Thoroughly enjoyed this...
This drama is not a continuation to Ten Mile Peach Blossom although many of the key characters in the former series are either mentioned or re-featured. You can watch this series on its own without watching the former. It is more of a romantic comedy and more light-hearted compared to the Ten Mile Peach Blossom. There are more romantic and comical scenes while Ten Mile has more intense battle and gut-wrenching scenes. The witty verbal exchanges are hilarious. And the scenes when DiJun is teasing and flirting with FengJiu are amusing. However, you probably need to have a good command of Mandarin to appreciate it - from the English subtitles, I suspect much is lost.It has its own moment of suspense, making you wonder what is going to happen next and it did keep me glued to YouTube and myasiantv.io especially towards the second half. If you are a romantic, you will enjoy this. Dil and Gao had 'come out of age' to convincingly play the lead roles in this drama with only a short awkward appearance by Yang Mi and none by Mark Chao.
The initial 10 scenes are a little slow but comical, and almost look like a repeat of Ten Mile Peach Blossom with FengJiu's attempt to make it to DiJun's palace to serve him and the rivalry between FengJiu and ZhiHe was boring. It would be better if the duration of an episode or two were trimmed from the initial 10 episodes - they feel like time fillers. However, the story deviates. Once you get past these, you will start to enjoy it.
Like most dramas, it has its weaknesses in the story - a lot of the plot was based on FengJiu's distrust of DiJun - almost to the extend she looked like a self-pitying fool. For a plucky and mischievous girl, she suddenly became a fool when it came to matters of the heart. A lot of the gut-wrenching scenes become unconvincing and comical as they are more of self-pitying based on some imagination she was unloved and that DiJun loved someone else.
Dil is ravishingly beautiful as FengJiu and Gao is dashingly handsome as DiJun with the white hair and purple/white robes. Good looking leads are often key success factors for a drama or movie.
We all like a happy ending - I certainly do - I watch drama to enjoy it not sadden by it and I avoid tragedies. I always check that before I start any drama these days after suffering a few sad days with some other tragedies.
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Love, Lies, and a Killer’s Truth
A gripping psychological thriller wrapped in a detective mystery, this drama pulls you in from the start. Baek Hui Seong appears to be the perfect husband—gentle, attentive, a loving father who runs a modest metal craft business beneath his home. His wife, Cha Ji Won, is a sharp, devoted detective who still carries the same love she had for him when she first pursued him years ago.But their picture-perfect life begins to crack when Ji Won is assigned to a chilling case—one that mirrors an old unsolved serial killing. As her investigation deepens, an unexpected visitor—a reporter linked to Hui Seong’s past—walks into their shop, setting off a chain of events that threatens to shatter everything.
Meanwhile, a grieving man searches desperately for the truth behind his wife’s disappearance—presumed to be the victim of a serial killer. With no body ever found, his obsessive quest for justice edges him closer to madness, as he seeks out the accomplice of the killer.
As the layers peel back, secrets buried in Hui Seong’s family emerge. His powerful father, blinded by love and denial, goes to disturbing lengths to protect a son with monstrous tendencies. Rather than confronting the truth, the family chooses to conceal, manipulate, and sacrifice the innocent to preserve their son.
This drama delivers it all: stolen identity, a manipulative psychopath, chilling murders, gang entanglements, blackmail, blurred lines between guilt and innocence, and a constant tension between truth and deception. Every twist raises the stakes—and keeps you glued to the screen.
With a top-tier cast, cinematic finesse, and a plot brimming with suspense and psychological twists, this drama comes tantalisingly close to perfection. The only stumble? It slips into melodrama toward the end—enough that I found myself fast-forwarding through tearful scenes that lingered too long for my liking. The use of fake identities and memory loss, while serviceable to the plot, veers into cliché territory—familiar tropes that seasoned drama viewers will recognise a mile away.
Still, if you enjoy thrillers with emotional depth, complex characters, and dark secrets, this one is not to be missed.
