Reviews

A Thrilling, Fast-Paced Drama Not to Be Missed

If you're on the fence about diving into this series, let me sway you with three simple words: Go for it. In an era where television often stretches thin plots over too many episodes, this drama emerges as a breath of fresh air with its concise and fast-paced storytelling. It's a rare gem that knows exactly how long to hold its audience, making every moment count without overstaying its welcome.

One of the show's standout features is its background music. While it may not boast a memorable original soundtrack (OST) that sticks with you, the score in climactic scenes is nothing short of masterful. It grips you, enhances the tension, and elevates the drama, ensuring that you're glued to your seat, fully immersed in the unfolding narrative.

The casting is impeccable, with performances that resonate and linger long after the credits roll. The male lead (ML), in particular, delivers a nuanced portrayal of a journey from confusion to confidence. This character's evolution is beautifully crafted, reflecting the complex reality that confidence is never absolute. The moments when he allows his emotions to surface are among the show's highlights, adding layers to his character and enriching the story.

Additionally, the series explores themes of friendship and camaraderie, weaving a subtle bromance that adds depth and warmth to the narrative. It's a refreshing element that balances the more intense moments and provides viewers with a multifaceted viewing experience.

However, viewers should be advised that the show does not shy away from mature content, including some nudity across a few episodes. While it serves the storyline, it's something to be mindful of depending on your preferences.

In conclusion, this drama stands out for its ability to deliver a compelling, tightly-packed story that captivates from start to finish. Its strengths lie in its exceptional music score, outstanding performances (especially from the male lead), and its intelligent pacing. If you're looking for a series that's engaging, emotionally resonant, and refreshingly succinct, look no further. This drama is a must-watch, promising an unforgettable viewing experience that will leave you both satisfied and wanting more.

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Flat romance, lacklustre politics & ML reduced to side accessory

I usually start my reviews explaining what the drama is about but this one is misleading as hell. You think you get a second chance romance where the main leads rebirth from their late 30s back to 18, work on repairing their broken relationship and the corrupt court. But the story revolves around the past history and family rivalry between the female lead and the second male lead. If you are a fan of Zhang Linghe or like your male leads to be more than a love puppy support role, you will be massively disappointed with this drama.

Even though I very much enjoyed the first 12 episodes, the drama totally lost me afterwards. I was only able to finish it for ZLH, and also because of my NDD + FOMO.

The female lead in terms of her interpersonal relationships is a bully at first and emotionally insensitive to others. Although a smart cookie, confident and authority at court, in matters of the heart, she spends half the drama confused about her feelings. The second male lead has many romantic scenes with the female lead, and the focus is on his tragic first life. The director creates scenarios to make you want to sympathise with him but it all falls short and in fact annoys the audience even more. The male lead’s sole purpose in the drama is to be a love puppy and nothing more.

If the story was actually about the female lead and second male lead, I would have liked it. You have a love-hate relationship, power or love dynamic, family or love themes. I see the potential. But the writers did ZLH dirty by making him a lovesick puppy with no purpose in the plot. The poster of this drama is totally misleading and they should have put the second male lead in there (no hate to the actor, he is super cute) instead of ZLH.

POSITIVE:
- Zhang Linghe (ML). He is hands down the best part of this drama. I loved him in every scene, all his line deliveries were wonderful, he was great at comedy too. His character is a sweet, green flag cutie pie and the actor brings in the sexy factor too.
- Confident and authoritative female lead in terms of court/politics scenes.
- Lighthearted for the most part.
- Flashbacks from previous life are woven well into the story.
- Good comedy for the most part.
- Male lead’s jealousy scenes were 10/10. He cracked me up every time.
- Great acting from the main leads Zhang Linghe and Zhao Jin Mai.

NEGATIVE:
- Second male lead is actually the male lead. First half of the drama he has many romantic moments with the female lead (and even a special OST), and in the second half his story completely takes over the screen time. Giving him screen time is not as much of an issue as the way he was written and portrayed which drove many viewers into angry fits. He became an unwatchable character to the point that a lot of people were skipping his scenes. If the writers wanted to create a tragic villain, they failed.

