And The Winner is Love (2020)

Y'all about to be real mad, but it must be said

This review will be long so grab some tea if you will because tea's about to be spilled here.

Heads up first: I did a mini post on this drama before it aired about what I was expecting so if you want to check that out just click on my profile then go to feed.

Disclaimer: Everything said here is my own PERSONAL OPINION. This review is not meant to hurt anyone. I have also not read the novel so I have no prior context to the drama.

P.S If you just want a summary of the drama just skip down to the Rewatch value section.

Plot/Story: 3.0
The plot of this drama could've been so much better if the scriptwriter actually focused on the plot and not so much on the talking/conversations that's so repetitive over and over again. Most of this drama is just people having conversations. In short, it's a speech driven drama, too much talking and not enough action. It would've been a bit more interesting if the solutions to the problems were a bit more complex. Also, everything was just really obvious. There's barely any mystery which makes the story so bland. The drama pace is slow and the tone throughout the whole drama is just shallow as in there's not enough dynamics. The characters developments could've been done so much better too. Also, too many unnecessary deaths, why introduce new characters when they going to die within 5 episodes?

Acting/Cast: 7.5
Y'all about to be real mad but it must be said: Yukee Chen does not give the presence of a main lead. That being said her acting was okay as CXZ. To be honest I wasn't really expecting much from Yukee Chen because a lot of her roles seem to be type casted to me. Not to be rude, but I hope she takes a break and take time to explore more roles. When I was watching the drama I felt that CXZ could've have a different facial expression or something during some scenes which just goes to show that Yukee could've explore more with her character. For example, a lot of the time when she's having conversation (not with the SGT personally) she either has a blank space out look or her eyebrows are crunch. She's supposed to go from naive to a strong female lead but how come I don't see that? Barely anything changed about her. Honestly, I was shocked when SGT died and she tried to revenge SGT by trying to kill Yuwen Muyuan. Like girl....what happened to the mature think before acting girl you were? Maybe I can't blame her acting too much because of the way the script is written but I would give her acting a 5.5/10.
Leo Luo is really good at this role too bad the other actors are good too so I can't say that he carried this drama (*inserts* crying face emoji). Honestly, everything I watch his drama he brings something new to the plate. I like his way of flirting, it's the scholar type of flirting and not the hooligan type (although it would've been interesting). I wished they would've add scenes of him flirting with other girls so that his role as a flirty playboy is more believable because it's really not believable seeing how barely any girl approaches him besides FZ. I know that he's supposed to have a bad reputation and whatever but his role is literally flirty playboy who makes women fall for him. Even if he has a (fake) history with FZ he should still be an attractive flirty playboy. The scriptwriters made SGT so weak which I really dislike. His brains are also meh. Can't deny Leo Luo has a pretty smile and can really act heartbroken. SGT has more chemistry with his father and Leo's acting proves it. He has more chemistry with SGX than CXZ. That is the tea. When he was conversing with his father before the execution and they cried and yelled at each other. That was my favorite scene. So much emotions there. His acting: 9/10.
I think the rest of the cast did really well in executing their roles.
Yuwen MuYuan, his acting is good, but not much facial expressions for his role. I'm disappointed because he has so many scenes but his character is not written off as an expressive person so he's basically almost the same in every scene. I expected more, but came to be disappointed. But I do see more of his acting when he's acting with other people in the scene or with himself or others when CXZ is not in the scene. His acting 7/10.
FZ wasn't that annoying to me and I understand her point of view. She was naive and loved too much, but she redeemed herself by knowing what's right and wrong later. She's not evil either. Y'all get mad at FZ for being naive but only annoyed when CXZ's naive doesn't seem right. At least she tries to fix her problems by acting instead of avoiding and not communicating. The actress that plays FZ graduated from Shanghai Theatre Academy no wonder her acting is good. I hope to see more from her. Her acting 7.5/10.
TBH I really liked QM's character because he's open. He knows what he wants and his rights and wrongs. I think he really did this role justice. His character is a bit of a coward tho. Overall not bad from the actor. 8.5/10.
All the dads acting are good, but CXZ's father maybe a bit overacted. SGT's father definitely delivered more to the plate tho. Acting: 8.3/10.
Lord Lu, he legit gave me Ning Yi's vibe sometimes from Rise of Phoenixes. His eyes looks cunning whenever he has a plan. He doesn't overact when his character is angry which I think it good, but I think him at the end was a bit dramatic in front of SGZ grave (but I guess it's because he's still angry at what happened to SGZ). His acting: 7.5/10
I can go through every character but I'll stop here.

