Zi Chuan (2024)

Uma promessa ainda engavetada

Infelizmente a trama seguiu caminhos inesperados, morosos e muito à quem do que prometeu no primeiro episódio.
Já perdemos um vilão importante e um herói admirável. Zichuan Xiu está longe de atingir expectativas cativantes como protagonista. E Di Lin, cujo propósito pareceu ter sido apenas roubar as cenas desde o início, também seguiu um caminho obscuro.
Lamentei profundamente pela produção, visivelmente dedicada por um bom trabalho. Uma cinematografia muito bem elaborada, figurino bonito e , por que não, um grande elenco. Sem dúvida, muito bons.
Infelizmente a trama foi fraca, desarticulada, arrastada, com personagens centrais pouco ou nada cativantes, como a princesa Ning. Personagem cansativa.
Sigo na esperança de uma grande virada, embora muito do que pareceu ser um clímax, foi decepcionante.

Considerações finais :
Dos 24 episódios, os 4 finais foram bem melhores. O drama nos foi apresentado como história única, mesmo porquê, segundo algumas informações, o drama foi engavetado por algum tempo e, só agora, em 2024, fora liberado para exibição.
Observarmos que não houve conclusão da trama, o que sugere uma segunda temporada. Não sei se isto me agrada muito, visto considerar o tempo de tela apenas parcialmente compensatório.
Ainda considero Si Yilin meu personagem predileto, assim como, sua história com a linda princesa do norte, a mais interessante. Ambos mereciam uma história à parte, pois possuem uma química encantadora.
Di Lin, ainda que um personagem interessante, seu lado obscuro confunde o espectador , embora sua Irmandade seja admirável em relação a seus parceiros, deixa dúvidas quanto ou até onde irá sua índole ruim.
Já nosso herói destrambelhado, Zichuan Xiu, mostrou ser um bom estrategista. Continuo não apreciando o modo como seu personagem foi apresentado, assim como, seu relacionamento amoroso com a princesa Ning. Um amor pouco convincente e nada atraente. Melhor se nem existisse.
Espero que a segunda temporada não permaneça engavetada por muito tempo, já que a trama pode ser facilmente substituída. Mas, apesar dos entraves, conseguiu melhorar relativamente as primeiras considerações.

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To Ningdom Come.

Eternal Brotherhood or The Three Heroes of Light/光明三杰/Guāngmíng Sān Jié is the first instalment of the live action adaptation of popular fantasy novel Purple River/紫川/Zǐchuān. The narrative opens in the thick of a gripping battle scene in a complex fantasy world and never stops to explain itself. The world building, political dynamics, power structures and character backstories all have to be pieced from the dialogue. It does not help that the plot is heavy with political intrigue and many opaque Machiavelli characters scheme against one another. Casual viewers out for light entertainment will find this storytelling approach frustrating and confusing.

Zichuan is a loose coalition of different warlords, noble families and clans in a war torn continent. Yuanzhou is the battlefront, the critical buffer province that stands between Zichuan and their arch enemy Beizu or the North Clan. Food is the scarcest commodity in that strategic battle-torn province that is rich in resources. Power in Zichuan is divided as the Chieftain Zichuan Canxing of the ruling Zichuan family must answer to the Elders Council. The family's grip on power is underpinned by a sworn brotherhood between the previous Chieftain and two powerful commanders; Yang Minghua who secures the capital and Ge Yingxing who secures Yuanzhou. This alliance frays as Yang Minghua is widely expected to rebel. This is the back drop that Zichuan Xiu, foster son of the late Chieftain returns to after a seven year exile in Yuanzhou. The time is ripe for a changing of the guard as the next generation's three heroes Di Lin, Si Yilin and Zichuan Xiu emerge. There is a subtly ominous foreshadowing as they are clearly parallel characters with their predecessors.

One of the keys to understanding this story is that actions speak louder than words and no one says what they really mean; not even when their interests are aligned. This is clearly conveyed in the secret bathhouse scene; the only safe place in the capital for Di Lin, Si Yilin and Zichuan Xiu to speak freely with one another. Of the brothers, Si Yilin is the most reliable and almost blindly loyal one. Di Lin is also quite easy to understand; a ruthless, vehement and dangerous character who cares for very few people. Zhichuan Xiu is a cunning and complex character that hides behind an indifferent and flippant facade. The first arc (~12 episodes) that introduces the three heroes is strong as they work together to put down a rebellion. It is nice to see Yang Xuwen, Liu Yuning and Zhang Mingen work so well together in their first collaboration. Their rapport and humorous banter lightens the portentous, politics heavy tone of the story.

The second arc explores Zichuan Xiu's relationship with the Chieftain Zichuan Canxing and his niece Zichuan Ning. It is anchored by masterful portrayals of two Machiavelli mirror characters who are not quite yet opponents; warily circling and assessing each other. Yang Xuwen holds his own well in this match up against a veteran like Ma Shaohua. Their dialogue is quietly menacing with doublespeak, layers of hidden meaning and traces of irony, and dark humor. This is a rare drama where I feel real genuine fear that the protagonists may be up against a more powerful and possibly smarter antagonist.

I was so busy wishing Ning to Ningdom Come that it took me a long time to realise she is quite an important character. Not only is she next in-line to be Chieftain but Xiu actually cares deeply for her. This role is not well acted to begin with and made worse by the choice of a terrible voice actor. Consequently Ning comes across as little more than an annoying, childish, spoiled and shallow princess that gets too much airtime. In reality, scheming is in Ning's blood and she has an innate shrewdness and strong survival instincts. She fears Canxing and wears the persona he expects as a silly princess only capable of learning the cartoon version of history and nowhere near ready to assume power to allay his paranoia. In their opening scene together, both Ning and Xiu are role playing the pampered princess and her foolish swain. Unlike Yang Xuwen however, the actress is not able to convey any hidden depth to Ning or that there are layers underneath her words. But if you watch her carefully, she is quite clever in how she helps Ka Dan and Si Yilin and she has a far better grasp of the power structures of Zichuan than she lets on. If they had cast an actress better versed at complex roles, her arc would be more enjoyable and how Xiu grew apart from her would be seen as a sad development rather than a cause for widespread rejoicing.

Considering the limited budget they had to work with, the cinematography, camera angles and overall visuals are really nice and it is quite clear that this drama was made with care. Even though the dialogue is extremely well written, it is too unbalanced and too much plot movement happens via exposition; making battlefront developments hard to follow. The too few action scenes that occur mostly at the beginning and at the end are exciting and very well choreographed. Even the CGI is not heavy handed and is actually really nice.

I find it really difficult to rate this drama at this point because it actually ends in the middle of an arc and is thus unfinished. Even though it ends with a superb line, it does not change the fact that this is not only unfinished but also sloppy enough to not even close the Lei Hong arc. The production's two fatal flaws are not making the world building accessible and in mis-casting Ning. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed this drama and am going to temporarily rate it 8.0/10.0. I will revise up my overall rating for the Zichuan series if the second instalment The King of Light/之光明王/Zhī Guāngmíng Wáng wraps everything up well. I think a strong case can be made to wait to watch this in its entirety when the second instalment airs.

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