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Promising Story that Could Have Been Better

Chu Qiao woke up to find herself a slave in Yuwen household after surviving a nerve-wrecking cruelty at the hands of the noble youngsters - becoming a target in their hunt, fighting off wolves in the process while trying to escape their arrows. The sole survivor of the ordeal, she was left to recuperate by herself in a shed in Yuwen household, where she found out that her other name was Jiang Xiao Liu, and that her adoptive brothers and sisters were also slaves in Yuwen household. As she tries to survive in the compound, she decided to try to catch the 4th master eyes, Yuwen Yue, for protection, while she look for ways to escape. Yuwen Yue realized her potential when he saw how she survived the hunt, and took her under his wings and began training her to become a spy. Yuwen Yue was actually the heir to a spy network for the kingdom, as his grandfather had been its leader. Just when he thought he began to feel differently towards her, Chu Qiao found an opening to escape the household and went along with Yanxun, a hostage prince from Yanbei whom she befriended while living in Yuwen household, as he was going to return to Yanbei. To their dismay, the emperor’s approval for him to return to Yanbei was a ruse to execute his entire clan for mutiny. Yanxun was placed under house arrest with only Chu Qiao by his side. Drawn to Yanxun due to his ordeal which she felt similar to hers, she stayed with him during the house arrest, and together, they started to devise a huge plan to escape the capital and return to Yanbei.

First off, although I loved Chu Qiao as a character, i found Zhao Liying rather stiff at times. I loved her chemistry with Lin Geng Xin who played Yuwen Yue though. They rocked the relationship even though they mostly bicker with each other after her escape from the capital. Lin Geng Xin was okay here, and i love his ice lake scene the most. His anguish when he realized he could not be with Chu Qiao due to the difference of allegience was genuinely conveyed. Zhao Liying could really cry too. The ending was devastating and I cried each time the scene comes on.

The costumes are so smart looking, even the women dresses are so nice. And dont let me start with the songs, gosh the songs are truly the bomb. This is the first drama that I saw of Zhao Liying, which i first watched in 2020 during the covid lockdown, and I instantly became a fan. I rewatch this now for the 3rd time i think, cuz the sequel is coming up next year.

Although the ending ripped my heart to pieces, reading the novel definitely provided some consolation, since the novel was indeed a thousand times better than the adaptation.the novel Chu Qiao and Yuwen Yue were even more badass than depicted on screen. I know the production could not help but tweak the storyline since transmigration/rebirth plots are frowned upon in China, but mannn, they really missed out a lot and instead created many plotholes in the adaptation. I guess I can only dream of the novel becoming real on screen.

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Torn Between Duty and Love

I first saw Liu Xueyi on Kill Me Love Me and i liked him there, though not so much when he turned into a lovesick puppy (unlike the novel), so I am expecting he would do well here. I was right. He convinced me as Yuan Zhong, the immortal youth who conquered the Divine Hand forged by Goddess Wu Shuang, later used by his clan to kill the enemy - the expelled divine clan, War Demon - and subsequently suppressed by these elders he held in high regard afterwards cuz they were afraid of his power. Wielding a divine power at a young age, the teenager was eager to please his elders’ and obey all their commands, ending up being imprisoned for 40 years in the name of secluded cultivation. He was released later but not not before the divine hand’s power sealed by a necklace the elders made him wear. He lived as the High Priest of Youhu immortal clan for 20 years, patiently scheming his way out of his elders’ clasp. And having been subjected to 60 years of suppression that left his body frail and sickly, resentment began to form and tainted his pure heart, but one being believed he was a good person - Diety of Craftsmen, Wu Shuang.

I think Tiffany Tang did a terrific job as Diety Wu Shuang. After the great war, primordial Diety Taihe was injured and went into slumber, his divine hand severed and thrown into mortal world, and the ascension ladder was broken, restricting any dieties from descending into the mortal world in their physical form. The only way out of the divine realm was through the sea of oblivion that would rot away divine powers. Of all of them, only Wu Shuang was willing to go through this sea to retrieve the divine hand she created, as she could rely on her creations instead of her divine power to get through it. Initially tasked to kill Yuan Zhong and retrieve the hand so Diety Taihe’s primordial spirit can be restored, she later changed her mind as she deemed Yuan Zhong a good person and cannot be killed. She promised the elder dieties that she would accompany Yuan Zhong til he dies naturally before retrieving the hand. And one of the promises include her not to have any emotional attachment with him and reveal her identity as a diety.

Although i did not have high hope when i started watching this drama, i found that the story really engaging, especially when the ML’s continuous suspicion of FL didnt annoy me, even after her mortal body died for him twice. I usually hated prolonged misunderstanding, but this show managed to get me hooked. I especially love FL’s resilience and strength, she would not waver under any circumstances at all. They both did not turn into hopelessly lovesick puppies, which intrigued me even more.

It is also one of the rare shows where the ML needs constant saving by the FL (well she’s supposed to be the superior being anyway) and i enjoy them very much.

It is the first time i saw Tiffany Tang and in some scenes i couldnt help myself from seeing Liu Shishi in her. Dont you think they have an uncanny resemblance?

The sparseness of the divine realm weirded me out though, was it due to budget constraint? Or was it something that could only be understood with the novel? There were less than 10 individuals in the divine realm so it is definitely weird compared to other xianxia i’ve watched. And i wonder why their ‘supposedly’ dieties are all with unimaginable flaws like humans? Whats the point of being god then? If a god can succumb to human flaws then theyre not god at all. It’s weird that some people would worship these flawed beings, on screen or off screen.

The songs are good too and gave quite an impression on me.

