![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Review: Joy of Life Season 1 (慶餘年 第一季) (2019)
Let's jump right into it. This is another no-edit TV show review, so advance at your own peril! Spoilers.
In general, I thought this was a fun story. I don't love that it ended on a cliffhanger, but breaking up a story into seasons does have upsides and downsides when you compare it to the usual CDrama model of filming the entire show in one go.
Story
I tried to break up the story into a few arcs that I felt made sense logically.
Assassin Arc
This first arc led up to the assassination attempt that killed Teng Zijing. I'd say this was more of an introductory arc, and also the most humorous arc. Fan Xian spent a lot of time meeting people and learning the ropes in terms of how the bureaucracy worked in Qingguo.
This arc also included the misunderstanding between Lin Wan'er and Fan Xian. They were unaware that they were actually betrothed to each other, and were trying to find a way to get out of their arranged marriage to be with each other. This was solved in the first ten episodes or so, which I am thankful for because I really don't love arcs that are based on simple misunderstandings such as these.
In this arc, Fan Xian was also kind of a douche and a show off. Let me explain. He was kind of a douche because he was trying to get out of the arranged marriage. His idea was to stink up Fan Xian's name so that the Wan'er's family would no longer want her to marry him. Fan Xian was also a show off because as someone who recently arrived from Danzhou, he was looked down upon. But as we know, he has a plethora of knowledge, having had the memories of our current day implanted in him as a baby. I don't think anybody with even a little bit of pride could resist the urge to show it off a little, especially if he was to tell of cocky guys like Guo Baokuan and associates.
Princess Arc
The next part of the show was focused on getting the Princess off of Fan Xian's back, and ended with the Princess's banishment. It's hard to explain exactly what happened in this arc because it was a number of small events. Technically it did build up to one big event that caused the Princess's banishment, but it wasn't really that epic in my opinion.
In any case, I still think this was the most interesting arc because it took place in Qingguo. It built on the knowledge and characters that we had gotten to know for the first part of the show, and that made it more engaging.
Beiqi Arc - Part 1
The rest of the season took place in Beiqi. In the Rise of Phoenixes, I didn't like that most of the last arc took place out of the home country. However, I can accept it in Joy of Life because the story didn't actually end in Beiqi. The story is returning to Qingguo for sure.
I would consider Part 1 to be the beginning of the journey until Xiao En revealed his secrets. I was deciding between whether the first part would end with Xiao En's reveal or Yan Bingyun's rescue. I decided on the former because it was also technically Fan Xian's personal goal to extract Xiao En's secret.
This arc was another introductory arc, because we had to get to know a lot of the characters. However, because I was missing the characters that Fan Xian had left back home, I didn't love it as much.
Beiqi Arc - Part 2
After learning about the truth of his parentage, Fan Xian reoriented his goals, and decided that he had to became the head of the Control Department (replacing Chen Pingping). He wanted to become the commoner with the highest status so that he could investigate the truth behind his mother's death.
This arc ended the season, when we saw Yan Bingyun kill Fan Xian after they were being threatened by the Second Prince. I'd heard through the grapevine that the showrunners told the audience that we had no reason to worry. I mean, I'm not worried that Fan Xian is actually dead, because he is the main character. I can see why people would worry that Yan Bingyun decided to side with the Second Prince, and I am kind of glad that the showrunners reassured us a bit.
Technical
Writing
As we all know, this story is to be filmed season by season instead of all in one go. One reason for this is probably because the original webnovel was so outrageously long. I looked it up and it was 4 million Chinese characters long. Louis Cha/Jin Yong's Condor trilogy of The Legend of the Condor Heroes, The Return of the Condor Heroes, and the Heavenly Sword and the Dragon Slaying Saber COMBINED is 3 million Chinese characters. Even if this is the only reason that this show was filmed in seasons, I can accept that.
In addition, I suppose that filming in seasons can allow the showrunners to gauge viewer reactions. They can see what the viewers like the most and make edits to their filming or editing.
One thing I enjoyed about the Rise of Phoenixes was how little it depended on minor misunderstandings to advance the plot. In the Rise of Phoenixes, small misunderstandings would be explained right away, often even in the next scene. In Joy of Life, these misunderstandings were cleared in other ways. Many royals in Beiqi seemed omniscient, always having eyes and ears everywhere. Whenever anybody did anything, the Emperor, the Princess, or the Princes were always made aware of it right away, so people were making informed decisions when strategizing and plotting.
Atmosphere
In general, I thought this show had a pretty light atmosphere. Before watching this show, I was watching the Rise of Phoenixes, and that was a show that I could not binge because so much happened each episode, and the tone was too grave and solemn. On the other hand, there are humorous characters all around in Joy of Life, and they kept the tone light even when situations escalated. So it felt easy to binge this show because the show did a good job alternating serious and light scenes.
Romance
There was cheesy romance, but I'm kind of happy that the interactions with Fan Xian and Lin Wan'er were only a little sappy. Like, there was no major melodrama (after they cleared up their identities), just getting to know each other, and taking leaps in closing the gap that they have between each other.
Filming and editing
There were a few instances in which I saw some sloppy camera work. There would be some instances in which the camera took a very quick glance at someone's face, so quickly that it seemed like it was a mistake. This didn't happen all the time, but when it did, I still found it a bit distracting.
There were some scenes that seemed to have been filmed with a body camera. When Fan Xian and Wuzhu were breaking into the palace to steal a key from the Empress Dowager's room, there was a scene in which someone was running on a rooftop and there was a scene filmed from the runner's perspective, probably with a GoPro or a similar type of camera. There was another scene involving soldiers on horseback and a particular frame was just from the spear's perspective. The spear was perfectly stable but the surroundings were very shaky, so I assume a camera had been attached to the spear. I thought these were kind of strange filming choices to make. I don't hate them, but they just kind of stuck out a bit because it felt different from what I was expecting.
When new characters were introduced, the director liked to hide the faces to build anticipation. The thing is, the reveal wasn't necessarily epic at times. So sometimes I felt like they built up anticipation for a character who didn't maybe need that anticipation. In addition, this became a reoccuring filming technique that got a bit old after a while.
Flashbacks were used often in this show, most often when Fan Xian was remembering something that someone said. Sometimes these were helpful, like when sleuthing, but sometimes they seemed a bit extended, like when Fan Xian was remembering something sentimental.
Music
The music choices were fun. Since Fan Xian was a person with the mind of a modern day person, that allowed the team some freedom to use some modern music choices.
However, there were some really sudden music transitions that could've been handled more gracefully. Music would transition from something more upbeat to something more sentimental, with nothing more than a very quick fade out and fade in.
Cultural
The costumes were nice. The thing is, I'd watched the Rise of Phoenixes before Joy of Life and the clothes in that show were really nice. If I hadn't watched TROP before this show, I think I'd rate the costumes very highly. However, I will say that Fan Xian's costumes were exquisite, and they suited him very, very well. So I applaud his costume designer and hair stylist.
I did think that the names were a bit unoriginal. Most of the ladies had similar name structures. Either double words, like Fan Ruoruo, Si Lili, and Haitang Duoduo, or ending in "er," like Lin Wan'er and Ye Ling'er. I just didn't feel that the names of the characters were too inspiring which was a little disappointing.
Science Fiction
This might be more to do with the writing, but I think it's super cool that this story combines both historical aspects with science fiction. This story is technically speculative fiction. The current world is actually a reboot of society after an ice age. According to Ye Qingmei, the reason why they'd been rebooted to an Imperial Chinese society was because fans of that era had left clues and seeds in the world to lead civilization to that point.
The places of note that we have so far are the secret temple from which Ye Qingmei hailed, and Taiping Bieyuan, which Wuzhu said that Ye Qingmei seemed to have lived before. Ye Qingmei said that there was something terrible below the secret temple. She was also trying to escape said place. So this place is probably some sort of ground zero, some sort of place that holds all the secrets. On the other hand, Taiping Bieyuan probably only holds some clues to the questions that Fan Xian has, but is far more accessible.
Of course Ye Qingmei herself is considered a goddess because of her tremendous knowledge and inventions. I'll talk about her more in her own character section, but I wonder if there are others in the current world who, like her, came from the secret temple, or like Fan Xian, have memories of past civilizations. Ye Qingmei said that Fan Xian was the only successful experiment, but I'm not ready to consider that a fact yet.
I'm also still riding on the theory that Wuzhu is a robot, and so I think there's reason to think that Ye Qingmei came from an incredibly advanced society, even further advanced than our current 21st century.
Characters
Fan Xian
Let's acknowledge this straight up. Fan Xian is a male fantasy. This guy is a "wenwu" genius; he is talented both in literature & arts, and in fighting. Of course, he has knowledge of literature and science from an advanced society. From a young age, he was taught by Fei Du regarding poisons and so Fan Xian grew to be a master doctor and pharmacist. He was also trained by Wuzhu in fighting. He had the "Badao Zhenqi" manual from his mother. And while Wuzhu technically said he didn't know how to fight, he knew how to train Fan Xian to be as capable as he is now. In fact, Fan Xian ranks among the top fighters of his generation (at least 9pin).
While being smart and strong, Fan Xian was also a sentimental person with very modern ideals. He said that he wanted to
In addition, Fan Xian has powerful connections. His mother was the goddess Ye Qingmei. His father, as we know now, is the current emperor. He also has Chen Pingping looking out for him, though we later find out that that may not necessarily be completely for Fan Xian's benefit. He's also taken under his wing Wang Qinian, who happens to be a master at a bunch of random but really useful things like Qinggong ("lightness technique") and tailing people. So you know, just a lot of convenient connections.
Now of course we can't not talk about the romantic relationships. We know that Fan Xian only has eyes for Lin Wan'er. Now, I felt that Si Lili was a pretty capable woman, but as we saw at the end of the season, she had feelings for Fan Xian. I have a feeling that the fact that she was accepted back into the royal family will be important in the coming seasons when Fan Xian needs help from Beiqi.
