Final thoughts on "The Bride With White Hair"
Happy 42nd birthday to Nicky Wu! Since I had no other way to express my well wishes, I finished watching The Bride With White Hair, which actually finished its run this past weekend but which I hadn't been able to catch up with until now.
Bullet points of pros and cons, because that's all I have time for:
Pros
* I'd say the first 30 episodes were pretty engaging -- I was interested in what was going to happen and I didn't feel like I was wasting my time watching it. Important events and important revelations were happening at a reasonable pace, and I didn't feel the need to fast-forward much.
* I adored the relationship between Yue Mingke (Louis Fan) and Tie Shanhu (Liu Sitong). It developed naturally, and they offered a good dose of humor and romance in a story that was pretty much just angsty drama when it came to the other relationships. What I loved most was seeing how Yue Mingke was initially resistant to their being together, since he lives a dangerous life and all, and how this resistance was reflected in his body language -- for the longest time, he couldn't bring himself to touch her, whether it was to give her a hug or even to pat her on the shoulder in consolation. I've said before that I'm not a fan of kissing in dramas, especially not in wuxia, so this tickled my shipper's heart just fine.
* Nice music. There are several background music pieces that I'd love to have if they release an OST. I'm still not that fond of the ending theme, because I don't think the singing is done that well, but the opening theme is an excellent choice for an wuxia drama, and I would definitely switch my ringtone to it if I weren't so attached to Peter Ho's "Remember Loved."
Neither Pro Nor Con
* The acting was, for the most part, fairly solid. No one stood out as being particularly good or particularly bad. This should probably be a pro, but I was expecting much better, so this remains in the middle.
* Wang Zhaoxi was an interesting character, but I think they could have done more with him. I also liked his relationship with Meng Qiuxia, since it was a (relatively) functional relationship and they were cute together at times. But again, they could have done more with it.
Cons
* The fighting... was not my cup of tea. I don't know if I'm just picky about my fighting in wuxia dramas, but the kung fu in here was much too flashy. I'm not even picking on the CGI, which wasn't impressive but at least not painful. It's just that anyone who reached a high level of martial arts ability would just end up swirling colorful vortexes at their enemies. Lian Nishang, the titular bride with white hair, would even casually blast enemies with laser-like beams from her palms. I think the reason I liked Yue Mingke so much was because his fighting style was pretty normal, and so much more believable because of it.
* I had a very difficult time caring for any of the characters apart from Yue Mingke and Tie Shanhu, who ended up being my OTP despite the fact that the whole series is supposed to be about Zhuo Yihang and Lian Nishang. I'm pretty sure if Yihang hadn't been acted by Nicky Wu, I wouldn't have cared about him at all. As for Nishang (Ma Su), I found her sympathetic in the earlier episodes, but afterward it just seemed like she was PMSing 24/7, to the point where I wondered why she even had followers willing to stay with her. I mean, unrequited love sucks, yes, especially if your lover stabs you in the heart and then your hair turns white from grief, but honestly.
* The ending was...weird. The last two episodes I'd say were waaay too rushed. It's like they couldn't decide who they wanted to be the big baddie: Murong Chong or (SPOILER) Geng Shaonan. So both of those plots got dragged out and then finished off much too quickly. Because, of course, the main plot is the relationship between Yihang and Nishang... but then they didn't leave enough time for that, so that was resolved unsatisfactorily as well.
* Speaking of the ending, wtf at the relationship between (spoiler) Geng Shaonan and He Ehua (I finally remembered her name!). This is the kind of messed-up relationship I would have written back in middle school. GENG SHAONAN EFFING KILLED (spoiler!) XIN LONGZI. How do you just forget about that in less than one episode!?!?
* I think I figured out in about five seconds that the elderly lady at the bottom of the cliff was (spoiler) Ling Muhua. Which made the reveal kinda...dumb, lol. Tbh, the only thing I liked about the cliff-bottom scenes was Huo Tiandu, because whoever played him looks fiiiine in wuxia clothing.
Anyway, I know there are more cons listed than pros, but this drama leans more toward good than toward bad for me. It's just that the last ten or so episodes got a little out of hand, which is always frustrating and tends to drag my impression of the entire thing way down. The first half is definitely rewatchable, but for everything after that, I'll probably end up watching it on 2X speed or skipping it altogether.