- Male lead is just a side accessory and has no story arc. His emotional world is never explored. In all the major political plot points, he doesn’t contribute much to anything. His sole purpose is to be a love interest for the female lead. In fact, the female lead treats him badly many times but he still stays madly devoted to her. His mad devotion is never properly explained either which makes his character feel very one dimensional.

- Flat romance. The foundation of the romance is written poorly which didn’t allow me to connect with the couple. The reason their marriage failed in the first life is due to a somewhat silly misunderstanding. Even if I can find reasons why it makes sense, my biggest issue is that in episode 11 the male lead suddenly confesses that he has always loved her. But we aren’t shown why, how or when he fell for her. Aside from 2 second flashbacks where they glance at each other lovingly, we have no substance for this confession. It’s just a fact we are supposed to blindly accept. Throughout the drama he is blindly devoted to her and the writers failed to show me why. So even though the main leads looked good together, even though ZLH delivered beautiful romantic lines, I felt nothing for the couple. On top of that, their one steamy bath scene was abruptly cut, leaving the audience very unsatisfied.

- Love triangle. Usually in cdramas the female lead only has eyes for the male lead so love triangles are not really triangles for me and don’t bother me. But in this case, the female lead has actual confusing feelings for both men and is pondering for many episodes which one to choose. The worst part is that, even at episode 30 the director shows us romantic shots with her and the second male lead. In fact, they even have telepathy scenes where they stare at each other and speak the dialogue in their minds. Total soulmates right. Well, this love triangle could have worked if it was written right. But the fact is that pretty much everyone hated the second male lead and absolutely nobody was rooting for him to get the girl.

- Lacklustre politics. Nothing new I haven’t seen before, very simple and boring at times. In fact, the first life's story has more angst and is definitely a more exciting story to tell than the second life (which is the main plot of the drama).

- No logic. The male lead is the hottest piece of cake walking in and outside the court and the writers tell me that nobody wants a piece of that? (not even his wife for the most part?) #plothole (Ok it’s more of a joke but you know it’s true. It would have been a bit more realistic if he had at least one girl pining over him).

OVERALL:
Even though I didn’t have extremely high expectations I found myself very disappointed and misled by this drama. It’s one thing to highlight a second male lead and deepen the story but it’s unacceptable to reduce the male lead to nothing when he is one of the reasons many people have tuned in to watch. But even without the male lead issue, I found the plot of this drama very forgettable and boring. Nothing much stands out. Considering this is a S++ production (one of Youku’s highest budgeted dramas), this is a fail for me and one of my 2024 biggest disappointments.

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Addictive, Great Chemistry, Great Actors & A Good Second Chance Drama (but watch only until ep 30)

We all love second-chance romance dramas, but we hardly find any good second-chance romance dramas. This drama had the potential to be one the best in this genre. But, somehow it made a disaster in the last part of the drama and especially in the last 6 episodes. If you consider this drama with only 30 episodes, this is still pretty good. There are a lot of positives to this drama i.e. very good chemistry of the main couple, excellent casts with top-notch acting, good visuals, and good OST's.

Why only till episode 30:
This drama is an adaptation of a Chinese novel. The screenwriters changed the story to some extent to write the script. Still, the drama followed the novel closely. But, they followed the novel only until episode 30. After that, they wrote the script totally by themselves which has absolutely no relation to the novel. So, After episode 30, the drama feels like a completely different drama. We got a realistic feel in the first 30 episodes. But, suddenly it became a melodramatic drama. It became so melodramatic that it could beat top melodramas with its melodrama plots. We the viewers got hugely disappointed by this. It was painful to watch those episodes. I hardly could believe how the drama turned out like that. I would suggest the new viewers, don't watch the drama after episode 30. We got somewhat of an ending at episode 30. Though it was not complete we can imagine the rest. No need to take the pain to watch the rest of the episodes.

