Word of Honor (2021)

We finished it mainly for the gay scenes because we are a homo-loving couple. Rofl.

Storyline: It was neither visually stimulating, nor cleverly written. Predictable, uninspired and not memorable. I would say the plot is non-existent. Pretty much knew what was going to happen from the beginning. I have to add that we did not read the book, so I cannot compare between the TV show and the book. Unimportant or insignificant characters show up momentarily and are made to appear important, then, they are thrown into a labyrinth, never to be seen again. The way they introduced a ton of characters that made no impact to the plot annoyed me to no end.

Cast: The main leads were alright and had chemistry which was possibly the only reason we stuck with the show. Zhou Ye was terrible, I felt like I died with her during her death scene because her acting was so bad. Candice Zhao also drove me up the wall during the very few scenes she had. I am now convinced that I can only watch BL dramas because the women need to go back to acting school before they should be cast for any roles.

Music: I have not gone through the full list of songs, but the few songs that played in the drama were tolerable. Nothing outstanding.

Conclusion: Could have done a lot better given the storyline which was revealed within 3 episodes out of a 36-episode drama. Only watch it if you are bored to death with ML-FL shows and need a pair of ML-ML actors who can stare at each other with googly eyes for hours and hours. Since I take into account the type of audience most of the Asian TV shows are written for, I am already very generous with the scoring.

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Not up to the hype

I started watching when they were releasing the episode one by one and just watched two episodes and dropped it
I have read the book and the character in the book are v interesting
Now let's talk about the acting ZZ had an expressionless face, In the beginning, u see him as a ruthless guy but his body language was soft, his body moments doesn't imply that he is an assassin. He kept the head the same expression throughout the whole drama.
Simon Gong makeup in the initial episodes are v bad and too much over an d theatrical acting, CG is bad. you can see fake trees and rocks and that will put you off
episode 14 onwards it gets v boring too much talk, so many characters and you don't understand what is their role in the drama I dropped the series at episode 16 had enough, started another series but came back after few days
So many illogical scenes
If Simon Gong character dies, how he comes back just after one episode at least give some time
The last three episodes move too fast all mashed up trying to finish
Overall its an average series nothing special
People are talking about chemistry but frankly, there is no chemistry between the two main leads, they can be just friend. You won't see any longing, loving gaze any where.
there is more propaganda about it, when the first episode came they already labelled it the best series
Too much overacting, theatrical expression the only saving grace was voice dubbed actors they did a great job, sometimes they had more expression than the real actors speaking it

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Highly disappointed with this show....

I love BL dramas, especially fantasy ones set in a time period like this one but unfortunately this missed the marked for me. The storylime and plot had large gaping holes. I had to keep going back to the previous episode cos I thought I missed something as the next episode felt like they had jumped forward or they seriously edited the show down and this got worse in the later episodes.
The flirting/ relationship between the male leads felt forced and was shoved in your face right from the start. Personally, I would have liked to have seen more character building at the start. I only started getting into the show from ep 25 onwards which is when it got really interesting.
The acting, costumes and cinematography was great!! Unfortunately it was the story that was a let down for me. Each to your own tastes!

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this show is SOOOO BAD LMFAOOOO

oh my god it is literally so funny how terrible this show is i am just here to add another bad review to even out this score because it is baffling to me why anyone would rate this show a 10/10 unless of course their brains are fully rotted by the bl juice.

u cannot say this show is like cql/the untamed because truly the only thing they have in common besides being bl adaptations is the god awful cg. for me, cql is like a nutritious protein that also tastes good. word of honor is like if they force fed you the most saccharine cloyingly sweet candy until u threw up. it is literally just forcing constant flirting, romantic/cute moments that often have NO basis or development so everything just feels so completely cheap. like they have no interaction beyond flirting and they're already using the big Z J words (zhiji) in the very beginning. all the romantic and cute moments feel unearned and worthless, pure fanservice for bl brainrot fangirls so that they can make more bank off of them. i can feel that the writer DOES care about the story and the characters but she does an absolute shit job of showing it for a majority of the series.

