ShortCircuit

The editing is all over the place, there are parts where I wondered if it'll be a reverse-harem comedy, then they added some sprinkles of horror, one of the main female characters hasn't even put up an appearence yet, LOL, I see why they need 20 eps for this one. Add that some of the cast (support or main, even) are acting a bit raw, like they're not certain on how to actually move, talk or even express emotions. I hope they'd grown into it, this is a pretty long series, and they'd have had the time to get it right.

On the plus side, though, this really looks to be an actually original fantasy drama (well, nevermind the tropes), I love the sets and costumes (no more hanboks for the scullery maids, yay!), the beginning is really intriguing - because seriously, I'll use a spoiler on this later - and there's the comedy. The FL manages to convey the comedic aspect rather well so far, and it's not her fault I keep thinking about Zhang Zi Yi in Hero (CN, 2002) when I see her face, they look so much alike! (Or is it just me?)

The effects are amazing for such a long drama, I hope they didn't spend the whole budget on just the first eps and there's going to be some more magic in the future eps. The music also could stand some upgrading, but it's the first ep only, there's time to improve.

Overall, I'll watch the next one, and maybe a few more after that, until it either shows they'll keep up, or that they're spent, and then decide.

She has only been dying for these eps. Does the plot move somewhere else and soon, please? He's the still the whipped puppy, err, fish, from part 1, she STILL treats him like he's an idiot (I mean, he's the prince of North Abyss, people go to war to die on his command, but she doesn't tell him anything important, DESPITE knowing theirs is supposedly a lifebond and he'll end up alone forever soon enough.)

What kind of love is that? Is he supposed to be inferior because she's a Spiritual Master and he's a ~big-tailed white fish~?

I still love the songs, the cinematography is still pretty good (it was amazing in the first part), but TBH I'm pretty fed up with the lake prison house setting, the butterfly girl is getting much more annoying than in the first part, and the story really needs to move on. Soonest, please. I'm almost in the second half of the season, and things haven't moved an inch from where they were at the end of part 1.

I think there's going to be some rebirth involved, given the OP song, and I love a good rebirth story, I just wish it happens soon enough things aren't expedited in the last 2-3 eps for the sake of a HEA/HFN.

PS Li Shu, while also a whipped puppy, is getting much more interesting every moment. Ci Sha's are the only honest reactions / convincing emotions I've seen from a lot of the actors, in this second part.

PPS The cat lady's cousin, the troublemaker, is a complete and total idiot. Who TF decided he should still be a military leader?!

After 7 eps of this second part...

No, it's not, but the leads, who happen to be both male, have great chemistry.

This is such a great rom-com, why wouldn't you watch this? :D

Don't believe me, watch the trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt0PFf2CWCI

If those looks LWJ gives WWX when he isn't looking are appearing as bromance, thank the powers that be we never got the full-on romance, LOL. The Earth can't stand to be so scorched :D

The last episode is a take on se7en and nobody can change my mind. I am not sure I liked it as I would have liked it in 2015 had I watched it then but it was a decent drama with way too many coincidences, genius-level computer nerd (I'm in - type), annoying cop + guaranteed sad ending from dark OCN drama.

So... yeah. That's it.

No. 10 is right. He is perfect. In order of appreciation, based on only the dramas and movies of his I've watched so far, WWX is still my most favourite character (because I actually do love an untamed hero), and then, equally, Dr. Gu and Ji Chong. It's extremely surprising to me to learn he played Ji Chong even before TU - he already had the acting chops, as they say, and he very much saves the day in that drama, given the way the post-production and repeated censoring destroyed its original story flow. (Also, that 183.6 cm height really shows in that drama, LOL, because I sure did notice the long legs :D, ChoNa will know, I linked some YT FMVs in a comment about it in a previous article :D)

I'm looking forward to TLP, and any of his dramas or movies, my only complaint being there are too few of them still... Here's hoping there'll be more XZ content in the future, including more songs, and even more appreciation from the rest of the world :)

PS I love he loves his cat, too. There's no instance of BTS or interviews he's asked about her, and he wouldn't start giving detailed explanations of her everyday life and habits. That's what any catlover does, LOL, they rule our lives :D

Thank you for the article!

It's actually a tactics of NingQue, it's not because he's resenting SangSang or whatever. He's just trying to protect her - I mean, they have to have a lot of cliches there, and what's more cliche than the "I'm pushing you away because I want you to be safe" trope? :D She's going to do it in return too for good measure :D And in his favour, NingQue looks like he really likes ShanShan too.

The ending of S1 is not really a cliffhanger, though obviously the story isn't finished. And they changed so many actors in S2, not just CFY but Zoey Meng too (the Sword Saint) and a lot more, maybe due to time restraints, I don't know (she most probably was already preparing for The Untamed, and he's been trying really hard to make it into the big screen movies... and was SO young at the time - he's only 22 now, LOL, and this was filmed more than 4 years ago). But there's something going on between CFY and Ireine Song that isn't there between her and Dylan Wang, so after I gave it a try for a few eps, I dropped S2 too. The story itself also changed from doomed-world-waiting-to-perish (and AWESOME atmosphere) to something like okay-now-what?! once the prophesized dark child is revealed. The fighting is there, the FX are there... but the soul of it seems to be gone (for me anyway.) It goes from something new and fresh and always interesting to something more xianxia/wuxia regular, and I really didn't like the switch.

