The Ingenious One Review

I watched The Ingenious One (云襄传) with the expectation that the main character is someone intelligent and creative in problem-solving. Well, the title seems to point in that direction. I have to say that the expectation is not far off the mark but it also doesn’t necessarily mean that the whole plot is superb. There are some things that are not so ingenious after all and it grated on me as I watched. However, it does get better as the drama progresses. You can check out The Ingenious One review that I have written below for further details on my opinion.

My rating: 7.5/10
Episodes: 36
Type: Wuxia, Mystery
Aired: May 2023
Images Credit: Douban Movie

The Cast Of The Ingenious One

• Chen Xiao as Yun Xiang / Luo Wen Jia
• Rachel Mao Xiao Tong as Shu Ya Nan
• Tang Xiao Tian as Su Ming Yu
• Xu Ling Yue as Ke Meng Lan
• Liu Guan Lin as Jin Biao
• Guo Yi Lin as Tian Hu
• Wang Jin Song as Qi Tian Feng
• Qin Lan as Su Huai Rou
• Huang Hai Bing as Qian Rong
• Peng Bo as Mo Bu Fan
• Natas Asoka as Tang Xiao
• Wang Zi Rui as Liu Gong Quan
• Li Hong Tao as Prince Fu
• Ning Xin as Ming Zhu
• Feng Jian Yu as Kou Yuan Jie
• Ran Xu as Nangong Fang

Main Characters

Yun Xiang / Luo Wen Jia

Yun Xiang is a disciple of the Yuntai Sect which regards doing business and serving public interests as its main philosophy. He is a cold-hearted man due to a tragic childhood experience. Yun Xiang is also highly intelligent and an ingenious tactician. However, he doesn’t have martial arts skills apart from a fast moving technique which allows him to escape from enemies.

Shu Ya Nan

Ya Nan is a skilled martial artist and claimed to be the only surviving member of the Shu family. Her family used to run a goods escort agency which collapsed after failing to fulfill a contract years ago. Ya Nan was then supposedly raised by Wen Cong who became her godfather. She is smart and boyish with a suspicious nature.

Su Ming Yu

Su Ming Yu is the only male descendant of the wealthy Su family of Nandu. However, he doesn’t have much interest in running the family business. His passion is in martial arts. Su Ming Yu can be idealistic. But he is also upright and responsible when the situation calls for it. He has a deep love for Ke Meng Lan.

Ke Meng Lan

Ke Meng Lan is the head dealer of Liansheng House which is a gambling establishment in Nandu owned by Wen Cong of Yuntai Sect. She is a smart and wise woman who knows her place.

Jin Biao

Jin Biao is a swordsman for hire who is also known as Ten Taels of Gold. That is the price he charges for every man killed for the hirer. Hence, Jin Biao is a great martial artist who is hired by Yun Xiang for protection. He appears as fierce and rugged but righteous. He also has a tender heart for orphans. Jin Biao has interest in Tian Hu.

Supporting Characters

Tian Hu

Tian Hu is Ke Meng Lan’s personal servant. She has feelings for Jin Biao.

Qi Tian Feng

Qi Tian Feng is the leader of Cao Sect in Nandu. He is one of the more influential businessmen in town and has the ambition to control the trade in the area. Qi Tian Feng is patient and cautious. He is also a powerful martial artist but is widely known to be suffering from an internal injury. His personal assistant is Ding Yi. Yun Xiang sees Qi Tian Feng as a revenge target.

Su Huai Rou

Su Huai Rou is Su Ming Yu’s elder sister. She runs the Su family business although she is always pushing her brother to take up the mantle. The Su family has deep roots in the silk business and has been the imperial supplier for years. Su Huai Rou is astute and wise. She can see through things that are happening behind the scenes. She is also the chairperson of Nandu’s Chamber of Commerce which is a coveted position among the more ambitious merchants.

