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One of my main issues with the show was the script. I started noticing how very repetitive some dialogues were. Like, specially with the villains. Lord Hanfeng and Situ Ling said the same stuff over and over again, to themselves, to their sidekicks and to the characters. I GET IT, I GOT IT THE FIRST TIME. You don’t need to tell me your master plan or your feelings every time you are on screen. Also, this is very stupid but the amount of times all the characters said the name JI BOZAI, DEAR LORD, it was so annoying after I started paying attention.

Other issue was the storylines of certain characters and the connections to the bigger plot. I don’t think it was well executed, but because they were fun and charismatic, you stop paying attention to it.

The dynamics between Ji Bozai and Ming Yi were…I don’t know man. You know when you can see the potential of depths and intrigues and completions in two characters and the potential of their dynamics to be more violent and cunning, and embrace the lying and the betrayal? Like, they are both such a tragic characters, they are hurt, and they hurt others. The drama was so light and soft and understanding to them being point at, accused, violated, abused and more. Maybe I am much more resentful, but the story going from a revenge theme to a salvation plot because big bad villain/prophecy was a little to simple.

And I don’t know exactly why I feel this way. Maybe is the lack of world building and geopolitics that could have made the characters resentment more powerful, or the cut and editing that made things go more quickly and changing. I think this drama had so many interesting themes, specially about society, low and high classes, truth and delusion, and power connected to blood/family and pain. But too many characters started to drag the drama to the same discussions and never going more in depth to any of them.

Of the likes, I think the characters are great. Everyone is good at portray what they need to portray. They also are great at crying (ugly cry, desperate cry, happy cry, painful cry) and have good body chemistry. The fighting scenes are one of my favorites of all dramas, and the costumes and cgi effects were very pretty.

I think advertising the show as having four main leads with two different couples and then giving one of them LESS THAN 10 MINUTES OF SCREENTIME is diabolical. The showrunners clearly missed the mark with wanting to keep them as a team rather than individual pairings without also adapting the story to those needs.

It's not like the actors didn't give their all to make it work with the crumbs they had. Even one episode mainly about them could have done so much for their story and the public reception. Being charismatic and a good actor is more of a curse than a blessing in this case.