English Title: Succession War Chinese Title: 天命 Genre: Ancient Producer: Chong Wai Kin Episodes: 28 Cast: Ruco Chan Shaun Tam Natalie Tong Elaine Yiu Selena Li Joel Chan Jonathan Cheung Matthew Ho Synopsis: HESHEN (Ruco Chan) supports PRINCE YONGYAN (Shaun Tam) to accede to the throne. Following QIANLONG’s death, EMPEROR JIAQING manages to convince HESHEN’s son FENGSHEN-YINDE (Matthew Ho) and confidant FUCHANG’AN (Joel Chan) to turn their coat, seeking to sweepingly eliminate HESHEN and his cronies. But, HESHEN comes prepared. He not only manages to solve this crisis, but also turns the tables, exposing the secret of ROYAL NOBLE CONSORT (Selena Lee), making JIAQING caught in the crossfire! HESHEN’s second wife CHANG MEI (Elaine Yiu) and female confidant DOUKOU (Natalie Tong) act separately to turn JIAQING’s own brother PRINCE YONGLIN (Jonathan Cheung) into his enemy. With the White Lotus Sect wreaking havoc nationwide, JIAQING is plunged into despair. However, he is a man with a mandate from heaven…… Airing June 25th replacing Flying Tiger 飛虎之潛行極戰
4 episodes in and I am very hooked. I think Ruco may be the 2nd actor in TVB to have ever portrayed HeShen with Gordon Liu back in Game of Deceit. KK Cheung did a great job as QianLong emperor, but I am unsure if I feel the guy or the character script of JiaQing. At least I don't remember JiaQing being as scheming and power hungry as this drama is portraying him to be, but the other events around him are indeed true though (the scheming of his brothers to usurp the throne, the double royal stamp from QianLong and JiaQing both present). It is an interesting twist to how they portray QianLong's death. Though to be quite honest, I think this drama could've benefit from the fact if they made it a battle of wits between HeShen and JiaQing. So far so good
so far so good, I'm really enjoying the desperation they are painting out of JiaQing and the amount of pressure he has to get rid of Heshen. Stephanie Ho's acting imo has improved and I'm really liking Elaine in this series
