The Devil Punisher (2020)

A Train is Coming ......

The Devil Punisher is a 2020 romance fantasy supernatural drama co-produced by Sanli and Netflix. This drama includes some elements of mythology. I was originally really pumped waiting for this drama to finish airing since the synopsis looks pretty interesting. I ran here after finished watching the drama, and all I can say is it is a train wreck.

In Chinese mythology, Zhong Kui is a demon fighter (you might have seen pictures of him posted on doors). According to legends, when he was a mortal, he lived during the Tang dynasty era. He participated in the palace examination, however, due to jealousy, the prime minister framed him and he took his own life. Meanwhile, Meng Po is known as the goddess/ grandma who cooks forgetfulness soup so that souls who reincarnate will have no memories of their past life, thus there is no grievances nor resentfulness. This drama narrative revolves around Zhong Kui and Meng Po as lovers that transcend over time.

It all started after a hateful spirit burned a bridge in the underworld realm and dragged Meng Po to the human realm. Upon arriving at the human realm, Meng Po memory was erased and her heavenly aura was sealed, making Zhong Kui unable to find her for a period of time. Shortly after finding Meng Po, Zhong Kui and Meng Po crack stranger supernatural cases together, and in the process of it, Meng Po falls for Zhong Kui once again. However, not long after problems start to brew bigger. The problems they were solving were like dominos that lead to one another, which ultimately lead to the big plan and the villain. The villain in the drama is really predictable, after watching a few episodes, I am pretty sure that most of the viewers are able to guess who is the big bad boss.

This drama was funny and interesting in the first few episodes, I laughed quite a few times watching the earlier episodes. However, it got really draggy and it has a lot of nonsensical plot and plotholes in the middle of the drama. The climax lacks intensity, and the ending of this drama was really rushed and full of nonsense. Why go all around circles, ups and down when the problem/ trial could be solved easily. For real, the problem-solving in this drama was really funny and nonsense. In addition, one episode of this drama is around 1 hour long, which will probably make some fall asleep or really sleepy while watching this.

The characters in this drama are straight so bland, they have no personality or whatsoever. I don't know if the characters were written in that way. And I'd like to give a slap to En Xi, she acted so bratty and took everything for granted. The actors and actresses' acting was emmm, it was like a child's play. I watched one of Mike He's dramas, Cambrian Period, but his acting does not give me any impression, meanwhile, this is the first Ivy Shao drama I watched. Their acting was downright bland, I am sorry to say this but I feel like all of the actors in this drama were just reciting lines. I mean yea the male lead looks hot and the female lead looks cute but they have no chemistry at all. I always laughed at their kiss scenes, I feel like watching 2 fishes kissing every time they kissed...

This drama got a pretty huge subsidy from the government, however, I wonder where all those budgets went. The production, the cinematography is so terrible it looks like a high school kid production drama. I don't know if because it is shot during Corona or what but it is terrible. I have no words on how to describe it, I The CGI was average, not too bad but not good also, even though there were some terrible CGIs. And even if the cinematography is terrible, I am still kinda looking forward to the actor's outfit but again, their outfit is soo bland.. And the historical/ period costume, makeup, the hairstyle was horrendous; I am sure even a small production period drama did it better. As for the BGM and OSTs, there is nothing catchy in particular.

I thought I'd give this 4.5, because there are some cases that were pretty touching (but still not well-developed), and for their comedy element in the early episodes, and lastly for the character development. The only character development I see throughout this series is Zhong Kui and Ouyang Kai. Their character develops as the story arc progresses- Zhong Kui became more "sympathetic and more humane", Ouyang Kai became more "mature".

I thought of dropping it halfway, but I kept on watching since I was curious if the story takes a better turn but It does not. Overall, if you are a fan of the actors or genre, go ahead and watch but for me who is not a fan of the actor nor genres, it is a waste of time and energy.

Read More

Give it a Try—There’s more to this show than you think

I think that some people struggled watching this show because there were some links to Devil Punisher being a lot like Goblin.

But let me just tell you that it’s not really the case. The show had a lot of layers to it that all lead to one major tipping point by the end.

And while romance/love is a strong, consistent piece of the story as a whole, The Devil Punisher is a combination mystery, karma/fate, revenge and supernatural/ ghosts.

