sadly a disappointment-rushed and poorly produced

*This is not going to be a plot summary*
So I just wanted to start by saying: no i haven’t read the novel, I’m a big fan of Zhao liying and Wang yibo (so this doesn't mean I dislike them), and I was looking forward to this for a while now.
-for those that are fans of the untamed, the character yibo plays is quite different and was a pleasant change.

I was quite disappointed with this drama. It seemed super rushed and was lousily put together.
Firstly, the production quality was below my expectations. Trash sets and props. The sets looked extremely fake and by that I mean I could tell half the plants were plastic and the rocks were super fake looking. I'd say a good chunk of the drama takes place in a "foresty" setting and every single time a scene is shot in the forest, it looks identical to the previous shots...(I think they used the exact same forest set for each scene...) The snow scenes looked like someone dumped flour all over the actors and the set. The dubbing of the actors/actresses was poorly done. The fighting scenes weren’t all that memorable and seemed a bit below average considering this is a drama centered around a sword fighting FL and sect. There were no blood spurts when people were killed; to me it looked very poorly choreographed and produced coming from someone who watches a lot of martial art dramas. The screenwriting was just terrible and the camera work was poor with way too many close up shots and meh editing.
Secondly, my main issue with the drama is the story and the pacing. all the way even till the very last episode, it was incredibly boring and slow paced. I breezed through the episodes, fast forward the heck out of the last 20 episodes. Yes, there are a couple episodes here and there where there was more suspense and depth in the plot but after that it just quickly fizzled out. I just feel like the screenwriters were trying so hard to come up with content and keep the plot going. To combat this, they introduce new characters every single goddamn episode (i can literally name 40 characters right now). I’m not frustrated that “oh there are so many characters to remember” but it’s more like they are pointlessly trying to drag the story out in all different directions. There are literally 6 different sub-plots happening, not even counting the main couple. In my opinion, I also didn’t really feel much chemistry between the two leads; in my eyes it was more of a good friendship. The female lead, Zhou Fei, is stubborn and doesn't have much character depth....While watching the last couple episodes of the drama I was asking myself “what is the point of all this? What is this going to build up to? Why mention Xie Yun’s identity if it doesn’t contribute much to the story?” I'm just confused. It seemed like there is this one big overarching plot and arc about to happen yet with the introduction of a new character in each episode, I feel like its straying the drama farther and farther away.
The antagonists and side characters are pretty one dimensional. The costumes for the antagonists gave more of a comedic relief than a villainous aura :/ The acting is fine. Not spectacular but not poor. Wang Yibo and Zhao Liying were great as always, but the rest of the cast didn't really stand out to me.
I will probably clean this review up later but sorry, I just see this drama as a flop with way too many flaws. They tried way too hard to keep this story going for 51 episodes and in all the other aspects failed as well.

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top-notch production, beautiful story with 2 amazing leads: one of 2021's best historical dramas

For those who are historical cdrama fans or want a minimal fluff/serious drama or just want a new experience this will do it. [I'm not the greatest at putting my thoughts into cohesive sentences so sorry if its like a mess]

Yes its quite long being 68 episodes for many (I actually prefer long dramas), but so far, (yes I know its still early, I'll edit my review as the drama goes on), it looks like it'll be an amazing journey worth it. **If I think it suddenly is going down the drain, I'll edit this review** No synopsis summary here b/c it's still early on and I think the synopsis on mdl looks pretty accurate so far.

-****you might have heard negative reviews about this due to the fact that the 41 year old actress is playing a teenager in the first couple episodes (its only the first 7 episodes) or so (which i will touch on and share my opinion about below in my review) but I think that age which is just a number is not the definite answer to whether someone's portrayal of a character, getting all the emotions to the reader is good or bad. Age isn't the foundation to saying whether or someone is doing a great job portraying their character. Okay onto the review. ****

While I was watching the first episode, I was immediately blown away with the excellent production quality. At first glance, you can tell that it has a high production value with much thought in it (Not saying low budget dramas aren't good:) ). The costumes are gorgeous, suiting each character's personality. The set is beautiful with much detail put into it and very much screenshot worthy. The cinematography is top notch as well. The fighting scenes are well choreographed, very detailed.

For OSTs, I haven't really paid much attention to them but they accompany the scenes well. They sound nice lol

One of the most important things when it comes to a good drama for me is pacing and the direction of the story. (i'm very impatient as you see). So I dislike slow plots however I can already tell this one is going to be amazing. The pacing for the first couple episodes are perfect; not too fast, not too slow. Keep in mind this drama chronicles the life of the FL from her as a princess to whatever she becomes in the future. So the first couple episodes are depicting her "teen life" but no fast forwarding is needed. Around ep 8 we see her mature (its like a couple months/a year later). The story moves along at a great pace and the plot keeps me hooked wanting more, without too many side plots and irrelevant events. I personally dislike heavy politics so for those like me, you'll enjoy this. There are political scenes however they don't beat around the busy and are rather straightforward and are balanced enough with other storylines to keep me interested.

