FDiyF

Nice warm rom-com but rather mediocre storyline

It’s about a bandit, the FL, whose stronghold had been raided by the army after she snatched a tribute of Yeming kingdom to Pei Kingdom. She was thrown into court political struggle when the official leading the raid saw that she had an uncanny resemblance to his daughter, who died after jumping off a cliff in response to the arranged marriage to the Crown Prince of Pei, the ML. The official, the Prime Minister of Pei, grabbed the chance to threaten FL into posing as his daughter to become the Crown Princess, lest all occupant of the stronghold be killed. She had to do the Prime Minister’s bidding as she racked her brain to rescue people from the stronghold. Along the way, she grew to like the Crown Prince, who was wary of her at first, but eventually he too had fallen in love with his wife whom he consider just a spy from the Prime Minister’s residence. As the story progressed, mysteries and plots get revealed, but one thing remained for sure, the love between the Crown Prince and his princess.

I dont know where to start with this one. It’s definitely a hearty romantic comedy, but fell short of all the other aspects. The storyline, the conspiracy plotting, the court politics, the fightings, oh well like I said, everything. But the music scores are fun and catchy, although sounded much too modern for a period series. Although nice, it’s really annoying that there was too much of these interlaced songs in the scenes, especially romantic scenes, which made it sound repetetive and annoying.

Although the FL is good in acting, i think the ML has much work to do. His expressions sometimes doesnt fit the scene. He is supposed to be this intelligent, kind-hearted, quick witted Crown Prince, but ended up showing the audience someone who is adorably stupid and too slow to react in intense situations. He was shown to be quite bad in martial arts, and other characters have also mentioned this multiple times along the show, but suddenly without training much or studying from great masters like a wuxia series would show, he just suddenly become good at swordplay towards the end of the show.

Plotholes are aplenty in this one, you cant really make sense of the scenes presented unlike a high budget show has. Oh yes I blame the budget. They definitely dont have a budget high enough to hire good screenplay writers, action choreoghrapher and wardrobe manager.

Not only does the storyline strewn with plotholes, the fighting scenes are also horrendous and painful to watch. Too slow, too rehearsed, and too much wirework. Definitely not one of those that run like fluid while keeping us on the edge of our seats. They look cheap and too mediocre.

Lets not make me start on the costume the filmset. Theyre much too modern-looking, both the costume and the set, looks weird to see those designs in a period setting. The head gears are also too dangly. The make up is nice though, although I cant figure out why they had to make the FL wear such moisty lipstick that made her lower lip look swollen and bleeding. Another too modern look.

All in all, its just a show with two beautiful leads. That’s it. Definitely wont rewatch it. Recommended if youre into light romcoms. At least this is better than Royal Rumours.

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Fun enough to keep me watching

The plot is very light and comedic, mainly revolves around the building of relationship between the Crown Prince and Hua Liuli, amidst the lingering espionage from neighbouring warring country. Hua Liuli is a daughter of prominent general of the nation and had been crowned as princess for her parents’ military contributions, and invited to live in the capital, where in reality she was actually held as political hostage because the emperor was wary of how big an influence both her parents wield as mighty generals and worry that they might steal the throne with their huge army. Upon her arrival at the capital, she acted like a weak, sickly maiden to avoid people (especially the emperor) from getting wary of her, where in reality she was quick witted and very good in martial art.

The palace drama in the harem and the political conspiracy is minimal with ridiculously comedic kind of vibe so they tend to look stupid.

I didnt like how the ML (crown prince) look. He looked like a gaunt porcelain statue whose face been dabbed with too much fair coloured foundations and he had very weird face expressions. He tried too hard to look like a calculative, evil, indifferent crown prince. I think FL did okay although the part she acted as a sickly maiden is rather exaggerated (not sure if they intend to do it this way as it is a comedy). The acting is mediocre and they include so many awkward moments of proximity between the ML and FL which I failed to find the spark. I find them pretty lame.

The costume is sooooo over the top with ridiculous-looking dangling hair accessories and ugly flowy dress. Colour combination of the female dresses are botched too. The female’s makeup looks weird too as they put the blusher around the eyes instead of cheeks, and they drew the eyebrow wayyy across the temple.

I just realized everytime they want to portray a character of being sick, it’s always with the slight fake coughing. It’s like even when the character says,”i have a headache/stomach ache,” they would always cough. It’s so annoying.

The first kiss being on the forehead is pretty sweet though. I’m getting sick of lip-kissing between two yet-to-profess-their-love persons. It’s unrealistic in the ancient society that doesn’t even let females and males to mingle freely.

Towards the end the FL became rather stupid though, the plot also became rather ridiculous. So there’s a revolt going to happen and they know when the rebels will take action, one wouldve thought they had prepared backup properly. But nooooo, they had to make it dramatic by going about on how Liuli was going to mobilize the whole Hua army from outside the capital to storm into the palace as backup. Even funnier thing is that the emperor also knows about the plot and feigned sickness, and only came out when the mastermind revealed herself. Interestingly, the emperor conveniently forgets that a band of murderous assassins are pursuing his Crown Prince outside the palace while he was having a chat with the mastermind. I wouldve thought it’d be a brilliant plan by the scheming Crown Prince or even the quickwitted Liuli. It was big disappointment instead.

The show ended with a wedding of course.

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Truly a masterpiece!

I just cant move on from this drama. Everyone did a great job in it, even the small roles!

I read the novel first and thought that it was a total masterpiece despite not really into BL. I was actually reluctant to start watching this because the novel had excessively explicit sexual scenes. I didnt have much impression of Wang YiBo and XiaoZhan as I dont really know them and havent watched any of them on screen before The Untamed. I was actually curious when people keep talking about how great their friendship was when it's clear the novel had them hooked up as lovers. To be honest I was skeptical and delayed watching because I was preparing for the worst. However the drama proved me wrong as they manage to stay truthful to the novel despite a few changes to show bromance instead, which I truly adore! It's definitely different from typical love story like the other wuxia dramas that I've watched. There's no silly female characters chasing after the male leads, I hate it when they flock around male leads like leeches. And I dont care how much other people keep saying that they have BL element in this, I personally see those scenes as bromance!

I especially LOVE the sibling relationship between Jiang Cheng, Jiang YanLi and Wei WuXian. The pain suffered by WWX and JC when JYL died was so heartbreaking and I cried each time. In fact, I actually like the drama more than the novel, especially the scene where WWX broke down after JYL's death. I love the ending too!

Watched the special edition twice to relive the memorable moments after I finished with the full version, watched the anime version (up tp season 2) too, and still cant get over this. Watched behind the scenes shots and was surprised WYB was actually more goofy than XZ. It takes considerable talent to play the cold stoney Lan Zhan with someone of that character, and my hats off to all of the cast to be able to make the characters real. It was indeed really hard for me to move on from this story.

This is indeed one of the best cdrama I've ever watched. My only regret was not watching it much earlier!

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A redemption for Princess Agent fans

This is like another journey back to Eternal Love days. It’s about a spirit who is also the God of War in her realm, who falls in love with a human during her short stint of falling in the mortal realm. This human, however, turned out to be an ancient god who decided to experience mortality due to boredom. Because of his status as the only ancient god left to govern the world, he could not reciprocate her love, and she, being the big shot general of her realm, understood that they were just not meant to be. Well, turned out she understood and willing to forget her love, but it turned out the ancient god had a hard time of letting her go. Things happened, and their fates got entangled even more.

Honestly I did not have much high hopes on this series when I first saw its trailers. They looked over the top and ML looked silly because they featured Xing Yun. I thought it was going to be strong FL with weak ML (didnt read any synopsis before it was aired).

