So apparently, somebody decided that there aren’t enough “Shifu-s” out there, or that Shifu-s are not being scandalous and tortured enough. Hence, we end up with this: The Journey of Chongzi.
EPISODE 1 RECAP (and a bit of 2)
A war between demons and celestials breaks out. The demon king’s wife appears at the last minute and sacrifices herself to stop her husband and end the battle. Peace is restored.
Years later, a girl named Chongzi (Yang Chaoyue) is seen racing across a city’s street. She is an orphan and a beggar. She has stolen some steamed buns and is caught and now hanged by the wrists from a building by a group of street bullies. She cries out and curses the immortals who are paying no attention to the suffering of humans.
I don’t think this girl is doing enough to convey the pain of having your wrists bear your entire body weight, but OK…
Luo Yinfan (Jeremy Tsui) is this drama’s slender, white-robed male lead.
At the moment, he is hanging out with his even more slender friend in a restaurant. By the way, why did you dub Jeremy Tsui’s voice, people? His real voice is awesome, let him use it!
He hears Chongzi’s cry and swoops over to save her from falling to the ground. Then he knocks her out and leaves her some food to eat.
The next day, Chongzi runs into the same bullies. This time, during a rage, she releases some strange power that draws the attention of the other slender guy. So HE swoops down to help her and also gives her some food.
He gives her a kind of palm tattoo too that’s supposed to protect her. Well, you have two choices now, Chongzi. Which guy would you suffer for? Do you want one hair strand at the front or a clean forehead?
Before the man leaves, he tells Chongzi of an immortal school that’s accepting applications right now. If she wants a place to stay and a chance to educate herself, this is it.
Of course Chongzi wants it. She sets out for this school and gets ready to take a series of life-threatening entrance tests.
Then, guess what?
Yep, you guessed correctly.
Chongzi encounters a spoiled rich princess who might become the reason why this drama is 40 episodes long, which I really hope is not the case.
The princess’ brother, however, seems nice enough. He actually has chemistry with Chongzi.
Now, this prince and Chongzi help each other through the test series that includes: walking across a narrow bridge with vines that trip you, jumping across moving stones, and battling a white tiger.
What? That’s it? You have moving stones, might as well add jumping on mushrooms and collecting coins that float in midair or something. At this point, I’m prepared for all kinds of shenanigans from these dramas.
Anyway, several of them pass these tests, including the spoiled princess – which I have no idea how. The only reason she could make it is because Chongzi and her brother saved her neck every time.
They all walk into the main hall to see if any teachers want them. You see, this is the real test. It all depends on these teachers’ moods. You can be the best fighter out there and if a grumpy, conservative old guy decides that you look like bad luck, you’re out.
So, immediately, the oldest teacher – whom I guess is some kind of an immortal leader or a headmaster – accepts the spoiled princess as his student. Why? Because she’s rich? I mean… these guys watched the live streams of the test the whole time so they should know this princess is more or less inadequate, right?
The prince is taken by one of the younger and more considerate teachers there. When it’s Chongzi’s turn, the immortal leader tells her to go back to where she came from because no one wants her or her strange power. Are we sure about that?
Luo Yinfan has been watching the live too. He recognizes her as the girl he saved and is impressed by her boldness. It’s rarely cute when female leads try to prove that they are different by getting an attitude, but in this case, I can safely say that the old immortal deserves it — he physically attacks Chongzi.
Luo Yinfan flies into the hall just in time to catch Chongzi. He says right there and then that she will be his student. And then he holds her hand – HOLDS HER HAND – as they walk out of the hall together.
I’m sorry… what are we looking at here?
Whatever, here’s my interpretation:
YINFAN: This kid needs to be pointed in the right direction, otherwise she would just end up in the kitchen.
CHONGZI: That’s right, I got the hot one.
EVERYONE AROUND: Oooh, handholding.
COMMENTS
All right, let’s discuss a few things.
First of all, the plotline isn’t new: Aloof guy, bubbly girl with secret power she doesn’t know about, forbidden romance. You can guess the rest.
Given that most drama viewers are familiar with this storyline, it now depends a lot on how creative a drama can be in its execution. However, I get the impression that this production team doesn’t care a whole lot. It’s like they just want to get to the important scenes quickly so they gloss over the build-up.
I normally try not to compare fantasy dramas to each other so that each drama can have a fair chance of being butchered evaluated, but since this drama isn’t shy about its similarities with Journey of Flower, I will go ahead and make some comparisons.
In terms of character, Luo Yinfan is fairly different from Bai Zihua, he is more loquacious and expressive. He also has a rebellious side and is willing to make jokes once in a while. Jeremy Tsui isn’t the first actor I think of when I hear “aloof immortal who protects he world”, since his outlook is more suited for an anti-hero role. But so far, his acting is in line with what the story requires.
About the lead actress, there is nothing particularly wrong with her performance. But in the ocean of actresses who have taken on this role – Zhao Liying, Ni Ni, Zhou Dongyu, ZHAO LUSI – Yang Chaoyue hasn’t added anything unique to this character.
She calls out “Shifu” repeatedly with her eyes wide open and goes about Chongzi’s mischiefs as if this phase was a chore to complete rather than to build up the character. Sure, it’s better than when Yang Mi shouts her “Shifu” at William Chan in Pearl Eclipse, but it still yields a female lead who seems obligated to be cute. Maybe Yang Chaoyue can handle a more mature Chongzi, but as of now, it’s difficult to relate to Chongzi’s innocent and pure-hearted side because of the lack of creativity.
As for the writing, the first few episodes are rushed. We don’t see much of Chongzi’s life to empathize with her. At least Hua Qiangu fights a monster, mourns her dead father, adopts a talking worm, and witnesses some crazy stuff in the immortal world before she finally settles for Bai Zihua. And we can see clearly at this point why she wants a mentor to teach her how to protect herself.
Chongzi, on the other hand, runs into the same group of bullies thrice, gets caught by Yinfan by the waist twice and boom, she’s his student. As for a goal, maybe she just wants an unlimited supply of steamed buns?
Anyway, as this type of story goes, the male lead’s ice façade will thaw and the girl will become dangerous and powerful – I hope – so let’s see how this drama tortures its lead couple differently from the others.