Waiting for a season 2
I didn't expect myself to complete this drama within 2 days with close to sleepless nights. The story itself builds up steadily and I would say this is one of the rare few dramas that I didn't drop. Watched it because of Linghe at first but I am happy with the direction of this story because I think it is Esther's first non-cutesy drama.I felt like Esther did an amazing job portraying her character considering her previous dramas. This was not cringey and it was rather mature. Everyone in the show definitely had some good acting points and I really like how each character was able to have some backstory towards the end of the show.
The only thing that I didn't really like was that they didn't release the second season directly after this. Many reviewers mentioned that the ending is rather the director's style. I LOVE it actually but I would love to see a continuation!
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Judging behind a screen is cowardice.
So, first off Esther yu . I did not like her for her acting, or so I thought. BUT I cannot form judgmental and petty critics just because she’s filthy rich and cute.
So, that was cowardice led by a tricky sense of superiority as a viewer. She has proved more then enough she deserve a compliment for gaining expertise and improving considerably her talent.
Watching this drama is like getting a hiccup during some episodes and being literally pulled in by other with unexpected twist. All cast was really good together, excellent job at casting, directing, and a special shut out to the gem that is Jolin jin. Uau, she’s magnificent. Honestly, the really insufferable thing of asian dramas lately is this trend of starving the actress and actor to a point that you concentrate more on the protruding bones of their bodies instead of the acting, which leaves such a sad , sad aftertaste. If you don’t have an eating disorder, just by watching them you might developed one. Back to the drama: there are spot not explained well, and the ending it’s caotici at best, even though very well performed. So, my final word: let these people eat so that we can enjoy the drama without getting anxious that one of them drop dead due to starvation.
Good job with the martial art parts, but a bit commercial.
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Stockholm syndrome
Overall, worth watching: excellent and good looking cast, fantastic chemistry between the leads, lots of mysteries and twists in the story and great backdrop.However, be ready that the ending is open-ended. Would be nice if there is a sequel to tie everything up - but don't bet on it. I have not seen any Chinese drama sequel successfully released so far, and most of those released did not measure up to its predecessors.
Yun WeiShan was sent to the Gong clan as a spy by the WuFeng gang, disguised as a candidate for a bride. WuFeng was a notorious group which had dominated the martial art world and forced many clans to submit to them. However, the Gong clan rejected their demands and was about the last not to submit. And as the drama progressed, you would find there were other spies beside WeiShan. WeiShan found that she not only had to hide her identity from the Gongs, she had to deal with other scheming spies ready to betray her if necessary to protect their own identities and their mission.
The young handsome Gong ZiYu was thrown into the position of the clan leader when his father and eldest brother was assassinated, presumably by WuFeng's spies. While selecting his bride, ZiYu fell in love with WeiShan. Relationship between the spy and the new leader became complicated and it looked like she was a liability which might bring down ZiYu from the leadership position.
Highlights about this drama:
1. The story was very interesting. There was always new discoveries; nothing and no one was what they seemed to be.
2. There were good humour as portrayed by the character Gong ZiShang. Although her behaviour was funny in many scenes and helped lightened up the dark and serious drama, some were quite snapstick.
3. Zhang Ling He was as usual outstanding in this drama. He was the second lead in the drama Love between Devil and Fairy and was perhaps overlooked or overshadowed. But his subsequent performance in this and the Story of Kunning Palace along with Bai Lu was nothing short of outstanding.
4. The other main leads were equally good. Ryan Cheng played the cold faced Gong ShangJue who actually had a soft side. Yu Shu Xin hailed from the drama Love between Devil and Fairy - I am not quite convinced about her acting - she played the cool and calm spy - a character which was mostly quite boring - saved mainly by her chemistry with Zhang Ling He. By comparison, the scheming Shangquan Qian (Lu Yu Xiao) was more interesting and earned our disgust.
5. Everything was good except the last episode. Everyone was unhappy - a sharp contrast to the Story of Kunning Palace. I wish they could do a better job with the ending. I suggest with such lousy endings, come up with your own ending.
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This review may contain spoilers
second leads outshining main leads?
i honestly don't understand why this plot was so weird. the main leads are literally zhang linghe and esther yu yet the script and plot literally just showcases the "BETTER" chemistry between lu yuxiao and ryan cheng, the red flag couple.yushuxin's acting was quite good, the contrast of her in lbfad and in my journey to you was really huge, her cuteness in lbfad and the cold vibe she's giving off in this show as the wufeng spy in this show was really great, showcasing her strengths in acting cute characters and cold/evil characters. she's such a great actress!! the casting was actually a solid 10/10. just a very unexpectedly weird plot, it seemed like the directors only used the main leads to gain fame for this show just to project viewers to enjoy the acting of the 2nd couple more. If there was more scenes and chances for the main leads to showcase their romance/chemistry in this show more, im pretty sure we can see how their relationship deepens. the ending of this show was also pretty abrupt and seemed rushed? i hope there's a 2nd season where we can see what actually happened in the end instead of an inexplainable and "forcing viewers to guess" kind of ending.
