Novoland: Pearl Eclipse (2021)

Back to square one: love left, loneliness stayed

Finally finished it after months of putting it on hold in dread of heartbreak and watching again.

Production: this is the best thing here. top notch production. Action scenes are done super well. The sets are grand and costumes and jewellery of everyone, especially tilan's were mesmerising. The music is nice, especially each of the couples have their own song.

Story:  the story is pretty good, just not what i had expected, honestly since i expected lots of fantasy and less on politics. But i wouldn't say that i loved  the  story, mainly because of how the main men here keep making dumb decisions amd learn nothing. Also, When it comes to teacher student thing, that too in fantasy dramas, i can't help but compare it to eternal love and get disappointed. But that's out of context because the genres are different. I have seen from a lot of comments that the novel is rather very dark and tragic but i like how the scriptwriter made it into a political and not so dark story. The main couple had what I'd call an illusory good time with each other. They met, loved, lived together happily very briefly, only to part ways. Honestly i was more invested emotionally in Di xu and tilan's romance, than the main couple, because after the initial torturous and hostile period, they were consistently in a sweet romance until fate took over. The ml actually went too much back and forth, so i could only feel pity for the fl and not be too touched by their story. Zhe liu and zhuoying had a nice fairytale like romance which was pleasant to see, until it wasn't anymore. A major part of the story was political, so there were numerous villains and i liked how the ml planned and schemed against them. Some of them were shown as villains from the start while some were undercover, which i failed to recognize, so it was not that predictable for me. Shit got really tragic and depressing from ep 34 on. And that absolute fucking bitch of a maid that ruined everything for all of them just for her own selfishness was horrible. Later we had blissful episodes 44 to 46, after  which  shitfest of doom began. However the main villain's revelation just fell flat in reason in the final battle, and all what every villain wanted here was power, that really made the villains shallow. I'd rather it ended at ep 46 , would've saved us the tsunami of heartbreaks they purposely inflicted on watchers. Also the last war happened only because they didn't want us to have happy ending. Logically it could've very well been averted by beating the villains at their own game but makers wouldn't do that lest we get a happy ending for all 3 couples.

Characters: firstly my favourite characters were zhuoying and youdu. Youdu was super cute tho he was just a guest role and zhuoying was the best brother ever, i loved his brotherhood with haishi. Others that i liked were chengqian and shaozi, mu deqing. Who even needs a court jester when mu deqing is there? Lol. I didn't like fang zhu too much as a lover, because he was way too dedicated to the emperor to the point where he forgot that he was a human with his own life and hurt everyone around himself to protect him. That was plain frustrating and i understood that he felt guilty for causing the pregnant empress to die but being the baixi for the emperor and then again his son was just too much of noble idiocy. Haishi, as a character was similar to fuyao in legend of fuyao, so i liked her character, the dedication, determination and loyalty she had. The emperor was plain horrible to everyone in the first few episodes and just disgusting. After halfway through the series, seeing his interactions with fang zhu i felt like am i watching a bl? However i couldn't help but sympathize with his pathetic character, he had a really miserable romantic life and also as a king. Tilan was a gentle yet stubborn character, who put up with everything for no real reason at first, then because of love. There were villains  out of desperate love like Ju qiqi, general tang and out of vengeance and greed like su ming, eunuch shi, princess sister of emperor, and others that i won't spoil. The villains here however had nothing to be pitiful, except one, they were just greedy and vain.

Acting: it was my first time watching William chan, so i don't know how he is but i was satisfied with how he portrayed a stony cold character and sometimes how he got affected by haishi getting close to him. However his love for her wasn't expressed that obviously if his actions aren't counted. So i guess he did that purposely or isn't good at facial expressions of being in love, idk. Yang mi, on the contrary had a character similar to that of fuyao so i compared fuyao and haishi a lot, even though the plots were vastly different, and can't help but choose fuyao. Fuyao was even better acted out and portrayed in the romantic scenes, well there were few romantic moments here, so maybe i felt this way but nonetheless it was believable and good. Xu kaicheng surprised me with his acting here , it was very well done. And chen xiaoyun played both the bubbly zizan and introverted tilan very well and her voice was so soothing, idk who dubbed her? The villain's acting actually got on my nerves,  so i guesshe did well. Nothing to say about others.