Qian Rong

Qian Rong is the Su family’s steward. He cares a lot for Su Huai Rou and they are more like lovers if not because of their difference in status.

Mo Bu Fan

Mo Bu Fan is the owner of Guanghui Bank in Nandu. He is also a Yuntai Sect member but not a truly altruistic one. Hence, he can be opportunistic and predatory in his business practices. Kang Qiao is his assistant and a martial artist.

Tang Xiao

Tang Xiao is one of Nandu’s powerful businessmen. He runs gambling houses and is a ruthless and arrogant man.

Liu Gong Quan

Liu Gong Quan is the Commanding Officer of the Department of Security from the capital. He is a smart and serious man who is loyal to the Emperor while Prince Fu is his benefactor.

Prince Fu

Prince Fu is the Emperor’s brother. He is a jovial prince on the surface and has been lying low due to suspicion on his intention. He has a daughter whom he dotes on while Liu Gong Quan is his long-term retainer.

Ming Zhu

Ming Zhu is Prince Fu’s daughter. She is close to her father as well as Liu Gong Quan whom she regards as an uncle. She is a fast learner and can be adventurous.

Kou Yuan Jie

Kou Yuan Jie is the son of the Lingyuan Sect leader. He is a ruthless and ambitious young man. He is also impatient to the point of recklessness at times.

Nangong Fang

Nangong Fang is a powerful warlord in the Lingyuan Sect. He is a strategic man who is good at plotting and scheming to achieve an aim. He is also a ruthless person.

Synopsis

Yun Xiang is a Yuntai Sect disciple who has just ended his cultivation retreat after 15 years. He left the base with the intention to seek revenge against the people who massacred everyone in his village when he was a kid. He was saved by Wen Cong who is now languishing in jail. In his quest to save Wen Cong, he meets Ya Nan who also shares the same aim. Wen Cong is Ya Nan’s godfather. He dies during Yun Xiang’s attempt to get him out of prison. Apart from gratitude, Yun Xiang’s aim to save Wen Cong is also due to his desire to know more about the massacre 15 years earlier.

Wen Cong’s imprisonment and death is largely due to his complex business dealings in Nandu on behalf of the Yuntai Sect. This leads Yun Xiang and Ya Nan to travel to Nandu whereby they get to know Su Ming Yu of the prestigious Su family. As Yun Xiang tries to exact revenge against a powerful businessman for killing his clan, the Su family and Ya Nan are inevitably used as pawns in his plan. From being a cold and rational man who is unperturbed about relationships when coming up with his schemes, he starts to become emotionally affected by the risks that those around him have to bear.

During the course of the investigation, Yun Xiang also has to flesh out who is friend and foe. Will he be able to overcome all the challenges to find the real culprit behind the massacre?

The Ingenious One Ending & Recap (Spoilers Alert!)

The Ingenious One has a happy ending. Yun Xiang outsmarted Prince Fu by making use of Nangong Fang to prevent the pirates from helping the prince to launch a rebellion. Nangong Fang was suspicious that Yun Xiang would let him go after being captured given the latter’s grudge against him. Hence, he deduced that Yun Xiang was expecting him to tell the pirates to launch the rebellion because a trap had been set for their capture. Nangong Fang’s suspicion made him advise the pirates leader not to do so instead which was what Yun Xiang actually wanted. Nangong Fang was tricked without him realizing Yun Xiang’s true intention.

With the failed rebellion, Prince Fu had to die. He was burned to death in his residence. Knowing that he had no escape after admitting defeat, he asked Yun Xiang to save his daughter who had wanted to die with him. Ming Zhu was carried away from the fire by Jin Biao.

One month later, Yun Xiang sent off Ming Zhu at the pier and advised her to continue living. She met Liu Gong Quan again along the way. Liu Gong Quan had taken up the responsibility to guard the coastal area rather than accepting a promotion offered by the Empress. Jin Biao reunited with Tian Hu who had thought he had died earlier. Su Huai Rou came back to see her brother and the 2 siblings were happy to meet again. Yun Xiang went to look for Ya Nan and the last scene shows him tapping on her shoulder to signify that they were back together.

