This review may contain spoilers
I just completed this drama, and I’m telling y’all’s everything about this drama is on point, from the plot to character , the custom the music...it’s definitely something you shouldn’t miss.I would like to thanks the crew and the actors for making this drama and character come to life, omg I just love this drama soooo much, the actors were amazing at portraying their role, The way they convey their emotion through their eyes had me sobbing and crying many times, the ending left me feeling mixed of emotions, although wkx did many bad things in his life but he deserves a happy ending and for that I’m sooo very thankful and grateful for giving us a Satisfying ending.
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Fun to watch
This will be a VERY quick review. I’ll start at the ending and say that there’s no good reason for the epilogue not being the ending of episode 36. Not that I’d believe that Word of Honor would kill either of the protagonists, but still. Besides that, I feel like the last episode was very rushed. All the villains are wiped out or disappear after the avalanche and the world is at peace.I think the first third of the show had a good pace. But, towards the middle point, things started to slow down on the main plot to focus a lot on the side stories. It’s not that I don like to see Xiang and Wei Ning, but it’s a lot of time on their plot and on Scorpion. Thankfully, towards the last 10 episodes the show took better again.
The cast was great and most of the characters were fun to watch. It’s my second BL with Gong Jun, after watching Advance Bravely. I think him and Zhang Zhe Han worked very well together. I understand the constant comparisons with The Untamed, but I think the shows feel very different from the start.
PS: It’s more of a commentary, since it’s neither a good or bad thing, but I feel like this show is very light handed on the double meanings and “suggestions” about the relationship between the two main characters. Of course, the show says multiple times that they’re soulmates and from the epilogue it’s clear that they’ll live together “forever” in the mountain. But I think they didn't wanna risk much censorship.
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EXPLORE THE BEAUTY OF CENSORED ROMANCE TO THE LARGEST EXTENT
I would like to warn the readers that this is a totally biased review of why I feel the need to make all drama lovers watch this extremely poignant and beautiful series.To start off with, let me point out the obvious - The characters. Wen Ke Xing is a man who's of a dual nature, mostly visible when he's away from the ML. WKX's character is so intricately written and has so much story to back up his actions, that his counterpart, Zhou Zi Shu, comes off as a little bland in the first half of the show. As a reader of the book, I knew more than to just judge his character in the first ten to fifteen episodes and knew there would be a lot of character development, which did happen later. The supporting characters were equally brilliantly portrayed, which was totally unexpected because the novel itself was a bit shallow when it came to the depiction of the other characters.
The romantic aspect of this show is obviously the highlight of Word Of Honor because of how explicitly evident the bond between WKX and ZZS is. In the drama, their bond is much deeper than like and love. It is so great, it will warm your heart and make you feel fluffy. Unlike BL's, there's a beauty in a censored BL adaption, The Untamed being one of the best, with Word Of Honor joining the list.
The plot of the drama is very different from that of the book but in a good way. I really like what they did with the story in the drama and as a reader of the original work, I have absolutely no complaints. The storyline got slow-paced in between, but it was needed as it is what led to what happened after.
The fights in this drama were very pleasing to watch and you could see the hard work that went into directing them. I heard that the drama's length was shortened due to the lack of resources and even not considering the obstacles it faced, WOH turned out to be a great watch. It was both engaging and entertaining and hooks the viewer from the very beginning.
Most people wouldn't regret watching this, so please give it a try!! It's such a breath of fresh air and you might never know, this is the drama you have been looking for!
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A drama with a lot more ‘oomph’ than most
I admit I decided to watch this drama after finishing The Untamed. I was very impressed by the wuxia genre and the potential for deep storytelling. However, and my western worldview might cause this, the series falls into the same pitfalls that I also experienced in The Untamed.For one, I felt that the series could have been somewhat shorter or at least used some of its scenes for other things. It's also very tiring in the long run. There's this paradox where heavy, informational scenes are drawn out so much that I'm begging for a break, and then when we do get some relief, the scenes feel empty or out of place. There is so much exposition that they tend to drown out each other. There's a sweet semi-plot twist near the end that I didn't even notice until the timed comments pointed it out. I'm just so busy getting caught up in everyone's relations and agendas that I get confused or miss things outright. However, this is probably more of a genre than a specific problem with the series.
What this drama is excellent at, though, is making all the characters very interesting. I'm very picky about b-plots, but honestly had not much of a problem with those in WoH - disregarding the extreme info-dumping.
I won't move into spoiler territory, but I feel that this is a reasonable warning: if there are certain tropes you hate, especially when it comes to endings, you might want to prepare yourself during the last five episodes. It is overall a bittersweet experience, and I was honestly angry at some points because who wants to be disappointed after spending several days on this series?
These are all of my major complaints. However, I do have a lot of praise. This drama has some of the best costuming so far. I cannot help but look at Wen Kexing's outfit in every scene. The costumers spent a lot of time was spent of designing his costumes. The series has a lot of CGIs that are pretty obvious, but it's used to create some gorgeous landscapes and special effects. One thing that blew me away was the fighting scenes! They're so much better than other dramas I've seen. I'm afraid that I won't find anything nearly as good in the future.
