This review may contain spoilers
Great potential, but full of inconsistencies...
Spoilers are at the end of the review with a warning title.
I'm not sure why some people praise this Drama with ratings of 10... It's simply incomprehensible because, from the beginning, the whole plot is full of inconsistencies, to the point where I'm now getting annoyed by it. Anyone giving a 10 is not being objective.
I don't know if the incoherences come from the novel or from the Drama scriptwriters. Nonetheless, such rookie mistakes should be avoided. Stories and characters should remain coherent for a drama to be good. This is not the case with this one. It's a shame, because this story had a lot of potential, the actors are good, the costumes and accessories are well done, and the filming set is beautiful.
Another unfortunate thing is the OST: the soundtrack is not used in a way that highlights it. It's supposed to highlight emotional moments, and those moments are supposed to highlight the OST. I feel it's a miss in this drama. It feels like they just dumped it here and there to plug holes, lacking continuity and harmony with the BGM (background music). Also, it's sometimes too loud.
Ep. 18 and 19 are the summum of stupidity in story writing. I've got a whole list of everything that makes no sense at all, and it's almost all of it. It's so frustrating that I almost want to quit the show completely. It's a mess of everything illogical one can think of. This is not a fantasy show; it's supposed to be a real-life fiction. Thus, it should reflect reality and be as plausible as possible. I'll write my rant at the bottom of this review.
Overall, the story and concept had great potential; it started well, and it could have been a great drama if those inconsistencies had been taken care of properly.
=== Spoiler alert: Do NOT read if you haven't watched the show ===
Ep 18
Why would DuanWu have gone out alone, endangering herself? Supposedly to hide the blood pearl near a lake, when she could simply hide it in her father's old locked room, which would be the safest place, in my opinion. They could make a copy to bring on their ambush trip. This is another lame plot twist where the scriptwriters make the character behave stupidly for the sake of drama. This is the kind of thing that is being overdone in TV drama, and I'm sick of it.
Yan Zijing and his team go to rescue her. They are in the desert, and it's a covert operation. Why are they dressed in black? Dress in sand color to avoid being seen.
Zhang Jinran: A scholar would not go to war; he's not trained for that.
The place where Yan Zijing's convoy is a guest (Languan Dockyard) is heavily guarded by soldiers/warriors. The Master of Languan Dockyard (Yuchi Wuyi) has survived the black dragons for a long time. How come the Black Dragon are able to make an ambush so easily? How come all of a sudden all the guards disappeared? How was it possible that some Black Dragon soldiers replaced some of Yan Zijing's soldiers without being noticed?
Too many holes... But this gets plausible answers much later in the show, so I'll let it pass.
DuanWu during battle: it's a fierce battle with enemies everywhere, and arrows being shot. There is no time to wallow over the dead; that's what you do when the battle is over. She just sits there crying, in the middle of the place where Shrimp just got shot a few seconds ago... Seems like she's waiting to be shot. No logic and no survival instinct anymore? You think everyone is going to wait for you to finish crying? The guy who was in the shed that killed the accountant is still alive, and there is someone on the roof shooting arrows.
When the battle is over, how come Yan Zijing and his friend are the only 2 survivors? Where is everyone from that place (Languan Dockyard)? Those bandits can't have wiped out everyone, can they?
Zijing is gravely injured and his friend is a crippled. What's the logic in trying to cross the desert alone? They won't survive. And the bandits would easily catch them once they are exposed like that.
This is just getting stupider by the minute.
Ep 19
The fire was raging everywhere last night. How come all the woven straw sheets are still unburned and scattered everywhere? It's the one thing that burns the most and the fastest! Also, once someone is dead, after a certain lapse of time, there is rigor mortis setting in. Shrimp wouldn't be all "soft" when DuanWu lifts him.
It's clearly a bunch of novice people who worked on this production team.
DuanWu spends the whole day alone? Where is everyone? Help seems to only get there the day after (the 2nd morning after the battle). That's when we learn that the Master of Languan Dockyard (Yuchi Wuyi) was busy escorting all the merchants to safety during the battle. So how come he failed escorting all of Duanwu's friend as well instead of letting them getting killed in battle?
She has the strength to gather her friends' corpses and burn them, then she crashes to the ground from exhaustion. How come they can't find her when they arrive? There's no way she would have the strength to go anywhere. She would surely either still be unconscious or wait for help to come. But no! They make her leave, and although she has enough strength to leave, she doesn't take the time to gather some supplies and clothing before leaving... FAIL!
