Dashing Youth (2024)

One that loved not wisely but too well.

Once upon a time in Beili, there lived a woman who was simply too beautiful 倾国倾城/qīng guó qīngchéng; she could fell a city with one look and fell a kingdom with a second look. This kind of woman is a menace to mankind that can only be locked out of sight in a gilded cage. This is the cautionary tale of a brave man, one that loved not wisely but too well who dared to set her free. And his one true friend who tried to help him do the right thing.

Dashing Youth 少年白马醉春风 or Young White Horse Drunk in the Spring Breeze is the highly anticipated prequel to 2022's dark horse hit high fantasy martial arts drama The Blood of Youth 少年哥行. Like its predecessor, it is a youthful coming of age story about friendship, adventure and the spirited idealism of youth. Even though Baili Dongjun is the titular character, it is equally his best friend Ye Yun's villain origin story. They are parallel characters; both innate martial artists and scions of the Beili empire's founding families. As boys, they vowed to storm the martial world together when they grew up; Yun as the Sword Deity and Dongjun as the Liquor Deity. After the Ye family's downfall, they are destined to go down opposite paths. Dongjun lives a charmed life; making a name for himself as Li Changsheng's final disciple at the prestigious Jixia Academy; surrounded by new friends like Sikong Changfeng and Beili's Eight Talented Gentlemen. He reunites briefly with Ye Yun, who now calls himself Ye Dingzhi. In sharp contrast, Ye Dingzhi's path is a lonely one, full of obstacles, inequities, betrayals and brief snatches of happiness.

At its core, this is quite a straightforward story that is cluttered in the storytelling. There are too many digressions into the Who's Who of the martial world and and its pretentious rankings. While the fan service is terrific, such a dazzling array of too hot to handle swordsmen put my exploding ovaries in danger of apoplexy. The surfeit of hot filler characters with shallow side stories distract from the main arcs. For all their fancy swords and pompous rankings, all we see are a few showy poses and twirls before the CGI takes over and screen explodes in a gory orgy of light and digital creatures. While the CGI is well done, it is a big let-down not to see a few well choreographed live action fight sequences.

I was happy to see Hou Minghao dub himself as Baili Dongjun. It makes a big difference in how the character comes to life. While his acting is still a work in progress, he plays a character he can relate to and it shows. Ye Dingzhi is a more complex and intense role, one that He Yu pulls off charismatically. Even though he does questionable things, I empathized with him every step of the way. It would have been nice to see more of Xia Zhiguang's Sikong Changfeng. The humor and camaraderie between all the dashing youths is one of the drama's highlights. Even though the romances are not convincingly written or well developed, I liked all of the couples enough to root for them. The role of Yi Wenjun should have been more sympathetically portrayed instead of just as helpless, selfish and willful. The lovely Ye Yao is only Dongjun's muse, her character doesn't get to do much.

The irreverent Li Changsheng/Nangong Chunshui is the funniest, best acted and most engaging character in this story. Even though his arcs don't tie well with the main plot, the narrative visibly sags after his exit. His parting words to his disciples 凭心而动/píng xīn ér dòng or "act according to your heart" captures the spirit and idealism of youth that is Dongjun's lifelong mantra; one that years later, he passes on to his disciple Tang Lian. He helps Dingzhi steal the bride because Wenjun was not willing and therefor it is wrong to force her. It is the simple, absolute truth that trumps the cynical calculations driven by politics and expedience. He never wavers from this belief. It is true that Wenjun is a selfish, weak and dislikable character who makes terrible decisions with devastating consequences. But she was still wronged in the first place. Thus like Dongjun, I understood, even tried to empathize with her until she was too easily manipulated into returning to Tianqi. That was not only a stupid decision, it showed that she simply did not trust and love Dingzhi enough to wait for him. Poor Dingzhi, he never got any breaks. Even the love of his life failed him at the end. Through sick and sin, it was always and only Dongjun who remained his one true friend.

