lilmeow

Great heroine but somewhat messy execution

My favorite part of this show was Bai Fengxi, the female lead. She is a rare FL who is actually as strong and capable as her ML, even in fighting. I enjoyed watching her kick butt, handle situations, and be properly appreciated by her ML.

I very much enjoyed the first part of the show showing their adventures in the Jianghu. After that, they settle down in town for a while as court politics play out. Some people complain about the political arcs and I agree they are less interesting, but I found them still fun enough to watch. Unfortunately BFX is slightly sidelined here but I was always happily waiting for her to show up again.

Around halfway through is I believe when there was a shakeup in the crew and a bunch of people left. One unfortunate casualty must have been the choreographer because the great fight scenes of the first half are no more, replaced by some seriously lame sequences.

There are also some poorly explained plot devices, inconsistences, and logic holes, which seem worse in the second half. But since the script should be written before filming, I don’t think these are a product of the internal crisis. The plot holes are not as bad as some other dramas, I just always find it interesting how they can turn a book that makes sense into a drama that doesn’t.

I think dramas and their novels should be treated as separate entities, but in this case I do think some of the confusion and inconsistency comes from trying to hang onto some things from the novel while changing others. For instance, a lot of the novel centers on the rather complicated dynamic between the ML and FL. In the drama, Hei Fengxi has been edited to be more “likeable” and their relationship is simplified, which left me puzzling over things like why they are suddenly getting together now after 10 years of knowing each other, or the entire Hua Chunran story arc (which should have happened before they got together). Getting them together earlier is fan service at the expense of some logic, which I guess is ok. But if they are going to make a bunch of stuff up anyways (like all the palace politics), they could have done a better job.

For better or worse, they also added an evil mastermind villain for us all to hate. Personally I feel this cheapens the story a bit, turning it into another trite good-vs-evil deal. But it does reduce emotional turmoil for all of us audience.

Acting wise, I think Zhao Lusi captured BFX’s free spirit pretty well. Yang Yang always plays a certain kind of character, which just happened to be perfectly suited for this one. For the first half, the martial arts were solid, good choreography and technique from both of them. There is a part in the middle where they do solo forms, and it was fun to watch their different styles. Never mind that I had no idea what skill they were learning or why they were doing these forms.

If we overlook some garbled logic, this is still a fun watch, right up until the mess of the ending. They crammed the second half of the novel into 5 episodes. Granted, this was the less enjoyable half of the novel, however rushing through it without proper development didn’t help.

Also, FWIW, I thought the styling on this show was quite bad. All of the actors (especially male) looked a bit worse than they have in other dramas. Something about the helmet hair, or maybe it’s the makeup. This was one of the first Cdramas I watched and I was honestly surprised to see some of the same actors later, in other dramas, looking much better.

ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS





This show had a rushed and unsatisfying ending that could probably be considered bittersweet. They emerge alive but with a huge asterisk. It did not leave me feeling very happy.

In my head, I just sort of ignore the last two episodes. Whenever a show does “three years later”, I sort of roll my eyes. And without proper development and buildup, momentous occurrences feel cheap. The final battle lasting only a few minutes is not my major quibble, but still a good example of why the ending (and last few episodes) felt cheap.

Sometimes I read the book and/or its epilogues to get more closure. In this case, the novel ends a bit happier (without aforementioned asterisk), but I also found one of its epilogues to be super upsetting, so… not sure I would recommend the novel to bring happiness.

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Philosophical, thoughtful, and funny... but warning, not fluffy

My favorite thing about this show is probably its philosophical / existential bent. Xianxias like to treat human lives as quick and fleeting, trivial compared to a god. So you can see how a show might use this to make us think about things like the arc of a human life, and what we want out of our brief existences.

These ideas are expressed through some well-written dialogue. So many times the characters say things that are thoughtful and on point, going right to the heart of the matter. The dialogue is both easy to understand and insightful. I could see where the characters are coming from, even e.g. on both sides of an argument.

Another thing I really love about this show is the FL. Ji Tanyin is a goddess, which means she’s powerful- she certainly holds her own in a fight- but she can’t use too many powers in the mortal world. Luckily, as the Goddess of Craft, she’s also an amazing engineer. Honestly, after watching so many xianxias featuring only powerful male gods, it made me so happy to see the more powerful, in control figure of the two leads be female.

But maybe what I like most about Ji Tanyin is that she is compassionate and sincere. It feels very genuine, not pretentious at all. Maybe because she also makes such a bumbling human; after watching so many scheming leads in other shows with their carefully chosen, manipulative words, her lack of guile is really refreshing and kind of hilarious.

The ML Yuanzhong, on the other hand, is a darker character. He’s been through a lot. I didn’t dislike him at any point, though, and I found his complicated emotions and reactions to be understandable and relatable. I empathized with this complex character.

For awhile, Ji Tanyin’s unwavering belief and selfless support for Yuanzhong actually reminded me of a parent-child relationship. He of course doesn’t know the full story, and I like being able to see and relate to both sides. Their relationship morphs slowly into a romance; its development is nice, though I like it better before they get together.

There is also a second couple with a poignant story. Zhi Dai’s younger self sounds exactly like an annoying Cdrama character; but uniquely, here we instead get her retrospective on that experience. Her story ties well into the more global theme of what we want out of our lives, which Yuanzhong also struggles with.

People seem divided on whether they want more or less of the second couple. For me, Zhi Dai’s story resonates with my own existential crisis, so I found it meaningful and touching. I was happy with the amount of screentime it got.

There are some other lovable side characters that get fleshed out to various extents. The show is pretty clear on who to hate and who to like, so at least you’re not feeling angsty about that.

Actually, a good chunk of this show has some great humor and a fairly lighthearted tone. I was regularly laughing through maybe 2/3 of it. My favorite story arc is when they are essentially raising a child together (she’s the working parent). It is cute, sweet, and funny.

Just don’t make the same mistake I did and get fooled into thinking this is a fluffy xianxia where everything will magically work out in the end. Be prepared for some very bittersweet developments.

I do feel this show gets worse in the last 10 episodes or so. I don’t know if it’s because the leads finally get together, or just the plot, but it starts to feel slow and draggy. Dialogue gets repetitive, scenes go on for too long, people spend too much time staring at each other while music I don’t particularly like plays, that sort of thing. I used 1.5X speed liberally.

Plus, the show gets more sloppy. Examples: I really liked the weapon spirits and I don’t know why they mostly disappear. Previous story arcs do not get tied back in and some characters are not seen again. The leads’ transition to a sticky sweet couple is rather abrupt, and her oath against it is apparently totally glossed over until the storyline needs it again. And while I was previously happy with the worldbuilding and the level to which it was explained, the show does not continue to build and explain as it should.

In addition, the final villain is not done well; the motivation that is finally revealed is quite weak. From what I read online, it seems the book’s version is similar but more fleshed out, thus making a lot more sense. The drama just doesn’t present it well. I wish they focused on this instead of all the drawn out "artistic" scenes.

Acting-wise, Liu Xueyi does a phenomenal job. I think he won an award for it. This role requires a lot of range and a lot of nuance, and he portrays it all so well. For Tiffany, at first I thought she looks a bit old, but I got over that quickly; both of the characters are more mature anyways. Her voice, whether hers or not, is a bit shrill sometimes, but it’s fine. Overall I think she does a good job. The side characters also do a good job.

The styling is... uh, not the greatest. They especially messed up on Liu Xueyi with hair, makeup, and clothes that somehow make a good-looking guy look less good. But it’s ok, it helped me focus more on his acting and expressions.

The CGI is not the greatest (but not the worst). Fighting is not a focus but what’s there is decently done. I like that Tiffany maintains her frame instead of hyperextending, and some of the actors seem pretty athletic. It’s cool how the goddess of embroidery uses threads and embroidery as her weapons.

For music, there is one song I love that keeps playing at all the right moments to make me cry. Unfortunately it seems underused compared to the excess of slow love ballads that I didn’t particularly care for. The background music is pretty good for setting the mood, though not my personal favorite.

All of this production-level stuff is not masterpiece level, but it’s not bad enough to truly detract from the experience. Overall I give this show a high score for its thoughtful, philosophical tone; characters I love; good humor; good acting; and some truly poignant moments. I fault it mainly for being sluggish and sloppy towards the end. Well, that's kind of an understatement- ¼ of the show is not trivial, and it legit gets pretty bad. Objectively I should probably give it a lower score. But the rest of the show was so meaningful for me that I'm willing to overlook a lot.

I also fault it for not having the happy, cheerful ending that I totally expected, but I won’t subtract points for that because it’s probably better writing this way.

ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS





I would consider this ending to be bittersweet and beautiful. It’s actually very fitting, both from a narrative perspective and a logic perspective. But I’m still annoyed because I preferred, and thought I would get, an illogical happy ending.

It’s not just the main leads, where at least they throw us a bone (she might come back- apparently in an epilogue of the book, she comes back after 600 years). The second couple story, which seemed like it would work out for a lot of the show, also goes bittersweet (more bitter than sweet, imho). I don’t know what happens to a lot of the other characters, like Mei Shan and the weapon spirits (and what about that lamp?), and I dislike that they pretty much just left it open. Qian Lin seems to turn out ok, but we don’t get much view of his life.

