Novoland: Pearl Eclipse (2021)

Great drama to watch overall.

I quite enjoyed the show. I don't think I have ever made an effort to watch a drama every day since it premiered.

First off, let me just say the synopsis that you are probably reading is wrong. Apparently, the synopsis is based on the book that is the source material for the drama. I've not read the book and I have no plans to since from all the feedback posted about it, it's quite dark. I watch dramas to get entertained, period. And to be entertained there must be a narrative that's interesting to watch. Sad, gloomy, and depressing stories are not for me. There is no love triangle. But there are sweet pairings that you want to cheer for. There is action, some political intrigue, a bit of supernational, and a lot of interesting relationships - between brothers, friends, and lovers. It is not a romance drama but what a ride it has been from beginning to end. What I liked was that each character in the story had growth throughout the drama. That being said, I found the last episode to be disappointing. It felt disconnected from the rest of the narrative. There was no proper build-up leading to the end so for me, it felt flat. I would the story a 10 if not for this rushed ending that felt out of sync with the rest of the drama.

I've liked Yang Mi in TMPB and LOF but I think character-wise, Hashi is my favorite. Her character development was great to watch. From being a young girl to a tomboy with fantastic martial arts and archery skills to a woman with substance and depth, it was great to watch. The action scenes especially in Episode 13-14 were fantastic. It gave me a feeling of watching a female Legolas in Lord of the Rings.

It's the first time I've watched William Chen in a drama and overall I have no complaints. I think the main issue with the comments of no chemistry is not because of William Chem and Yang Mi but the execution of the romantic scenes was just not handled correctly. A lot of slow-motion sequences that just went nowhere and the one kiss that we were all looking forward to was blurred after 2 seconds. To be honest, I don't get it but it is what it is.

For the rest of the cast, I thought they were good and I thoroughly enjoyed their performance. Like everyone else, I loved the Mu De Qing, Zhao Zi, and Zhou You Du.

The music is great overall although I still think Ancient Love Poetry still had the best OST for the year. The cinematography was beautiful. The sets were fantastic I especially liked Zhaoming Palace. The customs were beautiful. Emperor Xu, Zizan, and Tilan's gowns were fantastic. Hashi in the light pink gown was just gorgeous but then she was also beautiful wearing that black light armor with the white embroidery in episode 14. And may I just say, William Chen in armor on horseback was just fabulous to watch. I'm just so impressed with the overall production quality of the drama as a whole. It will be tough to find another drama so well done anytime soon.

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Amazing production with solid plot and interesting characters.

It has been a long time that a drama kept me interested until last episode !
Novoland: Pearl Eclipse's story is nicely built up and you want to see more and more until the last 48th episode.

I loved everything about this drama; the witty dialogues, the bromance between Xu and Jiangmin, the Eunuch who is so kind and pure to the emperor, the love between Jifeng brothers ... every part of the story is beautifully assembled to keep us craving for more at every episode.

Novoland: Pearl Eclipse disrupted the usual C drama dialogues and surprised you with twists and jokes.
The script is brilliantly written. But has nothing to envy to the scenery that is breathtaking or the fight scenes that are so well filmed and choreographed.

I will recommend you to watch this drama, even if you havent seen the previous released Novoland dramas or the read the books. It will not ruin your experience and will love this drama as much.

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UNPOPULAR OPINION: I LOVE THE THIRD COUPLE WAY MORE THAN THE 1st and 2nd LEAD COUPLES

I started off watching this series for the leading couple but in the end, I ended up watching this series for the third leading couple and their storyline. I seriously love the chemistry between Zhuoying and Zheliu! Just the small jesters and antics he would do for her and vice versa was so beautiful and in my opinion spot on. The scene that convinced me and sucked me into their love story was the scene where he gave her a bracelet as a gift. He didn't just straight up say "yo girl I like you, here's a bracelet" but I love how he approached her and slid the bracelet down to her fingers as she is learning how to blind sew. Even though there was no dialogue, how the acting unfolded and portrayed his love and interest in her spoke way louder and so much better than any dialogue can! In all honesty, I loved their love story way more and wish that both actors would have had more screen time and that there would have been more added to their plotline. I seriously wished they would have shown us how he found her...

In all honesty, I could not make out the chemistry between the 1st leading couples which disappointed me greatly. I love Yang Mi but seeing how her chemistry was better with other leads in other series compared to this one was a letdown for me. I didn't like it that they made her come off like everything was in her head and it was all a one-sided love. I understand William Chan had to play the classic stone-cold shifu however, he could have been able to express his love for Yang Mi's character through his eyes. There were moments where there was something but it would quickly leave just as it came. The most romance you will see between the two is the last episode.

