3
3
1
A drama. a tragedy and a farce.
The structure of the plot is great, the exposition is credible but the roll-out is often farce. What do I mean by that? Well the structure is deciding things like A betrays B, the exposition is the world building around it and the roll-out is how everything actually happens. And how it happens is the difference between credible and ridiculous.
There were three different directors for this drama. And my perception was that there were three distinct styles to the beginning, middle and end. The beginning was solid, but the middle was eye-rolling. Even a daytime soap would have struggled to match the melo that swept all before it. It was not in general the fault of the actors (Lin Jing excepted), imo, although they all did a nice line in pop-eyed surprise at some point.
The OTT voice acting, the cringe-worthy false laughter, the overly dramatic editing, the piling up of catastrophe on catastrophe, the average script, the relentless impossible fights and tedious predictability, all added together to take their toll. Getting people into a tight spot is relatively easy, getting them out of it dressed in the shreds of credibility requires ingenuity and imagination and tbh there simply wasn’t enough of that to go round.
Occasional moments in the first half but much of the second half provided me with a lot of laughter. Unfortunately, in all the wrong places and for all the wrong reasons. The pinnacle was the prince and the candle. If you’ve seen it, you won’t forget it. It took me out for at least a minute of convulsive mirth.
Apart from lots of loose ends for most of the characters, the last 6 episodes largely redeemed the deficiencies of what had come before. Although the emotional stakes were ramped up, this director turned down the wailing melo with the result that it really made an impact. Ethan Juan did a great job of Wuji and his voice actor, Ma Zheng Yang didn’t let him down. But unfortunately not everyone was as fortunate and the ranting and maniacal laughter continued in some quarters.
Somewhere underneath however there is something to praise in this drama. Even if the CGI and the unbelievably tacky military costumes (the sort that are garishly awful and look like something your mum ran up on the sewing machine for a float at the Lord Mayor’s Parade) left a lot to be desired. It had some interesting characters, a great plot structure, good twists and to start with some sizzling chemistry (well on ML side at least). Admittedly that paled into a sort of fond married couple dynamic later.
It rips along at a cracking pace and drags you along with it and there’s enough in there to satisfy most tastes and desires. So, if you’re the type to not notice the glaring faults and you can take rampant excess in your stride, go for it, you’ll love it. There’s plenty of folks that do.
There were three different directors for this drama. And my perception was that there were three distinct styles to the beginning, middle and end. The beginning was solid, but the middle was eye-rolling. Even a daytime soap would have struggled to match the melo that swept all before it. It was not in general the fault of the actors (Lin Jing excepted), imo, although they all did a nice line in pop-eyed surprise at some point.
The OTT voice acting, the cringe-worthy false laughter, the overly dramatic editing, the piling up of catastrophe on catastrophe, the average script, the relentless impossible fights and tedious predictability, all added together to take their toll. Getting people into a tight spot is relatively easy, getting them out of it dressed in the shreds of credibility requires ingenuity and imagination and tbh there simply wasn’t enough of that to go round.
Occasional moments in the first half but much of the second half provided me with a lot of laughter. Unfortunately, in all the wrong places and for all the wrong reasons. The pinnacle was the prince and the candle. If you’ve seen it, you won’t forget it. It took me out for at least a minute of convulsive mirth.
Apart from lots of loose ends for most of the characters, the last 6 episodes largely redeemed the deficiencies of what had come before. Although the emotional stakes were ramped up, this director turned down the wailing melo with the result that it really made an impact. Ethan Juan did a great job of Wuji and his voice actor, Ma Zheng Yang didn’t let him down. But unfortunately not everyone was as fortunate and the ranting and maniacal laughter continued in some quarters.
Somewhere underneath however there is something to praise in this drama. Even if the CGI and the unbelievably tacky military costumes (the sort that are garishly awful and look like something your mum ran up on the sewing machine for a float at the Lord Mayor’s Parade) left a lot to be desired. It had some interesting characters, a great plot structure, good twists and to start with some sizzling chemistry (well on ML side at least). Admittedly that paled into a sort of fond married couple dynamic later.
It rips along at a cracking pace and drags you along with it and there’s enough in there to satisfy most tastes and desires. So, if you’re the type to not notice the glaring faults and you can take rampant excess in your stride, go for it, you’ll love it. There’s plenty of folks that do.
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