Lets start off with the obvious bad because there's only a few:
1) CGI was horrible. The foxes were so unrealistic. But my saying is that bad CGI can be easily overlooked if the storyline is great.
2) Was not a *big* fan of the side romance between Dong Hua and Bai Feng.(watch eternal love of dream for Dong Hua and Bai Fenf story)
The great:
1) Yang Mi is a great actress and the way she played the FL was flawless. This is a story about the FL being sent away to train with the God of War because her parents find her naughty and hard to control. And she is. But add a dash of imprisonment, heavenly war, loss of memory, and you have a mixture for a very unique xter. She becomes a woman aware of her Goddess status which makes her distant from others. But she's also quirky in an "Im such an old Goddess way" and acts aloof as a way to create distance from others.
2) then theres Mark Chao -- bestill my beating heart-- who plays the Crown Prince. He's the wunderkind of Heavenly Realm never doing anything wrong until he falls in love in the mortal world. His heartbreak and determination to reunite with his wife is just so moving.
3) Sweet little Ali -- cutest kid in the heavenly Realm and all around great wing man for his dad.
4) The love story. This is a love story where the ML falls hard and fast for the FL and does everything in his power to win her over *every* time despite facing heartbreak and rejection.
I have watched this at least a dozen times and can say its a go-to show for great acting and storyline.
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EL: TLTWTMPB is a marvelous XIANXIA Drama Series
The epical barometer of a XIANXIA adventure series, developed from a WUXIA Sina-Asian Series of action martial arts action adventure and the mystical lives of immortals, gods, spirits and demons containing a cultivation story in a cross-pollination from the influence of Taoism and Buddhism. Making the Series EL:TLTWTMPB a pioneer adaptation on screen of an Eastern Fantasy Novels with that rare element of having a orientalist brand of honor on warring states in the story. The series is a must watch even in the coming decades. Exquisite and flawless portrayals by the lead stars Yang Mi and Mark Chao joined by the finest equally stellar ensemble cast, on high range cinematic style in cinematography and a catalytic logical coherence in the plot lines and storylines in each and every progressing episode. EL: TLTWTMPB is a modern classic on this dramatic genre.Was this review helpful to you?
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Timeless Love Story...
ETERNAL LOVE (San Sheng San Shi Shi Li Tao Hua / Three Lives, Three Worlds, Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms) was an unexpectedly wonderful show, super entertaining plot and lovable characters. I was skeptical going into this one, fearing it to be another "too cheesy to believe" romance. However, it completely pulled me in. Everything was really well done. <3The character of Bai Quan played by the wonderful Yang Mi was perhaps one of the best female leads I have seen in a C-Drama yet. She is very loveable, feisty, witty and completely unique. I loved her character so much. Mark Chao was great in this series as well, but especially as the stoic, yet warm-hearted Ye Hua. I loved Bai Qian and Ye Hua and adored watching their love grow and their lives intertwine. They had such palpable chemistry. So adorable.
The whole cast was great, honestly. Bai Fengjiu and Dong Hua were also very enjoyable. Li Jing, although broody and tormented, was also a very interesting character. I honestly wish there were more episodes, even a second season. The costumes were dazzling, the setting breathtaking and the mythology was captivating. I fell in love with the world of Eternal Love, along with the majority of the cast.
And the music! Fantastic. My only complaint, and it’s a pretty small one, was at some points the drama became almost melodrama, as if the emotions overshadowed the plot, slightly detracting from the suspense of impending doom. (Usually the melodrama had to do with Su Jin or Li Jing.)
This show made me teary, and I don’t cry easily. But the ending was very satisfying, complete with HEA. Anyway, this was a very enjoyable, creative and dazzling show. If you’re into fantasy romance, and xianxia, give it a chance. Unforgettable.
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One of the Must Watch Chinese Dramas
I have watched this drama for the fifth time now, If you love Chinese costume dramas then this is a must watch drama. Why? Because the story is so good supported by a good casting and acting. A love that spans many lifetimes and thousands of year. This is an epic love story of gods and goddess, placed in a mystical world where there are mythical creatures and the world is divided into many different worlds, being the celestial heaven, a place called Qing Chiu which is kingdom ruled by the Nine-tailed fox family, the mortal world where the mortals live, the underworld ruled by another royal family. There are also four rivers ruled by different rulers and a place called ten miles peach blossom where there lives an ancient phoenix who plays a crucial part in the story.Since I was so addicted to the story and their romance. I kept watching some memorable scenes. LOL. Luckily youtube have all these memorable clips that I can watch over and over again. There was a movie for this TV dramas with different pairs. I watched it. It was good. But since the movie was so short, I think it will be a bit hard to understand the story. While the drama has longer episodes to explain the whole plots. But both of them are beautiful. Luckily I watched the movie after competing watching the TV dramas. So, there was no problem to understand the story in the movie.
