This review may contain spoilers
Amazing cast with a lackluster story
Overall this drama is pretty good. It's bingable and it might make you shed a few tears. However, it also has some problems that brings it down. The problems aren't that big of a deal, but it still affects the enjoyability of the drama if you don't ignore it. The good does overshadow the bad, but the bad is still quite prominent.
I split the drama into 4 parts. I will be referencing these 4 parts throughout my review.
Sheng kingdom ( the beginning), Jing Kingdom rise to power/Bo're dream (middle pt1), Fall of Sheng Kingdom (middle pt2), Immortal realm (end).
The Good:
1. Luo Yunxi and Bai Lu have amazing chemistry. Luo Yunxi and Bai Lu's interactions are the best part. I loved the way they portrayed their characters. Their expressions convey their emotions very well. Luo Yunxi is absolutely captivating as Tan Taijin. Bai Lu gives Ye Xiwu/Li Susu such a strong aurora.
2. Cast is really good. Luo Yunxi & Bai Lu (the whole cast really) have great chemistry. If it wasn't for them, I might have dropped this drama halfway through.
3. The costumes are stunning. Not a single costume was bad (as a whole). Some props looked iffy (the demon king's mask) but it's easy to ignore. Everything looked immaculate and represented the characters well.
4. The OST has some good songs. The OST had a lot of songs but only 3 stood out to me, but those 3 songs are really good. It fits the mood in the drama.
The Bad:
1. The story has a lot of plot holes and other miniscule problems. Every once in a while you'll see a scene and wonder "Why and how is this happening?" There are multiple spots where something just magically happens because the plot needs it. Most of these are towards the end. I know they had to cut 16 or so episodes so maybe that's why.
The pacing is also not amazing. Sheng Kingdom (beginning) was exciting, but then things slow down dramatically when we get to the Bo’re dream. The Bo’re dream was really lengthy and it felt unnecessary to dedicate so many episodes to it.
2. The conflict is repetitive. The conflict of middle pt 1 and middle pt 2 (around 25-30 episodes in total) is mainly miscommunication from Tan Taijin and Ye Xiwu. They fall out multiple times and then forgive each other because the past is the past (and because Tan Taijin is a sucker for Ye Xiwu). It gets old real fast when I can predict that Ye Xiwu's actions will make her and Tan Taijin fall out. Sometimes the miscommunication is so frustrating because it would have been fixed if one of them just clarified/trusted each other more. Miscommunication, or rather the lack of communication, still happens towards the end (although it was not as frustrating).
3. Character's thought processes are questionable sometimes. In a lot of instances, I question why Tan Taijin isn't more paranoid about Ye Xiwu. Other characters bring this up too but it's just dismissed as Tan Taijin liking Ye Xiwu . I know he lacks love and what not but come on? She tried to kill you (and almost succeeded) and then said some of the most hurtful things to you, when all you’ve done was to try and make her happy. Why do you chase after her despite all this? When they’re in the immortal realm, Li Susu didn't seem to want to associate with Tan Taijin very much anymore, but then after a single episode of minimal development between the two she suddenly loves him. The end felt like I missed 2 episodes of development.
4. CGI is very hit or miss. Sometimes it looks really good (by cdrama standard) but a lot of times it looks terrible. The cgi in the first 1 episode made me laugh. It looked like something out of a 2000s kids show. It does get better but sometimes the effects just look like jpeg images.
5. Voice dub doesn’t always match up with the mouth. I watched TTEOTM on youtube so the quality isn’t exactly top notch. Maybe it’s only a youtube problem but sometimes (rarely) the sound of the actors’ are completely out of sync with the movement of their mouth.
I split the drama into 4 parts. I will be referencing these 4 parts throughout my review.
Sheng kingdom ( the beginning), Jing Kingdom rise to power/Bo're dream (middle pt1), Fall of Sheng Kingdom (middle pt2), Immortal realm (end).
The Good:
1. Luo Yunxi and Bai Lu have amazing chemistry. Luo Yunxi and Bai Lu's interactions are the best part. I loved the way they portrayed their characters. Their expressions convey their emotions very well. Luo Yunxi is absolutely captivating as Tan Taijin. Bai Lu gives Ye Xiwu/Li Susu such a strong aurora.
2. Cast is really good. Luo Yunxi & Bai Lu (the whole cast really) have great chemistry. If it wasn't for them, I might have dropped this drama halfway through.
3. The costumes are stunning. Not a single costume was bad (as a whole). Some props looked iffy (the demon king's mask) but it's easy to ignore. Everything looked immaculate and represented the characters well.
4. The OST has some good songs. The OST had a lot of songs but only 3 stood out to me, but those 3 songs are really good. It fits the mood in the drama.
The Bad:
1. The story has a lot of plot holes and other miniscule problems. Every once in a while you'll see a scene and wonder "Why and how is this happening?" There are multiple spots where something just magically happens because the plot needs it. Most of these are towards the end. I know they had to cut 16 or so episodes so maybe that's why.
The pacing is also not amazing. Sheng Kingdom (beginning) was exciting, but then things slow down dramatically when we get to the Bo’re dream. The Bo’re dream was really lengthy and it felt unnecessary to dedicate so many episodes to it.
2. The conflict is repetitive. The conflict of middle pt 1 and middle pt 2 (around 25-30 episodes in total) is mainly miscommunication from Tan Taijin and Ye Xiwu. They fall out multiple times and then forgive each other because the past is the past (and because Tan Taijin is a sucker for Ye Xiwu). It gets old real fast when I can predict that Ye Xiwu's actions will make her and Tan Taijin fall out. Sometimes the miscommunication is so frustrating because it would have been fixed if one of them just clarified/trusted each other more. Miscommunication, or rather the lack of communication, still happens towards the end (although it was not as frustrating).
3. Character's thought processes are questionable sometimes. In a lot of instances, I question why Tan Taijin isn't more paranoid about Ye Xiwu. Other characters bring this up too but it's just dismissed as Tan Taijin liking Ye Xiwu . I know he lacks love and what not but come on? She tried to kill you (and almost succeeded) and then said some of the most hurtful things to you, when all you’ve done was to try and make her happy. Why do you chase after her despite all this? When they’re in the immortal realm, Li Susu didn't seem to want to associate with Tan Taijin very much anymore, but then after a single episode of minimal development between the two she suddenly loves him. The end felt like I missed 2 episodes of development.
4. CGI is very hit or miss. Sometimes it looks really good (by cdrama standard) but a lot of times it looks terrible. The cgi in the first 1 episode made me laugh. It looked like something out of a 2000s kids show. It does get better but sometimes the effects just look like jpeg images.
5. Voice dub doesn’t always match up with the mouth. I watched TTEOTM on youtube so the quality isn’t exactly top notch. Maybe it’s only a youtube problem but sometimes (rarely) the sound of the actors’ are completely out of sync with the movement of their mouth.
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