12
73
2
A repetitive tale of lies and deceptions
This Xianxia drama focus on the intertwined fate of Tantai Jin, the demon Lord and and Li Su Su who goes on a quest into the past to destroys him while he is still in human form. I found the premise of the series very interesting as the main lead is almost a "Cinderella" weak hero at first before becoming more and more cunning. It is almost a character study about wickedness and how a jinxed fate can entrap someone into the way of evil. I also loved the heroine from start: a strong and intelligent female lead which does not sound or act like a child: a real breath of fresh air.
Unfortunately, the drama was not able to keep me interested all across its 40 episodes. There are some narrative arcs that I found less exciting. Some of the plotlines felt repetitive to me even if the timelines are different. There were always lies and deceptions between the main leads, conducting to so many misunderstandings. Some could have been easily avoided by communicating and trusting each other...It really frustrated me to see what felt as very low progress on that side as mistakes were repeated and repeated again.
The acting was quite good overall. Sometimes I felt that a few characters were a bit heavy-handed in terms of acting. Other than the main lead, the actors playing "villains" roles made it so obvious from scratch that they were bad guys, I would have appreciated a bit more subtlety in the acting and in the writing for those parts. Bai Lu and Luo Yun Xi carried the show on their backs, when I felt a bit bored during some arcs, it is their charisma that brought me back to care about the fate of their characters.
The production value was quite good, I like the variety in the costumes depending on the realms in which the characters were evolving. The special effects were not that great, especially the CGI animals. Some of the decors could have been better as they felt a bit plastic to me. I quite enjoyed the OST: there were a few good songs balancing well with the epic part of the story.
I would recommend this to people that love Xianxia drama. Even if it is a recent one, it certainly feels like a staple in the genre. There is a lot of qualities to the series overall but it unfortunately did not work enough for me to enjoy it all throughout my watch. There were a lot of things repetitive in the story that either frustrated me or bored me. The noble idiocy trope is a pet peeve of mine and I must say there was clearly too much of it for me in this show.
Unfortunately, the drama was not able to keep me interested all across its 40 episodes. There are some narrative arcs that I found less exciting. Some of the plotlines felt repetitive to me even if the timelines are different. There were always lies and deceptions between the main leads, conducting to so many misunderstandings. Some could have been easily avoided by communicating and trusting each other...It really frustrated me to see what felt as very low progress on that side as mistakes were repeated and repeated again.
The acting was quite good overall. Sometimes I felt that a few characters were a bit heavy-handed in terms of acting. Other than the main lead, the actors playing "villains" roles made it so obvious from scratch that they were bad guys, I would have appreciated a bit more subtlety in the acting and in the writing for those parts. Bai Lu and Luo Yun Xi carried the show on their backs, when I felt a bit bored during some arcs, it is their charisma that brought me back to care about the fate of their characters.
The production value was quite good, I like the variety in the costumes depending on the realms in which the characters were evolving. The special effects were not that great, especially the CGI animals. Some of the decors could have been better as they felt a bit plastic to me. I quite enjoyed the OST: there were a few good songs balancing well with the epic part of the story.
I would recommend this to people that love Xianxia drama. Even if it is a recent one, it certainly feels like a staple in the genre. There is a lot of qualities to the series overall but it unfortunately did not work enough for me to enjoy it all throughout my watch. There were a lot of things repetitive in the story that either frustrated me or bored me. The noble idiocy trope is a pet peeve of mine and I must say there was clearly too much of it for me in this show.
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