This review may contain spoilers
A severely misjudged Drama
Firstly, I find it hilarious how people on this platform rate dramas because they hype up the most mediocre stuff ever.However, this is not one of them but it is highly misjudged in my opinion and deserves a higher rating. The biggest issue this drama has, is the fact that people drop it after 5 episodes.
I’ve watched Chinese dramas for years and this one is pretty good and a lot of fun. I admit, the beginning is a bit confusing because things are not explained properly, like certain relationships between characters or even the way the martial arts system works exactly. If you’ve watched enough Wuxia dramas, you’ll catch on but for newcomers, it can be a bit rough. There is a lot of people and names to remember in this show, so you have to pay attention.
There is some choppy editing as well but it gets better as the show goes on.
Now the good parts:
The plot might seem complicated to follow but I like the fact that everything is connected. There are plot points that are layed out from the beginning, that come back later and for the most part, this show makes sense. I find the story genuinely interesting because it directly affects most, if not all the characters involved. It has an effect on the entire world they live in, so the stakes feel high. A lot of historical or fantasy dramas use politics and power struggles as a plot device for the leads but it gets boring after a while because they just solve cases for people or about people nobody cares about. While you’re probably not gonna care about every single character that shows up in this show, a lot of them are at least there for a reason and they don’t bore me.
Most character’s actions and behavior is understandable for who they are and I like that a lot of characters actually become bigger than who they were in the beginning, especially the second male lead and so on. I like that they have ambitions and goals beyond the title or duty that was bestowed upon them or that they were born into. A lot of side characters don’t just get thrown to the side but they have a purpose in the story, even if it is a small purpose.
In the beginning, it seems like a lot of them have a certain part to play, there are supposedly good people and bad people but it’s never as simple as that. This story makes characters question their morales and rethink their entire lives, it challenges them and their believe system.
One of the best aspects of this show is the chemistry between the cast, especially the male and female lead.
The male lead is a morally gray character with a mysterious past that gets revealed step by step as the show goes on. He manipulates everyone around him to reach his goal and get what he wants, including the female lead.
The female lead is kind of the opposite of him. She is outgoing, a free spirit, bright and righteous and has very strong morales.
Both characters come from different backgrounds and should not get along.
While the male lead might put people off because he is a “red flag", I think in this drama it was done in a better way because he is actually redeemable. His actions, while manipulative and morally gray, stem from complex psychological trauma and intense devotion rather than simple, unprovoked misogyny or abusive entitlement, like a lot of other male leads. He is more like an antihero. He is defined as a broken young man with a painful childhood and he was abused. He never really felt love or trust, besides from people in his life who died.
His red flag behaviors—manipulation and obsession—are driven by his need for the only light in his life, the female lead. He uses manipulation to be able to stay close to her (and for his other plot goals), even if it means he has to lie. He feels keeping her close to him at all times is love, because he is so afraid of losing the only person that matters to him now. He learns about what actual love is like, throughout the show. Because she sees underneath all of that and sees the broken side of him that feels hurt and vulnerable, he feels drawn to her. She accepts him for who he really is, but she struggles with the fact he manipulates her, even if his feelings for her are true. That’s why she does not back down and she tells him off when he did something wrong. She does not excuse his behavior but helps him learn from it. His intense, often desperate, devotion is viewed more as romantic obsession that turns into love, rather than malice. They have this push and pull and he knows she is drawn to him too, so he keeps pushing but once she is serious, he does not force her to stay with him.
The FL is not a weak, trapped damsel, which makes the "red flag" aspect less irritating. She is strong, intelligent, and often matches his wits, enabling her to deal with his machinations. The relationship is a slow-burn battle of wits. She recognizes his manipulative nature, sometimes uses him back, and trusts his competence even when she wants to keep her distance. The male lead is aware of his flaws—his obsessiveness, pettiness, and willingness to use dirty tricks. He doesn't act as though he is a "good guy," which makes his behavior more tolerable to viewers compared to manipulative characters who believe they are innocent.
Despite his ruthlessness, he is shown as insecure and needing to be trusted, which makes him more relatable than a purely abusive antagonist. He also doesn’t show ruthlessness to people who don’t deserve it, unless he feels like he has no choice but to use them. He showed that he is capable of personal growth and becomes more open about his intentions, aiming to be a better person for his partner. He really changes throughout the show and there is a line he never crosses so in a way, I could empathize with him.
