October 26, 2024

Fangs of Fortune | Recap and Review

Fangs of Fortune
A ragtag team of daemons and daemon hunters face their past.
Notable Actors/Actresses
Hou Ming Hao: Zhao Yuan Zhou
Chen Du Ling: Wen Xiao
Screenwriter
Chinese Title
大夢歸離
Big Dreams Returns and Leaves
Network: iQIYI
Year: 2024
Episodes: 14/34

Jump to Remarks | Recs | Comments

Recaps: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [Extra]


Cast


Hou Ming Hao:
Zhao Yuan Zhou
Zhu Yan		 Chen Du Ling:
Wen Xiao
Tian Jia Rui:
Zhuo Yi Chen		 Cheng Xiao:
Pei Si Jing
Lin Zi Ye:
Bai Jiu		 Xu Zhen Xuan:
Ying Lei
Yan An:
Li Lun		 Lai Wei Ming:
Pei Si Heng
Ai Mi
Cheng Lei
Nazha
Peng Xiao Ran
Wang Duo
Wang Yi Lun
Zhang Miao Yi
Zuo Ye
Liu Huan:
Wen Rong Yu

Mini Recaps


[Ep1] [Jump to: Top | Comments]
  1. First cameo: Zhang Miao Yi. She's a white rabbit daemon who makes "white" lies to scam humans – and only the humans who scam other humans. She dies in 20 minutes of showtime because of evil humans. Her make-up needed to die anyway. I think ZMY got instructions to be like Lu Yu Xiao's Shangguan Qian.
  2. Zhao Yuan Zhou (Hou Ming Hao) is an infamous, thousand++ years old monkey – correction – Ape. All monkey (hou) jokes are because he's Hou Ming Hao. 
  3. Zhuo Yi Chen (Tian Jia Rui) is  a daemon hater hunter. He'd be dead if Zhao Yuan Zhou, a daemon, was serious about defeating him.
  4. MLs have a history. Apparently Zhao Yuan Zhou killed Zhuo Yi Chen's clan. Now the "murderer" demands the victim to solve a new murder mystery together. Zhao Yuan Zhou is seriously looking for death.
  5. Wen Xiao (Chen Du Ling) also has a history with Zhao Yuan Zhou but he's like gaslighting her that he isn't the masked daemon she met when her shifu died.
Chen Du Ling is Chen-Du-Ling-ing
[Ep2] [Jump to: Top | Comments]
  1. The ragtag team is gathered to solve their first case.
  2. Member 1: Zhao Yuan Zhou, the Great "Devil" ✓. Joins because (per a Holy Voice) it's his last chance to redeem himself. He needs to find the Goddess of Baize's Token or else the evil daemons will bring chaos to the human realm. 
  3. Member 2: Zhuo Yi Chen,  the sword-wielder ✓. Joins the squad because Zhao Yuan Zhou promises to teach Zhuo how to kill him (Zhao) with the Bright Cloud Sword.
  4. Member 3: Wen Xiao, the Baize Goddess ✓. Joins because she has a heart of gold. It's her job apparently because she is the new goddess after her shifu, Zhao Wan Er, died. (These "goddesses" are human even if her title means White Marsh, a mythological creature). However, she's goddess in title only because she's powerless and token-less.
  5. Member 4: Bai Jiu, the kiddo healer ✓. Joins because...it's fun? He's the screaming kid with too much blush on. 
  6. Member 5: Pei Si Jing, the archer ✓. Joins because she got called a dog? And well, Zhao Yuan Zhou offers to investigate her brother's death. I feel like Zhen Mei randomly spoke up for her or maybe I'm just fond of his role in My Journey to You. She's a depressed sister who had sworn off daemon-hunting after she killed her brother who became a daemon.
