Period Revenge C-drama Spring of the Blade with Zhou Ye and Xu Kai Limps to Finish and Hit with Low 5.4 Douban Ratings in Yet Another Disappointment
I feel like between Zhou Ye and Xu Kai neither have had a well performing C-drama in each of their last forays and joining together for this outing in Spring of the Blade just continued their lackluster performances. The drama has earned it’s low 5.4 Douban opening ratings after a slew of criticism from the start with the dumb script, poor directing, bad acting and chemistry, and overall giving off budget drama vibes. This drama is like the polar opposite same time slot airing bizarro twin to Against the Current and it’s strong reception and praise, a good reminder that it’s really hard to make a good drama and getting popular stars in the typical revenge plot doesn’t guarantee anything.
Zhou Ye is a delusional actress who tries to bite more than she can chew. Her face is beautiful, yes, but her acting skills are super weak. However, she and her agency thinks she can pull of female centric dramas like Legend of the Female General and Dream of Golden Years. Needless to say they all flopped lol. She should just stick to simple roles in romance dramas where hopefully she gets a charismatic co-star can carry her before she even attempts to try other genres.
No idea about Xu Kai. I have not managed to finish a drama of his ever since The Legends and Arsenal Military Academy. I feel like his acting is okay but his choice in scripts is not.
The revenge within a revenge enveloped within another revenge was getting confusing. And the hidden secret was a bit underwhelming. For the low amount of episodes it was still redundant. And the main actress this time around truly did a poor job in her expressions as a troubled woman on the verge of obsessive revenge. She felt like a robot at times and when she was supposed to be brooding it looked like she was on the verge of laughing and smiling and not quite smirking lol. She did a little better in the second half but man she was bad in the acting this time around. The male lead was half and half you can see he still lacks a bit so their chemistry was touch and go. But it felt rushed in some places and slow in other. Maybe this was supposed to be longer and the editing or flow might have seemed a bit off… I don’t know 🤷🏻♀️. I give it a 7 out of 10. Cause the story overall was not that bad.
I have never been able to finish any drama where Xu Kai is the male lead. The curse continues with this one.
Not a fan of Xu Kai, but I reckon his work in the drama Eight Hundred early this year was met with praises, as his role there is rather different from most of his other roles. It was not an idol drama, he performed rugged with tanned skin, and I guess there was very little to no filter? The Douban rate for that one is 6.8, which while nothing spectacular can be considered quite decent.
same i love to see him act in more serious dramas. i’ll definitely check this out. he has a really nice voice and eyes acting. suprisingly, he isn’t unbearable to look like some ultra skinny to thin idol actors.
And then despite these repeated below expectation results, they will still give her scripts and cast her in another drama and the viewers will still see her acting like a toddler throwing a tantrum in dramatic scenes with her mouth doing the sad puppy acting
It isn’t in itself that difficult to make a successful drama, but it takes long and diligent work and love for the craft. Just hammering together a plot around a popular theme and throwing in a few traffic stars won’t do it.
Iqiyi love to take (Ai-)shortcuts at every turn so it is little wonder that most of their recent dramas flop rather badly.
Couldn’t even finish the 1st episode
A better rating than what I expected given all the commentary I’ve read and how the production may have had financial/budgeting issues leading to some wonky episodes. I wonder if the novel is better. This drama’s screenwriter also doesn’t seem like the type who would adapt such a story and doesn’t have much drama-screenwriting experience either.
It seemed to do well on the mydramalist ratings, which seems to add like 2-3 points if there are enough romantic tension and kisses, so I’m sure international viewers who are more romance-biased will come back to this.
Well onto the next drama!
the visuals of the leads look terrible.
He is only a passable actor so it’s not a wonder he can’t carry her, who is downright awful. But she has her massive sponsor so she can keep on destroying dramas and nothing will change – she will keep being the FL. That is cent and one of the major reasons why it’s in a cold period.
It lacks the gripping factor inherent in fast-paced C-dramas, so I haven’t been able to make any further progress. Zhou Ye and Xu Kai’s performances don’t add any value either.
I enjoyed Against The Current. It has directing issues, and the writing has trended up and down in certain arcs. But the core storyline and cast’s work kept me on the lookout for every episode. I was glad to see Li Meng again.
Audience for C-dramas is more shallowness-oriented (including Western viewers) when compared with K-dramas’ one, lol. I saw quite a few comments expressing disapproval of Tan Songyun’s looks, even though Against The Current doesn’t require her to look pretty.
Ren Min and Zhang Wan Yi do well in projects where their looks have nothing to do with their character’s persona, but even so, viewers don’t seem satisfied. Lol. K-drama audience do have their expectations and preferences clearly defined, to the point where several actors with ordinary appearances have delivered strong performances in hit dramas, e.g., Park Eun-bin, So Ji-sub, Kim Mu-yeol or Kong Hyo-jin. There are niches and genres for everyone, but it seems hard to accept this when it comes to Chinese entertainment.
hi, long time no see.
agree. it’s not a xianxia.
this story clearly points out that the female lead’s beauty lies in her hearth.
her virtues are what enabled her to go ahead even though she didn’t take a path for revenge.
she tried to live as best she could 🙂
Is So Ji Sub considered ordinary looking? He’s older now, yes, but I remember him having so many fans (even male fans because he used to rap and has manly, action roles) around 2004 to 2015 (Ha Ji Won drama in Bali to the Shin Minah exercise drama).
As for Gong Hyo Jin, she leans more often on the ordinary look for dramas but has star power and more importantly, the rare gift of choosing good scripts and balancing it out with those that have massive appeal.
@Snails.
So Ji Sub has built up a fanbase thanks to his strong screen presence (as you yourself point out), but he has never exactly been known for being good-looking. He even joked about his face being easily recognizable because of how simple it is. LOL.