Here we go again. It had been so long I liked a drama like that, I forgot what it was like after the finale. Somebody might think the 50 episodes or the fact the last 17 eps are so messy, would make it easier. It doesn’t. It’s the opposite, the long duration only gives more time to like the main characters and the crazy eps only make a person think of all the things that should have been there.
Maybe I should not even complain, if most dramas only have 16 eps, it’s like it managed to be good for twice that long and then it just became like a common drama. But they got me fooled by being great for before! I guess it does deserve a rant.
When people said it would take 33 episodes for the drama to go back to the present storyline I thought it would take forever. They forgot to say it was the best part of the drama. After such a nice story in the first part, I keep wondering if more people were not also a bit annoyed at so many anticlimatic moments and boring sideplots. Maybe the charismatic leads and their relationship makes everybody forgive the rest, or maybe they feel the rest was just fine. But what about the two villain’s terrible bad acting? All the important scenes that are never shown or things that don’t get explained? Secondary characters not being explored unlike the first part? Old characters not having their resolution? When you think about this, the best scenes of the second part don’t make up for it. I could also talk about the leads going different ways but since this goes into the friendship vs. romance discussion, and censorship, I guess I can’t blame them much for that.
I guess for a small rant I’ve said a lot. Besides, it’s kind of a happy rant because unlike all the other shows that made me write similar things, this won’t be easily forgotten, and much like it’s lead, it did make what seemed impossible. A new favorite.
If I had to nitpick at one thing it would be the resolution for Wen Qing. She deserved more than just an off-screen death. She deserved more than just having her death be explained in flashback…..
Her character resolution felt so empty and unfeeling when, imo, she was one of the best characters ❤️
Her brother, Wen Ning, started off as the sick sibling who never bothered to discover for himself a purpose in life, but after meeting Wei Wu Xian, being saved by him (multiple times), and becoming his friend, I’d like to believe that he found purpose in being a protector to Wei Wu Xian, which is significant in times when slave-master/bodyguard-master relationships were a thing 🧐🧐 And it felt refreshing that Wei Wu Xian actually never treated Wen Ning as anything less than a friend, whom he also encourages to go and be free to find his own individual purpose by the end of the drama 🥰
His arc in the past was great and we knew from the start he would make it to the second part of the drama. However, in the later part, it felt as he was there just for a few jokes and to find Sizhui, the way he had to be himself as this “ghost” in the world and what that meant, was never really explored. Instead of going away I imagined it would have been better if he had died protecting AhYuan or JiLing.
The drama most definitely is not perfect and has its issues. But I still desperately love it ❤
When I was watching I didn’t know how many ep. would be spent in the past. Initially I wanted them to hurry and get back to the present timeline. But by the time they did get back to the present, I already missed the past timeline 😅 but I love both the past and present parts of the drama.
I wish the past eps had been even longer but they needed to resolve things in the present. If it’s not too big a question and if you can’t talk about drunk LZ or a few other nice moments, can I ask what was that makes you like the present timeline equally?
I mean, the main story was from the present so would have been weird to have just the past (the book for example is from the present with flashbacks to the past). But most of my favorite scenes are from the present timeline. I love LZ and WY relationship in the present, the juniors, the overall mystery, the resolution for WY, loved Yi city arc, how LZ stands with WY on koi tower steps, the confession of the golden core at lotus pier, people realizing WY is not the evil villain everyone thought, and the last 5 min. of the whole series. It’s hard to not talk about my favorite scenes because my favorite scenes are part of the reason I love the present timeline.
I guess for me the big mystery wasn’t very mysterious at all, we knew who did it all, and it took many long speeches and much time for the bad actors. The Yi city arc was slow and still managed to be rushed. The Lotus Pier part was very good though I still don’t know how people were surprised by it since we also knew what happened. The leads relationship was still the best thing but I expected they would develop it more, the nicest thing was how they become this duo and feel as if they have been together for ages, however I wanted some big moments, like LZ finding WY is back, whenever he got his body back, the reason why LZ knew it was him, and others. Instead we got not only one but two scenes in which they have to make sure the censors are pleased because these guys have nothing else to say to each other and have to go different ways. Yes, I know that isn’t the official explanation. 🙂
Though on how they didn’t know about his golden core. How could they know? We knew because it hinted it to us but those characters didn’t have the same hints. In the book LZ suspected WY’s Golden core was damaged but not that he gave it away. No one would have thought that because the idea of giving away your gc was so unfathomable to them.
And I forgive the drama because they did what they could despite the censors. I think they still managed to show a beautiful love while also avoiding the censors. Could it have been better? Definitely, but they had to work within the confines of the censors. Ultimately, even though the drama had issues the drama managed to evoke intense emotions in me no other drama has managed to do, and that was a result of the combination of the past and present timelines, the drama as a whole is what makes me love the drama 😁
Yes, but thanks for the replies your take is very interesting.
I meant how the beanies didn’t know because it had been explained before.
I have to agree about the feels surely! Very few dramas have this kind of intense story, true love and complex great leads.
Lixie
December 1, 2019 at 7:36 AM
A Small Untamed Rant
Here we go again. It had been so long I liked a drama like that, I forgot what it was like after the finale. Somebody might think the 50 episodes or the fact the last 17 eps are so messy, would make it easier. It doesn’t. It’s the opposite, the long duration only gives more time to like the main characters and the crazy eps only make a person think of all the things that should have been there.
Maybe I should not even complain, if most dramas only have 16 eps, it’s like it managed to be good for twice that long and then it just became like a common drama. But they got me fooled by being great for before! I guess it does deserve a rant.
