AleksandraSucur

you've missed nothing, I've dropped LBtG at ep 13. I guess I'll also continue to watch a few more eps of AtC and follow what other viewers say here

Idk, convincing acting is never enough for me if the plot is shallow and this one is definitely too plain and trope-ful for me to really enjoy the actors and the chemistry. Maybe bc I've recently completed more engaging and original stories, so I get bored quickly when a drama lacks this element

indeed, I've watched 5 eps and don't know if to continue or not with such a weak plot. Trying to figure out here if it gets better later...

Indeed, we should be thankful they didn't drag with that part.

the pace normalized in ep. 2. It was very fast in the first ep., bc. the duration of eps is shorter in general and the authors rushed the first one to explain the reason of Di Renjie's demotion to a distant province in order to dedicate to proper cases.

I also think I'll put it on hold and check Tang Mist first

yup

The first drama I need to watch at a slower speed.😂 The pace is breakneck!

Yes, that intro is really smth

It's very strange though. The screenwriter wrote the script for The Story of Minglan, containing several of the best written C-drama dialogues in general and in which you can tell practically every character from what he or she says. I suppose the screenwriter had poorer original material to work on but it wouldn't be a huge issue if we were better introduced to the main frame from the beginning, deleteing simultaneously so many names, sects, weapons etc (they could have been introduced later) which distracted us from the main plotline. I think it was director's or producer's choice to insert as many fights as possible to make it look more like a wuxia from the very start. The problem is they went overboard with fights while failing to depict well characterial traits and motivations of the protagonists and at least hint to those of the antagonists. Only in ep 17 or 18 we've started to figure out Ding Ye Hua's character (just before she disappears from the plot and not particularly relateable) and now BYT, when we've already seen half of the drama. But one had to endure that excess which gives you no useful info till the point in which the plot becomes interesting.

I feel the same, as a plot is smth secondary, less important. It also makes hard to connect emotionally with the heroes.

yes, you're right. I've just seen ep 21, Jin chief actually addresses her as "aunt" and after you've mentioned the link between their fathers as brothers, it must be it. Perheaps it's just the actress doesn't look so much old in my eyes

Wasn't Jin the head doc her third bro-in-law, not nephew?

It's difficult to answer your question (what can you expect). For sure, you can expect great and many, many fights, but you won't easily get who is who (many characters/names/sects appear in first eps and not all are relevant for the story) and why all these people fight, or to distinguish between the core conflict (I am watching ep 17 and the three protagonists are still after the clues leading to the core conspiracy and ultimate villain) and the secondary ones.
As Zhan Zhao is one of the protagonists of "Seven Heroes and Five Gallants", a viewer who read and liked that classic expects a mix of wuxia and gong'an, that particular space where jianhu people meets with upright officials, exchange opinions and, sometimes, cross swords before clearing the misunderstandings or nearing their povs, in order to fight the "real enemy" of the both sides or to crash down an illusion, prejudice, superstition or intrigue. Although he was mentioned few times, Justice Bao doesn't appear and the storytelling is only marginally focused on the investigation conducted by Zhan Zhao, depicted as he is almost always "a step behind" the hidden villain (eg. traces and clues get cold, witnesses or minor villains get killed etc.). Not only the typical gong'an elements are missing here, there's also a general lack of suspense one would expect. Finally, although we see Bai Yu Tang and Ding "twins", Zhi Hua - who's also one of the "seven heroes" in the original classics and a great helper of justice Bao - here appears as a great villain, with very different characterial traits, which is very confusing.
Ofc., people who are not familiar with the world of justice Bao (Song dynasty before the Mongolian conquest) won't notice these particular issues, but they'll also feel smth is problematic with the storytelling: the investigation on abductions of girls is dragged for too many eps. with no sufficient clues dropped to hint on what is major conspiracy (behind their abduction and corruption/blackmailing of officials) about, lowering the motivation to continue to watch. I'm still watching but with no particular excitement, expectation or motivation (that's why I'm 2-3 eps behind)

His fear definitely messed with my mindset. I am an islander myself, condemned to live a life on the continent for purposes of work, thus separated from my natural water habitat. In order to alleviate this misery, years ago I've started to volunteer in my local ngo which provides assistance to children and youth with various disabilities. Throughout these years, I've created and carried out courses of tai chi (mixed with some basics of general self-defence techniques and other martial arts. espc. styles involving animal mimicking) in a swimming pools for blind, deaf, autistic etc. kids with many other different underlying pathologies and invalidities to give a meaningful purpose for my own daily need to be in contact with the water, although it's an artificial one. The reason I've done this is because THE WATER IS A SAFE PLACE for "my kids", if they accidentally fall, they fall safely, there's nothing softer than the water and better for proprioception development. And as our lessons all end with a relaxing swimming in a deep-water swimming pool, after a certain time, all of them start to look down on "normal" swimmers (deaf see, blind hear splashing...), bc. in the water, they are silent water animals: dolphins, crocodiles, sharks, fish... totally in control of their movements. I think I've turned them all in "islanders", who feel no fear to jump into it (head down even if they are hydrocephalus), who know the water is not only the safe place where they can do all the things they can't outside but the SPACE they control, love and fully embrace. The space where they can fully express themselves bc they conquered it through movements and own it.

Being an islander afraid of water makes BYT's character even more contraddictory and strange. Maybe he should really be called a "cat", not a "rat", rats are actually excellent swimmers while cats hate water 😂😂😂

While watching the 3rd ep of Zhan Zhao's Adventures (the fight with the venom sect), came here to check certain names and saw your comment... lol, your reference to Alejandro Jodorowsky reminded me immediately of the plot and of what I've liked in the drama. And also of what I've disliked (its distance from the original story), the reason why I've rated it only 8 at the time.
Btw., I see you're also at the ep 3 of ZZA.

You've misunderstood again. I wasn't complaining about your long explanations but of the fact we are all aware of the picture you've correctly illustrated. That picture however didn't address the issues I've pointed out: your explanation was about the "finger", not about the "moon" behind it.

yup, a propos the "evil gene", I found interesting that she didn't acknowledged this Xia as her father, as if she was in a denial (mentally refusing such a terrible fact), it felt very consequential, logical.

tnx for your long explanation, but that much we've all got it. In particular, your "When she can't stand it anymore she goes wild (...)". What I've pointed out is "when she can't stand it anymore?" "when she stops being an obedient student-cultivator?" as a question. Besides, her cultivation didn't crash after she killed those officials and Gui master (whom she fought with Golden Core abilities bc. Gui turned the time to the point when she was at her peak), her power level advanced from 4th Qi to Fundamental Core level.
Therefore, we have no clue what exactly triggers her shift in "mode/mood" nor it is given for granted that her previous advancements crashed because "she intervened in mortal affairs". This is what she says thinking the regression is a sort of "punishment" for her "breaking bad". And even if it is so, how this "punishment" works, what exactly implement it, is it a "divine intervention", is it carried out by a teacher or seniors of the sect or is it self-inflicted, through some sort of inconscious mechanism?
Lack of these elements impede us to have a whole picture of her character, making her inconsistent.