All talk, no bite
After a banger of an opening, and a really strong first couple of episodes, the show deflates and becomes a slideshow of empty scenes. Behind its flashy style the writing has zero depth and expect us to feel stuff because oooh, look at the pretty butterflies ! It's a shame because He Lan Dou is killing it as fierce lady sworn on saving her loved ones, and Jerome Deng is perfect as her enraged beast of a male lead, serving deadly looks and burning stares. They are speedrunning Marry the Villain, a classic toxic/obsessive romance that should be pure catnip, but the episodes are too short (we did not need a 2:15 minutes opening that spoils the entire drama...) and the transition between hate and love was so abrupt, it felt like we had skipped a missing middle arc. She forgives him waaaaay too fast and falls into his arms, which...excuse me ? It's like if Li Susu just stopped hating Tantai Jin at some point because...huh...he's cute ? So nope sadly this doesn't get a rec, it didn't have the balls to assume its earlier darker tone and actually do something with it beyond using it to catch our attention.(Also does anybody knows what the drama had to do with whispering towers ? Is it a metaphor ? I am missing something ?)
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Epic costume drama
What a great surpriseI was in a drama slump waiting for some dramas to end before starting them,
From reading the critics, I wasn’t sure what to expect …
This is a fairly short drama : 6 hours / 25 ep of 15 mm… Like a very good long/3-part movie, and it is nice like that- no unnecessary lengthy angst.
The script / storyline/plot is really of high quality, consistent, very engaging and entertaining, and the production as well on the contrary to what some wrote, I couldn’t fault it … that is after the first episode (and yes the ML wears a crazy wig sometimes, but it suits his state at that moment in the story very well)
Costumes and decors are fine,
Pictures sometimes really beautiful,
The music is perfect for the drama,
And of course, the cast is overall great in their characters, especially the main leads,
Their dubbing is also very good
If a third character is not so good, it really doesn’t matter and affect the overall quality.
And cherry on the cake,
The 3-lifetime love story between the leads is among the best of the genre,
with an epic chemistry between the leads
Very happy to have come across this one
The iqiyi rating is 9.7 and I find it well deserved
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