The Journey of Legend Episode 16

Climbing a hill for Liu Suifeng and Xiao Qiushui

Being pursued by someone can be flattering, or frightening. Or both. At this point, the tension and game of cat-and-mouse between Liu Suifeng and Xiao Qiushui has been well-developed in the lead-up from the previous 15 episodes. If you stuck a tiny flame into the emotional well of Xiao Qiushui at this point as a gift from Liu Suifeng, something is likely to explode.TJOL has literally been a stark reminder of why some viewers such as myself consider Screenwriters and Directors to be as important as the cast.The transmigration foundations for the first two episodes were unclear, no doubt due to them being elements not originally in the novel and hence needing to be incorporated by the screenwriter. An inability to incorporate these modern elements coherently and cohesively into the script without being jarring resulted in the creative direction of the first three episodes of this drama suffering. This becomes obvious after watching ten episodes, whereby the wuxia elements and plots became much stronger and smoother in episode 3 onwards. When a script has issues, the Director being unable to parse the maximum potential in the creative vision that should have happened in turn affected the interpretation and performance of the ML, whose portrayal of Xiao Qiushui can be seen drastically improving from episode 4 onwards, to finally become comfortably convincing in episode 9 onwards.Liu Suifeng as a villain in the eyes of Xiao Qiushui is the unwavering bolt of bitter vengeance that refuses to quit and refuses to let go of what he deems as his. In order to overcome his limitations, Xiao Qiushui will need to embark on a journey of personal discovery. And Liu Suifeng is likely to be hot on his heels while keen to bury him. Can Liu Suifeng be reformed? That's an interesting answer to find out.

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