This review may contain spoilers
I always feel like somebody's watching me.
I struggle to contain my anger at the monumental disappointment this drama turned into because it could have been a huge hit. I am so irritated I need to get it off my chest with a spoiler heavy review, something I really dislike doing. I think I figured out the confusing ending that I explain below. Do not read this if you don't want to be spoiled.The story is a very simple, poignant enchanted fairy tale. Fu Jiuyun (Zheng Yecheng) is an immortal who falls for a mortal with an indomitable spirit in a magical painting his shifu left him and stalks her across ten incarnations over a thousand years. In her incarnation as Yanyan, a Li princess, she is destined to marry her childhood sweetheart and live a happy life. Jiuyun cannot stay away from her and in the guise of a dissipated genius artist Gongziqi gifts her a magical painting of a peach blossom tree and a magical song that she performs for her mother's birthday celebration. Note that the painting and song are key in the ending interpretation. The dance is truly captivating and if nothing else, just watch that. At this point I was addicted and fully invested in both leads.
An ambitious neighboring prince makes a deal with demon forces, invades her kingdom, massacres her family and enslaves her people. A devastated Yanyan vows vengeance and embarks on a quest to obtain a magical lamp that can absorb the demon forces and free her people. She assumes the appearance of her maid Ah Man (note the name) and calls herself Qinchuan. This is where they replace the actress Jiang Yiyi with the more well known Zhao Lusi. First mistake - it was not just confusing throughout but I had to get over the first actress whom I liked and get invested in the female lead all over again. The switch worked at first because Lusi is a really funny actress and her antics with Jiuyun, Xiao Bai and Er Meng were entertaining. However, the couple's interactions fell short of the seamless transition from humor to intimacy that was so well done in Under the Power. As a result, Jiuyun initially comes across one of those oily old dudes that misbehaves with young girls. While their chemistry eventually "clicked", Lusi's initial indifference made Jiuyun's overtures seem unwelcome to the point of harassment.
Just when their romance takes off, the show separates them and shifts into the revenge plot. This is where Qinchuan becomes all bravado and no brain - she has no credible plan and has to be rescued multiple times. She works with Er Meng and Xiao Bai; Jiuyun only bails her out from afar. The show peaks too early with the take-down of most of the bad guys and then digresses further into the super boring second couple. I suggest skipping all of their scenes in the middle. They could have easily cut 6-10 episodes to avoid the fatal loss of momentum in the storytelling. Then Jiuyun decides to help Qinchuan fulfill her mission even though it means a certain end for him. He is the wick of the lamp that once lit, eventually burns out.
Once the tone shifts away from largely comedic, Lusi struggles to get into the moment in action and emotional scenes. She is not versatile and is mostly just excellent at comedy. Her performance was flat through most of the second part of the show and only saved by some of the steamier romantic scenes with Jiuyun. By then, I had enough and just wanted it to end. Zheng Yecheng's performance on the other hand was consistently stellar - he really carried the show. Apart from being smoking hot (I can watch him all day), his interpretation of the hard core romantic good guy that disguises himself as a world weary, cynical, indifferent and dissipated immortal was spot on. His eyes shine with unshed tears at all the right moments and as he protects Qin Chuan from the truth of what she asks of him.
The ending is confusing and to me it is quite sad in a Butterfly Lovers kind of way (major spoiler):
Qinchuan realizes that Jiuyun is not coming back ; even Meishan admits that his soul has scattered. She completes her ritual with the lamp - she had already bonded with it earlier on. She wakes up as child Yanyan who dreams an old man (her shifu?) tells her that she gets a fresh start. I think the lamp takes them all back in time for a do over. She grows up and intuitively makes way for Zichen to fall in love with Xuanzhu. Her maid is no longer Ah Man but a Xiao Cui. She has more sad dreams where Jiuyun tells her that she will soon forget him. As the time loop starts to replay her mother's birthday she forgets how to play the song Jiuyun/Gongziqi wrote for her and the pipa disappears into the painting. In this new life, Yanyan will marry Er Meng and their kingdoms will be at peace. She never becomes Qinchuan so eventually Qinchuan and Jiuyun's relationship also gets erased or never happens. Jiuyun snatches the last bits of her memory of Qinchuan and escapes into the magic painting with Qinchuan and the pipa. It is the only place where they can be together but they may be just shadows or memories of who they were. I initially thought she was sucked into the lamp where Jiuyun creates an alternative world for her but if that were the case, he wouldn't have to put her into the painting. This is where they should have used both actresses to make it more clear by leaving Yanyan behind while Qinchuan goes into the painting with Jiuyun. It makes me feel a bit better to imagine that Qinchuan and Jiuyun cultivate together in the painting and after thousands of years both become immortals that live happily ever after. The novel ending is different, more straightforward and much happier - essentially Jiuyun eventually reappears and they are together.
