#mengfei comes across

[lizpreciosa]

ENGSUB【萌妃驾到 Mengfei Comes Across】EP01 | 后宫朋友圈百态,懵懂少女躲侍寝 | 金晨/汪东城/刘冠麟/夏一瑶...

[renewedmotionforjudgment]

The imperial doctress

Mengfei comes across — it’s a delightful parody of harem dramas.

Singing all along (and has an HEA)

The promise of Chang An, with the caveat that it’s not particularly HEA but Cheng Yi does some beautiful suffering.

Also, gong 2 is basically Yu Zheng’s Yanxi palace to Zhen Huan, but with way bright colors. Although I do love the implication that Qingchuan wrote basically Zhen Huan and you know what, headcanon accepted.

almost-autumnal weather has me in some kind of mood, so i'm looking for some harem cdrama recs, or at least ones that adjacent to that in a social intrigue/courtyard drama way

i know @tavina-writes Tried to help me with this previously (unsuccessfully :'')) seeing as i had seen like. most of them ; w ; but im just listing out most of the ones i Have seen so maybe someone has some other suggestions?? (*whispers* if @dangermousie has some recs i would love them)

harem/courtyard/social intrigue-related cdramas i have seen legend of zhen huan/empresses in the palace story of yanxi palace story of ming lan (my beloved!!) bu bu jing xin jade palace lock heart the sword and the brocade (went over halfway, dropped) chang feng du love like the galaxy unchained love the eternal love (watched s1 and s2 dropped later) the rebel princess aka monarch industry (watched like 60% of this, dropped)

bonus mention of not harem dramas, but extra dramas i've liked a lot twisted fate of love a dream of splendor new life begins (enjoyed this a reasonable amount) joy of life im not fond of super-tragic endings and prefer happier endings overall, so i've been avoiding legend of ruyi. also prefer competent heroines with all things considered so.....any help with any recommendations??

[tytangfei]

mengfei comes across (2018) - ep4: “Your Highness, I was just joking as it feels too quiet here.”

[arabellamcgrath]

They’re looking more and more like an actual couple...

It was too bad that they were only sleeping together to end the rumours that His Majesty is impotent, but it was too cute. The Emperor got close to her while sleeping and she tried to take his arm away numerous times, but gave up in the end.

Ohh, and this 💕💕💕 So endearing!! And the Eunuchs trying to hide they were seeing everything 👀

I had so many laughs at this. The Emperor wanted to enter the prostitute house without knowing what it was, and they tried to warn him but he didn’t get it. And he permits her to have her way with him 😂😂 I think Zhenshuang (is that his name? I don’t remember exactly) didn’t liked this one bit.

And she’s wearing his clothes now ❤️

[krysyuy]

And they lived happily ever after.

[queensqewed0722]

Mengfei Comes Across (I love and hate you!)
Sometimes you come across a drama that you end up enjoying so much yet get so frustrated and disappointed about because you know it could have been so much more. That’s how I felt after watching the C-drama “Mengfei Comes Across” (also known as “Oh My Cute Consort”). This premiered in 2018 and starred Jiro Wang as Emperor Wen Lou, and Jin Chen/Gina Jin as Lady Bu Meng, his consort. 


I stumbled upon it while watching some clips on YouTube about something else and it was recommended to me. It looked very beautiful so I decided to watch the clip. I became curious because the premise reminded me so much of a favorite anime called “Saiunkoku Monogatari” so I searched for the complete series with English subs. Fortunately enough, they were readily available on YT. 


The series revolves around Bu Meng, the daughter of the Royal Court Historian, who ends up becoming one of the Emperor Wen Lou’s consorts because of a slight that her father had done towards the Emperor. In return for the offense, His Majesty decides to pick on her, though harboring no personal interest in her at all. Meng doesn’t want the attention because she’s read in her books that imperial consorts who gain the attention of the Emperor often become the target of intrigue and malice and can even lose their lives. Meng intends to live a long, happy life so she strives to avoid him at all costs. 

