Dance of the Phoenix (2020)

Good drama, confusing ending with no closure.

For one, I sincerely hope that there's a season 2 for this drama else this really feels like an incomplete story.

Story: The story was good overall, the sub plots were nicely resolved. But I can't say the same about the main plot. (Read the ending of the review). Some questions that I still have is what happened to the real Feng Wu, did she actually die? if she really died, then after Feng Wu left, the person just disappears from that world? And also what happened to Mu Jiuzhou after he gave all his spirit energy to Jun Linyuan, did he become a normal human when he picked FL up in the end and what was his actual story, I'd really like to know more about him? Would've been better if we knew the actual origin of the fake Feng Wu.

Characters and acting: I'll start with the one that I loved most, Yu Mingye. He was an all round really tragic character, he saved the day more times than he was given credit for just because he wasn't the hero. He deserved a lot better than what he got and no character probably loved Feng Wu more than him. Then onto my next favorite, Mu Jiuzhou. Though he slept mostly, the times when he appeared were especially appealing to me, although I felt that his feelings were kinda ambiguous in everything..probably because even though he was an important character not much emphasis was given on him and his life or background. Feng Xun was a fun character. Zuo Qingluan was kinda dumb and she was evil only to Feng Wu out of her jealousy and greed. I hated that Holy Queen b more than anyone else. Jun Linyuan felt like an ordinary guy to me. And I really shipped Feng Wu with Yu Mingye more than him. I just couldn't see any chemistry between them, i don't know why.. probably I'm the only one with such opinion. Throughout I kept feeling that it was his one sided love for her and she doesn't care much about him. FL's acting was good for the most part but her expressions in her portrayal of love for ML was really bad, like there was no emotion. ML's acting was good as always and his expressions were never void. The characters were also mostly well written and well acted out.

Others: The music was really soothing and good. The sets and clothes were beautiful. Action scenes were good. The production was great overall.

Ending: Bad guys got what they had coming, secondary couple stayed together. I guess this was supposed to be an open ended drama from the final words of the FL so the 2nd season has slim chances although I do hope for one. A lot of questions were left unresolved for me but I had a good time watching it. A little more hint to the ending could've helped. I imagined what happened to the other characters by myself. Overall I liked it.
I'd recommend watching this if you have good creative imagination because you have to imagine the ending by yourself because there was zero closure.

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how? why? really?

honestly if I was not 22/30 i would have dropped it. none of the story makes sense. no background story on anything. awful acting, really bad directing. bad props, the story is just silly.
-seriously if you have not started, don't. save yourself the time and just watch something else.
-some of the worse acting and directing and scene i have seen. extremely rushed. might be covid???!!







- they can fly across dozens of kilometres in the air, but need horses to travel short distances and get lost in the forest.
-powers don't match, master wu that just died was the most powerful cultivator of their time. but he resorted to a pill against 1 ok power dude, and 1 girl that is not even as powerful as the prince. but the prince and the demon prince were getting their butt handed to them by him, but some how he could not 1 shot them. really man?.
-heroine is getting stronger. never seen her cultivate once.
-somehow she beats the most powerful rival that beat her once easily, without her blood, just randomly.
-there is no character development.
-why does the queen even want to destroy this culture? she is the queen. already the 2nd most powerful person. even if she lets the demons take over, she will still be 2nd.
-literally could have just made her lose her memory and the story would have been the same. cause she learned medicine from the old man anyways.
-king tells her you can marry him once you recover your blood. but does not remember her name with in 12 hours. so she will be the next empress, but her name is not important.
-there is 8 chances(episodes)that of some of this to be explained. but i really doubt it.
i think most of the story was written around random characters and just put it together.or maybe they made it up on the day of shooting.
-only good acting is by Feng Xun and Yin Zhao Ge. only reason this even got 3 stars. might be more of a directing issue than their acting skills. i have seen over 20 custom/historical dramas that all have well over 50 episodes and this is just silly, it is even worse than legends as far as how things are happening.

-on the positive note. the clothing and custom designs are amazing looking. some of the best i have seen.
-the CGI was really good for low budget though.