I charged through so much of this show thinking all would end well. I remember crying at the end of the Pei Jiu / Lu Chen arc, but figuring he’d come back to his girl in the end... now at the end, I don’t even know if he’s alive.

It’s the kind of ending that leaves me scouring forums about the show and rambling in my own review, in a vague attempt to mend this gaping emotional hole it opened.

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Classic wuxia with well-developed backlore

I absolutely loved this show for the first 10 episodes or so. The humor is excellent. Lei Wujie is so adorably dumb, in the best and cutest way (I also like that he totally just owns up to it, not offended at all). Xiao Se is kind of the opposite, but hilarious in another way- deadpan sarcastic. Add in Wu Xin, who has his own style of calm quipping, and I was laughing every episode. It is so much fun to watch them and their other friends traipsing across the Jianghu, that I barely cared that such a deep friendship came out of nowhere.

Sadly, the fun and games don’t really last. I will credit this show with maintaining some excellent flashes of humor all the way to the end. But the sparkling fun tone doesn’t make it through, and by the second half it’s pretty much devolved into classic power struggles and throne drama. These are not badly done, but power struggles can only be so interesting to me. I would have preferred more focus on the characters, their development, and their interactions.

This show does have a band-of-friends feel and a focus on camaraderie. But in the end, it’s mostly Xiao Se’s story. I found him to be a likable protagonist with his own set of relatable emotions; a sullen streak and some past trauma, but mostly a good guy and of course a very smart mastermind. In his orbit are some other likable characters as well, but it was this show’s loss to relegate Wuxin- one of the best characters- to the back burner for the majority of the show.

There are a lot of other characters of varying importance, plus a lot of complicated relations, a lot of gradually revealed backstories, and a lot of traditions and lore in this universe. Some of it is straight up told to us by Xiao Se through dialogue- lazy storytelling but still helpful to an overwhelmed viewer. Still, I had a hard time keeping track of everything. I found the show better on a second pass when I already knew a little of what was going on, but I only rewatched because I took a long break; I didn’t like this show enough to rewatch for fun.

I think the plot is not bad, just all the power struggles did not fully captivate me. There is a good amount of pathos, a realistic emperor, backstories with depth (hence an entire prequel for it!), and a villain that is easy to hate. It also, to its credit, stays strong until the end. But I think the real strengths of this show are its humor and snarky characters, which they did not lean into nearly enough.

Unlike most Cdramas, the title is actually relevant. “Blood of Youth”- there is indeed a consistent focus on the youth of the heroes and how they must forge their own paths. It’s especially relevant since this Jianghu is filled with the legends of the past generation, who’s prior actions brought us to our present state. The way this idea of youth comes up regularly and in different ways, is actually quite well done.

Unfortunately, it’s just not a theme that particularly resonates with me. It might be more meaningful to a younger person. The show in general feels very shounen, or maybe classic wuxia. For example, the endless parade of powerful legends, each more powerful than the last, and the obsession with who is more powerful than whom. Lots of posing, looking cool, and being proud to be a badass.

Some parts of this martial world I do appreciate. It feels very RPG-esque how everyone has their own characteristic weapon, as well as a few distinctive abilities that are accompanied by flashy CGI sequences of dubious functionality (what are all those flower petals for again?) It’s all good fun, but sometimes they go a little overboard trying to make people look cool. I am too old to be impressed by somebody yelling some noble-sounding catchphrase.

This show is also kind of casually sexist. Everyone seems to care a bit too much about the beauty of the women. At least it is mostly just the culture of the show’s world, rather than baked into reality- there are still plenty of strong, capable female characters. Even they, though, also seem to think that beauty is a woman’s most important trait. And don’t get me started on Li Hanyi; some of her interactions seem like they came out of my HR training.

And while we’re on it, many of the female characters come with romance stories, and the romances are not done well. I never understood “no chemistry” until I saw Xiao Se and Sikong Qianluo. My goodness, it was so awkward and cringe, but at least not that important. Plus Qianluo is not developed enough for me to care about her. Lei Wujie’s romance was funny as comedic relief only; when it seemed like it might work out, I started to cringe. Luckily, also not that important.

Acting-wise, I think this cast did a pretty good job. My favorite is probably Ao Ruipeng as Lei Wujie- this is still the best role I’ve seen him in, managed to make the guy 100% lovable instead of dumb or annoying. The emperor also did a great job.

The fighting is very CGI-based, sometimes very fake-looking, but not bad if you think of it as a CGI sequence in an RPG. The flashiness of a particular technique means nothing. They all look infinitely destructive and are countered by equally destructive-looking things.

The costumes are nice, and also color-coordinated well. Somehow nobody seems to look very good wearing them, though.

The music is very good. The songs are more energetic rather than slow or romance-y, which matches the tone and focus, and the BGM in particular sounds good and is used well to set mood.

Overall, this is an enjoyable show that I liked but did not love. I would watch the sequel when that comes out, but I don’t care enough to, for instance, watch the anime. There is also currently a prequel and spinoff that gives background on some of the other characters; however, since I already know how they end based on this show, I have no intention of watching them.

ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS





This show has a happy ending. The main conflict ends in the second to last episode, giving us an entire episode to wrap things up peacefully and send Xiao Se and friends off to happily travel the world. Some people scatter, but there is a promise to meet again. There is even a special which shows Tang Lian coming back. It’s a pretty satisfying ending. I have wanted a sequel more for other shows than this one, but I'm sure they'll come up with something good.

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Badass heroine, but kind of a dark show

This is a lesser-known show about a fallen hero’s quest for revenge. It’s rather dark and heavy, which isn’t usually my preference, but short (18 ep) and well-executed.

What I really like about this show is its casual female empowerment. Even aside from the FL, there are multiple strong female characters, including some where gender is irrelevant (eg Jiang Kui, the doctor)- they just happen to be female. This is how it should be!

Mo Qingchuan, the FL, is the strongest of them all. She is truly badass. Even better, she is also deep and complex. She is a heroine, but not idealized. She seems so all-knowing and in control most of the time, yet her trauma is very real, and you can see how it affects her. She is angry and hurt.

Cristy Guo really did a great job with this role. I just watched three female generals in a row (Legend of the Female General, Shadow Love, and this), and Cristy’s is the most convincing. I think it’s her gravitas and aura. Her commanding presence feels natural, not just acting cool.

…well, it’s hard not to compare between the shows, released so close together, but maybe not fair. All the characters are different. Mo Qingchuan has already been to hell and back, so the cold, lethal feel is perhaps more fitting than for a general building rapport with her soldiers. I will say, though, that I’ve seen Cristy in two other roles, both (at least partly) sifu-type characters, and I liked her each time. Maybe it is or will be her niche.

Turning around traditional gender roles, the ML is her disciple who has a little puppy crush on her. I dismissed him for most of the show, but he kind of grew on me. I think his crush is appropriate, and I could see where it’s coming from. There is room to interpret it as somewhat reciprocated, if you so choose, which I did not.

Overall, I like that the romance is minimal. I could relate to how the ML felt, even if I didn’t think anything should come out of it, as it would be out of character for Qingchuan. And Zhou Zhan did a great job with his ML role, which might have been lame with less sincerity.

The plot covers two blocks of revenge. As they play out, the relevant background is revealed as memories. The first block I felt pretty good about; the second, less so. It wasn’t poorly done, it was just making me unhappy (more in spoilers section). But one of the benefits of a short show is that it’s easy to finish.

The short length also means tight pacing. At the beginning I had to rewind a few times to figure out the background, but afterwards I found I enjoyed not watching filler. Minimal drawn-out cheesy scenes, minimal pontifications about saving the common people, etc. Just story.

In terms of production, the budget seems lower, but I find that often results in diligent execution. The cast is small, but everyone did a good job. There aren’t that many songs, but I liked them, as well as the BGM. Costumes were fine, and I especially liked Jiang Kui’s fun costume to match her fun personality. The fighting is… also lower budget; some of it looks a little fake and there isn't that much, but the few choreographed duels or sword forms look pretty good.

Overall, I think this show is well done, and I appreciate the strong and complex female lead. It's just a little too dark and heavy for me. On merits I might give it an 8, but it’s probably just my personal preference that I was left with a slightly sour taste, resulting in the 7.5.

ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS





At first it seems like an open ending- she gets all her revenge and closure, but she may or may not have sacrificed herself to defend her hometown. That would be sad but fitting. She kind of had that suicide bomber aura, especially towards the end.

But then, in an after-credit epilogue, she comes back and all is good. …ok, I like happy endings and all, but is this maybe just a little anticlimactic?

And no, we don’t find out what happens to anyone. Unusually, I was ok with this. It would have made it even more anticlimactic.

MORE MAJOR SPOILER AHEAD





I mentioned the second block of revenge (episode 13 on) left me with a slightly sour taste, and here’s why.

Empress Dowager:

There is some moral complexity because deposing her would destabilize the nation. Qingchuan at one point is ready to choose hatred first; I loved how real this is, rather than some idealized cartoon heroine.