Unfortunately for her, not only does she end up directly under his radar because of her father, but her personality and antics turn the Emperor’s initial disinterest into curiosity.
She ends up somehow getting involved with him in so many ways, despite herself, and he ends up liking her more and more along the way. However, Meng’s desire is to leave the palace and gain her freedom again, so when the Emperor becomes the target of mysterious assassins, Meng volunteers to help find the culprits in exchange for her freedom. Together with Minister Zhen Shishuang, an investigative prodigy who also happens to be her childhood friend and first love, Meng succeeds in uncovering a serious plot against the Emperor, masterminded by his first consort, Imperial Consort Ru, adopted daughter of the Prime Minister. 


But the Emperor is hard-pressed to honor his word to let her go, especially when he learns that Minister Zhen and Meng were once in love and almost married each other. Yet he decides to set her free, much to his mother, the Empress Dowager’s disappointment and anger. Meng, on the other hand, realizes that she can’t leave him anymore because somewhere along the way, despite her reluctance, she had fallen in love with him. 


That’s basically the summary of the series. 


I’m actually quite torn about this drama. On the one hand, I found myself liking it very much. The aesthetics were good: costumes were beautiful and the actors were just so pleasing to the eyes. The comedic timing of the main actors were on point, although the minor ones seemed just a bit too overdone for my taste. And the chemistry of the leads was just lovely and they had this level of sexual tension between them that made me jump on their ship. 


This is the first time I’ve watched Jin Chen/Gina Jin and Jiro Wang. I don’t know them and I’ve never seen anything of theirs. But to me, they were perfect as Meng Fei and His Majesty. Every time I saw them on screen together, I felt warm and fuzzy and I smiled so much. I just wanted the scene to go on and on because they were just beautiful and the sparks were there. Jiro Wang had this seemingly hooded gaze that smoldered every time he looked at her. It’s like a mix of deep affection and intense desire toward her. Gina Jin, on the other hand, had just enough level of denseness and disinterestedness towards him. And her face, especially her eyes, are just so expressive. She had this wonderful interplay of mischievousness and intelligence that often manifested through a bright smile which made her whole face glow, making me understand just why Jiro Wang’s His Majesty is so taken with her.


But apart from that, the drama left me very frustrated because the story and plot development left a lot to be desired, as far as I’m concerned. The series was 36 episodes long (according to some early reports, it should have been 45) yet the main plot seemed to have exhausted itself by episode 21, which is when the Emperor and Meng Fei admitted their love for each other. Even in terms of story arcs, the meatier part of the drama was in the first half until this point, what with the assassins and the intrigues from the consorts and the objections from the Empress Dowager all coming into play, together with the comedic antics of the characters. After that, it was mostly stand-alone arcs involving minor characters (although there was also a handful of this in the first few episodes, which almost made me stop watching), with the Emperor and Meng merely becoming instruments to push the story along. In fact, they hardly had any substantial or meaningful screentime at all. 


To my mind, it was too much time wasted on arcs that never had any real purpose in driving the main story, which could have been devoted to expounding on more interesting sub-plots, such as the story of Lady Xiao, one of Meng’s fellow consorts and closest friends. She’s a former general who grew up with the Emperor and fell in love with her fellow general, Shi Shang. This could have been very interesting and compelling because after they were separated when the war ended, and after her father’s death, the Emperor made Lady Xiao enter the palace to give her sanctuary. She encounters Shi Shang afterwards inside the palace, as an assassin hired by a rival state to kill the Emperor. It turns out that he had been captured by them after the war and made to drink poison. In exchange for the antidote, he had to assassinate the Emperor. This could have tied beautifully with the first arc on the assassins that were sent by the Dongli State and led by Imperial Consort Ru, who turned out to be their princess. 

Another interesting sub-plot that should have been tackled and tied into the assassin story arc was the one of Chen Yuanxi, Meng’s childhood friend, who also became a soldier.  She and Meng’s brother, Bu Yue, have always been at odds since childhood, yet in the end it turns out that they are in love with each other.  If it weren’t for the fact that Yuanxi was thought to have been killed in battle and a corpse that was mistaken for her brought home for burial, much to Yue’s grief, they would not have admitted to their feelings for each other.  Bu Yue, incidentally, is also a well-known and much-admired general.  


