Don't give up after few episodes, it really gets better!
Extremely underrated xianxia drama, acting is top notch from both the leads and many other side characters and the plot even though resembling some other similar tv series, has many unique points that you shouldn't miss. First of all, villans, a part from one or two, aren't just the classic bad guys who kill and destruct just for the sake of the story, tyou really get to understand their reasons even while not agreeing with their methods, characters are so complex that it's difficult to split them into "good" or "bad" and in general there are close to none clearable-but-no-one-does-anything type of misunderstandings. The first 10 episodes however are the worst in my opinion but it definitely gets better right after and I found myself hooked for 20/30 episodes in a row.Was this review helpful to you?
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Worth the journey
I enjoyed watching this drama as much as I enjoyed watching Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms, Ancient Love Poetry, and The Rise of Phoenixes. I watched this mostly for NiNi, after seeing her wonderful performance in The Rise of Phoenixes... and she did not disappoint!Although the plot was simple, I felt that the story was done well. Each character had their own motivations that led to actions that were plausible and not over the top, outrageous. Because of this, I ended up liking many of the characters, not just the leads. I even liked the antagonists because I could understand what made them that way (in most dramas villains are just one dimensional - pure jealousy or revenge). For example, what drove Yuan Tong over the edge was anger over her mother's death, hurt pride because her older brother dishonored the family, envy over ML's affections for FL, and feeling a sense of injustice that her brother was killed because he had demon essence whilst FL was being protected despite her demon essence. It was these things that slowly built up over time that made it easier for her to justify her actions. That said, I did not root for her...quite the opposite (lol), but I did empathize with her and felt sorry for her.
What I liked:
- NiNi's performance was captivating and showed wide emotional range
- Main lead romance was developed well and engaging
- Enjoyed side romances (especially 2nd ML/FL)
- Plausible motivations and actions by the characters
- Xiao Bai/Wu Wan (OMG so cute!)
What I didn't like:
- Ending seemed a bit rush with some loose ends
- Some characters were introduced that didn't seem relevant nor needed (e.g., ML's disciple)
- They could have styled ML better
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At the start, there is the typical powerful war god and the naive, powerless sprite/goddess. Except, this powerful war god looks and acts far far older than the naive powerless sprite. He is cold, authoritarian and acts more like mentor than love interest, and the powerless sprite stumbles earnestly along without a clue. 30 episodes later - this dynamic has not altered.
What's worse, the secondary plot in the 'demon' 'dark power' kingdom (they wear black/red costumes) is truly boring and the lead actor for that plot has very little charisma (he just walks around doing bad things or being in shock) .
This is a shame because the actors are quite good. Indeed, the actress who plays Ling Xi- I loved in the Rise of Phoenixes.
The music is fine, - I would not rewatch.
*Note the production values are top notch with lovely costuming and design, but the show isn't particularly cinematic and they rely a lot on sound stages/fixed sets.
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Why did i waste my time.
I tried not to deop this. I really tried. The reason u chose to watch this drama was thr positive reviews it had.Although I watched TMOPB, I did not have a problem separating the two and viewing this as a stand alone drama. It started off pretty promising. Yes our male lead is no Ye Hua, but that was not the deal breaker. At first the fl was sprity/ cheerful, then like most female leads she suddenly became dumb, useless and in constant need of saving. (The reason why tmopb is a favorite is because of Bai Qian is a strong female lead. Soppy always crying and in need of rescue fl get on my last nerve).
Anyway I digress. Like I said started of promising, then it got a bit confusing, a lot of things were rushed and not explained clearly. One minute she is saved the next everyone knows she has dark energy, then her father and brother die, then they are alive, the the father dies again. Okay.
Then the dragging starts. Spoiler alert. The peach story. All she had to do was eat the damn peach. I mean , why did we need so many episodes to build up to her eating a damn peach. 7 episodes it took for her to eat the damn thing. Then we throw in a love triangle. I hate a love triangle as much as I hate soppy fl. Now all of a sudden two of my least fav things are combined .
To our female villain. Females who dont know how to accept rejection. Omg I donr know how the writers still get away with that one. I also understand that killing off the bad guys too early will prematurely end the story, but how many useless lives did this one have. She just keeps getting spared over and over to the point that it didnr make sense. Yes she tried to kill this girl but its okay let's be linient. Then she murders the guards and we still continue to be linient. It made no sense. She wasnt even smart about her crimes.
To sum this up. If you value your brain cells, Do Not Watch.
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Another Mind-numbingly Boring Xanxia
I don't have much to say about this drama. It involves the trials and tribulations of a half-blood immortal fairy, who, like all the Xanxia protagonist in C-dramaland, she has no opinions of her own, no real personality, she behaves like a 9 year-old girl inside a 30 something year-old's body, and we are supposed to like her childish passivity because of her overt femininity and "quirky" way of tripping her way into random predicaments.Nini, you are gorgeous. You have the face and body of a goddess, to be sure, but other than having the exact look of a goddess, and being "nice", what was your character's relatability supposed to come from, if not from having a rounded, interesting character?
