Beauty Of Resilience Review - Drama Slot (2024)

Beauty Of Resilience (花戎) is another xianxia drama for 2023. There have been a few good ones of this genre recently and my guess is expectations should be quite high for this title as well. After all, the actress has a pretty large fan base following her success in earlier dramas. While I’m not a fan of hers, I don’t mind watching her productions. So, I went into this drama with an open mind. Below is my Beauty Of Resilience review and thoughts on this drama.

My rating: 6.5/10
Episodes: 36
Type: Xianxia Romance
Aired: June 2023
Images Credit:iQIYI Facebook

The Cast Of Beauty Of Resilience

• Guo Jun Chen as Yan Yue
• Ju Jing Yi as Wei Zhi
• Liu Dong Qin as Demon King / Mu Nan
• Lu Ting Yu as Yi Er
• Ma Yue as Wei Ling Yue
• Jiang Shan as Wei Jing Yue
• Nie Zi Hao as Ming Lang
• Huang Hai Bing as Heavenly Emperor
• Jin Qiao Qiao as Heavenly Empress
• Lin Feng Song as Yan Luo
• Sun Zi Hang as Qing Huan
• Kou Zhen Hai as Jing Xiu
• Zhang Zhi Hao as Ou Ya
• Song Xin Ran as Lan Su
• Shi Yue Ling as Mother Wei
• He Yi Chen as Imperial Advisor
• Zhang Jia Xin as Xiao Jin

Main Characters

Yan Yue

Yan Yue is a senior immortal and the Red Sun God of the Heavenly Realm. His father is the Heavenly Emperor while his mother is the late Heavenly Empress Xi Cai. Yan Yue is a stern-looking immortal who takes his responsibilities seriously. While he appears as cold and unfeeling on the outside, he still can be quietly affected by mortal emotions.

Wei Zhi

Wei Zhi is a maid in the mansion of Minister Wei. She is considered as someone who brings ill luck and disliked by her own mother. Although her life is tragic, Wei Zhi is persistent and rebellious as she wants control over her own fate. However, she has poor cultivation skills. Wei Zhi also a younger brother and they share a close bond.

Supporting Characters

Demon King / Mu Nan

Mu Nan is the supreme lord of the Demon Realm. He is an unsmiling character and can be ruthless when it comes to fulfilling his goal. He has an obsession with the past. Mu Nan is assisted by the 4 guardians of the Demon Realm namely Chi Nv, Se Ning, You Xing, and Wu Mu.

Yi Er

Yi Er is the Kitchen Fairy of the Heavenly Realm. Her aunt is the Heavenly Empress. Yi Er is always trying out recipes and looking for exotic ingredients for her cooking. She is playful and adventurous.

Wei Ling Yue

Ling Yue is the third daughter of Minister Wei who holds the Rites portfolio of Dayu Kingdom. She is a beautiful young woman who is often praised for her sensibility and talent. Ling Yue appears as kind and benevolent.

Wei Jing Yue

Jing Yue is the fourth daughter of Minister Wei and Ling Yue’s younger sister. The 2 sisters share a close relationship. Jing Yue is their father’s favorite child. She is a shallow young woman who is arrogant and temperamental. She loathes Wei Zhi and likes to pick on her.

Ming Lang

Ming Lang is the young lord of Gucheng City which is located at the border. His father, Ming Cheng Wu, is the city governor. Ming Lang is a fairly capable man but lacks courage to stand up for what is right.

Heavenly Emperor & Empress

The Heavenly Emperor’s responsibility to oversee the safety of the three realms. He is someone who may not be totally upfront about his plans even to his own son, Yan Yue. Yan Luo is his other son with the current Heavenly Empress who is also the Guardian of Time. The Heavenly Empress is an understanding mother who prefers to see her son stay away from the pinnacle of power and enjoy his carefree life.

Yan Luo

Yan Luo is the Rain God of the Heavenly Realm. His parents are the Heavenly Emperor and Empress. He prefers a simple life outside of the Heavenly Realm and likes spending his effort to rehabilitate barren lands while leaving the heavy duties to Yan Yue. Da Tao who is a tree spirit is his assistant.

Qing Huan

Qing Huan is the Chief of the Imperial Guards of the Heavenly Realm and Yan Yue’s friend. However, he serves the Heavenly Emperor and his loyalty to the latter comes first.

Jing Xiu

Jing Xiu is the Dean of Egret Academy which is a renowned cultivation school in the Dayu Kingdom of the Mortal Realm. His sole intention of practicing cultivation is not to achieve immortality but to learn the way of life and the truth. Jing Xiu is a wise and kind man.

