Great story but they botched it with an annoying ending
For a spy wuxia show, I had to commend that this is definitely one of the best I’ve seen so far. When i first started out, i thought it was going to be the usual ‘spy assassin goes in for a target, assasssin and target fall in love with each other, assassin tries to kill target but failed and then target would go against his own men to protect the assassin’ trope. However as i watched on, they actually have more in store.
Basically FL is an assassin trained by an evil organization Wu Feng, whose aim is to control and dominate the martial world. One of the sects still left standing against Wufeng threat is the Gong family, who resides on a hill. This is where FL was supposed to go. She takes on the identity of a bride candidate, Yun Weishan, to enter the hill. The brides were supposed to be for the eldest and heir of the family, Young Lord Gong Huanyu, and the next line after him Gong Shangjue. Upon FL’s entry into the hill, she discovered that she might not be the only one that Wufeng sent in. Sometime later, a Wufeng assassin was discovered among the bride candidates, and later the Leader of Gong family - The Sword Wielder - and his heir Gong Huanyu were both killed while interrogating the assassin. As Gong Shangjue was not on the hill at that moment, the least talented, playboy, useless second son of the Sword Wielder - Gong Ziyu, the ML - was forced to take the helm as the Sword Wielder as the family’s rule stated that the Sword Wielder’s position can never be vacant. This was met with strong objection by both Gong Shangjue upon his return, with his brother Gong Yuanzhi strongly standing by his side, so they keep trying to make things difficult for ML to investigate his father’s and brother’s deaths while questioning ML’s ability to lead and protect the Gong family. FL also discovered that there was another Wufeng assassin among the brides, Shangguan Qian. As FL was chosen by ML as his bride, and Shangguan Qian chosen by Gong Shangjue, more sinister and mysterious events began to unfold, more deaths occurred, and the pressure rose upon ML to prove his worth, hence he was forced to go through the trial of the three realms while at the same time investigating Wufeng’s activity that is threatening his family.
At first, I didnt put much high hopes on this show. But as I watched on, the story began to get very interesting as there is extensive character background and building along the first 10 episodes, where we can see from various perspectives of the other roles. There are a lot of flashbacks for this character building, but instead of getting annoyed of so many flashbacks, i got more curious and empathatic towards the other roles, even as they go against ML. I especially liked Gong Yuanzhi’s character, he was supposed to be this arrogant teenager who always thought his brother Gong Shangjue is the rightful owner of the Sword Wielder position. His sinister smirks, although makes me cringe, they have a certain charm. When I looked at Gong Yuanzhi, his character seemed so similar to a character in Robin William’s Hook movie, Rufio.
I especially loved how they portray the multi-faceted types of love - Love between biological siblings, love between step/foster siblings, love between father and son, love between leader and subordinates, and of course love between lovers of opposing sides. It’s really beautiful and intricately written that I was left very impressed.
Love the costumes in this show. They match the dark setting of the Gong residence, with dark monotonous colours instead of bright and over the top that is usually the case in wuxia shows, especially in female wardrobe department.
The songs are slow and melancholic, although it grows on me as I watched on, they failed to put a print in my head.
Fighting sequences didnt look too CGIed, it has more earthly real life feel to it. Although they still use the usual wuxia theme of getting poisoned over and over again and recover like it has no aftermath at all (other than the fortnight flies which affected their inner strength fortnightly).
Usually I wouldnt pay much attention to side characters and their love story, most of the time I would just fast forward them, but in this story, i kept watching and got amazed at how they play everything out. Even the goofy side characters that acts as a comic relief to a serious piece like this, such as the Eldest Young Lady Gong Zishang and Xiaohei - Young Lord Hua - kept me hooked. At first i was disgusted with Gong Zishang as she was portrayed as a flirtitious woman who likes to watch undressed men, with goofy over the top hand gestures and body movement, but as i watched more, she is really fun to watch especially when she keeps chasing Jin Fan - ML’s primary guard - while being clueless that the one who was always hanging out with her in the lab - Xiaohei - likes her. The fun part of this show is really fun, the mysterious part really mysterious and the sad part turned out super sad. Really love the plot twist towards the end.
SPOILER BEYOND THIS LINE!!!
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The fact that the brother that ML had always looked up to and love turned out to be the villain and the brother that he thought was always against him and hate him turned out to be the one who really love him is honestly so brilliantly executed.
When i started to watch this series, i am ready for a tragic ending cuz spy stories usually have that. After going through the trauma of character massacre in A Journey to Love, i don’t really think any other death can hit me that much anymore. So yeah. I was ready for ML or FL plus Jinfan or Gong Yuanzhi to die. I thought the careless act of letting FL go back to her hometown without any bodyguards is purposely to get the character killed, so am ready for that already. So imagine how dumbfounded I am to see the ending just ML with a surprised look to see whoever it is at the door of the compound? Dammit why end it like this. Honestly I was ready to see somebody handing over a box or a rug containing FL’s head. But they decided to put up an open ending instead! Are they trying to hint for S2 or what? Why just that? Gosh I dont know whether to get angry or excited. Duhhh. Just be done with it already. I am okay with ML and 2nd ML losing their lovers. Why the cliffhanger? Grrrr. I am also dissatisfied that the evil Shangguan Qian had a happy ending, free of shackles of Wufeng and Gong family. Why did she get to live a quiet life? I wouldve given 10/10 for story if they hadnt put up such a lousy ending.
