{year}=2025{episode}=EP.11{type}=TV{ongoing}
Review
Royal Feast is the story of Zhu Zhanji (Xu Kai), the Ming Emperor Xuande (reigned 1425–1435), and his fictional love affair with the woman he loved, who later became his consort, Empress Xiaogongzhang (Wu Jinyan) of the Sun and (uncredited) Zhen (uncredited) Yingzhong). Aside from the lavish Ming Dynasty costumes and mouth-watering food, the entire script is poor in substance and leaves the viewer feeling uneasy. In fact, while watching the emperor and his harem enjoy the elaborately prepared dishes to fill their stomachs, I was filled with “qi” (anger).
More than 50% of the time is spent on the food – the preparation and presentation, the tasting of the food, the picking of the mouths, the wasting of the food, etc. The title of the drama is also called Feast, so food is to be expected. But I never expected to watch a drama centered around delicious food with dozens of boring catfights from the royal harem to the kitchen. Each episode, especially the first 30, made me sick to my stomach. (I know I keep referring to my own stomach, you know what I mean. )
Here we have a prince who has been crowned emperor (Xu Kai) since he was born because his grandfather, the emperor, favored him. He has power, but what he says doesn’t match what he wants, especially when it comes to his relationships, whether with the woman he loves or with his friends and subordinates, and this creates a lot of misunderstandings that make him jealous. Then we have the palace chef-turned-emperor who plays hard to get with the prince all the time.
The plot is a mix of real and fictional events with real and fictional historical figures. Many fictional events are illogical with excessive plot twists. None of the characters are interesting and likable, except for me, the millionaire Chen Wu (Zhu Zhi Ling), who is the most minor character (you can see that the overall character development is weak for everyone).
By episode 29, the story thickens a bit when Zhu Zhanji becomes emperor, and the romance improves after episode 33 when the main couple gets closer and there are fewer kitchen and food scenes, although many bad logics are still there. The whole story doesn't show much of what Zhu Zhanji did politically and in governing the country, or in defending his throne from his uncle, although it is briefly shown that he visited peasants in plain clothes and put down a rebellion by his uncle.
Xu Kai's performance is decent here. We know he is a child because he shows it on his face and in his body language. But the female lead is another story. I really don't like Wu Jinyan's performance here. She looks fake and her acting is confusing. Maybe that's how her character was written. There are a lot of ironies and inconsistencies with this character. She was originally chosen for Zhu Zhanji as the emperor. After years of cosmetic surgery, she was replaced by another woman who was said to be very lucky. She was bitter, so she changed her name to Yao Zijin (Wu Jinyan) and entered the palace as the imperial chef (doing what?). As the chef, Yao Zijin was kind and friendly, and at the same time secretly cunning. How can a person still be happy when her trusted friend tried to kill her? Seemingly innocent, she also has a plan to plot against her main rival in the kitchen. She says she doesn’t want to marry Zhu Zhanji and wants to stay in the kitchen to do what she loves. Then, in order to attract the prince’s attention, she suddenly falls down in front of him on purpose (wink). Time and time again, those who try to kill her escape with impunity and continue to live a normal life. And in the kitchen, when the emperor hates everyone’s cooking, she is the one who always saves the day. There are always incidents that happen at the grand royal feasts, such as assassinations, poisonings, allergies, deaths, etc. Oh, did I mention Wang Yizhe’s performance as You Yifan, the head of the imperial guard? His performance is really poor – stiff and awkward, and the constant expression of pale face is not inferior to the cold and bitter person the character is supposed to be.
