Stories of Han Dynasty (2005)

Not really the story of Han Dynasty

This is more my thoughts on the conclusion and the taste it left in my mouth. Thus I mainly talk about the ending here.

Despite the name of the show, it doesn't actually cover the Han Dynasty, only its origins. It starts with Liu Bang's life before fame, then proceeds to his rise and the Chu-Han contention, and while it's doing that it's very entertaining to watch. The problems arise after the victory of Han. By that point there's only a few episodes left, and they rush over what happens to some of the generals, and wrap up with what happens to Liu Bang himself and his wife. Honestly, I think the show should've ended after Liu Bang wins over Xiang Yu. The last few episodes were a bore to watch. It's almost like the creators were promised a 100-episode run, but then the budget was cut or something, and the show was downscaled to 50.

In the last few episodes, the main conflict of the story had already been resolved, all of the characters we've grown to love just basically fade into the background, and the story suddenly decides to focus specifically on Han Xin and Lv Zhi. They try to create new conflicts with Lv Zhi and Liu Bang's sons, but his sons are pretty much new characters. Sure, we have seen them before, but they never had any dialogue as they were kids. Now that they're adults, the show is trying to make us care about them within a couple of episodes. The final hours of Liu Bang carry little to no impact, and Zhang Liang (the best character of the show imo) dies offscreen. And just consider the fact this show is called "the story of HAN DYNASTY". Yet 90% of the show is taking place before the dynasty is even established, while the other 10% only cover the very beginning. This honestly should've been either called "The Origins of Han Dynasty" or "The Chu-Han Contention". And then they could make a sequel actually covering the actual life in Imperial China after the establishment of Han.

While watching the show, I thought I'd give it an 8. Because it was very fun to watch and had a lot of really impressive and satisfying scenes. But the ending is a huge letdown.

EDIT: I have just looked up the original title of the show and it's not actually called "the story of Han Dynasty" in China. I'm not sure who came up with this title for the translation, since the show has never officially come out in the West (not to my knowledge), but this is just a flatout wrong title. So, considering this, my complaints about the title shouldn't be addressed to the show itself. However, this doesn't change the fact that the ending feels rushed and anti-climatic. I still think the show should've ended with Liu Bang's victory over Xiang Yu.

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