DramFun29212

Was expecting OK when I started this series but got Masterpiece instead.

Those who have watched lots of period c dramas are usually pretty jaded. That's what makes SP such a masterpiece cdrama - from beginning to end, it manages to surprise at every (and many) turn and masterfully convey complex story lines effortlessly. Just the right blend of action, suspense, intrigue, mystery, camaraderie and emotions at the right time, all while respecting the rigorous logic of case-solving with tight pacing.

Kudos to the director, production crew and the actors especially LYX. The careful effort, high quality and cohesion in the script, plot, design, direction, acting, cinematography, artistic and intellectual elements truly shine through. Have to say, there's something about LYX's acting that's immersive in the sense of giving viewers the sense of watching a real person rather than a character in a TV drama. Hope he acts in more dramas in future.

Downside is - having watched this might make it difficult to sit through lesser works in future. The bar could be set a bit too high for the historical / investigative genre.

its missing in my iqiyi app as well. I can't help but wonder if the haters' sabotage of LYX's dramas has really gone this far...never encountered missing episodes on any of these paid platforms. Ever. And I subscribe to all of them.

First 6 episodes are very enjoyable. The pacing is great, plot / script is good, have to say the production quality exceeds expectations (artistic design, cgi is tops), acting is on point and the cases are intriguing hooking you in. Also appreciate the good camerawork and scene composition of the production crew.

Anyone has any idea how the average MDL score is calculated at 8??? I checked every single review score and episode score and there's no score less than 10 anywhere so far? Average of 10s is not 8..

And curious why iQiyi decided to air such a high quality production during golden week - producers and platforms avoid this period as its the low season for TV dramas (the holiday dip), usually reserve their best dramas for high seasons...its a disservice to this TV drama

Rewatching this after 3 years. This is one c-drama that truly still stands out even after all this time. Excellent storytelling, engaging script and pacing, nuanced amazing acting, quality CGI and on-point soundtrack is still amongst the best even after so many years. Definitely a benchmark for c-dramas (and makes one wonder about the direction of c-drama industry in general if so few can match it's quality after 3 years).

So many months on, its still difficult to watch other historical c-dramas as the comparison to WoF inevitably pops up subconsciously. Tried watching a new S+ fantasy c-drama and realised how cliched they are (visuals, storyline and script) - every other scene was giving off vibes of 'been there, seen that, heard that'. Makes one really appreciate how the production crew and screenwriters for WoF prioritised and elevated originality in their work.

Thank you. Great insights and analysis of TLC!

Having watched WoF 3 times, have to say that personally the re-watch value doesn't diminish as there's so much detail, beauty and quality in the production, script, dialogue, acting and OSTs to discover and appreciate.

1st watch - follow the nail-biting plot immersed in the excellent acting, watch with your brain cells firing on all cylinders, be swept up by the pioneering anime-style storytelling, world building, cinematography and CGI.

2nd watch - be amazed with the foreshadowing that starts right upfront. Realise that the scriptwriters have woven a masterful connected story where there is no spurious scene or dialogue. There will be lots of "Aha" moments when it dawns on you that there's a reason why this or that action is taken/ event happens. Elegant meaningful conversation steeped in philosophy and cultural references (that many excellent reviewers on MDL like Xiang83, Taraverde and others have expounded in detail).

3rd watch - Fully immerse and appreciate the masterful acting by the main cast (especially LYX), artistic cinematography/ camera language (almost every frame is a worthy wallpaper :) ), detailed world-building brought to life in the CGI and excellent set designs, gorgeous costumes, innovative exciting fight sequences (those who appreciate animes and martial will find delight in seeing these brought to live-action dramas), and the absolutely on-point OSTs throughout.

Tip: Use VPN to access platforms like WeTV or iQiyi in other countries for better eng subs if WoF isn't available in your country on those platforms.

And the icing on the cake for MangoTV subs - it's clearly done by different people in different episodes as the same thing/person is called by different names in English in different episodes depending on the translator in-duty on that day. Painful definitely. Thankfully could follow comedic moments as I understand spoken mandarin.

That's me too--> "after years of watching mandarin dramas... I felt like a kid in a candy store rediscovering our constellations through the Hubble telescope across 40 episodes and also after rewatching again"

Watched WoF with eng subs on WeTV and MangoTV. Imo, none of the English subs do full justice to the depth of conversations and dialogue. I understand spoken Mandarin although not expert level - can't help wondering if the sub-par eng subs in many of the pivotal scenes affects audience enjoyment/immersion and rewatch value ratings. Elegant dialogue in mandarin turns into awkward talk in english lol.

