Chen qing ling

The most appreciated TV series of the Chinese wave, a dedicated fan base, and me, for whom the lesson in cultivating demons was the very first of its kind. For a long time, I couldn't properly connect with this world. One supporting character after another was packed in alongside the main duo, most of the younger and older students spoke in long dialogues, and the plot fluttered between the story of a battle with a growing evil and one-act plays set in single locations. But over time, more of the characters grew close to my heart, the plot thickened, and at the key turning point halfway through the whole thing, it all suddenly came together. In the end I appreciated it as a piece that was originally more or less improvised, and it was a joy to see how the action scenes became increasingly clear and magnificent, and how even those little plays or episodic plots fit into the ultimate picture. However, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji have rightfully made one principle entirely their own: when their story is strong and moving, it becomes such a heartrending journey that I find it hard to catch my breath, and every encounter or farewell takes a grueling  toll on my tear ducts. Thanks for the test of patience, where everything has its season and the best things come to those who wait. (2023.04.04)

I'll start with the negatives. Scene editing – some scenes didn't build on the previous ones, maybe they started where a character in the previous scene had already gone. Even the actors had different makeup at times (for example, wounds, at one point the blood was flowing, the next it was wiped, then it was flowing again). Add to that some unsuccessful tricks in the portrayal of the monsters (the dog, and even the turtle not great). Some of the sets looked really cheap, polystyrene instead of stone. Some fights looked almost ridiculous; their choreography wasn't particularly well thought out. In addition, the storyline in the past was too long. The pretending to be a village family, too. I can see why it was there, but I found it too long to the point of being annoying at times because I wanted to get immediately into the present and solve these mysteries. Luckily, I made it to the 33rd episode... But other than that, I enjoyed it. Character development, no one was black or white. They all had their motivations, their characters, and they stuck to them. It never happened that a character suddenly acted illogically, out of character. And with so many characters, that's really incredible. The story was well thought out, the author knew what she wanted, she set the characters in it and played it out very well. It jumped onto the screen without the BL elements, but who cares when the strong bond between Wei and Lan can be seen so clearly. Why? It's not just a good script, but very well acted characters. As for the acting, I actually have nothing to complain about. They all played their complex characters with verve and quality. The characters went through various developments, and the viewer could watch them and either sympathize with them or hate them. But you couldn't say that this or that came out of the blue. Everything had its place and meaning. That logic and great acting were all wrapped in this beautiful setting, caressed by gorgeous music, and adorned by lovely costumes (that is, as far as the clans were concerned; ordinary people = ordinary clothes). For someone who is not a wuxia fan (I don't really care for the genre), I enjoyed it and was very pleasantly surprised. I probably wouldn't be afraid to recommend it to anyone. (2020.10.11)