Spilling Blood In Search for the Light
Blood River is an assassin organization that is reknowned throughout the realm and feared by many. Su Muyu, a quiet, reserved man under the codename Umbrella Ghost, is the head of guards of Blood River’s Patriarch and also one of most formidable assassins in Blood River. Even so, he is not your average violent assassin. He is compassionate and kind, never taking up missions against the innocent. Meanwhile, Su Changhe, with codename Undertaker, is known to be a violent, greedy and unhinged person, a total opposite of Su Muyu. These two polar opposite, however, made up an unseparable pair of brotherhood, comrade-in-arms, a relationship so strong that it is unrivalled by others, and their main goal was to lead the youngsters of Blood River towards the light, towards humanity, stripping away their identity as assassins. An opportunity emerges as the Partriach Mu Cingge was poisoned during his duel and a bloodbath of power struggle occured within Blood River’s 3 main families, Su, Mu and Xie, with each family head vying for the position of Partriach. Su Muyu, as the Partriach’s head bodyguard, found himself fighting against his own people, and his own brother Su Changhe, raising question of the viability of their dream to head into the light.
I am surprised to see Gong Jun’s excellent performance here as opposed to his bland acting in Legend of Anle. His second work ‘wow’ed me and changed my perspective completely. He was good as the aloof and quiet assassin, only speaking when necessary, but instead spoke with his eyes. Su Muyu is formidable and feared by all, but even so Blood River’s enemies are even fiercer. His fightings, although some he could not win, still made him look magnificient and mighty. I really love his formations and skills, they definitely towered above others despite him narrowly escaping. And when i said spilling blood, blood is definitely spilling though more from vomit than actual gory wounds. ML (and other fighters too) constantly gets poisoned and injured, vomitting large amount of blood at the end of almost every battle. They definitely used up quite a lot of red fluid in this one.
Chang Hua Sen’s Su Changhe is very likable despite being depicted as a grey character, someone who kills without batting an eye. His character however, is almost happy go lucky, the cheerful one between the duo. Boy, I thought i could not like the character as I truly hated Chang Hua Sen’s short fused role in A Journey to Love, but apparently he proved me otherwise. Su Changhe owed his life to Su Muyu in more than one occasion during their childhood in Blood River, hence the bond between them was as firm as a concrete, literally set in stone, way surpassing the famed bromance of The Untamed’s Wei Wuxian and Lan Zhan. They trusted each other to the core, even when one had not disclosed their decisions (and actions for that matter) to the other. Basically the world could topple and tear apart one person and the other would always come through for the other with absolute trust. Definitely a rare kind of bromance.
The romance here is very mild, but because it did not go deep for one main couple but scatter around the numerous supporting couples, it felt kind of repetitive and boring (yea I sure thanked my ff button for its existence). And because there were more than 3 couple’s love story, it felt rather suffocating. Although they were mild romance with only one kissing scene of supporting couple, i honestly feel it was taking too much screentime. I would prefer they scrapped it altogether and focus entirely on the jianghu fights and court’s power struggle instead.
I really love the plot twists of strategies taken up by the duo in outsmarting their enemies while reigning in support for Blood River. Although longwinded and much of a hassle, they served their purpose and worked out towards its goal.
The show is fast paced except during romantic scenes. Man those really botched up the plot. Basically if youre not a romance fan, and more of an action lover, youre going to like this very much, the romance is still much less the those titles with ‘romance’ tag.
I am surprised to see Gong Jun’s excellent performance here as opposed to his bland acting in Legend of Anle. His second work ‘wow’ed me and changed my perspective completely. He was good as the aloof and quiet assassin, only speaking when necessary, but instead spoke with his eyes. Su Muyu is formidable and feared by all, but even so Blood River’s enemies are even fiercer. His fightings, although some he could not win, still made him look magnificient and mighty. I really love his formations and skills, they definitely towered above others despite him narrowly escaping. And when i said spilling blood, blood is definitely spilling though more from vomit than actual gory wounds. ML (and other fighters too) constantly gets poisoned and injured, vomitting large amount of blood at the end of almost every battle. They definitely used up quite a lot of red fluid in this one.
Chang Hua Sen’s Su Changhe is very likable despite being depicted as a grey character, someone who kills without batting an eye. His character however, is almost happy go lucky, the cheerful one between the duo. Boy, I thought i could not like the character as I truly hated Chang Hua Sen’s short fused role in A Journey to Love, but apparently he proved me otherwise. Su Changhe owed his life to Su Muyu in more than one occasion during their childhood in Blood River, hence the bond between them was as firm as a concrete, literally set in stone, way surpassing the famed bromance of The Untamed’s Wei Wuxian and Lan Zhan. They trusted each other to the core, even when one had not disclosed their decisions (and actions for that matter) to the other. Basically the world could topple and tear apart one person and the other would always come through for the other with absolute trust. Definitely a rare kind of bromance.
The romance here is very mild, but because it did not go deep for one main couple but scatter around the numerous supporting couples, it felt kind of repetitive and boring (yea I sure thanked my ff button for its existence). And because there were more than 3 couple’s love story, it felt rather suffocating. Although they were mild romance with only one kissing scene of supporting couple, i honestly feel it was taking too much screentime. I would prefer they scrapped it altogether and focus entirely on the jianghu fights and court’s power struggle instead.
I really love the plot twists of strategies taken up by the duo in outsmarting their enemies while reigning in support for Blood River. Although longwinded and much of a hassle, they served their purpose and worked out towards its goal.
The show is fast paced except during romantic scenes. Man those really botched up the plot. Basically if youre not a romance fan, and more of an action lover, youre going to like this very much, the romance is still much less the those titles with ‘romance’ tag.
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