Hey you, what do you see? Something beautiful or something free?
After some back and forth and up and down, I finally finished Handsome Siblings.
Plot
After being jilted (is that even the right word? Jilted would imply that this person was in a relationship to begin with, right?) by Some Guy, Jilted Woman hatched this convoluted plan to raise one of Some Guy's twin sons and set them up to unknowingly murder each other if both twins survive long enough and are stupid enough to want to fight each other to the death once they reach legal fighting age in Ancient China (18).
Another contribution from Jabba's emo book of poetry.
Derp...I guess they are just that stupid.
Cast and Characters
Some Guy's Twin Son #1, Jiang Xiaoyu (a.k.a. Xiaoyu'er) is played ably by Chen Zheyuan.
By ably, I mean that he plays a carefree, trickster character and I didn't want to constantly kick him in the head. He was insufferable in episodes 1-10. But I think once you make it past episode 10, he gets better.
Some Guy's Twin Son #2, Hua Wuque is played like a mouth-breather wooden muppet by Hu Yitian.
Both the character and the acting are insufferable. Hua Wuque is described as some perfect human being and self-proclaimed gentleman. Since it's olden days, his "gentlemanly" ways is just to act condescending towards women.
Screw you, Hua Wuque. Women don't need your condescending ally "good guy" act.
And his acting...Yeah, mouth-breather wooden muppet is probably the closest description I can give it.
Vicky Liang does okay as #2's love interest, Tie Xinlan.
She started off as a fairly interesting character but sucked towards the end after pairing off with muppet mouth Hua Wuque.
Unfortunately, Hu Yitian's expressionless acting is contagious and made Vicky Liang also similarly expressionless by the end.
I very much liked Liang Jie's (The Eternal Love) Su Ying.
The character is refreshing, in that she's intelligent and speaks whatever is on her mind. It's a good change from ancient drama female characters that hem and haw and won't talk about their feelings.
Also very enjoyable to watch is Zhou Junchao as slimeball villain (not the jilted one) Jiang Yulan.
Pros and Cons
Pro: The Beautiful People
I think this drama has some of the prettiest actresses I've seen in a long time. And the bonus is that they're all styled differently so it's easy to tell them apart. As characters, they're also awesome and most of them don't need Hua Wuque's condescending nice guy act.
Here's a pic spam of pretty women.
I like Su Ying a good deal and I also like how Liang Jie is willing to be a very expressive actress.
As mentioned before, Tie Xinlan used to be a good character but then was bogged down by having to pair up with Muppet Head Hua Wuque.
Murong Jiu.
Her cousin, Little Fairy.
So boss!
Tie Pinggu
Even the villains are pretty good:
And two Very Patient Villains:
Neutral: The Ten Great Villains
Story goes that Xiaoyu'er was raised by five of the Great Villains in Villain Valley. I frankly think those five are the least interesting of the villains. I much prefer:
Evil Gambling Ghost, who can make a bet on anything.
Xiao Mimi
Ouyang Ding/Ouyang Dang
I would say those three (the Ouyang brothers apparently count as one villain) are fairly interesting. On the other hand, the five villains that get more screen time (because they raised Xiaoyu'er) are less interesting to me.
Con: The Stiff Male Lead (get your head out of the gutter!)
As a character, I assume Hua Wuque is that weird kid that grew up in a cult but doesn't know it. So he's supposed to be the oddball that goes out into the world and realizes that he's a weirdo but learns to be less of a weirdo by the end of the story. So I can excuse some woodenness in acting in the initial part of the story.
But Hu Yitian has that one expression above pretty much all the time and then occasionally this angry expression below:
To make things worse, I just can't take this guy's stupid Muppet Head.
I know I'm heaping irrational scorn on this poor guy, who is honestly not terrible looking. But his overbite makes him look like Kermit in profile. I suppose at least he tries to close his mouth so his mouth-breathing is not super obvious. All of that added up, I just can't take this character seriously.