I do recommend watching it overall. If for nothing else, for the feast to the eye it offers with the grandeur of production. It was interesting and exhilarating in some scenes. But this is too serious for me to rewatch. As a one time watch, it was worth it.

Leia Mais

I HAVE A QUESTION!

Please someone tell me if fang jianming survived in the end or not? I can't sleep!
Although I think the ending was fine but i truly want him survive, also they should have shown fang jianming in the end. It wasn't satisfactory but was fine. Also i think they wanted to blend realism in the fantasy, the idea was good. Overall the acting, storyline was good. I like the chemistry between shifu and student romance that was turning point for me. I want Chinese dramas to show atleast some real kisses and skinship, after 50-60 eps all we get are fake kisses after these good chemistries.

Leia Mais

Well...I am conflicted

I loved this production and the efforts of the team, from the beautiful sets to the breathtaking costumes, special effects, OST, gravity defying martial arts and outstanding performances. As an American watching C-drama's since 2018, I am in awe of the time, labor, and passion for creating such awe inspiring dramas. I have been in love with Yang Mi's style and beauty since first seeing her in TLTWTMPB, renamed Eternal Love in the States. I have seen several of her films and TV dramas and can see what a fabulous actress she is. The thing is that great acting also requires great storytelling. This is where the drama suffers. It took all my energy to keep up with the many twists and turns in the storyline. I loved William Chan's performance as the debonair master of Jifeng Pavilion, never allowing his emotions to be expressed in court or at home among his pupils. Equally entertaining is his adolescent female student Haishi, who is played convincingly by Yang Mi. She has the most emotional growth in this drama from annoying teenager, to a powerfully clever leader. Yet, there is so much going on and so many characters to keep track of that the storyline sometimes gets muddled in the various plots.

As much as I appreciated all the effort that went into creating this epic drama, the writing and the story arc are crucial to the success of a drama, and I think too much happens here that doesn't really need to. The story seemed to be coming to a natural end and yet, in the last episode, the writers contrived and ending that felt orchestrated for the sake of getting the ending they wanted rather than the one that was coming naturally. In doing so, I felt that previous plot lines were negated and rendered contradictory. I would mention examples but don't want to add spoilers, so you would have to watch to understand what I'm talking about.

I have seen over and over in my five years of watching C-dramas that the handsome, younger, emotionally guarded male is the epitome of sexiness, and favored in Chinese dramas. Some are done better than others depending on the acting abilities of the performer, while the leading lady is beautiful, sweet, sexy and less smarter than her leading man. Mmm...kay. Yet, here I am coming back to them over and over. What is it that makes them so appealing? Maybe its the costumes, the music, the gorgeous performers. Who knows? I guess I am hooked, but I am always looking for anything that will take me to the heights that Eternal Love has. This drama, with all its merits, unfortunately falls short.

Leia Mais

Just OK

I think if you watched this prior to Legend of Fu Yao or Eternal Love (Yang Mi's notable roles) then you would probably like it more. However if you watched this after that, then it's not as good. Story, chemistry, all felt less comparable. Sure the production is expensive. Costume and sets quite impressive.

Yang Mi - Fang Hai Shi ( literally she acted the same as her other roles) but with worse dubbed voice. The only part that I did like is that she's honest with her feelings and bold to express it. The role also didn't pull a disappearing kung fu like so many other strong FL roles. She should start to part ways from young roles at this as she looks too mature for the part. Of course she's gorgeous for her age but being type casted for the same role over & over again gets boring. Not to mention 2nd lead ML looked 10 years younger than her.

William Chan - Fang Zhu. He did a good job overall but chemistry wasn't strong w/ Yang Mi.

Emperor & Ti Lan - Talk about toxic relationship at its worst start to finish.

