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Great cast & characters but weak plot
The drama is about the love story between the Floral Deity (male lead) and the camellia pixie (female lead). Although slow paced, the drama started off really well and I quickly fell in love with the characters and romance. But my excitement died down too quickly and the drama ended up disappointing me with its weak plot.
It’s worth mentioning that the first thing that pleasantly surprised me was the amazing AI face-swap. I literally couldn’t tell the new actress had re-shot all her scenes on a green screen. To me, she did an amazing job, knowing how tough it is to replace the previous actress. Having said that, I feel like the whole allure of this drama was that it was meant to be the reunion of Liu Xue Yi and Yuan Bing Yan. The initial vibe I got was totally that this is an alternative timeline of Love and Redemption where the second male lead actually gets the girl. As I mentioned, Hu Yi Xuan was amazing but at the same time, I always felt off, maybe because I knew she wasn’t there for all the scenes, or maybe because I watched the original trailer and I loved YBY’s scenes so much more. But when you think about it, the shooting, the clothes, hair, makeup were all designed for YBY so of course HYX was at a huge disadvantage. Anyway that’s just my observation, I don't want to get into any sort of fan wars about it.
PLOT BREAKDOWN:
Ep 1-11 / Immortal realm: 1st life
Very slow paced but the blossoming romance between the leads was cute.
Ep 12-22 / Mortal realm: 2nd life
Cultivation academy setting. Male lead is the master and the female lead is his disciple, pretending to be a man. Except for the female lead and second male lead, everyone else remembers the 1st life.
Ep 23-29 / Mortal realm: 3rd life
Palace setting + demon hunting. Male lead is a general and the female lead is a demon hunter. Only the female lead and second female lead remember the previous lives.
Ep 30-40 / Immortal realm
At this point I had lost interest in the drama and skipped lots just to finish it.
POSITIVE:
- Bromance. Liu Xue Yi and Ao Rui Peng’s characters and their relationship was the highlights for me. LXY’s character started off as grumpy and unapproachable but gradually softened up. He was strict and duty bound but still stood up for what he believed in and wanted. ARP’s character started off as an air-head and total clown (in a good way) but became mature and endearing at the end. I love that despite their opposite personalities, they always supported and loved each other.
- Sweet romance (for the most part). The main couple was the emotional type while the second couple leaned on the comedy.
- Masculine and authority male lead. Let’s face it, most of us watched the drama for him. I truly loved him in this role.
- Nice CGI and visual settings. Even though the style is very “old school" (since it was filmed in 2021), visually it still looked good and I can tell a lot of effort was put into the production.
- Second couple surprised me with their fun banter and good relationship development throughout the drama. The second female lead appeared to want the male lead at first but really, she just wanted to be an Empress. She definitely wasn’t the most likable character but knowing the second male lead liked her, I wanted them to work out for his sake.
NEGATIVE:
- Weak plot. My main issue with this drama is the boring plot. 40 episodes and almost NOTHING happens. Yes, the characters do things but it has very little impact on the story. The drama focuses on the love story between the leads which consists of constant back-and-forth. After ep 11 there was almost zero development of their romance. In fact I’m pretty sure if you skip to ep 30, you won’t miss a thing. Their 2 mortal lives (ep 12-29) felt like fillers, for the most part. A few significant things would happen to drive the plot forward but the rest was just blah blah blah. These lives could have literally been condensed to 3-4 episodes and would have had the same effect. Things like the male lead’s origin or female lead’’s cultivation were brushed over which is a shame as I think these would have at least added SOMETHING. The plot just felt bare-bones.
- Obsessively “in love” villain that was whiny the whole time. He was so pathetic and one dimensional that I HAD to skip his scenes.
OVERALL:
The romance started off great but after ep 11, had almost zero development. The plot was a bunch of nothingness, most of the time things were happening but nothing significant really happened. The leads had good chemistry but something felt off, maybe it was the bad plot or the fact that I knew the female lead was face-swapped/re-shot. In conclusion, I’d say this drama is boring, filled with the typical xianxia tropes and not really worth the watch.
