The acting was amazing, Xiao Zhan has gotten so much better in his micro expressions and subtle actions, he was completely Zang Hai and i was here for every second of his amazing performance. Zhang Jingyi was great as usual, such a talented woman really. But while everyone praises Zhou Qi (and rightfully so), my favorite performance besides Xiao Zhan's was Huang Jue.
He brought Zhuang Luyin as a character to life. He had the charisma, the appearance, and the presence that let you know whenever he was on screen that this was a general. A general that had tasted war and was soaked with blood and had no moral misgivings about doing whatever it took to get what he wanted. I absolutely despised his character but I couldn't help being in awe whenever he did something particularly bone chilling, like his last fight with Zhixing, him glaring at Cao Jingxian or whenever he turned his suspicious gaze on Zang Hai. And his fight scenes goddddddddd, alright let me stop simping.
I had a great time watching this drama honestly, great production, great actors, a gripping script and an OST that sticks with you.
I look forward to seeing what more Xiao Zhan will do.
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This review may contain spoilers
Ahh this could've been a solid 5 stars if it didn't fall apart towards the end.
It was a very new (to me) plot and genre, and for the most part vastly engaging, the good vs evil, hunters vs fiends part definitely could've been more fleshed out.Dilraba, Chen Xingxu and Zhang Li all did really good jobs, especially the two leads. Dilraba and Chen Xingxu have to work together again, this can't be the last time we see their incredible chemistry and sexual tension.
As for the characters, the leads have the most fleshed out personas, we see their reason and motivation for everything and we are led to understand them as people and their various relationships with the rest of the cast (i would've liked it a bit if Yan Tou's crisis was shown was he found out about Lin Xirou, I mean the emotional turmoil would've been incredible to witness and I'm sure CXX would've done the scenes justice).
Aside from them Zhang Li's Lin Xirou was charismatic, eerie and hauntingly beautiful, she completely embodied that haughty, rich chairwoman vibe, but any closer look would show you that there is something... other about her.
The cinematography is insanely beautiful, it was just cinema every shot, I mean if you had Reba and CXX and managed to fumble their combined face cards then let's revoke your directing license.
Now, for the rest of the cast and the things I didn't like so much:
The Nanshan Hunters:
Oh my god, how can an organization that has been around for hundreds if not a thousand years be so disorganized and underprepaired? They don't even give you the feel of a group of people that are competent, their weapons are at least several centuries old, they don't have good documentation of anything, nor good structural hierarchy, and no one fucking knows anything! Like there should've been a plan in place already in case something happened to Jiang Baichuan and the rest of the elders, then something did happen and they descended into chaos. Xing Shen, the leader that JBC chose is so closed off and complicated and only does things his own way that there is no way for any of the other hunters to know what he is planning let alone have an input in it. Its no wonder 97% of them died at the final battle.
And on the topic of Xing Shen, god he is so fucking annoying, I get he didn't trust Yan Tou but he made him suspicious and caused him so much suffering at the hands of the Fiends. And there was no need for him to die like??? Just to take out Xiong Hei?? His "sacrificial" death had zero build up and zero impact and was ultimately useless.
The Earth Fiends:
I really wish we saw more about how they were able to transform (revert?) to human forms. Aside from Lin Xirou and her eerieness, we got to see at least Feng Mi and the sick one actually act like humans. Feng Mi was so interesting, because as the Fiend that knew Yan Tou the least, she had the most compassion for him and truly seemed to understand human emotional complexity, that Yan Tou could not just simply forgive them and even felt sorry for him, i hated that she died while protecting him too (especially considering how useless he was in that fight).
The other Fiend I liked the characterization of was the sickly one that did not want to live any longer. As for Xiong Hei, everything Yan Tou said was right, he only wore a human skin and did not understand at all what it meant to be human, he was still underneath that skin a monster that resorted to violence at the turn of an eye.
LXR and Yan Tou's relationship was so bittersweet, on the one hand here's the woman that raised you from childhood, gave you everything and spoiled you endlessly, but on the other, she is also the woman who ruined your family's life, killed your parents and sister, stole your mother's identity and your father's company, and also has emotionally abused your other sister (Lin Ling) and aggressively controlled her entire life.
I do believe though that she did have maternal feelings toward him after all those years, and no its not because he was of no use to her—he was, he was heir to RoadSound Group and the face of the company's activities in the light, the ones she couldn't handle considering her non aging— there was something she said when everything was already exposed, that he was the only thing that allowed her to pretend to be human, "But Xiao Tou, without you, Aunt Lin has also lost her home." She wore the skin of a human but it was this foster son that allowed her to truly feel like one.
Unfortunately, at the end of the day she could not understand how he couldn't set aside all her crimes against his family and still keep being her doting son, even calling him ungrateful, which... ma'am you raised him with his parents money 😭? Which brings me to the conclusion that the Fiends really could not be left unchecked no matter how she kept saying that she did not want to be enemies with the Hunters. They needed blood bags, which meant constantly killing off generations of a family since they didn't age, and also what if others became carnivorous and went rogue like the first one? Its all a very black and white thing and yet not really.
The Final Battle/ Episodes:
My biggest gripe with the show so far, there was so much buildup only for it to fall woefully short. The Nanshan Hunters are most useless, we know that. They were going to die, we also know that, but damn were they complete shit. The Mad Blade pill and its consequence being madness would've been acceptable, what the fuck is the cliche last minute amnesia. Also how did NJL forget to kill Fiends and got injured instead, and Yan Tou was just walking around uselessly with that tranquilizer gun he did nothing with. It made no sense to have LXR killed by NJL's mother and not NJL herself or YT (poetic justice).
Also NJL and Yu Rong were both holding their own very well against XH and the other guy at the shop so how come five of them now couldn't take them down and three had to die to do it this time?
Anyway if i keep nitpicking we'll be here all day, there's plenty of things to enjoy and plenty not to so just give it a try to see if its to your liking.
And shoutout to our resident lesbian couple, Yu Rong and Quecha, the only acceptable thing to come out of the Nanshan Hunters.
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