Black Lotus
This review may contain spoilers
A genre hotpot that tastes like disappointment
I'm probably not the only victim to Netflix's annoying trailer that always plays when you hover over a show or movie. The one they showed for this drama was of a quirky Zhao Lusi beating up a bunch of men and haughtily flaunting her martial arts prowess. Ok, cool. Badass female lead with skills. Hook, line and sinker.
The first few episodes were promising. There was a cool animation and everything giving us the backstory of Hei-Feng Bai-Xi and how they were the most powerful duo in jianghu. That was my expectation going in. That they'd be this powerful couple having lots of adventures and solving mysteries together.
And then the court drama started happening.
And then it's revealed that he's the prince and has all of this baggage and has an evil stepmother who wants to kill him, which just eerily reminds me of the Legend of Lu Zhen.
And then I just slowly started losing my interest because all of this has been done to death and done so much better in other shows.
WHAT I HATED
We are given such a rich backstory with these 7 kingdoms and sects and an overarching conspiracy over the fake token but none of that gets expanded on and for nearly half the show Feng Lanxi's story hijacks everyone else's. Powerful couple Hei-Feng Bai-Xi is really just the Feng Lanxi epic with his gluttonous bff/gf Bai Fengxi who's there to reinforce his Main Character status and make some cute jokes at his expense to show that he's really not as serious as he looks. Cue my eyes rolling into the back of my head.
Not only does Feng Lanxi have a secret identity but so does Bai Fengxi! But why did she also have a secret identity? Oh because she's a carefree girl. Yeah, they say that a million times throughout the show and her brother and father just happen to be so supportive of that, but it doesn't really explain anything!!!
We get no backstory for our FL, no character development, no plot development. NOTHING. She's the same in the end as she was in the beginning. In the same vein, all the male characters, including the ML, are just annoyingly ambitious with no other facet to them. The only outlier would probably be Feng Chang but he's kind of pathetic and actually a psychopath for murdering a bunch of people who know about his epilepsy and the show just conveniently glosses over it because he's such a loving brother to Feng Lanxi and *LOOK* tragic childhood! *WAVES ARMS DISTRACTINGLY* Like hello??!? How is this ok? You've got a FL who swears to kill all corrupt and evil officials and this prince here is abusing his power but he gets a free pass because something something plot reasons.
The show doesn't follow its own logic and makes such contrivances for the sake of its nonsensical plot. The main villain and side villains are also comical. Poor Carman Lee. You went from being my favorite Xiao Longnu to a cartoon evil concubine plotting and killing for power. The only thing missing is some moustache twirling. It's all so very typical and cliched. We don't need to discuss the Third Prince here. He's an idiot and has a punchable face.
The father, the Lord of Yongzhou, seems to be like some sort of all-seeing dumbo who knows how evil his wife and son are but just turns a blind eye and then is shocked when they force him to abdicate. If you hadn't been waffling for over 30 episodes about who your heir was maybe you shouldn't be so surprised that something like this would happen. Worst Father of the Year Award also goes to this loser. With all the resources at his disposal to investigate he still punishes the wrong people and gets swayed so easily.
And then there's the Tianshuang Sect who might be the most useless sect in all of existence. They literally cannot do anything right, get caught ALL the time and have the weakest disciples I've ever seen. How in the world did Bai Fengxi become one of the strongest fighters in jianghu by training with them?? How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie pop? The world may never know.
Bai Langhua is insufferable and fits the annoying, bratty sect sister trope to a T. This chick gets sick from being on a boat to the point that she's near death, begrudges Bai Fengxi for the littlest things and then literally stabs her in the back accusing her of murder. If you shake her, you'll probably hear a few screws rattling in that empty head. Nothing she does makes sense. She's a throwaway character whose circumstances are established to fit the plot and to push it along when it's needed. They could literally replace her with a teapot and it wouldn't make any difference to how much depth she has as a character.
WHAT I TOLERATED
The fight scenes were just ok. It's a bit overdone and far too showy for what is supposed to be a wuxia. Like, people have the strength of 50 full sized leaf blowers coming out of the palm of their hands. Everyone is always flying from some internal tornado force. There isn't much intricate choreography here, just sped up sword waving to try and enhance the feeling of a chaotic fight scene.
WHAT I LIKED
Feng Qiwu is BEST GIRL and her relationship with Bai Fengxi is so amazingly wholesome and cute and I could gush about it all day. Dare I say the chemistry between them was much more natural than between the main leads? How I wished this was a GL drama instead but that's never going to happen in our lifetime.
The costumes and cinematography is what I always come for in Cdramas and this doesn't disappoint. I love the clean look, lighting and beautiful sets. The female head pieces are also understated and don't look ridiculous. The male robes, especially for the princes, all look so elegant and cuts a very hourglass figure, funnily enough.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
This drama overpromises and underdelivers. The FL's story is sacrificed for the sake of the ML's boring backstory and side villains. Too many plotlines are introduced and then just dropped. Character motivations and actions are not consistent or sensible but everything is very pretty looking. Have you seen all the pretty actors? Keep looking over there, don't mind all the mess and duct tape that's keeping everything together. If you're bored, go for it. If you want some quality with your entertainment, look elsewhere.
