Mirror: A Tale of Twin Cities (2022)

A Background Story Review

P.s. this review focuses more on the background story, hope that others can grasp what's going on better.

Mirror: A Tale of Twin Cities (镜双城) is a xuanhuan drama, adapted from the novel with the same title, 镜·双城by 沧月 (Cang Yue). The novel is broken down into 6 series: Su Mo, Bai Ying, Zhen Lan, Na Sheng, Yan Xi, and Yun Huan. But their stories are all correlated. Mirror Twin Cities drama adaptation focuses more on the story of Su Mo and Bai Ying.

A little background story for those who didn’t read the novel nor watched the donghua yet, the story takes place in the Yunhuang continent. In Yunhuang continent, there are 6 countries (Kongsang, Cangliu, and more). 7000 years earlier, Kongsang destroyed the sea kingdom. The previous sea emperor made a pearl to preserve his power and bloodline; and 7000 years later, a mermaid unaccidentally swallowed the pearl. Thus, Su Mo was born.

In Yunhuang, the mermaids were tortured and enslaved. A mermaid’s tears will turn into pearls, the mermaids were forced to cry; and if they cannot try, their eyes will be gouged out. Mermaids were tortured, forced to break their tails, and sold as a commodity and slaves. Both Su Mo and his mother are also very miserable. His mother has her hand and leg amputated and turned into a human swine. Su Mo was also tortured, and in order for others not to have his eyes, he gouged his own eyes. So Su Mo itself is a very dark character and he hates Kongsang people.

Mirror Twin Cities drama narrative centers around Su Mo and Bai Ying. Su Mo is a merman who also bears the identity of a sea emperor, he has the responsibility to bring the mermaids back to the sea. Meanwhile, Bai Ying is the eldest daughter of the Bai clan who has the responsibility to marry the Kongsang’s crown prince. The drama story timeline takes place when Kongsang was invaded by Cangliu, and after the sea emperor resurfaces again and wants to bring the mermaids back to the sea.

The first few episodes of the drama tell the flashback of what had happened 100 years ago. It has very weird and fast pacing, everything is thrown at you so sudden that you might need some time to process what’s going on. And you also won’t feel their chemistry yet. But stay and keep watching, it gets better! It has a pretty average script, but it has gorgeous landscape shots and CGI! But the editing and set are lacking, there is a lot of choppy editing especially during their fight scenes. The fight scenes are beautifully choreographed, but the shots and choppy editing makes it hard for people to understand whats actually going on. In addition, the set is also poor, this is a S+ project but the set looks like its a low-budget project. The "real" locations such as forest, houses, mirror tower were still okay but some like the sea kingdom, underwater scenes are poorly executed

Mirror Twin Cities is led by Li Yifeng (Su Mo), Chen Yuqi (Bai Ying), Zheng Yecheng (Zhen Lan), and more. This drama is Li Yifeng’s comeback historical drama after almost six years. Li Yifeng's portrayal as Su Mo is right on the point. A lot of people may say, “his expression stays the same”. But that’s what Su Mo was like, he is a cold and emotionless man. And also Li Yifeng looks REALLY GOOD in a historical drama. Meanwhile, Chen Yuqi's portrayal as Bai Ying was fine, she did improve a lot from her previous projects. But I can’t help but to notice that she has almost the same expression throughout the whole drama (except when she’s crying). Last but not least, Zheng Ye Cheng acting in a historical drama never disappoints, from his fighting scene, articulation, looks, everything is superb. Zheng Yecheng is also really commendable for being able to portray two totally different characters

In addition, Mirror Twin Cities also has an amazing OST lineup with star studded singers! And I love how there’s a specific OST designed for each character and situation that’s happening. The line up for Mirror Twin Cities OST includes:
1. 念归去 - 周深
2. 无惧 - 阿YueYue
3. 爱若无声 - 毛不易
4. 不为喜欢 - 张碧晨
5. 我是你的雨 - 银临
6. 相思不相忘 - 利胜
7. 风月唱 - 锦零
8. 问酒 - 姚晓棠
Sung by Zhou Shen, Mao Buyi, and Zhang Bichen, you can expect how much angst this drama has.

