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This review may contain spoilers
Great Case Solving Trio & Friendship; The rest? Eh Not So Much.
This was obviously filmed a bit earlier with a lower budget. It was in my watchlist for LHY plus the storyline. Now while all of the actors, did very well, the storyline started to crumble. We had great case solving trio & Friendship, but the rest was really not so much.
Pros: The friendship of the main trio that went through life and death together and never faltered except for GT or YCE had a bit of an identity crisis when he had a tough injury where he nearly lost his arm and the use of it but our miracle physician FS was able to solve the problem. While on a quest to find some sealed treasure book and find out who killed FS' father and 10 other physicians, them two get framed by people working with the Breakwall organization who essentially run the kingdom with a puppet emperor. WJ (spelled Wen Jue) the daughter of the city Lord of Xichuan comes to their aide and they escape there. To find the book they must look for jade pieces to fit into the main plate FS unknowingly was given by his father to hold since he was a child. Turned out his dad and several others were working against Breakwall to find and return the actual emperor back but were systematically murdered over the course of 20 years.
Meanwhile, while on this main quest they have to solve one strange case after another and in the process some of them lead back to the main case and they get the Jade pieces while others aren't related at all. Though they have the ever undecided Lord Wen on their side (sort of), the chamber of commerce is corrupt and when the first two leaders are killed by the Breakwall organization, a narcissistic psychopath or SSM who once was a horse slave and was saved by FS, slowly weaseled his way into the top spot and into the Breakwall's lower ranks. This dude was the best villain out of all the villains because he killed without mercy and enjoyed it. And as I predicted, he really was the last villain standing for about 10 seconds before the real emperor finally finished him off in the last episode.
The deaths were cruel but the one that made me shed a tear was Wen Jiu, who was adopted and raised as Lord Wen's son; he was a great soldier but he had to essentially fight an entire battalion on his own and the hidden SSM who shot two tiny arrows into him one going straight threw his heart. It was gut wrenching to watch. And he knew he was going to die, that was the worst of it. This guy was a great ally to our friends. YY was the character GT fell in love with and vice versa and their romance was ok; it didn't take away from the main plot. YY went into a coma after her entire organization of spies and information were slaughtered and around the time GT lost his arm trying to save her; but at the end the trio rode off to find FS' Shifu physician who was also a miracle healer to save YY. There was also TB, Hulu, and several others that were good characters.
Costumes, OSTs, sets and the CGI especially FS' fantasy world where practices his theories with a duck and a wooden men that have WJ and GT's voices as well as understanding the hidden clues were cool. A lot however just didn't jive at all.
Cons: While the case solving was nice, the main case was a lot of build up to a lackluster outcome. There was no real book of treasure in the place they found. Instead it was the remaining loyalists of the emperor who was also there and had the face of the puppet emperor because the Breakwall leader who was a eunuch and apparently dying, used someone's game of faces technique to make the emperor's kid or someone else look just like him. The secret to the book of treasure was how to properly govern the state and the only reason the real emperor and his loyalists were stuck in that underground palace for 20 years was because the door could only be opened from the outside with the fully assembled Jade plate and the most of the pieces were lost or hidden but by parties unknown until now. There was weapons gold and jewels, plus miasma that was used to tell the real tale. But all this hunting down some special book was nothing more than restoring its rightful emperor.
Lord Wen pissed me off; he had so many chances to arrest and kill SSM but didn't want to get involved that it was ridiculous. Like the chamber of commerce murdered thousands of people in broad daylight but he was like forget it, no big deal. Even the Ma Gang didn't create that much mayhem. If it wasn't for him always letting SSM go, Wen Jiu would still be alive. And how literally everyone good or bad believed SSM's words as gospel was mind boggling; you just met him and he's telling the truth? He's lying through his teeth but everyone was too stupid to just believe him? Come on now; maybe the first few times but not all the time. SSM cared for nothing but power and himself; even his mentally challenged brother was left to himself which was hella wicked when he claimed to care so much about him. But sure let him get to the end; GT should have finished him off because no one else had the balls to.
With the last case with fake shamans and whatnot and the last jade piece, that case was already sliding into the negatives and suspension of disbelief. The storyline came apart at the end. Plus the forced feelings of FS and WJ just didn't cut it. She was for the most part too ditzy and pouty and there was literally zilch chemistry between them plus FS was completely unaware of feelings as his character was supposed to just care about being a good doctor and friend. So it felt unnecessarily forced.
