Tales of the Grandmaster

This is a thai drama take on Wuxia. In fact, you will have to watch it as a Thai drama than a Chinese wuxia. This is mainly a story about this grandmaster Wan Yi Tian he fell into hole while fighting of his enemy. He then got through horizon and came into our world of modern Thailand where he met his soulmate. In here he learn that him and his another grandmaster friend story are shared as online story. Back in wuxia world , Wan Yi Tian had matters and enemies to get rid of. But in this world, the woman he fell in love with, Nalin, has dangers, so he decides to protect her. Back in wuxia world, his grandmaster friend was also looking for him and even followed him to the modern world, but the friend only meet up with a doctor lady and failed to find his friend mostly.
Does the wuxia world really existed ? Or is it only illusion from an online story? Will Wan Yi Tian be able to go back and handle the matters? What will happen to Nalin?
I really love this plotline. It has interesting and a bit twist in ending type of story. It has romance and action and bit of drama and of course comedy. The actors and actresses did their job pretty well. I am really a fan Esther although I don't watch her every drama. Bright as Wan Yi Tian is charming. Their chemistry is good as well as the second couple. The OSTs are awesome too. Both 2 songs are my favorite now.
However, I still think production is still a bit weak. Plot execution is also not smooth. If the production is better I'm sure this will be great one because the storyline is really good. But it is not so serious drama in anyway. It has this feel good romance family drama vibe. But I enjoy watching every episodes. I give this one 8/10.

Read More

fairytale

one31 fantasy lakorns like this have a charm of their own. They may throw in plenty of nonsense along the way, but they're good fun. In those I've seen, the more nonsense, the more they can commit to it, and the more they commit to it, the better it all works. Personally, I would have liked them to embrace that more fully here.

(And I sincerely hope there's a katoey comedy movie with a sassy fan-waving martial artist, the fun they could have =D =D =D Pingpong camping it up with a fan and AtTiTude, Pompam as a swordmaster afraid of sharp, dangerous, pointy things. Jennie Panhan as magnificent sorceress and head of the guild. With lots of sword jokes.)

And of course the key for a successful lakorn is how well it handles the emotions of its plots. Again, I would have liked more there for most of the lakorn, especially in the primary romantic arc. Add in a very villainous modern-world villain with a plot line full of cliches and for a lot of this, I rated it a middling one31 fantasy lakorn with some good moments. I like the sub-genre though, and it was easy enough to set aside critiques and just go along for the ride.

There were winks along the way, like the amusing integration of a product placement inhaler and one character reminding another that the imagined novel within the story is just entertainment and not to be taken seriously. They have to, but if you insist on taking this lakorn seriously, you'll just upset yourself. If you get something from that though, go for it.

But if you're happy to give some time to the nonsense of this fairytale, it's fun. It's an easy watch with short episodes and a lot of energy as it merrily speeds over every plot hole.

The male leads are green flags. The gently stern gravitas with a wink Bright brings to Wang Yitian works well, though the female lead roles are mostly written and acted with the flighty manner of rom coms. It wouldn't have taken much for the director to add some depth earlier through changes there.

In the last two episodes though, it commits more fully to its premise and finds more depth in its emotions. So maybe it's better than middling after all. I enjoyed it.

Read More