As someone who has read the novel, I’d say the drama has changed around 80% from the novel, especially character-wise. In the novel and donghua, Su Mo is a very cold and ruthless character. In the novel, Su Mo has no real feeling for Bai Ying at all. All he did was use Bai Ying to overturn Kongsang and try to rebuild the sea kingdom. It was only after Bai Ying jumped the tower, did he realized he was long fallen for her. However, in the drama, he is someone whose more emotional and compassionate (not that it is a terrible thing). For instance, during episode 1, you can see Su Mo as a bright young man helping other mermaids passionately, but that was not the case in the novel. Going through torture and betrayal when he was small, he was a dark and cold character. But in the drama, Su Mo has a straightforward attitude towards his love for Bai Ying. All in all, the drama focuses more on the romantic side of the story. If you have read the novel or watched the donghua, you may find the whole Mirror Twin Cities character deviate from the novel or donghua, except Zhen Lan. But when you are watching the drama, just try to forget the novel and donghua.

If this drama premieres after The Longest Promise (Xiao Zhan and Ren Min), the audience would probably grasp better whats going on.

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Good plot ruined by bad editing and story telling

I have been looking forward for this drama since its news reached my ears because of its star-studded cast and plot.

Mirror: A Tale of Twin Cities is a Xuannhuan drama adapted from the novel "Jing - Shuang Cheng" (镜·双城) by Cang Yue (沧月). This tells us a the story of Su Mo, a merman, and Bai Ying, the eldest daughter of the Bai clan. While Su Mo bears the identity of the Emperor of Sea and has the responsibility of taking all the merpeople back to Biluo sea from Yun Hung, where they were mistreated and enslaved for their tears which turned into pearls, Bai Ying should marry the crown prince of Kong Sang, Zhen Lan, inherit the earthly power and become the crown princess.

The first episode starts with Su Mo coming back to Yun Huang, the place where he and Bai Ying met, after becoming the Emperor of Sea. During his journey back, he meets Na Sheng, who then states a prophecy which plays an important role throughout the drama. Then, the rest of the 1st episode and the next few episodes shows how Su Mo, Bai Ying and Zhen Lan met a hundred years ago in the Mirror Tower and how their lives changed as they were compelled to bear great responsibilities. For me, the first few episodes felt really rushed. Actually, Su Mo spends 3 years in the Mirror Tower before Bai Ying's crown princess seal was broken when she fell in love with Su Mo and she jumped off the tower. But, in this, it felt like a few days like they fell in love too quickly. The chemistry was not felt. Their love was neither love at first sight nor slow burn. In my opinion, they should have given more time for the character and love development.

By the half of the 5th episode, we come back to the present time and it becomes more interesting and watchable. In this we discover that Bai Ying is actually alive as the Earthly ring saved her. The entire Yunhuang was invaded by Cang Lui a hundred years ago and is now under its control. While trying to save Kong Sang, the crown prince fell in deep sleep which continued for a hundred years, until Na Sheng inadvertantly finds the Heavenly ring. To save Kong Sang's people from Cang Lui's army, the six princes opened Wu Se city by sacrificing half of their spirit. After a series of incidents, Su Mo and Bai Ying meets again but the lovers couldn't reunite because of the circumstances.

Eventhough the script is a little sloppy, the plot is compelling with many predictable as welll as unpredictable twists. Sometimes, the story feels rushed while some times it feels too slow. The editing is done badly and the CGI effects and sets are not lively. But, this has pretty good cinematography.

There are many side couples in this drama. The main one among these is Na Sheng and Yan Xi. Yan Xi is also a mermaid from Biluo. During their first meeting, Na Sheng saves his life and they fell in love. Some other side characters also have their own love intersts. While some unite, some are compelled to seperate. Also there is a love triangle in this but, it is not severe. As Zhen Lan knows Su Mo and Bai Ying loves eachother, he just let it be and didn't try to pursue her.

Anyways, the cast did a good job. Li Yi Feng looks so good in costume dramas and so does Chen Yu Qi. Zheng Ye Cheng too didn't disappoint me. But, Li Yi Feng and Chen Yu Qi are still a bit backwards in pulling out emotional scenes but, they improved a lot in comparison to their previous works

This has many good OSTs sung by famous singers:

Love Is Silent 爱若无声 - 毛不易 Mao Bu Yi
Returning Home 念归去 - 周深 Zhou Shen
Want To Go Home 念归去 - 周深 Charlie Zhou
Not Afraid 无惧 - 阿 Yue Yue
Not For Joy 不为欢喜 - 张碧晨 Diamond Zhang
I Am Your Rain 我是你的雨 - 银临 Yin Lin

The one by Zhou Shen and Mao Bu Yi are my personal favourites. I also loked the starting BGM.