Another doubt that I had was because of Lin Geng Xin. I tried watching his other works after his superb performance in Princess Agent (PA) but I was met with disappointment. Didn't finish Zhao Yun God of War because he was so bad in it. So I had my doubt when I heard about this show. It was a mixed feeling because I really love his character as Yuwen Yue in PA but he fell short in his other tv series. Amazingly it turned out he did really well as an ancient god. I thought I wont see any better performance of a god after seeing Vengo Gao in Eternal Love of Dream, but amazingly Lin Geng Xin managed to surpass my expectation.

Most xianxia shows that I watched mostly had sad/open endings which is obviously less than satisfying, mostly frustrating (still cant get over the traumatic ending of Princess Agents, cuz the book had such a lovely ending!). Many claim to be adapted from novels and yet they really love to deviate from it. I finished reading the Yu Feng Xing novel and am happy that it had a happy ending, but then I didnt know if the tv series would be faithful to it, which kept me on edge as I watched the show. And as the story progressed, I was quite happy that they try to stay on track with the book. Only minor deviations/add on like the scenes of You Lan and Fu Rong Jun. You Lan actually got more screen time than the author wrote her on the book.

The good:

- no contradicting personality of any of the characters. The general acted like a general, the pauper like a pauper, the king as kings, the diety as dieties and so on. There’s no strong FL but with damsel in distress attitude when around ML, no clumsy trying to act cute scenes, no immature/ridiculous actions etc. Shen Li was strong, and she fights her own battle without waiting to be saved.

- There are no silly misunderstandings, stupid jealousy, ridiculous confusions around the love relationships. FL is clear about her stand on this topic, and she stayed true towards the end. SML never try to fight for her affection too, he knows the boundary and all he wanted was only for FL to be safe.

- Actors display superb performance, I couldn't really find any flaw with any of them.

- Costume is super gorgeous and not overly extravagant. I especially love love love costumes of the generals here. So smart looking and yet not overly done.

- Music is sooooo breathtaking and easy to catch on.

- storyline is easy to follow hence not many loopholes to pick on. However, this also means that the story is much too simple and straightforward with not much complicated plot thrown in.

- I really love that they decided to do the last episode. Most adaptations usually skip the very last chapter (prologue) and made audience feel dissatisfied. This show managed to capture every little part of the novel and made it into the screen. This one episode is the only moment that we get to see Shen Li and Xing Zhi as a real normal lovey-dovey couple with both of them acting cute with each other. It was so fulfilling. A real closure of both LoSL and PA combined.

The bad:

- there’s no real tension/conflict. Both Shen Li and Fu Rong Jun didnt like the arranged marriage so no conflict there. Both Shen Li and Xing Zhi know that theyre not meant to be together due to their respective responsibilities, so there’s no conflict there. In fact, Shen Li is more adamant about this more than Xing Zhi. At least Xing Zhi thought of living away quietly with Shen Li, but Shen Li never did. I truly enjoyed the moments when Xing Zhi was treating Shen Li’s torture injuries, I think that was the only sweet moments of them as lead general and ancient god setting their huge responsibility to the side to enjoy the brief moment with each other. There’s no love triangle either cuz Shen Li rejected Mo Fang right from the start, even after she realized who Xing Zhi really was. Her heart is set on stone and she never deviates.

- CGI is quite over the top. The earlier episodes of Shen Li as a phoenix looked cartoonish. Not seamless enough. The underwater scene is badly done too. But some of the battle scenes and the ocean freezing scene was great.

- Lack of good battle scenes with the villains because theyre just not strong enough until Feng Lai emerged. Yes even Fu Sheng was not really strong. The only memorable battle scenes of Fu Sheng was only the East Sea (eh was it the north sea, i get confused) battle which forced Shen Li to burn everything to crisp including herself. That was it. The torture scene was disappointing too. The torture by Fu Sheng and treatment by Xing Zhi was more gruesome in the book. But hey since they tried to stay true to the book with all the important details so I’ll let this slide.

I watched the series twice back to back because I just couldn't have enough of them. Am thinking of rewatching again in near future. Basically, I’d rate this one as one of the great pieces by Zhao Liying that I’ve watched, it was hard to move on from like how i felt after watching Ten Miles Peach Blossoms and The Untamed. I actually watched this show three times.

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Mediocre

When I started on this one I was ready for horrible acting and story, but to my surprise, the story up to the middle of the show is actually quite okay and acceptable for a low budget production. The acting is okay too, and for once I kinda got engrossed into the show. The leads are ordinary looking couple, so it kinda relate to the audience since we are generally ordinary. You don’t need extra handsome ML and super cute gorgeous FL to make a story works. Just good story and good acting actually suffice. Up to Episode 21, everything looks good and acceptable to me.

Then they went on to use the misunderstanding trope. Get the wife jealous with another woman so she would leave the husband then the bad guys won’t harm her. WTH man. Like seriously? With all the things that she knows of the bad guys, they’d just leave her alone just because she left you, is it? Whoever came up with this stupid idea? The budget is so low you cant even hire bright people to write the story is it? Youre so damn close to the ending too!

So thats it. Dropping it so fast and I actually wrote this review right after I hit the stop button. What a waste of my time.

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Why Do They Keep Fcking Up a Great Story?

Fished out of the frozen water by Yanxun after the ice lake siege, Chu Qiao found herself confused of her own identity and past, not having remembered any after months of being comatose. As Yanxun fed her more and more of their past accounts, deliberately leaving out those he didnt want her to remember, she realized things had started to come back and that Yanxun had meant a lot to her. But she also realized they were not meant to be together, partly because she knew something was not right as the ice lake nightmares she had at nights keep haunting her, and partly because all the tribes in Yanbei do not approve of their king marrying a slave from a rival kingdom. Determined to escape Yanbei, she staged her death on their wedding day and narrowly escape Yanxun’s pursuit, only to find herself being rescued yet again by the one she used to hate, the one who had given his life for her, the supposedly dead Great Yong’s general and strategist, Zhuge Yue. His return did not mark the end of their journey as he was forced to push her away again due to the predicament he was currently in, and decided to set her free into Li Ce’s arm. Will they find their way back to each other again?

First off, the editting of this show is kind of choppy with scenes jumping from one to another without much backtrack that might leave viewers who are not familiar with Princess Agent or the original novel confused. Like the deep relationship between Da Tong Guild and Yanxun and Chu Qiao. One who have watched Princess Agent or read the novel wouldve known Da Tong played a major role in Yanxun’s escape from Zhenhuang capital city and his rise to power in Yanbei. They went waaaaay back with Zhong Yu. But in Rebirth, Zhong Yu just appeared out of nowhere and Chu Qiao risked her neck and limbs just to rescue her. And how the heck did Zhuge Yue always appear just in time to rescue Chu Qiao regardless her location? Did he teleport or something? The last 10 episodes was a real mess, don’t even let me start on that faceless god cult that came out of nowhere that somehow became the drive to the second half of the plot 🫩🙄

