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The Most Daring Costume BL Drama China Has To Offer
Needless to say, I really really really liked Word of Honor, and it's probably the best BL drama (including the Japanese and Thai series) I've seen thus far. Among the C-dramas I've seen, it definitely has one of the highest rewatchability percentages because I actually wanted to rewatch it the moment I finished it! I loved it so much that I felt compelled to read the book version written by the popular danmei author, Priest. But despite my obvious bias, I cannot ignore the fact that it is not a perfect series.
The positives:
This series has the best male leads in any BL drama I've seen, period! They are utterly perfect! Some would most likely disagree, but for me, their onscreen chemistry is so palpable I can taste it! Hahahaha. Don't get me wrong, I do not ship the actors, I don't do that sort of thing, but their portrayals of Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing are undeniably spot on. I feel that they really understood what they needed to do to bring these characters to life and just had a blast doing it. I was so shocked to see so much touchy-feely scenes and the sexual innuendos in the dialogues are so blatantly obvious that even if you were as pure as Mama Mary herself, you wouldn't be able to brush them aside and just say, “Oh, they must be really close.” But for someone like me whose brain is practically living in the gutter, I almost choked on my own saliva from laughing so hard and giggling like a maniac. I'm surprised they were able to escape the proverbial axe of China's censorship board. I am still wondering how they were able to make it work. But BL stuff aside, I found these two characters incredibly interesting. Both have questionable morals and tragic pasts, and they go through redemption arcs. I love that most of the characters in this series are gray and they could go either way. I was sometimes confused whether to despise or sympathize with particular characters because of it.
Zhang Zhehan as Zhou Zishu is captivatingly gorgeous. I have to admit, there were times when I would just stare at him and not understand what was going on. Hahahaha. But he brings a certain depth to the character that I didn't expect. You'd think he's just another pretty face, but the subtlety of his micro-expressions effectively convey the self-loathing, guilt, sadness, and remorse of Zhou Zishu. As the founder and leader of a massive private army of assassins and spies working for an ambitious Prince, he projects a cold and ruthless front. But the weight of that responsibility and the guilt of working for a megalomaniac bears down on him, so he chooses the most brutal of means to buy his own freedom. He starts out as a more stoic character but slowly becomes more playful and even cheeky as the series goes on, especially when he meets Wen Kexing and Cheng Ling.
Wen Kexing is played by Gong Jun, who is also frustratingly attractive I kept screaming at him to stop being so cute. Hahahaha! Wen Kexing is the leader of a notorious group of criminals who are so terrible and repulsive that society no longer sees them as humans but ghosts or devils. He, too, has a painful past that drove him into the deepest pits of hell and made him obsessed with revenge. Gong Jun plays him to a tee, animatedly displaying Wen Kexing's flamboyance and flirtiness, but also showing his more sinister, volatile, and melancholic side. And his interactions with Zhehan's Zhou Zishu are some of the most touching and humorous moments in the series.
Apart from the main actors, I would also like to mention, Zhou Ye, and her character, Gu Xiang. I gotta hand it to her for making me initially annoyed at her silliness, but eventually loving her character that I cried because of her and her suffering.
As for the plot, I suppose I could sum it up to a power struggle between warmongers and ambitious politicians all racing to find a vault that is supposely filled with all the ancient martial arts secrets known to man. Knowledge is power, after all. But it's actually more than that. In fact, it appealed to me more than some of the C-dramas I've seen because it reminded me so much of the kung fu films I saw as a kid. It just has that same vibe to it.
The fight choreography is one of the best I've seen in any wuxia film or series. It's so poetically beautiful that I almost forgot how bad the CGI could be sometimes and that some of the backdrops didn't quite suit the scenes. But for a wuxia drama that only had half of the budget of The Untamed, I'd say they did remarkably well with what they got.
The musical score is surprisingly good, too. I don't normally like musical scores in C-dramas as they don't usually stand out to me. But I actually liked the soundtrack almost as much as I liked the soundtrack of Mysterious Lotus Casebook.
The negatives:
First off, this drama was supposedly made with just 50 million RMB, which was considered cheap for an epic costume drama. So suffice to say, the production value of this drama is nothing to write home about. There are parts when the CGI is just plain awful and the sets are obviously reused again and again. Not to mention, the costumes and props look plasticky and inexpensive. I don't think it will hinder people from enjoying the drama, though. It certainly didn't take me out of it.
Second, the editing is a little clunky, inhibiting the smooth transition between scenes and affecting the pacing. But I guess it's because they had to cut down the number of episodes due to budget restraints and move the plot around to fit the planned scenes. I thought the last few episodes were rushed and would've benefitted from more episodes to flesh things out better.
And last, the fact that the supporting characters are mostly morally ambiguous, as perfectly imperfect as they are, they are unlikable to say the least. Aside from Ye Baiyi, I couldn't bring myself to really care about the others. Even though I found Qianqiao's misguided love for the wrong man heartbreaking, I can't say I cared about her enough to empathize with her. And that has something to do with the writing, I think. And probably with the acting as well.
