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This review may contain spoilers
The World's Smartest Young Man + A Great Martial Artist = 2 Formidable Twin Brothers
Watching a series 5 years after it was broadcast definitely shows how many things have changed. I've been recommended this one for a while now and finally decided why not? Primarily watched for CZY and the difference in his mannerisms. But I'm aware of both leads, the SFL plus many of the supporting cast.
Pros: The martial arts are my favorite. So well done and carefully crafted that you had to rewind some again and again. My favorite duel was between the brothers in the last episode. It was just awesome. All of the other ones were pretty great too. I also really like the fact that they gave an actual back story to the series and why/how the brothers were separated and their parents killed. You don't see that nowadays as it's covered in about 2 minutes with cartoons and a voiceover plus some flashbacks during the show. The twins were supposed to become enemies when they grew up and met each other just as the synopsis says except that didn't happen. There were some tense moments in the very beginning but they grew into actual friends and that was awesome to see especially when they would solve cases and problems together.
They couldn't be more different; one was a prankster trickster that could weasel himself out of practically any situation using his smarts but he was also a chick magnet because from the first one to his ultimate soulmate, there were at least 3 in between that were more ruthless than others, would fall for him immediately and it was quite funny. While the other one was cold, aloof, inexperienced in the world and tried his best to right many wrongs though he did fail a lot especially the first case which I called the Romeo and Juliet scenario. The things that they had in common was a sense of justice and were both warm-hearted. Plus XYR was a whole head shorter than HWQ and when the truth outed itself, XYR jumped like a monkey onto a tree with HWQ. They were the world's smartest young man + a great martial artist = 2 formidable twin brothers.
There were middle of the road villains like the 12 zodiac killers and the 10 great villains (one of whom was actually a good guy that loved gambling); the latter batch having raised XYR and though they ultimately betrayed him, if it wasn't for them, he wouldn't have become as clever and smart as he became though he wasn't as cold blooded and greedy as they were. He like his brother inherited their parents warm hearts and sense of compassion and righteousness.
There were 3 main villains; the master of Yihua Palace who raised HWQ and her sister (though the latter had a warmer heart); it was because of this crazy train master's revenge on the man she loved who was ultimately the twins' father because in her twisted mind, just because she saved him and he was grateful to her for that, he was supposed to marry her. She had no idea that love and other emotions had to be involved for marriage so the obsessed bat set this plan in motion for the brothers to become enemies and HWQ only finding out when he supposedly killed XYR (our smart kid took a special medicine made by his friend the medicine doctor from wicked canyon where he grew up that could fake death) that they were twin brothers so he could suffer for the rest of his existence. I mean how much more evil and delusional can you be? Punishing the sons for her one sided love that didn't happen? The look on her face when XYR popped back up like nothing happened was priceless. Though I did feel for HWQ and the roller coaster of emotions he must have felt as this was going on; first thinking he killed his best friend even though he set out to kill himself, than hearing how the insane one set the revenge plan in motion, that the boys were twins, that he actually killed his twin brother, to seeing that she killed the other "aunt" and wanting to end himself and than when XYR popped up the joy and relief that all of this was his plan and trick and being upset when the crazy bat walked off a cliff. It must have been exhausting to go through so many emotions in such a short period of time. But he did it well.
The other two villains were a father and son duo that were basically causing havoc in Jianghu stealing money and other things while framing good people for their deeds. The son was creepy not just evil, while the father was considered the number one hero in Jianghu and also had a hand in the deaths of the leads parents but more for trying to kill the real number one hero YNT (who was sworn brothers with JF; dad of the boys) and though he crippled the guy's martial arts skills for 18 years, he never mastered the manual he stole. The creepy son got his comeuppance finally from the woman he SA'd and lied to repeatedly; awesome karma.
Other great supporting characters were the medicine man who only pretended to be evil but in reality was biding his time to get rid of the evil around him, YTN and his other sworn brother who pretended to be him while he slowly healed himself. Gambling villain guy was of great help as well as the two assistants of HWQ; both FL and SFL once they stopped crying and pouting at every step and really started to show their smarts and helpfulness, were really great partners to our boys. I didn't view romance as important in this series so I wish it wasn't pushed on us. Comedy fell properly especially with our ML; it wasn't slapstick but well done. I felt that out of the two, the FL evolved the most and she was indispensable to both guys. I also don't feel it was a love triangle but more like a love quad though one that was only connected to whom they belonged to. FL did have feelings for the ML but once she spent time with SML, that's who she really grew towards.