When people said it would take 33 episodes for the drama to go back to the present storyline I thought it would take forever. They forgot to say it was the best part of the drama. After such a nice story in the first part, I keep wondering if more people were not also a bit annoyed at so many anticlimatic moments and boring sideplots. Maybe the charismatic leads and their relationship makes everybody forgive the rest, or maybe they feel the rest was just fine. But what about the two villain’s terrible bad acting? All the important scenes that are never shown or things that don’t get explained? Secondary characters not being explored unlike the first part? Old characters not having their resolution? When you think about this, the best scenes of the second part don’t make up for it. I could also talk about the leads going different ways but since this goes into the friendship vs. romance discussion, and censorship, I guess I can’t blame them much for that.
I guess for a small rant I’ve said a lot. Besides, it’s kind of a happy rant because unlike all the other shows that made me write similar things, this won’t be easily forgotten, and much like it’s lead, it did make what seemed impossible. A new favorite.
Bebe | Nessa❣️
December 1, 2019 at 8:18 AM
If I had to nitpick at one thing it would be the resolution for Wen Qing. She deserved more than just an off-screen death. She deserved more than just having her death be explained in flashback…..
Her character resolution felt so empty and unfeeling when, imo, she was one of the best characters ❤️
Lixie
December 1, 2019 at 8:48 AM
Yes, she did, but at least her character had a nice arc, I can’t say the same for her brother.
Bebe | Nessa❣️
December 1, 2019 at 3:10 PM
Her brother, Wen Ning, started off as the sick sibling who never bothered to discover for himself a purpose in life, but after meeting Wei Wu Xian, being saved by him (multiple times), and becoming his friend, I’d like to believe that he found purpose in being a protector to Wei Wu Xian, which is significant in times when slave-master/bodyguard-master relationships were a thing 🧐🧐 And it felt refreshing that Wei Wu Xian actually never treated Wen Ning as anything less than a friend, whom he also encourages to go and be free to find his own individual purpose by the end of the drama 🥰
Lixie
December 1, 2019 at 4:11 PM
His arc in the past was great and we knew from the start he would make it to the second part of the drama. However, in the later part, it felt as he was there just for a few jokes and to find Sizhui, the way he had to be himself as this “ghost” in the world and what that meant, was never really explored. Instead of going away I imagined it would have been better if he had died protecting AhYuan or JiLing.
Bebe | Nessa❣️
December 1, 2019 at 6:04 PM
No 😱😱😱😱😱😱🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 Wen Ning is the one who must be protected at all costs
Bebe | Nessa❣️
December 1, 2019 at 6:04 PM
He’s such a kind soul
Trinity 🍆
December 1, 2019 at 12:44 PM
The drama most definitely is not perfect and has its issues. But I still desperately love it ❤
When I was watching I didn’t know how many ep. would be spent in the past. Initially I wanted them to hurry and get back to the present timeline. But by the time they did get back to the present, I already missed the past timeline 😅 but I love both the past and present parts of the drama.
Lixie
December 1, 2019 at 2:05 PM
I wish the past eps had been even longer but they needed to resolve things in the present. If it’s not too big a question and if you can’t talk about drunk LZ or a few other nice moments, can I ask what was that makes you like the present timeline equally?
Trinity 🍆
December 1, 2019 at 3:15 PM
I mean, the main story was from the present so would have been weird to have just the past (the book for example is from the present with flashbacks to the past). But most of my favorite scenes are from the present timeline. I love LZ and WY relationship in the present, the juniors, the overall mystery, the resolution for WY, loved Yi city arc, how LZ stands with WY on koi tower steps, the confession of the golden core at lotus pier, people realizing WY is not the evil villain everyone thought, and the last 5 min. of the whole series. It’s hard to not talk about my favorite scenes because my favorite scenes are part of the reason I love the present timeline.
Lixie
December 1, 2019 at 4:59 PM
I guess for me the big mystery wasn’t very mysterious at all, we knew who did it all, and it took many long speeches and much time for the bad actors. The Yi city arc was slow and still managed to be rushed. The Lotus Pier part was very good though I still don’t know how people were surprised by it since we also knew what happened. The leads relationship was still the best thing but I expected they would develop it more, the nicest thing was how they become this duo and feel as if they have been together for ages, however I wanted some big moments, like LZ finding WY is back, whenever he got his body back, the reason why LZ knew it was him, and others. Instead we got not only one but two scenes in which they have to make sure the censors are pleased because these guys have nothing else to say to each other and have to go different ways. Yes, I know that isn’t the official explanation. 🙂
Trinity 🍆
December 1, 2019 at 6:20 PM
We’ll have to agree to disagree 😆
Though on how they didn’t know about his golden core. How could they know? We knew because it hinted it to us but those characters didn’t have the same hints. In the book LZ suspected WY’s Golden core was damaged but not that he gave it away. No one would have thought that because the idea of giving away your gc was so unfathomable to them.
And I forgive the drama because they did what they could despite the censors. I think they still managed to show a beautiful love while also avoiding the censors. Could it have been better? Definitely, but they had to work within the confines of the censors. Ultimately, even though the drama had issues the drama managed to evoke intense emotions in me no other drama has managed to do, and that was a result of the combination of the past and present timelines, the drama as a whole is what makes me love the drama 😁
Lixie
December 1, 2019 at 6:36 PM
Yes, but thanks for the replies your take is very interesting.
I meant how the beanies didn’t know because it had been explained before.
I have to agree about the feels surely! Very few dramas have this kind of intense story, true love and complex great leads.
Bebe | Nessa❣️
December 1, 2019 at 3:11 PM
Yes!! Once I got hooked in, I didn’t even notice when I had reached episode 33 and back into present time ☺️