She magically ends up in some nomadic desert tribe. Let's make it even more stupid: the day after she wakes up, she tries to cross the desert alone, injured (without medicine), without a horse, without proper equipment, with barely any food or water (we don't see her carrying any water bottle), and without a map. There's no way she remembers the route. Crossing the desert requires skills and practice. How stupid can it get?
That useless noble lady friend of DuanWu, Lady Jade, crossing the desert alone on her own? What a nice way to die... The army where she was being hosted would never have allowed her to leave the army camp without protection. One cannot walk in or out of a military encampment as one wishes. Especially not a weak noble woman like her.
DuanWu crosses a snow landscape? Where does that snow come from?
She enters a small village that is all upside down, as if there has been a battle there. Anyone with half a brain would stay away from that place.
She's barely alive, barely able to stand up, but suddenly has enough strength to fight 2 people with a weapon (and stand very firm on her feet).
Cui ShiJiu wakes up down that lake after being kicked by her servant. She starts screaming like hell their names. Great way to get caught by those bandits again, who might still be around looking for you.
But, the lamest plot twist from Ep. 19 is this one...
Context: Yan Zijing was poisoned as a child while imprisoned by the Black Dragon. Since then, a witch doctor has helped suppress the poison. Though the solution was temporary, it allowed Yan Zijing to survive for 20 years without issue, as long as he regularly took the antidote.
Plot Twist: The witch doctor had recently begun working on a permanent cure, but he was killed, and all of his medicinal herbs were lost.
Explanation: There’s no logical reason for Yan Zijing to suddenly act desperate or claim he doesn’t have long to live. Why? Because for all these years, he’s been traveling great distances by boat—meaning he couldn’t have been returning to that remote doctor every time he needed the antidote.
The only logical explanation is that the doctor gave him the antidote recipe. That way, Yan Zijing could obtain the ingredients at any pharmacy whenever necessary.
This leads to Ep. 20
Duanwu discovers that Yan Zijing is still alive and confronts him. Unfortunately, the scriptwriters went along with the tired and overused “I still love you, but I’m going to make you hate me by acting cruel because... (insert stupid reason)".
Honestly, I’m fed up with this kind of plot twist. It’s overused and lacks imagination. Worse, in this case, it doesn’t even make sense. If Yan Zijing has the antidote recipe (which he logically should), then he can continue suppressing the poison. That means he has time. So why didn’t he try to rescue her sooner? Why didn’t he just explain everything?
Add one more incoherence:
Duanwu got poisoned when she walked into the water to rescue Yan Zijing from the mines in Ep. 16. It's the Black Dragon poison, the same one Yan Zijing has been poisoned with. He gave her the same antidote he usually takes. Since we have been told this poison cannot be completely eradicated, only temporarily suppressed, how come she is completely cured and never has to take the antidote on a regular basis as Zijing does? How come the same rule does not apply to her?
-------------------------
As you can see, the list of incoherences is very long. There were minor ones throughout the whole show, but not as bad as these 3 episodes, so I skipped them, hoping things would get better moving forward.
Want a logic story?
After exacting revenge on the three families—especially the last one, which had been a close call in the mines and nearly cost them their lives—they (Yan Zijing, DuanWu, and the whole convoy) should have returned to the ship and resumed their merchant activities for a while. This would allow time for the dust to settle, for funds to be gathered, for planning to be made, and to recruit warriors to be trained.
Meanwhile, DuanWu and Zijing could marry and open a jewelry shop for her in Yangzhou, with her friend Lady Jade managing it in her stead. A subplot could revolve around analyzing the poison and discovering how to craft an antidote. (Or perhaps later, after wiping out most of the Black Dragons, they could keep a few alive—torturing them to extract the secret of the antidote.)
Eventually, Yan Zijing could act as an ambassador between Prince Ying through Zhang JinRan, and his ally Yuchi Wuyi, the Master of Languan Dockyard. As someone familiar with the desert and the bandits' tactics, Yuchi Wuyi would be instrumental in helping plan the destruction of the Black Dragon—this time, in coordination with the emperor’s army, thus fulfilling Yan Zijing's vengeance. At this stage, the author could creatively insert some subplot twists with Black Dragon ambushes, or other vile stuff, as long as it's coherent.