Having said all that, I don't hate Fan Xian. One reason for that is because Joy of Life is clearly a story about a hero. We knew that Fan Xian was destined for greatness from the very beginning, when he was left behind in Danzhou to be raised away from the capital city. Anyway, I can kind of forgive the fact that Fan Xian is so OP because I realize that this is that kind of story.
I can also forgive Fan Xian being so good at everything because Zhang Ruoyun plays the character so charmingly. Zhang Ruoyun's Fan Xian was a combination smart, cutthroat, kind, and dudebro. The last part is due to the fact that he technically has the mind of a modern person, so he kind of looked at the society of Qingguo with a bit of wtf.
I'd heard that Zhang Ruoyun had done a lot of analysis on Fan Xian before auditioning the part, so the showrunners knew that he was serious about this character.
I'd already come to like Zhang Ruoyun from his appearances on Who's the Murderer. As I said on my Tumblr, Zhang Ruoyun is Like That, but Fan Xian is even more Like That, and I think that's why his Fan Xian works. Fan Xian is just a more amplified version of the Zhang Ruoyun that I enjoy watching.
Anyway, interesting character, and I'm intrigued to know how he's going to take down Chen Pingping and the Second Prince but maintain the sanity and down-to-earth attitude that he has now.
Lin Wan'er
Li Qin was really cute as this character. I hadn't seen her in other shows, but I'd seen photos of her and I honestly think her look in Joy of Life might be one of her best looks.
Lin Wan'er was kind of a naive girl, probably because she'd grown up in isolation. She was not born of a married couple so her father was not technically allowed to recognize her as his own. In addition, her mother rarely visited her after she'd moved out of the Palace to live on her own.
After meeting Fan Xian (and clearing up their identities), Lin Wan'er started to learn to be more brave. This is the first time in a long time that she'd met anybody she cared about. Her brother Lin Gong and Ye Ling'er are both people who tried to make Lin Wan'er as comfortable as possible. However, with Fan Xian's status and his own political duties, he wasn't able to be with Lin Wan'er all the time. So I guess this was the first time that Lin Wan'er had the opportunity to reach out to a person to show her love.
After the picnic incident, Lin Wan'er felt really bad for hiding information from Fan Xian, and the only thing she could think of doing was to give Fan Xian the sky, because the sky was one of her favourite things in the world. Stuff like this was pretty cute, and also so uniquely Wan'er's style.
When the Princess, Wan'er's mother, was banished, Wan'er had a confrontation with her. This was the first time that Wan'er really talked about how she felt to her mother. She was unhappy that they didn't have a relationship at all, and chose to side with Fan Xian over her because he made the effort to make her happy. Wan'er also deduced that the Princess was doing all of her evil acts for the sake of a person she loved. However, that hasn't been revealed yet.
Unfortunately, we didn't see Wan'er for the second half of the show because Fan Xian was in Beiqi the whole time.
Emperor
Chen Daoming is an actor of very high accolades, so I think he was a big draw in terms of attracting older audiences to this show.
One thing that was characteristic about the Emperor was that he was always in his pajamas. I like to joke that he enjoys a home office, since he we never see him in court, only in his personal quarters.
He is easygoing on the outside. From what we see, he had an old friendship with Fan Jian and Chen Pingping. However, the saga with Fan Xian going to Beiqi and extracting a secret from Xiao En is what led to the three going separate ways. The Emperor and Chen Pingping are more concerned for the Secret Temple than Fan Xian's wellbeing. But the Emperor is definitely wary of Chen Pingping getting smarter and more powerful with every step closer to the Secret Temple.
Another curious thing was why the Emperor was so intent on Fan Xian marrying Lin Wan'er. My guess is that he wanted Fan Xian to inherit the Neiku because somehow he'd be able to understand Ye Qingmei's work and unlock the location of the secret temple or other similarly valuable information. I'm not sold on this guess though.
Uncle Wuzhu
As I mentioned, I have not let go of the theory that Wuzhu is a robot. He was the only person that Ye Qingmei knew when she left the secret temple, so he presumably knows a lot of secrets, if only he could gain back his memories.
I think Wuzhu is a robot for several reasons. (1) He doesn't age. (2) He is incredibly nimble. He claims he hasn't trained in martial arts and is only good at what he does because his reaction time is fast. That is something that can be programmed. (3) His amnesia could be the result of a faulty or corrupt memory.
Anyway, he's a great character. His stoicism is endearing and also comedic depending on the situation. He is very protective of Fan Xian, going so far as to killing Lin Gong for Fan Xian.
In Ye Qingmei's letter to Fan Xian, she told him to be kinder to Wuzhu. Fan Xian thought it was strange because Wuzhu was plenty capable on his own. Perhaps Wuzhu had undergone some lab testing or some terrible trauma. But in that case, that would be an argument for Wuzhu being a human.
Fan Jian
He is such a cool dad. He acts unfeeling around his family, but we know he's protective of those he loves. This is especially the case with Fan Xian. While Chen Pingping and the Emperor were fine with letting him dig his way out of Beiqi, Fan Jian worried constantly about whether Fan Xian's safety.
He said to Chen Pingping that though Fan Xian wasn't his child, his surname was still Fan and therefore he was a member of Fan Jian's household.
His friendship with the Emperor and Chen Pingping will definitely be tested in the future.
Liu Ruyu
She is Fan Jian's second wife, and mother of Fan Sizhe. At first, she was really wary of Fan Xian. However, seeing that he'd spoken in Fan Sizhe's defense in front of their father, she figured that Fan Xian was a smart older brother that Fan Sizhe could rely on, and thus Fan Xian gained her trust.
Fan Ruoruo
I loved Ruoruo. She is so enamoured with her older brother, and she does what she can to help him. She even went so far as to acting as a spy for the Crown Prince in order to fend off any suspicions from him.
She is capable, but she also doesn't lose any of her charm. We also see that she is a strict older sister, especially when it comes to Fan Sizhe not showing respect for their older brother.
Fan Sizhe
He's the money-hungry younger brother of Fan Xian. Fan Xian deduced that Fan Sizhe was so obsessed with money because Fan Sizhe always wanted his father's approval.
During the course of the show, Fan Sizhe wanted to start a bookstore to sell Fan Xian's books. Fan Xian had written/plagiarized the Dream of the Red Chamber, which is one of Chinese four great literary novels.
Grandma Fan
Fan Jian's mother, and the woman who raised Fan Xian. She was pretty smart herself, but much more cautious. She didn't want Fan Xian to go to the capital because she feared for his safety.
Despite her cold exterior, Fan Xian knew that she cared for him in her own way, teaching him to be unyielding when it came to protecting the Fan family.
Ye Qingmei
Ye Qingmei came from the secret temple, bringing with her many secrets of the 21st century and beyond. She befriended the current Emperor, Chen Pingping, and Fan Jian, and bore a child with the Emperor despite not officially marrying into the royal family. These personal relationships will undoubtedly be important in future season because the friends' attitudes towards Fan Xian have already caused a rift.
In her letters to Fan Xian and Wuzhu, she expressed that she was extremely lonely in the world, presumably because she was the only one she knew from a prior civilization, a prior era.
As we saw at the very beginning and very end of the season, Joy of Life is technically a book written by the student Zhang Qing who wanted to study under Professor Ye. So presumably Ye Qingmei is based on his professor whom he wants to impress.
Gao Da
He is so dumb and I honestly would not have it any other way. He is extremely upright and uptight. The only way that Fan Xian got him to warm up to Wang Qinian was to convince him that he was a great martial hero. Afterwards, Gao Da heeded every word of Wang Qinian's, which has caused Fan Xian some problems.
He is still a trustworthy guy, recommended to Fan Xian by Fan Jian, and I trust he'll continue to be trustworthy and unwavering in his loyalty.
Teng Zijing
He was sent a false instruction to assassinate Fan Xian but was unsuccessful. Teng Zijing and Fan Xian became friends over the first handful of episodes as Fan Xian agreed to help Teng Zijing locate his wife and child and keep them safe. Fan Xian's grief over Teng Zijing's death was one of the things that prompted Fan Xian to dig deeper into the assassination that was originally meant for him.
When Teng Zijing died, his wife was a little bitter that she'd lost him after only just reuniting with him. Their son had only started to call him "Die," and that was an emotional moment for the couple. Teng Zijing's wife knew that she shouldn't take out her anger on Fan Xian because Teng Zijing basically said that he treated Fan Xian like his own brother and thus would be willing to die in protecting him. That being said, his wife still needed some cool off time and so asked Fan Xian not to come back for a while.
We saw that the Second Prince had threatened Fan Xian through Teng Zijing's child, probably by enticing him with the candy and such. While Fan Xian felt that the Second Prince couldn't kill Fei Jie or Fan Sizhe for political reasons, Teng Zijing's son didn't have that same protection.
I think in the future, we might see Teng Zijing's wife warming up to Fan Xian again, and welcoming him into their home as a friend.
Eunuch Hou
He is the eunuch who directly serves the emperor. He's kind of a cautious man and a little timid. Fan Xian offered him money the few times they met each other and Eunuch Hou was really worried that he'd become complicit in bribery.
Gong Dian (General)
We only saw him a bit at the beginning and at the end. In the end of the season, his loyalty was being questioned by the Emperor.
Gong Dian reported to the Emperor that Chen Pingping had wanted to raise Qingguo to great heights. The Emperor seemed skeptical of his direct quote and basically prepared Gong Dian to be shot by an arrow. I guess the Emperor had expected Chen Pingping to talk shit about him, so he thought that Gong Dian was lying to him.
Li Yunrui (Grand Princess)
She is the sister of the Emperor, but not relatd by blood. Throughout the first half of the season, she was figuring out ways to kill Fan Xian. We were led to believe she was allied with the Crown Prince.
After a series of events, she was given the greatest punishment possible for a royal, which was banishment. However, she didn't seemed bothered by it, and had told Fan Xian that she'd left him a gift, which would imply that she would return to the story at a later date.
Wan'er deduced that Yunrui was doing all of her evil to protect or help someone else. That person, however, has not been revealed.
At the end of the season, Fan Xian discovered that Yunrui was actually allied with the Second Prince. Honestly, I felt that that came out of nowhere. I suppose there isn't really anything to disprove that, but it just felt really random to bring up. But of course, they need as many cliffhangers as possible to draw people in to the next season.
