This review may contain spoilers
Not perfect, but very, very enjoyable and wonderfully acted drama.
First off: The performances by the two leads, Lu Yu Xiao and Chen Xing Xu were both fantastic. Both really went deep into being their respective characters and their chemistry as a romantic couple was off the charts. I'd like to especially call out Lu Yu Xiao's performance. I had already been extremely impressed by her fantastic performance of a girl on the spectrum in Blossoms In Adversity and then as a more conventional 'strong action heroine' in Love in the Clouds. But this performance was next level. Very different from either of those two roles. She put all kinds of interesting mannerisms into her character and was consistent so that those things weren't dropped along the way. Hu Xiu has a cute almost cartoonish way of walking that is so endearing and her way of expressing emotions through her hands. In lesser dramas these little things often get dropped a few episodes into the story but these (and other nuances) were part of her character's uniqueness and she kept them all the way through. Smiling, laughing, angry or crying - the character of Hu Xiu was unique and real. And very endearing. As the classic strong-silent-type Male Lead, Chen Xing Xu has a more conventional role and is, to be fair, overshadowed by Lu Yu Xiao's performance, but he still does a fantastic job. He does not over-act and also is very consistent in how he presents the character. His breaks from strength to vulnerable are believable and don't look forced. And as mentioned, he has great chemistry with LYX. The two really worked great together.Other cast members were all solid. Especially Li Ting Ting as bestie Zhao Rou, whose voice has a quality that just owns scenes when she speaks. Her character's story by itself could have been a main lead story. And while I hated the contrived, annoying and mostly useless existence of the Pei Zhen character, I have to give credit to Dai Xu for his performance, especially given the crappy writing involving his character.
The music, sets, wardrobe, cinemetography are all mostly top-notch production. The 'Scripted Murder Game' settings especially were often beautifully done. The one real low point in production quality was late in the series with the warehouse fire scene. That was just very poorly executed and so many aspects of that episode just did not make sense. Poorly written, poorly directed and cheaply implemented.
Aside with that one drop in production quality, my only real complaints are with regard to a couple of specifics with the script / plot. 90% of the time the script is fine and even fantastic. I especially like the dialog given to both Hu Xiu and Zhao Rou. As the top female characters they got consistently intelligent dialog that showcased the intelligence and emotional insight of the two characters. Way better than the dialog given to many other female leads in so many dramas. And for the most part they avoided plot-induced stupidity with either of these two characters so I really appreciated that. Where the script really stumbles is in the contrived character of Pei Zhen as the ML's step-brother. This character is almost completely meaningless to the plot and serves mainly as nothing more than a time-wasting annoyance. He's not even a half-brother to the ML so their sibling relationship is extremely tenuous and what little there is was marked mostly by abuse against the ML. Otherwise it is clear from the plot that ML mostly grew up completely separate of Pei. Yet the plot tries to imply that there should be a bond between them underneath all the misunderstandings. There isn't. Pei is simply an abused son who himself commits his own crimes and is, frankly not a sympathetic character other than for the abuse he does take from his father. The plot tries to make him seem sympathetic, but does not go anywhere near the real steps that need to be taken by him to become sympathetic: He needed to turn himself in, go to prison for his crimes and get counseling for his deep psychological problems - which persist all the way to his last scene. His 'unrequited love' for the FL is just mostly pathetic and childish. I mean, seriously? He's obsessing and fondling that old bandaid at the end? That is just so sad and pathetic. Not one step towards real character growth. Saying "I'm sorry" at the end is not meaningful. Especially when at the same time he still is looking longingly with his stupid sad puppy-dog expression like a 14-year old boy looking at the unattainable popular girl. He's emotionally still a child even at the very end. His character needs years of therapy.
The script for Pei Zhen's dialog tended to be the worst, most comic-book silly of all the characters. Especially in the scenes when he and the ML, Xiao Zhi Yu, would be pumping testosterone at each other. I'll give credit to Dai Xu for delivering well with what he had to work with. But really, this show could have been done better without the Pei Zhen character existing at all.
Was this review helpful to you?
How come I had never hear of this gem?
