Anyway, This s2 moved at a much slower pace than s1, cant say much about that because even in the novel, the arc after Fan Xian’s return from Northern Qi until before his wedding was indeed pretty boring. I love the fight at Xuankong Temple though.
I really loved the book, i think its one of the best that ive read so far. And the fact that its a sci fi in a wuxia premise made it a thousand times better cuz i definitely did not expect this plot twist when i was reading the novel. As i was reading, i tried to imagine how would it look if it were made into a tv show it wouldve been so gooood. The action in this book is aplenty and very satisfying. Cant wait to see them materialize on screen in s3. Thats where all the heartpounding actions are. Special Kudos to the screenwriters for smoothing out the Fanxian character into a loyal lover. I love everything about novel fanxian except how he constantly cheats on Wan er. Glad the fanxian on screen is nothing like the novel’s in the love relationship department.
So far the production has done a tremendously well done job on this show. The actors have given their top notch performance. A must see for a court politics/wuxia fan. U wont regret it.
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Memorable wuxia drama
This is one of the best xianxia series I've ever watched, action packed with court conspiracy (which I love to skip though). Best thing is Main Character is not quite the best in cultivation but can survive each battle cause he's witty and intelligent. No mushy-mushy love scenes so you can forget this series if youre looking for one, and not quite the harem type too. As for me, this is definitely my cup of tea.Arthur's Ning Que is so on point and adhered to the novel's Ning Que. His air and antics are truly spot on and I cant really see anyone else playing this role. Song YiRen's Sangsang is superbly played, she really looked and behaved like a teenager, I was shocked to see that the actress is already 27yo! Thats truly a wow!
I love the action sequence. This series gives off particularly special air which made it stand out compared to other series. The plots are unique and unpredictable. Real nice adaptation indeed.
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Promising up to the Middle, Boring towards the End
A modern real estate self-proclaimed queen, Qu Xiao Tan found herself waking up into the body of a timid, constantly bullied illegitimate second daughter of Qu Family, Qu Tan’er, living in a strange land called Dongyue which Qu Xiaotan figured was a different realm and time than her own. After awhile, they found themselves taking turns possessing the physical body every time the other lies. While Qu Tan’er was forced into becoming a spy for the 1st prince who is also her ex-lover, Mo Yihuai, by her family by wedding the 8th prince, Mo Lian Cheng, Qu Xiao Tan was eager to escape the marriage and make a full run for it. Although Mo Liancheng was convinced that the wife he married was a spy for his elder brother, he was somehow interested in the vast difference of personality that his wife appeared to have. Soon enough, he realized he had fallen in love with the lively and strange Qu Xiaotan, and while manoeuvring the court politics together, they realized their souls were entangled in a deeper sense that they couldve ever imagined.I was reeled into this series solely due to Xing Zhaolin cuz I loved his role as Yue Qi in Princess Agent. Although the story was somewhat interesting all throughout the 3rd quarter of the show, it somehow fell short and plummeted into oblivion of ridiculousness after the fight for the crown prince arc ended. Took me days to finish even an episode after ep 17 or 18. I could no longer handle the cheesiness and clingy, acting cutesy FL after Ep 23 (didnt even finish it). The FL character was doing great for most of the show, though i admit i was kinda of turned off when she started to get super clingy to 8th prince after they professed their love for each other. I realized this is supposed to be a love story, but it is the kind that i cannot really handle. I am more into tough, stubborn kind of female characters, not super clingy hyper cheesy kinds.
I think the FL needs to polish her acting skills too. She looks horrible when trying to portray the demure, soft-hearted Qu Tan’er, which i cant help but rate it as fake. If her version of acting demure means to act sickly, talk very slowly like a 1yo learning to speak, and fall and pass out every chance she gets, then her range of acting is somewhat limited. I can’t stand the weakling Qu Tan’er, and I definitely can’t handle the super clingy Qu Xiaotan even more. Like seriously, the clingy Xiaotan gives me the creeps. I liked the fiesty Xiaotan before she fell in love, too bad her screentime was pretty short.
I honestly felt that the lead actors had chemistry, it’s just that i couldnt handle how the FL was written to be after 3rd quarter of the show. Some might like it, but not me. Sorry Yue Qi, i couldnt finish this even for you. Your FL character just ticks me off every time she speaks when you guys arrived in Liancheng continent. The plot seems extremely ridiculous and riddled with plotholes too. It looks like the screenwriter was trying too hard to immitate love transcension across multiple lifetimes of the xianxia theme, and failed at it.
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Amazing Drama of 2024
Hey why havent I heard of this show before? I only came across this title when i was browsing mydramanovel.com then compared the synopsis. Honestly I thought it was just one of those low budget show with mediocre production, especially when my impression upon finishing the novel that it was very forgettable. It turned out to be an amazing drama, one of the best ones I’ve seen so far with fast paced, engaging plot and stellar performance by the actors.First off, i like that they used child actors to portray the main leads in real timeline instead of mere flashbacks. Im tired of those adaptations that conveniently skips the childhood part of the main characters and start the story straight away as late teenagers just because they wanted to use the main actors from the very beginning, despite them not looking all that young even. Seeing zhang ziyi as a 15yo when she was 35 in The Rebel Princess was utterly hilarious. Glad this show hadnt suffered from this as well. Although they skipped Dou Zhao’s baby and toddlerhood, at least they hired a real child actor to start her character young.
