Nina
Brasil
Before I begin, I'd like to say that I'm at the 56th episode of 75. I'll update this review when I have watched all 75. Ok? ok!
... THE PROPHECIES
The first thing you need to know about this drama is that it's all about prophecies, and they are a big part of every episode and every plot decision. You won't ever have time to forget it, and "the storm of prophecies" is not in vain. This drama is a tapestry woven around three prophetic heroes: Muyun Sheng, the cursed prince who is going to destroy the Muyun Empire; Muru Han Jian, the abandoned son of the military heads of the Muru family, who is going to vie with Muyun for the throne of the empire and become its next emperor; and Shuefeng He Ye, the Iron Wielder who is going to unify the eight oppressed warrior clans of the northern prairie and take down the empire.
Basically, everybody knows that this generation will bring forth a great war to the world and everybody is making terrible decisions trying to stop or accelerate this fate.
... THE CHARACTERS
At the first one fourth of this drama everything is interesting, after all we are being introduced to the world: the Shuefeng clan of the northerns prairies at first. Then, we are introduced to the next big players: the harem and its bitter and calculative empress, the arrogant emperor and his regrets, the annoying court and its machinations, the inflexible Muru family and their tradition in military law and order, the jealous brother of the emperor who just can't let go of his ambitions. This is a drama full of side characters who have a lot of screen time for themselves, and they are often the ones running the show.
I must say that for me the only likable characters are the three heroes and their loved ones, but I loved to watch the first half of this drama even at the moments they weren't so present because the side characters were moving the plot along in interesting ways.
... THE CINEMATOGRAPHY AND MUSIC
The cinematography is awe inspiring on these first episodes - for real! And the plot is well paced too! There are specially wonderful scenes which are filmed really beautifully. So beautiful, in fact, that you might realize on the middle episodes the budget was blown at some point for some scenarios are badly done - specially the underground kingdoms.
And then the gorgeous cinematography makes a glorious comeback and your eyes are delighted again. :')
Now the music is a deception. They are good enough at the first third of the series, but then they become repetitive - many are used for more than one character so they become less distinctive, and at the 56th episode they are placed weirdly.
Not only that! I think that sometimes they had audio problem or something, so they rerecorded the dialogue. The problem is that the background noise is never the same, so these moments really stand out in a bad way and make the production seems cheap. I really don't know how they could let such an obvious mistake happen.
... THE PLOT
Being honest here: I love a slow paced drama. I do. And the first half of this drama is amazing, it' really really good! The scenes were wonderful in portraying the world building, the characters and the plot in a really good pace. I watched 50 episodes in three days and wasn't the least bit bored - so I strongly recommend the first 50 episodes. <( *v*)>
Now being completely honest:
We have 75 episodes. It isn't little. It's 70h of your life, and yet the series seems to be going nowhere after the 50th. There are a lot of people who complain about the pace, I agree and disagree with them.
- I disagree because I love to see the world building, I love to see my favorite hero (in my case it's Han Jian and his beloved Su Yu Ning) take things fully even if slowly. It's a big world they are building so I want to know the people and the culture - I love these fantasy elements of a novel.
- But! I agree with them that the pace is bad! AFTER THE 50TH!
If I were to elect the biggest flaw of this series is that the PLOT RETRACTS THE GROWTH OF THE CHARACTERS. The series drags a lot because one day the character realizes his stupid attitude and grows +10 points, and one week later he forgets everything because the plot demands so. -50 points!
How would it make you feel? It just makes me emotionally tired. We are 25 episodes to the end and stuff keeps going backwards???
Is the director experimenting with something? The drama is not well edited since the 10th episode but at this stage the pace can't suffer the amount that is suffering from the 50th-60th episodes. We should be walking to the climax of the story...
The drawback of the drama is that the biggest players are like this constantly, so the plot is always going back 5 steps back for every 2 going forward. You know what this means? This means that they have to spend episodes in the emotional wreck of the unlikeable character's lives because this is what the plot forces us. The director doesn't like going forward.
The characters who suffer the most for this are the women - from interesting characters on the first half they become passive and love fools on the second. (I didn't sign up for this, dammit (# o _ o)
This results in another week of a feast of suffering for the characters because events are being milked for all they are worth. I'm sorry, we have the 75-quota, guys ¯\_( 'u' )_/¯
I mean, I like to cry watching drama: I'm a big baby like that, but even I can't summon tears when even 60 episodes aren't enough to make the characters seem eye o eye in simple matters when they could just talk honestly with each other. Like han jiang and su yu nin. Or the muru father and first son. Etc.
Have you realized how weird is that? 75 episodes is enough to do the initiation of the characters, the big conflict and the resolution, showing us the characters and their daily lives, emotions, worlds and ambitions just fine. Instead, they are giving us reheated stuff over and over again.
Pardon my french but they completely lost the direction of the show in its second half. It's a trainwreck right now, wow.
That must be why if you glued side by side all the flashbacks that we are obliged to see again and again you would see that they alone are responsible for whole 20 episodes! I just... really want to punch somebody (p ° . °)_p
-------------------------------
TL;DR.
This is a too long series for the poor plot. The majority of characters are frankly unlikable but we are forced to watch them 60% of the time. The heroes suffer because this is a suffering feast. The women somehow degrade themselves into love fools who just do things for the men. The writers are slower than a beached whale because they drag the story so much that somehow 75 episodes are just enough to get to the middle of the story.
The worst thing is that the first half of the show was so great that even though I'm tired and I'm going to see how this ends because somehow I still like it more that I dislike it :')
Just saying that... If Han Jian and Su Yu Ning don't end up together, healthy and happy heads will roll.