I myself went in (S1) for the bromance, the mystery and the great fighting scenes. The rest followed. You'll probably end up liking it anyway, as I did, LOL (though it didn't hit too hard with me in the beginning, I still think about it from time to time, and revisit the soundtrack). So I hope it'll be worth the watch :D

The mains are NingQue and SangSang, all the rest are there for the giggles.

Pay some attention - not too much - to the Saints, the Calligraphy Master (just because he's a hoot!), LongQing (because he acts like he's the main villain, but his story isn't done by the end of S1), and the Brothers in the Academy (for the bromance).

As for the rest, just enjoy the romp, the special FX and the music, because it's great.

(Darkness in particular, I love that theme. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3eG63ktTAk)

And oh, all the epic battles and fighting scenes!!!

1. MinSoo is supposed to provide a twist in the later eps. Sadly it's not the twist we were all hoping for - as in, he's also from another timeline like KHW.

2. No he's not.

3. No he doesn't.

4. He ends up - somewhat - with Hee-Ah, in the last two or three eps. Nothing obvious but suddenly they're into each other or something.

5. Some of the small fry end up in prison, some with suspended sentences, main villain dies off somewhere (he goes missing, presumed dead.)

So he woke up from being concussed and set up as if he had killed the snitch, and what does he do, FIRST THING? He destroys evidence. I mean, it was obvious he was being set up, but he was SO by the book before, hating on SY just because he provided the aged portrait of his former colleague, never ever bending the law... and in one hot second he turned and became almost a crooked cop.

I mean, what good cop EVER destroys evidence, even if it points at him? He had the whole team behind him, he had Shen Yi - who was trusting him with everything, including his life (he had at some points in that ep and the following ones til it's cleared away, a face like his whole world was going to crumble. Just because he was ONLY beginning to think that DC was involved in the whole mess.)

And they never even addressed it, either. They found the real culprits, solved the case, and nobody just went - oops, but what about DC destroying evidence, investigating by himself when he was actually one of the main suspects (admittedly just suspected, but HE and basically SY too knew the truth), and he's never punished for it...

That first instinct to hide or change evidence and then to go looking for new clues.... that did bode fairly bad. We're lucky China doesn't allow many crooked cops in their dramas, or we'd be left without a hero and/or SY would have to point the finger at DC.

There are no erotic scenes in the novel OR the extras (usually that's where the 18+ scenes are hidden.) There is clear flirting but more on the romantic side. Unless it's by WKX. The only small part where it's implied they actually get down to business is in one extra where the emphasis is on how they decided who gets to top, but no details beyond that.

AFAIK, there are English TLs, look it up on novelupdates. Though some (or most) TL sites might be under lock by now, given the crackdown on unauthorised TLs that happened in the beginning of this year.

She's just the set-up for season2, if any (I doubt there'll be a second season, myself, but I've been surprised before by SK dramaland *cough* like the Tale of the Nine-Tailed extra seasons nobody asked for *cough*).

She's supposed to be the main villain and is only in it for the money. The villains-assemble! cast at that table also looks to be there just in case some of them would be willing to resume their roles.

Nevermind her, LOL.

IMHO they didn't show Du Cheng pulling Shen Yi from the water in that serial swindler episode (because there's no way an ambulance would have gotten there in time) because then he'd have to give him CPR. And that includes mouth-to-mouth, And THEN where would we all be? :D The drama wouldn't have made it out from the censorship bureau LOL.

PS Also, is that Luo YunXi's shadow as Chu WanNing in your profile pic? Because that nose is (almost) impossible to mix up with someone else's. And I can't think of any other drama he's in - or about to be in - than 2ha.

Wei WuXian (ML) can control spirits (it's corpses in the novel, but censorship didn't even want to consider that, LOL) and is using them for fighting.

Lan WangJi (the other ML) and basically his whole clan can use music in order to fight - and also can control and/or quiet spirits with it.

They all can use swords, and there are some battle scenes, individual and melees.

But this is not a drama about wars and battles, and not even about mastering a fighting style. It's a drama about people and what makes them tick, and about assumptions, redemption, betrayal, sacrifice and love.

Do consider it :)

He is not the Clan Leader, he's just a teacher and the uncle of the Lan brothers. He doesn't HAVE any actual power other than being a respected teacher that all clans send their kids to in order for them to get a good education and discipline. And given certain circumstances about his own brother, the father of the two Lan brothers, he is VERY much against anyone who might even hint is not well-disciplined, nevermind someone like WWX. In the drama, by this point Lan XiChen is actually the Clan Leader, as his father is now gone (there's a bit of a difference in the book timeline, but esentially the father, the former Clan Leader, is out of the picture after the Wen Clan burned down Cloud Recesses.) So no, Lan QiRen is there just as a teacher (or Master), not a leading power figure.

Lan XiChen on the other hand, is very much the model Clan Leader but he has this friend that he trusts just as much as LWJ trusts WWX and well... things happen.

Does anyone know if there's going to be a release of the OST that includes the BGM music?

There is no romance LOL. The OP means they put in a smidgeon of a rosy ending scene to make watchers a bit uncertain, before hitting them with the real ending (which is a huge surprise).

Be assured nobody's concerned with anything romantic throughout the series, LOL. And I definitely get the feeling of wanting romance-free (or as much as possible) police/heist stories :D

I was going to, but I read a spoiler in here that his character died. So unless he was a villain there (which he probably wasn't) I need more time to prepare for it.