Tomochi

The second male lead played by Zhang Kangle can NOT act even if his life depended on it. The character he played was also extremely inconsistent and all over the place. His motivations were half-assed to such an extent, it felt like he was only written because they "needed" a second male lead to conveniently be there when needed.

My understanding is that the screenwriters were aiming for a character with a lot of depth and heavy baggage. He was supposed to be someone who believed in justice and trying to make the world a better place (because of how his mother and himself were mistreated). However, to "seek justice" he had to gain power, which is why he curried favor with the main villain, his teacher. He was supposed to give off "genuinely a good person but sold his soul to the devil" vibes while also being a cunning wolf in sheep's clothing. But what do we get? An actor with the face and emotions of a ROCK.

WHAT was the director and/or screenwriter thinking when they wrote the last 3-4 episodes???? I don't understand WHY they needed to make the second male lead a scapegoat just so they could milk some emotions from the viewers (through the death of his servant and General Yan He). They had the second male lead go through a psychotic break and become "possessive" over the female lead, which resulted in him indirectly causing General Yan He's death.

The servant's death? Poorly done. How could the spoiled rich girl possibly kill her just by stabbing her back??? The servant was also supposed to be highly skilled at combat as evidenced by her fight with male lead's personal bodyguard (literally his right-hand man who is an army veteran). You're telling me she couldn't have easily disarmed the spoiled rich girl????

General Yan He's death was also super cheap and unnecessary. They literally had no reason to kill him off. It was like they needed someone to die, so they chose him as the sacrificial lamb. *eyerolls*

The last 3-4 episodes were completely unnecessary. The screenwriters wanted to add way too many things and rushed everything with very little prior build up. It felt super cheap and ruined the entire show for me.

I'm actually shocked that Li Hanyi is only 4 years younger than Sikong Changfeng O o O I deadass thought he was 10 years older than her. (In the prequel, she was still a kid while he was like 14 or something.)

The funny thing is that in the new cdrama "Unveil: Jadewind" she actually *IS* his daughter lmao (He plays the emperor and she plays the 15th princess) haha

Sorry for the late reply. I understand the nature of a prequel is that things are already set in stone. I think because I watched the prequels first made me feel emotionally tied to the main characters in the prequels. So when I watched the main story (set a decade or so after the prequels) and seeing the "main characters" I was so invested in not get their happy endings was sad.

1) In Blood River, I LOVED the friendship and dynamic between Su Changhe and Su Muyu. While Su Changhe is still portrayed as unruly and cunning, his bond with Su Muyu was unbreakable. They were truly brothers who had crawled through Hell and fought their way to the top. Seeing that Su Changhe in TBoY end up getting killed by Su Muyu was a little bit heartbreaking :( It took away the depth of their relationship that was explored in Blood River.

2) I don't know why they changed the storyline between Baili Dongjun and his girlfriend/wife in the prequel. But man, finding out she was gone in TBoY threw me off so hard.

I can see what you mean about the prequels. I think the unfortunate thing with the prequels is that a lot of things were already set through TBoY. Honestly was so disappointed by how things ended for Dark River members in TBoY after watching Blood River :(

Because TBoY is so highly rated while the other prequels weren't, I watched TBoY last in hopes of it being a "highlight." I do think the writers had to change up a lot of the details in order to have a full storyline though. The changes they made for some of the backstories gave certain characters their own main character story like Baili Dongjun and Su Muyu's stories. I honestly preferred the prequel rewrites more :')

The MOST confusing thing to me is Dark River.

In BR (which I watched first), Su Muyu is portrayed as a really powerful swordsman, but in TBOY, his powers are significantly weakened. The dynamic between Su Muyu and Su Changhe is also VERY different in TBOY. In Blood River, it seemed like Su Muyu was supposed to be the Patriarch, but he gave that position to Su Changh. In TBOY, there's a stricter hierarchy between the two of the,m so it feels less like they're equals/friends and more so superior (Su Changhe) vs their subordinate (Su Muyu).

Also, it seems like they tried to add a romance between Tang Lianyue and Mu Yumo in BR, which wasn't the case in TBOY. That threw me off a bit because I thought they were friends ?-? Mu Yumo and Su Muyu even save Tang Lianyue and Tang Lian in BR, which apparently never happened in TBOY's timeline.

