I'm a Pride and Prejudice addict. I think I've seen EVERY single adaptation ever created (P&P old and new, Lost…
P & P is my favourite novel of all time. I read it at least once a year. I think I've seen almost every adaptation but nothing beats Austen's wit and humour. She's just so quotable.
I 'm really enjoying the Pride and Prejudice vibe from this. It has me grinning from ear to ear. Usually I roll my eyes at the anachronistic female lead but in this case it works because the cunning male lead deserves (for better or for worse) a woman who can see through him and give him a really hard time over it. This is one of the few occasions that the early adversarial dynamic works for me.
Overall I really liked the ideas, the premise and the characters here. It certainly does interesting things with the genre although as an adapted script it is deeply flawed. It's tv that feels like a filmed novel. Zhang Ruoyun, Hu Jun and Qiu Xinzhi are obvious standouts partly because they had the lion's share of what the storytelling had to offer. Much of the show came across as being an introduction or a preamble to a much larger story. That isn't necessarily a problem in and of itself especially if the pacing had been consistently good across the board. Moreover, there's a lot of dialogue and exposition that disrupts the flow of the show -- just when you think things are finally moving along, the director weirdly puts the breaks on for a lengthy piece of dialogue that is often not needed. This also often meant that the martial arts sequences lack depth. Very few of the confrontation scenes tended to be visually impressive.
While Liu Duanduan was decent, I don't think the Zhao Kai character was all that impressive. As a foil and as an adversary, he was merely an observer in most instances. We were told that he was ambitious but he was content to lurk in the background, conceal himself and borrow other people's hands, so to speak. He ends up being a figure of ridicule more than a sympathetic one.
Make no mistake, I did enjoy it but I definitely had issues with the storytelling choices. To me it ended up being a novel in search of a script doctor or a director.
I'm amused at all the wuxia tropes that are either being subverted or parodied in some fashion. It's an entertaining enough drama although I don't feel it's quite on par with Joy of Life's storytelling. Possibly it's the pacing and it lacks JoL's exuberance.
Loved it. Had a blast from start to finish. Sure, it's not going to break records but what a fun, zany superhero series. It's been a while since I laughed so much in a K drama.
K-Drama 
4 
This is one of the few occasions that the early adversarial dynamic works for me.
I came for Jeremy Xu but staying for the romance.
While Liu Duanduan was decent, I don't think the Zhao Kai character was all that impressive. As a foil and as an adversary, he was merely an observer in most instances. We were told that he was ambitious but he was content to lurk in the background, conceal himself and borrow other people's hands, so to speak. He ends up being a figure of ridicule more than a sympathetic one.
Make no mistake, I did enjoy it but I definitely had issues with the storytelling choices. To me it ended up being a novel in search of a script doctor or a director.
It's a joke.
Sure, it's not going to break records but what a fun, zany superhero series.
It's been a while since I laughed so much in a K drama.