Some people might think my rating is way too low or way too high, but I have mixed emotions about this show. One weakness is the special effects- however, I usually don’t judge a show too much on this, because of course they do the best they can with the budget that they have. I also enjoyed the show throughout, but sometimes the plot seemed to get a bit off track to me... like the ghost couple were sweet and cute but then they suddenly died and that was that.

However, there were many aspects that I personally found very interesting plot wise; I thought it was quite emotional with Yun Lan lost his sight, for instance. I also thought the hospital games scenes were pretty intense, as well as many of the Underground scenes. I also loved the relationship between Shen Wei and Yun Lan, obviously. It was fun to see Yun Lan regard Shen Wei as a normal meek professor...then to become suspicious of him...then to find out his secret and watch after him...

I was surprised how much I ended up loving the relationship between Guo Chang Cheng and Chu Shu Zhi. I loved their “enemies” (or timid kid annoying and being scared by an angry man) to brothers progression. When Shu Zhi thought that Chang Cheng died, that was really quite brutal and emotional.

The most impactful part of the show for me was the ending. I hadn’t read the novel and didn’t expect the ending to be that depressing. It gutted me on multiple levels; even just from how it was filmed, with Ye Zun suddenly appearing in a different room when he and Shen Wei died. I didn’t even realize they actually died at first. Of course, the two leads meeting in heaven or space time or whatever it was, before continuing on, just broke me. Another one of the most heartbreaking moments was when they showed Yun Lan continuing to live and work with his team- I thought that he had somehow ended up surviving. Then it was explained how his body is just being possessed by that other man, and that he really is dead.

For me this show was never unenjoyable at all, but there were a lot of ups and downs and moments that were just that- enjoyable but not much more. But, this show also had a lot of very interesting, emotional, and impactful parts as well. I watched this a while ago, but even now, the introduction song makes me nostalgic and the closing credits song makes me full on emotional. Overall this show wasn’t perfect, but it was still special.