Back from the Brink

ngl they had me going in the first half

for some years now i've been feeling quite burnt out from modern xianxia/wuxia (not enough to stop watching lol), one of the main reasons being that so many shows seemed to be following a set of exhausting tropes. main character has mysterious origins and tuns out to be reincarnated/reborn/memory sealed ultimate goddess/princess/savior/demon/apocalypse bringer, her love interest is a super powered ultimate high god/war god/crown prince/demon lord. if the stakes are not high from the outset, they become THE HIGHEST WORLD IS ENDING STAKES EVER, the ultimate battle of good and evil, dark and light (which is also a concerningly judeo-christian western value found in western fantasy (lotr, harry potter, star wars) but maybe there is chinese precedent for this and i just dont know enough but idk), the entire world Will Be Destroyed unless one of the main characters sacrifices their life!!!! sometimes they even go back and forth sacrificing their lives for each other/the world REPEATEDLY!!!!! then one character dies and the other waits for them to come back/regenerate/reincarnate and then they DO for one last brief appearance/reunion in the last two minutes!!! because no one dies and actually suffers the consequences of self sacrifice!!! nothing matters!! what is the meaning of self sacrifice when they are gods and deities and will just come back???? the stakes are so high and yet there are no real stakes!!!! instead everyone is just rewarded over and over with a happy ending for sacrificing themselves!!! its EXHAUSTING!!!!!!! it's like writers don't know how to get people invested and care about stories anymore unless the stake is their LIFE or the WORLD!!! and more often than not the 'world' is such an abstract concept where they don't even truly express why this world is precious, valuable or worth saving. i've been calling this the the marvel cinematic hell zone because the stakes are SO high that the story loses humanity, relatability and empathy from the audience (me at least) and just becomes meaningless.

what made huxin so special in the beginning was that it was very clearly NOT this. it was SO refreshing, a true breath of fresh air that felt nostalgic of older wuxia in so many ways. the stakes were simple and lower, it was about adventures and fights and collecting all the body parts and gaining powers! fighting injustice! the main characters were special not because of their birthright or their destiny, but because they were just skilled fighters or spirits. yanhui is a normal girl part of a normal sect and even though tianyao is powerful, he's also just a yao dragon. like thank you for giving us HUMANITY!! RELATABILITY!!!! charm and sweetness they had it all!!!!! i truly LOVED this show in the beginning and binged it so quickly, it felt like i was watching my fav childhood wuxias, but still new and fresh! zhou ye and hou minghao are perfect as the main leads, they're both so cute and have great chemistry and charisma! the villains were hateable and HUMAN! the taoists and suying were lead by human constructs and emotions- racism and prejudice, obsession, desire for power and control! NOT an indescribable incomprehensible innate EVIL. the lower stakes adventures, the themes of oppression and inequality, the relatable heroes and villains, and the character and relationship development too all made this show an amazing standout that allowed me to truly care about the story and characters.

