Final review/rating: Who rules the World (2022) - The ultimate power couple take on jianghu and politics
This is 8/10 stars ✮✮✮✮✮✮✮✮ from Pandafan🐼
Overall rating: 8 Stars Plot: 8 Stars Acting/cast: 8 Stars Couple chemistry: 8 stars Music: 8 Stars Re-watch value: 8 Stars Enjoyment factor: 8 Stars |
Who rules the World (2022) was marketed as a wuxia, but is really primarily a political drama with some jianghu elements thrown in. It is an ambitious top tier (S+) production and it shows in the glitz and glamour, sophisticated CGI, and the gorgeous no expenses spared production quality. Alas the production quality is not matched by an equally good script.
Although the power couple of Yang Yang's Hei Feng Xi and Zhao Lu Si's Bai Feng Xi are an absolute joy to watch, the script is at best mediocre and spends too much time and energy on the tediously predictable power struggles within Youngzhou. It really could have been called "Who rules Youngzhou" instead...
SPOILERS AHEADS
Starts with a bang
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| Zhao Lu Si as Bai Feng Xi / Feng Xi Yuan |
My largely spoiler-free synopsis is 👉here but suffice to say that the first 8 or so episodes start with an absolute wuxia bang - so very good!!
We meet the kickass heroine Bai Feng Xi (Zhao Lu Si is perfectly cast here) and the debonair Hei Feng Xi (played to perfection by Yang Yang) just as mayhem and madness descend on jianghu.
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| Yang Yang as Hei Feng Xi / Feng Lan Xi |
Picture mystery upon mystery: a missing imperial token which could mean absolute power for any one of six ambitious vassal States, counterfeit tokens, and a bloody trail that runs through the murder of the most powerful medical family in jianghu and other key power brokers, and a shadowy ancient sect that could unleash untold destruction...
* I LOVE the choice of weapons - a white ribbon for Bai Feng Xi and a scholarly fan for Hei Feng Xi.
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| Lai Yi as Huang Chao |
There are also an intriguing number of gongzi or gentlemen of renown, including the mysterious is-he-what-he-seems Yu Wu Yuan (played by Zhang Hao Wei) and the ambitious Crown Prince of Jizhou, Huang Chao (played by the imperious Lai Yi) who shows a marked interest in Bai Feng Xi much to the disquiet of the normally unflappable Hei Feng Xi, and an even more marked interest in absolute power...
The ultimate dynamic duo - CP chemistry plus!
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| Hei Feng-Bai Xi - Yang Yang and Zhou Lu Si |
Quite aside from the breathtakingly good choreography, jianghu's most powerful duo really light up the screen. We don't get a meet-cute - it's more like Shakespeare's Beatrice and Benedict "I know you of old" vibe, except with less antagonism and more banter.
Hei Feng Xi knows Bai Feng Xi from numerous previous encounters, and they are equally famous, equally matched in martial arts prowess, and basically a perfect match in every way (jianghu refers to them jointly as Hei Feng-Bai Xi). She teasingly calls him "black foxy" and indulgently mocks his proper approach to life, while he appears to disapprove of her carefree joie de vivre but always happens to be on hand when she is in a spot of bother (though that also works vice versa).
Behind their bantering rivalry there is also a tantalising hint of awareness, an unacknowledged but delicious slow-burn attraction.
To add to the fun, both have hidden identities. Hei Feng Xi is also Feng Lan Xi, the 2nd prince of Youngzhou, and Bai Feng Xi is also Feng Xi Yuan, princess of Qingzhou. (If you are thinking there are way too many "Feng's" and "Xi's" in the
names, you are not alone - it's confusing even for a native Chinese speaker😂)
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| Besties before Boys! |
As well as lighting the screen up with their chemistry, the Hei Feng-Bai Xi CP also provides plenty of laughs.
I rather like that the most serious competitor that Hei Feng Xi has for Bai Feng Xi's affections is Feng Qi Wu, the very cool lady-who-used-to-have-a-crush-on-Hei Feng Xi-but-in-some-sort-of-drama-land-miracle-is not-a-nasty-piece-of-works, who becomes besties with Bai Feng Xi. It is super hilarious how well the two girls hit it off, to the extent that Hei Feng Xi feels like a third wheel - he's not used to being ignored 😆
One small criticism is that these two were so in tune with each other throughout that both secret identity reveals were rather flat - more of a "oh, it's you, I should have known" vibe.
It also stretches credibility to have Hei Feng Xi not figure Bai Feng Xi's dual identity sooner given his all knowing intelligence agency, but I guess the viewer just has to suspend disbelief here.
The lack luster palace/political intrigue arc
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| Carmen Lee as the scheming stepmother |
While the Hei Feng-Bai Xi duo are an absolute delight, Who rules the World runs into problems for much of the drama as the story gets bogged down in a lack luster palace intrigue plotline, as we track Feng Lan Xi's struggle to become crown prince of Youngzhou.
Succession struggles and power play can be interesting if done well, but sadly the quality of the writing here is so-so and tediously predictable, likely because of a mid-production rift between the director and a key scriptwriter after an affair went sour. It is apparent that the script then borrows heavily from other previous dramas, and the drama was plagued with plagiarism accusations.
Barring a few showdown scenes (such as the slap down in episode 34), the mid section of the drama was largely forgettable, with cardboard cut out villains (eg evil stepmother, insufferable brother etc).
The sprint to the ending
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| So I guess he's White Foxy now? |
I kept wishing they would return to jianghu and give us more kickass wuxia vibes, but alas, we are largely stuck with the Youngzhou succession power struggle plotline which does not get resolved until episode 35, which is cutting it too fine for a 40 episode drama where resolution of the world's affairs have been signaled. Honestly, the drama could have been called "Who rules Youngzhou" instead.
The last few episodes are exciting and climatic if a bit rushed and incoherent, giving us some epic battle scenes, angst, sacrifice, and closure. The fight choreography also took an almost cartoonish descent for the worse in the final episodes.
Despite the drama closing with a ticking timeframe for Hei Feng-Bai Xi's happiness, I refuse to believe that a couple so resourceful will not come up with something before their decade is up - they still have that magical black orchid flower right?
It must all be because the drama wants us to see a white haired Hei Feng Xi, because the aesthetic speaks for itself 😆
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| Dynamic Duo |
Who rules the World (2022) left me with mixed feelings. The problem is that it was marketed as wuxia, but was primarily a political drama with some jianghu thrown in. So although it started promisingly, it descended into a rather mediocre hodgepodge of palace intrigue and succession struggles.
That said, it was worth watching alone for giving us the delightful Hei Feng- Bai Xi duo. I could watch them all day. What we really need is a do-over with Zhou Lu Si and Yang Yang in a true wuxia drama 😁
A solid 8/10 stars ✮✮✮✮✮✮✮✮
