Horror Stories of Tang Dynasty (2022)

Solid production and story

The crew behind Strange Tales of the Tang Dynasty is renowned for their control of pace despite lackluster material. With SToTD, the theme itself is interesting, so it makes the drama a pretty good watch. However, there is something left to be desired when it comes to maintaining the pace of the drama, and the characterisations are also very dated.

The drama is more Detective Dee than Justice Bao, which is a minus from my point of view, because the deduction and mystery solving isn't that inspiring. There's no real eureka moment, and you really don't get the feeling that the characters are all that smart. The explanations are there, but there is no real logic or connection, and thus no sense of realisation when the truth is revealed. Most of the time the focus is on the backstory of the villains rather than anything else. The pace and tempo really makes this drama, because it's comparatively fast (though not that packed), and you don't really think, you just whizz past everything and listen to what the show is trying to say. Unfortunately, towards the end when the drama is trying to tie up loose ends, the lack of a true compelling overarching theme really hurts and everything starts to unravel.

On the acting, I watched Yang Xuwen in Condor Heroes and he was exactly the same in this drama. I don't really think it throws people off since technically he's not the focal point, but I do sometimes wonder if the show could have been that bit better if they cast a more solid actor who didn't seem like a knucklehead all the time. Yang Zhigang I thought was fine. What really bothered me was how they felt that love lines were necessary. The female lead was so poorly written, obsessed with love, and only got a bit better towards the middle when they could find value in her artistic ability. They figured that they need to add a love interest for Su Wu Ming as well, which was so uncalled for. The girl could have just been the martial arts expert. This is very typical of early to mid 00s Chinese dramas though, so I guess some may like it. I didn't like the characterisations of the Crown Prince and the Princess too, but I think there are some restrictions on how they can portray historical characters so that cannot be helped. I must commend the actor who played the triplets because he was very good, so that's that.

All in all, it's a solid drama and it's a surprisingly solid production. From the costume to the colours, they are all well designed and thought out. I'm always curious why the top actors seem to get shit production whereas no-namers like Yang get cast in something like this, but I guess that's life.

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A Ghostless Tang Dynasty

I do love Ancient detective dramas but in this category The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty would be the gold standard for me. Not that the 2 dramas are completely similar as this is focused on solving super natural murder mysteries.

Positives:
Su Wu Ming -- Humorous with a slight sarcasm. By far the most interesting character.
Ghost mysteries -- Interesting decipher of fake ghosts murders with several different mysteries. Good pacing.
Political struggles between the Queen vs the Prince and some how the mysteries intertwined with them.
Decent fight scenes - Not amazing but entertaining.

Could've been better:
Character development -- practically none. I had to give the series a break when when it felt like nothing but solving mysteries. Bromance never really blossomed and Lu Ling Feng's temper remain the same.

Enjoyable watch overall

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The strangest tale was that the love interest was dropped out down the line

I am at episode 13 and seriously considering to stop watching it. The first thing which draw my attention for being quite off was the fact that the love interest presented in the first five or six episodes was completely forgotten by writers, actors and directors in the next five episodes. Two young people, who were presumably in love with each other while events and people kept them appart, are as stiff as wood when events bring them together, sharing meals, rooms, adventures. No emotion, no furtive glanses, no pauses full of yearning. Nothing. It did not have to be lines, or hugs or kisses. But it had to be something there, that the actors and director could have put into it, if the writers completely forgot what they wrote in the beginning. Well, it was not. The only thing going for the series was the detective stories. And the fun the actor playing the older detective put into his character. Otherwise, no character development, overall, and the series walks the thin line which lies between skematic and bare naked and lacking.

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