Music/BGM: 6.0
The BGM for the first 24 episodes were so bad. The first 10 was the worst. Random music was just being played here and there. This rating would've been higher if it isn't because of the BGM at the beginning of the drama series. I LOVE the OSTs. I hate that in CDramas the music is released as the drama airs, so the reason why some of the songs weren't used in the beginning episodes is because the songs are not released yet and used in the drama. Ratings would've been higher if not for the bad BGM.

Rewatch Value:2/10
What I meant by rewatch is I'll just watch what's on the MV of the OSTs. I could watch the first 3 episodes and the last three episodes without the episodes in-between and still know what's going on. There's nothing that makes this drama stand out/unique/important messages enough for me to rewatch. The costumes and setting are good along with the hairstyles. The props does look a bit fake like some of the peach or whatever flower trees and the weapons. The fighting scenes are good but nothing too impressive. I wished the characters timing for a certain outfit was more thought-out. I like that they reused outfits, but please don't do that when the characters are at different stages of life because it confuses me. For example, you're telling me that CXZ still fits in the outfit that was made for her 17 year old self and she still wears it/fits her after 2 years? They shouldn't have changed her outfits so frequently then. Maybe it's only me that's bothered by it. Also the ending wasn't rushed but the last few minutes of the last episode was rushed. Their wedding was basically 5 minutes long, and to be honest they're not even officially married because they didn't do it the proper way and the drama just decides to end there. Um...okay then.

If I were to sum up the drama in long story short it would go like this:
He saves her.
They talk.
He saves her again.
She searches for him because he's a man that pops here and there and everywhere.
They flirt again.
He helps her with her problems.
They separate.
She almost died from an assassination attempt/ falls off a cliff.
Surprise, she's not dead.
He searches for her.
he saves her again.
They flirt.
She confesses.
He's insecure and conflicted about his life and feelings so he rejects her.
She heartbroken and they leave each other for a year.
Met again and starts flirting again.
This time he wants a relationship with her cuz he's finally over with his conflicted emotions/self.
They confess and starts their relationship.
Second FL comes in and drops a bomb that she and he slept together.
Main girl misunderstands even when main lead said it was not the truth.
She doesn't believe him when he believed everything to her. Oof.
They don't make up for a long time.
When they do, he dies the next second, but SIKE this is a CDrama and people never dies falling off a cliff (that is if they MLs tho).
He comes back with a different identity, but uh...he legit still looks the same and even carries the most obvious thing that identifies him. His fan, smh.
She founds out its him and got him to reveal himself after she tries to jump off the same cliff he fell off. Note: That's not healthy and never attempt suicide.
Now it's her time to die.
He tries to save her.
Blah Blah Blah
Surprise, she's not dying.
They join hands together.
They get marry, but not actually married because they didn't do the proper wedding tradition which is the bows at the proper time (which I always assume is noon sharp).
The end.

I went on for too long, but I hope this review helped you. If you read to this far, you must have a lot of patience. Thanks for reading my review.

Overall: 4.5/10

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Only watch it for Leo Luo

I was quite skeptical whether to start watching as the reviews weren't that good. But from the trailer it looks like Leo Luo was pretty charming so I decided to go ahead.

The overall series was just normal, sufficient amount of fighting scenes and romantic scenes, but nothing big to entice people to love the series. Shang Guan Tou was a pretty charming character from the start to the end, he was beautiful, smart, protective and gentle which gives you no reason to not love him. HOWEVER, on the other hand, the female lead was a totally opposite character. Not one of but the WORST female lead character I've ever met in all C-dramas. She supposed to be skillful as she learnt the powerful Kungfu, supposed to be brave and smart as she was the clan leader, but instead she was dumb, weak, useless, immature, dependent, cry baby and acts rashly. I understand that male lead are always the heroic ones to save the female lead, was this female lead is just TOO WEAK. The male lead was always injured because of the girl but instead he is always the one to save the female lead from baddies when she is actually more skillful in terms of Kungfu, like WHAT? It is so not realistic. Also, when the male lead saves her for so many times, she chose to left him with some absurd misunderstanding, so I personally felt the love story is just so frustrating and I disliked it a lot.