That aside, I totally love Li Yunrui as Zhuge Yue. Although the novel’s Zhuge Yue was so much more arrogant and never lost his cool and pride even when he was around Chu Qiao trying to win her heart, I actually liked the milder Zhuge Yue of the adaptation’s, someone who is not afraid to show his emotion and feelings, especially jealousy. Fighting-wise it has always been no doubt Li Yunrui was good at this based on his performance in Blossom. His action scenes definitely did not disappoint. And the comeback of Zhuge Yue’s ice arrows is an absolute joy for me. I thought they’ve forgotten Zhuge Yue’s iconic weapon. I had always felt sorry for the novel’s Zhuge Yue, he had always been making concessions in favour of Chu Qiao despite his prideful nature, but Chu Qiao always overlooks this until the ice lake arc. And to see it materialize in Rebirth made me feel sorry for this character even more. His journey to secure the survival of the love of his life was too ardous and he literally died for it, TWICE! My complain for this character is why would they mostly clad him in scholar’s robe? Novel Zhuge Yue was supposed to be a feared general, the best leader among the best that the kingdom ever produced, how did he became nothing more than a simple scholarlike strategist here? 🤯🤔

Huangyang Tiantian’s Chu Qiao is rather borderline though. The problem isnt with the actress but the role itself. Characteristically, Chu Qiao is very prideful and rough, willing to go all out with tooth and nails in acomplishing her missions and vision. On the surface, her ideals of the perfect world didnt align with the ancient world because her character in the novel had come from the future. This was not so in the adaptation (she was not a transmigrator/time traveler in the adaptation), so while I find her dream of abolishment of slavery understandable, the equal rights idea is rather out of place. It sounded like it just came out of nowhere, until half of the show where it originated, but even then the explanation seemed half-assed.

I love the fact that Chu Qiao finally fell for for Zhuge Yue here, i was all over the moon for this after all the rumours circulating last year that there wont be any romance between them. Maybe the “romance” they refered to was french-kissing and spicy bed scenes that I see prevalent in most cdrama nowadays? Cuz there is definitely none involving Chu Qiao, which is fine by me. I am more for mature romance where you dont need the couple to be frolicking and feeling each other up whenever they meet. Chu Qiao hugging Zhuge Yue is enough, they look perfect for each other. I do want to complain about this character though. She was written to constantly be damsel in distress despite all those outstanding martial skill she’s supposed to possess. Why screenwriter, why? Novel’s Chu Qiao never needed so much saving, only two occasions did Zhuge Yue come for her, which was during the siege of Longyin Pass when she first fled Yanbei, and the retaking of Tang’s palace from Tang’s rebel princes, and in both times it had been Yanxun who was sieging her leaving an absolute no way out. Other than that she could win any battle on her own. Why oh why did they have to power her down so much? Her feats were so epic in the novel, what she went through really puts forth how she earned the famed title of Xiuli General and revered across the realm, but all I see here is a woman who thought she was all tough but fell short each time. Worst part is they not only watered down her capability, they also did the same with Zhuge Yue! WTH, man?

Actors for Yanxun and Li Ce performed with flying colours, although I still liked Shawn Dou’s Yanxun more as his was closer to the novel’s Yanxun than Rebirth’s. In this one, Yanxun is too lovestruck and obsessed with Chu Qiao, a total contrast to the original novel’s Yanxun who had let go of this fixation and focussed on accumulating power after Chu Qiao fled to Biantang, cutting all ties from him. The novel’s Yanxun had always had his ambition placed before Chu Qiao, which was why he tried to bench her in Princess Agent, so that she wouldnt get in his way and instead sit quietly as his queen in his castle because her ideals would put a stop to his advacement to conquer the Central Plains. When he realized Chu Qiao would not budge, that was when he let her go. This, however, was not the case with Rebirth’s Yanxun. This Yanxun keeps getting hung up over his lost love and blames everyone for it. Pure narcisstic dude.

It took quite a while for me to accept this new Li Ce, because Deng Lun’s Xiao Ce had been so accurate to the novel. Although this Li Ce had not been as ostentatious and flamboyant as Deng Lun’s portrayal in Princess Agent, and not as goofy, this Li Ce kind of grow into you as he appears more and more. I especially liked his banter with the usually cold Zhuge Yue, and without realizing it my lips would curve into a smile at their scenes. The love-hate relationship was evident, and very much amusing.

I used to hate Li Qin’s Chun Er in Princess Agent, she had always been a spoilt brat whom later went rabid, but somehow I loved Xia Meng’s Chun Er. For one, she resembled Li Qin quite a lot hence it was easy to see Chun Er as she used to be in Princess Agent. And Xia Meng’s portrayal of ChunEr is so on point, with her expressions of obsession and vengeance went on full blown. Being a toppled, disgraced princess that she is, she had nothing to drive her life other than the fire of grudge smoldering her heart, and Xia Meng did extremely well in playing the twisted and broken Chun Er.

Really in love with the hair in this show. Everyone had unique, luscious hair: the wavy one on Zhuge Yue, the long, shiny one on Chu Qiao, the full and curly one on Queen of Lingyue, the frizzy one on Yanxun. I love it that they did not put on elaborate hairstyles like most period drama, and they actually let the hair down when they’re sleeping, which is realistic! You dont sleep with your hair still up complete with dangling ornaments, logically one can barely move the head lying down with those heavy trinkets and hairdo weighing down the head without messing them up, but somehow these characters with elaborate hairdo and hairpieces always wake up with perfect hair despite the whole night sleeping in them. And funnily most productions tend to overlook this, maybe to save time on prep time 🤷🏻‍♀️

And I like that they don’t portray everyone to look flawlessly beautiful too! General Huan of the Snowy Tribe had smudged face with faint scar and patchy skin as a seasoned fighter of war, Cheng Yuan had a big ass scar across his face from battle injury, Yan Xun had tanned skin due to decade-long exposure to hard life from his house arrest and bitter cold of Yanbei, Zhuge Yue had blistered lips from frostbite, Chu Qiao’s face wasnt always smooth and fair, Queen of Lingyue had tanned, uneven skin tone and freckles, and Chun-er and Concubine Hu had the most realistic slap bruise on their cheeks. And did you see Chu Qiao’s burnt feet during her flashbacks? That is the most realistic burn injury I’ve ever seen on cdrama! I am really impressed to see battle-hardened face of the Yanbei people, the skin looked very tanned and rough, seemed like flawless makeup is nonexistent in this show, to which I applaud. Best part is even though Queen of Lingyue looks really rough and tanned, i find that she was the most beautiful among all the female characters, especially with her majestic hair. And to see the flashback of her old self in much fairer skintone and smooth face as the reigning queen of Lingyue before they were conquered by King Ximeng and thrown into a war was even more breathtaking. She is truly a beauty. I truly commend the make up department for making the characters look as real as possible. Most importantly they did not try hard to make the mainleads look flawless and beautiful all throughout the show like most idol drama.

I think my starting on this title with a considerable low expectation contributed to my surprise that it didnt tanked too much and this of course affected my ratings. I actually quite enjoy the show despite it being a full on deviation from my favourite novel. This adaptation is less gloomy than the dark novel, and most importantly my favourite supporting characters had slightly better endings than the novel. I mean, at least Li Ce was not killed by his own mother and Huan Huan was not hunted down and brutally killed by her trusted cousin cum brother, Yanxun! Man i had always felt so sorry for the novel’s Li Ce and Huan Huan’s tragic ending each time i read that part (mind you I read the novel 5 times!). I mean, since both adaptations (princess agent and rebirth) fcked up the plot of the novel, I don’t even know which is worse. I was seriously thinking of rating Rebirth 8.5 until i came upon the last 10 episodes. So I decided it’s a tie with the also fcked up Princess Agent. For me the overall plot is mainly acceptable except for the last 10 episodes that got really fcked up and failed to make sense.

For an avid Princess Agent fan, this might be worthwhile since our main couple had the same ending as the novel. We finally get to have the proper closure. But for somebody who just came to know the show without prior experience of the prequel or the novel, this will most likely become a disaster. Proceed with caution.

SPOILER BEYOND THIS LINE!!!