i'll start with what i did like. i think the premise is really fun, i like the IDEA of a retired assassin and the leader of the ghost sect, neither of them are good people but they find each other and connect. the story had so much potential. it is VERYYY wuxia in a way that can be really really fun and nostalgic for anyone who grew up watching classic campy wuxia. chengling the classic tropey protagonist, the corruption of the righteous sects, the beggar gang, the scorpion gang, the big heroes conference, the old guy chained up in a cave for like 80 years, the big revenge plot?? all very fun. the ghost sect members designs are soooo fun, i mean come on the green lipstick?? so good please give me more shows with this degree of campy fun designs!!!!

i also like sooome bits of the relationship between the two main characters. there IS some level of substance, i think the scene where wen kexing is just happily calling his name is good and reflects where both characters are, happy to be able to find each other after everything they've been through. i like that even tho it appears that wen kexing is the one relentlessly chasing zhou zhishu, the reality is that zhou zhishu is into it p much from the beginning, and flirts back/teases him in his own way. zhou zhishu is then the one who is emotionally vulnerable w wen kexing first in an attempt to get him to also open up with him and build a real relationship. he actually pushes the most in the emotional/real way beyond just flirting to understand and connect with wen kexing. i also actually like that the key to the armory was the hairpin that wen kexing is always wearing and gives to zhou zhishu because he trusted him and knew with absolute certainty that he would take care of it.

ok thats it for pros. the rest is pretty much a giant mess that is truly a dumpster fire. despite zhou zhishu being the main character it feels like the writers gave him absolutely NO attention or development whatsoever... he is just guilty and hell bent on punishing himself until he gets himself a bf and a son and is like jk. like why not write a narrative in which they actually explore his inaction and self punishment as actually only harmful to not only himself but those who love him? punishing oneself as retribution for past wrongdoing doesn't undo anything or make up for it, the only thing that helps is productive action. i'm not saying he has to be redeemed for what he did, he doesn't have to become a good person, but if that's the case, then why is he so sad and guilty that he has to punish himself to such a degree and kill himself in the worst way? he spends the entire series with so little focus on his storyline, instead he is single mindedly devoted to wen kexing for reasons i absolutely cannot fathom. i genuinely cannot understand why he loves him so much and is SO patient every time wen kexing flies off the handle and does bad shit or runs away and violently pushes everyone away again, when frankly wen kexing does not deserve it LMFAOO. other than pure pity because wen kexing is an absolute traumatized trainwreck and zhou zhishu wants to help him because he feels bad? but needless to say that is not love... that means that something is going on with zhou zhishu's own character where maybe he wants to fix other people to redeem himself or some shit (though that would've actually been interesting but is 100% not the writer's intention because they were going for romantic, loving, supportive partner.)

as a clarification, i think that sticking with and supporting your partner through their trauma, mental illness, and even some toxic behavior is good, and that it's important to be what they need (obviously not at the expense of one's own needs and boundaries), but i need to be able to see that there is something reciprocal here?? all they have to do is show me why wen kexing means so much to him, and it CAN'T be that he's his long lost shidi because that's plot information reveal and does not count. show me that wen kexing was anything at all to zhou zhishu other than just a relentless and annoying flirt and an evenly matched partner in martial arts. like wen kexing has not given zhou zhishu a single reason to love him or warrant his devotion, like he never encouraged zhou zhishu to forgive himself for his past actions, or to move on and become a better person?? he never taught him anything, or gave him something he had never had before, or changed his life other than just physically always being there. everything wen kexing does for him is fanservice shit like sucking out his poisoned blood, instead of something meaningful. even when he found out about the nails wen kexing doesnt stick w zhou zhishu and try to help him emotionally, instead he loses his shit, throws a tantrum, runs away and screams at gu xiang whilst ppl in HIS sect are being murdered.... literally WHYY does zhou zhishu love this guy WHYY LFMAO. it's like the writers are so focused on showing us that they DO love each other, instead of building the character arcs and relationship arc that explain why and how, this is what gives the show a 'cheap' feeling. (like... compare this to cql where lan zhan's devotion to wei wuxian had a clear REASON, where he loved him because wei wuxian changed his entire life and viewpoint, and even then lan zhan's way of caring for the very traumatized wwx was flawed and only pushed him away further, and he had to Learn how to love him the way he needed..... compare them.... you CANT!!! you just CANT!!!)

