What is it with the Chinese obsession with "love at first sight" and female leads that are super helpless/princess in a castle type whose only purpose is to be saved? For an otherwise relatively well written drama, it was really disappointing how thin the FL was as a character. The strength of the show is its believable motivations and convictions for each character, and how they follow through on that, so the use of the FL as motivation for the ML (+ love at first sight) was quite the stretch. For an otherwise rational character it didn't make sense how he decided to pivot his entire life for a 1 minute interaction with a girl.
The best female character imo was Haitang Duo Duo, at least she was interesting + had depth (should've been the FL imo). I had hopes for Si Lili but she also just became a damsel in distress shortly after, which is such a shame because a manipulative female character in a patriarchal society would've been extremely interesting.
The show's strongest point is its writing, in terms of how well thought out the plot is + interesting side cast with motivations that push the story forward believably. I think it falls flat at some points - it clearly doesn't know what to do with Wu Zhu at some points given how OP he is, so he's just sent off screen to deal with unseen enemies, for example, and the ML has serious plot armor given how some schemes/character plots were quite handwavey. But the writer's ambition in terms of the scope of the plot is clearly visible, and should be praised even if they flubbed the execution a lot, as none of the story's contemporaries even come close.
As a TV show, while it's enjoyable, I also think the strictly "TV show" part (given its an adaptation), as in the cinematography/scriptwriting adaptation, is subpar. There are some stellar performances from the main cast, but the directing/cinematography is very pedestrian, for lack of a better word. It doesn't enhance the storytelling in any way, and spends whole episodes explaining what's happening rather than anything actually happening. Overall though, definitely a show worth watching given how much it does better compared to its contemporaries. Probably one of the best Chinese dramas of all time. Here's hoping season 2 is to the same standard, or even better given how much the budget should have increased.
This was actually a pretty well written show, even if the execution was a bit jarring at times. Does anyone know if there'll be a season 2? I'd really like to see more of these 2 leads :D
The 5th and 6th episodes were the strongest episodes in terms of pacing, so you clearly have no idea what you're…
It's really ironic that you're accusing me of superciliousness when you're the one that first generalized all kdrama writers as not understanding how pacing works. Do you see the hypocrisy here? None of them understand pacing but you do, right?
If you don't know what I'm talking about with regards to "subtle foreshadowing and characterization", I question whether you truly watched the show. Naksu's soul periodically emitting energy? The original Mu-deok temporarily taking back over her body? Mu-deok likely being the Jin family's eldest daughter (or at least bearing some relation)? Do you really need me to keep going when you would have noticed these points if you had bothered actually watching?
Yes, the first 4 episodes started the story. So? You can start a story without forced developments, which episodes 1-4 unfortunately suffered from. I'm not sure how being "pointlessly dramatic" can be seen as a kdrama's strength. I would like to watch TV shows that respect their audiences, thanks, but to each their own.
Ugh the 5th episode fucking dragged. Tbh I don’t think I’ve ever watched a kdrama that DIDN’T have pacing…
The 5th and 6th episodes were the strongest episodes in terms of pacing, so you clearly have no idea what you're talking about. There was a lot of subtle foreshadowing and characterization while having the flow stay natural, compared to the 1st-4th episodes where some developments were completely out of the blue. Episodes 5 and 6 touched on multiple important plot points, it just wasn't pointlessly dramatic, and respected the intelligence/ability of its audience to connect the dots. You're evidently the one that doesn't understand how pacing works.
The best female character imo was Haitang Duo Duo, at least she was interesting + had depth (should've been the FL imo). I had hopes for Si Lili but she also just became a damsel in distress shortly after, which is such a shame because a manipulative female character in a patriarchal society would've been extremely interesting.
The show's strongest point is its writing, in terms of how well thought out the plot is + interesting side cast with motivations that push the story forward believably. I think it falls flat at some points - it clearly doesn't know what to do with Wu Zhu at some points given how OP he is, so he's just sent off screen to deal with unseen enemies, for example, and the ML has serious plot armor given how some schemes/character plots were quite handwavey. But the writer's ambition in terms of the scope of the plot is clearly visible, and should be praised even if they flubbed the execution a lot, as none of the story's contemporaries even come close.
As a TV show, while it's enjoyable, I also think the strictly "TV show" part (given its an adaptation), as in the cinematography/scriptwriting adaptation, is subpar. There are some stellar performances from the main cast, but the directing/cinematography is very pedestrian, for lack of a better word. It doesn't enhance the storytelling in any way, and spends whole episodes explaining what's happening rather than anything actually happening. Overall though, definitely a show worth watching given how much it does better compared to its contemporaries. Probably one of the best Chinese dramas of all time. Here's hoping season 2 is to the same standard, or even better given how much the budget should have increased.
If you don't know what I'm talking about with regards to "subtle foreshadowing and characterization", I question whether you truly watched the show. Naksu's soul periodically emitting energy? The original Mu-deok temporarily taking back over her body? Mu-deok likely being the Jin family's eldest daughter (or at least bearing some relation)? Do you really need me to keep going when you would have noticed these points if you had bothered actually watching?
Yes, the first 4 episodes started the story. So? You can start a story without forced developments, which episodes 1-4 unfortunately suffered from. I'm not sure how being "pointlessly dramatic" can be seen as a kdrama's strength. I would like to watch TV shows that respect their audiences, thanks, but to each their own.