Ya Nan’s Background

Ya Nan’s background will become clear in Episode 21 when she met her younger brother, Kou Yuan Jie. She is a Lingyuan Sect disciple and her mother is the sect’s leader. Her real name is Kou Lian Yi. 3 years ago, her mother wanted to marry Ya Nan off to Nangong Fang to try to keep the latter’s powers in check in the sect. But Ya Nan was not agreeable to the idea. Hence, she left and wanted to use her own ways to suppress Nangong Fang’s powers. She took advantage of the Wen Cong case to try to dismantle Nangong Fang’s power base in Nandu.

When Did The Couple Get Together?

Yun Xiang and Ya Nan get together as a couple in Episode 11. This is after he expressed the worry and restlessness he felt when Ya Nan’s life was at risk during the mission to transport back raw silk to Nandu as part of his plan to bring down Qi Tian Feng. He told her that his feelings for her are sincere. She trusted him and they became lovers.

Is There Any Breakup?

Ya Nan left Yun Xiang without saying goodbye in Episode 27. He had become suspicious that she is from Lingyuan Sect after several coincidences and Kang Qiao’s warnings. Yun Xiang got the confirmation in Episode 26 after he asked Kang Qiao to tail Ya Nan. She was seen meeting with her brother and his assistant.

Ya Nan knew Yun Xiang had already suspected her and hence, chose to leave. Her brother also used Yun Xiang’s safety to threaten Ya Nan into leaving Nandu and returning to their sect. She went back to look for Yun Xiang in Episode 29 to warn him about Nangong Fang. They talked. Yun Xiang knew their first meeting was a set-up and she was using him to take down Nangong Fang who is an internal enemy within Lingyuan Sect. But he also knew that she has never harmed him.

Yun Xiang wanted a reconciliation but Ya Nan turned him down because of who she is and the long grudge between the 2 sects. She was there merely to warn him that she had been ordered to work with Nangong Fang. Hence, they would be enemies. They reconciled in Episode 33 when Yun Xiang asked Ya Nan to cooperate with him against Prince Fu. He told that that he had never blamed her.

The couple parted ways again after Ya Nan killed her own brother in Episode 35. This is because her brother had killed their mother to become the sect leader. Ya Nan was tired of all the schemings and wanted out of that kind of life.

What Happened In The Luo Village Massacre?

The details of what happened to Yun Xiang’s clan is slowly revealed as the villains are exposed. Qi Tian Feng was the culprit on the surface and he was bankrupted by Yun Xiang through an elaborate plan in Episode 12. Once he was brought down, he told Yun Xiang his side of the story in Episode 13.

Wen Cong got Qi Tian Feng to try to acquire the Luo village land but the villagers refused to sell since it housed their ancestral burial grounds. So, they needed to be driven out. Qi Tian Feng heard about the plan to kill them but ignored it. He didn’t have the powers to stop it and also thought that the plan was incredulous. The person who brought in soldiers to do the job was Tang Xiao.

Hence, Tang Xiao was Yun Xiang’s next target. Yun Xiang entrapped him with a bet that caused him to lose money controlled by the Lingyuan Sect in Episode 19. Tang Xiao’s story was he and Wen Cong wanted to buy the Luo village land after rumors surfaced that the government was going to uplift the maritime trade ban. Since the villagers didn’t want to sell, a Sheriff Liu told Tang Xiao that he could kill them.

The villagers were then branded as pirates and soldiers were sent in for the massacre. Sheriff Liu was promoted after the incident but was eventually silenced. Tang Xiao then told Yun Xiang that it was Su Ming Yu’s late father, Su Ling He, who spread the rumor about the ban. Kou Yuan Jie of the Lingyuan Sect subsequently killed Tang Xiao in Episode 20. He broke Tang Xiao’s bones and then left him to the women Tang Xiao had abused to finish the job.

