Back from the Brink (2023)

Disappointing

The story started out great until about episode 17. The humor gave me endless laughs, the adventures of the main characters were fun to watch, and ML and FL had a lot of chemistry. The villains were compelling and gave us plenty of reasons to hate them. Then, the story went off the rails and started introducing new plotlines and characters who didn't need to be there. I normally don't like love triangles because they usually follow the same tropes and deviate from the plot. This show was no exception. Bai Xiaosheng (BX) was a fun and neutral character who should've stayed neutral. Suddenly, we had to watch multiple episodes involving a love triangle between BX, Tianyao and Yanhui because Tianyao and Yanhui had some tension in their relationship. There were better ways to get it resolved and to get Tianyao gain back Yanhui's trust, instead of sticking BX between them for several episodes. In the second half and towards the end, BX mostly disappeared from the plot making the entire love triangle angst completely pointless.

Even the chemistry between Tianyao and Yanhui became stale in the second half. They had no physical or even romantic chemistry although they were married. They kind of regressed from being a dynamic due to an old boring couple. When Tianyao protected her from any threat, she looked at him in surprise like he wasn't supposed to do it. Ya'll are married. Why are you surprised? Thankfully, or not, they finally shared a very chaste kiss in episode 38 after being married for how long? Pretty damn long,

An endless slew of minor characters and their stories, too many flash-backs, and fillers made the story progression very slow. An entire episode was dedicated to some weird demon capturing Tianyao so she could marry him just to be defeated and never seen again. We did not need to watch short lived romances between minor characters, who all died an episode later, or flashbacks from Yanhui's childhood in the Taoist sect. It was all boring and irrelevant. We also did not need to see Suying's sad romance with the general. There was nothing redeeming about her. She was a reprehensible person, so there was no point trying to make her even a little bit sympathetic.

The end boss was incredibly boring. He was a cookier cutter villain without any motivation or personality. He did bad things because villains do bad things, not because he had a compelling reason to be bad. Taoists were much more interesting and complex.

There were problems with the acting too. Zhou Ye was really cute as Yanhui who was lively, dynamic, and funny. Neo Hou was the opposite. This is the first drama I watched with him and I was completely unimpressed with his acting. He spent a huge amount of the time standing around and staring - forlorn staring, sad staring, observant staring, romantic staring, staring, staring, and more staring. In many scenes involving multiple characters, he just stood around and stared like a place holder. It seemed like the actor either needed more lines or the dialogue needed to be sped up. After some time, the constant staring became very noticeable. Tianyao was the main character with the plot revolving around him, but he looked like Yanhui's side kick most of the time.

Overall, I enjoyed the first half of the show because it was funny and engaging. Unfortunately, the story that started out as an interesting tale of redemption, forgiveness, and new beginnings turned into a constipated mess of stale plotlines and a crusade against a cliche villain. I am actually very disappointed with the way it turned out because it had such a great start.

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YanHui is best girl!

I LOVE this show very much! It is def in my top 5 favorite C-Drama of the new era (80s & 90s will always be considered the golden era in my opinion). I needed a show to love after LBFAD & the Starry Love showed up! I needed another show to get me over the Starry Love, and Back from the Brink premiered!

I appreciated the growth of the characters individually as well as the growths shown in the different relationships. It was not love at first sight for the leads and they didn’t have an antagonistic relationship for the sake of tension or drama. The development of the relationship between the leads was gradual, organic, and mature. The choices they made made sense. The ML is great but honestly the FL in this story was what made it a top tier show. Yan Hui was such a good, well rounded female character. She was smart, strong, and kind. She was also not afraid to show emotions and let people know how she felt. Her communications skills were the best- I appreciated it so much because I hate miscommunication tropes that lead to misunderstandings. In this show, the leads, especially Yanhui, were pretty honest with each other. YanHui was always upfront with her love, her hate, and her fears. She is so far one of my favorite FL.