I love it that the show is a thousand times better than the novel, which i felt too slow paced with winding and unnecessary plot. My only drive for finishing the novel is I wanted to see the showdown of the rebelling prince. Compared to other novels that ive read, it seemed too mediocre and super draggy, I even mentioned in my novel review that i hoped they make the adaptation with better plot or else it would take forever to finish, and yes, im glad that my wish came true! The show’s opening of how Dou Zhao’s and Song Mo’s fate was entertwined before their rebirths was brilliant, picqueing the audience’s interest and engagement, compared to the super draggy novel’s plot of Dou Zhao never encountering Song Mo until 13years after her rebirth (Song Mo only appeared after 100 chapters 😭imagine that!). The adaptation is super engaging with no draggy episode at all, my FF button practically took a back seat this time.
I also love that the show made the story more beautiful with amazing love story instead of the awfully dysfunctional relationships throughout the novel. In the novel, other than Dou Zhou and her people, the rest of the couples hated each other and plotted against each other. Whereas the show made the couples to be loving (although some came to tragic endings especially with the villains) which adds positive vibe to the already gloomy and sad plot. The show was able to make me cry buckets despite the novel never able to leave much of an impression, let alone stir my emotions after 523 chapters, but the adaptation did. It’s truly amazing because before this, I’ve always prefer novels than adaptation as i feel with novels it is much easier to convey more back story, emotion and inner thoughts of characters which adaptations usually fail to. But when it comes to Blossom, the production team definitely did a stellar job of turning a rather boring and mediocre novel into a fast paced drama filled with engaging plots. Kudos to the team.
I had to commend the actor for ML, Li YunRui. I’ve only seen him in Love Like the Galaxy looking handsome and demure as Ling Buyi’s love rival, so I had not expected him to wield the sword and fight like a real warrior in Blossom, his moves looked even better than Ling Buyi’s in Love Like the Galaxy 😂. The action choreograph had been impressive, and ML (and his double) executed it immaculately perfect. I felt that the character Song Mo was created for Li Yun Rui as he successfully embodied the novel’s Song Mo as an astounding beauty that rivals even young ladies and yet manage to exude terrifying aura of a fearless warrior with top tier skill on military strategy and martial prowess. Despite known throughout the show as a fierce warrior, he looked super cute when he was sulking at Dou Zhao cuz he thought the Crown Prince was admiring his wife. Now i can’t wait to see Rebirth especially the novel had been my all time favourite and that Zhuge Yue and Xing er is my most fav couple ever. I truly hope they hired good writers for that one and not botch the adaptation like Princess Agent did. Li Yun Rui deserves to play more main leads, his acting is amazing!
Meng Ziyi carried herself exceptionally well as Dou Zhao, a weak woman with no martial ability at all, estranged from her family, but able to protect and sustain herself by strategically employing useful people around her. I have only seen her as Hua Liu Li in Royal Rumours and one of the masked hero in Love in Pavilion, and both characters didnt leave much of an impression. But this time, she truly proved her worth. And her chemistry with Li Yun Rui had been spectacular. I honestly think they looked good with each other, and the characters are made for them. The only downside that I see on this show is how fragile they made Dou Zhao to be after she got pregnant. In the novel Dou Zhao almost never got sick or injured despite all the ordeal they went through, let alone fainting due to intense emotional distress. In the show, they made Dou Zhao’s health so fragile she keeps on fainting one scene after another, and lastly bedridden. Gosh I just can’t get over that cuz I just can’t stand physically weak characters.
Other than that, yes yes yes this show is super amazing. Those who are like me, who love action filled story with a tinge of love story, go ahead and watch, you won’t regret it.
And no, dont waste your time reading the 523 chapters. I regretted that i wasted my time reading it. The novel is nowhere near even a breadth of the adaptation’s spectacular performance. And the redemption of Duke of Ding and retributions of the villains in the adaptation is much more satisfying than the novel. Although I must say if I hadnt picked the novel up with belief that it only has 100 chapters (it turned out the page where I was reading from had an incomplete translated chapters, found another with complete chapters and my jaw practically dropped to see the number of chapters), I wouldnt have watched this show. I thought since I’ve wasted enough days reading the novel, I might as well watch the adaptation with hope that they did better than the novel. And they did! Hurrah to the production! Thank you for your hard work! Please do more beautiful work like this and lets stop botching good novels.
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This review may contain spoilers
Great Sequel
The second season closely adhere to the original novel, with slight changes which I truly prefer much more than the novel. The adaptation changes actually gave more humanity to Ye Hongyu and shows the strength of the Three Addicts, which is very admirable. The changes also made the story tolerable because the novel is super lengthy with draggy scenes. Im pretty much happy with the cuts the adaptation had made where they skip those draggy scenes without jeopardizing the main plot. Although many people say that this season is draggy, for those who reads the novel would know that this is already shortcut compared to the novel! The production team did a brilliant job indeed!Although there were numerous actor changes, for me its not much of a distraction. However I still liked to see Arthur Chen as Ning Que more than Dylan Wang. Generally Dylan's acting is ok, he definitely able to nail it as the NQ who is matured yet lovesick as depicted by novel writer. Its just that I feel that Arthur suits Ning Que more, I guess. Dylan just didnt have the 'air' that Arthur gave off on screen. Also the character change of NQ from season 1, from cheeky, mischievous, filled with grudge, shameless to matured, slightly dumb and love sick boy in season 2, is exactly like the novel writer wrote him to be, so I saw nothing wrong with Dylan's NQ unlike the other complaints. Dylan nailed it, Arthur also nailed it, but I felt the NQ character is somewhat made for Arthur, rather than Dylan, that is all.