3rd couple Fang Zhuoying & Ju Zheliu, sweet couple but also not much going on there.

Too many episodes revolves around just the developing relationships and not so much on plot development. Often times felt draggy and repetitive. I'd rather see a lot more of plot development but I guess this is geared more towards sappy love story drama lovers.

Leia Mais

Cdrama addiction to sad ending should end

First of all, I finished this drama about a week ago and still am disappointed, why do everyone feel the need to drop everything at the last episode? like what is the whole point? look at tilan and emperor xu, they fall in love and everything even had a child together JUST SO THEY COULD BOTH DI3 AT THE END?!?!! horribly slow progress of love between haishi and fang zhu just for them to not be able to actually be together. I'm so close at rating this the lowest I could but it would be a waste, I actually did enjoy it, just brush off the horrible end and the horrible chemistry between the leads, I wish they just stayed in the disciple-master relationship, I really couldn't stand it, well I could at first but since the marrying thing, uh uh, maybe it's because fang zhu literally saw haishi grew up and it's just weird, I don't mind the gap but he saw her grew up and it threw me off for some reason, however, I did enjoy everything else, putting off the romance part, it did actually hook me up from start til ep 40, so it does deserve an 8.0, and the effects and everything, at least it didn't seem like they ran off of budget.

Leia Mais

Not for the faint of heart

I didn't know anything going into this drama, except for it had Yang Mi and we all love her from Eternal Love. To my surprise the main leads don't really have an age difference (even though in the drama he seems at least 7-10 years older). Not a big issue, I kind of like that they picked people in their 30's. It makes everything more mature and more epic.

I can't describe my thoughts and feelings on this one. I love a low angst, high romance historical dramas and this is not a low angst drama. Most of the drama is hard to watch, it's very melodramatic and very intense, but for some reason, I couldn't stop watching it. It's like I was sucked into all of the abuse.

The first 30 episodes were what really drawn me in. It was intense and the pacing was good. There's a lot of push and pull between all characters and all relationships. There's 3 main relationships and each one goes into a different direction, so you are kind of always in a good spot. If one is failing the other relationship is thriving so you always have a couple to root for.

I'm curious to what William's Chen's real voice sounds like, because I read a review that they didn't use his voice. I do like Yang Mi's voice, but goodness she can make it high pitch and super youthful. I felt like ML's character was very much the martyr of the drama and you have to be okay going into that. It was a little much as times, but that's the story.

I felt like everything is a little much and intense and melodramatic at times, but again, that is the story.

So, be in the right mood for this. Note that the show was originally longer, but it's edited down so the last few episodes are kind of fragmented, but that's kind of typical to must historical dramas.

Leia Mais

Slight Fantasy with Love & national turmoil

#1 The synopsis is off. The Ruler dint put the nation at stake because of self indulgent or neglect.

Taste: it has strong Female lead as well as strong ML about love, loyalty, sacrifice.

At start it doesnt seem much , master-disciple love seems too overuse theme & this was apparent in the drama in right from start & also the FL becomes the wife of Emperor she dint love?? that plot also familiar and discerning. Some of the character were annoying as well, I cant believe the second couple will fall for each other after all that unreasonable thing the second ML did/ is going to do.. it seems like is going in that direction
Just stayed a bit for the lively FL and brother.

Then it becomes more interesting, the shift of the dark character to slight brighter.

Taste: it has strong Female lead as well as strong ML. I always see strong not just in terms of how good they fight but character: determination, unyielding, protectiveness.

A lot of actions, with detailed background of state turmoil that the group/ main characters work to resolve. Many wins , the action /fights mostly got good effect and caught my attention and adrenaline except for a few.

