11
40
2
1
1
This review may contain spoilers
A Decent Watch with Too Many Plot Holes & A Going Nowhere Cliffhanger
As I watched Part 1 and primarily for LYN, part 2 was a must even though I knew there wouldn't be any other continuation in the near future. It was a decent watch with too many plot holes and a cliffhanger that we know isn't going anywhere because future parts haven't been filmed. I'm going to be mixing pros and cons in this one too. It took me a while to figure out what rating I would give this, but after some thought, I decided that this was what it was going to be, and I feel that it is fair.
What I liked the most was that they started exactly where part 1 ended so no one had to guess and they also gave some background on the first season. I loved the relationship of our 3 sworn brothers but as always I wished they had more screen time as they were the essential main leads. If in part 1 we had so much of a ditzy Ning, we were nauseous, here the majority of it was spent on ZX and his band of merry men as he spent the entirety of the series just about uniting the land of Yuanzhou from a bunch of slave colonies into an independent country with their own currency; earning him the prophetic name "King of Light." Not saying that wasn't important, but it was edited to take place in between arcs that were opened but not closed or continued ie the introduction of the other two families and their internal struggles or more of what was going on with the Bei clan.
Ka Dan was returned to Bei which of course hurt many SYL people especially when he learned she was married off to a formidable general, sadly he never learned that she was pregnant with his child nor that it was a boy that she gave birth to at some alter thing (part of that whole random information not making any sense). He himself married a formidable woman just to fit the mold of whomever they wanted him to be. I felt the most depressed for him in the entire thing. He was loyal to a fault and was a living a life not his own. He was a great soldier and warrior but other than that he wasn't as aggressive as DL not afraid to bend rules to get what he saw fit nor was he the "joker" strategist in disguise that ZX was. I wanted to ship him some Wellbutrin because his depression was so obvious though he never told his brothers about it. He even got stabbed for something he didn't do but was plotted by the separate factions within the court and wanted the charges dropped. He told the people they will figure things out but took blame for it and I wanted to shake him; like stop being such a doormat to these people!
Didn't go much into DL's arc other than his wife having a miscarriage which was hard obviously and outplayed by the old fart in that same embezzlement case. The old fart did the same thing in this part as he did in the first one; as DL put it very appropriately, he would throw anyone and everyone into the fire as long as it wasn't him and he stayed loved by the people. Even though Ning grew up a lot in this part and started to sound like a real leader, it made me wonder, if he wouldn't throw her to the wolves too if it meant he could save his own skin.
MW the creep wasn't even worth mentioning because he was placed where he was by the old fart so he had a spy everywhere; he lost out on Ning. And it was immensely satisfying how when SYL was sent as envoy to Yuanzhou by DL to essentially meet his 3rd brother (their reunion was great but short lived as all of their screen time always was; because even though they were more or less together during SYL's wedding, ZX chose not to see him for fear of the righteous one's attitude and just his own fear; because he also carried the secret that it was KD who saved him out of that clan after he assassinated LH and he knew that would only hurt and make SYL second guess the wedding more) even though it was old fart who was salivating to reestablish that part they gave away in peace talks with Bei, seeing the look on old fart's face when he was told that KOL was in fact ZX (the man he labeled a traitor, told to be stripped of his name and put a bounty on for execution), no matter how he laughed, DL had the satisfaction of having delivered that news to make a certain someone lose their appetite. Because DL knew the old fart understood that ZX wouldn't just bow down to him anymore and Yuanzhou wouldn't revert to being a bunch of slave tribes. Old fart was now facing a real adversary and one he never thought he'd have.
Other things that just didn't fit; the inside places of Zichuan, Bei Clan, etc looked futuristic and very sci-fi but as soon as you stepped outside, it was any typical Chinese historical setting and it just didn't make sense. It was like Game of Thrones one minute and wait how did we get into the past from the future the next? I understand that they filmed a lot of the scenes, including the opening sequences in Payi and fighting as well as the inside locations in warehouses that were built to specify the story plus CGI; but then the same should have been done with the outside as there really wasn't that much of it.
The mention of ZX's ninja origins by the Bei clan Ninja and that was left just hanging. So many things were just like mentioned up top. Both new family arcs were opened and left hanging. The general LS of Bei clan came, saw, had some words with ZX and retreated. That was it. By the end of this show, you were used to things just happening without explanation or resolution. There were so many more but I forgot them already.
I enjoyed this show for the interactions, some growth for some characters, the music, the small but cool fight scenes. Good on general YQX to step up to the plate and save KD when it was discovered she was pregnant. He didn't even want to know who the real father was when she was honest with him about her love and that she would probably always love him. The political aspect was ok but it always seemed halfhearted. A lot of times it was gloomy so ZX and his battalions antics lifted it a bit.
