It started off great... but
I really didn't like the ending, actually, there were many things I hated about this drama... It started off great, I had big expectations for Wei Zhi's character to evolve once she learned the truth but she didn't at all.There are so many annoying bad cuts and fast-forwarding years later, it looks like the writer couldn't wait to finish it and rushed the story.
Even the love story wasn't really developed, didn't see much chemistry. The main characters' personalities were annoying for the most part. Their acting skills were okay but not the best, I didn't feel much emotion and was pretty detached from the story.
Scenes that could have been impactful were messed up in my opinion. For example, the scene of the Phoenix's reveal was surprisingly underwhelming. The revenge against the 'bad guys' was disappointing too, it happens really fast and no one really gets punished for their actions.
The arc story of the past was useless or maybe misplaced, it might have been better if they had put it at the beginning.
The CGI was amazing though ^^ too bad they didn't put as much thought into the actual story :/
Maybe my expectations were too high after watching 'TTEOTM' and 'The Starry Love' ...
PS: I find the title pretty funny when in the story the Phoenix has literally 0% resilience, the whole time she sacrifices herself for ML any chance she gets :/ As soon as she gets a little power she finds a new way to lose them and people have to save her ... again ?
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A god among humans
The story is basically about a god, presented as a human, being admired and praised for how "unfathomable" his powers are in comparison to the human's standards... and it honestly felt great to have a hero who isn't a victim and spends half the story getting beaten up. I thought it would give very little space for character development, since he's already so powerful from the start, but with his new opponents coming stronger and stronger, he had to keep up with the cultivation so they still managed to make it entertaining until the end. He still could have used a bit of personal development as well though.The ML isn't humble or particularly nice, understandable given his status, but he could have avoided most of the conflicts if he wasn't such a disrespectful brat. Although it did creat some funny scenes. But he is of a kind nature and did a lot of good around him.
Most of the characters didn’t have much background so it was a little hard to connect with them, but there were some good ones in the mix.
The FL was barely present and had basically no impact on the story, not a fan of the actress’s acting but not bad. The scenes with the Master of Dan Pavilion and ML were annoying, not sure why they put so many of them.
It was funny to watch all of the masters being amazed by ML's knowledge and skills - trying to help him to be in his good grace - while all the other low grades fighters were trying to belittle and mock him xD such a contrast.
I hope Season 2 comes soon!
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I enjoyed every second
The casting was exceptionnal! I've seen a lot of Bai Lu's dramas and she was just as great as always, but it was only my 2nd time seeing Zhang Ling He and he really made an impression on me. Some scenes were so intense and powerful I had to watch them twice or 3 times just to focus on there expressions without needing to read the subtitles. Same for the princess, great choice.I would say I liked a lot of the characters, even the vilains, they were well written and truely usefull to the story.
The writting of the drama was also really good : great storytelling, interesting dialogues: no basic or common "wise" sentences - after watching so many Cdramas, they kind of all sound similar at some point - but these ones were truely original and adequate.
I really liked the concept of finding, NOT the best person you can find, but someone that truely fits you and understands you. There are so many dramas where you don't actually understand why the main leads are in love with each other... okay they're hot, but what else? Why are they so willing to sacrifice everything for this one person? Well this drama did an amazing job showing that.
I'm the kind who likes to skip ahead when the political games get too boring or take too much place, but I don't think I've done this once in this drama. Despide the main romance not being at the center of the show, they still managed to keep it interesting.
I look forward to watching other dramas by this screenwriter and seeing those actors again.
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