This review may contain spoilers
The World's Smartest Young Man + A Great Martial Artist = 2 Formidable Twin Brothers
Watching a series 5 years after it was broadcast definitely shows how many things have changed. I've been recommended this one for a while now and finally decided why not? Primarily watched for CZY and the difference in his mannerisms. But I'm aware of both leads, the SFL plus many of the supporting cast.Pros: The martial arts are my favorite. So well done and carefully crafted that you had to rewind some again and again. My favorite duel was between the brothers in the last episode. It was just awesome. All of the other ones were pretty great too. I also really like the fact that they gave an actual back story to the series and why/how the brothers were separated and their parents killed. You don't see that nowadays as it's covered in about 2 minutes with cartoons and a voiceover plus some flashbacks during the show. The twins were supposed to become enemies when they grew up and met each other just as the synopsis says except that didn't happen. There were some tense moments in the very beginning but they grew into actual friends and that was awesome to see especially when they would solve cases and problems together.
They couldn't be more different; one was a prankster trickster that could weasel himself out of practically any situation using his smarts but he was also a chick magnet because from the first one to his ultimate soulmate, there were at least 3 in between that were more ruthless than others, would fall for him immediately and it was quite funny. While the other one was cold, aloof, inexperienced in the world and tried his best to right many wrongs though he did fail a lot especially the first case which I called the Romeo and Juliet scenario. The things that they had in common was a sense of justice and were both warm-hearted. Plus XYR was a whole head shorter than HWQ and when the truth outed itself, XYR jumped like a monkey onto a tree with HWQ. They were the world's smartest young man + a great martial artist = 2 formidable twin brothers.
There were middle of the road villains like the 12 zodiac killers and the 10 great villains (one of whom was actually a good guy that loved gambling); the latter batch having raised XYR and though they ultimately betrayed him, if it wasn't for them, he wouldn't have become as clever and smart as he became though he wasn't as cold blooded and greedy as they were. He like his brother inherited their parents warm hearts and sense of compassion and righteousness.
There were 3 main villains; the master of Yihua Palace who raised HWQ and her sister (though the latter had a warmer heart); it was because of this crazy train master's revenge on the man she loved who was ultimately the twins' father because in her twisted mind, just because she saved him and he was grateful to her for that, he was supposed to marry her. She had no idea that love and other emotions had to be involved for marriage so the obsessed bat set this plan in motion for the brothers to become enemies and HWQ only finding out when he supposedly killed XYR (our smart kid took a special medicine made by his friend the medicine doctor from wicked canyon where he grew up that could fake death) that they were twin brothers so he could suffer for the rest of his existence. I mean how much more evil and delusional can you be? Punishing the sons for her one sided love that didn't happen? The look on her face when XYR popped back up like nothing happened was priceless. Though I did feel for HWQ and the roller coaster of emotions he must have felt as this was going on; first thinking he killed his best friend even though he set out to kill himself, than hearing how the insane one set the revenge plan in motion, that the boys were twins, that he actually killed his twin brother, to seeing that she killed the other "aunt" and wanting to end himself and than when XYR popped up the joy and relief that all of this was his plan and trick and being upset when the crazy bat walked off a cliff. It must have been exhausting to go through so many emotions in such a short period of time. But he did it well.
The other two villains were a father and son duo that were basically causing havoc in Jianghu stealing money and other things while framing good people for their deeds. The son was creepy not just evil, while the father was considered the number one hero in Jianghu and also had a hand in the deaths of the leads parents but more for trying to kill the real number one hero YNT (who was sworn brothers with JF; dad of the boys) and though he crippled the guy's martial arts skills for 18 years, he never mastered the manual he stole. The creepy son got his comeuppance finally from the woman he SA'd and lied to repeatedly; awesome karma.
Other great supporting characters were the medicine man who only pretended to be evil but in reality was biding his time to get rid of the evil around him, YTN and his other sworn brother who pretended to be him while he slowly healed himself. Gambling villain guy was of great help as well as the two assistants of HWQ; both FL and SFL once they stopped crying and pouting at every step and really started to show their smarts and helpfulness, were really great partners to our boys. I didn't view romance as important in this series so I wish it wasn't pushed on us. Comedy fell properly especially with our ML; it wasn't slapstick but well done. I felt that out of the two, the FL evolved the most and she was indispensable to both guys. I also don't feel it was a love triangle but more like a love quad though one that was only connected to whom they belonged to. FL did have feelings for the ML but once she spent time with SML, that's who she really grew towards.
