The Blue Whisper: Part 2 (2022)

Visually, musically, emotionally - in Part 2, this show still hit all the right spots!

Like part 1, the audience also had much to enjoy in part 2, but unlike part 1, the lead-up to the ending was not as satisfying.

Echoing my review of part 1, TBW continued to deliver an engaging storyline. Add to that, the most touching song tracks and AMAZING acting from almost every cast member, this drama pulled me in so thoroughly, keeping me on an intense emotional rollercoaster. I was so emotionally invested, rooting for many, including the main couple, and cursing at the antagonists. Yet, I cannot help but feel sympathy for the villains. The story did well in making the audience understand what the characters, including the villains have gone through, the reasons for their actions, and their circumstances.

The story maintained a good pacing and flowed nicely, with each episode never losing its momentum. Having read the novel, a couple of changes in part 2 were for the better, some took away poignant moments for me, and my reaction to other changes was "WTH"?!! Still, I never felt tempted to skip, and I know I will rewatch the entire show once it is properly subbed in English because it was that good.

Also, I have to highlight the beautiful costume designs with their intricate and thoughtful details.

I have nothing but praises for the acting delivered by Dilraba, Ren Jia Lun, Xiao Shun Yao, Christy Guo, Wang Zi Teng, Hu Yi Xuan, Fan Zhen, Ci Sha, and many others. As the show progressed, these talented actors have proven that they have the acting chops to pull off a complex story.

Just when I thought I could not admire Dilraba further, it turned out that I could go up another level. Additionally, I am now a fan of Ren Jia Lun and Xiao Shun Yao. RJL's visuals are not my usual preference, but in this show, in that persona, he's gorgeous and captivated me. As for XSY whose character Lin Hao Qing was so well-written and well-acted, I suffered a strong case of second lead syndrome. Naturally, him exuding sexy manliness the whole time was also a factor.

For me, Wang Zi Teng as Kong Ming who received undeserved criticism for not being good-looking enough, was a great match for Hu Yi Xuan They did have a quirky, adorable chemistry between them. Also, a huge shout-out to Christy Guo who managed to make my blood boil so much, by staying maniacally in character to the very end!

Unfortunately, after building the momentum up so much, the final scenes were choppy and a letdown. The ending led a few to question whether it was an open or happy ending. I think it was clearly and definitely a happy ending.

Perhaps the director, who is known to have produced shows with controversial endings, was hoping to encourage and engage the audience's imagination by going for a conscious artistic act of intentional omission and suggestion. However, after reading the spoilers, I am more convinced that the director made a mistake in cutting out a crucial scene. To me, it was a result of bad editing.

On the whole, though, I highly recommend TBW. The storyline, the settings, the costumes, the choreography, the music, the acting…if I were to consider the show as a whole, it is really one that is worth watching.

Perhaps one day, the director will release a version with an alternate ending, including the cut-out scene. At that time, I will give the show a perfect 10 since it truly deserves that.

For posterity, I have recorded the main tracks here. I hope that they will release the entire album, including the instrumental background pieces.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpzFy3Rzd74
Song: 留白是表白 (More Than Blanks)
Artist: 金志文 (Jin Zhi Wen)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExRgy5Ry3C8
Song: 鮫人之歌 (The Song of the Merman)
Artist: 周深 (Zhou Shen)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_pzD0itRfo
Song：#如你所想 (As You Wish)
Artist：#毛不易 (Buyi Mao)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtKnVuUxCN4
Song: 魚躍而上 (Leaping Fish)
Artist: 薩頂頂 (Sa Dingding)

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This is better than MTC (Mirror a Tale of Twin Cities) at least

This was a nice story, and a fun watch. It is separated into two parts though, so I am going to review this in Part 2 instead of Part 1, my review consists of both part 1 and 2.

While both Mirror: 'A Tale of Twin Cities' and 'The Blue Whisper' have the ML being Merman, I personally love/enjoyed The Blue Whisper story, characters in the overall better. And thanks to 'The Blue Whisper', I am enlightened about Merman LOL, since before all this, I thought Mermaid are all one gender being 'female'. So watching the Blue Whisper is very insigntful.

Also, this is the first time I would say that in terms of drama adaptations, they did a good job following through the plots in the novel, although there are definitely changes between the two, Novel vs Drama, some changes are for the better, some for the worst.

The positive change in the Drama (when compared to the Novel) for me:
- The love between Yunhe and Chang Yi, I love their love better in the drama, where they have Yunhe and Chang Yi shared mutual love/feelings for each other earlier than the novel, because in the novel, Yunhe and Chang Yi didn't get together that early on in the story. I also love the added date between them just before Yunhe "betrayed" Chang Yi to protect him from being captured.

- Li Shu and San Yue love, oh man, I love their love in the drama!! Their story made me fall in love with them!!! In the novel, I didn't feel anything for them the way I did in the drama, so when Li Shu "died" in the novel, it was pretty much 'meh' to me, but in the drama, I actually felt sad and cried, where I didn't want Li Shu to die, and when he came back in the drama; I wanted him to have a happy ending with San Yue, because they deserves that happiness in the end. I consider that a happy ending for them at least in the drama, even when Li Shu forgets, but there's still hope, unlike the novel...