Characters+Acting: As of now, the characters and antagonists definitely do not seem one dimensional which I like and I can see room for character growth ahead. The FL may be a "spoiled loved by her family" kind of character in the first couple episodes but by episode 8 you see her mature and start to become independent and outspoken unafraid to stand her ground. The actors and actresses are all playing their role very well; I have no complaints. However, one thing I've been seeing around is that people are complaining about the actress who plays the female lead character. "The actress looks too old to play the FL! She's 41 but the character is a teenager. What the heck?" Here's what I say to that: Keep in mind that this drama chronicles her life and just FYI she "outgrows" her teen phase by ep8. Personally it doesn't bother me that she looks a bit older than her character's supposed age because her acting is superb and she plays the role wonderfully -better than some younger actresses would have. i'd say the casting was perfect. For the ML, in the first ~10eps there aren't many scenes and interactions with the FL but after we start to see what kind of person he is and let me tell you, he isn't one of those toxic, rude, paleass MLs; he's kind, honest, stays true to his values and is a gentleman. I found this comment on youtube that just literally sums up the personality of the ML: "He's so gentle with her. He touches her as if he's afraid to break her with his rough hands that only held swords" . The actor, Zhou YiWei, plays his character as the general really well and I think he embodies the fit, look and chivalrous aura of a general. There are no voice dubbing (except for just a few) so we are hearing the actors/actresses real voices.
*also for those Joy of Life fans, the person playing the bodyguard of the ML is the second prince in JoL haha*

Ending Note: I'm well aware we aren't even close to being halfway done with this drama as it just started airing but I have a feeling it'll be a great one. I'll clean up this review later and edit/add more when it continues. If you've read till here, thank you!

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truly a masterpiece

Hello! This is my first review so bear with me.

Firstly, as someone who's watched quite a few cdramas and especially historical cdramas, I have to say this drama really took the cake as #1 on my list.

The first 1-2 episodes might throw you off, but if you keep watching it'll keep you hooked and is incredibly bingeworthy. The pacing of this drama is the best, not too fast not too slow. As someone who is a chronic fast forwarder, I didn't fast forward one bit. It's got comedy, a compelling storyline, great acting and casting, beautiful cinematography and costumes, martial arts choreographed perfectly, a bit of politics (not too much). *the costumes and fighting scenes were one of the best* There isn't too much romance I have to say, but don't worry, you'll forget about the romance aspect and be engulfed in this drama.

For me what really made this drama stand out were the characters and how they weren't all 1 dimensional. All incredibly well written, each character shined no matter if they only were present for a couple episodes. The main character, Fan Xian, had everything you would want in a character. He was hilarious to the T, intelligent, a kickass fighter, and his wittiness, I felt was super unique and made this show even better. The acting for all the characters were top notch displaying perfect expressions and emotions and made everything feel so alive.
The main character's family scenes were pure gold, it really helped bring a softer tone to the story.

I'll have to admit, i was a bit disappointed with the FL's character (dont get me wrong the actress was A+) but I quickly figured out that the love story was not really part of the big picture. But other than that, all the other female characters were freaking amazing! They were all super badass in their own ways.

Also the ost for me was beautiful with the flute lol its on my playlist.

Anyways, i hoped this review helped a bit, pls go watch it! You really won't regret it! This is my first review because I feel so strong about this drama :) Feel free to message me if you have questions

*SPOILER-ISH ABOUT THE ENDING*
so it does end on a cliffhanger BUT ITS OKAY its part of a trilogy and there will be a part 2 and 3 so i think we can be assured that most people will survive haha

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*sniffs, grabs tissues* A BEAUTIFUL SELFLESS yet SACRIFICIAL LOVE STORY

