August 13, 2020

Dance of the Phoenix | Recap and Review

Dance of the Phoenix
A girl re-purposing her life after she’s revived. She forgot her past and meets her emotionless (ex-)fiancé. 
Notable Actors/Actresses
Yang Chao YueFeng Wu / Meng Yuan
Xu Kai ChengJun Lin Yuan
Director
Chinese Title
且聽鳳鳴
NetworkTencent Video
Year2020
Episodes: 13/30
Recap Grade: C
First Impression: 2/5


Mini Recaps


[Ep1] Feng Wu has the Phoenix Blood. Only one other person prior to her had this sacred blood: Mu Jiu Zhou. He is the almighty man who saved Earth. He was supposed to ascend to God’s realm but because of an accident he disappeared. But his star that represents his livelihood still flickers. Coincidentally, on the same day he disappeared, Feng Wu is born. She is somehow able to see Mu Jiu Zhou’s spirit and he takes her as his disciple but she must keep it a secret. 

Her Phoenix Blood makes many others envious, especially Zuo Qing Luan. She kills Feng Wu. Mu Jiu Zhou saves her by giving his Phoenix Blood to her. He disappears once more. This time his light has completely blacked out. Feng Wu has no memories of her past life. She’s told to create this pill to recover her memories and discover her purpose in life. Okay. Let’s find our purpose in life peeps. This is the premise to our story. Alright. 

Without any memories, Feng Wu meets her ex-fiancé, Jun Liu Yuan. He flows down in a gown of white to fight a giant bird that’s destroying the village. He reaches out his hand in Feng Wu's direction. She thinks he's the hero who has come to save her. Nope. He is summoning his sword from who-knows-where. 

[Ep2] The big bird was aiming for Feng Wu (her pendant) all along. Jun Liu Yuan saves her and they both drop into the water. It’s him who drowns. She doesn't give him CPR. She uses abdominal thrusts for him to spit the water out. Uhhh. But the water is in his airways. Not his stomach. He's grateful but he doesn't show it. He finds medicine to cure her of her poison but before he gives it, Feng Xuan saves her first. It turns out these two fought for Feng Wu even when she was young. They both liked her. To choose her groom among them, the one who takes the emotionless pill will be the one she’ll choose. Jun Liu Yuan ate it. And thus he’s her fiancé (before she lost all her cultivation) 

Feng Wu has no memories of either men. She’s dressed up rather dingy and lies that her name is Feng Xiao Wu to the men. She learns of her arranged marriage with Jun Lin Yuan. Rumour has it that it’s cancelled because Feng Wu lost all her cultivation but the marriage was technically never annulled because Jun Liu Yuan never called it off. But he also barely acknowledges it. 

[Ep3] Feng Wu tends to Jun Liu Yuan's injuries. His emotionless pill activates. The pill he took will make him be in pain and lie when he's in love. It will only be cured if his lover dies. It seems he likes Feng Wu already. Huh. Why? When?

There's more danger looming ahead. Jun Liu Yuan and Feng Wu bump into each other and end up kissing. They awkwardly separate and continue to search for this wondrous fruit that can allow one to recover their cultivation. Feng Wu claims that she’s afraid of their surroundings so Jun Liu Yuan hums to her (awful humming by the way) to help her calm down.

[Ep4] Yu Ming Ye takes hostage of Feng Wu. Jun Liu Yuan’s emotionless pill takes into effect. He cares for her but the pill stops him from telling the truth that he wants to protect her. Instead he says that her life and death is meaningless to him. 

Feng Wu uses her tears to win over the cultivation fruit from both men (Yu Ming Ye and Jun Lin Yuan). She needs it to make the concoction that Mu Jiu Zhou tasked her with. 

[Ep5] Jun Lin Yuan locates the cultivation fruit/Feng Xiao Wu at Feng Wu’s manor. But no one can recognize Feng Xiao Wu as Feng Wu. Sigh. Okay. She uses food to distract him. But a part of him is reminded of Feng Xiao Wu when he sees the beautiful Feng Wu. 

