I know Chinese dramas often like to show uber dramatic stories to create a sense of epic in their narration, but there is, or there should be a limit to that. If every single episodes is only about how unfortunate the hero and heroine are,, the tragedies that befall them and everyone they care about it becomes an exercise in patience to keep watching.
And i did, persevering through every failed attempt they made to move on and shed their impending doom like that was the only foregone conclusion.
By the end of the story i no longer felt any pathos i was just waiting for the next tragedy which of course kept coming.
This is a story that should make you think of great ideals and moral greatness but only succeed in being predictable most of the time, annoying and unsatisfying the rest of it.
Killing off Shi Ying (in a completely gratuitous way that could have been done in a thousand better ways) at the end after he had already died once (yeah i'm rolling my eyes here) to leave Zhu Yan alone because she is the cursed lady in Shi Ying life after everything else that happened before is such a cheap way of solving the story that i still can't believe it's what they did.
I haven't read the book but i hope it's written better than how the drama has been executed.
Aside for the plot the CGI is kind of terrible and too too much, but if you are familiar with Chinese dramas you already know what to expect. Music is good and so are costume.
But the only major positive point of the drama is the acting. All the cast has done an amazing job and i finished watching the drama only because of their efforts. I did not know Ren Min before and at the beginning i was doubtful but she is very very good and it becomes obvious during the long painful episodes where her character is tested and tried countless time. I can't imagine anyone else as Zhu Yan. Fang Yi Lun is again perfect for the role of Zhi Yuan and he portrays the struggles of his character with perfect emotions. But it is not only them, seriously all the actors from old to young have performed admirably. And Xiao Zhan on top of them all, he has given dept to a character that was wooden and rigid most of the story, he has managed to portray Shi Ying and the repressed priest that faces all his struggles alone, and than suddenly the more cheerful youth that he would have been if his life had been different. There are countless moments that comes to my mind when i was impressed by his performance.
So in the end i started watching The Longest Promise for Xiao Zhan and with high expectations, his performance surpassed any idea or hope i had, while the drama was a let down i never imagined and i remained till the end only for him.
If you are a fan of Xiao Zhan The Longest Promise is worth watching despite every fault, you will be amazed by his performance and all the fan service provided by the director, if you are not a fan of Xiao Zhan and are here just for the story skip this, there are better written drama and more satisfying stories out there.