Love’s Rebellion

You shouldn't drop this drama until ep 14 to know if it's worth watching

Good :
Excellent cast, good acting.
Main characters are one top (favorite squad) >> ❤️❤️😩
Good and original plot. Badass FL and ML. Not second ML.
You should watch this one, it's not this typical story between a childish FL and a bad boy. Here the FL is powerfull, badass and the ML is good towards the FL, such a green flag !!!!Plus they act like a real couple, communication etc.. Their like a married couple tbh, very mature !!!

Bad :
The story begins too slow. The first 5 episodes don't accurately reflect the drama; they're filled with comedy and portray the universe in a lighthearted manner. The plot isn't really here and the viewer wants to drop the show. However the new arc starting at ep 14 is very interesting and captivating. Somoene said that the show should have start at ep 16 and made the first 15 ep as flasback. I totally agree ! The story would've been more captivating since the start. Actually this show is very good.

The plot had a real potential.
The story was uncommon however they didn’t manage the cut scene well, the beginning is too slow and the end too fast.
Good drama who could’ve been a perfect show…

SPOIL part if you want to know where to pick up (according to your preferences)
From episodes 6-13, the plot shifts from comedic to more serious themes, and the romance begins to intensify progressivly.
Starting with ep 14 the true plot begins. The FL becomes more powerful and utterly badass (ep15-16) due to an event (ep 14) (no spoilers on how and why), and the ML takes on a darker role.
first meeting between the leads after the event : ep 18_19 (for me the best of the serie begins it's here (regarding the romance, the characters) )

i'm rating a perfect score because i think that the rating isn't doing justice at this drama.

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Qyestionable pacing but is still deeply enjoyable and touching

My expectations of this drama was a drama with good chemistry between the leads (it's Zhang Linghe and Jing Tian after all), with an interesting plot. Other than that, I didn't really know what to expect regarding this drama, and I was pleasantly surprised.

First of all, don't let the synopsis of the drama mislead you. Nan Yan was born into a world of immortals, she never 'entered' one, and I didn't sense any kind of dislike between Nan Yan or Ji Yang throughout the whole drama, light hearted annoyance at most. If I were to write a synopsis for the drama, it would be this:
Nan Yan is a practical, optimistic and down-to-earth poisoner who's working to find a cure for her mother's heart disease. She saves the life of Shao Cang, the former monarch turned fugitive of a righteous sect. Shao Cang is aloof, powerful and clever. They quickly establish a strong connection. Together, with the company of the naïve and humorous Young Dragon Lord Mu Zhanting and the pitiful yet witty fox spirit Yin Ya, they uncover conspiracies of the four seas about events that happened 100 years ago.

The positive aspects of this drama.
The acting is beautiful, especially the acting of Zhang Linghe, Jing Tian, Darren Chen and Chang Long. They're amazing actors and completely immersed me in the story. They really carried this drama in terms of pure hard work and skill.
The characters are all so real. They all had their own goals, fears and dreams. Nan Yan and Ji Yang are masterful characters. Their complexities were so well-written and portrayed. There was not a single character in this drama that I think was handled badly. They made me sympathise with them so much.
The OST. As a carat, I'm strangely proud to hear Xu Minghao's (The8's) OST for this drama. It always made me emotional and engaged.
The tone of the drama. I don't really know what to call this section. I basically mean the light-heartedness/intensity of the drama. The first half of the drama was pleasantly more light-hearted than I was expecting, I was laughing aloud in almost every scene. Then, the second half of the drama was more intense and darker, handling more complex and dark themes. However, the light-heartedness/intensity were mixed in with each other. The first half still had intense and sad scenes, and they were mixed in with the light-hearted scenes but were still impactful and taken seriously. The second half also still had light-hearted scenes, which was a nice breath of fresh air from the newfound intensity of the plot and characters. The tonal shift also made sense, unlike other dramas, where the shift comes out of nowhere. In this drama, it was extremely clear cut and had a justifiable reason for the shift. Considering the plot, the shift was barely jarring. Overall, the tone of this drama is one of the best I have ever watched. It has so much character, so much colour, so much tangible emotion and so much detail. It was genuinely a pleasure to watch.
Costuming. The costuming in this drama was super beautiful. I've watched four dramas featuring Zhang Linghe so far (Fox Spirit Matchmaker Red Moon Pact, The Princess Royal, Story of Kunning Palace) and I can confidently say that he had the best styling in this drama. All of the clothes are lavish and so much attention and detail were put into them.
The plot of the drama. Personally, I found the plot of the drama super interesting and enthralling, with lots of twists and turns and different aspects being introduced. Most things made sense and it wasn't just random events happening in sequence with no relation to each other. That being said, the plot was still messy and confusing at times.

