[Mainland Chinese Drama 2018] Heavy Sweetness Ash-like Frost 香蜜沉沉烬如霜

[baiqian]

I've pin pointed where the drama started to go all Ice Fantasy. The problems begin during the human realm arc episodes 20-33. The secondary characters start to creep in. The drama is still watchable at this point. It goes down hill after the mutual cultivation  episodes. (36-37) 
Episodes 38-44 are skippable. They're mostly Night and Demon Princess  centered.

[dancingbee]

10 hours ago, jewelsc said:

I feel like i'm the only one finding the story here flowing pretty smoothly as someone who has never read the novel..i also enjoyed and appreciated RY's sidestory and how and why he has become the way he is, he is the villain of the show afterall so i'd expected the story to flow that way and in some ways it has made me feel pity for him, he seemed to be a 'good' guy until he remembered and met his real mother..but as for the sidestory of the demon princess and her loverboy, i thought that part wasn't that relevant but all in all, i don't really consider it that much of a mess atall.

 

I don't know about everyone else nor have I read the novel. I am still on Ep 33 - 34 - 35 and I couldn't help but feeling very sorry for Night Immortal ( Ran Yu ). I couldn't imagine myself what I could have done if I were in his shoes...

Well, I saw my god mother killing my own blood mother right in front of my eyes. And she even lied to everyone to force me to accept the punishment, indirectly tried to kill me!   All this while, there was no shadow of my own father to give the justice the way a Heavenly Emperor was supposed to. Yet, when he did show up, he told me that there was not an ounce of love or sympathy for his woman, Night's mother, and that it justified for her to be killed. 

Finally, that Heavenly Father proved to Night that he simply plotted everything back then just to trick Night's mother into giving away the tribe and later, his wife ( the evil empress ) even took away Night, her only son, from her. There was NO love whatsoever, and both his mother and himself are simply pieces of chess for him, the Heavenly Emperor.

 

Not that I side with a villain but in this case, which many people call Night a "villain", I just can't seem to rationalize it. As Night himself, he has got to have no brain, no feelings, nor compassion if he does not get mad or doesn't do anything toward the injustice and evils put on his life, his mother and her tribe. 

Honestly, what do viewers expect him to turn out to be or to do if you were in his place? 

 

[clawedzip]

3 hours ago, Kimchi Sweet Potato said:

I was going to ask that next (how people who never read the novel are finding the show). I do think the story is still solid in spite of the changes.  

 

I read the novel and although I have mixed feelings about some of the changes, I still think the story is solid overall. The biggest change from the novel was the addition of the trial in the mortal realm, which I think added a lot of emotional depth to the drama. Another fairly big change is JM's relationship with XF after she starts to suspect him of killing her father. In the novel, she never accuses him of killing her father. She actually pretends not to suspect him at all, lets him visit her frequently during the three years, and pretends to want to marry him. I like that they changed this in the drama, because I didn't think it made sense for the naive and straightforward JM to suddenly become so manipulative and two-faced. It made much more sense for her to be straightforward with her suspicions and confront him right away, like she does in the drama.

 

One thing I am not a fan of is how they changed XF's character. I really don't understand why they made him into such a big mushy sap in the drama. In the novel, he really earned the title "God of War" not just in his military feats but with his domineering personality as well. He really knew how to throw his weight around and wasn't just this helpless bystander afraid to step on anyone's toes. There was this one extremely memorable scene I really wish they put in the drama where he rushes straight from the battlefield to interrupt the official announcement for RY and JM's wedding, barging into throne room wearing his armor and covered in blood. They also rewrote a lot of scenes to downplay the aggressive and domineering side of his personality--for example, the "mutual cultivation" scene, the scene where he fight his mother to protect JM, and the battle during the wedding. He also never had the brotherly relationship with RY that they show in the drama--they were hostile to each other pretty much from the beginning of the novel. In the drama, there are a couple of scenes where XF tries to reconcile with RY that I think are both a waste of screen time and a unwanted departure from XF's original proud and unforgiving character. However, I do see one benefit to XF's softer character--I like how he seems much more conflicted and emotional in the previews of his interactions with JM after his resurrection. In particular, there's a scene where JM turns to walk away from him and he stops her from leaving by hugging her from behind (something he definitely does not and would not do in the novel). So I do look forward to seeing the changes in his character as Demon Lord.

