Oh no!!! He becomes a simp? Why!!!!?? My badass Sima Jiao becomes a simp? I'm on episode 13 and have been savouring…
That's okay if you didn't like it—I'm not saying you shouldn't share your opinion. I'm just offering another perspective. Like you said, it's okay to have different opinions.
I've watched too many Chinese wuxia, historical, and fantasy dramas, and honestly, most are built on the same premise. Very few shows did what When Destiny Brings the Demon did. One thing that really stood out to me was that no one was killed off due to a lack of trust, which is pretty rare.
I also don’t want other viewers to think Sima Jiao was just a simp, because there’s a reason our male lead had to become more gentle. That was kind of the whole point—and the novel the show is based on explains it in more detail. I just wanted to offer another point of view, since I’m sure others might share your perspective too.
What I appreciated is that he removes himself from all the killing—not because he becomes weak, but because it shows real emotional growth. In most wuxia dramas, the villains are usually driven by some obsession that leads to their madness or eventual downfall. In his case, love not only saves him, but also clears his mind and gives him the chance to live a life he never got to before.
Oh no!!! He becomes a simp? Why!!!!?? My badass Sima Jiao becomes a simp? I'm on episode 13 and have been savouring…
I'm reading your review and laughing, thinking, “What’s wrong with that? LOLZ.” I don’t think the blood pills were enough to seriously hurt him — after all, it requires no cultivation to pinch a finger and bleed a little. It’s the constant fighting that drains him.
Also, in the first arc, we meet a mysterious immortal who tells Liao Ting Yan the secret behind the life-saving pill tied around his ankle. At that point, he was seriously wounded and on the verge of becoming the next demon lord — if the hatred in his heart hadn’t faded, like in Till the End of the Moon. But this show takes a different path, showing that love is enough to save our male lead.
I think everything was really well thought out. The female lead’s character and development were perfect. She is who she is — lazy and harmless — and without that, the male lead wouldn’t have let his guard down or fallen in love with her. They’re exact opposites, and they push each other to be the best version of themselves without trying to change one another.
For once, we have a female lead who sticks to her principles, with or without her memories — something you rarely see in Wuxia dramas, where everyone tends to act like they were born yesterday, even if they’ve supposedly lived a million years.
Given the kind of world they live in, it reminds me of how Ye Ru Ling, in the first arc, betrays Liao Ting Yan to save her people. Once her memories were erased, she became true to herself — freed from that responsibility and burden. But no matter what Liao Ting Yan went through, she never killed unless her hand was forced.
TTEOTM energy for sure — but this show carves its own path.
Plus, the romance is one of the key features of this show — it's built on communication and trust between the main leads, which is another rare thing to find in Wuxia dramas. Most of them are frustratingly built on misunderstandings and a lack of trust, which honestly boggles my mind — especially after the characters have gone through life-and-death situations together.
The scene where they literally had a gunshot wedding and held the priest hostage seriously. I had no choice but to call it quits. I laughed, then shut my laptop the plot is crazy but the actors are great the male lead is definitely improving just needs better screen writers
This mini-series was so good If they had more time, I'm sure they could have flushed out the world and explained more, but it was captivating; they captured the viewer's attention within such a short time; it was amazing. series like these make me believe in the power of C-drama mini-series.
I love both our male leads but the chemistry between Zheng Xiao En | Xiao E and Duanmu Qing Feng is electric. I can't deny there budding feelings. I hope to see them in a drama together someday !!!
Im on ep 23 and srsly i cant stop falling asleep. Excruciatingly draggy. And i was just thinking about how HL…
OMG, I thought I was the only one who fell asleep watching this. ☉ ‿ ⚆ hehehe I honestly started skipping scenes and realized I missed nothing and 100% agree with you on your point about the great cast, chemistry and story to bad sigh...
amazing for the fluff and loved the healthy relationships with open communication, giant green flags everywhere but. Found it boring with only the lovey-dovey moments to look forward to. Hidden Love had a similar vibe too. With a healthy main couple relationship but with obstacles for the couple to go through to build their relationship and keep the viewers entertained
there are too many BLs that are based on smut and really immature character development and story lines these actors have enough potential to rock the Dramaland bus a create some ground-breaking ratiings with actual problems and issues in Gay coupling i wish there were more mature themes out there
There will be some... Btw Han Li + NGW...Actually 4 girls likes him 😅😅😅
This Comment was made by someone on Reddit 2 years ago and it explains the issue pretty well thought i would share
I was confused about what exactly was banned, and another user made this really awesome comment that explains the specifics.
