Callie
This is one I have wanted to write a review for right off. Now before I get started, I will say that none of this should reflect on the acting. If anything, the acting was so good that it turned something that may have been mildly disturbing into one of the most terrifying things I have ever seen.
This is not a romance. This is not even really a love story. This is a sparkly wuxia tale of destructive and unhealthy relationships. Right up until the last episode where it desperately tries to redeem it. Like most others, I started this thinking it would be a reasonably light drama with great actors and fun fantasy elements. Maybe I read too much into things, but this was nothing whatever like I expected. While it certainly starts out that way- This took something I usually applaud- good not really flawless, bad not always evil- and does it in almost every wrong way… and STILL somehow end up with characters that are ridiculously, rigidly “good” or intrinsically and unsalvageably evil. So annoying.
I was able to sympathise right off the start with Hua QianGu, even though she’s rather helpless and damsel in distress throughout most of the show. If you are looking for Chu Qiao in Princess Agents all over again, stop now. But if you can tolerate the idea of her starting out and mostly staying vulnerable to the nth degree, you may be ok. You mostly end up thinking of her as a little sister type. This made the story that much more painful. It’s like watching your bff or whatever start a self destructive relationship and not being able to do a thing about it. Really, that’s what troubles me the most. Guy or gal, if you are in a relationship that even remotely resembles this one up until the end, gtfo. Please. For your sake and the sake of everyone that loves you. And none of that “you can’t help who you fall in love with”. Love is supposed to bring joy and light and life to your world, not destroy it. At some point much earlier you just have to stop and ask yourself if this is good for you. Do we make mistakes that hurt each other? Of course. But the essence of it needs to be rooted in positivity. It scares me that some people may watch it and feel justified staying in an unhealthy relationship. That was my predominant thought watching this show.
This is one of those that ten episodes in, I’m wondering how the hell almost any of the good characters can be considered good. They’re either self righteous jerks or actually inherently evil. I mean, once they make decisions towards the dark side shouldn’t they become dark sect? The judgy pool should at least acknowledge that, right?
The bad guys are either truly decent people or the stereotypical utterly evil. I enjoyed the relationships between Dong Fang, and Sha QianMo, with our girl so much more, and both are technically supposed to be dark side.
The little caterpillar. So cute. Speaks at a decibel that stabbed ice picks through the headaches this show had me experiencing most of the way through. I actually had to watch this in fits and starts because it really did make my head hurt.
This was my first time seeing Wallace Huo and by the end I had and almost unbearable urge to poke him in the face to see if it moved- which gave me fits later because I watched Love Me if You Dare soon after, and the lead actress DOES poke him in the face. Very satisfying. Not saying he’s a bad actor because it was the role he was playing, and he did it very well. Even if you wanted to jab him. Really, really hard.
The OST is beautiful. The music is so catchy it gets stuck in your (aching) head. The lyrics are absolutely perfect for this, too, which is amusing, because destructive relationships are much easier to handle in a song than to watch them progress slowly and painfully each episode.
Upside: Everyone is shiny and beautiful (on the surface at least) and if you can get past the many, many flaws and watch it for entertainment value alone- probably want to be as drunk as a nine-tailed fox too- then you’ll be fine.
Downside: If you’re like me and you need the main relationship to stay inherently healthy and nonabusive, it’s going to hurt. Emotionally, and probably physically.
This is not a romance. This is not even really a love story. This is a sparkly wuxia tale of destructive and unhealthy relationships. Right up until the last episode where it desperately tries to redeem it. Like most others, I started this thinking it would be a reasonably light drama with great actors and fun fantasy elements. Maybe I read too much into things, but this was nothing whatever like I expected. While it certainly starts out that way- This took something I usually applaud- good not really flawless, bad not always evil- and does it in almost every wrong way… and STILL somehow end up with characters that are ridiculously, rigidly “good” or intrinsically and unsalvageably evil. So annoying.
I was able to sympathise right off the start with Hua QianGu, even though she’s rather helpless and damsel in distress throughout most of the show. If you are looking for Chu Qiao in Princess Agents all over again, stop now. But if you can tolerate the idea of her starting out and mostly staying vulnerable to the nth degree, you may be ok. You mostly end up thinking of her as a little sister type. This made the story that much more painful. It’s like watching your bff or whatever start a self destructive relationship and not being able to do a thing about it. Really, that’s what troubles me the most. Guy or gal, if you are in a relationship that even remotely resembles this one up until the end, gtfo. Please. For your sake and the sake of everyone that loves you. And none of that “you can’t help who you fall in love with”. Love is supposed to bring joy and light and life to your world, not destroy it. At some point much earlier you just have to stop and ask yourself if this is good for you. Do we make mistakes that hurt each other? Of course. But the essence of it needs to be rooted in positivity. It scares me that some people may watch it and feel justified staying in an unhealthy relationship. That was my predominant thought watching this show.
This is one of those that ten episodes in, I’m wondering how the hell almost any of the good characters can be considered good. They’re either self righteous jerks or actually inherently evil. I mean, once they make decisions towards the dark side shouldn’t they become dark sect? The judgy pool should at least acknowledge that, right?
The bad guys are either truly decent people or the stereotypical utterly evil. I enjoyed the relationships between Dong Fang, and Sha QianMo, with our girl so much more, and both are technically supposed to be dark side.
The little caterpillar. So cute. Speaks at a decibel that stabbed ice picks through the headaches this show had me experiencing most of the way through. I actually had to watch this in fits and starts because it really did make my head hurt.
This was my first time seeing Wallace Huo and by the end I had and almost unbearable urge to poke him in the face to see if it moved- which gave me fits later because I watched Love Me if You Dare soon after, and the lead actress DOES poke him in the face. Very satisfying. Not saying he’s a bad actor because it was the role he was playing, and he did it very well. Even if you wanted to jab him. Really, really hard.
The OST is beautiful. The music is so catchy it gets stuck in your (aching) head. The lyrics are absolutely perfect for this, too, which is amusing, because destructive relationships are much easier to handle in a song than to watch them progress slowly and painfully each episode.
Upside: Everyone is shiny and beautiful (on the surface at least) and if you can get past the many, many flaws and watch it for entertainment value alone- probably want to be as drunk as a nine-tailed fox too- then you’ll be fine.
Downside: If you’re like me and you need the main relationship to stay inherently healthy and nonabusive, it’s going to hurt. Emotionally, and probably physically.
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