There is little new in the political plot that wasn't revealed in dialogue and flashbacks in TBOY. Which would be fine if they fleshed out the character stories and the succession struggle instead. But those are dealt with cursorily with Ruojin left as a blank cartoon character and the relationship between the brothers not explored. TBOY romanticizes Prince Langya as a tragic hero, the noble uncrowned king of Beili. In this prequel, he is the character that disappointed me most. He tore up his father's will out of misplaced loyalty and his own selfish desire to live an unrestrained life. He never made the case for why Ruojin was more worthy, supported him unconditionally and in the case of Wenjun, enabled him even though he knew it was wrong. There was never a so called greater good or do or die reason why Wenjun had to marry Ruojin, it was simply a matter of imperial privilege and entitlement. They could have escaped with his help and everything could have been so different. But I don't hold him solely responsible; there were so many malign forces at play and bad decisions that there is plenty of blame to go around.

The ending to this story leaves that bitter after taste that the bad guys won. It makes too convincing a case that a too beautiful woman who can topple kingdoms must be safely locked out of sight so she can do no harm. Both Wenjun and Dingzhi paid a high price for their mistakes but too many people who pushed Dingzhi down the dark path got off unscathed. In the novel, Dongjun has an epiphany about his own dào/道 or convictions in the middle of his fight with Dingzhi. He switches sides and punches the daylights out of the emperor instead. He scolds him: "She does not like you, why force her to marry you? She has escaped and is living a happy life, why lock her up again? You are the emperor with a harem of 3000. My brother only loves one person. Live and let live. Learn from your brother, he can even let you have the throne, why can't you let my brother have one wife?" Even though it changed nothing it was something that had to be said. Without this scene, Ruojin is never called out or held accountable for his role in starting a war over a woman. Instead it is Dingzhi who is destroyed and villainized for trying to hold on to a grass hut in a tiny corner of the world where he was happy. It is very hard to feel good about a story that ends like this.

This messy and disappointing prequel was in some ways limited by what was already canon in TBOY but still could have been better on multiple fronts, Nonetheless it is a chock full of eye candy and a fun watch if you don't look too hard at it and ignore the inconsistencies with TBOY. Even though this is a critical review I enjoyed the drama. I am just mad because it had the potential to be almost as good as TBOY. But it wasn't and so I can only rate this 8/10. I am still happy to recommend it , especially if you loved TBOY. If you liked Wuxin before, you will love him more after knowing his parent's story.

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A Visual Feast of Stunning CGI and Unforgettable Friendship

This was a visual feast! The drama balanced political elements with a touch of light-heartedness that managed to maintain my interest. As someone who isn't usually into costume dramas, it was a perfect pick.

Baili Dong Jun's character was well-written; a responsible spoiled brat with an unhealthy amount of love for liquor and a soft heart for the people he cares about. I particularly enjoyed his interactions with his father. His friendship with Ye Dhing Zhi and their story were the highlight of the drama for me.

Ye Dhing Zhi's character evoked mixed feelings - it made me both sad and mad. Sad because he didn't deserve such harshness, and frustrated and mad due to the choices he made that led him to his predicament. The journey from Ye Yun to Ye Dhing Zhi was tough!
But promises were kept, and we saw our liquor and sword deity and I devoured every scene of them!

I knew how it was supposed to end, but it was still devastating for me. But actions have consequences and some of those consequences are sad! Can't shake off that bitter-sweet feeling! *sigh*

The character who I couldn't sympathize with until the end was WenJun. Her choices and motivation behind them are still unclear to me, and seemed pretty selfish and stupid at some point. (A bit harsh but I am still frustrated!) She didn't deserve Dhing Zhi.

Also, I enjoyed the master-disciple interactions. The dynamics were fun to watch !

All the fight scenes were visually stunning, some of the best CGI I have seen in Asian dramas! It was such a stand-out aspect. Also, all the cast adds up to the rich visual experience. All of them are very attractive. The title does suit the drama perfectly because everyone is truly dashing! *grins*

Though I haven't watched TBOY and thus I can't compare the two, I still enjoyed this.

Overall, this was a visual treat with an amazing cast, impressive CGI and a plot that remained engaging throughout the 40 episodes.

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