Pros:
-Actress: Wang Churan was just impressive. This is the first time I saw her in any drama, and I instantly became a fan of hers. I just want to see her in another drama. She looked stunning in this drama. Her smile was the best thing in this drama for me. She is still new and there is a bright acting career ahead of her.
-Actor: Peng Guan Ying was great in his role. PGY acted as a cold doctor who doesn't show much emotion. He is a good guy but sometimes you feel mad about his actions, but still, he has his charm. You can't stop but root for him.
-Chemistry: Chemistry was good. There were a lot of problems in their relationship. Sometimes they feel distant but the chemistry was always there for them.
-Hospital Settings: We see a lot of medical dramas. Most of those dramas somehow feel unrealistic and sometimes cringe. This drama somehow portrayed a good hospital setting. It was not perfect but I would say It was very good, a lot better than some other top medical dramas
-OST's: I liked the opening song a lot. Overall music and OST's were good

Cons:
-Africa Arcs: Africa arcs were a complete disaster. We got to see the first 2 episodes were shoot in Africa. That 2 episodes were still ok. Then the last 5 episodes were shoot in Africa too. I just have no words for those last 5 episodes. Completely unnecessary with no story.
-Questionable actions by ML: In the past flashbacks, ML did some things that deeply hurt FL. There might have been some reasons behind those, but still, some viewers did not like those.
-Some medical plots/decisions: There were some medical plots/decisions used/taken in this drama, that were questioned by the viewers. There could be some arguments about whether those decisions were right or wrong. While watching those, we could still give some consideration as this is a drama after all. It's not perfect and actually, no drama is perfect. Some other medical dramas have more issues than this.

Ending: (Spoilers)
It got somewhat of a happy ending (episode 36). But it's not the kind of happy ending we wanted from this drama. There was an amnesia plot in the ending. Although the drama has somehow a happy ending, the ML and FL deserved a much better ending than this. We the viewers also deserve to see a much better ending.

Ratings:
8.5 from me. I could give this 9 easily if the drama had only 30 episodes and ended properly. But, I can't forget those last 6 episodes. I was disappointed and I can't just ignore that. I wanted to give this a 7.5 or 8. But, the drama was very good until episode 30. So considering everything I gave it 8.5

Recommendation:
The first 30 episodes of this drama were really good. The drama was very addictive. You dislike some parts, but you just can't stop watching. It was that good. So, I recommend this drama, but only until episode 30. If you want to watch the rest just watch that fast-forwarded.

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Long-Awaited Seduction Into A DARK CONCEPT !!

Exceeding Expectations. And Then Again Disappointing. It´s wild.

This painstakingly created series is expected to be one of the most controversial, hardest and longest emotional rollercoasters in 2022 and it has also been highly awaited by the entire LGBTQI+ film community.

However, if you easily feel offended by toxic tropes then I recommend you reconsider watching this series !!

Production / Music >> 9.5 >> 9.0 >> 8.5
As already seen in the first trailer – deleted by now – KinnPorsche has always been visually incomparable to other series. Even with their delay in airing and producing, the fandom has been faithfully waiting for this visual masterpiece to finally air. Given the second trailer and after watching the first episode, I know that KinnPorsche will lift the visual standards of LGBTQI+ shows to another level. Additionally, for those who don´t know me, I am a sucker for dark concepts and for what has been displayed so far with the lighting and colouring, my eyes are blessed and my creativity is exploding.

Combined with the series' soundtracks – e.g.: Slot Machine´s “Free Fall” – this entire show seems so unreal in quality, especially since it has a heavier and more challenging plot and concept than most LGBTQI+ series in the past. Therefore, I think they can still fail in the execution of a good story, but they have lifted the standards for the cinematography and consequently, I´ll predict this to blow up and get at least an 8.0 rating on MDL - excluded any crucial errors such as misrepresentation of fundamental issues, e.g.: LGBTQI+, toxic relationships, abuse, etc. I, however, doubt they will fail in the portrayal of those.

Let´s especially praise the Cinematographer (Maneerat Srinakarin) and the Screenwriter (Pond Kritsada Wittayakachondej), for perceiving the possibilities of this concept's aesthetics and implementing them successfully, as well as the Editors and Production in general.

