July 21, 2020

Cross Fire | Recap and Review

Cross Fire
A cross in timeline brings two men with the same esports dream together. 
Notable Actors/Actresses
Lu HanXiao Feng
Wu LeiLu Xiao Bei
Dai Lu WaChu Ge
Song Yan Fei: An Lan
Director:
Xu Hong Yu
Screenwriter:
Xu Su
Producer
Zhang MengLi Er Yun
Chinese Title
穿越火線
NetworkTencent Video
Year2020
Episodes: 35
Recap Grade: C
First Impression: 2/5

Mini Recaps


[Ep1Lu Xiao Bei (who’s in a wheelchair) has a dream of being an e-sports champion. In his current agency he’s on the B team who's purpose is to lose to the A team. However, Lu Xiao Bei isn't obedient like that; he makes his B team win the match. Unfortunately, no matter how impressive he is, under his current agency, they will never sign him on as a professional player.  Xiao Feng is in 2008, He's chasing his e-sports dream too but at that time e-sports wasn't highly regarded. 

One night, the impossible happens and the two men meet in the same video game (Cross Fire) transcending through time. When Lu Xiao Bei learns his opponent's name is Xiao Feng, he scoffs. To him, Xiao Feng is a legendary champion in the current e-sports world. There's no way this kiddo can be Xiao Feng. But he is. Neither of them take each other seriously. 
 
[Ep2] Lu Xiao Bei is a high school student. Chu Ge is his deskmate. She wants to cheat off of him on the test. It's too late when she notices that he's just randomly filling in the multiple choices. When they get their results back she's mad that she has one point less than him when she copied him. Frustrated, she asks her how he became crippled. UH. Rude much?

In 2008, Xiao Feng's loyal teammate's girlfriend cries and begs him to give up on their dream. She wants her boyfriend to find work and not give up his life gaming. 

[Ep3] If Lu Xiao Bei can't become a professional player in his agency, then he'll just create his own team. He recruits Su Jia Yi (a girl who loves cosplay) to his team of himself and Cheng Hao. Meanwhile Xiao Feng has given up on gaming and goes to work. He's also renting out his place (where his teammate used to live) to An Lan. They used to go to the same high school. Xiao Feng is starting to believe Lu Xiao Bei is from the future because he was able to predict an actual event in his timeline. 

[Ep4] Chu Ge is a track athlete. Their teacher recruits her to help train Lu Xiao Bei's legs. What? He should be getting a professional physical therapist. Meanwhile Lu Xiao Bei is working on his third recruit.

It's Lu Xiao Bei's turn to believe Xiao Feng is from 2008. Xiao Feng had sent him a postcard. Although Lu Xiao Bei didn't receive it now, he did receive it eleven years ago. The postcard has been on his fridge ever since.  

[Ep5] Lu Xiao Bei realizes he might be able to change his brother's death because Xiao Feng is living in the time frame when his brother was still alive. The next time they meet online, Lu Xiao Bei begs a drunk Xiao Feng to stop his brother from attending a competition. Xiao Feng agrees.

[Ep6] Lu Xiao Bei is recruiting his fourth member: he's a lion-ed hair blondie who's a hairstylist. He wants to name is team “Continue”. However, his Dad is adamant on extinguishing his esport’s dream. Meanwhile Xiao Feng has quit his job, determined to achieve his esports dream.

[Ep7] There's a chance for Lu Xiao Bei to stand but first he needs to overcome his psychological barrier. He doesn't believe he can stand or there might really be reason why he doesn't want to stand. Survivor's guilt?
There's a what I call a "Wtf, lol" scene: Xiao Feng and his buddy make up after he's determined to chase his dream. It's an overly dramatic romantic scene between two grown men flying in midair hugging and staring deeply in each other's eyes. The other teammates have had enough of this sickness and shoots them dead. 
There's another "Wtf, lol" scene. Lu Xiao Bei puts on a fake wig to challenge another team. He also introduces a weird chant with weird moves to calm the other team down. 

[Ep8] An Lan becomes interested in gaming and Xiao Feng teaches her. This is An Lan's chance to dress up sexily in the game. She finds it thrilling and she's not half bad for a newbie. Her knowledge somehow comes in handy especially when it comes to planning for tactics or recruiting new members. Xiao Feng is also impressed with her. It was kind of fun watching her play the video game from freaking out to rocking it

Lu Xiao Bei is arrested by his father to prevent him from gaming but he needs to be with his team to face a video game challenge. He ditches his wheelchair and gets Chu Ge to drive him there with a shopping cart. For the first time, Chu Ge witnesses a live esports game. Dad also sees one of the brightest smiles on his son's face. Dad finally approves of his son's dream.

