L’épée Dans la Neige (2021)

Beware if you didn't like Joy of Life . .

I gave this a chance because I really appreciated Joy of Life's production and cinematography even though I couldn't get into the plot. Yet, here I am again, bored. There is no tension.

Xu Feng Nian, our main lead, is destined for triumph, and the show makes this clear from the beginning. Clever, strategic and good hearted, beneath a playful exterior is a deeply capable person. Determined to be a 'better man,' than his father he twists and turns to avoid his fate to inherit his legacy as a military leader and martial arts talent.

What is the point of watching? Perhaps for some, there is satisfaction in watching a world where everything has a reason, and talent paired with a good heart always wins in the end.

There is good acting, lots of memorable side characters and very high production values . . . but bland themes and no tension do not hold my interest.

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refreshing historical drama

I liked Zhang Ruo Yun His acting is natural and carefree. There are many likable qualities about this actor. I loved Joy of Life and Wang Juan's writing styles....this should be a good drama.

In the beginning, I was confused about the plot. As the story unfolds, it became more and more interesting.

The costumes are simple, yet elegant. It does not lessen the quality of the drama.....I am looking forward to all the upcoming episodes.

This is just an added.....I saw his wedding photos with Tang Yixin. They looked truly well matched and very happy.

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Some nice characters but overall I didn't care for any of them

STORY/PLOT
This show suffers from having too many characters in general. They are introduced when the ML comes across them but then quickly forgotten and then later on "revived" when you've long moved on to other new characters that appear. There is not much backstory to most of these characters and so you're not really invested in what happens to them generally. The show also relies too much on flashbacks to fill in the gaps (i.e. stuff that wasn't shown before). For example ML when in a pivotal moment in a fight performs some new move - cue flashback to when the grandmaster showed him that specific move. Certain people are shown as being very important to the ML but because that relationship/journey has not been explored very much, I don't buy it.

The ML is introduced as a smart but stubborn character. He wants it all - to have his cake and eat it too. He is scheming and has his own agenda and seems to like going against his father's plans/wishes. That is all fine but the problem I have is he has just come home after 3 years gallivanting in the wilderness - I find it hard to believe how he has managed to have informants and loyal people under him when for all intents and purposes, he wasn't doing much for those 3 years.

There doesn't seem to be a clear FL in this show. Yes the ML has a servant he is interested in, and she has a backstory too. Their romance is as dumb as dumb gets - fake assassination attempts and getting paid to read books to him. Constant teasing like "You can't die because I want to be the one to kill you" is just eye-rolling.

One of the things that makes a show great is a good villain - one that creates chaos and can really hurt the ML. This show doesn't seem to have a good one. Everything was dealt with easily by the ML with the grandmaster at his side. For much of the show, the illegitimate prince is portrayed as the main villain but he was so weak!! His red armour that followed him around wasn't much help either. The master eunuch put up a good fight at the end but being outnumbered he should have eliminated them one by one to increase his chances. Overall this big fight turned out rather disappointing.

ACTION
There is a fair bit of action but I find that some of the grandmasters are just too overpowered and just takes the fun out of it. Having the grandmaster Li by his side also meant it was kinda boring because nothing much was going to happen to ML while the grandmaster was there.

Some of the powers of these grandmasters is just a bit ridiculous and not really of interest to me. I prefer more realistic type wuxia but I find this show is a bit more magical/fantasy type (e.g. magical flying swords, riding waves, tornadoes lol).

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Could have given it a high 9 but....

I love the story line, and the production is fairly good. I don't even mind the bleached out look. The Jiang Ni character is quirky and provide a fairly good comedy relief to the funny side of the drama. The one thing that bring my rating for the drama down to 8 is the sword fighting scene, there are too many of them shot in slow motion and that breaks the momentum of what could be an excellent sword fighting scene. The director and cinematographer is trying to show something that is done to death by other Wuxia.. its nothing new and why shot in slow motion? And also some of the fighting scene takes too long in setting up the scene, and only leaves one frustrated instead of feeling the excitement and anticipation. Why can't they do a perfect drama, they have all the right script, story, actors, and instead it let us down with the fighting scene, which is the second most important element of the drama! I hope the second season they will do something different with the fighting scene, as long as don't over do the slow mo.

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Very nice but not the wuxia drama one will expect

One reason why this show got criticisms despite it's marvelous plot is that they promote this to be a drama with lots of martial arts. I mean, people have different likes. There are people whose only after the fight scenes. So when they watch this, they're like -wtf little to no fight scenes. The martial artist just stands there then boogsh. Its focused more on the political stuffs and schemes. Safe to say more similar to Nirvana in Fire than Word of Honor. You get what I mean haha.

