The Autumn Ballad Review

The Autumn Ballad (嫣语赋) is a historical Chinese drama with a very strong female lead. It should resonate with those who are into women empowerment and a blazing fighting spirit to chart one’s own path in life. While the story’s foundation is pretty solid, the drama still fails to live up to its potential. The reason is obvious once you reach the last quarter of the drama. I have The Autumn Ballad review written up below for a greater understanding of what happened for those who are interested to learn more.

My rating: 7/10
Episodes: 34
Type: Romance
Aired: February 2022
Images Credit: WeTV Twitter

The Cast Of The Autumn Ballad

• Jeremy Tsui as Liang Yi
• Bridgette Qiao Xin as Qiu Yan
• Liu Rui Lin as Qin Xuan
• Kabby Hui as Qiu Min
• Zheng Wei Li as Old Madam Qiu
• Li Jin Rong as Qiu Yi
• Jill Hsu as Madame Liu
• Deng Ying as Madame Han
• Zhang Yi Cong as Yuan Lang
• Jing Ru Yang as Shi Xiao Xiao
• Sun Lei as Emperor
• Ma Ya Shu as Noble Consort Guo

Main Characters

Liang Yi

Liang Yi is a marquis and head inspector of a government investigative agency. He appears as cold and cunning. He would also take advantage of people and situations if they could help him to fulfill his goal. His father was killed 6 years ago while he has a loving relationship with his mother, Madame Jin. Liang Yi is assisted by his loyal servant, Song Jin.

Qiu Yan

Qiu Yan is the eldest daughter of Qiu Yi and a concubine. She is a very persistent and stubborn young lady to the point of being hardhearted at times. She doesn’t believe in resigning to fate and prefers to fight her way out of unfortunate circumstances given her experience as an unfavored child. Qiu Yan’s only love and warmth comes from her stepmother, Madame Han. Her hobby is reading and she loves detective novels.

Supporting Characters

Qin Xuan

Qin Xuan is the son of a duke who is a high ranking noble. He is related to the Qiu family through marriage. He is also Liang Yi’s good friend. Although Qin Xuan is not as cunning and resourceful as Liang Yi, he is a gentleman and a good man. His love interest is Qiu Yan.

Qiu Min

Qiu Min is Qiu Yan’s younger stepsister. Her father is Qiu Yi while her mother is his official wife. However, Qiu Min is a very meek young lady who only knows how to be obedient and follow conventions. She longs for acknowledgement and attention which is often being lavished on Qiu Yan although for the wrong reasons.

Old Madam Qiu

Old Madam Qiu is the matriarch of the Qiu family which comprises of 4 sons and their families. They are low ranking nobles but retain respect and influence as the late Lord Qiu was the head of the Imperial Academy. Apart from the second son, the rest of the brood are basically idlers. Old Madam Qiu’s main interest is to keep the family safe and reputation intact even if it means sacrificing one of their own.

Qiu Yi

Qiu Yi is the second son of the Qiu family and a Vice Minister of Works. He is a scholar and the most useful among his brothers. Qiu Min is his daughter with his official wife while Qiu Yan and Qiu Rong are his children with his concubine.

Madame Liu

Madame Liu is Qiu Yi’s concubine. She has one daughter and son each, namely Qiu Yan and Qiu Rong. Madame Liu is also a very bias mother who heavily favors her son over her daughter. She is a calculative and selfish woman.

Madame Han

Madame Han is Qiu Yi’s official wife while Qiu Min is her biological daughter. However, she always has a soft spot for her stepdaughter, Qiu Yan. Madame Han is a graceful and kind woman.

Yuan Lang

Yuan Lang is the head of the Main Administrative Office. He is a patriot but an ambitious man who would bend the rules to achieve his aim. He is Liang Yi’s bitter rival in the royal court. His assistant is Jiang Yun.

Shi Xiao Xiao

Xiao Xiao is a popular courtesan in a royal club with great musical skills.

Emperor

The Emperor of Dashuo is a man with great interest in alchemy and a desire to achieve longevity. He has 3 trusted aides and they are the Grand Preceptor, Eunuch Liu, and Imperial Commander Yan.

Noble Consort Guo

Noble Consort Guo is the Emperor’s favorite woman. She also has a close relationship with Liang Yi and his mother. Her son is the Crown Prince.

Synopsis

Qiu Yan is marrying General He’s son when the groom suddenly drops dead during the wedding ceremony. In order to escape being labelled as jinxed and buried together with her just wedded husband, she is forced to investigate the actual cause of his death. This causes her to cross path with Liang Yi who takes advantage of her situation to achieve his own aim in manipulating General He to work with him.