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the cinematography is crazy!
I found this drama from the teaser on the wetv application and decided to wait for it to air. I felt sad when I heard that this drama had problems being broadcast, but finally it was able to be broadcast.I've been watching it since the drama was released because I was waiting for it. I saw that the teaser was very good because I really like dramas with dark and cool tones. Very much my type!
I immediately liked the first episode, the actors' acting was also good. I like Esther's type of acting in this drama, I think she suits her role and she is very beautiful with a calm and cool character in this drama.
The story is good, I like the plot even though I felt confused about the family tree in this drama. But I always find it difficult to understand the family tree in historical dramas hahahaa
What I like most is the CGI, cinematography, visual effects, the shooting is very beautiful to watch! All the scenes are worth looking at more carefully because they are really good!
But I was very annoyed with the ending of the story, why does it have to be an open ending? And even the two main characters haven't had much time together
For the OST, I don't remember hearing any songs in this drama, maybe because I was too serious when watching it
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Catch me if you can
I was actually surprised by this drama, as the description didn't give too much away and I avoided any potential spoilers, so I went into this blind.As for me, I loved the dynamic between the three brothers. Each had their own character and back-story and there was some character developement as well.
As for Yun Weishan and Qian, they both have been interesting as well, with the ladder being more complex, yet less likable to me. I appreaciated the tone of romance for both of them as it suited both their personalities.
The plot left me guessing until the end. I am afraid I am not so smart and I enjoy the plot twists as I usually do not see them coming. It was a gripping story, with enough suspense for me to keep binge watching. I love undercover stories, schemes and a good "cat-and-mouse" game.
The ending could have been executed in a better way, but after reading some of the comments, I kinda get it. Still, I think the plot is lacking in this aspect and some scenes dragged on too long.
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a rather slow journey
to begin, I have heard of this drama for a while since I got into kdramas then cdramas and decided to check it outI was mostly intrigued by the whole female assassin plot and I already knew a good chunk of what this type of trope was (the spy sent to kill but falls in love with their target) I was rather curious on the execution
it was disappointing because it loses its intrigueness by the middle point of the story
the beginning was good, middle point it got rather boring and slow and by the finale episode it got interesting again and the ending was just huh?
I liked seeing gong ziyu character evolve, I mean who doesn’t love a underdog story?
it was rather annoying how long the breaks were between each trials because I mostly felt it wasn’t taken seriously and the constant back and forth was hard to keep up
tho he is the master of his family now so it’s understandable why they did that but during the middle arc of the story if it wasn’t for his older sister comedic timing, I would’ve gotten bored quite easily
the ending was just badly done, I did some research and it is confirmed by the director that the ending was intended to be sad and it seems he doesn’t have any plans anytime soon for a season 2
I know this drama went through difficulties back then because of a actor who got into a scandal but the ending was rather badly written. because I interpret it as more of an open ending probably like many others but as an open ending it had way too many storylines that they didn’t bother to wrap up
so if they plan to ever make a s2 in the future I think it would be rather difficult to pick up where they left off without some weird/awkward pacing
the romance plot line was rather disappointing because I looked forward to the ZLH and YSX pairing and it a shame it didn’t really do them justice (I hope they get reunited in a future romance drama together)
the 2nd couple tho! they stole my attention with their tension every scene like omg I was invested
I hope they reunite in another drama as leads as well
YSX was so cool in this role!! that I wish she would get more opportunities to portray similar roles like this in the future vs the typecasting of constant cute,adorable, sunshine, positive character
I mean I have nothing against these type of characters but it rather limits her abilities but also let others make stupid assumption about her acting abilities as well
overall I think it really is up to you to watch the drama and decide whether or not it’s good cause I wouldn’t really recommended unless you want to see cool female assassins like I did lol
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Beautiful dark and riveting
I keep going back to how genuinely gorgeous this drama was. The colors, aesthetic, every shot was so beautiful and cinematic I couldn't get enough. I think a lot of dramas are beautiful but suffer from low budget and these days the 3D printed costumes and props are cheap and common. This drama doesn't rely on any of that but solely on the beauty of the environment and the actors themselves. God, every single person in this drama is beautiful. When Esther said that the director promised he would give her the most beautiful shots, he was not lying.Watching this show felt like reading a book in the best way possible. The plot was intriguing and I was obsessed with every character's thoughts and motivations. I will admit the ending fell and I was quite disappointed but I still very much enjoyed every minute of watching this.
I will be watching everything this director does from now on because he is my new Greta Gerwig.
