I almost passed up another good one cuz the title wasn't that interesting. I don't know who comes up with the English titles for Chinese shows/movies, but they need to work on creating better ones. This one turned out to be another binge-worthy series filled with comedy, romance, revenge, brotherhood friendship, family ties, camaraderie, power struggle, cat-and-mouse games, betrayals and double-crosses, mysteries and cases to solve, well choreographed fight scenes, and a ghost ship, to boot. Boasting a wonderful cast who had perfect chemistry with each other, there were no eyesores, even the villain is quite handsome. And the ending, though rushed, was very satisfying.
I took away a star for:
1) the typical unnecessary long drawn out scenes,
2) stupid acts by supposedly very smart people, aka female lead who winds up being a damsel in distress situations simply due to her impulsiveness,
3) repetitive dialogue ( I hate lazy script writing), and
4) the excessive use of closeup shot of eyes to convey emotions...throughout 55 episodes, it really got tiresome and annoying.
I've found another star to love! Ren Jialun, aka Allen Ren, whose portrayal of Lu Yi was simply divine! I can't wait for "Autumn Cicada" to be available. I enjoyed the performance of the female lead, too, but for some reason she didn't seem to embody much star power (although I'm sure she has a huge legion of fans). I just watched her in "Go Ahead" and felt the same. Perhaps, it's the fault of the script writers who made her out to be that way. She's quite effective in these cutsie impish roles, but I hope she'll get opportunities to showcase some more well-rounded acting.