I don't think it's necessarily Nini's fault so much as the writer's. I just want to one day see a Xanxia protagonist character with more than just amazing looks. Yang Mi in Ten Thousand Miles of Peach Blossoms started out as a somewhat interesting and interested character, but Yang Mi can't act, and her character became more and more complacent and obedient and less interesting rather swiftly. I can't really think of anything I've seen Nini in where she wasn't playing the same inquisitive, but ultimately passive, demure, and colourless character. I realize I am being harsh towards female characters, but they are supposed to be the main characters around which the drama is built. Replace Yang Mi with Dilraba, replace Dilraba with Nini, it's all the same character in every drama! It just drives me absolutely crazy.
Anyway, back to this Xanxia. If you've seen one, you've seen them all. This one had a lot of money splashed its way for CGI and costumes. Costumes are the same draped fabric Xanxia pastels you will see in every Xanxia, but I do appreciate the interesting beige-ish coloured robes they gave the FL to hint at her not being quite heavenly. If only they would have put that into her character as well, maybe she could have been a bit different and unique.
Rest of the cast was average at best, and nobody really stood out, so their storylines were just a waste of time. With no interesting characters, what's the point of watching a 50+ episode drama?
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When you reach the mid to end of the series you will on the edge of your seat. You’ll also wonder what’s going to happen. Each character offered something to this series and absolutely loved each of them. No long confusion. Just sweetness all around. I loved it and watched many episodes more than once.
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I pretty much started watching this because of the YouTube fan vids and overall, I really enjoyed what I watched. However there were quite a fews bumps, especially with the story, that prevented me from savoring it as much as I wanted to.The story and some of the characters are what I have major issues with. Here are some of the problems I had:
1. Pacing. In the first 20 or so episodes, I was really impressed with the pacing. Events unfolded much faster than I anticipated and it made for a very engaging watch. They pretty much finished the entire synopsis of the story within that time frame and it made me think there was much more to come. Unfortunately that's where I was wrong; the pacing slowed down noticeably during the mortal arc (about halfway through the drama), and there was (IMO) way too much time spent here. I also felt some conflicts were drawn out much longer than they should've and some just became so predictable that I ended up fast-forwarding until the arc was over. I also didn't care much for the Shang Ling storyline after the mortal arc. The ending also seemed rushed and left a lot of unanswered questions. The pacing didn't get back on track for me until the last 10 episodes or so, by which at that point I was relying on the OTP and 2ndary OTP to carry that last section so I wouldn't get bored.
2. The villains. Specifically Yuan Tong and Zhong Hao (more on Jing Xiu later). I felt like these characters lived too long and were milked out as the bad guys through the entire show. I almost felt bad for YT being the punching bag of the whole drama, but she really was a bad person. Her clan must've really saved the world or something for her to continuously get pardoned when she really should've died early on. We don't even get to see her die; she kills herself off camera, which is so cheap (I was hoping to see Jiu Chen kill her ugh). Zhong Hao was also someone who should've died early on but again got stretched out to carry on being the villain until Jing Xiu took over.
3. Fake-outs. What I mean by this is that a character would say something is impossible and the leads shouldn't do that thing, but inevitably the leads do that impossible thing and conveniently gets out ok. I can't count how many times Si Ming would constantly warn Jiu Chen not to interfere with Ling Xi's trials or bad things will happen to her but he still can't leave her alone (once or twice was ok, but more than that was pushing it) and still makes it out fine. These types of situations happen a lot in the last half of the drama that made me take situations less seriously and I just couldn't think too much about it or I'd go crazy.
But I still finished this drama and I really liked it. Here are the things that kept me going:
1. Our leads, obviously. Their love story was pure and beautiful and I was doubtful at first because of how much older and colder Jiu Chen was. But wooow we really see how Ling Xi melts his hearts and how they would both do anything to protect and be together. I was quite moved by their love story, although I was quite miffed when Ling Xi pushed Jiu Chen away after the mortal arc; while her reasoning was valid, I wish it was executed better. I also wish their ending was better; it wasn't bad per se, but as someone commented it was like getting a snack when I was really craving a meal. They had a happy ending but it was kinda anti-climatic. I also wanted more OTP scenes when they reunited (I also felt cheated out of seeing them get married lol).
2. 2ndary OTP and side characters; most were amazing and kept me watching. I loved Qing Yao and Yun Feng's love story although again, I wish we had more OTP scenes from them. I also really liked Si Ming and Shi San, and wished we could've seen them grow to love each other. I also really appreciated that the Heavenly King here was a wise leader with sympathy, and had the best interests of our leads at heart.