Ou Ya & Lan Su

Ou Ya is the Wolf Prince while Lan Su is the Princess of the Fox Clan. Both of them are from the Spirits Realm and betrothed to each other. Ou Ya’s father is the Devil King while Lan Su’s elder brother is Prince of the Fox Clan, Yi Li.

Mother Wei

Mother Wei is Wei Zhi and Wei Ye’s mother. She is a widow who can’t stand the sight of her daughter and wants the best for her son. She blames Wei Zhi for the family’s misfortune.

Imperial Advisor

The Imperial Advisor is a trusted official of the Emperor of Dayu Kingdom. However, he is an ambitious man with his own agenda.

Xiao Jin

Xiao Jin is the son of the Deputy Minister of Personnel of Dayu Kingdom. He is ambitious but lacks capability. He is the Imperial Advisor’s running dog in the hope of getting benefits from him. Xiao Jin is also a student at Egret Academy together with Wei Zhi, Ming Lang, Bao Liang, Liu Chang and the Wei sisters. Bao Liang is a rich young man as his father owns a private bank while Liu Chang is the son of a mighty General.

Synopsis

In the beginning of time, the Heavenly, Mortal, and Demon Realms were formed. Outside of these realms, the Phoenix, which is a divine beast was also born. However, the Phoenix has long disappeared. When the time came for Dayu Kingdom to select people to enter their prestigious cultivation school, a phoenix apparition suddenly appeared on the Immortal Revealing Mirror when a group of people was presented in front of it. Hence, all the members of that group were admitted to the school in the quest to find out who is the real Phoenix.

Wei Zhi who was a lowly maid at Minister Wei’s Mansion and considered a jinx was one of the members of the group. The rest of were children of nobles including Ling Yue and Jing Yue who are Minister Wei’s daughters. Wei Zhi proved to be a slow learner and didn’t seem to have the aptitude for cultivation. On the other hand, Ling Yue was the top student and seemed to be the real Phoenix that everyone was looking for. Their trainer was Yan Yue who is an immortal from the Heavenly Realm with a duty to protect the Phoenix from being snatched by the Demons.

Because the Phoenix has great powers but still young in age with her reappearance, it was dangerous if she were to fall into the wrong hands. However, Yan Yue began to get attracted to Wei Zhi while Ling Yue also fell for him. Matters became more complicated when Ling Yue was not the Phoenix everyone thought she was and the Demon Lord was even more determined to get the real Phoenix back to his realm.

Beauty Of Resilience Ending & Recap (Spoilers Alert!)

Beauty Of Resilience has an ending that is open to interpretation. After the Heavenly Emperor’s dirty deed of taking over Yan Yue’s body was exposed, there was a final duel between him and Wei Zhi. The Heavenly Empress who controls time went back to a pivotal moment in the past to stop the Heavenly Emperor from killing Yan Yue’s mother. That act caused the Heavenly Emperor to be thrown off guard during his battle with Wei Zhi.

Hence, this gave Wei Zhi the opportunity to extract Huarong from her mind and transplant it into Yan Yue’s mind. This killed the Heavenly Emperor and Yan Yue regained control over his own body. But the extraction of Huarong means Wei Zhi will die and she is seen falling from the sky after saving Yan Yue.

6 months later, Yi Er has become the new Heavenly Realm ruler. There was peace as she declared that the world will be jointly managed by representatives of the different realms. Ou Ya was still feeling sad over Lan Su’s death and also lamenting that Wei Zhi and Yan Yue had disappeared after the final fight. Wei Zhi’s egg finally hatched and out flew a new Phoenix flying towards the sky.

A flashback then shows Yan Yue extracting Huarong that Wei Zhi had placed inside him. He sent Huarong to the Heavenly Realm’s Time Dust which purified the world along the way. Time was then reversed back to their past life as Chen Yan and Wang Yue. It was their wedding night but this time, there was no betrayal but a happy ending for them in the Mortal Realm.

Wei Zhi’s Identity

Wei Zhi’s identity as the Phoenix is revealed in Episode 10. Her true form will tend to reveal itself when her life is in danger or when she is pushed to the limit. So, when Jing Yue blamed Wei Zhi for causing Ming Lang’s arrest and Ling Yue’s disappearance, she strangled her. Wei Zhi turned into a Phoenix to save herself and the sign of the emergence in the sky was noticed by all. She showed her true form again to protect Yan Yue who was being attacked by Mu Nan in the same episode. This is because she refused to follow Mu Nan back to the Demon Realm and Yan Yue was there to stop him.