After the case is settled, Qiu Yan crosses sword with Liang Yi again when she sets her sights on marrying Qin Xuan who is from a prominent noble family. As Qin Xuan is Liang Yi’s friend, Liang Yi tries to scuttle her plans as he thinks that she is too cunning and a gold digger. At the same time, Liang Yi wants to marry Qiu Yan’s younger sister, Qiu Min, to tap into her father’s influence among scholars.

However, complications arise when Qiu Min also has feelings for Qin Xuan while he only has eyes for Qiu Yan. The problem worsens when their father is framed for embezzlement by Liang Yi’s rival. As Liang Yi works to free the Qiu family, he also begins to get increasingly attracted to Qiu Yan.

The Autumn Ballad Ending (Spoilers Alert!)

The Autumn Ballad has a happy ending. Liang Yi finds Qiu Yan again after some time apart. The last scene shows them smiling at each other and they are still wearing the bangle that denotes them as a pair. Qiu Yan had left Liang Yi earlier to give him the impression that she had killed his mother, Madame Jin. The reality is his mother was his father’s killer. The guilt was too much for her to bear and she committed suicide.

Qiu Yan knew the truth and thought it would be too hard for Liang Yi to take if he learns that his mother killed his father. So, she wrote him a note that she killed Madame Jin as revenge for the suffering that the Qiu family was put under earlier because of him. Qiu Yan wanted Liang Yi to hate her so that the emotion will spur him on to continue living.

However, Liang Yi knew there is more to his mother’s death. He wrote about it after quitting his job as an investigator and becoming a mystery author instead. It was through a meeting with a bookstore owner that he found out Qiu Yan’s whereabouts and reunited with her.

Why Was Liang Yi’s Father Killed?

Liang Yi’s father was killed because he had evidence that Noble Consort Guo is from Northern Liang which is an adversarial state. Noble Consort Guo saw the memorandum and destroyed it before it could reach the Emperor. But she had to kill Liang Yi’s father to ensure her bloodline remained a secret. Her father was a merchant and she was kidnapped by human traffickers as a little girl and sold to Dashuo.

Noble Consort Guo then got into the palace as a maid and ended up marrying the Emperor. In order to protect her son’s life and position as Crown Prince, she knew that their Northern Liang bloodline has to be kept a secret. Hence, she made a deal with Liang Yi to unearth the troublemakers behind the scenes in exchange for her life as payback for killing his father. This is revealed in Episode 31 and Noble Consort Guo fulfilled her end of the bargain by hanging herself in Episode 33.

However, what Noble Consort Guo didn’t tell Liang Yi is that she got his mother to do the job for her. Noble Consort Guo and Madame Jin got to know each other when there were working as palace maids and were like sisters. Their close bond prompted Madame Jin to poison her own husband in order to protect Noble Consort Guo. This secret is exposed in Episode 34. Madame Jin subsequently committed suicide after Noble Consort Guo’s death.

Who Is The Mole?

The mole working for Northern Liang is Eunuch Liu. He had access to all the memorandums meant for the Emperor. So, he knew about Noble Consort Guo’s bloodline and purposely gave her the chance to come across the memorandum prepared by Liang Yi’s father. He kept the evidence attached to the memorandum and bid his time for the right moment to create an upheaval in Dashuo.

With Liang Yi’s plan to reform the military, Eunuch Liu knew he has to take him down and hasten the process of an uprising in the state. Otherwise, Northern Liang would be unable to defeat Dashuo once the latter’s military is strengthened. So, Eunuch Liu made the Grand Preceptor the pawn and blamed the latter’s pill to be the poison that took the Emperor’s life.

However, Liang Yi, Qiu Yan, and the rest of their team could see through Eunuch Liu’s scheme through a trap that they had set. They caught up with Eunuch Liu and the latter was beheaded in Episode 33.

When Did Liang Yi And Qiu Yan Get Together?

Liang Yi had to acknowledge that Qiu Yan is his concubine due to Yuan Lang’s evil scheme in Episode 21. Yuan Lang did so to prevent Liang Yi from sending Qiu Yan out of the city as the latter was a fugitive then and was pretending to be someone else. So, they played a fake couple from then on and started to develop serious feelings for each other as time passed. Liang Yi also admitted his feelings for Qiu Yan to Qin Xuan in Episode 23.

Qiu Yan showed that she really cared about Liang Yi when he was injured in Episode 28. They kissed and spent the night together in Episode 29. But Qiu Yan longed for a free life and wanted to travel and write. Liang Yi supported her dream and didn’t have the heart to tie her down. So, Qiu Yan left for her travels in Episode 29. She returned to his side in Episode 30 when she heard that he has been framed for treason.