Plot / Story >> 7.5 >> 8.5 >> 9.0 >> 8.0 >> 7.5
So far, I´ve been satisfied with the introduction to this series and its concept. However, even though the plot is exciting and thrilling, "it is not that innovative yet and therefore I need more episodes to change my mind and give it an 8 or higher". At some points, it was just so random, and the entire mafia thing got a bit laughable.

BUT Then I continued watching and changed my mind A BIT. Despite the aspect of some lack in the stories innovation, I am a total sucker for these sorts of concepts, and in the past, I´d just blindly give it a 10 BUT I´m trying to not let my excitement take over my rationality. However, if my rating was based on my own excitement, this rating would surely have a different outcome.

Cast >> 9.5 >> 10.0 >> 9.0
The entire training the actors have been going under in 2021 has finally paid off and the series successfully cast very talented individuals for each role. Especially Apo has been well chosen as Porsche, his personality finds shelter and rises like “The Phoenix”. Mile takes our breath as toxic-tinged Mr Kinn, who exudes a bold and decisive charm like Mile himself. The result is well-cast Main roles.

However, I will not forget to give the supporting cast all the praise. It´s just that I could write so many paragraphs about them - trust me I did that - but I´m trying to keep it short. Honestly, Bible did not only put effort into acting out Vegas but he also committed a lot to the KinnPorsche Story by translating Daemi´s book. I´m happy to see that the involved people also enjoy being part of this huge project. Love it!

Rewatch Value >> 9.0 >> 9.5 >> 9.0 >> 8.0
So far so good. Since this sort of concept is always extremely pulling me in and my disappointment in “Golden Blood” is heavily weighing down on me, I am quite sure this will be one of the shows I will come back to at least twice, if not more often. Therefore, my overall rating so far is a solid and well-deserved 8.5 and had chances to be a 9.0 if they had increased the story's uniqueness and matched it to their incomparable cinematography/ visuals.

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Only two episodes and I'm already obsessed with them.

Oh my God,
A masterpiece or A legendary drama or what..?? 🤌 What I just saw man. 😍 I just got mesmerized by this Series. I don't know how this story will turn further, only thing I know that I can't wait for the next episodes to be aired.

Both the main characters is likable and not just only the main but the supporting characters also quite fun to watch. When it comes to main characters chemistry and sexual tension between them that is also super fine. I thoroughly love this series .

Just please don't be a sad series don't know why but i'm getting sad vibes. 🥺

Nothing much for now, I'm just in love with this series ❤️ and waiting for more episodes.

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I only watched this show because Lee Min Ho was in it. The plot did sound funny to me but it turned out to be completely different from what I expected it to be.

Sorry to say, but the pairing is one of the worst I have ever seen. Their chemistry was just lousy and the characters terribly annoying. I stopped caring where the story went after 8th or 9th episode. It got better at this time and suddenly it went downhill again. It seemed more like a sex comedy at times.

Also, this show is poorly written. None of the sub-plots or side characters were interesting. All of them could have been killed in an airplane accident and I wouldn't have cared. I only watched it out of boredom. I absolutely hated the character of Park Gae In. She was clumsy, childish, annoying and dumb. She looked old but acted like a little child. I get that she never had the love of a mother, but that doesn't mean she has to stay crippled like a loveless child for her entire life. The only good quality she had was that she was caring towards the people she loved. Other than that, it was hard to stand her. Jin Ho's character was also boring and lacked depth. He was standoffish throughout the entire show. I really never understood his character. It had a lot of negative traits as well.

The show is not very enjoyable. I would not recommend it to anyone. There are much better shows out there. Go and rewatch your favorite drama than watching this absolute trash.

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This drama is the perfect example to show you how a drama with thrill, crime and msytery on its genre should be done! I've seen my share of this genre and they usually can't pull it off at least not in a way that would make me anticipate for 16 eps long and to actually work my brain out trying to find answers. The Village: Achiara's Secret promised me a thrilling journey and it definitely fulfilled that promise (that's a tough promise to keep considering 16 eps long).