The supporting characters were interesting too and none of them outstayed their welcome. I was worried about the 2ML and how his story would play out but I am so glad that they didn’t do anything stupid with him. He didn’t automatically fall in love with the FL but when he did, I understood why. It made sense and I loved how their relationship also developed. And most importantly, the friendship between the women in the show was also the reason why I enjoyed this show so much. I HATE HATE HATE it when the FL have no women as friends. It doesn’t make sense to me when shows have women hating women due to jealousy or envy or whatever. I hate it even more when they’re sisters. They seldom ever do that with ML (unless it’s for the throne which I get). The storyline made sense and there was logic to the choices everyone made, even if it was on the obsessive toxic side. Adults actually acting like adults. What a concept! Anyways, this a fun show that made me laugh and cry. Highly recommend it!

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I have no problem with the Casting.. The actors and actresses did their part.. When I first watch the Episode 1 I was so hooked up and anticipated for the next Episodes.. As for the reason why the story rating is low because I find the Script or Plot Bad.. The first episodes script was good then as soon as the episodes goes on the plot became Good Script to Bad Script.. Some scripts I find it irrelevant or extras... This could've been good if Only the Scriptwriter reviews the script or study over and over again, or well, how will the viewers react.. Because a bad script would end up negative reviews for actors or actresses.. While good script will bring them to a good review.. That's all for now.. Thou some episodes are roller coaster.. Still I find more episodes interesting.. I'll keep watching it and I'm only watching this because I like Neo Hou and Riley Wang.. Plus bonus for Yang Rong, Zhai Kai Ying, Zhou Ye and the rest of the cast ?☺️☺️

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Too much romance and comedy, and 2nd ML smile was enough to kill me

just beautiful masterpiece, light hearted drama if you're suffering from till the end of moon you can go for it, FL is kinda immature and weak in beginning but afterwards she do behaves like intelligent one, i love the opening ost just like the chef's kiss. i like the concept that fl never betrayed the ML and made him realize that true love do exist.
and all the 2nd 3rd love story going on didn't had any argument and fight they were sweet to each other which i love about this drama as it didn't give the viewers any heart wrenching scenes except ml and fl love story
happy ending with beautiful costumes worth giving a try ?

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I want to erase my memory to be able to experience this drama again for the first time

Where do I start, I have only superlatives to say about this drama. I jumped onto watching as soon as I recognized Zhou Ye, I loved her so much in Word of Honour. Neo Hou is so adorable, such a great actor too. The character of Bai Xiao Sheng has my heart (can I have him if he's still single /jk). Now, I'm the type of person who always questions actions and storyline. Would this character do this, why did this character not catch this thing happening since he usually knows about everything in the city, why did they do such a gut punch with the storyline etc. And you know what? Such questions never once crossed my mind once when I was watching Back from the Brink! It is such an exceptionally well executed story, I love it with all my heart. The story is so well paced, the storyline is interesting, the acting is top tier, the effects and costumes are superb. The drama is adorable, it's cute, it's lovey-dovey, it's goofy and funny but also has action in the right spots. It was exactly what needed at the time I was watching it. What I especially liked, there wasn't a moment in the storyline where writers would do a "reversing the car on the highway because you missed an exit" turn of the storyline. Just.... I really highly recommend this drama to anyone. It even has a good ending! And one last note, get your tissues ready for the final episode, I teared up so much.

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A Must Watch for lovers of Wuxia-Romance drama!!!

I have watched plenty of Romance, Wuxia dramas but this one has surpassed them all
Despite all the issues n problems it always gives a positive vibe and hope....The chemistry of the leads is beyond amazing..both are strong sensible and always protected each other which is rare to find in dramas...Leads have done a phenomenal job in portraying different shades of their character, even side characters are quite amazing and add value to the plot...The story is super engaging and truly well directed...OST is breathtaking!!
I am highly impressed with the drama...The only thing I kind of missed in this was a good kissing scene.
I highly highly recommend this to everyone...Not a single person will disappoint investing time in this for sure
My Rating - 9.5/10

