This review may contain spoilers
One of my absolute favorites!!
If I were to grab a shovel and try to dig up some flaws with this show, sure I may dig up a few pebbles. Was the plot repetitive? Sure. Sima Jiao was the shit. Everyone either wanted to imprison him, harvest his special blood or kill him because he consistently overpowers and outsmarts all of you lesser bitches. That’s basically the plot. Was the ending a little rushed? Sure. Do I wish we had a few more episodes in the mortal world and in the modern world? Absolutely (also who wouldn’t???). Was there some issues with pacing sometimes? Yeah, okay.
But the strengths of this show far, far outweigh any issues that snobby critics may come with. This main couple quickly rose in ranks to my top 1-3 favorite romances of all Asian shows I have ever watched (and I watch a lot). Their chemistry, the complementary nature of their personalities and the sheer amount of screen time they had together - all created this ultimate powerhouse of a couple. We were blessed with SO MANY sensual kisses, intimate touches, poetic dialogue, soulful gazes, powerful teamwork and open communication. No serious love triangles, no annoying incidences of noble idiocrisy or dragged out miscommunication. Conflict was resolved quickly, the amnesia subplots moved forward at a good pace with lovely soulful angst thanks to the writing and acting. It’s a total feast for us lovers of romance.
The ML also became one of my most favorite MLs of all time as well. Arthur Chen’s portrayal of Sima Jiao was flawless. His ability to just emote SO MUCH emotion through his eyes and through his intimate touches had me feeling all of the feels right alongside him. His ability to seamlessly shift from a dark, cold, ruthless, vindictive and wrathful god into a traumatized, tender, sensual, smiley, cute, vulnerable and enamored man in love with the FL showcased Arthur’s incredible range of abilities. Sima Jiao was beautifully complex. He was able to shed a single tear with the FL in one moment and completely annihilate anyone who threatened them in the next moment coldly and without batting an eye. The best part about all of this is that although Sima Jiao got fantastic character development he never lost the parts of himself that we loved the most. He never lost his dark edge, his powerful aura or his stoic exterior (except when he’s with our FL, of course). He remains delightfully consistent throughout the show in spite of the growth.
And our FL is the perfect balance to his personality. The yang to his yin. Carefree, nonjudgmental, empathetic, unassuming, easy-going, go with the flow type of gal. Although she sometimes disagreed with the ML’s methods or asked him not to do certain things, she never tried to change him. She never had a judgmental attitude toward his edgy darkness, but rather grew to understand that it was rooted in 500 years of physical torture and torment, trauma, and sadistic generational oppression against his kind. Her light brought out his innate goodness, and his dark edge also allowed her to connect with those parts of herself as well. And although sometimes I think her refusal to kill others was taken too far at times (seriously, they oppressed and tortured our ML since birth, did some other horrendous shit and will literally kill you now if you don’t kill them first), she did get some good development as well as the story progressed without losing her essence.
What I also loved about this drama was the development of the three major arcs throughout the show. The ML was the unstoppable, always-saving badass while she was developing her skills in the first arc, the second arc brought them to more of an equal footing in power, and in the final arc the roles were reversed and she protected him and held the power. In a parallel way, the first arc was about the main leads developing the foundation of their love for each other together, the second arc was all about the ML lovingly pursuing the FL, and then we got to see her chase after him for a bit in the final arc. We got it all, guys. This show was wonderful. I think it will be a while before I get hooked on another story in the way that this one captivated me.
But the strengths of this show far, far outweigh any issues that snobby critics may come with. This main couple quickly rose in ranks to my top 1-3 favorite romances of all Asian shows I have ever watched (and I watch a lot). Their chemistry, the complementary nature of their personalities and the sheer amount of screen time they had together - all created this ultimate powerhouse of a couple. We were blessed with SO MANY sensual kisses, intimate touches, poetic dialogue, soulful gazes, powerful teamwork and open communication. No serious love triangles, no annoying incidences of noble idiocrisy or dragged out miscommunication. Conflict was resolved quickly, the amnesia subplots moved forward at a good pace with lovely soulful angst thanks to the writing and acting. It’s a total feast for us lovers of romance.
The ML also became one of my most favorite MLs of all time as well. Arthur Chen’s portrayal of Sima Jiao was flawless. His ability to just emote SO MUCH emotion through his eyes and through his intimate touches had me feeling all of the feels right alongside him. His ability to seamlessly shift from a dark, cold, ruthless, vindictive and wrathful god into a traumatized, tender, sensual, smiley, cute, vulnerable and enamored man in love with the FL showcased Arthur’s incredible range of abilities. Sima Jiao was beautifully complex. He was able to shed a single tear with the FL in one moment and completely annihilate anyone who threatened them in the next moment coldly and without batting an eye. The best part about all of this is that although Sima Jiao got fantastic character development he never lost the parts of himself that we loved the most. He never lost his dark edge, his powerful aura or his stoic exterior (except when he’s with our FL, of course). He remains delightfully consistent throughout the show in spite of the growth.
And our FL is the perfect balance to his personality. The yang to his yin. Carefree, nonjudgmental, empathetic, unassuming, easy-going, go with the flow type of gal. Although she sometimes disagreed with the ML’s methods or asked him not to do certain things, she never tried to change him. She never had a judgmental attitude toward his edgy darkness, but rather grew to understand that it was rooted in 500 years of physical torture and torment, trauma, and sadistic generational oppression against his kind. Her light brought out his innate goodness, and his dark edge also allowed her to connect with those parts of herself as well. And although sometimes I think her refusal to kill others was taken too far at times (seriously, they oppressed and tortured our ML since birth, did some other horrendous shit and will literally kill you now if you don’t kill them first), she did get some good development as well as the story progressed without losing her essence.
What I also loved about this drama was the development of the three major arcs throughout the show. The ML was the unstoppable, always-saving badass while she was developing her skills in the first arc, the second arc brought them to more of an equal footing in power, and in the final arc the roles were reversed and she protected him and held the power. In a parallel way, the first arc was about the main leads developing the foundation of their love for each other together, the second arc was all about the ML lovingly pursuing the FL, and then we got to see her chase after him for a bit in the final arc. We got it all, guys. This show was wonderful. I think it will be a while before I get hooked on another story in the way that this one captivated me.
Was this review helpful to you?
