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Artistic and beautiful cinematography dressing up a just-ok plot
The main thing that stands out about this show, to me, is its sheer artistry. The cinematography is amazing. The director’s use of colors, light and shadow, framing, symbols and motifs, etc creates such a lingering and evocative ambience. Even the posing and slow motion scenes- normally I can’t stand them, but here they were so artistically done that I actually liked them. This show is beautiful to watch.
On top of that, everyone looks so good! Especially the male characters- good or bad, major or minor, this show is overflowing with hot guys. I mean, kudos to everyone’s face of course, but at this scale I have to credit the styling (hair/makeup), lighting, camera angles, even directing to avoid less flattering expressions. The director made everyone look good. So next time you look away from the show and wonder why everyone around you is so ugly, keep in mind that it’s kind of artificial.
As for the plot, I wish it lived up to the great directing. The first 15-16 episodes follows the two leads in a small town. It is sweet and nostalgic, full of warm and fuzzy vibes. This part feels more slice-of-life. I tend to appreciate this sort of thing more after the leads have gone through some crisis, so I thought it was a little slow, but still cute and enjoyable.
After that the series explodes into action, battles and a mess of politics. Some of it is a little draggy (eg manufactured drama between the leads), and then I had a hard time piecing the backstory together from the fragmented clues scattered throughout. Even after the answer is given, the pieces don’t seem to add up. It doesn’t help that the last few episodes feel so rushed, but also I think they just left out some information from the book. In general, I think the backstory is good but not conveyed well, leaving people puzzling over the tangled mess rather than being properly emotionally impacted.
Plus, I kind of soured on the main character. Fan Changyu in the first half is the kind of down-to-earth FL I like. She’s kind and sincere, ready to provide for her new house husband. She’s also really tough and an excellent fighter- not in, like, a realistic way, but still in a fun way. Her impressive skills made her somewhat unrelatable to me (we don’t see her train, she’s just a genius), so I liked her but felt a bit distant.
As the show progresses, though, her super strength and martial ability get overdone to the point where it’s just ridiculous. Perhaps her flaws should make her more relatable, but I found them annoying. Her impulsiveness and emotionalism result in some hot-and-cold treatment towards the ML, which is mostly just frustrating to watch, and her lack of education is endearing until it's not. For example, her sneaking off during an imperial decree is probably supposed to be funny, but I thought it’s really disrespectful. And the way she celebrates her undeserved promotion without worrying about how she’d actually do her job- carefree and confident are good and all, but there’s something to be said about some self-awareness.
Well, I seem to be alone on this, so take it how you will. Either way, I had a harder time rooting for Changyu as the show went on, which made the last 10 episodes a bit of a struggle.
On the other hand, for a ML we get Xie Zheng, one of those perfect dreamboat MLs constructed to fulfill your fantasies. Badass, highly skilled, and commanding, yet gentle, supportive, and totally devoted towards her. He loses his composure a few times in the middle, just enough to make him feel human and convey how much she means to him. I wouldn’t have minded if he had more depth, but overall I liked him.
The romance is well done, mostly thanks to the cinematography which creates a simmering tension between them, the kind that makes your heart skip a beat. There are two other romances in the show that also benefit from the director’s skill- one of them is smoking hot (and highly toxic), the other is cute and sweet. The female characters involved are also highly (and unusually) skilled at one thing or another, and have good relations with Changyu, which is nice to watch.
There are several other likable side characters as well- like the FL’s squad, the ML’s sidekicks, etc- though I felt they didn’t all get the attention they deserved.
On the villain side, the true political villain takes some unravelling and isn’t clear for a long time. In the meantime, there are several intermediate villains, like two crazy brothers that are so obviously psycho you can't look away.
But of all the villains big and small, I ended up feeling sorry for quite a lot of them, even despite some irredeemable actions. I don’t really like feeling this way- kind of sour- but my consolation is that many other audience members seem to feel this way too.