The negative aspects of this drama.
The pacing. Well, the title of this review says it all. Honestly, the pacing of the drama is not all bad. For some people, the pacing of the first half was too draggy and too little was happening, but I thought that it was perfect pacing for the light-heartedness of that part of the drama. The second half was when the pacing really picked up, packing a lot more into the episodes. This pacing was also good for the more intense theme of the second half of the drama. My big problem with pacing is nearing the end, I would say about 8 episodes from the finale. This was when the drama realised that it had a lot more of the story to tell and not enough time to tell it all. So they started packing in scenes one after the other with barely any time to breathe and process in between before a plot twist is revealed or there's a new series of events. Instead of untangling the web which was already established, i.e. Nan Rao's heart disease, Shao Cang being framed for murdering the Great Path sect and the Evil Path sect trying to resurrect Sen Luo, they just added more and more convoluted conspiracies on top, leaving only two episodes to solve everything in reality.

Overall, this is a drama that I enjoyed a lot. It had amazing acting, characters and tone, but the pacing towards the end dragged it down. The characters and their struggles and emotions spoke to me. This is a nice, entertaining watch.

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Definitely worth the watch

I took a gamble and watched this series even though it has a fairly low MDL rating of 7.8 and I'm glad I did. I actually enjoyed it. Yes the editing was not great and it felt like some parts were missing and the last episode felt like it was put together very haphazardly - but you still get the gist of the story and the ending. All of this might be because of budget restraints of not being able to enact every aspect of what's happening and the limitations on number of episodes (although another 4 episodes could have made it more comprehensive). This shouldn't however be the reason for the low score as there are many good things about this series, which outweighs the editing issues. There are also much worse Wuxia Fantasy series's out there that have higher ratings than this.

The story was good, interesting and engaging, my only regret is that I read some of the comments which hinted what happens in the end so I new more or less what would happen.

I loved all the main Characters and the actors did great in portraying their respective characters. There's honestly not one actor that I can remember being bad in the whole cast in the main Arcs. I always enjoy watching Zhang Ling He and he did great as ML. The love between Nan Yan and Ji Yang was obvious with their acting even though kissing scenes were minimal. The friendship between the main cast, Ji Yang, Nan Yan, Little Fox Yin Ya and young Dragon Lord Mu ZhanTing was great and will miss them. I also enjoyed Nan Yan and her mother Nan Roa's interactions as well as ZhanTing and his father. The bit of comedy, mostly provided by the young Dragon lord was fun and placed a smile on my face every time. I also enjoyed the fight scenes and character building that took place for most of the characters.

Everything else, Production (excluding editing), Visual effects and Sound effects were also good. Loved the songs that accompanied all the scenes.

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Since it has Zhang Ling He, it is automatically on my watchlist. (Ep 1 to Ep 17)

The good:
The story has just begun and I am hoping that this will be another drama that I can add to my rewatch list. The beginning arc is not so great but I still like some of the characters.
The FL when possessed by that genie has the best visuals so far. Hoping to see her powers more in the future.
Mu Zhan Ting is the best character so far, he adds the much needed fun to the linear drama that lacks depth.

The bad: (I can ignore all of this if the story picks up by the end since it is my fav genre with a talented cast)
Zhang Ling He's character seems washed out for some reason.
The visuals are sadly lacking. They remind me of Ashes of love which came out in 2018. The lack is especially jarring because I am currently watching the Dashing Youth as well which has really good visuals. The genie looks so bad, the Last immortal's water condensing beast looked way better than this hastily put together genie.
What's more, since it Xianxia the visuals were one of the most important part of the drama.
Jing Tian is a gorgeous gorgeous woman and has that otherworldly look that makes it difficult for me to see her as a character. I can never forget that she is an actor. I liked her better in Wonderland of Love.

I don't know why I can't seem to get into this drama, does it really lack the depth? When it suddenly came out, I was so damn excited but now I just seem to skip through the scenes for the sake of it.

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Editing Could Have Been Better