…but nope, it turns out she was working with the kid emperor all along, and it’s all self-sacrifice for the good of the country. Right, back to cartoon heroine. Well, I was a little disappointed but ok with this. The show is so dark, it was nice to see something go right.

Feng Shiye:

This was the one that made me feel sour. Ok, so this guy legit did some awful stuff. But I also felt bad for him because he seemed to genuinely like and care for her.

His defeat was supposed to be the final triumphant closing arc, but I just couldn’t feel good about it. I guess I just don’t really like a story where somebody’s love is used against them. Regardless of what else he’s done, I still find it sad.

At the same time, taking a step back… not that I’d understand what’s going on in a twisted mind, but I am Confused. Their history together is so horrible (sidebar: also weird, that we end up here from there), and she’s never hidden her hatred for him. How in the world would he ever think anything could work out between them? He doesn’t even try to resolve or work through those things, he just glosses right over it.

His love seems genuine, but some of his actions are bizarre for a person in love. Don’t you usually, I dunno, try to make the other person like you?

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Enjoyable with some suspension of disbelief

There are so many things that don’t make sense in this show, I won’t bother calling them all out. Enjoying this show for sure requires some suspension of disbelief. But why not just take it easy, give up on logic, and try to enjoy it?

The main thing I had to get over was the FL’s characterization, which honestly gave me some cognitive dissonance. With her background, you’d expect He Yan to be dark and angry. But NOPE! She is somehow bubbly, bright, and down-to-earth, constantly babbling her way out of trouble. For a moment I wondered if it was just Zhou Ye doing what she does best, but I don’t think the actress has that much agency.

He Yan really has no business being so spunky and cheerful, even as an act or pretense. And yet, despite my confusion, I still very much enjoyed watching her. I really like a down-to-earth FL. Just some of her expressions alone made me laugh out loud. And there were many situations that seemed about to get dramatic and sappy, but she defused it with some ridiculous comment. It’s great.

At the same time, she’s also smart, quick-witted, brave, morally upright, and after some hard work, incredibly skilled at combat (classic Cdrama where overtraining somehow works).

It’s not realistic, and the badass and endearing parts of her character aren’t blended well. But it happens to be a combination I really like, so after mentally compartmentalizing my confusion and setting it aside, I found her very enjoyable to watch.

The ML is Xiao Jue, a slowly melting ice cube with whom the FL shares a touching history. He starts out so angry, I enjoyed watching him get softer as He Yan rubs off on him. Their interactions are cute, and their relationship develops well- assisted by drama tropes, it's still not too sudden or too easy, and has some good banter along the way. I liked the romance in this one.

And then there is Chu Zhao. For a while I was wondering where they were going with him, since he seems to have streaks of both darkness and light. He is an interesting character for sure, but I was pretty much worried about/for him the entire show, and not sure I liked that.

There are some pretty great supporting characters, like the FL’s band of army friends, and the two doctors. It’s nice to see other strong female characters, rather than the FL just being an anomaly. These lovable support characters get a lot of screentime earlier in but fall away afterwards, almost to cameo level. It’s really too bad- I wish they’d continued to develop them.

As for the villains, there are some easy-to-hate antagonists that let us root for our leads without complication, at least for most of the show.

Plot-wise, there is a good amount of fluff as He Yan is climbing her career ladder in the army. Again, not what I expected, but solidly enjoyable.

At a certain point, it gets more serious. The fun part of He Yan’s character fades away, and only the badass remains. She’s finally acting like a general. Even though this is finally the character I expected, I still found it less fun to watch.

As the leads tackle their main conflict, there is a lot less challenge than I expected. The cartoon villains are no match for them. I still liked watching them succeed, but I didn’t quite enjoy it as much as the earlier fluff.

And then. I was wondering why everything was resolved with still 4 episodes remaining. Surely they wouldn’t throw some random, rushed, and poorly conceived last-minute drama at us, right?

…of course they did. There are a number of pieces to this last story arc and I found almost all of it stupid. Sometimes if I find a show’s ending dumb enough, I’ll just pretend it didn’t happen, but in this case I think it would have been too easy for the leads otherwise. So I guess, all I can say is: weak ending.

As an aside, this show also has a weird streak of female empowerment. Now, I love female empowerment, I agree with everything she says, and it’s so great- and all too rare in these shows- that a woman who’s broken through, thinks to look back and try to lift up others.

But it just doesn’t quite fit. Not just because it’s an anachronism, but also because it isn’t properly developed as a theme. It almost feels like they’re just missing a few lines here or there tying it all together and explaining why this is a meaningful topic for our FL.

Acting-wise, Zhou Ye excels at outgoing and down-to-earth characters. Cognitive dissonance aside, I very much liked her cute and lovable He Yan. Her badass and authoritative He Yan was a little less convincing to me. Cheng Lei did a pretty good job as a melting ice cube and I thought side actors were fine, even the AI face (Cheng Lisu). Zhang Kangle did a good job as Chu Zhao, showing both darkness and light, but… sometimes talked a little too slowly for my patience.

The fight choreography is really flashy. It’s more spins than solid blows, but very creative, lots of interesting moves. Technique seems fine, though it’s hard to tell between all those spins. I haven’t seen Zhou Ye fight before, and trying not to be biased (because I like her, and also don’t think of her as a fighter), I thought she did a good job. They went a little bit overboard at times, though… especially the very last battle, now wtf was that? This is a battleground, not a dance hall.

Finally, I know there are a lot of complaints and hate for this show out there. I think it suffered from too much hype and too high expectations, as well as comparisons with the novel. From what I read, I can very much believe that the show doesn’t quite do the novel justice. Having a real rebirth would already smooth out the plot and remove one subset of nonsense. Unfortunately, rebirth is banned for dramas, so they had to fudge around it.

However, judging the show for what it is rather than what it isn’t, I still liked it. Weak ending aside, massive and constant plot holes aside, not being what I expected aside, I still very much enjoyed its soft, fluffy interior, and had fun watching it.

ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS





It’s a happy ending, but one of the worse I’ve seen. The leads get married and their careers remain intact, but we don’t find out what happens to anyone afterwards.

I was afraid they would kill off some of the lovable side characters, but the emotional impact sacrificial deaths are pretty much limited to Yingxiang (Chu Zhao’s underappreciated maid) and Yan He (their general friend). Both of these deaths are lame, unconvincing, very abrupt (or was that my 1.5X speed?), and also things people wouldn’t normally die from.

I honestly think the last three episodes are really dumb. Chu Zhao, no matter how much the actor tried to sell his mental breakdown, is still way too smart to think that what he did was a good idea. Xiao Jue, despite being so supportive of the FL, doesn’t even consult her about their future together. The emperor, who has been dumb the entire show- nice one minute and horrible the next- once again shows that he’s all too easily manipulated. These three idiots decide to make the FL’s decisions for her.

But it’s so poorly conceived, the entire plot just yoyos back and forth, backtracking on itself and hopping around.

And then the final climactic battle is just too cheesy and over-the-top… she literally rides in on a white horse to perform a choreographed battle dance with him.

I was particularly unsatisfied by how Chu Zhao’s story resolved. They don’t really show him at the end- we get no insight into what happened, whether he turned himself in, how he felt about his fate, etc. For somebody whose mental state has played a decent role in the story, it’s really anticlimactic.

I mean, I know this entire show is fueled on plot holes, so there’s no point picking at a few towards the end. I’m just doing it because I didn’t like the ending. The plot holes in this show really just provide too easy fodder when you want to criticize it.

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A feel-good show about female empowerment

First of all, do not expect anything resembling realism when it comes to the female lead’s abilities or accomplishments. I read some other reviews beforehand which set my expectations appropriately, and this contributed greatly to my happiness. Do not wonder too hard if time runs differently in this universe, or how xyz is even remotely possible. Just sit back and enjoy the satisfaction of watching these women kick butt.

Now, let us begin.

While the overarching story sets the premise, this show is broken into many smaller standalone story arcs, some as short as a couple of episodes. I didn’t like every story arc, but overall I liked this structure because it meant lots of satisfying closures, and some room to breathe in between.

The theme of female empowerment is embedded throughout. There is a conscious focus on presenting women as their own people beyond their relationships to men (the point of the Bechdel test, actually). Sisterhood stands strong; we do get some typical cattiness, but the women in this story mostly end up very supportive of each other. The extent of societal sexism portrayed at times felt a bit overdone, like they were selling righteous indignation; but as intended, it makes it even more satisfying to watch our characters succeed.

Hua Zhi, the eponymous (Chinese title) FL, is smart, confident, fearless, and kind. She has lots of ideas, and everything she tries goes well. She is a great character to root for because you won’t lose. It’s gratifying to watch her constantly handle situations with skill and heart. But on the flipside, I wasn’t that emotionally invested in her. I was never worried about her; she’s got a ton of plot armor and it’s somehow really obvious from the tone of the show that she always wins.

I was more invested in many of the side characters. A strength of this show is its plethora of likable, multidimensional, and interesting female characters. Many of them get decent development in one or more story arcs, but disappear for the rest. I did hope to see some of my favorites a bit more, but there were enough characters to care about that I didn’t dwell too much.