Story
NO ROMANCE that's the best thing about it because it is fully focused on the story no distractions no useless characters or side stories or scenes. I can't really explain much about the story without spoiling it, I wouldn't say the perfect story cus it's not it actually has holes which weren't covered. However, the story wasn't just about crime, mystery, thrill it actually delivers feelings and meaning behind it all.

Acting
I gave it 9/10 because I think if it wasn't for everyone's FLAWLESS (except for one person) performance this drama wouldn't have worked out. Though all dramas require great cast with great acting skills, a drama with these genres in particular requires much more than great acting to pull it off. No matter how thrilling the storyline is without the right cast it will never work out. I personally give BIG applause to Shin Eun Gyeong, Yook Sung Jae, Jang Hee Jin and Choi Jae Woong the most. Surprisingly though in terms of performance Moon Geun Young was the weakest of them all (I don't know if it was because of the character).

Rewatch
Definitely not, the kind of category that this drama falls in makes it a none rewatchable drama. Once the mystery is solved there is no point in watching it again (at least not to me).

Overall
This drama needs to get more audience on the (currently watching) it's a good one and worth the attention. One more important point it's thanks to this drama I started to like this genre even more now. I highly recommend it

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A good plot executed poorly!

A compelling synopsis. One more korean fantasy rom-com which I love a lot. A good casting. Handsome and wanna-know-him kind of serial killer. Still, it didn't make me fall in love with this drama. What went wrong?
It has two interesting aspects - Fantasy and Romance. I would have loved it even if one was poor and the other was great.

First, Romance:

The leads fell in love very quickly as it seems like they were forced to love each other. Ok, I kind of accept the reason that ML had, but FL has no reason other than he can see the death of other persons. It was like - he sees death, I kind of feel pity for him, It seems he loves me, and the director asked me to like him, so from now on I'm going to love him. More or less I felt like this when they started to date. If some unknown person who can see the death follows me wherever I go and asks me to stay in his place, I would BLOCK that person forever from my life. But still she UNDERSTANDS him when she knew nothing about him and befriends him and little later fell in love with him.

And the story goes like they love each other to the end of the world and are willing to sacrifice themselves for the other but I couldn't find how they fell head over the heels for each other and why! Don't even start about the chemistry between the leads. They just started to date for all the sh**ty reasons they can find but there was no chemistry what-so-ever. I know, It was not THAT bad, still this is not the romance I would have expected to see after watching many romantic Kdramas.

Next, Fantasy:

I would have loved this drama if the fantasy plot was done correctly despite its romance. But there was full of potholes in the drama that there was no space in the plot without holes! lol If I started to explain, then I would end up by telling the whole story so let me just say that if you have any switch off mode in your brain, then watch this drama. Otherwise this drama is not at all good for your mental health. There's little to no help to the story with ML's ability - a non fantasy murder investigation drama would have moved much faster than this drama. The frustration that this drama gives you is no joke. Especially if you have any expectation. The drama did move much better and use the fantasy plot better at the end of the 15th episode. But isn't it too late?!

Third, Characters:

As I said earlier, not only the leads have no chemistry but the story was also designed like they had no brains too. The idea that ML had to stop the serial killer and the way FL went to CATCH the serial killer were dumbest moves that I have ever seen in dramaland.

The only character that seems interesting enough was the killer who was introduced pretty early. He seemed like he has so many layers that we will get to know about him slowly and Wow! that's a huge disappointment. With all the build-ups they give for him at the beginning and the wonderful acting of him with the face full of conflicts - he was a refreshing role in the drama but they made him nothing but a psycho as the drama progressed. And I seriously don't know the concept of the other characters pitying the serial killer and telling that they're trying to understand him. For God's sake, the writers should wake up from the dream. They are the ones who never explored his character and they wanted us to pity him for now. The only thing I can pity for him is that all those golden acting he gave, got wasted in this drama.

It has a nice setting for the supporting characters but not even one character was explored fully. Thus I felt no connection with them even when their lives were in danger.