I'm not sure why some people praise this Drama with ratings of 10... It's simply incomprehensible because, from the beginning, the whole plot is full of inconsistencies, to the point where I'm now getting annoyed by it. Anyone giving a 10 is not being objective.
I don't know if the incoherences come from the novel or from the Drama scriptwriters. Nonetheless, such rookie mistakes should be avoided. Stories and characters should remain coherent for a drama to be good. This is not the case with this one. It's a shame, because this story had a lot of potential, the actors are good, the costumes and accessories are well done, and the filming set is beautiful.
Another unfortunate thing is the OST: the soundtrack is not used in a way that highlights it. It's supposed to highlight emotional moments, and those moments are supposed to highlight the OST. I feel it's a miss in this drama. It feels like they just dumped it here and there to plug holes, lacking continuity and harmony with the BGM (background music). Also, it's sometimes too loud.
Ep. 18 and 19 are the summum of stupidity in story writing. I've got a whole list of everything that makes no sense at all, and it's almost all of it. It's so frustrating that I almost want to quit the show completely. It's a mess of everything illogical one can think of. This is not a fantasy show; it's supposed to be a real-life fiction. Thus, it should reflect reality and be as plausible as possible. I'll write my rant at the bottom of this review.
Overall, the story and concept had great potential; it started well, and it could have been a great drama if those inconsistencies had been taken care of properly.
=== Spoiler alert: Do NOT read if you haven't watched the show ===
Ep 18
Why would DuanWu have gone out alone, endangering herself? Supposedly to hide the blood pearl near a lake, when she could simply hide it in her father's old locked room, which would be the safest place, in my opinion. They could make a copy to bring on their ambush trip. This is another lame plot twist where the scriptwriters make the character behave stupidly for the sake of drama. This is the kind of thing that is being overdone in TV drama, and I'm sick of it.
Yan Zijing and his team go to rescue her. They are in the desert, and it's a covert operation. Why are they dressed in black? Dress in sand color to avoid being seen.
Zhang Jinran: A scholar would not go to war; he's not trained for that.
The place where Yan Zijing's convoy is a guest (Languan Dockyard) is heavily guarded by soldiers/warriors. The Master of Languan Dockyard (Yuchi Wuyi) has survived the black dragons for a long time. How come the Black Dragon are able to make an ambush so easily? How come all of a sudden all the guards disappeared? How was it possible that some Black Dragon soldiers replaced some of Yan Zijing's soldiers without being noticed?
Too many holes... But this gets plausible answers much later in the show, so I'll let it pass.
DuanWu during battle: it's a fierce battle with enemies everywhere, and arrows being shot. There is no time to wallow over the dead; that's what you do when the battle is over. She just sits there crying, in the middle of the place where Shrimp just got shot a few seconds ago... Seems like she's waiting to be shot. No logic and no survival instinct anymore? You think everyone is going to wait for you to finish crying? The guy who was in the shed that killed the accountant is still alive, and there is someone on the roof shooting arrows.
When the battle is over, how come Yan Zijing and his friend are the only 2 survivors? Where is everyone from that place (Languan Dockyard)? Those bandits can't have wiped out everyone, can they?
Zijing is gravely injured and his friend is a crippled. What's the logic in trying to cross the desert alone? They won't survive. And the bandits would easily catch them once they are exposed like that.
This is just getting stupider by the minute.
Ep 19
The fire was raging everywhere last night. How come all the woven straw sheets are still unburned and scattered everywhere? It's the one thing that burns the most and the fastest! Also, once someone is dead, after a certain lapse of time, there is rigor mortis setting in. Shrimp wouldn't be all "soft" when DuanWu lifts him.
It's clearly a bunch of novice people who worked on this production team.
DuanWu spends the whole day alone? Where is everyone? Help seems to only get there the day after (the 2nd morning after the battle). That's when we learn that the Master of Languan Dockyard (Yuchi Wuyi) was busy escorting all the merchants to safety during the battle. So how come he failed escorting all of Duanwu's friend as well instead of letting them getting killed in battle?
She has the strength to gather her friends' corpses and burn them, then she crashes to the ground from exhaustion. How come they can't find her when they arrive? There's no way she would have the strength to go anywhere. She would surely either still be unconscious or wait for help to come. But no! They make her leave, and although she has enough strength to leave, she doesn't take the time to gather some supplies and clothing before leaving... FAIL!
