Palabra de honor (2021)

what to know before watching

before i get into the pros and cons, just a heads up that this review is a little bit of a comparison to the untamed so it’s somewhat biased :)

pros:
- overall the two leads portray their characters very well, the acting feels sincere but not over the top so they did a good job!

- the pacing, sets, costumes were good!

- side plots and characters were interesting and never unreasonable so i enjoyed that

- all the moments between wenzhou felt very gentle and soft and emotion filled which i very much cherished !! their dynamic is enjoyable to watch and will be close to your heart

cons:
- the flirting at the beginning is a bit hard to swallow, it seems a bit over the top and some points

- there are a lot a lot of old literature and poetry references (especially at the beginning) which is hard to understand for non native audiences, so sometimes the intention and meaning behind character dialogue is lost

- for the untamed fans i have to say the story is somewhat similar at some parts, but they have different focuses in my opinion where the romance in the untamed is subtle, the story focuses more on morality what is right or wrong etc, whereas WOH focuses more on the romance/soulmate aspect. which can be a good thing but for me it felt a little forced at times

- i think the chemistry between all of the characters did not feel as genuine as with the untamed where the characters are so close to your heart and interconnected with each other so you have no choice but to be immersed in their world

- the plot is not my favorite, although it is interesting and memorable it’s not striking ??

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Beautiful love

I finished watching this drama yesterday and I'm still so full of emotions for it. This review will most probably be biased, but I'll do my best to express myself clearly.

First of all, the story is pretty good. The main elements of the plot are nothing that hasn't been seen or told before, but I believe that whoever wrote the episodes did a wonderful job in arranging all of it in a beautiful way. The pacing is great for the majority of the series, there are no moments that felt empty or unnecessary for the sake of the story. I'm giving it a lower score because of some elements that I didn't find very satisfying, mainly the way some things seemed way too convenient (like some characters arriving to the scene conveniently early or conveniently late without proper reasons behind it) and some facets of the story that I believe deserved to be explored better, or at the very least explained further.

The actors all did an amazing job in what they did. No character felt out of place or stiff, and all of them were relevant in their own way, which is always satisfying to see. Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing were absolutely amazing and I loved any of their moments on the screen, both individually and together. Their relationship with each other blooms beautifully and I was in awe most of the time. As someone who watched multiple BL before, I feel confident enough to say that this could easily be classified as BL rather than a bromance: even without kisses or confessions, these two seemed so blatantly and hopelessly in love with each other that calling it a bromance would be an understatement.

I have not watched many dramas of this genre before, and most of the time I tend to drop them for one reason or another, but this time around I was invested all the way through and I ended up watching multiple episodes in a row. Word of Honor captured my heart, broke it in half and healed it back multiple times, but it was an adventure I really enjoyed. It became one of my favorite series and I recommend giving it a try!

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Word of Honor is the most well-produced television work that Zhang Zhehan has acted in to date. His portrayal of Zhou Zishu can be described as perfect, achieving a unity of outside appearance and inside spirit between himself and the character. His acting in some key plot points are even beyond ordinary comprehension, worthy of repeated appreciation. However, the script of Word of Honor itself lost much of the unique taste of the original work after being adapted by the screenwriter. The latter part of the story can be described as a sharp decline, with controversial plot points after Wen Kexing's faked death. Of course, it was also during this period that Zhang Zhehan's portrayal of Zhou Zishu left a deep impression on me, making me feel as if the character was really alive.

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Copy Paste Comment from Amazon Prime by Book Luver

Top reviews from the United States
Book Luver
5.0 out of 5 stars A Hit Drama of 2021
Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2021
Let me start you off with six reasons why you should watch this:

1) A dark horse drama that became an instant hit overnight in the first of 2021, and might be for the whole 2021. ATM, it has a rating of 9.7 on IMDb and 8.3 on Douban (Chinese rating site which is similar to IMDb, and people there are usually hard on the rating)

2) A BL drama that propelled the two males actors to stardom. Their popularity skyrocketed because of Word of Honor.

3) Censorship! Word of Honor doesn’t know who she is ? Everyone who watched it kept on asking how in the world did this drama passed the censorship?

4) If you’re a fan of the novel, “Faraway Wanderers” by Priest, you’ll love this. The scriptwriter is a fan of the author, so she kept the characters and story as closely to the novel as possible. She extended some stuffs to make the story longer because the novel is pretty short. Also, she added poetry, idioms, easter eggs and so on to depict the underlying love confessions between the main leads. She’s such a brilliant writer despite she’s just a rookie.