[Ep9] The schoolmates make fun of Chu Ge and Lu Xiao Bei. Chu Ge feels embarrassed and lies that she'd never be interested in someone crippled. Lu Xiao Bei hears that and misunderstands. 

Xiao Feng enrolls in a video-game addition support group to save his teammate. To be honest, this is getting a little outrageous for me. Just like Lu Xiao Bei, Xiao Feng is starting to recruit the crazy to his team. 

[Ep10] Xiao Feng changes Lu Xiao Bei’s brother's motorcycle route but he still dies. History changes slightly but the ultimate result is still the same. The driver who killed his brother might be Xu Wei.

[Ep11] Xiao Feng comforts the young Lu Xiao Bei, who is now paraplegic. Xiao Feng is the only one who tells Lu Xiao Bei the truth about his brothers death while everyone else hides it from him. That releases a knot in Lu Xiao Bei’s heart because he got to see his brother one last time. His relationship with his father also improves. Although Xiao Feng cannot change the brother's death, he's changed Lu Xiao Be's mindset.  

[Ep12] Chu Ge and Lu Xiao Bei make up and are friends again. Everything else in the drama goes downhill though. Xiao Feng’s team gets into a fight with another team. This makes An Lan super angry after she tried so hard to look for investments. She’s serious about managing this team but this team isn’t serious about managing itself. Meanwhile Lu Xiao Bei’s team is having internal problems. The team disbands. 
[Ep13] Xiao Feng and An Lan make up cutely. He offered to buy her a lifetime's worth of yogurt. I like how she’s their manager and strategist. Lu Xiao Bei’s team make up with corny bracelets (that must be designed from the 2000’s) with their team name: CONTINUE. 

Xiao Feng makes a difference in the young Lu Xiao Bei’s life. The current Lu Xiao Bei is much more optimistic as he trains his leg mobility with Chu Ge. I'm still very bothered by him getting physiotherapy from Chu Ge...  The current Xu Wei (in Lu Xiao Bei’s time) looks like a sinister business man. 

[Ep14] Lu Xiao Bei’s team is practicing teamwork by trying to find his father in the big mall. They learn to use a cellphone to keep in contact with each other. Amazing.  

Chu Ge knows Lu Xiao Bei’s father from 2008. Her father died on the same day Lu Xiao Bei’s brother died. 

[Ep15] Xiao Feng continues to motivate Lu Xiao Bei to walk. There's motivational music when Xiao Feng tells him to run and feel the fire in his feet through the video game because it's pretty much like real life. Sure

There's more confirmation that Xu Wei had a part in Lu Xiao Bei's brother's death. Xiao Feng also discovers that Xu Wei cheated in a competition. 

[Ep16] Xiao Feng and Xu Wei's cheating conversation is recorded by a journalist and now they're known as the team who cheats. 

The team and Chu Ge takes Lu Xiao Bei to an amusement park. Sigh. I can't get over the fact that the drama can completely ignore the reality of being in a wheelchair. Text messages are sent to the entire school spreading the news that Chu Ge's father is a murderer. It slowly dawns on Chu Ge that Lu Xiao Bei may not want to be friends with her anymore after he learns of her father. 

[Ep17] Lu Xiao Bei has tried to find the current Xiao Feng in his time but he couldn’t. Instead Xiao Feng asks him to find An Lan. He’s curious what her current career is and most importantly if she's married. Lu Xiao Bei doesn’t find out about the married part. We do know she’s still working in e-sports and continues to strive for a better environment for gaming. She’s also working with that reporter. 

Chu Ge loses a competition and Lu Xiao Bei loses a match. He doesn’t make it to the finals. His team disbands. 
[Ep18] Hope is not lost though. With Xiao Feng and Lu Xiao Bei working together to help Chu Ge find her locket, she overcomes her emotional wounds. Xiao Feng had gotten the young Lu Xiao Bei to secretly return her locket.  

Xiao Feng also gets the young Lu Xiao Bei to speak to the current Lu Xiao Bei. He motivates his older self that he can recover. Lo and behold, Lu Xiao Bei stands up this episode. As he finds strength in his feet to stand, he sees Chu Ge. He falls into Chu Ge and they embrace. If he can stand then he can find hope to win the esports championship. He doesn’t give up on his dream and continues to persevere in e-sports. 