Acting-wise, I thought Tian Xiwei does a good job. I’m really impressed by how physically strong she is. Zhang Linghe seems pretty good too, though maybe I am most impressed by Lin Muran who conveyed the crazy, taunting energy of Sui Yuanqing well. A lot of the supporting actors had great performances.
The fight choreo is pretty good, not too flashy but solid- like the weapons actually have some weight- and, not surprisingly, generally quite artistic. Tian Xiwei looks pretty good with fluid movements into solid hits. I was less impressed by Zhang Linghe’s hand-to-hand, but I thought his horseback fighting (choreo and execution) was quite good, as was his riding.
I really like the costumes, especially the working-class clothing and the armor. The music is the kind of songs that I like now because I have emotional association from hearing them during iconic scenes of the show. There is some CGI that is surprisingly bad, but the rest of production makes up for it.
Overall I think this show is artistic and beautiful. But the plot is not the best, with the politics and backstory told in a confusing way, draggy bits in the second half, Changyu sometimes annoying, villains I also feel deeply sorry for, etc. I still think it’s worth a watch for the excellent cinematography, but don’t expect an equivalent mastery from the plot. Readers of the book might enjoy it more (or not) and I had to benefit from their forum posts to understand some of what’s going on.
ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS
The last few episodes are quite rushed, and the backstory is not fully revealed until the very last episode where it is unceremoniously narrated. But at least most of the last episode is reserved for wrap-up. It is a happy ending for our leads and most of their friends. Villains get their due and the country returns to stability.
We get a 5-year-out view of the leads to know they are doing fine, which is nice, though I wish we saw more of the side characters. We can assume they are mostly doing well- except maybe Li Huai’an, poor guy- but we don’t see it. I found out from book readers that Yu Qianqian is a transmigrator... what a detail to whittle down to a mere hint in the show.
In the last 10 or so minutes we get an “alternate reality” version where the old tragedy never happened. Then some of the sympathetic villains can be good people, tackling issues alongside our protagonists. I was looking forward to this bit to feel good, but actually the main point seems to be that Qi Min and Yu Qianqian cannot be together even in an alternate life, which I thought is a dumb final message.
On top of that, everyone looks so good! Especially the male characters- good or bad, major or minor, this show is overflowing with hot guys. I mean, kudos to everyone’s face of course, but at this scale I have to credit the styling (hair/makeup), lighting, camera angles, even directing to avoid less flattering expressions. The director made everyone look good. So next time you look away from the show and wonder why everyone around you is so ugly, keep in mind that it’s kind of artificial.
As for the plot, I wish it lived up to the great directing. The first 15-16 episodes follows the two leads in a small town. It is sweet and nostalgic, full of warm and fuzzy vibes. This part feels more slice-of-life. I tend to appreciate this sort of thing more after the leads have gone through some crisis, so I thought it was a little slow, but still cute and enjoyable.
After that the series explodes into action, battles and a mess of politics. Some of it is a little draggy (eg manufactured drama between the leads), and then I had a hard time piecing the backstory together from the fragmented clues scattered throughout. Even after the answer is given, the pieces don’t seem to add up. It doesn’t help that the last few episodes feel so rushed, but also I think they just left out some information from the book. In general, I think the backstory is good but not conveyed well, leaving people puzzling over the tangled mess rather than being properly emotionally impacted.
Plus, I kind of soured on the main character. Fan Changyu in the first half is the kind of down-to-earth FL I like. She’s kind and sincere, ready to provide for her new house husband. She’s also really tough and an excellent fighter- not in, like, a realistic way, but still in a fun way. Her impressive skills made her somewhat unrelatable to me (we don’t see her train, she’s just a genius), so I liked her but felt a bit distant.
