distantUtopia

No it's not that. I have no problem with characters sitting around and talking; my favourite drama is Nirvana in Fire, which is basically 70% sitting and talking.

I don't like endings where the antagonist just sits and explains every single plot point in depth. If it had been forshadowed sufficiently, then the explaining wouldn't have to be be in such depth for the audience to understand. If it wasn't forshadowed sufficiently and had to resort to this type of "explain everything" ending, well that's just ham-fisted pacing/writing.

Not particularly? Very slight. Family themes are more prominent.

Finally had the time to finish this drama.

Realistically overall +7.5/10; very weak at the start, strong in the middle, then weaker in the last few episodes.

Best Line: "人生得一知己; 足矣." - In Episode 43, it's just a really beautiful thought.

Best Character: Xue Yang
What an incredibly honest child-like villian - wears his heart on his sleeve while doing nefarious deeds. Couldn't help but to feel both his happiness at banter and despair at loss.

Runner Up Character: Lan Zhan
Taciturn characters are great - reading Lan Zhan's eyes, facial expression and body language is a joy.

Best Relationship: Xue Yang x Xiao Xingchen x Song Lan
Couldn't help but realise this is kind of a triangle. That tragic happiness, and them eyes... everyone says The Untamed is the most subtle blatant BL drama currently. Well then, isn't this the most subtle subtle relationship? :P

Best Missed Ship: Wei Ying x shijie (Jiang Yanli)
Wei Ying and shijie had amazing chemistry. Too bad this is not that kind of drama.

Best Child: Lan Sizhui
What a cute and earnest child. I usually find child/teen characters (in-story-age) irritating, but even in episode 1 I found Sizhui so very responsible and gentle. Has Zewu-jun's personality though instead of anyone else's lol

My entire drama list only has one 10/10 perfect score, and it's permanently reserved for Nirvana in Fire.

"I would like to see it. A world where good people win - no, wait. A world where people win because they are good."

I'd like to see that too!

Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a historical novel about the end of the Han Dynasty ~200CE. Written/compiled in its current form in the 1300s, it's probably the most famous (or second famous, after Journey to the West) literary work in all of China.

Wanted to put my eyes out after a single episode. So shallow, so boring, much worse than Goblin epilogue.

I found it to be watchable from about ep 16, and good starting ep 20.

Not the main character in particular, its more like everyone starts throwing out cultivation spells/aura attacks much more frequently after episode 19, rather than use melee only.

Wei Ying and Lan Zhan are their personal names, while Wuxian and Wangji are their courtesy names.

Courtesy names are something you get when you reach adulthood in the Imperial eras in China. It's a kind of an epithet or professional name that's often thematically similar to your personal name. People will use your courtesy name to refer to you when being polite.

Example in ROTK: Guan Yu, Yu = feather. Feather related to bird related to sky related to cloud (alternately fluffy feather = fluffy cloud). His courtesy name is Yunchang (雲長), literally "cloud" "long". He is also referred to as Guan Yunchang.

Generally your peers will name you based on your personality and morals, naming yourself is considered distasteful.

It felt like the sfx budget increased a lot in and after episode 19, which I am happy for, but the increase in the power/usage of cultivation techniques is a bit abrupt?

So can someone explain the critical scene in Episode 31 to me? Did Wei Ying actually have control at the time, nor was there no control at the critical moment? I actually thought he was using "battle meditation" or similar with no direct control at that instant, and that Wen Ning fought on instinct. Also what is the significance of the polycoria?

Thanks, I'm up to episode 20 now. Still not amazing, but much better after ep15.

How long does that flashback last for? I do agree that the future scenes are much more intriguing vs the past scenes.

I like tiny hints; I don't like words actually. But all I got was one smile in the first 10 episodes.

Again as I said below, xianxia cultivators should have powerful magic. If their "xian" power is consistently weak to the level of mortals being able to beat it and they have to rely on their swords all the time.... that would not live up to the "xian" in xianxia. If it doesn't live up to the "xian" then I hoped at least it could live up to "wu"?

Yeah I saw in ep08 LWJ's ice wall was just starting to get chiseled away, but 12 hours of chiselling to ep12 is a long time.

A xianxia should focus on doing "xian" elements well. Up to where I was watching, "xian" elements are generally weak, slow, and unreliable in a real fight (save for the bird familiar thing). Cultivator barrier techniques shouldn't be broken in 2 minutes by mortals. When "xian" and "wu" elements are both bad, this leaves something to be desired in the action.

I have honestly never found a drama version xianxia to be executed very well with the sole exception of Ten Miles Peach Blossoms.

E.g. in ep08 of Untamed, the protagonists are faced with certain weak mortal enemies. They are cultivators! One cultivator should be able to put 3 dozen mortal enemies down with a pinky.

Alright I'll go up to 15 then, see how it comes along. Thanks!

Up to episode 10 now, I'm thinking of dropping it. "Bromance" is mediocre compared to Guardian, the martial arts are mediocre compared to HSDS, the pacing is terribly slow.

Does it improve by mid-season?

Not necessary to watch ROCH before HSDS, as the plot points that carry forward from ROCH can literally be explained in full, in two sentences.

If you want to watch ROCH/LOCH on its own merits,
1st, https://kisskh.at/403-legend-of-the-condor-heroes
2nd, https://kisskh.at/402-return-of-the-condor-heroes-2006
were made faithfully to the novel, in an age before idol dramas and excessive slo-mo.

Of course, the original 1983 version with a young Andy Lau is also iconic:
https://kisskh.at/5014-the-return-of-the-condor-heroes

Since the HSDS story is not a direct sequel but a 80-100 year timeskip, you can try LOCH 2003 and ROCH 2006 (and HSDS 2009) by director Zhang Jizhong, which are usually regarded as the most accurate and consistent trilogy after the Hong Kong originals.

ROCH starts about 10 years after LOCH, so the latter is strongly recommended as a primer to the former. HSDS starts 80-100 years after ROCH; everyone in ROCH relevant to the HSDS plot has already been dead for 2-3 generations.