Edited: I decided to read the novel, and found that the storyline in the novel is quite different than the adaptation. But i like the changes the adaptation made to FL’s character though, especially the ‘saving ML’ every time. 😆 in the novel, ML wasnt quite a don-in-distress, he actually saved FL quite a number of times cuz he couldnt accept a mere mortal woman would protect him. And the reason she proposed to the diety elders to wait for ML to exhaust his natural life before reclaiming the hand was also different than the novel’s. In the novel, the waiting was due to the consequence of taking the hand forcefully (by killing ML prematurely) cuz that would mean messing with the hand’s fate (it’s with ML now so it’s fate is tied to him instead of Taihe) of which doing so would cause Taihe’s remnant primodial spirit to completely disappear. It was not because she believed ML was a good person that shouldnt be killed. They kinda romanticized the connection between ML and FL a bit here by having her standing her ground because she believed he was good, when in the novel, her sole motivation to venture into the mortal world to retrieve the hand was due to her thousands years old love for Taihe and she insisted to wait because she didnt want Taihe to disappear.

All in all, the novel was fun, and although the changes of the adaptation was acceptable, i honestly prefer the novel’s ending than the adaptation’s.

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Too Cheesy of a Xianxia Love Story for my liking

Xiang Yun was a cloud that was enlightened by the Red Thread Master of the Marriage Pavilion in Heavenly Realm 3,000 years ago, and has since worked as a lowly fairy there. She had a very strong bond with the Red Thread Master, almost like a daughter to him. Meanwhile Chu Kong is the Heavenly Realm God of War, who had just woken from slumber. He had his primordial spirit damaged after defeating the all feared demonic Moluo Queen Cang Hai 30,000 years ago and was told by his brother the King of Heavenly Realm, Haoxian, to go through love tribulation to repair the damage. The mischievous Xiangyun decided to reap some benefits while she still can, and auctioned Chu Kong for interested parties to tie the knot with him. Caught in the act, Chu Kong was enraged and went after her. By some twist of fate, the red thread that was supposed to be tied between Chu Kong and his loved one ended up tying itself on Xiangyun instead, and accidentally they both fell into the mortal well and unwillingly went through their first love tribulations together. And thus they had to go through 6 more afterwards while trying to repair Chu Kong’s primordial spirit, but inadvertently uncovered a deep horrible secret of their past.

Dunno why Ding Yuxi kept accepting projects with badly written FL. I mentioned bad because i read from the discussion that FL’s personality was different in the novel. This is the second time i saw him with such FL after Melody of Golden Age. This time his FL is physically weak, whiny, crybaby and a damsel in distress. I was close to dropping again (i did with melody) but i forced myself to continue cuz first, i really am curious of the story behind their lost memories and second, i didnt want to drop another of his work because his first show White Cat Legend had left a significant impression on me. Although im not a fan, i saw that he’s got the potential of a good actor.

I never imagined DYX has such a diverse acting skills (glad i didnt drop it earlier). He actually excells really well impersonating FL’s gestures and countenance, acting cutesy and all, when they swapped bodies during one of their tribulations, while Yang Chaiyue who plays Xiangyun did it rather badly. Like how she walks, sits and holds things, they did not look like how a man would do (eg when sitting together with just the two of them, DYX would close up his legs and droop his shoulders like a lady would sit, and while YCY shouldve sat with knees apart and straight shoulders like how a man would sit, she did the exact opposite). I am impressed to see DYX running while lifting his nonexistent skirt when he was wearing male attire like how a girl would run lifting the front of her skirt to prevent from stepping on it. He’s really into the character swap! I was expecting YCY to stumble on her skirt when she first woken up to the body swap because naturally a male in tight attire wouldnt have run while lifting the front of his skirt (cuz he had never worn one). Sadly she didnt forget to lift the skirt so yeah, her impersonation is generally inferior. I considered that some men might still lift the front of his robes while running, and yes ML wears huge flowy robes while in Heavenly realm, but then how man would lift the robe while running is very different from how a girl would do it, and YCY did the girl version instead of a man. It’s the little things like this that matters when it comes to gender swap to determine how good the actor is.

As for the FL, i have to admit the actress Yang Chaiyue is ethereally beautiful especially in her heavenly fairy attire, but i find her character is written not to my liking. She likes to speak in whiny voice, and her personality is written to be childish and babyish, which i find very irritating. I dont blame the actress, it’s the screenwriter who wrote her as such, although I read from the discussions her personally is quite different in the novel. I like her briefly as the domineering ever so confident queen better, but this only covered a small part of the show. She returned to the cutesy whiny personality even when she regained her lost memories, probably because she was reborn as Xiangyun and this was her new life and personality.

I find the set of Heavenly Realm very funny cuz some locations looked like a giant space station with rings rotating around it. and whats up with vomitting blood and never bothered to wipe it clean even hours afterwards? Just to remind viewers that they vomitted blood is it? It really irks me that almost all cdrama is like this. It’s like seeing somebody eat with food crumbs sticking on their mouths and never bothered to wipe after eating. It’s gross. It is instinct to wipe if something spills over our mouths right? Even if it was saliva we would instinctively wipe it off, i cant help but be bothered when seeing stains of red or purple that should have been blood to remain there like it didnt exist. So disgusting. Why did i mention this here and never did in other reviews? Cuz there are tonnes of blood vomitting here, almost in every other episodes especially towards the end.

Anyway i fastforwarded many of the couple’s romantic scenes cuz i was only enduring them to see how they unfold the secret 30,000 years ago and take revenge for the lost souls.

Btw i really love some of the songs like My Love and Break Through. They kinds got stuck in my head so this kinda upped the rating a bit.

If you like sweet cheesy kind of love story, you should adore this one. If youre more into action, then skip it. 😆

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Selfless and Selfish Love

Helian Xi’s last memory before dying had been his wife stabbing him in the heart. Somehow he came back to life to see his whole Liangchuan clan attacked by Yangzhou, his wife Princess Feng Yuan from Yangzhou is believed to be one of the culprits. Because he had pledged to safeguard the safety of his people with his blood, the clan was saved by sealing them in a divine tree in Lingchuan. Once sealed, the tree died and only with the return of the twinned branch in ML and FL’s possession can the tree be revived and the clansmen restored to life. ML went on rampage in Yangzhou palace for revenge and to find his wife so he could take back her twinned branch, but unfortunately she was nowhere to be found. Fast forward 3 years later, the Crown Prince of Shouyun was supposed to wed his sweetheart Liangchan, but she was attacked before the wedding. The masked men had wanted to end her life but was intervened by ML. He discovered that Liangchan looks exactly like his wife. He kidnapped her but found out Liangchan had no memories about her past life prior to 3 years ago. ML made an agreement with Crown Prince to let Liangchan regain her memories before doing anything. But when she started to remember, things turn out to be very different from what ML had remembered it to be.