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Fine except for the blackface & fatphobia

The plot was... fine. It was not bad, and I enjoyed a few parts of it. The ending, as everyone else has said, sucked. But there are a few things I haven't seen anybody comment on.

First, the blackface. In the beginning of the show, the female lead (FL) disguises herself by making herself look "ugly," which just means making her skin darker and giving herself freckles. Everyone else keeps talking about how she's so ugly and frankly the fact that it was just because she's darker pissed me off.

Second, the fatphobia. The FL's best friend was cursed to never be able to eat her fill (as in, she can never feel full). Because of this, she became fat. This news is met with disgust and pity. Because, as this show would like to tell us, the worst thing you can ever be is fat. The FL goes so far as to put herself in danger to go through an extremely risky trial just to be able to cure her. Yes, never being able to eat your fill is a curse and it does suck. But being fat is not. And the way this show treated the only fat character in this show was cruel and upsetting. The character only gets to begin her life again (romance, improving her spiritual core, etc) once she's been "cured" and is magically skinny again. (Which... the fact that she got fat was because she kept eating since she never felt full. Her not being cursed should not have magically made her skinny.) I honestly cannot imagine how the poor actress must have felt that her size was constantly made fun of, and that she essentially was the "before picture" of this character.

There were some other issues, such as how all the women that sought to have power and to be respected ended up being evil (of course) but those two above were my biggest gripes and I could not simply forget about them.

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I loved the storyline and it was good until the last 3 minutes of it which did not make sense to me. Why the screenwriters did what they did is beyond me. All the episodes were exceptional, the main and supporting actors/actresses played their parts very well. I won't go into each actor or actress as I usually do because I am just now catching up with the review which I had watched some time ago. The Visuals, fantasy, and animations were incredible. Is it worth watching,? Yes, it is! You will have to make your own judgment on the ending. They should've stopped on Episode 29. BUT, I'm not a screenwriter.

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I'm left with a bitter taste!

STORY
The exposure of the events and the way the story went was pleasant until the end. The way of presenting the love relationship between the protagonists was very nice. However, the last episodes have been chaos. As for the end, a disaster. That's why I only gave 7.5.
ACTORS
They were chosen very well and played very well.
VISUAL
The quantity and quality of the effects was pleasant. The whole environment created was delightful.

I don't like to re-watch movies and shows, but because of the end I gave it a 7. It will be to hard for me to see again that ending.

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About the ending.

The ending was the saddest part. After all the hardships and sacrifices of Feng Wu and Jun Lin Yuan for their love story, they will have to be apart as Feng Wu/Meng Yuan doesn't really belong there. Three years ago, the real Feng Wu died and Meng Yuan's spirit was transferred in Feng Wu's dead body. During Feng Wu and Jun Lin Yuan's conversation, "I can't remember which episode was that", she told him that she will have to go back to where she belong. This is a sign that in the end, when she accomplished her mission, she will have to leave. I don't know if you would agree with me, but I realized that Mu Jiuzhou actually died in the last episode when he gave the entirety of his remaining spiritual power to Jun Lin Yuan. Before the wedding of Feng Wu and Jun Lin Yuan, Mu Jiuzhou came to pick her up to take her where she belong - the afterlife. The story ended with Feng Wu's last words, 'This is the story of my second life. Don't care too much about how it ends. The most important thing is that we've experienced, grown and loved.' These final words meant the end of her second life.

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All fun and games 'til someone loses an arm then you want many characters to die....No, Really!

How do I forget thee, let me count the ways.....

This drama is guilty of having the first few episodes written by one writer to hook you in, then makes fun of itself towards the middle-end. After watching this you'll forget what it's about.

The setup is the same ultra-special super premier and seemingly only wizard/pugilist/sect-driven school where only the best of the best from each clan/sect/martial art style, that sometimes hate each other, gather to be taught by the best of the best.

And as we know the best of the best, teaching the best of the best always get their butts handed to them when the looked down upon bad guys that weren't invited to the reindeer games show up and do bad things.....

