Yin mi de jiao luo

Based on all the forum recommendations and hype (I read that Zhang Ziyi said this was a Chinese series that could finally match the quality of Western dramas), I decided to give this a go.

The first episode was excellent, but from then onwards, everything just got worse to the point where calling this series terrible would not be an understatement.

This drama had a mediocre script, inconsistent acting, extremely unrealistic scenes, too many 'convenient (or just plain lazy) coincidences' used to further the plot, horrible flow/sequence of events and an ending that felt like the director just gave up on the project and wanted to hurriedly conclude everything.

I have never felt so furious before, after finishing watching a TV series. Maybe it was the high expectations. It really felt like the director had zero respect for his audiences. The lose ends were just so 'in your face' that they are completely inexcusable.

The director should really go back to school and put in more effort in terms of preventing laughable lose ends, making the plot/storyline/acting more believable, studying character development, improving script selection/writing and perhaps learning how to present a proper flow/sequence of events. Basically learn how to actually direct a show.

All in, this drama is in no way watchable and not recommended at all. I really hope to see a quality Chinese drama one day.