We also get a lot of side couples, as different members of the household find their matches. A variety of different types of relationships and outcomes are shown. Happily, the show is free of silly love triangles, except the main one.

Not surprisingly, the male protagonists are all allies who support their women. At the beginning I was all for our poor SML, Shen Qi, who did everything he could. For whatever reason, he then went on to disappear for a long time, so I forgot about him. I do feel like he deserved a bit more screentime.

The male lead, Gu Yanxi, is a typical ML combo of badass but kind and supportive. I really liked his relationship with Hua Zhi. Many dramas have an overprotective, overdevoted ML, which I always found a bit much. Gu Yanxi and Hua Zhi seem more normal; they are supportive while each having their own lives. Their very healthy relationship is also impressively drama-free, even when you think there might be some drama.

That said, while I liked Gu Yanxi enough, I actually never felt that interested in him. And so, although I liked the dynamics of their relationship, it was two characters I was not totally invested in, so I wasn’t quite oogling over them.

As for villains… the emperor is the source of problems, but I’d hesitate to call him the villain. The ML is on his side, while Hua Zhi treats him more like a force of nature than an enemy. This emperor is a psychopath with too much power, a bad ruler and a bad father, but he’s also so… human. He’s an interesting character with an interesting role, and I liked that this show does not have a typical good-vs-evil plot.

In terms of acting, overall I think Zhang Jingyi did a great job. Her portrayal of Hua Zhi has been criticized for being too “perfect”. I do think there’s some truth to this, but I wouldn’t pin it all on acting. For example, on occasion she does something not-so-bright (eg mouth off unnecessarily to a powerful person). But it comes across as more heroic than anything else. A little remorse or recognition of “mistake”, by herself or anyone, would have gone a long way to making her a more multi-dimensional character. This could have been accomplished through writing, acting, and/or directing.

For Hu Yitian as Gu Yanxi, there were a few times I thought his expression maybe should have been something else. Overall he was fine, but I think he could work more on nuanced facial expressions. For whatever reason, I just couldn’t care much for this character.

Lu Yuxiao as Shaoyao deserves a special shoutout. It seems the show was going for neurodivergent, which is difficult to portray- I don’t really know what’s accurate, but she did SOMETHING well as I was very invested in this character.

But my favorite acting comes from Hai Yitian. His muted depiction of the emperor- lonely but such a difficult person- conveys a complex character that adds depth to the show. I especially love that momentary look of hurt he gets when somebody says something he doesn’t want to hear. It makes us hope again and again that he’s finally reflecting on himself.

In terms of world-building, this story occurs in some unspecified historical time period, which gives lots of leeway, but they couldn’t seem to keep things consistent. For example, for a society so conservative that unmarried women can’t show their faces, Hua Zhi sure goes on a lot of public dates. In fact, what women are and are not allowed to do is rather inconsistent. However, costumes and styling were fairly good… in particular I thought many of the young women looked very pretty.

Also, for a feel-good romp this show was surprisingly brutal and violent. For example, lots of bloody beatings. And background characters get slaughtered left and right… the choreographer was not messing around, the deaths are fairly graphic. Not gruesome per se, just vivid depictions of stabbing or slicing accompanied by little spurts of blood.

Sidebar rant…this show likes to show off the ML’s fighting prowess by pitting him against many enemies all at once. Such fights are notoriously difficult to choreograph, as in real life a person cannot counter all directions at the same time. The solution? He fights with a few people in front of him while everyone else stands around at ready, conveniently out of focus. …come on, let’s just save the bravado and put him in more realistic situations. I did not swoon for this ML winning 1 vs 50, I just rolled my eyes.

Then again, based on other reviews, it seems everyone else swooned. lol. Well… Hu Yitian’s sword technique seemed ok to me, not bad but didn’t stand out (eg it’s still a little sloppy at times, which is understandable with that many sword strokes). His fist fighting is more MMA style which I personally don’t like as much. I won’t say he’s a good or bad fighter, I just am not sure why so many people are raving about his fight scenes.

Finally: I didn’t know where to fit this in, but I loved the music! Especially those beautiful cello solos. I was so happy to find the instrumental BGMs on youtube so I can play them on repeat.

ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS





Of course this uplifting, feel-good show has a happy ending, it’s just a matter of how well it’s pulled off. And I’ll say first off that, in terms of closure, it’s one of the better Cdrama endings I’ve seen. We get a good half episode of wrapping things up and telling you where everyone goes. I was satisfied.

MORE MAJOR SPOILER AHEAD





Shows often like to insert some heartache near the end, and in this case I would say it’s the Hua Rong story arc. Although one couple is a relatively small sacrifice, I still found it extremely upsetting. I was really rooting for them. Her death was unnecessary; it did not even follow the themes and patterns of the rest of the show.

And as for the actual ending… well, I really liked Hao Yue. In this show about female empowerment, it’s only fitting that it’s a woman who packs the final punch. And her tirade against the emperor was so on point.

I’ll admit that, for somebody who played such an important role, she did come a bit out of nowhere. I would have liked to see her developed a bit more, and I really wished for a better ending for her. As is, by the end she is neither friend nor foe- more like a disposable plot tool.

Do I wish that, instead of a random assassin showing up in the last few episodes, the emperor finally came around and reversed his rulings? …sure, but that is totally unrealistic. The emperor is that person in your life who will never apologize, will never even recognize that they need to apologize. It’s so brutally realistic, and I think his death was the only way to solve Hua Zhi’s problems.

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Lighthearted and fun, solid first half

I’ll preface by saying that I saw Esther in LBFAD and decided her style is not for me. But I still wanted to watch this show because everything else about it seemed like my jam. I love a feel-good, lighthearted xianxia. Since I chose to watch Esther’s show, I did my best not to get annoyed at any cute-acting.

Given this context, I was actually pleasantly surprised by the character of Lin Miaomiao. I found her to be fairly down-to-earth and self-aware, especially in the first half. There’s a bit of the cutsey style, but the things she says are not-dumb and fairly funny, so I actually really liked her. She gets thrown in ridiculous situations and has to muddle her way out. She also has a sad backstory with her dad, but she’s still overall cheerful and good-hearted, which makes her likeable.

The first half was solidly enjoyable. I’ve played a lot of video games and loved the game-related jokes. Miaomiao’s view of a historical setting from a modern perspective adds a good dash of humor; her sometimes-snide commentary is funny, but never mean or rude. The meta-ness of her knowing where the story is “supposed to” go, and trying to direct it, is a fun twist. But it had me wondering the entire time how they would handle the question of what is reality, as the world of the game started to feel more and more real.

The male lead, Mu Sheng, starts off hostile but is soon uncovered to be more emotionally damaged than anything else. Ryan Ding does a great smirk, unfortunately (for me) the character evolves so we see less and less of it as the show goes on. Also in the band are Mu Yao and Liu Fuyi. Their story is a bit less developed and more bland, but I was still happy to see it progress when it did.

That said, the show becomes a bit less fun and enjoyable as it starts to steer away from the meta-ness. Video game references, jokes related to the world being “fake”, and Miaomiao’s awareness and references to her modern world, all but disappear. As my appreciation for Miaomiao declined without her snarky commentary, so did my tolerance for her cute act. Why does she simper and say things extra slow and cutsey when she could just talk like a normal human?

Her loss of self-awareness is not random- it’s explained by the plot- but it does make the show less fun as it turns into more of a classic xianxia story, good vs evil, sad backstories, etc. And the show doesn’t quite have the plot to stand alone in that capacity. It’s a bunch of cliché plot devices, which are fine when you consider that within the show it’s a story written by somebody, but not that fun to watch it play out episode after episode as the main story.

Add to this that I didn’t quite feel the relationship between Miaomiao and Mu Sheng. I don’t know if it’s just the FL’s cutesy style that makes me not want to root for her CP- I can’t understand why he’s so into her, so it feels founded on nothing. (This was, btw, also how I felt about LBFAD.) Or maybe it just didn’t quite develop and build up naturally enough. Either way, not being into the CP unfortunately makes the show less enjoyable.

Stylistically, most of the fighting seems to be wire stunts and CGI (as opposed to wielding “real” (prop) weapons). This is not good or bad, and I thought it’s done pretty nicely. I didn’t quite like Miaomiao’s makeup or all the doodads in her hair (she’s on the road, who’s doing her hair?) but that’s a minor quibble. There was some nice whimsical styling for the different kinds of demons, and other fun details.

I’d give this a rating of 9 for the first half, and maybe 6 for the second (5 would be a show I’m not into, this one I still cared a little), averaging to 7.5. Not modified for the ending; read ahead for my take (contains spoilers).

ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS





First of all, for a light-hearted show like this, I’d be really surprised if it were anything but a happy ending. And I consider it happy. But many people didn’t like it, probably wanting her to stay with her new reality in the game. I believe this is what happens in the novel source material, but the drama was limited by censorship which bans transmigration.

I spent the entire show wondering how they would handle the dual worlds aspect. To what extent would they make the show’s actual reality have elements of supernatural? The novel went all in, but the show went in the other direction, with the supernatural elements limited to maybe a shared fever dream between Miaomiao and Fu Zhou (if that’s how you interpret it- never quite figured out what happened).