In conclusion, story was okay but female lead character was extremely unfavourable. Not recommended but you can consider if you enjoy watching Leo Luo.

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AND THE WINNER IS.... *drumrolls*

No one, no one, no one ♪
Can get in the way of what I'm feeling ♪

THE HEADACHES. THE FRUSTRATIONS.
Frankly speaking, I didn't have any expectation for this. Coming as Luo Yunxi's fan, I was anticipating Love is Sweet and Immortality but seeing how this turned out, it's safe to keep it low or none at all, especially for the latter. Perhaps I should add Broker as well into the list and hope Song xiaojie will change my mind and wow me instead. Or maybe I should stay neutral because in the end, it all depends on screenplay, editing and ultimately, the director's vision.

—

ATWIL premise a.k.a the core unarguably, has the potential to be big. It's interesting, I'd give that. What's gone wrong is the execution. To put simply, the whole shebang is messy. The cinematography is flat-out 1D. Plot direction is amateurish. Background music placement is either a semi-hit or a complete miss. The characters? They get nothing done. The acting? Nothing monumental.

I've only seen Yukee Chen in AOL and Princess Weiyoung, so it's a tad unfair to stamp her as -not yet a leading lady material in costume drama- considering I've only watched two of her performances to base from but I will be blunt: she's okay as supporting cast. She's okay at portraying roles like Liuying and Tuoba Di. Beyond that, there'll be a string of sighs. Luo Yunxi on the other hand, has the knack playing complex character and is adept at emoting profound expressions. So what does ATWIL give him? Noting his versatility and widening his fan-base. That's it.

It would be tiring to explain every problematic aspects of this production and tbh I actually skipped a lot, so I'll stop here. If anything, re-watch to see flirty Shangguan Tou. Apart from that, there's tons of well-produced dramas out there to make your time more worthwhile.

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First of all: I watched this drama because of Luo Yunxi. He is indeed handsome in it (as usual, for whose like him).

But the rythm of the episods was really too slow for me (I finished watching in x1.5 speed) and I regret that they didn't pay attention to the details of the story. Some plots were cool but the ways they used to move on in the story were really too weak. Misunderstandings and lies (the male lead thinks in place of the female lead, because, you know, she is a girl, she doesn't know what is good for her) to add plots is really a big flaw for me.

Weekness of the script + rythm really too slow = hard to put my emotions in it and really enjoy it. Too bad.

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Thank you for giving me this drama to heal my heart from Ashes of Love

For me personally, I felt like this drama was meant for Leo Luo, who once played his role as Run Yu in Ashes of Love, and I am extremely thankful for the directors for choosing Leo Luo to play as the main male lead in this drama.

Yes, a lot of familiar faces from Ashes of Love, Leo Luo (who played as Run Yu), Yukee Chen (who played as Liu Ying) and Zhou Ting Wei (who played as Mu Ci).

I came to find out this drama through searching Leo Luo's profile since I wanted to watch something that can heal my heart from how his character (Run Yu) was poorly mistreated in Ashes of Love, and I am thankful I came across this drama.

In this drama, I can get what I want for Run Yu, because the things he couldn't get in Ashes of Love, he got in this drama instead, i.e.
- There are more people around him who cares for him and his well-being
- There are people who speaks up for him
- Him whole-heartedly loving and sacrificing for a woman who deserves his love in return.
- Having a father and sister who cares for him sincerely

There are parallel and similarities ofcourse between the two characters Leo Luo played in both dramas (Ashes of Love vs And the Winner is Love) ofcourse and the similarities is, he is an illegitimate son, but unlike his father in Ashes of Love who didn't love his mother (and took her virginity) and didn't love his own son Run Yu to be willing to sacrifice for him, in 'And the Winner is Love', his father loves his mother dearly and he will sacrifice his own life to protect his own son. The two love he received from the fathers in their respective stories is different. One is selfish (Ashes of Love) and one is someone who loves his son and wants what is best for him (And the Winner is Love).

Another similarity is Zhou Ting Wei played the character who is beside Yukee Chen (as a body guard) as well, but unlike in Ashes of Love, in this one, she only saw him like her brother (family), not a lover sense.

