Empty and Disappointed

If you're going to make a mafia show, be brave and give us a mafia show. Vegas is the only character I'd come back for a second series for, but because I genuinely like Apo as a person, I decided to finish this series with the mindset of it being a standard BL series. I initially dropped it at ep.10.

/Finale EDIT~
The series actually gave me a little of what I wanted/expected in the last 2 episodes and it has been left with an intriguing plot twist that paves the way for a sequel, which is interesting. They must have been planning/hoping for a season 2 from the start. I felt like I had seen the end of Act 1 rather than an end to the series. This show LOVES plot twists and I wanted that from a 'mafia' theme, but it's very frustrating when the writers can't maintain a rhythm to execute it well.
Overall, if I had gone into this series thinking that it's just another Thai BL (or better yet, no expectations at all) I probably would have enjoyed this more, rating it more around 7. The noncon and repeated loss of plot would still have kept the rating down. As other reviewers have said, this show is wildly popular because of it's 18+ content and the intense idolisation of the cast and the new Kings of BL couples, MileApo who say they don't do fanservice but they very clearly do, Mile more so because it sells and it's working.
I'm exposing myself here as I do feel very emotionally drawn to Apo. I see a lot of myself in him and I can't help but want to cheer him on, so if there's a season 2 or whatever comes next, I'm likely to be back for him. Bible who plays Vegas, is another honourable mention. Only then I'll remember my lesson and leave my brain off. //


I started watching shortly after ep.2 aired and I'm legitimately devasted at how this has turned out and no, it's not because of the violent content. The trailer promised us everything we wanted from this show and I was hooked from the first episode. Heaven knows the BL genre has a routine. A system that works and after a while, it gets stale, frustrating and needlessly melodramatic.
KinnPorsche started off sexy, tense, violent, dangerous, everything you'd expect from a show classified as a 'Mafia BL' but each week as I've waited, the story gets less and less of what it promised and is just falling into the same old BL routine. The route that works. Drama for dramas sake.

I loved episode one. It was everything I thought the show would be. Two humanly broken characters trying to survive their world while colliding into each others.
/Finale EDIT~ I got that flavour back in ep. 13 & 14. If they can keep the plot on that level for whatever sequel is in the works, a lot more people wouldn't be left feeling so angry about this series.//

I can forgive the drunken kiss in ep.3. I'm an adult. I've gone to parties and been drunk. If you live your life, this will probably happen at some point. Understandable human screw ups and Kinn was shown to feel bad about it. Cool. I like that.

But then the first red flag happens in ep4 when a drugged up Porsche gets r*ped by Kinn. It doesn't matter that he was 'seducing' him or Kinn was holding back or that the piano music made it seem really romantic. It was r*pe. There could have been alternate scenes to this situation that would have given just as much sexual tension without involving this very toxic trope in LGBT+ media. But I was willing to wait it out and see how this was dealt with.
The next episode is spent torturing Porsche further while he deals with ptsd and Kinn feeling bad about it but not actually doing anything, and just rubbing salt into the wounds because he was 'distancing himself'. Then it's all forgiven because Porsche realises he's in love with Kinn and has put it behind him by the time Kinn manages to say something, at the end of episode 6 after their happy little vacation in a forest.
Am I surprised? No. Not shocked in the slightest. This happens a lot in BLs because when it's two hot guys, it's just rough sex. They're tough enough not to make a big deal out of it right?
Followed by lots of romantic fluff and the ever eye rolling 'return of the ex/third party' arc. Again. More drama for dramas sake because Tawan was only there to annoy you, as most third party arcs usually are, and Kinn didn't involve Porsche in his plans because we don't know what Kinn is going to do from one moment to the next.

If hot guys having sex, every where and anywhere is what you're looking for, cool. I'm a member of the LGBT+ community and every now and then eye candy is fine. But I honestly had higher hopes for this one. It really isn't as revolutionary as everyone says it is. A new standard in filming and sex scenes for the BL genre, absolutely, but revolutionary? Absolutely not.

----Further thoughts on story & characters----

The actors seem like really sweet people who are just trying to make the world a better place and they did the best they could with the script given to them. And personally, is one of the biggest reasons why I think this show is doing so well. They are talented, likeable people, and everyone has the hots for them. It's always a winning combination.

*Kinn could have been a phenomenal character. He is deep and complicated but we never see why. Only that he doesn't trust anyone because of an ex and is currently obsessed with Porsche. He's super rich and acts like every seme ever. He exists to be rich and sexy with a big **** and that's it. He's completely colourless despite always wearing red and some pretty nice suave suits. He just mopes about in his pyjamas drinking and being jealous in the first few episodes. We only see inside Kinn's head when it comes to Porsche and even then, it's glimpses. Kinn is as much an emotional fort to the audience as he is to the rest of the characters. What Kinn says is controlled by the writers. With the exception of the forest episode where he suddenly transforms into a love sick puppy, what he says and what he doesn't say is purely for drama and emotional tension which is lazy writing and infuriating for me as the viewer. He is also shown to be able to fight pretty well but that was only convenient once to ramp up the sexual tension between him and Porsche. You would also imagine a character like this to be exceptionally intelligent but this is never explored either. No intense out manoeuvring or mind games despite all the chess analogy. Oh yeah, and he forgets about Pete because convenience for plot, and having sex with Porsche is more important.
No real mafia business transactions beside once beating up an old man for vague reasons and to slightly injure Porsche to further his romance.

I honestly still don't know what the family does other than a very brief overview where even Porsche doesn't really care and falls asleep, so we see and understand very little about the family dealings. There was an Italian branch but they appear, disappear and then reappear to be slaughtered. No other purpose than to serve as a shoot out.

This is not a Mafia BL. It's a BL with a slight mafia theme.

*Porsche.
You can do anything when you look as good as Apo Nattawin. Can't lie. He is a stunning looking human being. Every shot, he's glowing, captured from every angle as the camera lingers over his sculpted features and abs and just teasing full frontal as the camera pans down some shower shots. Apo is the main visual in this show and the camera crew knew it. Unfortunately, his character Porsche, is frustrating and stupid. A little more depth than Kinn as the show is mainly his POV but the writers failed him. Hard. He started off strong, a sexy cool guy, a martial artist who took down armed men in minutes, an underground boxer driven by money problems, and escapes Kinn's kidnapping. A character who has raised his little brother from childhood with little help from a gambling addicted uncle who just seems to make things worse. He is understandably reluctant to join the mafia as gangs have ruled his life since his parents death.
Once he's with Kinn, this is all forgotten. He's bumbling, childish and annoying. Only every now and then do the writers remember he has skills and it's still never put to use. I was expecting a man fighting to protect his little brother, tooth and nail in a cold mafia world, with conflicting difficult emotions about his job, his role and his burgeoning love for his boss. Nope. We get a useless fool getting drunk, starting fights and needing to be saved from them, and suddenly, and almost randomly, in love with Kinn. Then he spends the rest of the show mostly in his underwear, doing something in water and having sex with Kinn.
Apo's body is more important than Porsche's story.
/Finale EDIT~
I cannot emphasise that last line enough. Apo may have seen this as a challenge as an actor but as the viewer, he might as well be made to do poster or calendar at this point. We've seen everything besides his genitals that are carefully hidden behind Kinn's arm and clever camera angles. Nudity is natural when the plot makes sense. This is just pure fan service //


Kinn and Porsche are obviously the main focus of the show. Their name is the title. But it really is just about Kinn and Porsche's romance and that's it. Everything else is an add on or a serves as a background. Two other couples are squeezed in for variety but neither really make sense.

Kinn's little brother, Kim and Porsche's little brother, Chay, starts out with an actual plot on Kim's behalf and has just developed into cringe. Jeff is the second visual in this show but he's not as sexualised as Apo since there's no sex so they're just focusing on his 'silent cool guy' persona, leaving him as a blank wall. Kim is clearly, and seems like the only, mafia brains in this whole show but there's so much time spent on Kinn and Porsche that we don't really see a lot of what he's up to or why.
Chay is sweet and innocent and to be fair, seems almost too pure for someone who has had the upbringing he's had. If Porsche worked that hard to protect Chay from the cruelty surrounding him, we never see the depths of this in Porsche's behaviour.
As adorable as Chay is made out to be, he is flat and one dimensional serving as nothing more than the brother of the protagonist and a chess piece for Kim's detective work. Much like Kim, there just wasn't enough spacing for their plot for me to be satisfied with it. It just seems like a rush to develop a romance and create more drama from it.