The List
The teachers suck and can't protect anything
The mean girl gets away with everything, publicly even with the sacred and strict rules centuries unbroken rules.
You'll remember only how this drama started and forget what it was about.
You'll wonder why some of these students were let in in the first place after all the buildup.
If someone is so super special high kungfu, why do they need to enroll in the school anyway?
Did I say the teachers suck?
Someone loses an arm and the stupidity doesn't stop there.
You'll be able to pinpoint which episode you'll start to not care anymore.
Worst use of Eeyore's power not power that includes noble idiocy that was clearly meant to be an emotional moment but, leaves you staring with your mouth open in disbelief. Then, you'll laugh instead of cry or maybe do both, in hysteria because you wasted your time on a well-acted crap drama but you're already more than 24hrs in.
Not a good drama for body positivity. They could've left two of the characters in the so-called "less desirable" state and made a statement.
I can't remember, but, what are escorting guards and soldiers for?

The highlights
1. The leads commit to the nonsense, especially the male lead. So glad he's not making "money for momo (or whatever) anymore. But, then you never know there might be a part 3 of the other drama he did twice.
2. Comic relief friend and smirky smurf steal the show.
3. The first episodes, hell anything leading up to before they enter the school. In fact, skip the school and think of any other drama like this were main chick is constantly setup, challenged, or harmed. Then watch the last two episodes.

Recommending this to anyone who needs something to watch in between their currently airing ones to use up some time. I finished this drama a week ago and forgot there was an unwanted marriage involved. That's how forgettable this drama is.

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A show that could have been better developed.

It could have been incredible ...

Honestly, I started watching this drama because of Wang Hao Xuan, I think that many know him for the role of Xue Yang in The Untamed. As I really liked his acting and his character in the drama, I became a fan and wanted to follow the dramas in which he participated.
Then my saga begins to watch Dance Of Phoenix. At the time I was already in doubt if I would even watch this drama, basically because the story seemed like the typical story of Chinese drama, there was nothing really attractive to me, but I decided to continue on to Hao Xuan.

History: There was nothing very new for me, if you have seen some Chinese dramas, you must have seen some similar story or the same kind of development. Although it is based on the novel Godly Empress Doctor, I don't think they adapted the novel well. They could have developed the story further and added more episodes. It all happened so fast, the romance, the events ... So, for me the story was kind of uninteresting. I liked DarkNight Court, they were more interesting than the Celestial Palace and if I had explored their story further, the drama would have been better. I prefer the dark side of strength.

CGI: They weren't bad. The eagle (episode 1) and the rays (episode 26) were good effects, and the monster (episode 10), the wolf (episode 25) and the rays were good makeups. He liked the effect of the Court's powers as well.

OST: There is nothing special about OST, only two songs won my attention, which were the closing song (Tai Chu) and another song that appears in episode 26 (Lin Zhou) theme by Yu Mingye.

Performance: I will start with the protagonists, I liked the performance of the female protagonist, she had funny and cute expressions and knew how to be serious at the right moments, the protagonist I felt a little rigid and emotionless in some important moments of the plot, although I believe that your character has that kind of personality.
The other actors did well and captivated me. I really liked: Wang Hao Xuan (Yu MingYe) - his performance is totally different from his performance in The Untamed, as the expressive, sexy and charismatic villain Xue Yang. Here he was more serious, but we can see his emotions. I am very proud of how much he has improved <3

Guo Cheng (Feng Xun) - Made me laugh with his cute and funny acting like Feng Xun. I loved your expressions.

Estella Chen (Zhao Ge) Gao Ji Cai (Xuan Yi) - They were good too, she playing the cute Zhao Ge and he the serious and cute Xuan Yi.

Jinna (Zuo Qinluan) Played her villain very well, she had good expressions and made us angry with her character.

Characters:

Feng Wu: I like her very much, because she is an interesting, beautiful, intelligent, fun, independent and strong character (I love when she wears red) Wu is a kind of female character difficult to see in a Chinese drama, as it seems it became "fashionable" for female protagonists to be weak, fragile, with a child's voice, unable to make any decision and stupid as a door. I really avoid watching dramas that have characters like that, for me, as a woman, it's offensive. So having a character like her is a very good thing. I like the fact that she is decisive and does not let anyone put her down and that she is not a lady in danger who needs to be saved every 5 minutes. Her fight scene against the goddess Zuo was incredible, she looked very powerful and reminded me of the unbeatable Feng Wu of the novel. Wu has her own goals, her focus has always been to recover her cultivation and save her master and that makes me admire her as a woman. I missed seeing more scenes of her fighting or training, since she had incredible powers but which unfortunately were not so well explored in the drama, and only appeared in a moment of danger and then "PUFF" disappeared. But in general, she is a strong, adorable character, with a good heart and an incredible woman.

