This review may contain spoilers
It all comes down to one issue - Writing
Classic case of things happening because of the plot, not plot happening because of the things.It's still very addicting watch, but not in "savor every minut" but more like "being strung along" kind of way.
Even the most tolerant of viewers would have trouble to suspense their disbelief all the way through.
Feeling a bit disappointed I grabbed the book it's based on, and wow, now I'm really disappointed. It was an amazing read. I couldn't put it down.
I was thinking of picking this drama back again after I finish the book, just for the romance and battles parts, but I can't make myself watch it now.
Now everything seams wrong. Casting, scenes, lines, everything looks like the worst possible choice.
They removed part where she died and woke up in the body of a different girl. Because of that, the story in drama makes unfathomable leaps to patch itself up. I cannot understand why some of the mediocre scenes were copied 1:1 but the very powerful ones, like their meeting at the temple on the mountain, where she tries to hung herself, was change beyond recognition and personally for me didn't have any impact. And it was placed at the beginning, when I didn't even understood what it was about. Before reading the book it was confusing, now it feels like such a waste.
This sentiment applies to the entire production. Before reading the book - confusing and cringy, after reading it - well, just a waste of amazing reading material. More so with such an amazing fighting scenes in drama. I would love to see them all, if only I could bare to taint my reading experience with the rest of it.
Shame.
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Huge flare, not much substance
Behind heavily overused CGI there is not much going on. Plot and angles are incredibly obvious, and super simplistic. Pace is so slow I fell asleep 3 different times while watching. If you look closely at the production you'll see they didn't have to invest much in sets, or extras. Not much of fighting or any kind of choreography. Costumes are bland. I'm at the 6 episode and I think everyone forgot this incredibly powerful criminal has escaped. They all just loll about aimlessly.Mean girl trope broke me. If you didn't like the beginning, trust your instincts.
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This review may contain spoilers
Beautiful but slow. Interesting but biased.
Quite polarizing drama. It has as many very strong, even superb attributes, as well as a portion of well earned critique. It's hard to weight them objectively, so everyone should judge for themselves. It honestly can go either way for any viewer.The strongest points of this production are pictures and acting. Scenery is gloomy, beautiful, giving justice to any wuxia classic. Well matched with beautiful and talented cast. If you see your favorite on the list, don't hesitate. There are no weak performances among them.
Premise of the story is also very strong. Martial art mafia infiltrates secluded stronghold of rival family by sending death soldiers as brides for new generation of young lords. Pared with :
1) quite unique rules and dynamics inside the sect
2) mysterious plot triggered by arrival of female assassins
3) compelling stories of 4 leading characters, that each have their own battle to fight
We're really hooked from the very start.
Would the girls survive and succeed? Will the boys fell for their tricks or catch them in the act? I could not even tell who I was rooting for.
And that's another huge strength of this drama. Unknown and ambiguity that keep us interested even through slugs. We don't know what anyone is thinking, but figuring it out is part of the fun.
Plus few satisfying reveals and we get overall well executed mystery.
As for weak parts, well it's simple. Middle part is just very slow and boring. Nothing new, but here it really made me skip forward quite a lot. It is abnormally slow paced for even the most tolerant standards. Easly we could've had 5 episodes less. It feels like
95% talking while drinking tea
4% everything else
1% proper action
As for the root cause, it's more complicated, but allow me this little rant.
Dead got more attention than a living.
Can't say I love watching song long flashbacks every time director wats to shove sad emotions down my throat. Also, ML and his dead father got more closure and resolution than our male leads after discovering their brides are spies. It's like director is scared of conflict and confrontation. It's called drama for mmm sake.
For the show that bored to death with side stories, too many arcs are left underdeveloped and unconcluded. Only in the end we learn that second FL actually all along had the same mission as the first FL. That means she really was acting on her own most of the time. I couldn't tell with all the choices she made in the end and how plain evil she seamed to be. So many of her motivation were presented as senseless.
That brings me to the root of all issues...
Sexism. In drama based around female story there is very little female perspective. We have brotherly love, fatherly love, puppy love, and patriotic love. Love for duty, and love for heroism. All the loves attributed to male centered stories. There is very little sisterly love, almost none motherly love, and all are tainted.
The only women in the picture are 3 assassins, 1 caricature and comic relief, 2 dead mothers, and the rest are faceless maids or nameless villains. While male characters are mostly pure and honorable, they all got to have their own interests, quirks and motivations. While women basically either live for evilness or for a man. To be fair, there are hints for something bigger. Forth house of the backhill, FL backstories, most elusive female boss of martial art mafia, and of course the ending. It all points to the women of the story being purposefully hidden from us. With a promise to be shown later. I'm just not sure if based on what we saw, it could've been really delivered to my satisfaction.
