cnguyen1031
UPDATE: Finished a rewatch on 1/14/18. Feelings about the show overall are better, though still not the best I hoped it would be.
STORY: After rewatching, I definitely still think that the overall screenplay was lacking in a lot of places. The web novel itself definitely has a lot going on (haven't read it), but I feel like the producers didn't translate everything well on TV. There was so much going on and I was only able to understand everything better because I had already watched it through once. Overall, watching it as a whole show didn't give me as much of a dragging feeling that it gave me when I watched it while it aired - so that's definitely a bonus.
ACTING: Again, I always love Zhao Li Ying (but maybe it was from reading a few stories about her not being happy with how things progressed in the show), I felt like I really preferred her when she was still a slave. I feel like her character had much more personality and expression. Yes, the story gets much more serious in the second half, and Chu Qiao is going through a lot, but a lot of her scenes I feel seemed much more emotionless and just plain. And I LOVE ZLY and know she's a great actress, but that was one show that I feel like she didn't give it her all towards the end (again maybe it was a character progression).
Lin Geng Xin - Watching it this time through, I feel like even though YWY was cold on the exterior, I feel like LGX could have done a bit more to show emotions when the times called for it. Towards the end of the show, YWY got more sassy which I'm totally fine with, but his "romantic" scenes with CQ still felt like something was missing for me.
OVERALL: My impression of it was better than it was by the end of the first watch. Overall I still think that there were a lot of places that could be better (mostly storyline and a bit more emotion in acting) Its definitely a show I wouldn't mind watching again at a future date, but I will admit that even though there were some major aspects I didn't like, I'm PRAYING PRAYING PRAYING that they make the second season (With Zhao Li Ying of course) because I've read a few novel synopses and I need to know what happens in the rest of the story T_T.
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**I watched PA as it was airing over the course of a month or so, so I definitely don't remember EVERYTHING that happened, but just what I remember feeling at the end of it**
STORY:
I began watching about two weeks into the show airing, so the first 10 or so episodes I got to binge and watch all at once (my preference is to binge watch cause I don't forget what happened earlier in the show cause I would have just watched recently).
-The beginning of the story - great, fabulous, and captivating. I loved watching her learn how to be a skilled assassin (from YWY at least) and the slow relationship building between them and everyone else in her life. The bad guys were (sometimes) obnoxiously bad, but apparently that's really how things were in those times.
-By the middle of the drama (before everything with Yan Xun's family), things were still looking good. Chu Qiao/Xing Er was better trained and now actually using the skills she had learned.
-After everything that happens with Yan Xun's family (using that as the turning point), everything seemed to go downhill story wise. Suddenly everything was starting to combust and it was ridiculously hard to keep track of what was going on. (I'm honestly still not 100% sure what happened with Chu Qiao and the events before the story began (the past she forgot)). I kept watching daily to keep up with the show, but (and I'll attribute part of it to me not being able to binge it all at once) it really felt completely disorganized and it seemed to lose focus by the end of the show.
-By the middle-end half of the show, I had completely forgotten that Chu Qiao was originally Yu Wen Yue's slave and whatnot because there was just so much going on that I had forgotten the foundation of the story.
ACTING:
**I honestly don't think any of the actors were bad, but the characters lost points for me due to bad script**
-Zhao Li Ying is my favorite actress (at the moment, but at least for the next few years). Her acting is honestly always great to me. She is great at the cutesy innocent girl with a naive heart (Boss & Me). She was amazing as a hardworking and smart - though super stubborn - female (Legend of Lu Zhen). And she was great as a witty, cunning, and calculative double agent (Rookie Agent Rouge). She still excelled here for me as a trained assassin and super loyal companion in Chu Qiao Zhuan.
-Lin Geng Xin - I've only seen him in BBJX, but my friend (who I was watching the drama with) had high hopes for him, so I obviously did too. He did a decent job as Yu Wen Yue. Fairly standard "intelligent but cold" male lead. However, (and yes this is mostly due to script issues), he essentially became a background character by the second half. When he actually had screen time, it wasn't super captivating and memorable, so his character really felt lifeless to me by the second half.
-Shawn Dou - absolutely loved him in the first half as the loyal but carefree Prince, by the end he was just another character who kept abusing Chu Qiao's loyalty to him (which obviously makes me dislike him xD). Acting wise, again he did the best with what the script gave him.
**Special Shout Outs**
-Deng Lun !! - my friend was raving about him before he even made an appearance and I wasn't really sure why (hadn't seen him in anything else yet). His character was honestly great. Super awesome comedic timing and really memorable as Xiao Ce. (Loved him so much from this that I watched Because of Meeting You specifically for him).
-Niu Jun Feng (Prince Song) - Adorable in Love O2O and adorable in this too. He was great as the side character who had feelings for the main lead (but never really had a shot lol). In the later half of the series, he did a great job with the serious story lines he had to deal with.
REWATCH VALUE:
Now that the whole series is aired (and subbed) I'll honestly probably go back to rewatch it once just to a) be able to see the whole drama in entirety and maybe be able to keep up with the plot better and b) go back and see if maybe understanding the plot better will give me a better outlook on the drama and c) to listen to the soundtrack over and over (it's already downloaded onto my phone) and sing along.