Xiao Feng and Lu Xiao Bei attend the same artist's concert just that one is in 2008 and the other is in 2019. They're cheered up by the same song. 

[Ep19] Chu Ge is in university. Lu Xiao Bei's team reunites. His parents approve of his dream. 

Xiao Feng tries his best to casually ask An Lan for a date. He's waiting for her at the movie theatre but she forgets because she was helping Wu Xie with his broken keyboard. When Xiao Feng returns home, he's even more upset to hear the two of them (An Lan and Wu Xie) heatedly talk about Finding Nemo.

[Ep20] It's Jia Yi's birthday and her boyfriend is here to win her back but Jia Yi rejects him. She was always cosplaying because she doesn’t believe people will support her true self but now she found four people (her team) who will like her for who she is. She’s done with cosplaying. Finally.

There might be something wrong with Xu Wei's hands? Anyways both men, Xu Wei and Xiao Feng admit they like An Lan. 

An opponent accuses Lion Head of stealing his wallet. Out of the anger, the accuser throws his phone out the window. Lion Head's team (Lu Xiao Bei) doesn't support him. Feeling betrayed, he jumps out the window to retrieve his phone. 

[Ep21] After the fall, Lion Head injures his head. He can suddenly talk like a normal person. 

Xu Wei is threatened by his mechanic friend. The police wanted to investigate Xu Wei's car (for the motorbike accident) but the mechanic gets rid of all the evidence for Xu Wei. Now the mechanic is threatening Xu Wei. 

[Ep22] Chu Ge meets a new guy. She sings beautifully to his piano accompaniment. 

Xiao Feng's teammates fight over a girl. They lose a member because he refuses to apologize for stealing the girl 

[Ep23] The member who stole the girl blames An Lan. Huh. It's because of her that his teammates are betraying him. Huh.   

Chu Ge's piano guy is pursuing her. Lu Xiao Bei becomes jealous and joins in on their movie date. Afterwards, the piano guy says his car can only fit two people (a sports car) thus Chu Ge decides she'll run home. Before the boys can stop her, she's already 50 meters away. 

An Lan confesses to Xiao Feng. However, he knows in the future she won't be with him. He doesn't want to start something that won't end well so he rejects her confession. She gives him a back hugs to stop him from living. 

In the present time, Xu Wei is asking An Lan to date. 

[Ep24] In 2019, An Lan rejects Xu Wei. 

In 2008, Xiao Feng rejects An Lan. She makes a bet with him that if she can flip three "Wins" on his coin, then they'll date. She believes the odds will be with her. Twice, she flipped a "Win". On the third flip, the coin rolls off the stairs and is wedged vertically between the pavement. She's disappointed that even fate is against her. Xiao Feng knocks over the coin and makes it a "Win". He'd rather have fate in his own hands. He gives her a forehead kiss. These two are official. 

The piano dude is teaching Chu Ge about love. He tells her that when you love someone, you want to be closer to them. Eureka, Chu Ge knows who she loves. She runs to find her love: Lu Xiao Bei. 

In 2008. The friend who stole the girl is back on the team. His name is Qi Lin.

[Ep25] Chu Ge interviews for a position in An Lan’s company. Chu Ge has an ulterior motive. She wants An Lan to accept Lu Xiao Bei into their company. An Lan decides to hire her. Why? Because she reminds An Lan of herself when she was her age. 

Xiao Feng and his team win their first championship. 

Jia Yi's romance with the boy on her team set sail. 

[Ep26] Xu Wei kills the mechanic quite brutally. He calmly removes all the evidences. Meanwhile he pitifully cries to Xiao Feng to beg him to give him another chance. Xiao Feng is determined to make Xu Wei turn himself in. 

Present time Lu Xiao Bei learns that Xiao Feng is dead. In fact he’s been dead for several years. 

[Ep27] Lu Xiao Bei discovers the exact time of Xiao Feng’s death from An Lan. Lu Xiao Bei used the postcard to convince her that he does know Xiao Feng and that he can change Xiao Feng’s fate. From An Lan, he learns that at that moment, Xiao Feng was with Xu Wei.  

Getting the information Lu Xiao Bei needed, he manages to contact An Lan in 2008 to convince her to stop Xiao Feng’s death.  

Xu Wei uses a VR system to kill Xiao Feng. Xu Wei wants to make Xiao Feng’s brain die in the game permanently. I don’t know how that works but it works. Prior to letting Xiao Feng fall to his death, Xu Wei reveals everything to him from crashing into Lu Xiao Bei’s brother to killing the mechanic. Xiao Feng begs Xu Wei to save him but he lets him die in the game’s black hole. An Lan arrives but it’s too late. 

