One of the best of the year
I really enjoyed this drama. Here's my breakdown:
Pros:
-- It's a great battle of wits between the leads. Both the FL and ML are witty, sharp and keep each other on their toes, making the series tantalizing and binge-worthy.
-- The plot, though laden with many moving parts, is engaging and fairly simple to follow thanks to a single McGuffin that moves the story forward. While predictable in some ways (and honestly, which drama isn't), it also provides good twists and turns that keep you guessing and make for great cliffhangers.
-- The FL actress, Lu Yu Xiao, has this cute, girl-next door beauty. Not movie-star looks but an exquisite aura that explains why men fell hard for her. She plays a character who is also cunning, decisive and one of the best warriors out there but with none of that girl-boss trope that wrecks her femininity. It makes her more natural, balanced and approachable so her emotional scenes carry more weight.
-- The FX are awesome! It definitely made the wuxia magic come to life. Great production value and the rich, lush and wonderfully creative sceneries speak for themselves.
-- The final nemesis has plausible and deep underlying motives. To have a great lead, you need a great antagonist, and the actor, Yu Cheng En, with his naive-boyish looks, was a good fit for the role. His character deals with a mix of resentment, humiliation and obsession that makes him quite interesting and not one dimensional.
Cons:
-- I could do with fewer than 36 episodes. I'd say 26 tops. I fast-forwarded through some scenes with the secondary romantic couple (they weren't that interesting) and some family drama between the nemesis' families which seemed more like filler to me.
-- The acting range of Hou Ming Hao, the ML, is not elite, but to his credit, it was enough to render the character well. After all his story arch was heart wrenching and well layered. It demanded very intense scenes, so his role was no walk in the park.
-- One couple embodies mutual self-sacrifice while, in the end, while another couple alluded that marriage can be a stumbling block to one's career. You can find this dichotomy quite jarring or a plausible decision by the writers to provide different perspectives. So whether this is a pro or a con is in the eye of the beholder.
In the end, there are way more pluses than minuses so give it a go!
Pros:
-- It's a great battle of wits between the leads. Both the FL and ML are witty, sharp and keep each other on their toes, making the series tantalizing and binge-worthy.
-- The plot, though laden with many moving parts, is engaging and fairly simple to follow thanks to a single McGuffin that moves the story forward. While predictable in some ways (and honestly, which drama isn't), it also provides good twists and turns that keep you guessing and make for great cliffhangers.
-- The FL actress, Lu Yu Xiao, has this cute, girl-next door beauty. Not movie-star looks but an exquisite aura that explains why men fell hard for her. She plays a character who is also cunning, decisive and one of the best warriors out there but with none of that girl-boss trope that wrecks her femininity. It makes her more natural, balanced and approachable so her emotional scenes carry more weight.
-- The FX are awesome! It definitely made the wuxia magic come to life. Great production value and the rich, lush and wonderfully creative sceneries speak for themselves.
-- The final nemesis has plausible and deep underlying motives. To have a great lead, you need a great antagonist, and the actor, Yu Cheng En, with his naive-boyish looks, was a good fit for the role. His character deals with a mix of resentment, humiliation and obsession that makes him quite interesting and not one dimensional.
Cons:
-- I could do with fewer than 36 episodes. I'd say 26 tops. I fast-forwarded through some scenes with the secondary romantic couple (they weren't that interesting) and some family drama between the nemesis' families which seemed more like filler to me.
-- The acting range of Hou Ming Hao, the ML, is not elite, but to his credit, it was enough to render the character well. After all his story arch was heart wrenching and well layered. It demanded very intense scenes, so his role was no walk in the park.
-- One couple embodies mutual self-sacrifice while, in the end, while another couple alluded that marriage can be a stumbling block to one's career. You can find this dichotomy quite jarring or a plausible decision by the writers to provide different perspectives. So whether this is a pro or a con is in the eye of the beholder.
In the end, there are way more pluses than minuses so give it a go!
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