5) If you’re a fan of Wuxia, you’ll love this drama. Awesome Wuxia fighting styles in here. You’ll be amazed and certainly entertained.

6) Shameless flirting 101! You might become an expert flirt after you’ve done with this drama. Haha but seriously, one of the main leads Wen Ke Xing is a king of flirt. You’ll be blushing and laughing at what he spouts out of his mouth. Despite that they overdubbed some of his flirting dialogues, you will still enjoy it as much. Side note: I highly recommend you to watch the lip reading video for this drama to get the best experience of what he actually said ?

I hope those six reasons alone will help rouse your curiosity. Go and watch it and you’ll know why. But here’s my review so far to help you make up your mind.

Well I just finished up to episode 15 so far on Youku’s YouTube channel, but let me say that this drama got me hooked so badly. I dropped the other dramas that I was watching to just watch this because my mind only think of this drama and nothing else ? For your information, I normally don’t watch BL drama. So this is pretty shocking to me that I fell hard for this one. I just adore the main leads in here. Their relationship and chemistry is to die for. You can feel and see that they are each other’s soulmate through and through.

Both leads are considered anti-heroes. They are not black and white nor good or bad. They both have tragic stories that shaped them the ways they are. It’s a story of redemption. And I can’t wait to see to the end where their paths will take them.

Despite the low budget production, this drama certainly doesn’t look like one. The scenery, costumes, fighting scenes are all done beautifully. The acting is top notch, especially for our leads Simon Gong and Zhang Zhe Han. They embodied their characters Wen Ken Xing and Zhou Zi Shu down to a T. I can’t imagine anybody else taking the roles but them. And gosh, their chemistry! They have one of the most explosive chemistry I’ve ever seen on screen, especially between two men. You will fall in love with their expressions, flirting, touching, interactions and everything. And omg, Wen Ke Xing’s flirting is on another level. He’s the king of all flirt! ? You will see when you watch it.

Overall, highly recommended! I can’t say enough about this beautiful drama. I will update again when I finish watching it. I have a good feeling that I will still love it as much as the first time.

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Next to UNTAMED

I super love everything about this show. 10+++ rating for me. Super mixed emotions.. made me cry, in love, angry, hope, despair.. arghh everything!! And ending is like.. ‘wait, what!’ okay.. Hmm.. the actors were awesome, especially Simon Gong(Wen Kexing.) Very handsome and charming. I really hope his next drama is also like this oneTotally recommended for UNTAMED fans. Though this is shorter, the characters are amazing. Portrayed their roles perfectly. Soulmate dieties forever and ever! I am now looking forward watching other BL Cdramas like this one. I’ll start with the recommendations in this site. Thank you so much everyone.

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Great dynamic between leads

I tried it by accident, but stayed for the dynamic between leads, the acting of the whole cast, a good story line (but the are were some trips while nearing the end), and definitely for the OST. It's rare for me to watch the opening for more than few times, but I've been watching it at the beginning of every episode. I recommend watching it if someone like this kind of stories. The suggestive and rather direct way of telling the genre specific relationship might be a bit... too direct for some, but the fighting scene, the humor and the development of characters is really worth watching.

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Here's to WenZhou!

I had a hole in the shape of ‘Word of Honor’ after finishing this drama. Not long before finishing this, I finished reading the original novel this drama was adapted from, ‘Faraway Wanderers’, and that was a very enjoyable read. The drama was… I don’t know if I have a word for it other than amazing. Super happy to see the drama embracing it as a BL instead of a BL adaptation disguised as “Bromance”, and the result was amazing. I think this is the first time I watched a drama while it was still airing (well, the English sub anyway).

At first, I started watching it because of its genre (Wuxia), but soon I was basically sucked into its love story. It was beyond my expectation to be honest, because I often got irked by the romance in a lot of dramas, and though this drama still has some of that extended shots of stares (thankfully there was no calling each other’s name millions of times for no reason), it felt natural. Also, knowing that this is a BL adaptation, I didn’t expect to see any sort of romance between the leads, as they often would have bromance instead (though after ‘The Untamed’, I admit I’d expect to see some subtle romance). Then in the first few episodes I remember being so surprised at how openly and blatantly Wen Kexing flirts with Zhou Zishu (seriously, Wen Kexing brought a whole new level of flirting with his poetry and fan). Though the story is a bit different than the original novel, they stayed true to its essence. That loyalty and devotion to each other are at the forefront of it. They’re willing to die for each other, they vowed to live and die together, and they bicker like an old married couple (poor Chengling for being a third wheel, and got confused earlier on when the two of them would teach him different things then argue about it, thus hindering Chengling’s martial arts progress).