Overall, the only plus points of this drama is the cast, the plot and the OSTs. The other aspects like set, CGI, editing etc. are just meh. The rewatch value is also really really low as I don't want to struggle to enjoy the bad editing again :(
I cannot say this is a must watch or anything but, I can say this is an enjoyable drama if you disregard the sloppy editing.

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Worth watching !! cant get over the love story between SuMo and BaiYing

I saw there are so many negative review for MTC and I wanting to give my own honest review on this Drama.

Honest review/opinion from me:
This is my first time writing long review so please excuse my English if there is grammar error or wording mistake. I believe because MTC is an adaptation from a famous novel by Cang Liu/ there will be 2 different group of audience for this drama. One is those who love the novel and come to see the drama / the other one is those who love the cast or wowed by the preview and waiting for the drama.

From the beginning the start the marketing of MTC / I have always been looking forward to this drama because of the amazing cast. I love LYF / Yukee and ZYC. MTC also have a very strong lineup of supporting casts.

Story line beginning and ending:
It is indeed a slow start because the writer wanting to show us how Sumo and Baiying met 100 years ago and what happened between them that lead to the destruction of Kong Sang. From Novel fan perspective / they have hated the beginning because of the way writer has changed the story. For audience who hasn’t read the novel they try to find ML and FL chemistry because of the strong love story first 5 eps try to portray. People often complained that it doesn’t make sense they fall in love “true love” just like that. What they don’t know is / Su Mo / Bai Ying and Zhen Lan has been brought together one more time by fate of what happened to them 7000 years ago.

The story does get very interesting from Eps 9 to 36!! It explained a lot of things and slowly the pieces come together as of the real reason on where the problem started. Eps 36-43 felt a bit rushed and I believe they cut a lot of scene that make it looks like the series is not properly done. However this might also be due to the censorship matter in china.
I also felt that it will be more interesting if they put more fighting scene and don’t just cut it half way. CGI can be improved too. They should show more sword skills fighting from Baiying/Xijing and Yu Huan. I also felt that the scriptwriter focus mostly on Sumo and they let Zhen Lan down !! Zhen Lan has been portrayed as a weak CP from beginning to the end and I expect him to do much better. Same as Bai Ying / the scriptwriter pretty much made SUMO carrying the whole team by himself as he is always there to do the hard work.

Acting from FL and ML and other supporting casts:
LYF did a good job portraying Sumo. I don’t know why I think he did a superb job. Su Mo character is a very complicated character. LYF acting shows the different of playful and witty Sumo when he first met Baiying and he changed to more quiet character / less cheerful / less smiling after Qing Chen captured threaten him and his clan. Then he shows the real Sea King vibe when he come back 100 years later.

Yukee- her acting indeed a bit weird in MTC and I can only understand why after re watched this drama. Bai ying carried such a huge burden and she always feel guilty that the destruction of Kong Sang happened because of her selfishness. Being someone who always wants to lead a free life Baiying felt very “restrained” and unable to express herself. I think this is one of the reasons why in first few eps / Yukee was just staring or standing like she is thinking of something. It is not easy to portray this character so I still appreciate Yukee for taking this roles.

ZYC and other supporting lists did a great job !!

Ending:
I can’t get over the ending for 3 days and then after re watching I decided to treat this as HE just because Zhen Lan mentioned about Sea God will be back..

So far I personally enjoy this Movie very much and love the cast. I don’t agree with such a low score of 3.9 in Douban. I felt that score is way too low and there are so many worse dramas out there compare to MTC. LYF/Yukee/ZYC all did wonderful job and it is a hard work to begin with. The novel adaption aint easy !! I appreciate all the actors and I will continue to support MTC xx

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Poor Editing, Poor Script Writing, Sub-standard Acting

As of the writing of this review, this drama scores a dismal 3.9 on Douban, a platform that reflects the sentiment of the viewers from China, which may not be 100% reliable as we well know how this score can be manipulated by fans and haters. I must admit I have not read the novel which this drama has adapted from, so cannot compare how it has deviated from the original story. According to many readers, the characters have almost gone through a total metamorphosis and thus has rendered a totally different experience for the readers.