If you can dedicate the time needed to watch this drama in its entirety, I think it would be a gratifying watch.
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An honourable friendship
Zhou Zi Shu,the leader of Window of Heaven,decides to pull out himself from the assassin organisation and roam around the martial world.He meets Wen Ke Xing,a mysterious man,with hidden and painful past.Both the actors,Zhang Zhehan and Gong Jun,did an excellent job in portraying their roles.
The development of characters,friendship between the leads,the stories of different people from different sects,how all of them are entangled with each other really make the drama much interesting.
All the mysteries and hidden conspiracies are u folded at avery good pace along with developing emotions and relations.
The cast,premise,plot,screenplay,costumes,pace,actors,sets, everything is good.
A good wuxia mysterious thriller indeed!!
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We still have a long way to go. Let's meet again in the martial arts world.
Everything about this drama was just so well done. In a country where this type of content is almost as good as banned, they made it so well that even love confessions passed through without even being noticed. I have to admit that to this day i still play the OST while i am doing other things and i still cry over some of them. A master piece of literature and story full of poetry in every spoken dialogue and beautiful hidden meanings in each corner of the story. I totally recommend it, speacilly cause i'm already re-watching as i'm typing this.Was this review helpful to you?
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This review may contain spoilers
It is becoming addicting!
UPDATE after EP 13: I'm obsessed! Highly recommend you START WATCHING NOW :DEarlier review after Ep 6: I did not have a lot of expectation knowing that most BL dramas had to be straight up bromance so that it'll pass screening. But boy was I so surprised with the first 6 episodes! Boldness aside, I love the humor so far. I know that set or over-all drama might have limited budget vs other wuxia dramas, but the colors and cinematography is making up for any lack of whatever CG I'm used to with magical wuxias. with CASTING gahd! I never thought GJ would be this good in such role. He's on fireee as WKX! Also, if you have ZZH in a wuxia, you're pretty set and sold. ZZH is made for wuxia and for martial arts. I think having ZZH in this BL drama would be a very big advantage compared to past or upcoming BL adaptations- primarily because his fighting scenes look naturally good and he's probably one of the very few who can proudly flaunt and show multiple times his abs and good body and then still look pretty- like how!? Anyways, I'm so excited to see more of this drama. I hope it won't go downhill from here. I'm really really tempted to read the novel now just to know wth is really up with WKX but I'll stop myself cause I want to enjoy this as it goes.
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a beautiful and entertaining series laced with some very naughty dialogues and non-verbal gestures
this is arguably a beautiful and an entertaining series with segments/moments, dialogues, and performances that can be very naughty (suggestive; flirty). it is also one of the few good CDrama available in current market that attempts to stretch/push the boundary/ies of traditional/cultural norms on homosexuality. even with the voices dubbed to bypass China's censorship (and possibly to bypass other countries'), the series is still very naughty (suggestive; flirty) compared to almost all other mainstream CDrama. no doubt, too, the level of care and efforts in writing the dialogues, costumes, set designs, props, camera shots, direction, editing, performances and the communication of non-verbal gestures.there are actually quite a lot that this series has to offer to different audiences. a few of the things i really like is the vast amount of proverbs or idioms, some beautifully thought-out and witty dialogues (including the flirty dialogues), the chemistry of two main protagonists, and the different ways each of the two main protagonists bring life to the roles they play.
the wire-fu and martial arts choreography in this series are aesthetically planned, designed, shot, performed and edited with care. the camera slow motion shots and editing of these slow motion captures are contextually proportionate and not superfluous. the series has many beautiful and intricate ornaments, costumes and designs. the background music/sound arrangement and selection are contextually fitting to the corresponding segment.
a few other things i observed are, the lighting can be a bit off at certain segments, some of the suggestive sexual/sensual non-verbal gestures might not be appropriate for younger audience, there are consistent traces in the series of influences from mainstream Japanese pop-culture arts/styles, and sometimes the special effects or computer graphics can be a bit annoying. also, in real life, depending on which country you are and who you are dealing with, some of the flirty verbal dialogues and non-verbal gestures can be misconstrued as a sexual harassment.
one of the big turnoffs in this series is that there are parts where certain supporting characters' non-verbal gestures are expressed/exaggerated in such a way that audience can easily decipher that those gestures are obviously meant/tuned for the camera/s. these non-verbal are sometimes communicated subtly, and sometimes blatantly. there are also moments where i feel that there are certain supporting characters are not very well acted out or the acting are not convincing in certain segments. a few of the supporting characters have way more screen time and redundant dialogues that could have been invested in other supporting characters to enhance the quality of the series. another turnoff is that there are segments that feel long-winded or superfluous.