Qiu Yan left again in Episode 34 to prevent Liang Yi from learning the truth about his mother’s death. But he knew Qiu Yan couldn’t be his mother murderer and the last scene sees them reuniting for a happy ending.

Is There A Love Triangle?

Qin Xuan has always loved Qiu Yan but they are just not meant to be. He wanted to elope with her but she rejected his offer in Episode 17. Qiu Yan felt responsible for her family and wanted to clear her father’s name to reestablish the family’s status. She rejected him again in Episode 18. Qin Xuan found out that Qiu Yan had become Liang Yi’s concubine in Episode 23. In Episode 27, she told him to look ahead and apologized for being unable to regard him as more important than reestablishing her family’s good name.

Xiao Xiao also had feelings for Liang Yi. She was actually his informer and this is revealed in Episode 22. He had helped her in the past and she willingly worked for him all along until her jealousy got the better of her when he began to fall for Qiu Yan. Xiao Xiao then cooperated with Yuan Lang who promised to help her get Liang Yi. But she changed her mind at the last minute and sacrificed herself to lure away the assassins gunning for Liang Yi in Episode 31. She chose to die for him so that he would end up remembering her forever.

Qiu Min And Qin Xuan

Qiu Min developed an instant attraction for Qin Xuan the first time they met but he was never into her. After her father was framed for embezzlement, the women in the family were sent to work as lowly servants in a royal club. Qiu Min was subsequently raped by her supervisor in Episode 19. This changed her from a timid and innocent lady to a scheming and reckless person.

In Episode 20, Qiu Min lied to Qin Xuan that Qiu Yan and the rest of her family had died during their escape from the club. She then drugged his wine and seduced him while he was mourning Qiu Yan’s death. Her intention was to make him hers. She confessed her feelings to him in Episode 22 but he rejected her although he felt responsible for having took advantage of her.

Qin Xuan agreed to put up a show that he and Qiu Min are secret lovers in Episode 26 in order to keep the Qiu family out of trouble for Qiu Yan’s sake. This would also mean he would have to marry Qiu Min. But he got mad at her in Episode 27 when he learned that she had drugged his wine earlier which caused him to end up sleeping with her. This is because it essentially killed off his chances of being with Qiu Yan.

Qin Xuan despised Qiu Min from then on until she nearly died after shielding Qiu Yan from an arrow in Episode 33. Qiu Min became aware of her mistakes after her near death experience and made up with Qiu Yan in Episode 34. She also understood that Qin Xuan never did love her and planned to leave him.

Other Key Events

• Liang Yi and Qiu Yan’s first kiss is in Episode 10 when he pressed his mouth to hers to give her air while they were underwater during an escape from enemies.
• Noble Consort Guo arranged Liang Yi’s betrothal to Qiu Min in Episode 12.
• Qiu Yan told Liang Yi that he was her savior 6 years ago in Episode 13.
• Madame Han died of an infectious disease in Episode 14.
• Qiu Di exposed that he is not Qiu Hong’s son in Episode 16 when the Qiu family was accused of embezzlement. This caused his wife to commit suicide for the shame. She had switched her baby daughter for a son to avoid being divorced back then.
• Old Madam Qiu died of illness in Episode 17. Before she died, she told Qiu Yan that Madame Han poisoned herself to save the family as her secret was about to get exposed. Madame Han and a monk were siblings. Their father offended the Emperor and the siblings would have died if not for the late Lord Qiu who saved them. He kept Madame Han and married her off to his second son while sending her brother to the temple to ensure his safety.
• Qiu Di is poisoned by Liang Yi and died in Episode 18 for cooperating with Yuan Lang.
• Qiu Yi died in Episode 27 due to illness while on the way home from exile.
• Song Jin died in Episode 30 when he sacrificed himself to let Liang Yi escape from Yuan Lang.

The Autumn Ballad Review – Marred By The Ending!

The Autumn Ballad could have been a really great drama if only the producers have kept the story intact all the way to the end. To me, it is such a waste as the story has been going well for most of the episodes. It starts to falter somewhere in the last quarter of the drama which worsened in the finale when the screenwriters tried to do too much within one short episode.

It boggles the mind why they would want to introduce a twist so late in the story but without laying a strong foundation for the subplot to take root. On top of that, it doesn’t feel satisfying to have the female lead doing what she did although her intention is good. Everything just feels superficial and inconsistent as a result when the main characters have been projected as tough and smart all along. One of the villains also doesn’t seem to get the punishment he deserves. All in all, I can only say that a lot happened within the last 6 to 7 episodes which is not as well-executed as the earlier parts of the drama.