I might update this once I've rewatched to see if anything changes.
STORY: After rewatching, I definitely still think that the overall screenplay was lacking in a lot of places. The web novel itself definitely has a lot going on (haven't read it), but I feel like the producers didn't translate everything well on TV. There was so much going on and I was only able to understand everything better because I had already watched it through once. Overall, watching it as a whole show didn't give me as much of a dragging feeling that it gave me when I watched it while it aired - so that's definitely a bonus.
ACTING: Again, I always love Zhao Li Ying (but maybe it was from reading a few stories about her not being happy with how things progressed in the show), I felt like I really preferred her when she was still a slave. I feel like her character had much more personality and expression. Yes, the story gets much more serious in the second half, and Chu Qiao is going through a lot, but a lot of her scenes I feel seemed much more emotionless and just plain. And I LOVE ZLY and know she's a great actress, but that was one show that I feel like she didn't give it her all towards the end (again maybe it was a character progression).
Lin Geng Xin - Watching it this time through, I feel like even though YWY was cold on the exterior, I feel like LGX could have done a bit more to show emotions when the times called for it. Towards the end of the show, YWY got more sassy which I'm totally fine with, but his "romantic" scenes with CQ still felt like something was missing for me.
OVERALL: My impression of it was better than it was by the end of the first watch. Overall I still think that there were a lot of places that could be better (mostly storyline and a bit more emotion in acting) Its definitely a show I wouldn't mind watching again at a future date, but I will admit that even though there were some major aspects I didn't like, I'm PRAYING PRAYING PRAYING that they make the second season (With Zhao Li Ying of course) because I've read a few novel synopses and I need to know what happens in the rest of the story T_T.
****************
**I watched PA as it was airing over the course of a month or so, so I definitely don't remember EVERYTHING that happened, but just what I remember feeling at the end of it**
STORY:
I began watching about two weeks into the show airing, so the first 10 or so episodes I got to binge and watch all at once (my preference is to binge watch cause I don't forget what happened earlier in the show cause I would have just watched recently).
-The beginning of the story - great, fabulous, and captivating. I loved watching her learn how to be a skilled assassin (from YWY at least) and the slow relationship building between them and everyone else in her life. The bad guys were (sometimes) obnoxiously bad, but apparently that's really how things were in those times.
-By the middle of the drama (before everything with Yan Xun's family), things were still looking good. Chu Qiao/Xing Er was better trained and now actually using the skills she had learned.
-After everything that happens with Yan Xun's family (using that as the turning point), everything seemed to go downhill story wise. Suddenly everything was starting to combust and it was ridiculously hard to keep track of what was going on. (I'm honestly still not 100% sure what happened with Chu Qiao and the events before the story began (the past she forgot)). I kept watching daily to keep up with the show, but (and I'll attribute part of it to me not being able to binge it all at once) it really felt completely disorganized and it seemed to lose focus by the end of the show.
-By the middle-end half of the show, I had completely forgotten that Chu Qiao was originally Yu Wen Yue's slave and whatnot because there was just so much going on that I had forgotten the foundation of the story.
ACTING:
**I honestly don't think any of the actors were bad, but the characters lost points for me due to bad script**
-Zhao Li Ying is my favorite actress (at the moment, but at least for the next few years). Her acting is honestly always great to me. She is great at the cutesy innocent girl with a naive heart (Boss & Me). She was amazing as a hardworking and smart - though super stubborn - female (Legend of Lu Zhen). And she was great as a witty, cunning, and calculative double agent (Rookie Agent Rouge). She still excelled here for me as a trained assassin and super loyal companion in Chu Qiao Zhuan.
-Lin Geng Xin - I've only seen him in BBJX, but my friend (who I was watching the drama with) had high hopes for him, so I obviously did too. He did a decent job as Yu Wen Yue. Fairly standard "intelligent but cold" male lead. However, (and yes this is mostly due to script issues), he essentially became a background character by the second half. When he actually had screen time, it wasn't super captivating and memorable, so his character really felt lifeless to me by the second half.
-Shawn Dou - absolutely loved him in the first half as the loyal but carefree Prince, by the end he was just another character who kept abusing Chu Qiao's loyalty to him (which obviously makes me dislike him xD). Acting wise, again he did the best with what the script gave him.
**Special Shout Outs**
-Deng Lun !! - my friend was raving about him before he even made an appearance and I wasn't really sure why (hadn't seen him in anything else yet). His character was honestly great. Super awesome comedic timing and really memorable as Xiao Ce. (Loved him so much from this that I watched Because of Meeting You specifically for him).
-Niu Jun Feng (Prince Song) - Adorable in Love O2O and adorable in this too. He was great as the side character who had feelings for the main lead (but never really had a shot lol). In the later half of the series, he did a great job with the serious story lines he had to deal with.
REWATCH VALUE:
Now that the whole series is aired (and subbed) I'll honestly probably go back to rewatch it once just to a) be able to see the whole drama in entirety and maybe be able to keep up with the plot better and b) go back and see if maybe understanding the plot better will give me a better outlook on the drama and c) to listen to the soundtrack over and over (it's already downloaded onto my phone) and sing along.
I might update this once I've rewatched to see if anything changes.
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