I can say this show probably has a quite high budget. The pictures, the props, the actors, the edits are actually pretty impressive for a miniseries. At least it surpassed my expectation. The actors are very talented and able to portray their characters convincingly well. ML and FL’s expressions are on point and can really deliver. They looked good together too, i can feel the spark even when ML was supposed to hate FL before he knew what really happened. The conflicted and longing look of his was very convincing, that I-really-wanna-kill-you-but-I-love-you kind of look. The plot is engaging and amazingly did not have much plotholes expected from miniseries. The songs are great too. So nice and didnt sound cheap and copied at all.

Gotta to warn readers this story is very dark, gloomy and sad. A beautiful story, but not for those who can’t handle sappy drama.

SPOILER BEYOND THIS LINE____________








The only thing that ticks me is the ending. FL’s ending is pretty much expected, i dont really have a problem with that, but for the ML i think they really botched it. How come a leader of a tribe who also has a daughter in tow could make that decision? It looked stupid and selfish, unbecoming of the ML’s character as a leader who treasures his clan in the beginning of the show. As i dont believe in suicides in the name of love, i deem it stupid, weak and selfish, awfully disrespectful to FL’s sacrifice. At least hers was made for the whole clan and cant be considered suicide cuz am pretty sure FL would really want to live if she could survive the twinned branch extraction. A real man and leader wouldnt have made that decision that ML did. What, just because the main villain died and the clan is back to life, now he can abandon them to their own devices, disregarding their future and even his daughter’s? He didnt even appoint a proper leader to succeed him! What a selfish and shortsighted man! Awfully disappointing so am taking off 1 and a half star for that. Good thing is at least the side couple came through.

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Not a Zombie Show

Not quite a zombie series, but more to alien invasion, although the invasion only happened to this one tiny island. Chu Sijing, a jinyiwei captain, came to the Ninghai in the name of investigating a plague, where Bo Yan, a Ninghai army sergeant was assigned to be his guide cum assistant during this investigation. The Ninghai army was not as welcoming as they saw him as a representative of the people of the court who is looking for an excuse to stop the building of the Ninghai wall, so they keep refusing to cooperate to ML’s demands about the strange disease going on the camp. During one of his night ventures, he came across a group of islanders doing shady business, who ran off upon seeing him. As he was chasing them, he was stopped by Captain Lei. This picqued his interest to go to Wumu Island to investigate them, thinking the army was trying to hide something by denying his request to visit the island. And as he swam to the island with Bo Yan guiding him, they discovered a more sinister mystery running rampant on the island that could jeopardize the army and the kingdom’s general population as a whole.

At first the story sold the cult idea, then mystical powers, and eventually turned out to be an alien entity who was trying to control the human population. It’s kinda weird because of the ancient setting, I kinda think it wouldve been more interesting had in been in a modern time.

It’s the first time I saw Sandrine Pinna, she played a portuguese captain with a mission to bring back one of the monsters to present to her emperor. I think it is rather weak to have a foreigner to risk all her men just to help ML fight off the power behind the monsters. Somehow that doesn’t fly. And why would a bunch of portuguese sailors speak spanish? Lol. I wonder if the term “to shoot/fire” is really fire in spanish. Sounded like a direct translation. Because to shoot in malay wouldve been “tembak” and not “api (fire)”. 🤭

I’m not sold on the ending too. Why would Wo Zhan the alien entity would want to strike any deal with ML? did it really think ML was really “that” special and that it could control him like it did his twin bro? I had a hard time concentrating to the show, maybe thats why i might have missed things here and there. I dont know, this show somehow lack the wow factor to keep the audience on screen. It’s a drag to finish it, and it only had 12 episodes!

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Palace Struggle of a Warrior Queen

Usually I have a problem with tv shows that are too long with draggy unnecessary sideplots and scenes thrown in senselessly, this time I feel that this tv show needs more episodes to really give proper narrative and adequate closure to the audience.

Basically it’s about the historical Queen Woo’s struggle to manoeuvre against palace conspiracy right after the King dies out of the blue due to poisoning. The show spans about 24-36hours but with up to 28years of flashbacks that reveals the background of each key characters especially the couple the King and Queen. Queen Woo was born to a tribe in the North, was raised like a boy with military and martial prowess, aspired to be a great general, but ended up sacrificing for the tribe to be wedded off to one of the kingdom’s princes guarding the border with no chance for the throne. The original bride had been her sister, Woo Soon, but she was adamant on marrying the Crown Prince (she wanted to be the Queen so badly) and would rather die if she couldnt. So to avoid the tribe from rejecting the marriage decree, Woo Hee stepped up and volunteered to wed and live in the treacherous North border with the second prince, Go Nammoo. Much to their surprise, before the King died, the second Prince was appointed as the successor instead of the Crown Prince due to his military might and merit, for the late King entrusted for the second prince to repossess the land conquered by Han. When the second prince (now King) died after being poisoned, thereforth starts the Queen’s struggle to maintain her late husband’s reign legacy and to fight for her own survival. At the same time, the palace’s ministers struggle to find the real culprit behind the King’s demise.

The FL, Queen Woo Hee was the perfect Warrior Queen who is both intelligent and profound in military & political strategy, and possess significant physical and martial prowess, enough to fend for herself and others around her. During the less than 24 hours chase to select the King’s successor among her brother-in-laws by marrying them, she showed how a leader should decide and act during emergency, and upon her return with future King, showed how a general should lead her troops in facing the crown prince’s and the third prince’s rebellion. FL was resolute, firm and brave. She doesnt second guess herself, and most importantly she trusted her subordinates enough to lay her life for them. A true warrior queen.

