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Yes, he was - the birth certificate thing was indeed a bit chaotic but in the end the Empress Dowager called him with his royal nickname (Tan'Er) so he was her son.

And, finished.

First the very, very, VERY important things: how can someone be as goodlooking as Lan Jue/JBR? On his first scene with long hair, I said: "ok world, I'm done, I'm in love", and whenever he appeared with his hair loose my head would stop functioning (so yes, my review MIGHT be biased but I challenge you NOT to fall for this man!).

That said - now, how can this drama only have a 8.3 rating?
I swear I couldn't stop watching, it was so enthralling and interesting that at the end of every episode I'd start watching another one even tho' it was long past the sleeping hour. It's a 10/10 for me, the intrigues were very well written (yes, there were some shortcuts here and there but nothing major), the acting was great and the setting was also very convincing. I also appreciated the format: 29 episodes of about 30 mins was just about the right time to develop the story without dragging, and by always keeping an intense and galloping mood.

I LOVED all the characters, even the smaller roles - all of them were part of what humanity is, and what humanity becomes in times of difficulties... in positive, and negative notes. I especially appreciated the crescendo of this contrast throughout the series: for as much as the "high powers did bad things", the light of normal people would keep on shining... There will always be ants trying to shake trees, and sometimes... although they might not be able to knock it down, with effort and patience they might be able to change the course of its growth.

So many themes were part of the backbone of this story - like the fear of what is unknown (ie, the water vessel and its technique) or the power of prejudice, what is ethic and what is not, abandonment, the existance of "a higher good" (and "a higher bad", I'd say!)... everything was very well woven into the main story.

I agree with those saying I saw no bromance between the leads, but nevertheless I LOVED their dynamics: a true friendship born out of respect, a brotherhood with ups and downs. Both characters were always believable in their choices, sometimes doing the wrong thing but always having the courage to say "I was wrong", and I appreciated that.
(I do admit I saw some more bromance hints in Peizhi&Mowen moments tho'... :D)

Sidenote, I'd say my favourite character was His Majesty, which was amazingly portrayed by Shawn Zhang: although given a character that stayed on screen maybe 40 minutes in total, he managed to pour into him such a noble, powerful, human charisma that I cried during his war speech.

I really wish we could have more dramas like this: with powerful characters, great acting, amazing stories that don't rely on "omg my boyfriend left me" or "i will love you forever and ever" to pull the strings of our hearts (and consciences).

Crows Zero is one of my fav movies of all time - I watched it in cinema when it first came out and as of now few movies can compare for me in terms of adrenaline and engagement.

This series basically has my favourite "supporting cast" team, I love all of them: Kapook, Title, Louis... yay!

I hope P'Pai gives a nice salary to Nana because the girl is stressed as hell! XDD

Anyway: liking this so far, JuMark are always better as time goes by and I'm positively surprised by Ohm too! Don't want to sound unpleasant (I like him - he's a fun and kind guy) but this might be the first drama in which I actually see him *acting*. Is that plushie OhmPoon mascot? Looks so cute!

On a sidenote: Junior is like a fine wine... he looks so dashing, elegant and goodlooking here, he's in a crescendo that never stops since his first roles! I'd never get tired of looking at him!

Bingewatching and at ep11 rn, it's very interesting and fun! There's a nice balance between intrigues of the present and mysteries of the past, and as of now a nice comedic touch and personal growth from the main characters.
Zhang Ping is a bit of a busybody and probably in the real world he would have been killed after ten minutes into the first episode... XD ...but I love how his honesty inspires those around him!

You know what - this weekend I was working and, near my night shift's end, when thinking about coming back home and being happy because I could relax watching a few series, I suddently realized there would be no new GBFD episode because it's finished already. T__T

AHAHAH XD

(what I though in episode 24: how come they suddently became a superduper fighting duo defeating everyone... although Weigui was even out of qi? XD)

Again - the sword WASN'T broken. It was just a decoy.

Such a beautiful movie! So simple, and yet so powerful! It was especially honest and raw in depicting the fragility of our elders, and the way in which time drives the cicles in our life.

I just love how Thailand keeps creating amazing movies, going out of its "horror" comfort zone... I wouldn say this was a masterpiece perse, but it hit all the right notes with dialogues, acting, direction. Great movie!

And, it ended.
Sad thing is, they could have done way better in terms of storytelling if they didn't waste so much time in useless scenes and side moments/adventures, and instead they could have explained important things better (for example: how could Tianzhan be easily brandished by Ye Zhi Xin?).

Sidenote: the last two episodes kept winking to bromance in a very non-subtle way but, although I'm usually a avid BL watcher, it felt very out of place and forced.

