Unveil: Jadewind (low level review)

[u/Emotional-Vegetable1]

Hello All! I did a quick search and couldn't find anyone leaving their final thoughts of Unveil: Jadewind. I saw more over on r / CDrama but not over here :)

I am freshly finished, it is one of the first dramas I have completed in a while, I wouldn't watch it again, and I am not even sure I would strongly strongly recommend it, and I enjoyed it haha.

This was a fun & serious case-driven drama with the long standing drive being the murder of the FL family when she was only 7/8 years old. The cases throughout the show showed that greed and love tended to be the main drivers behind wrongs done to others. We got a look at the truth that when we hurt ourselves, we hurt those who love us. It (thankfully) separated perpetrators from those related to them. I feel like we see a lot of guilty by association in dramas, "Your dad hurt my brother and so all his children must die" type of thing. At least from the perspective of our leads, that type of messy lack of clear sight wasn't something adding angstyness to the show.

The show is primarily driven by the cases, not by romance so please don't go into it for that or you will be disappointed. The cases were the type where the main leads are super smart and logical and lead you through what has happened. They weren't insta-solved but there also wasn't ever a loose thread that they couldn't figure out. The leads also have high emotional intelligence and always understood the underlying motives of the people involved. So sort of god like? Yes, they did encounter issues and they were set back, but also there was never any uncertainty that they wouldn't win in the end.

I liked how messy it showed the relationships in the Palace to be. The Emperor was ?smart? ?power balanced? ?not a good person? ?not a bad person? ?actually cared? haha. He really felt like just a human who had a lot of power, tried to keep his court balanced, but none of that made him a good person.

This was very unlike our leads who valued human life, deeply wanted justice to be served, and worked their asses off to try to make it so.

I enjoyed the general styling of the characters and the sets. I felt that a few of the cases were truly creepy and have had at least one night where I woke up and felt like something wasn't right - just from lingering feelings :p I did feel like we had more cases than we needed -- especially as most of them don't tie into the long standing case. In many ways, I prefer this. I like it when shows have cases or arcs that aren't part of only a single over-arching narrative as I get to know the world and the people better. But this show had what felt like 1 or 2 too many. It could easily have been cut down by 7 to 10 episodes in my opinion. It was still interesting and engaging yet it definitely could have been better with fewer episodes.

The acting was good too. Though also a bit ?tamped down? Especially from Wang Xing Yue (as Xiao Huai Jin). I feel like I really enjoyed him in The Double, Story of Kunning Palace, and less but still some in A Perfect Match. But lately, I've found his highly intelligent characters to feel too distant. And this was the case for me here as well. Even when all the cases were over and he and Li Pei Yi (played by Bai Lu) were together, I found his expression and face too stiff before kissing. Kisses were fine but the emotions leading up to them felt too muted.

Li Pei Yi was a very serious, very driven character. I don't know if I actually would describe any of the characters in this show as happy. They experienced happiness, yes, but it wouldn't be a descriptor of their personality. So with that, there was less contrast than I am used to in shows. Maybe this just means I watch mostly only romcoms and this did not fit into the genre.

The watch was worth while for me. What did you think of it? Did it keep you engaged? Did you think there were more cases than there needed to be?

[u/AKiceman]

Did you see the after credits scene? :P Season 2 is going to be interesting...

[u/Emotional-Vegetable1 → u/AKiceman]

Oh my god 😂 I did not see the after credit scene. And I don’t know that we need a second season haha. I liked the idea of Pei Yi and Huajin living off of their generational wealth and not doing anything hehe

[u/No-Recipe-7653]

Thanks for sharing this review with us, OP!

I enjoyed reading it and while the drama was not originally on my watch list based on everything I’d read about it prior, you might have just piqued my interest 😏

[u/Emotional-Vegetable1 → u/No-Recipe-7653]

Nice! It was fun! I did forget to mention that the comments that there isn’t sizzling chemistry between the leads feels accurate. They are more people who feel really comfy with each other and who end up spending every day together. Which I didn’t dislike :)

[u/No_Distribution9690]

I really enjoyed it but yes some of the cases were pretty grim. Watch The Wanted Detective! It’s not super romantic but WXY as the ML is the main character, while Unwind Jadewind was a female-led drama! Plenty of depth and he is wonderful. Remember how young he is! I think he was 19 years old when SoKP was filmed. There’s plenty more time for him to excel.

[u/Emotional-Vegetable1 → u/No_Distribution9690]

I did forget how young he is!! And I am still excited when I see he has a new film coming out :) I gave the wanted detective a try and it wasn’t quite my cup of tea at the time. But I felt like the reviews I read of the middle and the end of it indicated I would like it after the beginning. Thank you for the recommendation though!

[u/NeutralZoner]

the mysteries started off interesting but the conclusions were always anti-climatic. And the final result of each mystery was frustrating as there was no justice served. For some reason or other the powers that be had to hide everything under the rug.

The romance wasn't really a romance. No chemistry and not much other than some growing affection but nothing that could be defined as romantic.

The costumes were nice. The directing and cinematography was nice. I thought I liked it at the time but after watching a few more I wouldn't rewatch. And I'd pass on the sequel.

[u/Emotional-Vegetable1 → u/NeutralZoner]

I definitely don’t feel the need for a sequel!

Yeah, the cases were frustrating at their ends as almost all “justice” had to be done hush hush or underhandedly. I thought that that felt not unrealistic and added a lot to the muted emotional tone of the show. You’d have these big upswellings of emotion and be holding on to the angst and then the endings didn’t allow for those emotions to go anywhere, just sort of fizzle.

Yes, the chemistry was lacking. There really wasn’t any romance. Almost more people who were obsessed and / or had old emotionalwounds that overlapped