Personally I liked that they maintained a realistic world, because it makes the whole thing so relatable. It’s easy for us viewers to get lost in a story too, but in the end we all have to wake up and deal with our mundane lives again. I like that Miaomiao has to face this same reality as we do. Of course I got attached to the characters and world of the game, but reality- for Miaomiao and us- is that we slowly forget these things and move on.

While watching, I figured the best ending might involve her finding her same friends in her modern world, and I was happy that this is kinda-ish what happened. Do I wish they had shown a bit more of it? Yes. They could have easily shown us an entire episode to tie things up in the modern world, and everyone would have been much happier. They had episodes to spare (under the 40 limit) and no source material tying them down (because they’d already changed so much), so why not? Cdramas seem to feel like the right thing to do is leave viewers wanting more.

By the way, the last couple of episodes were such a mess! I was honestly flabbergasted… I gave up trying to figure out what was going on. Then finally she “wakes up”. At least, if you think of it all as a dream, then that nonsensical stuff makes a lot more sense.

Consistent with the chaos towards the end, bringing in the author came a bit out of left field. I still liked this plot element as a way to tie things together. I just felt that this, like all the other “surprising reveals” crammed into the end, as well as the self-love message (nice message, poorly executed), should have been foreshadowed better throughout the show. It would have felt a lot less chaotic and random if they focused more on developing themes and threads throughout the story, then tying them up at the end, rather than inventing new ones last minute.

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Surprising dose of wit and humor in a clever revenge story

The Double was one of the top hits of 2024. Everyone was raving. I was afraid it would be really dark, since it is a revenge story, but I ended up surprised by its excellent sense of humor. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a lighthearted story, but it’s definitely got some really funny bits.

The dialogue between the ML and FL is particularly clever and witty, and really fun to watch while you gush over them. There is a lot of wordplay and elegant speech, so unfortunately much of it is lost in translation. The language is also on the fancier side, making it harder to pick up if your Chinese isn’t as good (like mine). But translation aside, I think some of it is also hidden meanings. A lot of the dialogue felt like it had some double or triple meanings, and I felt a little dumb as I struggled to follow it all.

Both the FL and ML in this show are really admirable. I’ll refer to the FL as Xue Fang Fei (XFF), though she goes by a few things. She is brilliant, eloquent, and has her head screwed on straight. Her schemes are complicated and clever, and although she can’t control everything, she thinks quickly and always pulls through (some plot armor doesn’t hurt). There were definitely some really sad parts in the story, but I felt comforted knowing that my girl XFF would take revenge on those who deserved it.

XFF shows some strong emotions- not a robot- but she never behaves stupidly. Although the revenge is hers to take, she still acts with compassion, so I had no hesitancies about supporting her 100%. She pretty much just stands up for justice. Any of her enemies that I felt bad for, she seemed to feel a little bad for also.

I also like that she has random moments of being carefree and cheerful, reminding us that she was once a normal person and can still feel joy. Not like some archetype of a femme fatale.

For the ML… I feel like a lot of MLs are written to be as attractive as possible, like they are always handsome, smart, good fighters, supportive of FL, etc. But they really outdid themselves here- this one is a total dreamboat. Xiao Heng is lethal, capable, and composed, a mastermind playing chess (it’s a theme… XFF is smart; she won’t get used against her will).

I’m convinced that a lot of this show’s popularity is due to Xiao Heng fangirls obsessing over him. I totally get it, but also… why bother? Someone like this is way out of my league.

But you know who’s in his league? Xue Fang Fei. So while the two of them are not relatable to average mortals like me, they are such a great match, making it a delight to watch their interactions. They’re not mushy, they have some great banter and a mutual respect, and they are actually good enough for each other.

The side characters showed a lot of promise, but ultimately I was a bit disappointed. There were so many characters I’d liked to see more of- for instance, her pack of four friends- but they mostly just disappeared beyond their story arc. Even recurring characters, like the Ji boys, don’t get much development for themselves. It’s a shame that they made such likeable side characters, only to deny them any extensive stories of their own.

The villains is where I think they put more effort into making multidimensional characters- for better or for worse. It creates some complicated feelings. I personally liked this, although I wouldn’t say it made me feel good. It’s a little spoiler-y so I’ll hide my rant at the end of this review.

As an aside, this emperor is refreshing. He’s young and a real friend to our ML; even more, he’s playing politics like everyone else rather than just wielding a lot of power. This makes him a more sympathetic character than most emperors.

Plot-wise, in addition to the ongoing saga of injustice and revenge, this show relies a lot on squeal-worthy interactions between the ML and FL. These fade a bit in the last quarter or so, and the show gets darker. Like so many other shows, I enjoyed this one a little less as it was approaching its end, but the effect was not as pronounced as some others.

Acting-wise, this cast did well. Wu Jinyan looks a bit older, I think it is hard because a lot of other actors are younger. But she did well- so many lines to memorize! I also don’t think her styling was the greatest- she looks prettier as herself- but the end result was as they said in the show, “not bad looking and your own unique look”.

Many other actors did well too, but I think Wang Xingyue as Xiao Heng stood out. He is a young actor and his career is on the rise after this. He has great facial microexpressions. He also has great presence, and he does this kind of confident, commanding character well. And he did his own voice- that sexy drawl is his own! He could probably work on swordfighting a little, it wasn’t as clean and crisp as I expected.

Stylistically, the director liked to shoot close-ups of peoples’ talking heads with a sort of fisheye lens look. At first I thought he was trying to capture a certain feeling, like the viewer is a little disoriented or the person is too close to their face… but it happened so often, I think it was just director’s style. Personally I wasn’t a fan, but I got used to it.

There are also some plotholes… too many coincidences… I don’t know why I bother mentioning it; it’s every show.

ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS





I had read some other reviews which warned me I might want to ignore the second half of the last episode. But I figured it couldn’t be that bad, since there is also a 5 min special showing them happily married afterwards.

Well, the reviews were right. The ending is really wtf, like big things happening out of nowhere. The new conflict introduced was only peripherally related to the other 39.5 episodes, but it had big consequence for our beloved characters.

In the book, it’s an entire story arc, much better developed and with a better outcome. I don’t know why the show thought it was a good idea to cram it into 30 min. But on top of this, they seemed to also really want an open ending, so they forced one. IMO, it wasn’t even so much an open ending as it was incredibly confusing and leaning towards sad.

Then, for whatever reason, they tried to backpedal with a Happily Ever After special that completely doesn’t explain how we got there from the ending.

This is one of the worst endings I’ve seen, so I decided to ignore it. I read some summaries of the book ending (and am reading the book now) and will stick with that.

While I’m here, I’ll just rant a bit more about the villains. This show really spun things around in circles. I started out feeling sorry for Shen Yurong, but he kept making so many bad decisions. XFF is fair; she understood he had no choice about some things, but pointed out that he did for others. Although I disliked him by the end, I still appreciate that he is this sort of realistic character- not inherently bad, just made some bad choices that led to more bad choices.

On the other hand… both major female villains, Ji Shuran and Wanning, started out as classical archetype evil characters, not very interesting. I was ready to just hate them 100%. But this turned around too. It was an interesting choice to make them both victims of men… they made choices too, of course, a sad backstory doesn’t absolve them, but I still sympathized.

Wanning’s story in particular hit me hard. Her theme song fits so well, with its major-minor key changes. Although I’m always on XFF’s side, and Wanning was a real psychopath, I still felt that trick with the drug was pretty cruel.

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An existentialist Jianghu adventure

MLC is what I heard somebody described as classic wuxia. It’s got adventure and mystery, good-looking heroes with impressive martial arts abilities, and well-choreographed fight scenes. It's also got a good dash of humor.

I was a bit hesitant going for this show because it has no female lead. I don’t particularly need romance, but I do like a strong FL to root for. However, after watching another show where I felt the romance detracted from an otherwise enjoyable story (Ancient Detective), I decided I could set aside my feminist leanings and just enjoy this story about men.

Ultimately what I really love about this show is its underlying existential crisis. From the beginning, Li Lianhua is waiting for his death. He just wants to tie up a few loose ends first. As I watched, I desperately hoped it would not happen, but I also understood that he was already on this path and it would be a win if he survived rather than a loss otherwise. At least his friends were right there with me, hoping and trying to turn this around.

This show contains a series of mystery cases strung together with an overarching storyline. I felt the cases themselves were a bit of a mess… they were so convoluted that they were hard to follow. There was often no chance of the audience solving it together with the characters, if only because the answer often involves strange magical feats. That aside, it just felt unrealistic that any detective could identify and then put together such a random set of clues to come up with such complicated explanations. But hey, our boy is a genius, so whatever- I just sat back and enjoyed watching them kick butt.