Or not. 

Present time Lu Xiao Bei visits Xiao Feng’s grave but it’s not there anymore. The worker there tells him he’s been here for ten years and that area has always been empty. Lu Xiao Bei calls An Lan to ask her what has changed. She tells him to return to Shenzhen and she’ll show him. So present An Lan knows present Lu Xiao Bei already? Let me ignore this plot hole. It turns out An Lan stopped the game in time to keep him somewhat alive.  

At the end of the episode, there’s a scene of Xiao Feng falling into the VR vortex. But his fall is stopped abruptly. His eyes are wide open. He’s alive?

[Ep28] Chu Ge becomes Lu Xiao Bei's team's manager. She convinces Qi Lin to invest in Lu Xiao Bei's team. Lu Xiao Bei convinces Qi Lin that he really did communicate with Xiao Feng. These two work together to find the VR game Xiao Feng had played in. Lu Xiao Bei thinks he can find Xiao Feng's soul that way. 

Lu Xiao Bei is right. Xiao Feng is stuck in the VR game. He keeps dying and reviving in the VR like it's a video game with unlimited lives. 

[Ep29] Jia Yi and Wang Kai break up. He also leaves the team for Xu Wei's team (that King plays in). By the way, Xu Wei was the man in Episode 1 that never allowed Lu Xiao Bei to see the light of day in his company. Xu Wei wanted Lu Xiao Bei to be King's shadow forever. But that ain't happening. 

[Ep30] Qi Lin gathers the rest of the team (minus Xu Wei) to work with with Lu Xiao Bei to enter Xiao Feng’s VR world. Lu Xiao Bei manages to find Xiao Feng. The two men tightly embrace. Bromance aside, the two of them beat down the virtual enemies and successfully complete all the levels. Lu Xiao Bei practically risks his life to save Xiao Feng. Lu Xiao Bei wakes up clutching his heart in pain from the VR stimulation but Xiao Feng is still comatose. 

Lu Xiao Bei confirms Qin Li’s suspicions that Xu Wei is indeed behind Xiao Feng’s comatose. He also learns that the culprit behind his brother’s death is Xu Wei. He calls his dad to tell him where Xu Wei’s car is located. Dad, although suspicious, believes his son. 

Lion Head talks so much now he even has a vlog. He’s talking over Jia Yi’s job. He even meets a girl he likes online. 

[Ep31] Wang Kai regrets his decision to leave the team and returns to Lu Xiao Bei. They lock him out in the rain but before the night’s over, the entire team is accepting him again. 

Xiao Feng wakes up! Qi Lin is at his side and smiles to see his buddy finally opening his eyes. Xiao Feng doesn’t want anyone else to know other than the team (minus Xu Wei) and Lu Xiao Bei. 

Lu Xiao Bei confronts Xu Wei for killing his brother. Xu Wei feigns ignorance. 

Xu Wei/King’s team is cheating (not King though, he's innocent, just thought I had to add that). As a result, Lu Xiao Bei’s team is struggling to win. But no worries, Lu Xiao Bei is, after all, the main character. 

[Ep32] It’s two against one but Lion Head allows Lu Xiao Bei to have a one on one combat with King. The team also entrusts Lu Xiao Bei with this honour. Lu Xiao Bei doesn’t disappoint. He wins. His team is the champion. 

Xiao Feng is in the stadium and congratulates Lu Xiao Bei. This is the first time they’ve met offline. 

Lion Head is no longer Lion Head. After he met his online girl, he’s become a normal Blondie. 

Xiao Feng has a gathering with his team (minus Xu Wei). The way the place is decorated, it looked like Qi Lin planned a romantic event for Xiao Feng. It was heartfelt when they all have the utmost respect for their one and only leader, Xiao Feng, even after all these years. Once a leader, always a leader. The one who actually planned something romantic was Lu Xiao Bei. He’s the Cupid between Xiao Feng and An Lan. 

[Ep33] An Lan takes Xiao Feng back to her home. He finds the postcard (that he gave Lu Xiao Bei which was technically hers to begin with). She kisses his forehead to tell him to stop furrowing them. They kiss. It’s a long one. She’s really going for it. She has to brush his hair away instead of him doing it for her. Lol. Lu Han, I think it’s time for a haircut. Because of his hair, I can’t see much. They sleep together that night but he disappears in the morning. An Lan freaks out but he only went to buy her breakfast. 

