Chinese Dramas First Impressions1 Comment

Panda Impressions #9: Candle in the Tomb, The Weasel Grave & The King’s Woman

September 15, 2017

It’s time for another round of first impressions, we’ve got two Candle in the Tombs, both of which seem to be boasting quality productions with Jin Dong as the elder Hu Ba Yi and Ethan Ruan as the younger version. In the meantime, if you’re not caught up on the episode recaps of The King’s Woman, below is a zippy review on the drama. 

Candle in the Tomb

Candle in the Tomb First Impressions
The first series Candle in the Tomb, hooks you in straight away by introducing you to the two main characters, Hu Bai Yi and Wang Kai Xuan aka. Fatty. Their venture into a hometown grave sets their path to joining an expedition with Shirley Yang in search of her father. The expedition leads them to many life or death situations while depending on each other and suspecting each other. Is Shirley who she says she is? Is there anyone else in the group hiding information? Could Hu Bai Yi be falling for Shirley? Most of all, will they come out alive, unscathe and filthly rich? – Contributed by Judy. 

Candle in the Tomb: The Weasel Grave

Ethan Ruan Weasel Grave First Impressions

Its Hu Bai Yi when he’s young and whoever did the casting did a great job! His younger self really has the characteristics and personality of his older self down to a T. The series is kind of slow in the beginning so give it a few episodes for Hu Bai Yi and Fatty to win you over with their youthful troublemaking antics. Hu Bai Yi is daring to the point of recklessness in his actions and who would’ve known, what a ladies’ man he was too! 

fyi… the traps in the tombs are real! Tombs in ancient Chinese, South American, Egyptian cultures all set fun evil traps in their tombs to prevent trespassers ?.  – Contributed by Judy.

The King’s Woman

The King
Good fighting scenes and quite little CG (only when they are riding their horses). So far, I am enjoying this, however, I do feel a lack of something, something impactful to make this drama memorable. I also can’t really see the love between the King and Consort Li but I do see hints, perhaps time will show that intense love. There are parts when I get confused because I truly cannot understand the King’s character especially towards his mother (Queen Dowager Zhao) and father (Chancellor Lü Buwei). He was cold and hated them but then suddenly showed signs of love and affection. 

Though it is said that Consort Li falls for the King as she realises that he is kind-hearted to her, it seems that I have to continue watching to know how things will go. So far, the drama is a 4/5 for me. Recommended for people who want to watch for Romance and Action. – Contributed by Pearline.C.

The King

Volunteers Wanted: Just a shout out that we are on the lookout for volunteers to keep this section alive. Panda Impressions was initially meant to be a place to share first impressions or talk dramas, but there are too many undiscovered dramas that need some love. 


If you would like to share your thoughts on a particular drama (old or new, c-drama or k-drama), please send it to us via the ‘contact us’ form (rightmost link on the menu bar) and we’ll use it in the next post if we can. Just a paragraph or two usually works, no word count required. Thank you!   

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Anne J

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One Response

  1. AndreaK

    September 18, 2017 5:03 AM

    Totally agree that "The Kings women" did "lack of something, something impactful to make this drama memorable" I wanted to love the drama, but I found myself forcing to like it and then just gave up. May revisit in the future.

    Reply

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