Would I recommend it? It's one of those in between watches while waiting for something better to drop though the actors did the best they could with what they were given.
Pros: The friendship of the main trio that went through life and death together and never faltered except for GT or YCE had a bit of an identity crisis when he had a tough injury where he nearly lost his arm and the use of it but our miracle physician FS was able to solve the problem. While on a quest to find some sealed treasure book and find out who killed FS' father and 10 other physicians, them two get framed by people working with the Breakwall organization who essentially run the kingdom with a puppet emperor. WJ (spelled Wen Jue) the daughter of the city Lord of Xichuan comes to their aide and they escape there. To find the book they must look for jade pieces to fit into the main plate FS unknowingly was given by his father to hold since he was a child. Turned out his dad and several others were working against Breakwall to find and return the actual emperor back but were systematically murdered over the course of 20 years.
Meanwhile, while on this main quest they have to solve one strange case after another and in the process some of them lead back to the main case and they get the Jade pieces while others aren't related at all. Though they have the ever undecided Lord Wen on their side (sort of), the chamber of commerce is corrupt and when the first two leaders are killed by the Breakwall organization, a narcissistic psychopath or SSM who once was a horse slave and was saved by FS, slowly weaseled his way into the top spot and into the Breakwall's lower ranks. This dude was the best villain out of all the villains because he killed without mercy and enjoyed it. And as I predicted, he really was the last villain standing for about 10 seconds before the real emperor finally finished him off in the last episode.
The deaths were cruel but the one that made me shed a tear was Wen Jiu, who was adopted and raised as Lord Wen's son; he was a great soldier but he had to essentially fight an entire battalion on his own and the hidden SSM who shot two tiny arrows into him one going straight threw his heart. It was gut wrenching to watch. And he knew he was going to die, that was the worst of it. This guy was a great ally to our friends. YY was the character GT fell in love with and vice versa and their romance was ok; it didn't take away from the main plot. YY went into a coma after her entire organization of spies and information were slaughtered and around the time GT lost his arm trying to save her; but at the end the trio rode off to find FS' Shifu physician who was also a miracle healer to save YY. There was also TB, Hulu, and several others that were good characters.
Costumes, OSTs, sets and the CGI especially FS' fantasy world where practices his theories with a duck and a wooden men that have WJ and GT's voices as well as understanding the hidden clues were cool. A lot however just didn't jive at all.
Cons: While the case solving was nice, the main case was a lot of build up to a lackluster outcome. There was no real book of treasure in the place they found. Instead it was the remaining loyalists of the emperor who was also there and had the face of the puppet emperor because the Breakwall leader who was a eunuch and apparently dying, used someone's game of faces technique to make the emperor's kid or someone else look just like him. The secret to the book of treasure was how to properly govern the state and the only reason the real emperor and his loyalists were stuck in that underground palace for 20 years was because the door could only be opened from the outside with the fully assembled Jade plate and the most of the pieces were lost or hidden but by parties unknown until now. There was weapons gold and jewels, plus miasma that was used to tell the real tale. But all this hunting down some special book was nothing more than restoring its rightful emperor.
Lord Wen pissed me off; he had so many chances to arrest and kill SSM but didn't want to get involved that it was ridiculous. Like the chamber of commerce murdered thousands of people in broad daylight but he was like forget it, no big deal. Even the Ma Gang didn't create that much mayhem. If it wasn't for him always letting SSM go, Wen Jiu would still be alive. And how literally everyone good or bad believed SSM's words as gospel was mind boggling; you just met him and he's telling the truth? He's lying through his teeth but everyone was too stupid to just believe him? Come on now; maybe the first few times but not all the time. SSM cared for nothing but power and himself; even his mentally challenged brother was left to himself which was hella wicked when he claimed to care so much about him. But sure let him get to the end; GT should have finished him off because no one else had the balls to.
With the last case with fake shamans and whatnot and the last jade piece, that case was already sliding into the negatives and suspension of disbelief. The storyline came apart at the end. Plus the forced feelings of FS and WJ just didn't cut it. She was for the most part too ditzy and pouty and there was literally zilch chemistry between them plus FS was completely unaware of feelings as his character was supposed to just care about being a good doctor and friend. So it felt unnecessarily forced.
Would I recommend it? It's one of those in between watches while waiting for something better to drop though the actors did the best they could with what they were given.
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