Qing Luo Review

One of my readers requested me to review Qing Luo (清落) not too long ago. I didn’t watch it when it was first aired about 6 months back because it didn’t seem interesting enough then. But when I checked it out recently, it does have pretty decent reviews in general. So, here I’m to give you my take on this drama after completing it just yesterday. I have to say it is better than I thought. But at the same time, it is also nothing great. My Qing Luo review below will have my thoughts on this Chinese period drama.

My rating: 7/10
Episodes: 24
Type: Historical Romance
Aired: May 2021
Images Credit: Youku

The Cast Of Qing Luo 2021

• Liu Xue Yi as Ye Xiu Du / Prince Yu Yang
• Wang Zi Wei as Yu Qing Luo
• Zhang Zi Han as Yu Qing Nan / Nan Nan
• Dai Si as Jin Liu Li
• Hu Wei as Li Zi Fan / Lord Li
• Li Xing Chen as Ye Hao Ran
• Zhao Wen Long as Yu Zuo Lin
• Zhou Yang as Princess Xiang Xiang

Main Characters

Ye Xiu Du / Lord Yu Yang

Lord Yu Yang is an army commander with a princely status. He has just returned from the battlefront to the capital after his younger brother fell sick. Lord Yu Yang is smart and observant with good martial art skills. He is also quick-thinking and persistent. His love interest is Qing Luo while Mo Xian is his personal assistant.

Yu Qing Luo

Qing Luo is a renowned healer who appears in a veil and is adept at using poisons. She has lost her memory of the past after she nearly drowned in a river. Qing Luo is cheerful and confident. She is not easily cowed and knows how to stand up for herself. She is also a single mother with a 6 year old son and is always thinking of getting him a father.

Yu Qing Nan / Nan Nan

Nan Nan is Qing Luo’s son. He is a very mischievous but clever little boy who always gets on his mother’s nerves. He never likes any of his mother’s suitors and will scare them away. Nan Nan longs for his real father instead. His favorite food is fried chicken.

Supporting Characters

Jin Liu Li

Liu Li is Qing Luo’s savior and best friend. She runs an inn and has a fierce personality. Liu Li also tends to be hotheaded when rattled.

Li Zi Fan / Lord Li

Lord Li is the Imperial Censor. He knows Qing Luo when they were young and has feelings for her. Hence, Lord Li is always competing with Lord Yu Yang for Qing Luo’s affections. Lord Li’s teacher is Lord Situ Yu.

Ye Hao Ran

Hao Ran is Lord Yu Yang’s younger brother. He is also the Minister of Revenue. Hao Ran is a little slow when it comes to romance and doesn’t understand what love is. He also has a past history with Liu Li.

Yu Zuo Lin

Yu Zuo Lin is a general who sees Lord Yu Yang as his rival. His goal is to take down Lord Yu Yang so that he could win the selection to represent the country in a competition. His wife is the Prime Minister’s daughter, Liu Ran Ran.

Princess Xiang Xiang

Princess Xiang Xiang is a petty and jealous lady who is in love with Lord Yu Yang.

Synopsis

Qing Luo is known as Ghost Physician to the public and has a reputation as a great doctor. However, she suffers from amnesia after a near death experience 7 years ago. She was found by Liu Li by the riverside and the two women became best friends. Qing Luo was pregnant then and subsequently gave birth to a son named Nan Nan.

7 years later, Prince Yu Yang is looking for Qing Luo to treat his younger brother who is suffering from a strange illness. Qing Luo ends up following him back to the capital as she is also interested to know what happened to her in the past and who is Nan Nan’s biological father.

Prince Yu Yang falls deeply in love with Qing Luo but she is hesitant due to Nan Nan’s tendency to reject any man as his father. As Qing Luo tries to investigate her past, she is drawn into the power struggle between Prince Yu Yang and General Yu Zuo Lin who happens to be her ex-husband.

Qing Luo Ending (Spoilers Alert!)

Qing Luo has a happy ending. As a reward for for helping the country to defeat rivals and capture the villain, the Emperor decrees Qing Luo and Liu Li to marry Lord Yu Yang and Hao Ran respectively. A wedding is held for both pairs with a brief scene of each couple’s first night together. The drama ends with the main couple kissing in their bridal chamber.

When Did Qing Luo And Lord Yu Yang Start Dating?

Lord Yu Yang fell in love with Qing Luo very early on in the drama. He already blatantly hinted that he likes her in Episode 6 and kissed her forehead. Lord Yu Yang confessed his feelings again in Episode 7 and gave Qing Luo a jade pendant inherited from his mother. Qing Luo was surprised that the pendant matches the one that she owns. However, she rejected him in Episode 8 because she was afraid that Nan Nan would not accept him as his father.