Pro: A Wuxia story not about the main character accidentally becoming an awesome martial artist
Since it is Wuxia, there are some elements of that. But I like how it's not the main focus of the story. Jiang Xiaoyu goes through most of the story relying on his wits to get out of jams. Even after accidentally or otherwise learning various martial arts, he still relies on his wits to resolve issues rather than fighting his way out of them.
Con: Fight choreography *sigh*
Given that the story is a very traditional Wuxia story, one expects good fight choreography. But the drama gives us...qi. Lots and lots of OP qi-usage.
Qi is a part of almost every single traditional Wuxia story. The better your martial arts, the more qi you have. In some versions of stories, qi just helps the character exert more strength, have a little more extra speed, heal faster, get rid of poisons. Basically, they enhance their fighting skills.
In this drama, qi becomes so OP'ed. I'm going to use a Star Wars comparison here. In the original trilogy, the Force is an energy that enhances the Jedi's fighting skills. In the new trilogy, the Force is awesome and can bring people back from the dead. Basically, this drama does to qi what the new Star Wars does to the Force.
I don't even know why people bother fighting in this drama. Hua Wuque and his cult has this qi ability that basically creates a force bubble around them that stops all attacks. Then by waving their arms about, they're able to manipulate the force field and push people away.
Hua Wuque and his "aunts"'s qi can stop swords and explodes outwards to blast people away.
They are also so fast that they can appear as three, four, five different people coming at you from all different directions.
Is there even a point in dueling these people?
And it's not just Hua Wuque that's OP'ed. There's also Yan Nantian. I guess the only way to fight OP'ed qi is to have OP'ed qi.
Or really bad indigestion.
I only ever read one Gu Long novel and I don't recall if he ever describes characters' martial arts in this way. But cinematically, I can't believe people think this silly qi force bubble thing looks good in any way! The only reason I can think of that filmmakers do this is to avoid having to deal with fight choreography and stunts. It looks incredibly silly. The characters are ridiculously OP'ed. And did I mention it looks ridiculously silly?
Why even bother fighting Yan Nantian? He can stare away projectiles!!! At no point did I think Yan Nantian, supposedly the best swordsman in this story, has cool martial arts skills. Everything he does makes my eyes roll.
Logically, their OP'ed martial arts make no sense either. At one point, Yaoyue (the Jilted Woman) leveled up to the highest level of the martial arts she's practicing.
Her sister explains that it's because she's let go of all emotions. She couldn't achieve that level herself because...
LOL at their skeptical expressions. They're probably like, 'please, both of you are super emotional'.
So how has Yaoyue let go of all emotions? She's super obsessed about this crazy revenge plot!
I think the only person qualified to level up to level nine is super emotionless Hua Wuque.
The saving grace in martial arts is that nameless people's fights are decent:
WTF: Real/Fake Yan Nantian - spoilers
Midway through the story, Xiaoyu'er finds out that Yan Nantian has returned. He was injured and held captive in Villain Valley for 18 years and now he's back to kick ass and take names. But randomly, Yan Nantian is killed by Jiang Yulan! Oh noes. Xiaoyu'er rushes to dying Yan Nantian's side, being very upset about his death. But then Xiaoyu'er reveals that he knew all along that Yan Nantian isn't actually Yan Nantian, but some other famous swordsman that was entrusted by Yan Nantian to carry out good deeds in his name while the real Yan Nantian recuperates. Then towards the end of the drama, the real Yan Nantian just shows up randomly to do things.
I don't have an issue with the twist, but the reveal was just done very clumsily. They never talk about this random famous swordsman before and it was just brought up out of the blue. Again, I wonder how much of it is the source material and how much is the drama's editing, which is a different type of clumsy than China's usual clunky editing. Scenes are actually cut well here, but some story elements feel rushed.
Asides from the Yan Nantian reveal, the five Great Villains die off-screen. I don't even care about them and think they hog too much screen time. But it's just odd editing. One moment, they're just fine. Then Xiaoyu'er finds one of the dying Great Villains who reveal in flashback how they turned on each other for treasure.
Those are two instances of clumsy editing in this drama even though I felt like there were a lot more. It's not as if I wish this drama was longer, but it just feels like random things that seem like they would be important happen off screen rather than on.