It’s worth mentioning that the first thing that pleasantly surprised me was the amazing AI face-swap. I literally couldn’t tell the new actress had re-shot all her scenes on a green screen. To me, she did an amazing job, knowing how tough it is to replace the previous actress. Having said that, I feel like the whole allure of this drama was that it was meant to be the reunion of Liu Xue Yi and Yuan Bing Yan. The initial vibe I got was totally that this is an alternative timeline of Love and Redemption where the second male lead actually gets the girl. As I mentioned, Hu Yi Xuan was amazing but at the same time, I always felt off, maybe because I knew she wasn’t there for all the scenes, or maybe because I watched the original trailer and I loved YBY’s scenes so much more. But when you think about it, the shooting, the clothes, hair, makeup were all designed for YBY so of course HYX was at a huge disadvantage. Anyway that’s just my observation, I don't want to get into any sort of fan wars about it.
PLOT BREAKDOWN:
Ep 1-11 / Immortal realm: 1st life
Very slow paced but the blossoming romance between the leads was cute.
Ep 12-22 / Mortal realm: 2nd life
Cultivation academy setting. Male lead is the master and the female lead is his disciple, pretending to be a man. Except for the female lead and second male lead, everyone else remembers the 1st life.
Ep 23-29 / Mortal realm: 3rd life
Palace setting + demon hunting. Male lead is a general and the female lead is a demon hunter. Only the female lead and second female lead remember the previous lives.
Ep 30-40 / Immortal realm
At this point I had lost interest in the drama and skipped lots just to finish it.
POSITIVE:
- Bromance. Liu Xue Yi and Ao Rui Peng’s characters and their relationship was the highlights for me. LXY’s character started off as grumpy and unapproachable but gradually softened up. He was strict and duty bound but still stood up for what he believed in and wanted. ARP’s character started off as an air-head and total clown (in a good way) but became mature and endearing at the end. I love that despite their opposite personalities, they always supported and loved each other.
- Sweet romance (for the most part). The main couple was the emotional type while the second couple leaned on the comedy.
- Masculine and authority male lead. Let’s face it, most of us watched the drama for him. I truly loved him in this role.
- Nice CGI and visual settings. Even though the style is very “old school" (since it was filmed in 2021), visually it still looked good and I can tell a lot of effort was put into the production.
- Second couple surprised me with their fun banter and good relationship development throughout the drama. The second female lead appeared to want the male lead at first but really, she just wanted to be an Empress. She definitely wasn’t the most likable character but knowing the second male lead liked her, I wanted them to work out for his sake.
NEGATIVE:
- Weak plot. My main issue with this drama is the boring plot. 40 episodes and almost NOTHING happens. Yes, the characters do things but it has very little impact on the story. The drama focuses on the love story between the leads which consists of constant back-and-forth. After ep 11 there was almost zero development of their romance. In fact I’m pretty sure if you skip to ep 30, you won’t miss a thing. Their 2 mortal lives (ep 12-29) felt like fillers, for the most part. A few significant things would happen to drive the plot forward but the rest was just blah blah blah. These lives could have literally been condensed to 3-4 episodes and would have had the same effect. Things like the male lead’s origin or female lead’’s cultivation were brushed over which is a shame as I think these would have at least added SOMETHING. The plot just felt bare-bones.
- Obsessively “in love” villain that was whiny the whole time. He was so pathetic and one dimensional that I HAD to skip his scenes.
OVERALL:
The romance started off great but after ep 11, had almost zero development. The plot was a bunch of nothingness, most of the time things were happening but nothing significant really happened. The leads had good chemistry but something felt off, maybe it was the bad plot or the fact that I knew the female lead was face-swapped/re-shot. In conclusion, I’d say this drama is boring, filled with the typical xianxia tropes and not really worth the watch.
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