The rest of the actors did amazing job, and I actually liked the mischievous Emperor of this second season more than the lofty one in the first season hahaha. The actress who played Ye Hongyu and Lu Chen Jia were superb! The current Lu Chenjia gives off strong air of Flower Addict, and her character is more believable and tolerable than the Lu Chenjia in the novel. I really liked the changes that the screenwriter made on her character development. Current Ye Hongyu shows a stronger front and air than the previous one in season 1, although I have to say YHY in season 1 is much more beautiful than Season 2. But regardless of that, I loved the season 2 YHY than the YHY in the novel and Season 1 YHY (I feel like that novel YHY acts more like the devil than someone devoted to Tao). Needless to say, I truly love Mo 'mary-sue' Shanshan. Her willingness to step back and watch NQ and SS be together for once, doesnt look forced or fake. It actually felt sincere and the actress did so well! The way the novel writer did it in the novel is amazing, and how the actress portrayed this character is super accurate with no cringe-worthy scenes. Gosh, I love Mo Shanshan!
Mr First, Mr Second and Miss Third are amazing trio, exactly as depicted in the novel. Oh god I truly love the Academy people. They're true family even though NQ only walked into their life a little over a year and yet theyre willing to sacrifice everything for him. The adjustment for Tang Xiaotang's scene rescuing Chen Pipi is a total blunder though. IN the novel she was supposed to be this truly strong lady character with body made of steel, she was supposed to freaking defeat the Papal cavalry guarding the Peach Mountain forgodsake, and arrived at Chen Pipi all bloody and heroic, and yet on screen, the rescue was made as pathetic with her running and stumbling all over while calling Chen Pipi's name like some lovesick maiden. What a disappointment!
However, I especially love the adjustment from the novel where the screenwriter actually included reunion of NQ and General Ma Shixiang. I was so disappointed by the novel because they never met after NQ left Wei Cheng for the Academy exams. Delighted as hell when I saw the series actually included tonnes of scenes between the two. That actually gives some closure to the readers who would love to see the father-son-like interaction between them.
The only thing thats lacking is the battlefield scenes. They're ridiculously cheapskate! Where the novel says THOUSANDS of cavalry, I can see only 30-40 people at most on screen. And the scene where the King marches into battle out of Wei Cheng, how come there's only 20-30 people escorting him? Where are the thousands of elite soldiers? And the heavy armour cavalry ambush, my god, THAT IS NOT HOW HEAVY ARMOUR CAVALRY LOOKS LIKE! How come the invincible heavy armoured cavalry thats feared throughout the land dresses exactly like NORMAL light cavalry? Where are the heavy armour that needs constant maintenance which only Tang could afford?? Gosh, The production team should learn a thing or two from Princess Agent, Eternal Love or even Ashes of Love team when it comes to battle scenes. Ever Night battle scenes are truly pathetic and disappointing!
Anyway, Cant wait to see season 3. and I hope Arthur comes back to the team....
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Weak Plot + Horrible Acting = Waste of My Time
So FL’s whole family was wiped out overnight, and she suspected someone in the royal family was behind it. She plotted to wed the crippled crown prince which is the ML, tried to slowly poison him while at the same time trying to conceive royal heir and subsequently avenge her family’s extermination.The plot is so damn weak, how are you any better if the crown prince dies even if you have a baby with him? Would the baby make any difference if it wasnt crowned before it’s father died? At least FL shouldve aimed for the throne, help ML to ascend the throne or some sort, then only kill him after birthing an heir (which would be ML’s crown prince) for him. Didnt she think the eastern palace would amount to nothing without any backing once the ML dies? What a stupid revenge plan. I can’t stand the actress’ horrible acting and those cheesy scenes between her and the supposedly masked intruder (which was the ML- apparently he wasnt a cripple 🙄). And that little trick of duping the crown prince into marrying her is laughable too. I thought I was watching a cheap self funded shorts that always come up my facebook feed.
FL’s swordplay is too horrible too, just flailing the sword around like a madwoman with no flow at all, gosh I just can’t stand this character. Acting as if she possess great martial ability but only to see her subdued by the third move every single time. I was like, seriously? All that cocky talk and this is the amount of crap that you can show off? For a daughter of a fallen general who was trained in martial art since young, she is very lousy of a fighter. Such a lame character. Whoever hired such lazy screenwriter I really don’t know. What a waste of my 150+ minutes.
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Too slow paced and boring
I dont even know where to start. So this ML got discharged from the military due to physical violance, and he moved to Seoul to work as an intern with a school friend, who at one point was trying to steal his girlfriend. This broke ML ended up boarding up in a room at a shady looking boarding apartment. His girlfriend isnt much of a personality too, too selfish to even listen to her boyfriend’s worry about his less than ideal mysterious accomodation.The pacing of this series is sooooooo daaaaaaang slow that I took 2 days to finish 1 episode (the fastest) and 3-4 in my lazy days. So yeah the suspense is there, but dang boy cant they make the pace any faster? It takes forever to get over to the next scene. And the ML keep getting gaslighted by people around him when he expressed his suspicion on the shady people living in that boarding house. Just when he was about to discover something dark, bammmm it got covered up. It’s infuriating. So am definitely dropping this. Nothing personal on the actors, everyone did a great job. It’s just the writing that pissed me off. So bye bye - remove from watchlist and continue watching!