 

As an aside, although I don't like how they rewrote the wedding battle scene to give RY the upper hand, I really like XF's actual death scene. I could never picture the proud Phoenix from the novel desperately grabbing onto JM to ask her if she ever loved him, but I still found that scene incredibly poignant in today's episode.

[dancingbee]

As far as the love triangle is concerned, it all started with the Heavenly Emperor who arranged the marriage between Night and Jin Mi.  Night grew up stamped on his forehead with this mandate that he had a fiance who turned out to be the same woman his younger brother, Xu Feng, loved.  So?  Was that his false that he followed his father's arrangement and happened to truly fall in love with her?  Had he no right to say anything about his betrothed?
 

I have been following Jin Mi's development closely since this story is mostly about her. Apart from the fate that pushed Xu Feng into her life while she was still innocent, I can understand why she had come to fall in love with the Phoenix with all his charm and his dedication in pursuing her, including taking her innocence by making love to her regardless of the fact that she was his own brother's fiance. 
Xu Feng actually got her drunk and tricked her into saying that she would marry him if the marriage arrangement did not exist. Despite the fact that Jin Mi repeated that she would agree to marry him after the wedding was called off, Xu Feng took her virginity.
( Oh by the way, isn't it against a highly moral and ethical conduct to sleep with a woman before a marriage, not to mention that she is your future sister-in-law?  And especially these are the Heaven and the Heaven Immortals we are talking about! )

 

In the end, even if Jin Mi could look over and forgive Xu Feng's mother ( the evil Heavenly Empress ) for being the person who either killed or caused the death of her mother, her father, her stepmother, and many more,  no matter how much she loved him,  how could she live for the rest of her immortal life with the person whose mother practically killed her entire family ?   How was she going to explain to her children, that their paternal grandmother killed their maternal grandfather and grandmothers?  

Although this drama has cast Xu Feng and Jin Mi as the main leads ( and believe me I do love them both ), their relationship was a cursed one from the beginning. A part of it had to do with fate and a part of it had developed into this relationship because of the Phoenix's selfishness and manipulation on the innocent Jin Mi.

 

I am also curious if Xu Feng were to switch the role with Ran Yu, what could he possibly turn out to be?  Perhaps another villain worse than Ru Yan?

 

By the way, I love all three main leads. Jin Mi and Xu Feng are cute together.  But in terms of acting so far, I admire the actor who plays Night Immortal. He can display very well all the pains, hurts, and loneliness from the inner core. His role requires a very heavy weight-lifting on the performance, a tough one. He never gets to have a lovey-dovey scene with Jin Mi!

 

[ForgottenSoulx]

4 hours ago, jewelsc said:

I feel like i'm the only one finding the story here flowing pretty smoothly as someone who has never read the novel..i also enjoyed and appreciated RY's sidestory and how and why he has become the way he is, he is the villain of the show afterall so i'd expected the story to flow that way and in some ways it has made me feel pity for him, he seemed to be a 'good' guy until he remembered and met his real mother..but as for the sidestory of the demon princess and her loverboy, i thought that part wasn't that relevant but all in all, i don't really consider it that much of a mess atall.

 

As i always say Novel readers ruin drama's they are doing it against Martial universe as well.

 

4 hours ago, Kimchi Sweet Potato said:

I was going to ask that next (how people who never read the novel are finding the show). I do think the story is still solid in spite of the changes. 

 

People who cant compare it to something will be happy with it but seeing literally 3 pages of people crying about the changes ruin's the fun of discussing a drama. 

 

Even Fuyao fans were not this bad .

1 hour ago, dancingbee said:

 

 

 

exactly finally someone says the truth in both of your posts you sum up my thoughts perfectly.

[nyaannyaan]

Hello, I am usually a lurker, but I just want to add my 2-cents regarding the differences in the novel and the drama.