All in all it seemed to me they wanted to do A LOT of things with this minidrama, but failed in doing them all. Sometimes it's better to focus on a simple execution and do it well... which could have been the case here. It's really a pity. :(

PS, for those who want to watch: I'm not saying is a total disaster, but there are waaaaaay many better series to watch out there.

Thanks! Although I've been watching dramas since circa 2001, I mostly always watched japanese and thai series so now I'm trying to "recollect" the most appreciated chinese series of the last years - i don't like love stories tho', so i'm mostly watching thriller/brotherhood/wuxia series.

I put both JOL in my to-watch list, thanks!

Sing Sing Sing, we're waiting for you to show your face again... :D

This was a satisfying episode for the fluff/ship part (these two really seem boyfriends, they are so damn natural with each other!) but let's completely skip the "investigation" because so many things are all over the place. BUT it's still one of the most engaging and fun series airing right now, so I won't complain.

They explain that due to her illness and the use of her powers, her gender is unstable causing her to switch between male and female randomly.

This made me laugh quite a bit! XD

Sigh - it's a pity but this is really turning into a complete mess, I get where the story is going but the script is completely falling apart. It feels like there are a bunch of disconnected episodes glued together starring the same trio but written without any cohesion.

Basically we keep seeing Weigui&Lingze being beaten by just anyone (they are probably the weakest heroic duo in a wuxia ever, with no sign of really growing up), get hurt, and taking turns saying to each other "don't die!" or similar random scripts... and although they keep being blatantly defeated, nobody steals them the sword. o.o
Plus they keep running everywhere for reasons unclear.

I'm liking Lei Lingze as a character AND also the actor - he has this silly/bubbly mood that just fits with the Lei clan... but Weigui doesn't work for me. In dramatic scenes his expression reads "square root of 317 multiplied by 12 to the power of 78 and divided by pi"... sigh.

That said - we're just two eps from the ending so I'm curious to see how they wrap everything up.

This is one of those series you need to watch (at least) twice before "judging" it - I love P'Nuchy, I love the actors, I love the topic they chose (a bit less a fan of toxic stories, tbh) so I'm probably 1000% biased when I say this was a great drama especially coming from GMMTv.

I would have loved a different ending to be honest, because not all love stories are fated to end happily, but this wasn't actually a "happy ending": it was more of a "better start" for their journey, knowing each other's fragilities.

On a sidenote, GMMTV, please: can we get some more Thor please? <3

Thank you!
Although I live in a very small area in northern Italy, close to the border with Slovenia and Austria in a nearby town since 28 years there is one of the biggest european asian cinema festival: it lasts one week and it's centered mostly on popular/commercial movies (although every year they do nice focuses on older and most classic directors/actors or genres)

Last year we could meet Jojo Hideo, Tsui Hark (the last Condor Hero movie, The Gallants, was the opening movie of the kermesse), Sylvia Chang, Mukai Osamu, Pae Arak and soooooo many others!

The program of this year's edition hasn't been disclosed yet, but can't wait! :D

And yes, I am planning to watch Swords into Plowshares too but I want to finish some older series first.

Oh, my... I just finished. In the last couple of episodes I basically deforestated the Amazon Rainforest with all the tissues I used, but everything made sense in the way it happened.

I kinda got some hints here and there about the ending, especially on the nature of some characters, because the drama opened many interpretative doors to us episode after episode and slowly narrowed the options down bit by bit towards the nearing of the end.

Setting aside the game and the story, what I loved most were the characters - they felt so real, embodying strenghts and sufferings/fragilities of so many people we probably know in our everyday life. Ruan and LingLing bond, and how they grew together, was a pleasure to watch - both actors acted their asses off, but I am especially amazed at how Xia Zhi Guang managed to be sassy, menacing, frail, detached, caring, passionate, idealistic, elegant, cruel and so much else by embodieng a single character: Ruan is definitely a character that straight goes into the A++ list of my favourite main heroes in fiction ever.

As for the (b)romance part... ok I'm a avid BL/queer watcher so I might be biased, BUT the hints they gave us were far too many to say "nah guys we're only friends". And I loved that: I feel like having "romance" in the story would have distorted the focus and the attention. Plus, no matter what "tag" we'd put on Ruan/Ling bond, be it brotherhood or platonic love: that's for sure one so strong that trascends time, reality, life.

10/10 for me.

PS, and I must add: Li DongYuan forever in our hearts, that's another unforgettable guy. <3

Why does this have a page here? It's a US production and it's an animation... (I'm not being polemic, I'm just honestly asking).

I soooooo hope they'll screen it at the asian cinema festival that I attend every year in Italy, watching it on big screen is going to be amazing!