On the other hand, there are side stories that go on for too long. One of the side stories that bog down the first 10 episodes is some thing where Hua Wuque intervenes between two families that hate one another and some sort of failed romance between the two families. It has no bearing on the rest of the story and none of the characters show up again. So it's baffling to me that it went on for so long. It felt like the first 10 episodes could've been condensed into five and then many devote an extra two episodes to deal with the real/fake Yan Nantian and the five Great Villains' deaths.
Pro: Jiang Yulan - spoilers
As a side villain, I find Jiang Yulan very amusing to watch.
When he first appears in the story, he's a random captive Xiaoyu'er runs into in Xiao Mimi's sex dungeon. His sliminess became pretty funny. One one hand, he also wants to escape the sex dungeon. On the other hand, he's a coward at heart.
After escaping together, he spends most of his time trying to kill Xiaoyu'er since Xiao Mimi chained them together and the only way to be rid of one another is to cut off the other's hand.
Altogether, I would say the reason the drama got better from episode 11 onwards is because of the appearance of Jiang Yulan. He serves as a good foil to Xiaoyu'er with each trying to get the better of the other.
I also like how for Jiang Yulan and Xiaoyu'er, they styled parts of those actors' real hair into the wigs. The result is that these two characters, at least, don't have that face-lift tight wig look.
Pro: Music
While not the best Wuxia music out there, I do think both the beginning and end songs of the drama are pretty good.
And that's that! I would say parts of this drama were very enjoyable - Jiang Yulan and Xiaoyu'er when they're together, some of the Great Villains, the martial arts world described here, the kick-ass women.
Some of it is over the top but in a Wuxia sort of way and therefore acceptable to me - the crazy patient revenge plot, the quirky side villains.
I would put most of the cons on the execution - bad editing (time spent too long on one story while skimming others), terrible fight choreography (OP'ed qi), bad acting on the part of Hu Yitian.
After watching this, I do have a more favorable opinion of Gu Long than before. I'll chalk it up to having only read The Eleventh Son, which I really didn't like. I probably just need to read this book.
Plot
After being jilted (is that even the right word? Jilted would imply that this person was in a relationship to begin with, right?) by Some Guy, Jilted Woman hatched this convoluted plan to raise one of Some Guy's twin sons and set them up to unknowingly murder each other if both twins survive long enough and are stupid enough to want to fight each other to the death once they reach legal fighting age in Ancient China (18).
Another contribution from Jabba's emo book of poetry.
Derp...I guess they are just that stupid.
Cast and Characters
Some Guy's Twin Son #1, Jiang Xiaoyu (a.k.a. Xiaoyu'er) is played ably by Chen Zheyuan.
By ably, I mean that he plays a carefree, trickster character and I didn't want to constantly kick him in the head. He was insufferable in episodes 1-10. But I think once you make it past episode 10, he gets better.
Some Guy's Twin Son #2, Hua Wuque is played like a mouth-breather wooden muppet by Hu Yitian.
Both the character and the acting are insufferable. Hua Wuque is described as some perfect human being and self-proclaimed gentleman. Since it's olden days, his "gentlemanly" ways is just to act condescending towards women.
Screw you, Hua Wuque. Women don't need your condescending ally "good guy" act.
And his acting...Yeah, mouth-breather wooden muppet is probably the closest description I can give it.
Vicky Liang does okay as #2's love interest, Tie Xinlan.
She started off as a fairly interesting character but sucked towards the end after pairing off with muppet mouth Hua Wuque.
Unfortunately, Hu Yitian's expressionless acting is contagious and made Vicky Liang also similarly expressionless by the end.
I very much liked Liang Jie's (The Eternal Love) Su Ying.
The character is refreshing, in that she's intelligent and speaks whatever is on her mind. It's a good change from ancient drama female characters that hem and haw and won't talk about their feelings.
Also very enjoyable to watch is Zhou Junchao as slimeball villain (not the jilted one) Jiang Yulan.