I stumbled upon this series by way of a random short segment showing up in my YouTube feed. Once I figured out the title of the series I found the full series of episodes on YouTube and started watching it. And it did not disappoint. This series is a classic hero-returns-from-presumed-dead-to-take-revenge story so the basic nature of the plot is not unique. However, the delivery of that plot is fantastic. Christy Guo is just so perfectly cast as the mesmerizing, mysterious vengeance-seeking Mo Wang / Quingchuan. Tall and with an ethereal beauty, she enters scenes with an almost supernatural aura. Her intensity of resolve is wielded like armor on top of unimaginable pain, both personal and social. As the story goes on to reveal more and more of what she was forced to endure by the selfish decisions of others, Guo's acting makes her rage becomes your rage. The rest of the cast is excellent. In particular, veteran actor Tian Miao, as the Empress Dowager delivers yet another fantastic performance. She steals scene after scene. I am not a huge fan of Zhour Zhan as the choice for the Male Lead, Xia Qiguang. To me, he simply looks too delicate and baby-faced to take seriously for a role like this one. It's a matter of taste, but I just think he's more of a 'SML' type of actor for me. That said, he did grow on me as the series progressed and he really, really delivered in a scene late in the series when Qiguang was breaking down and crying to Qingchuan. Beyond the excellent script and acting, another strong point of this series is length / editing / pacing. It is not a long series with only 18 episodes (fewer in some re-organized formats such as on YouTube). And there is no wasted screen time on 'plot filler' contrivances. Almost no minutes are wasted in this drama and it avoids most annoying gimmick that many dramas use just to fill out extra episodes. The concise story-telling that results from this is refreshing and captivating.Was this review helpful to you?
WAY better than I expected.
I watched this largely because I had seen Zhang Jing Yi in Legend of Zang Hai. But the synopsis made it seem like a pretty lightweight rom-com sort of drama so I wasn't expecting much. Boy was my expectation off. This was one of the better dramas I have watched recently and although not perfect, nailed all the most critical things I look for in a series.First the negatives: The makeup was .... not good at times. Kinda amateurish. Especially bad was the 'wound' on the face of the ML in the early episodes. And wounds in general were pretty poorly rendered. High school drama-club stuff. Also some of the 'special effects' - were a little weak - notably with the scenes on the ships out on the water. And while most of the costumes were great, at times they were a little flat and didn't feel authentic period.
Then the positives: Everything else. First off, the script is just excellent. This is a mature adult drama with human characters talking to each other like real humans. Especially the two leads. I can't say enough about how pleasant it was to have two leads who consistently talked to each other like adults. Who didn't hide things unnecessarily and create contrived, unnecessary drama between each other. Not that they didn't have secrets. But the ones they had were real and understandable and they didn't get in the way of their slowly growing romance between each other.. This was a couple that respected each other and always came through for each other. In addition, this script almost never resorted to awkward plot contrivances. They avoided stupid annoying love triangles and no memory losses or long, drawn out forced separations or betrayals caused by misinformation or really any of the usual soap-opera gimmicks. They did include a 'Secondary ML', but after establishing pretty firmly and quickly that he was not and never would be a romantic competitor for the ML, he was allowed to grow into a great supporting character.
One last thing to say about the script: Be prepared for some tears. Most of the tone of this show is positive. But when sad, emotional things happen, my god this show does not spare you. If you don't tear up on some of the emotionally tough scenes in this show then you are perhaps really a robot. The cast performances in these scenes is powerful. Perhaps the most moving scene was the scene when Hua Zhi lies on the bed next to her grandmother, played by the venerable Liu Jia. I won't spoil it, but man that scene had my eyes watering badly.
Gotta talk about the cast. Zhang Jing Yi just knocks it out of the park as a strong, brilliant and compassionate Hua Zhi - without having to be a physical martial arts princess (such as she was in Legend of Zang Hai). Instead of a physical fighter, she is mentally strong willed and determined and most of all, observant and brilliant. She solves problems creatively and consistently with awareness and compassion for everyone concerned. And her co-lead in all this, Hu Yi Tian as Gu Yan Xi , does a fantastic job of being an equal partner in this romance. He is, of course, a very different character being very much a physical killing machine at times. And he is constrained by his position to sometimes do things he would not choose to on his own. But it's very clear early on that he has true compassion and shares Hua Zhi's moral compass. His nature fits like perfect yin/yang complement to hers. The two 'get' each other immediately and have great chemistry that makes their near telepathic connection feel real.
The rest of the cast is loaded with veteran actors who you should recognize from other dramas. Too many to list off. This is a big cast. And I don't think anyone delivers a poor performance. Almost every supporting character has depth and complexity. Only a few of the external characters are 2-dimensional
Oh, also want to give a big nod to the fight choreographer. This is not a drama that is overly heavy with fight scenes. It is not the focus at all. But WHEN this drama has fight scenes, the choreography is absolutely top-notch. I especially like how they use a lot of empty-hands techniques. It isn't always flashy weapons being swung around.
Was this review helpful to you?