Su Family Involvement

Yun Xiang confronted Su Huai Rou in Episode 20 about the cruelty of her father. His checks of past documents revealed that Su Ling He had bought most of the land in the coastal area at a low price before he spread the rumor of the cessation of the maritime trade ban. As the rumor gained traction, the land prices in that area kept increasing. Su Ling He had then quietly sold off those lands to cronies. His aim was to entrap Wen Cong.

Wen Cong’s influence was rising in Nandu at that time and he had wanted to control the town’s trade. This posed a risk to Su Ling He. As most of the land in the coastal area had been sold, only the Luo village land was left for Wen Cong to buy. But Wen Cong could only buy if the villagers were driven out. Hence, the killing spree occurred.

When the rumor turned out to be false, the land price plummeted. This caused Wen Cong to be in debt and lost his influence in Nandu. Furthermore, Yun Xiang didn’t believe Tang Xiao had the power to involve soldiers to kill the villagers. Only a person with connection to imperial officers could do so and that person was Su Ling He.

In Episode 21, Su Huai Rou told Yun Xiang that she overheard someone from Lingyuan Sect asking her father to spread the news of the ban uplift. Her father was shown an official petition for it. Su Huai Rou then relinquished her position as chairperson of Nandu’s Chamber of Commerce and passed it to her brother to get Yun Xiang on their side. Yun Xiang was also promised access to the Su family’s resources. Su Huai Rou then left town to travel around with Qian Rong.

The Mastermind

Kou Yuan Jie’s impatience and ambition to become Lingyuan Sect’s leader led him to cooperate with Yun Xiang to try to kill off Nangong Fang in Episode 29. He told Yun Xiang that it was Nangong Fang who caused Wen Cong to lose influence in Nandu’s business circle. Hence, Yun Xiang then knew Nangong Fang was the person who told Su Ling He to spread the rumor that eventually caused the Luo Village massacre. After the incident, Nangong Fang was accepted by Prince Fu as his disciple and sent to infiltrate Lingyuan Sect.

Nangong Fang was made impotent by Ya Nan in Episode 35 after he tried to take advantage of her. He poisoned her wine but she had neutralized it and turned the tables on him instead. He was then captured and used by Yun Xiang as part of his plan to stop Prince Fu’s rebellion.

Yuntai Sect’s Leader

The Yuntai Sect’s leader had always been a mystery. Nobody had seen his face including the elders as this was supposedly to protect his identity since the sect was considered a rebel from past history. Prince Fu appeared in Episode 29 and his identity as the leader is revealed in Episode 33. His aim was to use the resources of Yuntai and Lingyuan sects to seize the throne. His reasoning was that he had always been seen as a threat and would be killed once the Crown Prince becomes the Emperor.

The Ingenious One Review – An Untypical Hero

The Ingenious One requires attention to watch. The plot centers around an investigation to find the mastermind behind a massacre. But along the way, the hero will need to bring down those involved to get to the final culprit. This requires brains and this is where the drama is supposed to shine. There will be schemings, traps, and countermoves. Hence, if you like Sword Snow Stride, this may pique your interest as well.

However, the hero in this drama, Yun Xiang, is an untypical one. Just like the male lead in The Moon Brightens For You, Yun Xiang can’t fight as he has no martial arts skills. He only knows how to run. His main strength lies in his ability to see things a few steps ahead and come up with schemes to achieve his aims. But he is not that righteous either especially in the beginning of the story. This is where it annoys me initially because we have a hero who sees everyone as a pawn to be used for his schemes and some of these characters are innocent.

In short, you are not going to get an altruistic and a selfless male protagonist when the story starts. It does require a bit of patience on your part for the character to grow and discover love, friendship, and brotherhood. I guess Yun Xiang can’t start off as perfect as that is not who he is in the story due to his past experience. He is not likable but it creates room for character growth as the plot moves along.