Leo Luo really can act, I love how he perfected his role as Shangguan Tou with his emotions, and you can say I purposely jumped into this drama, and am watching this for him, because I love his character in Ashes of Love. To me, I consider this a 'healing to my heart', because like I said, things I wanted to see for him when he played as Run Yu, I get to have in this drama instead, and to me, this is like an extension to Ashes of Love, in an AU universe, different time line, the character played by Leo Luo, who shares similar costume, hair style get to have his happy ending in this one. And can be happy, that's all I wanted for him, to be HAPPY.

There are times I am subconsciously comparing the love he holds for the woman he loves, and at least in this drama, the sacrifice and love he put into the woman he loves (i.e. Xue Zhi) can accept and return his love, so I love that. It's like whenever Shangguan Tou asked Xue Zhi which shows his love for her, and when Xue Zhi accepts and reciprocate his love in return, and then seeing him smile and happy, makes me happy (and made me wish something like this happened in Ashes of Love instead)

I am sorry I am NOT betraying you Liu Ying and Mu Ci, LOL, but in 'And the Winner is Love', I came to love the main pairing 'Xuezhi and Shangguan Tou' so much that I just want them to be happy. Personally, I actually like his character, Mu Ci better, because his character 'Yu Wen Mu Yuan' actually took advantage of something, which I don't want to spoil and for that I am not very proud of.

For Xue Zhi (Female Lead), I also would like to say there was a period of time I didn't really like her on my end, because she have disappointed me to a certain point.... Since, she didn't believe in her Tou Gege, when he needed her trust and belief the most, and when he wanted to explain to her, she didn't give him that chance to, so that really annoyed me to be honest. But then, what she showed me afterwards, after she came to realize the whole truth, i.e. how much she actually loves Shangguan Tou, made me forgave her LOL. But with that all said, I do see that Xue Zhi is someone who makes mistakes, yes, and that is fine, because humans made mistakes, at least for her, she actually learned from it, and won't repeat that mistake again so that makes her loveable.

The story is about the sects and governments, so it's a mix of both, but I have to say, I really love Shangguan Tou character, his acting doesn't disappoint, and I love how charming he is in this one, I also love how gentlemanly he is, especially when it comes to Xue Zhi. All in all, his character doesn't disappoint, I love how he uses his fan as his weapon, and imo, he and Xue Zhi (played by Yukee Chen) have chemistry!

This story definitely have it's flaws indeed, but in the overall, I am giving it a 9.5/10, because like I said, this drama is a 'healing to my heart', and ignoring some certain scenes I didn't quite like/enjoyed and wish was done better, I still love and enjoyed this drama very much.

I am sad that some characters died, and I didn't wish that they did, but I am glad some characters I came to love didn't die. And honestly, considering Feng Zi didn't die, yet Xia Qingmei killed himself (because he thought Feng Zi died)... made his death be for nothing, so that was rather "Uh, what?" to me when it happened, which kinda gives me the 'Romeo x Juliet' vibe.. With that said, I wish that part was done differently though.

Rewatch Value: 10/10
Leo Luo and Yukee Chen have great chemistry in this one when they played their characters, so their scenes is definitely on my rewatch list. I am rewatching this again on my end, so - it's already on my rewatch list.

Music: 10/10 - I love the music in this one. Some I really love and have downloaded and listened to this as a playlist that make me remember the scenes in this drama.

I honestly wish this wasn't a 48 episode drama, the irony, because I think 63 episodes for Ashes of Love is too long, yet, for 'And the Winner is Love' being 48 episodes is too short, wish it was longer, but I guess when it comes to something you enjoy and love, you just don't want it to end, that's how I feel about this drama on my end. To me, between Ashes of Love and And the Winner is Love, the REAL WINNER between these two dramas, preference-wise and the story between the two main pairing, 'And the Winner is Love' is my preference, because I love Shannguan Tou who respected and is patience with Xue Zhi, and I love how Xue Zhi came to go through that character development, to become stronger and mature later, and become smarter by putting two and two together to figure out the whole truth, it's all part of her character development. At least the female lead in this one, actually works hard to cultivate and become stronger, so that was nice to see, not like the other female lead (Jin Mi), but I won't mention about her in here.

