A great hit in 2004! I didn't watched this series when it released because I thought it would be quite boring. Honestly, it's not the kind of genre that I really like so I didn't give it a chance. It's just recently that I digged up some old series to see and decided to see it (cause of the compliments it received). And I really do like it.
The story was interesting to see. The schemes in here are much, much better than Beyond the Realm of Conscience and the story flows much smoother. Comparing the 2, Beyond is nothing compare to War and Beauty. Each character showed a reason for their doing and I really love them. War and Beauty really portrays the betrayals, friendships and schemes well.
It a refreshing series to see from tvb and was a great series to watch (though I wouldn't re-watch it, cause it's way to depressing for me xD). One of my friend says that this series is her favorite out of all the ones she've watched that talks about the forbidden city. The ending would be one thing I'll never forget...
Characters
Gigi Lai
She comes from a rich family but her mother is only the 4th mistress, so they had little respect in the family. Gigi is a really filial daughter who entered the palace and wanted to gain power because of her mom.
When she entered the palace, she was really good friends with Charmaine. Though they sworn to be sisters, all it was but just a lie. Though Gigi seem to be dumb on the outside, she is actually a scheming person. All along, her friendship with Charmaine was a fake and Charmaine caused her to lose the chance to see the emperor. With Maggie's help, Gigi was able to caught the emperor's attention and officially became the emperor's concubine. Later she was betrayed by Maggie.
She and Bowie then had an affair and she became pregnant (which everybody thought was the emperor's child). Bowie's and Gigi's was kinda betrayal and love at the same time. Gigi used him even though she loved him.
Even though I don't like her character that much, I do admire her for being a filial daughter. I hated her when she used Bowie for her own good but was touched when she rescued him. She might be evil but that was probably because of all the betrayals that happened to her. She deeply trusted Maggie but in the end, she was really hurt when she knew Maggie lied to her. Out of the 4 leading ladies, I probably disliked her character the most, but I can't say I dislike her either.
Charmaine Sheh
An orphan, she was taken in by a person that trained her to become a concubine. She is really loyal to him but he only wanted to use her to get close to the emperor. Her character is quiet and acted like a nice person but inside, she had a scheming heart.
As evil as she might be, she was not that evil at all. Even though she might be strong in the outside, I found her to be the weakest of the 4 in the inside. She was not evil enough because of Bowie. She fell for him when she entered the palace. As strong as a girl can be, she will grow weak when it comes to the person she loves. Bowie only loves Gigi and Charmaine knew that. Instead of trying to hurt Gigi, she didn't do anything because she knew that would hurt Bowie.
I do pity her character. Loving the one that doesn't love you is sad. Till the end, she still tried to help Bowie all she could and no longer was she fully committed to her 'mission'. For 10 yrs of her life, she was used and trained to get into the palace but in the end, she has nothing. She lost her sister, the man she loves, and the guy who she thinks she was being a filial daughter to. Out of the 4, she was the only girl to escaped from the palace.
Maggie Cheung
Just half a year before she was finally able to get out of the palace, something drastically changed her life. She's a maid who keeps to her work and doesn't get involve into the palace's schemes, but fate turned her life around. Maggie fell in love with Moses and wanted to live with him for the rest of her life when she get out. Unluckily, she helped Gigi and that made the Empress mad. The Empress then murdered Maggie's only family member, her grandmother. In order to get revenge, she betrayed Gigi and became the emperor's concubine, therefore also leaving Moses.
All she wanted was to get the Empress killed but with the Empress's power, that was impossible. Through all her plans, her effort was wasted and ended up getting the people around her hurt. She regretted what she did but the road she took was already official. In the ending, she managed to escape the palace with Moses and CHarmaine but was struck with an arrow behind her back.
Maggie's character was too caught up with revenge that she forgot who she was. In the end she could only regret it.
Sheren Tang
First featured as an evil concubine who trys to keep her position firm beside the emperor. Sadly, she did something wrong and was ignored by the emperor. On the other hand though, that was a blessing because she got to meet Moses whom she fell in love with and learnt the love that she had almost forgotten for her daughter. When Sheren held her daughter in her hand out in the snow, all I can feel was how sorry I was for her. Power corrupted her and had led to this misfortune.
Though she had her down times, I admire her for her strong personalities. She doesn't easily give up and always tried to stand back up again. Another thing I admire about her is that she doesn't get caught up in her emotions. She's smart and knows what to do.
Since the age of 16, Sheren had been living in the palace. So I felt that the ending they had for her was really well suited. Still, out of the 4, I'd say she has the sadest ending. Even though both Gigi and Maggie died, they died beside the one they loved. Charmaine hopefully started a new life, but Sheren..........she will be stuck in the palace all her life, unable to see the one she love.
She's the character I pity the most in the whole series. Jade is Charmaine's long-lost sister but they both don't know about it. She entered the palace before Charmaine and was abandoned by the emperor because of her sickness. During a coincidental meeting, Charmaine and JAde became good friends. Though Jade appears to be a normal concubine, she too was raise by the guy Charmaine was raised by and her mission is too get close to the emperor. But she didn't, and the reason is because of Bowie.
Before Jade died, she explained to Bowie how throughout the years, she've been slowly poisoning herself because she wanted him to come see her. I was shock to find out that she left the glorious life of a concubine just for him. She really is silly but also my favourite character.
Bowie Lam
5 women like this guy. I really don't know why....but maybe because of his caring attitude? Bowie plays as a royal physician who doesn't live at his home but in a brothel. The 5 women that loves him is Charmaine, Jade, Gigi, his wife and his soul partner at the brothel. In those 5 the only women he truly loved was Gigi. Unbelievable, but I guess love can't really be explain cause the other 4 were much better then Gigi, whom used him over and over again.
If I can choose who I want him to be with, it'll be Jade. Haha, I'm abit bias when I'm saying this (since she is my fav. character). If Jade did tell him earlier that she liked him, I wonder would he like her?
Moses Chan
Probably the least interesting of all the characters. Moses is a royal guard and he loves Maggie.....then I also think Sheren. He loves Maggie dearly but then because of her revenge, she turned him off. After that, he pitied Sheren and decided to help her and that's when I think she began to fell for him. There isn't much to talk about Moses beside the ending...
Ending Memories
During the ending, Moses decided to escape the palace with Maggie and Sheren, but Sheren wanted to stay. No matter what she said, he wouldn't let her go but did he really have a choice? Sheren said to him, "If we get outside, you can only choose one person (between her and Maggie), take that person's hand right now." I don't know if he meant to choose Maggie or actually the both of them, because he took MAggie's hand and did not let go of either of their hands. At that moment, Sheren took her hand away from his and pushed him to go.
I thought of it and I wonder if Moses liked Sheren or not? I felt really, really bad for Sheren. Having to live the rest of her life in the palace alone....
Another part I can never forget is when Charmaine found out that Maggie had an arrow in her back. Maggie told her to not tell Moses because she know that he's going to return to the city and might die there. So they silently rode off with Maggie leaning onto Moses shoulder and Charmaine silently tearing up.
I really like the ending for Maggie. Even though she did die, she died peacefully beside Moses and outside the palace walls. Now I'm wondering what will Charmaine do? Though she escaped, Bowie wasn't with her. But at least she still have her baby.
As stated before, I found Sheren's ending to be the sadest out of the 4. Her ending was just standing there silently reading the poem on the handkerchief. I'm still wondering who that handkerchief belongs too. Maggie's or Sheren's?
