Drama Review: The Journey of Flower (花千骨)
January 01, 2016
Synopsis:
Since her birth, Hua Qiangu is considered an unlucky child because attracts evil spirits and kills plants that she touches. After her father dies, she decides go to Chang Liu, an immortal sect, to learn martial arts. Although knowing Qiangu is his shengsijie, Bai Zihua, the sect leader of Chang Liu, takes her as his only disciple. However, Qiangu falls in love with Zihua and collects all ten of the weapons to save Zihua when he gets poisoned. But she releases the Demon God and eventually gained the power of the Demon God, thereby becoming the new ruler of the dark side. Although Zihua continuously tries to protect her and change her fate, Qiangu can't escape her known fate.
Appreciating her hard-working nature and kind heart, and predicting her tragic destiny, she enters Chang Liu, an immortal sect, to seek peace and solutions. Bai Zihua, the sect leader of Chang Liu, takes her as his only disciple. Qian Gu falls in love with her teacher but doesn't reveal her true feelings until the end. Eventually, the truth has been revealed that she was born as Nü Wa's desendent and has access to godly power. She summoned the Demon God to save her master and the God transferred all his power into her body afterwards, therefore, making her the new ruler of the demons. Although Zihua tries to protect her and change her fate, Qiangu is constantly tortured by the machinations of those who wish to see her dead.
Credit: Wikipedia
My Rating:
☆☆☆☆☆☆ 6/10 stars
A super-hyped up drama but failed to meet expectations due to the cuts made and the draggy middle. The production team placed efforts in designing the attire from the headpiece to the simple yet intricate white clothing worn by the actors. It started off strong but as it reaches the middle, it started going downhill because my interest was dwindling off. It didn't help when Hunan was basically cutting all anticipated scenes that made the entire drama flow. Hua Qiangu, as many mentioned, has a "male harem" but I can't really feel the excitement. I think the reason is she does not have any chemistry with her shifu Bai Zihua and I wouldn't have understood why Sha Qianmo likes her if I didn't read about his character in forums.
(-2) for illogical plots
(-1) failure to live up to its hype
(-1) lack of chemistry
(-2) for illogical plots
(-1) failure to live up to its hype
(-1) lack of chemistry
The drama becomes a great mess towards the end that I gave up completely and didn't even bother to finish because I have other dramas that worth my time (Monster Killer).
I didn't finish the drama but I will re-watch the drama once the series gets aired on a network that won't butcher the series by releasing an uncut version.
Zhao Liying as Hua Qiangu
The main character who journeys to Chang Liu and becomes Bai Zihua's one and only disciple. She is the descendant of Nuwa in the drama and a god in the novel.
Wallace Huo as Bai Zihua
The leader of Chang Liu. He believes he can change his fate and takes Qiangu as his disciple despite her being the one that will cause his own death if he doesn't kill her himself. Eventually, he falls in love with her but due to his principles he doesn't admit it.
Andy Zhang as Dong Fang Yu Qin/Yi Xiuge
He is the master of Yi Xiuge, a place everyone goes in search for an answer. He takes on the identity of Dong Fang Yu Qin to get closer to Qiangu and uses her by pushing her towards Zihua in order to avenge the death of his father. He eventually realizes he loves Qiangu but it is too late when he decides to let go.
Ma Ke as Sha Qianmo
The leader of Seven Murder Faction. He treats Qiangu as his little sister and protects her no matter what happens.
Li Chun as Ni Mantian
Initially friends with Qiangu, she soon becomes a rival of Qiangu due to jealousy. She is the one that reveals to Mo Yan that Qiangu harbors feelings for Zihua.
An Yuexi as Tang Bao
Initially a caterpillar, she turns into a girl after a fight with Ni Mantian. She calls Qiangu her mother and Dongfang as her father.
Joe Xu as Meng Xuanlang
He is the emperor of Shu who likes Qiangu.
Bao Tianqi as Qing Shui
She is a close friend of Qiangu and she likes Meng Xuanlang but because he likes Qiangu, she betrays her in the end.
Jiang Yang as Shuo Feng
He is a disciple of Luo Shiyi and he likes Ni Mantian. However, he is destined to be the missing piece of jade that helps Qiangu gather the ten holy instruments.
Dong Chunhui as Luo Shiyi
He is the disciple of Mo Yan and the master of Ni Mantian and Shuo Feng. He also likes Tang Bao.
Jiang Yimin as Mo Yan
He is one of the three leaders of Chang Liu. He is the strict one who abides to his principles.
GUEST STARS:
Jiang Xin as Xia Zixun
One of the first five immortals who deeply loves Zihua. She was formerly part of the Seven Murder Faction but left due to Zihua's persuasion. She transitions back to the dark side after realizing Qiangu loves Zihua.
Yang Shuo as Tan Fan
One of the first five immortals. He loves Zixun and will always protect her to the point of losing his own life.
Miao Chi as Sheng Xiaomo
He is one of the three leaders of Chang Liu who is carefree and much more lax than Mo Yan.
Ruan Weijing as Shan Chunqiu
He is a helper under Sha Qianmo who wants to gather all ten holy instruments for his leader to conquer the world.
Gong Zhengnan as Zhu Ran
He is the son of Mo Yan who is banished after trying to gather the ten holy instruments.
My Thoughts:
1. This series was really hyped that I got excited every week waiting for the episodes to air. I would also follow forum discussions and see what other people think and find out what are the differences between the novel and the drama. After hearing about the cut scenes, I didn't really mind. I began minding when they are cutting scenes that matter to the plot that makes following the series difficult if the viewer hasn't read the novel.
2. The series began getting draggy once Bai Zihua gets poisoned and that went on for quite some time until Qiangu decides to collect all the weapons and released the Demon God. I've stopped afterwards because I began to lose interest and Monster Killer was much more entertaining and only 20 episodes, which was short and sweet.
3. The cast was awesome although the storyline was a bit off. However, even the awesomeness of the cast couldn't convince me to continue on until the uncut version is released. I am a huge fan of Zanilia Zhao and Wallace Huo but I can't continue on with this.
4. I also started liking Andy Zhang and Ma Ke but I feel like Ma Ke didn't get as much screen time as I expected or maybe his scenes were cut. But I look forward to their future dramas.
5. The costumes and styles for this drama is awesome. The promotional materials are also beautiful. Looking at the photos for the cast, they are all so "fairylike".
6. This is just a temporary rating until I actually take the time to watch the uncut version when it is released. But compared to other dramas, I think it is not the best I've seen this year.
Music:
I like the theme Fire of the Heart, the ending theme by the leads, and the subsong Annual Cycle. I didn't like the opening theme for the second half but I got used to it after listening to it. I like how Andy's song incorporates the character names but I'm not a big fan of the tune.
Opening Theme for first half: Fire of the Heart (心之火) by F.I.R. ft. Julia Peng
Opening Theme for second half: Eternity (千古) by Alan Dawa Dolma
Ending Theme: Can't Say (不可說) by Wallace Huo and Zanilia Zhao
Insert Song: Until the End of Eternity (地老天荒) by Andy Zhang Danfeng
Insert Song: Annual Cycle (年輪) by Zhang Bichen
2 comments
Hello, I’m a Chinese journalist. I’m working on a report about how people from other countries feel about Chinese ancient TV show. Would you like to talk about this?
ReplyDeleteHi, I would like to help you out! I think the best way to discuss would probably be through email. You can contact me at erieblog13@gmail.com.
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