An ambitious drama--with logic problems
Many reviewers call this drama: “incredible,” “superb,” “top notch,” “amazing,” “masterful,” “flawless,” and every other superlative you can think of.
A different group says that this drama is: “confusing,” “mediocre,” “over-hyped,” “terrible,” “pretentious,” “tedious,” “disappointing,” and “a disaster.”
So which is it? I feel a like an alien from Mars trying to mediate between two warring tribes of humans. Truthfully, the praise seems waay over the top. On the other hand, a lot of the criticism seems...let’s just say –- a bit mean-spirited.
THE LENGEND OF ZANG HAI, like most dramas, has its strengths and its weaknesses.
What I liked:
1. The plot held my interest. Occasionally, I had to stop and backtrack to figure out who was doing what and for what reason. But the writers kept the complications in hand so that I never lost the overall thread.
2. And how refreshing it was to have the main guy fight with his frontal lobes and not with his fists. I loved that!
3. Some very satisfying twists and turns. For example, I liked the fact that the second son of the Marquis is introduced as a lightweight party-boy. And then, in a totally delightful scene, he turns out to be someone else entirely. Well done, writers.
4. The production quality, sets, and cinematography were outstanding. The artifacts and furnishings looked like the real deal--not like cheap schlock bought in a secondhand junk store (which has sometimes been the case with other dramas).
What could have been improved:
1. Why did everyone keep risking their lives to get their hands on the Gui Seal without any real inkling of what it was all about? Or what its drawbacks might be?
2. The FL’s role in this drama confused me. In the beginning, she was coy and childish–keeping the ML waiting for hours while she primped and fussed with her clothes and hair. Later, she arbitrarily tried to retrieve a coin she’d just given him, although this impulsive behavior endangered his life. It’s true she eventually turned into a serious partner and valuable ally. But by then, I was more than a little put off by her.
In addition, she did some unbelievable things. Would a bright, capable, well-established business woman really agree to kill a powerful, high-ranking leader in the community, even one she didn’t like, just to please some dude she’d met once or twice? She hardly knew the ML at the time. Was she already that smitten? It didn’t make sense.
3. The ML wasn’t totally logical either. For example, everything depended on his ability to keep his mouth shut regarding his true identity and motivation. Yet he blurted out the truth to one person or another. At one point, he persuaded himself that the FL was involved in the murder of his family, in spite of the fact that she was only 10 years old at the time! He explained this suspicion by declaring that “children are sometimes underestimated” by adults!
And how is it that our 20-year-old ML was an expert in so many areas: plants, astronomy, architecture, feng shui, weather, woodworking, joinery, etc.?
Things always seemed to work out for ZH. Whenever there was a person to be manipulated or a plan to be carried out, ZH showed an extraordinary ability to predict everyone’s behavior. Even Superman couldn’t have performed so well.
His incredible luck made his successes seem unearned. Too many times, some arbitrary person or event would come along and solve ZH’s problems for him–that is, keep him from being poisoned or murdered, or exposed.
I could forgive the writers using this device once or twice. But “deus ex machina” came to the rescue over and over. It was a bit much.
A few picky things:
1. Too many devastating fires in this series–or threats thereof.
2. Anachronistic subtitles. Nobody in ancient China would use the phrase “throw him under the bus.”
A different group says that this drama is: “confusing,” “mediocre,” “over-hyped,” “terrible,” “pretentious,” “tedious,” “disappointing,” and “a disaster.”
So which is it? I feel a like an alien from Mars trying to mediate between two warring tribes of humans. Truthfully, the praise seems waay over the top. On the other hand, a lot of the criticism seems...let’s just say –- a bit mean-spirited.
THE LENGEND OF ZANG HAI, like most dramas, has its strengths and its weaknesses.
What I liked:
1. The plot held my interest. Occasionally, I had to stop and backtrack to figure out who was doing what and for what reason. But the writers kept the complications in hand so that I never lost the overall thread.
2. And how refreshing it was to have the main guy fight with his frontal lobes and not with his fists. I loved that!
3. Some very satisfying twists and turns. For example, I liked the fact that the second son of the Marquis is introduced as a lightweight party-boy. And then, in a totally delightful scene, he turns out to be someone else entirely. Well done, writers.
4. The production quality, sets, and cinematography were outstanding. The artifacts and furnishings looked like the real deal--not like cheap schlock bought in a secondhand junk store (which has sometimes been the case with other dramas).
What could have been improved:
1. Why did everyone keep risking their lives to get their hands on the Gui Seal without any real inkling of what it was all about? Or what its drawbacks might be?
2. The FL’s role in this drama confused me. In the beginning, she was coy and childish–keeping the ML waiting for hours while she primped and fussed with her clothes and hair. Later, she arbitrarily tried to retrieve a coin she’d just given him, although this impulsive behavior endangered his life. It’s true she eventually turned into a serious partner and valuable ally. But by then, I was more than a little put off by her.
In addition, she did some unbelievable things. Would a bright, capable, well-established business woman really agree to kill a powerful, high-ranking leader in the community, even one she didn’t like, just to please some dude she’d met once or twice? She hardly knew the ML at the time. Was she already that smitten? It didn’t make sense.
3. The ML wasn’t totally logical either. For example, everything depended on his ability to keep his mouth shut regarding his true identity and motivation. Yet he blurted out the truth to one person or another. At one point, he persuaded himself that the FL was involved in the murder of his family, in spite of the fact that she was only 10 years old at the time! He explained this suspicion by declaring that “children are sometimes underestimated” by adults!
And how is it that our 20-year-old ML was an expert in so many areas: plants, astronomy, architecture, feng shui, weather, woodworking, joinery, etc.?
Things always seemed to work out for ZH. Whenever there was a person to be manipulated or a plan to be carried out, ZH showed an extraordinary ability to predict everyone’s behavior. Even Superman couldn’t have performed so well.
His incredible luck made his successes seem unearned. Too many times, some arbitrary person or event would come along and solve ZH’s problems for him–that is, keep him from being poisoned or murdered, or exposed.
I could forgive the writers using this device once or twice. But “deus ex machina” came to the rescue over and over. It was a bit much.
A few picky things:
1. Too many devastating fires in this series–or threats thereof.
2. Anachronistic subtitles. Nobody in ancient China would use the phrase “throw him under the bus.”
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