Schemings

A major part of The Ingenious One involves elaborate schemes by Yun Xiang to get a desired outcome. Therefore, he will do this through planning, deception, entrapment, and creating trouble for others so that they are forced to come to his side for help. This is what he did to get the Su family’s cooperation in the first quarter of the story. It is a bit different from Nirvana In Fire 1 whereby the hero also schemes but does so in a more dignified manner.

Some of the plans are also not so ingenious because it boils down to a gamble and carries a heavy risk. Some of his friends could have died because of his schemes. I think this is where the drama lacks that ultimate punch to make it into a really intriguing story. If the selling point of the drama is the ingenuity of the schemes and countermoves, then they have to leave viewers awed by the brilliance of it all. But you are not going to get that feeling in The Ingenious One. Yes, it has a fairly good plot but neither can it be labelled as superb in my opinion.

By the last quarter of the drama, the plot also starts to move away from the revenge angle to something else that has cropped up. After all the investigations and effort spent to right an injustice, the change of focus is kind of annoying at times. The mitigating factor is that the new focus is also related to the overall story. But the message of letting go of personal revenge in exchange for a greater good just doesn’t tie back to the start of how it all began in the first place.

Forget The Romance

Dramas like The Ingenious One that combine wuxia and revenge normally don’t make for a good romance. Add in the mind games and you will know romance is not the focus. The protagonists falling in love is expected. But how they transition from not so trusting partners to lovers is not going to move anyone watching. And once they start the relationship, don’t expect many romantic moments that will make your heart flutter. This is just not that kind of drama. Thus, if you are looking for romance, go watch something else in the mould of Love Like The Galaxy or even Till The End Of The Moon.

Furthermore, the chemistry of the 2 leads is just not there to present viewers with a pair of sizzling lovers. To me, I’m okay with it because the nature of the drama is not romance. So, it is not an issue with me if the leads fail to impress as a couple. Basically, the love is a necessary part of the plot to give the story some emotional conflict. Other than that, it doesn’t really drive the story as far as I’m concerned.

Predictable Villains

The Ingenious One is all about peeling off the layers to unearth the mastermind that caused the male lead’s clan to be massacred. So, by the time he appears, it is no longer a mystery who the person might be. In fact, Yun Xiang was directly told who initiated the whole incident. Hence, the excitement of the reveal is sort of an anti-climax.

Similarly, Yun Xiang’s master’s secret identity is also predictable by the time another character shows up late in the drama. There is no suspense in the reveal. The focus is on the plots and counterplots but even that doesn’t give viewers a lot to be excited about towards the end.

My Verdict – If You Like Strategies…

The Ingenious One would be interesting for those who like to watch more “intelligent” dramas. If you like witnessing a chess game, this might work for you. Dramas like this one and Stand By Me rely on mind games and strategies to entrap enemies. So, attention to detail and the dialogues is crucial to understand what is going on. On the flip side, some would find this kind of drama boring. As you watch, you have to understand what the protagonist is trying to do and why his plan is as such. So, this is not a title you want to binge on if you are looking for something easy to digest.

Overall, the drama is good but still lacks the awe needed in the strategies presented. Because the drama relies on ingenious schemes to drive it, you would automatically expect a high level of cleverness there. If you can sense that brilliance, this will be a great watch. But if you can’t, then some of that magic will be missing and you won’t be as impressed. Furthermore, some parts are not well-explained and the momentum build-up is kind of lost towards the end when the hero’s motivation switches away from revenge.

For The Ingenious One review, I would be happy to give it a 7.5/10 score. You should watch if you like a smart hero who uses his brains rather than brawn and don’t mind following his schemes throughout the drama. It also has a great cast and supporting characters which sometimes outshine even the main protagonists. For me, it is moderately enjoyable. It has a good premise for a story but somehow, it didn’t manage to come together in a way that makes it truly satisfying which is a pity.