An Lan keeps combing his hair behind his ear. She also thinks Xiao Feng needs a haircut but he refuses. It’s the hair he grew for eleven years. It should be much longer than that then. She teaches him how to open her smart TV with voice recognition. Xiao Feng stares wondrously at this new world.

Lu Xiao Bei convinces Xiao Feng to coach his team for the world championship. Xiao Feng was like “beg me”. Lu Xiao Bei quietly says “I’m begging you”. Then Xiao Feng wants to hear “Xiao Feng Ge Ge” from Lu Xiao Bei. Lu Xiao Bei mutters it. Xiao Feng happily accepts to be his coach. 

Another member joins the Continue Team: King. He wants to be in a team that can win. Xiao Feng is the key person who made King's acceptance possible. 

Xu Wei ran off to another country to avoid his punishment.

[Ep34] Our Continue team is doing so well, others are green with envy. They underhandedly attack the team and break Lu Xiao Bei wrist. He’s no longer able to compete. 

[Ep35] Lu Xiao Bei battles even with his fractured hand. Literally, the surgery was last night. But mind over matter. Anyways. Chu Ge gives him a forehead kiss to motivate him. It’s captured on screen and the crowd goes crazy.

Xu Wei appears in the video game battle. Xiao Feng is here too. I don’t know how to explain their presence when they’re not the ones playing the video game. Xu Wei throws a gas bomb in the game. Everything is foggy now. 

[Ep36] Xiao Feng reminds Lu Xiao Bei to focus on the game. With his fractured wrist, Lu Xiao Bei brings his team to the finals. After the tournament, he chases down Xu Wei. It’s a bloody fight. Xu Wei runs away. But his car crashes. He almost ran over a man in his motorbike, very much like mince years ago. Except this time, the man on the bike is okay, it's him who's squashed between two cars. He dies. Xiao Feng is sad. He’s not sad the current Xu Wei died but the Xu Wei who he had fought alongside with died. 

It’s the finals. Lu Xiao Bei can’t play. His fractured wrist is finally an issue. He steps down for his teammate to take on. Unfortunately the team loses. Watching this team play, King is definitely a scene-stealer. He doesn’t talk at all but I just like staring at his expressions

The team return to China, their heads hung low. Their family and fans stand there awaiting their arrival. Lu Xiao Bei lifts his fists upward. Everyone follows. Sniffle. So does our Continue Team. They’ve lost but they’ve won. 

The next three years, Continue wins three championships in a row. They’re world champions. Lu Xiao Bei and Xiao Feng are both giving speeches about their success. The message I got from their speeches: fight for your dreams. By the way, Xiao Feng still didn’t cut his hair. 

The end.



Remarks



[First Impression (Ep1-6)] I can’t say I’m interested in this drama based on the episodes I’ve watched. Then again I’ve never had a good track record for e-sports dramas with the exception of Go Go Squid. This one is focused on each man’s dreams to be a champion. Xiao Feng is in a time when e-sports wasn’t a recognized career. Xiao Bei is gathering extraordinary members to create his extraordinary team. The miraculous part of the drama is how these two men can communicate despite being in different years. Xiao Bei wants Xiao Feng’s help to save his brother before he dies. Kind of reminds me of Signal (Kdrama) especially when these two can only communicate for a certain duration at a certain time. The actions of Xiao Feng can directly change the current world of Xiao Bei’s. Romance isn’t quite existent yet but each man has a lady at his side.  

This drama falls into the category of being overly ambitious for me. It’s trying to be gritty and packaging itself as action-packed but it lacks the heart. Good looking guys won’t cut it for me.

Something unrelated. Don’t call someone wheelchair-bound. Don’t define a person being restricted by an object. Xiao Bei uses a wheelchair because he can. On another note, I’m very bothered by Wu Lei’s wheelchair acting. It’s so fake. There’s scenes of him lifting his leg or him moving his hips with ease. They’re also making a student (Chu Ge) give him physical therapy. Just because the girl runs doesn’t mean she’s a leg expert.

[Actors/Actresses] I actually don’t have high hopes for the male leads. I haven’t finished anything from either of them. They’re not bad here, I just don’t feel emotionally invested in their characters. Among this cast, I’m the most familiar with Song Yan Fei (Cecilia Boey). I like her. She’s versatile. 

