This review may contain spoilers
From the sublime to the ridiculous
I was such a fan of PoJ until episode 26. After that, it became so anticlimactic and unevenly paced, ending in complete makjang in the final battle, without a clear and satisfying explanation of past events, and perhaps the most awkward and stilted final cdrama moment in the alternate ending from the 2ML/main toxic villain.
How can a Cdrama do a complete 180 in terms of storytelling, tone, pacing, character development...? I am so confused as to how this happened. PoJ started off so beautifully with the first arc in Linan village. I was completely enraptured with our FL and ML, how she saved him, their back stories, and especially how their relationship developed. I loved the snowy landscape, the chill mountain village vibe, the cozy cooking scenes, the way they slurped the pork intestine noodle soups with relish, the intrigues here and there about what happened 17 yrs ago, and of course all the scenes with ZLH š. I loved how Changyue nursed XZ back to health, and how he was so understanding, observant, and caring. It was lovely.
Everything was moving along so well, even when he left to go back to the military camp, even when she went to look for him, and all that happened in between. Our MC was still in character, and their reunion at camp was so moving. Really on its way to being a masterpiece.
I was enthralled with how their story (and even the side stories!) developed at this point, and even more thrilled when she fought on the battlefield, defeating Shi Hu. The fight choreography was so memorable and so well done! And how she realized XZ was the marquis and how he whisked her off on horseback...that was truly the peak moment of this drama.
Sadly, after that, it kind of went off the path of masterful storytelling. I think this became obvious starting with her fight scene against General Changxin...actually it was more when she asked XZ who he would take on, Changxin or his psychopath son. Anyway, it just seemed out of character.
At this point onwards, there were so many unsatisfying moments and I was just so unhappy with how little time they gave to our MC together, and especially to XZ as marquis. This would have been so much better had it focused more on the MCās romance rather than the toxic side coupleās, allowed the story about past events to unfold better (like maybe throughout the drama, instead of just unloading everything in the last couple of epis and even then it was still confusing and unclear), redeemed Uncle Wei (honestly, the real bad guy whose actions precipitated the tragedy from 17 years ago was Tutor Li who betrayed his friend circle, gossiping to the old emperor! I mean what kind of punishment did he get, he conspired with Qi Min too! So unbelievable and annoying), and kept the same tone & style with the cinematography. I just expected too much!
The Sublime:
-Linan Village arc
-ZLH š
-the music
-the villainous brothersā auras
-Uncle Wei with the moustache
The Ridiculous:
-the ending
-how much time was given to toxic side coupleās romance (ugh!)
-Changyue defeating General Changxin
-Qi Min surviving the fall from the top of the fort (somehow I was shocked to find him in jail! )
Itās funny because as PoJ was airing and while I waited for later episodes (not knowing at the time how it would all turn out), I was rewatching earlier episodes and just enjoying their time in Linan and their reunion. I never could have predicted that I would feel so unsatisfied with the ending. I know one has to take the good with the bad, but at the end of it all, I was left wondering how much nonsense we the viewers can accept at the end of a drama despite an amazing beginning. I guess I can accept a lot because Iām giving it an 8.5, lol. Still, I canāt help but feel like I was played.
10/10 for ep 1-26
7.0/10 for ep 27-40
8.5 OVERALL
How can a Cdrama do a complete 180 in terms of storytelling, tone, pacing, character development...? I am so confused as to how this happened. PoJ started off so beautifully with the first arc in Linan village. I was completely enraptured with our FL and ML, how she saved him, their back stories, and especially how their relationship developed. I loved the snowy landscape, the chill mountain village vibe, the cozy cooking scenes, the way they slurped the pork intestine noodle soups with relish, the intrigues here and there about what happened 17 yrs ago, and of course all the scenes with ZLH š. I loved how Changyue nursed XZ back to health, and how he was so understanding, observant, and caring. It was lovely.
Everything was moving along so well, even when he left to go back to the military camp, even when she went to look for him, and all that happened in between. Our MC was still in character, and their reunion at camp was so moving. Really on its way to being a masterpiece.
I was enthralled with how their story (and even the side stories!) developed at this point, and even more thrilled when she fought on the battlefield, defeating Shi Hu. The fight choreography was so memorable and so well done! And how she realized XZ was the marquis and how he whisked her off on horseback...that was truly the peak moment of this drama.
Sadly, after that, it kind of went off the path of masterful storytelling. I think this became obvious starting with her fight scene against General Changxin...actually it was more when she asked XZ who he would take on, Changxin or his psychopath son. Anyway, it just seemed out of character.
At this point onwards, there were so many unsatisfying moments and I was just so unhappy with how little time they gave to our MC together, and especially to XZ as marquis. This would have been so much better had it focused more on the MCās romance rather than the toxic side coupleās, allowed the story about past events to unfold better (like maybe throughout the drama, instead of just unloading everything in the last couple of epis and even then it was still confusing and unclear), redeemed Uncle Wei (honestly, the real bad guy whose actions precipitated the tragedy from 17 years ago was Tutor Li who betrayed his friend circle, gossiping to the old emperor! I mean what kind of punishment did he get, he conspired with Qi Min too! So unbelievable and annoying), and kept the same tone & style with the cinematography. I just expected too much!
The Sublime:
-Linan Village arc
-ZLH š
-the music
-the villainous brothersā auras
-Uncle Wei with the moustache
The Ridiculous:
-the ending
-how much time was given to toxic side coupleās romance (ugh!)
-Changyue defeating General Changxin
-Qi Min surviving the fall from the top of the fort (somehow I was shocked to find him in jail! )
Itās funny because as PoJ was airing and while I waited for later episodes (not knowing at the time how it would all turn out), I was rewatching earlier episodes and just enjoying their time in Linan and their reunion. I never could have predicted that I would feel so unsatisfied with the ending. I know one has to take the good with the bad, but at the end of it all, I was left wondering how much nonsense we the viewers can accept at the end of a drama despite an amazing beginning. I guess I can accept a lot because Iām giving it an 8.5, lol. Still, I canāt help but feel like I was played.
10/10 for ep 1-26
7.0/10 for ep 27-40
8.5 OVERALL
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