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Must have been one of those Grade C Cdramas
I was scrolling when this title came up. The synopsis looks promising, as it depicted how an unfavored noble daughter gets bethrothed to a seemingly evil general, fell in love at first sight and tries real hard to help her husband in solving problems her husband faces. Sounds like a strong FL who may not know any kungfu but bright in the head. I immediately imagined Ming Lan (from story of Ming Lan) type of character. I needed a breather after the fast paced and breathtaking ride of Legend of Shen Li which i just finished watching twice back to back. So I thought, 30 episodes, I can finish this quick, must have been fast paced too.Boy did I get fooled. Instead I was met with one draggy episode after another, with an FL who is immature, stupid, childish, lack serious foresight, incredibly insecure and jealous girl who has no chemistry with the ML. The only strong point that she has is her skill of lock picking. Other than that she’s useless. I seriously pity the general character to have that unfortunate fate of falling in love with this stupid girl. I find it really stupid that she immediately thought that tribal princess wants to steal her husband, and when it’s all over, all misunderstandings settled, suddenly there’s another princess coming in and she immediately thought she was out to steal her husband too. My god i just had to drop the series when she shamelessly met with the princess in secret before her official arrival to the mansion. Immature, stupid, shameless. That’s all I see of this pathetic FL. Not her fault I guess as she was only going with the script. It’s lazy writing. I hated it. It could’ve been much better story. That’s what happens when You hire grade C scriptwriters I guess. I’m just mad cuz it could’ve been good and now I have to continue my search for a good series. Wasted almost 11 hours of my life. What a bummer.
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Truly Disappointing
So long long long ago, twelve angels in the form of zodiacs were sent down to Earth to fight off evil. They managed to seal the evil spirits out but not with heavy price and casualty. Lost 4 of their comrades in the battle and they lost their powers as it was used to seal the evil. Somehow their God forgot to recall them, and they were stranded on earth in human form. After thousands of years, Taesan the leader has grown a deep hatred towards humanity due to incidents where humans had attacked them for being different. In the current modern world, this group of 8 fallen angels resorted to becoming loan sharks for criminals and they led a very wealthy and comfortable life until a human shaman from their past revived Ogwi, one of the evil spirits that was sealed thousands of years ago. The angels were forced to take action once again.Y’know, this totally gives off The Eternals vibe, especially when Taesan mentioned the name Gilgamesh at some point of the show, which was his character in The Eternals. Sadly though, it eventually fell short and became the Asian flop version. And TBH, I decided to watch this solely for Ma Dong Seok, i mean he’s my favourite korean actor since I saw him in Train to Busan. I have watched soooooo many of his kdrama and kmovie, but sadly to say I had to admit this is his worst project that I ever watched, so bad that I couldnt even force myself to finish.
Coming from many of Ma Dongseok’s excellent action movies and dramas, I bet I was not alone in setting my bars high. But This show is not as impressive as I expected. Most fight scenes were in a too dark setting, even as i put my phone’s brightness to the max while sitting in a dark room. It has ‘batman’ish vibe where you cant make out squat due to everything being done in the dark. Especially those fighting. Urghhhh. This reminds me a lot of kdrama The Tyrant where I couldnt make out 80% of the show due to darkness.
As for the characters and fight scenes, well, theyre not too impressive either. I dont get why would the zodiac angels just stand around doing nothing when one of them (a human at that!) got attacked by the evil spirit? Are they really supposed to be the thousand-year-old angels that supposed to have beaten all evil spirits once upon a time? Cuz to me they looked like incompetent clueless fools who had just encountered evil spirits for the first time. So I get that they lost their superpowers, but come on, you should at least be able to fight decently better than other humans. I mean, you got thousands of years of experience so the skill should at least be superior and not disappointingly lame and easily subdued.
And I was surprised how messed up must a society be to be able to make a drama scene where onlookers would just look and point to a downed elderly man who had just been attacked instead of helping him up, checking for injuries and calling an ambulance or police for him. Like really? When that scene came on i thought the old man was dead. But then there he was stuttering to talk to Taesan. So he’s alive and even conscious! Is this really the reality in Korea? So scary.
Anyway, I quit this drama as I couldnt stand the dark setting. Honestly if it had only been a badly written story, I wouldve still made myself to see the ending, but when all I saw is darkness during fights, thats it. There goes my patience. Sorry Joe, you made a wrong choice with this one.
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Incredibly Fast Paced Court Politic Drama
This must have been one of the most interesting series out there, beautifully written and done!I dont really like court politics/conspiracy stories, because they tend to be boring and draggy. I am more of action-wuxia fan, but this one drama is somewhat different that managed to keep me glued to the screen. The plots are engaging and move fast with no boring, pointless dialogues. each of the characters are interestingly captivating, I mean in the novel Wang Qinian and Gao Da were actually serious characters and yet on screen they changed it to be humourous, which is really great! I love they made this series to be comedic! I didnt really like Haitang in the novel, but on screen, gosh, both of them Haitang and Fan Xian really hit it off like a true couple! I thought onscreen Haitang suits him more than Wan'er! Xin ZhiLei's Haitang was superbly done, I've loved her from Candle in the Tomb, and here she really didnt disappoint. Uncle Wuzhu is so damn cute and interesting and I think he's the most handsome actor in the cast, I love him!
in Ep 1, I was particularly disappointed at the male lead because his looks doesnt really match the novel's fan xian (he's supposed to be exceptionally handsome, and the prettiest even when compared to the rest of the female characters, Wan-er and Haitang actually felt insecure because he is prettier than them haha. in my head I was thinking of Wang Yi Bo or Deng Lun or the sorts, so was disappointed to see Zhang Ruoyun's 'normal nice' looks). However ZhangRuoYun makes up to it by his superb acting which truly matches the novel's Fan Xian character. His looks kind of grows into you, and his smile is particularly adorable. I think he's a perfect Fan Xian even if his looks isnt the prettiest/most handsome compared to other casts. Oh-oh I love the young Fan Xian actor too! That kid is truly amazing, I was cracking up at his antics!
