This review may contain spoilers
Very confusing but appealing
If there's one thing I can say about this show is that it's the opposite of what I was expecting. After watching FoF and MJTJ from the same director, I was sold almost immediately when I discovered he was making another one. When I saw that Yan An, Chen Du Ling and Tian Jia Rui were part of its cast, I was invested. I loved their performances before so surely they would create another masterpiece, right?
Nah...
The plot at the beginning of the show was very confusing. So much so that I lost interest in almost all of the characters. The pace was too quick, the storyline was all over the place and I felt like there was no emotional depth to it. Scenes that should be moving didn't touch me at all. Scenes that should have been epic fighting scenes didn't strike me as such due to an over-used OST. I was about to drop the entire thing when the story finally picked up around episode 10, when the party gets stuck in an illusion. Finally it felt as if the characters had some depth to them.
The only thing I truly missed during those episodes was the love story progression. I could understand the growing devotion between one pairing but the other one... most of the romantic growth between them happened off camera and was only used in flashbacks when one of them remembered their time together.
But then they broke out of the illusion and the story fell flat again. It swayed us back and forth between plotlines that didn't make much sense and then the whole timetravelling thing began and it all became so much worse.
Timetravel only works when it's done right. But when you mess with the lines of time, even in cinema, it can become messy really quickly. Unfortunately, VoS became an huge mess after they introduced a rewinding time element into a spiderweb of plotlines. It was hard to keep track of it all. I had difficulty keeping track of it without the timetravel thing and almost completely gave up again, wanting to drop the show, but stuck by it because of the amazing cast.
Positives:
- After I got used to the over-use of some of the OST songs, the songs grew on my and it's been on repeat ever since.
- Although I don't have much positive to say about the story, the cast truly made watching it worth it. I keep being blown away with how deep these actors are willing to go. I said before the story was lacking emotional depth and that's still true, but mainly due to the fast-paced script and character growth happening off screen. Not because the actors delivered a bland performance. I stuck by the show because of them. They all deserve every award out there. Especially Tian Jia Rui. He carried this show on his back.
- The visuals were breathtaking. I love the style and art form of the director's works and fell in love with them again.
- At one point I realised why things were so confusing at the beginning of the story. It felt like it was made to be like that due to the timetravel element. Things were supposed to be frayed and all over the place because so much had been changed in their timelines and I finally saw the brilliance of it all.
Negatives:
- The whole timetravel thing. Once it was introduced, it became an outright mess. Especially during the end. The story did not care for the butterfly effect of changing a major thing in the past. It did not care for timetravel rules by showing us what happened in the past and what was happening in the future at the same time. Removing that stone and killing the big bad should have been enough to reset the timeline, but it didn't. Only after they returned from the past did time reset. Unfortunately, the new timeline didn't make much sense. I didn't understand why some characters would remember all of it, while other didn't. Why the Formless Moon Sect still worked as if nothing ever happened. I just hoped it could have done more.
- It was too much, too fast. I felt like a tennisball being used in a tennis match. I was swatted back and forth between plotlines, storylines and trying to make sense of it all while keeping track of everyone.
Do I recommend this drama? Yes, I do. I might have some major problems with it but even considering those I would still want people to watch it and see for themselves. The cast did an amazing thing and gave us a performance more people should watch. BUT, that said, if you want to watch most of this cast perform you should consider watching Fangs of Fortune or My Journey to You.
Nah...
The plot at the beginning of the show was very confusing. So much so that I lost interest in almost all of the characters. The pace was too quick, the storyline was all over the place and I felt like there was no emotional depth to it. Scenes that should be moving didn't touch me at all. Scenes that should have been epic fighting scenes didn't strike me as such due to an over-used OST. I was about to drop the entire thing when the story finally picked up around episode 10, when the party gets stuck in an illusion. Finally it felt as if the characters had some depth to them.
The only thing I truly missed during those episodes was the love story progression. I could understand the growing devotion between one pairing but the other one... most of the romantic growth between them happened off camera and was only used in flashbacks when one of them remembered their time together.
But then they broke out of the illusion and the story fell flat again. It swayed us back and forth between plotlines that didn't make much sense and then the whole timetravelling thing began and it all became so much worse.
Timetravel only works when it's done right. But when you mess with the lines of time, even in cinema, it can become messy really quickly. Unfortunately, VoS became an huge mess after they introduced a rewinding time element into a spiderweb of plotlines. It was hard to keep track of it all. I had difficulty keeping track of it without the timetravel thing and almost completely gave up again, wanting to drop the show, but stuck by it because of the amazing cast.
Positives:
- After I got used to the over-use of some of the OST songs, the songs grew on my and it's been on repeat ever since.
- Although I don't have much positive to say about the story, the cast truly made watching it worth it. I keep being blown away with how deep these actors are willing to go. I said before the story was lacking emotional depth and that's still true, but mainly due to the fast-paced script and character growth happening off screen. Not because the actors delivered a bland performance. I stuck by the show because of them. They all deserve every award out there. Especially Tian Jia Rui. He carried this show on his back.
- The visuals were breathtaking. I love the style and art form of the director's works and fell in love with them again.
- At one point I realised why things were so confusing at the beginning of the story. It felt like it was made to be like that due to the timetravel element. Things were supposed to be frayed and all over the place because so much had been changed in their timelines and I finally saw the brilliance of it all.
Negatives:
- The whole timetravel thing. Once it was introduced, it became an outright mess. Especially during the end. The story did not care for the butterfly effect of changing a major thing in the past. It did not care for timetravel rules by showing us what happened in the past and what was happening in the future at the same time. Removing that stone and killing the big bad should have been enough to reset the timeline, but it didn't. Only after they returned from the past did time reset. Unfortunately, the new timeline didn't make much sense. I didn't understand why some characters would remember all of it, while other didn't. Why the Formless Moon Sect still worked as if nothing ever happened. I just hoped it could have done more.
- It was too much, too fast. I felt like a tennisball being used in a tennis match. I was swatted back and forth between plotlines, storylines and trying to make sense of it all while keeping track of everyone.
Do I recommend this drama? Yes, I do. I might have some major problems with it but even considering those I would still want people to watch it and see for themselves. The cast did an amazing thing and gave us a performance more people should watch. BUT, that said, if you want to watch most of this cast perform you should consider watching Fangs of Fortune or My Journey to You.
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