This review may contain spoilers
...this show is evil.
I would have given this a higher score probably if the producers kinda left things as they were by the end of like, episode 32? I don't even remember anymore. I'm gonna need y'all to set your biases aside for a sec and think critically with me.
On the upside: Word of Honor has lovely music, and the symbolism—both subtle and aggressively unsubtle—plus the poetry references did not go unnoticed. The actors delivered beautifully, often in spite of the script.
To be fair, I wasn’t immediately sold on the chemistry between the leads (Zhang Zhehan and Gong Jun), it took a few episodes for them to grow on me. But once it clicked, it really clicked. At its best, this show is about a relationship built on healthy communication, understanding, mutual respect, love, and growth on both ends. Love that for them, MUAH.
And the found family trope? I eat that shit up every single time.
Xie Wang (the Scorpion King) is a compelling, charismatic antagonist. But, jfc, the author deserves to be mauled for writing all that incest fuckery. J A I L !!!! What the fuck was that.... Which brings me neatly to the downsides.
The last six episodes were rushed as hell. I’ve had enough of misogynistic fujos (yes, I’m looking at you, MXTX and Priest), meaningless deaths, and approximately 5000 unresolved plotlines.
Gu Xiang’s death hurt the most, not only because she’s my fav character, but because there was absolutely no reason for it. She deserved none of that bullshit, and neither did Cao Weining. Gong Jun’s acting in that scene was also… surprisingly weak? :|
From that point on, the show felt like it was undoing everything it had built.WHEN did Qian Qiao drink the Water of Lethe?? That felt like such a pivotal moment, and yet it's left completely unexplained. And how is Xie Wang shocked she’s dead when he himself said no one was leaving alive???? Wtf was the point of that????
Gu Xiang’s death is barely addressed at all, and while I loved WenZhou, the misunderstandings that followed from WKX faking his death and continued all the way to the finale were never actually resolved. They just laugh it off like, “welp!! guess we’re fine now!!!”.......Dude.
And perhaps the worst of all: Zhou Zishu leaving Wen Kexing behind after the Ghost Valley battle because he’s dying and can’t face him, followed by WKX willingly sacrificing himself to save ZZS...? Huh??? Sure, that was a choice. And an out-of-character one. Why? Because all the themes about healing, breaking cycles of abuse, and choosing to live after giving up are completely discarded in the final episodes. Things that characters explicitly said they didn’t want just… happen after a fucking time skip. Half the main cast dies for no reason. Even if the budget ran out, why backtrack everything after all that progress? It makes all that emotional growth feel pointless.
So anyway, thank god I didn’t read the novel. Fuck you, Priest.
That said: the ending isn’t actually as bad as people make it out to be. Personally, I liked it. Is it heart-wrenching? Absolutely. Fear not, because the bonus episode salvages all that mess.
Oh, shit wait. My bad, I forgot it’s fucking paywalled.
Stay winning, I guess.
On the upside: Word of Honor has lovely music, and the symbolism—both subtle and aggressively unsubtle—plus the poetry references did not go unnoticed. The actors delivered beautifully, often in spite of the script.
To be fair, I wasn’t immediately sold on the chemistry between the leads (Zhang Zhehan and Gong Jun), it took a few episodes for them to grow on me. But once it clicked, it really clicked. At its best, this show is about a relationship built on healthy communication, understanding, mutual respect, love, and growth on both ends. Love that for them, MUAH.
And the found family trope? I eat that shit up every single time.
Xie Wang (the Scorpion King) is a compelling, charismatic antagonist. But, jfc, the author deserves to be mauled for writing all that incest fuckery. J A I L !!!! What the fuck was that.... Which brings me neatly to the downsides.
The last six episodes were rushed as hell. I’ve had enough of misogynistic fujos (yes, I’m looking at you, MXTX and Priest), meaningless deaths, and approximately 5000 unresolved plotlines.
Gu Xiang’s death hurt the most, not only because she’s my fav character, but because there was absolutely no reason for it. She deserved none of that bullshit, and neither did Cao Weining. Gong Jun’s acting in that scene was also… surprisingly weak? :|
From that point on, the show felt like it was undoing everything it had built.WHEN did Qian Qiao drink the Water of Lethe?? That felt like such a pivotal moment, and yet it's left completely unexplained. And how is Xie Wang shocked she’s dead when he himself said no one was leaving alive???? Wtf was the point of that????
Gu Xiang’s death is barely addressed at all, and while I loved WenZhou, the misunderstandings that followed from WKX faking his death and continued all the way to the finale were never actually resolved. They just laugh it off like, “welp!! guess we’re fine now!!!”.......Dude.
And perhaps the worst of all: Zhou Zishu leaving Wen Kexing behind after the Ghost Valley battle because he’s dying and can’t face him, followed by WKX willingly sacrificing himself to save ZZS...? Huh??? Sure, that was a choice. And an out-of-character one. Why? Because all the themes about healing, breaking cycles of abuse, and choosing to live after giving up are completely discarded in the final episodes. Things that characters explicitly said they didn’t want just… happen after a fucking time skip. Half the main cast dies for no reason. Even if the budget ran out, why backtrack everything after all that progress? It makes all that emotional growth feel pointless.
So anyway, thank god I didn’t read the novel. Fuck you, Priest.
That said: the ending isn’t actually as bad as people make it out to be. Personally, I liked it. Is it heart-wrenching? Absolutely. Fear not, because the bonus episode salvages all that mess.
Oh, shit wait. My bad, I forgot it’s fucking paywalled.
Stay winning, I guess.
Was this review helpful to you?