The three main characters are really loveable and where I think a lot of the fanbase lies. The brotherhood and also the humor between them is really great. Li Lianhua’s casual lying is hilarious; people have complained about Cheng Yi mumbling (they all dubbed themselves) but I think it captures Li Lianhua well, and not a problem if you use subtitles! Fang Duobing is sillily naïve and lovable, and Joseph Zeng’s anime-like expressions had me laughing. Xiao Shunyao as Di Feisheng unfortunately gets less screentime, but he is so grumpy badass when he shows up. I think all three actors did a great job capturing the spirit of their characters and making them likable, and their looks and styling all suited their characters well.

The show doesn’t have a female lead, but it does have some female side characters who are not too useless. Fang Duobing’s mom is a fan favorite. Qiao Wanmian, who is Li Lianhua’s ex, got a bit of hate but I actually really sympathized with her situation. I felt her arc was handled very well, a breakup she doesn’t want but has to accept- like the rest of the story, it's sad in a realistic way. I just feel she got a little shortchanged because they could have let her show off a little more. Her one sword strike showed no technique at all. Su Xiaoyong, I saw one snippet from the actress saying “I am you, the audience!” and that’s a good description- Li Lianhua’s fangirl. But in the end, neither she nor the princess actually factors in much (not that I would have wanted some random love story muddling the waters). Probably the strongest female character is Jiao Liqiao, who is batshit crazy and whose sole purpose in life seems to be to get the man she likes. So, across 40 episodes, I’d say this one might not even pass the Bechdel test. But I guess that’s ok, it’s a story about men in a men’s world.

The fighting in this show is well choreographed, aside from a few nonsensical sword strokes. In general it’s also fairly well performed. Unfortunately Di Feisheng doesn’t really fight, he just swings his sword and everyone goes flying. Fang Duobing’s fights look great- this actor seems pretty athletic- but as a character, he leveled up a bit too quickly. I find it unbelievable that he was a sickly child… but, who needs logic.

In all these fight scenes, especially towards the end, I do think there was a bit too much strike-and-pose with hair blowing in the wind. Once upon a time I might have thought it was cool, now I find it cheesy.

Once again, I think the main draw of this show is its existential undertones. I really appreciated, under the very well-done humor and swashbuckling adventure, the sadly realistic tone of the entire saga. Li Xiangyi was a genius and admired by all, but also a legit difficult and arrogant person. Such a character is very realistic, reminding us that people at the top are not always perfect. Li Lianhua lives with guilt and memories and needs to find his peace; this is also something that we ordinary people struggle with. The realistic, life-isn’t-perfect message resonates with us as we navigate our own lives. This alone, to me, gives it a high rating, despite other flaws like nonsensical cases, dismissible female characters, and too much posing.

ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS





The ending is, controversially, a forced open ending. I think it broke a lot of peoples’ hearts, but at least it gives you the option to believe what you want. Lengthy critical analyses abound on the internet arguing one way or another, I could totally see a high schooler writing a 5-paragraph essay for English class.

Personally, although I wish it were simply a happy ending, I also think that would have been too forced for a show like this and might have cheapened it a bit.

…that aside, I don’t see why he couldn’t have just eaten the flower and then saved everyone else afterwards using yangzhouman. The Styx flower was not even in the book, it was a gimmick added to the drama. It gave us all hope, then was ultimately used to generate dramatic flare. Honestly, the self-sacrifice theme was so overused and tired by this point. In this context, the whole plot device of the Styx flower was also a bit cheap.

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Classic xianxia with some great humor and pathos

Legend of Shenli has been described as a classic xianxia, full of tropes. I guess I haven’t watched enough xianxias (<10) because I didn’t really notice.

First of all, I thought the humor for this show was pretty great (at least, right up my alley). Xingzhi, and Shenli’s interactions with him, are lowkey hilarious. There is a lot of random funny stuff. And that chicken is so cute!

Of course, there are also some really sad parts. And this show has an underlying pathos and nostalgic sadness that hits in a gnawing, existential way. But for the most part, I still think of it as a light-hearted show with great humor.

The two main characters dominate this show. For Shenli, the eponymous FL, I liked some things about her and not others, which I guess makes her realistic! I like that her head is screwed on straight and she’s sensible- no chasing after the ML after getting rejected, for example. I like less that she’s so hotheaded. She’s quick to fight and kill; she saves people, but doesn’t seem to have much kindness or compassion. So I wouldn’t say she’s always likeable, but I did really feel for her at times.

As for the ML, Xingzhi… ok, I loved him. It’s not that he doesn’t care about the world… he does. But he is also so full of crap. He is so bored and so cheeky and I found him hilarious. He’s kind of a troll sometimes, but it’s always harmless; he still takes care of things when push comes to shove.

Actually, underneath it all, Xingzhi’s situation is quite sad. But he holds his head high and has accepted it all long ago. It makes for a lovable and sympathetic character you want to root for, and I’m glad he met Shenli.

The show spends some time building up their relationship, which is cute to watch, although the plot pattern of Shenli getting hurt and Xingzhi saving her does repeat one too many times. They end up having a sweet and supportive relationship- mainly him supporting her. Classic, but it’s done well here, with proper character development and buildup.

There are several side characters, some of whom are quite loveable. However, none of them got enough development for me to really be invested in them. I wanted to see more of them, but it didn’t happen. Even the villain is a bit lame- although they do throw a (slightly predictable) wrench in there to make you feel more sad. The main conflict doesn’t win points for originality or interest. In this show, I was most invested in the relationship between the main leads.

In terms of acting, Zhao Liying as Shenli does the action scenes remarkably well. Her fight scenes are fast, crisp, and clean. They are a mix of CGI and choreography (I saw in the BTS that even her spear is CGI!), but still, some of the best I’ve seen. I saw her before in Legend of Fei and wasn’t too impressed (stopped watching, actually), but here she really stood out, even among all the other shows I’ve watched.

I was less enamored with her acting. I thought she was a bit stiff and wooden, which is great for the fight scenes but less great for everything else. After I read the book, I realized that sometimes she really is supposed to look blank. Still, I think she could rely less on looking cool and try to be more natural.

For Lin Gengxin as Xingzhi, I really liked his calm, casual delivery of all those hilarious lines. And once in awhile, a hint of a deeper sadness- I thought he did a good job. Unfortunately I wasn’t a huge fan of his styling… he looks better as himself than as Xingzhi. Many of the side characters looked great (both male and female) so I don’t think it’s general about the show, they just could have done a better job with him.

In terms of world-building, this is an imaginative xianxia world that, as typical, you can’t think too hard about lest you start uncovering holes. There is some beautiful CGI and imagery, highlighted by high-contrast vivid colors. The mortal world from the first arc in particular is so lovely, both Shenli and I look back nostalgically on her time spent there.

I do wish this world had more gender balance. Shenli is a woman in a man’s role, a total anomaly (which nobody seems to find odd); I would have liked better a world where women are just empowered, but I guess this is the author’s choice. There are a few other strong female characters (demon lord, the awesome snake serpent) but in general, despite the strong female lead, this is not quite a show for championing feminism.

Somebody’s critical analysis on reddit thought this show has a focus on gender and sexuality. I think this is because there are some bisexual characters in the book, but they were toned down for the show (censorship, I guess) so it’s harder to see. Actually in the book, Furong (the divine lord fiancée) kisses Mofang and has a thing for him, so in that context some things make more sense. In general this show sticks remarkably close to the book, and I think does an excellent job at adapting it to screen; of the changes I saw, the vast majority were improvements.

Finally, I liked the music… songs were great, really help to build the nostalgia for this beautiful world, and I really liked their fight BGMs too.

ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS





There is a lot of sad stuff at the end- I saw a BTS where they said it was an entire day of crying- but it all turns around for an ultimate happy ending (minus some sacrifices).

In fact, this show has one of THE best endings, because they devote an *entire episode* to an epilogue from the book! Epilogue = watching them happily living their life after the main conflict is over. I don’t know why more Cdramas don’t do this; look how happy all the fans are. It is so great to get this kind of closure for the characters you get so attached to.

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Watchable, but not as good as the donghua

I absolutely adored S1 of this donghua/anime, which is funny and sweet. While waiting for S2, I went ahead and read the novel. I found still funny but somehow a lot less charming, and I actually soured a little on the story after that.

Given this history, it’s difficult for me to rate this drama on its own merits. Not only is it hard to look past differences and comparisons- and I do think it falls significantly short of the donghua- but I also can’t un-know what I know. Maybe I would have liked this show better if I didn’t already know what would happen... or maybe, if the show had been better, I would have still liked it a lot. Who knows.

Since I can’t be objective, I’ll be brief (by my standards, hah). The FL is cute and sensible, and it’s nice that she has “modern” values- this means she dislikes death, innocent people suffering, etc just as much as we audience do. The ML is a little darker, but he’s always on her side even if keeping secrets. Their dynamic is (or is supposed to be) that of playful co-conspirators, which is cute to watch.

There are likeable side characters, and the villains are easy to hate. The humor is pretty good at the beginning but mostly fades away by about halfway. The plot is basically palace politics, but there are some clever elements like the two layers of transmigration, how the protagonist of one story can turn out to be the antagonist of the next, and the way their modern experiences are woven in. I like that the transmigration is addressed directly as being lonely and scary, which also makes you glad they have each other.