In fact the whole things kicks off due to a 1,000 vendetta against the Ghost King but the signs of another character at play were even clear in the first episode and that mystery element is what hooked me right away.

But like I said there’s a lot of mention of karma and a trial meant for the main lead character, Chong Kui, that only he can indoor by the end. To me this was probably the most annoying thing to find out because he was surrounded by gods and he couldn’t really do anything at times.

At the same time, this brought humility to the show and his character because as an ordinary person when face obstacles in our lives we can’t just make them go away with powers. (And obviously, I could relate to seeing him mopping around.)

And this linked/faded battle between the villain, Lu Chi, in the center of the story brought to light even more barriers within the story’s construction of the “three realms” that give pause to some (American) viewers which I understand.

There’s a lot of instances where we were like “why can’t they do this?; why can’t this happen?” but just based on the rules that show up in the world of the show that the “gods” can’t really interfere with the whole ordeal as a while actually starts to make sense as you continue to watch.

Is it annoying? ABSOLUTELY!!!!! Did I find Chong Kui’s determination to face all of it on his own without considering Meng Po’s perspective ridiculous?

Absolutely!!!! But that was just something his character seemed to even more aggressively by the end because he knew Meng Po wouldn’t sit back and do nothing when she felt so responsible for Lu Chi’s actions.

But, as an American viewer, there where themes and details I had to wrap my head around while watching this as it seemed to reveal a lot of cultural and mythology elements that I wasn’t familiar with.

By the end of the show, I realized why we got so much time in the “mortal world” between the two leads and why there was so much buildup and (at times) what felt like “filler” leading up to that last few episodes.

Moreover, because of the way the ending is and really how things started in their past lives those scenes were basically there to show us and to give the main characters time together because it becomes clear that it wasn’t something they had before.

The ending made me cry but I am so glad I watched it till the end because there is a resolution to everything.

Read More

Mediocre series with very satisfactory ending

The Devil Punisher starts off very rocky with a horrendous first episode along with the first few episodes being filled with very obvious and obnoxious filler. Not all of the first few episodes are bad in my opinion but many of them are just not good at all. The show starts picking up though and it's an enjoyable enough all the way to the end. Is the show a low budget cheesy mess? Yes but that's exactly what I was looking for. If you're watching this show, expect everything to be flawed because it's really not the greatest show in the world.

Despite how mediocre the show can be, I'd really recommend this show for anybody who is also into low budget cheesy supernatural shows especially if you're looking for one with a very satisfactory ending. It's not exactly a mind blowing ending but it did make me feel like this mediocre show was worth watching. It even tied some loose ends that I never even thought they'd address again.

So just how satisfying was the ending for me? Warning, this will get in depth with spoilers.

First of all, one of the main themes of the show especially early on is Zhong Kui's strictness as the Ghost King and how Xin Yu softens him which allows him to better a Ghost King in the end. This surprisingly paid off big time in the end despite how bleak things looked. Many of the characters are characters that Zhong Kui interacts with early on in the series are people who needed help but he was too strict with rules to find better solutions which is why it was great to see Xin Yu help change him change his ways. The main villain was killing people and using their tragic deaths to corrupt their spirits for his own cause. Zhong Kui could've dealt with these spirits heartlessly without understand their plight just like always but Xin Yu allowed him to see past that. Together, they helped these spirits heal and have closure after being manipulated after their murders. There are lot of tears and emotional involved in finding closure so if there was no real pay off. Well, by the finale, both the main villain and audience is led to believe that it was all for nothing and he managed to corrupt good people anyways in order to further his goals, but that wasn't the case. The main villain was too delusional to see that despite his best efforts, he failed to fully corrupt the spirits that he needed, and he was using good spirits to try to corrupt someone else which obviously doesn't work. The good spirits come through in the end and Zhong Kui's softer side comes to save their asses in the end. Ultimately, the end of the final battle wasn't decided by a fancy swordfight where the best fighter won, it was decided by the good deeds of Zhong Kui and Xin Yu throughout the series who saved souls from corruption and made humans believe in them.

Xin Yu softening Zhong Kui helped him realize that the rules do not always determine what's morally right or wrong. The characters start breaking certain rules based on their morals which is great because the rules just aren't always right. Breaking the rules and following their morality definitely pays off in the end but I won't elaborate on that.

