Alila Nguyen
I started this drama based on the short trailer it released on YouTube. The look and feel of the trailer is so great that I needed to find out more information on the drama. As much as I love Vic Chou, I don’t care about the other actor and actresses and that tend to make me quite reluctant in watching a new show. And just because I love Vic, it does not mean I watch everything he is in it, or see everything he is in as top notch material, if it’s bad, I can still bad mouth it :) For me, what drive me to love a drama is the story, the characters, the chemistry, the support casts and no glaring annoying bit.
Upon finding out it’s based on a book, I went and read more about the book, and find out it was a tragedy, and Yin Xue has a rather sad ending, but the story is still so enticing, a man who knows will get nothing in return, whole heartedly sacrificing everything even his life for the one he loves. A story of unrequited love to the bitter end! For that, I would watch the show for Yin Xue, not for Vic not Zhang Bin Bin.
The Cons:
The first 5 episodes, there were draggy bits, like the dealing with the brothel girl in Pin Hua Lau. I still don’t get why we spent so much time on her for dialog like thank you, we will keep in touch, and don’t worry. The actress was pretty but I felt it added nothing to the storyline but to lengthen it and slow the pace. But as soon as it moves away from her, the story progresses at a nice even pace, not rushing and not slow. Enough for you to learn about the characters and the events surround these characters
There are a few holes/inconsistencies in the dialogs with the event that took place but it’s small enough that you can pass it with no problem. I only found 1 inconsistency (which is when RG said YX has changed her forgetful medicine, how can a bite to the ear change the medicine lol. Cure it? Sure. Change it? How lol)
The Pros:
The story: this is a story about a girl who at the start, her world revolves around her first love, and as the story progresses, her world revolves around the people she cares, her responsibility, her beliefs in what right and wrong, and how she can love and live on without her greatest love next to her. She doesn’t have strong power, her power is she is not deterred from her decisions. Once she has decided, she will go with it, sometimes she made mistakes but most of the time, she approached each decision and action with thoughtfulness, which show her maturity. Many found it odd to call her the flame’s daughter when she did not use much flame power. However they overlook the fact that out of all the characters, she was the only one that really put up a fight, her will power is burning even when it’s surpressed. And even in the last battle, she was determined to contribute when Yin Xue tried to not involve her. For this, I love the story, not the usual cliche that the main heroin must obtain the most powerful power in the world to take down the most evil villain in history :)
It is also the story of loves, many types of love presented in this drama, not just the undying, sacrifice for one another love between Yin Xue, Ru Ge, YU Zhi Han and Zhan Feng. But also the family bond, what would you do if your love one is evil? Can you easily hate or kill the person that evil in everyone’s eyes but treat you with nothing but love and care? And then there is the love story that one man endure because he just couldn’t stop loving that one person.
The story also has its main bigger plot line involve Jianghu, feel pretty much like Louis Cha’s setting, the story moves without the leads unlike other drama where you have this one main character that be a plot device, that drive the events between the leads.
The characters:
Because of the story, you get such refreshing character like Yin Xue. Unlike most, if not all cdrama out there, the main lead guy will be cold, and smart, and look like jerk to everyone. He would barely crack a smile but will charm the girl, most of the time, he treats her like dirt but hey she’s in love with him anyway because of the sweet things he does for her in secret. Yin Xue is whimsical, he’s funny, cheeky, loves to play joke on people, but not the cringe worthy kind. He’s wise but he’s kind, he sees other’s hate/dislike toward him as a fun matter. He understands the girl, let her makes mistake (after giving her advices not to), and sacrifice everything for his love one without asking for anything back. He protects not just her but the people she loves, and if being trapped in his memories to be with her, he will do just that.
Then the main lead girl, as explained in the story part. And then you have two second lead characters, Zhan Feng and YU Zhi Han, both shows their weakness and strength, and their redemption, but the drama has done so well to show these men love her, and not resulting in jealousy or scheming to get the girl. How to get a girl to love you? With a true decent heart. Be there for her, love her, do everything you can to help her, and if she loves you back, that’s great :) if not, you could only hope and do your best to help her get her desired happiness.
The relationships: I love the relationships between the main leads, the support cast couples, between the guys, between the child actor with everyone, between the girls. This is possibly the first drama where I love every single relationship represented within a drama. While many feel the strong chemistry between Ru Ge and Zhan Feng, and not so much between her and Yin Xue, I saw the first love and the love of their lifetime. Maybe I’m old, but based on my personal experience, that’s how it felt like. One could call the first love is the lightning, impressive but fast passing, while the love of a lifetime is like water, gentle but can not live without.
The acting:
I think everyone’s acting is great. Dilireba while in some scenes could improve, there are some she did very well, like her past life scene, you can see how much she loves Yin Xue. Zhang Bin Bin has gained positive in my eyes as I felt he was one note acting in TMOPB. But the most impressive acting is Vic, I saw a few dramas from him when he was first started, and as much as I love him, I’m not blind to how bad the acting is in those drama lol. Vic portrayed this role with so much layers, you can feel multiple emotions surge within him, and you feel for the character. I love Vic before, but after many years (over 10yrs of not watching him), this drama has made me love him even more.