Though at first Little Fairy, that Gu guy, and Murong Jiu were more of unnecessary characters as well as side stories that required fast forwarding, once the amnesia arc took place and MRJ became Ms. Meng and HZZ came into the picture, they made the right kind of sense. Especially at the end when they came to support XYR during the duel. It was nice to see he made friends for life.
Costumes (though I have an issue with HWQ's wig; poor guy had the forehead of a Klingon with it), sets, OSTs were all on point.
Cons: I really wish our brothers had more time on screen together. That was my biggest complaint. After they met officially and figured out that they were supposed to be enemies though no idea why other than an order given by the crazy bat, they kept going their separate ways though solving cases that for the most part were related to that main villain and his uber creepy son. However once they decided on three months to the duel they did spend more time together, even causing HWQ to seriously waver in his mission. I still wish we didn't spend a solid 20 plus episodes with one brother in one episode and one brother in another.
Wish there weren't so many unnecessary side stories that had nothing to do with the main plot and where more women fell for ML. That was also something I didn't understand; was it love at first sight for them all looking at this scraggly kid with patched worn clothes and thinking "oh baby, that's the guy for me?" I mean come on now, not realistic at all. They were already smitten before he opened his mouth. Same happened with both leading ladies, though one evolved and matured, the other one though a total match for him, I had no idea when she had time to fall for him? Big disconnect there each time and there were at least three other women in between.
The endings of both big bads was super anticlimactic. One was crippled of his martial arts and just sent away to live somewhere, while the other in her delusion just walked off a cliff. Like what? These two people brought pain, suffering, and death to so many and that's how they ended things? Not good or satisfying enough for me.
I also wish that at the end, the last scene was of our brothers drinking somewhere together instead of separated yet again but with their significant others. It was very unsatisfactory. The story was about them not their romantic relationships. They could have had the women with them and the foursome standing together and maybe hugging while smiling at each other and swatching the horizon. That would have been perfect and would have left the audience feeling and knowing that they would now forever be together as a real family making up for a lost 18 years with their parents looking down at them from heaven and smiling. That's how I would have ended it anyways.
Would I recommend it? I really would. Despite the annoying cons, this really was a great wuxia and if you like martial arts and a decent story, check it out; it doesn't matter how many years later.
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This review may contain spoilers
Not Good but Not Bad
I can’t say the story is bad but it is not good. The story idea is simple about an antagonist character who wants to take revenge on the man she loves by took one from his twin sons, separated them at birth in order to make them against each other when they grew up.Let me talk about the negative first.
I wonder why almost 85% of the characters in this drama are villains. All the people the boys mostly meet are scammers. When I watch the drama and I heard someone screaming for help, I just talk to myself… “Ok, another scammer”. Scammers or protagonist turned antagonist. I never watch such a bunch of villain party in other Wuxia drama I’ve watched so far. The plots are indeed very repetitive.
Next, my hate goes to Tie Xin Lan character. This character really pains in the ass for me. What a troublesome person. I can't remember how many times I want to strangle this girl.
Some plots are nonsense, such as Yulang’s prosthetic hand…. How absurd is that hand…. lol... C'mon, in that era to create a real-hand like prosthetic hand....
Yulang’s death is too easy for me. After so many deaths failed, I think this character deserves a more remarkable death.
Now the positive things,
The writer actually already creates quite strong characters, Xiao Yu Er is smart and cunning extroverted while Hua Wu Que the other is a quiet and naïve introverted. The character very constant until the end.
I’m a type of viewer who waits until the drama ends before I watch it, in order to be able to skip any scenes that I hate. I can’t stand if the antagonist wins too much and even just dropped in the middle if the storyline is too crappy and frustrated me. This drama indeed frustrated me, but I weirdly stayed until the very last… even I did skip a lot of parts.