I loved the second lead couple too but was not really huge in the abuse Tilan was receiving from the Emperor in the first couple of episodes. I would say that him almost losing her the first time made me appreciate his jesters to her later. Despite us knowing that the two of them would end up dying in the end, I would say they did have an interesting relationship.

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love it

I really like

The chemistry of the players is good, the depiction of the past is also okay. the story is quite interesting. I repeat watching it.

Even though it's colossal, there are still scenes that make us laugh.

one of the colossal drama spectacles that should not be missed.

There is no struggle for love, their love story is mature, there is no evil party that makes you want to slam things when watching it...

The depiction of a student's love for his teacher is good, willing to pursue, because he knows they like each other and protect each other.

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Yang Mi played Haishi very well

This is a very amazing show. Yang Mi is sooo beautiful！🥰 The production team is very attentive and the pictures are very shocking. The story makes me feel both funny and sad. I like Haishi's character very much. She is brave, firm, smart, and pursues bravely when she fall in love.. She is really a perfect girl. I wish her happiness.
However, I don't like that the male protagonist never treats HaiShi as an independent person. He is always does not give HaiShi the opportunity to choose by herself, He should learn to respect women！I believe she can do a good job, and if he is willing to believe in her ability, the outcome may be different.
ps: Yang Mi really gave Haishi a soul, she is really a born actor, she is amazing！I hope she can get better and better！💕

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Get ready for a bucket full of tears

Guess most of you probably already know even before starting to watch the drama, this is going to be somewhat tragic. To some extent, it's not a sad ending but the journey towards it is definitely a very difficult one.

This drama touches on a lot of things - friendship, love, sacrifice, love for the country and comradeship.

Parts I really love about the drama:
1) The friendship between the emperor and Fang Jian Ming. They both grew up together and were technically stuck together because of the Baixi. The depth of trust between the two are even stronger than blood siblings. It's always nice to see a good bond between friends who understand and trust each other.

2) The emperor character. You can either hate the emperor or love the emperor. In this case, I love the character. He is not the most perfect person but he is very real. He has every reason to be unhappy with his life - lost the love of his life, stripped off his freedom, stuck in a role he did not sign up for and can't even feel basic physical pain. Regardless, he stayed alive simply because he was put to the task and felt the responsibility to run the country well. Putting yourself into his shoes, you would kind of understand why he acted the way he did.

3) The fight scenes. The production and execution of the whole drama in general is quite top-notch. However, the fight scenes are really the ones that impressed me. Hai Shi, Jian Ming and even the emperor have really distinct styles in their martial arts. That part was portrayed very well in the drama.

Parts I dislike about the drama:
1) Hai Shi and Jian Ming's relationship. I know, I know. Why watch the drama if I don't even like their relationship in the first place? For one, their age don't add up. Forgive me, but it's kind of difficult to digest the fact that the age gap between the both of them is acceptable seeing how Jian Ming practically raised Hai Shi (like a father / sifu).

2) The progression of the relationship between Hai Shi and Jian Ming. There are so many things that are unnecessary. Jian Ming hiding almost EVERY SINGLE THING from Hai Shi cause he's "worried" about her safety; how he pushed her away almost all the way to the end of the drama. It seems like they keep going back to square one and it's quite tiring to watch.

-- MAJOR SPOILER --

3) The evil mastermind behind the whole coup towards the end of the drama is actually quite "meh". To be honest, they have been building up the tension about the evil mastermind for so long, I kind of expect the character to be more "evil" or at least have deeper attachment throughout the drama.

In general, I am quite impressed with the plot. This is not your usual romance drama which is very refreshing to watch. Will I watch again? No, cause it's simply a bit too intense for round 2. Will I recommend the drama? For sure.

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Selfless People Don't Deserve Selfish Happiness

Is it me or all Novoland series end too realitically or sadly. Heartbreaking.

Pearl Eclipse tells us the story of FHS who had to be disguised as man most her life under the instructions of her master FJM. The story also includes an emperor CZX whose a bit cray cray, a princess, TL who looks like his deceased wife and my favorite of all FZY and ZL.

It took me a while to finish this series for these reasons:
-I just ain't feeling the spark between FHZ and FJM. The unrequited love got dragged too long if you ask me.
-Youdu got me a second lead syndrome. His graceful entry and exit was just too awesome a tad heart wrenching for me.
-When the emperor is emotionally and mentally abusing TL because she looks like her sister and keeps being reminded of his lost love. I can't bear watching the torment.
-So little was shown of FZY when he got back to Huku. But it kinda made sense. Lol.