To me, I actually don't understand the low ratings for this drama LOL. It's like, drama's who doesn't deserve a high rating (Ashes of Love) got a high rating, but dramas who does (And the Winner is Love) got a low rating, well for me, I did learn something in the end, everyone have different preferences, you either love or you hate. Anyways, despite this is an underrated drama by those who voted below average(not that I understand lol), IMO, this is still far better than Ashes of Love where the 'main pairing' ; 'male lead' and 'female lead' is concerned. So with that all said, And the Winner is love is definitely worth the watch, especially to those who are fans of Run Yu in Ashes of Love, because in this, he is at least treated better by the writers.

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A song of fire and ice.

This drama feels like an angsty adolescent modern romance that was dressed up in historical costume and wrapped up in a few wuxia tropes. Some of the ideas and characters are quite fresh but ultimately it is weighed down by cliches and an insipid plot. 

Chong Xuezhi (Chen Yuqi), the young mistress of the Flame Hall seeks to restore the reputation of her sect and atone for her father's atrocities after going berserk from improper cultivation of the Lotus God Nine Stance Technique. Behind vocal condemnation, the other sects covet this technique and scheme to acquire the manuscripts by fair means or foul. They are manipulated by a mysterious antagonist who aims to bring the sects under their control or eliminate them. The playboy master of Moon Valley Shangguan Tou (Luo Yunxi) is tasked to protect the naive young Xuezhi and along the way, they fall in love. Perhaps not the most original plot but decent enough that with proper execution could have be an entertaining wuxia romance. 

I have a soft spot for flawed rakish characters like Shangguan Tou, who is not your typical c-drama male lead. I had to turn up the air-con at the intensely flirtatious, almost seductive way he heatedly eyes and teases Xuezhi in the beginning. But this is one complicated dude - he blows hot and cold as he has commitment issues due to an unhappy childhood and unresolved issues with his father. He loves to engage in long winded and repetitive introspective conversations but doesn't communicate or listen to good advice. That just leads to endless rounds of pointless talking. Sigh! In the end, I found this character frustrating - just too high maintenance, emotional, headstrong and uncompromising. That said, Luo Yunxi's breathtaking ability to wear his heart on his face kept me going through the draggy parts.

Although naive in the beginning, Xuezhi is a stronger, more straightforward character - she is proud and dignified when Tou rejects her, she gets on with her life and is generally a good decision maker. She seems weak in the end because Tou is so adamant that everything has to be his way. It is actually Tou who is too distracted to stay one step ahead of the enemy and makes emotional and cliche noble idiot decisions. It cracks me up when even the loyal Wuming questions his judgement. While clearly Yunxi is the stronger and more nuanced actor (and so devastatingly handsome), both roles were well acted and the OTP has good chemistry. It is not their fault that their interactions are so frustratingly written. Their characters are also very young and written to be extremely immature and inexperienced with relationships despite their authoritative positions. This is a challenge because visually both leads are well past their teen/young adult years. 

The drama starts strongly but quickly loses momentum. The main problem is the romance between Tou and Xuexi advances too quickly and is so consuming that the rest of the external plot is repeatedly tossed into limbo while the OTP (internal plot) jumps through a bunch of romance cliches - he's dying, he's not ready, love triangles galore, silly misunderstandings, she's dying... to the point I kept wishing one or better yet, both of them would jump off a cliff. Their fated affinity or yuan fen (缘分) must not be that good because every time they get together, one ends up at death's door! Their moods are also out of sync - one blows hot while the other blows cold. It is a real question whether this is a couple that lasts.

The relationship arcs are such big digressions that by the time we get on with the conspiracy, the story picks up but never regains the lost momentum. The rest unfolds rather hastily and deals with interesting characters including Muyuan and Qingmei more cursorily than they deserve. It is a shame because there were many good characters in this drama but once they serve their purpose, they are killed off with impunity. Along the way, the plot morphs into a political conspiracy rather than a wuxia and the only bombastic thing about the so called legendary martial art technique is its name. The main antagonist's motivators are not compelling and that actor shamelessly knocks off Chen Kun's Ning Yi mannerisms. The actor does not have the right face for some of the more dramatic expressions and just ends up looking like a bizarre and creepy clown. The external arc ending is not satisfactory and in my opinion, justice is not served. 

All things considered, if you fast forward through the middle bits, this wasn't that bad - there are some moving scenes, generally good acting and a fabulous looking OTP. But in hindsight, the fire and ice theme of the drama is a dead giveaway; when you add ice to fire all you get is a bunch of hot air that evaporates into nothing of substance. 