Well for me, I give importance to plot. The fight scenes just adds color. This made me love this series so much. There are also a bit of humour.

What I don't like though is the acting of Jiang Ni. Very weird especially in the first episode. Like she's forced to be funny but it's not. She's okay at the later episode though.

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Good but not Great

From the same screen writer of Joy of Life, Wang Juan. Overall it is still good, funny and good pacing. But not a master piece like Joy of life. The fighting also not really a good to watch, it's all CGI and editing, so those who expecting a good fight martial arts or sword play, please don't expect to see that in this series. Here all they do are only raising hand, 1 swing of the blade and a very strong power come and then the hero win. Fast and easy with CGI, which I don't really appreciate.
But still I will watch session 2

Positive points:
- Make up is good or maybe Zhang Ruo Yun looks younger now? and definitely slimmer compare to his appearance in Joy of Life. He is suitable to play an arrogant type of guy, since Novoland time
- Nice sceneries
- Pacing is good not boring and story is not predictable
- Cute love portrayal by the ML and FL, not the cheesy or too much lovey dovey but u can feel the love

Negative points:
- Every single time during the fight, too many idle time like why don't you attack together instead of waiting for the enemy to attack? On the last episode, Chen Zi Bao need to see all his soldier killed and just stare there? Same goes to Xu Feng Nian, just stare there until Han Diao Shi attack him?
- A very too easy win for Xu Feng Nian, yes I know he is the main lead, but the fight is just too easy to win for him, every single times. In the beginning Qing Niao Kung Fu looks very impressive, but then as times goes, she actually quite weak?
- Everyone after vomiting blood suddenly back to healthy like nothing happen? On the last episode all the sisters and the brother injured, but can walk back like very healthy without any single blood stain at all?
- The editing, especially the flying scene is very very fake and unnatural

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IT’S OFFICIAL! ZHANG RUOYUN IS MY FAVOURITE ASIAN ACTOR!

I’ve watched “Joy Of Life I and II”, and now, after watching this new drama, it’s only reinforced how much I admire Ruoyun’s talent. He’s an absolute force of nature. Not only does he act brilliantly, but he also has a comedic touch that few actors of his generation possess. The way he balances seriousness with humour is so effortless and natural, which really draws the audience in.

Curious about the top-notch writing and storyline, I looked it up and, to my delight, discovered it’s the same screenwriter behind the two seasons of “Joy Of Life”, a huge hit. The quality is undeniably high, both in terms of professionalism and production value.

As this drama is from 2022, I’m eagerly hoping the Chinese producers follow through on their promise of a second season, because there’s clearly so much more story left to unfold.

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A Bit of a Drag

Based on reviews as well as being recommended by other reviewers who has somewhat similar opinions of other series, I was super excited to embark on this one. And while I can still force myself to continue watching due to it potentially getting better, there's just nothing intriguing enough to keep going even after 10 episodes in.

There's no real major flaw to highlight and there was quite some potential of being a unique undertaking of "royalty" in the beginning. Instead of the usual elegant and noble demeanor of royals , it was quite interesting to see the more "normalized" relationship with leaders that weren't born into it that type of restriction/upbringing. Although they did take it a bit too far and some scenes were just awkward.

While there were many great actors and characters in the series, the one that I just couldn't bring myself to like was the main protagonist, Xu Feng Nian. Even if his character was supposed to "pretend" to be narcissistic and spoiled (and despite them trying to paint him as some sort of kind soul deep down who refuses to kill anyone), he still comes off strongly as a narcissist and is quite abusive to those closest to him for that matter. His level of intelligence isn't believable enough either for it to balance out. As for the plot flow, while the story does move along with setting changes and introduction of new characters, it also somehow feels circular. There's too much emphasis on Xu Feng Nian and not enough on the supports. There's a lot going on but it really isn't going anywhere. So for these two reasons, I decided to do the drop.

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Dysfunctional crazy family you will fall in Love with.

I have just watched the first 12 episodes and I am being on conservative side in my rating until I updated at the finale.
First I would like to say that beside Game of Thrones and Vikings this has the best musical and visual intro I have seen. It is a gorgeous artistic watercolor show with an antiquated flute drum soundtrack that had me captivated.