Honestly i really wanna strangle the screenwriter for the lousy last 10 episode. Wth would they waste screentime with Helian-ChengYuan nonsense? 😒🙄 is it so hard to just follow the novel’s plot which is more sound and logical than this one they cooked up? Not only did they turn the plot to downgrade the ML Zhuge Yue into someone so helpless and weak, they also decided to turn Yanxun into a less power hungry monster and became a crybaby who’s so hung up over his love for Chu Qiao. And how the heck did Zhuge Yue survive his double poison that was supposed to kill him and Chu Qiao’s stab straight into his lungs? Not only did he survive those, he also managed to come to Chu Qiao’s rescue against the Quanrong, with a clean white robe that only got splashed with blood while he was charging towards Chu Qiao in the last 50 meters. I was like, what the haillll is going on here? I actually thought Zhuge Yue was Chu Qiao’s imagination before her death, like the rest of the characters who keep imagining their loved ones coming for them before dying. OMG make it make sense!

Despite all the plot chaos, they did decide to have an ending just like the novel, where our main couple lived happily ever after while Yanxun was left alone to lament in his old age without the love of his life. I think the songs, cast acting and the alternate ending was a real saving grace - of how beautiful the lives of each couple couldve been had they took a different choice. Yanxun never releasing the arrow in ice lake, Zhao Che agreeing to go with General Huan and leave the mess he made behind, and Helian Ling agreeing to elope with Cheng Yuan.

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One of the Few Adaptations that Surpasses the Novels they’re based on!

The FL Chu Yu was determined to get to the bottom of her father’s death and her brother’s serious injury on the battlefield of Fengling, which she suspected to be because of traitors, and won’t stop at nothing even if it means her reputation ruined, scorned and misunderstood by her mom and sister, and marrying a dead general, Wei Jun, who had fallen in battle. This is Chu Yu, a girl who will not stop for no one and nothing until her goal is accomplished. This is how she met with ML, Wei Yun who was the youngest brother of her dead husband. 6 of Wei Yun’s brothers perished in the battle of Baidi Valley including his father the general of Wei army, and he returned home with their bodies in tow, but inadvertantly faced the accusation of crime for valor due to the battle being lost along with the lives of seventy thousand soldiers. Chu Yu, as the eldest mistress of the mansion, received him in the capital and later fought for his release. Although Wei Yun was very wary of her motives of marrying his dead eldest brother and continuoesly opposed her presence in the family, he finally came to an agreement with Chu Yu as he realized both Fengling and Baidi Valley’s battle losses had been connected. With that, both of them started to work hand in hand to investigate, which turned into a blossoming forbidden love.

I love how they changed some parts of the novel which turned out even better on screen:

- the Song brothers to be good with each other, Song Wenchang was very lovable instead of being at odds with Song Shilan,
- The Wei widows to be more involved in the earlier power struggle instead of merely ornaments and actually possess real martial skills instead of only Jiang Chun,
- FL to have more fights and battles,
- Chu Jin is softer and not as jealous as in the novel, repents much earlier too.

I liked how they changed the plot into Zhao Yue becoming North Qi’s emperor instead of usurping Sui’s throne, cuz this version is more believable than the novel’s plot. It always bothered me how ridiculous Zhao Yue’s ascension to the throne in the novel, and the scriptwriter managed to turn this lousy arc into a masterpiece by having Sui internally disrupting North Qi political scene instead.

I liked how ML’s personality stayed true to the novel too, that he would not trade Chuyu for anyone or anything, even if it means defying the emperor. Novel’s ML and FL have always been resolute and firm, and the fact that ML’s loyalty had always been for the land and its people and never for the emperor made it easier for them to look believable instead of the usual blind loyalty to the throne that common generals usually exhibit. In the novel, Wei Yun had no qualm to replace the emperor for another when he saw him not fit for it. So I liked how the adaptation Wei Yun cared nothing about the emperor’s ridiculous expectation of him being a War Saint and would not compromise. And most importantly i adored how the scriptwriter made their relationship pure and sincere, instead of having them sneaking into each other’s room to sleep together and having a child out of wedlock like in the novel. The adaptation’s ending is also much more fulfilling than the novel. A+ for that.

I dont get the blatant accusation about victoria song abusing power by reducing Ding Yuxi’s scenes, cuz in the novel, Wei Yun is always secondary to Chu Yu. The novel is about Chu Yu and Wei Yun’s mentions are even much lesser than what’s shown on the adaptation. I like Ding Yuxi as an actor, I watched this adaptation partly because of the novel and him being the main lead, and even then i felt the production had expanded wei yun’s character much more than what the novel had of him. Not that I am complaining of course, i totally love DYX as Wei Yun, but i dont mind his scenes being lesser than Victoria Song’s Chu Yu because I know that the original novel is a female-centric piece.

By the way, IMPO this is definitely Ding Yuxi’s best show that I have seen so far. And I am glad that he finally met the perfect co-star. I had been extremely disappointed of the FL’s opposite him before this, their characters are always lacking one after another, so I am glad Victoria Song lived up to my expectation. Her action scenes were finely executed and she spared no effort to make it look grand whenever she needs to display Chu Yu’s martial prowess. Other than her being great with action scenes, the credits must also go to the action choreographer. All the fights here are amazing.

The subtle romance here is also perfect for my taste. Theyre not cheesy or cutesy, but more to mature romance that doesnt need the couple to be all too handsy and kissy with each other everytime they meet. I can’t stand the romance when DYX was with younger female actors in the shows that i’ve seen him in, cuz their characters tend to be the whiny-clingy kinds, which I completely abbhor (i have dropped his shows due to clingy cutesy FL which had gotten on my nerves more than my love for DYX). So his pairing with Victoria Song is perfect in my eyes.

Again, hat’s off to the screenwriter and actors who managed to make Zhao Yue-Grand Princess’s love into something worth to sympathize. I felt nothing for this couple in the novel, and I didnt think Grand Princess was that much in love with Zhao Yue too, but somehow in this adaptation, i could feel how deeply they love each other but torn due to loyalty. I actually felt sad for their ending here.

Anyway, honestly my rating couldve gone higher had not for the lack of memorable songs here. None manage to catch my attention and most are slow ballads. Can’t really rate any higher for that section. Too bad. But this is a good piece, i don’t understand how the rating turned out to be so low.

SO PLEASE DONT GET FOOLED BY THE GENERAL RATING ON MDL.

I am betting those are done by Song’s haters. I don’t get from where the hate was coming, i mean i have seen Luoyang and she was great there too. So I dont get it really, was it because she wasnt young, pretty or whiny-cutesy enough like how DYX’s FLs before this were? 🙄 how dense.

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My stomach cramped from laughing too much

FL is Song Xiaoyu in a modern world, who landed a job as main actress in a costume tv series A Dream of QingNing. She was reading the script at home when she fell asleep and woke up in the story, as the main lead character she was supposed to play - Song Yimeng. She was bewildered that this character would eventually become paralyzed after a failed jumping off the tower suicide, so she tried hard to alter the course of storyline by not acting out the written plot, which was her falling in love with the male lead 7th Prince Nan Heng who would later cheat on her with her sister Song Yiting which drove her to the failed suicide and the killing of her whole Song clan by ML. Things did not turn out as she had wanted because she keeps getting killed and reset again each time she try to deviate. And there starts the adventure of her unwillingly cross paths with ML, finding out that they’re stuck with the script rule “ML will always save the FL”, sparking a long super exhausting story of laughter-and-anger-inducing misunderstandings while carrying out the written plotline in the process.

