The most touching BL adaption

Just finished watching this drama last night and I cannot get it out of my mind!
At first, I didn't have high expectation on BL adaption. I have read the original novel Faraway Wanderers by Priest and quite like it.
When I heard that there would be adaption of the novel, I check the actors and thought that they look kinda good as the characters in my imagination. Therefore, I decided to give it a try. And this one is surprisingly much better than my expectation. I got into it more and more and chased the drama everyday (it never happened before).
Although the story is quite different from the original novel but they successfully keep the essence of it. The part I like the most in the novel is the relationship between 2 male leads and the drama has well delivered it. This is the story about 2 mature man who have done many bad things in their life and have no joy to keep on living. They are both ready to die but they found each others. That when they found their salvation and desire to live. Their relationship is subtle but deep. It was built with mutual understanding and sympathy, no chaos, no misunderstood and always support each others without doubts. I think the drama expressed this relationship well. The two main actors Gong Jun and Zhang Zhe Han also portrait the characters really well. I was touched by their acting skills and great chemistry.
Other aspects of the drama such as costume, martial arts, action scenes are also very well done. Only the VFX is not good at some scenes and that is understandable since they didn't have big investment. But overall, they still managed to produce a beautiful work.
I want to express my appreciation to all the actors, staff and crews of Word of Honor for their dedication to make an excellent drama! Thank you for giving me great experience and beautiful memories with your drama!

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An unexpectedly good drama

Just finished watching. I didn't have high expectation about this drama since I thought it would be a Chinese typical love drama with a lot of sweet scenes. But then many people recommend it and also the douban score is quite high so I decided to give it a try and this was the best decision ever!

Firstly, let's talk about the plot. This drama is definitely not the silly sweet dramas with brainless characters that care about nothing except love. Its theme is suspense and a little bit thriller. The plot is fast and compact. Every cases are simple and easy to guess but very logical and interesting. This drama mentions many social issues and psychological problems of people in daily life. They handled the cases well and the outcome of each case is satisfying. You may find it hard to believe but some of my problems were solved after hearing the conversation between the psychologists and the patients in the drama like I had an indirect treatments. The script is really well written! This is indeed a warm-hearted and healing drama. This should be one of the best dramas I have watched in recent years.

Secondly, I want to talk about the loveline. Both the male lead and female lead are capable and smart. Their love is building slowly through working and communicating in a convincing way. They're cute and sweet but not cheesy. Their relationship is stable and mature. One thing I really like about them is they always trust each other and stand by each other side. There's no dog blood misunderstanding and third person drama. I feel really comfortable watching them falling in love. Other supporting roles amd their loveline are also likeable. Thanks God there's no annoying and stupid character that make me want to drop the drama. Gong Jun and Qiao Xin's chemistry is really good.

Thirdly, about the acting. Male lead Gong Jun is really handsome and attractive. He portrayed the character Lin Shen well. He is cold and strict but not giving an arrogant feeling. The scenes with his mom are touching, especially the crying scene when his mom just woke up from coma. The love scenes are sweet but not greasy. One small minus point is his mouth shape sometimes looks weird when he speaks but it does not affect the watching experience much. Qiao Xin also did a good job portraying Xiao Xiao. She's cute and lively but mature and well-behaved. She's not the kind of annoying and Mary Sue character like the female lead of many other Chinese love dramas. She's very loyal to the male lead and really cherish and care about him. That's what I like most about her character. Overall, their actings are comfortable and enjoyable.

Lastly, the OST is so nice and fit well with the content. The BGM is also well arranged.

This is not a perfect drama since it's not a big production from the beginning but this is surely a worth-watching drama. Every aspects is well done. My overall score for it would be 9. The drama is not too sweet and also not too tense. Recommend for those who looking for an entertaining yet good plot drama.

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A very beautiful ancient costume drama

I already finish all the updated episodes and I'll give my review for the first part of the drama. To be honest, I really like Gong Jun so I may biased him sometimes. But I'll try to make the review as most objective as possible.
The first thing I want to say about this drama is it's very very beautiful. Their VFX, makeup and costumes are on another level. They can really create a dreamy fantasy world and make you immerse in it. One small note, to maximize your experience, you should open the 4K resolution on a big screen. I swear it looks just like a blockbuster movie.
And about the actors, they're all pretty and have good acting. Yang Mi is much more beautiful in the drama than in some captured photos. Her acting is acceptable to me though sometimes she gives out a dull and tired feeling, maybe because it's the nature of the character. But her eyes are so beautiful and attractive. Gong Jun is as handsome as ever. I must say that his acting has been improved much in this drama. He portrays a very young and lively and youthful character in a very natural way. I really like Dong Fang Yue Chu, he's so cute. His cheerful character is a bright spot that keeps the atmosphere up until now. Many people mentioned they could not feel the chemistry between them but I start to feel their cp sense in the latest episodes. Their chemistry is slowly developing and it's quite cute.
The story plot is simple and fast. You can easy follow and understand since everything is putting on the surface so it's quite boring to some people and this is the weakness of the play. 10 episodes have passed but they still can't create any remarkable climax scenes. But the rhythm really got better and better since episode 6. I really hope you can watch until this episode before making a judge.
And the biggest problem of this play may lie at the editing. Like many people already said here, the play is not bad but still feel missing something. That's really on point. The way they cut the scene is so incoherently and abruptly. When the emotion is about to rise, they cut it and change to another scene. It's hard for the audiences to resonate with the characters and immerse in the story. Also, they don't use their OST much in the play so some emotional or thrilling scenes feel kinda meh. They have such a strong lineup for OST, such a shame they didn't make a good use of them.
And the combat scenes are quite boring. I know this is a xianxia and the combat is more about magic and inner strength, not the real martial art moves but they should at least make some moves. In most of the combat scenes, the characters just stand there and raise their hands and then input some special effects. And... it's done. I mean it's really beautiful to watch but feel very unsatisfactory. I expect to see more real combat with a thrilling BGM, it would be much better. The best combat scene until now is where the male lead fights and kills the 2 bad guys to avenge his parents. It's really nice and powerful.
Okay, so this is my first thoughts about the drama. Despite many not good things above, I think this drama is still good to watch, not as bad as some people say. I feel that there're so many unreasonable attacks on this drama since it started broadcasting and it makes people reluctant to start watching it. But you should really watch and judge by yourself
For me, I'll keep following the drama. The unfolding story behind seems very interesting. I hope the edit is better in the later part.

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