Reincarnation is also one of the main themes of the show and again, I think the finale did a really good job with that theme. Sadly, when bad things happen in a show and people need to risk their lives to save the day, not everyone makes it out alive. Luckily, everyone is allowed to reincarnate in hopes that their next lifetime is better. The tragedy of the show is felt by the loss of some of these character's lives but there's always a light at the end of the tunnel when we consider reincarnation. A ghost show where everyone survives doesn't make sense so I thought it was fitting that some characters that we knew and loved just had to move onto the next life.

Another high point of the finale is that there's an actual epilogue rather than having everything quickly resolve right at the end of the episode. You got to see emotional moments between characters, you got to see their chapters practically close out, and it just felt right. If you want to watch a flawed show with a good enough conclusion, The Devil Punisher is a good enough watch. They did what they had to do with the finale and not every show needs to be mindblowingly good. So don't totally dismiss this show just because it's not the best.

The main villain's acting is still atrocious though, nothing can really fix that.

Read More

So bad it's hilarious

I've been watching the episodes of this show every weekend with my friend because we think it's funny. We saw the trailer and decided we had to watch it for it's horrific effects and random nonsense. This show is poorly made in so many ways. The plot is rarely cohesive, the characters are extremely bland and not funny whatsoever. The effects are some of the worst and best things my eyes have ever seen, for the wrong reasons. This show, visually, looks horrendous. There are so many out of place scenes too. Half the time I want to fall asleep watching this show. Every single episode is an hour long and I just can't deal with that. This show doesn't captivate me at all so the entire hour is dreadful and a complete waste of time. This show is not worth your time. Watch the first episode, laugh, and move on with your life.

Read More

Let You Decide

I watch this drama because I am a huge fan of Mike He. The start of this drama I really enjoy. The story was different and it seem more of a mystery type of story. Yes, it is a fantasy and with a cute romance. Special affects are added and the story tries to explain each character. I was only disappointed in the last few episode of the story were the lead male character is suppose to be a leader in the underworld but could not do anything to the evil villain. That made no sense to me when thru all the previous episode everyone was scare of him and the power he possessed. The lead female character disappointed me because she acted so strong with naïve and innocence but smart. Yet when the evil characters came face to face with her she acted like a dog with her tail between the legs and scare. Even when her friend was being torture she just stood there and did nothing when she had one strength in her and that was the evil villain was in love with her. The ending was so so and did not totally satisfied me. But over all I let you all decide because there are some good scenes in it. The actors did the best performance with this story.

Read More

A surprisingly good ending to a very draggy series

I had placed this series on hold at the end of watching episode sixteen due to the fact that I was getting annoyed with everything- the storyline, the acting- EVERYTHING! So, I watched the remaining four episodes and have now completed this series. And I must say...I was somewhat pleasantly satisfied with the final two episodes of this series.

Story- 6.5/10
I was originally going to give this a 5 due to the fact that after the ML and FL lead got together (which I think is between episode 7 to 10), the story went downhill for me. However, the last two episodes had me in my feelings and actually crying as the story progressed. So, due to that, I am going to give this series a 6.5.

Acting-7/10
I originally hated all of the actors acting, except for the one who plays Ouuyang Kai. He was the only reason why I stayed with this series as his character went thorugh a change for the better. And then especially at the ending where he gave up his life for En Shi (who, by the way annoyed the hell out of me during this whole series, except for the remainig three episodes). However, nearly everyone's acting improved for me in the final three episodes, except for who playdd Lu Bo Ya. Yeah, that character was annoying me so much that I actually think I may have enjoyed the series better if they did a better job with thier big bad.

Music-7.5/10
The music was beautiful.

Rewatch Valu-5.5/10
Here's the thing, if I take out the unnecessary episodes from when the ML and FL got together to when they knew who was behind all the drama, I believe this series may have been better. Due to that, I'm not that eager to rewatch this series so quickly.

Overall-6.5/10
Well, what can I say? What I liked about this series can't really help me score it higher than a 6.5. I would only recommend this series to someone if they literally have nothing to watch and they want to kill time in between something that they want to watch.

