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Această recenzie poate conține spoilere
A Classic Wuxia Drama
I started watching the drama around the time it first started airing, and within the first few episodes, it seemed quite interesting. Nevertheless, it fell a bit from my expectations but was definitely a good watch.
~ THE STORY ~
As the headline mentioned, this drama is a classic wuxia drama, where there is the whole righteous vs evil, and the good never ends up being good. We eventually see the person who was the most calm become the plotter behind the whole martial arts conspiracy. In general, if you have watched enough c-dramas, the plot is honestly quite predictable, and I am a person who is all for unpredictable plots, so in this aspect, Word of Honor met what I expected but was not was I was looking for. A good side to this predictability is all the foreshadowing. Word of Honor had a lot of foreshadowing; perhaps the most I have seen in any drama; and the foreshadowing was pretty nice too!
A lot of people mention about the BL (boy love) in the drama, and yes, compared to a lot of other c-dramas, this is a drama that comes off as flirty. However, if you have read the novel, the scenes are a downplay. I really enjoy those scenes in the drama, but at times, I did not really see the connection even though I absolutely love how protective and the trust they have around each other (especially in episode 28). In general, I like their relationship, but I expected a bit more.
Now about the 'gray' areas and antihero aspect. Yes, it is true that both of the male leads have killed their fair share of people and have a different perspective on death compared to other people. However, perhaps it is because I have watched quite some dramas that have these type of protagonist that I just am not as attracted to this aspect of the characters; I expected a more dark and dangerous side of them.
Unlike the dramas where we have this one villain that turned to have another villain that backed him/her/they up, and then the whole mess, we have a clear villain within the first 15 episodes though the villain was quite predictable by episode 5. (It's always the good guys) To be honest, I like this villain because he has a clear reason for wanting to have the power: he wants to have the thrill of plotting and succeeding. It's all about the plotting rather than the final power.
Now, the good aspect that I enjoyed! The hurt and past. I love character development, and I prefer dramas that start of low and build up. In this drama, we have two characters that are both torn over their own pasts and in need to move on from it. Each of them are able to understand the other without any words. On a side note, (spoiler) I am not a childhood troope person, and although I get that the drama might have made the male leads from the same sect to pass the censorship of hugging, the idea did ruin the drama a bit for me because instead of Zi Shu supporting Kexing due to his understanding of him, we kind of get the vibe that he partially supported him because of him becoming his Shidi.
Slightly unnecessary death. *huge spoilers for those who have not read the novel (please do not read this paragraph if you do not want any major spoilers)* In the novel, Gu Xiang and Cao Weining both die, and true to its adaptation, the drama also has it that both of them also die. While I like that the drama followed the novel quite closely in this aspect, their death honestly feels quite unnecessary, so not a huge fan of this scenario that happened.
Some more unnecessary characters. The Seventh Lord and the Great Shaman. Originally, in the novel, the two of them were the ones that came up with the method to cure Zi Shu, and it would have been alright that the drama did not follow the actions, but for the last episodes that they were present in, they honestly did not even do much. These two characters only seemed to be here because the novel had them.
~ THE ACTING ~
I spent a lot of time thinking about the acting because sometimes it is hard to distinguish between the acting and our dislikes and likes of the character itself, and after much thought, I decided to give it a 9/10 though I personally think that if it were some other actors, they would have done pretty well, too. Zhe Han did a good job portraying Zi Xu, but I am a bit iffy on Simon Gong's acting of Kexing. The supporting characters did amazing, so if I were to rate them together as a group of actors/actresses, I would give a 9.5/10.
~ THE STORY ~
As the headline mentioned, this drama is a classic wuxia drama, where there is the whole righteous vs evil, and the good never ends up being good. We eventually see the person who was the most calm become the plotter behind the whole martial arts conspiracy. In general, if you have watched enough c-dramas, the plot is honestly quite predictable, and I am a person who is all for unpredictable plots, so in this aspect, Word of Honor met what I expected but was not was I was looking for. A good side to this predictability is all the foreshadowing. Word of Honor had a lot of foreshadowing; perhaps the most I have seen in any drama; and the foreshadowing was pretty nice too!
A lot of people mention about the BL (boy love) in the drama, and yes, compared to a lot of other c-dramas, this is a drama that comes off as flirty. However, if you have read the novel, the scenes are a downplay. I really enjoy those scenes in the drama, but at times, I did not really see the connection even though I absolutely love how protective and the trust they have around each other (especially in episode 28). In general, I like their relationship, but I expected a bit more.
Now about the 'gray' areas and antihero aspect. Yes, it is true that both of the male leads have killed their fair share of people and have a different perspective on death compared to other people. However, perhaps it is because I have watched quite some dramas that have these type of protagonist that I just am not as attracted to this aspect of the characters; I expected a more dark and dangerous side of them.
Unlike the dramas where we have this one villain that turned to have another villain that backed him/her/they up, and then the whole mess, we have a clear villain within the first 15 episodes though the villain was quite predictable by episode 5. (It's always the good guys) To be honest, I like this villain because he has a clear reason for wanting to have the power: he wants to have the thrill of plotting and succeeding. It's all about the plotting rather than the final power.
Now, the good aspect that I enjoyed! The hurt and past. I love character development, and I prefer dramas that start of low and build up. In this drama, we have two characters that are both torn over their own pasts and in need to move on from it. Each of them are able to understand the other without any words. On a side note, (spoiler) I am not a childhood troope person, and although I get that the drama might have made the male leads from the same sect to pass the censorship of hugging, the idea did ruin the drama a bit for me because instead of Zi Shu supporting Kexing due to his understanding of him, we kind of get the vibe that he partially supported him because of him becoming his Shidi.
Slightly unnecessary death. *huge spoilers for those who have not read the novel (please do not read this paragraph if you do not want any major spoilers)* In the novel, Gu Xiang and Cao Weining both die, and true to its adaptation, the drama also has it that both of them also die. While I like that the drama followed the novel quite closely in this aspect, their death honestly feels quite unnecessary, so not a huge fan of this scenario that happened.
Some more unnecessary characters. The Seventh Lord and the Great Shaman. Originally, in the novel, the two of them were the ones that came up with the method to cure Zi Shu, and it would have been alright that the drama did not follow the actions, but for the last episodes that they were present in, they honestly did not even do much. These two characters only seemed to be here because the novel had them.
~ THE ACTING ~
I spent a lot of time thinking about the acting because sometimes it is hard to distinguish between the acting and our dislikes and likes of the character itself, and after much thought, I decided to give it a 9/10 though I personally think that if it were some other actors, they would have done pretty well, too. Zhe Han did a good job portraying Zi Xu, but I am a bit iffy on Simon Gong's acting of Kexing. The supporting characters did amazing, so if I were to rate them together as a group of actors/actresses, I would give a 9.5/10.
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