Wenxia

Can you truly know someone inside out? Is absolute trust possible in this world? What kind of bond could be forged in the depths of hell and honed in the tumultuous waves of the dark river? Alliance doomed to rupture or true brotherhood able to withstand the temptations of power? What would the principled and stoic Su Muyu and ambitious and ruthless Su Changhe of Blood River sect be without the 20-year bond connecting them?
The fascinating dynamic resembling a karmic relationship between, borrowing Changhe’s own words, two men walking different paths paving the road for each other forms the core of the drama. Changhe’s boldness propels them forward towards realising their goals, while Muyu’s unwillingness to bend carves them a chance at a future.
The story, sadly, shifts its focus from this indomitable pair blazing through jianghu to shake up the status quo towards court politics (yaaawn) in later episodes.

The drama has a strong, tension-filled opening that hooked me right away. The fight for succession with constant reversal of fortune, followed by the struggle to cut off all the invisible hands controlling the assassin sect from the shadows were fast-paced, thrilling, and saturated with intense music and spectacular fight scenes.
It’s my favourite part of the drama. Despite being thrown into the action right away, the stakes are clear, twists plentiful and the backstabbing enjoyable:)
The characters' introductions were unique (Mu Ciling<3) and held a lot of promise.
The friction between Muyu and Changhe coming from their, uhm, mismatched life philosophies, together with the clashing loyalties and personal ambitions within the sect’s three families, made for a compelling watch.
The next chapter with Muyu shedding his ‘umbrella ghost’ identity and setting out alone to conquer the ghosts of his past followed the typical wuxia scenario of everyone under heaven scheming against each other. It was still enjoyable but a bit too tangled and unresolved.

Then the story takes a weird turn. Instead of focusing on the remaining assassins building their future together, it spends a long time introducing royal princes on opposite sides of a power struggle I couldn’t care less about. I didn't agree with Blood River taking stakes in that fight at all. They should've reinvented themselves far from the imperial court instead.
On that note, I’m confused about the rules of this Beili place when it comes to the relations between court and jianghu. Shouldn’t those be separate? How come martial sects are aligned with different court powers, including sword deities working as city guardians and babysitting royals?
Palace politics and zombies/puppets are two of my least favourite things (edit: forgot the story also had spiders! Brrrr!) so I was very impatient for the story to move on, but it turned out to be the final arc. It dragged and left the Blood River story feeling unfinished.

Muyu is the unquestionable protagonist, but he’s also the one that confused me the most. What did he truly want? A sword master of such calibre, is he really without ego and would be content to spend the rest of his life living in obscurity as a physician’s assistant? What about his father’s legacy and rebuilding No-Sword City? Or was that only his dream because he knew it was out of reach? I mean, would a man craving a trouble-free life ever become best mates with Changhe?;)
If we’re to believe those who crossed swords with him, he’s got a complex emotional landscape ranging from unbridled defiance to gentle forbearance. His song talks about a fire inside him that can never be put out and a battle he’s fighting against himself. I would’ve loved to see more of this complex inner world reflected in Gong Jun’s portrayal. His normally (endearingly) expressive face is quite difficult to read in this drama. For a character torn by inner conflicts and two identities you can hardly glimpse it under the stoic facade and colourless delivery. Personally, I think it would’ve been better if he was dubbed by an experienced voice actor.

Fortunately, Changhe’s purpose is written very clearly, which makes him a very compelling character. He dares to dream big and has patience and cunning to realize his goals. I liked him best when he got out of control and his crazy was showing;) I wish he was given a more detailed background and space to tell his own story though. He often refers to his difficult past, but we’re barely given any details. His personal revenge completely lacks emotional impact as a result.

Muyu’s love interest, the miracle doctor Bai Hehuai, seems fun, quirky and capable at first but fails to have any meaningful development. Her candid personality often clashes with Muyu’s reticence for comedic effect, but their lukewarm chemistry and moments of awkward dialogue (I thought she’ll never stop listing her endless jianghu connections) make some of their scenes a bit of a snoozefest. I’m also not a fan of this type of fake exuberant acting. Generally, the romances in this drama lack substance and veer too much into sentimentality for the dark, no-nonsense mood of the earlier episodes.

To sum up, this is a grand fantasy spectacle with dark atmospheric visuals and a melancholic tone. I’d recommend it to anyone in the mood for a suspenseful and action-packed wuxia, featuring ‘born to fight their fate’ (anti)heroes.

P.S. I just read what happens to Muyu and Changhe in Blood of Youth, which is supposed to be the continuation of their story 👀 It's kind of hard to believe because loyalty is one of Changhe's defining characteristics here and I just can't imagine Muyu ever letting it happen to them. If that version of the story is canon, then I'm sticking with this fanfic:)