Bullet points of pros and cons, because that's all I have time for:
Pros
* I'd say the first 30 episodes were pretty engaging -- I was interested in what was going to happen and I didn't feel like I was wasting my time watching it. Important events and important revelations were happening at a reasonable pace, and I didn't feel the need to fast-forward much.
* I adored the relationship between Yue Mingke (Louis Fan) and Tie Shanhu (Liu Sitong). It developed naturally, and they offered a good dose of humor and romance in a story that was pretty much just angsty drama when it came to the other relationships. What I loved most was seeing how Yue Mingke was initially resistant to their being together, since he lives a dangerous life and all, and how this resistance was reflected in his body language -- for the longest time, he couldn't bring himself to touch her, whether it was to give her a hug or even to pat her on the shoulder in consolation. I've said before that I'm not a fan of kissing in dramas, especially not in wuxia, so this tickled my shipper's heart just fine.
* Nice music. There are several background music pieces that I'd love to have if they release an OST. I'm still not that fond of the ending theme, because I don't think the singing is done that well, but the opening theme is an excellent choice for an wuxia drama, and I would definitely switch my ringtone to it if I weren't so attached to Peter Ho's "Remember Loved."
Neither Pro Nor Con
* The acting was, for the most part, fairly solid. No one stood out as being particularly good or particularly bad. This should probably be a pro, but I was expecting much better, so this remains in the middle.
* Wang Zhaoxi was an interesting character, but I think they could have done more with him. I also liked his relationship with Meng Qiuxia, since it was a (relatively) functional relationship and they were cute together at times. But again, they could have done more with it.
Cons
* The fighting... was not my cup of tea. I don't know if I'm just picky about my fighting in wuxia dramas, but the kung fu in here was much too flashy. I'm not even picking on the CGI, which wasn't impressive but at least not painful. It's just that anyone who reached a high level of martial arts ability would just end up swirling colorful vortexes at their enemies. Lian Nishang, the titular bride with white hair, would even casually blast enemies with laser-like beams from her palms. I think the reason I liked Yue Mingke so much was because his fighting style was pretty normal, and so much more believable because of it.
* I had a very difficult time caring for any of the characters apart from Yue Mingke and Tie Shanhu, who ended up being my OTP despite the fact that the whole series is supposed to be about Zhuo Yihang and Lian Nishang. I'm pretty sure if Yihang hadn't been acted by Nicky Wu, I wouldn't have cared about him at all. As for Nishang (Ma Su), I found her sympathetic in the earlier episodes, but afterward it just seemed like she was PMSing 24/7, to the point where I wondered why she even had followers willing to stay with her. I mean, unrequited love sucks, yes, especially if your lover stabs you in the heart and then your hair turns white from grief, but honestly.
* The ending was...weird. The last two episodes I'd say were waaay too rushed. It's like they couldn't decide who they wanted to be the big baddie: Murong Chong or (SPOILER) Geng Shaonan. So both of those plots got dragged out and then finished off much too quickly. Because, of course, the main plot is the relationship between Yihang and Nishang... but then they didn't leave enough time for that, so that was resolved unsatisfactorily as well.
* Speaking of the ending, wtf at the relationship between (spoiler) Geng Shaonan and He Ehua (I finally remembered her name!). This is the kind of messed-up relationship I would have written back in middle school. GENG SHAONAN EFFING KILLED (spoiler!) XIN LONGZI. How do you just forget about that in less than one episode!?!?
* I think I figured out in about five seconds that the elderly lady at the bottom of the cliff was (spoiler) Ling Muhua. Which made the reveal kinda...dumb, lol. Tbh, the only thing I liked about the cliff-bottom scenes was Huo Tiandu, because whoever played him looks fiiiine in wuxia clothing.
Anyway, I know there are more cons listed than pros, but this drama leans more toward good than toward bad for me. It's just that the last ten or so episodes got a little out of hand, which is always frustrating and tends to drag my impression of the entire thing way down. The first half is definitely rewatchable, but for everything after that, I'll probably end up watching it on 2X speed or skipping it altogether.