sadly, and inevitably, this did not last, and the show eventually became everything it wasn't, everything that i hate abt modern xianxias and wuxias. it lost everything that set it apart from the others. listen, unlike many other viewers, i was okay w many things, i was ok w tianyao stabbing yanhui, i was ok w them having communication issues, i was ok w their relationship being set back and tested, and them having to work and expend time and energy to gain yanhui's trust again. that was all fine and i thought it made sense for both of their characters and i don't think it was terrible writing. what i am NOT okay with was the new ULTIMATE EVIL DARK LORD with the WORST NOSE CONTOUR I'VE SEEN IN MY LIFE!!!!!!!! why the terrible drag make up???? WHY???? why did he have to show up and ruin literally everything??? why can't the villains just be the taoists?? why can't the stakes just be that tianyao needs to retrieve his body parts and get revenge and yanhui wants to survive?? that was a wonderful story i was enjoying that story!!!!! now it's no longer a fight against systemic oppression, a battle to settle personal vengeances!! now it's saving the world from apocalypse... AGAIN....!!! the taoists aren't just shitty actually they are being POSSESSED and MANIPULATED by the evil dark lord!!!!!! actually every single thing that has happened from the beginning wasn't driven by human motivations, greed and cruelty, but by the EVIL INCOMPREHENSIBLE DARK THING!! pulling the strings from the beginning for the big dark master plan of apocalypse!!!!!!!!!!!!! like come on!!!!!! can we not?????? can we please not do this it is literally ruining all of the villains and shifu!!!!!!! shifu whips and tortures yanhui not because he is a shitty but complex man who values adherance to taoist sect traditions and orthodoxy over his own daughter, but because he's a goddamn idiot who got TRICKED by the evil darkness into thinking it was yanhui's life or the WORLD. like this kind of writing RUINS characters! they damn near got suying too by saying the idea to manipulate and kill tianyao was evil dark lords idea instead of her own. at least she stayed terrible and obsessed w lu musheng till the end but still!!! don't even get me started on lingfei!!! truly abysmal writing for the story and characters, a great way to get me to stop caring because nothing matters anymore, everything is about the great evil big bad who also has no character writing and is just a psycho and manifestation of everything bad in the world. i didn't even care about yanhui and tianyao and their relationship anymore and i had loved them so much in the beginning. everything and everyone just loses their charm, bai xiaosheng is destroyed once they turn him into a love rival, and then the show just completely forgets about his existence for the latter half. i never cared for the side characters but they get even more grating. at a certain point i was just finishing it to finish it.

all too often we have main characters in cdrama who give up EVERYTHING and sacrifice themselves for the greater good, for the world, for their lover, etc. etc. and for once we got a main character who didn't do that. who believed in self preservation, and was still a good person. yanhui was a normal human being who valued her life like normal humans, who wanted to live and wasn't willing to give up EVERYTHING for other people. that isn't a bad thing lmao, human beings should not be taught self sacrifice as the ultimate marker for goodness and moral purity. in fact it's really unhealthy to live your life for other people. so it was extremely disappointing to have her character go down that road like all the rest... like does anyone have anything new to say???

all in all.... the beginning was a 10/10 and the ending was a 0/10 generic boring meaningless pointless garbage.... final score
5/10.

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It's an okay fantasy drama but lacks oomf factor

This drama mainly revolves around finding the missing body parts of the ml, which is a dragon. I've watched another drama of the ml, but for some reason I wasn't able to finish it because the story got dragged out at the end. So I was determined to finish this drama no matter how it goes just to give it a chance.

Let's talk about the positive things first. I like the plot and how it teaches the values of forgiveness and moving on. I also like the slow-burn romance in this drama and how the female lead is not your typical annoying weak character. We love strong women. There are actually a couple of scenes where she saves the male lead. It has also a hint of comedy so it's more like a feel-good drama because there is not that much angst in this one compared to other fantasy dramas. Contrary to popular opinion, I quite like the CGI on this drama. It's not that flashy compared to high-budget fantasy dramas but that's how I like it since it's better for it to be simple than it being too much.

Now we go to the negative things I have for this drama. There are a few scenes where I get so frustrated because most of the conflicts in the story are due to poor communication. They always directly go to fighting instead of talking it out first. The plot also in the 2nd half got so dragged out. They kill someone, and then he's alive, and then he's killed again, and then he's alive once more. Pick a struggle hahaha. The chemistry between the leads is also a bit lackluster for me. But it got improved in the later part of the drama.

Another thing, I always feel so skeptical when I start a chinese fantasy drama because it's either you get a bad ending, a sad ending, and an unsatisfying ending. I only knew of a few dramas that have a satisfying ending. Unfortunately for this drama, it has a very unsatisfying ending for me. I don't know how and why it's always the same thing. Although this drama has a happy ending, the happy bit was squeezed at the last 10 min of the drama. There are unnecessary scenes that could have been replaced with happy parts and proper closure for the characters. It's getting repetitive and I need a drama where they break this kind of stereotype.

Overall, I'll give it an 8.5/10. It's an okay drama if you have nothing else to watch at the moment.

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Great at comedy. Bad at emotional impact.

