Feud

the female rage that couldn't

this had a nice concept- a powerful woman, aggrieved, willing to move mountains to address her grievance. and it did start off well, we get to enjoy her crash outs through the flashbacks, but then fwd back to the present and that plot predictably lost its steam, lacked follow through, and a satisfying resolution, and was eventually replaced by an admittedly enigmatic villain. turns out hell doth have more fury than a woman wronged.

I really liked bai lu's performance, especially in the mortal world scenes. that lady really needs her own standalone female centric drama, not like those fake female centric dramas. no a real one like those male centric ones e.g. guardians of dafeng, jol, etc.
I have nothing to say about the ml, he did not really make an impression on me, and was not really written to be a lead main character. he was very pretty though, and he posed beautifully.
I liked the dacheng land, and bai jiu si's outfits, so pretty! gorgeous color palette!
I found the ml's 1st disciple hilarious. every inch of his costume was ridiculous lol
32 eps and I cannot point to a single romantic scene between the leads but I did not mind, they don't really have that sort of chemistry and the story did not call for it. I do not believe Bai Jiu Si had romantic love for Qing Yue, it was more like he loved her bc they were the same/came from the same place. It was more like agape love...which makes sense ig

I did not care for the 2ls, I don't even have a criticism I just did not care, ditto the first 10ish episodes or that entire father daughter plot, or the love triangle between the disciples, or anything else that was happening after a while. I did not finish the last ep.
also none of the emotional scenes really hit, people cried, people died and yeah, meh.
the villain never really came across as threatening imo.
in the beginning the leads were these powerful beings with lives 'as long as the sun and moon,' but the bad guy sure tackled them easily by the end.
watch it, but don't expect a masterpiece, or even to be wowed.
fantasy dramas nowadays have such a childish bend to them, like even more than they used to in the past...heh idk but not a fan

Read More

The Principle of Polarity Put into Perspective: "A weakness can also be an armor"

I actually rate this drama a 6.75/10, but since I can't give that rating on MDL, I opted for a 6.5/10.
I also want to emphasize the fact that this is, for me, the first xianxia I've found interesting in over three years. And this is essentially due to the fact that this cdrama focuses on stong philosophical reflections, that I found very inspiring. However, this drama has many flaws, and I understand why many fail to connect to it.

Nevertheless, for me at least, there's still something in the design of this drama that I value greatly: the expression of sincerity in artistic & creative exploration. This drama really tried to create something visually different from the usual xianxia genre (mainly the first 11 episodes, cause after that it went slowly downhill).
This drama is far from perfect, but despite everything, it managed to touch the part in me in search for a creative journey.

1.The Directing :
The 1st ep looked very much like a pilot one, a bit chaotic & clumsy, weird voice over for the fl, your classic xianxia trope, in term of directing it's wasn't that great but still charming.
Episodes 2-11 were beautifully directed imo, not perfect but the creative input was def strong & authentic, it impressed me. The shots were differents & gorgeous, you could sense the inspiration from old famous movies from hong kong & china, and there was a serious will to give us a different looking xianxia. There was something very seductive in the way the scenes were portayed through the lens of the director.
The color palette, decor, makeup & costumes truly surprised me in the best way. I was so tired of watching xianxias having the same aesthetic.
Shots got repetitive after the first 11 episodes tho. Most of the creativity of the beginning faded away to display the most generic directing, probably less costing LOL. During the last part of the drama, few shots were pretty but kinda meaningless, so it was a disappointement.
Most cgi during the 2nd part & most importantly the action scenes were bad.
The editing was often weird. It participate on the downfall of the quality of the drama. The scenes followed one another in either an abrupt or robotic manner. Of course, it is obvious that to respect the 32-episodes format, there must have been a need to reduce a lot of scenes.
The work on the lighting was generic and lacked efforts. It actually made a lot of scenes (that were already poorly shooted) look very awkward.

Have you noticed how all the hugging scenes were poorly filmed? A shame. The directing after ep 11 definitely lacked sensibility, spirit but also bravery. I never got actually emotional while watching the drama, I could feel so much distance with what was displayed, it didn't feel real despite many realitic themes. The execution of it was most definitely NOT credible, lacked so much attention for details and precision.