Lastly, it makes me sad that a lot of people had issues with the costumes and so on, because this is actually quite a realistic costume for Wuxia dramas. The overly bright colors and so on that y’all see in other dramas is just to make it look flashy and good and gain attention. This is what it’s supposed to look like. I think it looks more realistic and better this way. it looks less cheap this way.
I also highly respect that the team filmed a lot, if not all of it on a real location instead of green screen. They went to the mountains and even learned a lot of fighting choreography which the actors performed themselves and looked quite good. They also used their own voices instead of dubbing.
I can see, they worked hard and tried to actually create a good story beyond your stereotypical idol drama where even the main plot is just a side plot to the romance. This drama teaches you about so much more, like where do you belong? what is right and wrong? who am I? what does it mean to forgive? why do I compare myself to others? true friendship and what it means to support each other no matter what.
I don’t want to give the plot away but there was never an episode that felt boring to me and I never knew what to believe, because I didn’t know if I could trust certain characters. It’s almost like a puzzle that you’re trying to put together along with the leads.
Sure, this drama is not perfect but if you care about a decent Wuxia, please don’t judge it based on other’s opinions who dropped it so soon. Because it’s not the easiest plot, I get why this is not for everyone but I’d still recommend it and frankly speaking, this drama is a lot better than most period idol dramas these days that get a lot more hype. I rated it so high because of my enjoyment but the rewatch value is lower because it’s simply not everyone’s cup of tea and there might be some flaws that bother others too much too overlook them.
PS: there are some tropy scenes in there but they are not cringe compared to a lot of other dramas. I thought the sweet scenes were enjoyable because it was not exaggerated. The acting in general felt quite natural to me. Sometimes when cgi was used, for example on animals, it didn’t look good but I can look past that.
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This review may contain spoilers
A bit overhyped
I already know this by now but it’s really a shame how misleading the ratings of a drama can be on my drama list.I had really high expectations for this show because everyone praised it and I haven’t seen a single negative comment on it.
If this is your favorite show or you really enjoyed it, that’s fine, everyone has a different taste but a lot of people who are new to cdramas, also tend to rate everything they watch or that got them into it, really high or they are biased towards the actors.
It’s hard to look at things objectively and everyone has their dramas they enjoy, even if they aren’t always the best, but this was kind of a let down for me.
What I liked:
- the story started of quite dark and interesting. The events of how the FL and ML met and ended up in a different time together was thought out well. I like that there was more to it than the ML taking an arrow for her but that their fates were intertwined
- I like that they didn’t waste time and got right into the plot.
- The FL is strong but not in a typical way like a female general, it’s not so much about physically strong but mentally. I like how she used her intelligence to become a smart businesswoman and help with various plot points. I like that she was portrayed as more realistic, at least when it comes to her behavior. She is not exactly one stereotype, like a cheerful and quirky girl that always laughs or an unruly, bratty and spoiled girl who does whatever she wants, she doesn’t overreact nor does she not react enough. She behaves quite realistic at times, although not always.
- I do enjoy the scenes between the leads, it was quite sweet at times although they have issues.
- the cinematography is so stunning, a lot of scenes were magnificent, especially in slow motion. Snow, shattered glass, flowers or lightning was very well done.
- I initially liked the family dynamics for both leads. I was interested to see how the FL deals with the people who wronged her, same as the ML
What I didn’t like:
- Firstly, the time travel aspect was not explored enough. When the leads travel back in time, they become children again. The FL also received a book from the monk character that sort of tells her about certain things that might happen. She acted shocked about what happened to her for like 2 seconds and then adapted to her new life really quickly without asking many questions. This always happens in time travel stories but it’s so unrealistic. She could have asked the monk more about what to do initially or why this happened to her but it was just like she figured it out on her own. When you’re in a different time or world, how would you know what to do?! I get it, it’s not like she wanted to go back to her miserable adult life of the future but I think she was a bit too calm, considering what happened to her. I also didn’t get why the ML didn’t remember his previous life at all, at least when he was a kid. He can remember the FL from some of his dreams though, even though she is wearing a mask. I feel like this whole fate thing or why certain things work and some don’t, are not explained properly, unless they did explain it but if so, it might have been in a passing comment. Also, I dislike the fact that the time travel aspect really doesn’t matter anymore as the story goes on. Why have it in the first place then?! If you want to show a revenge story, the time travel didn’t need to exist.