I have never seen an ML so misunderstood as 7th Prince, Nan Heng. His father hates him, his uncle used him, his brother fears him, the common people detests him, and the one he loves avoids him like a plague with pure prejudice. Such a tortured soul who had been suffering since a little boy just because his father decided to marry his mom for political balance and later hated his guts just because he was his mom’s son. It’s a wonder he could grow into the good-natured man that he is, although he hides this good side of him pretty well to protect himself, ruthlessly fighting the enemies at the border which how he earned himself the all-feared title God of Death. He took so many punishments on behalf of the people he cherished, and none actually thanked him for it or even mention it to others. It’s so frustrating how badly ML is treated in the first 3/4 of the show. However, although my general description of the ML sound like the typical roles Liu Yuning took up - broken, hurt, fierce, lovestruck - it is actually a new role I saw him in as he constantly become the source of laughter in the comedic scenes. It really puts some new perspective of him for me.

Cant stand the FL. She is annoying, selfish, stupid and reckless. The first few episodes was fun, but when she keeps on being prejudiced towards ML despite all the obvious proof against it, i just cant stand this character. It’s a blessing that she had an extremely intelligent and quick-witted younger sister Song Yiting who often knocks some senses into that pea-brain of hers. FL often gaslights ML and is so mean towards him for 3/4 parts of the show. She acts all hurt when ML didnt reveal all his strategies and tricks to overcome the enemy, and yet she herself never really come clean on why she keeps pushing ML away with all those unexplained quirks she displays. It’s frustrating to see her hurting ML over and over again just because of a mere script. I get that she is afraid of the script coming true, but cant she be kinder to him ? She had zero confidence in ML in that 3/4 of the show before ML proved to her that he could help her divert the iconic scene she feared so much to happen. It also irks me that ML keeps chasing after her despite her cruel attitude towards him. I just cant ship them. If not for the ML i wouldve dropped this long ago. I have no grudge against the actress, she is astonishingly beautiful with amazing acting skills, its just too bad this character is so poorly written that it makes it really hard for me to tolerate her.

The sweetest, purest soul goes to 18th Prince NanRui, the supposedly Crown Prince who acts like a spoilt child. Although he was at odds with ML in the earlier episodes, and I quite hated him then, but it was clear this was due to his insecurity and gullibleness. This character is also consistent throughout the show, although he eventually realized he had laid his loyalty in the wrong man, his sincerity, kindness and compassion stays strong all the way to the end. He was so loving towards the SML, Chu Guihong who he considered as his true blood brother instead of a cousin and ready to concede the crown prince title to beg th Emperor and ML to spare SML’s life after the attempted assassination, and when ML disclosed the secret about the script world, the first thing he blurted out was how painful ML must have been in to have died twice during the resets. And instead of worrying about getting himself injured or killed as ML laid out the plan to save the emperor, this Nan Rui was instead anxious about ML getting killed while luring SML’s troops away. Such a compassionate soul. It’s hard to really hate this character even when he was in cahoots with SML in the earlier parts. And his pairing with his bodyguard Ji Xiang is the cutest. One a blabbermouth with a kind heart, while the other a stone with no facial expression and even lesser spoken words, except display of immense loyalty towards his master.

As for the SML, Chu Guihong, he had the most character transformation of all although in a negative way. From the pure and innocent SML who acts only as ML’s love rival, he became a full fledged villain who is blinded by pure obsession to overcome ML using any means necessary. It’s really sad cuz their friendship had been beautiful in the beginning and I was hoping they would reconcile and SML stayed being a good person.

By the way, what kind of bastard of a father suspects a 9yo child of his to lead assassins to kill the wife? Like seriously? Any other sane adult would first suspect the rest of adult in the entourage. Why the hell was the blame pinned on the ML, Nan Heng, right off the bat? I cant fathom how this stupid emperor’s brain works. Blaming a 9yo for killing the empress using assassins? For real? You blamed the child for 19 long years and never really figured out any loophole in the investigation? 🙄

I have trouble handling the emotional rollercoaster the show thrusts into its audience. One minute the father is at his son’s throat (literally) and made the audience feel so angry at the father and pity the son, and the next scene was of the son running to attend to his collapsed mom, who actually fiegned sickness to trap her son and future bride in a room so they would sleep together (in a comedic way). What the frick 😂😂😂 one minute i was so angry and feel ML’s heartbreak for his bastard father’s action, and the next i was literally laughing my arse off at the trapping scene. And that is just one of many comedic scenes in the show. And they didnt look forced or slapstick at all like most comedy shows I’ve seen. I was in a restaurant one time and cant stop myself from laughing like a banshee that i had to put down the phone to continue watching at home else people might think i’m crazy. The show had so many references to other costume drama such as A Journey to Love and Love like the Galaxy, even having the themesongs of these series played in that scene even. Imagine how much cramp my stomach had to sustain? 😂 each time ML was forced to take the hits as he tried to kill the FL to figure out if he had been under her spell was hillarious as F. I had to pause the playback so my laughter would subside first, else I’d miss the next scenes.

Although the plot kinda slowed down and mellowed around 30 episodes, gradually look absurd when the screenwriter also went into the world to fix the storyline, it picked up its pace again in the last 3 episodes when they went to fight against the script. The ending, although rather draggy with after-climax scenes, is apt and fitting, brilliant even that explains the series title. It’s a happy ending btw so you guys who avoids tragic endings can watch with ease.

I liked the songs and bgm in this show. Especially the cowboy-like wild west background music during comedic scenes 😆

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Great story but they botched it with an annoying ending

For a spy wuxia show, I had to commend that this is definitely one of the best I’ve seen so far. When i first started out, i thought it was going to be the usual ‘spy assassin goes in for a target, assasssin and target fall in love with each other, assassin tries to kill target but failed and then target would go against his own men to protect the assassin’ trope. However as i watched on, they actually have more in store.

Basically FL is an assassin trained by an evil organization Wu Feng, whose aim is to control and dominate the martial world. One of the sects still left standing against Wufeng threat is the Gong family, who resides on a hill. This is where FL was supposed to go. She takes on the identity of a bride candidate, Yun Weishan, to enter the hill. The brides were supposed to be for the eldest and heir of the family, Young Lord Gong Huanyu, and the next line after him Gong Shangjue. Upon FL’s entry into the hill, she discovered that she might not be the only one that Wufeng sent in. Sometime later, a Wufeng assassin was discovered among the bride candidates, and later the Leader of Gong family - The Sword Wielder - and his heir Gong Huanyu were both killed while interrogating the assassin. As Gong Shangjue was not on the hill at that moment, the least talented, playboy, useless second son of the Sword Wielder - Gong Ziyu, the ML - was forced to take the helm as the Sword Wielder as the family’s rule stated that the Sword Wielder’s position can never be vacant. This was met with strong objection by both Gong Shangjue upon his return, with his brother Gong Yuanzhi strongly standing by his side, so they keep trying to make things difficult for ML to investigate his father’s and brother’s deaths while questioning ML’s ability to lead and protect the Gong family. FL also discovered that there was another Wufeng assassin among the brides, Shangguan Qian. As FL was chosen by ML as his bride, and Shangguan Qian chosen by Gong Shangjue, more sinister and mysterious events began to unfold, more deaths occurred, and the pressure rose upon ML to prove his worth, hence he was forced to go through the trial of the three realms while at the same time investigating Wufeng’s activity that is threatening his family.