Lord Yu Yang refused to give up and continued to woo Qing Luo. They finally become got together as a couple in Episode 13.

Is There A Breakup?

Qing Luo and Lord Yu Yang were separated when they jumped off a cliff to escape the Shura Sect members in Episode 15. Lord Yu Yang went missing and when they met again, he couldn’t recognize Qing Luo because he had lost his memory. He wanted to start life anew and refused to accept Qing Luo as he had no recollection of her.

To make matters worse, Lord Yu Yang had to marry Princess Qing Ning when she misled him that they have slept together after his wine was drugged. When he insisted that he will take responsibility for what happened to Princess Qing Ning in Episode 18, Qing Luo broke up with him. An inexplicable headache and pain in his heart then made him regain part of his memories of her. Thus. they reconciled in Episode 20 after a risky incident.

Lord Yu Yang proposed to Qing Luo in Episode 21 but she rejected him. This is because Shangguan Jin who was obsessed with her had poisoned Nan Nan with the help of the Shura Sect and blackmailed her into marrying him in exchange for the antidote. When Lord Yu Yang realized why Qing Luo had rejected him, they cooperated to entrap Shangguan Jin. Lord Yu Yang eventually killed Shangguan Jin after a duel in Episode 23.

With the antidote having been destroyed, Lord Yu Yang exchanged his blood with Nan Nan’s to save the latter. His life was at risk as a result. Fortunately, he was cured by Qing Luo’s father after defeating the ultimate villain for a happy ending in Episode 24.

Qing Luo’s Past

Qing Luo was married to Yu Zou Lin 7 years ago. It was an arranged marriage but it was never consummated. Yu Zou Lin didn’t like her one bit and accused her of adultery to get rid of her. She was thrown into the river to kill her off after her father fell from grace so that he could then marry the Prime Minister’s daughter. But she was saved by Liu Li although she lost her memory because of the ordeal. She regained back her memories in Episode 15 after she jumped off a cliff and was in a coma for 3 days.

Qing Luo’s father was the Imperial Physician, Lord Han. He disappeared after his team lost the 4 Kingdom Grand Competition and he was disgraced. He then led a reclusive life in the mysterious Windbell Valley to study medicine. Qing Luo reunited with him in Episode 24 when he turned up to save her and Lord Yu Yang.

Who Is Nan Nan’s Father?

Nan Nan’s biological father is Lord Yu Yang. It was Yu Zou Lin’s plot to get someone to rape Qing Luo so that she could be framed for adultery and made to disappear. Qing Luo managed to escape from the rapist during a function. But somehow she ended up in a room with Lord Yu Yang. Both of them were drugged by some incense that they slept together as someone wanted to harm Lord Yu Yang as well.

Before he woke up, his mother already sent Qing Luo on her way. She gave her a jade pendant as a token that can be used to seek the family’s help if a need arises for what had been done to her. As for Lord Yu Yang, he has no recollection of that night that he spent with Qing Luo.

Qing Luo knew Lord Yu Yang is Nan Nan’s father after she regained her memories in Episode 15. Lord Yu Yang only found out about it in Episode 23 when Shangguan Jin revealed it to him out of spite. Nan Nan learned about his father in the same episode after Lord Yu Yang risked his life to save him.

The Ultimate Villain

The hidden villain in Lord Situ Yu. He is only fully revealed in Episode 24. Lord Situ Yu is the master of the Shura Sect. He belongs to the Meng Shan Clan which has an axe to grind with the current ruler.

7 years ago, Lord Situ Yu betrayed Qing Luo’s father and caused the death of Lord Yu Yang’s father in the 4 Kingdom Grand Competition. He used a poison to do so and it was the same type of poison administered to Nan Nan. Qing Luo’s father had been studying a cure for it after the betrayal and that is why he could save Lord Yu Yang.

Lord Situ Yu’s ultimate aim is the second volume of a medical book. By poisoning Nan Nan, Lord Yu Yang will definitely sacrifice his life to save his son. Hence, Lord Yu Yang will face death and Qing Luo will then plead with the state’s Emperor for the medical book. Lord Situ Yu thought he could then snatch it away from Qing Luo. But his plan had been foreseen by Lord Yu Yang. Qing Luo then set a trap for him and he was eventually killed by Lord Yu Yang after trying to take her as a hostage in the last episode.

Side Couple

The side couple of Hao Ran and Liu Li also has a happy ending. They got married in the last episode together with Lord Yu Yang and Qing Luo. After denying his feelings for so long, Hao Ran finally admitted his feelings to Liu Li in a letter. She read it and they got together in Episode 20 after they thought they would die following their capture by the Cave Master.