I love how the screenwriters’ adjustment of the novel plots that didnt really jeopardize the flow of the story. I'm happy that some characters in the novel didnt show up like Fan Xian's maidservant/childhood bosom friend which he later slept with (and later married her as concubine) although he's already married to Wan-er, gosh i really hate him for that, thank god the on-screen Fan Xian already sworn to love Wan-er only in his lifetime. Honestly the novel Fan Xian's soft spot for the ladies is truly getting on my nerves, it's really great that the onscreen Fan Xian didnt adopt this bad habit. I just finished the drama a few hours ago and realized that the only one Fan Xian killed in the series is Cheng Jushu. Onscreen Fan Xian is definitely more humane with strong self righteousness, compared to the novel Fan Xian who is ruthless and shameless - The novel Fan Xian killed for the first time at 12, he was the one who tortured Si Lili in the dungeon, and he was also the one who broke Xiao En's legs to prevent him from escaping. The cdrama changed all these and made him look so pure and innocent, which I have no problem with, of course!
I’m currently reading the novel and has came up to the 598th chapter, and the adjustment of the ending of this season 1 is something that didnt really happen in the novel, which kept me on the edge and made me reaaaaaally curious of where it would lead to. I hope the diversion from original novel wouldnt be too huge, because Yan Bingyun is one of the most important confidants of Fan Xian’s. I just cant bear if the adaption decided to make them as enemies instead 😞 Am planning to rewatch JoL after I finish reading the novel.
Can't wait for the Season 2 in 2022! and I hope it has more episodes than this one, 46 is just too dang short, I cant get enough of FanXian-Haitang duo hah!
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A Lazy Copy& Paste Plot
ML is supposed to be a fierce ruthless no nonsense commander of the Imperial Security Bureau nicknamed White Ghost, feared by all in the realm while FL is a little no rank scribe at Ministry of Justice with extensive investigative skills. Their fates got entangled in an arranged marriage when FL’s sister got betrothed to ML with an imperial decree under the conniving Prime Minister’s workings. FL’s sister ran away with her beloved to escape the marriage and FL was forced to step up and replace her as bride to avoid the family being implicated. ML was never interested in the marriage, and as he did with all his previous brides, he tried to scare FL into running away. To his surprise, FL was adamant to stay as she was threatened by the Prime Minister to become his spy in the commander’s mansion. ML decided to let her stay to see what other tricks the Prime Minister had in store for him, as he too was investigating his family’s framing many years ago which he believed related to the Prime Minister. Cases came up one after another as ML and FL uncovered clues leading to the truth behind his family’s demise, and they developed feelings for each other in the process.Honestly at first i was ok with the FL cuz this character seemed to be a brilliant and upright one. But as the story progresses, I find her extremely annoying because ML always ends up needing to save FL each time she goes on to investigate these cases. Apparently the FL isnt really smart, but just a stubborn damsel in distress who has a knack for investigating things. Her only skill is to find out the bottom of things, and not someone who can think a few steps ahead and cover her back while doing her thing. It’s truly annoying cuz she ends up getting in trouble every single time and implicates everyone around her.
As for ML, i first saw him in White Cat Legend and then in Love in Pavilion, and thought he is really not bad of an actor. But i think he did better in series where he doesnt have a love interest. And it doesnt make things any better when the FL’s character is too annoying and cry excessively. Many of the emotional scenes in here are not naturally conveyed, i failed to feel the sadness the characters are feeling as they cry, especially when the FL cry so dang much to the point of my annoyance. That is how detached the characters look for me. Excessive public display of affection between the main leads after the so called love confessions are also too over the top and looks much out of place in ancient time. As if the screenwriter was trying to force out the main couple’s love too much to the audience. Maybe even the screenwriter thought the actors dont have much spark between them so they plant this kind of excessive expression of love to fill in the void and convince the audience.
Overall, the only characters that are fun to watch had been Wu Da Ren (FL’s boss) and her mom! Those two are hilarious and i look forward to see them with each episode.
There’s also too many flashbacks and backstory of unimportant side characters that really don’t have any impact to the main plot other than just to lengthen it. The ending is also too predictable. The palace coup arc was like a copy&paste from other tv shows, it’s lazy writing on the screenwriter’s part. I don’t know how it went with the novel as i havent read it (and don’t intend to), so am not sure if the novel’s plot is as bad as the adaptation (cuz many adaptation tend to divert from the original novels).
Most painful to watch is the final sword fight between ML and the villain. I really think the increased speed just to show the fighters’ prowess is too excessive which made it look comical. ML had better fights in White Cat Legend and Love in Pavilion, so this problem here lies on the fight choreographer (if they even hired one) and the editing.
The ‘divorcing-FL-to-avoid-implicating-her’ is also too old of a plot. So old it has rusted! I am so disgusted at this type of plot, so i couldnt even finish episode 40 cuz I think the FL should give ML harder time before reconciling. If your spouse don’t think you can shoulder their burden with you, why bother being together at all? Sick of this lame excuse for love.