Li Yunrui's maidservant
She was actually a pretty capable bodyguard, so I'm surprised that we didn't even get a name for her. She was the Princess's eyes and ears, and she was also a capable fighter.
Yan Xiaoyi
The character I was totally crushing on in this season. This actor is so good looking????
Anyway, he was a commander, but was allied with the Princess because she had taken him in and raised him like a child. Ironic that she seemed to have a closer relationship with Xiaoyi than Wan'er. That being said, it could all be an act. We saw that Xiaoyi felt absolutely indebted to the Princess, and she was possibly taking advantage of that undying loyalty and manipulating his emotions.
Yan Xiaoyi had tried to kill Fan Xian when he was on his way to Beiqi, but was attacked by Haitang Duoduo. Yan Xiaoyi didn't die, but I guess he'll come back as a character who is hell-bent on killing Fan Xian because of his undying loyalty. I don't think the Princess will rely on him that much while she's in banishment, other than trusting him to do what he can to kill Fan Xian.
Empress Dowager
I think she'll be a more important character in future seasons. We first saw her when Yunrui didn't want Wan'er to marry Fan Xian, and the Empress Dowager refused Yunrui's request.
It's also curious that the Empress Dowager had the key to Wuzhu's box under her pillow. Why would she have the key? Is she safeguarding it for the Emperor, or does she have her own personal reasons for not wanting people to get to that box? And why does she have a key to a box that was meant for Wuzhu? When Yan Xiaoyi informed the Empress Dowager that there was possibly a thief in her quarters, the first thing she went to check was the key. Why is that key the most important thing to her? Presumably she knew Ye Qingmei from when Ye Qingmei was close with the Emperor. So what was the Empress Dowager's relationship with Ye Qingmei?
Eunuch Hong
I believe he is one of the famed fighers of the land. He almost speaks on behalf of the Empress Dowager, such as when Fan Xian went to visit the ladies of the Palace and Eunuch Hong evaluated Fan Xian on behalf of the Empress Dowager.
He was also contact by the Control Department when they were to uncover Zhu Ge's treachery. But he didn't play a big part in that.
Li Chengqian (Crown Prince)
The first thing that Fan Ruoruo noticed about the Crown Prince was that he kept painting pictures of a woman but not drawing the face. She suspected that he was in love with a woman that he couldn't be in love with (such as Si Lili).
The Crown Prince was allied with the Princess Li Yunrui. However, we later find out that that's not entirely true.
The Crown Prince is a surprisingly mild-mannered and serious person. He's technically the third prince and therefore younger than the second prince and so their power dynamic is a little weird.
I wonder if Fan Xian allies with the Crown Prince in the next season in order to go against the Second Prince. I can definitely see it happening in one-time situations.
Guo Baokun
He claimed to be a man working under the Crown Prince. He's really more of a frat boy, especially with that beard.
He held strong hatred for Fan Xian after Fan Xian made him look bad at the poetry competition, and after his father got thrown in prison (which Guo Baokun could only believe was due to Fan Xian's power).
Guo Baokun hired a bunch of assassins to take out Fan Xian. It seemed like he'd hired the completely wrong people at first because the men he'd hired seemed like a bunch of hillbillies who knew nothing of fighting. However, when they actually got to work, Guo Baokun realized that they were actually fighting experts. So that was a bit of comedic relief.
He became allied with Fan Xian after Fan Xian told him that he was the only one who could get his father out of jail. This made sense to Guo Baokun because he believed that his father was only in jail because of Fan Xian.
Fan Xian asked Guo Baokun to stay in Beiqi as a spy. The thing is, Fan Xian knew that Guo Baokun was going to be a bad spy, so he was more of a decoy.
Guo Youzhi (Guo Baokun's father)
Allied with the Crown Prince, and got thrown in jail. He's more of a plot device than a character, since Guo Baokun has a bigger role in the story.
He Zongwei
One of Guo Baokun's friends who supported him at the poetry competition. He was also exposed for having no shame because immediately after Fan Xian single-handedly won the poetry competition, He Zongwei wanted to "get to know" Fan Xian.
Xin Qiwu
A creepy minister. Fan Xian got to know him when he was randomly put on the panel to negotiate with Beiqi. Honestly, this guy is so creepy. He has such an unsettling smile.
Li Chengze (Second prince)
The Second Prince has a habit of setting up really elaborate resting spots when waiting to see Fan Xian.
He seemed really easygoing at first, but revealed himself to be a major villain of the next season. He had basically taken Teng Zijing's son, Fan Sizhe, and Fei Jie as "hostages" in order to get Fan Xian to ally with him. He was also in cahoots with the Princess.
I think he'll get taken out by the end of the second season.
Xie Bi'an (Li Chengze's bodyguard)
He was the Second Prince's bodyguard. We'll probably be seeing more of him in the next season too. However, I don't know that we'll see any deep character development for him. He might just continue to be an extension of the Second Prince.
Ling Hongcheng (Son of Prince of Jing, Shizi)
I thought this guy was pretty easygoing and chill. He had no issues with Fan Xian calling him Lao Li. And when Fan Xian showed up to his manor unannounced, asking to see all of his maids (to look for Wan'er), Shizi complied. We didn't see much of him after the first handful of episodes though. He's friends with the Second Prince though, so perhaps he'll pop up here and there.
Consort Yi (Yi Guipin, Liu Ruyu's cousin, fourth prince's)
She is the mother of the fourth prince. I don't know if the fourth prince will be a character in the next season, but in any case, I think that Consort Yi will remain an ally to the Fan family due to her close relationship with Liu Ruyu.
Consort Shu (Shu Guifei, Second Prince's mother)
She was a bookworm who didn't have interest for anything other than books. She didn't have anything to say to Fan Xian other than to ask about his writing and literature. She basically had her head in the clouds.
You can kind of see the resemblance in terms of personality between the Second Prince and Consort Shu, but the Second Prince definitely has more ambition.
Consort Ning (Ning Cairen, Eldest Prince's mother)
Consort Ning was actually demoted to a lower status (Cairen). She is the mother of the eldest prince. I also don't know if he's going to be a character in upcoming seasons. However, the eldest prince wasn't favourable as a candidate for the Crown Prince because Consort Ning was of foreign descent.
Consort Ning enjoyed martial arts and chastised Fan Xian for not being buffer. But in the end, she seemed like a nice woman.
Ye Ling'er
Lin Wan'er's friend. She mostly acted as an extension for Wan'er, who was too ill to travel. We see that she did a lot of pearl clutching (on Wan'er's behalf), and I suspect that when Wang Qinian and Gao Da return from Beiqi and accidentally reveal Fan Xian's "relationship" with Haitang Duoduo, she'll get angry on Wan'er's behalf again, which will be cause for some more comedic relief.
Chen Pingping
The first time I saw this man, I knew he wasn't to be trusted. He has those knowing eyes, and also, he's in a wheelchair, so he probably is not one to be messed with.
Fan Xian deduced that Chen Pingping had led him to basically all of the actions he had taken in the entire season. He pulled a long con, using Fan Xian's life, in order to extract a secret from Xiao En. He tricked Xiao En into believing that Fan Xian was his grandson so that he'd be more willing to reveal his secret to Fan Xian.
Chen Pingping had kept Xiao En's true grandson alive (presumed to be Yan Bingyun) and raised him into a Beiqi-hating Qingguo citizen.
I think Fan Xian just hated the fact that he was being used, that each of his steps was being dictated by Chen Pingping. He came to the conclusion that Chen Pingping was not to be trusted. He also decided he had to further investigate his mother's death. Those two goals will lead him in a battle of wits against Chen Pingping. I don't know whether Fan Xian will be able to unseat Chen Pingping in the next season considering how formidable he is.
Despite Chen Pingping's close friendship with the Emperor and Fan Jian, they are growing further apart. In particular, I think Chen Pingping is the target of the most wariness. Fan Jian and the Emperor know where each other stands. The Emperor knows that Fan Jian is sentimental about Fan Xian, and he also knows that Fan Jian doesn't really have any political inclinations as well. Fan Jian knows that the Emperor is really just worried about his power. But the two of them don't know what Chen Pingping is planning. Chen Pingping is ambitious enough to want to get to the bottom of the Secret Temple, but that could be a sign that he is ambitious enough to usurp the throne (directly or indirectly). In addition, Fan Jian doesn't know how far Chen Pingping is willing to go in endangering Fan Xian's life to get to the Secret Temple. Anyway, he will definitely be one of the big bad villains in future seasons.
Zhu Ge (First division)
This actor played the power-mad Crown Prince in the Rise of Phoenixes so the first time I saw him I was already slightly wary. He ended up being a spy for the Princess, and died soon after the reveal.
Fei Jie (Third division)
He was Fan Xian's teacher from a young age. He taught Fan Xian the way of poisons and always worries for his well-being. Fan Xian joked that he'd send Fei Jie off when he died, but Fei Jie kind of took that to heart because he has no children of his own.
Leng Shixiong (Third division)
One of Fan Xian's many "Shixiong" from the Third divison. He seems like a nice guy, equipping Fan Xian with arms and protection before he set off for Beiqi.
Yan Ruohai (Fourth division)
He was originally suspected to want to overthrow Chen Pingping as the head of the Control Department. It was later revealed that he was actually working with Chen Pingping in order to get Zhu Ge to reveal himself as the actual spy.
Yan Bingyun
Yan Ruohai's son. Fan Xian deduced that he was actually adopted, and was the true grandson of Xiao En. Yan Bingyun is pretty uptight and tries to act like an unfeeling asshole.
He claimed that he didn't care at all about Miss Shen, but he was definitely concerned for her well-being when she got herself stabbed while trying to protect him from her own brother.
Fan Xian asked Yan Bingyun to help him on his quest to overtake the Control Department. Towards the end of the season, we see that Yan Bingyun was still hesitant in trusting Fan Xian. After all, when he left Qingguo, he still didn't really have much reason not to believe in Chen Pingping.