Despite the poor execution and confusing ending, it is still a beautiful fairy tale with some gorgeous scenes and amazing moments that is worth watching. Best be liberal with the fast forward button through the middle parts. My low rating reflects the poor execution that prevented this from being an unforgettable and addictive love story.
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This review may contain spoilers
I'll start off by saying that I love Zhao Lusi and she's the main reason I started watching. ZYC is also a hottie, so that made the series on my watch list for sure. However, I was actually quite disappointed by the storyline and editing, so this actually landed on my skip list after finishing. Con#1: While other people were upset about Zhao Lusi's impersonation, I was actually upset about the first girl that took over Zhao Lusi's limelight. When I realized it was deliberate, I was more appeased, but the sudden character change felt jarring. The transition wasn't smooth, which brings me to:
Con #2: Terrible, terrible editing for this drama. I heard the production for this series was expensive, but they couldn't have invested a bit more money post-production to string the storyline better? Everything felt like it JUST occurred out of the blue and there's no rhyme or reason behind it.
Con #3: Much too creepy acting from ZYC. A lot of fans might think the way he spoke and acted was just flirty, but I actually found it very cringey. Nevermind the stalking for over 1000+ years, nevermind the random walk-in to her bedroom in the middle of the night, nevermind the deliberate teasing and touching of her when she was trying to get the lamp, nevermind any and all of that. Just the way he said her name made me cringe so hard...it felt too intimate.
Con #4: Second Prince Er Lang. Dude they really selected a good actor to play dumb. They did so well that I couldn't register him as the 2nd Prince when he revealed his identity. It was always Er Lang ?. And while he had the princely stature, he just didn't have the gravita to carry such a role. I felt the First Prince (his brother) was hot though lol and although he's punier in comparison, he was convincing.
Con #5: So many freaking plotholes. The ending sucked. There was zero explanation about it. Somehow things always manage to conveniently occur or appear when it's critically needed. Things just HAPPENED. No leadup to why.
Con #6: There was little to no character growth for any of the characters, with exception to Xuan Zhu. She was very consistent throughout the drama and in the end, although she made the ultimate sacrifice, she's aware of herself enough that point to know that it wasn't all altruistic. I enjoyed that. She was true to herself and took action to do what she wanted.
The con list is somewhat long , but I'm sure there's more.
The only pros with this drama is that it started Zhao Lusi, ZYC, Dai Yun Fan and Molly Wang to make a very watchable cast. The rest is utterly forgettable.
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This review may contain spoilers
Story - It is quite a typical revenge and fate between main lead plot line. I wouldn't say it was particularly special. Despite this it was paced well, the relationship between the characters did not feel forced and you can tell the progression in their relationship. The ending though was not very clear - i didn't read the novel but apparently was quite different to the reference. Cast - As usual Zhao Lu Shi is really well suited to these comedic historical roles as she makes it seem so natural. It was great to see the improvement in her acting and slightly more serious role compared to her previous works. Zheng Ye Cheng was a surprise, I've seen his works in Love O2O, An Oriental Odyssey and most recently Royal Nirvana - his acting is very diverse and he really executed the 'male god' character/aura very well. Definitely one of those dramas that make you fall in love with the male lead. There is a second male/female lead romance line, but that didn't gauge my interest much.