The sountrack was absolutely underwhelming. I only like two songs and one of them was the one sung by Zeng Shun Xi.

2. The Writing :
A/The Themes of The Story :
The choice of the themes deplayed in the drama were outstanding and what truly makes this drama worth the watch and give it a high rewatch potential.
Here a short list of the themes :
-The Principle of Polarity (Yin & Yang, Cause and Effects)
-The cycle of life that never ends
-Theory of causality: cause and effect
-The theme of motherhood and fatherhood
- Maternal instinct ( HRY being overprotective) vs detachment ( BJS chosing to take action for both of them without her consent, being also overprotective)
- The challenges of perception
- Reality vs Imagination
- Hysteria or the condescending term and judgment of women's emotional expressions (Yin)
- The silent burdens in the expression of masculinity (Yang)
- The puirsuit of Truth & the construction of discernment

I have written a very long essai that I added on discussion topic of the page of FEUD, so if your curious I'll invite you to read it, it is called "An attempt to highlight the beauty of the deep philosophical themes of the story of FEUD". 

B/The Storytelling :
The storytelling was a complete fail.
The writing & choices of the themes were great but the construction of the narrative was very amateurish and full of obvious and tacky clumsiness.
The audience is really left alone trying to guess the depth of the writing. And if you don't pay attention enough, you would definetely miss the beauty of the subjects displayed, because precisely the storytelling wasn't efficient enough. You do not get to truly witness the beauty of the theory of polarities reaching its high potential when it comes to a drama adaptation. FEUD is to me more of an attempt, a lovely & clumsy attempt that still reached me, but if I wasn't myself educated enough on taoism and other philosophical ideas, this drama wouldn't have reach me like it did. And that's why I can see how many people didn't connect to the drama.
The writing of the first twist was actually good (HRY faking having forgotten everything), the 1st stabbing scene did get the reaction from the audience that was needed, but the twits after felt VERY repetitive, forced & cringy, simply added to avoid truly writing something creative & more serious as obstacles or ways to deepen the psychology of the characters.
Honestly, they were too many repetition in the writing, it was annoying.
I guessed most major twists, and after the 1st one, the thrill of guessing became flavorless.
The constant focus on those stabbing scenes & the display of physical pain was of poor taste (most xianxias have those and it needs to stop LOL, can you write angst in another way? Like it's 2025?). One or two scenes were enough for us to grab the importance of how deep their sorrow was, but nah, they kept going just to use those heavy scenes of suffering as a way to fill up the storytelling, which I find not only problematic but also triggering. It destroyed the impact of the first scenes, making the use of those same looking scenes (where you see the fl stabbing the ml, one of them needing to die etc) as a pretext or disguise for the lack of cleverness needed to write new scenes with such a strong impact.
HRY & BJS “acting” to then cooperate felt flat as hell, it was simplistic and yet again REPETITIVE ! So, in the beginning, HRY was acting up, BJS was playing along, then HRY played AGAIN in an illusion to trap BJS. And then, both of them play fools to win against the bad villain bla bla bla uuugh so boring and cringy ?! Like, the writer didn't find any better way to make the story evolve? haa? That's the real major issue, the writing didn't get to evolve at all ! A waste of so much potential, and that's a shame.The drama could've been epic.

The last part of the drama (eps 22-32) was highly disappointing. I did enjoy the scenes were BJS get to discover the truth when it comes to what HRY had to go through in the mortal realm without him but after that, nothing interesting was going on. The quality of the writing definitely showed its heavy limitation there. Watching BJS acts like a child was cute but felt completely random since the drama was almost ending.

The drama was far too abstract & focused on aesthetics when it came to the story of the two heroes' love, we were forced to display a form of detachment since the writer failed when it comes to the storytelling.
We don't really know how BJS & HRY fell in love in details. I mean we know the circustances but we never got to see the characters wonder and have introspection about how they feel and think. The drama was too focus on displaying a robotic way of narration. We needed to dive more into their soul imo. We didn't have enough scenes where there was a real effort in the writing, particularly with the help of sincere and deep dialogues.


