This review may contain spoilers
Started Strong
Although a very different plot, this has the same essence as The Longest Day In Chang'an and not surprisingly, it turns out they both had the same director. Unfortunately, they both also have similar flaws with how they wrap up the ending.
A few episodes in and I was hyped about the fantastic dialogue and actors. It has become very rare to come across series that actually has you intellectually stimulated where you feel the need to hang onto every word. The Litchi Road starts off very strong in the first 1/3 of episodes with a very natural plot flow and great introduction of multiple characters. The 2/3 of episodes is when it started to waver just a tad with slightly choppier shifts between different scenes. And the final third of the episodes (particularly when Eunuch Yu enters the plot) is when it really starts to descend into the abyss. Almost as if a completely different director stepped in and was pressured to just complete it, one way or another.
It is really quite aggravating because there are so many things done well. The charisma between the actors, the main plot, the costumes, the background, the subtle humor, and most importantly, the naturalness of the dialogues. But when the plot starts to lose its way toward the end, so did the charm of our main character, Li Shan De. While he's portrayed as a kind and honest man, he doesn't have much character growth at all throughout all his ordeals. It's one thing to stick to your nature and beliefs but it's another to stay ignorant to the harm it causes those around you. He ends up being another one of the individuals who selfishly wants (with good intentions), would never survive or succeed without having the heavy support of those willing to do the dirty work behind the scenes, but would irritatingly judge those who aren't as righteous and honest as himself.
Another flaw with the plot is how they halfheartedly highlighted those who sacrificed themselves. It was done so poorly that they shouldn't have even tried. There was a really good buildup of relationship developments between the characters and they did a pretty good job with highlighting the history and background of many, but then these same characters would just suddenly be written out of the story altogether. And man, what they did with his brother was just completely absurd because he was a fantastic character.
Nevertheless, compared to many other series that focuses on distracting us with over-dramatizations, long-winded romantic triangles, and other fluff, this one was still good enough for me to write a longer than usual review lamenting about how they completed it.
A few episodes in and I was hyped about the fantastic dialogue and actors. It has become very rare to come across series that actually has you intellectually stimulated where you feel the need to hang onto every word. The Litchi Road starts off very strong in the first 1/3 of episodes with a very natural plot flow and great introduction of multiple characters. The 2/3 of episodes is when it started to waver just a tad with slightly choppier shifts between different scenes. And the final third of the episodes (particularly when Eunuch Yu enters the plot) is when it really starts to descend into the abyss. Almost as if a completely different director stepped in and was pressured to just complete it, one way or another.
It is really quite aggravating because there are so many things done well. The charisma between the actors, the main plot, the costumes, the background, the subtle humor, and most importantly, the naturalness of the dialogues. But when the plot starts to lose its way toward the end, so did the charm of our main character, Li Shan De. While he's portrayed as a kind and honest man, he doesn't have much character growth at all throughout all his ordeals. It's one thing to stick to your nature and beliefs but it's another to stay ignorant to the harm it causes those around you. He ends up being another one of the individuals who selfishly wants (with good intentions), would never survive or succeed without having the heavy support of those willing to do the dirty work behind the scenes, but would irritatingly judge those who aren't as righteous and honest as himself.
Another flaw with the plot is how they halfheartedly highlighted those who sacrificed themselves. It was done so poorly that they shouldn't have even tried. There was a really good buildup of relationship developments between the characters and they did a pretty good job with highlighting the history and background of many, but then these same characters would just suddenly be written out of the story altogether. And man, what they did with his brother was just completely absurd because he was a fantastic character.
Nevertheless, compared to many other series that focuses on distracting us with over-dramatizations, long-winded romantic triangles, and other fluff, this one was still good enough for me to write a longer than usual review lamenting about how they completed it.
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