Then finally, there's Vegas and Pete. Stockholm syndrome. There's meant to be a relationship out of this one but I honestly couldn't see it. A very toxic and abusive one, yes. But the loving, romantic one that fans are hoping for. In the next 3 episodes? Really? I feel bad for the BDSM community because this is not how it works and I'll be really annoyed if we're using the word 'love' at the end of this.
/Finale EDIT~ I actually appreciate how this one developed. Unfortunately, they were using the word love after this, however, it was portrayed more for what it was, 'trauma bonding' but being confused as love. This twisted dynamic was almost what I had been expecting from Kinn and Porsche but the plot was still very rushed and again, left open for a season two. I would actually be interested to see more of this one, if it was done right. //

The rest of the characters exist to fill out the bodies. We know nothing about them other than they are the cardboard cut outs of the giddy, goofy friends but are still the best bodyguards there, or are the love experts for Kinn and Porsche because that's the only thing that matters here.
Porsche has two school friends who are so rarely seen, it's like the writers remembered them at the last minute and had to add them in during post.
The ep 9 & 10 plot twists were barely plot twists because we rarely seen the characters involved. I can't feel anything for a character who had no development, no interactions other than be bullies to Porsche, with 3 second cameos every other episode.
/Finale EDIT~ the characters in question are never spoken of again, further exposing how little the writers cared about them. //

Kinn's older brother Tankhun is another example of this is just another BL that just happens to have a mafia background. He's the camp character. Every BL has to have one for some reason because heaven forbid a gay show is taken seriously. There's no development for him either. He's supposed to be a damaged character which is why Kinn is the heir and not him but instead of letting us feel any pity for his pain, he's reduced to the whacky comic relief character with an outlandish wardrobe. I can almost let the cartoon sense of humour throughout the show pass but Tankhun is just too much and almost insulting 10 episodes in.

The cinematographer is the real hero of this show. They know what they're doing. They know how to capture the most beautiful shots, make use of lighting, colour psychology, framing, let everyone know there was a bigger budget than usual for the show with nice cars and expensive hotel rooms. There is a never ending source of beauty happening around the characters. There's no rating for them but if there was, I'd give them a 9.

This is meant to be 14 episodes and the pacing is like it were to be much longer. I would be guessing 50 if I hadn't previously known. I would be more accepting if that were the case but it's not. This show is all sparkle and no taste and in the end that's all it's going to be. All that budget, those gorgeous trailers/art films released before airing. It's all hype and it's a major let down.

Lire davantage

Wuxian Sleuthing And The Search For Peace

I need to be hooked from the first few episodes or the a.d.d drops the show. I was about half way through episode 2 when I had an itching to stop watching but I didn't and holy cow, am I glad I didn't. (I now need to go and give the other shows I dropped a chance lol)

Plot -
I love watching a mystery unfold. Battle of wits can be just as, if not more entertaining that combat. There's a lot of information to digest though. There were a few times i had to rewatch just to understand what had happened. It's one of those mysteries that deliberately with hold information to surprise you. I dont mind that but I can imagine some people might find that annoying and perhaps even lazy for detective writing as it can be fun to try and work it out with the characters. I loved watching the characters unfold their pasts and it was done without too much melodrama and was very human. As is the case with c-dramas there's so much happening and such a big cast that there were things kind of being cut or left out, never revisited again simply because it just wouldn't fit into the timeframe. Minor complaint though as I found the pacing pretty consistent over all. I'm usually pretty good with foreshadowing so there were a few things I predicted but there were also some things that got me. The villains were a little unpredictable at times and weren't too cliche for this genre.

Fang is a slow evolution. It was only when I was in the 20s episodes that I began to notice it. At the start, he really was very spoiled and arrogant and had to be guided through the mystery solving and watching him mature slowly is like watching a child grow up. He really does come into his own character eventually, both by Xiangi's teachings and also, most importantly, through his own merit, so that by the end, you really do believe that he is the next big thing in the martial arts world, and that is enjoyable for me as a viewer.

Xangi definitely needed new friends though. Once the Ex arc was dealt with they kind of just disappeared until the end and I kept wondering to myself if I was going to see them again. They very much took a back seat when I thought they would play a larger role but again, c-drama's love a 100 character cast and then can't fit them all in. All but one, I honestly felt like these glorified friends were pretty useless. Thankfully, they didn't play too much into needless drama which I am thankful for because I really hate that. The traitor friend was the only friend I liked because he was the only one that showed some kind of depth. The rest of them just kind of stood around or just whined.

Music -
The music was awesome in this show lol I loved the tribal humming happening during the fight scenes. It was a beautiful mix of the traditional chinese instruments combined with the more tribal slightly middle eastern sounds to add to that ancient dark magic feel that follows the main plot.

Acting -
Shout out to the ML, Cheng Li because there were a few times I kind of wanted to cry with him. He was both hilarious to watch and also got me in my feels a few times. I only call out actors when they really get me and his work here will definitely have me looking into more of his shows.

Designs -
There were so many sets in this one I could not keep up but it's ok, they all were a backdrop to the variety of mysteries being solved so well done set creators, they had their work cut out for them in this one. But mostly importantly, the creativity of that ancient chinese mobile home. That is straight out of a ghibli anime, it's so cute LOL The outfit designs weren't too stand outish to me but I think that's good for this kind of show. There's so much happening and so many places that a simple wardrobe looks better. There are plenty of visuals already in the background that if the characters were in anything more ornate, it would be just too much.

Ending Thoughts -
It is an open ended ending so forewarning for that, seen in the special 41 episode. However, this is the first time I've watched a show and my brain saw two endings at once lol It really is a choose left or right kind of ending so I can absolutely accept either one but when I put the rest of the plot into perspective, the themes it dealt with and the consistent messages it kept coming back to, as well as the Lead character's journey, I'm inclined to lean more into the bittersweet ending.
We begin the series at sea and end looking out at sea. Xiangi was meant to die in that opening scene and somehow survives. In his quest to find his marital brother's remains, he finds another reason to live. Martial arts was thrust on him from he was a small child and then propelled forward by his genius and youthful arrogance, so when he was alone and making decisions for himself, he found that a simple life was what he actually wanted. It gave him the peace and wisdom he needed throughout the series. Even though it feels like he's a character that doesn't seem to change, it's because he doesn't really have to. He's dying, We're told that right from the start and that he's tired. All he wants to do his find his friend's body so he can die in peace. The only change he makes in the whole series is opening himself up to being cared about again. This might annoy some viewers as it can feel like he's just martyring himself and running away from his friends again but I can understand his reasoning here. He's already learnt what he needs to know throughout the whole show, and he brings that sense of peace to help heal old wounds and tie up loose ends, from his youth. He admits his fault and regrets and does what he can to right those wrongs, and teach what he's learnt, so that when I got to the ending scene, it honestly just felt more natural to end with his death and that his body had gone back out to sea like a karmic completion. He was given a second chance so that he could be at peace. And honestly, I don't feel like that's a sad ending. The character feels finished.

EDIT- I was reading some other comments from viewers and realised that some of them felt like Xiangi had unalived himself at the end and since I'm going with the death ending, I don't want to stress anyone out so if you've read my spoiler, hello, don't worry, let me explain.
I personally don't think he would do that. We seen in a previous scene with Fang that Xiangi is pretty much at death's door by the end. I understand that Wuxia is based in Buddhism and there's a shot of the Monk that Xiangi was in touch with meditating and then stopping suddenly to look up at the Buddha statue when the sunlight hits, reminiscent of the first mystery, signifying a spiritual ascension. Xiangi explains briefly in an earlier episode that he was told he didn't have any Buddha threads in him, as though he was just destined to repeat his karmic cycles as per Buddhist beliefs. When we see him dressed up in all white on the beach, I feel like that's a portrayal that he has died on the beach but has repaid his karma and that's his soul ascending into his next life, to be reborn free either in another life or in Nirvana. Xiangi wanted to go fishing and feel the sun, so going to the beach feels right, and just as the waves washed him up there, it took his body back out to the sea, and that's why we're looking at the waves in the final shot. From a Buddhist perspective, that's not a sad ending. His soul was set free. He was long done with the martial arts world and passed his torch to Fang, while also sparing him and his family from the Emperor's wrath and paranoia. For me personally, I feel like that's what truly makes him an Ascended Master. He proved himself to be noble and a true leader and his afterlife will reward him with that, in whatever form that takes.
****


Overall, I would sit and watch this again. Don't know if it's something I'd on in the background though. I think this is one I would have to want to sit and watch through all the mysteries again with a snack.