All this sounds not too bad, but in the end I couldn’t make myself care about the characters and I wasn’t really rooting for them- either with each other or against their enemies. So it was just not that interesting or captivating.

The acting is alright. I think Wang Churan could work on her expressions a bit. She seems to do a lot of gazing prettily, but I would have preferred a more down-to-earth, spunky Yu Wanyin. Cheng Lei is fine but I didn’t feel much for him or his character. I also had a big problem with the voice acting. Way too many breathy little noises- especially, but not limited to, the FL.

The music is pretty good, both songs and BGM. The costumes also look nice. Overall the show is decent, but as somebody who came in knowing the story, I was pretty bored and watched the whole thing at accelerated speed.

And because I can’t help it, here’s my comparison with the donghua and the novel. I place the drama somewhere in between in terms of enjoyability. It somehow misses a lot of the charm and lightheartedness of the donghua. The drama version FL is a lot less endearing, and the ML (who’s dark side is significantly toned down) is less interesting. I went back to watch the donghua after the drama and immediately felt much more attached to both characters.

The drama of course has a longer runtime. Most of the extra material in the first half, as far as I can tell, is people speaking slowly, and drawn out scenes meant to play up the romance. I thought that was unnecessary and makes their relationship less cute; I prefer its more subtle development in the donghua. As for the novel, it explains things better, but it’s the least warm and fuzzy, and I’m glad they tempered it a bit for the visual versions.

The overall story is the same for all three. In terms of plot, from donghua to drama there are some small changes, which I mostly didn’t like but they were fairly inconsequential. I just don’t think the drama adds substantially to what I got out of the donghua. Even the music- I like the drama’s, but I still like the donghua’s better.

As a note, the donghua S2 is still airing and I do think the story naturally gets darker and less fun in this second half. But from what I’ve seen so far (~9 eps), they’re still doing a good job maintaining the cute, lighthearted tone.

Finally, an explanation of the two layers of transmigration- I didn’t pick this up for half of the donghua S1 and I don’t think the drama did much better, so this might help somebody. Xie Yong’er is a transmigrator with knowledge of one trashy novel, but herself is a character in the trashy novel that our real heroine (Yu Wanyin) has entered. Therefore. Xie Yong’er is trying to change the events that occur in the novel she read, while Yu Wanyin knows what she does and tries to change on top of that.

ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS





The ending within the transmigration world is fine, I'd consider it a happy ending with sacrifices. There are several unfortunate deaths of people you probably like, but at least there is over half an episode of wrap up and people being happy together. It is choppy with no sense of time, and wastes screentime on some drawn out scene with a flamboyant costume, but still ok.

The annoying part is that they completely chop off the reunion in the modern world to a 1-minute sequence on the subway. It has no context and makes no sense. I heard they filmed something else and somehow it got edited to this.

The book version is way better, in which: they get another 10ish years happily together in the transmigration world before he dies; she lives out the rest of her life in that world (decades) and leaves the empire to her child; after dying, she comes back to the modern world, and immediately goes to look for him; in the past 9 years (he transmigrated 9 years before she did), he’s used the knowledge she gave him to build a company and bring the trashy novel back to its popularity, thus allowing her pre-migration self to see it and get the chance to transmigrate. Then they get together and have sexy time.

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Similar but better than the first

There are currently three or four seasons of this show out. I found the first season a decent enough watch, but not fully captivating, and ended up taking a several months break before watching this one. I’m happy to say that I enjoyed this second season a lot more.

The overall approach is similar to the first, with 8 distinct cases (mostly murder) and little filler in between. The cases are fairly elaborate, sometimes with several intersecting schemes that our protagonists need to untangle. Not everything makes sense if you think hard enough, but as far as I’m concerned, there’s no need to think that hard.

The biggest reason I like this second season better is that I found the cases a lot more emotionally investable and interesting. More sympathy for some characters and dislike for others, more intrigue to know the truth. The exception is the large-scale but poorly motivated revolution in the middle, which I found pointless and boring.

I also didn’t really like the over-reliance on fantastical CGI creatures, which felt like a cop-out attempt to continue the “strange tales” theme. Whereas the first season properly worked in hints of the supernatural (to be debunked), these cases mostly deal with real things from the beginning. Except the weird animals. But they’re still decent stories even without the spookiness I’d come to expect. And the show is pretty good about punishing bad guys, though it also kills off some good guys, which makes it realistic but not overly stressful.

The overarching story has Lu Lingfeng and company ejected from the capital after one case, just like before. The demotion is a casualty of the intensifying power struggle between the princess and the crown prince. This framework comes into play a few times, but the show is mostly about the cases. The way it’s woven in is well-done.

The characters are very similar to the first season. Lu Lingfeng still has some personal development to do but has come a long way. It’s all fairly consistent; good writing. There is a little friction in the party at times, which adds some interest. The couples are still together but there isn’t much romance, which I was happy with. I still am not too attached to any of these characters and there is a bit too much pride in the nation and pontificating about the good of the people, but I found them all likeable enough and was mostly interested in their work.

The production seems to have gotten a budget bump- at least the fight choreography is quite good, with some very creative sequences. I was impressed. And although this wasn’t shot on location, the scenery is also quite nice. The “West” they are sent to seems to refer to the northwest of China along the Silk Road (the Hanzhou they pass through seems to be Wuwei in Gansu, and they later make it to Dunhuang). Think desert and camels- yes, real camels!- for some unique and pretty settings.

For music, songs are not used much and I only remember two of them. But I think the ending song- though not personally my style in and of itself- really captures the feel of this westward journey very well, and I ended up liking it because it’s so evocative and fits this show so well. What I remember of the BGM is also pretty good, but I didn’t notice it that much.

Overall I enjoyed this show, except for the one story arc, and am looking forward to watching Season 3.

ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS





There’s actually not much to spoil, but this is a standard section I include with all my reviews. This show ends by setting up for the next season. The final case is just another case and then they are on the road back to Changan, where power struggles and more trouble awaits.

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Entertaining with good cases and solid historical backing

The third installment of this show is currently trending, so I decided to start from the beginning.

As the name implies, this is a detective show set in the Tang Dynasty featuring cases with eerie, fantastical elements. The supernatural elements are more a reflection of the common peoples’ interpretations than reality; this is ultimately a historical and not a fantasy. While some things are left unexplained, and some explanations are plausible but not actually realistic (eg very specific drugs or human skin masks), there are no actual ghosts or monsters.

I have to thank another review for informing me that Detective Di was a historical figure who inspired lots of detective stories, otherwise I would have wondered why they keep namedropping a random person who never shows up. He is only alluded to, but this show does feature other real historical figures like the Crown Prince and his aunt the Princess. Their power struggle is not the central storyline, but our protagonists can’t help but get caught up in it; it is woven skillfully into the story.

All the necessary historical and political background is adequately conveyed by the show, but it’s still fun to read up and compare (Princess Taiping’s wiki page is helpful, if anyone’s interested). The show seems to stay pretty true to history while embellishing around the details. I especially like the portrayal of these historical figures- calculating, ruthless, decisive, but still human, a mix of good and bad. Unlike caricature rulers fabricated by dramas that can, they are exactly what I imagine real historical rulers to be like.

Su Wuming, main protagonist and disciple of the famous Detective Di, is very likable. He is smart, thoughtful, and calm, the kind of person who always says and does the right thing. He is also lowkey hilarious, like BS-ing his friends with a straight face kind of funny. He’s the kind of character you aren’t worried about, since you can’t imagine him ever failing.

On the other hand, the other main protagonist, Lu Lingfeng, is not so likable. He is arrogant, prejudiced, and rash, and some of his initial work is classic bad investigation. It didn’t bother me too much, though, because with Su Wuming around to gently guide him, he rarely gets away with it. Jerk behavior is much less annoying when it gets called out. Overall he’s not that bad- think difficult person who’s trying to do good- and is willing to admit mistakes, clearly a total setup for character growth.

As for other characters, Pei Xijun gets off to a rough start in terms of audience likability. She is obsessive and rather bratty at her introduction. She later improves and even finds a way to add value- the screenwriters come up with all sorts of creative ways to utilize her artistic abilities (some of which were a little hard to believe, I'll be honest). I ended up finding Xijun tolerable, but she never really grew on me. Probably because her annoying habit of fawning over a guy, though significantly toned down, continued to persist, thus so did my bad first impression.

Xijun’s romance is not that important, but I found it a little cringe when it did show up. I didn’t really like how the male characters have so much going on, but female characters come with romance plots attached. Perhaps this is more historically accurate though, when marriage was a relatively bigger part of women’s lives. I did not particularly like the romances in this show, but at least they aren’t too played up.

The band of friends also includes a few other characters with distinct skills and personalities. Chicken Fei, for example, is the doctor and resident drunkard; Xue Huan is the cute and lovably earnest kid; Yingtao joins later, and it’s nice to have another capable female character but her role isn’t that big.

The characters are decently crafted and some have progression. But for some reason, I had a hard time feeling any particular emotional connection or investment in them. I liked them enough but did not particularly feel for them. So this show ended up being, for me, just about the curiosity of the mysteries and watching them get solved, rather than an emotional, inspiring, or thought-provoking journey.