The ML, i consider Eulpaso as the ML although not paired with FL romantically, is a key figure during her reign. She spends most time with this Prime Minister than her own husband since the King is frequently away for war all year round, this the Prime Minister had become her confidant, discussing military/political strategy with each other and guessing the King’s move on the battlefield, while playing huge-axx chess. As the Queen ventures out to acquire the successor right after the King died, ML held the fort in the palace as he tread the dangerous waters of palace intrigue to find the one behind the King’s assassination. He also became the Queen’s lifeline when the Queen was about to be caught up by assassins sent by the Third Prince.

The SML, the King, who looked messy and haggard in the first episode as he was shown to fight the Hans for years, i almost couldnt recognize the actor Ji Chang Wook, turned to be so dang smashing when he finally trims the beard and dons the dragon robe once he finally returns to the palace. Too bad it turned out that palace conspiracy proves to be much more fatal than the heinous battlefield he grew up in. No sword, spear or arrow could take his life, but a mere cup of wine did when he finally returns to the comfort of his own palace. The King died right in Episode 1, though he made a comeback in later episodes as numerous flashbacks detailing his origin and rise to the throne. And although he loved his wife so very dearly, he knew his responsibility to the kingdom outweighs everything else. He even gave the Queen a vial of poison, telling her to either kill herself or the enemy with it if there comes a time she is in danger/held hostage
, because he would never waver and give up the throne for her life. It was cruel, but that is just how the monarchs had to live their lives, as pawns to power. Just like how the Queen didnt take much time to decide to marry one of her brother-in-laws upon her husband’s death to ensure her survival and to ensure her control over the kingdom her late husband had painstakingly built.

Being a show with only 24 hours span, the writers made sure there is enough action to keep the audience on the edge of their seats. The Queen’s carriage chase by assassins sent by numerous tribes and prince was epic and it showed how formidable the Queen is as a fighter. The chase for the King’s poisoning case is pretty much engaging too, with riddles to whom it really was. At one point i even suspected the Queen because she was about to get deposed due to ministers’ pressure, but they never revealed who it really had been even towards the end. What a bummer.

The ending is anticlimax too because they ended it right after she yelled for the gates of the fortress to open, as she leads the troops to clash with the rebels, just like her late husband wouldve done. Although they did slide in snippets of the Queen’s victory, it was just too short and not quite satisfying. We the audience needs moreee! Historically Queen Woo reigned for more than 40 years as Queen and Queen Dowager, couldn’t they extend the episode up to the new King’s enthronement? 😭 it’s such a bummer!

The rating coould’ve been higher had they made a proper plot with satisfying ending, maybe up to 12-14 episodes instead of just 8. 😒

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One of the Best!

I have been putting off this title for soo long cuz I didnt quite like Zhao Lusi in The Long Ballad and I didnt think she would make a good main lead. But she definitely proved me wrong in Love Like the Galaxy. I must admit that this show stands almost at par with The Untamed and The Rebel Princess which are in my top favourite list, and her performance here was spectacular.

The show opened up with 15yo Cheng Shaoshang - FL - finally reunited with her parents who had left her in her grandmother’s care since birth to go for war. On the way home from where her grandmother made her stay, she met with our ML the 21yo great young general Ling Buyi on the hunt for a criminal, which turned out to be FL’s grand uncle (grandma’s bro). She showed him where she suspected the man to be hiding, which was in a strawpile in front of the small hut she lived in. This is where FL caught ML’s eye. It was like love at first sight, though he had only seen her hand at that time.

When she thought her life would be better now that her parents are home, it turned out to be even worse when her tiger soldier mom could not accept the daughter that she turned out to be - illiterate, brash, full of trickery with a loose mouth of rebuttal. The mom tried to make up for those years she lost of raising and educating FL, but it made FL hate her even more due to the harsh educating method. The mom also openly favoured FL’s cousin who was well-read, gentle, and compassionate. As FL traverse her new life with a full family that she couldn’t seem to fit in, she learned to grow into a mature young lady under the wings of the empress when ML asked the emperor for her hand. ML was the last descendent of the Huo clan, which the emperor was hugely indebted to, thus had ML raised by the Empress. With FL, he too traversed his life to avenge the extermination of his clan while at the same time fighting for the woman whom he loved.

I totally totally love love love this show. I love how they are more focussed on the familial affection than romance between the main leads. Although FL had a hard time bonding with her mom, she was on an extremely good terms with her dad, her 2 brothers (1 was actually her twin), and the demure cousin. There was no sibling rivalry at all despite their 15 year-estrangement, which i totally love. Am so tired of sibling fights, bickering and getting jealous at each other all day long. Its non existence in the Cheng Household is totally heartwarming. The only tension would only come from the mom-daughter banter as FL keep stirring up trouble whenever she got criticized by her mom and bullied by other girls outside.

I totally get the FL character. Imagine the emptiness in her heart, she was abandoned as a baby by her family and left in the care of those who doesn’t love her at all. She grew up having to rely on her own self without the ability to love other people. And even when her family returned, she still found herself drowning with her mom’s constant criticisms and complaints of her shortcomings. She was drowning and eager to grab a life line, something that her parents should have provided but failed to do so, and that was why she was quick to accept her first bethrothal and then ML’s, thinking that it was her ticket to freedom.

Although I am not a fan of damsel-in-distress type of character, which the FL is, i totally love her guts. She has no physical prowess, with a body so frail that she would faint at extreme sadness or agitation, but her wit, intelligence and stubborness make up for that. Despite her gentle look, FL is extremely quick-witted, relentless and unyielding. She has no problem talking back to others with a sharp tongue in her defense, against whoever it may be. Her mom failed to appreciate her strengths, but the Empress did, and it is understandable that FL quickly allevated her as a mother figure. I was super satisfied when FL decided to stay with the Empress in isolation, leaving her home without much qualm. Back then, her mom had left her for the loyalty to the emperor, and now when she bade farewell, she said she too chose loyalty to the empress over filial piety. What a great “in your face” moment though FL had not meant it to be a revenge. I loved FL mom’s character because she is a tiger mom like me, but it is still so satisfying to see her take her own medicine. I can’t forgive her for favouring Yangyang and keep denouncing FL in public over and over again.

