Morwen

Yes! To all of this. Thank you! I couldn't have put it into words better myself. 🧡

Wen Xiao works for me best in a poly relationship with both men, at least better than only her and Zhao Yuanzhou.
But even then, the whole thing between Zhuo Yichen, Zhao Yuanzhou and Li Lun still has a bigger appeal for me.

Absolutely!
And to be honest, I unironically like Wen Xiao, but I just can't shake the feeling that she was mostly included because the gay vibes would have been too strong otherwise. Because the actual romance is between Bingyi/Zhuo Yichen and Yinglong/Zhao Yuanzhou. The way the drama is filmed it clearly favors their relationship, both in story and visually.

Saaaame. Also: writing. 😏😌
It's been a while since I've seen a C-drama have so many active writers (most of them writing in English, instead of Chinese, which is also pretty rare) shortly after release.

Interesting! I had no idea this site was blocked in China, but I guess it only makes sense. 😂

Yes! And I'm kind of surprised by how many people seem to have completely missed that part?
Like, I get the criticism about pacing issues etc. and everyone is obviously entitled to their own opinion.
But in return we got one of the (intentionally!) queerest dramas that I've ever seen produced in mainland China and that's just SUCH a rare and amazing treat.

I'm currently doing a rewatch and I'm loving this drama even more the second time around.
Because now I can appreciate the non-linear storytelling with all the little hints and the foreshadowing even more, since I already know how it's all going to end. 💜
(Same goes for the UNBELIEVABLE amount of queerness in this drama.)

This drama has hit me like a bullet train, I swear to God.
Having been a fan of Guo Jingming's movie and drama shenanigans for a while now, I already knew before that I would love it.
I just didn't expect to become completely obsessed with these characters.

I still can't believe that the three weeks of complete madness that I've experienced because of this drama will already be over tomorrow.

While I'm happy that I'll finally have the emotional capacity again to watch literally ANYTHING else after this, I'm also going to miss this specific obsession terribly. 💔

It's similar in style and mood, the depiction of platonic and romantic relationships (not to mention the bromance), and there's also the whole 'demons among humans' theme.
Boya has lost family to demons, same as Zhuo Yichen, while Qingming is rumored to have demon blood and Zhu Yan actually IS a demon.
Both are stories about overcoming prejudices and learning to accept the 'other' (in this case demons).
So there are a lot of parallels there.
The plots are different though.

I'm always stunned by the ability of this drama to get even queerer with each new episode.
I have absolutely no idea how to survive 7 more episodes of all that love and loss among my new favorite polycule. 💔

I kinda hate how they changed the end credits from the little dance to the cast being cute together on set.
It's like they want to show us their happy faces one last time for us to remember, before everything goes downhill. 🥲

Sure! ❤

You're welcome! And I absolutely understand where you're coming from, because although I enjoyed the usual GJM gothic fantasy aesthetics I didn't know what to make of the drama for a while. 😅
One thing I'm 100% confident to say is that this is by far the best performance I've ever seen Neo Hou deliver. I had NO idea he had this in him and my respect for him as an actor has grown immensely these past few days, like, God, his suffering is just so exquisite in this. 🤌

Ugh, I can imagine. Having two powerhouse actors like Liu Xueyi and Wu Jinyan in a drama and then just make their love story as uninspiring and dragging as possible after that banger of an opening was quite a let down for me. 🥲

Sorry for bumping in, but that's ... actually not the plot at all, though I'm the first one to admit that its not easy to figure out what this drama is about in the beginning and that the narrative takes its sweet time to find its groove.
But once the drama is not about investigating cases anymore and turns more into a saving-the-world kind of story, it gets a lot more interesting. It's also a drama that I'm mostly watching for the journey of redemption of the main character and the (surprisingly queer coded) relationships within the merry group of people surrounding him, because those are just excellent and they have only been getting better and better with each episode.

But. 😂
What I actually came here to say was that I've been looking forward to your review of Kill Me Love Me and God, have I been nodding hard while reading this.
If not for the incredible acting of the two main leads, I would have dropped this after 8 episodes or so. But there were always moments that made me want to watch it further.
Still, I'm mourning the time I've invested in this drama instead of another, better one, but well. Maybe next time I can let go sooner. 😅

I'm watching that one myself right now, it's just incredible. 😍
The DMBJ/The Lost Tomb fandom was also very amused by this. 😂

You're welcome! ❤
I think they're already done filming, too, but I'm not entirely sure.
It looks like it's going to be a new adaptation of the first few DMBJ novels.
Anyway, I found a few bits and pieces from the set here: 😄
https://x.com/Millennialwait/status/1829139234726551840?t=f8Ts6pUDTtCts-0VN53CTQ&s=19

I'm pretty sure he has dragon blood in his veins. His powers and whole hair/costume design scream dragon to me.
I mean his costume looked like it was covered in dragon scales in episode 21, when it started glowing. That can't be a coincidence.

Ohhhh, I'd love to learn that one as well (for reasons 😂)

You know, no matter how Fangs of Fortune ends, I have never seen the 'found family' trope this well executed in a Chinese drama before, at least not to this extent.

This is no longer about pursuing a common goal only. This is a drama about deep friendship, about overcoming prejudices, finding the good in each other and building trust, about forgiving and making amends.

It's about intense emotional and physical closeness between people who are not related by blood, and about love, both platonic and romantic and every single shade in between.

And man, am I happy to have been a part of this journey, despite all the tears and heartbreak that are yet to come. ❤

Tientsin Mystic used to be available on Netflix, but only in the US, I think.
It's the same with Viki. Most iQIYI dramas sadly don't make it to that service. =/