This story is rather similar to the biblical Moses story whereby the Lord of the Sea (Li Yifeng) tries to bring his people (the fish people) back to the sea from the land where they are being persecuted. Another character, a crown prince (Zheng Yecheng), who vows to take back his kingdom so that his people can live openly in the warmth of the sun again. Between them, comes a woman with whom they both fall in love. So, in a gist, this is a love triangle and the actual plot from the original story where the characters try to save their people and bring them home, has become a background story. Both men are desirable and the female lead is torn (initially at least): to follow her heart or to fulfill her duty.

Many reviewers have provided in-depth description of the story, so I’m not going to repeat what they have written. Here, I’m pointing out what I like and dislike about this drama, so that viewers have better understanding and if they’d want to pursue this drama or not.

Most of the online criticisms I’ve read are about the poor editing. Rightly so. I find the joining of scenes poorly done with noticeably long pauses, making the overall pace excruciatingly slow. The long pauses between conversations also make it feel like the characters are hesitant or even calculative; there's too much waiting around with no one doing anything, just prolong staring at each other. As much as I want to like this story, I dozed off multiple times within one episode, like some old folks do.

The screen writing is terribly poor as it feels like haphazard and not being well thought out as it has changed so much of the personalities of the characters from their original version. This has also reflected badly on the acting which I don’t totally blame the actors; how can the actors perform if they are not provided proper direction how the characters are supposed to be? Had Su Mo been a cold and ruthless person as described in the novel, then maybe Li Yifeng’s acting fits the bill (not perfectly, but not as bad too). But here in the drama, Su Mo seems to be a compassionate and upstanding person who would go all the way out to help anyone in need, with or without the power himself. In this respect, Li Yifeng’s acting seems to be lacking as he is stiff and doesn’t carry any emotions on his face, and his shifting eyes make him even less believable. I do love the Su Mo character and Li Yifeng's physical portrayal of the character. With clear directing, Li Yifeng should have done better.

Chen Yuqi’s acting as Bai Ying is passable, but again, she has very limited facial expressions here. For both Chen Yuqi and Li Yifeng, they have not brought out the emotions that their characters are suffering from, especially in times of loss and regrets. Both actors have totally failed in this respect. Viewers also complain that the selection of the main couple pairing is poor as the two main leads’ chemistry is at rock bottom. They seem to be stiff and awkward; there’s no longing, no affection, no emotion that doesn’t seem forced. Despite these criticisms, I do at times sense some chemistry between the lovers, which unfortunately not frequent and consistent enough.

The sequence of some scenes seem to be repeatedly used, and this has made the whole thing rather dull at times. One such scene which is being repeated multiple times that I can predict what is to follow when that event happens: when Bai Ying is injured and unconscious, Su Mo would try to heal her, and in turn, he goes into a coma. This sequence is overdone and gets really boring to say the least.

Zheng Yecheng’s acting here is acceptable. Like in all his other dramas, he doesn’t get his girl in the end. For me, the most annoying character is probably Na Sheng (Yang Zhiwen) with her bubbly demeanor which doesn’t stop despite whatever predicament everyone is in. Her clinginess is even more irritating and hard to watch.

My Verdict
This is supposed to be a story about hatred between the conquered and the conqueror, and between the various races. Love is blind and love blossoms between the enemies; we have multiple cross racial romantic couples here, and the story is supposed to show their torn emotions and pains – choose love or loyalty/duty for one’s country/race. This emotion is totally lacking here. In its place, tropey romances reign. It would have been acceptable had the script writing not been this bad, making the whole story laden with plot holes, bad logic, and poor character development. The ending is probably inspired by the resurrection of Jesus Christ with Su Mo floating/walking on water shrouded in an halo, three years later (versus three days later for Jesus). It is so bizarre.

I am totally untouched by the supposedly heart wrenching story of forbidden love - love for an enemy or a different race in this case. This is rather unfortunate as the original novel is said to be very interesting and touching. It is also said that the animation that has come before this drama is more faithful to the original story and I’m off for it next.

Don’t be deceived by the big names. Unless you don’t have anything better to watch, you may be better off reading the original novel or watching the anime.