What I like:
-The pure innocent love between FZY and ZL. Seriously they deserve to bw together.
-Badass FHS, she kicked a** as a soldier and as a consort. She's smart and understanda the importance of looking at the big picture at the expense of sacrifices but it does not  mean that she can't throw a fit and get mad at her master, FJM.
-The love and hate relationship of FJM and CZX, after the hell they've been through one would kinda understand the emperor. They are tied together in a sense.
-The kindred friendship of TL and FHS. Opposites attract indeed, the contrast of TL and FHS was clear and it made their bond more stronger.

FJM taught FHS well. They both know they deserve to be together but circumstances tore them apart. It's for the good of the empire, so who cares about their happiness. Which is the opposite of TL and CZX, they decided to die together at the expense of leaving an orphan heir to the throne and a huge burden and responsibility for FHS to bear. I mean FJM is supposed to be dead, so he may be in hiding after the battle and he's the grand mentor. He can't die. As I said for the sake of many they forgo their own happiness. Ergo, I love you, You love me. It's not meant to be.

The acting is great. YM as FHS is her element and expertise. WC, it took me awhile  to warm up to his FJM. But these pairing lack chemistry IMO. Youdu and FHS could have been better. Haha. I've see XKC in other works and I should say his acting here is par with the other to main leads.  The rest of the cast did great too.

The osts are remarkably matched with the flow of the series.

This is a one time watch. I would never watch this again.

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Superb

This drama is one of the best that I have seen since TMOPB and GMP there is depth to the story, there is realistic portrayal of human emotions albeit good and bad, OK the toxic relationship between the Emperor and Ta Lin would not be one that many would enjoy however this type of relationship is very probable given the backstory, and how the death of a loved one can screw you up mentally. Yang Mi is just great as the FL, it is highly unlikely that another actress could have portrayed the role as beautifully as she does. The actors have been cast on point, each person selected for their ability to bring to life this very emotionally complex story. Also the SML and SFL story is wonderful to watch not the usual annoying SL's where most of the scenes are fillers. In this drama they shine.

Whether we have a HE or SE matters not to me its the experience of the drama that matters and this is one hell of a ride to date. Kudos to all concerned in the production of this very bittersweet story.

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Heart rending

This drama was much awaited among Chinese dramas followers and did not disappoint. And I think it is under rated on mydramalist.com.

I rate this drama as 60% romance and 40% action. The pace was quite moderate but there were enough events to keep you interested. The battle scenes were intense and impressive, and the interactions of the lovers were heart rending. The cast is outstanding - everyone played their part so well.

Haishi grew up in a village which fished for luminous pearls formed by the tears of the merfolks. As a child, her father died fishing for these pearls and she blamed the emperor for his heavy taxation which resulted in the death of her father. When her village was raided by soldiers, she hurt an officer, ran away and was saved by Fang Jian Ming, a close friend of the emperor. He took her in as his disciple. She chose to dress up as a boy and eventually enrolled in the emperor's military. She fell in love with Fang and so did he in return.

Throughout the drama, it is heart rending. Fang would consistently pushed away Haishi's advances although he loved and cared for her with all his heart. The clueless Haishi could not understand what was going on. She suspected that her Shifu (tutor) was in love with her too and blamed him for putting politics above their love. On numerous occasions Fang sent her away and she was sure she was being abandoned. When Fang met a rival in love and he was obviously jealous in spite of efforts to hold it back - that was double heart rending. As the drama went on, the reason behind Fang's rejection of Haishi were slowly unraveled.

There were a lot of events which would keep you in suspense: coups, rebellion, people who were not what they appeared to be, wars with tribes at the border, internal feuding for the throne, Haishi's attempted assassination of the emperor, sabotage in the court targeted at Fang instigated by hidden political rivals, conspiracies and counter conspiracies, Haishi's participation in the competition for a position in the military amidst a conspiracy to hurt her, her appointment as consort to the emperor, which she resented, and so on. There were a lot of common themes similar to other period dramas involving imperial families but these were played out differently.

There were 3 couples and a total of 9 persons in love. Only 1 couple eventually led a happy life together. The other 1 couple could continue to see each other but had to keep a distance. 2 persons died, not getting the love they were seeking. And 1 couple died in each other's arms. I shall not reveal which, but this tells you that this drama has a rather dark setting.

I wish the director would stop the drama at the 46th episode. It could have ended as: they lived happily ever after, for all. But it went on for another 2 episodes which twisted it into a tragedy. There is something sadistic with either the writer or the drama production community.

All the three lead couples did very well. I enjoyed watching William Chan and Yang Mi as leads - there were great chemistry between them - their acting were very natural. William is one of those actors who looks good even when he puts on a cold stern face. He could switch from a look ladened with a mix of sadness and heavy responsibility to one of relief and quiet happiness - and you can see an obvious difference.