Now, let's talk about the ending.
The ending was underwhelming but the idea of it was very interesting and meaningful, too bad the making was badly done.
The whole idea of HRY going back in time to try to change things in the past, but failing into changing the future for her & BJS was an excellent idea but again, poorly executed. They rushed the whole process.
The idea was that Destiny or your Karma fate, is bound to happen no matter what, your mistakes, one flawed action, aren't the only responsibles of the trajectory of your life's journey. Erasing suffering won't change the separations, the misunderstanding (etc), nor the course of what should happen. Suffering is what made you transform, you have to live it. You have to accept how unperfect your past could be, & if you are able to make peace with it, you can find some sort of harmony, between suffering and happiness, cause one can't exist without the other, again it is the symbolism of polarities. Happiness might not be the actual precise word to express the opposite of suffering, I think it was more a matter of Prosperity (a spiritual abundance) that is about experiencing a sense of profound fulfillment, gratitude, and richness in every aspect of life.
HRY go back in time and resolve the main misunderstandings, leaving the people have more informations, to guide their future choices but without forcefully intervene (the way she did in the past). It's a way for her to help them gain a better level of consciousness, something she lacked herself for a very long time.
By being more conscious of what's happenning around you, because of yourself and others, you get to at least try to harmonize the income of your future by not failing into the trap of self victimization. The source of your suffering, doesn't have to kill you, it can transform you.
The ending is about Yin and Yang becoming complementary, forming One through their differences.

3. The Pacing
It was awful.
Unlike many, the beginning of the drama and the first part was the most interesting part to me.
Yes, the very first episode was very clumsy, but despite that, I immediately saw potential and the chemistry.
Nothing was clear, and that's what I liked about it. Everything was designed to encourage us to make suggestions rather than offering an academic introduction to history. And the pacing was very good, during those episodes, I never got bored.
It's only after episode 12 that the chain of events slows down and makes the narrative less engaging. There are many scenes without passion, without a well-crafted rhythm, particularly in the way events follow one after the other. The drama lacked so much passion, lacked so much life, and the terrible pacing made those inadequacies even more heavy.
Despite many lovely scenes, some great emotional moments and the chemistry between the lead, they couldn't correct the void left by the lack of quality in the storytelling & the pacing.
Those scenes in that 2nd part (eps 13-21) were largely premeditated with the aim of solving the main mystery rather than showing us a shared adventure with moment of deep connections. The drama lacks a lot of subtlety.
The other thing that made the pacing quite awful that were most definetely
repulsive are the filler scenes. They were soo boring, especially the scenes about the Jingyun sect and its members, all those scenes with the 2nd male lead etc, gosh so boring.

4. The Chemistry
The last time I actually liked Bai Lu's chemistry with her male lead was with Xu Kai. The chemistry between Zeng Shun Xi & Bai Lu was also one of the reason I decided to continue watching the drama. The chemistry was very obvious from the get go. Their scenes felt natural, you could sense how comfortable they were in acting together.
They did lack intensity but they instead displayed a very lovely, charming chemistry, that was very refreshing.
In the beginning of the drama, you could sense a sexual tension between HRY & BJS but after episode 12, it kinda got lost. Their mutual attraction got muted for the sake of highlighting a more platonic love, which was disappointing to me. I mean, I loved the platonicity, the innocence from it but it wasn't neccessary to suppress their desires lol, both could exist at the same time.

5. The Acting :
Since FEUD is a drama produced by Yu Zheng, we have to deal with the fact that he adds most of his team members into the cast of the drama, and as always it's annoying as hell, cause most of the time those actors & actresses bring nothing truly interesting to the table, at least for most of them.

Zeng Shun Xi's performance was the true suprise of this show for me but also what made me curious about this drama in the beginning.
I never was impressed by his acting if I'm being honest, he always does the job but never truly was impressive.
Here, he really was good. His care and dedication to display the right expressions but also subtle ones (especially during the 1st part of the drama) were one of the major reason that made me choose to continue watching this drama.
I really enjoyed his work on the characterization of Bai Jiu Si and the expression of his character's aura was undeniable. It felt sincere, even if, during the 2nd part of the drama, his acting lacked novelty, his portrayal got a bit redundant. The last part of the drama gave him enough substance to show us more of his range.
Zeng Shun Xi does look very young despite being 27 year old, and I think it did take away the credibility of him looking like the most powerful & respected deity (Heavenly Lord Dacheng) in the heaven realm lol.
But it wasn't really that disturbing to me, I could ignore that. But the real flaw in his acting imo, is that at some point (and it's also the case for Bai Lu too) you can very obviously see how his own lack of experiences in life made some of his scenes feel unsatisfied, incomplete and sometimes superficial.