Lire davantage

A Slow Fall From Grace

Rated ?‍♂️

I thought this show was going to be my first Unicorn rating. But of course, in those last 10 episodes, everything started to fall like the Xue family. For the most part, the entirety of the show is a back and forth between the FL's love interests and the slow death of the Xue family. I mean, they get a few swings in but really not as much as I thought they would, not as much as they should have considering how much of a presence they had.

Plot - The first 10 episodes had a great setting. The Fl grew up in poverty and dreamed of being the empress. She uses all wiles and tricks to get what she wants only for it all to backfire and end with her death. In a world without magic, this is explained by showcasing the title. It's a young author's story who is frustrated with the demands from her publisher and continues her novel as a rewrite. This is how the FL wakes up as her 18 year old self and is given a chance to 'rewrite' her story.
She carries a lot of guilt and sadness for her past behaviour and this haunts her for the most part of the show, trying to give back the positions she stole and right who she wronged. This narrative carries on for the most but slowly starts to change over to our ML as we discover who he really is and what is true motives are.
The hidden plot is basically the Empress Dowager and her brother have been conspiring to get the Xue family onto the throne and bring in a new era. I can't help but feel a little disappointed that with this iron clad presence, they did not have the weight that I thought they would have. I mean they tried but for the most part, Duke Xue was pretty useless and the kids were stupid.
They were stopped at every attempt they made. I guess that makes for easy watching but it got kind of funny after a while, as the whole show had nothing to do with the FL redeeming herself at all, and was just a slow dismantling of the Xue family's supposed power which we didn't really get to see a lot of.

As the the relationship between the FL and her 3 suitors, one was the childhood friend trope, one was what you expect from a romance story and the other was just a messed up person grappling for something sincere, so of course we get the third one.
It didn't really feel anything for the first suitor but loved that he became a handsome young general in the end and I like to think that he ended up with the Princess. I think they would have made a cute pair.
The 2nd one, as much as a prince charming that he was, he didn't suit the FL's personality. He was never seen to be anything other than the proto type of justice and noble character. Having said that, I did like him and didn't think the FL deserved him. Would have been nice to let him move on and show him doing so rather than just being that friend that's pining after another man's wife.

And the 3rd one, our ML, was doing well up until the cave scene. Desperation in your mental illness is one thing but I felt like from then on, this intense, all or nothing character just wasn't done very well. It didn't feel romantic to me. It just felt like a desperate man with severe PTSD begging the FL to stay in his life, no matter how romantic they tried to make it. At times, it even felt abusive but then I don't like being controlled either so I have a hard time imaging a woman like the FL would fall in love with the ML. It would have made more sense to have given stronger hints and scenes of her feelings developing earlier with the ML, or developing sexual tension to help round out the dark and sexy vibe they were going for, but instead they focused on building up the love with suitor no.2 just so she could randomly break up with him because she suddenly thought his mother's death was her fault, again.

Overall, I just don't feel like the relationship between the ML and the FL was well developed enough. Yes, too broken people with traumatic backgrounds falling in love but this just felt like being relentlessly pursued and then suddenly being in love. It was a bit of a failure and as much as I can give credit for getting away with as much of a sex scene as they could, it gave a similar vibe as to when Mr. Gray was popular. Dark and intense love is not abusive, emotional manipulative and controlling. I don't find that sexy at all. The icing on the cake is grabbing her by the throat twice, to force a kiss. Yeah. No. We were crossing into r*pe fantasies at time and that shouldn't be anyone's thing. Yes, I am kink shaming.
It should not be up to the FL to 'save' the ML and be his medicine. When two broken characters come together, you really have to show the understanding and feelings growing between them and I don't feel satisfied with what I saw.
The ML bullying his son at the end just seemed mean spirited with a does of gaslighting.

Acting- Not bad for the most part. Really didn't like how the ML would try to make his voice deeper when he arguing with the FL as if that made him sexier. It sounded a bit silly to me because I could hear how forced it was.

Music- I really loved the soundtrack to this. 'Won't see you in 3 thousand lives' is already on my playlist.

Rewatch - Overall, it was a good watch and I was invested for most of the ride. I guess I could watch it again if the mood takes me.

Lire davantage

Nearly.

This was my 2nd venture into Chinese fantasy and much like it's predecessor, I found that there were so many characters I could barely keep up. I am slowly learning that this is very common in Chinese shows. The casts are huge. My poor brain.

This one starts with just full on attack of information that it's a little hard to digest at first. I can tell this has come from a book series because they were just info dumping all over the plot.

For me, at it's heart, this a redemption tale for the two male leads, and I loved the set up. Zhou, a tormented assassin's group leader and Wen, Chief of Ghost Valley. Both of them essentially the 'bad guy'. Neither of them have any will to live, Zhou is consumed by remorse for his past behaviour and is basically torturing himself while he drinks himself into a stupor waiting for death. On the other hand, we have Wen who is consumed with grief and hatred, and pretty much has the attitude that if the world is going to set me on fire and laugh as I burn, I'm going to take as many mofos as I can with me.
It's deep and it's complicated, and I love that since this is meant to be a romantic couple. It's not so much a 'love conquers' theme, it's finding a reason to live beyond pain, even in little every day things.

Having said that, there is very clear homosexual feelings from the get go. My first chinese series was Untamed, and it was much more subtle. You could pass it off as just a deep brotherhood. This is not. This is outright flirting and sexual feelings. At times I was in shock that this was allowed. But it adds to the romanticism of finding something to live for. In this case, it's each other, which ultimately leads you to th ending sequence. I think we jumped a little too quickly into 'soulmate' but that might be a culture clash. I don't know if soulmate has a more platonic meaning in asia since the sages of ajni were called soulmates.

What first started to let me down, was the constant back and forth between the two leads. I think they broke up about 4 times, only to be normal again 3 scenes later. I found that a little jarring and unnecessary drama, another pet peeve in writing. Speaking of which, there is major unnecessary drama towards the end and even though I saw it coming from about episode 15, it still sucked to see. I understand this happens in the novels so it's on the OG writer but still, it's something that really peeves me off in many types of shows. It was deliberately built up over the show, just to hurt your feelings at the end. I don't feel it added a whole lot to the actual plot.

I did not know about the extra episode, 37 or MV style ending so when I got to the end of 36, I was punched in the face. Understandably with the censors and they wanted to keep a happy ending, but it's such a random place to end a show. It really does feel like we're missing episodes and apparently they did cut several down due to the budget running out. (or they were actually shut down but that just might be me) When I managed to get the ending online, I was fairly satisfied with it. It's pretty romantic and ironic that the show started with both characters, alone, wandering and wanting to die, where now together, immortal on a mountain.

I feel like what let the series down were the cuts the most. As we were reaching the end, there were a few things just being forgotten about or happening off screen.

Visually, it's the usual dream like, chinese fantasy but I have to admit that I didn't like the styling on this one. I found Wen's robes to be unflattering on him the most. I liked the first one he's in, the white silver ones, and the Chief red robes. Both of which we barely see him in. I found the shoulder cuts and colours just to be unflattering on him. I think keeping everything soft and lose on him, would have looked better. I can tell by the hair they were trying to keep things a little more in line with historical accuracy but I just didnt like it, or Zhou's hair. You can tell it's a choppy cut with extensions. It's a good looking cast but the styling definitely needed more work.

I would still rewatch it but I feel like there would be scenes I would be skipping.

Lire davantage

Le Sigh Part 2 - The Power of Love

Rated ?

My original review 27th April 24 -

Le Sigh

I really, really wanted to like this but I just couldn't get into it. I tried 3 times but my brain just won't let me accept a romantic relationship with a lead who basically acts like a child. If it was meant to be friendship I'd be fine but I'm expecting romance from a character who is basically a 5 year old in an adult body and I just can't move past that. Also, the harem of fairies. Oh please. My first, 2 months now as of writing this, adventure into chinese dramas, I'm starting to see a pattern of shows that just aren't for me.

Visually, this show is stunning. A lot of green screen LOL The sets are glorious. It even just looks like a chinese fantasy. Palaces floating in the sky. Ornate head pieces etc The opening credits were actually my favourite thing LOL the artwork had my mouth open and I think that's why I just really wanted to like this.

It's one of those shows, I think this is my 3rd one now, where everything looks so grand but I just don't like the characters. This time I at least liked the ML but that was it. You can't force yourself to watch a show that you're just bored to tears watching. It's like a christmas cookie. All visual, no flavour.