The season ended with Yan Bingyun stabbing Fan Xian. But we're supposed to deduce that Yan Bingyun had come up with some sort of elaborate plan with Fan Xian. But Yan Bingyun stabbed him completely through the stomach??? Anyway, since the showrunners told us not to worry, I'm not worried lol.
Yingzi (Sixth division)
The masked leader of the sixth division. Fei Jie unmasked him after poisoning him into fainting. So presumably only Fei Jie and Chen Pingping know what his real identity is. I'm pretty curious, but at this time, I don't think much of it because Yingzi hasn't done much plotwise. All we know is he's great at fighting and that's about it.
Xuan Jiu (Eighth division)
Responsible for printing things in the Control Department. Didn't have a big role in the first season except for some investigation.
Wang Qinian
This freaking guy. Somehow he's skilled in a lot of convenient skills, but mostly those relating to stalking people and lightness technique. He's also money hungry. He only agreed to work under Fan Xian at first because he negotiated for at least the salary of Teng Zijing. And we also see him acting really stingily.
I don't see him betraying Fan Xian anytime in the near future. I do believe that he loves his wife and daughter the most, and unless they are threatened, I don't see him changing allegiances.
Lin Ruofu
Lin Wan'er's dad. He seems like a normal guy. He didn't do that much in the first season. In the future, I wonder if he'll tell Fan Xian about the Princess, and give him information that will help him to immobilze her.
He placed all of the future hopes and dreams of the Lin family onto Fan Xian, now that Lin Gong is dead, and honestly, that felt like an act of desperation. He couldn't rely on Lin Dabao, who had the mentality of a child, or Wan'er, because of her status as a woman and also her poor health. I think he truly does just want the best for his family. As long as Fan Xian and Wan'er relationship is not rocky, I can see Lin Ruofu being an ally.
Lin Dabao (Lin Wan'er's oldest half-brother)
Lin Dabao got sick when he was young and kind of lost his mind after that. He has the mentality of a child. That being said, his family loves him very much, which is nice :3
Lin Gong (Lin Wan'er's second old half-brother)
Lin Gong cared a lot for Lin Wan'er. He didn't approve that their father never visited Wan'er and so he took it upon himself to care for Wan'er.
Lin Gong was originally in cahoots with the Princess to kill Fan Xian. Fan Xian was going to get back at Lin Gong but hesitated when Ruoruo asked him what he'd do if Wan'er went after her. However, Wuzhu took the initiative and killed Lin Gong to protect Fan Xian.
Officially, Lin Gong was killed by a Beiqi assassin, which didn't make sense, but created an opportunity for the Emperor to attack Beiqi.
Yuan Hongdao
An assistant to Lin Ruofu. He was tasked with torturing Si Lili in hopes that she'd confess to telling Fan Xian that Lin Gong had ordered the hit on him. He didn't get far in his torture.
But after Fan Xian became allied with Lin Ruofu, Yuan Hongdao didn't seem to have any more reason to not be amicable wit him.
Mei Zhili (Judge)
He was the judge who was responsible for handling the case of Fan Xian beating up Guo Baokun. He only made that one appearance though.
Si Lili/Li Lisi
Si Lili was a courtesan in Qingguo, and was later revealed to be a Beiqi spy. She was then later revealed to be a part of the royal family in Beiqi and was accepted into the family by the end of the season.
Originally, Si Lili was portrayed to be a pretty capable woman. She was giving out orders, strategizing, etc. She was probably pretty good at her job as Beiqi spy.
After she got to know Fan Xian, after he captured her and interrogated her, I felt that she was softening a bit. Maybe it really was because she was falling in Fan Xian. I kind of wish it had never come to that, but whatever.
Anyway, I do think that she will come back in a future episode, and reading a spoiler (*grumble*) almost definitely confirms that.
Sigujian (Dongyi)
A famed martial artist only mentioned by name.
Yun Zhilan (Sigujian's disciple)
A martial artist who showed up at the banquet in Qingguo.
Zhuang Mohan
A scholar from Beiqi. Originally he was working together with the Princess Li Yunrui. He'd present a forgery that would challenge Fan Xian's authorship of his original poem from the poetry contest (the poem he'd plagiarized from Du Fu). In return Li Yunrui gave up Yan Bingyun's name as a Qingguo spy.
In the end, Zhuang Mohan didn't hold up his end of the bargain because he wasn't able to prove that Fan Xian was a fake. Fan Xian went into a drunken poetry trance, reciting as many famous Chinese poems as he knew, and the people thought there was no way he'd copied that many.
In the end, Zhuang Mohan spit blood, since that was a pretty aggravating situation for an old man.
We later found out that Zhuang Mohan was actually Xiao En's older brother. After Xiao En died, Fan Xian visited Zhuang Mohan to visit the news. In that conversation, it was nice to see that Fan Xian and Zhuang Mohan had more respect for each other than any hate or competition. Zhuang Mohan was a scholar through and through and he didn't care about politics, he just cared about the beauty of the word.
He basically urged Fan Xian to enjoy his life, and died the next day, as Fan Xian left. Zhuang Mohan left Fan Xian his entire book collection.
Xiao En
Xiao En was from Beiqi, and he broke Chen Pingping's legs, confining him into a wheelchair. When they were younger, Xiao En and Ku He had found the Secret Temple, and this was very valuable information to all people everywhere.
Over the years that he was trapped in the Control Department's underground mail, Chen Pingping had fed Xiao En clues to mislead him into thinking that his grandson grew up in Danzhou. In the end, Xiao En revealed several secrets to Fan Xian. He revealed that Fan Xian was his grandson (which he was not), he revealed the story of the Secret Temple, and he offhandedly revealed that Ye Qingmei and the current Qingguo Emperor had a child (who was Fan Xian).
In his death, Xiao En wanted to stay in the sun, rather than be buried under the ground as he'd been for the last few decades. Xiao En ended up being a sympathetic character.
Shang Shanhu
He was Xiao En's godson. He was also a 9pin fighter. Fan Xian collaborated with him first to rescue Xiao En, and then to kill Shen Zhong. Shang Shanhu was originally planning to kill Fan Xian, but let him go for the time being after Fan Xian gave him the information to collect his godfather's corpse.
Tan Wu
He was Shang Shanhu's trusted right-hand man who died while sneaking Xiao En out of Shen Zhong's secret location.
Ku He (Beiqi)
He was one of the famed warriors of the land. Along with Xiao En, he'd found the Secret Temple. Ye Qingmei gave him a book, and it's assumed that he ascended to his current state after reading the contents of the book.
He was shown to be a pretty devout man, and literally worshipped Ye Qingmei. When Xiao En was let out of the Control Department's jail, Ku He sent Haitang Duoduo to kill him because he was worried that Xiao En would reveal the location of the Secret Temple against the wishes of Ye Qingmei.
I'm sure Ku He will be an important major figure in future seasons.
Lang Tao
Ku He's eldest disciple. He was hired by Shen Zhong to take out Xiao En. By the end of the season, we saw that he was working with the Emperor of Beiqi.
Haitang Duoduo
A disciple of Fan Xian, and a disciple of Ku He. She is also politically entangled, being allied with the Emperor of Beiqi, but technically working under the Empress Dowager. The Emperor calls her Xiaoshigu, which would imply that the Emperor is a student of one of Haitang Duoduo's contemporary fellow disciples. I suppose we'll find out more on that later.
Anyway, she is friends with Fan Xian. I think they understand each other because they are both part of Jianghu as well as the highly politicized world.
She's a pretty chill woman. I don't see any reason for her to have to go against Fan Xian for the time being. She was also mistaken by Wang Qinian and Gao Da to be in an affair with Fan Xian, and I'm sure that'll be part of future comedic relief.
When we first met her, her weapons were twin axes, which I thought were cool. Her shixiong Lang Tao used twin knives on chains, so that's kind of a cool aesthetic going on with Ku He's disciples.
Shen Zhong
The major villain of the Beiqi arc. He was first shown as a kindly man on the outside but vicious behind closed doors. We saw this as he pulled aside an old servant of the palace and killed her for openly defying him in front of Fan Xian and others.
First, he wouldn't release Yan Bingyun, and later, he used Xiao En as a trap to lure in Shang Shanhu and Fan Xian. Shen Zhong claimed that all he was doing was for the good of Beiqi.
His main weakness was his little sister. Shang Shanhu used his sister's correspondences with Yan Bingyun as a way to implicate him in treason. After being stripped of his positions, he tried one last time to take out Fan Xian and Yan Bingyun. Seeing that he couldn't do it, he was willing to give up the information of the secret money in exchange for Fan Xian and Yan Bingyun to take care of his sister.
He was an interesting character. He was taken away alive, but I'm not sure if he'll be kept alive.
Miss Shen (Shen Zhong's younger sister)
She fell in love with Yan Bingyun while he was being held by Shen Zhong. Yan Bingyun tried to push her away countless times but she still wouldn't let go, even though he made her cry. In the end, she risked her life to save him, and that's when Yan Bingyun realized that maybe he feels something more for her than indifference.
He Daoren
He was a spy for Chen Pingping and thus helped Fan Xian while he was in Beiqi. After Fan Xian left Beiqi, he continued to ask He Daoren to be a spy for him. However, we see that the Emperor of Beiqi and Lang Tao already knew that he was a spy.
Cheng Jushu (Beiqi assassin)
He was the Beiqi assassin who was hired to attack Fan Xian while he was on his way to have tea with the Second Prince. Teng Zijing's son had also been sneaking him food and saw him as a friend.
Zhan Doudou
The Emperor of Beiqi. I was a little puzzled as to whether Zhan Doudou was hiding her gender or whether she was a female emperor. I did some Googling and it seems the latter is the case. Everyone knows that Zhan Doudou is a woman, but as she is filling the Emperor's shoes, she is taking on a masculine role and look in some parts of her life.
Empress Dowager of Beiqi
It seems that Zhan Doudou and her mother are at odds and are considered completely different political factions. The Empress Dowager was technically used as a tool to get Shen Zhong stripped of his positions.
Ye Liuyun
One of the great warriors who was only mentioned by name.
