106
204
82
Kate
hell
Purest form of entertainment.
Realism does not exist in the dictionary of the creators, that’s for sure. And it goes beyond the usual fantasy/adventure elements in shows like that. Did it bother me? No. I laughed and joked about it, and moved on. The plot moves so fast, there is no time to think about all the ridiculous aspects.
Tomb of the Sea does a fairly good job establishing characters, their motivations and overall world buildup. You can watch it without any prior knowledge of the series and the prequels, and still enjoy and understand it. It follows quite a few plotlines - Gutong Jing adventure, Wang conspiracy, politics between Nine Clans, and all the small flirty romances. Sounds like a lot, but it's truly not hard to grasp when watching.
The large cast of the characters makes it easy to find someone to relate to, love and, if that's what you fancy, hate. Personally, I adopted Li Cu. At first, my attention was more on Wu Xie, but as the drama progressed, this slightly emo and over the top child stole my heart. Surprisingly, I had a soft spot for Liang Wan - quite flawed, but also a loveable and fun character, which brought a more realistic reaction to all the events unfolding.
One aspect I truly loved about the characters was the realistic portrayal of teenagers. The hero complex, the lack of situation analysis and getting yourself into danger without even taking a second to truly think about the consequences, the over the top and sometimes childish interactions - all of that made me think about the time I was their age and was just as stupid.
For a drama with 52 episodes, it’s surprisingly binge-watchable. The plot moves fast, even if the timeline makes little sense. Word of advice - don’t try to keep up with how much time passed for each side plot, you won’t be able to puzzle it out anyway. You might think just a week has passed, and they fit you with the revelation that it’s been a month or more. They cut off some plot lines to come back to the characters a few episodes later, with me having no idea what they were doing and what happened to them between the events I witnessed. Just go with the flow and don’t question it.
The soundtrack could not be more perfect. Chen Xue Ran’s Song of the Desert became one of my favorite songs in 2021. It was so good, I did not even skip ending credits scenes after each episode, just so I could listen to it.
Overall, it’s a flawed drama - weird plot pacing progression, makeup that can survive sandstorms, cutting plot lines and then coming back to them as if no time passed, and yet, I truly enjoyed it a lot. I also appreciate the death count - nothing more frustrating than when no one dies in a story like that. It would be too Disney for me.
If I had to name one thing that truly bothered me, it was the treatment towards the kids. At times it was simply physical and mental abuse, and it did make me feel uncomfortable at times, especially since the drama never explained why the characters had to be high schoolers. In my eyes, they could have been easily made into young adults, and not much would change plot wise.
Tomb of the Sea does a fairly good job establishing characters, their motivations and overall world buildup. You can watch it without any prior knowledge of the series and the prequels, and still enjoy and understand it. It follows quite a few plotlines - Gutong Jing adventure, Wang conspiracy, politics between Nine Clans, and all the small flirty romances. Sounds like a lot, but it's truly not hard to grasp when watching.
The large cast of the characters makes it easy to find someone to relate to, love and, if that's what you fancy, hate. Personally, I adopted Li Cu. At first, my attention was more on Wu Xie, but as the drama progressed, this slightly emo and over the top child stole my heart. Surprisingly, I had a soft spot for Liang Wan - quite flawed, but also a loveable and fun character, which brought a more realistic reaction to all the events unfolding.
One aspect I truly loved about the characters was the realistic portrayal of teenagers. The hero complex, the lack of situation analysis and getting yourself into danger without even taking a second to truly think about the consequences, the over the top and sometimes childish interactions - all of that made me think about the time I was their age and was just as stupid.
For a drama with 52 episodes, it’s surprisingly binge-watchable. The plot moves fast, even if the timeline makes little sense. Word of advice - don’t try to keep up with how much time passed for each side plot, you won’t be able to puzzle it out anyway. You might think just a week has passed, and they fit you with the revelation that it’s been a month or more. They cut off some plot lines to come back to the characters a few episodes later, with me having no idea what they were doing and what happened to them between the events I witnessed. Just go with the flow and don’t question it.
The soundtrack could not be more perfect. Chen Xue Ran’s Song of the Desert became one of my favorite songs in 2021. It was so good, I did not even skip ending credits scenes after each episode, just so I could listen to it.
Overall, it’s a flawed drama - weird plot pacing progression, makeup that can survive sandstorms, cutting plot lines and then coming back to them as if no time passed, and yet, I truly enjoyed it a lot. I also appreciate the death count - nothing more frustrating than when no one dies in a story like that. It would be too Disney for me.
If I had to name one thing that truly bothered me, it was the treatment towards the kids. At times it was simply physical and mental abuse, and it did make me feel uncomfortable at times, especially since the drama never explained why the characters had to be high schoolers. In my eyes, they could have been easily made into young adults, and not much would change plot wise.
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