But if the second part was created, I would still watch it.
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This review may contain spoilers
Emotional whiplash
Production, images, costumes, casting, OST (!!!) are all amazing. Definitely worth watching for fans of genre.If there is any complain to voice I'd say sometimes script lacked originality and covered logic with drama.
Ending was just simply exhausting. It made me cry non stop. And not in a good way. Enough with the sacrifices! And how many times do we have to watch ML die? In the end Bai Shuo was severely traumatized by this, and me right with her. And the wedding with no guests? Depressing..
So I was absolutely glued to the screen, but there is no lingering good feelings after. Insted I feel a little bitter.
And what's with Bai Shuo becoming diety and getting all the power only after the final fight? I didn't thought I'll find trope I hate more than main characater loosing powers at the end, but it has to be it.
So yeah... excellent drama, just with some lazy writing here and there.
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Top notch yearning and kisses
Starting from best parts and going down from there (note: I didn't read the novel)🥇🎇Romance🎇
The absolute best part of this drama is the romance and chemistry between two leads. From the start till the very end, it just delivers 🎆🎇🧨🔥
Although I usually follow actresses rather than actors, I have to admit, Zhang Linghe as ML absolutely stole the limelight of this duo. He's beautiful, tortured and utterly obsessed with FL in the most delicious way possible. His kissing scenes are just something else. For this part alone it's worth to watch this drama. Kudos to the entire team for making him shine so bright 👏 No matter what the plot says, he's a true jade of the entire production.
🥈Cinematography 😍
Visual experience is the next level. Everything in here, from town life to massacres is simply stunning. It will be so hard to move on to less artistic productions. I consider myself spoiled and ruined. My standards have been risen to the soaring levels.
🥉Fan Changyu (mixed feelings)
Tian Xiwei performance as FL was what carried emotional weight of the show for over the half of episodes. Everyone agrees that show starts great and she's a strong reason why. Either as a cute butcher or suffering heroine, with those big eyes of hers she gets us feel everything. It's the after the first battle when she gets lost in the narrative and never really makes a comeback. Things then generally start falling apart in many areas, but main character arc is bound to pain us the most. I have no idea is it book's fault, or creators initiative that made her fall back in her own story, but it's the shame nevertheless.
🚨 The Capitol Arc
It's sad to admit but show really didn't manage to keep its own level. Last chapter was particularly messy and somewhat unsatisfying. Even with angsty & steamy romance pushing us forward, many aspects were concluded without satisfaction. Like big palace conspiracy, that wasn't really directed like a mystery and didn't even stole a fraction of my interest throughout the entire show. The final court room scene was just not very good. Same with Fan Changyu secret identity that didn't really made an impact. Neither emotional nor on the plot, really. I could go on but...
No point going into every confusing detail.
Was it book's fault? I don't know, but if so, then production should've made better creative choices in the end.
If book was great and was ruined compared to the show, then you have to let me know. I'll run to read it 🏃🏼♀️🏃🏼♀️🏃🏼♀️
Concluding, even with everything, It's still a great show, where highs more than enough compensate for lows. It's just the loss of a potential that pains the most.
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Skeptical at start, obsessed by end
Beginning looked a bit tacky and I almost dropped it bc of that, but there was something compelling in the story that made me stay to check. And oh boy am I happy I did. It took like 5 seconds to completely win me over.Main leads were amazing, separately and together. Their love story is grand and mature, full of well planned trials.
Their individual stories are also amazing and heartbreaking. The way they stood by each other was only right after what fate dealt to them.
But my favorite part was sister and her journey. Not bc I liked her but bc it was the most crazy story. Maybe only her ending wasn't right, little brother should've stayed in power, while she died from her wound or lived the rest of her life in seclusion instead. That would have been more fitting. But besides that her story was the most crazy, and out there, and I just couldn't get enough. Her and the emperor and bastard prince were the most toxic and entertaining love triangle I've seen so far.
All arcs in this drama were emotionally deep and heartbreaking, actors gave great performances, giving justice to the script.
It's hard to complete 38 episodes without a single mistake, so there are few small flaws here and there, like visuals being overly edited, giving this fake feeling, or knife stabs being fatal for enemies but never hitting vital organs for good guys. Plot armor was ridiculously strong here 😅
But I couldn't care less since I got to have this experience, I'm eternally grateful to everyone who worked on it.
I'd love to watch 10 more episodes, filled with even more drama, betrayal, maybe some battlefield, and the one last love trial of our fated hearts. The only thing missing was some proper diabolical plan of bastard prince to get FL back, and some dramatic confrontation that would sated for my need for confrontation between this trio.
What a shame that great things have to end somewhere 💔🫶
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