At first, I didnt put much high hopes on this show. But as I watched on, the story began to get very interesting as there is extensive character background and building along the first 10 episodes, where we can see from various perspectives of the other roles. There are a lot of flashbacks for this character building, but instead of getting annoyed of so many flashbacks, i got more curious and empathatic towards the other roles, even as they go against ML. I especially liked Gong Yuanzhi’s character, he was supposed to be this arrogant teenager who always thought his brother Gong Shangjue is the rightful owner of the Sword Wielder position. His sinister smirks, although makes me cringe, they have a certain charm. When I looked at Gong Yuanzhi, his character seemed so similar to a character in Robin William’s Hook movie, Rufio.

I especially loved how they portray the multi-faceted types of love - Love between biological siblings, love between step/foster siblings, love between father and son, love between leader and subordinates, and of course love between lovers of opposing sides. It’s really beautiful and intricately written that I was left very impressed.

Love the costumes in this show. They match the dark setting of the Gong residence, with dark monotonous colours instead of bright and over the top that is usually the case in wuxia shows, especially in female wardrobe department.

The songs are slow and melancholic, although it grows on me as I watched on, they failed to put a print in my head.

One thing that i find weird is that everyone seem to talk like theyre whispering to each other, other than the squabbling scenes between ML and 2nd ML. All the whispers and talking in low tones gives a more darkish mystery vibe to the already dark setting of the show. The only cheery thing around the compound comes from the goofy characters which i will mention next.

Fighting sequences didnt look too CGIed, it has more earthly real life feel to it. Although they still use the usual wuxia theme of getting poisoned over and over again and recover like it has no aftermath at all (other than the fortnight flies which affected their inner strength fortnightly).

Usually with other shows, I wouldnt pay much attention to side characters and their love story, most of the time I would just fast forward them, but in this story, i kept watching and got amazed at how they play everything out. Even the goofy side characters that acts as a comic relief to a serious piece like this, such as the Eldest Young Lady Gong Zishang and Xiaohei - Young Lord Hua - kept me hooked. At first i was disgusted with Gong Zishang as she was portrayed as a flirtitious woman who likes to watch undressed men, with goofy over the top hand gestures and body movement, but as i watched more, she is really fun to watch especially when she keeps chasing Jin Fan - ML’s primary guard - while being clueless that the one who was always hanging out with her in the lab - Xiaohei - likes her. The fun part of this show is really fun, the mysterious part really mysterious and the sad part turned out super sad. Really love the plot twist towards the end.

SPOILER BEYOND THIS LINE!!!
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The fact that the brother that ML had always looked up to and love turned out to be the villain and the brother that he thought was always against him and hate him turned out to be the one who really love him is honestly so brilliantly executed.

When i started to watch this series, i am ready for a tragic ending cuz spy stories usually have that. After going through the trauma of character massacre in A Journey to Love, i don’t really think any other death can hit me that much anymore. So yeah. I was ready for ML or FL plus Jinfan or Gong Yuanzhi to die. I thought the careless act of letting FL go back to her hometown without any bodyguards is purposely to get the character killed, so am ready for that already. So imagine how dumbfounded I am to see the ending just ML with a surprised look to see whoever it is at the door of the compound? Dammit why end it like this. Honestly I was ready to see somebody handing over a box or a rug containing FL’s head. But they decided to put up an open ending instead! Are they trying to hint for S2 or what? Why just that? Gosh I dont know whether to get angry or excited. Duhhh. Just be done with it already. I am okay with ML and 2nd ML losing their lovers. Why the cliffhanger? Grrrr. I am also dissatisfied that the evil Shangguan Qian had a happy ending, free of shackles of Wufeng and Gong family. Why did she get to live a quiet life? I wouldve given 10/10 for story if they hadnt put up such a lousy ending.

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Catch Me If You Can

The notoriously heartless Grim Reaper 444 who had always prided himself for being a trueblood born Grim Reaper than the rest of the Grims who had been once humans, found himself in a pickle when the ex-human partner he had wanted to change by having him caught doing a bad job at collecting soul bailed on him in the mortal world. Forced to hunt down his partner before the Underworld enforcers come to get him for being an accomplice, 444 takes over the body of Detective Han Moogang who died after being shot in the head. As Han Moogang, 444 realized that a girl who could see grim reapers, Kang Ha Ram, is deeply into him as she thought Han Moogang had been her childhood crush, Kim Joon, back in Moojin the town where she grew up. Thus he decides to use Kang Ha Ram’s monkey love to make her identify the body that is taken over by his partner.

The show had a rather solid starting point, with the funny and mysterious Grim Reapers, the hectic and cooky Han Moogang Violent Crime team, and the mystery of Moojin Times Mall destruction that claimed hundreds of lives, seemingly intertwined with each other. The plot twists were really mindblowing especially that part with Han Moogang’s and Kim Joon’s past. Totally unexpected! They managed to hook me onto the show despite me not fancying neither main roles.

It really bugs me how frequent people are screaming and yelling at each other in this show. I hated this part in kdramas hence why i rarely choose to watch them. They seem to be constantly on anger management crises, as if there’s a great prize for those who could scream and cuss the loudest. Anyway, i didnt like 444 because he’s one of those characters who scream and yell whenever he wants. As for Kang Ha Ram, it is beyond me why would she fall for this foul-mouthed and abusive 444 as Han Moogang who constantly looks down on humans, even after she realized he was not the gentle and optimistic Kim Joon whom she had known since childhood. Rolled my eyes when she said she liked Han Moogang for who he was and not because of Kim Joon. Like for real girl? This guy screams and pushes you around like a mad dog since the past few weeks, and you fell for the few gestures where he protected you cuz he wanted to use your eyes? Good lord, this woman is hopeless. Other than being hopelessly in love with first Kim Joon and now Han Moogang, she also had the tendency to run into danger when she herself knows nothing on how to protect herself. She keeps getting saved by either Oh Mansoo or Han Moogang repeatedly.

I liked Han Moogang’s Violent Crime squad though. They were the outcasts, constantly being looked down upon as they existed as a spare team. The captain, Bong keeps getting sidelined from promotion, Na Gwangyung has anger management issues and renowned throughout the force with the nickname Mad Dog who never lets go once he (literally) bites, Oh Sotae with bladder issues who keeps taking a leak whenever he could, Park Gwinam with his hand tremor, and lastly Han Moogang who keeps throwing up whenever they got a corpse as a case. Their interactions always cracks me up. The same goes with 444’s Grim Reaper friends 007 with his stoic Joseon era straightface with an obsession for kdramas, and 416 who raps all through his conversations. Dang I love those two. It’s funny the ones that was keeping me on this show had been the supporting roles cuz I couldnt seem to like the main roles, especially when they started to hook up. I honestly ship Kang Ha Ran with Oh Mansoo more than 444. Gosh I FF everytime theyre together doing what couples do. Thank god there were not many of such scenes.

The ending is botched up real bad it created a crater in the plot. Just as I was happy that the ending didnt seem as bad as I thought, they just had to add up that 5 min useless clip of a crater that made quite a black hole to an already acceptable ending. The screenwriter must be seething when the director made that veto decision and filled in his stupid ending.

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Snail Paced Plot

The Junior King of Nanchen, Zhousheng Chen has been in the battlefield since he was 14yo with zero defeat, which earned him a revered reputation throughout the kingdom. When Zhousheng Chen’s elder brother, the emperor, died and empress dowager Gao tried to usurp the throne, he came to the rescue just in time to quell the coup-de-tat, and pledged allegience to his 6yo nephew, with Empress Dowager Qi rising to power. Meanwhile a 14yo Cui Shiyi of the reknowned scholar lineage Cui clan of Qinghe, the supposedly bethrothed crown princess is denied the position as empress by empress dowager Qi, and instead she pushed another prince, Liu Zixing, to step in as the little emperor’s study partner while promising the crown prince position upon him reaching 20yo. Thus to diffuse the Cuis clan’s anger at being sidelined, Cui Shiyi is to take Zhousheng Chen as her teacher, sealing the relationship with the royals before she weds the crown prince later. Having spent significant time in the King of Nanchen palace, Cui Shiyi developed affection for Zhousheng Chen, while Liu Zixing plots in the background to take what he believed rightful to him, a plot that would eventually turn the realm upside down in turmoil.