The OST: I love every songs in this drama, the whole album, from the opening song to the instrumental tracks, is just beyond good. It gave the correct feel to scene, and the lyrics are appropriate to each character, their arc and their inner feeling.
The best part: the fighting scenes. Being a wuxia lover since I was young, started at 5, I grew up in love with Louis Cha’s series, and is quite sad as time goes on, the fight scenes got shorten, and cheapen by CGI. One kick and it’s done. The last drama that got me excited with the fight scenes was Legend of Qin, but it turns out to be far few and too short, and just doesn’t wet your appetite. This series, I didn’t expect much in term of fight scenes, but ep 10 fight scene blew me away. It has techniques, the atmosphere, the suspension, the styles, the right amount of CGI to make those move beautiful, and not detract it from realism. I love all of Yin Xue’s fight scenes as it uses the tai chi style, in water there is steel :) the sword dance and Bi’er fight are another highlight as they show more techniques, and swords have been my favourite weapon. Zhan Feng’s saber is a bit more brute force so I’m not in love with them, but it’s mainly because I’m into the delicate techniques and variety of techniques in sword than in saber. And the last fight scene, many felt it short, but I love how it demonstrate two people constantly use deadly blows and don’t protect themselves in order to use those attacks. And the CGI once again making that fight scene beautiful.
Ep 52: the ending of this drama is indeed unforgettable. My head was spinning because of happiness but because it throws at me so many things, I had to watch it twice to figure out what’s going on. But I’m glad I did and once I figure out, I appreciate it. To many, it’s long winded, and confusing, while not giving a deserving end to their beloved character as there is no mention of anyone else but the two mains. But to me, the story has given each character a deserving end, beautiful done, and in such a meaningful way, I have never seen a drama that does that to all its supporting couples. No couple was boring either, how crazy is this!
Conclusion: this is to date, my most favourite wuxia series in 10 years+, I put this drama next to classic as the condor hero and the return of the condor hero, because it brings that hero feeling, that epic love story, the intriguing wuxia backdrop, a refreshing story, a refreshing character, the hero and heroin you can root for and felt in love with. Might not be as deep and as good nor as complicated as Louis Cha’s novel, but it’s being up there in term of drama adaptation from a novel. I know this drama has mythical elements, so compare it to Louis Cha’s master piece is unfair, but it’s the closest to true wuxia we get as of now that shine in my book, (minus classic from Gu Long as well, they are called classic for good reasons :) )
Rewatch value: 3 weeks after the drama ended, and I still find myself rewatching the series. And while waiting for new episodes to come out, I would rewatch a lot of the scenes between Yin Xue and Ruge or the fight scenes. The spell this drama put on me is unfathomable.
Upon finding out it’s based on a book, I went and read more about the book, and find out it was a tragedy, and Yin Xue has a rather sad ending, but the story is still so enticing, a man who knows will get nothing in return, whole heartedly sacrificing everything even his life for the one he loves. A story of unrequited love to the bitter end! For that, I would watch the show for Yin Xue, not for Vic not Zhang Bin Bin.
The Cons:
The first 5 episodes, there were draggy bits, like the dealing with the brothel girl in Pin Hua Lau. I still don’t get why we spent so much time on her for dialog like thank you, we will keep in touch, and don’t worry. The actress was pretty but I felt it added nothing to the storyline but to lengthen it and slow the pace. But as soon as it moves away from her, the story progresses at a nice even pace, not rushing and not slow. Enough for you to learn about the characters and the events surround these characters
There are a few holes/inconsistencies in the dialogs with the event that took place but it’s small enough that you can pass it with no problem. I only found 1 inconsistency (which is when RG said YX has changed her forgetful medicine, how can a bite to the ear change the medicine lol. Cure it? Sure. Change it? How lol)
The Pros:
The story: this is a story about a girl who at the start, her world revolves around her first love, and as the story progresses, her world revolves around the people she cares, her responsibility, her beliefs in what right and wrong, and how she can love and live on without her greatest love next to her. She doesn’t have strong power, her power is she is not deterred from her decisions. Once she has decided, she will go with it, sometimes she made mistakes but most of the time, she approached each decision and action with thoughtfulness, which show her maturity. Many found it odd to call her the flame’s daughter when she did not use much flame power. However they overlook the fact that out of all the characters, she was the only one that really put up a fight, her will power is burning even when it’s surpressed. And even in the last battle, she was determined to contribute when Yin Xue tried to not involve her. For this, I love the story, not the usual cliche that the main heroin must obtain the most powerful power in the world to take down the most evil villain in history :)
It is also the story of loves, many types of love presented in this drama, not just the undying, sacrifice for one another love between Yin Xue, Ru Ge, YU Zhi Han and Zhan Feng. But also the family bond, what would you do if your love one is evil? Can you easily hate or kill the person that evil in everyone’s eyes but treat you with nothing but love and care? And then there is the love story that one man endure because he just couldn’t stop loving that one person.