wen kexing, despite getting all the love and care and attention from the writer has an absolute mess of a character arc. like i like the idea of a chaotic guy who is just super hell bent on revenge, hates the righteous sects and has a shit ton of trauma, who views himself as unlovable and plays the role of the 'bad guy' and slowly learns to let people in, and reclaim who he really is. instead wen kexing is just not really evil or bad from the beginning? he's just inconsistent?? the whole thing w gao chong was just him feeling bad for being schemed against more than anything else. he shows immediate remorse once the polycule zhiji die, but also kills people indiscriminately, he feels bad about misjudging who his enemy is, he clearly cares for chengling, but also none of the other women in his sect who are all there because they have been rejected by society?? he literally doesnt give a fuck abt his sect and is happily able to leave them all to be w zhou zhishu and chengling and not take responsibility for any of them. literally why cant he get a consistent arc that allows him to heal and work on his issues instead of him just realizing he hurt more 'good' people because he was shortsighted and ignorant, not a BAD person!! (like he learned that already w the polycule deaths why do they have to kill han ying too and drive him into absolute hysterics).... why can't his relationship w the righteous sects and his own ghost sect be informed by his past and his trauma in a way that might eventually become productive?? like that he specifically cares for his sect of outcasts as a reaction to the corruption and oppression of righteous sects? the writer just doesnt seem to be able to commit and instead is waffling around on the trajectory of his character arc. gu xiang basically has a very similar character arc as him, she's also stubborn, violent, traumatized and pushes people away and refuses to show vulnerability, but her storyline is soooo much more straightforward and follows a trajectory that actually makes sense?? this shows me that it is possible they were just an absolute mess when it came to the main characters.

the plot of the entire show is a bit of a mess, but the ending........... the last like 5 episodes..... i dont think i've ever felt such a clear fever dream where i was literally fighting for my life while i was a watching. it goes OFF THE RAILS. the closest experience was watching bubujinxin 2... like the editing and pacing make NO SENSE whatsoever, the show has absolutely no semblance of a rational structure, like are we living in wen kexing's chaos trauma mind??? it flies through a bunch of BIG CLIMACTIC events, wen kexing flies off a cliff and is dead for HALF an episode but not before this results in zhou zhishu and him romeoing and julieting themselves by the finale??? random fluff scenes when bad shit is still happening?? AND gu xiang and cao weining and their sect get MASSACRED by basically a rando after they were like some righteous ppl are ok actually JK thEY ARE STILL BAD AND the armory shit is still going on?? AND then theyre IMMORTAL??? it's batshit, ive never seen a more senseless and near incomprehensible ending that had no semblance of adhering to character arcs and themes that have been set up from the beginning. the fact that the main issue between zhou zhishu and wen kexing that literally causes them both to DIE if not for some deux ex machina shit is a MISCOMMUNICATION...because wen kexing just DIDNT TELL him his plan??? this is the laziest fucking writing ever. like instead of writing a genuine conflict between the main leads they had to resort to fucking miscommunication to up the stakes.... absolute garbage writing. also just the whole armory bit.... like isnt the point that all these ppl fighting over it and ruining each other and their own lives are senseless in their greed for power??? and whats in the armory doesnt matter??? why is it now PIVOTAL to both main character's survival.. and now they are both immortal and STUCK w each other for eternity eating only ice and snow on a mountain forever.... im sorry but i cant think of a more horrible ending. i literally wish they just died and just got reincarnated or smth. this is fucking bleak idc how much u love someone it is deeply unhealthy to only be with one person and interact w no one else and be isolated like that forever. it is the kind of unrealistic i cant live without you, we live together forever that is the ultimate romance that i absolutely HATE.

other notes and final thoughts: also the whole uh... weird grooming thing between xie wang and zhao jing....i dont even know what to make of it other than that they did a pretty bad job of talking abt grooming and incestuous familial abuse if that was their intention. im also crying at having the two leads sing a romantic song and playing it during all their romantic moments but the guy who plays wen kexing can NOT sing for the life of him so we just have to listen to this horrible out of tune warbling during EVERY serious romantic moment. basically this show is an absolute embarrassing mess with shit writing but it's so bad to a level that it became really funny for me and was generally still fun to watch. the main couple are at the very least not the same level of toxicity ive come to expect from bl and there's no clear gong/shou situation so that's a plus. basically i dont think the show is evil but it is absolutely very bad.