Pros and Cons
Pro: The Beautiful People
I think this drama has some of the prettiest actresses I've seen in a long time. And the bonus is that they're all styled differently so it's easy to tell them apart. As characters, they're also awesome and most of them don't need Hua Wuque's condescending nice guy act.
Here's a pic spam of pretty women.
I like Su Ying a good deal and I also like how Liang Jie is willing to be a very expressive actress.
As mentioned before, Tie Xinlan used to be a good character but then was bogged down by having to pair up with Muppet Head Hua Wuque.
Murong Jiu.
Her cousin, Little Fairy.
So boss!
Tie Pinggu
Even the villains are pretty good:
And two Very Patient Villains:
Neutral: The Ten Great Villains
Story goes that Xiaoyu'er was raised by five of the Great Villains in Villain Valley. I frankly think those five are the least interesting of the villains. I much prefer:
Evil Gambling Ghost, who can make a bet on anything.
Xiao Mimi
Ouyang Ding/Ouyang Dang
I would say those three (the Ouyang brothers apparently count as one villain) are fairly interesting. On the other hand, the five villains that get more screen time (because they raised Xiaoyu'er) are less interesting to me.
Con: The Stiff Male Lead (get your head out of the gutter!)
As a character, I assume Hua Wuque is that weird kid that grew up in a cult but doesn't know it. So he's supposed to be the oddball that goes out into the world and realizes that he's a weirdo but learns to be less of a weirdo by the end of the story. So I can excuse some woodenness in acting in the initial part of the story.
But Hu Yitian has that one expression above pretty much all the time and then occasionally this angry expression below:
To make things worse, I just can't take this guy's stupid Muppet Head.
I know I'm heaping irrational scorn on this poor guy, who is honestly not terrible looking. But his overbite makes him look like Kermit in profile. I suppose at least he tries to close his mouth so his mouth-breathing is not super obvious. All of that added up, I just can't take this character seriously.
Pro: A Wuxia story not about the main character accidentally becoming an awesome martial artist
Since it is Wuxia, there are some elements of that. But I like how it's not the main focus of the story. Jiang Xiaoyu goes through most of the story relying on his wits to get out of jams. Even after accidentally or otherwise learning various martial arts, he still relies on his wits to resolve issues rather than fighting his way out of them.
Con: Fight choreography *sigh*
Given that the story is a very traditional Wuxia story, one expects good fight choreography. But the drama gives us...qi. Lots and lots of OP qi-usage.
Qi is a part of almost every single traditional Wuxia story. The better your martial arts, the more qi you have. In some versions of stories, qi just helps the character exert more strength, have a little more extra speed, heal faster, get rid of poisons. Basically, they enhance their fighting skills.
In this drama, qi becomes so OP'ed. I'm going to use a Star Wars comparison here. In the original trilogy, the Force is an energy that enhances the Jedi's fighting skills. In the new trilogy, the Force is awesome and can bring people back from the dead. Basically, this drama does to qi what the new Star Wars does to the Force.
I don't even know why people bother fighting in this drama. Hua Wuque and his cult has this qi ability that basically creates a force bubble around them that stops all attacks. Then by waving their arms about, they're able to manipulate the force field and push people away.
Hua Wuque and his "aunts"'s qi can stop swords and explodes outwards to blast people away.
They are also so fast that they can appear as three, four, five different people coming at you from all different directions.
Is there even a point in dueling these people?
And it's not just Hua Wuque that's OP'ed. There's also Yan Nantian. I guess the only way to fight OP'ed qi is to have OP'ed qi.
Or really bad indigestion.
I only ever read one Gu Long novel and I don't recall if he ever describes characters' martial arts in this way. But cinematically, I can't believe people think this silly qi force bubble thing looks good in any way! The only reason I can think of that filmmakers do this is to avoid having to deal with fight choreography and stunts. It looks incredibly silly. The characters are ridiculously OP'ed. And did I mention it looks ridiculously silly?
Why even bother fighting Yan Nantian? He can stare away projectiles!!! At no point did I think Yan Nantian, supposedly the best swordsman in this story, has cool martial arts skills. Everything he does makes my eyes roll.