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Redefining Destiny: A Second Chance at Life
Ever since China lifted its restrictions on time travel and reincarnation, there’s been an explosion of Chinese dramas revolving around these themes. While the concept may seem a bit overdone by now, it still captivates me every time. This latest drama marks the sixth in a growing list of similar shows I’ve watched. Among the standouts I’ve rated as top-tier are the Chinese dramas Til the End of the Moon, The Story of Kunning Palace, Princess Royale, and the Korean dramas Reborn and Marry my Husband. Each of them brings something unique, but what really keeps me hooked is the idea of reliving a life and having the chance to right the wrongs of the past. It’s a concept that never seems to get old.In this particular drama, Jiang Si is killed by her fiancé, Yu Qi, in a past life where she also served as the Saintess of Nanwu, a rival state. But when she wakes up in her present life, it’s just before the tragic events that claimed her loved ones — her father, her brother — have unfolded. Determined to change her fate, Jiang Si sets out to prevent these horrors from repeating. As she crosses paths with Yu Qi again, who has just returned from his post on the border, he begins investigating her, suspecting her to be a spy from Nanwu. Instead, he finds himself drawn to her, becoming infatuated. What follows is a rocky journey toward love, complicated by the ruthless Princess Cui Ming Yue, who has her eyes set on Yu Qi and is willing to do anything to make him her husband. Behind her stands her mother, the powerful Grand Princess RongYang, sister to the Emperor and notorious for her cruelty. Both mother and daughter are willing to commit murder to get what they want, blaming others for their own faults without hesitation.
What makes this drama stand out?
The Storyline: It’s absolutely gripping. You’re constantly on edge, wondering if Jiang Si can break free of her tragic fate, and the mystery behind some characters’ true identities keeps you hooked.
Karma: It’s sweet to see the villains meet their just desserts.
The Rightful Emperor: It’s refreshing that the deserving and righteous characters rise to power, rather than some clueless child or shady figure.
The Cast: Zhang Wan Yi, the lead actor, is superb. His performance really draws you in.
Zhang Chi: The second lead, who brings humor and lighthearted moments to balance the drama’s darker themes.
Eye Candy: The cast is filled with a beautiful array of actors and actresses. Call it shallow, but a bit of eye candy always makes the viewing experience that much more enjoyable.
Huang Yi: As the villain, Huang Yi delivers an unforgettable performance. Her portrayal of the ruthless, power-hungry Grand Princess RongYang makes you despise her, yet, in a tragic twist, when she’s killed by the man she loved, you can’t help but feel a shred of sympathy for her. It’s a testament to her exceptional acting.
In conclusion, I give this drama a solid 10 out of 10. If you’re into compelling stories with rich characters, stunning visuals, and a touch of karma, I highly recommend giving this one a watch.
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Arthdal Chronicles Part 1: The Children of Prophecy
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Ruthless fight for power in ancient barbaric times
The three seasons spanned a total of 18 episodes. This is to-date the best Korean drama I had watched, in my opinion beating the Goblin or Hotel Luna. The story was intriguing, convoluted and kept the audience wondering. There are some predictable bits, and fighting and wallowing in sorrow dragged it out a bit, but by and large it locked-in my attention. This drama was only the first of four sequels and set the stage of more to come.The ancient world of Arthdal was dominated by two homo species: the bronze-age humans, Sarams, and the Neanderthals. The Neanderthals was the physically stronger of the two species. There were inter-species mating between the two races giving rise to a mix-blood race called Igutu.
The Sarams tried to make peace with the Neanderthals but unfortunately were rejected. Tagon, son of the Saram Union Leader proposed a devious method to eliminate the Neanderthals by infecting them with a deadly disease which both weakened and killed them. They took the opportunity of a Neanderthal festival to present them with gifts carrying the disease.
Asa Hon was deceived by the Sarams to bring the gifts to the Neanderthals. When the Sarams attacked the epidemic ridden Neanderthals, Asa Hon discovered too late that she was used. She rescued her Igatu baby, named Eunseom, and brought him to Iark, a land separated by a high cliff and a desert and unknown to the Sarams. Eunseom was brought up by the Wahans in Iark, and was kind and trusting.
