Without Nikita Mao, I wouldn't watch this

Nikita Mao deserved an award for single-handedly made this insufferable drama into a watchable one. I'm not sure of the historical accuracy, but Huo Yuan Jia and his male disciples (except for Xiao Wu) were all insufferable to watch. Lots of virtue signaling, naivety, and hypocrisy. Like how does a virtuous hero fell into the trickery of a sweet talking magistrate twice is beyond me (fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me?). Not to mention the students tried to cover up for Gao Qi who seems to have insatiable desire to kill people for any reasons (good or bad), only for the cover up to be undone by the honesty & innocence of Yuan Jia's nephew (Dong Fang). The only thing that kept me going is Nikita Mao's superb acting of Madame Wang as a strong, loving, devoted, intelligent, wise, and beautiful wife of Yuan Jia (who he treated badly anyway, which infuriated me from time to time). Yuan Jia's xenophobia is also apparent (his initial treatment of Dr Federer was appalling, in spite of Jing Sun's deference for the doctor!), he definitely judged book by its cover despite being a consistent poor judge of characters. He basically thought that all foreigners are inherently evil and Chinese people are inherently good (yet, the people who gave him troubles are all Chinese: Ying Si, Xue Xue, Cheng De Li, Hu Liu, and that Shuoyang gov official who received the opium delivery). He's also misogynistic by the way he treated Madame Wang and Sha Yan (how the heck did Sha Yan not getting a second chance after she accidentally killed Xue Xue, yet the hot-head Gao Qi got a pass for killing Hu Liu & his 2 accomplices)? Overall, the story is well told and paced well. Perhaps it was told too well that made me have some strong feelings towards the characters. But watch it with an open mind so you can bear some parts that are difficult to watch.

Read More