25
118
7
PeachBlossomGoddess
Hong Kong
But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep.
Patience is required for this drama that is unlikely to enjoy broad appeal. It is a Beijing Academy student production so don't expect high production values; indeed there is a distinctly amateurish and unpolished feel to the entire effort.
The shadowy and suspenseful plot is steeped in the supernatural and mythology and takes a long time to unfold. The synopsis, which already gives away much of the story adds to the impression that nothing is happening. Hidden forces conspire to release the demon Jiu Ying, that according to legend was sealed by five deities representing the five elements (metal, earth, water, fire and wood). This manifests itself in increasing hostilities between the You Kingdom and the Wolf Tribe that make war and chaos seem inevitable. These events bring the three siblings Hongxuan, Hongyi and Hongshou whose Baili family has long been the power behind the You throne; together with Ming Yefeng, the leader of the Wolf Tribe who also has a mysterious past with Hong Yi. They are linked by destiny and rediscover their powers so that together with other supernatural beings from a past lifetime, they can once again fulfill an ancient promise to keep the world safe. It is not a complicated or super original fantasy story that culminates in an epic clash between good and evil.
What is interesting about this drama is the characters and the acting. The actors are not given much to work with in terms of dialogue so they have to rely heavily on body language and subtle expressions to convey their characters. This makes the complex characters particularly difficult to get to know and nobody is as they originally appear. It is very difficult to tell who is friend and foe and what their motivations are. For most of the drama, Baili Hongxuan and Ming Yefeng were the most complex and interesting characters for me. While they are both quite grey, both turned out to be quite different from what I expected and almost opposite of each other. I really enjoy this kind of peeling of the onion approach in terms of how a layered character gradually becomes unveiled but many will find this kind of storytelling frustrating and boring.
I suspect many may be interested in this because of Wu Lei and Song Zuer. I admit I discovered this because of Wu Lei. While his character Baili Honsghou is quite one dimensional - the typical c-drama hero that goes through many common tropes; it is the best performance I have seen from Wu Lei since NIF. It is very nice to see how far he has come as an actor; that he is not just an incredibly athletic lean, mean, killing machine. As for Song Zuer, she is an actress that provokes strong reactions, especially when she plays the bratty young girl. I never minded her that much because I always noticed that she has screen presence that belies her small size and her performance in this also showed much progress and was actually quite nuanced towards the end. And it will be remiss of me to not mention how super hot Zheng Kai's Ming Yefeng is - I can't believe I have never seen this actor before!
The story advances much more quickly in the last 10-12 episodes although it appears a bit messy as many characters are introduced at once. But they are not interesting characters and all you need to really know is that they are either obstacles to be overcome or they are there to give some assistance along the way. All of the substantively relevant characters are introduced at the beginning. There are a few nice twists at the end with respect to the emperor as well as the mysterious man in the hood. The ultimate villain (to me was not Jiu Ying) was hiding in plain sight the whole time but their motive for unleashing evil on the world was pedestrian and lame. Most of the so-called heroes or deities in this show have feet of clay, do not have high morals and are not particularly enlightened beings. The story is very matter of factly callous in its treatment of spirits or demons. This is very typical of the genre so if you are familiar with Chinese mythology, you will not be surprised by any of this or how the story ends.
I enjoyed this drama but it is not for everyone. Watch at your own risk.
The shadowy and suspenseful plot is steeped in the supernatural and mythology and takes a long time to unfold. The synopsis, which already gives away much of the story adds to the impression that nothing is happening. Hidden forces conspire to release the demon Jiu Ying, that according to legend was sealed by five deities representing the five elements (metal, earth, water, fire and wood). This manifests itself in increasing hostilities between the You Kingdom and the Wolf Tribe that make war and chaos seem inevitable. These events bring the three siblings Hongxuan, Hongyi and Hongshou whose Baili family has long been the power behind the You throne; together with Ming Yefeng, the leader of the Wolf Tribe who also has a mysterious past with Hong Yi. They are linked by destiny and rediscover their powers so that together with other supernatural beings from a past lifetime, they can once again fulfill an ancient promise to keep the world safe. It is not a complicated or super original fantasy story that culminates in an epic clash between good and evil.
What is interesting about this drama is the characters and the acting. The actors are not given much to work with in terms of dialogue so they have to rely heavily on body language and subtle expressions to convey their characters. This makes the complex characters particularly difficult to get to know and nobody is as they originally appear. It is very difficult to tell who is friend and foe and what their motivations are. For most of the drama, Baili Hongxuan and Ming Yefeng were the most complex and interesting characters for me. While they are both quite grey, both turned out to be quite different from what I expected and almost opposite of each other. I really enjoy this kind of peeling of the onion approach in terms of how a layered character gradually becomes unveiled but many will find this kind of storytelling frustrating and boring.
I suspect many may be interested in this because of Wu Lei and Song Zuer. I admit I discovered this because of Wu Lei. While his character Baili Honsghou is quite one dimensional - the typical c-drama hero that goes through many common tropes; it is the best performance I have seen from Wu Lei since NIF. It is very nice to see how far he has come as an actor; that he is not just an incredibly athletic lean, mean, killing machine. As for Song Zuer, she is an actress that provokes strong reactions, especially when she plays the bratty young girl. I never minded her that much because I always noticed that she has screen presence that belies her small size and her performance in this also showed much progress and was actually quite nuanced towards the end. And it will be remiss of me to not mention how super hot Zheng Kai's Ming Yefeng is - I can't believe I have never seen this actor before!
The story advances much more quickly in the last 10-12 episodes although it appears a bit messy as many characters are introduced at once. But they are not interesting characters and all you need to really know is that they are either obstacles to be overcome or they are there to give some assistance along the way. All of the substantively relevant characters are introduced at the beginning. There are a few nice twists at the end with respect to the emperor as well as the mysterious man in the hood. The ultimate villain (to me was not Jiu Ying) was hiding in plain sight the whole time but their motive for unleashing evil on the world was pedestrian and lame. Most of the so-called heroes or deities in this show have feet of clay, do not have high morals and are not particularly enlightened beings. The story is very matter of factly callous in its treatment of spirits or demons. This is very typical of the genre so if you are familiar with Chinese mythology, you will not be surprised by any of this or how the story ends.
I enjoyed this drama but it is not for everyone. Watch at your own risk.
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