cnguyen1031
This review may contain spoilers
STORY:
Overall I think it was somewhat a predictable story. Innocent young girl, joins a new world to escape her past, fights her way up the ranks, becomes the head of this new world. You knew who the enemies were. You knew who would end up with who. You could assume that essentially everyone would end up dead by the end of it.
Even with the predictability of it all, I think it was still a very enjoyable drama. It was somewhat weird for me though. I normally breeze through dramas pretty easily (hello binge watching) and this is a fairly short drama (on average for Chinese dramas at least), but for some reason it took me almost two weeks to watch just 36 episodes. Partially I was busy at work, but I think there were certain times I lost a little bit of interest honestly.
Pertaining to the actual story, I think honestly my biggest gripe about it was Wan Mei's personality. I think in this kind of setting it would have been the more obvious choice to just have her become a skilled assassin all in her own, but the constant moral turmoil she faced was honestly kind of off-putting for me. I get that she was supposed to be a loyal and morally righteous person, but honestly if this were real life (using that term lightly) it really would make ZERO sense that she survived in Gui Hua Cheng, let alone become the new leader. I get that in the end people showed her loyalty because she was not a sinister person, but really, a city of assassins and the leader refuses to kill anyone.
It just made little sense most of the time that she kept fighting to be a part of Gui Hua cheng, but was constantly thrown off by having to kill anyone. Again, I get that she was escaping a past life and this was her escape, but idk, it was just giving me very mixed emotions.
Romance wise, I wish that there could have been more skinship between the leads (or really anything aside from hugging and longing looks) A) because who doesn't love a good kiss here and there but B) for two people who were in such life and death situations with each other and constantly fighting for there lives, you'd think there would be more passion involved. Other than that, I do really like the relationship between Wan Mei and Chang An. I think they relied on each other well and I think the angst between them while she hated him was very strong.
I also appreciate that for the most part, the characters who disliked each other felt like logically reasonable to dislike another character. I get really tired of dramas where a bad person (typically a female) hates the female lead because of a boy but then EVERYTHING that happens is always blamed on the female lead/etc. I know that trope is never going to die, but it's just super overblown most of the time (my most recent memory is Pei Yuan from Legend of Fu Yao who literally every scene was her just hating on Fu Yao and blaming everything that went wrong on her even if it was someone else's fault. Just Bleh.)
ACTING:
Tong Li Ya - I think she was very good in this drama. She portrayed emotions very well and she did a very good job with the character she was given.
Qu Chu Xiao - Especially for a very young, very fresh actor, I think he did an exceptional job as Chang An. He powered through this role both as Chang an and as the lost heir, Xie Huan. Even though he knew his past life (for the most part) all along, I think there was a distinct difference in his personality when he was just the lowly shadow and when he comes to terms with his true identity. I know that QCX has also received nationwide recognition for this role, so it's no surprise to me.
Everyone else - Overall I liked all of the acting. The people who needed to be exaggerated were the right amount, whereas the more solemn characters hit those notes as well.
OVERALL:
Looking back at my review it feels like I had more problems with this drama than I enjoyed, but honestly I don't have a bad impression when I think back on this drama. Even with the things I mentioned I disliked, I overall still enjoyed watching and I'm hoping that there will be a second season coming out because the ending could definitely be a cliffhanger.
Overall I think it was somewhat a predictable story. Innocent young girl, joins a new world to escape her past, fights her way up the ranks, becomes the head of this new world. You knew who the enemies were. You knew who would end up with who. You could assume that essentially everyone would end up dead by the end of it.
Even with the predictability of it all, I think it was still a very enjoyable drama. It was somewhat weird for me though. I normally breeze through dramas pretty easily (hello binge watching) and this is a fairly short drama (on average for Chinese dramas at least), but for some reason it took me almost two weeks to watch just 36 episodes. Partially I was busy at work, but I think there were certain times I lost a little bit of interest honestly.
Pertaining to the actual story, I think honestly my biggest gripe about it was Wan Mei's personality. I think in this kind of setting it would have been the more obvious choice to just have her become a skilled assassin all in her own, but the constant moral turmoil she faced was honestly kind of off-putting for me. I get that she was supposed to be a loyal and morally righteous person, but honestly if this were real life (using that term lightly) it really would make ZERO sense that she survived in Gui Hua Cheng, let alone become the new leader. I get that in the end people showed her loyalty because she was not a sinister person, but really, a city of assassins and the leader refuses to kill anyone.
It just made little sense most of the time that she kept fighting to be a part of Gui Hua cheng, but was constantly thrown off by having to kill anyone. Again, I get that she was escaping a past life and this was her escape, but idk, it was just giving me very mixed emotions.
Romance wise, I wish that there could have been more skinship between the leads (or really anything aside from hugging and longing looks) A) because who doesn't love a good kiss here and there but B) for two people who were in such life and death situations with each other and constantly fighting for there lives, you'd think there would be more passion involved. Other than that, I do really like the relationship between Wan Mei and Chang An. I think they relied on each other well and I think the angst between them while she hated him was very strong.
I also appreciate that for the most part, the characters who disliked each other felt like logically reasonable to dislike another character. I get really tired of dramas where a bad person (typically a female) hates the female lead because of a boy but then EVERYTHING that happens is always blamed on the female lead/etc. I know that trope is never going to die, but it's just super overblown most of the time (my most recent memory is Pei Yuan from Legend of Fu Yao who literally every scene was her just hating on Fu Yao and blaming everything that went wrong on her even if it was someone else's fault. Just Bleh.)
ACTING:
Tong Li Ya - I think she was very good in this drama. She portrayed emotions very well and she did a very good job with the character she was given.
Qu Chu Xiao - Especially for a very young, very fresh actor, I think he did an exceptional job as Chang An. He powered through this role both as Chang an and as the lost heir, Xie Huan. Even though he knew his past life (for the most part) all along, I think there was a distinct difference in his personality when he was just the lowly shadow and when he comes to terms with his true identity. I know that QCX has also received nationwide recognition for this role, so it's no surprise to me.
Everyone else - Overall I liked all of the acting. The people who needed to be exaggerated were the right amount, whereas the more solemn characters hit those notes as well.
OVERALL:
Looking back at my review it feels like I had more problems with this drama than I enjoyed, but honestly I don't have a bad impression when I think back on this drama. Even with the things I mentioned I disliked, I overall still enjoyed watching and I'm hoping that there will be a second season coming out because the ending could definitely be a cliffhanger.
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