Leo Wu had proven his talent in The Long Ballad, so I totally know he’d definitely be able to pull off the fierce general look, and a love stricken lover. ML is basically hell bent on taking a revenge on his clan’s extermination, and is ruthless in seeking out the truth. Him being most favoured person of the emperor made him almost untouchable. Although he was busy investigating, he realized he could not miss out a chance at romance too. And so when FL’s first bethrothal was rescinded, he immediately asked for her hand in public, without even asking if she would be okay with it or not. It showed how much confidence he has in himself, and he made sure she could not refuse by shamelessly asking the emperor to do it for him, putting FL’s parents in a tight spot. ML is a resilient soul, very similar to FL, and as they get to know each other, they realized although they very much love each other, they still lost sight of accepting each other’s shortcomings, which had cost them very dearly.

This is the first show ever that I saw where the empress and the concubine got along with each other, and they are not even pretending to be just for the sake of looks. The Emperor is quirky and lovable and I totally ship them three. Their love for the ML and for each other is truly genuine and pure. And as usual, ML’s two sidekicks always get my vote of favourite goofy characters. I don’t know how they do it, but in most of military oriented shows like this, the ML always have two sidekicks with opposite characters, 1 usually serious and 1 goofy and every time, they always caught my eyes and make it to the favourite spot. Ah Qi and Ah Fei, you guys rock!

The fights are excellently choreographed, one of the best I’ve seen without the flying or superhuman sh!t, and this is also the first show that I’ve seen where people don’t vomit blood for every injury they have. In here, even as they were being hit on the abdomen repeatedly, all i see was water or saliva coming out of the mouth, and no blood. Now that is what I call realistic! It is so stupid to see injuries like sword wound or pierced by an arrow or beatings on the butt and yet they vomit blood. Duh 😒🙄 oh and the show doesn’t pull off any poisoning or amnesia trope either. 👍🏼

All in all, the screenplay is so damn good. It is 56 episode long, but it didnt feel like that due to how engaging the story is. And although none of the main and major support roles died, I still cried buckets due to the emotional rollercoaster they put me on. This title couldve gotten an all 10 points from me had they not slacked a bit on the music side. None of the OST caught my ears or stayed in my head, so there goes the music category.

However, this is also the first show that I wished it had a tragic ending. I wished FL died on that cliff on that few last episodes, and ML lived in regret forever. He had not suffered enough for abandoning FL at the earlier cliff scene. Too bad it had a happy ending instead.

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Strong FL and ML but too many plotholes

When I watched the first episode, i felt that it was really promising, with the FL as a modern soldier turned bodyguard leading a group of biologist in a forest looking for specimens.they were attacked by a giant serpent and while protecting the group, she fell into a cavern or some sort. As the FL was looking for a way out, she stumbled upon a dagger which transmigrated her to ancient time Longyuan Continent after she unsheathed it. The girl FL woke up in was an illegitimate daughter of the chancellor of Tianque, who had been mistreated all her life growing up in the mansion as her mom the concubine died early when she was a young. The story followed FL’s journey to find a way to return to her time, while at the same time standing up for herself in the family who had mistreated her. Turned out she had a body that is immune to all kinds of poisons, and the 4th prince -the ML- her evil sister was aiming for had taken a liking at the FL during the consort candidate lineup, and chosen her as the princess consort instead of the original arrangement by the emperor for him to be with FL’s sister.

As princess consort, the FL had to keep dodging bullets thrown at her by her own family, the royal family and others who looked down upon her, while trying to find a way back to her time. She was also thrown into the royal political turmoil surrounding the ML while at the same time finding herself falling in love with him.

I liked the FL in the earlier parts of the show cuz she’s good at the portrayal as an arrogant,confident and self-reliant young lady, the personality that is apt for a soldier and bodyguard of modern time. She’s also very beautiful and pleasing to the eye. However as the story progresses, i found her to be rather stiff and wooden in intimate and romance scenes. She liked to put up a puzzled/clueless face in such scenes, and she’s really bad at sad scenes too. The emotion just didnt come through. Also, she’s just too mischievous and lively as princess consort compared to the serious persona she had in the first episode as a weapon wielding soldier. The contrast is just too big. I would expect her demeanor should be closer to Ren Xin’s in A Journey to Love as she was member of the armed forces before transmigrating. Maybe the writer forgot that she was a transmigrator rather than a native of the ancient time.

The number of times FL got kidnapped and captured hence tortured by ML’s and her enemies is also ridiculous to the point of being comical. It just seemed like FL’s superpower is getting kidnapped and captured repeatedly right up towards the end. How can a modern special force get so bad at defending herself all while posessing superb ancient ability like sword wielding, cultivating inner power and qinggong, archery and horse riding? It became comical because these ancient abilities had nothing to do with her special forces training or even the ability of the original owner of the ancient FL’s body. 😂 she just automatically became good at everything after transmigrating. Funnier even that she became good at everything and yet still need to be saved by ML over and over again. Gosh the plot repeats so much that I literally rolled my eyes and laughed. One thing i was grateful is that they did not use the common and ever so popular “got injured, in a coma, woken up with an amnesia” plot.

As for the ML, i thought he looked too old to portray a 20yo+, and isnt as handsome as most ML of other shows that i’ve seen. But one thing i had to admit, he looked very masculine and manly befitting the role as a prince who rose to power by his achievements on the battlefield. He basically volunteered to go to war at 14yo just to escape the awful life he had in the palace. The actor grew into me just like The Rebel Princess’ General Xiao Qi who didnt give much impression in earlier episodes but grew into the audience as the story progresses. The ML’s emotional expressions in all of his scenes came through unlike the wooden FL. The way he looked at FL also looked convincing, in the beginning when he was intrigued by her origins, and later as a longing lover. The happiness, sadness, anger, crazy, basically everything was executed perfectly well, as opposed to the FL who would always looked confused/clueless even when she was supposed to be looking into the eyes of the love of her life.