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The best sleeper hit of the year and then some

Where does one begin? This drama has just blown me and millions of viewers away since it started airing a few weeks ago. It came out of nowhere, without warning or fanfare. A low-budget production with no buildup of expectations and yet suddenly one's world's is no longer the same having seen it.
It is attracting a lot of viewers because it is a BL drama, but I would say even more importantly it is a great wuxia tale. It's good vs evil, but the good guys are slightly damaged and tarnished and there's more gray than black and white in the story. It's also a love story and about finding redemption through the love of another person.
I was immediately impressed with how both MLs showed a whole new side to their acting. If you have seen either in previous costume dramas, I guarantee that you too will be doing double takes and don't be surprised if you fall into fandom after this.
So many elements have come together to make this a great hit - the two male leads and their chemistry; their very able supporting cast; one of the best scripts ever in C-drama; beautiful flirt-fight scenes - I could go on and on.
Watch it also to see how the scriptwriter and the producers play cat-and-mouse with the censors - this is the first time I've ever watched a drama which uses the overdubbing which we all find so annoying to get away with original lines that would never have seen the light of day. The script is interlaced with classical Chinese poetry and idioms and due to the explosive interest in the drama, tons of videos on youtube have popped up to explain all these things to non-Chinese speakers. So not only are you going to be entertained but should you so wish you'll be able to access Chinese culture and learn a thing or two about gay Chinese references in a very fun way.
So what are you waiting for, just start watching already.............

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The fact that Word Of Honor won three awards tells it all!

Best Production, Best Visual Effects and lastly the Most Talked About.

This wuxia was great on so many levels. The story was far from being boring and in fact kept me wanting for more. You can clearly see that everything was well thought of. The characters, the costumes, the cast, the sceneries even down to the music and dialogues. Everything was decided and chosen meticulously. But let's face it, the highlight of this drama was the chemistry between the two leads. It was extraordinary and noticeable. The little details and the way they played their characters nearly made me forget the censorship. After finishing Guardian and The Untamed, I was looking for a great drama to fill the void and honestly, Word Of Honor was the perfect choice. The minor thing that bothered me was when they played the flute. The music/sound didn't match the blowing/moving of the lips. For some people, this little detail could be quite annoying but this drama was amazing nonetheless. I highly recommend it!

PS. this drama actually have a great ending. You have to look for the final episode/alternate ending.

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Fan guy and his soulmate: a bromance!

DISCLAIMER: I have never seen a wuxia(I think it's what it is called) before so this is a review by someone who has ZERO knowledge of the genre and its rules! Since this is going to be drowned in the sea of reviews, I shall be painfully frank!

I did not hate it! I did not like it either. I was mostly bored. But I finished it nevertheless. And without fast forwarding!

The story is messy: there are a few sects and a prince trying to get their hands on a mythical weapon called Glazed Armor. There are a lot of underhand alliances, betrayals, deals, lying, duels and endless talking!

This is based on a widely popular danmei novel which had to be toned down because of chinese censorship. Well this is where the first surprise came from: the bromance was more romance than I expected: there was so much double entendres in their conversation that I was really surprised with things the producers managed to get away with.

The fighting scenes were rather spectacular. At first I did not like the constant changing of action scenes filming speed: FFW/slo mo/FFW. I ended up getting used to it because the choreography was spectacular!

What else was good? Let me think....costumes and certain sets (palaces, plum trees, mountains etc.). And the cute young couple, too cute to survive this ordeal, unfortunately! And that is about it!

On with the rest!
The pacing was a major problem with this series.( I was told it was because of filming during COVID! I don't know!). Stop-and-go! It was never constant: mostly slow. So slow! Lots of time was wasted on endless static conversations. So endless that I usually started playing games because I lost attention and the conversations were not interesting. They would drone on for ages like that, change settings and have an extremely important conversation all of a sudden ; I had to rewind a few times because I missed some important facts. The passage of time was not clear: slow than jump forward than a bit of reminiscing etc... The plot was complex but they never resolved the main problem (the prince!) instead of which they introduced a bunch of new useless characters and killed a cute young couple! That did tug on my heartstrings and I did not like though I should have expected it! The useless characters were the most ridiculous in a scene towards the ending when the serious guy goes for a quest and they just stand there solemnly and seriously watching him disappear into distance! I was bent over laughing at that scene!The villain was obvious from the get go: the creepy, slimy fake kindness was a dead giveaway! And the "best" was a heart transplant! In the past, a wife wanted to save her husband like that?!?!? Wuxia magic!