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Another Great Fantasy

Li Yi Feng, I remember him in other Chinese Dramas and he is a great actor. I don't watch him a lot because he likes to take roles that are military and I love him in the fantasy roles like this one. This fantasy tops a lot of my other fantasy dramas. The visuals were breathtaking. Chen Yu Qi is one of my favorite top actresses so I already favored her in this drama. She was awesome. They made her role a little quiet but she had the strength I knew she has to take on this role. I would rewatch this again. The ocean was so blue and beautiful. I applaud all the other actresses and actors they also did an awesome job to make this fantasy seem real. This is another one of those dramas do not miss one episode and please don't go to the last episode to see the ending. You will miss out on some great storylines and visuals.

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Li Yifeng, what else ?

To Li Yifeng fans, this drama is worth watching ! I really liked the storyline and the actors.
How nice to see in here, so many second lead actors we have already liked in Ashes of love, The Untamed, Evernight and others !
I don't really understand why this drama is underrated. Acting is good, the plot is interesting, the music is nice, so are the costumes and the sceneries. Of course, if you don't like love stories you may think that sometimes the storyline is a bit slow, but to me actions development is just good and main actors interactions'timing is just great. Characters are maybe too much stereotypal with a sens of déjà vu....
Li Yifeng is Li Yifeng : so talended in expressing love emotions, so handsome when he wears a nice wig that suits him ! He reminds us of The legend of Chusen where he was so impressive !
Zheng Ye Cheng is amazing : the 2 characters he incarnates are so different that he can perfectly show how a great actor he is ! 43 Episodes aren't enough !
This Xianxia story is not desappointing, we can only point out a senario not well balanced with sometimes some scenes that would have been better to be cut !!!
Last episode is a bit boring, no surprise..... as expected ???

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You either enjoy it or skip it

This is my first ever drama review, although perhaps no one's gonna read it ?
Negative points:
1. Messy editing, especially the first 5 eps and last 2 eps which is the most important parts of a drama.
2. Bad directing. Long pause, long staring, long standing, slow moving camera.
3. Bad script. The conversation are taking too long, they really talk in details about everything. Some are important, but some are pointless.
4. The battle scenes are cut short bcs they use the screentime for conversations.

Positive points:
1. The characters are likeable. There's no annoying character in the main cast, not even Na Sheng. I hate if one of the main characters is a villain + love rival. Yu Huan is evil, but not a love rival. Zhen Lan is a love rival, but not evil. That's why the story is enjoyable and makes me focus on the characters and their journey. The characters I hate the most are Lang Gan and Yu Huan, the other villains are fine.
2. The chemistry. You either see it or not. I even like Bai Ying and Xi Jing or Yu Huan and Fei Lian together. Su Mo and Bai Ying have chemistry, but sometimes the conversations got too long so it was hard to maintain it.
3. The acting. They did what they had to. They delivered their characters really well based on the character's backstory and personality, and how their characters changed along their journey. The three main cast had the hardest jobs. I applaud them for that.
4. The OST. I love all songs, but half of them are barely played in the drama.
5. The set, cinematography, CGI. I actually like the settings, especially the bamboo river house. Other places are well built too, even the forest. The cinematography is nice, the CGI is acceptable. They could've done better in CGI, but I've seen worse than this.

This drama, you either love it or hate it, enjoy it or skip it, feel attached or disappointed.You can watch the donghua (animation) or read the novel and ditch the drama version. Up to you. For me, I really like it and will rewatch it.

For the ending, I'd like to think it's leaning to HE. That the gods gave him power to be resurrected and permanently stays by her side. For three years, the citizens worship him and pray for him. They came every year to the sea. Those prayers might gave Su Mo power to appear in human form. Also the song played in that scene is the happy one (I'm Your Rain by Rachel).

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Low production value, OK acting, Lack of leads chemistry but interesting Overarching Plot

Completed - 3/2/2022 - 7.75 Rating

I really wanted to like this drama and give it a higher rating despite its general negative reviews. I was on the verge of giving it a solid 8.0 because I really like the general overarching plot of the drama. It's no wonder the novel was adapted, as the stories are interesting. However, the horrific editing of the last couple episodes discouraged me and I'll keep the rating at a 7.5-7.75. I have not read the novel, so the rating has nothing to do with how good the adaptation is, or whether I dislike any of the actors/actresses. For some reason when I was watching “Mirror: A Tale of Twin Cities”, it reminded me of “Novaland: Pearl Eclipse”. I was comparing the two dramas’ plot, acting, chemistry and my enjoyment level. “Mirror” feels more like it is a part of the Novaland universe than “Pearl Eclipse”.