The show also had a ridiculous amount of flashback scenes which some can be repetitive too! Omg, i fast-forwarded so much of those. They also love to do slowmos which i ff too. What a waste of time. I guess thats why i manage to finish everything in under 3days. There’s many unnecessary scenes which are lengthy! I didnt like the scenes with second ML so i ff most of them too.

Other casts arent impressive too, many had to work harder. The supporting ML looked so awkward around FL and some of the other casts overact. I also fail to understand the plot about finding music scores to discover the origin of ancient FL. And it is also funny that the distance between kingdoms looked so close that they can move from one capital to another in a matter of a short time like they just went through a portal or something. Gosh so many plotholes and the plots are predictable too! The ending is also too stereotypical for time travel genre.

However all in all it is an enjoyable show. Both the FL and ML are likable and they looked good for each other. I could feel the attraction between the two. The storyline on the other hand, needed better writing. I understand that it was a novel adaptation, so it is acceptable that the plot might have been cramped to fit into 40 episodes.

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Straightforward Romance with a Slightly Brilliant FL

I have never heard of the names of any of the actors in this series, so u can say my review is very unbiased as i picked up this title just by the whim of the moment. Finished it within 3 days too.

The story started off with a somewhat cute cartoonish creature flying around the FL, Nan Yan, which i first thought was her fairy friend or pet. But then it was revealed that even she herself doesnt know that this creature resides inside her. Then a mysterious ML comes along, then a few others she befriends with as she was supposedly curing ML’s heart disease which was similar to her mother’s.

First off, i gotta say FL is one of the brightest and quickwitted characters ive ever watched. She just looked soft, gullible, and easily manilulated, but as the story progresses, it is revealed that she’s the exact opposite of that. Yeah in the first one third of the story, she was weak in physical and magical strength, because she only focusses on her medical skill and not interested in cultivating. But after the first love tribulation, when she came back strong and reknowned as the top demon slayer, with the combination of the intelligence and strength, she became someone you dont wanna mess around. And the best part of this character is that, in situations where FLs of other typical drama would go down the rabbit hole of misunderstanding and grudge against their better half, Nan Yan did not! Ha!

As for the ML, i like it that he manage to put on two very different attitude and demeanor of he as Shao Cang and later as Yin. Shao Cang appears to be arrogant and yet humble in his own way, aloof as the monarch of his sect and yet still cares of lives around him. While Yin, although still has the aloof aura as he doesnt really interact with people due to his demonic possession, has a much brash attitude and rather harsh in his actions.

Other supporting characters are all great. Costume are nice to look at and doesnt look too flamboyant.

The thing i dislike about the series is how badly the editing is. One scene jumps right to another in the middle of a conversation, which i sometimes had to backtrack to confirm if i had been spacing out and missed anything. This scene would eventually be explained in another scene through flashbacks. So yeah they wanted to keep it a surprise as not to reveal everything in a streamline fashion, but cutting in the middle of a conversation is such a turnoff. I keep getting dumbfounded as the scenes dont tally with the next that i eventually stopped backtracking and just went with it. Sure enough, that dumbfounding scene would then be explained later.

I feel that there is not much chemistry between the main couple. I almost felt it between Shao Cang and NanYan, but later when he came back as Yin, it somehow got diffused and became lost. The villains keep popping out episode after episode but Sen Luo is probably a major disappointment after they build up his reputation as the owner of three divine hearts and conqueror of 5 demon prisons which cannot even be vanquished by the best demi god of the realm - he can only be imprisoned while the demi god himself perish later on. All these hype and this demon lord get kicked out of the scene just like that? There was hardly any battle at all. And those banter between Yin and Sen Luo made it look like this demon lord is a mere joke instead of second biggest villain.

SPOILER BEYOND THIS LINE_____________



I dont get the point of Yin having to be killed by Nan Yan in the last episode too. The drama is just nonexistent as two minutes later (3 years by the story) he would resurrect yet again. There’s no explanation of why or how he manage to live again though. So I see it as pointless. The last episode seemed rushed especially the the last battle between the lovers.

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Impressive storyline for a zombie show.

It’s a survival story of a group of townspeople who had been attacked by black smoke that came from a sinkhole, which can turn people into super athletic zombie-like mutants upon inhalation. In the chaos, ML, a towtruck driver met with FL, a detective from Seoul on the hunt for a serial killer whose among victims had been her husband, although they got separated in the beginning of the disaster, they eventually cross paths again and joined hands in their quest to find a safe place for the survivors.

First off, I am not a fan of zombie stories. I especially dislike korean zombies cuz once turned, they instantly become superhumans. When i clicked this title, i thought it’d be a sci-fi mystery show of some sort. Nuh-uh, in fact this show has the highest functioning zombie-mutants of all, some of them can even read, speak, think with vengeance! Wth man. Almost dropped it when I realized it is a zombie show, but decided to stay on cuz I was curious to see the showdown between the FL and the serial killer, and how the mainleads were going to defeat the shaman who can control zombies, and the thing in the smoke that controls everything that got infected.

I must say, Lee Hwa Seon the FL, is the most combatworthy Kdrama female detective I’ve ever seen. Other policewomen ive seen so far usually rely on brains and wits while pretty bad at hand-on-hand combat. Not Hwa Seon. She’s not No Mercy type of fighter who does the martial artist kind of fights, but a realistic ordinary person who fights with brawn and wits. She also doesn’t give a second thought at going against higher ranked elders. One pet peeves of mine on kdrama is as asians are people who puts high regards on our elders status, we rarely talk back to them, let alone fight with them. And the elders with power and status (especially those despicable chaebols) in kdrama are usually exceptionally loud, foul-mouthed, super domineering and extremely abusive. It’s satisfying to see FL standing up against those types for once. She’s not rude or disrespectful, she’s just brave and firm and people back down due to the authority she exudes. Lee Hwa Seon has become the most badass female detective in kdrama in my eyes.