Next big problem was the main couple. Basically, they meet and fall in love within 3 seconds and start immediately addressing each other as soulmates?!?!? That was quick! But they seemed to live in different time zones: there was something terribly off about their relationship. One problem was the characters! The first one sports expressionless face practically throughout the whole series. He manages to crack a smile three times and that changes the character completely, giving him warmth and humanity. In any case he is very superficial. The fan guy, on the other hand, talks and behaves as a clown, forever smiling quixotically, evidently hiding something behind his laconic answers and jokes! We find out about it eventually so he gains a certain depth more than his soulmate, in any case! Their relationship lacked chemistry! At least for me: I could not believe them to be soulmates. And even though the fan guy was very expressive, doe eyed and all touchy feely, the other guy was nowhere near so open or welcoming of a prospect of staying together forever. Eventually he accepted. Towards the end, there was a subplot in which the fan guy enlisted help of everyone except for his soulmate who then barges in the middle of the plot execution and almost ruins it. Afterwards he is visibly hurt by being left out but the fan guy never apologizes or explains and the other guy just moves on without questioning anything! I felt enraged for the poor neglected soulmate!

The acting was average, at the best! Because of dubbing; the voices were hushed mostly: this breathless speaking is really annoying. The writing is boring and lacks humour: the banters are not funny and those long conversations are not interesting. When the actors speak, they often have long monologues which sound as if they are being read out in a monotonous voice. Sleep inducing! Actually, I managed to fall asleep regularly during 7 first episodes. It is then that the fan guy became interesting!
Music was boring. And editing is a chinese drama's way: episode is 42min long so we cut it at that mark! So what if it is mid sentence! They have no knowledge how to make a cliffhanger!

Anyhow, this was an experience I do not wish to repeat! Moreover, the last episode (37!) is a joke! It is 11min long compilation of scenes from the series with one single new scene: them living happily ever after on top of the mountain, forever and ever. How romantic! Bah, humbug!

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Word of Honor has been, hands down, my most wonderful, most satisfying drama experience so far - and I have watched quite a few dramas in the past years. It had great writing, great actors, humor and sadness at just the right ratio and...

Hugs. So many hugs. And hand-holding. And longing glances full of immeasurable love. And sacrifices. And mainly - an unquestionably happy ending for the main couple, a sight unseen in danmei.

But seriously, I didn't skip a single scene in this drama. I was actually interested in all the storylines, even the search for the Glazed Armor, I wanted to know what was behind it and the twist with the treasure, the twist with the key (!!!), the whole reveal didn't leave me hanging.

What truly elevated this drama from a good one to a great, top-notch, let-me-wiggle-in-my-chair-with-the-happy drama, though, were the leads. Gong Jun and Zhang Zhehan truly embodied the characters and their chemistry was mind-blowing. They added so much to the characters of Wen Kexing and Zhou Zishu, respectively, they made them feel alive, like real people with their ups and downs who sometimes made bad decisions but who didn't let their failures keep them under. GJ and ZZH were so right for the parts and they clicked in such a rare, genuine way that it simply made me feel all warm around the heart.

This drama experienced so many issues before airing - from losing the original leads to big budget cuts, it was laughed at and scoffed at and nobody would've bet a penny that it would be a hit - and yet, it's become a must-see event and Youku truly treated it like the golden goose it turned out to be. Good so. Everyone involved worked on it with heart and they deserve the recognition, twice over!

To sum it up: this drama simply makes me happy, it makes me smile and it occupies my mind and I can't stop thinking of the amazing love story that we've seen unfold on-screen. What a rare gift!

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Amazing and Excellent

Wow I have watched the series too many times to count, since its release.

Everything about this bromance was really good and the actors were so well sync.

The music was excellent and I actually listen to it every single chance I get.

