Disappointing
Dropping this after 11 episodes.
Positives:
1/ What a gorgeous looking drama! It's as if someone saw one of those pretty Manhuas and decided to bring them to life. Midnight blues, lush greens and dark golds bring a beautiful aesthetic.
2/ Great costumes. I love the darker color scheme they've chosen, I myself don't like the pale pinks and blues most Wuxia's choose for their leads (meant to denote their purity) so this was a welcome change.
All well tailored to the actors with gorgeous embroidery and elegant draping. Sometimes I just pause the episode just to take it the beauty of the costumes.
3/ Great fight scenes. Crisp, clean, elegant and pack a punch. Glad they weren't just 90% pointless flying.
Negatives:
1/ The story may seem intelligent at first glance but it becomes quickly apparent that the writer is compensating for his/her inability to conjure clever plot threads with overly complex layers, and because this is often exhausting and hard to maintain, the times where the characters fall for fairly straightforward and simple traps quite jarring.
2/ While the synopsis promises a spy story with the reasonable expectation of intrigue and tension, it is actually the story of the Gongs and one man's journey to becoming worthy of the crown, protecting his "kingdom" from the external and internal forces that threaten to tear it apart. Our two spies in the 11 episodes that I've seen are mostly spending their time aiding the ML on their quests/gaining their favor. Very little spying so far.
3/ The actors seem to have been given a strange direction: Be as flat and monotonous in your delivery as much as possible. This has the effect of rendering the characters no more than rough sketches rather than fully realized people, one you can't tell what the characters are feeling at any given moment, it makes it hard to gain insight into them let alone become invested in their journeys.
4/ Speaking of the acting, I wasn't a fan of the majority of the actors. Esther Yu has one perpetual scrunched brows expression, Jolin Jin is too animated, Tian Jia Rui is too amateurish in portraying the arrogance of his character, Lu Yu Xiao's choice to act suspicious at every sentence uttered is a bad choice for her character, our suspicion towards Shanghuan Qian should've been the result of her taking seemingly contradictory actions while delivering a sincere performance at every one, instead we are left with the impression that we don't know this character at all. I've dropped this at 11 ep though so maybe that has changed.
Zhang LingHe and Ryan Cheng are fine.
My favourite despite his short screen time is actually Omid who plays HanYa Si, he acts with his eyes really well.
5/ The storytelling style chosen to tell the events of this story is detrimental to the momentum of the series. Every time one of our MCs is faced with a critical moment, we immediately flashback to the key that will save them in the present. This leads to a chopped progression. This is further compounded by the fact that this visual media is allergic to visual storytelling, everything has to be explained to the audience at the moment that it happens, everything requires an elaborate exposition. Our ML had a trial meant to challenge him and rather than have us watch him work thorough it, another character had to sit and explain how he is a kind-hearted and persistent person.
6/ The dialogue is an especially weak point. It is perfunctory pretending to be authentic. Oh, our MCs are meeting for the second time? Cue the dead parents conversation! Oh, our leads need some time together so we make their relationship believable? Have them talk about some flower!
7/ The pacing is another major issue. The series crawls to a halt by episode 6 and keeps spinning its wheels.
7/The music is unremarkable but the cue notes are insufferable. Because the writing is weak and the delivery weak, the cue notes feel like blatant emotional manipulation.
Pity, because the premise is genuinely interesting and the first episode had great potential but the execution leaves much to be desired. Because of the points mentioned above, this story comes off as artificial and lacking in any meaningful emotional depth. I struggle to discern what the purpose of the tale being told here, are there any themes being explored or is there any message waiting to be conveyed? Because based on those 11 episodes that I've watched, the raison d'être behind this drama seems to be that the writer/director wanted a Wuxia with dark costumes and that's all.
Positives:
1/ What a gorgeous looking drama! It's as if someone saw one of those pretty Manhuas and decided to bring them to life. Midnight blues, lush greens and dark golds bring a beautiful aesthetic.
2/ Great costumes. I love the darker color scheme they've chosen, I myself don't like the pale pinks and blues most Wuxia's choose for their leads (meant to denote their purity) so this was a welcome change.
All well tailored to the actors with gorgeous embroidery and elegant draping. Sometimes I just pause the episode just to take it the beauty of the costumes.
3/ Great fight scenes. Crisp, clean, elegant and pack a punch. Glad they weren't just 90% pointless flying.
Negatives:
1/ The story may seem intelligent at first glance but it becomes quickly apparent that the writer is compensating for his/her inability to conjure clever plot threads with overly complex layers, and because this is often exhausting and hard to maintain, the times where the characters fall for fairly straightforward and simple traps quite jarring.
2/ While the synopsis promises a spy story with the reasonable expectation of intrigue and tension, it is actually the story of the Gongs and one man's journey to becoming worthy of the crown, protecting his "kingdom" from the external and internal forces that threaten to tear it apart. Our two spies in the 11 episodes that I've seen are mostly spending their time aiding the ML on their quests/gaining their favor. Very little spying so far.
3/ The actors seem to have been given a strange direction: Be as flat and monotonous in your delivery as much as possible. This has the effect of rendering the characters no more than rough sketches rather than fully realized people, one you can't tell what the characters are feeling at any given moment, it makes it hard to gain insight into them let alone become invested in their journeys.
4/ Speaking of the acting, I wasn't a fan of the majority of the actors. Esther Yu has one perpetual scrunched brows expression, Jolin Jin is too animated, Tian Jia Rui is too amateurish in portraying the arrogance of his character, Lu Yu Xiao's choice to act suspicious at every sentence uttered is a bad choice for her character, our suspicion towards Shanghuan Qian should've been the result of her taking seemingly contradictory actions while delivering a sincere performance at every one, instead we are left with the impression that we don't know this character at all. I've dropped this at 11 ep though so maybe that has changed.
Zhang LingHe and Ryan Cheng are fine.
My favourite despite his short screen time is actually Omid who plays HanYa Si, he acts with his eyes really well.
5/ The storytelling style chosen to tell the events of this story is detrimental to the momentum of the series. Every time one of our MCs is faced with a critical moment, we immediately flashback to the key that will save them in the present. This leads to a chopped progression. This is further compounded by the fact that this visual media is allergic to visual storytelling, everything has to be explained to the audience at the moment that it happens, everything requires an elaborate exposition. Our ML had a trial meant to challenge him and rather than have us watch him work thorough it, another character had to sit and explain how he is a kind-hearted and persistent person.
6/ The dialogue is an especially weak point. It is perfunctory pretending to be authentic. Oh, our MCs are meeting for the second time? Cue the dead parents conversation! Oh, our leads need some time together so we make their relationship believable? Have them talk about some flower!
7/ The pacing is another major issue. The series crawls to a halt by episode 6 and keeps spinning its wheels.
7/The music is unremarkable but the cue notes are insufferable. Because the writing is weak and the delivery weak, the cue notes feel like blatant emotional manipulation.
Pity, because the premise is genuinely interesting and the first episode had great potential but the execution leaves much to be desired. Because of the points mentioned above, this story comes off as artificial and lacking in any meaningful emotional depth. I struggle to discern what the purpose of the tale being told here, are there any themes being explored or is there any message waiting to be conveyed? Because based on those 11 episodes that I've watched, the raison d'être behind this drama seems to be that the writer/director wanted a Wuxia with dark costumes and that's all.
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