Bai Lu's perfomance felt quite flat and average. There was few scenes were I fought she did a good job but overall, her peformance lacked range and depth to portay Hua Ru Yue.
She didn't display anything different of what she usually does. She lacked tremendously micro expressions and energy shifts in her perf.

Li Mo (Liang Yong Qi) and Sun Zheng (Long Yuan) were the only interesting character's outside the leads to me. Their acting perfomances were good especially Li Mo.
The rest of the cast performed in a rather ordinary or caricatured manner. They were simply uninteresting to watch for me.

Read More

A Story of Love, Power, and Regret

Of course I watched Feud the moment I saw Bai Lu was in it – I mean, she's my ultimate fave! 😍 Paired with Zeng Shunxi, this drama already had a solid foundation with such talented leads. The acting is top-notch, the costumes are breathtaking, and the OST is absolutely captivating – definitely a treat for the senses.

Let’s talk performances first: Bai Lu, as always, delivers a deeply emotional and compelling performance. Zeng Shunxi holds his own beside her, and their chemistry feels authentic and well-balanced. You can really feel the tension and emotion in every scene.

Visually, this drama is stunning. The costume and set designs are rich in detail, and they beautifully reflect the era and mood of each scene. The cinematography is elegant, with so many scenes that could be framed as artwork.

Now, about the storyline – I’ll be honest, I found it a bit lacking in some parts. The plot started off strong, but as the episodes went on, it lost some of its punch. A few of the later episodes even felt somewhat similar to those in Moonlight Mystique. It’s not bad, but I just expected a bit more in terms of depth and pacing.

And the ending? Ugh, I was left hanging 😭 – it felt rushed and unfinished. I really wanted a stronger conclusion after all the buildup.

As for the characters... OMG. Dao Ming Si?! 😂 If you know, you know. I won’t spoil who I’m referring to, but let’s just say he was the most frustrating character for me – I seriously wanted to scream at the screen. That’s how you know the actor did a good job though!

Thematic-wise, behind all the beautiful faces and elaborate costumes, the story delivers some powerful messages:
– Power and ambition can consume you, and no matter how beautiful the surface is, there’s always a price to be paid for betrayal and revenge.
– Appearances can deceive, and true strength often comes in quiet, painful choices.
– And most importantly: When you love someone, tell them. It’s easier said than done, but don’t let fear hold you back until regret is all that’s left. This drama shows how silence can hurt more than any sword ever could.

Final Thoughts:
Feud is a visually captivating drama with excellent acting, especially from Bai Lu (bias aside, she really shines here). The plot could’ve been more solid, and the ending more satisfying, but overall it’s still worth watching – just don’t expect everything to be wrapped up neatly.

⋆.ೃ࿔🌸*:･𝔃 𝓮 𝓷 𝓪 𝓻🍧 ₊ ⊹

Read More

Should have been 24 episodes

I've been so excited for this one since they released its trailer so I had high expectations for it. As I've been watching wuxia back to back, it's easy to get tired if the plot gets draggy or boring. While it's a great drama, I'll list out the reasons for my ratings.
1. They pushed most of the actions towards the end. The leads didn't even have many conversations (about 30%) compared to the side characters, meaning unnecessary screentime for supporting characters. Hence, my point is that they would have achieved the same thing with 24 episodes. I mean, they were even talking about the love story of one grandpa and one woman like that...who cares?? They also gave too much screen time to another father-daughter relationship of one of the side characters
2. From the title, you would know it was a love-hate relationship so I could understand their relationship. For me, what she made him go through seemed too much because she kept punishing him over and over again, and this was someone she loved. She plotted for years and damn she did act well in her plotting because I thought Li Qinyue wasn't her at all. She had punished him after her tribulations, locked him up for years, and after 400 years, she's still out for blood. And to top it all, the boy knew all along and kept indulging her. He never tried to hurt her, but couldn't understand why she hated him so much. That should have even made him investigate what went on in her life in the human realm, but no, he decided to do so towards the end. But like they say, the bigger the love, the deeper the hatred.
3. The Empyrean was a useless character. Only showing up to punish, but will not fight when there's a bigger evil.
4. The acting of the leads were great with the right emotions being conveyed.
Overall, the drama was good; the leads had great chemistry, and the drama did live up to its title - Feud. Because it was mainly centered around that, there were a few boring moments here and there, but watching Joseph Zhang's face for hours was a dream come true because I missed him! The kiss scene in the end did pacify things a little though....lol