The OST is also addictive. Not to mentioned the beautiful scenes in the story. The popularity of the series has led to the soundtrack, "Bracing the Chill" to become one of the most covered songs in 2017. I also love the fact that the Dragon TV is the original TV broadcasted this TV dramas.
I watched the classics like Sin Tiaw Eng Hiong, Sin Tiaw Hiap Lu and To Liong To. For me this one is one of the classics that can be put together with these three classics.
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Mesmerised
It had been some months since I watched this drama. At that point, it was the first Chinese drama that I watched after years. I was so mesmerised by it that I rewatched it twice and recaptured some of the scenes a number of times. I had not given Chinese drama production much credit in the past - I thought of them as sterile, politically influenced and boring. But this got me hooked onto Chinese dramas ever since.I have given it perfect scores for everything. The chemistry between the actor and actress was amazing. Costumes and scene setting was beautiful. Actors and actresses are good looking and acted their part well. The story moved from one life to another; each was intriguing. It held me in suspense wondering what the villain might do next to make life miserable for the hero and heroine of the story. It was an interesting development showing how the heroine of the story developed from a 'teenage girl' hurt by her first love to a 'mature woman' who moved on with her life. There are comic relief at various points.
Besides the actors and actresses, I gave the director, script writer and editor a lot of credit for putting together the plot so nicely.
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Classic in the making
A tale that spanned three worlds and three lifetimes, this drama not only paved the way for a new generation of Xianxia genre fans, it had also cemented itself as a future classic.The plot is quite linear as opposed to the novel and I believe the production team did the right thing. The first few arcs may be a bore to most viewers because of this decision, but it's still way better than be immediately thrown right into the drama's world alongside its amnesiac female lead. Imagine how far more frustrating that could have been. What will give us a motivation to root for Bai Qian then? Why do we care?
Hence, this drama succeeded in becoming a tale where we become emotionally invested in the characters way before the big changes that became the real starting point of the story. So if you've just started and found the first few episodes as slow, that is expected, you are looking right into the prequels so to speak. But once the ball starts rolling, it will be worth it.
In general, just like any other fairy tale, we saw some dubious character development later on, a few highly satisfying face-slapping scenes and an eventual happy ending for the main couple after a long melodramatic love story. True, things could've been solved earlier if everyone in the drama will just stop to listen and/or explain for a few minutes, but then, we'll never have the Ten Miles we know now.
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Ye Hua is THE only man
I’m fully invested in the 3L3W universe, I loved TMOPB so much I went on to watch ELOD and I love both shows equally! (If not, TMOPB a little more if I’m gonna be honest) after binging on both TMOPB end ELOD I couldn’t help but write my first 2 reviews ever! So much love for both shows- the first arc starts off a little slow imo, with not much going on here as we establish and settle into the story and universe. Mostly about bai qian’s relationship with her shifu, Mo Yuan the god of war
- the subsequent mortal world arc (bai qian stripped of her immortality, gone for a mortal trial) was my least favourite arc, it ends tragically due to misunderstandings. I’m still upset that YH did the things he did even if it was for her own good - no!! U don’t get to make unwanted decisions for her, it doesn’t work that way. I don’t even wanna talk about Su jin who eventually forced her to the edge - not a fun sight
- aaah yes finally we’re back in the heavens (bai qian chose to forget her memories as a mortal, which also meant forgetting Ye Hua) this is my favourite and possibly everyone’s(?) favourite arc cos we finally get to see bai qian in full force - her badass self and she paid back X1000 everyone that did her dirty (namely Su Jin and Xuan Nu) when she was a mortal. Finally, Ye Hua and Bai Qian can ~properly~ fall in love! Ye Hua only has eyes for her and the way he gently but intensely says “qian qian” SWOON! Both leads did so well, especially mark as YH! His little micro facial expressions is everything I need. Might be a tad bit dramatic but he IS super charismatic. (My fav scene is the one where BQ finally confesses her love and he hungrily asked her to birth another child with him omg)
Least favourite part of the show was how unlike the lead couple, our side couple were not meant to be in this installation. Thankfully there’s ELOD so that’s another story! Another part I didn’t like was how they made the final episode or rather, the happy ending, so short. I wish I had been able to see more of them settling into their lives after everything was over.
Now, I can’t even say the demon clan side story was my least favourite cos tbh I didn’t even care for it I just skipped it most of the time - it was imo unimpressionable and a waste of time
Anyhoo it was a wild ride and I finished all 58 eps in a week, no regrets it was worth every minute (that I didn’t skip) One of the top few dramas on my list, I went into this show apprehensive as I’ve not watched a drama this long in ages (last one being yan xi) but now that it’s over... it’s time to move on to ELOD!