Unnecessary Plot Twist (Spoilers Alert!)

A twist in a story is always good to give viewers a surprise but only if it makes sense and done well. In The Autumn Ballad, this twist is rather unnecessary to me because it doesn’t have a strong basis to the plot and the follow-up is disastrous. The female lead ended up leaving her hero because she thought he will be too weak to learn the truth about his mother’s evil deed. But he knew anyway because he is a smart guy to begin with and ended up pining for her. So, all the unnecessary melodrama did nothing to increase the value of the story. Instead, it made it rather silly.

In addition, the second female lead’s story is also not properly laid out towards the end. She was not prepared to save her sister and ran away when the latter was under attack just an episode earlier. But she suddenly took an arrow for her in the following episode and became a good girl again after a near death experience. I just see it as a lazy way of ending a story. Moreover, her relationship with the second male lead is also not properly accounted for.

The drama also takes a different turn when the bitter rivalry between Liang Yi and Yuan Lang switches to cooperation as they go against an external enemy. Basically, a new villain is introduced very late in the drama which feels a little detached from the earlier part of the story. The fact that Yuan Lang also got promoted instead of punished despite his crimes also made the ending kind of unusual. Thus, the overall conclusion just feels not in sync with the beginning which is much more coherent and engaging.

A Very Opinionated Female Lead

A strong female lead is not something unusual even for historical dramas and for that Jun Jiu Ling and Song Of Youth come to mind. But in The Autumn Ballad, the female lead is much more than having brains and inner strength. She is obviously ahead of her time as she questions why women have to play a secondary role to men in society since she is a victim of that unfair structure. So, to further her own interest and change her fate in life, she ends up as tough, rebellious, opinionated, and stubborn.

At times, her character is rather hardhearted to me. At others, she also appears as a little selfish. The 2 men in her life are devoted to her but she has her own dreams that she wants to fulfill. Overall, Qiu Yan is an unconventional female character for a historical drama. Personally, her actions are understandable but her character is not exactly likable to me. Her strength and fighting spirit are commendable and she drives the story forward with her actions. But she is too opinionated and confrontational to make her affable.

Therefore, just be aware that the female lead in this drama is not someone sweet and amiable. You won’t hate her and at the very least, she is not whiny although she has been dealt the short end of the stick. But there is a rough edge to her that might just rub you the wrong way every now and then throughout the 34 episodes.

Good Chemistry

This is actually the first time that I have watched Bridgette Qiao in a historical drama. Her last 2 dramas that I watched were contemporary ones, namely Dream Garden and You Complete Me. So, it is a change for me to see her in a different time period setting. But her acting is still on point. She managed to give her character that toughness and pride needed to bring out Qiu Yan’s personality. Bridgette Qiao didn’t try to make her character likable. I think if she did, it would be inconsistent with Qiu Yan’s nature. Instead, she let the natural personality of the character speak for herself without over-packaging it for the viewers.

Jeremy Tsui is also great to watch as the ever cool Liang Yi. The deep voice added to his charisma. He paired off well with Bridgette Qiao and they did have a certain level of chemistry as they bantered and fooled around each other in their respective roles. Theirs is not a steamy romance with lots of kisses like The Eternal Love Season 3. Neither is it an emotionally heartbreaking one à la One And Only. They are simply witty characters with dialogues to help them display their mutual attraction towards each other.

My Verdict

The Autumn Ballad is largely watchable up until the last episode. In a way, you can pretend that the story ends within the first few minutes of Episode 34 if you are not adventurous enough for an unexpected and unnecessary twist. In fact, the drama would have received many more plaudits if it had ended there. But I guess no one would like to leave the last half hour unwatched after sitting through 33 episodes to get there. So, just be prepared for it to be a little bizarre, rushed, and inconsistent with the characters’ nature up to that point.

For me, the decline already started around the last quarter of the drama. It doesn’t have the same engagement anymore with a poorer story execution compared to the first 25 episodes or so. It is not a dealbreaker though and the story is still interesting enough for you to plod on till its conclusion. But the flaws of the last episode simply reminded us how it all started to go so wrong.

For The Autumn Ballad review here, I would give it a score of 7/10. It really deserves better with the good casting and acting. It is just a pity that it was let down by poor screenwriting with an ending that leaves viewers rolling their eyes. Nevertheless, I would still recommend you to give it a go. Don’t let the last 30 minutes scare you into dropping this title. It is enjoyable for the most part and that is something to look forward to. The ending may leave you with some frustrations but I’m sure all of us have also seen worse when it comes to Chinese dramas.