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This review may contain spoilers
I watched this drama twice before writing my review
Let’s start with I like or love about this drama:1. OST - idk but it has me in a spell
2. Aesthetic/visual/cinematography - I saw the trailer of this drama and I told myself, “wow I’m going to watch that for the vibes”
3. Acting - I know how some didn’t like Esther here but this was a breath of fresh air for me. The dramas I’ve seen her in, she’s always the vibrant, cute character. Here I think she was able to pull the “no feelings, I’m supposed to be blank assassin” 😂. But really I think everyone was pretty good but Cheng Lei, Lu Yu Xiao, Tian Jian Rui, eldest young miss, Hanya Si, and the back hill boys stole the show for me
4. I love the characters, I think they all served their purpose. My Back Hill boys have a special place in my heart
What I didn't like:
THE FACT THAT THERE IS NO SEASON 2 OR CONFIRMATION OF IT!!! Because after watching this twice, that was the gate opening!!! What a literal open-ended ending
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Great Action! Second Lead Couple Amazin!
It started off good. But then not much was happening, then something happened, and then back to not much, and then right at the end too much was happening.I love the action here! The fighting was impressive! To my surprised was seeing the actresses get dirty during those scenes were they are fighting in water mud through Wufeng's training ground or whatever, idk usually even until the character's death the director's would preserved their beauty or not to get their makeup ruined so I do appreciate little moments were actresses would get dirty for role/scene. I'm back to watching cdramas again so excuse me if this note was random.
I do like the second lead couple a lot more. There's so much complexity and depth into those two characters that made them so interesting to watch every time and how they are both unpredictable characters makes it also interesting to watch as compared to the main lead which they more stale, predictable and quite boring. As much as I wanted to root for the main couple since I loved these two in Love Between Fairy and Devil, I can't say the same for them in this drama. It's just they are too plain, though there were a few cute moments I enjoyed them! I lowkey have a ghost ship between Yun and Yuan Zhi, they would honestly make the best enemies to lovers ngl.
Shang Jue was a character that was supposed to be like an antagonist brother, idk what to label him anywho, even so, I couldn't help but agree with him a lot of the times even though he was making it harder for the ML. Even if I didn't like his attitude before I wouldn't hate the idea of him being the next Sword Wielder, in fact I be all for it because nothing he said was honestly wrong. His intuition and lead was spot on most of the time.
I do find the defeat of the Elder brother a bit underwhelming? I also felt like a lot of things were happening in an episode all at once during this battle which is understandable since lots of things can happen during a big battle however it was just a lot to take in idk. Especially the Young Master Hua's death, his character was so minimal his death was so unexpected especially when we barely just found out about his identity as a Young Master, and his little backstory that we are suppose to care about I mean it's still pitiful and sad, but like there's not much to build off his character and story ngl especially since he rarely ever gets scenes.
Honestly, this could be said with a lot of the character's death here, like the ML's father (the transition to his death wasn't impactful enough to make me feel sorry for the ML or the father, the only time i actually connected to the ML's father was when the flashback scene of him doing gardening for the ML's mother, seeing that made me empathize for him and how his love wasn't being send the way he wanted it to unknowingly. This was more impactful than him being a typical harsh father who pushed his son to success out of love. I think the bother, Shang Jue did a better job doing the emotional push to make the ML stronger. However what shouldn't have been surprising but was still surprising for me was that before the father died, his choice to pass on the Sword Wielder position was to Shang Jue cause typically I'm used to just the father always choosing the ML regardless of how unfitted they are for the position starting off.)
ML's mother death (personally, i didn't care about her, in fact I actually was really annoyed with her, like i get it, she misunderstood the ML's father's love nor did she wanted to understand it since she loved someone else, but all the talk from Wuji about how "even if she was emotionally unavailable to be your mother she still loved you", like i know deep down she cared about her own son, but truthfully i can't sympathize with her character. She gave birth to him so yah she's a mother, she showed him one act of motherly love in which he cherish that memory but like, that's only one memory of her not neglecting her child so of course he cherished that memory and mask which he doesn't care for anymore lmfao because it was brought up and never brought up ever again, but other than that TO ME she really hasn't earned her right to be a mother. But the ML loves her so what can I really say, if he recognizes her as his mother then I can't really say much about it only about the writing/character).
To my surprised was Shangguan Qian win against Jin Fan. Go girl. Honestly I think I have more to say but I'm going to leave it at this until the next season? If we do get it lmfao...
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the start is cool,fine but it gets bitter and more complicated as it moves forward better to pay attention to some clips cause some people like to skip a lot but trust me dont .
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incroyable sauf la fin pitoyable
wuxia extraordinaire jusqu'à la dernière minute...qui n'a aucun sens au regard de l'intrigue globale. la fin est illogique et en rupture totale avec tout le reste. c'était un drama intelligent, contemplatif, tout en finesse. la fin de l'épisode 24 est absurde et frustrante.quel gâchis !
je suis désolée. manifestement, une saison 2 était envisagée....
elle n'apportera rien...
quelle déception !!!!
je recommande ce drama si vous n'êtes pas sensible aux dernières minutes...
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