Snowfall

Beautifully cut to ribbons

My score, I have to confess, is heavily influenced by what could have been. It had all the bones of a story I really like, with an original take on vampires , but…. the re editing that was required to make it through the approval process really cut the story to ribbons. Many times the drama was on the verge of exploring an emotion and/ or character and/or plot detail only to have them cut away or shift scenes awkwardly. However, it was beautiful to look at (NO not just VG in republican era clothing!) the main characters were great, and so was the twists on vampirism. All of which should have had WAY more screen time to explore these aspects, but sadly must have been left on the cutting room floor.

Read More

DON’T WATCH IT THE BEGINNING IS GOOD BUT DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME

I really liked the beginning of the story the mystery, the blind female lead, the male lead with superpowers who’s supposedly a “vampire” (even though we never actually saw that confirmed, but anyway…). Basically, the storyline they introduced at first was super intriguing!

But from the moment they threw the male lead in prison — some where around the early to middle part — I’m sorry, but the whole thing just stopped making sense. Everything went completely off the rails after that…

And that final episode? I honestly felt like I was watching a completely different drama. Nothing made sense anymore — not the plot, not the characters…

As for the characters, I won’t even go into detail. Same mess.
BUT despite all that, I discovered Ryan Ren, and his performance was honestly amazing in this drama. Even though his character annoyed me at some point, he really committed to the role. I’ll definitely watch another drama with him — he’s super talented!

To be fair, all the actors did a great job — but like in so many C-dramas, the story just doesn’t follow through. The directors and producers really need to work on that…

I gave it an average rating because the beginning was interesting. Even giving it 5 stars feels too generous, but oh well.

Read More

Not happy with the ending

I didn't fully understand the ending of the drama. While I enjoyed it overall, there were too many unnecessary plot points. I kept waiting for the love story between the leads to begin, but it never truly materialized. They both cared deeply for each other, to the point where anyone could see they were in love. Despite this, neither of them ever confessed their feelings. Even at the end, he said many emotional and touching things to her, but he never once told her that he loved her. Both of them were clearly aware of their mutual feelings, yet they never expressed them openly. This left me wondering why there was no romantic or tender scene between them. Instead, much of the drama focused on him trying to find a cure for her illness. In the end, I'm not sure if I would consider it a good drama or not.

Read More

Start strong but not give the whole potential

I finally finished this drama after a decade.

-LYL's character is not interesting, actor acted so childish I didn't take his character seriously, I mostly find cringe Ryan Ren's scenes because of his acting. I love his previous work but a big no for him in this drama.

- Mr. SHen becomes a very boring character because of the cut scenes. He has an ideology to not killing people but he is the reason people next to him suffer, I hate his these dilemmas. GWG was so charismatic so we couldn't notice his character burrs.

-Situ was so interesting because being thrown into a world full of humans and trying to understand them with no emotions. He always ended up offending people, which sometimes caused a lot of bad things help Mr. Shen. In short, the character was so interesting and Winwin did a great job with the change fromand dark sides dark side.

- Milan's character development was my favorite, she transformed from an innocent girl. Nana did so well.


Cinematography was the strongest part of this drama. If the cşinemaograpgy wasn't so good I think we wouldn't like the drama this much. The music is also amazing. Nana's voice amazing.

Read More

Carlisle Cullen finds a family, a vampire tale that falls short

A gorgeous soundtrack and Shen Zhiheng's beautiful home are the best things about Snowfall, a Republican era vampire drama disappointingly encumbered by mediocre acting and butchered edits -- likely thanks to nonsensical censorship cuts. Filmed in 2021, it took more than two years to get this series to air.

While the premise was intriguing, the mythology was poorly explained, leaving viewers with too many unanswered questions. (I suspect many of the answers can be found on the censor board's editing room floor.) What exactly is the Mo family's power, how does it work, and why are some family members unable to wield it? What exactly happened to Mr. Mo? Why did one particular character not seem to need the Blood Amber Stone? Why did they not super speed their way out of the mine to outrun the explosions?

