ASmith

Like Most in This Show, this Drama Is Largely Saved by Fugui

This show can be separated into 4 broad arcs:
1-13, the arc focusing on Fugui and Qingtong
14-18, the arc focusing on Fei and Hongye
19-30, the filler + fluff arc in which Cheng Yi gets 3 mins an ep on average and the plot jumps the shark. assassinating the characters of everyone getting screentime as they oscillate in personality by episode and scene, bravely and nobly sacrificing their “in character” points on the alter of “for the lolz” or “making what the writer wants to happen happen”. (I won’t say getting the plot from A to B because there was none in this arc.)
31-36, the wrap up arc, in which plot resumes and we get back to being in character again. albeit a rush towards the finish line.

1-13 are epic, 14-17 are decent, and 31-36 at least make sense and wrap it up neatly. The middle? Total mess. Fugui is the only one who stays in character from start to end. Worth watching for CY and his fight scenes, he’s amazing here, super handsome, and his performance is easily the best, but anyone hoping for a solid plot the whole way through or romance between the leads would be better lowering their expectations or stopping at ep13. Watch without minding too much overlong separation arcs or that that good guys are sparing bad guys for the nth time and locking them up without monitoring them for the nth time only to have the bad guy break out and cause trouble for the nth time and it’s not a bad ride. Songs are good and CY’s fight scenes are epic. 🔥 Overall good, just not the masterpiece of depth and growth and romance that it promised to be at ep12.

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A Masterclass of Bench-pressing by Phenomenal Actors and a Beautiful OST

Years late to the party on this one, lol.

Surprisingly enjoyable (the whole show, not just this part 2), despite the editing being a mess at times (did we really need to spend THAT long on the Lamp Lady Arc, and the Whiny Sister Arc in S1, only to suddenly jump to 'by the way, X has been seriously injured/died in some battle shown totally off-screen'?) Started off at a crawl and by the end of S2 we were dimension hopping towards the finish line, but overall loved it, held together throughout by some truly phenomenal acting by the main trio especially, but also shout out to the arcs of Dragon Lady and Mr Big Bad, which I also enjoyed.

Mortal arc was my favorite, and Tang Zhou has a special place in my heart ;-;

Yan Dan was beautiful, loved her arc coming full circle from almost possessively loving /only/ YY in S1 and not able to see why he couldn't just forget duties/the world and love /only/ her back (to the point of not actually giving him a choice about rejecting her in that lucid dream thingy (YD, honey, even someone truly in love with you has the right to refuse to be with you. They do, even if they're just being a noble idiot trying to protect you, or self-guarding against inevitable rejection that isn't actually going to happen. I know you know this because you demonstrate it beautifully to TZ + YY in 60% of S2)) to slowly seeing it dawn on her in the mortal world just what happens to his organization/the world/himself if she does get her wish of him putting her before all and ditches his responsibilities, and finally her push in S2 to get him to re-prioritize the world and the expressions on her eyes and face and actions that make it so clear that she loves him /because/ he is a totally selfless dude, and how she falls a tiny bit more in love with him at every selfless action she hears some third party casually drop, or sees him secretly/openly do. (Meanwhile, TZ/YY, this lovesick backslider who isn't /actually/ a selfless doormat /unless/ Supreme Majesty's demanding it and/or the world will be nuked if he isn't, is doing an A+ job of not blindly laying his life out for duty anymore, and is giving up divine objects that can nuke the world/whose loss can kill him just to keep YD safe from situations a well-placed "no" and better planning could have prevented in the first place, but such is the strength of the acting on both sides here and the soulful tenderness and teasing warmth between them that my heart was fully moved and engaged by this devotion on his part to respect her free will to make terrible plans and back her in following through with them, as well as her determination to not be sidelined but help protect those she wants to protect as an equally useful person. In short, my brain was screaming 'um, that is a bad plan', and my heart was clicking 'next episode' with each disaster that befell these two.)

Did the story make sense by the end of it?
Admittedly, no.
Did I care?
Also no.
I was too busy remembering the main trio fondly and looping the gorgeous OST.

Kudos to all the cast in this for making me enjoy the ride except the annoying sis and lamp lady, and maybe Monkey Immortal Dude. YY blind with blond hair remains his most handsome self, and I understand why YD fell for him entirely, but I don't think even Blond YY trumps TZ's wistful longing or teasing warmth for me.

9.5/10, losing its marks for Annoying Lamp Lady and Annoying Sis.

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