My man my man Ye Hua
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An encaptivating story
This is a wonderful piece of work. In fact, it is one of the first dramas I have ever watched and it hooked me in right from the beginning . The story itself is beautiful and the acting was top notch. The music also really set the scene well. The parts with Feng Jiu and Emperor Dong Hua were very sweet, but heart breaking. Although the story goes at a nice pace, it was a bit too long I don't have the patience to watch it again, as you can from my relatively low rating for the rewatch value. However I have watched it twice and the CGI is really good. Fortunately the story has a happy ending (spoiler alert). All in all I recommend it. Even if it was long it was worth the time.Was this review helpful to you?
Yang Mi... You are my Goddess ??
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Plot vs. Plot Triggers
To start with, the world-building was a little confusing, but it definitely definitely grew on me. I grew to enjoy the different rules, aesthetics, and customs in different Clans — it's sad that we rarely see all of the groups get together because so much of the story is focused on individual characters, but as a backdrop they were still great to see.The characters were plentiful but not confusing (at least not once you got used to them) and I particularly liked the female lead Baiqian, who was a strong female lead both in name and in personality. The relationship with Yehua was also great — a male lead who was so faithful and never wavered is always so satisfying to watch, even though there were some scenes where he was forceful and it made me uncomfortable.
Other than that, there is one thing that really bothered me and that's how the plot points were triggered — always by the cliche backstabbing, jealous, second female lead trying to sabotage the main leads' relationship. I've always been very annoyed by how the misogyny present in the writing of second female leads, and it was so obvious in this drama. It felt like there was an entire magic world and a faction war out there and yet everything was triggered by the pettiness of female characters. There had to be over three of them, and I honestly can't think of many female side characters that were genuinely good and important. I'd rather have the Ghost King or another antagonist be the main plot-driver.
Still, I think this drama played on tropes pretty well — while amnesia and time jumps usually bother me a lot and still sometimes felt convenient or rushed, I understand how both of them were an essential part of the plot and were explained generally well.
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A beautiful and touching, romantic story about love even beyond death...
I will not write in detail, I will write briefly... you must watch it for yourself....a beautiful story, I watch it for the second time and each time I get moved at the same moments when the leads have to go through another trial of separation... but I am very happy with the happy ending for them... I love their little son, "the little rice ball".. ...But I don't understand the plot of Dong Hua and Bai Feng Jui... in this part they knew each other and were undergoing a test of love on earth... but in the next part dedicated to Dong Hua and Bai Feng Jui - Eternal LOve of Dream, they seemed to not know each other and showed up. Bai Feng Jui's plot from her leaving home to the heavenly wages in disguise, because she saw Dong Hua earlier who saved her and she fell in love with him... and they also went through further trials in the world of mortals, and it seemed that Dong Hua did not know her previously as Princess Quin Qian, then what happened in the meantime? I can't really connect these threads together...
To sum up, this part is great, great actors, great set design, costumes, music, everything at a high level!!! this is my favorite drama as well as the rest of this series! Well done to the whole team!!!
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1. Complex well rounded characters with believable motivations for what they did. A bit of noble idiocy here and there but it's all very convincing and doesn't seem like merely something added to artificially create more drama. A number of characters surprised me at some point in the drama which was excellent.
2. A plot that takes you on a whole journey. The beginning is indeed quite slow but it grows and feeds the story very beautifully.
3. I haven't seen an actor as amazing as Mark Chao in a long long while in Asian dramas or western movies or ANYTHING. His facial expressions, body language, brief glances communicated complex feelings with such amazing clarity. He not only brought Mo Yuan and Ye Hua to life but also the entire drama. He was simply phenomenal.
4. An enjoyable plot with interesting and enjoyable side stories as well that are woven well into the main plot.
5. Rewatch value is 100. ONE HUNDRED, I tell you. I have been rewatching this drama since I first watched it last year. The more I watch it, the more I appreciate it and the details in the plot. The more I watch it, the more deeply I feel about all the characters.
6. Good balance of action with romance and drama.
7. I'm weird and I like suffering so I love the fact that there was some good heartbreak as part of the couple's journey.
What I didn't like:
1. CG was not that great but I got used to it after a while and it didn't affect my enjoyment of the drama as a whole much.
2. The beginning is confusing and a bit slow. (However, in hindsight after seeing the end, I enjoyed the beginning watching it the second time.)
3. First time watching a Chinese period/fantasy drama. Some things were just straight up weird for me. Can't describe it in any other way.
4. End slightly unsatisfying.
5. Slow paced at some points, some side drama was kind of unnecessary and didn't add much to the plot.
But overall, it's a yes a thousand times yes for me regarding this drama. One of the best I have ever watched.
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