Basically FL is an assassin trained by an evil organization Wu Feng, whose aim is to control and dominate the martial world. One of the sects still left standing against Wufeng threat is the Gong family, who resides on a hill. This is where FL was supposed to go. She takes on the identity of a bride candidate, Yun Weishan, to enter the hill. The brides were supposed to be for the eldest and heir of the family, Young Lord Gong Huanyu, and the next line after him Gong Shangjue. Upon FL’s entry into the hill, she discovered that she might not be the only one that Wufeng sent in. Sometime later, a Wufeng assassin was discovered among the bride candidates, and later the Leader of Gong family - The Sword Wielder - and his heir Gong Huanyu were both killed while interrogating the assassin. As Gong Shangjue was not on the hill at that moment, the least talented, playboy, useless second son of the Sword Wielder - Gong Ziyu, the ML - was forced to take the helm as the Sword Wielder as the family’s rule stated that the Sword Wielder’s position can never be vacant. This was met with strong objection by both Gong Shangjue upon his return, with his brother Gong Yuanzhi strongly standing by his side, so they keep trying to make things difficult for ML to investigate his father’s and brother’s deaths while questioning ML’s ability to lead and protect the Gong family. FL also discovered that there was another Wufeng assassin among the brides, Shangguan Qian. As FL was chosen by ML as his bride, and Shangguan Qian chosen by Gong Shangjue, more sinister and mysterious events began to unfold, more deaths occurred, and the pressure rose upon ML to prove his worth, hence he was forced to go through the trial of the three realms while at the same time investigating Wufeng’s activity that is threatening his family.
At first, I didnt put much high hopes on this show. But as I watched on, the story began to get very interesting as there is extensive character background and building along the first 10 episodes, where we can see from various perspectives of the other roles. There are a lot of flashbacks for this character building, but instead of getting annoyed of so many flashbacks, i got more curious and empathatic towards the other roles, even as they go against ML. I especially liked Gong Yuanzhi’s character, he was supposed to be this arrogant teenager who always thought his brother Gong Shangjue is the rightful owner of the Sword Wielder position. His sinister smirks, although makes me cringe, they have a certain charm. When I looked at Gong Yuanzhi, his character seemed so similar to a character in Robin William’s Hook movie, Rufio.
I especially loved how they portray the multi-faceted types of love - Love between biological siblings, love between step/foster siblings, love between father and son, love between leader and subordinates, and of course love between lovers of opposing sides. It’s really beautiful and intricately written that I was left very impressed.
Love the costumes in this show. They match the dark setting of the Gong residence, with dark monotonous colours instead of bright and over the top that is usually the case in wuxia shows, especially in female wardrobe department.
The songs are slow and melancholic, although it grows on me as I watched on, they failed to put a print in my head.
Fighting sequences didnt look too CGIed, it has more earthly real life feel to it. Although they still use the usual wuxia theme of getting poisoned over and over again and recover like it has no aftermath at all (other than the fortnight flies which affected their inner strength fortnightly).
Usually I wouldnt pay much attention to side characters and their love story, most of the time I would just fast forward them, but in this story, i kept watching and got amazed at how they play everything out. Even the goofy side characters that acts as a comic relief to a serious piece like this, such as the Eldest Young Lady Gong Zishang and Xiaohei - Young Lord Hua - kept me hooked. At first i was disgusted with Gong Zishang as she was portrayed as a flirtitious woman who likes to watch undressed men, with goofy over the top hand gestures and body movement, but as i watched more, she is really fun to watch especially when she keeps chasing Jin Fan - ML’s primary guard - while being clueless that the one who was always hanging out with her in the lab - Xiaohei - likes her. The fun part of this show is really fun, the mysterious part really mysterious and the sad part turned out super sad. Really love the plot twist towards the end.
SPOILER BEYOND THIS LINE!!!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
The fact that the brother that ML had always looked up to and love turned out to be the villain and the brother that he thought was always against him and hate him turned out to be the one who really love him is honestly so brilliantly executed.
When i started to watch this series, i am ready for a tragic ending cuz spy stories usually have that. After going through the trauma of character massacre in A Journey to Love, i don’t really think any other death can hit me that much anymore. So yeah. I was ready for ML or FL plus Jinfan or Gong Yuanzhi to die. I thought the careless act of letting FL go back to her hometown without any bodyguards is purposely to get the character killed, so am ready for that already. So imagine how dumbfounded I am to see the ending just ML with a surprised look to see whoever it is at the door of the compound? Dammit why end it like this. Honestly I was ready to see somebody handing over a box or a rug containing FL’s head. But they decided to put up an open ending instead! Are they trying to hint for S2 or what? Why just that? Gosh I dont know whether to get angry or excited. Duhhh. Just be done with it already. I am okay with ML and 2nd ML losing their lovers. Why the cliffhanger? Grrrr. I am also dissatisfied that the evil Shangguan Qian had a happy ending, free of shackles of Wufeng and Gong family. Why did she get to live a quiet life? I wouldve given 10/10 for story if they hadnt put up such a lousy ending.
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