Wanted to watch NEF mainly for Liu Haoran and because Xuanhuan is a genre with a lot of potential (think Douluo Continent). Evidently, NEF has a LOT going for it, from the beautiful cinematography and music, stunning location shooting, very good CGI (for most part), as well as mostly solid acting. It is obvious that so much hard work went into making the show- and this passion can be seen in moments throughout. It managed to be an intriguing and compelling show for the first 20-ish episodes…and then things went downhill, like really downhill, without ever getting better.

I have never been this frustrated after watching a C-Drama EVER - and I have never lost sleep thinking about how a show can be butchered to this extent. What starts out as a show with immense promise ends up disrespecting the very characters that made it interesting, sinking deeper into the quagmire of terribly inconsistent (and juvenile) writing and unfocused editing. A classic example of style over substance- to such an extent that the characters no longer make any sense.

This will be a long rant, although I have a headache thinking about what all can be said about this show.

I thought episodes 1 to 20 were actually setting it up to be a very interesting show. We have our male lead- the vulnerable and kindhearted Asule, who goes through several traumatic moments from the first episode itself. In spite of what he has been through, he has immense kindness in his heart- something that seems uncommon for the tumultuous world he lives in. Though he has a million internal battles to fight - such as the guilt over his childhood friend Suma’s death - he remains committed to protecting everyone. He is also sickly but has the ability to become a killing machine under certain circumstances.

We are later introduced to the other two main leads, Yu Ran and Ji Ye, also interesting characters with unique personalities of their own. After going through some life and death situations, they find themselves becoming fast friends. There are also some incredibly interesting characters such as Su and Xi (or as I call their pairing- Sushi). The unspoken love between these two characters makes for such wonderful and heartwarming (and heartbreaking) moments. However, our time with a brilliant character like Su is cruelly short. The first 20 episodes are by no means perfect and editing and unfocused writing shows up here as well. Examples of this are the multiple times we see Ji Ye being tortured. We get it- we don’t have to be shown his torture a million times to understand that he is in a pitiful state. Yu Ran and Ji Ye’s kiss and confession also kind of comes from nowhere and it’s hard to root for the romantic pairing of the two when we’re not really sure when these feelings developed into more than friendship. We saw Yu Ran making googly eyes at Ji Ye even earlier on, but from puppy love into a full love confession- all of this does not seem earned. Then we have unfortunate Asule thrown into all of this for a love triangle that could have been impactful but ends up being a joke instead.

Down the line, Asule and Yu Ran have to give in to a marriage so that they can save Ji Ye. This leads to some of the sweetest scenes in the show - Asule opening up to Yu Ran about his feelings for her and his sadness that she dislikes being married to him. We are given no time to dwell on these aspects - the aftermath of their marriage or even WHY their marriage happened in the first place - before a new romantic interest for Asule is squeezed in from nowhere.

Honestly, I liked Xiaozhou initially- she is smart and kind. However, after episode 20, she was literally EVERYWHERE! If there was a scene with Asule, she was there. If there was a scene between Asule and Yu Ran (who were married at this point), she was there. If she wasn’t on screen with the two, Yu Ran HAD to mention her somewhere and for some reason found it appropriate to tease Asule (who had revealed his feelings for Yu Ran earlier) that the princess is interested in him. This makes Yu Ran look like a totally inconsiderate person and friend- disrespectful of Asule’s feelings.

Never mind that their marriage amounts to nothing. They act like they’re not married - not even in the Capital city, where they have appearances to keep up! Yu Ran goes frolicking around and NEVER spends time with Asule. Instead, the princess is ALWAYS with him. Way to shove a character into our faces, writers! Not like you could have made it less obvious that she was going to be Asule’s love interest.

I’m not bitter that Yu Ran didn’t return Asule’s feelings (though I think if she had treated their marriage with some importance she may have come to love him). I’m bitter that Asule (our main lead might I remind everyone) had to be offered a consolation prize in the form of the princess. Is he even an important character anymore? Where is his character growth or arc?

Let me not get started on HOW MUCH SCREENTIME Xiaozhou got over all three of our leads. She was everywhere! In a ridiculous side story that was another way of forcing the pairing of Asule and Xiaozhou was when she went away on a diplomatic mission and Asule decided there was no way she could go “alone” so he had to follow her. The amount of time he spent with her on that trip and conversed with her was more than the total amount of time he had spent with his best friends- and his now wife.

After all of this it was really impossible for me to be interested in the story. To make matters worse, Asule was stabbed and ended up “dead”. However he wasn’t actually dead but had amnesia and ended up being a killing machine. Again, who “stumbled upon” him except for Xiaozhou? Of course it has to be her again ?. Because the writers couldn’t obviously make Asule love Xiaozhou without something drastic happening, they made him forget everything so that he could be totally dependent on her for everything. It was like Stockholm syndrome on screen. It was so ridiculous because it butchered his entire character and his agency and left his personality tied completely to hers. She’s not even a main character!

At this point, the only characters I ended up caring about were Asule (when he wasn’t with Xiaozhou), the Iron Emperor, Yin Wuyi and his daughter. Yu Ran and Ji Ye were also good outside of each other. Ji Ye and the princess of Li’s scenes were somehow the nicest in the latter half of the show and I thought they were better matched.

I have soooo much else to say. Yu Ran and Ji Ye’s “love” story made me feel nothing. They were more believable as friends. Asule and Xiaozhou‘s “love” story just made me feel annoyed. Apparently it was possible for him to switch off his feelings for Yu Ran immediately and then forget he was even married to her. The writers probably had amnesia themselves.

I don’t even want to comment on Su Ma’s return from the dead. Again, Asule’s grieving and torment over her death eventually amounted to nothing in the end. She’s then made into a plot device. Good lord! The last several episodes in the North had some nice scenes but were soooo long that I had no patience to watch them carefully. The show has a problem of showing us a million battle scenes. They weren’t artistic like wuxia battles but ended up repetitive and pointless. They also made the show exhausting to watch. It was like NEF was showing off how much money it had. Instead of giving us these lengthy action sequences, the show could have focused on character moments.

The ending left a lot to be desired. None of the main character arcs were even interesting anymore because princess Xiaozhou suddenly had the most screentime and the most happening for her character.

Just a thoroughly disappointing show. When I was at Ep 20 I couldn’t see why people had rated this so low, but after 15 episodes of pointless meandering in Tianqi, it became clear to me. I lost all interest after the princess character was introduced. She was this perfect, Mary Sue character there to save the male lead and to be his love interest. She became insufferable because she had to be everywhere. That’s not how you write your characters. Why does everything surrounding your main characters somehow have to be linked to a new character you introduced in episode 20? Furthermore, the disservice done to a character like Asule is a travesty.

This show had so much potential but was eventually ruined by its focus on how good it looked and how edgy it was trying to be. Even though like most Chinese dramas it lacks overt gore, it was still extremely violent and dark (I think it was trying to be like Game of Thrones). If there’s one thing I know about Chinese historical shows, they’re usually wonderfully complex and have their own uniqueness. Instead of drawing from that tradition, it tried to emulate American adult fantasy shows. Unfortunately it failed to leave any lasting impression (apart from a bad taste in my mouth). I feel so upset about the wasted potential on this show. Please get Liu Haoran better acting opportunities (like he had in Nirvana in Fire 2 and With You) where his character isn’t treated as an afterthought.

Will I recommend the show? Probably the first 20 episodes. After that, don’t hold your breath.