I just finished this drama. I don't even know where to start. *lemme grab some tissues*
Okay I just want to say that I gave the rewatch value a 7 because there were just too many scenes where I shed tears so I knew I wouldn't want to rewatch every single episode.
I'm currently a mess with a pile of tissues and my screen blurry because i'm half crying.
~just pointing out this drama hit home for me and made me cry so much because it made me realize how short life is and how precious every moment in life is. It made me understand what selflessness was and for once I was afraid. I was afraid of losing someone I knew. This is a bit personal but i thought id share. me and my mom haven't been on the bestest of terms and she has several illness and so this drama just made me realize that no matter how much we hate each other, at the end, we both truly love each other and secretly care and worry for each other. Life is short, don't take it for granted.~
ok. onto the review.
*its not going to be a plot review fyi it would take too long lol*
1. the production
This drama was incredibly breathtaking. Every single shot was worthy enough to be my desktop wallpaper. The costumes were just immaculate and fit every single character and scene perfectly whether it be happy, grieving, or anger. The cinematography as I mentioned was just incredible. The fighting scenes were one of my favorite parts to watch.
2. The story
The story was well paced and well written. One of the best dramas I have ever watched (coming from someone who watches many historical cdramas) Sure while watching it I felt some scenes could've been fast forwarded but now looking back every thing was worth it and a meaning.
This drama tells the story of the tragic romance between our 2 leads. Early on, it is pretty visible that they aren't destined to be, sadly. However, what we get is an incredibly MOVING AND TEAR JERKING story about their love.
The message/theme of this drama is about how ruthless and power hungry humanity is and how it brought innocent people like the wolf/prince bo and manufactured them into little puppets to control. What's super interesting and unique about this story is that the main character, wolfie was actually raised with wolves. He was super innocent and righteous never seeing the dark side of humans. But due to a betrayal that was meant to protect him, his view on people changed and became cold and very untrustworthy of his surroundings. Then throughout the rest of the drama, we see him struggling with his 2 identities: being prince bo aka the evil king's puppet and the other being wolfie, being by his true love, ma zhai xing our FL (the one person who doesn't view him as a monster).
In the first half of the drama I felt hatred towards wolfie/prince bo and was so frustrated with his actions but as the story unfolded, I felt sympathy and empathy for him. I realized how selfless and sacrificial he was along. He stayed true to his one and only love, ma zhaixing never once wanting to hurt her. What made me fall in love with this and become so invested in this was his character and his undeniable love he had for xinger. How willing he was to hurt himself to protect singer at all costs throughout all the misunderstandings and break ups they had. I just cannot explain this well enough but all you need know is that once you watch this you will be on a journey and cry so hard but fall in love with this character. I used up 2 boxes of tissues while watching the last 15 episodes.
Darren Wang played his character, wolf/prince bo so perfectly, better than I could've imagined. His subtle expressions, smirks, grins, just everything captured the wolf to the T. Also might I just add he looked fire with the costume and hair and in the fighting scenes.
At some points, I was quite disappointed and a bit frustrated with the FL's character and was actually quite close to quitting the drama but thank god i continued. She grew up, matured and realized that life wasn't black and white and accepted the harsh realities of life. The leads had chemistry for sure. Her character in the last 10ish episodes really just solidified my love for this drama. Ugh.
Besides our 2 awesome leads, there was an amazing supporting cast especially our second Ml *sadly tragic doesn't end up with the FL* Ji Chong played by Xiao Zhan. XZ played ji chong really well. His character was the classic example of the 2nd tragic ML that was always there for the FL and was kind, supporting and respectful for her. Towards the end what made me love that character even more was how willing he was to let go of xinger and support her going back to wolfie instead of staying with him.
i just cant-wolfie and ji chong-yall gonna make me use another box of tissues.
Besides ji chong, we had 2 other female leads that were quite interesting to say the least and an antagonist that made me want to punch him in the face. Everyone played their role super well huge props.
3. OSTs
IF THERE'S ONE THING YOU ARE GOING TO TAKE AWAY FROM THIS PLEASE LISTEN TO THE WHOLE OST
wow. and i thought there wasn't more i could say bout this drama. this ost was *chefs kiss*. Each song accompanied each scene so well and just made the tears flow even harder. Thank goodness it's not on spotify or else i would be crying in class. While listening to it, it just hits you in that spot and is just encaptivating. I'm listening to it while writing this review and i'm already reliving the drama in my head. BEST OST OF ALL TIME THANK YOU VERY MUCH
4. The ending.........what can i say...they were never fated. Sure they reconciled at the end but knew it wasn't going to work out. I cried harder than i have ever cried while watching a drama or anything.

IN CONCLUSION
please watch. you will not regret it. if you are thinking about dropping it, please don't. its a true gem and one of the best dramas of all time at least for me.

if you've read up to here, wow.....thank you! hopefully you'll love it too!