Voice - I really enjoyed that they used original voices for the dubbing instead of voice actors. It makes everything flow so much better.
Overall i think the drama is highly recommended if you are looking for a historical romance with touch of comedy. Whilst there is some political elements, it is not the main plot but supports the progression of the main characters' story.
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Love Story between a Mortal and an Immortal
This drama starts off very good – beautiful actors, beautiful costumes, interesting story line. After the first couple of episodes, it begins to go all over the place. Poor script writing, plenty of plot holes, editing flaws (they even photoshop an actor's face onto another), confusing acting from the female lead, among others.I was initially put off by Fu Jiuyun (Zheng Yecheng) for his flamboyance, especially towards Qing Chuan (Zhao Lusi); his hands are all over her and she doesn’t seem to care. In fact, she gives the impression of liking such attention – being teased and pinched by Fu Jiuyun. As a Princess, Yanyan is dignified, determined and worshipped by all. In her disguise as Qing Chuan, a maid servant under Fu Jiuyun, waiting for her revenge, she has a total change in character. She loses her initial charisma which I feel is a poor script writing and also poor acting. Though I like Zhao Lusi as an actor and I like her other dramas, I don’t feel she fits into this Qing Chuan character very well. Zhao Lusi is cute and can be silly, but her acting is confusing as the Qing Chuan character who is supposed to be dignified, determined and strong. Zhao Lusi doesn’t have the charisma a princess normally exudes. On top of that, Zhao Lusi tends to take a long pause before she starts talking. It really feels weird for me that she’s not spontaneous in answering even the most trivial questions. The only consolation I find is she pairs very well with Zheng Yecheng visually.
Zheng Yecheng has a layback carefree spirit to him. With his outrageously gorgeous face with soft features, acting as a celestial being with no worldly concerns, Zheng Yecheng fits perfectly as the Fu Jiuyun character. I love the scenes of him gazing at Qing Chuan with those loving eyes. One can really feel his love for her, unreserved and unconditional. He has great chemistry with Zhao Lusi.
There is a lot of illogical dialogues and scenes, even the logic itself is weird. Despite the poor storytelling, I find the costumes to be intriguing with great details. I love Fu Jiuyun’s simple white gowns. I also love those sophisticated gowns worn by Yanyan especially the gown she dances in. The sound track that plays whenever Jiuyun longs for Qing Chuan or vice versa is beautiful and heart-wrenching.
There is also a couple of scenes I love the most. The first one is the scene of Yanyan dancing to the song composed by Fu Jiuyun. The scene is so beautiful and breathtaking. The second scene is the very last scene when Qing Chuan runs towards Fu Jiuyun under the peach blossom tree. That scene is celestial and can only be found in legend.
The final episode is a lazy ending. It seems that the whole thing is just a dream by Yanyan as a little girl, or is it her reincarnation, or is it a parallel dimension thing? It’s confusing. The weirdest thing is our female lead just goes poof and reappears with her love in a different dimension.
I would watch this drama for Zheng Yecheng if you’re a fan. For me, he’s the only thing that keeps me going in completing the whole series.
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I think that not everyone will like this drama, but also you have to give it a try then you will later realize how good this story.The storyline isn't GREAT but it is still good. I personnally loved the acting more than the story(especially the two mains leads). Their chemistry was a?. I do have to warned u that the beginning is a little slow, confusing and irritating(especially the FL) but just wait a little more eps and u will find yourself smiling like crazy and also crying.
The music was another great thing. It went well with the story. I am not a find of slow, sweet music but i found muself singing the OST.
All in all, very good drama. Slow but Good. My rewatch value is a ten because of Zhao Lusi and Zhen YeCheng's chemistry. I will await their future drama(if they have one).
Give this Drama a chance and you'll love it.
I am greatful to all the cast, directors,producers and all the team behind the beautiful drama.
