Incredible acting: Not so incredible story

I am a fan of the Di Renjie franchise and have mixed feelings about this because I saw the potential of this drama from the very first episode but unfortunately, it didn't follow through. Let's break it down.

1. Pacing and cases:
4 episodes for every case was damn long and sometimes plain boring, (with material on ground, they could have done 2 episodes per case and still not run out by the 100th episode fr) out of all his most interesting cases, these ones are the most bland. Come on, Di Renjie had empire shaking cases straight up from his origin days, but what's this? I could barely keep my eyes open halfway through the show because everything was so predictable.

2. Wu Zetian:
Normally, Renjie's stories focus entirely on him and push the empress to the background, but based on the first episode, I saw potential for different here but unfortunately, it didn't pan out.

3. Very good acting (slowpoke in the last few episodes, but I'll take that over cheesy any day), cinematography and clearly an expensive set. Gotta give it up to the actors, they tried with what they were given. You could tell they were trying to make Di Renjie look (I don't know if look is the word here 😂) 'human' away from his Obsessed God of Solving Cases vibez but I don't know if it was a success, depends on who's watching.

Conclusion:
It was a good drama, but it could have been better. I am conflict about the rating so I just gave it a high based on acting.

Leia Mais

I nearly missed out on this drama because of you-know-who

I was here for ML after Blood of Youth and Destined, but I hesitated because of You-know-who, but was assured in the comment section that she's "improved'.
She has indeed improved, but I'm not sure whether is for good or worst.
What I'm trying to say is, this drama is a good one, give it a chance. ML and the rest of the cast really shouldered the show properly.
I wish the original actress was kept instead of.... because that face swap thing doesn't make sense at all, what with body figure (one was obsessed with being thin), voice, height even but we get the reason behind the switch. Hmmm.

Leia Mais

Right, wrong? They're different for everyone, especially heroes.

If only they haven't met, if and more if, this is an if only drama.
I knew how it was going to end, but It still hit me hard.
The drama started out slow, I was thinking of ditching it until I reached episode 6 and from then on, well...I wouldn't want to say 'the good times began' but the story really started showing up to the job.
This drama reminded me that in real life, right and wrong are different for everyone and no you can't use your moral compass to judge other people's action, because everyone of us have their own difficulties.
I used the weekend to binge it, I'll definitely rewatch it again when I have a chance.

Leia Mais

It's on the 2023 best list without a doubt.

Well well well! This drama should be renamed Love yourself really,
Never have I been worried about a drama ending so bad that I was willing to go looking for spoilers on the internet 😆🤓.
I think I cried a little watching the last episode. And I'm glad ZXW is here for our Hua Qian. I would have appreciated another episode where they're back at home with a few kids being spoilt by ZXW's mother, but I'll take what I'm given and move on. Show had a good run. It has my stamp of approval, hard to receive in my 15 years of gluing my eyes to tv screens in the name of worshiping the drama gods 😂

Leia Mais

The action scenes made the plot holes fade away

New Dragon Inn 2024 is not to be mistaken for The New Dragon Inn 2024.
I watched the trailer for the latter and ended up watching this one because the latter cannot be found anywhere on this internet, and I mistook the two.
This one feels like we're missing some context that the writer doesn't seem to think is important, but aside that, the CG is actually good, the Vampires were a bit of a 'huh' moment for me and the main bad guys eyebrows were absolutely ridiculous, but the action scenes were well choreographed and very long.
I won't say I liked it but I don't dislike it either.

Leia Mais

A puzzle that gives a different answer every time.

After finishing the drama, I realise why no one was willing to leave a bad review for it, because this drama is strange.
Shot in slow motion, but by God, you can't watch it on FF because you just can't. Sigh.
The cinematography was good, the fight scenes were epic, even the melodramatic sister had her charm. Here's my take. There's no sequel coming because:
1. Shanguan Qian is not pregnant [watch the scene carefully again and see the clues for yourself]
2. The ending: I'm not exactly upset here because the premise of this drama was never the romance, so It's either the ML died waiting for Ah Yun to return to him, or she actually did return after. I'm leaning on more of her return because she's obviously upgraded in martial arts since her arrival at the Gong's annnd she's picked up skills, obviously. Me thinks if she became pissed, she could pull it off and manage a comeback to her man after all.
3. I'm not watching a sequel because I cannot can this drama anymore, but if one does come out, which I know will not, I'll conveniently forget I wrote these words and watch it anyway, LOL.
4. This drama is a dark horse, you cannot hate it, but you're not sure you love it, the rewatch value is high, but an immediate rewatch after is slow.

Leia Mais

Chemistry between leads is the only thing working for this drama.

If I'd watched this drama in my kdrama beginning fangirl years 14 years ago, I'd have been head over heels. But after coming down that lane this far, this is no longer enough for me. It's too superficial, concentrating on visuals and not an actual story (personal opinion please)
There's nothing that makes me wait for that next episode, and the visuals are getting less tempting by day as a result, please if you read books, this story is not really all that fresh, the trope is saturated. I wish them a good run anyway, and an even better success in their next drama.

Leia Mais

They'll never let you go, hard as you might want it.

Li Lianhua, Li Lianhua, what a beautiful story. The trailer didn't do justice to this drama as it was vague and didn't reveal much, I could have missed out on this one.
This drama was worth all my 40 hours spent on it. Very suprisenly for me, there was no character I hated in here, even the bad ones.
Although LL adopted FDB as his own (not what happened in the drama, you'll understand if you watch it), I wish he had actual kids of his own for FDB to raise.
Everyone had their role to play and everyone did it beautiful, no cheesy, no overcompensating, just professionalism.
I would watch a sequel if one ever gets into the works.

Leia Mais

Is it just me? No thanks.

I should have paid attention to the synopsis of this drama before jumping in, I didn't know it was a colonial era drama. Also wtf is going on in here?
One minute people will be talking in Japanese, pretending they don't know Korean, and the next second, they'd switch to Korean without batting an eyelid and continue conversing like that didn't just happen.
The CG for that creature is good though, but the pacing is too slow, ML character is flawed and not well developed, FL lead feels a bit too cold, my screen is frosting whenever she's on. And why is every other scene in this drama a shouting show down? Is this how it was during the colonial days? Everyone shouting to be heard? This drama missed its mark with me. Next time, PSJ.

Leia Mais