Reposted from SPCNET Forums where I raved and ranted.
Please don't remind me.. heart sick.. I've ranted, I've angered, I am sure even the directors have ranted and angered over executive decisions and abandoned this to the outer forces.
It is just a great series butchered. If it was a bad series, fine, but sigh....
In retrospect, I will just say this. It should have been 70 episodes. It should not have been broadcast over HUnan. The statistics isn't helping. I hated the ending, I don't get the flying in the night. I don't see why it is a happy ending as BZH lives in fear she will remember the past. BUT the last scene before her death, she cursed him out of love, but it has no effect since like an angry woman rant rather than proper curse, she said what she said out of regret with a tinge of hope but in the end she said it out of frustration. She still loved him no matter what. The dialogue seems intact in her death scene.
What I hate is BZH saying he was wrong lar, he regretted lar.. because ever notice even at the end, he never did say out he loved her. In the end he maintained a shifu/disciple platonic albeit lots of touching relationship with her. In the end it went back to square one. But because this HQG is simple minded (faculties not all there) it is easier to deal with. That is not a happy ending. So to be happy a woman needs to be less smart because expect too much will only hurt you.
As for BZH, I feel sad for this dude. I love him, he felt so real, and it hurts that last episodes or so he is reduced to a crybaby. He doesn;t deal with emotions well, he is better off without it. Yeah suddenly he is in love. I take an alt interpretation. THe scar hurts because he feels sexual desire. I don't see it hurting before he tongue kissed her on the bed (censored of course so according to this series BZH just went down on his knees and sobbed hard because of nothing). The editing makes it all so terrible and trivial. But the characterisation doesn't convince me he ever truly really in love with her. It is more like deep regret, much like MXL and Qingshui of course the series meant otherwise. I hate how a great BZH is reduced to nothing and fans are rejoicing at this "happy" ending when I see it as the ultimate sad ending. I now understand how Mo Yan feels. I also see SXM's point who is the true BZH. BZH is fake BZH.
Poor MXL. Poor poor MXL and how come Qingshui is insane? Why make her insane? Is this her just dessert for one mistake? So NMT had it easy. I don't get NMT and never will and I hate how the series is trying to paint her. Her so called DFYQ punishment.. where? Can't see it. Back to Qingshui, she doesn't deserve this end.
HQG had it easy doesn't she? In the end she got what she wanted. She went back to the way things were. Unfortunately the price was too big for that. I hated how even to the end she is trying to force BZH to admit to whatever she wants him to admit and then forces him to kill her so he will remember her for the rest of his miserable life.
This series tones down on the book's suffering, correct? I love the acting, I love the costumes, I love the idea, I love the individual characters but I dislike the story, I dislike the narrative and I HATE the editing.
In the end story wise, I am never convinced by BZH's love or HQG's attitude towards love. This is not a love story. The book may be about obsession but the series tells me love kills, love destroys, love doesn't giveth, it taketh and in the end screw the world, because as long we have each other, the others' sacrifice is of no significance. All these thanks to the stupid editing. I am sure the original series would have made the story a more beautiful one.
Because of this editing, DFYQ has just resurrected himself and said "Boy was I glad I died before all the nonsense".
I have never seen a series' story butchered the way this was. Never. Now I know. Ciwen should have refused all promotion for this version or even broadcast it. But for practicality sake, they can't. It pains me, pains me so deeply.
Performance wise, Liying impresses until her HQG had a reboot. Everybody else impresses. Ma Ke was impressive, a breakout star but my special place in my heart is Wallace. His best performance todate and he spent most of the time sick or dying or puking blood or crying hard. Most expressive I have seen him when he started without much expression.
Like one of the post said, the problem is FGG painted such a perfect picture of BZH in the beginning, same as was this series and so his descend to being a mere mortal is in the end the most disappointing aspect. This series does not celebrate love; if anything it is a cautionary tale against love and against being too dead set on anything. Be like SXM. He is the perfect immortal, without hate, without prejudice, without love, without anger, without pain, all 100% compassion. He should attain his 10th level soon if he can detach from his inability to commit to anything.
UPDATES - 10.09.2015
I have calmed down and then see loads of leaked pictures and I am caught up again and after some thought I came to the following conclusion;
I remember the fated calamity is meant to bring the downfall of the one who meets the fated calamity. In a way it came true. At the end he is no longer Bai Zihua. He was a simple mortal like man controlled by his emotions and love and fear for HQG. He is no longer seeing beyond their small house and has in effect turned his back from the world preferring a quiet life with a woman he loves and yet won't marry and prefer to maintain the way things were back to square one. So in a way, he has his downfall except he is willing to have that downfall. Is he happier? I am not quite sure. Well she is.
I am sorry if I sound sorta bitter. The author has invested years and her love and imagination to these character, I just invested approx 50 hours of my time and attention towards the characters. The more I remember, the more I see the full picture, the more I wonder do I really love this series as in genuine love? Because when I heard about the book, I disliked the story. I felt it was such a punishing story that has no rewards. But as things were explained and I see this series toning things a bit down in terms of characterisation, I love it until the editing got to me and in the end I see the 2nd act of the 1st broadcast version as the worst representation of the story by author and the 3rd act, the ending nailed the coffin for me. I fail to see how it is a romantic nor happy ending nor do I see as a whole how this is a story about sacrifice and love. All I see is a story with a serious problem; it can't stop being tragic for tragic sake and it doesn't help that the editing left a lot of questions unanswered. A proper director's cut will address all that issues. This series is capable of bettering the book's contents; winding down on the creepiness and all that. But what I can't stand is from the book to the series, almost everyone is putting HQG's suffering on BZH. I feel this is the author's weakest point. She loved BZH and yet the things she wrote gave people a different perspective. There are many ways to bring downfall to someone but the way BZH spectacularly fell to earth because of love and everyone celebrating that to me is the view of a young person. Disappointingly the series did not make the adjustment in that area. Wallace was right; in his interview he said BZH's love requires a certain level of maturity to see but unfortunately the series went along the teenager view and made it so darn obvious.
I thought Chinese Paladin III's ending was poignant and much more beautiful in a story about 2 people where fated to be together but destined to be apart.
In short I am just really really really angry that my BZH is destroyed. And I blame HQG.