Tagon discovered an Igatu baby. He took him away and raised him in secret - his intention for doing this was unclear. Saya, was brought up by the TaelHa, Tagon's lover, and was cruel and distrustful.
Tagon went on to kill the remaining Neanderthals and Igutus, and further military conquest to become a powerful general. As an Union Leader, his father, Sanung faced a power struggle with Asa Ron, a religious leader who used the superstition and ignorance of the ancient humans to manipulate their obedience.
Numerous prophecies circulated among groups of people. My reviews on the rest of the seasons will follow.
I found this drama such a good amalgamation of borrowed historical events, very nicely pieced together. It showed how a more developed civilisation subjugated the more primitive tribes with their 'advance' bronze weapons. You would have seen this in modern history with western colonisers taking over Africa, Americas, Oceania and parts of Asia.
The killing of the Neanderthals certainly reminded me of how the white settlers killed the American natives by spreading leprosy through gifts of blankets used by lepers in their own countries.
And Asa Ron reminded me of the various religious cult leaders who distort facts to instigate people and manipulate them. Tagon, Eunseom and Tanya, all used this tactics as well later in the drama. Humans were so easily manipulated by words and a good show. In contemporary times with all the high-tech digital communication, it is difficult to tell fake and real apart at times.
All the three seasons were very good.
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Wacky, suspenseful, humorous
Very often, sequel paled compared to the first season, but not for this drama. It carried on the momentum of Season 1. The drama was somewhat wacky, suspenseful and humorous .The bold and scheming Fan Xian more than matched his antagonists. Returning to the capital, he went on to expose the conspiracy he discovered in ShangJin, capital of the rival state. But the Qing emperor was not impressed and did not seem to pay much attention to the fact that his second son and his sister was amassing huge amount of money from the activities of the State Enterprise (Neiku). A huge conspiracy was awaiting Fan Xian on his arrival.
And yes, Xiao Zhan did not participate in season 2. I think his talent is best placed in drama where his acting skills could be better demonstrated like The Untamed. Yan BingYun was not that type of character for him. Even in Season 1, it was more of a special guest appearance.
Everyone loves a hero who is smart, bold, righteous and uphold justice and this was what this drama presented in Fan Xian. Also, there are great lessons to be learned - if everyone condones a shitty system and not intervenes, bad practices will continue. If you do not like a corrupt system, then do not participate in it. What I particularly like about this drama which set it apart from some other drama was that it was proactive. Instead of some up righteous capable hero who preferred to hide away, he took up his responsibilities and faced it head on and sought to improve the system.
As with the first season, the story was interesting. Suspense and mystery abound. Humour was funny. Cinematography, acting, costumes, backdrop were all great.
The story however were a couple of far-fetched illogical sub-plots. For example, Fan Xian pretended that he faked death because the envoy was ambushed by a Grand Master, in order to avoid punishment. Why would the envoy not already know that the someone had sent a dead squad and a death threat, and that Yan BingYun 'killed' Fan Xian. They were travelling together. Why not simply exposed the second prince? Afterall, Yan BingYun could be a witness and he was one who was stubborn and daring enough to do this for the country. And there was also the letters from the prince as evidence. The writer had a complicated mind and preferred to fabricate lies and cover-up. In this regard, the story in Season 1 was more coherent. Unless the intent was to illustrate how intelligent people could buy into bullshit.
The second was when Ruo Ruo was asked to operate on Fan Xian, when she had never done an operation. Furthermore, what was she supposed to operate on? It was said that poison had affected Fan Xian's organs. What organs? All organs? Sound like a lot to clean up with just one slice made by the emperor.
By this stage, I await future seasons where hopefully a lot of the questions would be answered. Aside from Fan Xian taking over the State Enterprise, I hope they would have a season on how his mother came to this age, where she was actually from and what happened before Fan Xian was born. We also knew from Season 1 that the rival state was actually masquerading an empress dowager - emperor conflict and was staging a fake alliance with Fan Xian - so it would be interesting to see how this unravel in future seasons.