The drama started off really well and up until episode 17 it had this great light-hearted, adventure type feel that I hadn't seen in a xianxia before. It was super enjoyable to watch but then the script suddenly shifted and episodes 18-29 were a hit and miss (hit when it's comedy, miss when it's a sad scene), followed up with a mediocre ending.

THE PROBLEM:
What I very much liked is that the comedic scenes were very strong and I was seriously laughing out loud the whole time. However, what I strongly disliked was that the emotional scenes felt very forced. I feel like the writers wanted to create these super emotional impactful scenes but totally failed. The plot was done in such a convenient way to create more of a relationship dynamic between the main leads that it ended up looking artificial to me. One of the main issues I found is that there would be this super traumatic emotional scene and two seconds later it would be followed up with a very comedic scene which immediately lost the emotional impact and realness of the situation. The lack of emotions is what really bothered me because the characters were experiencing traumatic things but their reactions to them were not properly conveyed, hence they didn't feel real to me. Because of all this I sadly couldn't emotionally connect with the romance.

CHARACTERS:
FL really shined for me in every scene. She is perfect for the comedy scenes and if the script was better I could definitely see how her emotional scenes would have really impacted me (especially because I've seen her role in "Word of Honour" where she was a total badass). ML is very handsome and total eye-candy but too stoic. I haven't seen him in other dramas yet so I can't determine if it's the character or actor that was the issue. There are surprisingly lots of side couples and short romances in this drama. The second couple was my favourite and done really well, however the third couple (that received equal screen time with the second couple) was very boring, the characters very one dimensional and unfortunately useless screen time. The villains were non-threatening and flat looking. I believe a good story requires good heroes as much as good villains and this drama didn't deliver the villain part at all.

OVERALL:
I feel like this drama had great potential but didn't execute it well. I did enjoy the funny and silly comedy scenes so if you are looking for something with low angst and low emotional impact, I feel like you would enjoy this drama. Even though it has some small misunderstandings, the main couple mainly has a healthy relationship and communicates well with each other which is rare for a xianxia drama to see.

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Yanhui and Tianyao over them all

Tian Yao and Yan Hui are the epitome of true love. Their devotion and loyalty to each other are unmatched by anyone else. They would do anything for each other, even sacrifice their own lives. Their love is so pure and powerful that it transcends time and space. They have a bond that connects their hearts and souls. You can feel their emotions and their pain as they face countless obstacles and enemies. You can also feel their joy and happiness as they overcome them together. You admire their love and wish you could find someone who loves you the same way. They are your role models and your inspiration. They are everything to each other. They are not just lovers, but also best friends, partners, and soulmates.

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HARD left field PLOT turn @ ep 16

This is a low budget Xian Xia drama started with a promising story line 8/10

I didn't mind the mediocre acting as I've seen the actors in their other works. I even enjoyed "A girl like me" with Neo Hou in it. But you are not going to feel the sadness when there's death or crying scenes because it's just not that moving. Not to mention there isn't an OST to help with that kinds of scenes.
I also didn't mind the cheesy CGI as some of the "Yao" are super kiddish cute and silly

Positives so far:
1. Good story line until ep 16
2. Beautiful cast not ruined by Xian Xia OTP makeup (i.e. Till the end of the moon)
3. Good multi dimensional interesting characters
-FL not overly annoying or weak. I love that she's honest and forthcoming with her feelings
- ML dragon emotional scars warranted for the initial reactions
- Bai Xiao Sheng (with his bad hair) provided so many comical relief
- Su Ying , crazy dragon stabber. I love that she's NOT a single dimensional antagonist. There is actual a reason to her hatred towards all Yao. Sure she took it to the crazy psycho B level but hey all xian xia dramas need one.

Then ...... ep 16 happens and then you are like uhhhh that came out of left field!
Literally the plot turn could've been avoided by 1 line "BRB" but "Bruh..."
Bai Xiao Sheng becomes the 2nd lead flip switch
Enters a flood of characters.... but I am happy to see (Liu Yao Yuan who was in The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty)

Last 10 ep plot is a hot mess IMO and feels like they are trying to stretch out the episodes with prolonged slow motions. 1.25x speed and they are still walking in slow motion.... Super draggy until the end.

