This review may contain spoilers
Review for both seasons as one
Not a big fan of romance-heavy plots and definitely not one with a harem. But this one went way above expectations in season one. The majority of the actors did an amazing job and I was really happy to finally see a large cast of younger folks actually doing some serious acting. This series also has enough reviews with substantial plot discussions so I'll just summarize what made this one special and what made it falter for me.
Positives:
- The character for the FL was incredibly charming and loaded with substance especially during her time disguised as a man.
- The three main male love interests were full of complex depth and what connected them to her through her journey were very natural considering the deity/demon aspects. Xiang Liu and Xiyan Cang Xuan in particular were extraordinary and while Tushan Jing fit his character pretty well initially he became bland relatively quickly.
- I've lost count on the amount of tears that were jerked. It managed to drudge up a variety of emotions from my own ancient relationships that I haven't thought about in years.
- The series does a good job with bringing to life the complexities with relationships in general while moving the plot forward with the underlying political issues.
Negatives (mostly in season two):
- The character of the FL began to falter in the latter half of season two. But at this point, you're already invested so you're likely to try hard to justify her actions. It was disappointing to see her slowly evolve into self-pity and selfishness.
- The plot gets increasingly muddled pacing and unnecessary out-of-place scenes. Why did they bother "reuniting" her with her mother? It really diminished the build-up of her parents and their history. They would have done a better job with a real flashback.
- The scenes with her chosen love interest starts to get excessive. It should have been used more on Xiang Liu to build out more of his backstory (though I may be biased as he's the main one bringing on those tears and heartaches).
- It was unsatisfying to see the FL's lack of appreciation and empathy toward the other two love interests and their sacrifices when her focuses shift onto just the one.
- While the special effects on the deities/demons were done pretty well, the fight scenes were below average. I wish we saw more of the transformations.
Nevertheless, I was totally hooked on season one against my will which is what keeps the score high. Season two is a direct continuation and I ended up speeding up a few episodes because of the negatives listed above.
Positives:
- The character for the FL was incredibly charming and loaded with substance especially during her time disguised as a man.
- The three main male love interests were full of complex depth and what connected them to her through her journey were very natural considering the deity/demon aspects. Xiang Liu and Xiyan Cang Xuan in particular were extraordinary and while Tushan Jing fit his character pretty well initially he became bland relatively quickly.
- I've lost count on the amount of tears that were jerked. It managed to drudge up a variety of emotions from my own ancient relationships that I haven't thought about in years.
- The series does a good job with bringing to life the complexities with relationships in general while moving the plot forward with the underlying political issues.
Negatives (mostly in season two):
- The character of the FL began to falter in the latter half of season two. But at this point, you're already invested so you're likely to try hard to justify her actions. It was disappointing to see her slowly evolve into self-pity and selfishness.
- The plot gets increasingly muddled pacing and unnecessary out-of-place scenes. Why did they bother "reuniting" her with her mother? It really diminished the build-up of her parents and their history. They would have done a better job with a real flashback.
- The scenes with her chosen love interest starts to get excessive. It should have been used more on Xiang Liu to build out more of his backstory (though I may be biased as he's the main one bringing on those tears and heartaches).
- It was unsatisfying to see the FL's lack of appreciation and empathy toward the other two love interests and their sacrifices when her focuses shift onto just the one.
- While the special effects on the deities/demons were done pretty well, the fight scenes were below average. I wish we saw more of the transformations.
Nevertheless, I was totally hooked on season one against my will which is what keeps the score high. Season two is a direct continuation and I ended up speeding up a few episodes because of the negatives listed above.
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