Michelle Topham

Was planning on putting off watching it as I hated Fangs of Fortune (same director/writer - first half excellent, second half trash, pretty to look at but vacuous in content) but gave up, and watched Episode 1. Nope. Writing is poor and the acting is not great. A shame as this was on my 'Must Watch' list as it has a superb cast and I love Ju Jing Yi, but if even the first episode is cringe-worthy bad, I don't hold out much hope for the rest of it. May come back to it when its ended after others have given their opinion but, so far, many other much better dramas to watch, IMO.

It directly follows on from Princess Agents, so if you don't watch it, it's likely you won't understand a huge part of the story. Synopsis on MAL, btw, isn't even remotely correct, as that's the plot of Princess Agents.

Sorry, ignore what I just said :) And yep, same writer and director as Fangs of Fortune, which is why I'm putting off watching this until it ends to see viewer reaction. HATED FoF with a passion (gave it a 7 out of 10 due only to the excellent cast and gorgeous art direction/CGI).

It started out brilliantly, ended up with nothing but stupidity so, if same, it would be a no watch for me, sadly, as the cast is superb.

EDIT: Guo is also a serial plagiarist (found guilty in court, paid huge damages) so, apparently, not someone with good morals.

https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%83%AD%E6%95%AC%E6%98%8E#%E6%8A%84%E8%A2%AD

One of the most fun action dramas I've watched in a while, and FAR better than last year's Time Raiders, which I struggled to finish it was so badly written and draggy. Should be rated in the 8s and not 7.5, IMO.

Now onwards to Season 2 :)

Holy sheeyut, like I don't already have enough of a backlog, THIS would have to release tomorrow. ROTFL.

So psyched though. Big Ju Jing Yi fan (loved her in In Blossom), and it's been TOO long since she's shown back up. Can't wait for this one as it's one of the best casts I've seen in eons. (Even Wang Duo, Chang Hua Sen and Fan Shi Qi in guest roles!)

yep, needs to leave a cast of a drama that was filmed several years ago and that releases tomorrow. Does stupid run in your family?

Always happy to see Xiao Shun Yao in a new drama and, just 4 eps in so far, this one is very entertaining.

FWIW, I didn't find the first two episodes interesting but it really ramped up for me during and after the red bird battle ( and the spirits in the trees attack). After Ep 4, I'm hooked. 😀

So, if it's not grabbing you either, my suggestion is give it a few more episodes and it might.

Btw, Dilraba and Arthur are doing a phenomenal job, and their chemistry, which doesn't really kick in, IMO, until Ep 4, is on fire. ( And no, I'm not a particular fan of either of them - don't like them or dislike them - but I give credit where credit is due).

Not a Dilraba fan at all, but her performance is superb in this.

😂😂😂 Couldn't have said it better myself. 😅 Then again, I've always found 'fandoms' exhausting. 😀

Same. And also don't like/don't hate either of the lead actors. Can take both or leave both. Just surprised this isn't holding my attention so far, as I was looking forward to it. But midway thru Ep 3 and I'm a tad bored, as the acting isn't great so far (Arthur is decent, several others not so much, not sure about Dilraba yet?), and it's tediously written. Hopefully it will improve.

Edit: Started to really grab my attention by the end of Ep 3/begining of Ep 4, btw. Writing has also begun to improve. Looking forward to Ep 5 now. 😀

One thing I am surprised about for such a big budget drama, both the opening and closing themes are bland AF.

Would have expected at least one of them to be epic. But no.

Opening graphics tho are gorgeous.

First two episodes are slow and not that interesting, IMO. Dynamic pretty much non- existent so far. But, as this was one of my most anticipated C-dramas of the year, I'm willing to give it thru about Ep 10 to see if it improves.

You may want to wait to see what the consensus is after 5 or 6 episodes if you're unsure if you'll like it. Especially if you're not particularly a Dilraba or Arthur fan ( I'm not. I can take or leave both of them, although I did enjoy her in Sword Rose and he gave a superb performance in When Destiny Brings the Demon ( in the 9 eps I watched before I put it on hold).

EDIT: For what it's worth, I'm hooked after Ep 4. 😄

It's super annoying that MAL allows this. Especially when you get idiots that downrate/ uprate all 40 episodes. Sure, you can't fix stupid, but MAL could at least make it more difficult for the morons. 🤪

No, no delay. Most longer C-dramas release 4 episodes the first day, then 2 new episodes every day afterwards. Until, towards the end, they release the last 5 or 6 episodes altogether for people who are willing to pay extra for them, while the rest of us get one episode dropped daily for the last 5 or 6 days. That's usually the same for both Chinese and international audiences.

And btw, welcome to the world of C-dramas. You have thousands of amazing series to look forward to. 😀

You've got two fangirl groups rating it -- Dilraba and Arthur's, so you will never get an accurate rating for a drama like this. Personally, I thought the first couple of episodes were dull (expected more due to the trailer) but... we'll see if it improves.

You're welcome. 🙂. And I did some research to find it as the song is sooooo pretty.

Here you go, including the lyrics in English :) -- https://baozibuns.com/whats-opening-theme-song-for-c-drama-the-inescapable-who-sings-it/

Excellent commentary, and agree with all of it. Really struggled to finish Season 2 as it felt like it went on forever, whereas, like you said, a few more episodes onto the excellent Season 1 would have finished up the story without all the drag.

There's losing weight for a part and there's putting your health in extreme danger. She has a history of being painfully thin. So much so, fans have been calling out her anorexia for years (huge hoopla about it in S. Korea a couple of years ago, but she obviously hasn't learned from it).

I just can't support anything she's in anymore as it's SO unhealthy for young girls to watch her and think this is "healthy" or "normal". None of this is healthy or normal -- for a drama part or not.