Becky
North Pole
A flawed drama but still a 10 for me
It is a struggle for me to give this a rating..... This drama does not have the perfect execution, the plot is full of angst and tragedies too, but in the areas that it is strong in, it is so strong that these inadequacies become negatable.
Its weaknesses
-------------------
- Plot is quite old-fashion, and full of tragedies. In Chinese, I would describe it as 老掉牙的剧情。 Especially when FL was a mortal, it felt like I was watching a ‘90s Taiwanese soap opera.
- Inconsistent plot development and pacing. This drama has 3 acts, acts 1 and 2 are well-connected but act 3 felt out of place. Plot development and pacing slowed down a lot in act 3, making the finale felt rushed and left out a lot of details. Giving it a somewhat incomplete (but happy) ending.
- Time and Logic. Unlike AOL and TMOPB, where it was explained 1 year in mortal realm is 1 day in immortal world, there was no such explanation in this drama. Time pass in a very illogical way when FL and ML were in mortal realm. Eg: while everything is progressing in mortal and heavens, when Jing Xiu left FL to go to the wounded princess, he seems to take a very long time to reach her. As an immortal, he could have tele-transported or flew there? And getting the pill to recover the princess' health, shouldn't have taken him such a long time?
- Overdose of background music. Sometimes the background music got too much, that it overpowered the dialogues.
- Hairstyle designs for the men. Hairstylist gave the best bald design and hairstyle for the male villain (Jing Xiu), while ML and the supporting male characters have really boring hairstyles. Hairstyles for female characters are average. Only in act 3 that the FL got a more interesting hairstyle and beautiful costumes.
Its strengths
----------------
- The sets and CGI. It really invested in building the sets for the key places, and director made full use of them in the shoots. In most cdramas we do not get a full view of the houses, but here the wide angle shots and characters movement give you a clear perspective of both interior and exterior of the sets. It makes the houses feel real as you can actually count how many rooms are there on each level. The CGI is also much better than the average Xianxia drama.
- The dialogues. If you understand Chinese, you would appreciate the scriptwriters’ efforts in the writing. Especially Qing Yao’s lines. She has some of the most philosophical lines in this drama. There are a few scenes of Qing Yao’s that I re-watch a few times because the words are so wonderfully written. Unfortunately, subbing is a challenge here. Its English translation can only capture the meaning, the beauty of the Chinese words are lost. The dialogues for comedy effect are very original and exaggerated too!
- The acting. ML and FL gave phenomenal portrayals of their characters. Chang Chen’s God of War is the best that I have seen. He played the silent, stoic God of War very well, and the tender and sweet moments after he fell in love. Ni Ni….. she’s got a very good role with a wide array of emotions, and gave it a best actress level performance. Ethan Li’s Jing Xiu is captivating to watch-- he conveyed his character’s hopelessness, tenderness and sinister-ness just with his eyes. The remaining supporting cast did good work in their roles too, especially FL’s 2 fathers.
- Attention to details. I love-love the little scenes with extra mundane details, of FL doing everyday tasks (cooking, washing clothes, sweeping). In most Xianxia dramas, they only talk about winemaking, here we witness FL preparing the peaches for wine cultivation. These scenes add to the realism of the characters.
- The OST. This is a 60 episodes drama, yet I seldom skip the opening and ending songs. Both songs are wonderfully melodic and express the drama’s theme well (they are written for the drama). A cdrama reviewer has even done a cover of the opening song on Qin https://youtu.be/DgHz88f6z6o
In conclusion, this drama is not the most perfect, but the acting, dialogues, etc are so good that you are left longing for more (wish there are more episodes).
Its weaknesses
-------------------
- Plot is quite old-fashion, and full of tragedies. In Chinese, I would describe it as 老掉牙的剧情。 Especially when FL was a mortal, it felt like I was watching a ‘90s Taiwanese soap opera.
- Inconsistent plot development and pacing. This drama has 3 acts, acts 1 and 2 are well-connected but act 3 felt out of place. Plot development and pacing slowed down a lot in act 3, making the finale felt rushed and left out a lot of details. Giving it a somewhat incomplete (but happy) ending.
- Time and Logic. Unlike AOL and TMOPB, where it was explained 1 year in mortal realm is 1 day in immortal world, there was no such explanation in this drama. Time pass in a very illogical way when FL and ML were in mortal realm. Eg: while everything is progressing in mortal and heavens, when Jing Xiu left FL to go to the wounded princess, he seems to take a very long time to reach her. As an immortal, he could have tele-transported or flew there? And getting the pill to recover the princess' health, shouldn't have taken him such a long time?
- Overdose of background music. Sometimes the background music got too much, that it overpowered the dialogues.
- Hairstyle designs for the men. Hairstylist gave the best bald design and hairstyle for the male villain (Jing Xiu), while ML and the supporting male characters have really boring hairstyles. Hairstyles for female characters are average. Only in act 3 that the FL got a more interesting hairstyle and beautiful costumes.
Its strengths
----------------
- The sets and CGI. It really invested in building the sets for the key places, and director made full use of them in the shoots. In most cdramas we do not get a full view of the houses, but here the wide angle shots and characters movement give you a clear perspective of both interior and exterior of the sets. It makes the houses feel real as you can actually count how many rooms are there on each level. The CGI is also much better than the average Xianxia drama.
- The dialogues. If you understand Chinese, you would appreciate the scriptwriters’ efforts in the writing. Especially Qing Yao’s lines. She has some of the most philosophical lines in this drama. There are a few scenes of Qing Yao’s that I re-watch a few times because the words are so wonderfully written. Unfortunately, subbing is a challenge here. Its English translation can only capture the meaning, the beauty of the Chinese words are lost. The dialogues for comedy effect are very original and exaggerated too!
- The acting. ML and FL gave phenomenal portrayals of their characters. Chang Chen’s God of War is the best that I have seen. He played the silent, stoic God of War very well, and the tender and sweet moments after he fell in love. Ni Ni….. she’s got a very good role with a wide array of emotions, and gave it a best actress level performance. Ethan Li’s Jing Xiu is captivating to watch-- he conveyed his character’s hopelessness, tenderness and sinister-ness just with his eyes. The remaining supporting cast did good work in their roles too, especially FL’s 2 fathers.
- Attention to details. I love-love the little scenes with extra mundane details, of FL doing everyday tasks (cooking, washing clothes, sweeping). In most Xianxia dramas, they only talk about winemaking, here we witness FL preparing the peaches for wine cultivation. These scenes add to the realism of the characters.
- The OST. This is a 60 episodes drama, yet I seldom skip the opening and ending songs. Both songs are wonderfully melodic and express the drama’s theme well (they are written for the drama). A cdrama reviewer has even done a cover of the opening song on Qin https://youtu.be/DgHz88f6z6o
In conclusion, this drama is not the most perfect, but the acting, dialogues, etc are so good that you are left longing for more (wish there are more episodes).
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