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Xianxia drama with a fresh taste
Just finished this drama, and I have to say I am really happy with the story and, especially, the ending. There are many good novels turned into bad dramas lately in xianxia genre, so this is really a nice surprise.Now lets talk about the cast:
Bai Lu: not much to say about her because I don’t doubt her quality, love this girl since Lu Zhao Yao in “The Legends”, and I’ve been watching almost all of her costume dramas and never got disappointed.
Ao Rui Peng: I am not too familiar with his works, first time saw him as Yan Yan in “A Female Student Arrives at the Imperial College”. He was perfect as a goofy Lei Wu Jie but I didn’t expect he would be such a cold ruthless demon king with a side of romance and VERY HANDSOME, and he did good. I hope people recognized his talents now and we’ll see him more 😊 I know he has a lot of upcoming dramas – I hope they will release Coroner's Diary soon!
Dai Lu Wa: cute. I remember her as a spoil sister in Lost You Forever – but in MM Fu Ling was beyond cruel and I somewhat expected she is the missing Bai Xi but didn’t expect her to be the missing weapon. She is just too beautiful to hate haha maybe that’s why Chong Zhao can’t hate her even before he recognized her as Bai Xi.
Chang Hua Sen : from jealous crazy disciple (A Journey to Love), then I thought crazy emperor in Are You The One, then the eternal / Hidden Lord. I don’t think he was ruthless enough in MM – but also hope we’ll see him more. I don’t see his next roles as 1st ML so hopefully he’ll get that soon.
Now the story. I love how this is not another typical xianxia story – those with many tribulations and scheming. Lots of heart breaking moments, but I am glad I didn’t have to throw my slippers at anyone (remember Wu Han???). And speaking of ALP, though both ALP and MM novels are from the same writer and somewhat connected, the dramas are not related. I heard due to copy right, they changed the name from Yue Mi to Bai Shuo, and Tian Qi to Fan Yue, and I’m glad they did because the stories happened at the different timeline and different realms. Keeping the names differently make me not to keep trying to connect MM story to ALP story.
When people ask me which one is my fave among ALP, TLI, or MM, I think the three of them are just different stories. Probably TLI and ALP feels more connected, but I think MM is a complete separate story. While ALP is a great drama, the story line is a very common xianxia story. ALP is more complex and you might need to watch multiple times to fully understand the emotional connections with the characters.
MM feels, fresh and different, easier to understand. I also think the chemistry, unexpectedly, is really strong between Bai Shuo and Fan Yue.
The ending, phew! The novel was unfinished during the drama was made, I am glad it is a HE, maybe another five second ending, but that that one extra helps with the closure. Yes other characters died, but I’m so tired of watching supporting roles live but main roles died. Besides, like what Tian Huo said, all of them have their purpose.
If there is one thing I don’t like about this drama, it’s the blood 🩸 🩸spitting scene. Urgh, the way they puke out a bucket out of nowhere – not even spitting anymore. Is this a new thing???
In closing, if you're looking for a sweet fantasy drama without much heart wrenching, this is the one.
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Love
Just finished this one, and love love it! I liked Feng Shao Feng from The Story of Ming Lan and in this one, I really like his role as Liu Yan. His character as protective but not over bearing suit him really well. I also like Jing Tian here, and both of them made really great chemistry.This is NOT wuxia or xianxia, this is imperial drama. So, it is a bit on the slow pacing. Not a lot of fighting, lots of scheming, lots of unexpected but expected twists. Also, the story or the idea, is very bold, dreamy, can't be more fiction than this. It is a lot easier to imagine flying gods and goddess than female official entangled in out of wedlock relationship 😅 But the love relationship was beautifully done. If you like Dream of Splendor, The Sword and the Brocade, Destined, then you might like The Legend of Zhouhua.
Bonus: OST/MV are beautiful:
明明 (Clearly) by Zhou Shen 周深
灼心 (Scorching Heart) by Liu Yuning 刘宇宁
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Another masterpiece
Done! After waiting for almost 5 years, S2-36 episodes gone just like that 😭 but the whole season didn't dissapoint. Do I like S1 better, maybe. I feel S1 is more cohesive, every episode was crafted nicely to tell the whole story. S2, it's a bit more choppy like getting all the puzzle pieces thrown together at the same time and have no clue what to expect 😅 could be because of the episode limitation?But! I have to say Zhang Ruo Yun saved it all. His acting skill is more refined, his facial expressions are really impressive (and charming 🥰). Bonus - love his hair style, don't think I've seen wavy male hair style in any costume dramas 😄😄
I also love some new roles in S2. The Empress is definitely interesting and with the way she hides a bottle of wine in her sleeve - I wonder what else people actually put in there...🤔
Anyway. I heard some people who loved S1 complaining about S2 🤷♀️ Yes, more dialogues in S2 but this drama was never intended to be wuxia drama so I didn't care that part. In fact this is a very few dramas where I have to pay attention to all the dialogues otherwise I would get lost. I even had to slow down a few times too.
For me, I love both seasons equally.
I knew from the very beginning this drama has 3 seasons (the book has 800 chapters or so) and S2 ended with another open ending, but at least nobody got stabbed this time.
I just hope we don't have to wait another five years!
What's next...rewatch with a better sub!
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