The Journey of Chong Zi Episode 40

Cute in a way I haven't seen in xianxia dramas

I don’t understand all these bad reviews and that’s why I came here to comment. This is clearly a slow development of character series, so you shouldn’t expect quick chemistry between the leads, nor quick resolution of the plot. Indeed, it takes a lot of episodes to introduce the immortal world and the main characters, but it is really pleasant to watch at first. After all, the landscape, the music, the actors, the clothes and the manners are really soathing! The point is that there were mistakes on the plot and the cuts, but that didn’t maculate the heart of the story.So, here is my contribution to the positive and negative traits in the series (contains spoilers):POSITIVE:- Slow burn romance between the leads. If there is one thing I hate about other dramas is that generaly the romance is completely forced in the beginning with many embarrasing situations. In the Journey of Chong Zi that doesn’t happen, Here, the Male Lead (ML) is very respectful, rational, and has good intent towards the Female Lead (FL). This is really rare to see on oriental series, where they like to portray mischievous ML. I think the natural and slow dynamic contributes to the chemistry between FL and ML. Also, the most passionate kisses were really convincing. - I saw a lot of people complaining about the age gap of the actors, but I think it is very appropriate to ilustrate the difference of experience of master and disciple. In fact, there is not a huge physical age gap in the story. Chong Zi enters the immortal sect when she is 14, but first leaves Zizhu Peack to see her colleagues at 17, when she starts cultivating her immortal bones more properly and Luo Yin Fan starts having feelings for her. If you think this through, there is not a relevant age difference from Yin Fan, who cultivated immortal bones at 22, as it is written in the novel. The factual difference is in their souls, that has a millennial gap. ML seems to understand that and has a lot of patience with her childness.- The FL has 3 lives and changes in each one, but her good will continues the same. That’s what makes Luo Yin Fan fascinated by her: she is a demon born, but is pure inside. Even when Chong Zi tries to be bad, she remembers what he taught her and eventually stops her bad actions. In this case, we have to admit that the ML gave her a great example of not letting bad feelings destruct us. From his side, his prime beliefs of demons being pure evil and immortals being pure good dissipates after he get to know FL.- The ML starts the series really rational and invincible. Within time, he gets more and more emotional and turns out not to be the invincible one. He even tries to give up his position in Nanhua and risks the possibility to not become a god through Heart Mirror Skill. In fact, he prefers to be nobody, but stays with Chong Zi who is in the same page as him, rather than sustain titles. That’s really honorable, considering the cruelty of the immortal sect. By the way, I really liked the fact that he didn't turn out to a demon like in the novel. It would be so unnecessary and dying as a hero suits him well in the drama because of the modifications on his character. - Destiny is a theme. Since the beginning, the characters talk about destiny. ML teaches FL that if something is linked to someone, it will be anyway. Since he killed her in her first life and feels regret because he knows she was good-willed, in her second life he doesn’t want to accept her as a disciple to prevent her suffer an injustice again in Nanhua. FL insists so much that he accepts her and later on he tells her that their paths wasn’t crossed by chance. Later on, their fated love is reforced when he loses his memory but does not want to kill her as a demon because he doesn’t see her being so evil as she can be. Also, in the novel, Chong Zi’s destiny is uncertain because they want to know if she’ll become a demon but only see a sword in her future. So, they consider this it an uncertain future. As we know from episodes 40 and 41, she becomes a spirit with Yin Fan inside the purified sword of Ni Lun.- I really liked Qin Ke (the prince that enters Nanhua with Chong Zi), Yan Zhen Zhu (FL’s best friend) and Wang Yue (Demon King). They were the most developed characters. I liked a lot the performance of Wan Jie's actor (Uncle/Demon King in first arc), but I didn't like the character, I only liked Mu Yu / Tian Zhixie when he sacrificed himself to make ML remember FL.- The OST is addicting. It is the best drama soundtrack so far. NEGATIVE:- The plot has some issues with contradiction and omission, so some things get really confused. Also, the cuts has some crucial mistakes. Either some scenes are too short or too long.- I wanted to see more development of other important characters. They developed secundary characters instead. I felt that some love stories were irrelevant to support the leads, so it would’ve been better to develop some other interesting characters.- The events in the final episode were too fast that lead to confusion. I had to watch some parts again to understand the final battle because they took too long showing another unimportant love stories and left the final with some holes. For example, how does the ML tell FL after he killed himself (she didn’t kill him, it was him who broke his meridians before her sword slashed him) that he doesn’t exist anymore but still teaches her a lesson about what she can do to stop the damage? Also, if Luo Yin Fan achieved the Heart Mirror Skill, he should turn into a god, but instead we see him turning into the purified sword's spirit with Chong Zi. Did he become a sword spirit because he wanted or was it a fate occasion? In the novel, we know that it was because he wanted, but it wasn't clear in the drama. Also, in episode 41 we see the couple as spirits of a sword, but only he remembers the past. It is clear that he can because of his powerful and mature energy, but did he erase her memory or she forgot because, since she was purified by the Heart Mirror Skill, she didn’t have any mature espiritual energy to remember the events?- The actor Jeremy Tsui nailed the character of Lou Yin Fan and stealed the spotlight of Yang Chaoyue as Chong Zi. The main character is her, but he is the one that everyone feels hypnotized by because of his excellent acting skills and the fact that his character is far more interesting than hers. This way, the journey is from Chong Zi, but he turns into the main character of the series without intent.- Zhuo Hao is so annoying. I don’t know how he could be the second male lead.In general, I like the series a lot. There were, indeed, flaws, but it doesn’t undermine the show. So, I totally recommend for people who like fantasy and romance.

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