The ending part and how the boys will resolve the main problem is guessable, but still entertaining. Though I think if the writer makes the second auntie uncover her sister's wrongdoing and makes Yao Yue realized her mistakes and spend the rest of her life doing good deeds in order to pay for her sins... is more graceful ending for me. I hate if the antagonist dies. Die is too easy! Make them pay for their sins is better... just like Jiang Bie He's ending. But... who am I... lol
Overall, I don’t love it, I don’t hate it either.
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Unexpectedly good
Honestly while watching this series, I almost stopped so many times but every time I wanted to stop Jiang Xiao Yu will do something that makes me wanna continue. I swear I watched this solely for Jiang. I saw so many bad reviews on this and while I agree with some of the points that lead to the bad reviews I will say this, Chen Zhe Yuan totally carried this series all by his lonesome self and boy did I enjoy every fricking minute he was on screen. I stumbled across this series and I watched it in one go even though I wanted to stop several times as earlier said.Hu Yi Tian character was so stoic and so boring and I think the actor could have done better even though is character was supposed to be all serious. I honestly have never liked anything that Hu Yi Tian has done.
The best part of this series is definitely when Jiang says he’s the smartest person in the world and I completely agree with him.
This is such an underrated gem IMO.
If you are debating to watch this, I honestly highly recommend.
Rewatch value is 7/10 just because if I ever do rewatch I would only rewatch the scenes with Jiang in them.
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This review may contain spoilers
I’ve wanted to watch this for a long time, but I was a bit hesitant. Still, I’m happy I finally added it to my list.A long time ago, I watched a version of this story starring Tony Leung. Haha… So yeah, I only vaguely remember the plot. But since this new version stars Chen Zhe Yuan and Hu Yi Tian as the leads, of course I still wanted to watch it.
This is the story of a crazy woman’s obsession: Yao Yue (YY) who falls in love with Jiang Feng (JF), but JF doesn’t love her — instead, he loves YY’s maid. In a fit of jealousy, YY kills JF and his wife. When she tries to kill their twin sons, YY’s sister, Lian Xing (LX), suggests they separate the twins. That way, when they grow up, they’ll end up killing each other instead.
So the plan begins.
YY and LX take one of the twins and raise him themselves, naming him Hua Wu Que (HWQ) . The other twin is taken by JF’s sworn brother, Yan Nan Tian (YNT). Before YNT can bring the child home, he decides to seek revenge on the mastermind behind JF’s death — Jiang Qin (JQ) . Unfortunately for YNT, JQ had already planned to destroy him. YNT ends up trapped in the Villains’ Valley, and because of that, the second twin is raised by the Ten Great Villains, who name him Xiao Yu (XY).
The Ten Great Villains try to raise XY to be the top villain in the martial arts world. Fortunately, they fail at making him truly evil. Instead, over the years, XY becomes a mischievous prankster — clever, playful, but with a good heart.
One day, XY decides to leave the Villains’ Valley and begin his journey into the martial arts world. Once outside, he meets many people — both good and bad. Some are like durians: rough on the outside, but soft and kind inside. Others are wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Most importantly, during his journey, XY meets HWQ and also probably his first love, Tie Xin Lan. Along the way, XY makes friends, gains enemies, and slowly uncovers the truth about his past.
So how does the journey between XY and HWQ end? Will they ever discover that they’re actually twin brothers? Or will they fall right into YY’s plan and end up killing each other?
That's pretty much the story without giving the spoiler. Now what I like and don't.
What I like:
+ Chen Zhe Yuan and Hu Yi Tian gave great performances. Especially Chen Zhe Yuan — this role showed a side of him I haven’t seen before, which was a nice surprise.
+ Blood relations can be a really fascinating theme. You can't deny or hide your blood ties no matter how hard you try.
+ Even though I watched it now, I didn’t feel like the story was outdated at all.
+ I really hope more modern dramas can have interesting stories like this one. No matter how many times it's been remade, it never feels boring.
What I don't like:
- I wasn’t a fan of the final scene. While the story technically wraps up all the main conflicts, adding just a few more minutes would have made it perfect. For example, if all 2 main couples had gathered together at the end, ready to start a new journey in the martial arts world...