Though at first Little Fairy, that Gu guy, and Murong Jiu were more of unnecessary characters as well as side stories that required fast forwarding, once the amnesia arc took place and MRJ became Ms. Meng and HZZ came into the picture, they made the right kind of sense. Especially at the end when they came to support XYR during the duel. It was nice to see he made friends for life.
Costumes (though I have an issue with HWQ's wig; poor guy had the forehead of a Klingon with it), sets, OSTs were all on point.
Cons: I really wish our brothers had more time on screen together. That was my biggest complaint. After they met officially and figured out that they were supposed to be enemies though no idea why other than an order given by the crazy bat, they kept going their separate ways though solving cases that for the most part were related to that main villain and his uber creepy son. However once they decided on three months to the duel they did spend more time together, even causing HWQ to seriously waver in his mission. I still wish we didn't spend a solid 20 plus episodes with one brother in one episode and one brother in another.
Wish there weren't so many unnecessary side stories that had nothing to do with the main plot and where more women fell for ML. That was also something I didn't understand; was it love at first sight for them all looking at this scraggly kid with patched worn clothes and thinking "oh baby, that's the guy for me?" I mean come on now, not realistic at all. They were already smitten before he opened his mouth. Same happened with both leading ladies, though one evolved and matured, the other one though a total match for him, I had no idea when she had time to fall for him? Big disconnect there each time and there were at least three other women in between.
The endings of both big bads was super anticlimactic. One was crippled of his martial arts and just sent away to live somewhere, while the other in her delusion just walked off a cliff. Like what? These two people brought pain, suffering, and death to so many and that's how they ended things? Not good or satisfying enough for me.
I also wish that at the end, the last scene was of our brothers drinking somewhere together instead of separated yet again but with their significant others. It was very unsatisfactory. The story was about them not their romantic relationships. They could have had the women with them and the foursome standing together and maybe hugging while smiling at each other and swatching the horizon. That would have been perfect and would have left the audience feeling and knowing that they would now forever be together as a real family making up for a lost 18 years with their parents looking down at them from heaven and smiling. That's how I would have ended it anyways.
Would I recommend it? I really would. Despite the annoying cons, this really was a great wuxia and if you like martial arts and a decent story, check it out; it doesn't matter how many years later.
Pros: The martial arts are my favorite. So well done and carefully crafted that you had to rewind some again and again. My favorite duel was between the brothers in the last episode. It was just awesome. All of the other ones were pretty great too. I also really like the fact that they gave an actual back story to the series and why/how the brothers were separated and their parents killed. You don't see that nowadays as it's covered in about 2 minutes with cartoons and a voiceover plus some flashbacks during the show. The twins were supposed to become enemies when they grew up and met each other just as the synopsis says except that didn't happen. There were some tense moments in the very beginning but they grew into actual friends and that was awesome to see especially when they would solve cases and problems together.
They couldn't be more different; one was a prankster trickster that could weasel himself out of practically any situation using his smarts but he was also a chick magnet because from the first one to his ultimate soulmate, there were at least 3 in between that were more ruthless than others, would fall for him immediately and it was quite funny. While the other one was cold, aloof, inexperienced in the world and tried his best to right many wrongs though he did fail a lot especially the first case which I called the Romeo and Juliet scenario. The things that they had in common was a sense of justice and were both warm-hearted. Plus XYR was a whole head shorter than HWQ and when the truth outed itself, XYR jumped like a monkey onto a tree with HWQ. They were the world's smartest young man + a great martial artist = 2 formidable twin brothers.
There were middle of the road villains like the 12 zodiac killers and the 10 great villains (one of whom was actually a good guy that loved gambling); the latter batch having raised XYR and though they ultimately betrayed him, if it wasn't for them, he wouldn't have become as clever and smart as he became though he wasn't as cold blooded and greedy as they were. He like his brother inherited their parents warm hearts and sense of compassion and righteousness.