In general I like the progression of the relationships, as I feel that it was on a good paced. However, I’m not a big fan on the ending (even with the epilogue episode) as I felt it a little rushed (and I thought it fell a little flat), and was also unsatisfactory in some parts (Scorpion’s fate, for example). I felt that the drama could be a bit longer to close things off properly and explain things further, especially since they’ve changed quite a lot of things in the drama from the original material anyway (the novel was quite short).

There was no shixiong/shidi relationship between Zhou Zishou and Wen Kexing in the novel, but I thought the addition of this in the drama was very well done. I often feel that we can't seem to have an epic love story without childhood connection and sometimes it feels forced and I was a bit worried about this too in this drama, but in the end I think it gives Wen Kexing ties to the human world and deeper connection to Zhou Zishu.

There are other things I'm annoyed with but those are the things that almost always comes with cdramas - the audio, the jumping over the 180 line with no reasons, etc. The underwater scenes were... let's just say I wished they didn't do them on wires and actually shoot underwater, because it wasn't very well done, and you can see a very jarring difference between the shots that was done on wire with the ones actually done underwater. I was also a bit irked by a lot of things in the fight scenes, there were a lot of close ups and slow mo and twirling that didn't really add anything.

That being said, I felt satisfied after watching this. Definitely give it a watch… and bring tissues, and maybe ice cream to soothe your emotional heart.

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A thousand ways to show you love someone without saying it

Word of Honor checks all the boxes for a typical martial arts series – sectarian rivalry, revenge plots and a delightful relationship between a disciple and his teachers – proving to be a perfectly compelling and well-paced story.

But what makes it so enjoyable is that it’s far more profound than an empty clash of swords. The rivalry between the Ghost Valley and other seemingly ‘upright’ sects appears to be an allegory on the clash between Good and Evil, but Word Of Honor upends this by revealing the corruption amongst ‘heroes’. As sects go on a crusade to eradicate sin, they neglect to see that the rot has already wormed its way into their hearts.

The seeming incompatibility between the ghostly and mortal realm makes for an unlikely union between ZZS and WKX. And yet, it somehow works because they understand what it’s like to live troubled lives with cruel fates. For ZZS, who was ready to waste away and disappear into the twilight, the mere fact that he eventually allowed himself to be saved proved that the only person who could change his mind about life was WKX. And for WKX, who has walked a path doomed to unholiness, all he needed was something to pull him back to the world of humans and humanity.

So, is it a BL? Technically no. But I would say that the depth of ZZS and WKX’s relationship far transcends effortless banter and flirty conversations. The audience gets a sense that their unspoken bond runs far deeper than these superficial interactions. At the heart of their story is a quest to protect the only thing that matters to them – each other.

My full review: https://asianblreviews.wordpress.com/2022/06/15/word-of-honor-2022-review/
My compilation of the romantic scenes: https://asianblreviews.wordpress.com/2022/06/15/word-of-honor-bl-romance/

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I HAVE REWATCH IT COUNTLESSLY

I don't love any drama this much, but Word of Honor is a LEGIT adaptation.
Despite some differences between the original novel and the adaptation, both have been beautifully made.
This drama contains a deep, deep emotion conveyed through witty, sassy yet lovely, and warm convos between the main characters.
I watched the other drama if you know what I mean, but WOH stunned me as I could not move on.
There's something in the chemistry between the two male leads, and also the chemistry of the WHOLE cast is also not a joke.
How the plot is unraveling, interlinked, and affecting every part of it.
In summary, this drama is a word of love poem embodied into two people named Wen Kexing and Zhou Zi Shu.

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A Very Satisfying Wuxia Drama

I’m not here as a BL drama fan (because I’m not), but as a long-time wuxia drama enthusiast since childhood. A year after it aired I finally decided to watch this drama because I’ve recently been in the mood for some historical actions (I’ve watched The Longest Day in Chang’an and Ancient Detective before). Also, I’ve actually been planning to see it for quite a long time, for in the middle of its high fame last year I came across a fanmade video of its fighting scenes on YouTube and I was so fascinated. So, why not? And here I am now, loving it so so much. I wouldn’t say it’s a perfect drama but I gave it a high score because it’s very, very, very good in so many aspects; but there are also some things that I don’t like about this drama, so I will point both of them out. Watch out, it’s gonna be long.

