Three Lives, Three Worlds, The Pillow Book (2020)

An Eternal Nightmare

After watching Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms when it first streamed, I was very excited to watch Eternal Love of Dream despite the change in story. However, I was very disappointed in it and found it hard to watch. It took me several months to get through it which rarely happens.

Pros:
- Bringing back Vengo Gao and Dilraba Dilmurat was the best part of the show and frankly the only reason I persisted through it till the end. Their chemistry, as before, was flawless and their acting was on point. No complaints there!
- The cinematography was lovely and I found the sets to overall be more realistic than in TMOPB.
- As always the OST was beautiful.
- Costuming, again, was perfect. I appreciated how each tribe had their own general but unique style without all looking the same.

Cons:
-This may seem minor or petty, but I was not fond of some of the recasts, Cheng Yu in particular. The new actress appears significantly younger and some of her scenes with Lian Song just didn't work for me with the obvious age difference, she just seems too young for him. The actress in TMOPB seemed to be a more comparable age and the two actors played off each other much better, in my opinion.
-The plot positively dragged for me. The constant misunderstandings between Feng Jiu and Dong Hua from the very beginning to quite literally the very end got exhausting after a while. The fact that neither seemed to learn from past mistakes was also frustrating and that more than a few of their misunderstandings seemed very forced, that if they had just used some common sense there wouldn't even be an issue, just compounded the issue. A'Lanruo's Dream was a particular challenge to get through. There were aspects that were not explained well and it got confusing at times with what was going on and who was who and what their relationships were. Most of it got ironed out in the end, but in the moment it was confusing and frustrating. I also never got a very clear picture of why A'Lanruo was hated so much by everyone or why she was abandoned as a child. There were hints, but nothing definitive so the blanks within her life were another source of frustration.
- I very much liked Feng Jiu in TMOPB, but I realized very soon after starting this drama that part of that was because she was seen in small doses overall. With her as the lead in this drama, I definitely found her to be a little more over the top and annoying at times. When she's a fox towards the beginning was particularly cringy and a challenge to watch. I would have really liked to see her character develop and mature and mellow from the childishness to a more measured level.
- The side characters were a mixed bunch. Ji Heng in particular annoyed the crap out of me. She was a basically pointless character whose only purpose was to sow discord between Feng Jiu and Dong Hua. Xiao Yan deserved so much better than her whininess. Xiao Yan on the other hand was a lot of fun and I enjoyed seeing Lian Song and Si Ming back. Chong Li was a welcome addition as was Qing Ti. As a side note, I found the dismissal of the deaths of Meng Shao and his family more than a little irritating. I came to really like Meng Shao and appreciate his character development so the fact that his death was barely mentioned and even then just in passing as part of the royal family was off-putting. He wasn't a main character, but he had enough of a part to deserve a little more recognition.
-The villains were okay but not particularly impressive. Miao Luo's obnoxious evil laugh got old real fast and I never found her to be particularly threatening or interesting. It could be that I'm just forgetting, but I didn't get a real sense for why she was evil or what her motivation was other than because of how she was created. At least with Nie Chuyin his motivation was clearly power and the desire to rule. I honestly would have found it more interesting to have him as the main villain as he was far more compelling and interesting to watch.
- As with pretty much every drama I've watched, the CGI definitely leaves more than a little to be desired. The episodes with Feng Jiu in her fox form were a bit painful to watch, in more ways than one. The bad effects and her behavior combined made those some tough episodes to get through.
-A relatively minor issue, but I always get frustrated with these fantasy dramas and how unclear they make the passage of time. You watch a few episodes and think a few days or months have gone by only to find out that nope, its been a few hundred years. I feel like they could make that a little more clear.

In the end, did I hate it? No. Did I love it? Also no. It wasn't a bad drama, but it wasn't a particularly good one either. It pales hugely in comparison to TMOPB in pretty much all aspects. It's certainly not one that I'll ever have the desire to rewatch but I also don't necessarily regret watching it either. It simply wasn't quite my cup of tea.

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Worth the Watch… But Not Without Skipping

The acting was solid, and the leads were convincing in their affection...but I couldn’t fully buy into their chemistry. The plot felt stretched out, especially with 56 episodes, and I skimmed through a lot of filler. The whole immortal-god-falling-for-someone-way-younger trope felt off to me, even if it’s fantasy. I wanted a stronger reason for their bond, beyond power or old debts. I also wasn’t thrilled that the female lead had to struggle so much. That said, curiosity kept me going, and while I didn’t love the drawn-out misunderstandings, it had enough romance to keep me hooked...just not as much as “Eternal Love.”

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