Overall:

It has it's own sweet and nail-biting moments, but that was very little that those scenes alone couldn't make this drama better.
If it was one of my first few Kdramas, I would have given a ten. But after watching many kdramas, I can surely say this is not worth that much. So many plot holes, no character exploration and the scenes which were repeating itself made this drama an uninteresting one for me.

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Over rated

First series of Esther Yu, now I'm really wondering why she is so famous with that kind of acting skill?

About the series:
1. 1st episode is very boring and not clear of what the series going to lead us to.
2. The next 10 series are quite entertaining with the humor and fast pacing story lines, but then afterwards the stories become dull and boring.
3. It is strange to have a so called "heroine" who can't or never fight at all ==> referring to the main female lead, whose facial expression is very dull and only able to act cute
4. second male lead acting also not great, flat facial expression and no chemistry with the second female lead

Overall, I do enjoy some part of the series, especially the beginning, but afterwards the story lines just draggy and acting from the main actress really lame make it quite difficult to watch.

No offense to Esther Yu hard core fans.. this is purely my personal opinion. I shall see her other work to make sure whether she can act or if this is her character in this series.
But looking at the background of her character, she is not supposed to be a "cute" person, from her modern era character she is not with that cute personality, why suddenly when she become the heroine character in the novel she become overly unnecessary "cute"? (to be precise : tried to act cute, but does not cute at all)

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Mermaids Only Listen to The Heart's Voice, It Says You are Worth It

The Blue Whisper: Part 1 (与君初相识) is a 22 episode drama adapted from the novel 驭鲛记, The Blue Whiper by 九鹭非香. The Blue Whisper is set in a universe where there are magical races (demon) and spiritual masters (human with longer lifespan). The narrative revolves around Ji Yunhe, a spiritual master but also a nine-tailed demon fox and Chang Yi, a mermaid and the lord of north.

Helmed by Zhu Ruibin, the director from Ashes of Love, The Long Ballad, Noble Aspirations and more; you can have a high expectation for this drama! The Blue Whisper has a high-quality production that features a splendid set, lavish costumes, remarkable cinematography, brilliantly choreographed scenes, an enchanting music score, and more.

The Blue Whisper sets, props, scenery and people are simply eye-catching, which keeps one visually interested all the way through. Unlike most historical dramas lately, The Blue Whisper has a vibrant and bold colour palette and outfit which makes it refreshing to see! The drama also has exemplary cinematography, the use of soft filters and vibrant colour at the same time provides a pleasant and vivid viewing experience. Every shot is also beautifully angled creating a feast for the eyes. Moreover, The Blue Whisper also has a beautifully done and well-rendered CGI and special effects. The use of authentic set designs and props also further enhance the realism of the whole universe.

The Blue Whisper narrative is brilliant and captivating, even if you don’t read the book beforehand, you would understand the drama as the overall narrative is easy to follow and well-paced. The drama storytelling is progressively paced and satisfyingly engaging with hardly a dull moment or substantial fillers. There are some light-hearted scenes with pure comedy, and some of the drama’s dialogue is also witty and sprinkled with light humor. Although some may find the troupe of lying to each other in order to save them is kinda cliché but this one doesn’t bore you.

What I adore from this drama is that every character in the drama is extremely well-written, each has its own distinctive personalities and qualities; they are multi-faceted and complex. Each character is properly dimensioned and balanced, even the “bad” characters have shades of grey, no one is black or white. They have their own background story and obsession, which leads to their action; thus, you might even feel their actions are justifiable. Although the main couple is the focus of the story, other characters and their relationships are not cheated out of a good storyline too! In addition, I also love how the side characters build up and enrich the whole story, instead of being just there for the necessary of the drama plot. You care for the characters and even if you don’t like some of the characters, others will most certainly capture your interest and heart.