It had been 5 years since Season 1. So, it would be good to rewatch that again if you don't have the best memory in the world as Season 2 made a lot of references to events in the previous season. And hopefully, we do not have to wait for another 5 years to watch Season 3. If this goes on, all the cast and audience would be old by the time the last Season comes along.
Finally, I say, if you had enjoyed Season 1, don't miss out on this Season 2. Enjoy...
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My favourite Cheng Yi's drama yet
I was usually not a fan of Cheng Yi - insofar, the dramas I watched of his are mostly of him portraying depressive characters. This was the first time I see him in a character that was somewhat playful, wickedly humourous and cleverly cunning - a lot more interesting, and I think he did very well. Of course the second lead Joseph Zeng also did very well as his naive side kick.Overall, I rated this drama very highly although I hated the ending. An excellent cast, good looking actors/resses, interesting story, realistic costume and backdrop, good cinematography - it scored well on all the important factors. But like a lot of Chinese drama, it had a bitter sweet ending.
Li Xiang Yi (Cheng Yi) was an outstanding swordsman with a very strong sense of justice and righteousness. Di Fei Sheng, head of the JinYuan sect challenged him to a fight for the top rank in the martial world. Secretly poisoned by Jiao Li Qiao, a psychopath, before the fight, he fell into the river after destroying the ship of the JinYuan sect and was missing.
Ten years later, Di Fei Sheng recovered from his injuries and emerged once again in the martial world. Around this time, someone who earned the title of a miracle doctor known as Li LianHua was travelling around the world in a tower horse carriage. He met Fang DuoBing, a young passionate swordsman who claimed to be the disciple of the missing Li XiangYi. Both had identities that they were either hiding or were ignorant of.
The story was interesting as DuoBing and an unwilling LianHua worked together to uncover a huge conspiracy involving a vanquished kingdom and the bloodline of the current Xi dynasty. It was one of the best detective dramas that I had watched.
Strongly recommend this drama but I must say, you better not be suffering from a depression as the ending was melancholic.
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Thumbs up all round - intense emotions, humour, lessons in relationships, portrayal of personalities
Three kids lost their mothers through three different circumstances - deaths, abandonment, divorce. The two fathers combined their efforts to be both mothers and fathers to the three. They grew up in the solace of each other and became closer than real brothers and sister. Unfortunately, their biological father and mother came back to claim them when they were teenagers and tore them apart. They re-united nine years laters but became strangers with their own careers and interest. How were they to deal with their new relationship? Watch the drama to find out.This drama takes you through a lot of heart rending moments, especially when the little He Ziqiu (acted by Li Zhen Zhen) looked so adorable and so pitiful when the mother left him. I literally wished I could give him a hug and tell him everything was going to be alright. When one of the fathers started pouring out his grief that outsiders kept reminding him he was not the real father, it was so heart-breaking. I don't cry easily but find myself wiping off tears at a number of moments. And how the siblings and fathers were there for each other at times of trials were heart-warming.
But there were also a lot of short comic relief and hilarious moments like the sister gave each brother a red underwear to wear to their university entrance exams and insisted they showed her they were wearing it for good luck. When the brothers started fighting for the affection of their sister and became jealous when she dated someone else, it was quite hilarious.
This drama was outstanding in portraying different characters and personalities. You also get to see the mums and dads in modern China and their different characters. There was the tiger mum who plans everything for their daughter only to have her daughter secretly defying her plans. There was the scheming mother who wanted to win back her son only to harm him further. There was the self-sacrificing mother who kept her secret from him so that he could have a good upbringing. There was the pair of parents who wanted their daughter to become a celebrity actress only to end up sabotaging her career.
I could see shadows of Chinese mothers I had encountered in these characters.
Then there were the fathers - a motherly loving one, a busy policeman with no time for his family, a selfish money-minded father who turned out to better than expected, a seemingly loving father who actually was a conflict avoidance personality. Of course, there were the minor characters - the nosy and gossipy neighbours.
Aside from the portrayal of different characters and personalities in modern day China, there was also the portrayal of its culture. Money was quite openly discussed - unlike the Anglo-Saxon culture which avoid talking about money. There was also that filial piety culture which made it really difficult for children to shake off the domination of disastrous and troublesome parents - in a western culture, the children likely leave home after 18 and ignore their parents if they are tiresome, or parents might just chase their children out once they become adults.
