So Incredibly Promising, If Only Production Had Gotten it Together.

Since it started filming, this drama has been on my radar due to the main leads. Yang Yang's return to costume dramas, and Zhao Lusi's first serious role, I had very high hopes. The premise of the story is also very intriguing, and even with all its flaws I still think the story itself was well thought out, and the looks from the trailers showed off a high production value. Visually speaking, this drama delivered. The design of BFX's character was absolutely gorgeous, I loved seeing ZLS as a character known to be beautiful, and HFX's black robes and ponytails were to die for, I wish we could have had more of that. The set designs for all the palaces and such were also just beautiful, truly captivating visually.

The acting from the leads was also fantastic, ZLS and YY have fantastic chemistry, and although there aren't many kiss scenes, the romance between them blossoms so beautifully and naturally, it's the best romance I have honestly seen all year in the Chinese entertainment world. From beginning to end, YY and ZLS did a fantastic job, as well as many of the secondary characters. For me, the acting was truly well done.

If you judge this drama from the first 10-12 episodes, it could've been the best drama of the year. HOWEVER, and I emphasize this strongly, the quality of the drama fell through towards the last 10 or so episodes. Generally, throughout the drama, there were many small details that did not make sense. For example, why was there a bed in that cave the BFX was in after HFX saved her? Why did BFX so strongly dislike HFX at the beginning, saying he was manipulative and such, when we only see him doing good things? How did Han Pu recover so fast after his entire family was wiped out? Little things like these are found throughout, but they weren't the things that really bothered me while watching.

However, there were too many problems with this drama that I can't forget about. My big issue was how dragged out Youngzhou's court politics drama was, and how it ate up time into what could have been a more resounding ending. The ending was so incredibly rushed, scenes were just randomly cut, and we weren't seeing many of the important developments happening in the war. Like literally, one second BFX was talking to her master, and in the literal next scene, everyone was at her sect accusing her of killing him! Like It was so abrupt I thought it was a dream sequence or something! And don't even get me started on that final fight scene between YWY and our leads, what was that CG?? This drama had a huge budget, some of the most beautiful sets, and in the last episode, they showed some of the most choppy and horribly done CGI I've seen in a recent drama! I also hated how BFX become almost a secondary character during the Youngzhou court drama, her character is so interesting and powerful, I wish there was more of a focus on her. There also should have been a more satisfying reaction to people finding out BFX's identity, like it was not revealed until episode 35, and we didn't get to see how it went down amongst some key characters, like Chancellor Ren and literally HFX himself. Like. I think a big portion of these issues, however, can be attributed to drama restrictions. Honestly, they should have done 2 parts like with the Blue Whisper, because this is a story that needed at least 50-55 episodes to tell, and with the cap of 40, I'm afraid the production team bit off more than they could chew. Don't know how to excuse that horrible final battle CGI though.

If I could rate this drama as two separate pieces, one with the first 30 episodes and one with the last 10, I would have given the first portion a 10/10, and the second a 6/10, truly this is how sharp the differences are. This drama is my biggest 'if only'. If only production had done a better job. If only the director/producer drama hasn't happened. If only the restrictions weren't so strict. Alas, what could've been the drama of the year, packed with a star-studded cast and huge budget, was sabotaged by messy writing and post-production mistakes.

But credits to YY and ZLS for being the only reason I would rewatch this, you two are truly some of the best actors in the industry.

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