I started this drama around August 2024 but I decided to stop watching it and went to watch something else. I wasn’t pulled in at the beginning. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting a lot from it. I picked it up again on 09.30.2024 after almost a month later. I told myself that I’ll give this drama a chance. I actually enjoyed every bit of it. The actors were all amazing with the portrayal of their characters. One of the things I loved about this drama was there’s no second aggressive, jealous type male lead vying for the FL’s love. We’re only focused on with the main leads, that’s it. I love the friendship they all shared here. They really grew on me. I’m so sad it’s all over. 36 episodes. It was really great. I just didn’t like how there were some loose ends and some bad editing. I wish they showed the uncle. He just gave away his remaining life to the pearl. I wanted to see the reaction of elder Zhu. He was really rude to the group of friends throughout the whole story. I wanted him to get down on his knees and say sorry for everything he has done. I wanted xingzhen to see JY. He really believed that JY was innocent. The fight after the wedding was so abrupt. No transition at all. It was so quick and they did a time jump after 3 years later. They said JY burned to ashes but will be reincarnated. It’s hard to understand how he was brought up, but it’s ok, as long as they are together in a happy ending, I’ll take it. I wished they showed the little talisman genies one last time. They were so cute. They spent too much time on her mom’s back story and how the three men loved her so much. I don’t understand why the mom didn’t say anything to her friends, at least warned them about Ying Zewei. It’s a little ridiculous. Love the magic effects, the set, the costumes, and THE MUSIC. There are dramas that have music that don’t stick with me. With this one, OMG. Perfect song choices. It tears up my heart just listening to them. Zhang Ling He did well in this drama. Bravo! I loved this and My Journey to You. I did not like The Princess Royal that much. Although, the writers were to blame for the sh-tty rape scene they added in. That was absurd. Anyways, I give this drama a 4/5 because there was no dull moments and kept me engaged until the end. Hope to see more of Zhang Ling He’s dramas in the future. He was great as a demon here.

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Straightforward Romance with a Slightly Brilliant FL

I have never heard of the names of any of the actors in this series, so u can say my review is very unbiased as i picked up this title just by the whim of the moment. Finished it within 3 days too.

The story started off with a somewhat cute cartoonish creature flying around the FL, Nan Yan, which i first thought was her fairy friend or pet. But then it was revealed that even she herself doesnt know that this creature resides inside her. Then a mysterious ML comes along, then a few others she befriends with as she was supposedly curing ML’s heart disease which was similar to her mother’s.

First off, i gotta say FL is one of the brightest and quickwitted characters ive ever watched. She just looked soft, gullible, and easily manilulated, but as the story progresses, it is revealed that she’s the exact opposite of that. Yeah in the first one third of the story, she was weak in physical and magical strength, because she only focusses on her medical skill and not interested in cultivating. But after the first love tribulation, when she came back strong and reknowned as the top demon slayer, with the combination of the intelligence and strength, she became someone you dont wanna mess around. And the best part of this character is that, in situations where FLs of other typical drama would go down the rabbit hole of misunderstanding and grudge against their better half, Nan Yan did not! Ha!

As for the ML, i like it that he manage to put on two very different attitude and demeanor of he as Shao Cang and later as Yin. Shao Cang appears to be arrogant and yet humble in his own way, aloof as the monarch of his sect and yet still cares of lives around him. While Yin, although still has the aloof aura as he doesnt really interact with people due to his demonic possession, has a much brash attitude and rather harsh in his actions.

Other supporting characters are all great. Costume are nice to look at and doesnt look too flamboyant.

The thing i dislike about the series is how badly the editing is. One scene jumps right to another in the middle of a conversation, which i sometimes had to backtrack to confirm if i had been spacing out and missed anything. This scene would eventually be explained in another scene through flashbacks. So yeah they wanted to keep it a surprise as not to reveal everything in a streamline fashion, but cutting in the middle of a conversation is such a turnoff. I keep getting dumbfounded as the scenes dont tally with the next that i eventually stopped backtracking and just went with it. Sure enough, that dumbfounding scene would then be explained later.

I feel that there is not much chemistry between the main couple. I almost felt it between Shao Cang and NanYan, but later when he came back as Yin, it somehow got diffused and became lost. The villains keep popping out episode after episode but Sen Luo is probably a major disappointment after they build up his reputation as the owner of three divine hearts and conqueror of 5 demon prisons which cannot even be vanquished by the best demi god of the realm - he can only be imprisoned while the demi god himself perish later on. All these hype and this demon lord get kicked out of the scene just like that? There was hardly any battle at all. And those banter between Yin and Sen Luo made it look like this demon lord is a mere joke instead of second biggest villain.

SPOILER BEYOND THIS LINE_____________



I dont get the point of Yin having to be killed by Nan Yan in the last episode too. The drama is just nonexistent as two minutes later (3 years by the story) he would resurrect yet again. There’s no explanation of why or how he manage to live again though. So I see it as pointless. The last episode seemed rushed especially the the last battle between the lovers.

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Aesthetic but loud and unmemorable

I expected way more from a drama starring Zhang Ling He. But surprisingly, two things helped me overcome my skepticism and finish this: the scenery and the supporting characters.

The Visuals
The sets here are so stunning that I actually paused just to examine the details. Nan Yan's home, the whale boat, the markets, the sect courtyards — they are all amazing! The color scheme, the small details, the wide shots — everything creates the perfect atmosphere, ranging from cozy to ostentatiously grand. Visually, it’s a feast.