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Best costume drama this year!

Amazing drama from beginning to end!
The production value of this is top notch. From the sets, to the costumes to the fight scenes and music, everything is excellent!

The story kept my attention the entire time and the overall pacing was done quite well. My only issue was the ending seemed a little bit rushed and I wish we got to see more of the happy life of the main leads before the end. The love story between the main leads was full of angst and longing and the two had really good chemistry (not the super hot kind, but fitting for the master/disciple turned lovers type). They also looked really good together and seemed age appropriate as Yang Mi looked younger than William Chan, but not too much. Yang Mi's portrayal of all the different stages of Hai Shi's life were excellent. She is still believable and likeable acting as as teenager, which is something not alot of actresses can pull off. Her transition to scorned lover and finally regal Empress Dowager are all done so well. William Chan was also good as FJM. He seems one dimensional at first but you slowly get to see more range as the story progresses. His final emotional scene was so heartbreaking! The second leads and supporting characters all acted well. I didn't like Xu Kai Cheng from "a female student arrives at the Imperial college" but he is actually quite good as Emporer here! Chen Xiao Yun was also really good as Tilan. Her portrayal as an abused, scared Consort was amazing. She has a very pretty and expressive face!

I really enjoyed Haishi and Zhuoying's sibling relationship. You can see how Zhuoying looks out for and cares for Haishi. Also the friendship between Haishi and Tilan was really sweet although I wish we saw more of it. The bromance between Di Xu and FJM was really touching. These two actors have really good chemistry together.

My only complaints about this drama are that the ending seems a little bit rushed and that I wish they used a voice actor to dub for Yang Mi as I found her voice very high pitched and distracting sometimes. Also, I wish we saw more of Zhuoying's life after he went back to the Huku tribe. He was such a good character and kind of just disappeared. Lastly, I'm not sure why they use such a strong filter when Yang Mi appears onscreen. In the BTS, she looks amazing so I'm not sure why they feel the need to blur her skin much more than the other characters. It actually was a little distracting in some scenes. I saw in an interview she had eczema from wearing the armor in hot weather, so maybe that's the reason?

Otherwise, this is an excellent drama! In my opinion, better than The Long Ballad, which I also enjoyed very much!

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Where do I begin?

This was one of the Chinese historical dramas that I waited for to air. So, I had high expectations.

THE ACTING
The script is well written. However, due to the directors direction, the female lead actress did not act as good as she could have. The actress did an excellent job in the Legend of Fu Yo and other historical and period dramas, but in this drama, she was lacking, tremendously. Firstly, her character acted immaturely for the first 20 episodes, even in the scenes when she was supposed to be brave.

ROMANCE
Secondly, I did not feel the romance between the female and male lead characters, meaning it wasn't captivating for a big budget drama like this. The romance between the female lead and male lead was stale...maybe dry is a better word for it. Sidenote: The actors and actress who played the king, the male lead (up until episode 20), and the consort acted their butt off (meaning they did an excellent job). Although the king was very cruel, his behavior for an ancient king character is one of the most realistic I've seen in Chinese historical dramas (check the article out on my page for details). I also did not like the romance between the adopted brother of the female lead, and the character from the fabric department. I was bored the whole time watching their love story unfold, and I skipped a lot of their scenes. Again, I think the director didn't do all of the characters justice. This drama should have had more a serious undertone, especially for these types of characters who were strong and skilled warriors. Instead of having the female lead actress and her adopted brother be shy and cutesy about romance, this was an opportunity to have these character develop from being aloof about romance due to childhood trauma, to becoming open to it, gradually (which is what the director did for the male lead).

WHAT I LIKED
I liked the fact that both the king and the male lead are healthy (not anorexic and or bone thin). There are a lot of male actors who act in Chinese historical dramas who are so thin and frail. So much so, you can see their rib cage when they take off their shirts in historical dramas. This trend in China should absolutely come to an end. Just because someone is skinny doesn't mean that they are healthy.

On the brighter side, the political storyline in this drama was great. It is the reason that I didn't give this drama a rating of less than 7.5. Additionally, the reason why I am not going to drop this drama at episode 20 is because I'm invested in the political plot. The actor who played the king by far, was the best actor in this drama. Seriously, pay attention to his mannerisms, his voice fluctuations, his facial expressions, and his body movements. It is not as easy as it appears to act, especially as a king during ancient times. I'm amazed by his acting skills. Kudos to the casting director for casting this actor.

I will edit this review at another time to fix all grammatical errors. I'm typing this review from my cellphone. I'll also let you know what I thought about the end!

FINAL UPDATE:
I decided to drop this drama. Episode 21( or 22?) was horrible and it didn't make any sense.

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