My updated review on 15th June 24

I wrote the above review after I had initially dropped the show but because I can't write two reviews, and people had like the previous review, I just had to delete and write this instead.

At the time, I was fairly new to c-dramas in general so I was just going on instinct at the time. I have now, thanks to Immortal Samsara, have learned that Xianxia's spend a lot of time laying out groundwork for the world building and characters before they give you the plot, which seems to be happening around episode 7 or 8. I dropped this show in the first minute or 2 of episode 8 and realised that I had probably dropped this minutes before the plot arrived. So out of curiosity, I went back to it, and if I had kept watching for another 5 or 10 minutes, I'd have seen the FL's bully get a glorious smackdown LOL
And I was right. The plot arrived with that event.

So I said, ok, I will give this one more chance. For the most part, my original review still stands. It was like Harry Potter all over again. The logical part of my brain can see why this is popular. It looks good, the characters, most of them redeem themselves, really love that Danyin's conclusion, that's awesome. It's a pretty cohesive plot through out, no major plot holes, all the characters had legit reasons, even if it was just obsession and had a really sweet message under it all.

But I just didn't like it. There was a cog in brain refusing to move and unfortunately, there's nothing I can do about that. I just didn't like. It was boring. I think it was around episode 20 when I really started to skipped scenes. I just wanted it to end.

Like I said in my first review, the ML made this show for me. He was the only one I was interested in. I love an anti-hero and to be honest, even as a villain, I loved him, he was hilarious. Everyone else who might have had a reason to stand out to me just faded into the background as the plot hooked them up in a side pairing I didn't care about.
That dragon. My man. How they wronged you by dampening down your potential.
And once again with Xianxia Immortals, the Emperor is the biggest A*hole and everyone is so self righteous without logic they make me support the villains.

My original rating was -
story -3 moved to a 7. I don't think the writing was too bad. It flowed well, it was understandable, the characters had their reasons and the narrative was very plain and simple - the power of love and obsession, and what it does to us.

Acting- went from 2- 6, this all because of Dylan Wang's portrayal of the ML. That's literally, he was the only reason I managed to finish the show. This was the Moon Supreme show for me. He gave good passionate kisses. I appreciate that for a chinese show that seemed to be scared of showing any lip movement whatsoever.

Music- 2-3 -Not much change to the music, I didn't really care for it and found it a little intrusive and loud over romantic scenes.

My rewatch remains the same though, at 1. I am unlikely to watch this again.

Overall, I can only give this one extra point simply because I loved the ML character. Everyone else, meh. I just didn't care.

Lire davantage

Wibbley Wobbley Time Wimey with several shots of Caffeine

Rated - ?‍♀️with a little nap in the middle ?

For my review of White Cat Legend, I hated the cgi cat face and paws and gave a description of what I would have preferred, and damn, I love being right ?I got a little bit of it in this one. He looked great ?

Plot - I find some people hate the Immortals going to the Mortal realm plot so the creators of this one laughed and added several mortal realm journeys as the entire point of the plot lol

We open with the story of a great evil empress, Cang Hai who was defeated by the God of War and now there is a prediction that she may return. Our God of War, the ML, is isolated and moody. His primordial spirit was damaged in his battle with Cang Hai, and he suffered memory loss, and has gone to the mortal realm for numerous different trials in an effort to heal it but nothing has worked. With the prediction that Cang Hai will soon be resurrected by her vengeful clan, he agrees to the trials he hasn't tried yet. Love Trials.

Enter our FL. Once a cloud, she was brought to form and raised by the Red Thread Master, the master of the Marriage Pavilion, responsible for match making in the human realm. Our FL is coerced into taking on the responsibility of finding a woman to go through the love trials with the God of War or the Marriage Pavilion will be destroyed. She auctions this role off to the God of War's many admirers to raise funds and in the process of tying the red thread of fate to the sleeping ML's wrist, accidentally gets tied to him as well, thus beginning the trials.

The first trial is accidental, short and funny as they take the form of a tiger and a pig, which becomes a running theme throughout the show.
Each life is different, furthering the romantic plot. The 2nd life or the first 'official' life is the longest running, starting in childhood and going through to the characters eventual deaths. Each life gets progressively shorter in episodes as we start building the momentum.
Back in the Immortal realm, the leads eventually find out that by the FL sacrificing her life for the ML, she is giving him her own primordial spirit as they share the same origins. This leads us back to discovering what actually happened in the famous battle with Cang Hai and who the real villain is.

There is an interconnectedness that I really liked within the plot. As some characters keep reappearing in different lifetimes, casual mentions of previous life characters to give us a sense of time between each life, as well as a side plot unravelling with a secondary couple. It feels like one big web and I like when writers do that as it creates connections between the different segments and helps the flow of the story telling when you are using several very different characters, environments and backgrounds.
We see an array of sets and designs in each life, from middle class life, sects, royalty and demons. And each one with it's own aesthetic that mirrors the lifetimes of the characters.

Unfortunately, I found at times, the plot dragged. The thing is, I felt like the pacing was fine. The first life had to be the longest because it was the one that built the feelings the ML had for the FL. But every time we got back to the Immortal realm, I felt like the writers had hit a wall. There was a sudden drop in momentum. That's the problem with using several different stories to create one larger one. The viewer spends time getting wrapped up in the mortal realm arc that when we go back to the 'real' plot, we almost feel like what we just witnessed didn't matter. Although there is some essence of history repeating it's self, there's nothing more than the romantic element. In one life, the FL commits suicide knowing that the ML won't be returning from battle and decides to just say 'hey, I'll see ya back at home'. This hurt my feelings a little bit. The first one dealt with this well, in that yes, they return to the Immortal realm but the mortal lives they lived will be forgotten. The body dies, the person ceases to exist ever again. There is importance placed on their earthly lives but then after that, they just forget about it. Afterwards, there was perhaps too much of a casual approach to the mortal lives.

There was also a joke about cooking a pet pig for dinner. Not cute. I was very annoyed. The little pig lived but was forgotten once that life ended.

Another reason for the drag brings me to my next point.

Acting - Ding Yu Xi has beautiful, cat like eyes, and a very expressive face. Unfortunately his co star, our FL, is not quite on the same level. I only call out actors when they stand out specifically and I'm afraid Yang Chao Yue stood out for all the wrong reasons. Her character started off with that really annoying, pouty, childlike voice that Chinese actresses are sometimes made to do. Thankfully as the character evolves, she loses it but she is severely lacking the 'umph' to pull off the emotional scenes. I was actually skipping through her death scenes, scenes that were meant to be emotional, were just really grating my nerves. She was more annoying as an actress than as a character, and that doesn't happen often. I was drama kid, I can give actors some room to grow but wow, this just felt awful to watch. I haven't seen any other work from this actress so I'm willing to make it a directional problem but there were just too many times where her portrayal just felt so wooden and dry, like she was on her 100th night of a touring show. The emotional crying scenes were painful, like a child pretending to cry for attention. Ding Yu Xi managed to counteract this with his own quips and quirks to keep me watching but he shouldn't have to and that's just sad as a performer.

Music - I quite enjoyed the music to this one. There were two specifically that stood out. The dramatic one and the bah dah bah one that played during the cute moments.

Rewatch - The romance in this isn't particular intense and the kisses are simple, which may have contributed to the feeling of drag for me, when we returned to the Immortal realm. It feels as though, even though the leads have had lifetimes together, the romance never leaves that teenage phase of hand holding and promising to be together always. It is however an enjoyable watch but I did skip scenes so I'm unlikely to watch it again.

Lire davantage

"When they carry out the punishment, look away, don't be afraid"

Karma waltz in and laughed HAHAHA Puny Mortal. BOW TO ME!
LITERALLY in my last review, for Ashes of Love, I had a whole damn rant being like, yeah, no, Xianxia and me aren't going to me friends, we dont jam, we're different elements, blah blah blah, unless Cheng Yi is involved I'm not interested.

Karma came for my ass so damn hard in this show, I'm going to be reborn bruised. I am speechless at how much I enjoyed this show and I can see from the reviews, that it's a show with a lot of criticism, especially with loss of plot and drag so of course me being me, my soul got sucked into this show and I binged it all weekend. My eyes are red, my head hurts but damn, what a ride LOL

I dropped this at episode 2 a few weeks back thinking, eh, I'll probably hate it but decided I had to be a good wife and watch Cheng Yi's parts. It was around episode 5 when I started to get interested so, yeah, it took a while to get going but I feel like that's very common with Xianxia. At ep 7, during a big battle, I knew stuff was going down. You don't introduce a big battle at episode 7 without it being a big plot device. From then, I was absolutely hooked.