  7. In summary, we have a team consisting of a suicidal ape, a powerless goddess, a jiejie suffering PTSD, and a kid who screams. Only 2ML is the most normal. 
  8. The team – sans Zhao Yuan Zhou – are duped into signing a death contract (by Lord Xiang's people). If they don't solve the case in 5 days, they will die.
[Ep3] [Jump to: Top | Comments]
  1. Women are dangerous for Zhao Yuan Zhou. Wen Xiao "forced" him to sign a Titanic contract that if she dies, he dies. Then Pei Si Jing almost shot down his man-daemon-hood.
  2. Men are dangerous for Zhou Yuan Zhou too. Li Lun wants to kill all of Zhao Yuan Zhou's friends, sounding very jealous that ZYZ has friends that aren't him. Li Lun muses if he should start killing from the Goddess of Baize again. So did this pellet-drumming man kill Wen Xiao'd shifu or not?
[Ep4] [Jump to: Top | Comments]
  1. Li Lun really has a thing for Zhao Yuan Zhou. Li Lun thinks Wen Xiao is unworthy of standing next to Zhao Yuan Zhou. Then he thinks Lord Xiang's men don't deserve to kill Zhao Yuan Zhou. Make up your mind!
The placement of the sharp object... And it doesn't go through her body. 
[Ep5] [Jump to: Top | Comments]
  1. The first case (Wang Yi Lun & Peng Xiao Ran). Ran Yi and Lady Qi are star-crossed lovers. He's a Dream Daemon and she's a neglected human daughter. He's murdering brides to stop Father Qi from selling marrying off Lady Qi. I'm sure there's a less convoluted way to stop her from marrying.
  2. Zhao Yuan Zhou knew Ran Yi was the murderer from the start. He promised to reunite the star-crossed lovers in exchange for Ran Yi's dream-powers to awaken Wen Xiao's hidden memories/dreams in order to locate the Token. I'm also sure there's a less convoluted way to make Wen Xiao dream, but where would we have a drama, right? 
  3. Suddenly Zhuo Yi Chen is attacked. Zhao Yuan Zhou protects him.
Zhuo Yi Chen is this old and tells his gege (Wang Duo) he can't sleep at night because of his bad dreams. Oh, boo.
Zhuo Yi Chen is scared of becoming a daemon, apparently. Why would he even have that thought?
[Ep6] [Jump to: Top | Comments]
  1. RIP 2nd cameos. Lady Qi pathetically dies from being possessed too long by Li Lun. Ran Yi is killed by accident. Zhuo Yi Chen wanted to kill Li Lun who possessed Lady Qi's body, but Ran Yi blocked it.
  2. Zhao Yuan Zhou is the masked daemon Wen Xiao knew. He's destined to be enemies with the goddess. Everything he will destroy is what the goddess will protect. However Zhao Wan Er, Wen Xiao's shifu, believed his fate (of death) can be changed in that he will want to live. 
  3. Half of the Baize Token is found – it's in Wen Xiao's forehead. Li Lun told her the answer and so what was the point of hiring Ran Yi to make Wen Xiao dream? Now Ran Yi and his lover died all for naught.
Hou Ming Hao: Let's stab myself, and lift my other arm to show off the glory.
Wang Yi Lun: Gotcha
Zhao Yuan Zhou is Chen-du-ling-ing to Chen Du Ling Wen Xiao. He baits sympathy from Wen Xiao that if he dies, he'll turn into rain to accompany her. Nooooooo! Chen Du Ling produces enough water already.

