Novoland: Pearl Eclipse (2021)

I HAVE A QUESTION!

Please someone tell me if fang jianming survived in the end or not? I can't sleep!
Although I think the ending was fine but i truly want him survive, also they should have shown fang jianming in the end. It wasn't satisfactory but was fine. Also i think they wanted to blend realism in the fantasy, the idea was good. Overall the acting, storyline was good. I like the chemistry between shifu and student romance that was turning point for me. I want Chinese dramas to show atleast some real kisses and skinship, after 50-60 eps all we get are fake kisses after these good chemistries.

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Well...I am conflicted

I loved this production and the efforts of the team, from the beautiful sets to the breathtaking costumes, special effects, OST, gravity defying martial arts and outstanding performances. As an American watching C-drama's since 2018, I am in awe of the time, labor, and passion for creating such awe inspiring dramas. I have been in love with Yang Mi's style and beauty since first seeing her in TLTWTMPB, renamed Eternal Love in the States. I have seen several of her films and TV dramas and can see what a fabulous actress she is. The thing is that great acting also requires great storytelling. This is where the drama suffers. It took all my energy to keep up with the many twists and turns in the storyline. I loved William Chan's performance as the debonair master of Jifeng Pavilion, never allowing his emotions to be expressed in court or at home among his pupils. Equally entertaining is his adolescent female student Haishi, who is played convincingly by Yang Mi. She has the most emotional growth in this drama from annoying teenager, to a powerfully clever leader. Yet, there is so much going on and so many characters to keep track of that the storyline sometimes gets muddled in the various plots.

As much as I appreciated all the effort that went into creating this epic drama, the writing and the story arc are crucial to the success of a drama, and I think too much happens here that doesn't really need to. The story seemed to be coming to a natural end and yet, in the last episode, the writers contrived and ending that felt orchestrated for the sake of getting the ending they wanted rather than the one that was coming naturally. In doing so, I felt that previous plot lines were negated and rendered contradictory. I would mention examples but don't want to add spoilers, so you would have to watch to understand what I'm talking about.

I have seen over and over in my five years of watching C-dramas that the handsome, younger, emotionally guarded male is the epitome of sexiness, and favored in Chinese dramas. Some are done better than others depending on the acting abilities of the performer, while the leading lady is beautiful, sweet, sexy and less smarter than her leading man. Mmm...kay. Yet, here I am coming back to them over and over. What is it that makes them so appealing? Maybe its the costumes, the music, the gorgeous performers. Who knows? I guess I am hooked, but I am always looking for anything that will take me to the heights that Eternal Love has. This drama, with all its merits, unfortunately falls short.

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Just OK

I think if you watched this prior to Legend of Fu Yao or Eternal Love (Yang Mi's notable roles) then you would probably like it more. However if you watched this after that, then it's not as good. Story, chemistry, all felt less comparable. Sure the production is expensive. Costume and sets quite impressive.

Yang Mi - Fang Hai Shi ( literally she acted the same as her other roles) but with worse dubbed voice. The only part that I did like is that she's honest with her feelings and bold to express it. The role also didn't pull a disappearing kung fu like so many other strong FL roles. She should start to part ways from young roles at this as she looks too mature for the part. Of course she's gorgeous for her age but being type casted for the same role over & over again gets boring. Not to mention 2nd lead ML looked 10 years younger than her.

William Chan - Fang Zhu. He did a good job overall but chemistry wasn't strong w/ Yang Mi.

Emperor & Ti Lan - Talk about toxic relationship at its worst start to finish.

3rd couple Fang Zhuoying & Ju Zheliu, sweet couple but also not much going on there.

Too many episodes revolves around just the developing relationships and not so much on plot development. Often times felt draggy and repetitive. I'd rather see a lot more of plot development but I guess this is geared more towards sappy love story drama lovers.

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Cdrama addiction to sad ending should end

First of all, I finished this drama about a week ago and still am disappointed, why do everyone feel the need to drop everything at the last episode? like what is the whole point? look at tilan and emperor xu, they fall in love and everything even had a child together JUST SO THEY COULD BOTH DI3 AT THE END?!?!! horribly slow progress of love between haishi and fang zhu just for them to not be able to actually be together. I'm so close at rating this the lowest I could but it would be a waste, I actually did enjoy it, just brush off the horrible end and the horrible chemistry between the leads, I wish they just stayed in the disciple-master relationship, I really couldn't stand it, well I could at first but since the marrying thing, uh uh, maybe it's because fang zhu literally saw haishi grew up and it's just weird, I don't mind the gap but he saw her grew up and it threw me off for some reason, however, I did enjoy everything else, putting off the romance part, it did actually hook me up from start til ep 40, so it does deserve an 8.0, and the effects and everything, at least it didn't seem like they ran off of budget.

