Brocade Odyssey (2024) - Final Review
Final review/rating: Brocade Odyssey (2024) - Shu Silk, sincerity, and a swoonworthy hero shine, but patchy pacing and unnecessary plot threads mar the finish
This is 8/10 stars ✮✮✮✮✮✮✮✮ from Pandafan🐼
Overall rating: 8 Stars Plot: 7 Stars Acting/cast: 8.5 Stars Couple chemistry: 8 stars Music: 7 Stars Re-watch value: 7.5 Stars Enjoyment factor: 7.5 Stars |
Such dramas are a dime a dozen, but what makes this one stand out for me is the way it showcases the beauty of Shu silk and weaves the beauty of Chinese poetry into the narrative. When I was a kid, I used to tell my parents that my c-drama watching was educational to their general amusement and scepticism, but this drama would have fit that bill in how it works in the poetry of Li Bai, Du Fu and other great poets with a light touch (more on that later).
Tan Song Yun is in her element as the plucky Ji Ying Ying, but the MVP has to be Zheng Ye Cheng's swoonworthy Yang Jing Lan. The man is the greenest of green flags, has some of the most romantic lines ever, and also fights like poetry in motion. This drama definitely took the opportunity to showcase Zheng Ye Cheng's martial arts and Chinese opera training.
Alas, although the first half of this drama is strongly written, the pacing is patchy thereafter, with the plot seesawing between the mundane and the melodramatic. There were some arcs that could easily have been edited out to keep the threads from unravelling. By the final arc, I gave the drama a hall pass for logic and tedium because I was just there to enjoy Zheng Ye Cheng's gorgeous fight scenes which, along with the threads of poetry throughout and the strength of the first half of the drama, lifted this drama to a 8 for me.
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