In BR, Dark River/Su Muyu was the one who took down the Shadow Sect (Wuxin/Ye Anshi's grandpa was the leader of the sect). But in TBOY, they said it was Prince Langya who took care of the Shadow Sect. (Though I guess you can explain it away as what actually happened vs. the "official" explanation.)

Su Muyu wanted to revive his father's sect and also change the name of Dark River as "assassins" so my understanding is that they would've stopped operating as Dark River. Or at least not tried to involve themselves too much with the princes (especially in light of the fact that Su Muyu murders the first prince in BR, which meant that Dark River would be persecuted by the imperial family).

In DY, Baili Dongjun is the main character while Sikong Changfeng takes a backseat for most of the drama. In TBOY, Baili Dongjun barely appears (albeit, I'm only on episode 19 atm so maybe he has more relevance later on) but Sikong Changfeng is a major character. Even at episode 23 when Baili Dongjun reappears, I'm confused by Mo Yi's appearance. He seems completely different in DY (no mention of his sister) and he genuinely feels more like an immortal who helps Baili Dongjun. But in TBOY, he's more of an antagonist figure. I'm also confused about Yue Yao's death in TBOYS. They changed that in DY.

I noticed that Li Hanyi is also a little bit different. She's portrayed as a happy and cute little girl in DY but when she appears later on, she's very cold and distant (like in TBOY). I was also confused by the portrayal of the Scholar Deity in DY, which contrasts greatly with his portrayal in TBOY and BR. The Scholar Deity's dynamic with Li Hanyi really threw me off in BR and TBOY, especially because of the age gap, but also because the Scholar Deity was portrayed as this nerdy, introverted young boy who only cares about his books. Whereas when he is around Li Hanyi, he's always trying to run off because there is a playful cat and mouse dynamic, which suggests the Scholar Diety is more cheeky rather than introverted.

I'm also confused by the relationship between Tang Clan and Lei Clan. I don't recall if it was ever explained in DY because Baili Dongjun does go to the Tang Clan with his uncle (along with Sikong Changfeng) at some point. In this arc, it seems like the Tang elder is a friend rather than a foe (in DY)? But in TBOY, he betrays Xueyue City and tries to kill everyone.

I watched Dashing Youth and Blood River in sequence before watching The Blood of Youth and felt so confused. It looks like there are a lot of conflicting details between TBOY which happens years, if not, decades after DY and BR. It makes TBOY less of an enjoyable watch because I can't help but focus on the discrepancies with the characters. It almost feels like DY and BR (which were supposed to be prequels and give backstories to TBOY characters) are different, more likeable retellings of the characters, especially those from Dark River.

The casting for the characters also threw me off. I understand that they can't hire young kids who actually fit the ages of the characters, but I can't tell how old anyone is supposed to be. When I first saw Tang Lian, I thought he was one of the uncles lmaooo But turns out he's portraying a 23 year old. His girlfriend is supposed to be quite young too, but sis looks 40 *sobs* It really threw me off.

Baili Dongjun and Sikong Changfeng can't be that old, right? But they look like they're in their 50s or 60s--

I am sad that Chen Duo never ended up meeting Chen Junyan again :(

She even named the village dog after him. I wonder where he went.

At first, this season was very confusing because it seemed like a different storyline than season 1. This is mainly because they focus this season on Chen Duo. After doing some cursory research, it appears that Chen Duo is part of the Biyou Village arc in the webcomic/manhua storyline. The last episode sort of connects everything a bit better to the main storyline. I am impressed that despite a 2 year gap, it feels like almost no time has passed because Zhang Chulan, Feng Baobao and Wang Ye are still the same.

The show starts out with an eerie premise focused on solving gruesome murders, but the latter half of the show ends up becoming heavily focused on palace intrigue. The entire plot becomes extremely convoluted with a major fuq it all and I'm not sure how I feel about it.