Overall, this classic story gets a fresh twist with newer faces in the lead roles, bringing back some fun and excitement to the drama.
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Slippery fish and flower
The title does little justice to the show. I had been interested in maybe watching this for a long time from seeing the odd screencap or .gif set, but based solely on the name had frankly written it off a little.This is the most wuxia wuxia I've seen since the 2000s. From the fight scenes, depictions of any use of martial prowess and so on, to the array of villains with specific and detailed character designs such as the Ten Great Villains and Zodiac Twelve, it was wuxia to the bones. It's been a long time since I've seen a wuxia where villainous characters have been interestingly costumed and had concepts personal to them, so this was a treat for me.
The story has a neat opening and ending, in that it is essentially all one arc or event, and doesn't stray from it. The first few episodes were slow, perhaps up to about episode 10 or so, while the show was still finding its feet, but I was interested in the plot and what was going to happen from pretty much the start. The story however really mainly picks up after the mid-to-late-20s episode mark. The ending seemed odd to me initially in that it closed not on the two brothers but rather on Hua Wu Que and Tie Xin Lan, but this in fact reflects the opening of the show on Jiang Feng and Hua Yue Nu. and brings the story full circle and closes it roundly. I found it really interesting how the romance storyline developed for the main characters. This is the first time I remember ever seeing the female lead fall in love with one of the main male leads and then slowly shift to end up falling in love and ending up with the other male lead. I was really rooting for the original coupling to work out for the female lead at first, and it was an intriguing experience to watch and feel how it shifted into a different pairing instead, especially when it was driven by and came about as a result of the first. It was also interesting to me that the second female lead comes in so late in the show - at about the two-third episode mark, I believe. I've seen comments noting that this is faithful to the original novel the show is adapted from, which I haven't read. While I feel like it would make more sense to me if I were reading it in a book, it translates interestingly in the context of a show adaptation where it feels like I don't get to build much of an impression of the second female lead and feel the relationship build up, so that it felt a little sudden and underdeveloped for me. Nevertheless, it's a choice I'm rather glad they made if it stays true to the source material, because I think it's an interesting one and completely plausible in how meeting people works - you meet lots of people in the course of living and adventuring, but then you meet a particular someone after all of those other ones who came before who just becomes important to you, and you meet them when you meet them. I hated the main villains (which meant that they were doing their job), and I enjoyed most of the supporting characters of the same generation as Xiao Yu'er and Hua Wu Que. While there were some not completely-tight ends in the story, and I felt flashbacks were used a bit too often in showing some major pivotal events that would have been better served not done as flashbacks, overall the story pulled together.
I hadn't seen any of the main actors in other shows previously, and I thought they all did a terrific job. I really enjoyed Xiao Yu'er, and his portrayal by Chen Zhe Yuan was just right for me. Despite being played by the same actor, I felt the characters of Jiang Feng and Hua Wu Que are very easily told apart; whether this was mainly to do with the hairstyling or not I couldn't say for sure, but each certainly had their own aura to me, so props to Hu Yi Tian. Tie Xin Lan was possibly the character out of the main leads whom I felt seemed to do only one thing, but I still liked her, she just unfortunately didn't seem to have very much to do. The one character I did feel was slightly overacted was Jiang Yu Lang, but he is a sniveling weasel and in that sense I suppose it fits.
The music is also extremely classic wuxia sort of music. I really like both the opening and ending theme songs, and also loved the instrumental (flute?) version of the ending theme that plays during some scenes in the show as background music. Considering I'm listening to the ending theme on repeat now after finishing the show, 9 points for music.
A good rewatch if you're craving a classic wuxia, despite any slow bumps in the story, so overall 9 points from me for being such an enjoyable rendition of the golden age of wuxia.
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This review may contain spoilers
When I first started the series, the beginning really caught my interest with the story of the parents’ death. The whole plot to separate the twins in order for them to eventually fight and kill one another was great! So I thought I would be plunged into some in depth series and I couldn’t wait. Although the series so far is alright, i guess my expectations were too high. I’m at the point where I’m forcing myself to watch it to see if it gets better.