Other
***SPOILER ALERT***
I wanted to note that the Wikipedia page is rife with spoilers!!!!! I'm talking about the Wikipedia page for the drama having spoilers for things that haven't happened in the drama yet (but were probably added in by people who'd read the webnovel). I've already accidentally read 1.5 things that haven't happened in Season 1. But now I know that Wikipedia is a traitor.
One of the important spoilers that I read was about the Emperor killing Ye Qingmei because he was getting wary of the power she was accumulating. I'm particularly angry because this is endgame information. I think this show will have at least three seasons, so that is a spoiler that will keep me up at night until 2025.
The other 0.5 spoiler I read was that Si Lili became a noble consort, but I didn't read who she became a noble consort of. I assume she's going to marry into Qingguo's royal family.
I was originally spoiled by Wikipedia about who Fan Xian's father was, and it took me a while to get over it, though I never completely got over it. I just hope that the spoiler about Ye Qingmei comes up earlier in the show than later.
Overall
Overall, this was a cool show. My favourite part was probably blending the historical and science fiction aspects.
I did feel less attached to the second half of the story because it took place entirely outside of Qingguo, away from all of the characters we'd built connections with in the first half of the season.
I do think that some of the editing for the show was done in a way to appeal to mass audiences. Not that it's bad, but it's a little overdone. For example, there was an abundance of flashbacks, which was useful in some situations but not all. But I also felt that some conversations were dragged out and probably could've been cut down a bit. As we know, the story is already quite long.
I will be watching the second season, but after reading the spoiler, I feel like I'm going to be watching the second season out of physical necessity or else my heart will not rest OTL
I think that I'll have to wait for the hype to die down a bit before I watch the second season as well, because like everything else I watch, I think disappointment over hype completely overshadows all my other opportunities to think about something as objectively as possible.
I would still recommend this show as a lighter alternative to the usual court dramas. I think it's also recommended for people who like a really overpowered but not necessarily douchey main character.
In general, I thought this was a fun story. I don't love that it ended on a cliffhanger, but breaking up a story into seasons does have upsides and downsides when you compare it to the usual CDrama model of filming the entire show in one go.
Story
I tried to break up the story into a few arcs that I felt made sense logically.
Assassin Arc
This first arc led up to the assassination attempt that killed Teng Zijing. I'd say this was more of an introductory arc, and also the most humorous arc. Fan Xian spent a lot of time meeting people and learning the ropes in terms of how the bureaucracy worked in Qingguo.
This arc also included the misunderstanding between Lin Wan'er and Fan Xian. They were unaware that they were actually betrothed to each other, and were trying to find a way to get out of their arranged marriage to be with each other. This was solved in the first ten episodes or so, which I am thankful for because I really don't love arcs that are based on simple misunderstandings such as these.
In this arc, Fan Xian was also kind of a douche and a show off. Let me explain. He was kind of a douche because he was trying to get out of the arranged marriage. His idea was to stink up Fan Xian's name so that the Wan'er's family would no longer want her to marry him. Fan Xian was also a show off because as someone who recently arrived from Danzhou, he was looked down upon. But as we know, he has a plethora of knowledge, having had the memories of our current day implanted in him as a baby. I don't think anybody with even a little bit of pride could resist the urge to show it off a little, especially if he was to tell of cocky guys like Guo Baokuan and associates.
Princess Arc
The next part of the show was focused on getting the Princess off of Fan Xian's back, and ended with the Princess's banishment. It's hard to explain exactly what happened in this arc because it was a number of small events. Technically it did build up to one big event that caused the Princess's banishment, but it wasn't really that epic in my opinion.
In any case, I still think this was the most interesting arc because it took place in Qingguo. It built on the knowledge and characters that we had gotten to know for the first part of the show, and that made it more engaging.
Beiqi Arc - Part 1
The rest of the season took place in Beiqi. In the Rise of Phoenixes, I didn't like that most of the last arc took place out of the home country. However, I can accept it in Joy of Life because the story didn't actually end in Beiqi. The story is returning to Qingguo for sure.
I would consider Part 1 to be the beginning of the journey until Xiao En revealed his secrets. I was deciding between whether the first part would end with Xiao En's reveal or Yan Bingyun's rescue. I decided on the former because it was also technically Fan Xian's personal goal to extract Xiao En's secret.
This arc was another introductory arc, because we had to get to know a lot of the characters. However, because I was missing the characters that Fan Xian had left back home, I didn't love it as much.
Beiqi Arc - Part 2
After learning about the truth of his parentage, Fan Xian reoriented his goals, and decided that he had to became the head of the Control Department (replacing Chen Pingping). He wanted to become the commoner with the highest status so that he could investigate the truth behind his mother's death.
This arc ended the season, when we saw Yan Bingyun kill Fan Xian after they were being threatened by the Second Prince. I'd heard through the grapevine that the showrunners told the audience that we had no reason to worry. I mean, I'm not worried that Fan Xian is actually dead, because he is the main character. I can see why people would worry that Yan Bingyun decided to side with the Second Prince, and I am kind of glad that the showrunners reassured us a bit.
Technical
Writing
As we all know, this story is to be filmed season by season instead of all in one go. One reason for this is probably because the original webnovel was so outrageously long. I looked it up and it was 4 million Chinese characters long. Louis Cha/Jin Yong's Condor trilogy of The Legend of the Condor Heroes, The Return of the Condor Heroes, and the Heavenly Sword and the Dragon Slaying Saber COMBINED is 3 million Chinese characters. Even if this is the only reason that this show was filmed in seasons, I can accept that.
In addition, I suppose that filming in seasons can allow the showrunners to gauge viewer reactions. They can see what the viewers like the most and make edits to their filming or editing.
One thing I enjoyed about the Rise of Phoenixes was how little it depended on minor misunderstandings to advance the plot. In the Rise of Phoenixes, small misunderstandings would be explained right away, often even in the next scene. In Joy of Life, these misunderstandings were cleared in other ways. Many royals in Beiqi seemed omniscient, always having eyes and ears everywhere. Whenever anybody did anything, the Emperor, the Princess, or the Princes were always made aware of it right away, so people were making informed decisions when strategizing and plotting.
Atmosphere
In general, I thought this show had a pretty light atmosphere. Before watching this show, I was watching the Rise of Phoenixes, and that was a show that I could not binge because so much happened each episode, and the tone was too grave and solemn. On the other hand, there are humorous characters all around in Joy of Life, and they kept the tone light even when situations escalated. So it felt easy to binge this show because the show did a good job alternating serious and light scenes.
Romance
There was cheesy romance, but I'm kind of happy that the interactions with Fan Xian and Lin Wan'er were only a little sappy. Like, there was no major melodrama (after they cleared up their identities), just getting to know each other, and taking leaps in closing the gap that they have between each other.
Filming and editing
There were a few instances in which I saw some sloppy camera work. There would be some instances in which the camera took a very quick glance at someone's face, so quickly that it seemed like it was a mistake. This didn't happen all the time, but when it did, I still found it a bit distracting.
There were some scenes that seemed to have been filmed with a body camera. When Fan Xian and Wuzhu were breaking into the palace to steal a key from the Empress Dowager's room, there was a scene in which someone was running on a rooftop and there was a scene filmed from the runner's perspective, probably with a GoPro or a similar type of camera. There was another scene involving soldiers on horseback and a particular frame was just from the spear's perspective. The spear was perfectly stable but the surroundings were very shaky, so I assume a camera had been attached to the spear. I thought these were kind of strange filming choices to make. I don't hate them, but they just kind of stuck out a bit because it felt different from what I was expecting.
When new characters were introduced, the director liked to hide the faces to build anticipation. The thing is, the reveal wasn't necessarily epic at times. So sometimes I felt like they built up anticipation for a character who didn't maybe need that anticipation. In addition, this became a reoccuring filming technique that got a bit old after a while.
Flashbacks were used often in this show, most often when Fan Xian was remembering something that someone said. Sometimes these were helpful, like when sleuthing, but sometimes they seemed a bit extended, like when Fan Xian was remembering something sentimental.
Music
The music choices were fun. Since Fan Xian was a person with the mind of a modern day person, that allowed the team some freedom to use some modern music choices.
However, there were some really sudden music transitions that could've been handled more gracefully. Music would transition from something more upbeat to something more sentimental, with nothing more than a very quick fade out and fade in.
Cultural
The costumes were nice. The thing is, I'd watched the Rise of Phoenixes before Joy of Life and the clothes in that show were really nice. If I hadn't watched TROP before this show, I think I'd rate the costumes very highly. However, I will say that Fan Xian's costumes were exquisite, and they suited him very, very well. So I applaud his costume designer and hair stylist.
I did think that the names were a bit unoriginal. Most of the ladies had similar name structures. Either double words, like Fan Ruoruo, Si Lili, and Haitang Duoduo, or ending in "er," like Lin Wan'er and Ye Ling'er. I just didn't feel that the names of the characters were too inspiring which was a little disappointing.
Science Fiction
This might be more to do with the writing, but I think it's super cool that this story combines both historical aspects with science fiction. This story is technically speculative fiction. The current world is actually a reboot of society after an ice age. According to Ye Qingmei, the reason why they'd been rebooted to an Imperial Chinese society was because fans of that era had left clues and seeds in the world to lead civilization to that point.
The places of note that we have so far are the secret temple from which Ye Qingmei hailed, and Taiping Bieyuan, which Wuzhu said that Ye Qingmei seemed to have lived before. Ye Qingmei said that there was something terrible below the secret temple. She was also trying to escape said place. So this place is probably some sort of ground zero, some sort of place that holds all the secrets. On the other hand, Taiping Bieyuan probably only holds some clues to the questions that Fan Xian has, but is far more accessible.
Of course Ye Qingmei herself is considered a goddess because of her tremendous knowledge and inventions. I'll talk about her more in her own character section, but I wonder if there are others in the current world who, like her, came from the secret temple, or like Fan Xian, have memories of past civilizations. Ye Qingmei said that Fan Xian was the only successful experiment, but I'm not ready to consider that a fact yet.
I'm also still riding on the theory that Wuzhu is a robot, and so I think there's reason to think that Ye Qingmei came from an incredibly advanced society, even further advanced than our current 21st century.