Keeping this as short as I can, character wise, I loved most of the characters, and that rarely happens and that the fact that this is a xianxia, this was the Immortals sucker punching me into Monday with bloodshot eyes and getting drunk at my misery.

Cheng Yi - my man. This is why you are my bias. He has mastered how to speak with his eyes. Definitely prefer this to Love and Redemption, all though L&R is growing on me. He's a lot more 'fluid' in his acting here. I felt like perhaps it was just just how he was directed in L& R but he seems so much more comfortable here, so much so that he plays 3 different characters. Our 'original' ML, the Heavenly Emperor, Ying Yaun who is very tight lipped, straight collared and by the book. His mortal incarnation for his mortal realm trials, Tang Zhou who is much more playful and ambitious, and Ying Yaun's father, who pretty much starts everything with his ambition to rule all 3 realms, which by the way, Cheng Yi needs to play a villain. Like. I NEEED the man to play a villain because holy hell, I was not prepared for crazy eyed and silver wigged Cheng Yi.

Our FL, although played by the same actress, thankfully was not as dense as her Ashes of Love character. I actually fell in love with Yan Dan myself. She's pretty bright and playful and honest. And there were times when her reactions made me laugh or I said 'ohh cute' out verbally. So this is a first for me so far in all c-dramas I've watched, I usually never love the FL. Yan Dan I loved. I don't mind if the FL is a little weak. I prefer brains over brawn and as she's a lotus spirit who cuts out her own heart to save Ying Yaun, twice, it's perfectly reasonable that she's going to need some physical protection. And when you like the FL, I can walk her highs and lows with her rather than just watching for Cheng Yi.

I always feel that chemistry between leads is up to the viewer and personally, I felt the love and the heartache. Xianxia strikes me as a genre that you either love or hate and one of the most common criticisms is jumping between worlds. I understand that can break the flow for the viewer but this didn't for me. I followed the whole way. It is a little slow to start, the plot hits us in episode 7 and then the love actually starts to build afterwards. When everything reaches a pressure cooker pain, I was jumping off the cliff with Yan Dan. It's around episode 16 when we go to the mortal realm and we stay there for a good 30 episodes but I didn't feel disjointed. It felt very natural. Yan Dan was turned into a demon and just drops out of the sky having had her memories erased by a traumatised Ying Yaun and returns to her playful and spirited self. Ying Yaun inflicts the mortal trials on himself and as his childhood is mentioned, I believe he was actually reborn as human.
The relationship then repeats it's self but only this time, there's lessons learned. Yan Dan learns more about what it means to be in love and Ying Yaun, as Zhou, chooses his heart over his responsibilities. So when we get back to the Immortals, those lessons are pretty engraved in the characters as their love cements in the middle of the actual plot.

I understand how a lot of people can find this boring or draggy as the mortal realm and most of it's characters have very little do with the actual plot. There are villains but only temporary. They are easily dealt with and yet I was never bored. I was invested the whole way through and I have no idea why. I liked the little side quests and characters. I liked the relationship building between the leads. My only defence is Cheng Yi's eyes hypnotised me through the screen and I plead innocence because, I should have lost interest but I didnt. I couldn't stop watching.

Yumo was a very a satisfactory character to watch. He started off almost like a teenage boy who develops feelings for Yan Dan but it never embitters him. It's this love that pushes him to the mortal realm where he travels for 800 years looking for Yan Dan, unaware that she's stuck in the limbo river because she can't let go of her memories. So he has all that time to travel and cultivate so when we see him again, he's a very experienced and mature man and honestly, he was a little sexy to me. What was really lovely was although his feelings for Yan Dan were strong, and there was a little back and forth with Zhou, he never left Yan Dan's side. He was never cunning or deceitful. He was a true friend. And accepted in the end that he wasn't for her but chose to protect her nonetheless. That was very mature and sweet and appreciated the groundedness of the character.

Another character I want to add briefly is Fairy Ying Deng. She was set up to be the usual, obsessed with the ML bully but she gets shot down very early. Beautifully might I add, by YY, and instead of lashing out in the ridiculous way that these characters always do, by blaming it all on Yan Dan, she lashed out at Yan Dan and Ying Yaun equally. There's a nice cathartic downfall before she returns in the mortal realm and I'll be damned, I felt sorry for the girl. Again. I shouldn't have but I did. She just seemed so pathetic, I couldn't help it. She also made a gorgeous demon and I wish she had always been a demon. She looked way better with messy hair and red eyes than in all the pearled garbed of the heavenly realm.

Part one is 38 eps. Part two is 21 - 59 eps. Thankfully, I watched it on viki, so I seen early that there were 2 specials. If I had felt that 59 was the end, I might have been physically sick. How dare they. But I'm learning how common this seems to be with c dramas. Almost like a sneaky way of keeping people paying for a subscription. But keeping the 2 specials in mind, I found the true ending to be very fulfilling and satisfactory. Both YD and YY get the life they wanted together, the son they had dreamed off and YD gets to be a writer. Meeting up with her friends, taking in demons to build a theatre group and getting to see the reborn friend she lost earlier in the mortal realm arc. Whether or not they are mortal isn't answered but it doesnt seem like they were physically reborn as they live in the house they meet up in after their deaths but I honestly dont mind it so much, I was just happy to see them together and getting to live out the dreams they wanted.

One massive plot hole though was Lu Ming not recognising Ying Deng in the mortal realm, and felt that he was kind of brushed aside a little too easily having been killed off screen. I honestly didnt believe he was dead. But as he didn't play a huge role, I can forgive this and appreciate that it's mentioned at the end that he's in the mortal realm growing his favourite watermelon.

As for the music. That flute did not have to come for my heart the way it did every time it started to play. The instrumental music in this show for me was a 'where can I buy this' kind of background music.

Overall, I'd give this show a very solid 8.5 but I boosted it to 9 because the sister's death pulled a tear out of me. I can be critical but I always give credit where it's due. Watching the sister be defeated by her pride, get revenge for YD, redeem herself and then give her heart, and then her life for the love of her sister, really pulled on my heart strings.

I am in actual shock that I enjoyed this as much as I did and it has to go on my favourites list now. It's a long one but I do feel I could rewatch it again and still enjoy the romance as much.

Lire davantage

"When they carry out the punishment, look away, don't be afraid"

Karma waltz in and laughed HAHAHA Puny Mortal. BOW TO ME!
LITERALLY in my last review, for Ashes of Love, I had a whole damn rant being like, yeah, no, Xianxia and me aren't going to me friends, we dont jam, we're different elements, blah blah blah, unless Cheng Yi is involved I'm not interested.

Karma came for my ass so damn hard in this show, I'm going to be reborn bruised. I am speechless at how much I enjoyed this show and I can see from the reviews, that it's a show with a lot of criticism, especially with loss of plot and drag so of course me being me, my soul got sucked into this show and I binged it all weekend. My eyes are red, my head hurts but damn, what a ride LOL

I dropped this at episode 2 a few weeks back thinking, eh, I'll probably hate it but decided I had to be a good wife and watch Cheng Yi's parts. It was around episode 5 when I started to get interested so, yeah, it took a while to get going but I feel like that's very common with Xianxia. At ep 7, during a big battle, I knew stuff was going down. You don't introduce a big battle at episode 7 without it being a big plot device. From then, I was absolutely hooked.

Keeping this as short as I can, character wise, I loved most of the characters, and that rarely happens and that the fact that this is a xianxia, this was the Immortals sucker punching me into Monday with bloodshot eyes and getting drunk at my misery.

Cheng Yi - my man. This is why you are my bias. He has mastered how to speak with his eyes. Definitely prefer this to Love and Redemption, all though L&R is growing on me. He's a lot more 'fluid' in his acting here. I felt like perhaps it was just just how he was directed in L& R but he seems so much more comfortable here, so much so that he plays 3 different characters. Our 'original' ML, the Heavenly Emperor, Ying Yaun who is very tight lipped, straight collared and by the book. His mortal incarnation for his mortal realm trials, Tang Zhou who is much more playful and ambitious, and Ying Yaun's father, who pretty much starts everything with his ambition to rule all 3 realms, which by the way, Cheng Yi needs to play a villain. Like. I NEEED the man to play a villain because holy hell, I was not prepared for crazy eyed and silver wigged Cheng Yi.