Phoenix’s Background

In Episode 10, it is revealed that the flower, Huarong, is a fragment of the Phoenix’s soul which fell into the flower bud when she was killed. Mu Nan has been guarding Huarong for years and waiting for the Phoenix to reawaken. Then, it is a matter of merging the two together. The Phoenix is the Demon Realm’s Saintess. When Huarong rejected the merge with Ling Yue, it was confirmed that she is not the Phoenix that they were looking for.

Yan Yue as the Red Sun God was destined to be the Phoenix’s enemy. According to his father in Episode 16, the Phoenix broke out from the mountain when the sky and earth were just separated. It was an unruly divine beast and had accumulated endless evil powers. It caused chaos in the world and started a war. Yan Yue’s mother trapped it in a flower and tried to use pure spiritual energy to purify the Phoenix’s heart.

However, the Phoenix caused catastrophe to the world again by breaking the barrier of the Heavenly and Demon Realms. Yan Yue’s mother then sacrificed herself to save the world and restored the barrier. His father then ordered him to fulfill his duty to kill Wei Zhi before her full powers as the Phoenix are restored and unleashed.

The Real Villain

In actual fact, the above were all lies concocted by the Heavenly Emperor to hide his real intention of wanting Huarong for himself. He wanted to absorb the Phoenix’s powers and this provoked her into harming the living. Yan Yue’s mother disagreed with his action and wanted to stop him. She was killed instead. He then blamed the Phoenix for her death to create the illusion that the Phoenix is evil and must be hunted down. This is revealed in Episode 35.

In Episode 36, the Heavenly Empress entered the Time Dust to find out what happened in the past. When she learned the truth, she confronted the Heavenly Emperor about his evil deed. He admitted that he wanted Huarong to achieve eternal divinity. That is why the Phoenix never dies but can keep getting reborn due to the presence of Huarong. As the Heavenly Emperor was getting old, his body was decaying. Thus, his need for Huarong intensified to the extent of taking over Yan Yue’s body in Episode 34.

Wei Zhi’s Past Life

Mu Nan showed Wei Zhi her past life in Episode 18 which runs until Episode 25. In her past life, Wei Zhi was Wang Yue. Her father was Sima Jin, a Marshal and respected army commander of Wei Kingdom. She also had a useless elder brother. Mu Nan was saved by the family when he was a kid and Wang Yue regarded him as a younger brother. However, Mu Nan had deep feelings for Wang Yue.

In the war between Wei and Jinghe Kingdom, Wang Yue insisted on following her father to guard Gucheng City. In Ming Lang’s previous life, he was General Yin from Jinghe Kingdom. Yan Yue was sent to the Mortal Realm as Chen Yan to undergo a love tribulation in which he met Wang Yue. Chen Yan was working for General Yin to repay his gratitude for saving him in the past. He infiltrated Sima Jin’s army as a spy and worked his way to earn the Marshal’s trust. However, Chen Yan also fell in love with Wang Yue in the process and they had their wedding in Episode 23.

Chen Yan was reluctant to betray Wang Yue but was obligated to carry out General Yin’s last wish when the latter was caught and beheaded by Sima Jin. Jinghe launched a surprise attack on the wedding night. Wang Yue witnessed Chen Yan killing her father. That betrayal triggered the Phoenix’s awakening inside her. The Heavenly Emperor then ended Yan Yue’s tribulation as Chen Yan. Yan Yue resumed his Red Sun God duty to kill Wang Yue. After a duel, both ended up piercing each other with their sword. Wang Yue died and a fragment of the Phoenix’s soul found its way inside the Huarong flower.

When Did The Leads Get Together?

After spending time together in hiding to allow Yan Yue to recuperate and prevent the Demons from tracking down Wei Zhi, they could no longer deny their feelings for each other in Episode 13. Wei Zhi confessed her love to Yan Yue in Episode 15 and they consummated their relationship. She also used the opportunity to save Yan Yue by transferring the poison from his body to hers.

The couple got married in the Demon Realm in Episode 34 after a series of events that included a long separation and memory loss.

Is There Any Breakup?

Yan Yue was forced to kill Wei Zhi due to his responsibility as the Red Sun God. In Episode 17, he was about to stab Wei Zhi when Ou Ya and Mu Nan appeared to whisk her back to the Demon Realm. Yan Yue pursued them and unleashed his powers at Wei Zhi.