What I Enjoy:

General Plot - I really enjoy the story of the rise and fall of the three kingdoms, and how our three main characters’ stories intertwined with their ancestors’ stories. The objectives are clear and viewers can pretty much expect how the story will play out and what the general ending of the whole drama is. The journey of how the characters achieve their ultimate goals is what this drama is all about. I actually do not think the pacing is slow but rather good. I was not bored but do need to pay attention to what’s going on, due to its poor editing and storytelling. I can see how the editing in the first few episodes can confuse watchers and cause them not to stick around a little longer. We generally have pretty intelligent characters in this drama and there isn’t anyone too annoying.

Zheng Ye Cheng - ZYC is the only actor that uses his voice for dubbing. I applaud him for this and really wish more actors would use their own voices. I recently watched him in “Crossroad Bistro” and he did fine. I am more impressed with his acting in this drama, as he has a chance to play *spoilers* a few different characters, with different personalities. I would not say his acting is brilliant, but it's a bright spot among others. He also has the most colorful costumes in this drama!

Costumes/Looks - I think all the characters have pretty good “looks”. Their costumes fit their characters and you can see how the colors they wear coordinate with their roles. As mentioned, Zheng Ye Cheng as the Prince has the most colorful outfits. Our FL has all white or very light-colored costumes, and ML has mostly dark-colored costumes. I do think Li Yi Feng as Su Mo/Chun Huang looks better in white than in black, even with the long white hair. It might be weird but I want to compliment the wigs that the actors are wearing. I especially like the intricate braiding weaved into all of their hairstyles.

Music - This drama has a nice OST. We hear the beautiful voices of Zhou Chen and Mao Bu Yi. The songs are not overplayed and the background music complements the scenes. I didn’t feel like the music was forcing me to feel a certain way.


What I Don’t Enjoy:

Editing and Storytelling - The biggest flaw of this drama is its editing. You can see scenes that showed up in flashbacks but never during the actual scenes. I wasn’t sure if that was intentional or due to editing. Some scenes are transitioned to show the RESULTS instead of the process. It feels like the drama is condensing 15 minutes into 15 seconds. During the final few episodes of the drama there seems to be missing scenes and the story was jumping around. The episodes feel choppy and don’t flow well enough to prepare us for the final showdown or the epilogue. It’s really unfortunate because this drama could have been so much better.

Chemistry/Acting - I do not necessarily find Li Yi Feng (ML) and Chen Yu Qi’s (FL) acting horrible. They are okay. I do expect more from Li Yi Feng as I’ve seen him in “Noble Aspirations” and liked him in that drama. Maybe because he had more chemistry with Zhao Li Ying? I was hoping the chemistry between the main characters would improve but it didn’t. They are supposed to have this heartbreaking romance that’s full of longing and angst, but I don’t feel anything. Their romance is such a central part to the plot that when I can’t feel anything, it really distracts me from enjoying the rest of the drama. The romance of Su Mo and Bai Ying could be considered a slow burn (after 100 years). But it’s not giving me enough bread crumbs (aka sweetness, meaning glances, etc.) to endure this slowness and the lack of chemistry. *Spoilers* When the three leads are acting as their ancestors, I actually enjoy their chemistry more. The few scenes with an innocent Chun Huang, a more talkative Bai Wei and a jealous Lang Gan are more fun than their younger selves. I wish we had more scenes of the ancestors’ story.

Production Value - This is supposed to be a S+ production but you couldn’t tell by its horrible CGI and set designs. The CGI is subpar and it’s worse than 2018 “Ashes of Love”, especially when they are showing scenes/sets of the palace and rooms. When you see the set designs and props, they look cheap and fake. I looked back at the beautiful set designs of another S+ production, “Pearl Eclipse”, and the difference is huge. The drama also has some weird filters and camera shots. The shots look fuzzy/blurry at times. I am not sure if the director is trying to create some sort of effect? I also wish the drama had more fight scenes. There are only a handful and they’re too short for me to appreciate.

