equanimity
Not very good, but still watchable
This review is about part 1 only.
This drama was a typical xianxia drama, with the quiet sacrifices of the main leads, love-you-but-cannot-be-with-you angsts, heartbreaking scenes and lifetimes of love.
I had always liked watching this genre and had watched numerous of them, so tropes and clichés were not surprising to me.
Yang Zi’s and Cheng Yi’s acting definitely brought the drama to a higher level. Yang Zi was as always playing the bubbly role and Cheng Yi was as always spitting lots of blood, but they played their roles well and that to me was enough.
I think this drama had beautiful natural sceneries. I was always in awe of the natural surroundings, so much so that I would sometimes even focused more on their surroundings than the characters themselves and I think the director really knew how to capture the correct angles to portray the most beautiful scenes. As for cinematography, many people commented that it was bad, but I had no negative comments about it, it was ok to me.
What I did not quite like about the drama, a little nitpicking included:
1. I did not shed tears nor feel particularly touched by the love of the leading couple when they were in the immortal realm in the first 20 episodes. I was just too used to the tropes and clichés in this genre that there was nothing surprising, but more importantly than being too used, I felt that their passion for each other was shown too early in the drama, without a strong built-up. Not that I like slow-burn romance, but I would feel more for a couple if they had gone through some life-and-death situations together or done at least something worthy for each other and then circumstances caused them to separate, etc., but in this, they realized they liked each other and then in a short span of time, they were willing to make huge sacrifices for each other to the extent of giving half a heart to the other. It was hundreds of years in the drama, but in reality, it was a mere few episodes that viewers saw the transition which was just too short and nothing of significance that had happened for me to feel for the couple.
2. Many a time, I felt that the immortals in the heavenly realm did not behave like immortals in this drama. They were supposed to be immortals who had lived thousands of years with magical powers, so they should not have to sleep or cook or eat egg fried rice, or use a broom to sweep the ground, at least that was what I imagined. I would think that even a junior immortal like Yan Dan (Yang Zi) would be able to execute a little magic to sweep away the dried leaves or whatever in the yard without actually needing to use a broom. And, the heavenly realm had day and night when immortals had to sleep. It felt a little weird and unconvincing. I recalled in the drama Ten Miles of Peach Blossom, there was no day or night in the heavenly realm and this sounded more 'logical'. I know such things sound rather trivial, but heavenly realm is a place unique in a historical fantasy drama, so I would appreciate some meticulous details to have been thought of when creating such a realm by the scriptwriters.
3. I did not quite enjoy the mortal realm, starting from around episode 22 onwards. The two leads lost their memories and just when they met each other and me hoping that soon they would recall each other slowly, they went around together with Yu Mo (Ray Chang) looking for and collecting the magical artefacts to cure Tang Zhou (Cheng Yi)’s heart issue, but this looking around took such a long time that it started to get boring, new faces kept appearing, new information, new things totally unrelated to the original xianxia angst kept appearing in new episodes and leading to nowhere. All these from about episode 25 to episode 38.
4. This is trivial, but I just have to mention because it was so obvious. She was supposed to be a princess, but the hair decorations worn by her, a princess of the Eastern Sea, Zhao Lan, looked glaringly cheap. They looked like some hair decorations one would find in a marketplace or a thrift store...
I have to mention OST because they are so crucial in a xianxia drama to build up the emotions. Fortunately, 偏星 (Partial Star) sung by 张靓颖 (Jane Zhang) is sweet and romantic for me to keep listening to this song. The rest were simply forgettable.
All in all, I would not say that this part 1 of immortal samsara was very good, I do not see it as 'THE xianxia drama of 2022', but it was still watchable partly because I like watching this genre, enjoy all the angst and heartbreaks of this genre, though I do not think I would re-watch this, like what I have done for some xianxia dramas.
This drama was a typical xianxia drama, with the quiet sacrifices of the main leads, love-you-but-cannot-be-with-you angsts, heartbreaking scenes and lifetimes of love.
I had always liked watching this genre and had watched numerous of them, so tropes and clichés were not surprising to me.
Yang Zi’s and Cheng Yi’s acting definitely brought the drama to a higher level. Yang Zi was as always playing the bubbly role and Cheng Yi was as always spitting lots of blood, but they played their roles well and that to me was enough.
I think this drama had beautiful natural sceneries. I was always in awe of the natural surroundings, so much so that I would sometimes even focused more on their surroundings than the characters themselves and I think the director really knew how to capture the correct angles to portray the most beautiful scenes. As for cinematography, many people commented that it was bad, but I had no negative comments about it, it was ok to me.
What I did not quite like about the drama, a little nitpicking included:
1. I did not shed tears nor feel particularly touched by the love of the leading couple when they were in the immortal realm in the first 20 episodes. I was just too used to the tropes and clichés in this genre that there was nothing surprising, but more importantly than being too used, I felt that their passion for each other was shown too early in the drama, without a strong built-up. Not that I like slow-burn romance, but I would feel more for a couple if they had gone through some life-and-death situations together or done at least something worthy for each other and then circumstances caused them to separate, etc., but in this, they realized they liked each other and then in a short span of time, they were willing to make huge sacrifices for each other to the extent of giving half a heart to the other. It was hundreds of years in the drama, but in reality, it was a mere few episodes that viewers saw the transition which was just too short and nothing of significance that had happened for me to feel for the couple.
2. Many a time, I felt that the immortals in the heavenly realm did not behave like immortals in this drama. They were supposed to be immortals who had lived thousands of years with magical powers, so they should not have to sleep or cook or eat egg fried rice, or use a broom to sweep the ground, at least that was what I imagined. I would think that even a junior immortal like Yan Dan (Yang Zi) would be able to execute a little magic to sweep away the dried leaves or whatever in the yard without actually needing to use a broom. And, the heavenly realm had day and night when immortals had to sleep. It felt a little weird and unconvincing. I recalled in the drama Ten Miles of Peach Blossom, there was no day or night in the heavenly realm and this sounded more 'logical'. I know such things sound rather trivial, but heavenly realm is a place unique in a historical fantasy drama, so I would appreciate some meticulous details to have been thought of when creating such a realm by the scriptwriters.
3. I did not quite enjoy the mortal realm, starting from around episode 22 onwards. The two leads lost their memories and just when they met each other and me hoping that soon they would recall each other slowly, they went around together with Yu Mo (Ray Chang) looking for and collecting the magical artefacts to cure Tang Zhou (Cheng Yi)’s heart issue, but this looking around took such a long time that it started to get boring, new faces kept appearing, new information, new things totally unrelated to the original xianxia angst kept appearing in new episodes and leading to nowhere. All these from about episode 25 to episode 38.
4. This is trivial, but I just have to mention because it was so obvious. She was supposed to be a princess, but the hair decorations worn by her, a princess of the Eastern Sea, Zhao Lan, looked glaringly cheap. They looked like some hair decorations one would find in a marketplace or a thrift store...
I have to mention OST because they are so crucial in a xianxia drama to build up the emotions. Fortunately, 偏星 (Partial Star) sung by 张靓颖 (Jane Zhang) is sweet and romantic for me to keep listening to this song. The rest were simply forgettable.
All in all, I would not say that this part 1 of immortal samsara was very good, I do not see it as 'THE xianxia drama of 2022', but it was still watchable partly because I like watching this genre, enjoy all the angst and heartbreaks of this genre, though I do not think I would re-watch this, like what I have done for some xianxia dramas.
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