 

I actually read the english translated novel and don't mind about the changes in the drama. The inclusion of the fifth epilogue (human realm) before the wedding actually makes everything more cohesive in terms of why the first mutual cultivation happened. In the novel, I felt the first mutual cultivation was rather led by XF while JM just goes along, then after there was no explanation of how things transitioned to her still wanting to marry RY etc... Yes, I understand the pill, but still her character in the novel was a bit confusing. Also if the 3 year flirtation occurs as in the book, then it is confusing too why she would stab XF during the wedding - yes the pill... but still. I always feel within the novel (though it is good), things were rather "choppy" and some things were left to the readers' imagination/interpretation. I like how within the drama, it is shown how when one thing happens, how the other characters (side etc) reacts and it propels the plot further to the next stage.

 

I also don't mind changes in XF's character to be less "macho". In the scene when he confronts the empress about the murder of the Wind and Water Godess/God, she actually did say that he is not ruthless enough. I thought it will be an interesting character development for him once he transitions in the demon realms as the "betrayal" would make him more ruthless. Also about the so much screen-time for RY, well... I think it is great because he is the antagonist... and in the novel, I got the sense that he is a great second lead (I am pretty sure some people were rooting for him too in the novel - until the end when everything is revealed). I thought the drama does a good job of exposing his true nature along the way.

 

Personally, I would reserve judgement whether it is a good or a bad adaptation until the end of the drama. But I am definitely enjoying it for now. ^^

[jehnnny99]

12 minutes ago, clawedzip said:

 

I read the novel and although I have mixed feelings about some of the changes, I still think the story is solid overall. The biggest change from the novel was the addition of the trial in the mortal realm, which I think added a lot of emotional depth to the drama. Another fairly big change is JM's relationship with XF after she starts to suspect him of killing her father. In the novel, she never accuses him of killing her father. She actually pretends not to suspect him at all, lets him visit her frequently during the three years, and pretends to want to marry him. I like that they changed this in the drama, because I didn't think it made sense for the naive and straightforward JM to suddenly become so manipulative and two-faced. It made much more sense for her to be straightforward with her suspicions and confront him right away, like she does in the drama.

 

One thing I am not a fan of is how they changed XF's character. I really don't understand why they changed him into such a big mushy sap in the drama. In the novel, he really earned the title "God of War" not just in his military feats but with his aggressive and domineering personality as well. There was this one extremely memorable scene I really wish they put in the drama where he rushes straight from the battlefield to interrupt the official announcement for RY and JM's wedding, barging into throne room wearing his armor and covered in blood. They also rewrote a lot of  scenes to downplay the harsh and aggressive side of his character--for example, the "mutual cultivation" scene, the scene where he fight his mother to protect JM, and the battle during the wedding. He also never had the brotherly relationship with RY that they show in the drama--they were hostile to each other pretty much from the beginning of the novel. In the drama, there are a couple of scenes where XF tries to reconcile with RY that I think are both a waste of screen time and a unwanted departure from XF's original  proud and unforgiving character. However, I do see one benefit to XF's softer character--I like how he seems much more conflicted and emotional in the previews of his interactions with JM after his resurrection. In particular, there's a scene where JM turns to walk away from him and he stops her from leaving by hugging her from behind (something he definitely does not and would not do in the novel). So I do look forward to seeing the changes in his character as Demon Lord.

 

As an aside, although I don't like how they rewrote the wedding battle scene to give RY the upper hand, I really like XF's actual death scene. I could never picture the proud Phoenix from the novel desperately grabbing onto JM to ask her if she ever loved him, but I still found that scene incredibly poignant in today's episode.

I agree with you 100%. In my opinion, The changes in the drama were always consistent with the changes in character. It makes no sense for some scenes to happen with how JM or XF are portrayed in the drama. For example, the first mutual cultivation scene in the novel was quite 'rapey' when I first read it, it left a bitter aftertaste in my mouth because novel JM was more naive and child-like as it was clear her main goal was lingli. The XF here is not as aggressive or hot-headed as novel XF but he's just as passionate towards JM, amd arguably more gentle, and drama JM has the ability to process and reciprocate XF's feelings due to the pill slowly breaking.

 

I think that's a lot better than how their romantic relationship was in the novel before JM coughed up the pill, where you really could not be sure JM liked XF. Even the flirting that happened after the death of JM's father, even if it was romantic, was fake as she only did this to trick XF.

