This review may contain spoilers
Although the mortician aspect would have been interesting, this series is a poor imitation of The Longest Day in Chang'an. While the dramatics actually worked there, it was poorly executed and unnecessary for this plot. I do appreciate that more Chinese dramas are starting to bring back some of the essence it once had, before they tried to incorporate poor graphics and terrible costume work. The action scenes are feeling more skill-based again instead of the floating around nonsense or having characters with strange hairdos that are ridiculous for any time period. One of the mains here also starred in The Untamed and while that one was also somewhat gimmicky, it wasn't as severe and it made more sense due to the supernatural aspect.
Nevertheless, at least visually, this series was done better than some of the others I've seen but it still had too many gimmicks attached to a poorly written script:
- They make Gao Bing Zhu seem like some brilliant fighter and observer but for some reason, he doesn't realize the guy he killed was wearing a completely different mask and didn't have the wound he inflicted earlier? Ugh.
- Baili Hong Yi ties a flimsy white cloth around Gao Bing Zhu's wrist and tells him it's some type of magical knot that he would never be able to untie himself from? And Gao Bing Zhu is somehow threatened enough to give in to his demands? Ugh again.
For what seems like a fairly expensive production, the camera work was subpar. Each episode also made less and less sense and the cheesy dialogue only became more cringe. This series really felt like they tried to reuse or combine all the elements of what made The Longest Day in Chang'an, Nirvana in Fire, and The Untamed successful, but didn't bother to care whether the effects actually made sense for the plot. Note that what didn't make this one work for me wasn't because of the actors but from the cards they were dealt.
Nevertheless, at least visually, this series was done better than some of the others I've seen but it still had too many gimmicks attached to a poorly written script:
- They make Gao Bing Zhu seem like some brilliant fighter and observer but for some reason, he doesn't realize the guy he killed was wearing a completely different mask and didn't have the wound he inflicted earlier? Ugh.
- Baili Hong Yi ties a flimsy white cloth around Gao Bing Zhu's wrist and tells him it's some type of magical knot that he would never be able to untie himself from? And Gao Bing Zhu is somehow threatened enough to give in to his demands? Ugh again.
For what seems like a fairly expensive production, the camera work was subpar. Each episode also made less and less sense and the cheesy dialogue only became more cringe. This series really felt like they tried to reuse or combine all the elements of what made The Longest Day in Chang'an, Nirvana in Fire, and The Untamed successful, but didn't bother to care whether the effects actually made sense for the plot. Note that what didn't make this one work for me wasn't because of the actors but from the cards they were dealt.
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