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Disappointing

The story started out great until about episode 17. The humor gave me endless laughs, the adventures of the main characters were fun to watch, and ML and FL had a lot of chemistry. The villains were compelling and gave us plenty of reasons to hate them. Then, the story went off the rails and started introducing new plotlines and characters who didn't need to be there. I normally don't like love triangles because they usually follow the same tropes and deviate from the plot. This show was no exception. Bai Xiaosheng (BX) was a fun and neutral character who should've stayed neutral. Suddenly, we had to watch multiple episodes involving a love triangle between BX, Tianyao and Yanhui because Tianyao and Yanhui had some tension in their relationship. There were better ways to get it resolved and to get Tianyao gain back Yanhui's trust, instead of sticking BX between them for several episodes. In the second half and towards the end, BX mostly disappeared from the plot making the entire love triangle angst completely pointless.

Even the chemistry between Tianyao and Yanhui became stale in the second half. They had no physical or even romantic chemistry although they were married. They kind of regressed from being a dynamic due to an old boring couple. When Tianyao protected her from any threat, she looked at him in surprise like he wasn't supposed to do it. Ya'll are married. Why are you surprised? Thankfully, or not, they finally shared a very chaste kiss in episode 38 after being married for how long? Pretty damn long,

An endless slew of minor characters and their stories, too many flash-backs, and fillers made the story progression very slow. An entire episode was dedicated to some weird demon capturing Tianyao so she could marry him just to be defeated and never seen again. We did not need to watch short lived romances between minor characters, who all died an episode later, or flashbacks from Yanhui's childhood in the Taoist sect. It was all boring and irrelevant. We also did not need to see Suying's sad romance with the general. There was nothing redeeming about her. She was a reprehensible person, so there was no point trying to make her even a little bit sympathetic.

The end boss was incredibly boring. He was a cookier cutter villain without any motivation or personality. He did bad things because villains do bad things, not because he had a compelling reason to be bad. Taoists were much more interesting and complex.

There were problems with the acting too. Zhou Ye was really cute as Yanhui who was lively, dynamic, and funny. Neo Hou was the opposite. This is the first drama I watched with him and I was completely unimpressed with his acting. He spent a huge amount of the time standing around and staring - forlorn staring, sad staring, observant staring, romantic staring, staring, staring, and more staring. In many scenes involving multiple characters, he just stood around and stared like a place holder. It seemed like the actor either needed more lines or the dialogue needed to be sped up. After some time, the constant staring became very noticeable. Tianyao was the main character with the plot revolving around him, but he looked like Yanhui's side kick most of the time.

Overall, I enjoyed the first half of the show because it was funny and engaging. Unfortunately, the story that started out as an interesting tale of redemption, forgiveness, and new beginnings turned into a constipated mess of stale plotlines and a crusade against a cliche villain. I am actually very disappointed with the way it turned out because it had such a great start.

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Another Novel Ruined

There is really no end to this trend. Production team take up a project based on a famous novel which ensures them good viewership because of the fan base. Then they choose amazing actors to do the project and again increase the number of viewers. The drama will be a hit no matter what. Now what they have to do is follow the amazing storyline (with a few changes due do censorship) and get done with this. But guess what!!!! Someone shows up and suggests to change the ENTIRE SCRIPT!! Because they think they can write a far better story with their cliched ideas and so called plot twists, love triangle and over the top nonsense while keeping the main characters same as the original.
*Face palm*
I am really surprised by all the ratings on MDL for this drama. I mean what in the world did they see in this drama to give it such a rating is beyond me. I get that people can have different tastes but for me who has read and adored the story of the novel it was a complete disaster.
They introduced the characters like Bai Xiaosheng and Changlan (forgive the spelling) to drag the story. I got bored amd irritated in several episodes like the' moth one' because it neither added anything to the plot nor increased my interest. There were many filler episodes because they thought original story was not worth it!! I tried very hard to watch the show mainly because of the actors whom I loved a lot throughout the episodes but there is a limit....When there is no story to tell, actors cannot lift the show either. The CGI was so so. I liked the songs and costumes a lot.
I kept reminding myself to stick to Wuxia but once in a while whenever I watch Xianxia due to my favourite novel adaptation it turns out pretty disappointing. I am really afraid for 'Lengend of Shenli' now. A humble request to the makers" For god sake please do not change that plot as well to show your creativity." This drama was really not my cup of tea but you can watch if you prefer cliched over the top storyline of costume dramas. Slapstick comedy Or simply because you love the actors and their chemistry.