She magically ends up in some nomadic desert tribe. Let's make it even more stupid: the day after she wakes up, she tries to cross the desert alone, injured (without medicine), without a horse, without proper equipment, with barely any food or water (we don't see her carrying any water bottle), and without a map. There's no way she remembers the route. Crossing the desert requires skills and practice. How stupid can it get?
That useless noble lady friend of DuanWu, Lady Jade, crossing the desert alone on her own? What a nice way to die... The army where she was being hosted would never have allowed her to leave the army camp without protection. One cannot walk in or out of a military encampment as one wishes. Especially not a weak noble woman like her.
DuanWu crosses a snow landscape? Where does that snow come from?
She enters a small village that is all upside down, as if there has been a battle there. Anyone with half a brain would stay away from that place.
She's barely alive, barely able to stand up, but suddenly has enough strength to fight 2 people with a weapon (and stand very firm on her feet).
Cui ShiJiu wakes up down that lake after being kicked by her servant. She starts screaming like hell their names. Great way to get caught by those bandits again, who might still be around looking for you.
But, the lamest plot twist from Ep. 19 is this one...
Context: Yan Zijing was poisoned as a child while imprisoned by the Black Dragon. Since then, a witch doctor has helped suppress the poison. Though the solution was temporary, it allowed Yan Zijing to survive for 20 years without issue, as long as he regularly took the antidote.
Plot Twist: The witch doctor had recently begun working on a permanent cure, but he was killed, and all of his medicinal herbs were lost.
Explanation: There’s no logical reason for Yan Zijing to suddenly act desperate or claim he doesn’t have long to live. Why? Because for all these years, he’s been traveling great distances by boat—meaning he couldn’t have been returning to that remote doctor every time he needed the antidote.
The only logical explanation is that the doctor gave him the antidote recipe. That way, Yan Zijing could obtain the ingredients at any pharmacy whenever necessary.
This leads to Ep. 20
Duanwu discovers that Yan Zijing is still alive and confronts him. Unfortunately, the scriptwriters went along with the tired and overused “I still love you, but I’m going to make you hate me by acting cruel because... (insert stupid reason)".
Honestly, I’m fed up with this kind of plot twist. It’s overused and lacks imagination. Worse, in this case, it doesn’t even make sense. If Yan Zijing has the antidote recipe (which he logically should), then he can continue suppressing the poison. That means he has time. So why didn’t he try to rescue her sooner? Why didn’t he just explain everything?
Add one more incoherence:
Duanwu got poisoned when she walked into the water to rescue Yan Zijing from the mines in Ep. 16. It's the Black Dragon poison, the same one Yan Zijing has been poisoned with. He gave her the same antidote he usually takes. Since we have been told this poison cannot be completely eradicated, only temporarily suppressed, how come she is completely cured and never has to take the antidote on a regular basis as Zijing does? How come the same rule does not apply to her?
-------------------------
As you can see, the list of incoherences is very long. There were minor ones throughout the whole show, but not as bad as these 3 episodes, so I skipped them, hoping things would get better moving forward.
Want a logic story?
After exacting revenge on the three families—especially the last one, which had been a close call in the mines and nearly cost them their lives—they (Yan Zijing, DuanWu, and the whole convoy) should have returned to the ship and resumed their merchant activities for a while. This would allow time for the dust to settle, for funds to be gathered, for planning to be made, and to recruit warriors to be trained.
Meanwhile, DuanWu and Zijing could marry and open a jewelry shop for her in Yangzhou, with her friend Lady Jade managing it in her stead. A subplot could revolve around analyzing the poison and discovering how to craft an antidote. (Or perhaps later, after wiping out most of the Black Dragons, they could keep a few alive—torturing them to extract the secret of the antidote.)
Eventually, Yan Zijing could act as an ambassador between Prince Ying through Zhang JinRan, and his ally Yuchi Wuyi, the Master of Languan Dockyard. As someone familiar with the desert and the bandits' tactics, Yuchi Wuyi would be instrumental in helping plan the destruction of the Black Dragon—this time, in coordination with the emperor’s army, thus fulfilling Yan Zijing's vengeance. At this stage, the author could creatively insert some subplot twists with Black Dragon ambushes, or other vile stuff, as long as it's coherent.
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