This review may contain spoilers
Not the best drama, but sure is the memorable one.
I got hooked since the very first part of the series: the three shards that granted different powers to three families. The premise was really promising.The first part of the series did a fantastic job of introducing us to Shen Zhiheng and Mi Lan through storytelling. The latter part is alright. I found it puzzling that Li Yingliang, who played the support role, appeared on screen most of the time for the second part. Sure, his fate is intertwined with Shen Zhiheng's and all the character got their own development, but it's just too much to the point i feel like he must be part of the main role instead of supporting role.
Back to the premise. It's a wasted potential for sure. I was expecting more from another clan, specifically Mu Clan. The only Mu that appeared is Mu Lihua, and only by herself, she's already this powerful and able to influence Haidong. This made me wondered about her brother that only mentioned once in the entire series. I didn't read the novel, but i really want to see what will happen if all the three stones fused together.
[spoilers] Let's talk about the last episode. Actually, i can tolerate it. You can clearly see many parts were cut to fit 48 minutes length. The fight was intense and exciting, until the bad cgi came. I was complaining for this part, like, how dare they made this kind of cgi surrounding Vengo? Not to mention the ending, it's not a fulfilling one.
[conclusion] In spite of all of its disappointments, this drama teaches valuable lessons about humanity. I was particularly impressed by Shen Zhiheng's compassion, even though he isn't a human himself. He taught Mi Lan—and us—to protect others and keep our honor as a human, even at our lowest point in our life.
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Loved It
Very refreshing take on vampires, I loved the chemistry. I wished the series was longer.Hoping for a second season, I know it’s adapted from a book but maybe a sequel will be written.
This is definitely one of m Favorite C drama year .
Gao weiguang's character as Shen zhiheng was absolutely Mature charismatic but also principled, disciplined, kind and dignified, in addition he is generating a really strong aura that made fall in love with him .
Ouyang nana as Milan was such a precious Character, I love how she portray a blind character so well, her eye expressions and body language was so vey convincing. And her love for Shen was very clearly reflected.
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Striking Cinematography, Perfect Leads, and Powerful OST
Sometimes I just want an story with an elegant vampire, don't you? Even better if it was set in the Republican Era—dramas I've just recently discovered. I love so much the look of them: the clothes, hair, cities, interiors, and cars (oh, those cars!). Such style and class.I can't say enough good things about the FL. She was charming, sweet, brave, and such a nice change from the silly, ineffectual girls that are often portrayed in Chinese dramas. The actress did an amazing job depicting an abused girl slowly being transformed by love. The ML was mesmerizing as he transformed from cold and aloof to cautiously looking forward to a future filled with happiness.
There were some cheesy moments and exasperation that some people refused to die and stay dead, but I overlooked all that because the main leads were so charismatic, the visuals were stunning, and the music was fitting. It's worth watching just for those alone.
The drama was hampered by censorship. The word "vampire" was never uttered, no fangs were shown, and no direct feeding was depicted. The romance was greatly hampered. I realize there was a theoretical age gap of 82 years between the two leads, which could be problematic for some. It didn't bother me and I was rooting for them (they both deserved love and happiness in their lives and were optimally suited to one another due to their damaged psyches), but the censors downplayed the romance due to the age difference. Even so, the chemistry was deep and strong. I'm left to wonder how amazing this drama could have been without censorship.
The last episode was rushed and unsatisfying. I wasn't happy with the ending, but it made sense, and I've made peace with it. I wasn't the only one displeased: after the drama ended, there was so much vitriol directed at the production team that the director had to disable his Weibo, and the screenwriter posted a happy ending epilogue on hers to placate the viewers.
An extra half star was awarded for beautiful images and lovely music.
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=kHrHfFAqfpc&list=PL_cn955nlB8Tsq16mP_RBZIYoOLvHqbkM
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Censorship Ruined It
Yup, censorship ruined what could have been a very good dramaCensorship messed up my favorite stuffs...
- vampire theme with no biting
- vampire with no fangs, no blood sucking, downplayed powers
- vampire didnt love himself, but depressed due to an "illness"
basically, its a hot mess and doesnt even look like vampires.