Overall, I don’t regret watching this drama. I knew to curb my enthusiasm and expectations, and I knew what I am getting myself into. I would only recommend this drama if you really like the actors, craving for xianxia dramas and have nothing else to watch. For better or worse, having only 43 episodes (pretty short for this type of drama), is one of the reasons why I decided to give this a try.

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It is worth giving it a try and judging for ourselves.

There are many opinions about this drama, you may like it or you may be disappointed.
But I would like to mention the positive things that I liked and enjoyed the drama.

Mainly Su Mo , I really loved him , it was my first time watching Li Yifeng acting , and I must say he did great , his interpretation of Su Mo will be treasured in my heart , his gestures and expressions (although many say otherwise) his expressive eyes , the way Li Yifeng personified Su Mo I loved him.
Su Mo was simply the best character in the drama I had already mentioned it before , and is that he was a loyal protagonist , nothing toxic , dedicated , caring , he was a beautiful character , his way of expressing and showing his love to Bai Ying giving everything for her. Makes me want to have a Su Mo in my life .
Su Mo deserved the best , he deserved to be rewarded at the end (that's why I can't get over that ending for him , it's unfair) definitely my favorite character , I would spend hours talking about him and the qualities I find in his character.

Chen Yu Qi although many did not like her performance , personally I liked her , Bai Ying was a character who could never express what she really wanted , she always lived with the guilt of what happened to her people , and lived only thinking about how to reward what happened , even refusing the love of Su Mo , for me it was easy to get attached to her and understand her. She was not silly or innocent , nor annoying like other protagonists , for me she was a good protagonist .
I wish Chen Yu Qi and Li Yifeng had a chance to act together again in the future, I wouldn't miss it.

Bai Ying and Su Mo as a leading couple , I unlike many , I saw their chemistry , I liked how they looked together , the way they understood and supported each other , how they cared for each other , their love was much more mature that it was not necessary to have a thousand scenes together expressing their love , just a look a gesture , being next to each other , that was worth much more for them .

Na Sheng and Yan Xi our adorable secondary couple, they gave us tender and cute moments in the middle of so much suffering, I loved them and I would like them to have the opportunity to work together again (a third drama together would not be bad, they are adorable).

The ost , definitely one of my favorites so far this year, their songs are beautiful and every time they were in the drama along with Bai Ying and Su Mo's scenes made my heart tingle.

Bai Ying and Su Mo + OST= Perfect

I also have to mention Zheng Yecheng , I loved it , I suffered with him for his unrequited love , although sometimes I despaired that he chased Bai Ying so much , he must have understood that her heart already had an owner. Hopefully Zheng Yecheng will get the chance to work with Chen Yu Qi again and now they will love him back.

I seriously enjoyed the drama a lot, it's not all bad, just because the ending disappointed me, doesn't mean that before I knew how it ended I didn't enjoy the 43 chapters.
It may not be the best drama in the world, but it's not the worst either, there are worse dramas than this one in my opinion.
Because I repeat that the ending may not have been totally to my liking, not because of that , I can omit the good things and how much I enjoyed it , for me it is not a waste of time.

I would definitely watch it again in the future.

Lastly I would like to thank everyone who was part of this drama , the actors , makeup artists , etc etc , even the director and screenwriters that even though I hate them (joke) for giving us that ending , they definitely did a great job.

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it is not so bad

STORY
the story is simple. easy to follow. there are not many characters involved so we can concentrate on the few characters in the story.

Characters.

The ML (played by Li YiFeng) is eye candy. He is pleasant to see. He is the reason why I keep watching MTC. but (NGL) MTC is not his best project. His acting skill here is so-so. However, since he is good-looking in costume drama and handsome, I can forgive him for his lack of acting in this drama (LOL). I find that his acting is better in other dramas.

The SML (played by Zheng Ye Cheng) is the nicest SML I've ever encountered. I think his acting in MTC is worthy to be praised. Hope he will get role as ML in his next projects.

The FL played by chen yu qi. Even though many people have complained about her acting skill and not being compatible with the ML, I think her acting here is acceptable. She can carry her role well.

The OST

Best !!

If you are not interested in this drama, at least, try to listen to the OST (LOL).
superb !

