.
Yanzhen is supposed to be the second most powerful after the Emperor, but Song Xiyuan is playing him like he’s a commoner. Song Xiyuan even got away with two assassination attempts on Yanzhen and no one mentioned it. On those two attempts, Miao got injured because of Song Xiyuan, but it is still ignored. Song Xiyuan would make a speech about Yanzhen being bad and injuring Miao then walk away with her.
They make everything seem like Yanzhen planned it. Like Where’s the common sense? Shen Miao schemed with Song Xiyuan and Yanzhen nearly got assassinated, then Yanzhen is blamed. Miao again, schemed against Yanzhen and Song Xiyuan came with his assassin, and Yanzhen was blamed. She knew the truth about Yanzhen and Song Xiyuan’s cooperation, but she took it all out on Yanzhen and still left with Song despite knowing his involvement in the scheme.
There we go again
I did enjoy the drama when they were fighting against Empress Dowager. It was epic and fun to watch plus the Empress Dowager had the aura of a villain. They messed it up by continuing with the love triangle and using the same tricks over and over again. It’s all about blaming Yanzhen for everything that happens in the drama. Yanzhen tried to tell the truth, but they shut him up.
He keeps quiet, they say he doesn’t want to tell the truth. What should poor Yanzhen do? Miao is also becoming more stupid as the story progresses. I honestly couldn’t stand this love triangle storyline, it keeps repeating itself. Again, I’m not saying this because I favor Pei Yanzhen. Yanzhen also has his own flaws and I don’t agree with the way he handles things.
Choice Husband Ending
The way they tried so hard to make Yanzhen a villain spoiled the ending of the drama. I guessed the plot twist in the end. I must admit, the ending was unexpected, but I didn’t like it. From the time they revealed the truth till the last scene, it was off. The writer chose to use the “peaceful” approach and ignored the schemes against Pei Yanzhen. If I was the one writing the story, the ending would’ve been different. The villain would’ve been punished for his crimes.
Conclusion on Choice Husband Review
When I watched this drama I wanted something to cheer me. Choice husband did cheer me up and it also messed with my emotions. It’s been a long time since I’ve watched Sophie Zhang’s drama (the last one was Princess Silver), I nearly forgot how talented she was. I noticed flaws when it comes to men’s makeup and hair. Tie Niu had wrinkles next to his ears whenever he smiled and he wasn’t the only one. It made them look a bit old. I’m not familiar with the stuff they use so I will just leave it like that. Recommendation? I definitely recommend it.
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