Do note that there may be spoilers in this review. Anyways, let's start with the review.
First Impressions
At the beginning, the story opens up with some scary monkeys that seems to be chasing after Ye Li who was young at that time. She runs into a house that seems to be abandoned and she quickly shuts the door. Then the story shifts to the present time. Ye Li is presented as this smart, and intelligent lady. She is always telling stories about how everyone is doing good at Lishan mountain. She is always telling stories about her seniors doing farming and all those stuffs. When you watch the first few episodes, she paints this perfect picture about Lishan, even though they are now restricted from the outside world, and they have their own challenges, but she still made it sound like life wasn't too bad.
As you keep watching more episodes, you begin to see cracks in her stories. You begin to doubt her words, and you are not even sure if she's intentionally lying. When I watched the first 4 episodes, I didn't pay much attention to the story, because I was dealing with personal stuffs, my mind was all over the place. Then I rewatched those episodes again, just to understand the story and catch up before I move to episode 5. That's when I noticed how well-written this Ye Li character is. She is like a perfect picture, but the more you know her, the more she appears on screen, is the more you see the psychological wounds she has. I didn't notice that Ye Li was the only person who can see and talk to QingShuang, until her senior asked if Qingshuang was around them.
Then as you watch, they slowly give you something to make you curious, they don't rush to explain or go into much detail. Just a small hint is enough, you will see more hints through the dialogues. That's what makes Ye Li a well written character. Each episode slowly breaks this perfect image around her, even as a viewer you begin to think twice before you trust her words when she speaks about Lishan. Because you can see the cracks in her stories.
Ye Li was well written
I really appreciate how they don't just break this perfect image of Ye Li's painting, they are also showing you her struggles when she was growing up. Lishan is connected to the main storyline, and Ye Li's mother played a huge role in the story with the edict. She's also the daughter of the Lishan grandmaster and she was friends with the empress dowager. The edict that was in her hands was related to the incident of the Mo family. If she managed to submit the edict as evidence, the Mo family wouldn't have happened. So they frequently showed us how Ye Li's mom was badly treated in the Ye family. All those events caused a lot of trauma on Ye Li. Which is why I say, I appreciate how they slowly peeled off this Ye Li character, while they are also showing you why she's reacting to something or protecting a certain person.
And the last part about her is how she's out of reality sometimes, which really made me curious when she started showing this side of hers. She fell off a cliff, which was unbelievable but I'm just going to pretend she didn't fall from a cliff and walk normally as if she never fell. Anyways, she fell from a cliff, then she fought some venomous snakes. But when she tells her senior that master Zhu saved her she is talking about someone who is trapped in Lishan, it's not possible for him to come out of nowhere to save her and disappear out of thin air.
So while she's busy explaining that event, they show you what really happened. Then zoomed in on her senior brother who seems not to believe what she is saying. This is what I really liked... the way people reacted to most of her explanations, is the way I was reacting to them. When Mo Xiuyao was suspicious, I was also suspicious, because that explanation didn't make sense. And you have to keep in mind that Ye Li is the only one who knows what happened to the people of Lishan, so whatever she says, people will believe her because she is the only one with information. But as she's painting this picture, her character is slowly getting peeled off like onions, after each layers you discover something secondary about her and her past. And on the lore, it's the mystery behind Lishan. What really happened on the mountain? Are the people on the mountain still alive? Because Ye Li was the only one to leave the mountain, and she's still living in this fantasy world, what she says doesn't match what we are being shown in the flashbacks.
And she was really busy. She was saved by Mo Xiuyao when she was young, she went to the execution spot when Mo Xiuyao's brother was executed. Her character is very busy, which is why I was only thinking about her this whole time. The story is centered around her.
Story
Anyways, let's not make the review only about Ye Li. So the first episodes were focused on arranged marriages between the two daughters of the Ye family and the two princes. Ye Li was meant to be married to Mo Jingli, but he cancelled the engagement, because of his revenge mission. We'll talk about that later. So now Ye Li is married to Mo Xiuyao, who is a cripple. Ye Li's sister is married to Mo Jingli. The wedding happened on the same day. That was when we got introduced to the characters.
Firstly, they touch on the story behind Mo Xiuyao's injury, and how his brother and his army was falsely accused. They also say that an edict was never provided as evidence. That led to his brother and the army to get executed. So after the wedding, the focus is on Ye Li and Mo Xiuyao. A lot of episodes passed without seeing Mo Jingli and Ye Li's sister, which was great because the leads had enough screentime to build the chemistry, and we also get to dig deeper in the story since it highly revolves around Ye Li and Mo Xiuyao.
