Strikingly dark and sublime aesthetics. Sounds appealing too: an assassin romance; a suspenseful spy story
But moves like a slug.
Thankfully momentum picks up in the episodes leading to the ending. Phew.
This wasn’t how I envisioned the reunion between Chang Heng and Xiao Lan Hua (
Love Between a Fairy and Devil).
Zhang Ling He and
Yu Shu Xin’s romance was the least interesting in the entire drama. In fact, romance in general wasn’t satisfying and that includes 2nd CP (Gong Shang Jue and Shangguan Qian). Although they were more interesting (read: dangerous). They also outacted the main CP (sadly). They happen to suit their roles too. When Yu Shu Xin is reserved like this, I see her limits more than her potential. She does have her poignant spurt of moments, though. As for Zhang Ling He, it's true that Gong Zi Yu’s character did him no favours whatsoever, but at the same time he did his character no favours either.
I will join the side that compliments the overall spy story. It is intense (while being excruciatingly slow somehow). It’s both expansive and intricate without being convoluted. The final battle scene was gratifying and close to epic. The details will align by the end (e.g. retrospectively, I really appreciated the lead up of Gong Zi Yu asking the back hill boys for Gong Shang Jue’s test results. G2 must have shared the same feelings for G1 every time he passed a trial).
Personally, with my little brain, I think this is such a laborious and delicate story to first carefully unpack and then materialize into a drama that I’m actually impressed with
Guo Jing Ming. He also wasn’t greedy and capped this at 24 episodes. It’s incredible that I’m praising and defending GJM, but this is how I feel (even with those FINAL FOUR UNGODLY MINUTES).
The final four ungodly minutes. Regardless of any sound interpretations (bless you all for making them), I thought that was a cheap and irresponsible way to end the drama just to generate hype for a potential second season. I know Guo Jing Ming wanted to end on a certain punctuation mark, but does he know he's actually asking to be punched in the face?
I think the mastermind logic also sucks.
If this sounds like I’m ranting, I am ranting, but it’s also because I care, and I ultimately care because of the supporting cast, my attention-thieves <3
- Lu Yu Xiao’s Shangguan Qian: The daintiest assassin with the sweet and sinister smirks. I'm surprised she has this in her. She’s shippable with Gong2 and Yun Wei Shan. I like the sismance more, but her most entertaining relationship is the throuple with G2 and G3. This trio stole all the spotlight.
- Cheng Lei’s Gong2: Contrary to most, I’m not feeling his acting (yet?). For me, the most impressive thing about him is the way Guo Jing Ming captures his face and that nose.
- Tian Jia Rui’s Gong3. He had me at “jiejie”. Shove this guy with anyone and in any combo, and the scene lights up. Jin Jing had one purpose, which was comedy, but I much preferred the levity that Tian Jia Rui brought to the drama instead.
- Sun Chen Jun’s Jin Fan: He’s such a darling, I declare that anyone who kills Jin Fan is my mortal enemy. (And stop molesting him!)
- Zuo Ye’s Yue gongzi: I am utterly charmed by his reversal because I’ve seen in Back From the Brink and he’s completely different.
- Wen Zheng Rong’s Ming Wu Ji: What can I say? Lady is talented.
- Ou Mi De’s (Omid) Han Ya Si. My last guy, but not the least important guy. Every drop of tear for this drama is because of this man. My favourite trio is G2-G3-SQ, but the trio that was the most poignant is Han Ya Si and his two girls.
Verdict: Not the best, but an iconic series of the year. This drama also unseated my favourite royal triad. Oh, and this needs to be nominated for most useless cameo (
Zeng Shun Xi, why didn't you just take a nap instead?)
Random Recommendation:
Ancient Detective. (Guo Jing Ming, this is how you punch in an exclamation mark.)
No comments:
Post a Comment