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a realistic, precious drama MUST WATCH

Out of all the dramas i've watched, this one is one of my top 3. Incredibly powerful and moving, it captures the true essence of what it means to be a family. Now, you may be thinking "oh another boring family blah blah drama" well give this a try.
This drama tells the story of 3 siblings -except they aren't actually blood related. 2 of them, the "brothers" were dumped at an early age by their mother and were left in the care of the main female character, Li JianJian and her father (the real mvp of the story). So her father is left to take care of 3 children and treasures them all equally regardless if they are his legitimate children. This drama really hit home for me. Although I am fortunate to be with my parents, it made me think of the struggles parents go through, the struggles parentless children go through and I realized how grateful and thankful I am to have parents and people who love me.
I think why this drama was so popular and such a masterpiece was because of how realistic it was. How realistic the parent-child relationships were, the fighting, the misunderstanding, the parent wanting the best for their children, just everything that happens in life with your family, siblings and parents. Also, something to note, the most hateful antagonist in this story the "villain" who made me hate her from the bottom of my stomach is actually realistic as well. If you watch, you'll see that her character is very common in society.
Also this drama touches on how parents besides being loving, there are parents who just suck and bring trauma to the kids. One of the siblings suffers from ptsd and depression (if im not mistaken) because of the parent. its super raw and emotional.
The conversations the siblings had with each other and their parents made me feel like I was in their position as well
The overarching theme of this drama a beautiful one was that family isnt a matter of blood relations or legal stuff, its who loves you, supports you and listens to you at all times.
The actors were A+. They all played their character super well delivering tears of happiness and sadness in my eyes. The ost was super beautiful as well (added to my playlist)
Anyways, i hope this convinced you to try this out. You won't regret it. message me if u have any questions or just wanna talk about this drama haha i could rave about this forever

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definitely worth the hype-beautiful & moving

I'm going to start by saying i haven't read the novel and this isn't going to be a plot summary.
*i'm writing this review like 6 months after finishing haha* and i'm not the greatest at putting my thoughts into beautiful coherent sentences bear with me.
-basically this review says: characters and acting BEST EVER. ost and rewatch? YES PLEASE costume and cinematography? A+ best couple? RIGHT DRAMA

So just a little background, I'm not really that into wuxia dramas, i tend to prefer harem/prince+princess kinda cdramas and so coming into this drama which was super popular I honestly didn't expect myself to fall in love with it.

So the first 10 eps or so were super confusing to me but once the flashback started everything started to fit together. This drama takes patience to get into, but you won't regret the time you spent watching this. As i continued, most of my questions were answered and I started to understand the whole thing around cultivation and spiritual stuff but i'll admit i was and am still just a bit confused with how demonic cultivation works. i guess its a wuxia thing haha.
*if you like wuxia you'll LOVE THIS*
So i took a point off 10 because of the story line itself, .5 for the pacing and .5 for the plot holes but other than that this was a fantastic once in lifetime drama.
I was in awe with the beautiful cinematography and the costume and the set not realizing it was a low budget production. Not joking; my phone background is of this drama because of how gorgeous it is.

Just like others, this drama stood out because of the acting and character story/growth/development. Whoever wrote the characters they deserve a raise. No character was just one dimensional. The actors and actress (gotta give props to xiao zhan and wang yibo) were the true gem of this drama. The entire cast played their role perfectly and made me felt like I was in every single scene. I was in love with every single character. The emotions and even the slightest facial expressions could make you shed a tear. This is one of the best acting and casting in a drama ever. Wang Yibo's role of Lan WangJi was just *chef's kiss*. The female characters were badass as well. Every character shined so much and wre memorable regardless of their screentime.

The main theme of this drama was "What is good? What is bad?" . In life there is no such thing as plain as good or bad, black or white and that is exactly what this drama "discusses". The main character in a way is the protagonist and the antagonist. It's so interesting watching how the rest of the other sects or people of society if you well react to WeiWuXian the main character. It's quite equivalent to what's happening today. You'll see what i mean in the drama. And all along, there's the other main character, Lan WangJi who silently stands by his side no matter what. Our guardian angel, our one and only lan zhan. He's the only one who believes Wei WuXian regardless of how the rest view him. Basically long story short just watch it, it makes you think a lot haha

Sorry if this is all over the place xD

Also I just want to say the FREAKIN OST AHHHHH the main theme song between our 2 leads WuJi is just simply tear jerking. If you read the lyrics it'll make you sob an ocean. That's all i'm going to say.
The rewatch value is definitely 11/10. But maybe not from the very start more like from the beginning of the flashback.

In conclusion, if you love wuxia or if you love a good (subtle) bl drama or if you are like me and just want to see what the hype is all about whatever reason you are doubting yourself to watch this, just WATCH IT. if you get confused or are thinking bout skipping a couple eps cuz its too slow (cuz that was kinda me at some places) feel free to message me so I can fill you in. PLEASE CHECK THIS OUT YOU WON'T REGRET IT.


SPOILERS FOR THE ENDING CLICK OFF IF YOU DONT WANT TO BE SPOILED







i will say, the ending made me cry so much. I was confused. after all that why didn't they end up with each other? And although i still have so many unanswered questions and wish for a season 2, the closure was needed.

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