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All the building up to idontknowwhat
The abilities and resourcefulness of the main villain (or is he--we are kept guessing throughout) are very much fantastical despite being framed as some sort of scientifically explainable phenomena. If one gets past this, one could appreciate the story a little better. Then again, case after case of serial killings seem to be a build-up for something bigger as the cases are always half-solved, and it seems that the main "villain" is planning something big--perhaps something that would even call into question his supposed villainy. Then the series ends. It seems that there is supposed to be a Season 2, but I cannot help feeling that there should be more to Season 1.The censoring of the BL content isn't helping much. In a way, the BL has been sublimated into bromance, but that is rather thin too. The two main characters clearly care a lot for each other--Bai Yutong's concern for Zhan Yao, in particular, is obvious. But their quibbling seems a little random. The story starts with them being rather hostile to each other, but suddenly they also seem to have good rapport. Then, randomly, they start being hostile to one another. With better exposition at the start regarding the sort of relationship they have, the vacillation between rapport and hostility would have made more sense. The side "couple", Bai Chi and the magician, actually work better, with more overt hints of romance though it cannot be too obvious thanks to censorship.
It seems that there will be a Season 2, and I'm piqued enough to watch it if it ever comes out. But I don't know if I will lose my patience if it turns out to be more building up without amounting to anything.
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This review may contain spoilers
Amuse-bouche...
The series feels like an appetizer. After watching 24 episodes, I feel like I need to immediately read the book so that I can get the full story.My favourite character was Zhao Jue by a long shot and I really want to know his story and especially his relationship with Zhan Yao-I suspect they are father and son. I desperately want to know what happened in the past since the old guys are trying very hard to keep everything buried. Another character that I really liked was Zhao Zhen irrespective of the fact that he always seemed to appear in all the right places for no reason whatsoever. The casting of Zhao Jue, Zhao Zhen, Zhan Yao, and Bai Yutong was really on point.
My least favourite thing about the show was the relationship between Gongsun Ce and Bai Qingtian. It was all over the place and impossible to understand. I honestly couldn't like them. Another thing that I disliked was the villains in the first few episodes. There were too stereotypical and lacking in imagination.
I Iiked the bromance between the main leads but I would have liked a little more of it. I would have wanted to see some lingering looks filled with implications and other subtle things to indicate that this is an adaptation of a bl novel. The untamed, love is more than a word, and advance bravely have really mastered the art of subtly showing BL without being explicit about it. It's too bad that SCI couldn't achieve that.
Overall, the show feels like a prologue but I still liked it.
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The actors did a great job, especially the two main ones, in pertaining their characters.
HOWEVER, much of the story was sub-par, and just didn't flow.
In my opinion, the first 8 episodes were amazing, but then is started to fall short.
The villainous characters started to seem rushed and there was little to hold on to before something new (not necessarily needed or surprising) was thrown at you.
No only that, but the two main characters themselves started to have less and less one on one debate/conversations about their differentiating opinions on how to proceed or what was going on.
Instead of it being two character that both clash and work well together because of it, it became a pair were one always talks and the other listens (except short anecdotes) and follows like a dog.
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Feels more than bromance
I have not read the book, but I’m guessing this was originally written as a gay or BL story. There is so much homoeroticism and I felt like they were more than friends. I know they probably had to censor that out of the story which is too bad. I like it but it feels pretty obvious they probably had more than just a bromance. The acting is good and the budget looks good. My only real complaintS are the music, which didn’t work with the show, and the fact that it feels censored. I’m just going to keep typing because it says I need 500 characters in the review, which is stupid.Was this review helpful to you?