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Definitely worth the HYPE
After The Untamed (Chen Qing Ling) in 2019, it can be safe to say that there was a dry period for Chinese bls. Word of Honor or ‘Shan he Ling’ in 2021 offers a pleasant viewing experience after this period. Inspite of the low budget, the series did a pretty good job on delivery of performance. The story is adapted from the novel Tian Ya Ke (Faraway Wanderer) by Priest, a famous web novelist of China. As an avid bl viewer the series is quite satisfactory so much so that it is the best Cdrama so far in 2021 for me.Story: A dying ex-assassin trying to seek redemption meets another crazy guy and eventually they end up travelling together (because the crazy one won’t leave the ‘sick dude’ alone). In between all these they are entrusted with a child who has poor martial arts skills but strives to be better. Other than this found family there are a lot of royal politics and revenge plottings. I also recommend some tissues because there are a number of character deaths.
Negative points: Owing to the low budget, the series faced a lot of limitations. The CGI was not up to the mark. In lot of parts it seemed pretty unrealistic. In some other it looked quite poor. The set designings were okayish but a number of them got repeated. They used the same set with little difference in decorations for multiple scenes. Another negative point is the pacing of the show. The dramas started as nice and slow but by the end of it, it seemed quite rushed. If the series had a little more episode length or there were 2 or 3 more episodes then it wouldn’t feel as much of a problem. The editing of certain scenes could have been better. Other than the technical part the show did a good job in other aspects.
Positive points: First thing that I absolutely love about the drama are the male leads (fangirls over the CP!!!!!!). The chemistry between them can make butterfly erupt in your stomach. The flirting was the first thing that got me hooked to this show. The flirtatious gestures and the relationship between them are more explicit than previous shows (like Guardian and The Untamed). Even with the censorship you will be able to call them a couple. The lead actors i.e. Zhang Zhehan and Simon Gong Jun did a pretty good job bringing the characters to life, especially Gong Jun. I was a little sceptical about his acting but after watching the show I have no doubt about how good his skills are. The supporting cast was also fantastic and had many famous faces. I have become an absolute fan of the character ‘Scorpion King’ and the actor who played the role. Next is the music. The opening theme will boost up your enthusiasm for the drama and the ending theme will leave you sad about how quickly 42 minutes have passed. The background scores also suit the scenes good.
The script and the story didn’t disappoint the viewers. After Guardian and Legend of Fei, Priest really deserved a good adaptation of her work. The original story was really short for a 36 episodes drama. The script writer did a good job of adding material while sticking to the original work. I love the back stories of a number of side characters which were added by the scriptwriter.
An additional thing I absolutely love is Wen Ke Xing’s wardrobe collection. His makeup and costume as the Ghost valley Master are my favourite. I also love the way the leads’ costume reflect their current emotions.
My verdict: Inspite of being low on money, the production team worked really hard for the drama and achieved what many high budgeted drama can’t. The off screen friendships between the actors are also lovely to see. Our flirty Wen Ke Xing raised the standard for a lot of future dramas (Half of the times I was like “HOW DID IT GET PAST CENSORSHIP!!”). Also if anyone is wondering it is not a sad ending drama. Believe me, it has a happy ending. Anyways I love this series a lot and be sure to check it out.
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A love story from China!
I don't know where to begin so let's just say I really liked it.The love story of the two main characters was beautiful and in fact quite explicit, there is also a lot of details and symbols throughout the series to express their love in a subtle way. The chemistry between WKX and ZZS makes us really believe in their affection towards each other. Someone made a video on YouTube about those details if you want to know more about it but in the comment section of the episodes on Youtube there is also people explaining. I think it really adds something to know about those details. That is one of the reasons the censorship couldn't censor their love and obvious relation.
One other is that the actors emotions and expressions are truly mastered, all of them really played perfectly but I'd like to emphasize Simon Gong (Wen Ke Xing)'s acting as I was really touched by all his scene and it was said that people were worried about his ability to act. It turns out they were SO wrong.
Also the ost were beautiful and OMG the costumes! That was beautiful and both pleasant to ears and eyes.
The only default is the story in itself: it was interesting and all but I really felt struggle to comprehend it. It was difficult for me to know who was who and who was who's allies (it's a lot of who). Maybe if there was more episodes it would have been easier for me...
PS:be sure to watch the epilogue as it is really changing the ending and is essential.
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Yet another drama so brilliant that I must read the book.
I'm gonna pause this.I'm on minute 2 of episode 36 and I'm going to pause right there, because the girl isn't ready to say goodbye.
I've read only one Priest book and that's Guardian. It is BRILLIANT. Everything about that book is beautiful. So much so, that I was pissed that the screenwriters changed a lot of great plot points in the show—and the ending ಥ_ಥ
I'm going to read Faraway Wanderers before I watch the whole of episode 36. Then I'll write a proper review.
What I can say, though:
• Simon Gong and Zhang Zhehan are my new favourite ship (in the show).
• I always knew ZZH was a good actor, he just need a good script.
• SG is going places and wherever they may be, may he find his way back to ZZH.
• Priest is my new favourite BL web novel writer.
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