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Not for the faint of heart

I didn't know anything going into this drama, except for it had Yang Mi and we all love her from Eternal Love. To my surprise the main leads don't really have an age difference (even though in the drama he seems at least 7-10 years older). Not a big issue, I kind of like that they picked people in their 30's. It makes everything more mature and more epic.

I can't describe my thoughts and feelings on this one. I love a low angst, high romance historical dramas and this is not a low angst drama. Most of the drama is hard to watch, it's very melodramatic and very intense, but for some reason, I couldn't stop watching it. It's like I was sucked into all of the abuse.

The first 30 episodes were what really drawn me in. It was intense and the pacing was good. There's a lot of push and pull between all characters and all relationships. There's 3 main relationships and each one goes into a different direction, so you are kind of always in a good spot. If one is failing the other relationship is thriving so you always have a couple to root for.

I'm curious to what William's Chen's real voice sounds like, because I read a review that they didn't use his voice. I do like Yang Mi's voice, but goodness she can make it high pitch and super youthful. I felt like ML's character was very much the martyr of the drama and you have to be okay going into that. It was a little much as times, but that's the story.

I felt like everything is a little much and intense and melodramatic at times, but again, that is the story.

So, be in the right mood for this. Note that the show was originally longer, but it's edited down so the last few episodes are kind of fragmented, but that's kind of typical to must historical dramas.

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Slight Fantasy with Love & national turmoil

#1 The synopsis is off. The Ruler dint put the nation at stake because of self indulgent or neglect.

Taste: it has strong Female lead as well as strong ML about love, loyalty, sacrifice.

At start it doesnt seem much , master-disciple love seems too overuse theme & this was apparent in the drama in right from start & also the FL becomes the wife of Emperor she dint love?? that plot also familiar and discerning. Some of the character were annoying as well, I cant believe the second couple will fall for each other after all that unreasonable thing the second ML did/ is going to do.. it seems like is going in that direction
Just stayed a bit for the lively FL and brother.

Then it becomes more interesting, the shift of the dark character to slight brighter.

Taste: it has strong Female lead as well as strong ML. I always see strong not just in terms of how good they fight but character: determination, unyielding, protectiveness.

A lot of actions, with detailed background of state turmoil that the group/ main characters work to resolve. Many wins , the action /fights mostly got good effect and caught my attention and adrenaline except for a few.

Love stories are torturous esp btw the ML & FL. Even though is happy ending , but they sacrificed so so much how many years for the new king i dont even want to think , after all that love, country struggles, to let common people interest above themselves, again.
BUT I FOUND I ACTUALLY LIKE ML (PERHAPS FROM WHEN AUDIENCE GET TO SEE THE BATTLE THAT BONDED HIM TO EMPEROR, HE WILLINGLY SACRIFICE FOR THE COUNTRY AND HIS BROTHER )
& THEIR LOVE IS WORTH. HIS SELFLESSNESS FOR EMPEROR & VISIONS,
FL & ML ARE THE BEST MATCH. CHEERING FOR THEM VERY HARD..

Luckily the Emperor redeem himself by being a very very good "brother" to FJM. At a point they understand each other without word and give him the cover/ life saving aid in need & the way he willing to set his brother free. He is also smart, make good decisions in governing , well most of the time.

Action scenes here worth some clasp
Trilling, good balance of actions/ fight and nation problems, torturous love stories, Commendable FL that speaks her thoughts to win ML, loyalty , love & sacrifice.

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I am re-watching

I like Yang Mi to the moon so I started watching this drama for Yang Mi but finishing with the joyful of production, costumes, casting, story line (which there is always something to be unhappy about as usual for a typical chinese storyline), tone of the drama, etc.

I cried few times from the beginning to the end which is very rare as the climax of most of the dramas are at the end or almost the end. The chemistry of the two leads are extreme. I could feel their pains like they are just in front.

The casting is almost perfect (almost!! cause one of the boys is too young to be Yang Mi love interest). Most of the cast are perfect for ages, appearances, muscles, acting skills, expressions, etc. Best Chinese Drama Casting so far for me.

I am re-watching few episodes that I really like.

