A refreshingly fun xianxia about ordinary people that doesn't take itself too seriously

Don't let the modest budget fool you. This is a surprisingly decent xianxia. A breath of fresh air from the angst-glutted melodramas of most modern xianxias, Back from the Brink wisely keeps the storyline strong but simple- there are no gods or demons, no heavenly politics, no protagonists who are secretly gods/goddesses/princes/princesses/calamities that will bring about the end of the world (side-eyeing The Starry Love, The Legend of Chongzi, TTEOTM and the currently airing Beauty of Resilience and that's just from this year...) This is a story about a dragon boy and a human girl who meet and inevitably fall in love. We have Tianyao (Hou Minghao), our Millennium Spirit Dragon who comes with some serious emotional baggage - he was jilted at the altar and dismembered in the most gruesome way possible by his sociopathic ex keen on using his skin to make an immortality suit for her true loved one. To counter our broody, revenge-seeking dragon, we have the cheerful, glib-tongued Yan Hui (Zhou Ye), a cultivator who's kicked out of her sect for standing up for what's right. Through a twist of fate, Yan Hui inherits the Heart Protection Scale - the final and most critical piece of Tianyao's armor, making her existence simultaneously desired and tenuous as multiple parties - Tianyao included - want the scale for their own agendas.

Drama strengths: Excellent chemistry between the two leads. I was already familiar with Zhou Ye's work in Word of Honor and am pleased to see her take on the challenge of a main role. I was not impressed with Hou Minghao's past work (Psych-Hunter and Lost Tomb 2 were just ok to me) but this project has really improved his acting chops and his microexpressions have gotten much better. It was very satisfying to see both of their characters grow and mature to complement the other. The writing itself is also very solid and the internal logic overall is surprisingly sound. Nothing groundbreaking but themes of choice, transformation, kindness vs power, what does it mean to be good/evil are consistent. Except for a blip where the writers deviated from the novel and made some Choices from ep 16-22, most characters' motivations and actions make sense. This is also one of the few xianxias where supporting characters are actually thoughtfully fleshed out rather than as artlessly discarded plot devices (cough cough TTEOTM). I appreciated the variety in the couples explored, both for the young and also the widowed (or for one unfortunate character, Lu Musheng, who has the dubious honor of both). The OST is actually great. Costuming details and set designs were also decent, considering the budget that they had to work with. I liked the styling and make-up of the characters - it was very clean and natural and not overdone.

Drama weaknesses: Ok, the CGI ranges from laughably bad to okay at best but I would say the production team spent their money wisely. I'd rather sacrifice the visuals than the writing. The ending is also a little abrupt (the last episode is noticeably a solid 3 minutes shorter than the average episode duration) which leaves me wondering if they just ran out of money and leaves quite a few unanswered questions but rest assured that the ending itself is surprisingly a happy one.
Fans who are looking for more physically demonstrative signs of on-screen intimacy will likely found our main couple to be too chaste. I personally did not have a problem with this since I don't believe characters need to vigorously make out with each other to show intimacy but that's just my two cents.

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