Terribly slow and not able to hook even after 12th episode

 Johnson Khundrakpam:

I expected a more interesting, intense political drama...but it's too slow and I am still not hooked into it even after 12th episode.. Before watching this drama, I watched "The disguiser" and I was completely hooked in the disguiser though...

Hi everyone,

I notice I was one of the repliers here, and my reply was since Dec 17, 2016, Last year!  

Oh De ja Vu! 

I had watched 12 episodes of Nirvana In Fire, dropped it (nah, more like put it on hold for 10 months LOL).  After that I completed Ten Miles Of Peach Blossoms (TMOPB), took a month break (watching other dramas), and then back to NIF (from the 12th to the 54th episode marathon). Luckily I still remembered most of the things happening before EP 12 so I was set. ???? I was too lazy to start it from the bottom (1st EP) so I started from the 12th EP.

I was like, "f**k it! I wanna finish it for the sake of finishing it." Have you ever had that urge?           I wanted to complete it ASAP coz I had started it already 10 months ago/almost a year ago.     It's shameless if I can never finish it.

Now I'm rewatching NIF from the 1st-54th.
I won't put spoiler below. There is NO spoiler.
A few things to note from this watching experience are:

1. I did not have much knowledge about the Ancient Chinese drama theme (the names,
huge casts, confusing who is who, the rankings, the imperial titles, the culture, etc)
before viewing this show. Hence, that's why the drama might seem boring.

2. This show is the kind of shows that is made for REWATCHING. The rewatching
value is over 9000. Most of the complainers, who said they couldn't get hooked
before the 20th Episode mark or below, needs to know that after they get hooked
and watch all the episodes till the end, they will come back to rewatch; AND
rewatching is even more juicier than the first time viewing.  This is why I say this
show is made for rewatching. It's just not made for the A+ first time viewing
experience because most impatient viewers (I am very impatient too sometimes)
complain "it's going nowhere for them, no destination, no goal", "it's boring to them",
etc.

3. This show is the kind of shows that you won't get hooked no matter what
(exaggeration but it could happen to some people). You need to be patient and not
lazy.  I was hooked after EP 14.  

F***ing long series that is over 50+ episodes like this, its sh*t is not condensed.
During my initial viewing I was lazy, so if you're lazy, it's over for you.
You'll find it's boring if you're used to watching 16-20 episodes Korean or other
asian romance dramas. IF you are into romance, then it's even more game-over for
you. In that case, I'd recommend TMOPB, if romance is your preferred genre.

Coincidentally, NIF is just like TMOPB for me, I was hooked after the EP 14th mark.
Long series that have a lot of casts need time to introduce the characters.

My tips:

