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The Promise of the Soul taiwanese drama review
Completed
The Promise of the Soul
1 people found this review helpful
by Yumi
Sep 15, 2025
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 7.0
Story 5.5
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 6.5
Rewatch Value 7.5

Good but not perfect

It's a very good drama if you look beyond the illogical things that's going on.

Honestly, whenever I see the word "fantasy" or "supernatural" in a very normal drama, I immediately turn off my brain cells, because I know that it would piss me off with ridiculous and illogical situations. And Boy!!! Little did I know that this would be the best decision to make before starting this.

This drama lacks many things, but be that as it may, that didn't change the fact that this is a very good drama.

I kinda have to say the positives and negatives because how else am I going to explain how is this good and bad at the same time.

First a big shout out to Martin Wong, he singlehandedly carried the whole show, and he didn't disappoint at all, he was spectacular.
The rest of the cast were good too, no one was bad or cringe and chemistry was smooth and enjoyable, also a fair amount of kisses and making out (for people who enjoy those things, you are in for a treat)

Story is pretty simple, soul exchange then falling in love with the new person, but as a BL not a straight couple. It was entertaining, the pace is nice and little to no unanswered questions (as it usually tends to be with these type of dramas), cast was good, I loved Yaron Qiu, he nailed his role and gained a new fan.

However...
The story is simple but messy, like what is the point, what are we focusing on? The grandpa or the grandson? Xia Cha or Xia Ze Fang?? Also the way they messed up Hai Yuan character from cool and poised to clingy childish and impulsive character is overwhelming!! He basically became Guan Ri Qing... I see no difference, I even wanted Ze Feng to come back so that the grandpa and Hai Yuan won't be an endgame....

Nevertheless, I can understand that for the sake of "character development" or degradation in this case but anyway, also the fact that Xia Cha has been a straight guy who doesn't even fathom the idea of two men falling in love, and you turn him into a gay guy who falls in love with a boy his grandson age??? Good lord! What the heck was that writer high on??? Also the 70YO man is too childish I couldn't stomach it in some scenes, how come he is that innocent acting like a 10 YO kid who knows and understand nothing of this world, despite being a very very lovely character, in some scenes I was questioning who he is actually!!!

Another thing I didn't like but it's generally presented in some BLs is that every guy is gay, and every woman is a lesbian, no straight characters whatsoever, and I'm not saying that because I want to see straight characters in BL, I couldn't care less, but the fact that you assert and show that every single side character has a partner of the same gender is just a bit too much, unnecessary and superficial.

After saying all that I'm embarrassed to say that I actually liked it, because it was actually good, but you definitely have to shut your brain down to be able to enjoy it.
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