This was truly a delight!

I am an avid fan of the book series and I have watched every single adaptation. I can honestly say that this was actually the best one of the bunch. It was really surprising because I didn’t think any of the LTN series (past and future) will be able to compete after Sound of Providence (Zhu Yilong and Huang Junjie really made the Pingxie pairing for me—or so I thought!). Instead, this one surpassed Sound of Providence. The writing actually made sense and was not all over the place! There were no fillers, and they really made good use of the 36 episode allotment. I wish they would have made this one longer instead.

If you have read them, then you would know that the books mainly focus on Wu Xie, because the story is told from his perspective and we are limited to his narrative. So naturally, all the adaptations would focus on him, even if nothing of note is really happening. This adaptation broke that mould by showcasing the stories and perspectives of the other characters that actually help move the plot, even if it doesn't involve Wu Xie. We get a glimpse of the other side where we get to see how the other pieces fit into the puzzle!

The chemistry between all the actors—main and side characters—are amazing! I wasn’t expecting much from them when I first heard of this (because like I said, they’re competing with ZYL) but they actually made the characters for me, even more than ZYL and HJJ did. They fleshed them, and the relationships between them, out perfectly, in my opinion. Best Wu Xie and Xiao Ge relationship ever (I mean, Xiao Ge was angsting hard after Wu Xie in this, MORE OFTEN THAN NOT, that in itself should already tell you how good it was). Pangzi was actually portrayed as the third pillar of the Iron Triangle, instead of just someone who is there to serve as comic relief. I mean, he still was the comic relief, but we actually got to see him be the strong, competent and important Pangzi that he was written to be.

And then we have Hei Yan Jing and Xiao Hua. I have to be honest, I was actually looking forward more to see the Wu Xie- Xiao Hua (XiaoXie?) pairing, but when I got a Hei Yan Jing- Xiao Hua pairing instead, I found I'm actually here for it. I jumped ship real fast! We do see some XiaoXie moments still, of course, given their close bond/friendship, but it wasn’t as memorable as JingHua. Huo Xiu Xiu and Ah Ning are the most natural out of all the ones who portrayed their characters. Smart, strong and competent women, anyone?

The soundtrack was also perfect. I cant really speak to how well the lyrics fit, since I don’t speak Chinese, but I found its incorporation really fluid. I almost forgot they are just there as an accompaniment—I mean what do you mean they don’t do background music in real life? It just fits! Like they were meant to be there when they were, based on what’s happening.

This was a definitely a great watch, and one I would highly recommend. It is probably one of the only two of the adaptations that I can actually see myself watching over and over again. I only wish that we can get a second season with the same exact cast, because I WANT MORE! But given the adaptation’s history of switching actors every series, it most likely wont happen…and that makes me really sad.

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