Jun LiYuan: What about him? Basically he is the typical character who dresses in white in Chinese dramas, who has the personality of an ice pack and who is all-powerful and who flatter everyone. I'm not a big fan of characters like that and from what I heard, in the novel he is unbearable and has no excuse for the pills he took in childhood, in the novel this pill never existed, he is cold, rude and arrogant by nature. They made him a little better in the drama, but he's not my type of character. And he had no chemistry with Feng Wu, his interactions were monotonous and I was always bored or messed with his cell phone when they interacted, because it was all a little forced, in fact they seemed more friends than lovers. We can't feel their love.

Yu Mingye: He and Feng Wu are the best characters without a doubt, in my opinion they are the most developed. MingYe had more depth than Liyuan. He grew up in a toxic environment, with an abusive father (he was punished when he failed on a mission) and yet he was someone with a good heart and kindness. He could be immature, powerful and arrogant and at the same time naive, adorable, selfless, gentle, loving and loyal.

I wish they had given him more screen time, but even with the little screen time, he stole the show. All the comments I read on Youtube talked about him and how he was the best Liyuan and that Feng Wu should stay with MingYe ( everyone fell in love with him) He had a lot of chemistry with her and would be a more interesting couple than Feng Wu and Jun Liyuan (I wish Yu MingYe and Feng Wu had been together in the end). MingYe showed that he really loved Wu because he always helped and supported her in his follies, he was always the first to take action and save her, he gave up on her because he knew she loved the other, and yet he said that they could be friends ( even suffering from it) he indirectly helped save Wu and the others, when they would be trapped on the mountain because of the barrier that Mozun placed. While fighting LiYuan, he guided him so that his blows would hit the main points of the barrier. And for the love of Wu, he went against his father and cut him off to save her, and he knew what was going to happen to him and yet he went and did it. And we know what happened to him, don't we ??? I haven't recovered from that yet.

In the end, he lost everything through unrequited love. He lost his arm, his court and in the end even his father. All this so that the protagonists lived well. And in the end he continued to help everyone, he released LiYuan and helped Feng Wu to win (even though it would make his court lose). If that's not being a good character, then I don't know what it is. In the end, he was the most wronged character in the drama and deserved much more. If there is a second season, give it a decent ending. Hao Xuan did a good job playing YMY, he loved his fight scenes, the style of his clothes and his acting. He has a strong presence, incredible beauty and looks stunning with period clothes and long hair

Feng Xun, Zhao Ge, Xuan Yi and Qing Qinluan: Feng Xun was the typical character who talked too much and outgoing, I really had fun with what he did, too bad they didn't give him much time and much importance. Zhao Ge was adorable and his romance with the serious and cute Xuan Yi was very cute, they had great chemistry and were the best couple.

Zuo Qinluan could have been better used, I found his death very early. She was an interesting character, she was powerful and she had her own motivations that involved power. She was very envious of Wu and wanted to take her place at all costs.

End: Although I don't care about a sad ending, I do care about the incomplete ending. It was kind of disappointing, although I don't care that they don't end up together. I didn't find the couple engaging or with chemistry so I wasn't sad. I felt that the last chapter could have been better elaborated, I thought that everything happened very quickly.

Some unanswered questions:

1- Where does Feng Wu go? Will she go back to her time or did she die?
2- How will Jun Liyuan continue without her?
3- Where did Yu MingYe go after everything that happened to him?

For those who like to spend time, I think this show would be good.

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I can't help but feel like the story is being made so shortcut

I think 30episodes is too little for this story cuz there are so many points that they don't explain us show us that make the drama so bad & confusing
There are many points that happens too fast and some events that I can understand.
I felt like Why??? there are many other ways but why???
To conclude , I felt like 30episodes is too little for this drama. I felt like I was watching the drama by skipping many necessary scenes.