The first few episodes were promising. There was a cool animation and everything giving us the backstory of Hei-Feng Bai-Xi and how they were the most powerful duo in jianghu. That was my expectation going in. That they'd be this powerful couple having lots of adventures and solving mysteries together.
And then the court drama started happening.
And then it's revealed that he's the prince and has all of this baggage and has an evil stepmother who wants to kill him, which just eerily reminds me of the Legend of Lu Zhen.
And then I just slowly started losing my interest because all of this has been done to death and done so much better in other shows.
WHAT I HATED
We are given such a rich backstory with these 7 kingdoms and sects and an overarching conspiracy over the fake token but none of that gets expanded on and for nearly half the show Feng Lanxi's story hijacks everyone else's. Powerful couple Hei-Feng Bai-Xi is really just the Feng Lanxi epic with his gluttonous bff/gf Bai Fengxi who's there to reinforce his Main Character status and make some cute jokes at his expense to show that he's really not as serious as he looks. Cue my eyes rolling into the back of my head.
Not only does Feng Lanxi have a secret identity but so does Bai Fengxi! But why did she also have a secret identity? Oh because she's a carefree girl. Yeah, they say that a million times throughout the show and her brother and father just happen to be so supportive of that, but it doesn't really explain anything!!!
We get no backstory for our FL, no character development, no plot development. NOTHING. She's the same in the end as she was in the beginning. In the same vein, all the male characters, including the ML, are just annoyingly ambitious with no other facet to them. The only outlier would probably be Feng Chang but he's kind of pathetic and actually a psychopath for murdering a bunch of people who know about his epilepsy and the show just conveniently glosses over it because he's such a loving brother to Feng Lanxi and *LOOK* tragic childhood! *WAVES ARMS DISTRACTINGLY* Like hello??!? How is this ok? You've got a FL who swears to kill all corrupt and evil officials and this prince here is abusing his power but he gets a free pass because something something plot reasons.
The show doesn't follow its own logic and makes such contrivances for the sake of its nonsensical plot. The main villain and side villains are also comical. Poor Carman Lee. You went from being my favorite Xiao Longnu to a cartoon evil concubine plotting and killing for power. The only thing missing is some moustache twirling. It's all so very typical and cliched. We don't need to discuss the Third Prince here. He's an idiot and has a punchable face.
The father, the Lord of Yongzhou, seems to be like some sort of all-seeing dumbo who knows how evil his wife and son are but just turns a blind eye and then is shocked when they force him to abdicate. If you hadn't been waffling for over 30 episodes about who your heir was maybe you shouldn't be so surprised that something like this would happen. Worst Father of the Year Award also goes to this loser. With all the resources at his disposal to investigate he still punishes the wrong people and gets swayed so easily.
And then there's the Tianshuang Sect who might be the most useless sect in all of existence. They literally cannot do anything right, get caught ALL the time and have the weakest disciples I've ever seen. How in the world did Bai Fengxi become one of the strongest fighters in jianghu by training with them?? How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie pop? The world may never know.
Bai Langhua is insufferable and fits the annoying, bratty sect sister trope to a T. This chick gets sick from being on a boat to the point that she's near death, begrudges Bai Fengxi for the littlest things and then literally stabs her in the back accusing her of murder. If you shake her, you'll probably hear a few screws rattling in that empty head. Nothing she does makes sense. She's a throwaway character whose circumstances are established to fit the plot and to push it along when it's needed. They could literally replace her with a teapot and it wouldn't make any difference to how much depth she has as a character.
WHAT I TOLERATED
The fight scenes were just ok. It's a bit overdone and far too showy for what is supposed to be a wuxia. Like, people have the strength of 50 full sized leaf blowers coming out of the palm of their hands. Everyone is always flying from some internal tornado force. There isn't much intricate choreography here, just sped up sword waving to try and enhance the feeling of a chaotic fight scene.
WHAT I LIKED
Feng Qiwu is BEST GIRL and her relationship with Bai Fengxi is so amazingly wholesome and cute and I could gush about it all day. Dare I say the chemistry between them was much more natural than between the main leads? How I wished this was a GL drama instead but that's never going to happen in our lifetime.
The costumes and cinematography is what I always come for in Cdramas and this doesn't disappoint. I love the clean look, lighting and beautiful sets. The female head pieces are also understated and don't look ridiculous. The male robes, especially for the princes, all look so elegant and cuts a very hourglass figure, funnily enough.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
This drama overpromises and underdelivers. The FL's story is sacrificed for the sake of the ML's boring backstory and side villains. Too many plotlines are introduced and then just dropped. Character motivations and actions are not consistent or sensible but everything is very pretty looking. Have you seen all the pretty actors? Keep looking over there, don't mind all the mess and duct tape that's keeping everything together. If you're bored, go for it. If you want some quality with your entertainment, look elsewhere.
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