Jina
United States
50% adventures, 50% martial arts politics, 100% BL
For all the hoops that this production has went through to become what it is today, major props to everyone involved. It deserves all the adoration and love. It's a low budget drama but, with the love of the script writer (who is an actual fan of the original novel and cares about the work deeply), the hard work of the crew and the actors, this drama pulled off some amazing chemistry, good acting, and beautiful props and designs. Not to mention that all of the actors are eye candy.
I don't need to talk about the love between zhou zishu and wen kexing since I'm sure other reviewers have done a great job of that, but I'd like to give TWO WARNINGS for folks in case they came into this drama thinking it's ONLY about those two.
1) SET YOUR EXPECTATIONS ACCORDINGLY. Please note that although the adventures of Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing (and by extension: Zhang Chengling, Gu Xiang, and Cao Weining) is a major part of the show, a big part of the show is also dedicated to a lot of the supporting characters and the politics of the martial arts world. You'll either get bored of it or you'll bear through it for your love of the supporting characters (like the Scorpion King).
2) Around episode 29-30, there is a major disruption of the pacing of the drama and pretty much continues on to the end of the drama. I've been told that this happened because of the low budget of the drama (and also, I heard it was supposed to have 45 episodes? But then, due to money reasons, they could only do 36.) Whatever it is, you can really feel the change around those episodes and can feel some of the impact on the characters' arcs and growths. Unfortunately, it is what it is.
Fortunately, despite some of these shortcomings, the ending is good enough and, considering everything we've been given throughout the show, it's been very enjoyable. I didn't have as much passion for the show as I first started since I was waiting for the YouTube releases, but I found myself still unexpectedly smiling at some of the later episodes. The main cast--all five of them--are so critical to the success to this show. Their chemistry and relationship are fantastic.
Ultimately, you can enjoy this BL drama because the love and chemistry between Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing is quite obvious, but if you want to understand the full depth of some of the metaphors and literature, then you'll have to do more digging around Tumblr and Twitter and whatnot.
I don't need to talk about the love between zhou zishu and wen kexing since I'm sure other reviewers have done a great job of that, but I'd like to give TWO WARNINGS for folks in case they came into this drama thinking it's ONLY about those two.
1) SET YOUR EXPECTATIONS ACCORDINGLY. Please note that although the adventures of Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing (and by extension: Zhang Chengling, Gu Xiang, and Cao Weining) is a major part of the show, a big part of the show is also dedicated to a lot of the supporting characters and the politics of the martial arts world. You'll either get bored of it or you'll bear through it for your love of the supporting characters (like the Scorpion King).
2) Around episode 29-30, there is a major disruption of the pacing of the drama and pretty much continues on to the end of the drama. I've been told that this happened because of the low budget of the drama (and also, I heard it was supposed to have 45 episodes? But then, due to money reasons, they could only do 36.) Whatever it is, you can really feel the change around those episodes and can feel some of the impact on the characters' arcs and growths. Unfortunately, it is what it is.
Fortunately, despite some of these shortcomings, the ending is good enough and, considering everything we've been given throughout the show, it's been very enjoyable. I didn't have as much passion for the show as I first started since I was waiting for the YouTube releases, but I found myself still unexpectedly smiling at some of the later episodes. The main cast--all five of them--are so critical to the success to this show. Their chemistry and relationship are fantastic.
Ultimately, you can enjoy this BL drama because the love and chemistry between Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing is quite obvious, but if you want to understand the full depth of some of the metaphors and literature, then you'll have to do more digging around Tumblr and Twitter and whatnot.
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