1. Why did they make Lin Xirou out to be the FINAL BOSS but then she's killed off in a single second? She didn't do anything. Her death happened so fast, I didn't even have time to process it.
2. Why didn't Lin Xirou just go to A Luo's home to look for Lin Ling??? It shouldn't have been hard for her to send men to camp out at her house or at least destroy the place? ?-? (I understand it would probably have been too expensive for the filming crew to add this lol but this was a major plot hole for me)
3. Why is it that the female lead is the "Mad Blade" who is supposed to be an incredibly strong fighter, but then she's overpowered by Lin Xirou's henchmen (Xiong Hei and the guy with the metal fan)???? Why did she let them get away when they came to take Lin Ling at the dumpling shop? ?-?
4. Locust is assumed to be Lin Xirou's son (which is probably why she was so obsessed with Yan Tuo since she assumed her son was killed by the hunters). Why did he never make an appearance again? Why did they just send him off to a team of biologists? ?-?
5. The entire Twilight Chasm/Golden Gate arc was a hot mess. We never found out how they even got her back.
6. How come Xing Shen summoned a bunch of the demonified hunters when he played the ocarina but Yan Tuo was able to summon only A Luo's mom?
7. The inconsistency of how many hunters there are. It looked like there were many hunters but by the end, the team dwindled to like barely even 10 people???? I know some people were shown to have left after Xing Shen took over but come on.
8. If they could find A Luo underground, why couldn't they look for Xing Shen and any others who fell down? ?-?
9. Very small thing but I thought the hunters healed really fast, so why was auntie Hua out of commission for so long? ?-? She's one of the whip-wielding hunters from the beginning who got beat up really badly by Xiong Hei.

It really feels like the film production ran out of budget halfway through and had to scrape something half-assed together. It was so messy :( What a shame

At first, I couldn't understand why the ratings for this drama were so long. The story and plot were quite promising and it seemed like, production-wise, this drama was quite good.

But man, the last couple episodes completely derailed the entire storyline. It took the main plot and threw it in the trash. There was a lead-up to an epic showdown that never happened. I was genuinely shocked by how fast everything ended despite the build-up. Did they run out of budget???So many things were left unexplained (check spoilers). So many plot holes.

Later on, Xing Shen finds the old chronicles and pieces this information together with one of the other characters who appears to be on the spectrum. It seems like the fiends may have once been human but after consuming or having their DNA mixed with "Yuwang Meat" (which is from the soil of the mysterious Turquoise Land), these humans became something grotesque due to Yuwang Meat being a mix of DNA from various animals and beasts.

I think Lin Xirou has been trying to perfect the process of changing the fiends back to humans. The hunters suspect that her transformation was purely an accident, but the fiends have been trying to create more Yuwang Meat. They've been cultivating the Yuwang Meat by putting it in some type of vessel that they sunk in the water in the mines where Yan Tuo was locked inside (and where Lin Xirou first appeared after eating that one miner).

A lot of stuff was never fully explained though which is annoying. I believe they hinted at the Twilight Chasm which the Golden Gate leads to as the belly of Yuwang Meat.

No words on writers trying to whitewash Xia Jingyan and make us feel bad for him lol

They tried so hard to make him into some complex character with depth but the fact remains that he's a sociopath. He murdered countless innocents over the smallest things. (Remember how he ordered a maid's head to be cut off because Xia Jingshi refused to drink the wine she offered him? Remember how he went on killing sprees around the palace? Remember how he basically raped the wives of court officials? He specifically bedded the wives and not his own concubines/consorts (which his mother was upset at him for).

He imprinted onto Xiyang because no one around him loved him (I wonder why????) He wanted to toy with her when he saw how helpless and powerless she was. He wanted to push her buttons and watch her snap. She was fun to toy with because she still struggled against him and actively stood up to him. But if she pushed him enough, he would also snap. Let's not forget that when she snapped at him, he tried to choke her to "teach her a lesson."

His own mother and everyone around him believed that Xia Jingshi should've been the rightful emperor. (But of course his mother wouldn't hand over the throne to Xia Jingshi.) He toyed with Xiyang because she "belonged" to Xia Jingshi. He wanted to triumph over Xia Jingshi by "dominating" Xiyang. She was just caught in the crossfire :(

The writers tried to "redeem" him at the end when he groveled in front of Xia Jingshi, begging him not to kill Xiyang. Or trying to show how he's "soft" only for Xiyang. But I can't help but think, can someone as sociopathic as Xia Jingyan truly love someone? What if he only cared about the baby and not Xiyang? (Because the baby is *his* child, so he finally triumphed over Xia Jingshi and also "tamed" Xiyang.) Had they lived, would he truly have let her go back without a fight?