Love stories are torturous esp btw the ML & FL. Even though is happy ending , but they sacrificed so so much how many years for the new king i dont even want to think , after all that love, country struggles, to let common people interest above themselves, again.
BUT I FOUND I ACTUALLY LIKE ML (PERHAPS FROM WHEN AUDIENCE GET TO SEE THE BATTLE THAT BONDED HIM TO EMPEROR, HE WILLINGLY SACRIFICE FOR THE COUNTRY AND HIS BROTHER )
& THEIR LOVE IS WORTH. HIS SELFLESSNESS FOR EMPEROR & VISIONS,
FL & ML ARE THE BEST MATCH. CHEERING FOR THEM VERY HARD..

Luckily the Emperor redeem himself by being a very very good "brother" to FJM. At a point they understand each other without word and give him the cover/ life saving aid in need & the way he willing to set his brother free. He is also smart, make good decisions in governing , well most of the time.

Action scenes here worth some clasp
Trilling, good balance of actions/ fight and nation problems, torturous love stories, Commendable FL that speaks her thoughts to win ML, loyalty , love & sacrifice.

Leia Mais

I am re-watching

I like Yang Mi to the moon so I started watching this drama for Yang Mi but finishing with the joyful of production, costumes, casting, story line (which there is always something to be unhappy about as usual for a typical chinese storyline), tone of the drama, etc.

I cried few times from the beginning to the end which is very rare as the climax of most of the dramas are at the end or almost the end. The chemistry of the two leads are extreme. I could feel their pains like they are just in front.

The casting is almost perfect (almost!! cause one of the boys is too young to be Yang Mi love interest). Most of the cast are perfect for ages, appearances, muscles, acting skills, expressions, etc. Best Chinese Drama Casting so far for me.

I am re-watching few episodes that I really like.

Leia Mais

one of the best series

I really enjoy this show, with nice costumes, hairs ... your eyes are always full of stars ! The actors are incredibles, Xu Kaicheng and Willam Chan make this series so real. The tension between the MLs and FLs are well played, and you might have 3 love stories (or not) .It is one of the best series I ever watched. It s filmed in the imperial city (or forbiden city) and it s beautiful, it immersed yourself in the past. Xu Kaicheng is made for this type or role /part, i loved him in "well-intended love", he is smart and he has a huge presence. We can see how he made the emperor changed during this series so naturally !

Leia Mais

Captivating and a little heartache

Very well written drama that had my attention from start till the end. The ML, fang jianming (FJM) and the FL Fang Haishi (FHS) had great chemistry and the drama had a good coverage of all couples. The two ML, FJM and emperor Xu had a great bromance which was so interesting and heartwarming to watch. I liked how emperor xu always wanted to see FJM happy and would always “scold” FJM for being an inflexible person and liked how emperor xu recognised the ring on FHS and acted very swiftly to protect FHS for FJM. The bromance here is too good to be missed.

FHS was given the choice to be a female or a male by FJM which she chose the former. As a result she was raised among the secret troops of the emperor. They grew to love each other but due to circumstances, FJM kept pushing FHS aside but finally ended up together but to be “separated” by their statuses in the end, but I find the ending apt and not too sad. It was to be expected given that both FSH and FJM had the same vision of having a safe and peaceful world for the people. The last few episodes did have me cried a little though.

On the sidelines, I enjoyed how schemeless Tilan was and really treated the FL as her friend and her undying trust in the emperor.

In all, it was really a great drama to be watched and I really enjoyed how the writer didn’t ruin the plot by letting there be spies internally. I was worried that zhuoying would turn bad but he didn’t and was in fact a calculated planned move from the start which zhuoying himself had known since young.

OST was quite limited but very beautiful song as well.

Leia Mais

Mixed thoughts

Waiting for Hai shi and Fang Jian Ming love story to began and it started after 30th episode but at last they met so watching upto 30th episodes didn't make the story bored but in the same episode they got separated and then they met at second last episode but for their love story there was no happy ending ,felt very bad ,all fun went down . Actually there was not happy ending for the main leads . But the story gave happy ending to one couple but that they were in supporting role but still someone had happy ending .I didn't like the story because of the same reason (no happy ending). Beside story , acting of all the character was very good specially acting of the one who played the role Emperor . Especially the scene when his love dead in his arm. Acting is too good .

Leia Mais