 

That also made me a bit sceptical of her feelings towards XF, and it made the stabbing scene less emotional and more shocking because it was never expected. But in the drama, you can see the turmoil JM goes through that ultimately lead her to killing XF, because drama JM did truly come to love her father unlike novel JM who always appeared emotionally detached and seemed to have been more persuaded/manipulated to kill XF out of revenge by Night. You could even see that in the scene where she cries out for her dead father. If you truly suspected your lover killed your father, along with an unfeeling pill that makes you even unable to understand the concept of 'love', would you not react the same way JM did? The fact that she still mourned and loved XF after getting rid of the unfeeling pill but STILL believing he killed your father says a lot about the extent of her love for XF in my opinion.

 

What  I'm trying to say is, it's fair that novel fans are angry at the changes e.g. The scene and dialogue changes, but the novel is just a base for the drama which is extended and 'improved' on to make more sense and evoke more feelings. This is apparent by the fact that viewers who have not read the novel are enjoying the show and the complaints are mainly coming from novel readers. Instead of picking out all the changes, why not view it as a new and separate piece of work and see if you still like it?

 

( note: the only change that 8/ bothering me is the demon princess' side love-story. I have absolutely 0 interest in that so i find myself skipping their parts. Phew, sorry for the long rant! )

 

 

[ForgottenSoulx]

After reading some positive comments from novel readers im more happy the last like 3 pages were making me depressed about watching this again.

[dramaninja]

1 hour ago, Wotad said:

 

As i always say Novel readers ruin drama's they are doing it against Martial universe as well.

 

 

People who cant compare it to something will be happy with it but seeing literally 3 pages of people crying about the changes ruin's the fun of discussing a drama. 

 

Even Fuyao fans were not this bad .

 

exactly finally someone says the truth in both of your posts you sum up my thoughts perfectly.

Eh its fine of people like the changes but that does not mean other  will as well its all fair game.You always going to get comparisons since they decided to make show about the novel so  it makes alot of sense.

 

People can dislike the lack of leads interactions which is a major issue since the show is ending soon.

[ForgottenSoulx]

3 minutes ago, dramaninja said:

Eh its fine of people like the changes but that does not mean other  will as well its all fair game.

 

People can dislike the lack of leads interactions which is a major issue since the show is ending soon.

 

The show is not ending for everyone .. some people just started due to viki, you can dislike the leads interactions but is every post in this damn discussion about the book?

 

This is about the show not the book. 

[sirena82]

I have read the novel several times already and the novel was about JM, XF, and RY. The three of them played very important part in the story development and definitely the 3 of them were leads in the novel. There were some chapters were RY was there more than XF and other chapters were XF was there more than XF. The drama actually gave so much time for the romance between XF and JM. They spent almost the first 30 episodes together. I really don't understand what people want to see more of them together. It appears these fan just want to watch a porno movie not a drama with a story to tell. Many of the changes they made for XF character is made to make him a likable character for people. Seriously, how can novel reads complaint about that! In the drama he was just selfish, arrogant unlovable guy how almost tried to kill JM then almost forced himself in JM who was more in like child like stage in the drama. Also, in the novel, it was 3 ways relationship as JM spends so much time with RY when they were engaged. She have breakfast with him everyday and sleeps at his house. While XF visits her daily during the 3 years she mornes her dad, RY spends all night with her. 

I have not known any of the actors before, but even if u prefer one over other or a chreacter of the drama over another, you don't need to go about and bully others this way. Reading the comments about how the actor played RY in being treated makes me so bothered really. He does not deserve that as he is doing his best for the drama as the other actors. 

Edited August 27, 2018 by sirena82

[omiki]

5 hours ago, turtle0217 said:

..... Honestly, I am starting to not like her character, like he loved her soo much and for her to just do something stupid like that without thinking, it pains me. I understand it was the pill, but I mean she may not feel love, but she gotta have a brain, right? But at the end of the day, it's true of when you love someone, no matter how much pain they give you, you can't stop loving them. That was Phoenix's love to JM.

When the events unfolded in the wedding hall, Jin Mi was pretty much a bystander, watching expressionless. But when XF started to wield the Liu Li Jing Huo (glass fire) in his hand, she was jolted because she recalled how her Mother Flower God, her Father Water God, and Aunt Ling Xiu Wind God were killed by it. Already her 3 most closest relatives were killed by the fire, how could she let her future Husband be also decimated by it? That’s when she took out the water dagger to stab XF, in a desperate attempt to save her only remaining family member. I would think it’s a reflex action at that point in time.