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Enjoyed it so much

This show is funny, entertaining, heart breaking at times but it will also heal you. There is character development of the main leads, you will fall for the 2nd ML and side characters too. Stellar performance by Zhou Ye, she is so expressive and able to emote naturally at a level beyond her age and experience. Neo Hou and her visuals are amazing, the costumes and make up are on point without being OTT. The show is well paced and shows relationships between master and disciple, friends, fellow disciples and family. I was completely invested in the show, not many shows make me feel this way without fast forwarding through any scenes as i did not want to miss a thing. Its comparable to Blood of Youth for me. 100% recommend and ill definitely rewatch it.

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A Better Xianxia series than the majority of the of the Xianxia dramas

So far the story of FL and ML working together to gather all the missing parts of ML is really good. There were funny and serious parts within the series that fitted well. The actress and actor who played the leads were excellent. including the 2nd ML, he played his part well, there were times when the screen writer over-did his act and were trying to break the FL and ML apart, it was abit much.

The FL is hilarious and is not portrayed as a weak and dumb girl like most of FLs in these types of dramas. She has her own mind and personality. She speaks what she wants, and will obtain what she wants through thick or thin. The ML starts off as a cold being who wants nothing more than to just gather his missing body parts and take revenge on the one to put him in his dire state. At first he was ready to remove the Heart Protecting Scale forcefully from the FL. Later on he starts to warm up and you start to see his character change and relearns to love, trust, and understand the heart.

The only main issue that I have with the story was the ending and how the leads were able to defeat the antagonist. It was messy and had minor plot holes that were kind of left un-answer on how it came to be. It also felt rushed to, after defeating the villain. the ML was ab el to find the FL within 15 years ( that seems a bit year, now that the FL is supposedly 16 years old after being reincarnated). It would have been a perfect Xianxia if the screen writer and producer were able to write it more carful on overcoming the villain and if story is about personal greed or and dark temptation there is always a way to control it.

In all, I would say this is Xianxia dramas is much better than most Xianxia dramas where FL starts off weak, dumb, useless-looking and tries to their innocence to avoid trouble. Then later becomes all mighty for all the wrong reason and has to fight her friends or love ones. ML tends to be boastful and obnoxious with too much pride. Later on just stands there dumbfounded and unwilling to do anything for the FL which leads her to her demise and turn. Then the ML is forced to kill the FL for the "sake of humanity/ world(s)/ earth and heaven, etc., and is heart broken that he messed up and after hearing the truth many episodes later and tries to redeem himself for her.

Here in this series, FL is blunt but knows what she wants, the ML is starts from nothing and has to relearn and grows. Though sadly the conclusions is always their weak spot. They havent perfected on how to end a Xianxia drama without having dumb plot holes, and a very rushed ending to meet the limited episode numbers. In the end I still enjoyed this drama with all the funny, sad, and the serious moments within the drama. :)

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IF YOU ARE A XIANXIA FAN, DEFINITELY WATCH THIS!

This drama has all the familiar xianxia tropes but with a fresh twist. It was a fun and less predictable watch. What I love most is the overall light tone, as the drama is packed with humor and steers away from the usual dark, heavy atmosphere that so many xianxia dramas favor.

The chemistry between the leads is so good, and they handle both the comedic and dramatic moments really well. I know some people complained about the slightly cartoonish CGI, but honestly, it didn’t bother me much. The engaging story and quirky characters more than make up for any visual shortcomings. (And seriously, some of these characters are just adorable!)

All in all, Back from the Brink is a refreshing take on the genre and a genuinely enjoyable watch!

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