As the show progresses, though, her super strength and martial ability get overdone to the point where it’s just ridiculous. Perhaps her flaws should make her more relatable, but I found them annoying. Her impulsiveness and emotionalism result in some hot-and-cold treatment towards the ML, which is mostly just frustrating to watch, and her lack of education is endearing until it's not. For example, her sneaking off during an imperial decree is probably supposed to be funny, but I thought it’s really disrespectful. And the way she celebrates her undeserved promotion without worrying about how she’d actually do her job- carefree and confident are good and all, but there’s something to be said about some self-awareness.
Well, I seem to be alone on this, so take it how you will. Either way, I had a harder time rooting for Changyu as the show went on, which made the last 10 episodes a bit of a struggle.
On the other hand, for a ML we get Xie Zheng, one of those perfect dreamboat MLs constructed to fulfill your fantasies. Badass, highly skilled, and commanding, yet gentle, supportive, and totally devoted towards her. He loses his composure a few times in the middle, just enough to make him feel human and convey how much she means to him. I wouldn’t have minded if he had more depth, but overall I liked him.
The romance is well done, mostly thanks to the cinematography which creates a simmering tension between them, the kind that makes your heart skip a beat. There are two other romances in the show that also benefit from the director’s skill- one of them is smoking hot (and highly toxic), the other is cute and sweet. The female characters involved are also highly (and unusually) skilled at one thing or another, and have good relations with Changyu, which is nice to watch.
There are several other likable side characters as well- like the FL’s squad, the ML’s sidekicks, etc- though I felt they didn’t all get the attention they deserved.
On the villain side, the true political villain takes some unravelling and isn’t clear for a long time. In the meantime, there are several intermediate villains, like two crazy brothers that are so obviously psycho you can't look away.
But of all the villains big and small, I ended up feeling sorry for quite a lot of them, even despite some irredeemable actions. I don’t really like feeling this way- kind of sour- but my consolation is that many other audience members seem to feel this way too.
Acting-wise, I thought Tian Xiwei does a good job. I’m really impressed by how physically strong she is. Zhang Linghe seems pretty good too, though maybe I am most impressed by Lin Muran who conveyed the crazy, taunting energy of Sui Yuanqing well. A lot of the supporting actors had great performances.
The fight choreo is pretty good, not too flashy but solid- like the weapons actually have some weight- and, not surprisingly, generally quite artistic. Tian Xiwei looks pretty good with fluid movements into solid hits. I was less impressed by Zhang Linghe’s hand-to-hand, but I thought his horseback fighting (choreo and execution) was quite good, as was his riding.
I really like the costumes, especially the working-class clothing and the armor. The music is the kind of songs that I like now because I have emotional association from hearing them during iconic scenes of the show. There is some CGI that is surprisingly bad, but the rest of production makes up for it.
Overall I think this show is artistic and beautiful. But the plot is not the best, with the politics and backstory told in a confusing way, draggy bits in the second half, Changyu sometimes annoying, villains I also feel deeply sorry for, etc. I still think it’s worth a watch for the excellent cinematography, but don’t expect an equivalent mastery from the plot. Readers of the book might enjoy it more (or not) and I had to benefit from their forum posts to understand some of what’s going on.
ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS
The last few episodes are quite rushed, and the backstory is not fully revealed until the very last episode where it is unceremoniously narrated. But at least most of the last episode is reserved for wrap-up. It is a happy ending for our leads and most of their friends. Villains get their due and the country returns to stability.
We get a 5-year-out view of the leads to know they are doing fine, which is nice, though I wish we saw more of the side characters. We can assume they are mostly doing well- except maybe Li Huai’an, poor guy- but we don’t see it. I found out from book readers that Yu Qianqian is a transmigrator... what a detail to whittle down to a mere hint in the show.
In the last 10 or so minutes we get an “alternate reality” version where the old tragedy never happened. Then some of the sympathetic villains can be good people, tackling issues alongside our protagonists. I was looking forward to this bit to feel good, but actually the main point seems to be that Qi Min and Yu Qianqian cannot be together even in an alternate life, which I thought is a dumb final message.
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