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SIMPLE REVIEW FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO WATCH THIS !

i'll make it simple. i started to watch this because i'm the fans of the main lead. but this drama start of as good as 10/10.. then it become 9/10 to 8/10 and keep dropping until 5/10.. it term of story line it is boring and dragging, unless if you like drama that has lots of talking and discussion between the characters. in term of romances between lead, it is also a bit slow. so yeah.. that is how they got 5/5 in the end.. i finished this whole series because the main lead is handsome and charming only. and he is cool in this series. but after sometimes, nope, he just boring.. the ending is kinda abruptly too..

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Only for hardcore Yuqi's and Yunxi's fans

This is my most anticipated C-drama of 2020 (together with Love & Redemption) and when it was finally broadcasted on iQIYI, I was extremely thrilled. The excitement was unreal and I was counting down the days till the premiere. But the first few episodes left me dumb-founded and extremely disappointed. Managed to complete the 48-episode series 2.5mths after its premiere, and that was only because I am a die-hard fan of Chen Yuqi.

What is wrong with this series despite having the same producer as the ever popular “Ashes of Love” and even three (3) of their stars ? Everything. The title was cheesy. The film setting and location was average at best – nothing to shout about. The fighting scenes were below average. The story line was crappy with lots of holes. The acting was difficult to watch with the leading actor/actress looking sad most of the time. The music was passable. The rewatch value is zero as there are no scenes left indelible marks on me and worth rewatching. It was so bad that during the time I was watching this series, I managed to start and complete “The Twin Flower Legend”, “Novoland Eagle Flag” and “Oh My General”.

With so many negative aspects of this series, what was the one that stood out like a sore thumb? Definitely this series’ story-line. This is basically a love story between Yuqi and Yunxi, and the story about an evil guy who was trying to rule the martial arts world was just a filler to fill-up 48 episodes. It was love at first sight for both leading actor/actress, and it happened in the very first episode. They got married at the end but between the first and the last episodes, both of them looked like they were competing with one another for the pitiful, miserable and forlorn look. This couple should be happy. There were not any challenges or obstacles to their love story other than the simple misunderstanding caused by Lin Fengzi. Forty-some episodes of having to look at Chen Yuqi’s cheerless and downcast facial expression are too much even for a fan like me. Chong Xuezhi’s reminded me of Yuan Bingyan’s role as Shu Jingrong in “Listening Snow Tower” where she appeared sad for almost the entire 56 episodes. Both of their characters (Yuqi and Bingyan( were supposed to be strong and powerful, yet both had to be rescued by their male co-star almost every time they stepped foot in the Jianghu.

Then you have the 2 male leads in Luo Yunxi and Zou Tingwei – both of them looked depressed too most of the time. I don’t need to comment on Yunxi as he has made the sad looking character his trademark with his performance in “Ashes of Love” and “Princess Silver”. But he should not have carried such role into this series as his Shangguan Tou’s character was a perfect person. Shangguan was handsome, rich, of royal descent, adept in martial arts and got the girl whom he fancied. Anyone would be ecstatic if he/she is in his shoes. So why was he looking like crying most of the time? Zou Tingwei ‘s role as a bodyguard in this C-drama is similar to his MuCi character in “Ashes of Love” with the exception that in AOL he got the girl; while in this drama, he almost got the girl. He should be miserable, and miserable he was.

Not a single memorable scene, and don’t think it is worth a re-watch. That is why it took a Yuqi fan like me 2.5mth to complete the series. Only for hardcore Yuqi and Yunxi’s fans. The rest can give it a miss and the “the Winner will be You” for not wasting your valuable time.

6/10 overall rating.

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I'm not generally overly critical drama reviewer. A good script and fascinating characters will win me over. That being said, I have a higher expectation for wuxia dramas and this one sadly was a disappointment. First few episodes was pretty good but halfway through, I found myself begging to reach to the end because it got boring. Too many cliches where the male lead saves the female lead who supposedly has sufficient martial arts skills (from her father's creation) and feared by others is easily injured and often needing the the male lead to risk his life to save her. She can't seem to save herself on her own - seriously, can't we have more powerful female leads capable of taking care of themselves and maybe save a couple where the male lead has to step in? This cliche has been overused for the past two decades and it's gotten tiresome.

