Novoland: Pearl Eclipse is an incredible production with stunning visuals, great actors and a meaningful storyline. Whilst first starting the show, I desperately wanted the main leads (fang jian ming played by William Chan and fang hai shi played by Yang Mi) to have a happy ending, especially with the dedication and sacrifice they had previously put in for the Zheng empire. If you’ve finished the show, then you know the ending is one marked by tragedy and ill fate. In hindsight, the painful ending actually distinguishes the show as being authentic to its original message, conveying the inevitability of fate.

I have mixed feelings about the character of Fang Jian Ming in this show. On one hand, I believe William Chan did an amazing portrayal of this character as the empires right hand and a ruthless strategist that would do what needed to be done. On the other hand, the internal conflict of emotions that we know the character would have experienced should have been revealed more. Instead, most of the time he is always possessing a controlled demeanour, which causes the character to lack dimension in some scenes. The romantic relationship between Jian Ming and Hai Shi is forbidden and ill fated from the beginning, and I think the drama did a great job at conveying this. It was extremely satisfying seeing their feelings for one another gradually develop episode by episode and the hesitation of Fang Jian Ming to get involved. Also, can we take a moment to appreciate how William chan was serving looks in EVERY.SINGLE.SCENE?!!


Yang mi is no stranger to costume dramas and she absolutely delivers a phenomenal performance once again. She is able to express the temper, passion and intelligence of Fang Hai Shi, whilst also showing the viewer her internal struggles of confusion and seemingly unrequited love. The way she persists despite the rejection from Jian Ming is very coherent with the character’s traits and I love how multi dimensional the character is. It is ironic that Jian Ming told the emperor he did not want Hai Shi to become him, because only he knows how painful that is, yet in the end she ended up taking a similar role for the emperors son.
I feel that the ending she was given was too cruel, all she wanted was to spend her days with Jian Ming, but instead she was forced to a life without the one person she loved the most, all in the name of duty.

The final scene of Jian ming and Hai shi made me physically sick in the stomach and my eyes well up with tears. William Chan and Yang Mi totally delivered in this scene, portraying a couple that knows they are doomed whilst still trying to stay strong. The way this scene is filmed; the music, everything is hauntingly tragic and it leaves the viewers heart heavy after the drama ends.

I have not read the original novel this drama was adapted from, so I don’t know how the author blends the tragic ending into the story, but the way it is executed in the drama is too rushed; within the last episode, all the characters lives abruptly changed. The ending is very unsatisfactory and does not live up to the potential that it was building from the early episodes. I can’t help but feel that episodes 1-30 felt like a huge promise to deliver, but the final few episodes were very rushed in terms of storyline and plot being executed. This being said, pearl eclipse is still an incredibly well produced drama and definitely the best one I have seen this year !!!

Something to ponder:
The ending cut me deep and I felt a hollowness in my body after finishing the drama. Maybe it was the lack of closure or the unexpected dark twist, but I laid down and processed/thought about why I was feeling so sad. I came to the conclusion that I was placing too much emphasis on how Jian Ming and Hai Shi’s love story ends, when the best part of their story (IMO) are the initial episodes. The tension, confusion and awkwardness that marked those moments between the main leads was both hilarious and captivating. To find closure on my own, I will have to force myself to remember the beginning of their story and the short amount of time they were able to spend happily in Yuezhou together instead.