Ji Yunhe and Chang Yi is stellarly portrayed by Dilireba and Ren Jialun. Both actor’s facial expressions and emotions are compelling. Their acting can make us relate and feel the character’s happiness, anger, pain that you can’t help but shed tears for them. Both of the actors can also convey their love, heartbreak and everything through their eyes and micro-expressions. It is unimaginable that anyone can pull off Ji Yunhe and Chang Yi in such compelling way other than Dilireba and Ren Jialun. Furthermore, Dilireba and Ren Jialun also have explosive chemistry; there is a great rapport between them and the romance are very good. They look fitting together and there are many squel-worthy moments.

Ren Jialun’s portrayal of an innocent tailed fish to an overbearing North lord is excellent! But what I find really commendable from his acting here is his acting of an innocent and pure tailed fish, it is unlike something he has shown before, he has acted as a cute and innocent 8 year old kid before in Under The Power, but here he is totally different he evokes a different charm. Ren Jialun character didn’t speak a word on the early episodes (until eps 3) but he still managed to convey his emotions with his eyes (sorrow, happy, anger and more). That’s what I find really amazing from Ren Jialun, he can simply convey his emotions with his eyes, and here with his pouty lips.

Dilireba also did a very commendable job! Dilireba has the ability to blend into every role, and in my opinion, Dilireba’s performance as Ji Yunhe here is several notches above all her works so far. The way she conveys her emotions through nuanced micro-expression and articulating every scene is beyond words. Especially on those scenes where she was laughing and crying at the same, when she turned into the nine-tailed demon fox. Every single Dilireba performance here is really praise-worthy.

Also, special mention to Hu Yixuan, she is adorable. Luoluo is loyal, bubbly, and clueless and Hu Yixuan manages to portray her and her lovable quirks so precisely. I bet she’ll steal your heart! Her scenes with Dilireba is also heart-warming and cute to see!

The Blue Whisper music scoring is also incredible. Sa Dingding is the music director for The Blue Whisper and she did a really great job! Every single OST and background sound is hauntingly beautiful, it’ll give you goosebumps. Each song also encapsulates a deep, beautiful and meaningful story. The poignant classical instrumental piece that accompanies the scene also sets a dramatic and emotional tone.

Overall, The Blue Whisper keeps you engaged and engrossed, you’ll find yourself wanting more new episodes!

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The Journey of a Flower is a wonderful drama based on a very much loved book. If you enjoy martial arts, cheesy CG effects, men with long hair and you are new to Chinese dramas this is for you! On the other hand if you are looking for a short, modern and simple romance story you should maybe stay away.

STORY:
The story is one of the strong points of this drama. I rarely watch a drama without skipping at least a few minutes, but there was no need to do that with this one. Entertaining things and characters were going on everywhere and at all times. There are plot holes and very strange moments where something really weird happens, but I found out that 4 episodes worth of material were cut from the aired TV version and the cut material would've made everything make more sense. Overall though the beginning and middle of this drama were almost flawless and the story flowed well and kept you watching... even in the middle of the night XD If the cut material had been included the end part of the drama would've been excellent as well.

ACTING/CAST:
The cast was also great! I especially enjoyed the main actors. Huo Wallace (Bai Zi Hua) did a wonderful job portraying a godlike, statuesque man suffering constant inner turmoil. It is too bad that I don't think his real voice is used in the drama, but I guess this is often done in Chinese dramas. Zhao Zanilia (Hua Qian Gu) was the first female character I've encountered that managed to pull off that perfectly "innocent" & "pure" woman that is so often portrayed in Asian dramas, without being the least bit annoying. She also made her character feel strong at the same time. The supporting cast was also great and certainly offer the female viewers some good options in the male department ;)

MUSIC:
I enjoyed most of the music. Especially the end credit song was a really melodramatic ballad that built the mood of the entire series. There were also some really nice flute themes played throughout the drama that helped you immerse yourself in the story.

REWATCH VALUE:
I've read that there will be a DVD version of the series that will have all the material that was cut out. I will definitely watch this entire series when I get my hands on that DVD... especially since I know that most of the things cut out were cut because they were too risqué! ;)

OVERALL:
You might think that this series does not deserve a 9/10 since they sort of butchered a lot of their good work by cutting out important scenes, but still I was glued to my screen until the very last moment and this series opened the world of Chinese dramas to me. Some of the special effects are terrible, but I don't think they took away from the storytelling. Watch the first episode and you should know if this is for you or not!

