9
26
1
Enigma05
USA
This review may contain spoilers
My Honest Opinion
I watched this in December of 2019, and gave a review on YouTube. I know folks loved this, so I'll probably be in the minority.
The story would have benefited if they had written in more of the book after her death and actual resurrection. The pain and suffering he goes through. Btwn the horrendous amount of makeup they put on him to make him look like he was closer to 50 was a real disconnect between the two main characters. Wallace Huo (Bai Zihua) was basically an iceberg the entire time. I read an article where they interviewed him and he said that it took him a while to get into the right head space for this part romantically speaking because of the 8 year age difference between him and his costar, the ever amazing and talented Zhao Liying (Hua Gian Gu). That it felt like an uncle and niece or father and daughter relationship. That’s how it felt on screen. Plus the coldness of his character, total lack of development, and the aging makeup didn’t help matters. The writers essentially shot themselves in the foot by not showing or having someone say that “love and duty can co-exist” as that’s a line from the book. Maybe have Zhu Ran explain it to him during his monologue after FL dies. That all Bai Zi Hua had to do was open his heart and love her. He wasn’t a monk and therefore celibacy shouldn’t have been that big of a deal in comparison. That the “fated calamity” was designed not to kill but to teach them to love. That perhaps failing was really the win to the “fated calamity” curse as opposed to what they were made to believe. Like with what happened to Wu Guo and Yun Ya; all he had to do was acknowledge his feelings and allow himself to love her. Falling in love, opening your heart and letting yourself feel would have saved everyone. I mean Zhu Ran came about somehow right? So Mo Yan had to have sex with his mother. Love or otherwise, Mo Yan was still allowed to be a Senior Brother. His life didn’t end. Neither did the world.
The biggest disconnect happened in FL's resurrection; it came out of nowhere with almost zilch real explanation. It seemed like the creators were rushing to finish the series so didn’t have time to give it any real semblance of an end and there was a lot of great material to finally develop the lead the way he had deserved to be developed. Maybe not go as far as “The Bet” but much of it could have been used and give it a real happy ending it deserved.
The best character out of the entire series was that of Holy Ruler aka Big Sister to his Little Thing. Ma Ke was a great actor, amazing development, and multifaceted to have him be loved more then the lead, in my humble opinion of course. I would have much preferred for Hua Gian Gu to end up with him even if it was in the sibling only love capacity. He was the only one immortal who literally did everything for her and protected her; ended up stuck in sleep until she died and he used his strength to help with her resurrection. Ultimately, for me, in the cluster-fuck of men who loved her and tried to protect her, Sha Qian Mo is the only one who ever succeeded at it each and every time with sincerity. Dongfang though he loved her, was blinded by revenge and that also put her in dangers path. So he doesn’t count. So for me the only real sincere one whose heart was always open for our heroine no matter the cost to his evil plans, was Mr. Androgynous Holy Ruler Demon Big Sister. I truly wish the creators had taken more from the book and adapted it in such a way that would have explained that totally disconnected ending or ended it on a higher note from the epilogues giving the iceberg the opportunity to melt and show emotions. Just my own thoughts of course.
The story would have benefited if they had written in more of the book after her death and actual resurrection. The pain and suffering he goes through. Btwn the horrendous amount of makeup they put on him to make him look like he was closer to 50 was a real disconnect between the two main characters. Wallace Huo (Bai Zihua) was basically an iceberg the entire time. I read an article where they interviewed him and he said that it took him a while to get into the right head space for this part romantically speaking because of the 8 year age difference between him and his costar, the ever amazing and talented Zhao Liying (Hua Gian Gu). That it felt like an uncle and niece or father and daughter relationship. That’s how it felt on screen. Plus the coldness of his character, total lack of development, and the aging makeup didn’t help matters. The writers essentially shot themselves in the foot by not showing or having someone say that “love and duty can co-exist” as that’s a line from the book. Maybe have Zhu Ran explain it to him during his monologue after FL dies. That all Bai Zi Hua had to do was open his heart and love her. He wasn’t a monk and therefore celibacy shouldn’t have been that big of a deal in comparison. That the “fated calamity” was designed not to kill but to teach them to love. That perhaps failing was really the win to the “fated calamity” curse as opposed to what they were made to believe. Like with what happened to Wu Guo and Yun Ya; all he had to do was acknowledge his feelings and allow himself to love her. Falling in love, opening your heart and letting yourself feel would have saved everyone. I mean Zhu Ran came about somehow right? So Mo Yan had to have sex with his mother. Love or otherwise, Mo Yan was still allowed to be a Senior Brother. His life didn’t end. Neither did the world.
The biggest disconnect happened in FL's resurrection; it came out of nowhere with almost zilch real explanation. It seemed like the creators were rushing to finish the series so didn’t have time to give it any real semblance of an end and there was a lot of great material to finally develop the lead the way he had deserved to be developed. Maybe not go as far as “The Bet” but much of it could have been used and give it a real happy ending it deserved.
The best character out of the entire series was that of Holy Ruler aka Big Sister to his Little Thing. Ma Ke was a great actor, amazing development, and multifaceted to have him be loved more then the lead, in my humble opinion of course. I would have much preferred for Hua Gian Gu to end up with him even if it was in the sibling only love capacity. He was the only one immortal who literally did everything for her and protected her; ended up stuck in sleep until she died and he used his strength to help with her resurrection. Ultimately, for me, in the cluster-fuck of men who loved her and tried to protect her, Sha Qian Mo is the only one who ever succeeded at it each and every time with sincerity. Dongfang though he loved her, was blinded by revenge and that also put her in dangers path. So he doesn’t count. So for me the only real sincere one whose heart was always open for our heroine no matter the cost to his evil plans, was Mr. Androgynous Holy Ruler Demon Big Sister. I truly wish the creators had taken more from the book and adapted it in such a way that would have explained that totally disconnected ending or ended it on a higher note from the epilogues giving the iceberg the opportunity to melt and show emotions. Just my own thoughts of course.
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