 

Anyway, as someone who has not read the book, I find the drama riveting enough. I understand  that the book was written from the first person perspective, so there could have been many things happening around Jin Mi which she was not aware of. The drama is just filling in the gaps which makes the story easier to understand for those of us who have not read the book.

[angel318]

4 minutes ago, omiki said:

When the events unfolded in the wedding hall, Jin Mi was pretty much a bystander, watching expressionless. But when XF started to wield the Liu Li Jing Huo (glass fire) in his hand, she was jolted because she recalled how her Mother Flower God, her Father Water God, and Aunt Ling Xiu Wind God were killed by it. Already her 3 most closest relatives were killed by the fire, how could she let her future Husband be also decimated by it? That’s when she took out the water dagger to stab XF, in a desperate attempt to save her only remaining family member. I would think it’s a reflex action at that point in time.

 

Anyway, as someone who has not read the book, I find the drama riveting enough. I understand  that the book was written from the first person perspective, so there could have been many things happening around Jin Mi which she was not aware of. The drama is just filling in the gaps which makes the story easier to understand for those of us who have not read the book.

Actually I didn't feel like JM did out of reflex to save her last family member but from the trauma of knowing that fire killed her family (I don't think she feels that way for RY). She looked so confused, dazed, almost like she had lost control of herself and all she felt or had in that moment was to stop this fire Bc it was the fire that killed her most loved (they were also crowding around asking her to save them, forcing her to make a decision or take revenge) 

[Guest aok]

hmm to be honest the only thing that got to me during the wedding was when XF's assistant died protecting him and the emperor using the last of his powers to collect XF's soul.

 

i think the whole wedding scene itself could have been a lot more dramatic and heartfelt. maybe im just heartless though. but i had hoped that they could have had JM push XF off of her since she was so resentful towards him already. they should have also ended the memories with her telling him she likes him from the mortal trial before she threw up the pill. i don't know i guess i wanted more from the moment.

[tenten0227]

4 hours ago, jehnnny99 said:

I agree with you 100%. In my opinion, The changes in the drama were always consistent with the changes in character. It makes no sense for some scenes to happen with how JM or XF are portrayed in the drama. For example, the first mutual cultivation scene in the novel was quite 'rapey' when I first read it, it left a bitter aftertaste in my mouth because novel JM was more naive and child-like as it was clear her main goal was lingli. The XF here is not as aggressive or hot-headed as novel XF but he's just as passionate towards JM, amd arguably more gentle, and drama JM has the ability to process and reciprocate XF's feelings due to the pill slowly breaking.

 

I think that's a lot better than how their romantic relationship was in the novel before JM coughed up the pill, where you really could not be sure JM liked XF. Even the flirting that happened after the death of JM's father, even if it was romantic, was fake as she only did this to trick XF.

 

That also made me a bit sceptical of her feelings towards XF, and it made the stabbing scene less emotional and more shocking because it was never expected. But in the drama, you can see the turmoil JM goes through that ultimately lead her to killing XF, because drama JM did truly come to love her father unlike novel JM who always appeared emotionally detached and seemed to have been more persuaded/manipulated to kill XF out of revenge by Night. You could even see that in the scene where she cries out for her dead father. If you truly suspected your lover killed your father, along with an unfeeling pill that makes you even unable to understand the concept of 'love', would you not react the same way JM did? The fact that she still mourned and loved XF after getting rid of the unfeeling pill but STILL believing he killed your father says a lot about the extent of her love for XF in my opinion.

 

What  I'm trying to say is, it's fair that novel fans are angry at the changes e.g. The scene and dialogue changes, but the novel is just a base for the drama which is extended and 'improved' on to make more sense and evoke more feelings. This is apparent by the fact that viewers who have not read the novel are enjoying the show and the complaints are mainly coming from novel readers. Instead of picking out all the changes, why not view it as a new and separate piece of work and see if you still like it?

 

( note: the only change that 8/ bothering me is the demon princess' side love-story. I have absolutely 0 interest in that so i find myself skipping their parts. Phew, sorry for the long rant! )

 

 

 

3 hours ago, Wotad said:

After reading some positive comments from novel readers im more happy the last like 3 pages were making me depressed about watching this again.