Our FL, although played by the same actress, thankfully was not as dense as her Ashes of Love character. I actually fell in love with Yan Dan myself. She's pretty bright and playful and honest. And there were times when her reactions made me laugh or I said 'ohh cute' out verbally. So this is a first for me so far in all c-dramas I've watched, I usually never love the FL. Yan Dan I loved. I don't mind if the FL is a little weak. I prefer brains over brawn and as she's a lotus spirit who cuts out her own heart to save Ying Yaun, twice, it's perfectly reasonable that she's going to need some physical protection. And when you like the FL, I can walk her highs and lows with her rather than just watching for Cheng Yi.

I always feel that chemistry between leads is up to the viewer and personally, I felt the love and the heartache. Xianxia strikes me as a genre that you either love or hate and one of the most common criticisms is jumping between worlds. I understand that can break the flow for the viewer but this didn't for me. I followed the whole way. It is a little slow to start, the plot hits us in episode 7 and then the love actually starts to build afterwards. When everything reaches a pressure cooker pain, I was jumping off the cliff with Yan Dan. It's around episode 16 when we go to the mortal realm and we stay there for a good 30 episodes but I didn't feel disjointed. It felt very natural. Yan Dan was turned into a demon and just drops out of the sky having had her memories erased by a traumatised Ying Yaun and returns to her playful and spirited self. Ying Yaun inflicts the mortal trials on himself and as his childhood is mentioned, I believe he was actually reborn as human.
The relationship then repeats it's self but only this time, there's lessons learned. Yan Dan learns more about what it means to be in love and Ying Yaun, as Zhou, chooses his heart over his responsibilities. So when we get back to the Immortals, those lessons are pretty engraved in the characters as their love cements in the middle of the actual plot.

I understand how a lot of people can find this boring or draggy as the mortal realm and most of it's characters have very little do with the actual plot. There are villains but only temporary. They are easily dealt with and yet I was never bored. I was invested the whole way through and I have no idea why. I liked the little side quests and characters. I liked the relationship building between the leads. My only defence is Cheng Yi's eyes hypnotised me through the screen and I plead innocence because, I should have lost interest but I didnt. I couldn't stop watching.

Yumo was a very a satisfactory character to watch. He started off almost like a teenage boy who develops feelings for Yan Dan but it never embitters him. It's this love that pushes him to the mortal realm where he travels for 800 years looking for Yan Dan, unaware that she's stuck in the limbo river because she can't let go of her memories. So he has all that time to travel and cultivate so when we see him again, he's a very experienced and mature man and honestly, he was a little sexy to me. What was really lovely was although his feelings for Yan Dan were strong, and there was a little back and forth with Zhou, he never left Yan Dan's side. He was never cunning or deceitful. He was a true friend. And accepted in the end that he wasn't for her but chose to protect her nonetheless. That was very mature and sweet and appreciated the groundedness of the character.

Another character I want to add briefly is Fairy Ying Deng. She was set up to be the usual, obsessed with the ML bully but she gets shot down very early. Beautifully might I add, by YY, and instead of lashing out in the ridiculous way that these characters always do, by blaming it all on Yan Dan, she lashed out at Yan Dan and Ying Yaun equally. There's a nice cathartic downfall before she returns in the mortal realm and I'll be damned, I felt sorry for the girl. Again. I shouldn't have but I did. She just seemed so pathetic, I couldn't help it. She also made a gorgeous demon and I wish she had always been a demon. She looked way better with messy hair and red eyes than in all the pearled garbed of the heavenly realm.

Part one is 38 eps. Part two is 21 - 59 eps. Thankfully, I watched it on viki, so I seen early that there were 2 specials. If I had felt that 59 was the end, I might have been physically sick. How dare they. But I'm learning how common this seems to be with c dramas. Almost like a sneaky way of keeping people paying for a subscription. But keeping the 2 specials in mind, I found the true ending to be very fulfilling and satisfactory. Both YD and YY get the life they wanted together, the son they had dreamed off and YD gets to be a writer. Meeting up with her friends, taking in demons to build a theatre group and getting to see the reborn friend she lost earlier in the mortal realm arc. Whether or not they are mortal isn't answered but it doesnt seem like they were physically reborn as they live in the house they meet up in after their deaths but I honestly dont mind it so much, I was just happy to see them together and getting to live out the dreams they wanted.

One massive plot hole though was Lu Ming not recognising Ying Deng in the mortal realm, and felt that he was kind of brushed aside a little too easily having been killed off screen. I honestly didnt believe he was dead. But as he didn't play a huge role, I can forgive this and appreciate that it's mentioned at the end that he's in the mortal realm growing his favourite watermelon.

As for the music. That flute did not have to come for my heart the way it did every time it started to play. The instrumental music in this show for me was a 'where can I buy this' kind of background music.

Overall, I'd give this show a very solid 8.5 but I boosted it to 9 because the sister's death pulled a tear out of me. I can be critical but I always give credit where it's due. Watching the sister be defeated by her pride, get revenge for YD, redeem herself and then give her heart, and then her life for the love of her sister, really pulled on my heart strings.

I am in actual shock that I enjoyed this as much as I did and it has to go on my favourites list now. It's a long one but I do feel I could rewatch it again and still enjoy the romance as much.

Lire davantage

Thank You Cheng Yi.

*edit*
Rewatch Value Rating has changed from a 1 to a 7
I am now such a kiwi that not only did Cheng Yi get me to watch this show for him, I have now found myself rewatching it because of him as I understand that a lot of his characters are tragic with sad endings, whereas this one is a satisfying conclusion. People are more than their face. This was his breakthrough role and I can see why ?
***

I was told that Cheng Yi is still alive at the end of the series so I made it to the end alive with him but feeling just as comatose.

I am starting to pick up on cues in the first few episodes that tell me whether or not I'm going to like a show. This is one of those shows. I initially dropped this at episode 3 but Mysterious Lotus Casebook is defeating every other C-drama as my favourite C-drama right now and I'm a little in love with Cheng Yi and I wanted more of him so I picked it up again just for him. I was honestly not interested in any one else. I was skipping the sister (I found her very annoying) and 6th senior scenes loads of times before I was interested in them. I skipped a lot of side stories. It was around episode 21 when Cheng Yi starts getting tortured was when I finally stopped skipping and paying attention.

The FL not having her 6th senses didn't make a lot of sense to me because she could still see and hear and smell etc so she technically still had them but a minor thing I could overlook. The one thing I had a big problem with was the cheesey battle moments. I found this very cringey at times when Xuangi would unleash her powers and you would get this Power rangers style level up. I would burst out laughing when I was supposed to be cheering her on. She starts off as the typical FL in too many asian dramas. Naive, childish and a little stupid passed off as innocent. Listen, I get that she doesn't have her senses and doesnt feel the same way as others but she falls face first into Cheng Yi's lap while he's sitting in a bath and just continues like, oh, wait, I dropped something and just smiles happily while she gropes around the tub, and my sweet boy is just sitting there, cupping his manhood, speechless. I mean, I laughed but really? That's not innocence, that's just dense.

This pretty much continues until she realises that she's the reincarnated God of War. After that, we lose the naivety, and we get a deeply manipulated and emotional FL instead. Again. This is where Cheng Yi saved me because I would give up with this kind of character and would make jokes about taking a shot every time you hear 'Si Feng'.

But Cheng Yi. I like his work. I like his face. I like his voice. He calms me and I was able to find my grounded centre every time he appeared. He did the best with the character he had been given. He does seem a little bit more stiff in this series but that may be how he's was told to play the character, who's whole purpose is to get beaten and abused through out most of the series. His whole purpose is to love and redeem and the FL which can feel a little flat after a while. But again, my bias saved me here. If it had been anyone else or if I didn't know Cheng Yi, I'd have dropped this series really quickly.

Another notable mention is Liu Xue Yi. This is the 3rd series I've seen with him and he's creeping up beside Cheng Yi in my favouritism. If I didn't know this actor, I would have been wanting to rip his eyes out but I actually enjoyed watching him play an incredibly hateable villain, which makes it easier when you are faced with a character like Hao. He's the worst kind of villain because he's obsessed with his own self righteousness and he's a little psychotic, that I honestly found it a little strange at the end that everyone felt sorry for him while he just faded into dust to be reborn as a mortal, WHILE MY BOY is lying fricking bleeding and dead for the 100th time.

The Jade Emperor is probably the most useless, all powerful character I think I've ever seen.