- The relationship between the FL and ML was not really convincing to me. She keeps lying to him about their past and why she can predict certain events which caused the ML to get suspicious of her, to the point he thinks she is involved in the crimes and behavior of her uncle. The ML asked her repeatedly what she is hiding because he knows by that point she isn’t like her family and he just wants confirmation but she chooses not to tell him. Sure, it’s difficult to explain that she met him in another life before and traveled back to the past but she could have tried to be honest. Worst thing he could do is think she is crazy but he himself had these dreams of her so he could have believed it. And what’s worse is that after they got married, she told him about the book etc in one sentence and he just accepts it like it’s the most normal thing, which proves that her constant struggle that dragged on about her not telling him the truth, was pointless.
At first the relationship between them started slow and they both benefited from it. It was logical that there were no feelings involved especially cause they had a completely different impression of one another and by both helping one another and getting involved with one another, they developed mutual respect and started to become friendly. But then it was like they skipped an arc or something because next thing I know, he tells the emperor that the FL is important to him and then asks her to marry him. They never expressed mutual romantic feelings towards one another at that point, they just started to get closer. Sure, they had a couple of moments together when they were in dangerous situations and he protected her or they looked deeply into each other’s eyes but to me, that’s not enough to justify the jump that the relationship took.
He doesn’t force her to marry him, especially since she repeatedly insisted on not wanting to get married but then basically gave her 5 days to think about if she wants to reject his proposal or not. And during that time, somehow the FL realized how much she likes him and married him. By the time their wedding comes around, I feel like they barely know anything about one another. I know arranged marriages were the norm back then and you don’t always know your partner but considering she never wanted an arranged marriage, you’d think she would have waited with marriage. She could have at least gotten to know him better. Besides investigating together and her business ventures, I feel like I don’t know what they like or dislike or what their hobbies are.
- The leads did have chemistry but not enough. It was not electric. The FL also seemed way too perfect. Somehow she was good at almost everything. They made her a smart businesswoman who was supposed to be different to the traditional women back then but then she was also really great at cooking, poetry and more and ofc she always has the best insight and is so wise and the ML does not have that, so he learns from her. They undermined his character compared to hers and showed him as someone who is senseless and impulsive, even though he is supposed to be a general leading a huge army. Generals also need to be tactical and logical and sometimes they showed that but often not.
- My biggest issue was the plot itself. I thought it would be a mysterious, dark plot about revenge and court politics but a plot that ties both leads together and leads to a constant push and pull between them and makes them question everything but to me it just fell apart. A big part of the show was about domestic instances that the FL was involved in and frankly speaking, half of these characters I did not care about. If it would have focused more on her relationship with her father, the death of her mom and so on, maybe it could have been better.Yes, they redeemed the father later on but everything just felt quickly resolved in a few sentences. Most of the side charscters were just annoying. I thought the plot of the step sister was a bit interesting at first but we don’t need multiple episodes of that. A lot of things that happened just felt like filler or side plot and made the show kind of boring. The FL mostly uses her knowledge and wit to solve these family issues and not some dark mystery. The plot lost its mystery and secretive nature that I thought I would get. It didn’t help, that the pacing felt quite slow to me after the first couple episodes. Maybe this type of show where people talk a lot and everything feels like it’s moving slowly, isn’t for me but I’ve watched shows where not one episode felt boring to me. Shows that were dynamic from the start. This show lacked tension for me. I never felt like I couldn’t wait to watch the next episode. A lot of characters also annoyed me with their behavior because they didn’t need to go down this road but they made bad choices for themselves, even though they had other better options.
- The acting was ok but to me the ML is a bit better than the FL. I’ve seen him in other stuff, even as a side character he is pretty decent. The FL lacks expressions. I wish both of them showed more range and emotional depth.
All in all, everything about this drama is average to me, besides the cinematography. It’s not a bad drama cause I’ve seen worse and it can still be entertaining at times but it’s not one of those shows I’m obsessed with. And I still don’t understand the ratings on this.
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