This drama was also quite philosophical. In the conversations and discussions, there were also lessons of parenting - when to be there for the kids and when to cut some slack, as well as advice for interpersonal relations such as friends, siblings and lovers.
All the actors and actresses portrayed their characters perfectly and the story is very realistic.
For all these, I give this a perfect 10, one of very few dramas that I awarded this.
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The main male lead acted by Xu Kai was somewhat silly and stupid but ironically he became very outstanding in military strategies and martial arts. The emperor Li Shi Min was the least likeable portrayal of this character of the 3 dramas I watched including The Empress of China, The Long Ballad. He was not as brilliant as history recorded him to be. The lead female character acted by Li YiTong was pretty and intelligent but was always bureaucratic and stony - her character was incredulous - always perfect. The empress was deemed a virtuous empress but she had a vicious side and was obviously protecting her son, the crown prince and his position. She even killed her fourth daughter-in-law because of the setup from the jealous and petty crown princess. The crown prince was like his consort - petty and not quite bright.
There were a lot of comical scenes but yet it was not quite a comedy - there were intense political rivalry, deceit, and deaths. I would say it is a mix genre.
There were an obvious discontinuity in the drama - it seemed some parts were clumsily cut and trimmed.
The costumes were a little lacking compared to the top Chinese dramas and looked like a low budget production. The head wear for the guys were terrible. Overall, I would not rate it as a tiptop drama. But regardless, it is entertaining. So if you are locked down in this pandemic looking for something to do, watching this drama could be it.
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Overrated?
Frankly, I think this drama is over-rated on Mydramalist. Although the role reversal of men and women in 2 different cities is somewhat creative, the drama is quite cliche. The same old popular tricks in Chinese dramas are played - tripping and falling into the arms of the hero, damsel in distress, rivalry for the throne (in this case between sisters for city leadership). In this drama, the writer dreamed of herself as a character in a script she was writing - this is somewhat similar to being drawn into an earlier era as a different person. And the heroine is absolutely silly.I didn't laugh; I didn't cry; I just endure to find out what would be the ending. Finally after watching episode 12, I skipped to the last 3 episodes and did not feel I missed much.
Also, I am beginning to doubt the rating on Mydramalist on the newly released dramas. Ratings had been quite 'accurate' on the qualities of dramas in the past. But in the recent few months, it has been a wreck. Dramas like Legend of Xiao Chuo was rated at 7.6 when I believe it should be between 8.6 to 9.1 in the same league as Nirvana in Fire 1&2 and Ten Mile Peach Blossom. And this drama is rated at 8.6 when I think it should be in the range of 7.6 to 7.9 - similar to Chang'an Youth, The Destiny of White Snake, Flame's Daughter and Bloody Romance.
The early reviewers have always this unhealthy influence on subsequent reviews at the early stage and bias the rating. I think the reviews following each drama reviews should be listed in reverse chronological order with the latest first, so that the earliest reviewer does not monopolise the first position.
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Mesmerising
This drama is absolutely worth watching, with two great leads - Wang Yibo and Zhao Liying. The two of them demonstrate the best onscreen chemistry I had ever seen in Chinese dramas. Their acting was very natural. I think this drama is underrated on Mydramalist.Yibo continued to mesmerise with his good looks and excellent acting. He is very versatile and did equally well in this drama as a playful and mischievous young man as he did in The Untamed as a cold stern stony face. I am impressed with his acting skills - his facial expression is remarkable - he can talk without saying anything - just like the way he did in The Untamed. In this drama, his face would lit up whenever he saw Fei (acted by Liying). His jealous reaction when a love rival appeared on this scene is likely to make you crack up.
Liying has this amazing ability to develop this onscreen chemistry with her male counterparts in all the dramas I had seen her in.