 

You guys voiced my thoughts perfectly. I don't know about other people, but I really enjoyed the wedding episode because I have been waiting for it all this time and it didn't fall short of my expectations. I was literally at the edge of my seat even though I knew what was going to happen, albeit a few changes and surprises. I could have made a reaction video with all my screaming at my laptop and yelling traitor to those who took Night's side, then cursing at Jin Mi when she stabbed Xu Feng. Also cried when Liaoyuan jun died protecting Xu Feng from the sword, sniff sniff~ Holy moly it was quite a ride. 

 

Even though I've read the novel, I'm really enjoying the drama, it's one of my top Chinese dramas this year along with Legend of Yun Xi. As for the conflict between drama and novel, if all you do is compare the two and nitpick at everything, then all you'll find is fault which will override whatever good there is in the drama. Overall, I think the drama is well done. Night has had his character development, Jin Mi also has developed quite a lot from her innocent and naive self though there may be more character development to come. I am anticipating Xu Feng's parts.  

 

I agree with @nyaannyaan that the novel was quite choppy, I like it how things are shown in the drama. And I have no problem with the drama Xu Feng, I love his emotional and soft side but I'm also very excited to see his Demon Lord side. Dark, sexy Xu Feng, I'm ready! 

 

As for Jin Mi, I'm quite upset at her for stabbing Xu Feng but I empathize with her because she lost her family, the lotus fire is a trauma to her. Those who watch Chinese dramas, especially historical ones, should know that "revenge" is an unavoidable set up that always happens. I'm anticipating Xu Feng and Jin Mi's reunion especially now without the pill she realizes her love for him. Ah~ the angst! I'm reading for the emotional ride that is to come! 

 

[Sary Em]

4 hours ago, jehnnny99 said:

I agree with you 100%. In my opinion, The changes in the drama were always consistent with the changes in character. It makes no sense for some scenes to happen with how JM or XF are portrayed in the drama. For example, the first mutual cultivation scene in the novel was quite 'rapey' when I first read it, it left a bitter aftertaste in my mouth because novel JM was more naive and child-like as it was clear her main goal was lingli. The XF here is not as aggressive or hot-headed as novel XF but he's just as passionate towards JM, amd arguably more gentle, and drama JM has the ability to process and reciprocate XF's feelings due to the pill slowly breaking.

 

I think that's a lot better than how their romantic relationship was in the novel before JM coughed up the pill, where you really could not be sure JM liked XF. Even the flirting that happened after the death of JM's father, even if it was romantic, was fake as she only did this to trick XF.

 

That also made me a bit sceptical of her feelings towards XF, and it made the stabbing scene less emotional and more shocking because it was never expected. But in the drama, you can see the turmoil JM goes through that ultimately lead her to killing XF, because drama JM did truly come to love her father unlike novel JM who always appeared emotionally detached and seemed to have been more persuaded/manipulated to kill XF out of revenge by Night. You could even see that in the scene where she cries out for her dead father. If you truly suspected your lover killed your father, along with an unfeeling pill that makes you even unable to understand the concept of 'love', would you not react the same way JM did? The fact that she still mourned and loved XF after getting rid of the unfeeling pill but STILL believing he killed your father says a lot about the extent of her love for XF in my opinion.

 

What  I'm trying to say is, it's fair that novel fans are angry at the changes e.g. The scene and dialogue changes, but the novel is just a base for the drama which is extended and 'improved' on to make more sense and evoke more feelings. This is apparent by the fact that viewers who have not read the novel are enjoying the show and the complaints are mainly coming from novel readers. Instead of picking out all the changes, why not view it as a new and separate piece of work and see if you still like it?

 

( note: the only change that 8/ bothering me is the demon princess' side love-story. I have absolutely 0 interest in that so i find myself skipping their parts. Phew, sorry for the long rant! )

 

100% agree with this statement.  Go with the flow of this drama.  Still nice to put a face to the characters in the novel.  I know I have FF all the side characterss hehe I such a bad viewer, it's a all about JM and XF for me....but it is what it is and at least I can still fall back to the English novel while we wait for Phoenix's resurrection.  And the epilogues  those  were the cherry on top.  No dead OTP (errr in the final episode, so I am a happy camper!) That what keeps me watching.  At the end of day the whole team indeed put so much time, dedication and hard work into this drama.  I thank and applaud them for it.  Still my most favourite novel turned drama adaptation!!!  Cannot make everyone happy.