Characters
Fan Xian
Let's acknowledge this straight up. Fan Xian is a male fantasy. This guy is a "wenwu" genius; he is talented both in literature & arts, and in fighting. Of course, he has knowledge of literature and science from an advanced society. From a young age, he was taught by Fei Du regarding poisons and so Fan Xian grew to be a master doctor and pharmacist. He was also trained by Wuzhu in fighting. He had the "Badao Zhenqi" manual from his mother. And while Wuzhu technically said he didn't know how to fight, he knew how to train Fan Xian to be as capable as he is now. In fact, Fan Xian ranks among the top fighters of his generation (at least 9pin).
While being smart and strong, Fan Xian was also a sentimental person with very modern ideals. He said that he wanted to
In addition, Fan Xian has powerful connections. His mother was the goddess Ye Qingmei. His father, as we know now, is the current emperor. He also has Chen Pingping looking out for him, though we later find out that that may not necessarily be completely for Fan Xian's benefit. He's also taken under his wing Wang Qinian, who happens to be a master at a bunch of random but really useful things like Qinggong ("lightness technique") and tailing people. So you know, just a lot of convenient connections.
Now of course we can't not talk about the romantic relationships. We know that Fan Xian only has eyes for Lin Wan'er. Now, I felt that Si Lili was a pretty capable woman, but as we saw at the end of the season, she had feelings for Fan Xian. I have a feeling that the fact that she was accepted back into the royal family will be important in the coming seasons when Fan Xian needs help from Beiqi.
Having said all that, I don't hate Fan Xian. One reason for that is because Joy of Life is clearly a story about a hero. We knew that Fan Xian was destined for greatness from the very beginning, when he was left behind in Danzhou to be raised away from the capital city. Anyway, I can kind of forgive the fact that Fan Xian is so OP because I realize that this is that kind of story.
I can also forgive Fan Xian being so good at everything because Zhang Ruoyun plays the character so charmingly. Zhang Ruoyun's Fan Xian was a combination smart, cutthroat, kind, and dudebro. The last part is due to the fact that he technically has the mind of a modern person, so he kind of looked at the society of Qingguo with a bit of wtf.
I'd heard that Zhang Ruoyun had done a lot of analysis on Fan Xian before auditioning the part, so the showrunners knew that he was serious about this character.
I'd already come to like Zhang Ruoyun from his appearances on Who's the Murderer. As I said on my Tumblr, Zhang Ruoyun is Like That, but Fan Xian is even more Like That, and I think that's why his Fan Xian works. Fan Xian is just a more amplified version of the Zhang Ruoyun that I enjoy watching.
Anyway, interesting character, and I'm intrigued to know how he's going to take down Chen Pingping and the Second Prince but maintain the sanity and down-to-earth attitude that he has now.
Lin Wan'er
Li Qin was really cute as this character. I hadn't seen her in other shows, but I'd seen photos of her and I honestly think her look in Joy of Life might be one of her best looks.
Lin Wan'er was kind of a naive girl, probably because she'd grown up in isolation. She was not born of a married couple so her father was not technically allowed to recognize her as his own. In addition, her mother rarely visited her after she'd moved out of the Palace to live on her own.
After meeting Fan Xian (and clearing up their identities), Lin Wan'er started to learn to be more brave. This is the first time in a long time that she'd met anybody she cared about. Her brother Lin Gong and Ye Ling'er are both people who tried to make Lin Wan'er as comfortable as possible. However, with Fan Xian's status and his own political duties, he wasn't able to be with Lin Wan'er all the time. So I guess this was the first time that Lin Wan'er had the opportunity to reach out to a person to show her love.
After the picnic incident, Lin Wan'er felt really bad for hiding information from Fan Xian, and the only thing she could think of doing was to give Fan Xian the sky, because the sky was one of her favourite things in the world. Stuff like this was pretty cute, and also so uniquely Wan'er's style.
When the Princess, Wan'er's mother, was banished, Wan'er had a confrontation with her. This was the first time that Wan'er really talked about how she felt to her mother. She was unhappy that they didn't have a relationship at all, and chose to side with Fan Xian over her because he made the effort to make her happy. Wan'er also deduced that the Princess was doing all of her evil acts for the sake of a person she loved. However, that hasn't been revealed yet.
Unfortunately, we didn't see Wan'er for the second half of the show because Fan Xian was in Beiqi the whole time.
Emperor
Chen Daoming is an actor of very high accolades, so I think he was a big draw in terms of attracting older audiences to this show.
One thing that was characteristic about the Emperor was that he was always in his pajamas. I like to joke that he enjoys a home office, since he we never see him in court, only in his personal quarters.
He is easygoing on the outside. From what we see, he had an old friendship with Fan Jian and Chen Pingping. However, the saga with Fan Xian going to Beiqi and extracting a secret from Xiao En is what led to the three going separate ways. The Emperor and Chen Pingping are more concerned for the Secret Temple than Fan Xian's wellbeing. But the Emperor is definitely wary of Chen Pingping getting smarter and more powerful with every step closer to the Secret Temple.
Another curious thing was why the Emperor was so intent on Fan Xian marrying Lin Wan'er. My guess is that he wanted Fan Xian to inherit the Neiku because somehow he'd be able to understand Ye Qingmei's work and unlock the location of the secret temple or other similarly valuable information. I'm not sold on this guess though.
Uncle Wuzhu
As I mentioned, I have not let go of the theory that Wuzhu is a robot. He was the only person that Ye Qingmei knew when she left the secret temple, so he presumably knows a lot of secrets, if only he could gain back his memories.
I think Wuzhu is a robot for several reasons. (1) He doesn't age. (2) He is incredibly nimble. He claims he hasn't trained in martial arts and is only good at what he does because his reaction time is fast. That is something that can be programmed. (3) His amnesia could be the result of a faulty or corrupt memory.
Anyway, he's a great character. His stoicism is endearing and also comedic depending on the situation. He is very protective of Fan Xian, going so far as to killing Lin Gong for Fan Xian.
In Ye Qingmei's letter to Fan Xian, she told him to be kinder to Wuzhu. Fan Xian thought it was strange because Wuzhu was plenty capable on his own. Perhaps Wuzhu had undergone some lab testing or some terrible trauma. But in that case, that would be an argument for Wuzhu being a human.
Fan Jian
He is such a cool dad. He acts unfeeling around his family, but we know he's protective of those he loves. This is especially the case with Fan Xian. While Chen Pingping and the Emperor were fine with letting him dig his way out of Beiqi, Fan Jian worried constantly about whether Fan Xian's safety.
He said to Chen Pingping that though Fan Xian wasn't his child, his surname was still Fan and therefore he was a member of Fan Jian's household.
His friendship with the Emperor and Chen Pingping will definitely be tested in the future.
Liu Ruyu
She is Fan Jian's second wife, and mother of Fan Sizhe. At first, she was really wary of Fan Xian. However, seeing that he'd spoken in Fan Sizhe's defense in front of their father, she figured that Fan Xian was a smart older brother that Fan Sizhe could rely on, and thus Fan Xian gained her trust.
Fan Ruoruo
I loved Ruoruo. She is so enamoured with her older brother, and she does what she can to help him. She even went so far as to acting as a spy for the Crown Prince in order to fend off any suspicions from him.
She is capable, but she also doesn't lose any of her charm. We also see that she is a strict older sister, especially when it comes to Fan Sizhe not showing respect for their older brother.
Fan Sizhe
He's the money-hungry younger brother of Fan Xian. Fan Xian deduced that Fan Sizhe was so obsessed with money because Fan Sizhe always wanted his father's approval.
During the course of the show, Fan Sizhe wanted to start a bookstore to sell Fan Xian's books. Fan Xian had written/plagiarized the Dream of the Red Chamber, which is one of Chinese four great literary novels.
Grandma Fan
Fan Jian's mother, and the woman who raised Fan Xian. She was pretty smart herself, but much more cautious. She didn't want Fan Xian to go to the capital because she feared for his safety.
Despite her cold exterior, Fan Xian knew that she cared for him in her own way, teaching him to be unyielding when it came to protecting the Fan family.
Ye Qingmei
Ye Qingmei came from the secret temple, bringing with her many secrets of the 21st century and beyond. She befriended the current Emperor, Chen Pingping, and Fan Jian, and bore a child with the Emperor despite not officially marrying into the royal family. These personal relationships will undoubtedly be important in future season because the friends' attitudes towards Fan Xian have already caused a rift.
In her letters to Fan Xian and Wuzhu, she expressed that she was extremely lonely in the world, presumably because she was the only one she knew from a prior civilization, a prior era.
As we saw at the very beginning and very end of the season, Joy of Life is technically a book written by the student Zhang Qing who wanted to study under Professor Ye. So presumably Ye Qingmei is based on his professor whom he wants to impress.
Gao Da
He is so dumb and I honestly would not have it any other way. He is extremely upright and uptight. The only way that Fan Xian got him to warm up to Wang Qinian was to convince him that he was a great martial hero. Afterwards, Gao Da heeded every word of Wang Qinian's, which has caused Fan Xian some problems.
He is still a trustworthy guy, recommended to Fan Xian by Fan Jian, and I trust he'll continue to be trustworthy and unwavering in his loyalty.
Teng Zijing
He was sent a false instruction to assassinate Fan Xian but was unsuccessful. Teng Zijing and Fan Xian became friends over the first handful of episodes as Fan Xian agreed to help Teng Zijing locate his wife and child and keep them safe. Fan Xian's grief over Teng Zijing's death was one of the things that prompted Fan Xian to dig deeper into the assassination that was originally meant for him.
When Teng Zijing died, his wife was a little bitter that she'd lost him after only just reuniting with him. Their son had only started to call him "Die," and that was an emotional moment for the couple. Teng Zijing's wife knew that she shouldn't take out her anger on Fan Xian because Teng Zijing basically said that he treated Fan Xian like his own brother and thus would be willing to die in protecting him. That being said, his wife still needed some cool off time and so asked Fan Xian not to come back for a while.