This drama has made me laugh out loud and cry like a baby, this drama has achieved way more than what other big budget production has not. I do think as fans of BL, especially from China with it's censorship, we need to reward productions who do not skew from the original story, who do non add random female characters, who do focus on story telling with intentions and a POV. ZZH is so good playing the reluctant role of the "mouse" with such subtlety and finesse, that you will find new hints of his intentions at every rewatch. Not to mention all the dynamic supporting roles, written with back stories and characteristic intent that supports this Wuxia JiangHu, he was really amazing in this drama and exceptional HOT. I also love Simon and I think they partnered up really well, just like The Untamed drama, the chemistry was there and acting was so well done. I really loved this drama.

I could honestly say that this fitted in if not a bit better then the untamed, my absolutely two favorite dramas in the bromance line up.

The production team, scriptwriters, costumes/makes up (behind the scenes workers) and cast did an awesome job and bringing the story, setting and each character to life. It was much better than I expected since this is one of the novels from Priest that I enjoy next to another one. The scriptwriter really knows how to add the romance and confessions in the the spoken poetries from KX.

Gonna do another round of re-watching!!!

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Warning: You won’t like my review if you haven’t read the book

Last year my love for Guardian and The Untamed led me to find Priest and MXTX. Both are excellent writers with a fabulous sense of character and world building. Is it any wonder that I’ve read more of their books? For MXTX I like Heaven’s Official Blessing best and I am anxiously waiting for the release of season 2 of the animation series. Priest….she’s a goddess of the genre and I love her books (yes…I wrote a whole article about her). I was excited for Word of Honor (based on Priest’s Faraway Wanderers).

This book wasn’t my favorite of Priest’s and neither were Zhou ZiShu and Wen KeXing my favorite characters. What I did like about the book was that these two nasty, morally grey characters joined forces to do some good and right some wrongs. Word of Honor started out the same way. Two not so upright and forthright characters join forces to right those wrongs. It was exciting to watch the very sketchy Wen KeXing and all the viciousness…..just like the book! And Zhou ZiShu was the pretty assassin from the very first scene…..LOVED IT!

The introduction of the characters of Gu Xiang, Cao Wei Ning, and Cheng Ling was just perfect. Zhou Ye, Asher Ma, and Sun Xi Lun played them just like I pictured them in the book……..thank you. Ye Bai Yi’s story line was different than the book, but I got the same feeling from Huang You Ming’s performance (he must have read the book too). The Scorpion King was actually more sympathetic in Word of Honor than the book and I actually liked it. Truth be told, Li Dai Kun’s portrayal of the Scorpion King was rather compelling and towards the end, my favorite part of the show…..even though it wasn’t true to the book.

This is where my good feelings about Word of Honor ends. I understand Chinese censorship (wrote an article on it) and I get what they can and can not show on TV. Since I’ve read the book, I also know that pretty much the entire book can be televised in mainland China with the exception of some of the things the Scorpion King does and the final bit of the book detailing the type of relationship the two main characters have and how Wen KeXing came to be in the ghost realm. In fact, in Word of Honor, Wen KeXing says and does a lot of things I didn’t think would get past censors.

So why why why why why did they have to whitewash Zhou ZiShu like they did? Does censorship include not having characters with a history of bad deeds? Isn’t that Wei Ying in The Untamed? Maybe he was toned down a bit in the end compared to the book but why Zhou ZiShu? He went from being the very hot morally ambiguous man to a Boy Scout and long before the end of the show. It happened right there, in the middle……gone was the vague good guy who’s only difference between him and the bad guy was his refusal to seek power and instead seek a comfortable life for his last days. By episode 24, he had ceased being Zhou ZiShu as written by Priest and became someone else……I blame the screen writer for this.

Zhang Zhe Han and Simon Gong were phenomenal as the leads and at no point did I question the type of relationship they had from the moment they started traveling together. The flirting, the looks, the body language……MUCH MUCH more overt than any other c-drama I’ve ever seen. And don’t get me started on their portrayal of Lord Seventh and Wuxi…..completely did away with their relevance and their purpose……I hated that because I LOVE THE BOOK ABOUT LORD SEVENTH!!!

However, I won’t be giving this the highest marks….because how far it strayed from the book. Please know this was a wonderful show (not as good as The Untamed if you’re interested in the comparison). Watch for the fun of it, but if you’re looking for the real Faraway Wanderers………..you’ll only find that in the book.

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