De Retour du Gouffre (2023)

Neo Hou and Zhou Ye Acting Supremacy

This cdrama is surprisingly good. And I find it quite underrated. Zhou Ye and Hou Minghao did well.

Romance is a bit lackluster. I felt like they're just best friends because of lack of kissing scenes and romantic contacts. However, they have good chemistry. Not great chemistry but good.

Story pacing is well done. It's not everywhere unlike other wuxia/xinxia dramas. It made me cry, and made me laugh. Bai Xiangsheng's character as antihero/hero is commendable. He became a God of Love/Matchmaking/Marriage in the end. It made me smile.

This drama gave you a lot of love perspective
Epic love - Tian Yao and Yan Hui
Obsessive love - Su Ying to Lu Mu Sheng
Til death do us part love - Lu Mu Sheng to Princess Yun Xi
Wrong and naive love - Tian Yao to Su Ying
Friends to enemies love - Zhu Li and Huan Xiao Yan
Hidden love - Xian Ge to Feng Qian Shuo
Destructive and dark love - Fu Yin (Dark Phantom) to Queen Xue Lin
Unrequitted love - Bai Xiao Sheng to Yan Hui
Patient love - A Cha to Master Qi Yun
Romeo and Juliet kind of love - Ling Fei to Zi Feng
The challenge of love and duty - Xue Lin and Chen Yi

Overall, I enjoyed this drama and might rewatch if I have time since I have a lot on my list right now. Lol.

Neo Hou is sooo handsome. :D

Lire davantage

Aieesh

I made a short list of C actors who are limited in range either because they can’t emote or are one-trick ponies who play a specific type of character. Sadly, our male lead tops the list. How on earth did he become an actor when all he does is look pretty and/or melancholic while giving the audience absolutely nothing?

Who made the executive decision to cast him as the lead? I mean judging by the quality of props and CGI it’s evident this is as low budget as they come; therefore, it makes sense that the actor’s pay would only attract B and C-list actors and maybe he was the only one to accept the lowball offer. These are conjectures, however, if taken into context then it makes sense as to why the production could only cast newbies.

Likewise, the plot was just laughably flawed. It painted our hero as not being very bright otherwise how could he have been so taken by a woman to the point he lost all sense of self-preservation? And clearly, he must not have been that powerful if that deranged and obsessed woman could take him down without a fight. Sigh

Lastly, the FL actress tried her darnest to carry the drama alas, it was an uphill struggle that even she, being as pretty and charming as she was, couldn’t achieve.

Lire davantage

IMPRESS USE KILL REVIVE LOVE USE ABANDON KILL

Hmm... The visual fx is quite good with cute little creatures and especially the dragon it's quite astonishing, as for the story it's not bad we can go on watch it to pass the time. The production is not quite alright it's not been half of the series yet the ml thrice pierced the heart of the fl who was born with a weak heart. Why does he have to pierce the heart of the fl to take out the heart protecting scale it's not quite the same when he took it out from his heart. So i should say it's discriminating. In 1st ep he took out the scale and threw it out without much of a problem but everytime he uses the scale from her heart he pierces her heart.
Heroine falls in love with him while he remains unmoved even though he has feelings it's not a new thing to us but he is typically using her and he then abandons her in later half . What's the meaning of this? Use abandon kill strategy even though he loves her we viewera can't feel it.

Lire davantage

I'm actually about to cry.

Rated= 1~ 20/50 ~ 4
RPG Scene // Ogre about to R.I.P me in Haunted House. It ate my short sword.

We all have emotional boundaries when we're watching shows and this one crossed mine.

I was LOVING this. It was sitting at a solid 8.5 rating. I was sitting thinking I had found another favourite for my list. A FL I could support. Humour that landed on me. A plot I was invested in. Gone in a 30 second scene.

My no.1 rule for writers is when you use violence against animals and children, you do it tastefully.

This 12 rated show can't show us a proper kiss but is perfectly happy to show us a baby getting his eyes gouged out. A BABY, screaming and crying, while a man puts his fingers through his eyes. Telling us is one thing. Actually showing us it, is another.
But heaven forbid you show us an actual proper kiss between two lovers.

No. Just No.

You suck and don't deserve anymore attention.

Lire davantage

This is the first xianxia drama I have ever watched and I didn’t expect it to be THIS good

I watched this because I always follow Neo’s works. However, when I searched what “xianxia” was I thought it might not be my type because of the magic powers and CGI (and the plot would likely be confusing).

BFTB is amazing though! It’s not boring or confusing at all. The leads did so well and their chemistry is excellent. The drama has a great balance between humor and heavy topics. Bai xiao sheng (especially in the first few episodes) never failed to make me laugh. Baby Tian Yao is also so adorable. And of course, badass Yan Hui is gorgeous.

I loved this drama so much! Will definitely rewatch this!

Lire davantage

Your typical bubbly girl and cold male lead but couldn't execute it the right way

After reading all the positive reviews I decided to give this one a try before deciding anything and I know it's not the popular opinion but I'm highly disappointed.


I wanted to drop it after ep 1 only but still pushed and completed till ep 3 before deciding to give this one up.

Now why I'm dropping this one? So my reasons are :


1. Acting - it's my first time with both the M & FL and I must say that they both have a long way to go in terms of acting. While the FL is still comparatively better the ML is all stiff, wooden while maintaining that scowl or stoic face. His acting was real bad.


2. Vfx and CGI - even though this drama is of a cheap production some scenes are really done nicely not gonna lie, but those cartoonish spirits and animals just threw me off. I felt like I was watching some cartoon which was cringe. While the CGI made sceneries looked fake.


2. Chemistry - I don't mind a slowburn romance if it's executed well but the problem with this one is I can't feel the chemistry between the leads at all. The ML looked like the flower boy next door while the FL looked like his sister or bestie. I can't just vision them together and think they'll work out romantically.


4. Adaptation done wrong - at the beginning they clearly state that this drama was adapted from a novel and even though I haven't read it, I heard that the story was almost completely changed. This was supposed to be a female centric story but they just made her weak who doesn't have any spiritual power, is homeless and got kicked out of the taoist clan, so much so that she could rely on the ML. Sigh. I hate when in Chinese dramaland writers and directors just always make the ML the invincible great hero.


5. Emotionally disconnected - as the leads are already bad at acting, I didn't feel anything when they acted the emotional scenes. I just couldn't empathize with them because they are not at all convincing. I could just only stare blankly at my screen. (The grandma character at the beginning was unnecessary tbh and why introduce her only to kill her after an episode?)


6. Story - the story and the explanation was pretty confusing for me sometimes. Idk whether it was because of the subs but it was hard to follow. The most unconvincing thing for me was to believe that the ML was a powerful dragon. From the get go of the story it was time an again mentioned that a dragon is a mysterious yet a very powerful creature but still you'll see in the very beginning that Su Ying (our evil woman) just swung her sword and the mighty dragon king (they addressed him that at the beginning) was already spitting out blood while pitifully lying on the ground. It nearly took her a few seconds to actually finish him. He was that gravely injured because of a stab, what kind of powerful dragon king was he that he was defeated so easily? Also I don't know where the story will lead to in the future but initial story is not convincing or interesting for me.


7. Comedy - the comedy aspect for me was pretty forced. There was nothing that actually made me laugh even a little.


8. Editing - it was choppy and abrupt and doesn't really give you the time to feel the scene and jump onto the next. There is no stability with the scenes.

While the starting animation and ost was good and led me to have high expectations, I was eventually pretty disappointed.


It's what I truly felt while watching this drama and those who've found this good then that might be because we have different perspective and taste.

Lire davantage