- What I like about this drama:
1). The story. The entire wuxia story, really. After the first few episodes I got the feeling that this drama (or the original book, if the story is exactly the same) is some sort of a fanfiction of Jin Yong’s famous works. Not only the sects (Shaolin, Emei, The Five Mountains Sword Alliance, The Beggar Sect), but also the formula: the star-crossed lovers (one from the upright side, and the other from the evil side; but they are in love no matter what others say), the hypocrisies of those self-righteous people in the pugilistic world, the struggle and endless fight over a precious thing which makes people think they can be the best and rule the world, the vibes and so on. I don’t remember there are any modern wuxia dramas these days that have this kind of “classic formula” because it’s either wuxia romance, wuxia detective, wuxia conspiracies, or xianxia stuff that I’m never interested in. But Word of Honor has this formula, and it’s very well written, well developed, and very well executed. Although I’m not satisfied with some of the plotlines (due to editing and cuts, I guess), in general, the jianghu story is very, very satisfying.
2). The romance between the two main leads. I have to say that it’s also very well written and well developed. It’s been a long time since I watched a very heart-wrenching love story which is sad not for the sake of being sad, but for the characterization of the two lovers and what they have been going through in their life. And everything just makes sense: the sadness and the anxiety, the differences in opinion and how they deal with it, the acceptance of the other’s evil deeds and background, the sacrifices for each other. It’s all there because it has a solid foundation, not merely for the sake of being romantic and angsty for no particular reason. And it’s so so beautiful (and hilarious, too, thanks to Wen Kexing’s endless flirting and quirky humor) to watch.
3). The acting. First thing first, I want to say that I really, really like both Zhou Zishu’s and Wen Kexing’s characters. They’re like completing each other: while ZZS is calm, wise, and has integrity; WKX is funny (people in the drama say “lunatic” but he’s just funny, really; coz every time I saw him I just wanted to laugh), carefree, sly, and very complicated and devastated inside. Tbh, I’m not a fan of either Zhang Zhehan or Gong Jun but I have to say that their acting is really, really good. They can represent each of their character really, really well. I feel that they are indeed meant to do these roles. (P.S.: I really, really like Gong Jun’s eyes expression every time he turns evil and “lunatic”)
4). The costumes of both main leads. Tbh I don’t like the costumes of the other characters because they look too “modern”, but I really love those worn by ZZS and WKX. And the hairstyle, too. Zhang Zhehan and Gong Jun seriously look so handsome and dashing in those long-hair styles.
5). The soundtrack. Well, I mean the opening song sung by Liu Yuning. I have it on the loop and cannot stop.

- What I don’t like:
1). The props and the lighting. The props don’t look ancient enough and the lighting somehow weakens the “wuxia vibe” of this drama.
2). I’ve mentioned above that I don’t like the costumes of the supporting characters, but here’s another problem: the clothes worn by the female servants made me think they’re in the Tang Dynasty but the uniforms worn by the palace guards suddenly threw me to the Ming Dynasty. So, what dynasty are they exactly in??? This is so confusing.
3). The fighting scenes. Well, I got mixed feelings about it after seeing it with my own eyes for the entire 36+ episodes. It’s enjoyable to watch but the movements are so repetitive to the point that you cannot differentiate which gongfu of whose. Each sect, each hero is supposed to have their own signature movements but no: they just swirl and swirl and ZZS has no other movement than swaying his sword left and right. And I actually love the way WKX fights using his fan but that’s it? Really? Throwing it to his enemies all the time?
4). While this drama is not particularly feminist (though quite women-friendly), it’s not misogynist, either; but there’s still sexism that bothered me when I watched it. First, in episode five ZZS said to Zhang Chengling, “You’re a man, you cannot cry in the future”. I mean, WHAT? Seriously? And Cao Weining’s character really has that “male heroic syndrome”. What’s with this desire to protect Gu Xiang all the time when he knows she is a very capable fighter and can protect herself?

Well, that’s it―the list of both what I like and don’t like about this drama. All in all, though, Word of Honor is still a very good wuxia drama for me. I just love it and fall for its love story. I binge-watched the last 16 episodes in two days and got hangover for the entire day after finishing it. I don’t know if I can move on after this.

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