Luo Yunxi's performance was the key to watch. His character was problematic and I realized they cut out some scenes from the stills (based on the costume- looked like a flashback). I enjoyed seeing a more emotional Luo Yunxi. I actually found Yukee Chan's performance a bit dull - lacked the charm that she had in her previous dramas.

Lastly, a wuxia drama that barely has any fight scenes were the first few episodes but throughout the drama, it was sprinkling act of here and there. My next search for a better wuxia/love story- Love is a lifetime with Allen Ren.

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Talk and More Talk

When this drama was released, I had such high hope because I had wanted to watch Luo Yunxi as the first male lead in a drama. The initial scenes were beautiful with Luo Yunxi portraying Shangguan Tuo in white robes with a fan. However, 10 episodes in, I was greatly disappointed. The pace of the drama was snail-pace slow with a lot of to and forth dialogues that had been repeated umpteen times. The plot was shallow if at all developed, and there were hardly any worthwhile actions despite its wuxia tag. For me, it’s a great let down.

Accordingly, this drama was adapted from a novel, but readers have claimed that the adaptation has almost totally changed the story and definitely changed many of its characters. Half way through the drama, I realized there wasn’t much material to make up the 48 episodes, so the production team used plenty of slow dialogues of ‘repeat and reflect’ to fill up the episodes. The whole story felt like a broken record, going round and round and round, with talks and more talks, no ends coming. The director tried to tell the viewers that Shangguan Tuo (Luo Yunxi) and Chong Xue Zhi (Chen Yu Qi) were the One True Pair and how much they loved each other. Unfortunately, he overdid it by running it through almost 40 episodes just for this confirmation. He (the director) also tried to play with our emotions by capturing our tears (there's a ton of crying). For some reasons, I just couldn’t empathize with the characters, probably because how badly they were developed. I'm sure the gist of the story was beautiful, and I loved the 2 main leads. It's just the composition of the story, among other things, that was not right for me.

Painfully, I stuck up with this drama till the end because I had felt the two main characters, being powerful with their respective cultivation, had great potential in bringing out some real fireworks in combating their adversary hand-in-hand. To my disappointment, my coveted epic scene had never realized and the whole story eventually fizzled into oblivion.

My final verdict – If you’re a fan of Luo Yunxi or Chen Yuqi (Yukee Chen) or Zhou Ting Wei, you may want to check this out. Luo Yunxi, despite his extremely thin body and white face, is an amazing watch from afar, with a fan in hand, hair flying and robes floating. However, if you’re into wuxia and want some action, you’d probably be greatly disappointed because the fighting is pathetic to say the least, as one viewer commented, “No one knows how to fight.” It's a pity that there were so many details in the dialogues (talks and more talks) but they skimmed through the plot. Though it (the plot) thickened slightly for the final 10 episodes, the execution of it was rudimentary and childish.

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This will be a rewatch for me. I am looking at Leo Luo, as an actor, in a different light. I really didn't like the character in Ashes of Love! I was wrong to critique Leo Luo by just one drama. The character he played in Ashes of Love was so believable and for me, that is a sign of great acting ability. I decided to watch him in others, so far so good, right? This drama is the best I viewed Leo Luo. Man, he was great! And what can I say about Juqi... I loved her in the character she played in "Ashes of Love". She is already on my top favorite actress list. She was absolutely amazing here. The only thing I had a problem, her voice didn't sound like her so I am wondering if she was dubbed. Oh well, bygones are bygones. The visuals, the costumes, the fighting was great. I really didn't pay attention to the music because the storyline had me focused. I'm glad that the writers decided not to have too much of that woman on woman competition for a man. I think others will enjoy this. AND those who mark this below an 8 are totally wrong. This was a great story. I viewed a lot of actors/actresses just in this drama alone. I thank them all. Leo Luo will be in top favorite actors after watching 4 other dramas he is in.

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Very boring

They go back and forth too much for me to enjoy this drama. It's boring and I know that happens quite a lot with the lack of creativity most TV series have nowadays. I have reviewed some more unique ones, which you can see on my profile if you are interested.

This series is too boring for me to endure watching and I think there are plenty of other things to do than watch this. I can't sit still. I constantly feel like I have to do something so I don't completely waste my time with this. So, I exercise while watching it but still I didn't think it had any value although I waited a lot to see it.

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