[gleek49]

This is going to be VERY long, I rarely post on Soompi so I don't know if this is appropriate or not. Please bear with me 

 

Why are the book fans angry?

 

1.      It’s not because the drama changed Phoenix’s personality. I think all of us know how good the first 20 episodes were. Book fans couldn’t care less about that, we were satisfied enough with Deng Lun portrayal of the character, some toned down aspect of his personality didn’t really matter. But ever since the latter half of the mortal trial arc, the problems started to arise, it suddenly moved its focus toward the second male lead and secondary couple. They said it was because they wanted to fleshed out RY’s character, showed how he become evil. Fine, we accepted that, because according to the novel, the focus should have shifted back to the main leads when they finish the trial. But guess what happened? Phoenix’s screen time just kept getting less and less after each episode. Even worse, they started to CUT Phoenix’s scenes and lines, AND GIVE IT TO NIGHT!!!  That wedding scene was such an insult to both the original book and its fans. They have crossed the line SO FAR. Please, anyone, can any of you tell me, WHAT could possibly be the reason for doing that??? HOW could you make sense with the fact that the drama purposefully watered down the MALE LEAD’s character for the sake of the SECOND MALE LEAD??? Most book fans are Phoenix’s fan, we’re not just angry, WE’RE FURIOUS!!!

 

2.      As I mentioned before, the first 1/3 of the drama were so good. Do you have any idea how happy us book fans were? We actually thought we’re lucky to have such a good adaptation   What did we get in return? A huge slap in the face! I’m not sure what the production/writing team were trying to pull there. But we, as the fan of the original, felt like we were used. They baited us with a wonderful pack of episodes, made us invested and then turned back and bite us from behind. Ruining our favorite character and trying to manipulate us into feeling sorry for the second male lead. I can’t tell you how to feel, but can you guys honestly blame us for being pissed?

 

Why drama fans are angry?

 

1.      Because many of drama fans, who never read the book, fell for this drama mainly because of Deng Lun and Yang Zi, their amazing acting ability and chemistry. Of course we’re expecting to watch THEIR epic and tragic love story, right? But what did we get? We got to see the SECOND MALE LEAD epic and tragic life journey, the detailed story of how HIS life got destroyed and how HE became evil. We saw how the key events in his life played out, how he reacted to them and his emotional responses afterwards.

What about the male lead that we fell in love with at the beginning of the drama? Oh well, he barely existed at this point, moping somewhere in the background doing absolutely nothing! How the hell did we get to know everything about the second male lead when we knew almost nothing about the male lead other than the fact that he loved a girl???

 

2.      Case in point:

Exhibit A: the mothers’ demises. We saw how Night’s mother died, we saw how he reacted to her dying, we saw him crying afterwards, we even saw him freaking preparing her bleeping SHRINE!!! Do you remember how Phoenix reacted to his mother’s downfall? DO YOU? Because I barely remember it happened at all! The scene where the Empress got busted is much shorter than the scene where Night’s mother died. Phoenix passed out after taking the hit for his mother and that was IT! NO REACTION, NO EMOTIONAL RESPONSE WHATSOEVER!!! We only got to see him talking to her because he was framed, it’s like if it wasn’t for JM accusing him of murder, we wouldn’t be able to see him dealing with the aftermath of his mother’s downfall AT ALL.

 

Exhibit B: episode 46. You guys remember that this is a female lead centric drama, right? Jin Mi, said female lead, has just murdered the man she loved with her own two hands in ep 45. You would expect to see how SHE dealt with this tragic event. There are marvelous scenes in the novel which depicted HER heartbreak, pain and regret (she asked why Phoenix hadn’t come visit her, she frantically searching for her missing heart, etc.). Did that happened in the drama?? NO. Instead we got to see how Night performed as the new Emperor, how concerned he was over Jin Mi, how conflicted he was about Phoenix’ death (which was a load of BS, btw)! We even got to see HIM getting his revenge, how his smug behind went and rubbed the fact that his poor, innocent brother has evaporated to the Empress’s face!! If that’s not a lead character’s complete arc, then I don’t know what is?!