2) I swear Xiao Weiran must be gay for Xia Jingshi lmao. They never explained why he was so loyal to Xia Jingshi even at the cost of his best friend's life.

Xiao Weiran was best friends with Yi Xiao and Ning Fei way before Xiao Weiran came into the picture. Since they were all so young and orphans when they met, they were family to each other. Xiao Weiran even risked his life (along with Ning Fei) to steal sweet potatoes for Yi Xiao. They protected each other for YEARS. The death camp left Yi Xiao with major PTSD and she was even lied to about it being destroyed (which is why she became so protective of Xia Jingshi).

Since they were all stuck in the death camp and forced to fight to the death, how can Xiao Weiran still follow Xia Jingshi despite knowing that he was behind the death camp???

How can he sacrifice his own "sister's" life for some two-bit prince?

1) Murong father and son

I felt like the writing for Murong Yao and Murong Yao's father was super messy. They made Murong Yao out to be some evil mastermind, but toward the end, all I saw was this weak daddy's boy. Idk if it's because the actor just wasn't giving (sorry, Zuo Ye, I love you dearly but your acting still needs work ahhh) or if the writers didn't know how to characterize him when they were trying to move the plot forward.

My biggest turnoff was Murong Yao's father. I felt so bad for him. The writers tried so hard to reason that he became evil because he was left with "no choice." But here is my confusion:

I can understand why Murong Yao is so bitter toward Sui Ge (because of the traumatic childhood memory of that time when his father saved Sui Ge and left the two of them to fend for themselves). But Murong Yao's father was portrayed to be kindhearted, loyal, and selfless.

They showed these main examples: 1) Even after saving Sui Ge's life and being sent to the Northern border to suffer harsh winters (inspite of his injured, half-crippled leg), he remained staunchly loyal to the emperor. 2) Despite how unfairly he was treated, he still said that he remained in the North because if he left, no one else would step up to protect the borders. (He'd rather suffer than have poor innocents/civilians besieged by enemies.) 3) When his son rescued him, then murdered the old couple, he was aghast at his son's cruelty. 4) He did everything in his power to save his son's life, kowtowing all the way through the city and into the palace with thorns on his back (again with an old leg injury).

I felt like it was such a major disservice to Murong Yao's father for him to go down the route that he did. (Covering up the emperor's murder and then having Feng Sui Ge murdered.) I can understand that he snapped after holding everything in for so long and that his son is extremely important to him. However, I just can't see a character who was so staunchly loyal and self-sacrificing committing such heinous acts.

I have so much to rant about because I'm honestly kind of mad about how some characters were written :(

This drama was a disaster. Which sucks because I genuinely think Li Qin was MADE for this role. She played a pretty compelling general who excels at archery (even though there weren't as many fight scenes that fully showcased her strength).

The drama was soooooo slow. It was so painful and agonizing to get through the first 20-30 episodes. I honestly didn't care for the main characters all that much. Everything just dragged on forever, and then they tried to speed up certain things by glossing over parts of the plot. The only people I ended up liking were Xueying, Ning Fei and Lu Ke (one of the guards).

The writers need to get HELP. They need to be locked away in an insane asylum, I swear. Something is genuinely wrong with them. I don't even know how this drama even passed censorship in China.

The writers forced GOOD characters to become evil supervillains for the sake of driving the plot forward and to add "unexpected" plot twists. Straight up. They decided on the plot twists before writing the characters, I swear. Characters who were originally portrayed as moral and GOOD, later became evil. While the reasons for these changes are seemingly compelling, they are still inexcusable. It felt almost like the writers wanted us to feel bad for the characters that committed vile acts.

THEN, they took EVIL characters and tried to "whitewash" them. The main one being the "star-crossed lover" romance. They keep trying to add "depth" and "background" to these villains so that we, the audience, sympathize and feel bad for them. But let's not forget, most people who are truly good will not just randomly kill innocents. Only sociopaths will reason that they had "no choice" but to MURDER innocents for "survival". This type of whitewashing is extremely harmful, and I hope people truly reflect on the mixed messaging.