The Cast
The supporting characters are colorful, vivid, and thankfully not annoying. They brought just the right amount of drama and comedy. Honestly, the main couple was... fine? Cute, funny, dramatic at times. But it’s kind of embarrassing to admit that their storyline didn't hook me at all. Instead, the side characters stole the show. The little Dragon, the Fox and the older generation caused way more worry and emotion than the leads. Especially Chang Long — he turned out to be charismatic and memorable.

The Sound
I really disliked the sound design. There are way too many cartoonish comedic sound effects, which feel strange and completely out of place in a Xanxia. Maybe it's just me, but I hate those loud, goofy noises. The music, in general, is too loud and pompous. It often draws attention to itself instead of emphasizing the emotions of the scene.

Script & Editing
I also had issues with the editing and the rhythm of the narrative. I read that four episodes were cut, and maybe it would have been better with them... but I doubt it. The main problem is that there is too much talking. The characters constantly narrate their thoughts, intentions, and actions (ignoring the "show, don't tell" rule). The final fight isn't a fight at all — it's just a long, pompous conversation with threats. It felt like the script was written by a novice. Overall, the plot is predictable and full of clichés.

Verdict
In general, I thought the drama was mediocre. Only the older generation evoked real emotions, and only the scenery and a couple of supporting characters were memorable. I really expected more from my favorite genre and the magnificent Zhang Ling He. He deserves a better script.

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The show is worth a try.

I normally rate a show based on how much i was entertained by it. thus yes i do end up overlooking some flaws.

during the whole 36 episodes, you got the feeling that direction was different, editing was done by different groups and so many things which sometimes made so many episodes have a unique feeling. Epi1-15 had a feeling and flow, then in between another feeling, and post 30 there is another essence in the show. i will definitely recommend this show. It has another flavor as compared to many shows i watched.
Good points; all the actors were good, be it the main ones or secondary ones. ML doesnt turn 100% evil, FL 99.9% never distrusted the ML... I think music was something i liked the most in this show, and the ML's clothes especially when he was in demonic state were so pretty,.

Bad:
not sure to write it as bad or not, but i read about all the production issues this show faced. hence there was many scenes which were badly edited, a few important scenes never given at all (you'd understand if you watch the show :))

rewatch value: yes at least a few scenes are so beautifully done.

Watch this show for the actors, they did a brilliant job but unfortunately other issues impacted in general the outcome which was brought to us. But overall a good watch.

also after watching the show completely, i got the feeling that they wanted to deliver something really good here. because some scenes were indeed topnotch, but unfortunately could not.

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ZLH rocks, the drama doesn't

If I thought ML Zhang Ling He was goodlooking before, he is eye candy 10.0 here! (His styling in his guest role in Red Moon Pact last few episodes was his handsome-est tho)
Rather than critique just this drama since other's have(yes, the editing sucked, and the plot falls apart everywhere), I want to share my thoughts compared to other works by these actors.
FL Betty Tian was far better in Wonderland of Love with Xu Kai--while I felt there was lovely chemistry between the leads, her acting (or the script) was lacking in this drama.
ML ZLH was so adorable in this even when he was 'evil' -and I totally accepted this character and his love story here even tho' I had just seen him in Princess Royal, Story of Kunning Palace, and My Journey To You each with 3 different-FLs--his subtle expressions and eyes convincingly drew me in here so I kept watching.
I thought there was too much air time for the support male lead playing the young Dragon Lord but he was predictably goofy as he has been in other dramas.
Darren Chen played his role as typically annoying at first but matured as the story continued--I still only have liked him in Sleuth of Ming Dynasty.
Master of the Great Path was equally as sinister as he was in Janice Wu's Faithful--I guess he is enjoying the bad guy roles.
For this 2024 Summer costume dramas, this drama was far more palatable than Red Moon Pact and less heartwrenching than Lost You Forever, but The Double and Princess Royal were better story/scripts.

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Recomended

I liked the drama very much.
Since it has Zhang Ling He, it is automatically on my watchlist. (Ep 1 to Ep 12)

The good:
The story has just begun and I am hoping that this will be another drama that I can add to my rewatch list. The beginning arc is not so great but I still like some of the characters.
The FL when possessed by that genie has the best visuals so far. Hoping to see her powers more in the future.
Mu Zhan Ting is the best character so far, he adds the much needed fun to the linear drama that lacks depth.

The bad: (I can ignore all of this if the story picks up by the end since it is my fav genre with a talented cast)
Zhang Ling He's character seems washed out for some reason.
The visuals are sadly lacking. They remind me of Ashes of love which came out in 2018. The lack is especially jarring because I am currently watching the Dashing Youth as well which has really good visuals. The genie looks so bad, the Last immortal's water condensing beast looked way better than this hastily put together genie. What's more, since it Xianxia the visuals were one of the most important part of the drama.

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