Xie Xie Ni
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I think the only thing I struggled with was the story line. There were some very important parts which I still didn’t quite understand by the end of the show. (Can’t mention without giving away spoilers) I’m not sure if part of that comes down to things being simply lost in translation or if it was actually a plot hole. I know the show is based on a book so perhaps it was hard to transcribe the plot from book to television. Either way I was throughly caught up in the storyline particularly the evolution of the main romance and found the show very entertaining!
I would have loved if the show was more then 30 episodes! I highly recommend this drama for anyone who’s looking for a new show to watch!
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Story: The production of this drama was giving me similar impression of TMPO, the grandeur of fantasy gods settings, the costumes, the make-ups. I thought it will be a deep romance drama, since the outline of the plot is tragic love story. However, the romance only sparked in the last 5 episodes. The overall story is flat, little bit mystery, little bit comedy, little bit politics, little bit tragedy... just a waste of the good visual.
Acting: IMHO, the 2 main role are played well by the lead actors. I like Zhao Lusi more in this drama than Love Better Than Immortality, though both characters she played is not much different. Zheng Yecheng also act pretty impressive, the emotions he brought well enough but pity we can only enjoy the strong chemistry in the lasts episodes.
Music: I love the soundtrack so much. The song is so beautifully sang by Zhou Shen and Zheng Yunlong. The only high point of this drama, I guess
Rewatch Value: not really want to rewatch
Overall: yeah, it's just a waste of good visual, good production and good soundtrack. Can make better drama with this kind of story, just have to change the scenario-writer and edited the unimportant scenes
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This review may contain spoilers
I started watching this drama because of the two main leads. Having seen Zheng YeCheng in An Oriental Odyssey, Love O2O and Royal Nirvana and Zhao Lu Si in Love better than Immortality.Story: Loved the story line - very sweet, funny and light unlike Royal Nirvana that caused depression. Not like other typical dramas where there are a lot of back stabbings or ill plottings against main leads. I deducted one point because the ending seems very rush. Instead of extending the show another 10-15 episodes, her last life time was crammed into the last 10 minutes of the final episode and caused confusion. Although this is a happy ending story but because it ended very abruptly and left us confused of what actually happened at the end. Luckily Chinese speaking fans were kind enough to clarify what happened in the novel.
Acting/Cast: Great job casting! Loved all the characters, Zichen, Xiao Bai, Meishan, Xuan Zhu, Er Meng, etc. Zheng YeCheng and Zhao Lu Si did an excellent job here and their chemistry is off the chart. Too bad this didn't start until the last 5-6 episodes. Really hope to see more dramas with both of them as leads. Other actors also did a great job.
Music: I love the soundtrack so much. Both opening and ending songs are so beautiful. The music in the first episode when Princess Yanyan danced to the song composed by Fu Jiuyun is also unbelievably awesome, unreal! The scene is so beautiful, breathtaking and celestial as well. Well done!
Rewatch Value: Absolutely! Just for the first episode for Princess Yanyan's dance and last 5-6 episodes for the love story and chemistry of Zheng YeCheng and Zhao Lu Si.
Overall: This is a very good drama, romantic, sweet, funny and won't leave you depressed at the end.
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solid actors, production, w/ interesting story, but mediocre storytelling & missing key information
Disclaimer: I watched this on the Youtube channel and the subtitles were just okay. If I knew that there were better subtitles on other websites, I would've watched it there to get the full, emotional story.Love of thousand years (2020) is an 30-episode drama adaptation of the killing of three thousand crows by author shi si lang, featuring zheng yecheng and zhao lusi as main characters Fu Jiuyun and Qin Chuan, respectively. It is a xianxia romance about a princess who takes up revenge after the betrayal of an important official leads to an invasion from a neighboring kingdom–who is equipped with a demon army–and leads to the downfall of her kingdom. She hides her identity, taking on the face of her beloved maid, and goes to find the Spiritual Lamp that can rid of all demons in the world. This journey takes her to Qiangqu Mountain where immortals cultivate and where she meets Fu Jiuyun in person for the first time. Fu Jiuyun is a carefree and playful immortal who teases her plentiful and has his own reasons for bothering her…as their fates are tied together.
