Binged watch this whole series and I found this to be a moving, cinematic masterpiece for me! Yes, there's a lot…
It's a pity the writing became weaker once the Japanese guy entered the story. The drama had many intelligent plot twists before this, but here the explanation of the twist came too late so ep 23 - 25 made no sense to me.
I'm ok with the ending. Not every drama has to have a happy ending.
Binged watch this whole series and I found this to be a moving, cinematic masterpiece for me!
Yes, there's a lot of brutality and violence but I felt these were somewhat justified to show how cruel the villain is and these were dark times that the characters were living in. That's why at one point the ML says he no longer wanted to see the world. I thought this was a wonderful paradox that tied in with the ML's blindness -- the entire show is filmed so beautifully, but reality is so dark and grim, the ML would rather remain blind.
There's also other deeper themes/meanings in the story like the red string of fate metaphor, the way ML can use his talent for good or evil, and the oppression of women in this era but you'll see that several of the female characters were strong and resilient in different ways.
The full final episode on wetv is 15 minutes long. I feel the last episode is open to interpretation, but based on the very final scene where all the 4 main leads appear again, I would consider it a happy ending.
Throughout the drama, she refers to her past life as a dream. In the last episode, I think the part where they showed what happened 10 years after her death in her previous lifetime was actually a dream she was dreaming in her second lifetime. Through the dream, they were trying to show us what happened after she died in her previous lifetime. But now she is alive and well in this second lifetime. At least, this is how I understood it.
This drama is adapted from a Chinese novel called Pandora's Revenge, which was originally set in the present day era, but it was adapted to a Republican setting for the drama. In the novel, the female lead has 4 men and there are a lot more explicit scenes, but understandably the drama had to water it down for broadcast. The drama still does follow the general story from the novel. I haven't read the novel, but this is what I gather from the discussions I've seen on xiaohongshu.
All episodes have been released already for those who pay for Express. Based on spoilers I've seen, seems to be HE, depending on which ML you root for.
They released a short clip of the characters set in an alternate reality in modern costume! They discuss a bit about the ending so please only watch after you've finished the whole series
Just finished this last night. Overall it was a very pretty drama to look at but i found the story rather confusing and slow at some parts. My favourite character was Jiang Yi.
I'm ok with the ending. Not every drama has to have a happy ending.
Yes, there's a lot of brutality and violence but I felt these were somewhat justified to show how cruel the villain is and these were dark times that the characters were living in. That's why at one point the ML says he no longer wanted to see the world. I thought this was a wonderful paradox that tied in with the ML's blindness -- the entire show is filmed so beautifully, but reality is so dark and grim, the ML would rather remain blind.
There's also other deeper themes/meanings in the story like the red string of fate metaphor, the way ML can use his talent for good or evil, and the oppression of women in this era but you'll see that several of the female characters were strong and resilient in different ways.
Throughout the drama, she refers to her past life as a dream. In the last episode, I think the part where they showed what happened 10 years after her death in her previous lifetime was actually a dream she was dreaming in her second lifetime. Through the dream, they were trying to show us what happened after she died in her previous lifetime. But now she is alive and well in this second lifetime. At least, this is how I understood it.
Ending song
https://youtu.be/ApIH2SAtD5I?si=O_jzeO0vzjx1XXwo
This song appears in certain episodes
https://youtu.be/YTGaIRWaIJ4?si=OZIxwA3AVqWjOK72
https://youtu.be/iiq85e0a6Fk?si=P0w-6L6Js-INFYgU