[Behind the Scenes

[Ending] The mystery explained. Xiao Feng never appears in Lu Xiao Bei’s time because he was killed by Xu Wei in a VR game back in 2008 – a very creative way to kill and it works well for this drama. Lu Xiao Bei manages to convince An Lan to help him both in the present and the past. Xiao Feng is thus saved but his brain is still trapped in the VR game. To everyone else, he’s in a vegetative state. An Lan stayed single waiting for him. There's a bit of a plothole here where I don't know what memory An Lan has. It takes too many brain cells to decipher this so I rather not.

Xu Wei wanted to kill Xiao Feng because he found out Xu Wei was responsible for the death of Lu Xiao Bei’s brother and the mechanic. In current time, Xiao Bei saves Xiao Feng’s entrapped brain by helping him defeat all the levels in the VR game. This way of saving someone is beyond the imaginable but it was very fitting for this drama. However, it was too easy of a battle for such an important moment. It was a bit of a letdown. 

Figuring out this mystery was the most exciting part of this drama and why I kept clicking to the next episode. However, it was pretty anticlimactic after that when Xu Wei crashed and killed himself. I get why they chose his character to die the way he did. It’s karma for crashing into Lu Xiao Bei’s brother. But is that really the punishment for the man who killed a person, attempted to murder another, and crippled someone?

Final Review


[Review] This is an action, comedy, mystery, thriller and a sci-fi drama with romance, bromance, friendship, and teamwork, plus family. It’s every genre possible packed into 35 episodes. 

Heads up, this won't be a nice review. My perspective of this drama might not align with those who like esport action packed dramas. I usually prefer romances. There is romance in this but I don't think it's necessary. If the drama was going to insert romance like that, I rather they completely leave it out (well at least for Lu Xiao Bei). Lu Xiao Bei and Chu Ge had no chemistry for me. I was way too turned off at how they made her his physiotherapist. It's as if anyone who runs on two legs is a qualified physiotherapist. I almost dropped this drama because of that. Xiao Feng and An Lan were cute when they were supposed to be and steamy when they needed to be. Their romance wasn’t something I yearned to see more of; I was just pleasantly surprised to be given something cute and romantic. 

What I did love about this drama is the creativity in incorporating two different time zones to catch the bad guy and how the show decided to save the main characters using sci-fi methods. From the esports world, the drama ventured into VR. I thought that was an interesting turn of events. The mystery behind Lu Xiao Bei’s brother’s death and Xiao Feng being MIA in Lu Xiao Bei’s time is what makes this show addicting. It was exhilarating around Episode 24 when one of our main characters disappear. 

In terms of emotional engagement (other than select scenes) I find this below par. I’m not talking about the romance, I’m referring to the team building, the stake of each competition, and the problems with each team member. The drama felt like a try hard. It was trying to be eccentric, it was trying to be deep, and it was trying to be motivational. Because it tried to dab into everything, a lot of it felt superficial. There were too many whackos who I could not empathize with. There’s barely any normal people on the teams. It was too easy for Lu Xiao Bei to organize his team. Team building is one of the most satisfying parts of a drama but this one was lacklustre. It was too easy to predict if they’ll win. It was too easy for Lu Xiao Bei to stand. I honestly hated it. Is it so bad to let the guy excel in esports even if he was using a wheelchair? I much prefer Xiao Feng’s character and team. It was also Xiao Feng’s scenes with his team that I occasionally teared up for. 

Action. I’m also not the type of person to stay engaged during action scenes. Which sucks because half of this drama can be summarized by this: bang bang bang, screams and cheers, bang bang bang, wooooo! bang bang bang. I reserve dramas that I don’t recap heavily as my bed time drama. This was one of the worst dramas I could have chosen to watch at night. I was in war every night. But that’s my fault and not the drama’s. 

Acting. The scene-stealer for me was King. He doesn’t even need to talk and my eyes linger on him. I swear I’m not that superficial about good looking men. Through his eyes, I can sense his desire to win. I definitely want to see more of him. As for the leads, I prefer Lu Han’s Xiao Feng over Wu Lei’s Lu Xiao Bei. I think both of them overacted but Lu Han delivered during the emotional scenes so I give him a huge pass. I look forward to seeing more of him. Wu Lei’s emotional scenes were weak for me. He cried a lot but I couldn’t feel his pain. I would have preferred it if he opted for a reserved personality to contrast Lu Han's instead of having two loud main characters. Lu Xiao Bei's initial characterization was an introvert but passionate gamer and I wished Wu Lei continued to incorporate that type of silent burning passion in his character. Passion doesn’t always have to expressed loudly, sort of like King. In that sense, I think if Wu Lei interpreted his character differently, it would have elevated the drama that much more for me. 


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