Read More

Loves that last a few lifetime

Omg. 10++++What a fantastic storyline. I think it's a first. The cast is perfect as is the chemistry of all it has enough good looking God's/Humans. It starts with 2 God's Meng po and Zhong kui that like each other but never say anything until an angry spirit causes hell in the underworld and he kidnapped Ms Meng 1087 and blew up the bridge of oblivion where humans go for reincarnation. Problem is 1 day in underworld is a few months in the human realm. So he has to find her, but she lost her aurora, but he has a piece of her name tag so he looks for her where he gets a signal and runs into her and gives her a hugs her, she say"do you know me". She has amenia and is human. He can't tell her who she is yet, but he becomes friends so he can protect her. In the hunt for the evil spirit that caused all of it. There is a chain reaction leading to melious spirits hurting and killing humans so ML looks to find info on the Spirit Wu Qing yuan that kidnapped FL. Upon investigation they find that he just a distraction and the real person is powerful and evil. Thru FL he meets Exni her roomate(also he sister from 1000yr ago) and coworker at tea/coffee shop run by Professa LuBoya (aka Prime Minister Lu) also from the past, but they don't know until further in the story. The ML and his side kicks help wandering soul cross over and the evil ones to that have families they help solve their own problems. So enough the ML/FL start to fall in love, but Lu boya show jeousley and against it and starts causing problems between Meng po and Enzi. Soo enough all these issues start in the college and there working together, to solve a drug issue causing the students to be hypnotized in a trance and professor Lu helps them but the master minds is smart. They go back and forth solving issues when professors Lu starts showing feeling for FL and Enzi starts to pull away and acting jeousle and FL explains she that she only likes ML. Soon we realize that the professor is the mastermind and they have to tread. Easy so he doest know. Short version now is that the hate has been built up for a. 1000 year and he will take the FL for himself. The show continues on how they have to stop him and save everyone else. It's a great drama

Read More

Good start . . . disappointing finish . . .

I found this series off to a good start but got really annoyed with the last 5 to 6 episodes. Once the focus changed from the protagonist to the antagonist, it got almost painful to watch. I finished this series only because I was invested in some of the characters and wanted to find out how it ends for them . . . but even the character 'development' was lacking.

At first I was amused by the portrayal of Lu Chi, but I quickly found it annoying and contrived. His wide-eyed, maniacal, teeth-exposed grin and gimmicky 'devil-hand' were almost enough to make me give up on this series. During those last few episodes, I also started to get a little exasperated with and tired of Zhong Kui's constant "All we can do is wait" mantra and his insistence on not sharing the burden of resolving this trial with Lady Meng.

Although I was okay with the ending in general, the solution itself felt like it was coming completely out of left field, ironically staying true to the series' "Heavenly" topic, by presenting almost a Deus-ex-machina solution.

Although I do not plan to re-watch this series, I was pleasantly surprised to see two of my favorite actors, Amanda Chou and Johnny Yang in this series and I may try other series by one or two of the lead actors in this series.

Read More

A good show indeed !

It’s called everything from a romance to a supernatural time-travel drama. It also introduces some of China’s historic and religious beliefs wrapped in a story about Gods and Humans, relationships and revenge. The story here revolves around The Exorcism Lord, Chung Keui, who’s also known as the ‘Devil Punisher’. He comes to Earth to put malicious spirits back in their box before they affect humans.He’s also on a mission to find Lady Meng 1087, who’s kidnapped and brought to Earth. As a result, she loses her memory of her work in the Underworld and Chung. With a sizeable, time-sensitive job, he’s also keen to win the heart of Hsin-Yu, as she’s known on Earth.

Mike He, who plays Chung Kuei, can be seen most recently in the 2018 drama Tree in the River and film Come On Teacher. Ivy Shao is Lady Meng/Hsin-Yu appearing in romance dramas The Perfect Match and Back to 1989, both available on Netflix. Lu Po Ya is portrayed by Anson Chen, also seen in The Missing Half and Temptation of Plastic Surgery and soon to be hitting Hollywood according to news reports.

Known for his intelligence, Chung Kuei is the warden of hell’s prison. Folklore, which dates back to the 700’s, notes his role is to rid the Chinese empire of evil. As a result, he’s often invoked at Chinese New Year to protect in the year ahead. Each episode closes with a message attributed to Chung Kuei, imbuing his responsibility as defender and vanquisher. Among the array of deities represented is Cheng Huang, whose historic role is to protect a city’s defences as guardian. As Chung’s friend and supporter, he also delivers many of the lighter moments, teasing Chung about his love life and supplying lessons in tactical dating.