Before I get with the negative, the things I did love about the show was the acting of xiaoyuer. He just kept my interest every time and carried the show on his back. The other characters did what they had to as well (although I’m not too fond of hyt’s stoic acting, although there’s not much to do with his character).
The fight scenes were also 10/10 probably some of the best I’ve ever seen in a wuxia.
My problems with the show:
The characters.
In the beginning I really enjoyed the brother, xianyuer’s character way more than huque. He was funnier, smarter and was likeable and enjoyable to watch. Now as the series went on, his mysogynistic comments become too much to bear (I know the tone is due to the fact of the story deriving from an older novel), he’s way too arrogant and it’s like he does things the most difficult and chaotic way possible when simpler solutions are available. So it’s frustrating to see and scream a better solution through my phone screen. I must say his cleverness has still never failed him.
The other brother, Hua wuque, was first introduced as calm, collected and impressively strong. Although he was boring from the start, I didn’t dislike his character. What I don’t get is how someone so ‘humble’ always comes off as so self-righteous. For a gentleman he really stuck his nose in everything and it was also annoying to watch how easily fooled he was for half of the show. I understand he lived in solitude with his aunts acting as his masters, but to never question once why they want this random boy dead, especially seeing how the martial arts world saw his aunts as evil was just alarming. And then even working right next to the main villain without realizing, especially if xiaoyuer had been shouting about it for episodes upon episodes. Come on...
Xinlan in the beginning was strong. Strong enough to easily overpower xianyouer and fight off hoards of villains. But the moment she started to ‘fall in love’ she just turned completely useless. All she did after that was get in the way of every fight. They really did her character dirty and made her go from likeable to unlikeable real fast. So much for girl power.
Story:
This storyline could’ve been something great!
But so many things really prevented this.
Firstly, the brothers went from enemies to best friends way too quickly. Like all of the times Hua Wuque tried to kill Xiaoyuer and never believed him just flew right out the window in a mere second. I’m all for not holding grudges, but it made me, as the viewer, feel like I imagined all those episodes of them hating each other and they were lifetime best friends this whole time.
Unlike others who had a problem with the dragging story and found it boring, I was actually entertained by the potentials of the story. There were many ways these storylines could’ve been handled though but it seemed xiaoyuer and company wanted to take the hardest route every time.
For example, when Xiaoyuer first tried to reveal jiang biehe’s plot and yulang was disguised as a porter, you’re telling me no one thought to questioned how a porter would have those skills ?? And why didn’t xiaoyuer just take off Yulang’s disguise to reveal his identity.
It was also annoying to see the recurring theme: the main things being solved by Xiaoyuer before anyone else and no one acknowledges. But then episodes later the same thing is “discovered” as if we didn’t find this out episodes ago.
This story had such great potential. I’m still in the process of forcing myself to watch. But it’s so hard when I’m currently not fond of any of the main characters, probably only black spider. Looking forward to hopefully more character development but I’d say that’d be unlikely with about 10 episodes left.
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This review may contain spoilers
Honestly was so hyped for this because of Hu Yi Tian. But it’s easy to fall in live with the characters and the story. I admit there were a lot of side characters and side stories for me but the main plot was seriously solid, no wonder it’s like a classic in China. I was so obsessed with the fight scenes and the dramatic flying and leaping was so fun to watch, I know this is like a thing for traditional chinese dramas, and I’d say Im really into it. There are a lot of beautiful actresses here, especially Tie Xin Lan, couldnt get enough of her, shes so cute! Also Little Fairy. Wish I’d get to see more of these two in the future. I also loved Hua Wuque’s aunts. They looked so pretty and fierce. Yaoyue may be a crazy evil bitch but sis is really gorgeous. And Lianxing too, she’s so pretty. I loved how they really embody how people see and perceive Yihua Palace. They look and act so regal and beautiful. But anyways, I really loved this drama so much. I wish Lianxing got to live though. I know it’s impossible but I still wish there’s season 2. I will miss these characters so much. ? Also, I ship Hu Yi Tian and Vicky Liang I wish there’d star opposite each other again someday. But one could only hope ?
