QAS
Los Angeles, CA
This review may contain spoilers
Time Stretching in Chang'An
For fans of the espionage genre, this drama gives a rare glimpse into the MI-5 of ancient China; the imperial secret service, the Peacekeeper Corps of Chang 'An, and its solitary field agent. The COO (…chief operating officer) is Li Bi, the young genius and ally of the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty. Li Bi has his pulse on every street, every alley, every house, every waterway of the capital city, via an impressive scale model that was designed by the famous architect, and he has a database manned manually by his underlings. (Roger that!) The lone secret service agent underdog hero is Army Captain Zhang Xiao Jing, a force of one, who bulldozes his way through throngs of soldiers who are armed with sword and crossbow. Everyone else shows up for a day's work, and their compensation is to live or die another day. (Spoiler alert!)
Conspiracy in the court, revenge plots, invasion, loyalty, villains popping out of the woodwork, and a grand scale Lantern Festival (that rivals the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremony), are components of the plot. Forty-eight episodes are a very generous representation of twenty-four hours in the Tang dynasty. That translates into an average of two episodes per hour, but the timekeeper's random declaration of the time contradicts the equation. One might question how Time was interpreted during the Tang dynasty. There were a few draggy parts and lengthy chatty scenes and generous close-ups, but the clock stopped ticking many times, when flashbacks and flashbacking sequences interrupted the crucial minutes of the Chang 'An day.
The directing, writing, casting, acting, costume design and set design, music score high marks. Editing did not run away as it often does in C-dramas, but the flashbacking scenes were positioned in the wrong moments.
This is one drama where the Director reined in the supporting departments to work in unison toward a common goal; achieving high entertainment and high quality in television drama production. The planning and execution is apparent in front of, and behind the camera.
The marvel and lynchpin of the drama is the indomitable Zhang Xiao Jing, whose motto is “Never give up the fight.” In fact, he might have fought a few hundred soldiers in the course of twenty-four hours, without breaking a sweat. Emperor, give that man a promotion and the title of God of War.
Conspiracy in the court, revenge plots, invasion, loyalty, villains popping out of the woodwork, and a grand scale Lantern Festival (that rivals the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremony), are components of the plot. Forty-eight episodes are a very generous representation of twenty-four hours in the Tang dynasty. That translates into an average of two episodes per hour, but the timekeeper's random declaration of the time contradicts the equation. One might question how Time was interpreted during the Tang dynasty. There were a few draggy parts and lengthy chatty scenes and generous close-ups, but the clock stopped ticking many times, when flashbacks and flashbacking sequences interrupted the crucial minutes of the Chang 'An day.
The directing, writing, casting, acting, costume design and set design, music score high marks. Editing did not run away as it often does in C-dramas, but the flashbacking scenes were positioned in the wrong moments.
This is one drama where the Director reined in the supporting departments to work in unison toward a common goal; achieving high entertainment and high quality in television drama production. The planning and execution is apparent in front of, and behind the camera.
The marvel and lynchpin of the drama is the indomitable Zhang Xiao Jing, whose motto is “Never give up the fight.” In fact, he might have fought a few hundred soldiers in the course of twenty-four hours, without breaking a sweat. Emperor, give that man a promotion and the title of God of War.
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