There were 3 main villains; the master of Yihua Palace who raised HWQ and her sister (though the latter had a warmer heart); it was because of this crazy train master's revenge on the man she loved who was ultimately the twins' father because in her twisted mind, just because she saved him and he was grateful to her for that, he was supposed to marry her. She had no idea that love and other emotions had to be involved for marriage so the obsessed bat set this plan in motion for the brothers to become enemies and HWQ only finding out when he supposedly killed XYR (our smart kid took a special medicine made by his friend the medicine doctor from wicked canyon where he grew up that could fake death) that they were twin brothers so he could suffer for the rest of his existence. I mean how much more evil and delusional can you be? Punishing the sons for her one sided love that didn't happen? The look on her face when XYR popped back up like nothing happened was priceless. Though I did feel for HWQ and the roller coaster of emotions he must have felt as this was going on; first thinking he killed his best friend even though he set out to kill himself, than hearing how the insane one set the revenge plan in motion, that the boys were twins, that he actually killed his twin brother, to seeing that she killed the other "aunt" and wanting to end himself and than when XYR popped up the joy and relief that all of this was his plan and trick and being upset when the crazy bat walked off a cliff. It must have been exhausting to go through so many emotions in such a short period of time. But he did it well.
The other two villains were a father and son duo that were basically causing havoc in Jianghu stealing money and other things while framing good people for their deeds. The son was creepy not just evil, while the father was considered the number one hero in Jianghu and also had a hand in the deaths of the leads parents but more for trying to kill the real number one hero YNT (who was sworn brothers with JF; dad of the boys) and though he crippled the guy's martial arts skills for 18 years, he never mastered the manual he stole. The creepy son got his comeuppance finally from the woman he SA'd and lied to repeatedly; awesome karma.
Other great supporting characters were the medicine man who only pretended to be evil but in reality was biding his time to get rid of the evil around him, YTN and his other sworn brother who pretended to be him while he slowly healed himself. Gambling villain guy was of great help as well as the two assistants of HWQ; both FL and SFL once they stopped crying and pouting at every step and really started to show their smarts and helpfulness, were really great partners to our boys. I didn't view romance as important in this series so I wish it wasn't pushed on us. Comedy fell properly especially with our ML; it wasn't slapstick but well done. I felt that out of the two, the FL evolved the most and she was indispensable to both guys. I also don't feel it was a love triangle but more like a love quad though one that was only connected to whom they belonged to. FL did have feelings for the ML but once she spent time with SML, that's who she really grew towards.
Though at first Little Fairy, that Gu guy, and Murong Jiu were more of unnecessary characters as well as side stories that required fast forwarding, once the amnesia arc took place and MRJ became Ms. Meng and HZZ came into the picture, they made the right kind of sense. Especially at the end when they came to support XYR during the duel. It was nice to see he made friends for life.
Costumes (though I have an issue with HWQ's wig; poor guy had the forehead of a Klingon with it), sets, OSTs were all on point.
Cons: I really wish our brothers had more time on screen together. That was my biggest complaint. After they met officially and figured out that they were supposed to be enemies though no idea why other than an order given by the crazy bat, they kept going their separate ways though solving cases that for the most part were related to that main villain and his uber creepy son. However once they decided on three months to the duel they did spend more time together, even causing HWQ to seriously waver in his mission. I still wish we didn't spend a solid 20 plus episodes with one brother in one episode and one brother in another.
Wish there weren't so many unnecessary side stories that had nothing to do with the main plot and where more women fell for ML. That was also something I didn't understand; was it love at first sight for them all looking at this scraggly kid with patched worn clothes and thinking "oh baby, that's the guy for me?" I mean come on now, not realistic at all. They were already smitten before he opened his mouth. Same happened with both leading ladies, though one evolved and matured, the other one though a total match for him, I had no idea when she had time to fall for him? Big disconnect there each time and there were at least three other women in between.
The endings of both big bads was super anticlimactic. One was crippled of his martial arts and just sent away to live somewhere, while the other in her delusion just walked off a cliff. Like what? These two people brought pain, suffering, and death to so many and that's how they ended things? Not good or satisfying enough for me.
I also wish that at the end, the last scene was of our brothers drinking somewhere together instead of separated yet again but with their significant others. It was very unsatisfactory. The story was about them not their romantic relationships. They could have had the women with them and the foursome standing together and maybe hugging while smiling at each other and swatching the horizon. That would have been perfect and would have left the audience feeling and knowing that they would now forever be together as a real family making up for a lost 18 years with their parents looking down at them from heaven and smiling. That's how I would have ended it anyways.
Would I recommend it? I really would. Despite the annoying cons, this really was a great wuxia and if you like martial arts and a decent story, check it out; it doesn't matter how many years later.
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