- Kong Ming and Luo Luo - I read that the actor to Kong Ming had a lot of complaints about his look to playing the character? Well, while I do agree he's not handsome, but he's actually better looking than how I imagine his character to be in the novel as I was reading, and in terms of their relationship/love, I prefer and love it better in the drama for sure, and I was like "wow, when they had that intimate kiss" o///o [they had one before Chang Yi and Yunhe LOL, the main pair needs to catch up LOL]

- Jade Pheonix and her lover (sorry I forgot their name) - I actually love Jade Pheonix character, so I was sad with what happened to her in the novel, so I definitely didn't like/support what happened to her in the novel. I hated Shunde so much because of this, so I am thankful this didn't happen in the drama, as a matter of fact, I consider this to be her happy ending with her lover in the drama, which I am glad for.

What I don't like about the change in the drama (when compared to the novel) for me:

- I didn't like in the beginning of the drama, Yunhe character was portrayed to be manipulative, and she have the intention to use Chang Yi to gain San Yue's trust in her help of escape, and when Chang Yi asked Yunhe why she's so nice to him, she replied "It's because I love you", when at that time, she only said it to gain San Yue's trust, so she was using Chang Yi then. I didn't like that in the drama, the novel her was more sincere, where she never thought of wanting to use Chang Yi and make use of Chang Yi's trust there.

- I don't like how they changed Hao Qing's character in the drama, that is definitely a minus appeal to me, in the novel, he sees her like a sister, and I especially didn't like how he was manipulated and controlled by Shunde in the drama like that, especially when in the novel, he wasn't controlled... So yeah, sorry, not my cup of tea for this change...

- I didn't like the added Fox girl (whatever her name was, don't remember), to be added to the LT, it's like we don't already have enough misunderstandings, but at least she became a reasonable character later where she just accepted and wish them happiness.

- I personally didn't like how Yunhe (before she "dies") she chose to go with Hao Qing, because that have hurted Chang Yi, and made him misunderstood her further, and her recklessness had push Chang Yi in a difficult situation later, when she rebounded the fox king's powers and ended in his death... Since they have a war happening, and because of what happened, Chang Yi gave back his powers to that Fox Girl so he doesn't owe her anything, so yeah, I didn't like Yunhe's decisions where she goes with Hao Qing. It's like in Chang Yi's eyes, se chose Hao Qing over Chang Yi. Understanding =/= to liking how that scene was played out.

For the main pairing Yunhe and Chang Yi, I do think they have good chemistry, but if I am going to be honest here, their kisses didn't really make me fangirl for them. Ironically I actually felt more on Kong Ming and Luo Luo intimate kiss and San Yue and Li Shu kiss than compared to Yunhe and Chang Yi. The only time I felt something (like a 'good effort') was (1) the scene when Chang Yi gave Yunhe his spiritual powers so she can survive longer and (2) their wedding night. But I think Allen needs more practice with the kissing scenes since he's good at acting emotional scenes, but not so much on the kissing scenes (don't hate me for saying this, just being honest here), ignoring this though, I do love Chang Yi and Yunhe as a pairing.

I think in the overall, the pairings, I like it better portrayed in the drama when compared to the novel, even when the novel have it's nice moments, but yeah, like I said some changes were for the better, some for the worst, and I have just listed some examples above. I like all the pairings (Li Shu and San Yue ; Kong Ming and Luo Luo ; Jade Pheonix and her lover) ending in the drama better, with the exception to Yunhe and Chang Yi, honestly, to me, I don't mind in a pairing when one side have to wait for the other, I usually find that touching/romantic, however, in The Blue Whisper, I find it just so unnecessary, and just make me go 'What the f*ck' at it. They could have done it so differently, and save all this 'waiting' like in the novel, so in terms of the transition to the ending for Chang Yi and Yunhe, the novel ending tops the drama ending for me. I mean, why oh why did they have to make it the 'tragic route' where Chang Yi have to wait 300 years for Yunhe!!!!! In the novel it was her clone that sacrifice, so Yunhe and Chang Yi can get their happy ending right away, but this???? Omg... And yeah, I mark it down to 9/10 because some changes I didn't like in the drama, and that ending where Yunhe decides to be sealed in with Shunde was one of them, like, are you serious?! You did that much to follow the novel , why can't you just have her clone instead?? And that scene, how she fall down, it felt like a contrast to when Chang Yi fell down the cliff there. The script writers sure is cruel to make Chang Yi wait for her like that...Still, I didn't like how the script writers have Yunhe go down that volcanic pit and Chang Yi sealed her inside with Shunde because imo, it was really, really stupid... They really should have followed the novel instead, I like that part in the novel better... I mean, why do you have to add more pain for Chang Yi/this pairing, and have Chang Yi wait for her for all those long, endless nights?! Haven't Chang Yi (this pairing) suffered enough?! To add onto this, I didn't like it because their ending felt so vague, i.e. they didn't even show us a moment, when Yunhe came back to Chang Yi (came out of that place), and HOW did Yunhe got her mermaid tail, when she's a nine-tail fox??? That wasn't explained, and I am like "HUH??!"

Rewatch Value: This drama, doesn't have the same magical/magnetic pull to make me want to watch the whole thing again after the drama ended, like some dramas do, and to name a few that made me want to rewatch again because I have withdrawal symptoms is: Ancient Love Poetry, Ten Miles Peach Blossom, Eternal Love of Dream, And the Winner is Love, and Love and Redemption.

So for The Blue Whisper, I will say that it's worth rewatching but right now, I'm good, I probably will rewatch this one day, but on the scenes I love, when I have time. Just not now, now, I am watching Who rules the world.

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