Not as good as BTTH Season 1

Now you understand why Wu Lei and Jelly Lin, plus the rest of supporting cast from Season 1 did not return for Season 2 of Battle Through The Heaven (BTTH). This is a low to medium budget drama, which relies heavily on special effects (FX), computer generated imagery (CGI), wireworks and fighting choreography to make the drama a roaring success. Unfortunately this C-drama does not tick all the boxes – the fighting scene particularly was horrible. The fight scene in the first 20mins of Ep 1 when the Female Lead was chasing after the Male Lead, and they got into a scuffle, gave the signals of what to expect from this sequel. My heart sank – this is not the series I was expecting after a brilliant BTTH Season 1.

I like the leading lady (FL) – Ding Xiao Ying - ever since I saw her in Doulou Continent Season 1. She is a relative newcomer with a lot of potential. The male lead (ML) is unknown to me – a pretty face with questionable acting skill. At least Wu Lei could act. All the other characters in Season 1 were better than those cast in Season 2. Baron Chan as Medicine Sage was better; Medusa too. The interaction and adventure among students at Jianan Academy during Season 1 was engrossing and highly entertaining. The same could not be said about Xiao Yan and his adventures at Jianan Academy in Season 2. The story line was bland. They even include a sickly Xiao Yan’s brother story line, which does not contribute anything to the overall plot. In short the acting, choice of actors, FX, CGI and the story-line makes this series unbearable to watch.

If you have watched BTTH Season 1, BTTH Season 2 will be an utter disappointment. If you watch it as a standalone series, it could be bearable if you don’t have other things to do.

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Only for hardcore c-drama fans - not a complete dud!

The first thing that struck me was the title – Renascence. Should not it be spelled “renaissance” instead? Regardless of this pointless conundrum, the two words have the same meaning – rebirth or born again – and that is the gist of this whole 36-episode C-drama. A near dying Yao Mo Xin switched body with her younger sister and the born again Mo Xin in Mo Wan’s body plotted her revenge for her purported injustice.

While not qualified to judge whether the acting was great or not, there were several scenes that gave me absolute chills. When Jun Qing found out that Mo Xin had died, the wailing was so over the top. Rather than feeling sorry for him for the loss of his true love, I tried very hard not to burst into laughter. Similarly, Jun Qing’s nonchalant reaction when he finally got to meet Mo Xin in the final episode was forgettable and reminded me of a scene from “The Love that Last Two Minds” when Alan Yu – the epitome of bad acting – stood expressionless as he was reunited with Chen Yuqi.

The first c-drama that I watched with Li Mozhi as the leading lady, and her performance has not converted me into an instant fan yet. Like all leading ladies in c-drama, she is a beauty. To be honest, I prefer Eva Cheng (Mo Xin) as the FL. I thought Chen Zhe Yuan’s performance in “Handsome Siblings” was much better with a likeable happy-go-lucky character. Here, he was a miserable soul who engaged in an illicit relationship with his brother’s wife – unabashedly amoral and not cool. No A-list actors here with none featured in the Forbes China Top-100 celebrity list; so straight away c-drama fans knew this is a low-mid budget drama.

This drama lacks character development and depth. Other than the main leads and the Emperor, all other supporting casts suffered from superficial character development and appeared trite. This flaw was probably due to bad editing from 70 episodes to almost half, or the overdependence on the 2 main protagonists. I prefer c-dramas like “Ever Night” or “Novoland – Eagle Flag” where there were various main plots, and screen time is shared across all actors. Significant characters were introduced midway, or some characters were killed half-way like “Nirvana in Fire 2”. As a hardcore historical costume drama viewer, it is easy to get into the drama in the beginning. The story is fresh and you are anticipating plot twists here and there with unexpected turns of events, but as the story matures, it gets harder to keep the interest up. That is why unexpected ending like “Goodbye My Princess”,”Sword Dynasty” or “Bloody Romance” is very much welcome. This story however has an expected banal ending.

This C-drama was filmed mostly at Hengdian World Studio and some of the shots like the high-wall corridor (entrance to Qin Imperial Palace), buildings, parks, etc should be familiar sights to C-drama buffs. When the actions ventured outdoor, the scenery was mostly uninteresting and nondescript. There was no beautiful mountain scenery, breath-taking lake, lush green forest, clear blue river, etc - just shrubs and bushes in secondary jungles. In short, the c-drama setting was average at best and I could hardly remember any scene that could make me to revisit some of the episodes.

Now, to what I consider the weakest aspect of this drama – the storyline. For some reasons, c-dramas always suffer from shoddy writing, disjointed storyline that is short on common-sense, outright ridiculous plots/subplots and plenty of self-sacrificing (suicides). The story relied heavily on the 2 main characters, which meant that there was an over-exposure to them. In my view, a c-drama losses its appeal once the lead couple, who should invariably be in love, hogs the airtime. The main characters fell in love, had a fallout, fell in love again, had a fall out again, (you get the drift) and finally a happy ending. Interject that love dance with a bit of palace drama within the harem motivated by Mo Wan’s revenge, the rebel uprising by the rightful heir (Jun Qing) basically, you get the whole gist of “Renascence”.