The songs are great though. But because I didnt like the story, I am not adding them to my playlist as to not remind myself of this show everytime it plays.
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One of the Best Masterpiece 2025
He Yan, our FL, was born into a noble family whose eldest son He Rufei, born sick and frail. Upon receiving diagnosis that the boy wouldn’t live long, they decided to swap He Yan to assume the role in order to avoid their noble title being revoked with no male heir. So henceforth starts He Yan being raised as a boy, and as her feminine features started to be more evident, her family made her wear a mask 24/7 even while sleeping. One day she decided to run away from home when she overheard her parents discussing about her marriage to a girl, and went to enlist in the army. Despite being a mediocre student at school, always ranking last or second last, she rose to prominence in the army. On the day she returned home after receiving General Feihong title from the emperor, she finally got to meet the step brother she was subtituting for, He Rufei. A reunion that she thought was supposed to be happy, turned out to be her death sentence. She passed out from being poisoned, and when she came to, she discovered that she had turned blind. The family sent her to the temple where He Rufei had grew up in, and later He Rufei sent his bodyguard to kill He Yan to keep the secret sealed. She was stabbed with a sword, and fell off a cliff into a body of water. She thought she had died, but eventually woke up in a house. It was her shifu who had rescued her, and cured her blind eyes. Then starts her journey to enlist into ML’s army, starting from the bottom again, but this time she was not mediocre anymore. She became the num 1 recruit in the camp, with a mission to gather enough military merits to stand as high as He Rufei and reclaim her title.I must say Zhou Ye is not bad as a cross dresser, didnt look too feminine especially in the chest area, though her character did not look as rough as Zhang Tian An’s A Mai in Fighting for Love. I still think Zhang Tian An is the best cross dresser out there, Zhou Ye being the second. I like how she smiles so wide to emulate the carefree and mischievous air of the novel He Yan. She is nimble and wields weapons convincingly good, never looking weak or clumsy like some other actress who took up female warrior roles that i’ve seen, so I can tell that she worked real hard to make the role work. She is also very expressive and able to convey her emotion accurately. This is the first time that I saw her work, and I am impressed at how she managed to blend the mixed emotions of the cheerful ever so carefree He Yan and the gloomy and sombre look whenever she recalled her previous life as a substitute to He Rufei. The change of emotions are really seamless, with her wide smile basically holding the key.
As for the ML, I have always felt the Ryan has an air of a male lead after watching his performance in My Journey to You. This is my second show of him, and of course he did not disappoint. I knew he can deliver the cold and ruthless role of Xiao Jue, as his role in My Journey To You was even more complex and hardcore. So his performance in LotFG was explosive. Being the second son in a military family with the eldest’s constitution not suitable to carry the army flag, Xiao Jue had to be the one to continue his father’s legacy. He had to train twice as hard to live up to the expectation, making him revered by all but living like an empty shell as he bottles up everything. He Yan became the first of everything for him, even before he realized she was a girl. She became his spark of life.
The storyline is very engaging, and I finished bingeing in less than 3 days. I am glad they changed the plot to assasination survival instead of the cliche reborn into another’s body like in the novel. The adaptation’s plot is more believable and connected than the novel’s. It always bothered me that novel He Yan never got to personally reclaim her General Feihong title because she was in another person’s body. All she could do was reveal the deceit of her previous family to restore the claim to the dead He Yan. It’s just not quite as fullfilling. Am so glad the screenwriter changed this flaw.
I really love the action choreograph, really fluid with mesmerising moves, i truly commend the choreoghrapher. The battle scenes, the sword fights, the clashings are all impressive and amazing. The supporting casts are all very talented and impressive.
The themesongs are the bomb! With names like Curley Gao and Zhou Shen of course they wouldnt disappoint. I’m totally adding them to my running playlist!
SPOILER BEYOND THIS LINE!!
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In the novel He Yan never got to call her mother, ever. Not when she was a child because they prevented them from meeting and not after she emerged from the ashes of death as she was reborn into another person’s body. I am glad she and her mother finally got the chance in the adaptation to properly reconcile and that she was able to grieve openly for her.
Yingxiang’s death was less tragic than the novel, but definitely very laughable. I would think for a martial artist like her, it’d be easier to deflect the knife wielded by a frail woman like Xu Pingting than slip her body in between them to bear the brunt for her beloved young master. Like seriously? That short of a distance and she actually manage to squeeze between them to take the stab when she was originally standing behind Chu Zhao? Omg i laughed instead of feeling sad at her demise - i like her character very much. They could at least make Xu Pingting stab a sword or shoot an arrow from a distance to make it more realistic. Or make her pull Chu Zhao to stand behind her and then take the stab. Any of those are definitely physically easier to do that trying to sqeeze in between. It’s truly pitiful that her role was so minor that she couldnt survive a 3-inch deep stab to the shoulderblade. Had her role been a more important one, she wouldve survived arrows, spears or swords being stabbed straight to the gut, or stabbed with a hook right through (like how he yan survived 😆). Yingxiang’s death had been more realistic in the novel in this part.