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Amazing

Imma keep it short. You will not regret watching this. Trust me. Imma keep it short. You will not regret watching this. Trust me Imma keep it short. You will not regret watching this. Trust me Imma keep it short. You will not regret watching this. Trust me Imma keep it short. You will not regret watching this. Trust me Imma keep it short. You will not regret watching this. Trust me Imma keep it short. You will not regret watching this. Trust me Imma keep it short. You will not regret watching this. Trust me Imma keep it short. You will not regret watching this. Trust me Imma keep it short. You will not regret watching this. Trust me Imma keep it short. You will not regret watching this. Trust me Imma keep it short. You will not regret watching this. Trust me Imma keep it short. You will not regret watching this. Trust me Imma keep it short. You will not regret watching this. Trust me Imma keep it short. You will not regret watching this. Trust me Imma keep it short. You will not regret watching this. Trust me Imma keep it short. You will not regret watching this. Trust me Imma keep it short. You will not regret watching this. Trust me

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A fated love between two worlds

It started off really good. I was hooked from the very first episode. I never read the novel like everyone else so I don't know how the story supposed to go. But like everyone else, I agreed that the story was dragged from around episode 12 / 13. It could've ended in episode 20 - 25 but since they had to make it 40 episodes, they dragged it way too long. It's such a pitty especially with the story build up, it ended just like that. For a drama that was made longer than it supposed to be, the ending surely is very rushed. I have certain parts that I love so much, but I also have parts that annoy me so much that I think it was so unnecessary to be put there.

Well, it was a good journey. I love both Tianyao and Yanhui. I also love Bai Xiaosheng, though a lot of the novel reader said he didn't exist in the novel ? glad it's at least a happy ending. But it was such a rushed ending ?

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The pain of betrayal and how to regain your dignity after having experience the brink of death

Back From the Brink is one of my favorite xianxia dramas. I admit that there's a little loophole in the plot, but it doesn't defect me from enjoying it. So, now let us venture into the intriguing plot and characters!

Back From the Brink is adapted from one of Jiu Lu Fei Xiang's novel 'Hu Xin' which literally means protect the heart. It tells the interspecies romance of Tian Yao (once a legendary and ancient dragon) and Yan Hui (a freshly expelled Taoist cultivator). On Tian Yao's wedding day, his lover (Su Ying) dismembered him and sealed the entire parts of his body separately. In a final despair attempt, Tian Yao managed to gouge his dragon heart and sent it away before Su Ying could take action. He later died and possessed a body of a dead boy, trying to get back his body parts by hook or by crooks. Not long after that, Tian Yao encountered a bold yet cheerful former Taoist cultivator, Yan Hui, who coincidentally possessed Tian Yao's dragon heart. At first, they seemingly played the cat-and-mouse game as Yan Hui was adamant of Tian Yao's plan to use her with the purpose of getting his body. As the story progressed, Yan Hui slowly started to be attracted by Tian Yao and so did he. Just like the saying goes, if you've never encountered failure, how could you move on to become the better you? So, this drama depicts this saying in an excellent way. Nevertheless, the leads regained their dignities after encountering a lot of dangers in their adventure and nearly being in the slump of death multiple times.

As a novel reader, the story doesn't deviate very much except for the introduction of the shadow ghost (Bai Xiaosheng). At first, he might seem to be freaking annoying due to his interference of the main leads' relationship. Thank God I'm proved wrong. He was the CATALYST that would lead Tian Yao and Yan Hui to form a deeper bond which is more than just friends and companions. Also, he had numerous antics which would make me laugh like a lunatic. If I'm not mistaken, there was no Fu Yin (lord of the dark aura) in the novel. I guess it was made up for this drama. I'm not sure but I didn't like his character very much. Moreover, his backstory wasn't properly explained which led to the confusion of the watchers. I get that Fu Yin was a lonely person with only Xue Lin (a former Taoist cultivator who would eventually marry the fox king) as his companion. After Xue Lin got married, he began to resent everything in this world and turned evil. Is that all the writers have got? I wish we could see more about Fu Yin's flashback and how he transformed into the lord of dark aura.

