This review may contain spoilers
Well-written revenge drama, but struggles with uneven pacing
The story is set up well in the first episode where the foundation for revenge is laid and many of the antagonists are identified. Even Zhi Nu’s transition into Zang Hai is well done, providing all the details needed while measuredly moving the story forward.
Zang Hai moves to the capital and the story immediately gets more interesting with the additional players being revealed, while the cunning moves he makes put him in prime position to exact his revenge. Unfortunately, once he manages to become a “trusted” aide of the Marquis, moving onto the aristocrat’s property, the story starts to become less interesting.
It did have moments of intrigue but mostly started to drag. The story was written as if it came straight from the novella with every character beat and backstory displayed in meticulous detail on screen. That’s great for a book but can be difficult to make interesting onscreen if the script is not written with broadcast entertainment in mind.
The ML, Xiao Zhan, is good in this as are most of the supporting characters. The chemistry between the ML and his mentor is perfect. Not so much chemistry with the FL. Their interactions were flat and the actress in the role wasn’t that great. Again, well written to start. However, this just couldn’t hold my interest. So I ended up dropping it.
Zang Hai moves to the capital and the story immediately gets more interesting with the additional players being revealed, while the cunning moves he makes put him in prime position to exact his revenge. Unfortunately, once he manages to become a “trusted” aide of the Marquis, moving onto the aristocrat’s property, the story starts to become less interesting.
It did have moments of intrigue but mostly started to drag. The story was written as if it came straight from the novella with every character beat and backstory displayed in meticulous detail on screen. That’s great for a book but can be difficult to make interesting onscreen if the script is not written with broadcast entertainment in mind.
The ML, Xiao Zhan, is good in this as are most of the supporting characters. The chemistry between the ML and his mentor is perfect. Not so much chemistry with the FL. Their interactions were flat and the actress in the role wasn’t that great. Again, well written to start. However, this just couldn’t hold my interest. So I ended up dropping it.
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