Singularity
This review may contain spoilers
Uneven but good enough
I am writing this review as both a prior reader of the novel, and a native Chinese speaker. I listened to the novel (on Ximalaya, a Chinese audiobook site) about 2-3 years ago and it's one of my favorite webnovels of all time. It has the perfect blend of action, comedy, and drama. Given how much the novel meant to me, it's possible for me to review the drama on its own merits. This is all to say if you haven't read the novel, your mileage may vary.
Writing/Plotting: 7/10. The transition from page to screen comes with necessary adjustments but results are uneven. The pacing of the drama is odd. Long stretches of screen time were spent on minor/irrelevant sideplots, while interesting sections of the book were breezed over.
The most significant problem translating from page to screen is the loss of any sense of power scaling in the drama. Power levels fluctuate wildly scene to scene, and there is no established sense of how powerful anybody is, relative to anybody else. All this being said, when they slow down and just adapt scenes/sequences from the book, the results can be spectacular. Episodes 37-40 is the perfect microcosm of this. Most of this arc (the aftermath of the Bloodshed) is mesmerizing and reminded me at times of Langya Bang (very high praise). However, the final 30 minutes of ep 40 however bizarre, brusque, and unnecessary. From the highest high to the lowest low, a perfect example of the uneven plotting.
Acting: 8/10. I think the lead actor is the weakest part of the cast, as he seems to only have one facial expression. I do suspect this was an acting choice , but he was still fairly wooden. Fortunately the supporting cast is generally superb. From the Emperor and Princess Linan to Wei Yuan the Xu family, all the major characters were well-cast and fit their roles. The comedic hits generally land and the dramatic moments are heart-felt.
Audio/Music: 8/10. Overall pretty good. Don't have much to say here. I will say that as a native mandarin speaker I wish the lead actor hadn't used his own voice. His enunciation is generally poor and in a lot of scenes it sounds like he's just reading his lines off of a page. This isn't really a problem for anybody else.
CGI/Costumes/Sets: 8/10. Everything looked pretty good to me. Decent number of extras, CGI looks nice. You can tell this isn't a huge budget drama, but they made an effort to make sets look lived-in. Not much to praise, not much to complain about.
Action: 6/10. This is another major shortcoming of the drama. While there are a couple of intact fun fight scenes, many of the fight scenes are crazy truncated. This is especially true of the "climactic" fight between XQA and Duke Zhengbe, which in the novel occupied multiple pages but basically didn't exist in the drama. In general the drama prefers the "pose for CGI" model of action over choreographed martial arts scenes, which unfortunately seems to be a trend for c-dramas in general in recent years.
Overall: 7.5/10. I think this drama is an enjoyable watch but I suspect it will often be confusing for non-book readers, and often mildly infuriating for book readers. The scripting/writing is mostly to blame here, with the story moving glacially slow for several episodes before condensing entire arcs into 15 minutes. Character motivation is often unclear/inconsistent and power levels are very vague. The drama is redeemed by a solid cast and production as well as comedy that generally hits.
Comparisons: I think the most worthwhile comparison is with Joy of Life, which has a similar premise. Overall I think Joy of Life is the superior show, with a better lead actor and a better script. I've actually read (listened) to the audiobook of Joy of Life as well. For JOL the drama in many ways improves on the novel, adding drama, character development/motivation, and stakes. While Guardians improves on the comedy in some scenes, in general the best parts of the drama are wholly lifted out of the novel and the stuff the drama adds just serves to add confusion.
TL;DR: Overall I would describe the drama as "pretty good." The weakest points are the plotting/writing and the fight scenes. The best parts are the comedy and the supporting cast.
Writing/Plotting: 7/10. The transition from page to screen comes with necessary adjustments but results are uneven. The pacing of the drama is odd. Long stretches of screen time were spent on minor/irrelevant sideplots, while interesting sections of the book were breezed over.
The most significant problem translating from page to screen is the loss of any sense of power scaling in the drama. Power levels fluctuate wildly scene to scene, and there is no established sense of how powerful anybody is, relative to anybody else. All this being said, when they slow down and just adapt scenes/sequences from the book, the results can be spectacular. Episodes 37-40 is the perfect microcosm of this. Most of this arc (the aftermath of the Bloodshed) is mesmerizing and reminded me at times of Langya Bang (very high praise). However, the final 30 minutes of ep 40 however bizarre, brusque, and unnecessary. From the highest high to the lowest low, a perfect example of the uneven plotting.
Acting: 8/10. I think the lead actor is the weakest part of the cast, as he seems to only have one facial expression. I do suspect this was an acting choice , but he was still fairly wooden. Fortunately the supporting cast is generally superb. From the Emperor and Princess Linan to Wei Yuan the Xu family, all the major characters were well-cast and fit their roles. The comedic hits generally land and the dramatic moments are heart-felt.
Audio/Music: 8/10. Overall pretty good. Don't have much to say here. I will say that as a native mandarin speaker I wish the lead actor hadn't used his own voice. His enunciation is generally poor and in a lot of scenes it sounds like he's just reading his lines off of a page. This isn't really a problem for anybody else.
CGI/Costumes/Sets: 8/10. Everything looked pretty good to me. Decent number of extras, CGI looks nice. You can tell this isn't a huge budget drama, but they made an effort to make sets look lived-in. Not much to praise, not much to complain about.
Action: 6/10. This is another major shortcoming of the drama. While there are a couple of intact fun fight scenes, many of the fight scenes are crazy truncated. This is especially true of the "climactic" fight between XQA and Duke Zhengbe, which in the novel occupied multiple pages but basically didn't exist in the drama. In general the drama prefers the "pose for CGI" model of action over choreographed martial arts scenes, which unfortunately seems to be a trend for c-dramas in general in recent years.
Overall: 7.5/10. I think this drama is an enjoyable watch but I suspect it will often be confusing for non-book readers, and often mildly infuriating for book readers. The scripting/writing is mostly to blame here, with the story moving glacially slow for several episodes before condensing entire arcs into 15 minutes. Character motivation is often unclear/inconsistent and power levels are very vague. The drama is redeemed by a solid cast and production as well as comedy that generally hits.
Comparisons: I think the most worthwhile comparison is with Joy of Life, which has a similar premise. Overall I think Joy of Life is the superior show, with a better lead actor and a better script. I've actually read (listened) to the audiobook of Joy of Life as well. For JOL the drama in many ways improves on the novel, adding drama, character development/motivation, and stakes. While Guardians improves on the comedy in some scenes, in general the best parts of the drama are wholly lifted out of the novel and the stuff the drama adds just serves to add confusion.
TL;DR: Overall I would describe the drama as "pretty good." The weakest points are the plotting/writing and the fight scenes. The best parts are the comedy and the supporting cast.
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