[Ep7] [Jump to: Top | Comments]
  1. Ying Lei, a mountain god, ditched his grandfather at Dahuang – the place where daemons live in peace and are in dire need of a functioning Goddess of Baize – to be a chef here. Big dreams! His special power is teleportation. 
  2. We spend 10 minutes on a swing, analyzing Trust and that we only reveal our backs to those we believe in. Y'all, it's a swing.
[Ep8] [Jump to: Top | Comments]
  1. The second case. Cheng Huang (Cheng Lei), a daemon who can control puppets, manipulated Pei Si Jing's didi, Pei Si Heng, to turn himself into a daemon or more like an undead puppet. Pei Si Jing had to kill her possessed didi with her own arrow. Now this undead didi haunts her.
Oh Cheng Xiao, you're petty face, why do you lack so much emotion on it. Even if didi's face is disappearing in the light, there's pain in his smile. 
Ahh ~~
Ohh...
[Ep9] [Jump to: Top | Comments]
  1. Bai Jiu saves/wakes Pei Si Jing from Cheng Huang's deadly face temptation....by shaking the sundial until it worked. Who needs tech-support when you can intimidate the device with force.
  2. Puppet didi also saves Pei Si Jing – puppet-dude got a conscious! He truly cares for his jiejie and only fell for Cheng Huang's temptations because he wanted to be stronger for Pei Si Jing so that she doesn't have to carry all the burdens.
  3. Li Lun is here too. Man is clingy even without a body. He's the one who endowed Cheng Huang the sundial.
Poor ding Didi wants to touch jiejie's face just one last time, but jiejie's been holding his hand down. Rejected, lol. 
[Ep10] [Jump to: Top | Comments]
  1. The second side story (Cheng Lei & Nazha). Cheng Huang wants to undead his love, the Primordial Goddess of Baize. Did she die to save the world? To fight against evil? No. She died from plague, L-O-L. Well, she took her own life to end Cheng Huang's daemon-murder spree to treat her. She also stripped him of his Token and from then on,the Token was no longer in two.
  2. Scam alert #1: The sundial cannot turn back time to when his goddess was still alive. 
  3. Scam alert #2: Cheng Huan isn't even alive to undead the dead. He is also a puppet.
  4. The second half of the Token is found: it's inside Zhao Yuan Zhou. The complete Token activates and materializes into a flute that produces binding music, cuffing evil-daemon-doers. This is how Zhao Wan'er sealed Li Lun. Wen Xiao is no longer useless!
[Ep11] [Jump to: Top | Comments]
  1. Not a scam: Pei Si Jing's dead didi is "alive" again. Zhao Yuan Zhou used the power of chaos to keep his soul/consciousness alive in a puppet. Now didi is like ChatGPT offering 24/7 support whenever jiejie needs it.
  2. Pei Si Jing is a spy working for Zhen Mei (ofc, he's in charge of spies) who's working for Lord Xiang.
Yan An, please (morally) make babies and spread your genes. We, Chinese, need that nose, assuming it's real.

[Ep12] [Jump to: Top | Comments]
  1. Oh hello, it's Li Lun again. He – via another daemon – hypnotizes Zhuo Yi Chen to kill Zhao Yuan Zhou because only his sword can kill the great daemon.
  2. Zhao Yuan Zhou's wicked fingers whirl Zhuo Yi Chen to his senses. Red, hot, steamy air enwraps them into an intimate space solely for their conspiracy, in which Zhuo Yi Chen and Zhao Yi Chen concoct a counterattack.
  3. FL Update: On the floor. Chen Du Ling has done exactly 2 things this episode: 1) bow and 2) faint when nothing hit her.
Bai Jiu, asking from behind Pei Si Jing, why Li Lun knows their agenda.
Bidong  –  red, hot and steamy
She just faints. It must be the O₂ attacking her... (Alright, it's the plague – the arch-nemesis of goddesses)
The real CP this show is supporting.
Wen Xiao is goddess only in tittle.
Chen Du Ling is FL only in tittle.