The plot covers 8 different cases. With 4-5 episodes each, none of them are simple; I enjoyed watching the methodical investigation and the intricate truth slowly emerge. They are interesting, well set up, and well presented, with enough details given for the audience to follow along.

The cases are pretty much independent but have an overarching umbrella in the progression of the characters’ careers and any personal growth. Maybe because of this structure, the show stays strong to the end, finishing with just another case rather than trying to tie up some grand plot.

That said, the last case was not my favorite. Its villain isn’t really developed as a character so I had no strong emotions, besides feeling a little sorry for him. Like the rest of the show, it’s more about watching them uncover clues and solve the case.

Overall, although the cases are entertaining to watch, I still felt like this show is missing something, perhaps some greater depth or meaning. It seems more procedural. I’m not sure if it’s just me not connecting with the characters, or maybe the lack of any consistent themes- the only one I can maybe think of is “Serve the country”, which isn’t really that interesting. Or Lu Lingfeng learning not to be a jerk, which is obvious. Some of the cases have decent emotional depth within them, for the characters involved, but it only lasts for those episodes and then they are gone. There's no common thread or deeper insights carried beyond. I think such a vibe makes sense for a show like this, but personally I like something more thoughtful and personal.

Acting-wise, I thought everyone did well. Yang Zhigang as Su Wuming is notable; his slow and distinct speaking style is good acting, but it also kind of took a long time and I found 1.25X speed is perfect for listening to him talk. This doesn’t have idol drama vibes so there is thankfully not much of actors trying to look cool, overacting, slow mo scenes, etc.

The fighting is not too flashy or elaborate, but it’s pretty solid. The costumes are realistic. Some of the CGI looks fake, but it’s not a big deal. The background music is pretty good for setting the tone, but I don’t actually remember it that much; the music didn’t really stand out. Maybe more music would have helped me feel more emotionally connected, but it’s hard to say.

This show is definitely worth a watch if you like mysteries or relatively accurate historicals, just don’t expect some emotionally deep or thoughtful journey.

ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS





Not surprisingly, happy ending, the case is solved and Lu Lingfeng gets great honors. 20 min or so of wrapup, including a few minutes of cute vignettes at the end that might have been cuter if I actually liked the love stories.

This show already has a sequel and a threequel, so clearly the fun continues. It doesn't really matter how satisfying an ending is when you know there's a follow up.

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Short but not that inspired

This is a short drama that I found somewhat mediocre. It’s got a little silliness to it, but I wasn’t that amused and I don’t think it’s meant to be a comedy. I’d say it’s a straightforward romance story.

The FL is a goddess jumped into a mortal body. She is sassy, has attitude, and stands up to bullying, but unfortunately she lost all her powers so she’s physically not that strong. She’s likable enough, I guess.

I’d consider Change Feng and Fu An to be ML and SML, if only because they both like the FL. What’s more unusual is that they share one body- you sometimes have to guess who’s currently present in said body, based on bearing, attitude, and voice. I think the actor did a pretty good job, but sometimes I guessed wrong.

The two of them have very different personalities and separate consciousness. I never fully figured out how it works or what’s going on, but they are definitely different people. Yet even with distinct personalities, I didn’t have too many opinions about them. Just not that emotionally invested.

The falling in love part is rather abrupt and I’m not sure when, how, or why it happened. I think there is a half-assed attempt at enemies to lovers. I did like watching the ML all flirty after they get together, and they have pretty good chemistry, it’s just that the relationship is not built on much. There is the SML sadly pining on the side but nobody seems to care.

The show is a little confusing and chaotic at the beginning, but they do manage to convey enough necessary information to follow along. Considering its length, it was actually less choppy and rushed than I expected. It ends up being fairly straightforward; the FL’s mission is not that complicated, and there aren’t too many twists and turns. I actually never quite figured out what was going on with the sacred fruit, but in the meantime, there are some evil humans to counter and defeat. There is even a “touching backstory” that gets revealed, but it’s too short and underdeveloped for me to really care.

At 8 min x 20 episodes, I was excited to be able to binge an entire show in one evening. But after seeing what I got, I think I should have just picked a well-rated movie instead. It’s not bad for mindless entertainment, but afterwards I didn’t feel great- it felt like I’d just watched a couple hours of filler.

And right, the subtitles are not good and can create confusion. Knowing some Chinese is definitely helpful. The subs aren’t the worst I’ve seen, and the wording is not the most difficult; just some knowledge of conversational Chinese, paired with the English and Chinese subs, should be enough.

ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS





I think this is a happy ending, but I’m not totally sure what happened. The ML dies, and apparently the FL gives up immortality (poor sifu, guess she doesn’t care about never seeing him again). I think this act somehow revives the ML, though the terms of this deal are unclear and for some reason it takes a chance meeting for them to reunite.

I have no idea what happens to the other guy in his body. I guess he is supposed to live.

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Girl pretends to be boy, shoots lots of guns

This is the first Republican drama I watched, and I found it so interesting to see the portrayal of China in the 1910s. I know the image of the West (or at least America) during this era, and it was fascinating to see those influences in China of the time.

To be honest, I didn’t think this costume/hair/makeup styling was the most flattering for anyone, either male or female. But still interesting. And for me, seeing the costumes, sets, and culture of 1910s China was actually the highlight of this drama. I thought everything else about it was just ok.

As others have mentioned, a big portion of the story is fluff. It’s largely about Xie Xiang, the FL, navigating life in the academy as she pretends to be a boy.

Xie Xiang is sensible and likable enough, and it’s easy to root for her. It’s fun to watch a strong female lead overcome odds with hard work and tenacity. I also like that she doesn’t have some grand patriotic goal; instead, her motivation for doing this difficult thing seems to be more just being lost, confused, and sad, which is a lot more relatable.

That said, it’s completely unrealistic that she would be able to pull it off, and they get around this by just glossing over all the details. We never find out how she passes the entrance medical exam; her wardrobe/wig transitions happen lightning fast, often with no place to change; she somehow survives training by overtraining; etc. The whole thing is less impressive because it’s too fake.

As for the male leads... well, I could not stand Gu Yanzhen. He reminded me of every single annoying guy in my life, it was almost triggering. I don’t think he’s a poorly written character- he has a distinct personality rather than generic hero. He just hit too close to home for me. His self-centered, irresponsible, and/or love-brain behavior made me so angry, and the worst was when the FL actually seemed to like it. No joke, I took a year-long break near the end of this show because I found him so frustrating.

I was on Team Shen Junshan all the way, but unfortunately, I already knew from reviews who is ML and who is SML. Well, at least this character is fairly mature and not frustrating to watch, and he stays in the game for a long time.

Qu Manting is listed as a lead too, but I don’t think she's as central. This show has lots of characters like her who have their own stories, which I think is nice, because then if you don’t like one there’s always the others. Plus, real life is more like that- everyone is the star of their own story. As for Manting herself, I found her sometimes admirable but mostly annoying.

While momentous world events are happening, our leads and their friends are preoccupied by a ridiculous number of love triangles. Love triangles are not my favorite, but I found it entertaining enough. It’s at least not that stressful. The students do have some military exercises, but they are low stress due to heavy plot armor. It feels kind of like a video game, the way they mow down NPCs but nobody with a name ever gets shot.

The last 10 or so episodes are when things start to get serious. There are lots of gunshots and explosions. After being coddled by fluff for so long, I didn’t quite enjoy this. I also liked Xie Xiang a lot less near the end, partly because she’s dating a loser, but maybe also partly because she becomes less important- she just doesn’t do as much to help herself or those around her.

That said, while I was not too enamored by the plot as a whole, I did enjoy the side character friends. The other students at the academy, for instance, don’t always play huge roles, but it’s fun to watch their banter and camaraderie. My favorite, though, is probably Tan Xiaojun, Xie Xiang’s best friend. Xiaojun is not particularly special or heroic, but she’s a good friend, and that’s all most of us can strive for in our own lives.

Acting-wise, everyone is praising Xu Kai... well, I guess he did a good job, but I was too busy being annoyed by his character to notice. I thought everyone did fine.

I very much liked the background music to this show, which is heavy on piano and solo violin. It’s quite lovely and fits in with the mood and period. The actual songs aren’t used very much, which on the one hand is good because it means fewer cheesy filler scenes, but on the other hand seems like a shame- I really liked that second closing.

As a final note, I was afraid there would be lots of propaganda, since we’re seeing China on a modern-ish world stage. And there was indeed a lot of patriotic talk and nationalistic pride, especially towards the end. But mostly this is still a show that’s meant to entertain. It’s historical fiction, telling the story of a group of people as the world moves and shakes around them.

ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS





There are three hard-hitting deaths as we approach the end. Probably carefully chosen for emotional impact. Everyone else gets to keep their plot armor, including several heavily injured people who somehow escape from an exploding building.

The wrap-up only lasts maybe 5 minutes, so it’s no wonder that not everyone is covered satisfactorily. Most disappointing, our lead couple literally goes walking off into the sunset, no indication to where. Well, I didn’t like them that much anyways, I guess. At least Shen Junshan seems to turn out ok.

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