I really like the chemistry of the main leads. They do not have any romantic relationship, but the chemistry is damn striking. Both are willing to go out of their ways to save strangers, even at the risk of their own lives. In earlier episodes I couldnt understand how this tow truck driver suddenly becomes a hero ready to save everyone around him disregarding his own safety without even giving it a second thought, i even got annoyed and thought this character as reckless. then they revealed who he was before and then only everything falls into place. Pretty neat, really.

The screenwriters are also really good at suspense building. Else how can anyone explain how someone who hates zombie shows like me got hooked? How humans can be desperate and sinister enough to stay alive even if it means to kill others in the name of cult sacrifice. How each characters’ dark secrets are thrown into the plot is also rather brilliant. As each secret is revealed, I got impressed even more.

One thing i noticed about kdrama is that they do so many flashbacks! I get it that it’s to build background of each character, but the flshbacks on this show is just waaay too much. For example, The scene of ML telling his partner that he got fired from the police force, was shown at least 4 times. I mean come on, 4 times? It’s no longer character background building, it’s background overload! I think if the repetitive flashbacks are compiled they couldve filled up an entire episode (or more!).

Also, I really dont get the staring contest in kdramas. They stare at each other in fights when there are still enemies around and they stare after the fights when time is essential. It’s really getting on my nerves. And when they do it in zombie shows where people can get attacked from literally anywhere, it becomes annoying af.

I can’t shake off the thought of how the enemy in here is somewhat like a combination of Train to Busan and Stephen King’s The Mist. Scary right? Superhuman zombie plus mysterious monster in the smoke. However I am glad this show has better and much more satisfying ending than the two shows.

If youre someone who love zombie or disaster survival shows, then this is definitely for you. Those who arent, well it doesnt hurt to give it a try. You can always drop it if u dont like it. Personally it has been an entertaining ride for me.

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Nice warm rom-com but rather mediocre storyline

It’s about a bandit, the FL, whose stronghold had been raided by the army after she snatched a tribute of Yeming kingdom to Pei Kingdom. She was thrown into court political struggle when the official leading the raid saw that she had an uncanny resemblance to his daughter, who died after jumping off a cliff in response to the arranged marriage to the Crown Prince of Pei, the ML. The official, the Prime Minister of Pei, grabbed the chance to threaten FL into posing as his daughter to become the Crown Princess, lest all occupant of the stronghold be killed. She had to do the Prime Minister’s bidding as she racked her brain to rescue people from the stronghold. Along the way, she grew to like the Crown Prince, who was wary of her at first, but eventually he too had fallen in love with his wife whom he consider just a spy from the Prime Minister’s residence. As the story progressed, mysteries and plots get revealed, but one thing remained for sure, the love between the Crown Prince and his princess.

I dont know where to start with this one. It’s definitely a hearty romantic comedy, but fell short of all the other aspects. The storyline, the conspiracy plotting, the court politics, the fightings, oh well like I said, everything. But the music scores are fun and catchy, although sounded much too modern for a period series. Although nice, it’s really annoying that there was too much of these interlaced songs in the scenes, especially romantic scenes, which made it sound repetetive and annoying.

Although the FL is good in acting, i think the ML has much work to do. His expressions sometimes doesnt fit the scene. He is supposed to be this intelligent, kind-hearted, quick witted Crown Prince, but ended up showing the audience someone who is adorably stupid and too slow to react in intense situations. He was shown to be quite bad in martial arts, and other characters have also mentioned this multiple times along the show, but suddenly without training much or studying from great masters like a wuxia series would show, he just suddenly become good at swordplay towards the end of the show.

Plotholes are aplenty in this one, you cant really make sense of the scenes presented unlike a high budget show has. Oh yes I blame the budget. They definitely dont have a budget high enough to hire good screenplay writers, action choreoghrapher and wardrobe manager.

Not only does the storyline strewn with plotholes, the fighting scenes are also horrendous and painful to watch. Too slow, too rehearsed, and too much wirework. Definitely not one of those that run like fluid while keeping us on the edge of our seats. They look cheap and too mediocre.

Lets not make me start on the costume the filmset. Theyre much too modern-looking, both the costume and the set, looks weird to see those designs in a period setting. The head gears are also too dangly. The make up is nice though, although I cant figure out why they had to make the FL wear such moisty lipstick that made her lower lip look swollen and bleeding. Another too modern look.

All in all, its just a show with two beautiful leads. That’s it. Definitely wont rewatch it. Recommended if youre into light romcoms. At least this is better than Royal Rumours.

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Truly a masterpiece!

I just cant move on from this drama. Everyone did a great job in it, even the small roles!

I read the novel first and thought that it was a total masterpiece despite not really into BL. I was actually reluctant to start watching this because the novel had excessively explicit sexual scenes. I didnt have much impression of Wang YiBo and XiaoZhan as I dont really know them and havent watched any of them on screen before The Untamed. I was actually curious when people keep talking about how great their friendship was when it's clear the novel had them hooked up as lovers. To be honest I was skeptical and delayed watching because I was preparing for the worst. However the drama proved me wrong as they manage to stay truthful to the novel despite a few changes to show bromance instead, which I truly adore! It's definitely different from typical love story like the other wuxia dramas that I've watched. There's no silly female characters chasing after the male leads, I hate it when they flock around male leads like leeches. And I dont care how much other people keep saying that they have BL element in this, I personally see those scenes as bromance!

I especially LOVE the sibling relationship between Jiang Cheng, Jiang YanLi and Wei WuXian. The pain suffered by WWX and JC when JYL died was so heartbreaking and I cried each time. In fact, I actually like the drama more than the novel, especially the scene where WWX broke down after JYL's death. I love the ending too!

Watched the special edition twice to relive the memorable moments after I finished with the full version, watched the anime version (up tp season 2) too, and still cant get over this. Watched behind the scenes shots and was surprised WYB was actually more goofy than XZ. It takes considerable talent to play the cold stoney Lan Zhan with someone of that character, and my hats off to all of the cast to be able to make the characters real. It was indeed really hard for me to move on from this story.