Read More

Very nice story but rushed ending…

- the actors made a great job , FL beautiful and elegant in her acting , Bailu never disapoints… ML he was a great choice , the first time you see him as distant but caring , but if you rewatch again you will see his silent desperation and enjoying her coming back to his life …
- the story is very interesting , I did not bother with the coming back in the to fix , and the two timelines makes sense ( even if they weren’t happy in the past in this timeline they can be in other ), but the ending was rushed , they could spent one more episode … I feel like in Chinese drama when they decided for a happy ending is like they see them kissing is enough…. Like they did not bother to put more scenes … I would love to see BJS like a father and trying to discipline a child or having siling saying : he is only a child baijiusi … would be lovely …. The plot is not perfect , the emissary how they deal with it ? They probably made some agreement, but we will never know …. Like BJS comeback take 99 strikes and come back home ? Or wait 100 years and they both are punished together ? The ending was really rushed … so their son has a fate , he should die as an infant , what they did later ? They could spent one more episode ……. Lol
- I like the ost of this drama , but in the begging the sound design was a little bit off sinc … the first scene when they met kissing the song was not fitting right …
- rewatching value : I will probably watch again in the future , but now we know how desperate and scared was the ML of meeting the FL again … not scared because he fear her , but he did get his heart broken so many times and did not know why …. And because there is a happy ending , is not an open ending , FL created another timeline where they were happy and in this one the ML spirit vanish for a while until recover all his energy back to live again while the female lead was waiting for him ( they are gods , their spirits does not work in the same way and you can not say died and reborn because they remember what they lived together ( when you die and reborn you forget your previous life ) , so you can say that ML lead got so weak that his spirit vanish for a few years , like FL in the begging of this drama , he did not know anything about her until she was in danger … because they can sense each other , so she knew where he was or how to find him …. No open ending , rushed Happy Ending ….

Read More

I'd dare say this is one of the best dramas of 2025

While this drama might not be everyone's cup of tea, this drama sure has one of the best structures when it comes to writing and executing the plot. Sure there might be quite a few plot holes but you can barely notice it unless you have been studying and watching a hundred dramas like me.

This is where most tools are used properly, the misunderstanding, the amnesia, the characters being manipulated by someone in the background. There was no waste on any tools that were used in this drama because all of them served their purpose.

And honestly, this is the first drama in years where i was surprised by the plot twist and that is really impressive. As a writer, I can almost always smell a plot twist miles ahead but this drama caught me off guard. I did not expect the plot twists that they revealed at those exact moments.

Again watch at your own pace, this might not be the drama for you right now but if you think about it in the future and wanna give it a go then do so. This is not a drama where you can comprehend at one part of your life. There's so much underlying and story between the lines where you can only appreciate if you're at that part of your life.

Would wanna watch it again.

Read More

feud

I completely fell in love with their chemistry. I honestly can’t believe how much I liked the chemistry between Bai Jiusi and Si Ling.

I didn’t really enjoy episodes 8 and 9. The Hong Lian storyline didn’t interest me at all.

The illusion arcs started to feel a bit repetitive for me, but I actually loved the reveal at the end — when it turned out that the child was symbolically their own. That part was really beautiful.

I didn’t like the final fight or the last villain. It felt random and over-the-top, like he suddenly destroyed everyone for no real reason.
about the ending, it left me with questions:
when she changed the past, What caused them to end up at that point again?
What happens to their child?
Or did the story create a whole new timeline or alternate dimension?

Bai Jiusi was amazing. So gentle, pitiful, and lovable. The way he kept asking, “Why do you hate me? Why do you want to kill me?” with that soft, wounded energy… even though he got hurt by her multiple times, he never once truly harmed her.

And those scenes where his spiritual core was damaged — he was like a child, so innocent and sweet. Absolutely adorable.