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This review may contain spoilers
Justice is Satisfying
The show starts with FL lying in bed with a man she thought was her husband but found that he wasnt. She was later caught by her in laws for adultery, and later saved by her husband. He took her away which she thought was to safety, but instead he brought her to her grave. He cracked her head with the shovel and buried her alive. Driven by the will to survive, she dug her way out and passed out by the river, and later saved by a lady foraging fruits in the forest. This lady, Jiang Li, promised to come back with food and medicine for the injuries, however she was caught while trying to sneak out of the residence during the night and was punished with flogging instead. FL found her way to this residence, sneaked in and got in time before Jiang Li died, where she managed to express her grievances of her life, telling a sad story of being slandered and abandoned by her own family for ten years since she was 8yo. FL decided to take revenge for Jiang Li and get to the bottom of her own betrayal, so she went back to capital using Jing Li’s identity solely relying on her wits and intelligence. Along the way, she met with Duke of Su, an investigator for the emperor, and they both began a relationship by using each other for their own goals but later fell in love. The show is one of those of conspiracy and court political rife than action packed. It’s like Joy of Life minus all the actions. But gotta say Joy of Life’s politics is of higher tier.I had to admit the storyline is solid and engaging and the casts’ performance are powerful but some scenes are quite pushover. I’ve been watching shows with physically strong FLs back to back, so its refreshing to watch one with FL who isnt able to wield a weapon and is not physically strong, but extremely shrewd and witty instead. I liked her character very much, except how easily she falls in love.
I think the actress playing the FL is rather ordinary looking, so it’s definitely unconvincing to see people praising how exceptionally beautiful she is throughout the show. She also doesnt look young (FL was supposed to be 18 at the beginning of the show, and maybe around 20ish at the end), hence it kinda killed the vibe, like how Zhang Ziyi looked ridiculous playing a 16yo in The Rebel Princess. I also think that the real Jiang Li and even Tong’er are much more beautiful than her, and of course much like a teenager than FL. Wait, come to think of it, the rest of female supporting cast like Jiang Ruiyao, Liu Xu, or even Ye Jia-er are much prettier than her. It’s rather funny on the homecoming arc where Tong’er disembarked from the carriage and people commented how ordinary she looks, and then suddenly when FL disembarks, people suddenly praised what a beauty she is. It’s one thing if they had been dressed differently, Jiang Li being the noble’s daughter would be dressed in better clothes, but they were both still in the hall’s uniform which is ordinary. Had them both been standing side by side, i wouldve thought Tong’er was the higher born and FL being the maid. Her crooked smile is also weird-looking. Anyway, the actress has the looks of 30ish than late teen, so yeah her looks doesnt really fit the role, but her performance is undeniably top notch.
As for costume, the dresses are okay and not too flamboyant, but the pearl/bead make up is really distracting, i can handle the cheekbone and forehead adornment, but those on the dimple is really overdoing it. They look so weird, like some alien in Star Wars movie.
And the slow-mos!!! Theyve got tonnes of those. I keep fast forwarding those moments and still wont miss any scene. It was like watching sinetron instead of cdrama. The slow-mos truly irked me throughout the show.
Maybe romance is not my kind of genre, but the main leads’ proximity scenes are pretty cringy and blerghhh. She just got ‘killed’ by the love of her life, whom she had sacrificed everything for, and she suddenly found herself falling for the duke? What kind of bull is this? Somebody with that kind of trauma would normally take years to get over it and even then theyd scrutinize love like none other. How can she fall that easily for this notorious and ruthless duke just because he occasionally saves and helps her? And even if he loves her deeply, would it really be that easy to recover from her own trauma and grab this rebound lover? It’s one thing if she had just got dumped by her lover, she literally got dumped and buried alive by her own husband whom she left her family for, whoever can recover that fast from that kind of betrayal? If she had not been so much in love with her husband, or had been mistreated or it was an arranged marriage, i wouldve believed she’d fall that quickly for the duke, but with her current background on love betrayal, it’s ridiculous and too far-fetched especially with someone of the duke’s character, a shrewd and ruthless man who wont bat an eye to abandon his pawns to reach the goal. The moments when she smiles at him and laments her own feelings during this proximity scenes are really unconvincing. Gross even, thinking how badly she was betrayed then and then suddenly she’s falling for this duke. Makes her look rather cheap and clingy for men. It took awhile for me to realize why i didnt like the pair - they had zero chemistry! Somehow I fail to feel the spark. I mean, i didnt quite like Chang Yuqing character from Fighting for Love because he was an antihero, but i totally ship Changyuqing-FL pair. It’s nonexistent here. And I actually liked Duke of Su because his character is interesting, but i cant get myself to like his pairing with FL. Something is just off somewhere. Maybe the timing wasnt right. If this had happened years after she was betrayed, maybe it’s acceptable. Problem is it’s just been a few months after. It wouldve been believable if she rejected his advances earlier on and only realized she had fallen in love with him at the end of the show, after going through thick and thin together then only it’s easier to swallow. To fall in love so early on just doesnt make sense. And that scene when they were saving her father’s men from the mine, it’s so irritating how they keep staring at each other while other people are fighting off the enemy for their lives around them. Like seriously? U cant pick another moment for that really? Many of these proximinity and staring scenes are real cringe-worthy. And lets not mention the so called flirty conversations between them. Theyre too awkward and painful to watch. Too bad cuz i really liked this Duke of Su, but I just cant ship him being with FL. It’s weird to see two leads whom I like and yet it’s painful to watch them flirting with each other.
It’s great to see the one playing the emperor again here. The first time I saw him was in A Journey to Love as regent, Prince of Danyang and he somehow caught my attention despite the small role. So i’m kinda excited to see him again on this show as emperor. He has a likable face. And I also really like Duke of Su’s bodyguards Lu Ji and Wen Ji. Lu Ji is the silent one who speaks only when necessary, while Wen Ji is the goofy and rather naiive one who keeps getting punished by their master cuz he’s always saying the wrong things. Lu Ji reminded me of Qian Zhao from A Journey to Love. His face and personality really resembles Qian Zhao.
