iheartsageuks
This review may contain spoilers
Engaging -- but it Could Have Been Better
A League of Noblemen IS good and entertaining so don't skip it!
Watch it for Jing Bo Ran & Wang Duo's acting. They both shine and their performances are ace. I'd like to say the same for
Song Wei Long but I still haven't figured out if his lackluster performance is simply bad acting/casting for the part, or if he's meant to have a very flat affect/quasi-deadpan or detached personality for the character of Zhang Ping.
What made me start watching the series was the mysteries that you are initially presented with--and how you are introduced to both Zhang Ping and Lan Jue. They were interesting to begin with and had the feeling of a detective show. Hey, they were interesting and also a good way to illuminate what the 2 ML personalities and motives are like.
I know that they were important to tie all the threads of the plot together though I wish they'd done some tighter editing to limit the amount of "place setting" shots and scenes. Those tended to drag out longer than they should be IMO (YMMV). Much of the information from one episode to the other tended to overlap and become repetitive.
The main issues I had were not specifically deal breakers for me (after all, I didn't end up dropping it!). Namely the pacing which was glacially slow in some areas and then far too fast in others, and the aforementioned acting of the character/personality of Zhang Ping. With regards to the pacing they spent a lot of time to the slow build-up of revealing who the "villian" is in the story--but when they ARE finally revealed, the show snowballs into what feels like a very rushed, not particularly satisfying ending.
I'd like to write a review that really praises the whole series but I can't. It's not a waste of time to watch it, but it's like eating a frozen pizza when you really were hoping for a fresh, stone-fired pizza! :P
Watch it for Jing Bo Ran & Wang Duo's acting. They both shine and their performances are ace. I'd like to say the same for
Song Wei Long but I still haven't figured out if his lackluster performance is simply bad acting/casting for the part, or if he's meant to have a very flat affect/quasi-deadpan or detached personality for the character of Zhang Ping.
What made me start watching the series was the mysteries that you are initially presented with--and how you are introduced to both Zhang Ping and Lan Jue. They were interesting to begin with and had the feeling of a detective show. Hey, they were interesting and also a good way to illuminate what the 2 ML personalities and motives are like.
I know that they were important to tie all the threads of the plot together though I wish they'd done some tighter editing to limit the amount of "place setting" shots and scenes. Those tended to drag out longer than they should be IMO (YMMV). Much of the information from one episode to the other tended to overlap and become repetitive.
The main issues I had were not specifically deal breakers for me (after all, I didn't end up dropping it!). Namely the pacing which was glacially slow in some areas and then far too fast in others, and the aforementioned acting of the character/personality of Zhang Ping. With regards to the pacing they spent a lot of time to the slow build-up of revealing who the "villian" is in the story--but when they ARE finally revealed, the show snowballs into what feels like a very rushed, not particularly satisfying ending.
I'd like to write a review that really praises the whole series but I can't. It's not a waste of time to watch it, but it's like eating a frozen pizza when you really were hoping for a fresh, stone-fired pizza! :P
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