I seriously think the tag of “slowburn romance” to be misleading, because not only does the romance is slowburn, the whole freaking plot also developed as slow as a snail!

I generally could care less about romance, problem here is the show seem to spend so much time trying to push the mainleads’ idea of attraction for each other and simply dumps the plot’s pacing into the drain. When the plot is put on hold to make way for romance buildup, and yet the romance aint romancing, the show comes off boring and empty instead. If not for Forever and Ever (the modern setting of the novel, which is where the main plot actually is), i honestly wouldve dropped this show before i reach Ep10. The plot only picks up at Episode 18-24, so I’m quite relieved that I stayed on with the loyal company of FF button and 2.0 playback speed.

What’s disappointing is that 18 episodes were used up to build the romance, and yet here I am failing to see or feel the spark. No juice. Dead batteries. Nada. I didnt get any emotional connection for the rest of the characters too - the Cui clan, 10 Zhousheng Chen’s disciple, etc. The first 18 episodes were so bland I couldnt wait to jump straight to the end. I’m glad I didnt though, cuz the plot went into overdrive at Episode 18 onwards.

All the emotion tuggings happened from then on, with the peak happening when Cui Wenjin (Shiyi’s mom) finally managed to see her precious daughter held in the palace. Yep all those characters dying didnt manage to get a reaction from me, until Shiyi met her mom who broke the news. Man, Bai Lu could really cry. Eventhough I didnt feel any chemistry between her and Ren Jialun’s character, i teared up seeing her take the news. She’s really good at this! I liked Shiyi when she was in the palace because that’s when her character took real control and shine, compared to the previous 16 episodes where her character looked bland and one dimensional.

Ren Jialun is great here, he really did pull off the great general role, someone who is too strong with unbendable upright stance that rulers keep seeing him as a threat, so much so he had to take the high road and step away, vowing never to marry and have children so the emperor would be at ease and stop being wary of him. But human being humans, even eunuchs have desire, let alone a powerful man with no physical disability. He could not help but fall for his student, though he is upright enough as not to act according to his feelings and risk turning the world upside down.

A special mention for Wang Xingyue whom I first saw in The Double (which I didnt like) and The Wanted Detective (which I dropped). This time, his performance awed me, and to think that he was a newcomer here at only 19years of age, i am thoroughly impressed. He’s very good at portraying the spare part and later almost discarded prince Liu Zixing. Not only he had to endure emotional and physical torture from the empress dowager growing up as the little emperor’s study companion, he was also slowly poisoned by the same vile woman to make sure he would never become a threat to the throne. The last straw is of course when the emperor was about to have a baby that would mean Liu could kiss his crown prince position good bye. Not only would he lose his promised position and a chance at the throne, he would also lose his bethrothed Cui Shiyi whom he had admired ever since the little emperor promised him of this crown princess. His sadness, angst and regret was remarkably portrayed by Wang Xingyue without flaw. What a talent for such a young man.

I love the addition of Prince of Fengyang, although this character seem pointless (and never even mentioned in the novel), he turned out to be the pivotal role who keeps the Nanchen army whole, especially when their general is gone.

Basically if youre a romance lover, i reckon this would get into your good book. As for me whose interest lies mainly in action/wuxia, it’s pure torture to finish this, and the show only managed to reel in my interest in the last quarter. For the third time, yes I am glad I stayed on long enough to reach Episode 18 where the action really starts, but to say I enjoyed this? Naaahhhh no way. If not for the novel that caught my attention and my curiosity to see how the production expand the little plot of Shiyi’s memory of her previous life, I wouldve dropped this so fast I wouldnt even bother writing a review.

Honestly i hope the sequel would give a different vibe and proper closure to main couple as per the novel.

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What it Takes to Become A Great General

The Kingdom sequels keep getting better and better with each release. This 4th installment is really hard to move on from because Osawa Takao’s Great General Ohki made such a huge impact to the whole scene. It’s hard to believe that I used to rather despise this character in Kingdom 1 because of his attitude but with each installment I grew fonder of him and his antics even more than the ML Xin himself! I cried so hard at the end of this movie and couldnt move on for quite some time. I totally love Osawa’s acting here, he successfully made the character to be majestic and lastingly memorable. The final battle was so intense that it kept me at the edge of my seat the whole time. In fact, none of the action scenes and battles in Kingdom ever disappoint anyway, but the final one made such a huge crater that is hard to forget.

I am so rooting for Xin and his fellow friends to make their come back in Kingdom 5. I am sad that I won’t be seeing Ohki though 😔

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Gotta be a Bigger Monster to Bring Down the Monster.

When all his hope and life was sucked away as he fell from the top of the building after being forcefully injected with drugs, Kim Hui Wu, a rising prosecutor on a fiery trail to bring down a notorious politician, suddenly realizes he is back at the top of the building, all beaten and bloody with the Grim Reaper by his side. Grim Reaper offers a deal of restarting his life again if he would do all he could to bring down Assemblyman Jo Taeseop, the one who had caused his death. Kim agrees and goes back to live his life as an 18yo, with a determination to change the fate of the people around him from falling into Jo’s scheming while building an ironclad strategy to take him down as he takes the stride again as a prosecutor.

I am not sure if the reality of Korean Prosecution Service is the same as depicted in their kdramas, but i realized many of them seem to be portrayed as relentless and strong with martial prowess, which seem pretty outworldly impressive. The one who played Kim Huiwu had tonnes of action scenes that are only fit for a martial artist. He’s kinda okay for the role but i thought he looked too femininely handsome.

The premise of this show is somewhat interesting, but I just didnt get the feel of it, it felt empty with no emotional depth. I find Huiwu’s parents characters to be overly done and desperate to look comical, especially the dad. They also failed to bring out the flair of Jo’s assassin, rather he looked ridiculous with no muscle and built but yet portrayed to be indestructible, packing Ma Dongseok-like punches and moves.I almost thought he was an android or even the angel of death but apprently he was just a normal human being. I am just not convinced.

I love the friends he has around him though, Kim Huiah, Kim Hanmi, Kim Gyuri, Park Sangman, Wu Yongsu, Investigator Oh, etc etc. Though it beats me why the heck would they come up with so many characters with Kim as the surname. I keep getting them mixed up and had a hard time keeping up with the plot all because of the Kims strewn all over.

Although the plot seem shallow and too straightforward, i like the plot twists and the action scenes. Theyre pretty good ones, the only things that keep me on the show. There’s no romance if youre curious, just schemes and action thrown together in several twists. All in all, it’s an okay show to fill in your free time.

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Quite the Unusual Masterpiece Plot

Naksu, a shadow assassin feared by all in Daeho, found herself caught in a fight with Songrim mages that she could not extricate herself from. Left with no choice, she cast the forbidden sorcery of Alchemy of Souls while on the run, where she transfered her soul from her battered, dying body to another living person. When she finally came to, she found herself in the body of a blind girl on the way to be sold to a brothel, Mu-deok. Although her vision is now good, her escape attempt still failed as she posseses none of her past ability and skill as Naksu, and instead trapped in the body of an extremely weak girl. Jang Uk, one of the heir of a prominent family in Daeho, noticed that Mu-deok is a soul shifter, and hearing that Naksu had been captured dead after a failed casting of soul switching sorcery, he makes a bet that Mu-deok is Naksu after seeing the soul shifter sign in her eyes. He buys her off the brothel and made her his maid, and after several incidents, manage to make Mu-deok admit who she really was and agree to a deal of becoming his master in return for him to help her to retrieve her original powers. Thus began Jang Uk’s journey from being a useless young man born under the King’s star, whom no one dared to teach due to his father’s order, to a person that would save all of Daeho, after being under the tutelage of Naksu the feared evil assassin.