The drama was not so emotionally intense and there were humour scattered throughout. But as a drama, it would keep you captivated as you wonder who was Xie Yun, what was going to happen next, the mystery behind the 'Hai tian yi ser' and the various dramatic events. The pace was good until about episode 38 when there were a few scenes when the story was not making much progress - seemed to me like time fillers. However, I do not think they account for more than an episode put together.
I watched the drama a second time and liked it even better the second time. Not caught up with wondering where the story was going, I could focus on the acting and appreciate it even more.
However, I must suggest that translators stop using 'legend of' as drama titles - they are so overused, they cheapen the value of the drama, and sound so cliche. This drama could be simply called 'Fei' or 'Shrouded Myth' or 'Love Beyond'.
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Both the opening and ending theme songs were beautiful - melodious tune and lovely lyrics.
It is unfortunate the audio track was muted at various spots in the MGTV YouTube uploads and the English subtitles are really painful to read. The subtitles on the MGTV version was a mix bag - seemingly alright but with some contextual wrong use of words. It looked like it was done through a digital translator but was not edited by a human. In the rewatch, I found the Hotspot uploads which seem to have better audio and subtitles and less inserted ads.
The entire drama is well-paced except for a few episodes when it got a little boring and dry. There were a couple of lost opportunities to build some suspense and tension but the director/scriptwriter/editor had let it past.
For example, when Lu Yi and Xie Xiao were missing, the editor could have delayed showing what happened to them and let them re-appeared unexpectedly at the battle. That could have left the viewers on edge - worried that the battle would be lost as no help was on the way and the two guys might be missing.
Another incidence was when Yang Yue fell off the cliff and re-appeared under a veil. Again what happened between these incidence could have been kept under wrap - possibly making it a mystery who was this person under the veil - the knowledge that he was saved made it easy to guess who that was. The explanations of what happened to them could have been left until after they re-appear as a flashback explanation. The drama at these points became rather boring run-of-the-mill repeats of things going wrong instead of interesting plots.
Also, a couple of the characters were a little boring. XieXiao was always impetuous and goofy, and YangYue was always a bit thick-headed. And they did not seem to develop through the drama.
I like the ending - playing up the emotions and not quite a tragedy.
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I would have given it a perfect 10 if...
This drama could have been rated in the same league as Ten Mile Peach Blossom or Nirvana in Fire and I would have given it a perfect 10 if...The drama would keep you chasing episode after episode. Story was intriguing. And the entire cast is first class - the main actors Kenny Lin, Zhao Liying, Li Qin and Shawn Duo were outstanding and though Allen Deng only appeared for a brief moment, his cheeky and comical acting brightened up the sombre drama. The chemistry between Liying and Kenny were amazing. Kenny acted this cold personality YuWen Yue who was softened by Xing'er acted by Liying. When the two were together, you could feel YuWen Yue's cold personality struggling to hide his growing affection for his slave girl, and left you wishing something would happen between the two of them.
There were times when I wanted to give Xing'er and Chun'er a slap in the face. Xing'er is an extremely stubborn character driven by her sense of righteousness. She might be a person of principle but her insistence in a crucial situation had indeed jeopardised Yun Xun's chance of a probable victory. Chun'er was this spoilt princess who wanted to get her way all the time and when things went wrong because of her willfulness, she blamed others for it.
Although this is fiction, the story is as complicated as the world's politics and indeed of China's politics. The emperor's narcissism and selfishness remind me of Donald Trump lol. The theme of a selfish emperor who is wary of his sons and ministers and purges them when suspicious of their motives is very common among contemporary Chinese dramas. I could see a shadow of Mao and the purges of his comrades before and during the cultural revolution. I hope I am not getting anyone in trouble here (the drama was already in a lot of trouble with copyrights.) What goes into fiction often is the influence of real life situations. This makes the story more believable and realistic.
With my eye for details and perfection, I cannot help but noticed that some Chinese actresses in period dramas dyed their hair but left the ends to grow, and Liying did that in this drama. This may be alright in modern settings but appears rather odd in period dramas when such fancy colour hair dye may not exist.