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This review may contain spoilers
A truly beautiful story
"Snowfall" tells the story of a blind girl named Mi Lan, who is abused by her mother and lives her life basically trapped all the time. She then saves Zhi Heng, making him indebted to her.The relationship of Mi Lan and Zhi Heng is very intriguing, because we can't quite classify what they are to each other. It's beyond a romance, Zhi Heng gave Mi Lan a second chance to live, he saved from an abusive mother and from the darkness, gave her a purpose, a family... and that's so much more than the love between man and woman.
That was one of the reasons the drama really stuck with me, the development was really beautiful.
The drama is way better than I expected. The chemistry between Gao Wei Guang and Ouyang Nana is amazing.
There was several fun moments and I liked how the vampire creature was portrayed, it reminded of the movie "Interview With A Vampire", specially about the beauty, the seduction, the mystery around the vampire. I just didn't like the ending, I was hoping for a happy ending, they deserved that, but overall, I was a great drama.
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Absolutely worth the watch!
I just finished this drama and loved it. I wasn't expecting much of a vampire story, but from the very first episode I was hitched.The actors were absolutely amazing, they brought every character to life and completed each other.
My special mention goes to Ryan Ren (Li YingLiang), I just can't decide whether I hate or pity him. His portrayal was topnotch, his fear palpable and his hate and resentment showed in his eyes.
The Story was great, it never got boring, but the last two episodes were quite rushed, it felt as if the end had to be pressed by force into the last hour of the show.
The CGI in the last episode was especially bad, it was quite laughable and didn't fit the rest of the series.
I felt that quite a lot had been cut, probably to pass censorship.
All over all, I finish the series with a good feeling and, despite the last episode, it's a 9/10 for me.
Thanks for reading my very first review.
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This review may contain spoilers
Finally after 3 years of long wait Snowfall it's here <3
Finally have the time to leave a review, i finished the drama last week and i can't stop thinking about it.I love the cinematography, the sets full of details and clothes were really on point for the characters, i really enjoyed the plot it was good but i was a bit disappointed by the final battle against MLH in the last ep it should have been longer and the cgi didn't impress me, LYL character was interesting at the begin but felt cringe in the last eps seem like they didn't know what to do with him at some point, overall this was a great series and i will probabily give a rewatch by the end of the year.
Loved Mi Lan and her character development, Nana did so well, i wished her relationship with SZH was more platonic like a father-daughter relationship since one of the messages of the drama is found family.
The character who stood out for me was Situ Weilian, we learned more about him, his past and the complexity of his character by each eps, i wish the voice actor's voice was more similar to Dong Sicheng's one, he has a very distinct voice timbre and also his great acting made Situ the beloved character that he is, this was DSC first role as an actor he was only 24 when it started filming and now he is promoting it at 27, this was a very long wait but it was worth it.
I would have liked a more concrete conclusion for Situ and Milan after Shen's death.
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Could be much better!!
The drama started off well instilling with a kind of enthusiasm to watch it further in me.But as it progressed further,the writing lacked depth and intensity too.Maybe if few parts were written much better,the drama would be an excellent series.But somehow the story went downhill after few episodes.
The saving graces were the actors whose performances were good.Tge production, costumes and locations were also good.
For me it is strictly a one time watch.
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A must watch
This is an excellent drama i have watched every episode. From start to finish it keeps you coming back for more. Definitely needs a second season i will be waiting for it. I am hooked now. The location, story, clothes, actors are top notch. You can't beat this drama. There are twists and turns throughout the season.Was this review helpful to you?
A kind and righteous vampire, is there such a thing?
I typically won't watch a drama with rating less than 8 on mydramalist. Additionally, I don't like to watch dramas set in the Republic era - there were usually too much political propaganda in these. I watched this drama because of a YouTube review which criticised the lead actress' acting. This review also criticised a couple of other dramas that I thought were very good, making me felt that they were very bias or had opposite preferences from me. So I decided to check out the trailer, found it interesting and started to watch the actual drama.The drama was centred around Shen ZhiHeng and his nemeses who were out to get him. Shen was a newspaper mogul who offended the Superintendent Chi Shan Ying by exposing his bad deeds. His lackey, Li YingLiang, looking for someone to blame for his misfortune, held a grudge against Shen.