Reddit link https://www.reddit.com/r/CDrama/comments/pgusiu/comment/hbgvjan/ freshair18 · 2 yr. ago · edited 2 yr. ago I don't think political palace drama (like Nirvana in Fire, Royal Nirvana) is banned, it's mainly palace harem dramas that focus on the struggle and fighting among concubines, be it for political or romantic purposes. I think the last one Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace has a lot of content like scheming abortion, torture and this type of thing that pushes the genre to the edge.
As to historical drama in general, it's a complicated topic and I don't think I can explain it all that well.
In the last decades, there was a trend of historical dramas with many fabricated contents. Historical dramas with fabricated stuff were the most popular drama type as the Chinese love to gossip about history, and in the process, the "gossip" can get out of hand quickly to the point that two historical figures that never met in real history could fall into love deeply. Also, there is a trend to overly focus on romance instead of other aspects of history. I suppose it's basically writing romantic fan fiction using historical figures.
It's called "historical Nihilism" by the CCP and it's a thing that the government is trying to regulate as well. For historical dramas in general, your story can be based on real history with fabricated stuff but as long as you don't use real historical figures and names, it's generally okay (Stand By Me is based on the late Tang Dynasty but they didn't use real names of characters or dynasty that they're based on). Historical dramas that use real historical figures and names, they can get into trouble if things in the drama do not accord with real history or are overly controversial (Sometimes even the regulators are fine with the stuff, it can anger history fans who would report the drama. This has happened to Legend of Ba Qing. The drama was cancelled due to the scandals of its leads, but it could have been aired earlier before the scandals. It was delayed because history fans reported the drama for having the female lead as Qin Shihuang's love interest had never existed. The King's Woman has similar stuff but the drama wasn't that well known).
The drama you mentioned Imperial Age, as far as I've heard, has trouble passing censorship because it features real historical figures and has controversial contents that do not accord with real history (I think they have either Zhu Yuanzhang or one of his princes' first and true love as a Mongolian princess). I don't know if there are other contents that are problematic. But for a drama that features such important historical figures and involves ethnic views, the censorship can be strict.
Also, I've heard that the government is actually encouraging investors to make more real and serious historical dramas (I saw this in an interview with Liu Heping, one of China's most renowned script writers with works such as Yong Zheng Dynasty. He is currently writing "Bei Dou Nan Qi Zhi Ge" (北斗南箕之歌 no english title yet, but it's a project that many actors dream of participating).
Standing ovation for Ning Yuan Zhou as Liu Yu in a journey to love his acting range is ridiculously amazing !!! I fell in love with his talent after this series what a performance !!! everyone else obviously with their repertoire would do well here, especially Liu Shi Shi as Ren Ru Yi / Ren Xin but kudos to this emerging talent. I am excited to see what doors open up for this eminently and eminence talented individual
Standing ovation for Liu Yu Ning as Ning Yuan Zhou his acting range is ridiculously amazing !!! I fell in love with his talent after this series what a performance !!! everyone else obviously with their repertoire would do well here, especially Liu Shi Shi as Ren Ru Yi / Ren Xin but kudos to this emerging talent excited to see what doors open up for this eminently and eminence talented individual
I've watched too many Chinese wuxia, historical, and fantasy dramas, and honestly, most are built on the same premise. Very few shows did what When Destiny Brings the Demon did. One thing that really stood out to me was that no one was killed off due to a lack of trust, which is pretty rare.
I also don’t want other viewers to think Sima Jiao was just a simp, because there’s a reason our male lead had to become more gentle. That was kind of the whole point—and the novel the show is based on explains it in more detail. I just wanted to offer another point of view, since I’m sure others might share your perspective too.
