Plot vs. Plot Triggers

To start with, the world-building was a little confusing, but it definitely definitely grew on me. I grew to enjoy the different rules, aesthetics, and customs in different Clans — it's sad that we rarely see all of the groups get together because so much of the story is focused on individual characters, but as a backdrop they were still great to see.

The characters were plentiful but not confusing (at least not once you got used to them) and I particularly liked the female lead Baiqian, who was a strong female lead both in name and in personality. The relationship with Yehua was also great — a male lead who was so faithful and never wavered is always so satisfying to watch, even though there were some scenes where he was forceful and it made me uncomfortable.

Other than that, there is one thing that really bothered me and that's how the plot points were triggered — always by the cliche backstabbing, jealous, second female lead trying to sabotage the main leads' relationship. I've always been very annoyed by how the misogyny present in the writing of second female leads, and it was so obvious in this drama. It felt like there was an entire magic world and a faction war out there and yet everything was triggered by the pettiness of female characters. There had to be over three of them, and I honestly can't think of many female side characters that were genuinely good and important. I'd rather have the Ghost King or another antagonist be the main plot-driver.

Still, I think this drama played on tropes pretty well — while amnesia and time jumps usually bother me a lot and still sometimes felt convenient or rushed, I understand how both of them were an essential part of the plot and were explained generally well.

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Father-daughter relationship

So the father-daughter relationship in this movie was undoubtedly the best part of it, and I really wish we had seen more of the before-after scenes with them. These scenes were so touching that scenes with the mom honestly paled in comparison and I just didn't love her as a character at all; her subplot felt very extra and I was also just not very interested in her conversations or reactions.

What I was interested in was the reaction of the children; I was honestly expecting this movie to be a lot more depressing, with instances of the community reacting with disgust or blaming the parents, or with other students being nosy/gossipy and there being bullying. But this wasn't the case at all and the movie delivered exactly what the title promised: Hope.

That's not to say that it was all positive, as of course there was the commentary on the legal system. It was interesting but they didn't go much into it and I kind of have mixed feelings on that.

Overall, this was a pretty touching movie and I did feel emotions — but it wasn't consistent.

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