By episode 40, I was back to skipping again. It lost it's momentum for me and as per trend, the last stretch of episodes just went off the wall crazy that I was rolling my eyes at just how ridiculous and off the wall the plot got. It wasn't enough for Xaungi to be the God of War, she's the Devil Star as well. And was a man. So I can imagine a lot of people just being like huh? by the time they get to those episodes. The ending was also ridiculous but at least it was a happy conclusion. Cheng Yi was Momma while Xuangi ran around drinking and enjoying her mortal life, seeming to have reverted back to her old clueless self. AKA. Si Feng continues to get walked over but this time it's in the name of having fun.

I really loved the characters Teng She and Liu. If I had seen more of them earlier on in the series, I'd paid attention quicker. They were great to watch.

An unexpected big hit of this show is the soundtrack. I am absolute Si Feng in love with the song Love like Coloured Glass. It was ep 28, with a scene on the bridge when I suddenly clicked on the song. If it played before I hadn't noticed but that's what happens when you're not fully invested in a show. You miss things. I immediately stopped the video to look up that song and it's been played ever since.

So again, thank you Cheng Yi. I enjoyed watching you and I got introduced me to a new favourite song.

Lire davantage

Tries to be deep but fails

This is my 3rd series with Li Hong Yi where I feel like he's played the same character. I definitely feel like he's been type casted now as this silent and brooding mystery guy, and if it's a romance, he'll utterly adore you type of character. Whether this is a deliberate play on his good looks or he just likes these characters, who knows, but I hope he gets a different kind of character next time. I feel it's a shame as a viewer to see an actor just play the same character over and over, just in a different story so I can't imagine how frustrated the actor must feel at not being allowed to stretch their wings and see what they can do in their craft.

This story starts of on a very unusual note and then it just kind of forgets about it. We start off in the future with our FL telling 'the system' what she wants in her partner, then getting into the machine and waking up in her new reality as a girl with amnesia and in the middle of a crime scene. Since we never go back to this future life, there's no mention of her life there, family friends, there's nothing, so I can't help but feel like it was a little unnecessary. I understand it's the opening to the show and the reason why this girl is dropped into a mid-plot story, but I feel like there could of been other ways of conveying that without giving you visuals of a future reality and then dropping you back into ancient China because I then spent the rest of the series thinking all the other characters were other people within the system and everyone was just hooked up to a machine like a sleep project. It was very disjointing for me but that may just be me.

FL is in this reality because she gave up her immortality to find her idealistic version of true love, hence the title but funny enough, the whole basis of the plot is a supposed 'fruit of immortality' that we spend the whole series watching all the righteous sect leaders massacre each other in search of.

In the midst of this we have our FL, and 2 ML. I opened this review stating that I hope Li Hong Yi gets a different character next time but in this show, I feel like he carried most of the weight here. If it wasn't for his character, I would rate this show more around a 5 or 6. But I've given it an 8 simply because I love anti heroes like the one he plays and he kept me watching.

Qui Yue is scheming, suave, very powerful and a little unpredictable. I really hated his main wig. They have it brushed back and tight to his head which kind of gave him a slimy, creepy vibe. I much preferred it parted in the middle that we see for a while later on. He also was very bent over in this series as well. I don't know if is bad posture for Li Hong Yi because this was 2019 but it was giving Severus Snape LOL Hard to see Li Hong Yi's beauty kind of spoiled a little by bad styling.
From the get go, we know that Qui's wants our FL, badly, and apparently has already had a love affair with the owner of her body. This, much to my disappointment was never really explored and really wish they had, to give some sort of weight to the drama that Hua wakes up in. But it was left open and just kind of brushed away, only brought up when it was convenient. He's clearly seen her body but it's later, with one sentence, Qui says that she took her clothes off in front of him. She liked him but he didn't like her but from the start was clearly a little obsessed. That was very confusing for me which is why I wish the 'affair' had been explored more because it was almost like baiting you with complicated entanglements and then the writers chickened out and focused on everyone killing each other instead. Qui's character is the reason I finished this series because he's my favourite kind of character and I kept waiting to get more about his background and the complications that have made him the way he is, but I only got crumbs. So as much as I loved the character, I really hate the writers for not giving me what I wanted.

Our other ML is Xiao Bai and he's your typical lawful good character. He was another character that the writers tried to be deep with and then they just kind of give up. Once we get to the what I call 'breaking the ego' scene that you get with very stoic characters, he becomes possessed randomly and then once the star item is returned, he goes back to normal. Once again, a plot device that just kind of falls away. The writers were trying to do something here and it never works out. Why did that happen? Was he being poisoned or was this a type of curse from the ice star thing? I was a little confused because they never really explained it.
I did feel kind of sorry for XB though because he was guarded from the start against Hua, who just throws herself at him and between his friends, eventually develops feelings and then is left to look like the villain because he stuck to his values when his values have always been apparent. At least to me, this not a choose his lover type of man. He's the son of the head of chief of all the clans, he's going to pick his responsibilities first and expecting anything else is a kind of unfair.

Poor CaiCai gets cast aside as a love rival but quickly shows herself to be very compassionate and emotional mature, in comparison to Hua, and I'm disappointed that there was no real ending for her. We got baited again that perhaps XB would recognise her feelings but it's made out that it's because he's possessed, he's rebounding and she's just kind left at the end with no real closure on anything. I wish there had been some sort of understanding between them in the end rather than just leaving her with the knowledge that her father was a crook. We don't know what happens to her after that and for such a supportive character, who doesn't act vindictively towards the FL, which is highly unusual for c-drama romances, I'm kind of angry on her behalf that she wasn't given a conclusion.

Our secondary couple are a sweet breath of air amidst all this confusion. They are sweet and funny and for me personally, both give off a little BI vibes and perfectly OK with that LOL And we get a brief conclusion for them thanks to the chopping editing, which becomes increasingly more choppy half way through. It's very apparent at times, that a lot of scenes are being cut to fit into the time frame. Which is sad from a story telling pov. The audience is not meant to see that. It breaks the flow of the narrative.

The music and sets are pretty regular for these types of shows and honestly, my favourite set was the flower field.
As the styling, OH. MY. GOSH, was it a failure like I have never seen before.
I could see the wig lining to every single male character's forehead, just caked with makeup. And at times, Li Hong Yi's eye make up looked smeared. I don't know what happened there but what on earth was hair and make up doing?

Li Hong Yi is a gorgeous young man to look at and I've never been so distracted from a beautiful face, with cakey flour make up, smeared and sometimes uneven eye liner with a wig line in full view. It would seem all the men had the same problem yet the women looked nearly flawless. I don't understand what happened there.

As for the ending, I'm satisfied with it. It was an emotionally mature approach to the series of events and I guess for our FL who starts off like a love-struck pre teen with a very idealistic expectation of love and romance and ends much humbler and confident in her choices.

Overall, my full rating should be a 6 but I'm giving it an 8 simply because I also include how I feel watching a show as well as the logical breakdowns. And I was pretty invested and at point, did feel emotional. If I wasn't so interested in Qui's character, and for that one scene that had me misty eyed, this absolutely deserves a lower rating. I probably won't be watching it again but I enjoyed it for what it was.

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CatMan and the Power of Friendship

First things, first.
That CGI cat head, and paws, were ridiculous LOL White haired wigs can be tricky in these sorts of shows but I thought the ML looked really good in his. He has striking enough facial features to carry it well. I wish they had gone with that and some sort of Buffy style vampire prosthetic make up or something because, I was not a fan of the computer cat face LOL Heck, they gave the other guy fanged teeth. That ML actor, with the white wig, teeth and some face make up know how, and he would have looked gorgeous and I wouldn't have had to burst out laughing at the reveal each time LOL
They gave that beautiful face that flowing white hair because of 'shock' and then took it away from me. How dare they. How did he get his natural hair back even though his cat hair is style white? damn them. He should have at least kept the white hair.

Now that I've said that, this is an enjoyable series. Ridiculous and childish but fun. I feel like that may have been the point though. (E.g ML's slow-mo run away from his feelings) There was a lot of slap stick style humour. It was like a live action cartoon. Most of the comedy was very over acted and silly. People falling on floors. One of the character has a bad luck cloud, the overly dramatic one etc etc

The mysteries were good, I thought. I couldn't work them out. There were a few times were information was withheld or the ML just seemed to know randomly, but not too much. And most impressively, I couldn't work out the antagonist's motives either. I honestly couldn't figure him out and that doesn't happen often so touche. I was expecting the Empress to be involved considering her condition but she's never touched on. Also, our main female character is taken out of the plot for her safety and we don't see her again, not even at the end was a little disappointing.
I would also have liked to have heard of more of the lore that is the basis for the plot. How did our Cat God end up in the stone coffin? How long has he been there? I would have liked to have seen more of his story.