The most memorable and electrifying scene is the striking of the Admonishment Drum. It’s an extremely moving scene when the rest of Huai villagers take turns to strike it after FL did, all to redress the wrongfully accused Magistrate Xue capital punishment. The retrial of Magistrate Xue’s case in front of the emperor is also epic and moving. I must say other than how badly the love story between the main leads look, i totally love most of the other aspects of the show.
Although i think they really pushed ridiculousness to its limits with the last episode where FL suddenly becomes the kingmaker by shooting the arrow which she had only ONE shot of practice before. Utter ridiculous.
Opening and ending themesongs are too sad, the beat is too slow and didnt catch my attention. However the music scores played by Jiang Ruoyao and Jiang Li during the entrance exam are truly captivating.
It’s a very good show, but I dont think it has any rewatch value to me. Probably because i’m more of an action packed show kinda fan. I would totally recommend it though because the plot is great. I had to give more stars on the rewatch value so not to drag down the overall rating, but honestly I wont be rewatching this. Good story nonetheless and it gives a pure satisfying feeling at perfect retribution and revenge.
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Interesting title with lots of action and a miniscule hint of romance
I have been putting this title off for other titles for so long. Some of the reasons are that the title didnt look convincing and I didnt know any of the main actors other than Ren Min (which I fail to like her performance in The Longest Promise). Well apparently I’ve been delaying for no reason. This show turned out pretty good, definitely beyond my expectation.Tells a story of a son of an assassinated Minister of Judicial Review on a journey to find out the reason of his father’s demise and the mastermind behind it. ML had been a sickly kid as he was growing up, because of this he spends most of his time reading until he met Qiu Qingzhi, a runaway slave. They formed a strong bond and ML started building a reputation of a rising genius for solving criminal cases and dumping the perpertrators at the door of his father’s office. As they grew up, ML sent his best friend QQZ to join the army so he could build a name for himself and escape the fate of a slave. Upon QQZ’s return, ML’s father was assassinated and ML went missing while en route to return to his father’s hometown. 3 years later, QQZ has emerged as a respectable general of the Jinwu Guards, while ML made his first appearance by solving the high profile Demon Cat Case which caught the attention of the empress. She appointed ML as Vice Minister of Judicial Review Ministry, working alongside Vice Minister Shangguan Qin, an only female in the lead cast. They started to unravel mysteries and strange cases that lead to the real mastermind behind ML’s father’s assassination.
This is not the typical cdrama that I’ve watched. The casts are male dominated, Ren Min being the only prominent cast of the opposite gender, but gladly enough she was not set there as love interest for ML. Yay. But I have to say that her character is really just a decor. The story would do well even without her. It’s refreshing to see a show without romance of the leads. I like this setting very much.
The casts gave a stellar performance, although i must say the dubbing for Alibaba is overly done in trying to portray his bad mandarin accent as a foreigner.
I like how the ML looking mysterious with his facial expressions. He sometimes comes off as conniving with some ulterior motives. However i think Chen Shi sometimes overacts with his calling “Bing ye (Master Bing - the ML), Bing ye,” whenever theyre in danger. It’s really annoying.
There are filler stories as to build up the other main characters, telling their backgrounds and personalities as such.
The hand to hand combat here is pretty well done. Sword fights are excellently executed. The action choreograph team has done a great job here. i really enjoy the action.
The plot twist is rather expected, but it is good nonetheless. I enjoyed watching the show.
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Too Boring with Super Annoying FL
I picked this up to fill in my time as I wait for Shadow Love to release all its episodes. I first saw Wang Xingyue in The Double and he was not bad there. Thought i’d give this a try. Turned out it is not my cup of tea. The pacing is too slow, storyline is messy and not intriguing enough, and the FL just annoyed me to bits.For somebody who grew up with her childhood sweetheart, a fellow disciple who later became her husband, brought up in super elite investigative household, the FL was too damn quick to fall for the framing and blame him for her father’s death. Like don’t you know him enough to suspect that he might have been framed? Did all the evidence including of previous murders really point to his direction other than him being the only survivor at a crime scene with a panic look and inability to speak? And you’d really think had he really been the culprit behind those serial murders, he would serve himself on a silver platter for you to slaughter after conveniently escaping the crime scene, laying low for three years and committing 3 murders again that he can easily walk away from? For real girl? I couldnt stand her illogical, incoherent bearing so am dropping this. I have seen much brighter and sound minded FLs so I couldnt relate to her character that supposed to be a brilliant detective here. I mean come on, she was groomed to be a super detective by the king of detectives, and that is all you can show us of her potential? Of all people, i thought she would be the one who would have assumed that her husband was framed. But noooo. She jumped at him on attack mode at the very first sight! She was so damn cruel to him that I couldnt help to feel sympathy for ML. And to think they’d probably reconcile later is even more frustrating. I know I wouldnt get back with somebody who joins the witchhunt as I got framed, when she of all people shouldve known me better than everyone else, sparing the benefits of a doubt for my sake. Extremely disappointing cuz i was expecting a smart FL. So yeah, not my cup of tea. Moving on to the next drama until Shadow Love completes releasing its episodes.
On a side note, the cast did a really good job in that 4 episodes that I saw. Thats the only redeeming quality that kept my rating from dropping below 4. Good job for the cast but honestly, I’d rather spare myself from getting annoyed and angry with the misunderstanding.
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