There's a fandom war ongoing for the past few weeks in C-net between WoF and another MangoTV tvdrama. Spill-over effect: That competing fandom seems to have ventured onto international sites and maliciously downvoted WoF on IMDB. For genuine fans of WoF, help on IMDB if you can.

There were already earlier round/s of malicious ratings on MDL (pre-voting all episodes with super low scores before any were even broadcast). There's no end to the ridiculous antics of these crazy fandoms.

Rest of us real viewers just want a good quality show to enjoy with fair ratings. Normally won't bother commenting on these things but the spiteful actions spilling over into international sites is just pure injustice to the entire cast and crew who poured blood and sweat into the WoF production.

SLY also broke historical records for popularity on Migu platform with index 15107 and some fans observed it remained above 13000 (considered big hit on Migu) for more than 35 days (as of early Dec) and counting...if only Migu would disclose their viewing numbers

The issue with the rating is that since the drama started broadcast, a bunch of haters (it looked in the range of 40-60 pax) pre-rated super low scores for all episodes (i.e. before those episodes were released). So the score for WoF was never "fair" to begin with. This can be easily verified - click into each episode and look at the dates those ratings were provided.

So for the rest of us rating fairly i.e. rating AFTER watching and assigning scores we think fair, it doesn't help the drama's overall score because it started in negative territory.

Read somewhere that these "haters" could be folks from C-ent using VPN to access intl sites. Can't imagine international audiences being emotionally charged enough to engineer hate voting like this.

MDL used to be relatively free from these haters from c-ent. Now WoF is a victim of this - a very large group pre-rated episodes (all the way to 40 before any of these episodes were aired) with super low scores at the start of the broadcast. Apparently did the same on Imdb. They should just bugger off and leave the international sites alone - let us keep objective views/scores.

An interesting post on Reddit also pointing out Yunhe lack of credibility: https://www.reddit.com/r/cdramasfans/comments/1oo99ju/congrats_to_whispers_of_fate_breaking_records/

An interesting post on Reddit discussing this point https://www.reddit.com/r/cdramasfans/comments/1oo99ju/congrats_to_whispers_of_fate_breaking_records/

Finished ep 40. A great fantasy c-drama. Dares to be different. Pushes boundary of storytelling in c-dramas- closest live action rendition I've come across of the much-loved anime style. Rewatch value 10. The effort put in by the production crew shows in every episode (cinematography, script, CGI, production quality, OST, etc). The acting especially LYX is a masterclass in immersion. There is no perfect drama out there but this one definitely stands head and shoulders above the rest.

Sad that there is a very real possibility that there might not be another c-drama produced to this standard in future (huge budget investment) due to what looks like domestic issues in c-ent (poor promotions/marketing (imho what idiotic marketing openly gives away spoilers for major plot points and spoiler previews all the way to the last episode which are exactly what is normally kept ambiguous to generate audience discussion/anticipation???), WEAK platform i.e. Mango, split distribution with Migu that looks like it got a huge chunk of viewership but numbers not disclosed anywhere, haters, etc). International audience numbers are a drop in the ocean compared to domestic c-viewership market - sky high popularity overseas might not be enough of a reason.

Mangotv SVIP subtitles for episode 28 is available now. Weirdly it only starts about 5 minutes into the show i.e. the first few scenes don't have it but suddenly comes on.

Ep 27 set the stage and Ep28 is brain burning. Must watch.

If you check the voting by episodes - you will realise there are many haters who pre-voted low scores for episodes that are not yet released. MDL needs to do something to stop these hate votes from muddying the true score.

Mangotv are amateurs and it shows in how their platform is managed. Great for those lucky enough to get WoF on iQiyi/ WeTV/ Netflix. Those stuck with Mangotv are an angry bunch.

Mangotv tends to upload episodes without english subtitles (delayed by a day). SVIP subscription is completely useless - no point wasting money (episode 25 subtitles were delayed by 48 hours for an SVIP subscriber). Really spoils the WoF viewing experience.

Even the pirated websites are more competent - better subtitles, uploaded asap and it has ads just like Mangotv subscribers need to sit through ads (VIP AND SVIP).