Meanwhile, this series tried to make it into a love story, but the romantic chemistry was simply not there. Ouyang Nana's child-like portrayal of Mi Lan started off well, but became increasingly annoying and off-putting. Mi Lan may have had romantic feelings for Shen Zhiheng, played by Gao Weiguang, who distractingly reminded me of Carlisle, Edward Cullen's "dad" in Twilight, but he seemed much more paternalistic -- a stern, yet indulgent father figure or older brother. Ultimately, I found it far more credible as a story about family, and Shen Zhiheng finding his, than one about a grand romance.

Ultimately, Snowfall, for all its decent special effects and effort to look more sophisticated, was also overwrought with excessive, stylised freeze-frames and whooshing camera zooms. At the end of the day, it felt more like an extended short-length series -- and other dramas have told tighter, more complete and satisfying tales in far less time.

Read More

Loving this more and more

NO SPOILER PART: Snowfall is one of my favorite series this year. Please don't drop it because of the CGI because it isn't the most complex and looks like the older movies, but it's one of the few flaws of this series.

The male protagonist is a character from whom you can learn so much and has a very mysterious yet noble allure, just as it should be. The actor did a very good job portraying his kind, but also ruthless aura.

I've only just discovered the actress who plays Mi Lan, Nana Ouyang, and I'll definitely be following her further. And she acted so well, actually, the casting was top-notch, but coming back to the character, I really liked how she developed and matured throughout the episodes.

Even the antagonist, Ying Lian, who seemed to be more of an anti-hero, had a well-thought-out backstory that made you understand his actions over time and empathize with him somehow. And Situ Wei Lian was a character who had so many surprises up her sleeve and added to the mysterious atmosphere.

I especially loved the set and costumes, and I'm not lying when I say that I would literally do anything for Milan and Jing Xue's outfits. The choice of the era in which the action takes place was (with a little flaw which I will explain later) perfect. Even the costumes were created to fit the historical period, they were also typical of classic vampire stories.

Unfortunately, I couldn't see the relationship between Zhi Heng and Mi Lan as love, not because of the age difference, but because of the way the characters interacted, guide-learner, protector-protege, I saw more of a platonic relationship with some intimate elements between two people who care a lot about each other, so if you want a series with a lot of romance, you won't find it here. But for me, the relationship was perfect as it is.

Plus, it's not a series that drags on too long to bore you. About the second half of the series, there were episodes that I didn't like at all because I wasn't interested in what was going on, but somehow the action fixed itself and became special again.

*NOW SPOILERS BEGIN*

I loved how Mi Lan went from an innocent and defenseless creature to a much braver one after her transformation. Of course, we could see her intelligence and bravery even before, but then when SHE SAW the world for what it is, both beautiful and cruel when she was able to embrace her personality to the fullest, she became amazing and I liked how she learned a lot even after becoming a vampire. Although the series initially made it seem like visually impaired people are defenseless, which is problematic, this is somehow remedied by the idea that Mi Lan has long endured the suffering provided by her family.

I also especially liked how her mother realized her mistakes and tried to rebuild her relationship with her daughter, which is realistic because often parents or children realize that they are wrong quite late.

I was so surprised when I found out that Wei Lian is also a vampire, I didn't expect this plot at all even though I had read a theory through the comments, but I didn't believe it. Both the character and the actor played it very well to fool us.

As I said, there is a small flaw towards the end of the series when we see that there is a color picture of Zhi Heng, and he remembers that he and his family took a picture. Color cameras didn't appear until 1861, and the Republic of China lasted until 1949. Even if you think the action takes place shortly before WW2, that doesn't make Zhi Heng and Wei Lian 100 years old, but only somewhere close.

I also liked the ending at the same time, how it ends with that dialogue between them and with the flower blooming, a circular ending similar to the beginning of the series, but it's quite ambiguous and I would have liked to see at least a glimpse of Mi Lan's future.