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Ridiculously Bad Melodrama
Kitchen-sink melodrama, like a hundred others with some of the most outlandish plot points and characters ever!Some good things to say:
- The male leads were decent enough. Not anything particularly great. ML was an annoying little boy in a man's body, SML was the really good, but stoic guy, and for once, the best guy got the FL (hurray!).
- I liked the FL here. She was beautiful, smart, skilled, and her character became more mature with time, which was excellent character development. The only female character who wasn't easily manipulated and acted like an 8 year old. She did, however, need constant rescuing by the SML, which was unfortunate. She couldn't survive 5 min without him. I, unlike many, am very fond of love triangles where the FL has feelings for both MLs. It is more realistic that a FL would have feelings for one ML, and then start to have feelings for another ML, as she goes through character developement. It also keeps you guessing as to who she will end up choosing.
- A lot of money was spent on the cinematography. A lot of wasted aerial views, unfortunately, but a few nice ones of bamboo forests. Some nice angles and framework, and the colourization was decent too.
Why do I waste my time of these badly written Chinese costume dramas? To see hot guys in Hanfu, of course.
The negatives:
- The whole plot is crap. Sorry, not going to break down the plot, it was literally all the worst "revenge" drama plot ever. And the actual revenge wasn't even for something bad that happened to the antagonists!
- The antagonists are the weirdest bunch of psychos ever in a C drama, and that is saying quite a lot! They were also all so incredibly annoying.
- The acting of most of the protagonist characters, I'm sorry, but their acting was crap. Even the FL, who I liked, didn't act that great here. I'm going to blame this on the director. But points given for one of the only FLs in a Chinese melodrama that wasn't a bubbly, saccharine, 8 year old inside a woman's body.
Go ahead and watch this, if it is playing in the background, whilst you do something else.
I watched it for the hot and kind SML, the love triangle, and the expensive crane shots, but I skipped most of it for my own sanity.
I give this 2 out of 10 roosters.
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well-made remake
I think this drama was really well put together and honestly getting it onto netflix definitely helped with views in the intl market (loved to see more netflix partnerships/licensing, cause access is everything).MAIN ACTING: the acting is a way is very believable. Chen Zhe Yuan was able to show the maturity that Xiao Yu has. Xiao Yu in my honest opinion is a very complex character, Xiao Yu is essentially a mastermind hiding behind the face of a child. Chen Zhe Yuan brought that out, his version of Xiao Yu was 7/10 mischievous child and 3/10 brilliant mastermind. It was easier to see and understand the character. Hu Yi Tian, on the other hand I feel like he has played this character a few times (I'm not really sure, not too caught up on his stuff pre-this/2020). He brought out the stick-in-mud aspect of Huq WuQue really well, but his version had the slightest hint of childishness. I think this made the character really well because as the story normally goes, Hua WuQue didn't exactly have any thing that resembled a normal childhood, so that hint of childishness made the character feel a bit more complex. I just wished they allowed more time to develop this aspect of Hua WuQue.
SIDE CASTS: I really enjoyed the side casts. They added seriousness where it was needed, comedy where appropriate, and cringey-ness where it was passable. They definitely spiced up the story and made it feel a lot more complete (since there was quite a bit of character development for the side characters). I really love the TomBoy character, I dunno why, they were just very entertaining bringing the "wtf" factors in.
FIGHT SCENES: i think the fight scenes couldve been better acted out or the way it was dragged out/editing couldve felt better. There wasnt much haste or excitement or fear/suspense coming from these scenes. It was appropriate, it was fine, but it couldve been better
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The story consist of mix feelings, sad, laughter, anger.
The best actor in this show is by Chen Zheyuan as Xiaoyu'er. He is able to bring laughter and sadness to the audience and portray to us a life lesson for human is to have a big heart, help others and live life to the fullest everyday.
As for Han Yi Tian as Hua Wuque, his character portray justice and to do the right thing in life rather than just following instructions blindly.
Tie Xinlan and Jiang Yulang also acted great in this show.