I had a hard time keeping up with names in this show. It was a show with so many characters as per usual with c-dramas but we mostly see the main group, which is fine. But when someone's name is constantly brought up and I've only seen their face a few times, it can make following the plot a little hard because I don't know who's being talked about lol

The whole plot is the standard, sieving through the powerful figure heads all the way to the top, but around that, there is a sweet and fluffy theme of friendship and the strengths of those bonds. Nothing too deep. Just simple honest communication with the people you care about.

Music and sets weren't bad but nothing too dramatic. We do spend a lot of time in the same places. I enjoyed the little dramatic singing snippets in the background of fight scenes.

Overall, I did enjoy this show for what it was. I laughed, I felt pity, I was intrigued and it had a sweet and fluffy ending to conclude. I didnt feel anything too deep or sad about this one. The 'big' death, and a second death, I had been expecting from about a third of the way into the series and the rest were the usual collateral damage.
My standard ratings are usually a 7 or an 8, I did have fun watching this but I'm not sure if I'd watch it again. There's a lot of cheese but I'm not sure if that was part of the humour or if it was just set up that way to keep things light hearted. And then there was the cat head, which I have mentioned. I think if I were to rewatch, it would be to just simply have something light hearted in the background.

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Accidental Hilarious Fluff

After a long deep dive into more serious 40+ ep c-dramas, I honestly think I enjoyed this more than I would have because it reminded of the kind of manga's I enjoyed as a teenager and it was only 22 episodes.

Plot - The overall story is of a Ginseng fairy who keeps finding herself believing in the wrong men while her 'true love' is standing on the outskirts protecting her in secret. We go back and forth, back and forth uncovering the mystery of the past for the first half of the series before moving forward towards a conclusion.
I personally, don't like this method of story telling. I prefer one long flashback and then move on, whereas this one flashes back a few times. That can be a bit disjointing for me as a viewer but I kept watching because, and here's the kicker, I found the whole concept accidentally hilarious. The whole idea of dying and resurrecting without your memories to find a few men who are full blown yandere for you kind of funny. I shouldn't have and I'm pretty sure that wasn't the idea but I'm me, and I did.
Another aspect of the plot is the yearning. There is a fine line for me between unnecessary angst and understandable silent yearning, and I feel like that's really up to the viewer to decide which side they're on. For me, I understood Bai Lu's silence this time. It made sense to me and it was pitiful so for me, it's a silent yearning. I didn't feel stressed or annoyed with characters while watching. The bad guys did bad guy things, and the good guys did good guy things.
As for the ending, if it had been 40 episodes, that last little dilemma would have been a whole new arc LOL The big problem is quickly solved and it's Happy ever after manga ending. I would have liked to have seen Bai Lu's promise to Xi but maybe it has to be skipped now? I wonder how this reality deals with that final reveal which is not really a final reveal. If anything it just cemented that shoujo ending that the clueless, innocent lead had to be told LOL

Characters - The FL might be a character who could easily annoy you though. I viewed her almost like a perpetual 15 year old. Flighty, impulsive and in love with life. The only character she actually falls in love with is our ML. The other characters she's just trying to be a good person to in accordance with her beliefs. However, I didnt feel like she was childish. Just free spirited. She had her own morals and held to them in however she was treated.
Our ML is the glorious Li Hong Yi. I stated in my Blood of Youth review, I would be happy to look at him all day and I didn't lie. That man is Fine. He held a similar vibe as his character in Blood of Youth though. I don't know enough about him or have watched enough shows to say if he feels a little type casted but it kind of suited his character Bai Lu. Just brooding in the background added to his 'tortured prince' sort of character. If that's a character he gets a lot of or is something his good looks plays on, I felt it in this one.
As for the side couple, I'm not normally interested in the side couples because they often feel forced but because this one developed off screen, by the time we get back to them, they're just being cute, so I didnt mind them so much.

Music and Set - The music and set were nothing to stand out to me. I feel like we were outside a lot for this one, but I did love the set pieces for the Valley, Bai Lu's house. It looked very spacious and zen. I think it was the high ceilings. So far, a lot of chinese interior for these types of show tend to be more horizontal and low. Whereas Bai Lu's house seemed to have a lot of open space and breathing room. It looked like something I would live in, here in Europe, only with chinese furniture and decor.

Overall, I think it's one of those shows you'll either enjoy the cuteness or will just feel annoyed. I might be a little biased with this one because it really did feel like a fluffy, romantic pining for you forever kind of story that I used to love as a kid. I didn't feel like there was unnecessary drama which these kind of shows often use. There were a few guys after our FL but it's pretty clear she has no romantic interest, and she stands her ground when she does make up her mind, and the other female character is friendly without any jealous plotting. She's pretty supportive of our FL. There was nothing that created an annoying love triangle arc. Just the usual randomly obsessive characters you get with this sort type of FL character.

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Hint - It's only an hour & 20 minutes LOL

Do you know those really random and bizarre dreams you have after a late night curry that has you waking up at 3am in a haze wondering what happened? That's what this movie feels like.
It goes off with a bang. No warning. No introduction. No reasoning. Just bam. Demon wife. Random General clearly in love and fought for her hand but she hates him and wants the prince. Cue the shortest quest for a cure I've ever seen ending in an anti climatic big reveal that's not really reveal if you any kind of foresight. And then it just kind of ends.

I guess it's meant to follow one of those folklore style stories that always seems to have a randomly depressing ending but hey, it was Friday night and I wasn't doing anything LOL But hey, it made me laugh so sure. 10/10 LOL

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Don't think about it

The whole premise of this is pretty goofy in a comic book way but I like that. I watched this show a few times last year before netflix took it down.
The first several episodes were pretty entertaining in a fun sort of way then it tried to get into the bigger part of the plot and it floundered a bit. I was a little disappointed in the ML's back story because it was set up to be a bit more exciting. He was too brutal of a fighter to be what he was. I was expecting something more political, even underground, which is what the plot tried to do eventually, and I kind of wish it was but that's when I learn that this is a 'don't think about it' kind of show because that's how it ends. It has a pretty ridiculous ending, a complete ending for the actual plot used but one that left me feeling a little, meh, you could have done more with that. It was also left open a little in the case of a season 2 and trying to force a romance between the leads.

I did not care for the brother's scenes. I skipped him. His pitches were meant to be seen as humour filling in the gaps but it didn't appeal to me.

As for the villains, one seems sort of legitimate and the other was melodrama. Both at least had a part to play in the ML's past so there's that.
The side characters were the usual random, cartoonish side characters I'm used to by now so they are what they are. I don't really have much of an opinion on them.
The other ML was also just sad to watch honestly and the FL was the usual ditzy but will get the job done sort of lead.

I remember only rewatching the first half of the show for fun because I just enjoyed the idea of a zombie trying to exist in the real world without getting caught. I was more entertained by the lead up to the actual plot than the actual plot.

I also really enjoyed the visuals. The opening scene with the yellow and red looked awesome, with the Moonlight sonata playing, and I wish they had kept that gritty, comic look through out to go with the mad scientist but they eventually drop it as they try to get more emotional.

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For the Fans

I went in knowing this was going to be more for fans of the show but I was about 45 minutes in when I realised that this whole film, 1hr 20 mins, is going to take place in a tomb LOL Damn, I was so excited hearing the Untamed theme song play as they marched off on their horses LOL.

Consider this film being more like 2 cut episodes of the Untamed rather than a stand alone movie. It pretty much just gives a little bit more insight into why Huasung does what he does in the Untamed series. I imagine most people get the point anyway but this just gives a little extra information, with a ton of computer game cgi. The brothers were close and the elder brother wasn't such a tough guy, he genuinely cared about people, which is why he kept sparing Yao. And we all know that Hua trusted Yao, so the hurt runs deep.

Alas, again, I was robbed of the Ghosts. The film opened with some promises of giving me what I didn't get in the Untamed and then just resorted to this cgi fight.

Since it's depicted as an extra episode, I would have loved to have had it end with some sort of throw back to the original series like Hua meeting Mo or lingering outside the Mo Manor while the sacrifice ritual begins, or even how he came up with his revenge plot to start with, but it just sort of ends with Hua realising he was tricked by Yao. Revisiting the sets might have been difficult but I would have liked something like that.
Overall, it's really just something for the fans to enjoy esp with they loved the Nie brothers.

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