A few days later, Yan Yue brought Huarong back to the Heavenly Realm. He explained to his father that the Phoenix has kept reawakening because of Huarong’s presence. With Huarong withering, it showed that the Phoenix’s spirit was dead. However, Wei Zhi was still alive. She woke up to find herself still in the Demon Realm but could not remember what happened. Mu Nan told her that he and Ou Ya had saved her from Yan Yue. Furthermore, Yan Yue was her killer in her past life as well.

In actual fact, Yan Yue made a deal with Mu Nan to save Wei Zhi. He will bring Huarong back with him to trick his father that he had killed her. In exchange, Mu Nan will convince Wei Zhi to forget Yan Yue and lay low. This is revealed in Episode 26. To further make Wei Zhi give up on him, Yan Yue created an illusion that he is marrying Yi Er. But he went back to her in Episode 28 after learning that she was pregnant with his child and dying.

Unfortunately, the reconciliation was short-lived when he lost his memory of Wei Zhi and she ended up in a coma due to his father’s doing in Episode 29. Wei Zhi woke up 30 years later and got back together with Yan Yue after he regained his memories in Episode 32.

Is There Any Love Triangle?

Ling Yue was also interested in Yan Yue but failed to get his love. This made her jealous of Wei Zhi. Together with her father’s preference for her younger sister over her, Ling Yue became obsessed with revenge. She even instigated Jing Yue and led her astray to get her to work together to harm Wei Zhi. When Yan Yue made it clear that he only loves Wei Zhi in Episode 14, Ling Yue was adamant on killing her in the name of eradicating evil by cooperating with the Imperial Advisor.

Ling Yue attacked Gucheng City in Episode 27 to force Wei Zhi out of hiding. She was killed by Mu Nan in Episode 28 when she attempted to take Wei Zhi’s life.

Mu Nan was also obsessively in love with Wang Yue/Wei Zhi and has been for a very long time. He saw Yi Er as Wang Yue/Wei Zhi in Episode 14 in his moments of desperate yearning. He was also disappointed that Wei Zhi could not remember their past. However, after learning about her past life, Wei Zhi told Mu Nan in Episode 28 that the person he cared about is not her but Wang Yue. They were two different people and Wang Yue was already dead. Hence, Wei Zhi advised Mu Nan to move on and seek a new life with another.

This caused Mu Nan to rethink his relationship with Yi Er who loved him. But he couldn’t be with Yi Er when he exhausted his spiritual powers to kill Ling Yue. He confessed his love to Yi Er before he died in her arms in Episode 29.

Other Key Events

• Mu Nan became the Demon Lord in Episode 25. The previous Demon Lord transferred his powers to Mu Nan before he died because he trusted Mu Nan would do all he can to revive Wang Yue/the Phoenix who was the Demon Realm’s Saintess and protector.
• Jing Yue died in Episode 27 during a battle when Ling Yue attacked Gucheng City.
• Wei Zhi’s mother died in Episode 27 after she shielded her daughter from Ling Yue’s attack.
• Jing Xiu sacrificed himself to instill his spirit of kindness in Wei Zhi in Episode 27 after she was consumed by malice following her mother’s death.
• Yan Luo became the new Heavenly Emperor in Episode 29 after his father had exhausted his essence energy to try to kill Yan Yue and Wei Zhi.
• Yan Luo was killed by his own father in Episode 35 after he realized that his father had taken over Yan Yue’s body. Da Tao was also killed when she went to check on Yan Luo.

Beauty Of Resilience Review – Messy Story Execution

Beauty Of Resilience is actually a pretty simple story but its execution is not up to par resulting in a mess for viewers. I’m not saying that it is horrible and beyond redemption but be prepared for glaring weaknesses when you watch. To me, it is messy because some crucial things are not well-explained. For instance, the ending leaves a big question mark of what actually happened and where things stand for the main couple and their friends. It is open to interpretation. In other words, it will leave you confused when the drama draws to a close.

On top of that, the build-up to the ultimate villain is predictable and an anti-climax. You can’t feel the suspense. The problem is further compounded by the way one of the villains is dispensed with. The background and motivations for the evil doing are carefully laid out from the beginning but the ending for the character will leave you feeling shortchanged by the abruptness of it all. This is because that storyline takes up more than half of the drama while the ultimate villain’s sub-plot only becomes prominent towards the last quarter. Thus, that creates a sense of imbalance in the drama that doesn’t leave you with a good overall impression.

