This review may contain spoilers
Lonely path through eternity
Immortal Ascension opened with some hard-hitting moments: a young boy (our protagonist Han Li, played to perfection by Yang Yang) and his best friend leave home and join the cultivators in order to provide for their families, and to have enough flatbreads. Throughout the show, the flatbread remains a powerful symbol of hope as well as a remembrance of who Han Li is/where he came from. The opening episodes were slow and poetic - time passes on and Han Li adapts to the world. These three episodes on the show set the tone for what unfolds later. These early moments of his life shape him both physically and emotionally and transform him into the loner that he becomes - as he experiences life, there is bitterness, there is also regret. Despite the way his shifu (physician Mo) turns out- the lessons he teaches Han Li echoes throughout Han Li's personal journey.
Han Li is the main character, and what this also means is that there are no other characters that take up significant screen time - the show is a ode to Han Li's journey to immortality. Yet, our main character is not born with extraordinary skills - he has to use his intellect to save himself in the beginning, and even later on. As Mo Cai Huan (Zhao Qing) tells him in what I consider the best scene on this show - "it must have been hard to cultivate without a spirit root". Yang Yang's expression is pained when he hears her say this. Maybe it's because she understands his suffering, intuitively. It's also the only moment in the entire show where we see Han Li's vulnerability and connection to Mo Cai Huan (I would say she is the only woman he runs towards; he runs away from all the others). We don't fully see Han Li's struggles - but he is seen working hard to cultivate. Perhaps it's the desire to survive, perhaps it's the desire to prove everyone wrong. One can cultivate without being born talented - working hard to immortality is a path in itself.
Mo Cai Huan was the only main female character that I really liked - her connection to Han Li and her own story was rather tragic: she lost her family and her love for Han Li remained unfulfilled. She did cry when she saw Han Li- she certainly had many reasons to cry, but Mo Cai Huan was the mortal reminder in Han Li's journey to immortality. She used her life to do good - to serve the people, and despite her life's tragedies, Mo Cai Huan is the most rooted character. When Han Li sees Mo Cai Huan's pharmacy he observes that this is also a good life. The two share a passion and talent for herbs and medicine, they instinctively understand each other - Han Li noticed that she was different when he first saw her at the Mo family house. Their many goodbyes are tragic too - perhaps Mo Cai Huan did not know which goodbye would be the last one. She, like all other mortal things in Han Li's life, perishes.
Of course, what immortality entails is itself hinted substantially in Han Li's own backstory - the family he left behind and watches from afar. The ending song on the show is brilliantly written - summing up Han Li's lonely path through eternity. Time passes by far too soon - to be immortal is to watch all else perish and disappear. "Was it yesterday, is it tomorrow"?
When Han Li hears of the passing of his shifu (Li Hua Yuan, whose death was one of the saddest moments on the show) this perishing world - his friends, his shifu, his colleagues- he knows this is a lonely path. His shifu's words resonate with Han Li's own: "There's so much beauty in the world - go and see it in my place"- Han Li is not a hero in the traditional sense - he does not rush into a fight - he mostly runs, knowing the limits of his own ability. Yet, he does stop to save some people in the course of the story.
Although the show had a lot of potential, I felt rather dismayed by the last two episodes. I know it is following the Donghua but Nanrong Wan was shoehorned into these last episodes, and her reaction to taking away Han Li's cultivation was rather frustrating. I found it very hard to like her, particularly as her character was infantilised. Having so many of the women fall for Han Li was also rather unbelievable, particularly with the limited time each of these characters spent with Han Li. He kept most of them at arm's length. Xuan'er's sudden obsession with Han Li was also unnecessary. The hunger games' parts were frankly not very interesting and as other viewers pointed out, it felt like a game - collecting treasures.
Although the show could have been better had it returned to its philosophical and emotional core in the last episode, I enjoyed this show overall. The cinematography was great, the music was perfectly placed and the acting (particularly Yang Yang, Zhao Qing, Wang Duo, Li Nai Wen, and Chin Shih Chieh) was great.
Han Li is the main character, and what this also means is that there are no other characters that take up significant screen time - the show is a ode to Han Li's journey to immortality. Yet, our main character is not born with extraordinary skills - he has to use his intellect to save himself in the beginning, and even later on. As Mo Cai Huan (Zhao Qing) tells him in what I consider the best scene on this show - "it must have been hard to cultivate without a spirit root". Yang Yang's expression is pained when he hears her say this. Maybe it's because she understands his suffering, intuitively. It's also the only moment in the entire show where we see Han Li's vulnerability and connection to Mo Cai Huan (I would say she is the only woman he runs towards; he runs away from all the others). We don't fully see Han Li's struggles - but he is seen working hard to cultivate. Perhaps it's the desire to survive, perhaps it's the desire to prove everyone wrong. One can cultivate without being born talented - working hard to immortality is a path in itself.
Mo Cai Huan was the only main female character that I really liked - her connection to Han Li and her own story was rather tragic: she lost her family and her love for Han Li remained unfulfilled. She did cry when she saw Han Li- she certainly had many reasons to cry, but Mo Cai Huan was the mortal reminder in Han Li's journey to immortality. She used her life to do good - to serve the people, and despite her life's tragedies, Mo Cai Huan is the most rooted character. When Han Li sees Mo Cai Huan's pharmacy he observes that this is also a good life. The two share a passion and talent for herbs and medicine, they instinctively understand each other - Han Li noticed that she was different when he first saw her at the Mo family house. Their many goodbyes are tragic too - perhaps Mo Cai Huan did not know which goodbye would be the last one. She, like all other mortal things in Han Li's life, perishes.
Of course, what immortality entails is itself hinted substantially in Han Li's own backstory - the family he left behind and watches from afar. The ending song on the show is brilliantly written - summing up Han Li's lonely path through eternity. Time passes by far too soon - to be immortal is to watch all else perish and disappear. "Was it yesterday, is it tomorrow"?
When Han Li hears of the passing of his shifu (Li Hua Yuan, whose death was one of the saddest moments on the show) this perishing world - his friends, his shifu, his colleagues- he knows this is a lonely path. His shifu's words resonate with Han Li's own: "There's so much beauty in the world - go and see it in my place"- Han Li is not a hero in the traditional sense - he does not rush into a fight - he mostly runs, knowing the limits of his own ability. Yet, he does stop to save some people in the course of the story.
Although the show had a lot of potential, I felt rather dismayed by the last two episodes. I know it is following the Donghua but Nanrong Wan was shoehorned into these last episodes, and her reaction to taking away Han Li's cultivation was rather frustrating. I found it very hard to like her, particularly as her character was infantilised. Having so many of the women fall for Han Li was also rather unbelievable, particularly with the limited time each of these characters spent with Han Li. He kept most of them at arm's length. Xuan'er's sudden obsession with Han Li was also unnecessary. The hunger games' parts were frankly not very interesting and as other viewers pointed out, it felt like a game - collecting treasures.
Although the show could have been better had it returned to its philosophical and emotional core in the last episode, I enjoyed this show overall. The cinematography was great, the music was perfectly placed and the acting (particularly Yang Yang, Zhao Qing, Wang Duo, Li Nai Wen, and Chin Shih Chieh) was great.
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