Overall, this series led me down a rabbit hole for weeks on end. I couldn't make myself watch anything else and that doesn't happen to me very often. It was a very entertaining 36-episode ride!
The positives:
This series has the best male leads in any BL drama I've seen, period! They are utterly perfect! Some would most likely disagree, but for me, their onscreen chemistry is so palpable I can taste it! Hahahaha. Don't get me wrong, I do not ship the actors, I don't do that sort of thing, but their portrayals of Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing are undeniably spot on. I feel that they really understood what they needed to do to bring these characters to life and just had a blast doing it. I was so shocked to see so much touchy-feely scenes and the sexual innuendos in the dialogues are so blatantly obvious that even if you were as pure as Mama Mary herself, you wouldn't be able to brush them aside and just say, “Oh, they must be really close.” But for someone like me whose brain is practically living in the gutter, I almost choked on my own saliva from laughing so hard and giggling like a maniac. I'm surprised they were able to escape the proverbial axe of China's censorship board. I am still wondering how they were able to make it work. But BL stuff aside, I found these two characters incredibly interesting. Both have questionable morals and tragic pasts, and they go through redemption arcs. I love that most of the characters in this series are gray and they could go either way. I was sometimes confused whether to despise or sympathize with particular characters because of it.
Zhang Zhehan as Zhou Zishu is captivatingly gorgeous. I have to admit, there were times when I would just stare at him and not understand what was going on. Hahahaha. But he brings a certain depth to the character that I didn't expect. You'd think he's just another pretty face, but the subtlety of his micro-expressions effectively convey the self-loathing, guilt, sadness, and remorse of Zhou Zishu. As the founder and leader of a massive private army of assassins and spies working for an ambitious Prince, he projects a cold and ruthless front. But the weight of that responsibility and the guilt of working for a megalomaniac bears down on him, so he chooses the most brutal of means to buy his own freedom. He starts out as a more stoic character but slowly becomes more playful and even cheeky as the series goes on, especially when he meets Wen Kexing and Cheng Ling.
Wen Kexing is played by Gong Jun, who is also frustratingly attractive I kept screaming at him to stop being so cute. Hahahaha! Wen Kexing is the leader of a notorious group of criminals who are so terrible and repulsive that society no longer sees them as humans but ghosts or devils. He, too, has a painful past that drove him into the deepest pits of hell and made him obsessed with revenge. Gong Jun plays him to a tee, animatedly displaying Wen Kexing's flamboyance and flirtiness, but also showing his more sinister, volatile, and melancholic side. And his interactions with Zhehan's Zhou Zishu are some of the most touching and humorous moments in the series.
Apart from the main actors, I would also like to mention, Zhou Ye, and her character, Gu Xiang. I gotta hand it to her for making me initially annoyed at her silliness, but eventually loving her character that I cried because of her and her suffering.
As for the plot, I suppose I could sum it up to a power struggle between warmongers and ambitious politicians all racing to find a vault that is supposely filled with all the ancient martial arts secrets known to man. Knowledge is power, after all. But it's actually more than that. In fact, it appealed to me more than some of the C-dramas I've seen because it reminded me so much of the kung fu films I saw as a kid. It just has that same vibe to it.
The fight choreography is one of the best I've seen in any wuxia film or series. It's so poetically beautiful that I almost forgot how bad the CGI could be sometimes and that some of the backdrops didn't quite suit the scenes. But for a wuxia drama that only had half of the budget of The Untamed, I'd say they did remarkably well with what they got.
The musical score is surprisingly good, too. I don't normally like musical scores in C-dramas as they don't usually stand out to me. But I actually liked the soundtrack almost as much as I liked the soundtrack of Mysterious Lotus Casebook.
The negatives:
First off, this drama was supposedly made with just 50 million RMB, which was considered cheap for an epic costume drama. So suffice to say, the production value of this drama is nothing to write home about. There are parts when the CGI is just plain awful and the sets are obviously reused again and again. Not to mention, the costumes and props look plasticky and inexpensive. I don't think it will hinder people from enjoying the drama, though. It certainly didn't take me out of it.
Second, the editing is a little clunky, inhibiting the smooth transition between scenes and affecting the pacing. But I guess it's because they had to cut down the number of episodes due to budget restraints and move the plot around to fit the planned scenes. I thought the last few episodes were rushed and would've benefitted from more episodes to flesh things out better.
And last, the fact that the supporting characters are mostly morally ambiguous, as perfectly imperfect as they are, they are unlikable to say the least. Aside from Ye Baiyi, I couldn't bring myself to really care about the others. Even though I found Qianqiao's misguided love for the wrong man heartbreaking, I can't say I cared about her enough to empathize with her. And that has something to do with the writing, I think. And probably with the acting as well.
Overall, this series led me down a rabbit hole for weeks on end. I couldn't make myself watch anything else and that doesn't happen to me very often. It was a very entertaining 36-episode ride!
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