At first, I thought this is a typical reborn assassin female centric story as I saw Naksu’s overpowered performance in the opening scene, but it turned out to be zero-to-hero male centric kind. I had a hard time accepting Jang Uk as the ML due to his sharp, mischievous look with bratty character, and at some point i actually prefered the SML Seo Yul for his extremely green flag character plus gentle, sweet looking face. But Jang Uk kinda grew into me as he matured up into a responsible young man.

Jang Uk, Seo Yul and Park Danggu are the trio that one could never really prefer one from another, they kind of complement each other. Seo Yul is the extreme righteous one who would torture himself when he could do nothing to a wrong in his eyes, Jang Uk is the mischievous-often-misunderstood one who would wreak chaos just to be noticed, while Park Danggu is the balance between them, the one who is bratty enough to stand side by side with Jang Uk but with a mind sound enough to be resonate with Seo Yul, practically the balance between them all. Even with such contrasting characters, they would still stand by each other with complete trust.

I love what they did with the Crown Prince, a grey character that could turn red and green flag in a blink of an eye in accordance to situations that could benefit himself without sacrificing much conscience.

And Mu-deok is one of the most eye-catchy character of all. I love the accent she speaks with, which reminds me of a dielect in my country, though different language, the way of speaking sounded quite the same. Mu-deok is the accidental maid with conflicting assassin instinct. Realizing she had none of her powers that used to allow her reign above all, she had to resort to autracious acts that she wouldve never done before, doing housechores to serve masters and sucking up or giving in to people of higher status just to survive the day. Her private banters with her pupil is fun to watch, but when the going gets tough, she turned into the devilish Naksu that found humanity in the end.

I totally love the comic relief of the love triangle between the serious but rather slow-witted Park Jin leader of Songrim, the gentle motherlike Maidservant Kim and the chaste and reserved Master Lee.

Totally love the fight chroreograph here. They look fierce and forceful, especially when there is spells involved, and the CGI didnt look comical at all. What I like the most is that not every stab slash pound and flog would make the receivers to vomit blood, whish i see prevalent in most ancient shows.

The story ended with a rather cliffhanger but I dont mind as I didnt have to wait for the next production to release, cuz I watch this waaaay after the hype has ended. Now off I go to season 2. Toodledoo.

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Showering Chang’an with Fire and Blood

Witnessing the slaughter of his whole family, Xie Huai’an is forced to fend for himself since 10years old, moving from place to place to evade his enemies the Hubei Army with a little sister in tow and losing her later, until he came upon the remote land of Huainan where he decided to be his home. Working quietly as a small registrar, he knew he had only two ways to live, to stay in remote place such as Huainan or head to the capital to become a court official. Opportunity finally came when the son of the previous emperor (elder brother of current emperor) marched forward and captured the capital. Hearing the survival of Lie Clan Xie Huai’an, the new emperor summoned him to the capital and appointed him as his sword, to hunt down Yan Fengshan, the commander of Hubei Army and most influencial court official, which aligned with Huai’an’s mission for revenge. He gladly accepted and thus began his journey of vengeance only to find himself embroiled with a much bigger struggle than his vendetta.

Tong Mengshi who played Ye Zheng was the one that led me to this show, to my surprise it’s another of Cheng Yi’s work that I have been meaning to watch since last year and had forgotten. Tong mengshi was awesome here! I missed Joy of Life’s Wuzhu, so it’s great to see him again with a main role and real dialogues than mere robotic phrases spoken. He was very good here, acting and action-wise. His fights were fierce and forceful, and of course bloody too. And man it is such a satisfaction to see Su Changlin being taken down by Xiao Wangyu, he was such a snob after hurting Ye Zheng so badly and for using Ye Zheng’s shimei, the arrogance was a real pain to watch!

Cheng Yi has gone back up again in my rating after his flop in The Journey of Legend. Yeah I am now convinced that he fits more with roles that doesnt need romance to prop his character. And his crying here is done remarkably well compared to TJoL. Although his character Xie Huai’an is more scholarly with no martial prowess whose moves rely more on strategy than brawn, he definitely doesnt shy away from physical fights. The ruthless stabbings, whether he as inflictor or receiver, are heinously brutal. Sometimes I forget that Xie Huai’an doesnt know any martial art, cuz he doesn’t rely much on his more athletic sword-wielding friends. He makes use of the surrounding people and situations well, and he definitely doesn’t need anyone to come rescue him. This character is someone that can be thrown into a river of fire (literally) and the next moment you blinked he’s already crawling out of it somewhere in the distance where you least expected it. That is why even the King of Tiemo sees him as his biggest threat, even bigger than the invincible Yan Fengshan or the current emperor Xiao Wangyu.

The sad scenes here are considerably touching and heartfelt. It was heartbreaking when Bai Wan was recounting her earliest memories of her brother when they were on the run, while the rest of the people who listened actually knew who her brother was and where he was located, exactly next to her! But nobody said anything, as Xie Huai’an is adamant that her sister won’t be dragged into his revenge mission. OMG I was so sad for her and Huai’an. So close yet also so far apart. Though I could not understand why she is included in the main cast when her role ceased to be part of the plot even before half of the show.

I really liked the way this story is executed, the ups and downs and unexpected hits that befell on our main characters with ML racking his brains to improvise and come up with twisty strategies. What’s more surprising is I became more invested in the deposed emperor Xiao Wencheng’s interaction with his oblivious elder brother who deposed him. I really like this fake Zhang Mo character, the screenwriter managed to turn him into a very likable one as opposed to the start of the show when he ruthlessly took down ML’s beloved pageboy. His transformation and growth looked much closer to reality when despite being able to grow some spine during his adventure with Xie Huai’an’s gang, he was still torn between saving his brother or the citizen of Chang’an against Tiemo’s assault, and reverted to his cowardly nature, which cost his brother a whole lot more than a simple promise of King of Tiemo’s “to let him stay alive,”. Fake Zhang Mo is a coward by nature, although I was dumbfounded when the plot turned that way, I had to admit that this is very much expected of him according to this preset characteristics. And I must say his devotion and worry for Xie Huai’an and the elder brother who usurped his throne was very touching, and his banter with Ye Zheng never ceased to be amusing.

Love the action choreograph! They worked hard on this. Even though the plot and its twists were barely at par with Nirvana in Fire, I had to say the show is overloaded with action after action more than NiF, eventhough our ML Xie Huai’an know squat of martial art. Ye Zheng, Xie Wangyu, Yan Fengshan, Wang Pu, Su Changlin…gosh I cant even list everyone down cuz there are so many characters who had executed the action scenes remarkably well. And boy the final battle against the big boss was so fierce and gripping!

The song by Sa Dingding is so awesome i keep hearing it in my head. The lyrics are forlorn yet prideful and the melody makes you wanna hum with it.

Be warned, this is a very dark and gory show, with plot so twisty I had to rewind quite a lot to get a grip of its flow. Blood is spilled senselessly onscreen episode after episode, AND there is no romance whatsoever. Consider yourselves warned.

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