I understood Si Ling’s resentment, and I was okay with it up to a point. But once she found out that Bai Jiusi had been suffering and tortured the entire time, and she still didn’t let go and said that to him — she became really irritating. For a moment, she reminded me of Li Susu, just in Si Ling’s body.

Read More

Love that turns to hatred & a pestering wound that pains & they suffer in silence

Love how beautifully this drama was made & offcours Bai Lu's acting & emotion display perfevt as always her pair with the male Lead is so perfect! Fell in love with A'Yue & Bai Jiusi

The biggest and most heart wrenching part of this drama is that sometimes the heartbreak is so severe it renders you helpless even if you want to let go. And when you finally are ready the time has past. The drama isn't a reality you'll only get one single chance to let go of past heart wrnching soul breaking grudges if you want to grasp onto the same person who directly or indirectly might be a reason for that terrible pain. But when time heals and you can chose them. Chose them cus you might not get a second chance ever again.

Read More

Good enough to watch

Not particularly a fan of Xianxia dramas. I watched this because of Bai Lu. Can't say I liked it, but didn't dislike it either. The storytelling became messy halfway through. I lost count how many times they stabbed each other, killed each other, died and came alive again. You've gotta throw all logic when watching dramas like this where some characters can die so easily while others are just too hard to kill. Siling and Dazheng looked great together as a couple but I didn't feel any emotions or felt connected to them in any way. I would still recommend it to be watched but not the best drama out there for me.

Read More

a very good feud

I was a bit scared to start this drama because of the title. Feud sounds like it will be an exhausting story, but it turned out to be a very strong story. In fact, this is one of the rare cases where I think the English title actually fits better than the original.

OST: The OST is haunting and beautiful. It really fits the tone of the drama

Story and writing: The storytelling is goood and the writing feels solid. What surprised me the most is that the miscommunication actually worked?!. Normally this trope pisses me off so bad. It was clear that something had been misunderstood between the characters, but it wasn’t presented in a way that made me frustrated. Instead it felt tragic and inevitable rather than stupid.

The ending: the ending is the only part that wasn’t really my style. It created a lot of ambiguity, i don’t hate it, but i’m not sure i fully understand it. It seemed like time changed again and reset to the very beginning, but i’m not completely sure what exactly happened. Earlier the time travel made sense when she went back a few hundred years to fix something. But at the very end it becomes more symbolic and harder to interpret? I get the symbolisms, but i need some logic.

Antagonists: one thing i liked is that the real antagonist behind the feud wasn’t someone i hated. He had purpose and layers and was even willing to admit things about himself. That made him more interesting than a typical villain. In comparison, Long Yuan was much more annoying to watch. His stubbornness and arrogance made him annoying rather than interesting, and his outfit honestly looked so silly that i couldn't take him seriously.

Romance: ahhhh the love–hate dynamic between Bai Jiusi and A’yue is really the heart of this drama. Their relationship is intense, painful, and full of complicated emotions. It reminded me a bit of Till the End of the Moon, but it feels lighter because both characters are fundamentally good people. Their stories in the mortal world was my favorite part. Especially the illusion one. she wants him to understand her pain, but she cannot fully recreate it because she still loves him.. and because their relationship is so powerful, some of the side stories feel weaker in comparison. Aside from the antagonist and characters from the mortal world, most of the other immortals and Cloud Sect characters didn’t interest me as much.

Final thoughts: what really made this drama worth watching for me was the chemistry between the leads. Sometimes they didn’t even need dialogue, the way Bai Jiusi and A’yue looked at each other said everything. Honestly, watching them interact alone was already enough reason to keep watching the drama.

Read More

I enjoyed the drama Feud a lot. I loved every bit of it. One of my favorite parts was when the male lead turned into a child. In one scene, while everyone was discussing the problems they were facing and making plans to deal with them, he was enjoying every moment like a child. He played with the candles, trying to blow them out, and then started playing with the priest's long moustache. That scene was both funny and heartwarming.

I loved the drama, and above all, I appreciated the emotions he expressed toward the female protagonist. He loved her selflessly. There was just one thing I kept hoping for until the very last scene—I wished they had their child back. Nevertheless, the ending was perfect.

Read More