Jin Lin Yuan accidentally hits Feng Wu’s forehead and that becomes an ongoing habit for him to flick her forehead for nothing and for everything. 

[Ep6] Feng Wu finds out about Jun Lin Yuan’s emotionless pill. She may have also figured out he never meant to ditch her (in ep4). Jun Lin Yuan chooses her to accompany him to find Feng Xiao Wu. Yu Ming Ye is also tailing them. He wants to protect Feng Xiao Wu from Jun Lin Yuan. 

[Ep7] Feng Wu activates the Phoenix Sword with her blood. Everyone is astounded the sacred sword chose the cultivation-less her as its owner. 

[Ep8] The men, Jun Lin Yuan and Yu Ming Ye find out Feng Wu = Feng Xiao Wu. The two men fight like children for her. 

[Ep9] Jun Lin Yuan claims back his fiance to everyone. Feng Wu is now his royal fiancé. A jealous sister drugs Feng Wu's drink. As a result, she is almost raped by another man. Jun Lin Yuan saves her and ends up falling asleep next to her. He also comforted her (very unwillingly) because of the emotionless pill. The next morning when he finds her asleep next to him, he tells her he'll take responsibility for her

[Ep10] The next morning, Jun Liu Yuan abducts Feng Wu's mother to force Feng Wu to move into the city's central district where he lives. On their journey to the central district, she comes across a lizard-man. Jun Lin Yuan comes in time to help her and even risks his life to protect Feng Wu. 

Feng Wu's pendant/spirit teases Feng Wu for liking Jun Lin Yuan. The pendant also tells her to retrieve the demon spirit that Jun Liu Yuan inhaled. The spirit will help the spirit in her pendant gain a human form. Feng Wu will need to inhale it out of him to retrieve the spirit. In other words, she'll need to kiss him. 

[Ep11] Feng Wu is caught trying to kiss Jun Liu Yuan. He avoids her until she tells him why she's determined to kiss him. He particularly wants to know if she would kiss anyone. Of course not. Not everyone else has the demon spirit. She tells him everything. Thus, he takes her in for a romantic kiss. 

Jun Liu Yuan is able to tell the truth. I think the emotionless pill is lifted? Without the pill, he accidentally tells her he really likes her. 

Feng Wu reunites with Chao Ge, her childhood friend, but unfortunately, Feng Wu has forgotten all about her. She has gained a lot of weight because of an unknown poison she had taken. If it had not been her who ate the poison, it would have been Feng Wu.
 
[Ep12] Feng Wu and Jun Liu Yuan practically reciprocate their feelings. Jun Liu Yuan  asks her if she doesn't want to be his royal consort. She denies ever saying that. He's relieved. But she also doesn't want to just be his consort (without a formal proposal type of thing). She also accidentally says she likes him. He pulls her in for a hug. Other than romance though, she has more pressing issues on her mind. She wants to cure Chao Ge of her poison. She displays her loyalty this episode as she goes through multitude of levels just to acquire the cure. She gets a bit of help from Yu Ming Ye and that makes Jun Liu Yuan a tad jealous.
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Remarks



[First Impression (Ep1-6)] This is a xianxia rom-com with a smart female lead and an emotionless man – literally emotionless because he took an emotionless pill. She is supposedly smart but drama isn’t very smart. No one recognizes her because her face is less dirty... And her purpose in life right now is simply to find her purpose in life. Men fall in love with her left and right but I fail to see why they would. 

[Actors/Actresses] I like Ling Yi Zhou from Well Intended Love but I don't know yet whether I like him as an actor in another drama. I have yet to see. This is my first time seeing Yang Chao Yue as an actress. She’s not bad at all. Not from what I see at least. 

[Dropped] I don't get the hype for this. Is it because of the Untamed star? Yang Chao Yue's stardom? Ling Yi Zhou? 

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