This review may contain spoilers
The Adventures of Zhou Fei and Friends
Non-spoiler positives:
I think the reason why most of here are because of Zhao Li Ying and Wang Yi Bo so as fans of them, I'd say you'd have to watch. They are cute together.
It is generally a very light and family-friendly show. Characters are likeable/lovable. Show is fun to watch because there are funny banters, action sword-fights and general all feel-good vibes. Would I recommend this? Yes. I would not classify this as a blockbuster series, but if you have the extra time then I'd say watch this. This is essentially Legend of the Condor Heroes female lead version where female lead literally takes on the entire lead role with noob kungfu at the beginning but progresses better as she meets martial arts masters and comes across many kungfu manuals along the way. That's not the main story, though - as there is a big bad organisation out to steal some treasure that she is also after.
The supporting actors are also nice to watch. They really felt like a bunch of friends on an adventure together hence my review title, lol.
Anyway, the negatives so SPOILERS AHEAD:
I felt that the show fell flat starting from Xie Yun's bone-chilling arc. The pacing was rather off from this point on because trying to fit in so many characters and conspiracies in a 51-episode show was too much and all over the place. From this point up to about the late 40's, we had to slot in Yin Pei, Small Medicine Valley, Xie Yun's monk childhood, Yu Wenzhi and the occasional Anping Army which (facepalm) I still don't see what their role was in this show other than to take Lord Gantang away for 9/10th of the show.
Plot hole 1 - Anping Army, Yu Wenzhi, Zichen and the previous dynasty. Seriously, after 51 episodes I'm clueless as to who and what these people are/were trying to do and their relationships with each other. Yu Wenzhi literally appeared out of nowhere during the big 48 Fortress battle and just appears on and off as a big bad with an army. Literally no background here. Zichen - don't get me started with this guy. He had one job which was to bring Poison Woman to 48 Fortress and that's it.
Plot hole 2 - Demons in general. Shen Tianshu's motives were never really clear from the start. Even his dumping of Poison Woman was rather quick? It felt like they just create his motives along the way and there was no real build-up. He's just a bad guy who goes around killing people even when he tells them that he won't.
I mentioned above that this was a light-hearted show and that is personally a problem to me but I suppose I have myself to blame for not checking what the book was all about. I expected heavier and more serious undertones like Princess Agents but this had none of that. The deaths barely impacted me (only Duan Jiuniang's death did) and I felt nothing when the few characters like Fisherman, Old Madam Wang, Master Qi, Yin Pei, General Wen Yu died. Which brings me to my next point;
ZLY's performance - I watched the show because I have been a big fan. I love her acting and I love her previous works but I felt that her talent was diminished in this show. She didn't have many memorable lines and scenes. Only the few scenes where she cried over Xie Yun moved me a little (even so, nowhere near to the effect of her previous works). Most of her focus were on the sword moves which I give credit for as she did the stunts herself. .. though I wished they described her South Blade swordsmanship a little more because it's supposed to be something technical. Instead, all they did was show flashbacks of her grandfather.
WYB's performance - I liked him from The Untamed but I personally think he's not suited to play Xie Yun. Not that he's doomed to play a serious introvert for life, but I could see that he's still a little amateur-ish in the way he played Xie Yun. I can't really put a pin to it but it's probably a mixture of the "exasperated" eyes he makes and generally just .. stiff-ness.
ZLY + WYB chemistry - ok no complaints here. I think they're fine! Not the best on-screen chemistry in history, but they have a lot of sweet and aww moments. Too many to list so I won't. I don't think ZLY is too old for WYB in this show simply because she looks so young.
CG and editing - bad. notice how the same forest gets recycled over and over? But I suppose I won't blame them since their filming schedule got delayed due to the pandemic.
Supporting characters I think we could have done without - Bonehead, Li Yan and Poison Man. I mean they added comic relief to the show but I tend to fast forward every scene with them.
Couples - I must say Li Sheng + Chu Chu were very close to overtaking ZF + XY for me. If they had more screen time, they just might. :D I'm glad to see Li Sheng matured from a bratty, jealous cousin to a reliable and strategic leader. Luckily Chu Chu wasn't a damsel in distress either (though, I pity the fact they just forgot about her lil brother altogether)
I think the reason why most of here are because of Zhao Li Ying and Wang Yi Bo so as fans of them, I'd say you'd have to watch. They are cute together.