Qing Luo Review – Not To Be Taken Seriously

Frankly speaking, Qing Luo feels like a real downgrade as I watched this right after completing Luoyang. But I also know it is not fair to compare the two dramas due to the budget disparity. So, I would just say Qing Luo is a typical Chinese rom-com. It is not so bad until it is unwatchable but neither does it glaringly stand out among the rest.

Qing Luo has all the usual tropes for a Chinese romance drama except for one thing… and that is the female lead is a single mother. I think this is rare for this genre especially for a historical drama. But except for this one factor, the rest is pretty standard fare. The other factor that probably saves this drama is the exaggeration that is being done on purpose. I think this reminds viewers that this is not a drama to be taken seriously. The few cartoon interjections in some episodes is already a clear indication that this is meant to be lighthearted.

Simple Plot With A Mysterious Air

Basically, this is a romance drama with a prince wooing an amnesiac single mother with a mischievous son. Because the woman has a past that is linked to the prince’s enemy, they have to overcome threats to their lives and various other obstacles. I have to commend the production team for giving viewers a mysterious air to the story especially in the beginning to get us hooked.

In short, your curiosity is aroused as you watched the first few episodes because there are only teasers of what happened to the female lead in the past and who is her son’s father. She is seeking answers herself as she lost her memory after an ordeal. Her little boy provided the fun factor and he has substantial screen time which helps to set the overall tone of the story. Even some of the background music are popular fun tunes that you would never expect in a historical drama.

Therefore, Qing Luo is not a particularly angsty drama although it has its serious moments when it comes to the villains’ schemings. To me, the serious stuff is also what makes it lose marks especially towards the end when yet another amnesia incident materializes. This is when you would question if the story could have more originality rather than rehashing the script.

Good Pacing But Short On Details

If you don’t like long-winded sagas, Qing Luo would seem rather fast paced with only 24 episodes to tell the whole story. So, the events move quickly and you don’t get long boring sections to make the story stuck in a rut. For instance, while there are the usual jealous love rivals, they don’t go on and on in the drama like in Rebirth For You or A Camellia Romance until it drags the overall story down.

However, the drawback of this relatively fast pacing is that some details then get omitted. Simplicity takes precedence that the screenwriter seemed to have forgotten that they didn’t give a proper accounting of what happened to the main couple 7 years before or the background of the ultimate villain. These are told very superficially which I supposed is to keep things uncomplicated and short.

Even some fighting scenes get truncated such as the duel between the male lead and a rival in a much touted competition towards the end of the drama. Hence, this is not a production that you should watch for martial art fights. It might quicken the pacing but the editing then seems off and the low budget feel emerges with those shortened and fast motion fights.

Acting And Chemistry

I think Liu Xue Yi carried the show with his dimpled smiles and cocky demeanor. If you have watched him in Love And Redemption, you will be surprised at his transformation for this character in Qing Luo whereby he is much less serious. He also has good chemistry with the child actor to project their unique relationship in the drama. Basically, Liu Xue Yi fits the role as Lord Yu Yang as he gives the character the required domineering aura of a princely general.

However, I wouldn’t rate his chemistry with Wang Zi Wei as top notch especially after catching him with Zhang Yu Xi in Love At Night. Both Liu Xue Yi and Wang Zi Wei acted well in their respective roles in Qing Luo but somehow, they just failed to really generate the sparks for a more romantic feel as lovers. This pairing is okay to look at but I would think they wouldn’t leave much of an impression in viewers’ memory once the drama is over.

My Verdict – Just Average

If you have time on your hands, you can give Qing Luo a go but just don’t expect it to be anything great. It has the usual tropes of amnesia, falling off a cliff (not once but twice), jealous third parties, poisoning, and sacrificing one’s life to save a loved one. But on the positive side, the female character is a gutsy woman who doesn’t sit and whine when things don’t go her way. At the same time, she is not depicted as irrationally kind but will bite back when attacked.

The romance is not exactly straightforward either with some push and pull during the wooing phase. Some problems also appear in the later stage of the couple’s relationship. So, it is not all sweetness and fluff throughout in case you are expecting one. There are a number of kisses but nothing too passionate to make you feel hot all over. The romance is simply balanced out with a kid in the picture and evil forces lurking in the background to divide up the screen time.

I would give 7/10 for this Qing Luo review. Even that seems like a very generous score to me. I had wanted to rate it lower initially but I also think it would be enjoyable for those who could see the fun in this drama such as the overly mischievous kid and exaggerated mother-child relationship. If those fun parts could overshadow the overused tropes to you, then Qing Luo should be a better than average Chinese drama in your books. Otherwise, it would merely be another run-of-the-mill production that you get every other day.