Don't get me started at the ending! It was a SUPER LACKLUSTER! After a series of twist and turn, the writers decided to cram everything into the last episode and the KISS in the last scene was the prove of a happy ending?? Come on, we need more than just a kiss. At least, you can explain how Yan Hui was reincarnated again and found Tian Yao in the mortal world. Because of this reason and the above one, I will have to dock one point off the story.

Actings and chemistry are all fine. I've got no problem with that. What I like the most is the bickering relationship between Tian Yao and Yan Hui - there's always something they could debate of. Meanwhile, second couple (Xian Ge and Feng Qianshuo) have a more mature relationship and constantly support each other either financially or emotionally. Third couple (Huan Xiaoyan and Zhu Li) has a worse bickering relationship than the first couple and they seem to be pretty chaotic when they're together. Special mention to the fourth couple (Su Ying and Lu Musheng) who has one-sided love effect and the latter doesn't reciprocate thingy.

Guess I will end my rant until here. Although there're several cons, you can still watch it peacefully since it's a light-hearted xianxia compared to the angsty one (for instance, Till the End of the Moon). Happy watching and good luck.

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侠 (“Xia”) in essence - protecting what matters

Back from the Brink (BFTB) has a simple story plot - a handicapped dragon in search of his missing parts due to an ex betrayal.

This simplicity is its strength. Within 10 mins of the show, BFTB has told us what we need to know about the background context, Yan Hui’s (YH) personality, and how she is interlinked with Tian Yao (TY) in his quest. Straightforward with no filters. (Yes, those cute little loyal genies aren’t filters.) Their meet cute were hilarious and logical - a rare combination in many stories these days.

The best part of this light hearted series is Yan Hui’s character. I love how YH is kind, but isn’t a Mary Sue. She trusts people yet will not allow others manipulate her. She has a protective instinct towards those being bullied, but rightfully, affirms her priorities and will say No to requests that she doesn’t want to do. She is decisive and quick witted. What a healthy role model! I also particularly love how direct and expressive YH is. While a lot of credit is due to the screenwriter, I got to applaud the actress, Zhou Ye, who managed to strike that right balance for YH’s character. Her portrayal of YH adds a lot of points to made this character so likeable.

TY’s character is also done with care. Although he was betrayed by his ex in such a cruel way, and had to experience a lot of pain for losing his body parts, I love how he didn’t project his hurt to others. Sure, he was reserved and cautious with strangers, and was a handful to deal with. Beneath the reserved exterior, I can see his kindness, strength and wilfulness, befitting of the only Millennium Dragon in the story. His journey of redemption was slow, painful and can be frustrating at times to watch - but hey, isn’t the struggle and growth the whole point of a great character.

Main characters aside, I love the representation of each story arcs and the key characters in them as YH and TY journeyed to gather the latter’s missing parts. I love Xiange’s determination and stance in protecting what she believes in. I admire Lu Mu Sheng’s loyalty towards his wife, even if they did not expound on it. I respect Qing Qiu’s key characters’ belief and protection towards peace. While it is a stretch to understand Su Ying’s and her sister’s respective obsession (I suppose that’s why they are family), I can accept that there are characters like these and feel pain for them. And of course, how can one not love the little genies and children at dragon valley - how innocent and cute.

Most importantly of all, there were timely injects of humors and heartfelt moments throughout BFTB, making this xian xia my favorite of this year.

OST wise, it took me awhile to like them. The cute CGI style could be a make or break for some audience. And while I personally like the story plot is simple, it may be too light of a taste for those who are looking for brilliant plot twists or dramatic moments in stories.

At the core of it, BFTB makes us think harder about our prejudices (if any) towards people who are of different class, differentiating between love and obsession, the implications of choices and trade-offs (i.e. What it means sacrificing one life to save the world), how to embody the value, 侠 (“Xia”) chivalry, and what protecting truly means.

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