We saw that the Second Prince had threatened Fan Xian through Teng Zijing's child, probably by enticing him with the candy and such. While Fan Xian felt that the Second Prince couldn't kill Fei Jie or Fan Sizhe for political reasons, Teng Zijing's son didn't have that same protection.
I think in the future, we might see Teng Zijing's wife warming up to Fan Xian again, and welcoming him into their home as a friend.
Eunuch Hou
He is the eunuch who directly serves the emperor. He's kind of a cautious man and a little timid. Fan Xian offered him money the few times they met each other and Eunuch Hou was really worried that he'd become complicit in bribery.
Gong Dian (General)
We only saw him a bit at the beginning and at the end. In the end of the season, his loyalty was being questioned by the Emperor.
Gong Dian reported to the Emperor that Chen Pingping had wanted to raise Qingguo to great heights. The Emperor seemed skeptical of his direct quote and basically prepared Gong Dian to be shot by an arrow. I guess the Emperor had expected Chen Pingping to talk shit about him, so he thought that Gong Dian was lying to him.
Li Yunrui (Grand Princess)
She is the sister of the Emperor, but not relatd by blood. Throughout the first half of the season, she was figuring out ways to kill Fan Xian. We were led to believe she was allied with the Crown Prince.
After a series of events, she was given the greatest punishment possible for a royal, which was banishment. However, she didn't seemed bothered by it, and had told Fan Xian that she'd left him a gift, which would imply that she would return to the story at a later date.
Wan'er deduced that Yunrui was doing all of her evil to protect or help someone else. That person, however, has not been revealed.
At the end of the season, Fan Xian discovered that Yunrui was actually allied with the Second Prince. Honestly, I felt that that came out of nowhere. I suppose there isn't really anything to disprove that, but it just felt really random to bring up. But of course, they need as many cliffhangers as possible to draw people in to the next season.
Li Yunrui's maidservant
She was actually a pretty capable bodyguard, so I'm surprised that we didn't even get a name for her. She was the Princess's eyes and ears, and she was also a capable fighter.
Yan Xiaoyi
The character I was totally crushing on in this season. This actor is so good looking????
Anyway, he was a commander, but was allied with the Princess because she had taken him in and raised him like a child. Ironic that she seemed to have a closer relationship with Xiaoyi than Wan'er. That being said, it could all be an act. We saw that Xiaoyi felt absolutely indebted to the Princess, and she was possibly taking advantage of that undying loyalty and manipulating his emotions.
Yan Xiaoyi had tried to kill Fan Xian when he was on his way to Beiqi, but was attacked by Haitang Duoduo. Yan Xiaoyi didn't die, but I guess he'll come back as a character who is hell-bent on killing Fan Xian because of his undying loyalty. I don't think the Princess will rely on him that much while she's in banishment, other than trusting him to do what he can to kill Fan Xian.
Empress Dowager
I think she'll be a more important character in future seasons. We first saw her when Yunrui didn't want Wan'er to marry Fan Xian, and the Empress Dowager refused Yunrui's request.
It's also curious that the Empress Dowager had the key to Wuzhu's box under her pillow. Why would she have the key? Is she safeguarding it for the Emperor, or does she have her own personal reasons for not wanting people to get to that box? And why does she have a key to a box that was meant for Wuzhu? When Yan Xiaoyi informed the Empress Dowager that there was possibly a thief in her quarters, the first thing she went to check was the key. Why is that key the most important thing to her? Presumably she knew Ye Qingmei from when Ye Qingmei was close with the Emperor. So what was the Empress Dowager's relationship with Ye Qingmei?
Eunuch Hong
I believe he is one of the famed fighers of the land. He almost speaks on behalf of the Empress Dowager, such as when Fan Xian went to visit the ladies of the Palace and Eunuch Hong evaluated Fan Xian on behalf of the Empress Dowager.
He was also contact by the Control Department when they were to uncover Zhu Ge's treachery. But he didn't play a big part in that.
Li Chengqian (Crown Prince)
The first thing that Fan Ruoruo noticed about the Crown Prince was that he kept painting pictures of a woman but not drawing the face. She suspected that he was in love with a woman that he couldn't be in love with (such as Si Lili).
The Crown Prince was allied with the Princess Li Yunrui. However, we later find out that that's not entirely true.
The Crown Prince is a surprisingly mild-mannered and serious person. He's technically the third prince and therefore younger than the second prince and so their power dynamic is a little weird.
I wonder if Fan Xian allies with the Crown Prince in the next season in order to go against the Second Prince. I can definitely see it happening in one-time situations.
Guo Baokun
He claimed to be a man working under the Crown Prince. He's really more of a frat boy, especially with that beard.
He held strong hatred for Fan Xian after Fan Xian made him look bad at the poetry competition, and after his father got thrown in prison (which Guo Baokun could only believe was due to Fan Xian's power).
Guo Baokun hired a bunch of assassins to take out Fan Xian. It seemed like he'd hired the completely wrong people at first because the men he'd hired seemed like a bunch of hillbillies who knew nothing of fighting. However, when they actually got to work, Guo Baokun realized that they were actually fighting experts. So that was a bit of comedic relief.
He became allied with Fan Xian after Fan Xian told him that he was the only one who could get his father out of jail. This made sense to Guo Baokun because he believed that his father was only in jail because of Fan Xian.
Fan Xian asked Guo Baokun to stay in Beiqi as a spy. The thing is, Fan Xian knew that Guo Baokun was going to be a bad spy, so he was more of a decoy.
Guo Youzhi (Guo Baokun's father)
Allied with the Crown Prince, and got thrown in jail. He's more of a plot device than a character, since Guo Baokun has a bigger role in the story.
He Zongwei
One of Guo Baokun's friends who supported him at the poetry competition. He was also exposed for having no shame because immediately after Fan Xian single-handedly won the poetry competition, He Zongwei wanted to "get to know" Fan Xian.
Xin Qiwu
A creepy minister. Fan Xian got to know him when he was randomly put on the panel to negotiate with Beiqi. Honestly, this guy is so creepy. He has such an unsettling smile.
Li Chengze (Second prince)
The Second Prince has a habit of setting up really elaborate resting spots when waiting to see Fan Xian.
He seemed really easygoing at first, but revealed himself to be a major villain of the next season. He had basically taken Teng Zijing's son, Fan Sizhe, and Fei Jie as "hostages" in order to get Fan Xian to ally with him. He was also in cahoots with the Princess.
I think he'll get taken out by the end of the second season.
Xie Bi'an (Li Chengze's bodyguard)
He was the Second Prince's bodyguard. We'll probably be seeing more of him in the next season too. However, I don't know that we'll see any deep character development for him. He might just continue to be an extension of the Second Prince.
Ling Hongcheng (Son of Prince of Jing, Shizi)
I thought this guy was pretty easygoing and chill. He had no issues with Fan Xian calling him Lao Li. And when Fan Xian showed up to his manor unannounced, asking to see all of his maids (to look for Wan'er), Shizi complied. We didn't see much of him after the first handful of episodes though. He's friends with the Second Prince though, so perhaps he'll pop up here and there.
Consort Yi (Yi Guipin, Liu Ruyu's cousin, fourth prince's)
She is the mother of the fourth prince. I don't know if the fourth prince will be a character in the next season, but in any case, I think that Consort Yi will remain an ally to the Fan family due to her close relationship with Liu Ruyu.
Consort Shu (Shu Guifei, Second Prince's mother)
She was a bookworm who didn't have interest for anything other than books. She didn't have anything to say to Fan Xian other than to ask about his writing and literature. She basically had her head in the clouds.
You can kind of see the resemblance in terms of personality between the Second Prince and Consort Shu, but the Second Prince definitely has more ambition.
Consort Ning (Ning Cairen, Eldest Prince's mother)
Consort Ning was actually demoted to a lower status (Cairen). She is the mother of the eldest prince. I also don't know if he's going to be a character in upcoming seasons. However, the eldest prince wasn't favourable as a candidate for the Crown Prince because Consort Ning was of foreign descent.
Consort Ning enjoyed martial arts and chastised Fan Xian for not being buffer. But in the end, she seemed like a nice woman.
Ye Ling'er
Lin Wan'er's friend. She mostly acted as an extension for Wan'er, who was too ill to travel. We see that she did a lot of pearl clutching (on Wan'er's behalf), and I suspect that when Wang Qinian and Gao Da return from Beiqi and accidentally reveal Fan Xian's "relationship" with Haitang Duoduo, she'll get angry on Wan'er's behalf again, which will be cause for some more comedic relief.
Chen Pingping
The first time I saw this man, I knew he wasn't to be trusted. He has those knowing eyes, and also, he's in a wheelchair, so he probably is not one to be messed with.
Fan Xian deduced that Chen Pingping had led him to basically all of the actions he had taken in the entire season. He pulled a long con, using Fan Xian's life, in order to extract a secret from Xiao En. He tricked Xiao En into believing that Fan Xian was his grandson so that he'd be more willing to reveal his secret to Fan Xian.
Chen Pingping had kept Xiao En's true grandson alive (presumed to be Yan Bingyun) and raised him into a Beiqi-hating Qingguo citizen.
I think Fan Xian just hated the fact that he was being used, that each of his steps was being dictated by Chen Pingping. He came to the conclusion that Chen Pingping was not to be trusted. He also decided he had to further investigate his mother's death. Those two goals will lead him in a battle of wits against Chen Pingping. I don't know whether Fan Xian will be able to unseat Chen Pingping in the next season considering how formidable he is.
Despite Chen Pingping's close friendship with the Emperor and Fan Jian, they are growing further apart. In particular, I think Chen Pingping is the target of the most wariness. Fan Jian and the Emperor know where each other stands. The Emperor knows that Fan Jian is sentimental about Fan Xian, and he also knows that Fan Jian doesn't really have any political inclinations as well. Fan Jian knows that the Emperor is really just worried about his power. But the two of them don't know what Chen Pingping is planning. Chen Pingping is ambitious enough to want to get to the bottom of the Secret Temple, but that could be a sign that he is ambitious enough to usurp the throne (directly or indirectly). In addition, Fan Jian doesn't know how far Chen Pingping is willing to go in endangering Fan Xian's life to get to the Secret Temple. Anyway, he will definitely be one of the big bad villains in future seasons.