3. Jing Xiu. He really is an enigma, in the sense that he's not a completely bad or good person. I went through a wave watching him; I liked him in the beginning as a morally grey advisor, then hated him when he was pining over Ling Mo, then I felt pity for him in the end. He was really dealt with a bad hand in life and did what he could to survive. I agree with him being the main villain, although this should've happened much earlier and with better conviction; at that point, he became the demon king because he saw no other way out. I wanted to see his redemption and wished the writers gave him some sort of an ending because we don't even know what happens to him after he gets sealed up.
I loved the music in this show, no question. It was beautiful and guided the mood very well. I pretty much have most of the songs in my playlist.
If they had cut some episodes, and refocused on our main leads, this would've made a better watch. But I'm still happy with what I got because I was ultimately here for the OTP and got a wonderful, heart-wrenching love story from them. I will certainly re-watch for them and would recommend you watch too, although with caution regarding the story pacing.
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Love and Destiny .. so far
The production quality of Love and Destiny is very high, and the acting from the actors were great too. I wouldn't want to rattle on and on about the series. If you want a good tragic and frustrating love story that plunge you to the depth and then raise you up to the heaven, (Its didn't work for me). then you are watching the right series. But as for originality, this is where the series falls short, it's too similar to Eternal Love, which is from the same universe, and this time the lucky guy who gets to fall in love this time is the God of War. Another reason this series doesn't really gets me is the plot, it is terribly weak, to be honest there isn't one. The script is terribly written, there isn't much you can sink in, not even the romance bit. Its all fluff and aimless. Among the trilogy of the Three World Three Lives, this is the worst. I snarked at Eternal Love when I first watch it, I think I have to retract that, its is the best of the three. What a waste of talents and beautiful set! What a let down by the script.Was this review helpful to you?
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Destiny is the villain
First of all, I think that this series was not for me, yet the plot was good, not excellent, but good. It is a good drama with a clever screenplay that avoids most of the Deux Ex Machina I found in a lot of dramas.However, it's still not my cup of tea.
I found two major problems, but these are just from my point of view, totally subjective:
First, what I loved from Ten Miles Of Peach Blossoms (I can't avoid the comparison sorry) is that the mix between bad fortune —destiny— and wrong decisions made by the main characters was on point, completely equivalent. I really appreciate those type of characters that must face the consequences of their decisions, the result of their mistakes. Ye Hua committed a lot of wrong decisions and he couldn't protect Su Su.
But in this case, all of the bad deeds that our characters must face are given by fate ('cause the plot needs this). They try to overcome that injustice always, always, and at the end I felt sincerely exhausted.
Second, and I think it's a consequence of the first problem: I couldn't get attached to the characters.
Because they didn't face any other problem than that given by destiny, I couldn't empathize with their feelings or their pain. There was a lot of pain, yep, but that was not enough for me. I couldn't care less of them, most at the last 5 chapters. That was the worst part and I almost laughed when they were separated (over again). How they managed to separate the main couple even in the last chapter? I cannot explain, it was almost hilarious.
So... That's it. I wanted to love this drama, but it was not made for me. And I think that the problem lies just on me.
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An amazing drama with so much tenderness and love! ))
.. One of the super exciting ones! She will capture you completely and will not let go until you watch to the end! )) watched without stopping! + very beautiful music and songs! .. In my opinion NI NI and Cheng Chang perfectly complemented each other! Such a harmony they have . all films or series with them are always excellent, spectacular! )everything is so well done , the costumes , music and effects also the storyline is quite interesting built ! I lived through the whole drama for the main characters haha
As for Ling Xue, although he played a villain, he has his own charm ... to some extent, he was calculated by the character.
Maybe they must to make less episodes coz some moments was not really necessary but at all , all I liked ) and I think this OST deserve to be rewatched ))
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Maybe it's just not my thing in dramas, but the pacing for this was absolutely snail-like. It also didn't help that a lot of the scenes were just eerily quiet with no background music at all. I struggled to get through the beginning episodes, and while it did get better and vaguely more interesting, the whole plot just wasn't engaging enough for me.
Ling Xi and Jiuchen were mainly what I kept watching for and kept my interest for the most part, but I just was not as invested in their relationship compared to the main couples in other shows I've watched. I liked how Ling Xi eventually stopped relying on Jiuchen so much and stood her ground on things, but what irritated me was that she was kept in the dark about most things from basically everyone around her. Side characters I found mildly entertaining, but all other side character relationships, again, I didn't care for, nor did I care about the Shanling tribe which they really pushed in the beginning.
All in all, definitely not a show I would ever rewatch (not even certain scenes), but it was mildly entertaining enough for me to watch 60 episodes of during the holidays.
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