It is generally a very light and family-friendly show. Characters are likeable/lovable. Show is fun to watch because there are funny banters, action sword-fights and general all feel-good vibes. Would I recommend this? Yes. I would not classify this as a blockbuster series, but if you have the extra time then I'd say watch this. This is essentially Legend of the Condor Heroes female lead version where female lead literally takes on the entire lead role with noob kungfu at the beginning but progresses better as she meets martial arts masters and comes across many kungfu manuals along the way. That's not the main story, though - as there is a big bad organisation out to steal some treasure that she is also after.
The supporting actors are also nice to watch. They really felt like a bunch of friends on an adventure together hence my review title, lol.
Anyway, the negatives so SPOILERS AHEAD:
I felt that the show fell flat starting from Xie Yun's bone-chilling arc. The pacing was rather off from this point on because trying to fit in so many characters and conspiracies in a 51-episode show was too much and all over the place. From this point up to about the late 40's, we had to slot in Yin Pei, Small Medicine Valley, Xie Yun's monk childhood, Yu Wenzhi and the occasional Anping Army which (facepalm) I still don't see what their role was in this show other than to take Lord Gantang away for 9/10th of the show.
Plot hole 1 - Anping Army, Yu Wenzhi, Zichen and the previous dynasty. Seriously, after 51 episodes I'm clueless as to who and what these people are/were trying to do and their relationships with each other. Yu Wenzhi literally appeared out of nowhere during the big 48 Fortress battle and just appears on and off as a big bad with an army. Literally no background here. Zichen - don't get me started with this guy. He had one job which was to bring Poison Woman to 48 Fortress and that's it.
Plot hole 2 - Demons in general. Shen Tianshu's motives were never really clear from the start. Even his dumping of Poison Woman was rather quick? It felt like they just create his motives along the way and there was no real build-up. He's just a bad guy who goes around killing people even when he tells them that he won't.
I mentioned above that this was a light-hearted show and that is personally a problem to me but I suppose I have myself to blame for not checking what the book was all about. I expected heavier and more serious undertones like Princess Agents but this had none of that. The deaths barely impacted me (only Duan Jiuniang's death did) and I felt nothing when the few characters like Fisherman, Old Madam Wang, Master Qi, Yin Pei, General Wen Yu died. Which brings me to my next point;
ZLY's performance - I watched the show because I have been a big fan. I love her acting and I love her previous works but I felt that her talent was diminished in this show. She didn't have many memorable lines and scenes. Only the few scenes where she cried over Xie Yun moved me a little (even so, nowhere near to the effect of her previous works). Most of her focus were on the sword moves which I give credit for as she did the stunts herself. .. though I wished they described her South Blade swordsmanship a little more because it's supposed to be something technical. Instead, all they did was show flashbacks of her grandfather.
WYB's performance - I liked him from The Untamed but I personally think he's not suited to play Xie Yun. Not that he's doomed to play a serious introvert for life, but I could see that he's still a little amateur-ish in the way he played Xie Yun. I can't really put a pin to it but it's probably a mixture of the "exasperated" eyes he makes and generally just .. stiff-ness.
ZLY + WYB chemistry - ok no complaints here. I think they're fine! Not the best on-screen chemistry in history, but they have a lot of sweet and aww moments. Too many to list so I won't. I don't think ZLY is too old for WYB in this show simply because she looks so young.
CG and editing - bad. notice how the same forest gets recycled over and over? But I suppose I won't blame them since their filming schedule got delayed due to the pandemic.
Supporting characters I think we could have done without - Bonehead, Li Yan and Poison Man. I mean they added comic relief to the show but I tend to fast forward every scene with them.
Couples - I must say Li Sheng + Chu Chu were very close to overtaking ZF + XY for me. If they had more screen time, they just might. :D I'm glad to see Li Sheng matured from a bratty, jealous cousin to a reliable and strategic leader. Luckily Chu Chu wasn't a damsel in distress either (though, I pity the fact they just forgot about her lil brother altogether)
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