In an assassination attempt, Shen was fatally wounded but was saved by a blind girl, Mi Lan and his best friend, Dr Situ WeiLian. His speedy recovery from the massive injuries he sustained and show of exceptional strength and speed aroused the suspicion of Chi and Li. They teamed up with Mu LiHua from an ancient cult, to capture and subdued Shen to uncover his secret.
This drama is quite entertaining although I won't place it among the best I had watched. It started off very well, painting a mystical history of what happened over a thousand years ago. However, towards the end, it got a bit draggy especially the second episode before the last, when you would be watching them savouring their new year dumplings. On a whole, the momentum was quite slow, trying to build suspense but not well executed.
Additionally, it was quite choppy. The scene suddenly changed to another in the next episode, almost like some important parts had been trimmed.
There were also comments about Gao Wei Guang's acting by a reviewer on mydramalist that he looked like a model who walked into an acting scene and couldn't act. I won't be quite so mean. Honestly, I thought both Gao and Ouyang did quite well. However, I must say that Gao was a far cry from his performance in the two dramas of Eternal Love (Ten Mile of Peach Blossom). I feel sorry for Gao - since his shot to fame in these dramas, he had not had any other outstanding dramas.
This drama had a lot of borrowed ideas from the west: vampire, the mask from Silence of the Lamb, and even the names: WeiLian as in William, MiLan as in Milan.
Overall, I think it is worth watching and taking a break from period dramas on fighting for the throne or modern soap dramas on some extramarital affairs.
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Different, decent cast and acting
This was a bit different from most other C dramas I have seen (so far).I found the acting of the main cast good.
Brief synopsis:
A vampire that have lived for more than 100 years trying to maintain as much humanity and dignity as possible (Shen Zhi Heng, by Gao Wei Guang).
A young girl, blind from birth, being abused by her mother, living almost in isolation (Mi Lan, by Nana Ouyang).
A brilliant, handsome young doctor with ties to the vampire (Situ Wei Lian, by Winwin).
And a man from a poor background trying to climb his way up in life acting as the lackey of power hungry general (Li Ying Liang, by Ryan Ren).
Mix in some more supernatural beings teaming up with the power hungry humans to get even more powerful and get rid of their family curse.
Parts of the script was a bit weak, whilst other parts worked well.
It annoyed me a bit how SZH seemed rather dumb/ignorant sometimes, but then again I think it was part of his persona as wanting to be good and see the good in people.
I found the backstory with the three different families a bit confusing/hard to grasp at some points - maybe because I easily got confused over some of the similar family names (Mo, Mu, Mi, Li, 🤪).
As for the acting, I really enjoyed watching both Nana and Winwin. She was both pitiful, sweet and innocent, and quite fierce at moments. Winwin was a total charmer - I haven’t seen him in anything else, but this role seemed very suitable for him.
Gao WG was also very suitable as a dignified vampire.
Some sequences/«undertones» of the theme music reminded me of Westworld.
They kind of left us with a possibility for second season;if that happens, I will most probably watch it.
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This is PEAK and so SLEPT ON!
This is one of the best dramas I’ve watched in a while. I always hated waiting for the next episode even though they pretty much came out daily. Just waiting that one day I kept checking back to see if the next episode was posted already. I loved it that much!I wanted to check it out because WinWin is in it but omg the show was amazing!! Winwin did absolutely incredible! I loved seeing him in this because I feel we got to see sides of him that we didn’t get to see in his previous drama. I can’t wait to see him in other things in the future!
All the actors did an incredible job, but I have to give extra props to Ouyang Nana who played Mi Lan! I’ve never seen her in anything before, but she really caught my attention. I loved her!
I loved everything about this series! From the actors, costuming, directing, and writing! I’ve been recommending it to everyone and will definitely watch again in the future!
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