RedHairedNerd
This review might be me fangirling to Liu Xueyi a little too much
I'm late with a review but what's new lolThis drama has Liu Xueyi as a illegitimate son of an influential family, despised by his father, wanting to marry his love of his life and in order to do that, he has to jump quite many hurdles and solve various crime cases as the magistrate of a county. Absolutely LOVE, I love Liu Xueyi so much, I think he's a great actor, he looks amazing even without hair (Blood of Youth anyone?) and he's even more dashing as the young lord. Did I mention that he is so so so very handsome and I love him? And the character Pan Yue in this drama, the hero when you need a hero.
Then we have Ju Jingyi as the FL. Personally, I don't particularly like her as an actress. Probably because the dramas I watched with her had her casted in a tomboyish oblivious to her admirers, strongminded female lead (Legend of Yunxi, Blooms at Ruyi Pavilion) and I don't really like characters like that. But, here she is at first as a bad B I T C H who wants to marry Pan Yue at all costs and I think that type of character suits her so much. She slayed in this role. Then her character switches bodies with Pan Yue's childhood love, who is a gentle, humble, smart coroner and undertaker and the mystery begins.
We have a love triangle here as well and as much as I dislike love triangles, it doesn't bother me too much here because the crime cases and the mysteries are prevalent in this drama.
I'd say that the plot is a basic "we have to solve many mysteries which seemingly don't have anything in common with the main mystery, but they slowly add up and lead us to the main mystery" with a romance on top. I like such story line a lot and this drama has is very well balanced and written. The episodes keep you hung onto the story.
What I'm missing so far is, that we had some witch healer in the first episodes and this aspect of the drama was pretty much nowhere to be seen (aside from the bug summoning character in ep 20). I still have some episodes to go, so maybe this will be resolved.
Other than that, I think this drama is really good, Pan Yue is gorgeous, Zhuo Lanjiang is as gorgeous and if you like this genre, you should watch.
Edit to add after finishing the title: endings are endings, I was quite satisfied but I could do without the very last scene. I missed only one thing and that was Yang Caiwei should have said something to Shangguan Lan at the end, because the silence was deafening lol. Someone like Caiwei would definitely tell him to come visit if he ever misses his sister and also because he and Pan Yue are friends.
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Expectations were set high but the drama did not deliver
I wanted to drop this halfway but I still watched, probably because of Gong Jun and Yang Mi... And because I want to watch the other two series although these dramas might not have anything in common. Anyways. According to the trailers, I expected 20% more action and fighting and a plot along the lines of "humans and spirits clashing one on another occasionally but with great casualties leading to an iron curtain between their worlds and yet Dongfang Yuechu and other people found their ways into the spirit worlds and fell in love with the spirits". I expected something more like episodes 31 and 32 - silly, goofy love on the background of an obligatory bad guys versus good guys. The storyline felt like a "hero of the week" style and I think they should've kept it this way instead of trying to make a bigger storyline on the background with smaller storylines. The smaller storylines of Bu Tai and Shi Kuan, Lyu Jianwen and Yan Rushan, Yueti Xia and Hu Weisheng were far more interesting and better than the main plot. As for the main plot, it was so boring until the half of the drama. Maybe because of how cold and unemotional Honghong and Rongrong were. The plot then tried to take off, I have the feeling that the writers added the black foxes halfway into filming. This plot line felt a little bit forced. Maybe if there was a mention at the beginning of the story, it wouldn't feel so not really fitting. I very much disliked Honghong constantly withholding truth from Yuechu and hurting him over and over again. Once or twice to protect him - okay, but all. The time. So annoying. Girl, let him off the hook or get some conscience. Despite all the critique, there are some things I liked - the headpieces and costumes. Especially Honghong's robes showing legs, very interesting. The casting saved the drama, as well as exceptional cgi. But it's not enough for me. I just hope that the other two series will be way way better.Edit To Add: reading all other reviews, I'm glad that many of us here agree that we expected a lot and got nothing. I hope iqiyi learns from this and will improve the other two installments from this series.
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Just... Meh
I'll start with I haven't watched the 2003 drama with this same title, so in case I missed out on something, it's because of that.I don't even know where to start.... It is my pet peeve when writers put so many events into a single episode of a drama and the whole drama then becomes PACKED. Let the plot brew and breathe for a sec, I can't keep up with you.
In the episodes I watched, there was mostly Duan Yu plot and honestly, they could've just cut this story out and call it "the ridiculous adventures of Duan Yu". His plot in those episodes was just.... Crazy. When he found out about the first half sister, okay, when he found out about his second half sister drama minutes moments after, I was just "well.... O-kay? Weird" And when there was the indication of a third half sister because apparently every woman who had a child with Duan Yu's father has a blood revenge on him and the Duan Family, I called it quits.
I put "not planing to drop drama" in the review but idk, I was thinking of dropping it after episode 4 already, then episode 6 and I don't know what kept me until episode 12. Very probably Bai Shu, even though characters like Duan Yu (dummies who are actually just too innocent and pure hearted for the world but gosh darn it, learn something from your actions at least???) are another pet peeve of mine.
There are some things I loved about this drama though, one is soundtrack, the music and singing matched beautifully to the scenery. Two is the what looks like warm autumn weather, when this drama was shot. And three is the teachings of the monks, my infj heart deeply appreciated those words.
I am curious about how this ends, might watch it until the end but right now, I am so tired of Duan Yu diving head first into all of the deep and murky waters.
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Not my cuppa tea
I actually dropped this after ep 6 I think but then I told myself that I'd power through, pick it up again and finish..... I could: notI saw only much praise on the original story, and I also wanted to watch because of one actor.... To sum everything up, this type of story is just not my cup of tea.
It felt like the story was dragging on like a chewing gum stuck to your shoe. Personally, I dislike characters like little fox princess portrayed by Dilraba (her acting was really great though) who simply will. Not. Learn. Their lesson.
If you like romance oriented, main female character is running after main male character, unrequited love, cold guy Vs. bubbly girl this is for you. For me, this plot is a little annoying.
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