The latter part was really such a waste. I could only imagine how much more interesting this would have been, especially if the friendship between the Emperor and Meng was allowed to flourish some more before they decided to become lovers. Their scenes together before Meng realized she loved him were just wonderful. And those moments when he would hint at his deeper feelings for her and she gets flustered are just the stuff that wonderful, fluffy romances are made of. 


And how nice it would have been if Minister Zhen was tapped by the Emperor to head the investigations on the assassination attempts and he became a trusted advisor. Just imagine the Emperor’s own dilemma, if they had become friends as well, even as he is riled up with jealousy because Meng likes Zhen very much. 
And I really think there should have been scenes of the Emperor and Lady Xiao talking intimately as friends, especially regarding his feelings for Meng. After all, they grew up together. I think it’s possible that her father may have trained him too. And I think it was also hinted at that they fought together before he became emperor? I’m not sure about this but it’s not far-fetched. 


If I were to rewrite this drama, I would make the development of the romance between the Emperor and Meng revolve around the assassination plot and the political intrigue of the rival states. I would also make Minister Zhen’s character stay throughout the drama, not only because he would have been very useful in attempting to uncover the plots against the Emperor, but his presence would have presented a nice tension between the Emperor and Meng. It would have made Meng’s decision to stay as consort, despite her loss of freedom, more compelling. And I would give more meat to the story of Meng’s three consort friends, Consort Xiao, Consort Yan and Concubine Qu. I’d take out all the other minor arcs, like that of the imperial cook and imperial physician. 


I would have made Meng stand firm on her decision to leave the palace anyway to pursue her own dreams, despite the fact that she’s slowly falling for the Emperor (just to prove that she is truly independent and empowered) but would have made her return in the second half of the story at the request of the Empress Dowager (who didn’t like her very much for her son). Perhaps something serious would have happened to the Emperor as a result of the attempts on his life, and Her Majesty would ask Meng to come back and care for him. And there would have been a man-to-man talk between Minister Zhen and the Emperor about their love for Meng. And maybe Zhen would talk to Meng and help her come to terms with her own feelings for the Emperor.  I wouldn’t have made it so easy for her to just accept that she had fallen for him and give up on her own dreams.  No matter how ditzy she may sometimes seem, Meng’s character is intelligent and independent.  It would have made for a more interesting romance, not to mention given the drama more time to give Meng and the Emperor - with Zhen thrown into the mix - more screentime cuteness together.  


Oh well. I would have to content myself with re-watching this up until episode 21 and just imagine all the ways this drama could have been so much better than just a slapstick comedy.

[bestivals]

[chris-jumbo]

Jin Chen on the cover of Lifestyle Magazine

[thotsimulator]

I don’t know why but I lost my shit at this scene

[remo-ny]

萌妃驾到 / Consort Meng is Here

[incessantcomposition]

Mengfei Comes Across E04 | “You guys can’t even understand that? Are your brains frozen?”

[renewedmotionforjudgment]

I’ve been watching Mengfei Comes Across aka 萌妃驾到, which probably would have not come across my radar if it wasn’t for that weird censorship thing (for what, I have no idea. It’s hardly the most controversial drama out there.).

Two things: Gina Jin has amazing comedic timing (I’m so used to seeing her in more serious roles). Also, I kinda like the fact that the show put equal focus on Meng Fei’s friendship with other women in the inner palace as her romance with Jiro Wang’s character.

Also, favorite quote so far: “you should see an imperial physician. You have health insurance in the inner palace.”

ETA: I guess they deleted 9 episodes? Which would explain the choppiness. I’m still confused as to why, because again, not exactly the most controversial drama out there.

[tytangfei]

mengfei comes across (2018) - ep1: “I’m ordering you to turn around.”

[arabellamcgrath]

THAT’S HOW A CONFESSION IS MADE 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