And the ending.... I thought her teacher was dead by giving all his spiritual energy to the male lead but how he survived ??? So many questions left after watching it.

The thing that shock me is the fact that the actress is from modern world ,she is a traditional student & even her real name can only be found on the synopsis. Nothing was shown or even told in drama!!!

Another thing that annoy me was they change cloth at the critical time. For eg1... Female lead thought male lead was dead and she was mourning.The main point is at that time they were hiddening from the enemy in a cave and she changed clothes...
Eg 2.... Male lead is also injured and he was in hurry to save the female lead. When he arrived he was wearing the new dress ?

I think from the ending there maybe Season 2

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a lot left unsaid

this drama had so much potential but left me with a lot of questions

I just wish they would've shown where the new feng wu came from... in the beginning her master said that she would "remember" where she came from/who she is and I was looking forward to a scene that showed her as a "medical student" but there weren't any and I would have never known if I didn't read the synopsis. She came from "another world" which I'm assuming is the modern world... but other than some slang words the entire drama her personality/attitude doesn't make it seem like she doesn't fit in (like the way the FL in The Eternal Love reacted to things). It seemed like she just accepted her fate and decided this was her life and she needed to help her "master" that she didn't even know. I hate the ending when she had to go back to her world but it doesn't show where her world is or the usual cliche scene where ML is actually also in her world LMAO

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Overall Trash

This one started off well and hopefully, but it fell flat like a turd from an airplane. The story has more plot holes than Swiss cheese. The ML is useless and needs to lay off the teeth whitening. (Sorry that’s a bit cruel.) The FL is supposed to be this powerful being, but she’s just a product of bullying. The graphic are silly.

The best thing about it is the costumes. Those are quite pretty. Some of the choreography is nice, as well.

In no way would I recommend anyone wasting even a second on this one. There are some phenomenal shows out there (I’ve watched a lot of them) and this is not one of them.

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Time traveling meets deity meets chinese harry potter?

To be honest the story was like a 7/ 10. The story is too complicated and doesn't explain itself well.. Its too busy
1) female lead time travels or her soul gets transfered into Feng Wu 's body. She holds phoenix powers but lost the phoenix blood because the evil girl in the story took it from her. ( but theres no showing of the soul transfer)
2) Female lead has a master who has been in slumber, due to the fact that he tried to save feng wu when she lost her phoenix blood ... So feng wu mission becomes finding the broken spirit/soul pieces of her master, to awaken him., all while she is attending an academy ( kinda like the ones of harry potter)
3) The "supposely" heaven queen.. Her story is kinda complicated too.. she isnt a pure character but also one who is evil. She tries to over throw the heaven king which is her husband. She holds hatred for feng wu's master, because when the queen was young , she like the master, but the master didn't like her.... so hence she doesnt want feng wu to find the other parts of his soul.
4) Other parts of the story involves battling mythical creatures. ( which was interesting)
5) At the academy there is a master who ends up turning evil ? His character story line was awkward and weird.
6) some of the effects were way to fake.... like the thunder/lighting part... sighs..

Onto some of the parts i liked...
1) Male lead is handsome and definitely the driver of this drama. Female lead just didnt stand out enough.
2) Male lead's love for female lead. He really liked her and showed his affection for her. For her she did too but it didn't feel the same. Some are saying that they have no chemistry, which i agree and disgree on. The scenes of them being together is sweet tho !!!! it doesnt involve kissing . But for the kissing scenes it was not the greatest and no chemistry. I feel like a lot of them just lock lips and then don't move, lol that really isnt a kiss. They just hold it there, or another famous one is the spontaneous kiss which catches the female lead by surprise. haha maybe i'm too picky about the kissing scenes.
3) second male lead is also cute and caring towards the female lead. I didn't like his ending/ what happened to him
4)I liked how the female lead was a really kind character and innocent character.

It started off pretty solid, but after 20 something episodes , everything unravels and becomes kinda blunt and doesnt explain itself well. :( its not a bad watch, but got tired of it ...

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