This review may contain spoilers
The amount of kissing this drama has...
This was the kind of drama I love when I watch xianxia: heartbreaking romance, reincarnation, worldbuilding, high stakes.
What I really liked is that this drama did not waste time setting up a lengthy exposition like we had in Ancient Love Poetry (15 episodes almost to get it going, as far as I remember).
Here we get right to the point without unnecessary bells and whistles. We get our FL, our ML, our antagonists, and go right to the love story. I actually liked that the story was heavily concentrated on the relationship between the leads instead of all other side characters and such. In all honesty, in C-dramas, it's very, very rare that I find the secondary CP interesting. Extra couple always seems like it's a filler to make sure the trauma lasts at least 30 episodes.
I liked the intimacy and the way the romance developed and the chemistry between the characters. I think the actors did a stellar job. I also adored the actress. Never seen her in anything, but she was so good in the first arc playing the role of a clueless girl who just wanted to get by without getting involved.
Now, the amount of kissing this drama has shocked me a little. In a good way, of couse. At least half the episodes have kisses, which is rare for a C-drama. I loved the intimacy in general.
I believe the only complaint I have is that the last two arcs were a tad short. Especially the third one. I think either adding more episodes to make sure each arc has equal amount of screen time or shortening the first arc to make room for the other two stories would have been a better choice. I feel like there were a lot of wasted opportunities in the third arc in the mortal realm. I would have loved to see the relationship between the leads develop differently over a longer course of time in the last bit of the story. There was room to work with more palace intrigue too. As a writer, I would follow this guidelines. But again, I don't watch to critique professionally, neither do I write xainxia scripts. I'll watch for entertainment and to get away from my real-life problems before sleep. So for me, this was a chef's kiss.
Things I look for in the epic xianxias are always timeless love, character development for both ML and FL, chemistry, decent CGI and good worldbuilding and acting of course. This drama has it all.
What I really liked is that this drama did not waste time setting up a lengthy exposition like we had in Ancient Love Poetry (15 episodes almost to get it going, as far as I remember).
Here we get right to the point without unnecessary bells and whistles. We get our FL, our ML, our antagonists, and go right to the love story. I actually liked that the story was heavily concentrated on the relationship between the leads instead of all other side characters and such. In all honesty, in C-dramas, it's very, very rare that I find the secondary CP interesting. Extra couple always seems like it's a filler to make sure the trauma lasts at least 30 episodes.
I liked the intimacy and the way the romance developed and the chemistry between the characters. I think the actors did a stellar job. I also adored the actress. Never seen her in anything, but she was so good in the first arc playing the role of a clueless girl who just wanted to get by without getting involved.
Now, the amount of kissing this drama has shocked me a little. In a good way, of couse. At least half the episodes have kisses, which is rare for a C-drama. I loved the intimacy in general.
I believe the only complaint I have is that the last two arcs were a tad short. Especially the third one. I think either adding more episodes to make sure each arc has equal amount of screen time or shortening the first arc to make room for the other two stories would have been a better choice. I feel like there were a lot of wasted opportunities in the third arc in the mortal realm. I would have loved to see the relationship between the leads develop differently over a longer course of time in the last bit of the story. There was room to work with more palace intrigue too. As a writer, I would follow this guidelines. But again, I don't watch to critique professionally, neither do I write xainxia scripts. I'll watch for entertainment and to get away from my real-life problems before sleep. So for me, this was a chef's kiss.
Things I look for in the epic xianxias are always timeless love, character development for both ML and FL, chemistry, decent CGI and good worldbuilding and acting of course. This drama has it all.
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