Next it starts off with what you think is the typical narrative of someone giving you an update of histories past....but shows your lead in a vulnerable comedic position. So it had me at Hello.
I have never watched an asian period piece with such a royal/Ruling family as this. You are not quite sure if they are dysfunctional or insanely intimate; but the relationship between the characters are what I like best.....deep..complex...intimate...clever and funny...but mostly loving. Most unique king prince relationship I have ever watched....loved it. I think so far the King/father is my favorite character.
The dialog is long and may put some off ...and if it does this show is not for you because the brilliance is in the dialogue and the mystery within.....and the actors are brilliant and portraying the most amusing characters.
The show definitely has a drawback and that would be the contrived brilliance and luck of the ML.(this was also only thing I didnt like in Joy of Life)..but due to the humble vulnerability of his character I let that pass. I would also love a little more feminine intrigue or storyline... whole lots a yang...not so much yin...but I see its coming. I love strong Female characters and the set has been staged for many.

I am thoroughly enjoying
the show is Very Good.... You can tell it is related to the makers of The Joy of Life.
Costumes...cinematography....actors ...music and editing...are so far brilliant.

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if mystery is all there is, then there's no substance

There was so much hype for this and for Joy of Life, but unfortunately, both of these shows Zhang Ruo Yun gives the impression of basically acting the same character in the same story-- i.e., an invincible protagonist who pretends to be weak, conquering a world where everyone is stupid and no one knows what's going on except for him. And that includes the audience, because the plot straight up doesn't make sense.

Why should a young powerful prince leave home and pretend to be a beggar without fighting skills for 3 years just to evade an arranged marriage, then come back... without really having evaded it, or indeed any of his bloodthirsty political enemies?
Why does a top martial artist who enjoys roast chicken, coincidentally the man who rescued the Prince's life a decade ago, live underwater in the middle of a lake?
Why should the prince's father, coincidentally the most powerful man in the military, pretend to be stupid and spend all of his effort trying to outplot his own son by e.g. installing martial artists in his harem?
Why should a princess, coincidentally the last of an almost extinguished noble line, put aside learning real life skills in order to alternate trying to assassinate the MC and working as a maid for him?

After asking questions like this every single episode, and never getting any answers, we start to suspect... that the answer to all of our questions is simply, 'because this way it the protagonist gives off an air of mystery as he shows his superiority during epic feats of deus ex machina'.

It's fine to have a show that builds mysteries within mysteries, enigmas within enigmas. But if mystery is all there is, then there's no substance, no core. It's like the author tried to think of the most badass character settings possible, and had some inspirational scenes in their mind, but got tired before they could actually write the story. For one, we never find out what exactly what Xu Fengnian and Xu Xiao really did wrong to motivate all these assassinations that are the core driving force of the plot -- except for holding too much military power.

The icing on the cake is 'strong women leads' like Jiang Ni and Nangong Pu She who are meant to look beautiful and cool respectively, but basically have no brains and follow the protagonist around. It doesn't help that the acting for these female leads is basically the weakest in the show.

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I like the story getting developed .The way Xu feng nian(Zhang Ruo yun) character potrayal and i like the Jiang ni(Li Geng xi) and her cute expressions.And screen play is very similer to joy of life1 and every episode is thrilling with a plot of suspence.
There are so many familliar faces like Crystal Zhang and vengo gao and their acting is very cache and extrodinay characerisations.They keep me captivated, i dont have any urge to fast forward or anything.
especially,zhang ruo yun's brother character Xu Long Xiang(Rong Zi Shan) very natural and showing the very lovely relation between siblings . and also showing love towards the servents relation.
And must prise the Martial Arts fights and the dilongues

Money definitely went into this, the prodection is big. The beginning is quite light and comedic but I wont be surprised if this turns heavy later on. There's a balance in the plot, it has a bit of everything. Like the sword fighting and the wuxia elements in this, Im guinuely looking forward to how the story and the characters develop.

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Amazing and awesome…just like joy of life …for a change women have some real badass kung fu

Another amazing series and I have become a fan of the screen writer, director and Zhang ruochan….

So far things I liked

1. Not like a regular army plot twist where there is forever romance or sacrifice left and right in the name of country, love etc…
2. Hero & the characters actions speak louder ….intelligence is making me smile and watch it …
not like the sissy guys trying hard to win the affection of ladies around all the time or sissy hero depending on friends to do the most work
3. Kung fu actions scenes overall is top notch…no fighting for hours when the same can be shown in quality in min…and the scenes for the ladies are top notch… ladies characters are not Barbie dolls getting freebies and affections and another striking thing is that almost all of them look great

The other top tv shows that I love are
1. Evernight season 1 and 2/ Joy of life season 1
3. Demigod & semi devil / condor trilogy / deer cauldron
8. Ancient detective / Duoluo continent / Word of honor /Untamed

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