I really thought this was going to be one of dramas, where the male lead is very suspicious of the female lead, each one of them is kind of plotting something against the other. Something like this drama called Are you the one. But The First Jasmine is slightly different. Even though both of them were plotting, they had the same target and the same mission. Secondly, I didn't get the vibes of a husband suspecting his wife, or wife suspecting her husband, in a way that they had to sleep with one eye open. It was more like getting to understand that person's habits and also trusting that they will never do anything bad to you.
Mo Xiuyao never suspected Ye Li in a way that we usually see in most dramas. He was just surprised and curious when he slowly learnt about his wife's actions. He never sent someone and there to follow his wife 24/7. Wait a minute, I think he did send someone to follow her one time. He was curious why she always went for a walk every morning. Another time, Mo Xiuyao himself followed her, but it wasn't a 24/7 thing. Most of the times, he didn't even know where his wife was. Because he didn't keep a spy next to her. And that allowed Ye Li to avenge Mo Xiuyao in the dark. Ye Li completed her missions in secret, without being noticed because Mo Xiuyao didn't send people to always follow her whenever she left home.
I'm saying all these stuffs to challenge the element of suspicion between the leads. There isn't any suspicion, and this is because they knew each other for years. Mo Xiuyao saved Ye Li when she was young. Ye Li also gave Mo Xiuyao some cakes when he was taken to prison, they saved him from hunger. Both of them were never doubted each other, they were just curious about the habits of one another.
One thing I can say Mo Xiuyao always doubted was Ye Li's intentions with him. Because he is a cripple, why would someone like Ye Li like him or do all those things for him. Only to discover that he has physical injury, and Ye Li has psychological trauma. Even if I was Mo Xiuyao, I would have been curious too. I mean, Ye Li managed to get rid of that scum of a guy who was performing rituals for the Mo family.
So as they were plotting and investigating the truth behind the incident that happened 8 years ago, to paths to the princes, we get introduced to the emperor, the empress dowager, the marques. These are the powerful people in the story. And that's where they started getting deeper and deeper in the story, how everyone is related and linked to the case. We even got some screentime from Mo Jingli, who is the son of the crown prince. He's technically the rightful ruler of the nation, but that position is taken by the empress dowager and the current emperor. So which is why Mo Jingli is also plotting to get the throne.
Mo Jingli Arc
For me, Mo Jingli's revenge arc was a waste of time. It did contribute to the main story, but it was clouded by the Lishan storyline. I didn't have much excitement for that whole rebellion arc, plus Mo Jingli himself wasn't a frequent onscreen character. I think Ye Li's senior brother had more screentime then Mo Jingli. So for me, as long as I understood why he was doing whatever he was doing, it's all good, there was nothing else I can point only at his arc and say, this was really great. Even if he only appeared on the last episode, it would have made no difference in the story. He barely showed up.
So as the story moved forward, a lot of unexpected events unfold. I really loved the story with Ye Li's grandmother. I didn't expect to see this kind of plot twist. And this comes at a time where Ye Li explained how what happened to her mother. So while we are on the matters of the Ye family. Ye Li's younger brother deserved more screentime, maybe have him play with Mo Xiuyao's nephew. I just wish he had more screentime.
Best moments to mention
I don't want to drop a lot of spoilers, so I'm just going to pick and choose certain moments to talk about. Surely I want to talk about the two sons of the marques. They are half brothers. One is loved and the other is used to do all the dirty work. At first it felt like the two brothers didn't like each other. Then when the marques set up Qin Feng, his half brother came in rushing, trying to warn him. He even showed up for him, when he was leaving the capital. He sent people to give him some money and make sure he was good. That's one of the heartwarming moments I witnessed in the drama.
Another moment I want to talk about, is the last chapter of the Lishan storyline. When Ye Li returned, she was still living like everything was perfect on the mountain. You ask her about her masters and seniors, she will tell you that they went to the rice field. Then Mo Xiuyao discovered the truth. But he played along, just to avoid breaking her. There was this part where Ye Li introduced Mo Xiuyao to everyone on Lishan, but only Ye Li can see them. Mo Xiuyao played along and greeted everyone. Then when Ye Li finally woke up to reality, she completely broke down. The saddest and most heartbreaking part was seeing her own often grave. That was an emotional moment.
The First Jasmine Ending
I'm going to be honest, after they revealed the truth about Lishan, I lost interest in watching the remaining episodes. I fast forwarded the remaining episodes, which were focused on Mo Jingli's rebellion, which I really don't care about. There's nothing to look forward to in this arc because it was obvious that he's not going to win. It was very predictable. Plus, in my own opinion, the drama ended after the truth about Lishan was revealed.
Conclusion
Anyways, that's just my review on The First Jasmine. With that being said, I rating The First Jasmine 7.5/10. Let me know what you think about the drama.
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