For god-sake, the Emperor had plenty of opportunities to kill Jun Qing, but just did not have the brain power to execute the simplest of move. When Jun Qing was stabbed by Mo Wan and was dying, the Emperor inexplicably saved him. The ending was telegraphed from episode 31 onwards after Jun Qing survived a meek attempt by the Emperor to kill Jun Qing with his own hand/sword. The Emperor had countless opportunities to kill Jun Qing easily but chose the most inopportune time when Jun Qing had the protection of his henchmen – Ben Lei and Yin Xue. Talked about stupid timing! Throughout the 36 episodes, the Emperor behaved like a retard; somebody who couldn’t even plan and execute the easiest of move to get rid of his rival, whereas Mo Wan executed all her moves to perfection. With such screen-writing, no wonder I just could not get into the drama, and completing 36 episodes was just a perfunctory exercise. Drop it? Not an option especially after I went past 10 or more episodes.

Don’t get me wrong – “Renaissance” is not a complete dud. If it is, I would not have completed the drama. But I would not re-watch it; I would rather take my chance on a new historical costume c-drama.
Story - 7.0/10
Acting - 8.0/10
Music - 7.5/10
Rewatch value - 5.0/10
Overall - 7.5/10

Overall Verdict 7.5/10. Only for hardcore historical c-drama fans (like me) who don’t have anything better to do.

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A masterpiece with plenty of tear-jerking moments

My Journey to You is an absolute gem, and I nearly give it a perfect 10 score had it not been for some loose/disjointed logics story telling midway into the drama. However, it is still an excellent Cdrama that is worth investing your time on. It is a typical good vs evil wuxia drama: with the good side being the Gong Family and the baddie being the mysterious assassin group called Wufeng. Eventually these two groups would fight it out. This drama would tear you up would give you plenty of emotional roller coaster with its intricate storylines, and strength of some of the main characters.

This drama is quite short consisting of only 24 episodes. However some of the episodes were really long well over 1hr. It could easily have been a 30-36 episode drama but for some reasons, it was shortened to 24 episodes. That makes editing process a nightmare trying to squeeze so much screen-time into 24 episodes and cutting out all scenes featuring Chu Zi Jun, who was allegedly questioned for a rape case. And this editing rears its ugly head as some scenes were disjointed and convoluted leading to a question whether it was precipitated from the need to squeeze the drama into 24 episodes, or because of the last minute editing required to delete all scenes featuring Chu Zi Jun.

First thing one would notice with this production is its rather darkish and gloomy undertone. The darkish and gloomy undertone gives the Director plenty of room to maneuver his melodramatic scenes into the drama. Unquestionably, My Journey to You is a melodramatic drama with plenty of heartbreaking scenes and tears. The makeup and costumes were purposely tone-down and not too strikingly bright and ostentatious. One could even say the makeup and costumes were too bland, albeit with some Japanese aesthetics especially on YWS, SGQ and Young Master Xue ChongZi. Nevertheless, it does not take away from my enjoyment, even though it struck as odd why the Director would go along the route knowing that this production was replete with controversies such as alleged plagiarism and the rape allegation even before its premiere.

Lu Yuxiao is the star of the show. She steals the show from Eshter Yu (Yun Weishan/YWS) with her memorable and electrifying portrayal of SGQ. She made the character exciting, and I was rooting for her more so than YWS. Her scenes were very emotional such as the torture scene in the dungeon where she revealed that she is an orphan from an extinct clan. Her chemistry with Ryan Cheng (GSJ) is off the chart, and her off-bantering with Tian JiaRui (GYZ) was exhilarating and enjoyable. Her character is full of mystery and you would never know whether she is lying, or still loyal to Wufeng until the last episode. More screentime would have been preferred for this couple.

I don’t quite like the main love pairing of Zhang Linghe (GZY) and Eshter Yu (YWS). I thought the downside to this relationship was that it was smooth without any hiccups. Even when YWS was detained in the dungeon, everyone in the Gong family including those from backhill joined forces to break her from the dungeon. GZY character was fully developed and was allowed to shine from an average martial artist to an expert one after he had mastered the 3-Realm test, but somehow YWS’s character was flat from ep1 without much development. The only good thing about YWS was when she interacts with her Raven – Han YaSi. Han YaSi’s role in this production is a minor one, but he left a lasting impression as a mentor to YWS and her sister, Yun Que.

The Cdrama ends with a cliff hanger, and gives rise to the possibility of Season 2. But it could also be the way how the Director wishes to end the drama and let the audience forms their own minds as to the fates of the female lead. But Wufeng has not been totally eradicated and still have 3 strongest members – the Head and the 2 Liang - yet to appear. Season 2 could still be on the card though.

9.5/10.

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