A Bitter Taste

The only thing likeable in this drama are the songs. Bai Shu indeed is a talented singer. From his voice alone, I could imagine the scene and the emotion conveyed for the song in this drama and it is well-suited.

HOWEVER...the acting and characterization really leaves bitter taste in my mouth.

The acting and characterization of the main actors are extremely terrible as they diverged too far from how they were written in the book. This AIN'T entirely the problem of the actors though but rather the BIGGEST SHARE OF THIS PROBLEM is the screen writer and the one directing this movie. It feels like they are taking a different perspective in approaching these three main characters which COULDN'T come full circle and COMPLETELY FAILED. Wang Pangzi may be loud but he'll never be crass. Wu Xie may be naive but he'll never be erratic and extremely stupid and extremely emotional. Zhang Qiling may be distant and emo, but he'll never be emo-angry whose angry emotions are so clear on his face. In addition to that Zhao Dong Ze could have dyed his hair black. Perhaps this would've helped his aura a little bit more.

Considering this is the 3rd season of DMBJ (chronological order of events by the book), the iron triangle's relationship here shouldn't be like this - HERE BUT NOT ENTIRELY HERE. You see them physically but their emotion is all over the place -UNCONNECTED.
There isn't any chemistry maybe because there wasn't much time training them how to establish such bond??

If only the script was written from an angle that shows the original Wu Xie's character and reactions from the book (which I have read), and WITH a director that could hit the spot when guiding talents, his acting and the others may have been different and perhaps better. If you look at their other movies especially Bai Shu, you'd see he acted really well! From the drama "Demi-gods and Semi-devils" to "The Blood of Youth" I could say that he DID AN OUTSTANDING CHARACTERIZATION and interpretation there. I SO DAMN LOVE HIS XIAO LINGCHEN IN Blood of Youth and his Duan Yu is Demi-gods and semi-devils! That's why I don't believe it's majorly a mistake on his part when he delivered a Wu Xie like this in this series.

I just hope that the upcoming series would have screenwriter whose HEART is really into DMBJ and a director that is strict and could make what they visualize a reality.

All in all, this series feels like it was created ONLY to fill the gap of the other series. Even filling some of the gaps failed.

Not rewatching it. If you want to watch it, go ahead.

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