What I appreciated is that he removes himself from all the killing—not because he becomes weak, but because it shows real emotional growth. In most wuxia dramas, the villains are usually driven by some obsession that leads to their madness or eventual downfall. In his case, love not only saves him, but also clears his mind and gives him the chance to live a life he never got to before.
Also, in the first arc, we meet a mysterious immortal who tells Liao Ting Yan the secret behind the life-saving pill tied around his ankle. At that point, he was seriously wounded and on the verge of becoming the next demon lord — if the hatred in his heart hadn’t faded, like in Till the End of the Moon. But this show takes a different path, showing that love is enough to save our male lead.
I think everything was really well thought out. The female lead’s character and development were perfect. She is who she is — lazy and harmless — and without that, the male lead wouldn’t have let his guard down or fallen in love with her. They’re exact opposites, and they push each other to be the best version of themselves without trying to change one another.
For once, we have a female lead who sticks to her principles, with or without her memories — something you rarely see in Wuxia dramas, where everyone tends to act like they were born yesterday, even if they’ve supposedly lived a million years.
Given the kind of world they live in, it reminds me of how Ye Ru Ling, in the first arc, betrays Liao Ting Yan to save her people. Once her memories were erased, she became true to herself — freed from that responsibility and burden. But no matter what Liao Ting Yan went through, she never killed unless her hand was forced.
TTEOTM energy for sure — but this show carves its own path.
Plus, the romance is one of the key features of this show — it's built on communication and trust between the main leads, which is another rare thing to find in Wuxia dramas. Most of them are frustratingly built on misunderstandings and a lack of trust, which honestly boggles my mind — especially after the characters have gone through life-and-death situations together.
I was confused about what exactly was banned, and another user made this really awesome comment that explains the specifics.
Reddit link https://www.reddit.com/r/CDrama/comments/pgusiu/comment/hbgvjan/
freshair18
·
2 yr. ago
·
edited 2 yr. ago
I don't think political palace drama (like Nirvana in Fire, Royal Nirvana) is banned, it's mainly palace harem dramas that focus on the struggle and fighting among concubines, be it for political or romantic purposes. I think the last one Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace has a lot of content like scheming abortion, torture and this type of thing that pushes the genre to the edge.
As to historical drama in general, it's a complicated topic and I don't think I can explain it all that well.
In the last decades, there was a trend of historical dramas with many fabricated contents. Historical dramas with fabricated stuff were the most popular drama type as the Chinese love to gossip about history, and in the process, the "gossip" can get out of hand quickly to the point that two historical figures that never met in real history could fall into love deeply. Also, there is a trend to overly focus on romance instead of other aspects of history. I suppose it's basically writing romantic fan fiction using historical figures.
It's called "historical Nihilism" by the CCP and it's a thing that the government is trying to regulate as well. For historical dramas in general, your story can be based on real history with fabricated stuff but as long as you don't use real historical figures and names, it's generally okay (Stand By Me is based on the late Tang Dynasty but they didn't use real names of characters or dynasty that they're based on). Historical dramas that use real historical figures and names, they can get into trouble if things in the drama do not accord with real history or are overly controversial (Sometimes even the regulators are fine with the stuff, it can anger history fans who would report the drama. This has happened to Legend of Ba Qing. The drama was cancelled due to the scandals of its leads, but it could have been aired earlier before the scandals. It was delayed because history fans reported the drama for having the female lead as Qin Shihuang's love interest had never existed. The King's Woman has similar stuff but the drama wasn't that well known).
The drama you mentioned Imperial Age, as far as I've heard, has trouble passing censorship because it features real historical figures and has controversial contents that do not accord with real history (I think they have either Zhu Yuanzhang or one of his princes' first and true love as a Mongolian princess). I don't know if there are other contents that are problematic. But for a drama that features such important historical figures and involves ethnic views, the censorship can be strict.
Also, I've heard that the government is actually encouraging investors to make more real and serious historical dramas (I saw this in an interview with Liu Heping, one of China's most renowned script writers with works such as Yong Zheng Dynasty. He is currently writing "Bei Dou Nan Qi Zhi Ge" (北斗南箕之歌 no english title yet, but it's a project that many actors dream of participating).