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I tried but I failed

I started this drama for Zheng Yecheng and Liu Haikuan, and had high hopes as everyone praised the novel, and I expected big budget cool looking fantasy drama... but, hell, no. I struggled through 36 episodes, and now, so close to the finale, I am gonna just drop the drama, because I really don't want to watch what they did to the few characters I liked.

The true Big Bad of this drama was its editor. I wish I could tell him/her that they can't crop two unrelated scenes in small pieces and show them in sequence. Or that they can't make the half of the episode as flashback of recent events instead of showing them in direct order. Or that they can't show the scene which seems to be complete and 10 minutes later add more lines to it in a flashback. What a ridiculous idea!
Pale coloring and effects and transitions from 90th also didn't help to enjoy this drama visually.

The second and third big criminals were director and scriptwriter.
The dialogues were dull, empty, full of repetitive thoughts. Characters seemed to not have what to talk about, so were going through the same 1) 2) 3) issues each time. Or just kept silence.
The complexity of dialogues was more or less as following:
~~
"Did you see anything?"
"No, did you see anything?"
"No, I didn't".
~~
(and all that was said s-l-o-w-l-e-y)

Creators made 5 episodes to set up affection between the leads and failed cause after 1st episode scriptwriter couldn't think any decent dialogue for them or any adventures they could have together and know each other better. Relationships between Bai Ying and crown prince also just formed from the air somewhere in between her fall and his 100 years sleep.

Director failed even action episodes, which could be better with better visuals and more realistic fight choreography. Moreover in between them there were 3-5 episodes where characters had long emotionless dialogues, while staring onto the water/forest/sky. The amount of walking around the forest was so impressive, that I thought actors had a goal of "walk 10 km a day". Or maybe they wanted to be cast to "The Walking dead".
Background music was mostly slow and with a repetitive mystic tune, as if created to help you fall asleep.

Fourth Big Bad for me was the female lead. She seemed to have the same face expression all the time, as if she woke up in the morning, something surprised her a bit, she raised her eyebrows a little and her face just got stuck in that movement, and its upper part never moved again. She also didn't have any badass vibe, although she is supposed to be one of the strongest sword fighters there. Whatever she said, I was just afraid she was gonna faint next moment. Taking into account, that each time she went to help someone, later others had to save her, I would never give her any task more serious than arranging sea shells.

I couldn't care less about the romance of main leads. They had very little chemistry, in the "past" part of the story they fell in love without any relationship building, in the "present" part they just continued being in love, and while there could have been many reasonable misunderstandings between them, scriptwriter managed to create only a few cringey ones. Usually in other dramas where I didn't fall for main leads I would fall for second couple, but here - not really. Second couple would be nice, if the girl wouldn't be so reckless and annoying, it was just a bit too much.

But some side characters I did like.
Zheng Yecheng created very likable character, funny, but not annoying at all, honest and kind. He seemed to be the most "alive" character, could smile while his eyes were sad, and I believed in his affection. I wish characters like this, selfless and just GOOD would win girls' hearts more often in dramas, because kind men deserve to be happy. Unfortunately, after promising character development which rapidly happened in first episodes, in the "present" part of the drama he didn't have opportunity to shine, and most of the time was just there without much purpose.
My second favorite character was Xi Jing, portrayed by Liu Chang. His story started with a lot of drama, but he managed to recover from that, he was a loyal person and friend. Unfortunately, in the second part of the story he had nearly no important scenes as well.
Yu Huan (Liu Haikuan) had quite promising story and interesting relationships with his buddy Fei Lian, with mermaid Xiao, with his sister and mentor. Unfortunately, it looks like scriptwriter took some facts from original novel but totally changed the ending, and those facts which were meant for Yu Huan's character development, here just create frustration about his ending.
My favorite females were mermaids Ning Liang and Xiao and guess what - bad ending for both *sigh*

Overall, this drama is a big disappointment. I expected to see a big budget production, good effects, decent acting, lot's of adventures and interesting character development... and got none of that. Visually drama looks very average, and some scenes are so bad that it is just a shame they passed post-production in year 2022. Acting was stiff from most of the cast, even those, who I know can act well - bad sсript and directing made them just stand and look around most of the time. All events from this drama could have happened in a better drama in just 10 episodes instead of 43. All twists and actions were predictable or even worse than you could predict.

Will I say "don't watch this' in conclusion? Nah, it's for you to decide how to waste your time.

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