As this drama lacks development in romance and brotherhood after Xiaoyu'er and Hua Wuque found out that they are siblings. Perhaps they could have Handsome Siblings 2 to portray Xiaoyu'er and Hua Wuque brotherhood and helping the martial art world. Story can further develop for the romance of "Hua Wuque with Tie Xinlan" and "Xiaoyu'er with Su Ying".
Morale of this drama
- Must watch
- Great life lesson
- Great cast
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This review may contain spoilers
Overall a good and fun show
Handsome Siblings is overall a really entertaining show, with several fun characters and performances . It has a very impressive production quality and is highly engaging. I did like it a lot for most part, but decided to break down what I thought was good and what wasn't so good. There are minor spoilers ahead, so read at your own risk.THE GOOD
I actually enjoyed about 90 percent of the show immensely. The story was intriguing and I couldn't stop watching. It was hilarious at points. The acting was pretty spot-on overall. Honestly, after seeing Hu Yitian in A Love So Beautiful, it was great to see him here. He acted the two characters he played rather well. However, I think it was Chen Zheyuan who managed to steal the show in almost every scene (especially the funny ones). The acting from other side characters was also pretty good overall.
By the looks of the show, it seems that the production budget was pretty high. I could see great sets and costumes and plenty of outdoor shots and the show was a visual feast.
I know many people complain that the show drags at points, but I thought the pacing of the show was good and let you take in the journey of the characters. Some of the parts where Xiaoyu'er has his own little side stories with the villains were actually very interesting to me. There were great character moments and I don't think those parts dragged at all.
There are several interesting characters here - especially the Ten Villains and Little Fairy. Even Jiang Yulang managed to be hilarious when he was stuck with Xiao Mimi and Xiaoyu'er. I think the many interesting side characters on this show actually made it even better.
NOT SO GOOD
I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed most of the episodes, probably until the last 4 or so episodes. At this point, the show had started to drag a bit. I also thought the last few episodes were a bit inconsistent. This was mainly due to the fact that Xiaoyu'er felt a bit too cocky (not in a fun way anymore, but in a smug way). He kept saying some pretty misogynistic stuff. I wasn't so bothered about it initially because he was a character who had never been around girls (apart from one of the Ten Villains), so it was funny when he would comment like he knew how girls were. But as the show went on and his comments just got worse, it became sort of annoying.
That brings me to the female characters. Tie Xinlan started off as a really cool female character who knew how to fight and stand on her own, but she became rather useless by the time she fell in love. Every time there was a fight or something, I expected her to show off her skills, but she just stood there and got saved by the heroes. She was a weeping mess at other times (nothing wrong with crying, but she literally did nothing else). It was an absolute waste of her character and her potential. Generally, I didn't see very strong or well-fleshed out female characters on the show. They were either far too evil (the Hua sisters - although I know LianXing was never evil to begin with, but I thought she needed more character development), or needed to be stripped of their memories to become less evil (as in the case of Murong Jiu). Su Ying is pretty strong and independent but I wasn't fond of her overly jealous nature either. I think the female characters could have been improved upon especially when the material for it already exists. They were very one dimensional in most cases. I mean, why not make Tie Xinlan as cool as she was when we saw her initially? I liked seeing Little Fairy most, even though she was supposed to be quite a brat. I disliked Tie Pinggu the most, out of all the female characters. It is like she had no brain to think of anything after she and Yulang became an item.
I know the story called for the Hua sisters to orchestrate this long-winded plan to get rid of the siblings, but I thought if they were going to show Yaoyue become so single-minded in her quest for revenge, they needed to build a more convincing reason for it rather than her being scorned in love. I mean they could have shown why she was this selfish and heartless. They needed to show her more examples of her arrogance (and not only when it came to being scorned in love).
I didn't like that Hua Wuque just disbanded the Yihua Palace at the end of the show. I mean, the Yihua palace may have been coldhearted in many ways, but he could have ushered in a new era. What about all the disciples of the Yihua Palace - what a shame for them. Oh well...
I thought the ending was not the best. The brothers seemed to have more chemistry together before the found out that they were brothers. Could've done without the ending where they both rush to their respective partners. Wasn't a big fan of the romances anyway, so ending with the brothers would have been better. But that's just my issue with the show.
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