Recycled Plot

Beauty Of Resilience is a typical xianxia drama that relies on jealousies and scheming villains to give us a story. Just like Till The End Of The Moon, it has different arcs to it with a past life but it doesn’t have the same intensity and darkness. Hence, without a good execution to give us a more heartfelt story, the recycled plot will feel more obvious as you watch. It will also start to feel dry compared to the more humorous tone of The Starry Love and feels ridiculous at some point.

Basically, it has a jealous female theme who hates the heroine for “robbing” away her man and we have seen this countless times including in the classic Ten Miles Of Peach Blossoms. Then, we will also have the lovers being pitted against each other as they are destined to kill one another just like in Song Of The Moon. Finally, a hypocritical immortal rounds up what is essentially typical xianxia tropes.

I guess it is hard to run away from such storylines for xianxia dramas. If you have come to expect such recycled plots in this genre and don’t mind them, then Beauty Of Resilience is still watchable. But if you want something more whether in terms of a unique story or more intense emotions, then it will fall short.

Acting And Chemistry

The last time I caught Ju Jing Yi is in Rebirth For You which is another poorly scripted drama. Personally, I don’t see vast improvements in her acting from her earlier dramas with Zhang Zhe Han in Legend Of Yun Xi to the current Beauty Of Resilience. She is okay as an actress and I don’t have much complaints generally. I’m still open to watching her dramas. But I have also come to expect nothing truly groundbreaking from her whereby her acting could move me to laugh or cry along. In Beauty Of Resilience, she performed as expected but I cannot recall any memorable scenes from her that could make her stand out as an actress.

Perhaps Ju Jing Yi has to really get out of her comfort zone and take on vastly different roles from the ones before. Up till now, her characters and styling look more or less the same from one drama to the next.

Her partner, Guo Jun Chen, is not particularly outstanding either. This is because he had to play more than one character in the drama and he did well in one but not the other. He doesn’t have the commanding presence as a God but he has the cheekiness of the mortal character in the later part of the drama. Granted it is not easy to play a few characters in the same drama and there must be subtle differences to distinguish them. So, I guess it is understandable that he fared well in some parts and not so well in others.

Together with Ju Jing Yi, the resulting chemistry is an average one. I don’t feel particularly moved by their romance. They are watchable as an onscreen couple but there is also nothing extraordinarily sizzling in their interactions.

Redeeming Qualities

While Beauty Of Resilience is peppered with weaknesses, there are also a few redeeming qualities to help it stay in the average category rather than descend into absolute thrash. The drama actually starts out well with a bit of mystery about the flower that the Demon Lord is guarding so closely. There is no suspense as to who is the divine beast everyone is looking for and who will be the evil one. It is predictable in that way. But there is still anticipation as to how everything will be revealed and the schemings that will take place.

Therefore, the first quarter of the drama will be interesting enough to pull you into the story. The mortal arc will also be able to inject a change of tone and setting in the story to make it less monotonous. So, it is a good switch at the right time and with the right length to give context the to main couple’s ill-fated relationship before the plot starts to turn messy and ridiculous.

On top of that, I think the OSTs are pretty good and you wouldn’t mind listening to them over and over again. They are played in the right scenes to add to the feels for the viewer. At the very least, they are not annoying like how it can happen in some dramas.

My Verdict – Hard To Love It

Beauty Of Resilience is a drama that is hard to love for me. It shows promise in the beginning but then descends into messy plot execution with a story that borders on absurdity at times without coherent explanation. The upside is the story is simple and hence, you can still get the gist of it. It is only the details that will leave you feeling confused especially towards the end. So, if you are the type who need to understand every little detail in a drama, this will probably make you feel frustrated. But if you can gloss over some parts and fill in your own blanks, then this might not be so bad overall.

I think the main problem is this drama is written in a way that doesn’t give us a very inspiring male lead. While his actions are understandable, sometimes you will also get the feeling that he is too passive and lacks the guts to pursue what he wants. By the time he realizes it, it is too late because the plot has taken a wrong turn for the worse as it enters the last third.

So, for this Beauty Of Resilience review, I would rate it 6.5/10. It has too many weaknesses to justify a higher score. I would have given it a little higher if the ending is better executed but alas, it is rushed and confusing. This is a typical Ju Jing Yi drama and therefore, I think it is still worth a watch if you are a fan. If you are not, you can still give it a try. The start should be interesting. Whether you will stay for longer will depend on your tolerance for the passive male lead and xianxia tropes.