Award winner for wrecking viewers' heart
I watched this with my roommate in the room and she had to witness me crying tears and snot and all thanks to it.Amazing amazing story. I have nothing else to say. The title itself explained everything and I felt like I went in unprepared, wrecking me completely and I feel like I really did cry a litre of tears. And the acting was superb as well. Nothing further needed to be said. A constant rewatch again and again whenever I want to torture myself.
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Nice world building and insanely hot cast
I picked this up because of Joseph Zeng, but I think I also became a fan of Tian Jiarui.Both pairs did so well, but later on I feel like the focus became more on the story of Ji Ling and Lu Wuyi, esply Ji Ling. Which I'm not complaining. The whole backstory on him, his sacrifices, and all the misunderstandings he had to go through to get rid of Jiu Ling is just so terrible and my heart breaks for him. Nearer to the end, he became my favourite character. And the way his loyal followers all believed in him unconditionally is so heart warming. The number of death tolls in this destroyed me lmao (hot guys and girls dropping dead one after another), although the ending salvaged it a bit. Safe to say, Ji Ling never had to worry about becoming forgotten and unknown because all the viewers felt for him. And he became one of, if not the biggest, reason everyone can live peacefully.
The plot and world building is also very good. Although a bit puzzling at first, they all came to make sense. I was looking for another drama that'd give the vibe of Fangs of Fortune and this came very close to it. Lots of the same cast from FOF too. Another drama that I finished in 2 days, soooo thankful that it's finished because I'd die if I have to wait with the suspense.
All in all, I'd say this is a great addition to well done Xianxia dramas.
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Amazing plot twists and suspense
(Minor spoiler ahead)I never knew I enjoyed mystery thrillers until I found this and Sunsets Secrets Regrets ( maybe ppl who enjoy more * legit intense/ serious mystery thrillers may disagree with me but I'm a newbie to this genre so bear with me). Although SSR was marketed as more of a psychological thriller, I think this one is the same, with all the mind games, lies, and manipulations.
The story was very captivating. Because I'm usually not drawn to this kind of genre, even if it's played by my fav actors I won't normally watch it, the more so I was surprised by me actually enjoying it so much. Jing Boran as Fei Ke/ Li Zerui was just amazing. I'm starting to think he does these a lil bit psychotic/ manipulative roles the best lol. For He Shan, at first I thought for a person who was also blindly invited to the will reading, she seemed too composed and it's as if she was directing them to get more information which seemed a bit unrealistic to me, but after I found out the reason why it makes so much sense. All the other characters also pull off their roles so well. After all of them were exposed as liars too, big big plot twist, the suspense was just too good. It made me think they're going to turn the tide on opinion on Fei Ke's schemes, making it almost seem as if it wasn't his fault they got scammed. And at the end, the truth about the heiress and her secret lover kinda made me a bit sad too.
All in all, this was a very pleasing brain stimulating watch personally. Because it's only 10 eps, they didn't explore some aspects as more in depth as I would have liked, but then maybe it's due to the embedded plot twists and lies that it had to be like this, secretive and unexplained at first. Pleaseeee everyone have to try watching this even if they're not into this genre. It has become another fav of mine from Jing Boran's drama series that's not romance. I regret not deciding to watch this sooner.
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A nice watch
I finally ended up watching it because of the confession scene which I though happened way later but it turned out to be the very first ep. A pleasant surprise might I add. But I was also worried because if a couple gets together this early on and it's 28 eps, for cdramas (iykyk), that means lotssss of unnecessary misunderstandings and drama. But this wasn't it. And it's also not a romance-focused drama, as you'll already see from the synopsis. Sorry for the long review ahead.First of all, it's a very realistic watch. As a psych graduate, the way they portray and explain emotions and human behavior is, while jargon heavy at some point, I understand the use because this is supposed to be somewhat a psychological type drama and it's nice to see. Some people might not agree with some things and the way main leads were acting at times but in my opinion, very realistic instead of just following the cliché predictable path of some idk blind heroic act trope or misunderstanding trope or whatever. All the characters have their own reasons for the way they act, good or bad or ambiguous (at least as someone who watched it from the pov of psych). And no, I don't think the FL was annoying in anyway. She was acting the way all humans would react, as you and I would react to situations she was in. There was a little bit of good cop/ bad cop and moral high ground stuff as it would in all police dramas, but it's necessary so I won't say much on it.
Secondly, the acting. I don't think anyone's acting was bad in this per se. They all did a good job. But I really have to applaud the portrayal of emotionally tortured Jiang Hansheng (ML) and Qi Yan. JHS's non reactive demeanor that become cold and stoic to shock and traumatic in literal seconds was well done. And then Qi Yan, don't get me even started. In all the scenes he appeared, he managed to disgust me and intrigued me by the way he portrayed his traumatized and twisted self so well. Jiang Cheng also did very well in the ways he showed the mind struggle of being inbetween 2 polar worlds. FL did okay, not much to say because her character isn't supposed to be as complex as the other main leads and is rather straightforward. She acted well in portraying moments of dilemma.
In conclusion, I didn't focus on any of the cons because I was preoccupied with the pros, And like another comment said, if you're looking for romance heavy, push and pull situations, this is not for you. But if you give this a chance, like me without having preconceived notions, you might find yourself surprisingly enjoying it. Overall, I liked it so much I finished this in 2 days. And this kinda pulled me out of the cdrama slump I was in with all these copy paste romance dramas these days.
Also Jing Boran was effing HOT. K thx bye.
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Potential to be great but questionable
I only started to watch it because I realized the ML was from the strange tales of Tang dynasty. And so far, I don't know how to feel about the FL ? I'm only at ep 7 right now, but tell me why, after the news of Jirong's death, she was more concerned about the fact that her friend was deemed as a suspect. And ML, as the close friend of the deceased, didn't even have time to mourn her death properly and instead, she's arguing with him and getting mad at him like huh ? Isn't it supposed to be the other way around ? Doesn't make sense that he has to be the one to tell her to calm down while he is the one who actually lost his long time sister-like friend. I know there's supposed to be more to the case, that's literally the whole point of this drama, but gosh for a journalist who's portrayed as honest and hard working, her critical thinking skills fail her at some times, since the start of the series. The writers need to do better at writing female characters lest they make every FL seem insufferable.The ML is supposedly the annoying one but I'm feeling the opposite 😃🫠 I shall update after finishing the whole series. Yes, I will finish because I like the ML actor.Was this review helpful to you?