I started this drama without any prior knowledge of the book nor really reading the drama’s summary (since cdrama summaries are notoriously known for being inaccurate or too spoilery). I saw the bad reviews for it and kept my expectations low, which is why, I think, I was not too disappointed by this drama.
I watched this drama because of zheng yecheng and zhao lusi but was surprised at the high production quality which can be seen from the physical locations, amount of extras and supporting characters, and the camerawork. Besides the revenge plot and my two favorite actors, I was drawn from the very first episode to the pretty cinematography and camerawork. The supporting cast, too, was good, especially Mao Fang Yuan as Er Meng (my absolute favorite supporting character) and Dai Yun Fan as Pang Yuan/crown prince. The OST was fine though the only memorable song for me was the opening theme. (The instrumental OST though is pretty great! Especially the peach blossom melody--the song that the princess dances to in the first episode.)
I am biased toward zheng yecheng but I truly think he can make any role work and he plays a seemingly carefree immortal just fine. He’s very versatile and able to switch from smiling to serious and heartbreaking. He is one of the highlights of this show. zhao lusi took me a moment to get used to because I had only seen her in the romance of tiger and rose, a historical romcom, and her character at first seemed almost carefree too–like she was falling back on that romcom type–but of course, how could she be? when zhao lusi conveyed the heavy emotions of a undercover princess, I was able to take her more seriously (this, though happened around I think ep5-6 for me). seeing her in this drama convinced me that she’ll be able to play a serious role in her upcoming main role in the drama the long ballad. I never had a problem with these two as the main characters nor their chemistry. I think their chemistry with their other co-stars from other productions is stronger, but them together in this drama works too. I think it’s because for me they are both kind of baby faces–both with cute type of faces–so it was a little hard for me to get into their dynamic at first, but they eventually got it to work.
I think you’ll be able to still enjoy this drama if you are interested in these things:
-zheng yecheng
-zhao lusi
-star-crossed lovers (in this case: mortal and immortal)
-teasing and playful ML who is actually a dedicated and devoted lover
-FL who dislikes & misunderstands the ML at first but grows to trust him
-FL who carries a heavy burden of being a princess of a destroyed nation
-revenge plots involving going undercover (the princess changes her face into someone else, so try not to get attached to the princess you see at the beginning!)
-focus and development of secondary characters, mostly the second couple
I was hooked for the first 20 episodes or so. Where it got rocky for me was toward the last third of the drama (from around ep. 20-30), especially toward the last like 4 episodes where it felt like the drama was trying too hard to heighten the tragic notion that it didn’t feel organic and instead felt a bit frustrating. At one point, I literally fast-forward a sad/tragic/serious scene because I was like “okay, I get it, let’s move along please.” It was being too extra on the tragedy.
Also, there were some plot moves toward the second half of the drama that I felt were either resolved too conveniently or were not logical. Some of the characterization too seemed to stop developing as we got near the end to the point where some conclusions of problems didn’t feel earned. Thus, the mediocre storytelling. It started great and then stopped short of the finish line, and so, the story itself and the characters suffered toward the end. But, it does end happy. Well, ambiguously happy. Is it a good ending? Debatable. Is it happy for our characters? Yes.
The confusion stemmed, I believe, from diverging from the original novel, where some key information was missing (or changed–maybe due to c*nsorsh*p?) for the drama. For example, in the drama’s description on MyDramaList says “A story about a forbidden romance that has weathered ten lifetimes and endured a thousand years of waiting.” I would disagree with this because that pertains more to the novel and not the drama. The drama did not make the weight of Fu Jiuyun’s interest in the princess heavy enough for the audience to truly understand. Thus, it comes across as pure curiosity, which isn’t as strong as a reason to suddenly change everything for one person.
