PeachBlossomGoddess

Zhou Yiran is an excellent young actor.

You are definitely not alone. That said, it does look like an expensive production. Not a bad one to revisit down the road in a drama drought.

It’s a plot driven story there isn’t much character development bc Zhan Zhao is a fully realized character already and a popular superhero like figure like a Batman or Superman, a lonely gladiator guided by his core principles.. From the sheer ignorance of some of the comments, I can’t help but wonder if it’s bc of bad subtitles. I am sure Viki has good subs but lots of people could be on unofficial sites. I am on Disney+ which only has Chinese subs. Some of the dialogue is fairly deep and quite well conveyed by Yang Yang that is resonating with native speakers but may miss the mark for people making do with bad subtitles. In any case, it’s not worth engaging with determined hate watchers.

Yes I watched the first episode. Seemed like another one where there are family politics among too many catty women for me. I have to be in the right mood for that kind of petty squabbles and right now it’s not hitting..

Yes Elder Zhu is just as suspicious I just haven’t figured out if he is doing it on Hu’s orders.

I think one of them has to be Linglong's dad. And maybe the other is Magistrate Hu.

I am quite sure they have both shown up already. We just don't know them by their real identities and not by those code names.

Can't decide between him and Elder Zhu.

Double happiness 囍 = marriage. Quite sure its not gonna be Zhan Zhao so don't get excited.

Thanks for posting this. The mainland audience definitely better understand the ethos of the character. I cringe with second hand embarrassment just imagining if any of them scroll through some of the - why doesn't he just kill them posts here.

Obviously Shao Jizu. He is not one of the 4 Divine Lords. So what is he doing cozying up to Xiangyang wang like that? He is clearly Xiangyang wang's confidante and is clearly being groomed by him. Can only be his son.

Yes, I am also pleasantly surprised. He continues to grow as an actor.

Thanks for warning the rest of us, I didn’t open it!

First time I am watching ZRN, I think outside of the fight scenes she is ok but her character is not that well fleshed out. Not a fan of ZYX’s acting in general so I doubt she could do better and in any case she already looks her age so I don’t think she was ever even a consideration for the 20 year old FL role in this kind of drama. The casting of Linglong’s Gugu is also not great. They have a similar plot setup in Generation to Generation and the actress that played the Gugu sold a tragic figure a lot better.

I suspect we have seen them already we just don’t know they are Dong Jun and Shan Gui. I thought one of them is probably the FL’s fiancée Shao Jizu but it seems from the latest episode it is not.

That doesn’t sound good.

You can find the old HK TVB dramas on various sites but they didn't age well and won't look attractive relative to the HD/4K quality stuff today. The only place you should consider trying them out is on TVB's official site for digitally remastered versions, which have much better quality. They are behind a paywall and I am not 100pct sure there are English subtitles but I think there should be:
https://www.mytvsuper.com/en/content/rw645b0a917d8842dbff73a95b/TVB-Drama-Digital-Remaster/

I think the narrative falls short in selling BYT and Linglong's connection to their brother and aunt. Bc it was set 15 years ago, there no scenes of their interactions as adults. I don't think either kid actor did a good job, I don't even remember what they look like anymore. So I can't connect with their sense of loss as grownups and I think Linglong/Zhang Ruonan in particular does not convey that well.

Well Heavenly Sword is a great classic wuxia, one of the most popular of all time. Its going to be near impossible for a fanfic writer like minifish to top that. And while this has strong wuxia themes its a bit of a hybrid bc while the main protagonist Zhan Zhao's roots were in jianghu, this story is about a time in his life when he left that behind.

I think the villain blueprint of this story is partly inspired by the popular Detective Dee movie - Detective Dee and the Four Heavenly Kings. There is one mastermind and he has four main henchmen called The Divine Lords. They are He Bo, Si Ming, Dong Jun and Shan Gui. The final two have not popped up or been revealed yet. The main villain however is known.