- Just bear the beginning episodes below the 20th episode (at most). You might even get hooked below that, and try to relax when watching it, don't think to much about who is who, let it flow, then complete it, and now it's your second time viewing. The second viewing will answer all the Qs.

~~~~~~~ forgive me for such a long reply everyone~~~~~ ????

Just finished this show the other day and I'm so sad its over. This show was truly phenomenal. For everyone else [like me] who couldn't get past the first 12-18 episodes, literally push through it and read the episode recaps if you want to skip watch them. It's kinda like Game of Thrones where it takes time for things to build up for the audience because there was so much backstory before the first episode. It will eventually come together and make sense, and you will start seeing this happen in episode 20!!! 

This drama is intelligent, and was written by really intelligent mind, for the intelligent viewers. And if you happened to not liking it after watching from start till end, well you are the problem here, not the drama. LOL.

The second season is better imo and easier to get into then the first season.  You don't need to watch the first season to start the second season.

I wanted to watch #1 cdrama NIF first but it was not on Netflix, and watched #2 cdrama The Untamed first instead. Was immensely touched and awed by TU, and wanted to find out if NIF is really better. Completed NIF about 2 weeks ago, and while this is no doubt a good show with veterans helming the show, to me, it was just not entertaining, impressionable, nor touched me to the point to want to rewatch.

• Not entertaining. This is a serious drama from get-go. It touches on the serious theme of palace politics between the suspicious emperor and his subjects and princes, and the fight and scheming between the princes to be the crown prince. The pace is slow: (1) The protagonist is heavily injured and moves and speaks slowly; (2) People in the palace also move and speak slowly due to palace etiquette. Only Fei Liu and Mengzhi are fun to watch, and they provide the only rare comedic relief to an otherwise no-nonsense, snail paced drama.

 Linky:

The characters all seem so reserved. I don't have any feeling towards the main character. All the stuff that happened to him and his family that is supposed to make you care for him and his revenge plan is just talked about but not shown.

• Not impressionable. While NIF features veteran actors, and they acted well, it is just not impressionable to me. Agree with Linky, i don't have any feelings towards the main character, as the young sunny and energetic Lin Shu is mostly just mentioned in the show. I suspect a number of scenes with the young Lin Shu was cut out, as i only saw close-up of Ni Huang in the last third of the show. What i saw at least 90% of the time is a sick Lin Shu, who is almost always serious, calm and collected. The range of emotions of Lin Shu is very limited.

• Did not touch me. The serious, no-nonsense, somewhat flat storyline, and the limited emotional range of the protagonist Lin Shu unfortunately all mean that there is no explosive moment that touched me so immensely to the point that I would want to rewatch the show. Only a few parts towards the end touched me.

 yuyamatsushitafan:

F***ing long series that is over 50+ episodes like this, its sh*t is not condensed.
During my initial viewing I was lazy, so if you're lazy, it's over for you.
You'll find it's boring if you're used to watching 16-20 episodes Korean or other
asian romance dramas.

Frankly, 50 episodes of cdrama is not as daunting as it seems, as each cdrama is about 40 mins, less the starting and ending credits, and thus 1 kdrama episode is about 2 cdrama episodes.

The Untamed, comparatively to me, is a more epic and phenomenal drama that touched me immensely as I followed the TU protagonist through his ordeals from an always sunny, cheerful, sassy and free-spirited youth to the awfully feared and misunderstood patriarch who is forced by circumstance to go against society, practising unorthodox demonic cultivation to fight evil and help the weak.  Even the short Yi City arc focusing on the side characters touched me deeply as well. And hearing the OSTs remind me of the exact emotional scenes in the drama. 

 Olivia Huang:

Just finished this show the other day and I'm so sad its over. This show was truly phenomenal. For everyone else [like me] who couldn't get past the first 12-18 episodes, literally push through it and read the episode recaps if you want to skip watch them. It's kinda like Game of Thrones where it takes time for things to build up for the audience because there was so much backstory before the first episode. It will eventually come together and make sense, and you will start seeing this happen in episode 20!!! 

Like NIF, TU may not hook and be confusing for many from the start, but it gets interesting and engages earlier than NIF (20 out of 54 episodes for NIF). The initial episodes contain a lot of details that will eventually stitch together as the show progresses. The key characters are all complex 3D with their respective backstories, making them very iconic and memorable. They may not be veteran actors, but they are a bunch of passionate youths who put in their hearts and souls and brought the complex 3D characters to life, and brought the viewers to naturally resonate with their stories.

TU is a quality production not to be missed. Chinese censorship transcends the BL novel into a critical production to rave about -  Chinese culture, music, sceneries, costumes, intriguing plot on society norms, good vs evil, etc, with many quotable quotes.

“At best, you’re the untamed hero; at worst, you offend people wherever you go.”
- by the novel MDZS writer

Do give this a watch as you would to NIF, you would be on an unforgettable, untamed roller coaster ride that is more entertaining, impressionable and emotional than NIF.

The pacing of the show might not be to everyone’s satisfaction but its clever and well-crafted story was apparent from the first few episodes. Truly a masterpiece of its genre. Shows of this caliber do not come around often,  and I am glad I was able to watch it.

This is really so slow. I always fail in Episode 1. I’ve tried it so many times…. Don’t really understand what the fuss is all about. I will try to push through until Episode 20… hopefully it gets better….

Edit: I’ve finished it…. It was a 8.5 for me…. Defo not a 9.1 per MDL’s benchmark… hence I’m probably in the minority whereby I’m disappointed… I found the whole thing kinda just… sad… and like wow ok he’s so smart, it took a lot of effort and he became a conniving person…. But it was just sadness from start until the end…. I’m not against a sad ending but then the whole just depression vibe from start until the end is……. Uhhhh… was it really necessary…….. the 2 opponents were actually pretty idiotic if you thought carefully about it. Like everyone around him was so subpar….. maybe aside from like Banruo…..? Epic fail in the sense I watched the whole thing and felt….. if I were him I would feel like I got conned….

Don’t regret watching it…. But I don’t really understand wot the hype is all about….. aside from perhaps in 2015 when the series was released…. I guess this would have been the only plot which was super logical…..? There weren’t many options for C-dramas…. None I spse if I think about it.