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one of the best series

I really enjoy this show, with nice costumes, hairs ... your eyes are always full of stars ! The actors are incredibles, Xu Kaicheng and Willam Chan make this series so real. The tension between the MLs and FLs are well played, and you might have 3 love stories (or not) .It is one of the best series I ever watched. It s filmed in the imperial city (or forbiden city) and it s beautiful, it immersed yourself in the past. Xu Kaicheng is made for this type or role /part, i loved him in "well-intended love", he is smart and he has a huge presence. We can see how he made the emperor changed during this series so naturally !

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Captivating and a little heartache

Very well written drama that had my attention from start till the end. The ML, fang jianming (FJM) and the FL Fang Haishi (FHS) had great chemistry and the drama had a good coverage of all couples. The two ML, FJM and emperor Xu had a great bromance which was so interesting and heartwarming to watch. I liked how emperor xu always wanted to see FJM happy and would always “scold” FJM for being an inflexible person and liked how emperor xu recognised the ring on FHS and acted very swiftly to protect FHS for FJM. The bromance here is too good to be missed.

FHS was given the choice to be a female or a male by FJM which she chose the former. As a result she was raised among the secret troops of the emperor. They grew to love each other but due to circumstances, FJM kept pushing FHS aside but finally ended up together but to be “separated” by their statuses in the end, but I find the ending apt and not too sad. It was to be expected given that both FSH and FJM had the same vision of having a safe and peaceful world for the people. The last few episodes did have me cried a little though.

On the sidelines, I enjoyed how schemeless Tilan was and really treated the FL as her friend and her undying trust in the emperor.

In all, it was really a great drama to be watched and I really enjoyed how the writer didn’t ruin the plot by letting there be spies internally. I was worried that zhuoying would turn bad but he didn’t and was in fact a calculated planned move from the start which zhuoying himself had known since young.

OST was quite limited but very beautiful song as well.

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Mixed thoughts

Waiting for Hai shi and Fang Jian Ming love story to began and it started after 30th episode but at last they met so watching upto 30th episodes didn't make the story bored but in the same episode they got separated and then they met at second last episode but for their love story there was no happy ending ,felt very bad ,all fun went down . Actually there was not happy ending for the main leads . But the story gave happy ending to one couple but that they were in supporting role but still someone had happy ending .I didn't like the story because of the same reason (no happy ending). Beside story , acting of all the character was very good specially acting of the one who played the role Emperor . Especially the scene when his love dead in his arm. Acting is too good .

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Storyline is not good, but the feeling it takes us is GREAT

Story :
The story's main conflict is the misunderstanding and hiding truths to HS, if only he didnt do that, many conflicts and sadness can be avoided. The Story has holes here and there, and the way it takes the Climax and Anti Climax is not really good. It lack details and details continuity. But, the story pictured couples feeling really well, thanks to actor's acting that this story is saved. Also, since the episodes are cut down, some scenes and characters are not explained well.

Acting :
Yang Mi acting is great altho a few moments it lack a bit emotion, but mostly she shows great and different emotions. For Chen Wei Ting, he acts moderately. he portrayed great as a teacher in smoldering, firm, decisive and assertive emotions, but act poorly in other emotions, such as when confesing his love for HS , but afraid he will lose HS , the emotion of love, desperate and fright at the same time is not portrayed well , other moment such as rushing to kiss HS when he has been resisting himself for such a long time, the mimics and body language and body move is not portrayed well, also the mimics in between some moments are very flat. Yet at the last episode, he portrayed someone who love but afraid to leave his loved one very well, especially when he cried. So yah, he acts moderately.

Music :
The OST has 6 soundtracks, and 3 of them is really good making me keep listening to them, the lyrics are very meaningfull alongside with the rhytm, another 3 of them is not so good. The opening, ending, is very good.

Rewatch Value :
I would definitely rewatch this Drama because I love how it takes my feeling up and down. Loved the Love feeling it shown.

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BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!

This was one of the best Chinese tv shows i have ever watched in my life! The action is adrenaline pumping, the romance is just the right amount, the acting was on point, the storyline had you on the edge of your seat, each episode had you guessing what would happen next. This was the only tv show where i binge watched for 3 days straight. Waaaa my eyes and sleeping pattern were messed up real bad haha
One thing i have to mention that made me laugh a bit. I wonder if anyone else noticed. Dont get me wrong William Chan is a good actor but i couldnt help for this tv drama his facial expression remained the same A LOT of time. I found his face a bit expressionless haha otherwise overall not bad in the long run. Oh and yang mi character was just too cute even though she can be feisty. Haha

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