I doubt Phoenix will ever has the chance to rub anything in anyone’s face because we’re all know that he still has plenty of richard simmons waiting for him in the future .

 

Night has not only trumped the male lead, he’s now also sit on the FEMALE LEAD’s head, IN A FEMALE LEAD CENTRIC DRAMA!!! 

 

At this point, I’m seriously questioning the production team’s judgment, did they actually know who the leads in their own drama was??

The drama makes more sense than the book? Are you kidding me??

 

3.      Look, I don’t want to get political here. But let’s look at the problem from the production POV. Deng Lun’s XF was credited as the Male lead/Second billed after Yang Zi; Leo Luo’s Night was credited as Second male lead/Forth billed after Chen Yu Qi. Isn’t it common sense that XF was supposed to have more screen time than Night? LOL, NO! Case in point: let’s look at the table below:

*Notes:

- 1st line: because fans agreed that Night’s screen time got much higher since ep 29, so counting started at ep 29.

- 2nd line: counted by minutes, to be fair, the screen time in which dedicated to Night’s mother, story about his origin (35 minutes in total) but he didn’t actually appear was not counted.

*Credit: FB/ChuyenLuatLe

 

 

As you can see, from ep 29 to ep 41, Phoenix’s screen time was only accounted for 2/3 of Night. Is this how it normally is for the male lead to have significantly less screen time than the second lead? Since when do the male lead’s fans have to fight for his screen time compared to HIS SECOND LEAD??

 

Some of you said that Deng Lun fans themselves wanted to let this go. Do you know why? Because they are a small fan base who don’t have much power to shake things up, they worry that if they do something rashed, it will hurt Deng Lun’s career so they stay silent. However, if this was Yang Yang or Luhan’s fan base, for example, do you honestly think that they would let this fly? That’s why book fans and drama fans alike have to speak up and make this a big deal, because both the lead actors and the audience cannot be disrespected like this.

 

Even the author herself said that she had “lingering feelings” about Night. I don’t know about you, but it was pretty obvious to me that she and her writing team was using Deng Lun and Yang Zi to roped the audience in, made us invested in the drama and then started to shove Night’s character down our throat, purposefully wanted us to love Night more than Phoenix and even Jin Mi. What they didn’t expect was that most fans have already loved Deng Lun’s Phoenix too much to turn on him, leading to the whole thing blow up to this degree. In short, they’re trying to create their own Chil Bong/Jungpal but ended up create a Baek In Ho and a CITT type of mess.

 

But judging on some of the replies in this thread, I guess their plan does works on some level. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

There’s also some shady stuff regarding the shooting schedule; and the drama character of Night is even more horrible in my eyes, so the fact that there are still people who sympathize with him is beyond me, but I’m don’t have the energy to get into those right now. I’m writing this because I hope you can understand Cnet’s frustration.

[paperwishes]

This is the first drama I've watched (although I heard Princess agent rogue was kinda like this) where the 2nd male lead has so much Inner monologues/flashbacks/motives/Close-ups  and not in a good way. This is what I call, over-bloating character development; too much brute forcing and trying to tell the audience how they should feel about a character - this is why Night receives so much hate as a character.
 

Episode 46 sums it up. 

 

Maybe if I was a fan of the way the 2nd male lead is being written, I would have enjoy the flow of the show more.  My usual 2nd male lead syndrome just didn't kick in. I just couldn't take how hypocrite Night is in the drama. Especially in episode 46 when Night said, "JM is innocent, why did you drag her into this" @ FH's mom. 

 

Honestly, I feel bad for Leo because he's getting so much hate for the way a character is being written.

This mess is just out of hand because there are people hating on the actors themselves. Actors did the best with what's given to them and should never have been the one taking the blame. 

[vintage_chutzpah]

How are the ratings in China so far? Which dramas are competing with this?

[visiopeia]

forgive me for being emotional here.. i cried for ep 45 - 46 .. it is too hurt.. i don't blame Runyu for being evil, I don't blame Jin Mi for killing Xu Feng .. all i blame is the empress that cause all this incident to happen.