Read More

As expected... sad ending

It seemed that in the vampire drama I watched, it was inevitable that one of the main characters would die. I didn't expect a happy ending, but I watched another Korean vampire drama in which the vampires came back, and they had a happy ending. So it was a slim possibility.

Vampires used to be a popular theme in novels and movies in the 2010s. Who doesn't remember the Twilight trilogy? I've always loved this theme, especially memorable movies such as Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice, who wrote numerous novels for adults. So, nowadays, when I come across a vampire drama, it feels rare and precious to me.

I knew from the start that the ending would be sad. The tone is set when the main character complains about his unwanted vampire status and longevity from the beginning. Clearly, his fate was death at the end of the drama. Of course, there was also a love story in the drama.

I truly loved both Gao Wei Guang and Ouyang Nana in their roles. Gao Wei Guang's main role performance contributed a lot to the drama's popularity. I also discovered Ouyang Nana and how beautiful she is!

Some people might feel uncomfortable with the age gap between the characters, but I don't. He is over 100+ years old, and she is a young, blind woman who has been abused by her mother. It's a stereotype, but the story was captivating, particularly the idea of the protector falling for his protege. It's easier to understand the victim falling for her savior, though.

I give the casting a 10/10. Music a 10/10.

Now, why did I stop watching? The ending. I can't stand sad endings; they don't interest me. Even though it was clear that the ending would be sad, I watched the drama when each episode was aired, so I had a habit of watching the last 5 minutes of the very last episode to make sure the ending was happy. If it wasn't, I stopped watching. After a dozen episodes, I waited for the whole drama to air, and sure enough, the hero died, and she was heartbroken.

This reminds me of another drama I watched, "Hard to Find." I watched the episodes one by one. Then I waited until the final episode aired, and once I found out that both main heroes died, I was done. I want to see a smile at the end of the drama. I don't find tears appealing at all.

I'm not convinced they will give us a second season. There's always an opening for that, but I didn't read the novel, so I'm unsure if it's even possible. Even if I did read the novel, since scriptwriters often deviate from the novel's storyline and rewrite a story only inspired by the general idea and characters, it means nothing to believe that if the novel has a different ending, the drama will also have a different ending.

That said, if sad endings don't bother you, I highly recommend this drama. It was well-played and very enjoyable.

Read More

how to ruin a drama with an ending

i'm going to keep this short and sweet, and say what a waste of potential.
things i liked:
- character driven storytelling
- unique premise
- leads' relationship
- great acting
things i didn't like:
- characters being numb to their past
a lot of things happened to main characters, but they remained the same. the only ones who changed were the side characters (for instance situ).
- horrible cgi effects (but that's given in fantasy series)
- inconstant writing at some parts (e.g: can vampire walk under the sunlight?)
- sad ending
even though the sad ending was hinted at for longest time, i needed an happy ending for my leads. they suffered for the WHOLE series. it makes the whole series feel like a waste of time, and i hope that cdrama writers stop that sad drama ending trend for fantasy dramas set in 19 and 20 century. at this point, i think it's censorship's fault

Read More

The villain takes front and center

The show has romantic and dramatic elements, good fight scenes and the right amount of suspense. The main leads despite having a large age gap, have good chemistry and leave you wanting more.

The story however, starts out with focus on the main couple and then fizzles out and all the focus moves onto the villain and he's not even a good villain, his backstory and motives are not compelling and its just sad that the director chose to focus the drama on him. The rest of the show is still worth a watch since the setting and characters, especially situ and Jin Jing Xue
are interesting.

The main couple could have been so much more, they have amazing potential and their actors did a great job but it seems their talent was wasted as scenes were cut for censorship and the director cares more about the dumb villain character/third ML. He might as well be the main character and not bother with the main couple since it seems the director wanted this all along. He's a very flawed character with dumb decision making skills.

Its such a shame because the drama is beautifully shot with a fantastic soundtrack and costumes, main leads are brilliant and compelling. The director made a huge mistake with his focus on this one.

Read More