Michelle Topham

I would say the one failing of Blood River is that the exposition scenes/conversations are often too long, with characters sometimes repeating information we already know.

Other than that, though, can't find fault with any of it. On Episode 18, and it's still an easy 10/10 for me so far.

Nope. Wanted to love this. Don't. Dropped.

It's the same old same old with different actors, and it's draggy and uninteresting. Really tried but poking needles in my eyes is preferable. And the rating is ridiculously high for a pre-packaged fest of blandness with pretty cinematography. Fan girls, eh! (shrug)

That's exactly my sense of it right from Ep 1 (no sense of fulfillment for any of it, and massively repackaged). A shame as both lead actors deserve phenomenal scripts, as they're so talented.

Anyway, will try to get back to it over the next few days when my free time allows. Thanks for the reply :)

No worries. :) Only reason I knew about this morning was it popped up on a few of the Weibo accounts I follow.

Oh and, just FYI, I would be careful believing anything Tonboriday publishes. It's a crap site out of Indonesia that's mostly AI-generated garbage published just for clicks, and with information they never verify. I avoid that site like the plague. :)

Same for me with Coroner's Diary. A drama in a genre I usually love, but a show I looked forward to then hated everything about right from its first few seconds. Gave it another shot, just trying to get thru Ep 2. Nope. Apparently not for me :) Still have it 'on hold' but I doubt I'll ever go back to it.

That's not true tho. It's just hit 7.0 on Douban (just about to write an article about that).

Honestly though, I have a feeling it's not for me, so you might be right. It's odd as this was one I was HUGELY looking forward to, as both leads are two Chinese actors I always look out for, but I don't like either them or their characters in this so far. Everything about it just seems so bland and been-there-done-that-watched-this-7,000-times-already.

Like I said, I'll continue with it thru Ep 5, but if it hasn't ramped up markedly it will, sadly, be a drop.

Maybe I've just been spoiled this week with Blood River, which is floating all my boats :)

EDIT - Douban link btw -- https://movie.douban.com/subject/36563149/

Maybe that's what it is? If I know that, I'll struggle thru, as both Hou Ming Hao and Lu Yu Xiao are two of my faves, but it's just so bland right now. Thanks for the info. Will keep trying I guess :) And I'll get back to you if it starts to grab me to tell you that you were correct :)

Really struggling to get into this -- Finished Ep 3. Couldn't care less about any of the characters. When does it get better? Or is it just yet another Cdrama high rated because of who its lead actor is. (Someone I really like btw, but I dislike this thing so far, it's just so incredibly dull and bland). Can't muster up any enthusiasm to continue as it now stands.

Yep. I was an activist for gay rights for decades (not gay, just have many friends who are, and at one point was the "token straight person" on a gay organization's board of directors :) but you know the "woke" have gone too far with their gay/lesbian/trans bullshit when even I'm sick to death of having non-heterosexual characters shoehorned many times into EVERY BLOODY SERIES just to prove they're pushing "diversity, equity and inclusion".

Throw in making shows with white historical characters that are suddenly black or Asian, or any other of the other crap they push, and the woke bullshit has absolutely destroyed most western entertainment.

Imagine a Chinese drama suddenly being made about an historic Chinese figure, but that figure suddenly becomes African or white -- it would be the death penalty for the producers of that show from the CCP :)

It's all bullshit, and Hollywood's massively collapsing audience is proof of that, as only the 10% -- the extreme left-wing lunatics, the same people who support Hamas, an actual terrorist organization - have any interest in this garbage. :)

The faster Hollywood either a) goes bankrupt or b) grows a brain and gets back its common sense, the better off we will all be, IMO.

The "woke" b.s. that took over the U.S. film/TV industry for the last decade destroyed most American shows/movies. Like you said, brilliant shows before about 2010 then after... meh.

YOUKU always gets the better series as well. I've had WeTV now for about 3 years and don't watch it anywhere near as much as YOUKU, just because so many of their dramas aren't that interesting.

And same on U.S. shows/films - and I'm American. Must be at least 5 years since I've watched a single one. Just no interest. Not when there are so many superb Cdramas, Kdramas, anime and donghua to watch :)

1000% agree. I'm a huge BL fan, watch/read a lot of the stuff, but some of these people desperate to make every male actor gay just to fit their fetish is really annoying.

Plus, we all know how it ended up in China for actors like Xiao Zhan and Wang Yi Bo who got dragged into these crazy people's lunacy after The Untamed. Didn't end well for their career when it comes to working together again (they can't. they were banned from doing so, and all because of so-called "fans" stupidity).

The political intrigue and the hands behind the scenes controlling the puppets is beautifully written. One of the most interesting wuxia dramas I've seen in a long time.

Sure, it can be complicated. Sure, it makes you think. Sure, sometimes rewinding a scene a few times is necessary to figure out who is trying to destroy who this time :) but all of it is so worth it.

The performances too are exceptionally good. I haven't noticed an actor yet that has stood out as poor -- right down to the smallest part.

Even Yang Yu Tong, whose voice acting wasn't stellar in the first episode, settled into her role in subsequent episodes and is doing brilliantly now.

No. I've watched both other series (which I enjoyed immensely) but there's nothing in Blood River you wouldn't understand if you haven't. Watch it. It's an incredibly fun show, with some super performances.

Yet you're still apparently watching and leaving comments proving you don't understand the drama or its characters.

It's always weird to me that some people waste their limited time on this planet on things they're not enjoying, rather than moving on to something they will. After all, the only one it harms is themselves (shrug).

I must admit, the opening theme is growing on me. :)

Yep, They did a nice job of looking at the relationship between Mu Yu and Changhe in the donghua, but they've covered it in even more depth in Blood River so far. Really nicely done too, IMO.

I liked both Dashing Youth and Blood of Youth but, I agree with you, I find the Blood River characters and complicated political plot even more interesting.

Only on Episode 8, but this is FAR exceeding my expectations. Especially as a donghua fan who has watched the donghua series' three times already.

I honestly expected to be "Meh" about most of it, as it really is just repeating the story I know by heart already, (they have faithfully stuck to the donghua so far). But this is phenomenally well done.

Superb acting, especially by Gong Jun ( who obviously understands who Su Mu Yu is - so stoic he never shows emotion, fueled by an intensely moralistic personality, unshakeable in his commitment to "doing the right thing").

Chang Hua Sen and the most of the other male actors, especially the older ones, are also standouts.

The gorgeous cinematography, wire work/stunts/choreography are astounding, and the atmosphere they have created is absolutely en pointe.

Peng Xiao Ran is also giving a wonderful performance as Rabbit.

Honestly, the only thing I think is a bit 'Meh' is the music -- both the OP and ED are bland, and the soundtrack isn't particularly standout. But, that's still not detracting from my enjoyment one iota so... eh, right? :)

In other words, highly recommend this if you love an intense political drama full of backstabbing gloriousness (and yes, you might have to rewind a few scenes to figure out what's going on, but that will give you chance to appreciate the cinematography/stunts even more :), and with exceptionally good performances.

Again, showing your ignorance isn't the flex you think it is. You obviously don't understand the characters, their backgrounds, motivation or the world. Always amazed how people come onto MDL and prove in one sentence their complete cluelessness.