This is indeed one of the best cdrama I've ever watched. My only regret was not watching it much earlier!

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A redemption for Princess Agent fans

This is like another journey back to Eternal Love days. It’s about a spirit who is also the God of War in her realm, who falls in love with a human during her short stint of falling in the mortal realm. This human, however, turned out to be an ancient god who decided to experience mortality due to boredom. Because of his status as the only ancient god left to govern the world, he could not reciprocate her love, and she, being the big shot general of her realm, understood that they were just not meant to be. Well, turned out she understood and willing to forget her love, but it turned out the ancient god had a hard time of letting her go. Things happened, and their fates got entangled even more.

Honestly I did not have much high hopes on this series when I first saw its trailers. They looked over the top and ML looked silly because they featured Xing Yun. I thought it was going to be strong FL with weak ML (didnt read any synopsis before it was aired).

Another doubt that I had was because of Lin Geng Xin. I tried watching his other works after his superb performance in Princess Agent (PA) but I was met with disappointment. Didn't finish Zhao Yun God of War because he was so bad in it. So I had my doubt when I heard about this show. It was a mixed feeling because I really love his character as Yuwen Yue in PA but he fell short in his other tv series. Amazingly it turned out he did really well as an ancient god. I thought I wont see any better performance of a god after seeing Vengo Gao in Eternal Love of Dream, but amazingly Lin Geng Xin managed to surpass my expectation.

Most xianxia shows that I watched mostly had sad/open endings which is obviously less than satisfying, mostly frustrating (still cant get over the traumatic ending of Princess Agents, cuz the book had such a lovely ending!). Many claim to be adapted from novels and yet they really love to deviate from it. I finished reading the Yu Feng Xing novel and am happy that it had a happy ending, but then I didnt know if the tv series would be faithful to it, which kept me on edge as I watched the show. And as the story progressed, I was quite happy that they try to stay on track with the book. Only minor deviations/add on like the scenes of You Lan and Fu Rong Jun. You Lan actually got more screen time than the author wrote her on the book.

The good:

- no contradicting personality of any of the characters. The general acted like a general, the pauper like a pauper, the king as kings, the diety as dieties and so on. There’s no strong FL but with damsel in distress attitude when around ML, no clumsy trying to act cute scenes, no immature/ridiculous actions etc. Shen Li was strong, and she fights her own battle without waiting to be saved.

- There are no silly misunderstandings, stupid jealousy, ridiculous confusions around the love relationships. FL is clear about her stand on this topic, and she stayed true towards the end. SML never try to fight for her affection too, he knows the boundary and all he wanted was only for FL to be safe.

- Actors display superb performance, I couldn't really find any flaw with any of them.

- Costume is super gorgeous and not overly extravagant. I especially love love love costumes of the generals here. So smart looking and yet not overly done.

- Music is sooooo breathtaking and easy to catch on.

- storyline is easy to follow hence not many loopholes to pick on. However, this also means that the story is much too simple and straightforward with not much complicated plot thrown in.

- I really love that they decided to do the last episode. Most adaptations usually skip the very last chapter (prologue) and made audience feel dissatisfied. This show managed to capture every little part of the novel and made it into the screen. This one episode is the only moment that we get to see Shen Li and Xing Zhi as a real normal lovey-dovey couple with both of them acting cute with each other. It was so fulfilling. A real closure of both LoSL and PA combined.

The bad:

- there’s no real tension/conflict. Both Shen Li and Fu Rong Jun didnt like the arranged marriage so no conflict there. Both Shen Li and Xing Zhi know that theyre not meant to be together due to their respective responsibilities, so there’s no conflict there. In fact, Shen Li is more adamant about this more than Xing Zhi. At least Xing Zhi thought of living away quietly with Shen Li, but Shen Li never did. I truly enjoyed the moments when Xing Zhi was treating Shen Li’s torture injuries, I think that was the only sweet moments of them as lead general and ancient god setting their huge responsibility to the side to enjoy the brief moment with each other. There’s no love triangle either cuz Shen Li rejected Mo Fang right from the start, even after she realized who Xing Zhi really was. Her heart is set on stone and she never deviates.

- CGI is quite over the top. The earlier episodes of Shen Li as a phoenix looked cartoonish. Not seamless enough. The underwater scene is badly done too. But some of the battle scenes and the ocean freezing scene was great.

- Lack of good battle scenes with the villains because theyre just not strong enough until Feng Lai emerged. Yes even Fu Sheng was not really strong. The only memorable battle scenes of Fu Sheng was only the East Sea (eh was it the north sea, i get confused) battle which forced Shen Li to burn everything to crisp including herself. That was it. The torture scene was disappointing too. The torture by Fu Sheng and treatment by Xing Zhi was more gruesome in the book. But hey since they tried to stay true to the book with all the important details so I’ll let this slide.

I watched the series twice back to back because I just couldn't have enough of them. Am thinking of rewatching again in near future. Basically, I’d rate this one as one of the great pieces by Zhao Liying that I’ve watched, it was hard to move on from like how i felt after watching Ten Miles Peach Blossoms and The Untamed. I actually watched this show three times.

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Mediocre

When I started on this one I was ready for horrible acting and story, but to my surprise, the story up to the middle of the show is actually quite okay and acceptable for a low budget production. The acting is okay too, and for once I kinda got engrossed into the show. The leads are ordinary looking couple, so it kinda relate to the audience since we are generally ordinary. You don’t need extra handsome ML and super cute gorgeous FL to make a story works. Just good story and good acting actually suffice. Up to Episode 21, everything looks good and acceptable to me.

Then they went on to use the misunderstanding trope. Get the wife jealous with another woman so she would leave the husband then the bad guys won’t harm her. WTH man. Like seriously? With all the things that she knows of the bad guys, they’d just leave her alone just because she left you, is it? Whoever came up with this stupid idea? The budget is so low you cant even hire bright people to write the story is it? Youre so damn close to the ending too!

So thats it. Dropping it so fast and I actually wrote this review right after I hit the stop button. What a waste of my time.

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