... THE PROPHECIES
The first thing you need to know about this drama is that it's all about prophecies, and they are a big part of every episode and every plot decision. You won't ever have time to forget it, and "the storm of prophecies" is not in vain. This drama is a tapestry woven around three prophetic heroes: Muyun Sheng, the cursed prince who is going to destroy the Muyun Empire; Muru Han Jian, the abandoned son of the military heads of the Muru family, who is going to vie with Muyun for the throne of the empire and become its next emperor; and Shuefeng He Ye, the Iron Wielder who is going to unify the eight oppressed warrior clans of the northern prairie and take down the empire.
Basically, everybody knows that this generation will bring forth a great war to the world and everybody is making terrible decisions trying to stop or accelerate this fate.
... THE CHARACTERS
At the first one fourth of this drama everything is interesting, after all we are being introduced to the world: the Shuefeng clan of the northerns prairies at first. Then, we are introduced to the next big players: the harem and its bitter and calculative empress, the arrogant emperor and his regrets, the annoying court and its machinations, the inflexible Muru family and their tradition in military law and order, the jealous brother of the emperor who just can't let go of his ambitions. This is a drama full of side characters who have a lot of screen time for themselves, and they are often the ones running the show.
I must say that for me the only likable characters are the three heroes and their loved ones, but I loved to watch the first half of this drama even at the moments they weren't so present because the side characters were moving the plot along in interesting ways.
... THE CINEMATOGRAPHY AND MUSIC
The cinematography is awe inspiring on these first episodes - for real! And the plot is well paced too! There are specially wonderful scenes which are filmed really beautifully. So beautiful, in fact, that you might realize on the middle episodes the budget was blown at some point for some scenarios are badly done - specially the underground kingdoms.
And then the gorgeous cinematography makes a glorious comeback and your eyes are delighted again. :')
Now the music is a deception. They are good enough at the first third of the series, but then they become repetitive - many are used for more than one character so they become less distinctive, and at the 56th episode they are placed weirdly.
Not only that! I think that sometimes they had audio problem or something, so they rerecorded the dialogue. The problem is that the background noise is never the same, so these moments really stand out in a bad way and make the production seems cheap. I really don't know how they could let such an obvious mistake happen.
... THE PLOT
Being honest here: I love a slow paced drama. I do. And the first half of this drama is amazing, it' really really good! The scenes were wonderful in portraying the world building, the characters and the plot in a really good pace. I watched 50 episodes in three days and wasn't the least bit bored - so I strongly recommend the first 50 episodes. <( *v*)>
Now being completely honest:
We have 75 episodes. It isn't little. It's 70h of your life, and yet the series seems to be going nowhere after the 50th. There are a lot of people who complain about the pace, I agree and disagree with them.
- I disagree because I love to see the world building, I love to see my favorite hero (in my case it's Han Jian and his beloved Su Yu Ning) take things fully even if slowly. It's a big world they are building so I want to know the people and the culture - I love these fantasy elements of a novel.
- But! I agree with them that the pace is bad! AFTER THE 50TH!
If I were to elect the biggest flaw of this series is that the PLOT RETRACTS THE GROWTH OF THE CHARACTERS. The series drags a lot because one day the character realizes his stupid attitude and grows +10 points, and one week later he forgets everything because the plot demands so. -50 points!
How would it make you feel? It just makes me emotionally tired. We are 25 episodes to the end and stuff keeps going backwards???
Is the director experimenting with something? The drama is not well edited since the 10th episode but at this stage the pace can't suffer the amount that is suffering from the 50th-60th episodes. We should be walking to the climax of the story...
The drawback of the drama is that the biggest players are like this constantly, so the plot is always going back 5 steps back for every 2 going forward. You know what this means? This means that they have to spend episodes in the emotional wreck of the unlikeable character's lives because this is what the plot forces us. The director doesn't like going forward.
The characters who suffer the most for this are the women - from interesting characters on the first half they become passive and love fools on the second. (I didn't sign up for this, dammit (# o _ o)
This results in another week of a feast of suffering for the characters because events are being milked for all they are worth. I'm sorry, we have the 75-quota, guys ¯\_( 'u' )_/¯
I mean, I like to cry watching drama: I'm a big baby like that, but even I can't summon tears when even 60 episodes aren't enough to make the characters seem eye o eye in simple matters when they could just talk honestly with each other. Like han jiang and su yu nin. Or the muru father and first son. Etc.
Have you realized how weird is that? 75 episodes is enough to do the initiation of the characters, the big conflict and the resolution, showing us the characters and their daily lives, emotions, worlds and ambitions just fine. Instead, they are giving us reheated stuff over and over again.
Pardon my french but they completely lost the direction of the show in its second half. It's a trainwreck right now, wow.
That must be why if you glued side by side all the flashbacks that we are obliged to see again and again you would see that they alone are responsible for whole 20 episodes! I just... really want to punch somebody (p ° . °)_p
-------------------------------
TL;DR.
This is a too long series for the poor plot. The majority of characters are frankly unlikable but we are forced to watch them 60% of the time. The heroes suffer because this is a suffering feast. The women somehow degrade themselves into love fools who just do things for the men. The writers are slower than a beached whale because they drag the story so much that somehow 75 episodes are just enough to get to the middle of the story.
The worst thing is that the first half of the show was so great that even though I'm tired and I'm going to see how this ends because somehow I still like it more that I dislike it :')
Just saying that... If Han Jian and Su Yu Ning don't end up together, healthy and happy heads will roll.
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