Final thoughts: suspend your disbelief when the story starts to get a bit illogical. if you like the actors zheng yecheng and zhao lusi, I think you’ll still enjoy the story and witness some heartbreaking scenes and beautiful cinematography. but if you’re someone who needs an ending to be completely clear-cut about how it ends, then you’ll have a bit of trouble with this ending. Small note: the production had to us AI to generate a face for a minor character’s face–apparently the actress had done something really bad and so they didn’t want to use her face anymore, but couldn’t re-shoot, so they used AI. It will look really bad, fyi.
if you want to understand more about the ending and/or seek out the deeper reasons for Fu Jiuyun’s love for her, you can check it out at this soompi forum thread where translations have been provided for the epilogue, containing Fu Jiuyun’s POV, as well as the happy ending in the book.
https://forums.soompi.com/topic/433583-mainland-chinese-webdrama-2020-the-killing-of-three-thousands-crows-%E4%B8%89%E5%8D%83%E9%B8%A6%E6%9D%80/page/9/
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I found the plot and story to be entertaining and easy to watch. The acting was really well done to me and I would love to see the two leads in another production together in the future (sooner rather than later I hope). I gave the music an 8 because I didn't really pay attention to it. It wasn't bad, but it didn't stand out to me.
Overall I'd say this drama is a 9.5 and I am so glad I took the time to watch it. :)
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Don't be deterred by the ending
I put off watching this one despite really enjoying Lusi's other dramas because I'd been told it had a sad ending and I want to avoid bawling my eyes out if I have the heads up already...but then I was told that the ending was happy and I was like, is it really? So I gave in and watched it.I have to say it's a really well done story, the ending is open to interpretation...it could be a sad ending or it could be a happy ending depending on what you make of it. It is never spelled out to the viewers and it's a confusing final episode, but I understand why the writer chose to go that route. If you don't like ambiguous endings, I'd skip this one...but for everyone else I'd highly recommend it.
I liked a lot of the characters who I didn't like in the beginning and several of them did surprise me dramatically on multiple incidents, some for the good, some for the bad, and some for the temporarily bad and then surprisingly also really did it for the good. It will make sense if you watch, I swear!
I really felt a lot of viewers misinterpreted Xuan Zhu as a character, I felt she was the most complex and realistic type...she wasn't one dimensional which a lot of people seemed to want her to be. They wanted her to be vain and selfish and that be her only motivation, and it's not, it is a LOT more complicated than that. You have a young girl who is ever in the shadow of her cousin, her cousin that has it all without even trying it seems...FL has the love from her parents that Xuan Zhu didn't get from her mother, FL has the love of the guy that Xuan Zhu fell for first and FL never even had to try to attract his attention...his eyes only saw her. Everything that Xuan Zhu wanted and even fought for, was never hers, while FL just existed and things fell in her lap....or so Xuan Zhu thought. During the course of the series, there is a lot of growth on XZ's part and I feel that her choice at the end was done for the right reasons, though there were still viewers calling her selfish and attention seeking, and I'm left wondering if those particular viewers are 12 years old or what?
I can't go too much into it or I'll spoil the whole show but I really enjoyed the acting of
Zheng Ye Cheng too, in this drama he was so polar opposite of some of his other roles but he was very believable. He was softer, sillier, more honest with feelings, just everything about this character was so different from his other roles and yet Zhen Ye Cheng made you believe he was an ancient immortal helplessly in love with a soul that he followed for a thousand years. You also at the same time absolutely believed he was a flamboyant flirty playboy of the worst type at the beginning of the series, this character also was very much not one dimensional. He has a secret and a reason for the way he acts along the way...but first you have to watch deeper in to the series to discover it all.
For a drama that has 30 episodes, it still managed to keep me connected and aching for more. I never got bored or felt it was repetitive for more than half an episode before we moved onto something new and bigger looming adventures. I felt this is what those 60 episode fantasy dramas could and should be like, cut it down to 30-35 episodes, get rid of the filler and concentrate on world building, character building, and real story telling. It gripped my heart and made me cry when I tried to describe important moments to someone else...if I'm not actively watching a show and I'm just remembering a character or a scene and I can still feel the emotions, then that marks it as a good drama in my heart.
I wish the ending had been a little more clear, so I'd give this a 9-9.5/10 but really other than the ending, it was a pretty dang good drama and I'll probably watch it again!
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