The story also has its main bigger plot line involve Jianghu, feel pretty much like Louis Cha’s setting, the story moves without the leads unlike other drama where you have this one main character that be a plot device, that drive the events between the leads.
The characters:
Because of the story, you get such refreshing character like Yin Xue. Unlike most, if not all cdrama out there, the main lead guy will be cold, and smart, and look like jerk to everyone. He would barely crack a smile but will charm the girl, most of the time, he treats her like dirt but hey she’s in love with him anyway because of the sweet things he does for her in secret. Yin Xue is whimsical, he’s funny, cheeky, loves to play joke on people, but not the cringe worthy kind. He’s wise but he’s kind, he sees other’s hate/dislike toward him as a fun matter. He understands the girl, let her makes mistake (after giving her advices not to), and sacrifice everything for his love one without asking for anything back. He protects not just her but the people she loves, and if being trapped in his memories to be with her, he will do just that.
Then the main lead girl, as explained in the story part. And then you have two second lead characters, Zhan Feng and YU Zhi Han, both shows their weakness and strength, and their redemption, but the drama has done so well to show these men love her, and not resulting in jealousy or scheming to get the girl. How to get a girl to love you? With a true decent heart. Be there for her, love her, do everything you can to help her, and if she loves you back, that’s great :) if not, you could only hope and do your best to help her get her desired happiness.
The relationships: I love the relationships between the main leads, the support cast couples, between the guys, between the child actor with everyone, between the girls. This is possibly the first drama where I love every single relationship represented within a drama. While many feel the strong chemistry between Ru Ge and Zhan Feng, and not so much between her and Yin Xue, I saw the first love and the love of their lifetime. Maybe I’m old, but based on my personal experience, that’s how it felt like. One could call the first love is the lightning, impressive but fast passing, while the love of a lifetime is like water, gentle but can not live without.
The acting:
I think everyone’s acting is great. Dilireba while in some scenes could improve, there are some she did very well, like her past life scene, you can see how much she loves Yin Xue. Zhang Bin Bin has gained positive in my eyes as I felt he was one note acting in TMOPB. But the most impressive acting is Vic, I saw a few dramas from him when he was first started, and as much as I love him, I’m not blind to how bad the acting is in those drama lol. Vic portrayed this role with so much layers, you can feel multiple emotions surge within him, and you feel for the character. I love Vic before, but after many years (over 10yrs of not watching him), this drama has made me love him even more.
The OST: I love every songs in this drama, the whole album, from the opening song to the instrumental tracks, is just beyond good. It gave the correct feel to scene, and the lyrics are appropriate to each character, their arc and their inner feeling.
The best part: the fighting scenes. Being a wuxia lover since I was young, started at 5, I grew up in love with Louis Cha’s series, and is quite sad as time goes on, the fight scenes got shorten, and cheapen by CGI. One kick and it’s done. The last drama that got me excited with the fight scenes was Legend of Qin, but it turns out to be far few and too short, and just doesn’t wet your appetite. This series, I didn’t expect much in term of fight scenes, but ep 10 fight scene blew me away. It has techniques, the atmosphere, the suspension, the styles, the right amount of CGI to make those move beautiful, and not detract it from realism. I love all of Yin Xue’s fight scenes as it uses the tai chi style, in water there is steel :) the sword dance and Bi’er fight are another highlight as they show more techniques, and swords have been my favourite weapon. Zhan Feng’s saber is a bit more brute force so I’m not in love with them, but it’s mainly because I’m into the delicate techniques and variety of techniques in sword than in saber. And the last fight scene, many felt it short, but I love how it demonstrate two people constantly use deadly blows and don’t protect themselves in order to use those attacks. And the CGI once again making that fight scene beautiful.
Ep 52: the ending of this drama is indeed unforgettable. My head was spinning because of happiness but because it throws at me so many things, I had to watch it twice to figure out what’s going on. But I’m glad I did and once I figure out, I appreciate it. To many, it’s long winded, and confusing, while not giving a deserving end to their beloved character as there is no mention of anyone else but the two mains. But to me, the story has given each character a deserving end, beautiful done, and in such a meaningful way, I have never seen a drama that does that to all its supporting couples. No couple was boring either, how crazy is this!
Conclusion: this is to date, my most favourite wuxia series in 10 years+, I put this drama next to classic as the condor hero and the return of the condor hero, because it brings that hero feeling, that epic love story, the intriguing wuxia backdrop, a refreshing story, a refreshing character, the hero and heroin you can root for and felt in love with. Might not be as deep and as good nor as complicated as Louis Cha’s novel, but it’s being up there in term of drama adaptation from a novel. I know this drama has mythical elements, so compare it to Louis Cha’s master piece is unfair, but it’s the closest to true wuxia we get as of now that shine in my book, (minus classic from Gu Long as well, they are called classic for good reasons :) )
Rewatch value: 3 weeks after the drama ended, and I still find myself rewatching the series. And while waiting for new episodes to come out, I would rewatch a lot of the scenes between Yin Xue and Ruge or the fight scenes. The spell this drama put on me is unfathomable.
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