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I have to admit I was very skeptical about watching this at first. I downloaded 10 episodes of it thinking its short and had even Mystic Nine on my list. Hearing that they both were from the same author I wasn't sure which one to watch first but my partiality towards Yixing(Lay) took over and I ended watching Mystic Nine first. Also it had the plus point of having William Chan and Zhao Zhanilla later whom I simply adore (after watching Boss and Me and Rise of a Tomboy). But unfortunately I was left completely disappointed in it and I think my love for Lay also reduced. I couldn't even finish the whole thing and ended after 17 episodes. After that catastrophe I was even more skeptical about this but one day when I had simply nothing else to watch I just gave this a chance and boy don't I regret not watching it before.

Let me tell you straight up other than having the same genre as Mystic Nine(and same Lt.Zhao) there is nothing similar of TM to Mystic Nine at all. This is a masterpiece compared to Mystic Nine and I can't believe that people don't talk about this more. I have seen that those who have watched both Mystic Nine and this always prefer this over it but it's only that minority.

The main reason for this to actually be better is the full fast paced story line with completely lovable characters. Starting from our MC Guo De You, he was simply amazing. He had everything I loved in my MCs. He was fine mix of intelligent and mischievous and was hilarious to boot. This was my first time watching Li Xian and now I'm an official fan of him. Having watched Medical Examiner Dr.Qin and Only Side by Side with you just for him I can't wait to see him in Go Go Squid too(which is I'm impatiently waiting for cuz it's based on one of my favorite books). Next we have Mao Ding. He was the perfect Dr.Watson to our Sherlock. Being a rich son didn't make the least annoying, he had his own agenda but that didn't mean he totally rebelled either. He cared enough for his company when needed. Next up is my favorite in the whole story, Gu Ying. I swear I didn't love female MC as much as I loved since Zheng Shuang in Love o2o. Despite the little knick of hers to totally follow Guo De You, this girl was the best. Not that I'm comlpaining about that either. She was the perfect badass leading lady we needed. She had so much spunk that I felt even if they put Guo De You and Mao Ding together they can't fight as well as her. She was hilarious to boot too. I saw few people complaining about her clothes but man I loved every single one of her outfits. That girl rocked them. I mean not everyone can have a freaking bird nest on top of their heads and make it look bad ass. Our second leading lady Xiao Lan Lan was the perfect rich girl and once again like Mao Ding she didn't act the spoilt rich girl. She had her own strengths and pulled similar weight of the group. Not only these character shone on their own but when you put them together in one screen, the chemistry was off charts. Each character fit with the other perfectly, The bromance, the romance (or lack of it) was perfect. Each adn every character added something to the story to make it amazingly balanced, from the ineffective police head to Master Guo to the Head Shaman to even Chairman Ding.

Talking about the story, like I told before it was fast paced and didn't leave the audience hanging even for a second. For me every single scene was engaging and believe me after having more than a decade of experience of watching all Asian dramas this is a first where I didn't skip even a second of a drama. The mystery kept me guessing even till the last moment and you won't believe what kind of secrets come up in the episodes at all.
The cinematography was also perfect for the tone of the series with a dark, aura being around through out the drama with perfectly balanced colors here and there. The republican China was adapted better here for me than that of Mystic Nine and we don't see the normally seen parties and high end houses but we get to see the more street life giving this a nice touch. The clothes were on point and I loved how different the four were in their own statuses.
And can I tell that I love the ending song. Jam Hsiao did an amazing job with that and it perfectly blended with the whole series.

This is also the first time I have written such a big review to a drama and first time I've given a complete 10 for everything. Another first fir me was rewatching the whole thing as soon as I finished it. I opened up a netflix account just to watch the rest of the drama. Take my word for this and do not miss this drama. Have no doubts when watching this drama. You will not regret it even for a second. Now patiently waiting for second season as I've heard rumors that it's been green lit. Hopefully the full cast returns for at least 4 episodes to give us closure for that open ending.

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