One of the more gratifying pieces is the 1000-year romance between Chung and Hsin-Yu. It shifts charmingly from ‘That guy must be in a triad, let’s call the police,’ to fighting side-by-side .Generous 65-70 min instalments give the creators plenty of time to dig into the narrative, sharing historic and cultural detail. The first several of which ease you into the story and the characters. It doesn’t get going until Episode 6 which takes a little too long but does connect the dots from there onward, effectively raising the tension from Episode 9.

The mysterious origin of the malevolent ghosts and their uncanny power unfolds cleverly, offering opportunities to speculate. Yet while some reveals are done well, others slip in randomly where you could miss it if you’re distracted. Directors Zhang Jinrong and Chen Jingwen are supported by a team of four writers pulling together multiple plot points. Perhaps that’s a few too many cooks in the kitchen, as the storyline does seem to scatter here and there. Occasionally too drawn out with more ghost side stories than necessary, some chapters felt tedious while others zipped by.

Whilst the backstory is enjoyable to discover, it could have been more cohesive, explaining some pieces sooner. At times it seemed like a mess of unconnected information, presuming a level of understanding that’s probably true to audiences in Taiwan and China but a bit confusing for those watching from other Netflix markets. Sets are a complementary mix of modern and historic, Earthly, Heavenly and Underworld-bound with concepts based on tales of The Bridge of Helplessness and the sky-high office of the Director of Destinies.

While special effects are appealing for the most part, occasionally you’ve got to wonder about the choices, particularly considering the production scale. The blue-painted ghosts, for example, that are only translucent when someone is passing through them. Otherwise, they’re just blue people. And toward the end there’s one effect that stands out as ‘really?’ But in the spirit of spoiler alerts, I’ll leave that for you to discover.

‘Last Look’ is the catchy opening song and a tough one to find, which feels like a miss. It’s track 1 on the Original Soundtrack (OST) and one of the few places to hear the whole thing, rather than the shorter on-air cut. Another worth pointing out, noted by fellow viewer, Kave is pretty duet ‘If You Turn Around,’ sung by chanteuse Amanda Wang and Anson Chen (Lu Po Ya), number 3 on the OST.

There are some translation issues that plague the Netflix version of this drama too. The character names have quite different spellings to the series notes on Netflix and other sites, adding a layer of unnecessary confusion. Therefore, to make it easier to follow on The Review Geek, we aligned the names with the embedded subtitles. In addition to the translation muddle is the multitude of names for each character, including nicknames, titles, names from a past life, etc. You’ll need to focus to keep up.

Like Jamie commented on the finale, I was disappointed with the conclusion. It’s not that it wasn’t satisfying – they do tie up loose ends and relationships – but more that the crescendo was lackluster after many hours of build-up. Additionally, they seemed to have dropped the ball on the ‘how’ of the power behind the malicious spirits and their leader.

What The Devil Punisher presents then is a dive into culture and a fanciful spin out into the modern world. It’s an interesting perspective on the processes and administration of the afterlife, to be sure. Interestingly, although reviews were mixed, it maintains a number one rating in market and strong following on The Review Geek.

Action-packed and filled with interesting concepts, the build up to the Nine Star Alignment gave promise. We spent a lot of time with this show – over 1500 minutes believe it or not – and may have been willing to forgive some of the previous mismatch. But ultimately, the resolution was anticlimactic.

Read More

Prone to Deus ex machina

The Devil’s Punisher is more enjoyable in its earlier episodes where the plot is less convoluted and the pacing more balanced. The evolution of Anson Chen’s character becomes almost laughable because of his overacting and total lack of nuance . The second challenge is that I’m not convinced the writers knew where the plot line was heading so to move the story to some sense of conclusion in later episodes, they resorted to a number of instances of Deus ex machina making the end of the film appear clunky and convoluted. From a filming point of view, someone discovered colour enhancement and went wild with over-saturated scenes and colours that appeared artificial. On the whole, though, the show was enjoyable but is in need of better editing and direction, particularly for Anson.