A rating of 8.3 on mydramalist.com is rather low for this drama. I think it was affected by two factors. It had a bad ending which deliberately left a door open for a sequel. Bad endings always leave a bad taste and a feeling of being letdown among the audience. Nirvana in Fire was an exception - unless you have that kind of emotional scenes displayed by Hu Ge and Liu Tao, and the intense story to match, it sets the rating back.
The second is some episodes were heavily and clumsily trimmed on some of the Asian drama websites, leaving the story rather disjointed and some important events poorly explained. Managing the duration seem to be a problem with Chinese dramas - this needs to start with the script. This series could have been split in two with a convenient ending at Yun Xun's escape to Yanbei. However, there is a recent addition to YouTube on the full untrimmed version - for this one, there is trade-offs, all the draggy bits are in it. Guess there is no win.
Look at what the Ten Mile Peach Blossom has done - it staged a comeback before the ending. That won it the applause - yes, you cry and then you brighten up and give it an excellent rating. This drama tried that too, but the effect was not strong enough to give a clear indication of that.
Heard that they are preparing a season 2. Hope they know how to end it properly.
So, if the ending has been better managed and the episodes were properly trimmed, it would be a perfect 10.
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This review may contain spoilers
Plenty of fighting scenes and amazingly well produced
This is an amazingly well produced fantasy drama. I am surprised it did not get better rating on mydramalist. Story was original and difficult to predict - there were some resemblance to the style in Games of Throne or Lord of the Rings (not quite in that league yet but very good). I would say it is as good as Nirvana in Fire 2 but fighting scenes were more intense and with the same lead actor. Battle and fighting scenes were well filmed - for this I think it would appeal to the male viewers - plus actresses were all very pretty. Acting was very good as well.The opening theme song was eerie; I watched it at night and had to skip it, although the ending theme song was good. There were a lot of gloomy night scenes. So you know what mood it is set in.
Some parts were abrupt - there was some trimming down of the length of the drama it seems. These might have affected the rating.
Although the romance of Ji Ye, Asule, Yu Ran and Xiao Zhou were well acted out but the romance between Xi Yan and Su Shun Qin were more memorable - these two more mature actors showed more intensity in the demonstration of emotions. However few could match the heart rending scenes between Hu Ge and his female counterpart in Nirvana in Fire 1.
At the end all were victorious in their political ends but not in their love life. If you are a romantic, you may not accept this ending.
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You laugh and you cry
This is one of the best dramas (both English and Chinese productions) I have watched. It is wuxia, fantasy, romance, bromance rolled into one - with a rich mix of serious, suspense, comic and heart-wrenching moments. Of course, two dashingly handsome lead actors, and good looking support actors and actresses helped. Wallace Huo was outstanding in his expression of emotions - this is the first drama I watched of him and I am very impressed. I was hoping for a good ending to ChangQing's rather tragic love life.If I am to nitpick, I would say I do not like the silly and rowdy XueJian character, the depressive LongKui when she was normal or the forlorn ZiXuan. They seems to me very chauvinistic depictions of women. I much prefer characters like Fu Yao or BaiQian in Ten Mile Blossom - they have much more interesting characters and more fighting spirits.
It is rare that a sequel would beat its predecessor in quality - but that is exactly what happen in this drama. It is far better than Chinese Paladin 1. The emotions it invoked was more intense, and the story was more intriguing.
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Mesmerised
It had been some months since I watched this drama. At that point, it was the first Chinese drama that I watched after years. I was so mesmerised by it that I rewatched it twice and recaptured some of the scenes a number of times. I had not given Chinese drama production much credit in the past - I thought of them as sterile, politically influenced and boring. But this got me hooked onto Chinese dramas ever since.I have given it perfect scores for everything. The chemistry between the actor and actress was amazing. Costumes and scene setting was beautiful. Actors and actresses are good looking and acted their part well. The story moved from one life to another; each was intriguing. It held me in suspense wondering what the villain might do next to make life miserable for the hero and heroine of the story. It was an interesting development showing how the heroine of the story developed from a 'teenage girl' hurt by her first love to a 'mature woman' who moved on with her life. There are comic relief at various points.
Besides the actors and actresses, I gave the director, script writer and editor a lot of credit for putting together the plot so nicely.
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