Would I recommend it? If you watched part 1, then yes definitely. I strictly believe that had it not been edited so heavily it would've been a much more cohesive story and therefore received better. I still think it's a decent watch regardless. The cast put a lot of work into it and it's obvious.
What I liked the most was that they started exactly where part 1 ended so no one had to guess and they also gave some background on the first season. I loved the relationship of our 3 sworn brothers but as always I wished they had more screen time as they were the essential main leads. If in part 1 we had so much of a ditzy Ning, we were nauseous, here the majority of it was spent on ZX and his band of merry men as he spent the entirety of the series just about uniting the land of Yuanzhou from a bunch of slave colonies into an independent country with their own currency; earning him the prophetic name "King of Light." Not saying that wasn't important, but it was edited to take place in between arcs that were opened but not closed or continued ie the introduction of the other two families and their internal struggles or more of what was going on with the Bei clan.
Ka Dan was returned to Bei which of course hurt many SYL people especially when he learned she was married off to a formidable general, sadly he never learned that she was pregnant with his child nor that it was a boy that she gave birth to at some alter thing (part of that whole random information not making any sense). He himself married a formidable woman just to fit the mold of whomever they wanted him to be. I felt the most depressed for him in the entire thing. He was loyal to a fault and was a living a life not his own. He was a great soldier and warrior but other than that he wasn't as aggressive as DL not afraid to bend rules to get what he saw fit nor was he the "joker" strategist in disguise that ZX was. I wanted to ship him some Wellbutrin because his depression was so obvious though he never told his brothers about it. He even got stabbed for something he didn't do but was plotted by the separate factions within the court and wanted the charges dropped. He told the people they will figure things out but took blame for it and I wanted to shake him; like stop being such a doormat to these people!
Didn't go much into DL's arc other than his wife having a miscarriage which was hard obviously and outplayed by the old fart in that same embezzlement case. The old fart did the same thing in this part as he did in the first one; as DL put it very appropriately, he would throw anyone and everyone into the fire as long as it wasn't him and he stayed loved by the people. Even though Ning grew up a lot in this part and started to sound like a real leader, it made me wonder, if he wouldn't throw her to the wolves too if it meant he could save his own skin.
MW the creep wasn't even worth mentioning because he was placed where he was by the old fart so he had a spy everywhere; he lost out on Ning. And it was immensely satisfying how when SYL was sent as envoy to Yuanzhou by DL to essentially meet his 3rd brother (their reunion was great but short lived as all of their screen time always was; because even though they were more or less together during SYL's wedding, ZX chose not to see him for fear of the righteous one's attitude and just his own fear; because he also carried the secret that it was KD who saved him out of that clan after he assassinated LH and he knew that would only hurt and make SYL second guess the wedding more) even though it was old fart who was salivating to reestablish that part they gave away in peace talks with Bei, seeing the look on old fart's face when he was told that KOL was in fact ZX (the man he labeled a traitor, told to be stripped of his name and put a bounty on for execution), no matter how he laughed, DL had the satisfaction of having delivered that news to make a certain someone lose their appetite. Because DL knew the old fart understood that ZX wouldn't just bow down to him anymore and Yuanzhou wouldn't revert to being a bunch of slave tribes. Old fart was now facing a real adversary and one he never thought he'd have.
Other things that just didn't fit; the inside places of Zichuan, Bei Clan, etc looked futuristic and very sci-fi but as soon as you stepped outside, it was any typical Chinese historical setting and it just didn't make sense. It was like Game of Thrones one minute and wait how did we get into the past from the future the next? I understand that they filmed a lot of the scenes, including the opening sequences in Payi and fighting as well as the inside locations in warehouses that were built to specify the story plus CGI; but then the same should have been done with the outside as there really wasn't that much of it.
The mention of ZX's ninja origins by the Bei clan Ninja and that was left just hanging. So many things were just like mentioned up top. Both new family arcs were opened and left hanging. The general LS of Bei clan came, saw, had some words with ZX and retreated. That was it. By the end of this show, you were used to things just happening without explanation or resolution. There were so many more but I forgot them already.
I enjoyed this show for the interactions, some growth for some characters, the music, the small but cool fight scenes. Good on general YQX to step up to the plate and save KD when it was discovered she was pregnant. He didn't even want to know who the real father was when she was honest with him about her love and that she would probably always love him. The political aspect was ok but it always seemed halfhearted. A lot of times it was gloomy so ZX and his battalions antics lifted it a bit.
Would I recommend it? If you watched part 1, then yes definitely. I strictly believe that had it not been edited so heavily it would've been a much more cohesive story and therefore received better. I still think it's a decent watch regardless. The cast put a lot of work into it and it's obvious.
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