Logically, their OP'ed martial arts make no sense either. At one point, Yaoyue (the Jilted Woman) leveled up to the highest level of the martial arts she's practicing.
Her sister explains that it's because she's let go of all emotions. She couldn't achieve that level herself because...
LOL at their skeptical expressions. They're probably like, 'please, both of you are super emotional'.
So how has Yaoyue let go of all emotions? She's super obsessed about this crazy revenge plot!
I think the only person qualified to level up to level nine is super emotionless Hua Wuque.
The saving grace in martial arts is that nameless people's fights are decent:
WTF: Real/Fake Yan Nantian - spoilers
Midway through the story, Xiaoyu'er finds out that Yan Nantian has returned. He was injured and held captive in Villain Valley for 18 years and now he's back to kick ass and take names. But randomly, Yan Nantian is killed by Jiang Yulan! Oh noes. Xiaoyu'er rushes to dying Yan Nantian's side, being very upset about his death. But then Xiaoyu'er reveals that he knew all along that Yan Nantian isn't actually Yan Nantian, but some other famous swordsman that was entrusted by Yan Nantian to carry out good deeds in his name while the real Yan Nantian recuperates. Then towards the end of the drama, the real Yan Nantian just shows up randomly to do things.
I don't have an issue with the twist, but the reveal was just done very clumsily. They never talk about this random famous swordsman before and it was just brought up out of the blue. Again, I wonder how much of it is the source material and how much is the drama's editing, which is a different type of clumsy than China's usual clunky editing. Scenes are actually cut well here, but some story elements feel rushed.
Asides from the Yan Nantian reveal, the five Great Villains die off-screen. I don't even care about them and think they hog too much screen time. But it's just odd editing. One moment, they're just fine. Then Xiaoyu'er finds one of the dying Great Villains who reveal in flashback how they turned on each other for treasure.
Those are two instances of clumsy editing in this drama even though I felt like there were a lot more. It's not as if I wish this drama was longer, but it just feels like random things that seem like they would be important happen off screen rather than on.
On the other hand, there are side stories that go on for too long. One of the side stories that bog down the first 10 episodes is some thing where Hua Wuque intervenes between two families that hate one another and some sort of failed romance between the two families. It has no bearing on the rest of the story and none of the characters show up again. So it's baffling to me that it went on for so long. It felt like the first 10 episodes could've been condensed into five and then many devote an extra two episodes to deal with the real/fake Yan Nantian and the five Great Villains' deaths.
Pro: Jiang Yulan - spoilers
As a side villain, I find Jiang Yulan very amusing to watch.
When he first appears in the story, he's a random captive Xiaoyu'er runs into in Xiao Mimi's sex dungeon. His sliminess became pretty funny. One one hand, he also wants to escape the sex dungeon. On the other hand, he's a coward at heart.
After escaping together, he spends most of his time trying to kill Xiaoyu'er since Xiao Mimi chained them together and the only way to be rid of one another is to cut off the other's hand.
Altogether, I would say the reason the drama got better from episode 11 onwards is because of the appearance of Jiang Yulan. He serves as a good foil to Xiaoyu'er with each trying to get the better of the other.
I also like how for Jiang Yulan and Xiaoyu'er, they styled parts of those actors' real hair into the wigs. The result is that these two characters, at least, don't have that face-lift tight wig look.
Pro: Music
While not the best Wuxia music out there, I do think both the beginning and end songs of the drama are pretty good.
Click to viewAnd that's that! I would say parts of this drama were very enjoyable - Jiang Yulan and Xiaoyu'er when they're together, some of the Great Villains, the martial arts world described here, the kick-ass women.
Some of it is over the top but in a Wuxia sort of way and therefore acceptable to me - the crazy patient revenge plot, the quirky side villains.
I would put most of the cons on the execution - bad editing (time spent too long on one story while skimming others), terrible fight choreography (OP'ed qi), bad acting on the part of Hu Yitian.
After watching this, I do have a more favorable opinion of Gu Long than before. I'll chalk it up to having only read The Eleventh Son, which I really didn't like. I probably just need to read this book.