Read More

Coming Up With Everything On The Spot

I was excited to start this one - I loved the trailer and I have been wanting to give Ivy Shao another chance. I waited for all the episodes to come out so I could do a proper binge, as I knew I was really going to like this one and would probably finish the 20 eps in a weekend. Instead, I felt that this drama fell flat.

I liked how it contained mythology that I assume was realistic and would have provided a much-needed background for the viewers. Unfortunately, this was not the case for me so I sat back and just tried to enjoy the storyline, assuming that these "rules" or "laws" were true. I also enjoyed that this wasn't a traditional drama where the two mains meet and become friends and fall in love - the two mains were "star-lovers" who have been fated for the past 1000 years, but have also been "separated" due to an agreement that was made in the past. During this 1000 year "separation,' they have been both working in the underworld; Cheng Kui, as a superstar devil punisher, and Lady Meng, as an underworld tea maker that creates a serum that helps recently deceased spirits forget their troubles and memories of their past life in order to be ready to be reincarnated. One day, a malicious spirit takes Lady Meng hostage while blowing up an important bridge in the underworld, and Cheng Kui makes it his mission to find her in the mortal realm. But this isn't a story about him only trying to find her and bring her back to the underworld, as this happens within the first episode. This was a mystery crime drama about the two mains, while being accompanied by other supernatural characters and some mortal ones, trying to solve the mystery of the malicious spirit behind the underworld explosion that results in a bigger issue and test that goes back 1000 years.

I saw a lot of similarities from this series as I did in Korean dramas Black (2017) https://mydramalist.com/23772-black & Bring It On, Ghost (2016) https://mydramalist.com/18468-bring-it-on-ghost; and honestly, if you are looking for a "better" drama, I would recommend these 100%.

I felt that this drama was lacking emotion and character building. Yes, it did have these elements in it, but I needed more. There were so many scenes that were supposed to be extremely emotional, such as all the goodbye scenes between families and their deceased loved ones before they had to go to the underworld, but ultimately fell flat due to us not really knowing these people and connecting with them. Plus all the scenes felt a little long and the goodbyes a little dragged out. I wanted to sob along with these families, but I honestly felt that I had no heart while watching this.

I also didn't connect with the mains as much as I wanted to. If they were fated lovers from the past, I wanted to know their stories from the past and felt that the writer/director could have done a better job with this. Yes, Lady Meng was learning and getting her memories back slowly (after losing them all when she came to the mortal realm), but I wish we got to learn more about the past as she did. Everything was told to us in the present and I didn't feel a connection whenever they brought up anything from the past.

The things that I liked -->

- Cheng Kui's hamster smile
- Cheng Kui, Lady Meng, Lu Bo Ya, Ouyang Kai, & Cheng Huang's teamwork
- Everything really about Ouyang Kai
- Everything about Lu Po Ya also

I honestly did feel extremely bad for Ouyang Kai as he was forever always getting beat down by Li En Xi, but he played a very important role in this drama. And honestly, he went through the MOST if not the only one who went through character development. I loved how he was this son of a mobster who accidentally ran into Lady Meng & En Xi completely on accident, but ended up getting wrapped up in their world and became Cheng Kui's sidekick. There, he learned that he could use his admirable skills in a positive way, and also hopefully become a better man and also get the girl. He was my favorite.

Then we have actor Anson Chen, who was out here doing his best at playing Po-Ya. He wasn't the "best" actor, BUT he did bring something extra to his role that I admire.

Overall, this drama did fall a bit flat for me. I think around episode 5, I really wanted to drop it, but I kept pushing on for my two boys. I think around episode 15, it started to pick up again as Lady Meng decided she was going to take matters into her owns hands and needing to figure out her memories and how she was related to the villain. And I will say that I am happy that I decided to finish this drama because the last episode was really good. I honestly, wished that the emotion from the last episode (because yes - I did tear up a little because of one of the side characters) would have played out more in the previous 19 episodes. It was almost like they finally figured out how to go about these emotional scenes, but it was too late as it was the last 30 minutes of the last ep. But as much as I liked the last episode, I felt that the writer just couldn't leave it with an emotional happy ending and decided to add a few "bubblegum" details to make it extremely positive. I was honestly...a bit irked by the added details, but whatever. Me giving this drama 6.5 is being generous.

Read More