 [Ep13] [Jump to: Top | Comments]
  1. The third side story (Zuo Ye & Ai Mi). Fei is a Plague Daemon and is imprisoned for unleashing his epidemic. Qing Geng is a Bird Daemon who is immune to him. She volunteered to be quarantined with him so that he wouldn't be lonely. However, she's brainwashed by Li Lun, forgets that she volunteered, and blames Fei for ruining her life. Now she's dying. Fei begs the team to save her. In exchange he'll stop the plague, which is killing himself. Now he'll never get to know she cared about him. This story IS meant to be romantic and the only reason they say "friend" is because GJM got Ai Mi – underaged – to film this.... >_>. 
  2. Fei's death was UNNECESSARY. He thought it would end the plague; it did not. He didn't even need to die for the team to save Qing Geng >_>
  3. FL Update: She's got plague. (To be fair, everyone else has plague too.)
  4. Bai Jiu finds the cure. His blood is special and can revive dead trees.
[Ep14] [Jump to: Top | Comments]
  1. Qing Geng regains freedom, but chooses to trap herself in a dream so she can "live" with "dream" Fei. She says this isn't escaping. This is her life's choice.
  2. FL Update: She sits and plays firework with Zhou Yuan Zhou
  3. 2FL Update: Zhuo Yi Chen gets to "dance" with Zhao Yuan Zhou
  4. TL;DR The squad played Avalon and lost a friend over it. They all sat around a table, taking turns to find the liar/spy. They narrow down to Bai Jiu who feels very wronged and cries.
  5. FL Update #2: Wen Xiao, what a bestie, one minute she's hugging Pei Si Jing making her feeling belonged, and the next minute, she's calling her a spy. It's not that she's wrong about PSJ, but it's the sequence of her actions and emotions that make her two-faced.
  6. The Token was activated because the owners have their hearts as one. Can you imagine the world falling apart because two people don't love each other.
(Cheng Xiao was Xu Zhen Xuan's dance mentor on a variety show!)
Wen Xiao makes Pei Si Jing feel like she belongs...
...then singles her out and interrogates her.
[Ep15] [Jump to: Top | Comments]
[Ep16] [Jump to: Top | Comments]
[Ep17] [Jump to: Top | Comments]
[Ep18] [Jump to: Top | Comments]
[Ep19] [Jump to: Top | Comments]
[Ep20] [Jump to: Top | Comments]
[Ep21] [Jump to: Top | Comments]
[Ep22] [Jump to: Top | Comments]
[Ep23] [Jump to: Top | Comments]
[Ep24] [Jump to: Top | Comments]
[Ep25] [Jump to: Top | Comments]
[Ep26] [Jump to: Top | Comments]
[Ep27] [Jump to: Top | Comments]
[Ep28] [Jump to: Top | Comments]
[Ep29] [Jump to: Top | Comments]
[Ep30] [Jump to: Top | Comments]
[Ep31] [Jump to: Top | Comments]
[Ep32] [Jump to: Top | Comments]
[Ep33] [Jump to: Top | Comments]
[Ep34] [Jump to: Top | Comments]
[Extra] [Jump to: Top | Comments]



Remarks


[First Impression (Ep1-9)]

Gothic meets Ballad. 

If the visuals and the music speak to you, this is much easier to digest. 

It's my second attempt at starting this and it's better than my first because I’ve learned to tune out what doesn't work for me:
  1. Every other line because it's all jokes that aren't funny. The real crime isn't being unfunny though, it's how they kill the tension every time. By ignoring half the show it, I can better imagine there's some emotional depth or seriousness in here.
  2. The constant BGM and all the singing, especially when they stretch out the piteous scenes.
  3. The dead way everyone talks in – pushing down their vocal chords to hiss out every word. The kiddo might be an exception, but they made him scream... 
  4. The dead way everyone's makeup looks. They ALL are prettier without the makeup. See their modern pics for their promotions!
Basically I tune out everything, lol. Why am I here then? Because I'm the dumb. I just want to strip away every gimmick Guo Jing Ming used to "enhance the drama" and get to the bare crux of his story – a narrative that is deliberately discombobulating until he decides it's time to combobulate.

[Cast&Crew]
  • Directed and written by Guo Jing Ming – the man who's more famous than his dramas (e.g. My Journey to You).
  • Wrapped on February 18, 2024 (which means Guo Jing Ming can be fast at some things).
  • Hou Ming Hao and Tian Jia Rui are on a variety show right now: Divas Hit the Road S6. It's getting so much hate (especially Zhou Yu Tong). These two boys are relatively safe though!
  • Xu Zhen Xuan (Ying Lei) was a trainee on We Are Young (2020). The mentors were Cheng Xiao and Guo Jing Ming.
  • Recurring cast from MJTY (not mains): Ou Mi De, Ai Mi, and Zuo Ye.
  • Expect guest appearances from Zhang Miao Yi, Nazha, Peng Xiao Ran, Cheng Lei, Wang Duo, Wang Yi Lun and more. Let's hope it's not a Zeng Shun Xi type cameo in MJTY.
[Ending] Sad, but there's an extra episode, making it Open. 

[A Highlight] 

[Review & Rating]



Rating: /5



Recommendations

Preliminary recs are random / a peek at the list. These may be updated if drama is completed

Oldie Random Random
The Vigilantes in Masks Tientsin Mystic The Message
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