Zhu Ge (First division)
This actor played the power-mad Crown Prince in the Rise of Phoenixes so the first time I saw him I was already slightly wary. He ended up being a spy for the Princess, and died soon after the reveal.
Fei Jie (Third division)
He was Fan Xian's teacher from a young age. He taught Fan Xian the way of poisons and always worries for his well-being. Fan Xian joked that he'd send Fei Jie off when he died, but Fei Jie kind of took that to heart because he has no children of his own.
Leng Shixiong (Third division)
One of Fan Xian's many "Shixiong" from the Third divison. He seems like a nice guy, equipping Fan Xian with arms and protection before he set off for Beiqi.
Yan Ruohai (Fourth division)
He was originally suspected to want to overthrow Chen Pingping as the head of the Control Department. It was later revealed that he was actually working with Chen Pingping in order to get Zhu Ge to reveal himself as the actual spy.
Yan Bingyun
Yan Ruohai's son. Fan Xian deduced that he was actually adopted, and was the true grandson of Xiao En. Yan Bingyun is pretty uptight and tries to act like an unfeeling asshole.
He claimed that he didn't care at all about Miss Shen, but he was definitely concerned for her well-being when she got herself stabbed while trying to protect him from her own brother.
Fan Xian asked Yan Bingyun to help him on his quest to overtake the Control Department. Towards the end of the season, we see that Yan Bingyun was still hesitant in trusting Fan Xian. After all, when he left Qingguo, he still didn't really have much reason not to believe in Chen Pingping.
The season ended with Yan Bingyun stabbing Fan Xian. But we're supposed to deduce that Yan Bingyun had come up with some sort of elaborate plan with Fan Xian. But Yan Bingyun stabbed him completely through the stomach??? Anyway, since the showrunners told us not to worry, I'm not worried lol.
Yingzi (Sixth division)
The masked leader of the sixth division. Fei Jie unmasked him after poisoning him into fainting. So presumably only Fei Jie and Chen Pingping know what his real identity is. I'm pretty curious, but at this time, I don't think much of it because Yingzi hasn't done much plotwise. All we know is he's great at fighting and that's about it.
Xuan Jiu (Eighth division)
Responsible for printing things in the Control Department. Didn't have a big role in the first season except for some investigation.
Wang Qinian
This freaking guy. Somehow he's skilled in a lot of convenient skills, but mostly those relating to stalking people and lightness technique. He's also money hungry. He only agreed to work under Fan Xian at first because he negotiated for at least the salary of Teng Zijing. And we also see him acting really stingily.
I don't see him betraying Fan Xian anytime in the near future. I do believe that he loves his wife and daughter the most, and unless they are threatened, I don't see him changing allegiances.
Lin Ruofu
Lin Wan'er's dad. He seems like a normal guy. He didn't do that much in the first season. In the future, I wonder if he'll tell Fan Xian about the Princess, and give him information that will help him to immobilze her.
He placed all of the future hopes and dreams of the Lin family onto Fan Xian, now that Lin Gong is dead, and honestly, that felt like an act of desperation. He couldn't rely on Lin Dabao, who had the mentality of a child, or Wan'er, because of her status as a woman and also her poor health. I think he truly does just want the best for his family. As long as Fan Xian and Wan'er relationship is not rocky, I can see Lin Ruofu being an ally.
Lin Dabao (Lin Wan'er's oldest half-brother)
Lin Dabao got sick when he was young and kind of lost his mind after that. He has the mentality of a child. That being said, his family loves him very much, which is nice :3
Lin Gong (Lin Wan'er's second old half-brother)
Lin Gong cared a lot for Lin Wan'er. He didn't approve that their father never visited Wan'er and so he took it upon himself to care for Wan'er.
Lin Gong was originally in cahoots with the Princess to kill Fan Xian. Fan Xian was going to get back at Lin Gong but hesitated when Ruoruo asked him what he'd do if Wan'er went after her. However, Wuzhu took the initiative and killed Lin Gong to protect Fan Xian.
Officially, Lin Gong was killed by a Beiqi assassin, which didn't make sense, but created an opportunity for the Emperor to attack Beiqi.
Yuan Hongdao
An assistant to Lin Ruofu. He was tasked with torturing Si Lili in hopes that she'd confess to telling Fan Xian that Lin Gong had ordered the hit on him. He didn't get far in his torture.
But after Fan Xian became allied with Lin Ruofu, Yuan Hongdao didn't seem to have any more reason to not be amicable wit him.
Mei Zhili (Judge)
He was the judge who was responsible for handling the case of Fan Xian beating up Guo Baokun. He only made that one appearance though.
Si Lili/Li Lisi
Si Lili was a courtesan in Qingguo, and was later revealed to be a Beiqi spy. She was then later revealed to be a part of the royal family in Beiqi and was accepted into the family by the end of the season.
Originally, Si Lili was portrayed to be a pretty capable woman. She was giving out orders, strategizing, etc. She was probably pretty good at her job as Beiqi spy.
After she got to know Fan Xian, after he captured her and interrogated her, I felt that she was softening a bit. Maybe it really was because she was falling in Fan Xian. I kind of wish it had never come to that, but whatever.
Anyway, I do think that she will come back in a future episode, and reading a spoiler (*grumble*) almost definitely confirms that.
Sigujian (Dongyi)
A famed martial artist only mentioned by name.
Yun Zhilan (Sigujian's disciple)
A martial artist who showed up at the banquet in Qingguo.
Zhuang Mohan
A scholar from Beiqi. Originally he was working together with the Princess Li Yunrui. He'd present a forgery that would challenge Fan Xian's authorship of his original poem from the poetry contest (the poem he'd plagiarized from Du Fu). In return Li Yunrui gave up Yan Bingyun's name as a Qingguo spy.
In the end, Zhuang Mohan didn't hold up his end of the bargain because he wasn't able to prove that Fan Xian was a fake. Fan Xian went into a drunken poetry trance, reciting as many famous Chinese poems as he knew, and the people thought there was no way he'd copied that many.
In the end, Zhuang Mohan spit blood, since that was a pretty aggravating situation for an old man.
We later found out that Zhuang Mohan was actually Xiao En's older brother. After Xiao En died, Fan Xian visited Zhuang Mohan to visit the news. In that conversation, it was nice to see that Fan Xian and Zhuang Mohan had more respect for each other than any hate or competition. Zhuang Mohan was a scholar through and through and he didn't care about politics, he just cared about the beauty of the word.
He basically urged Fan Xian to enjoy his life, and died the next day, as Fan Xian left. Zhuang Mohan left Fan Xian his entire book collection.
Xiao En
Xiao En was from Beiqi, and he broke Chen Pingping's legs, confining him into a wheelchair. When they were younger, Xiao En and Ku He had found the Secret Temple, and this was very valuable information to all people everywhere.
Over the years that he was trapped in the Control Department's underground mail, Chen Pingping had fed Xiao En clues to mislead him into thinking that his grandson grew up in Danzhou. In the end, Xiao En revealed several secrets to Fan Xian. He revealed that Fan Xian was his grandson (which he was not), he revealed the story of the Secret Temple, and he offhandedly revealed that Ye Qingmei and the current Qingguo Emperor had a child (who was Fan Xian).
In his death, Xiao En wanted to stay in the sun, rather than be buried under the ground as he'd been for the last few decades. Xiao En ended up being a sympathetic character.
Shang Shanhu
He was Xiao En's godson. He was also a 9pin fighter. Fan Xian collaborated with him first to rescue Xiao En, and then to kill Shen Zhong. Shang Shanhu was originally planning to kill Fan Xian, but let him go for the time being after Fan Xian gave him the information to collect his godfather's corpse.
Tan Wu
He was Shang Shanhu's trusted right-hand man who died while sneaking Xiao En out of Shen Zhong's secret location.
Ku He (Beiqi)
He was one of the famed warriors of the land. Along with Xiao En, he'd found the Secret Temple. Ye Qingmei gave him a book, and it's assumed that he ascended to his current state after reading the contents of the book.
He was shown to be a pretty devout man, and literally worshipped Ye Qingmei. When Xiao En was let out of the Control Department's jail, Ku He sent Haitang Duoduo to kill him because he was worried that Xiao En would reveal the location of the Secret Temple against the wishes of Ye Qingmei.
I'm sure Ku He will be an important major figure in future seasons.
Lang Tao
Ku He's eldest disciple. He was hired by Shen Zhong to take out Xiao En. By the end of the season, we saw that he was working with the Emperor of Beiqi.
Haitang Duoduo
A disciple of Fan Xian, and a disciple of Ku He. She is also politically entangled, being allied with the Emperor of Beiqi, but technically working under the Empress Dowager. The Emperor calls her Xiaoshigu, which would imply that the Emperor is a student of one of Haitang Duoduo's contemporary fellow disciples. I suppose we'll find out more on that later.
Anyway, she is friends with Fan Xian. I think they understand each other because they are both part of Jianghu as well as the highly politicized world.
She's a pretty chill woman. I don't see any reason for her to have to go against Fan Xian for the time being. She was also mistaken by Wang Qinian and Gao Da to be in an affair with Fan Xian, and I'm sure that'll be part of future comedic relief.
When we first met her, her weapons were twin axes, which I thought were cool. Her shixiong Lang Tao used twin knives on chains, so that's kind of a cool aesthetic going on with Ku He's disciples.
Shen Zhong
The major villain of the Beiqi arc. He was first shown as a kindly man on the outside but vicious behind closed doors. We saw this as he pulled aside an old servant of the palace and killed her for openly defying him in front of Fan Xian and others.
First, he wouldn't release Yan Bingyun, and later, he used Xiao En as a trap to lure in Shang Shanhu and Fan Xian. Shen Zhong claimed that all he was doing was for the good of Beiqi.
His main weakness was his little sister. Shang Shanhu used his sister's correspondences with Yan Bingyun as a way to implicate him in treason. After being stripped of his positions, he tried one last time to take out Fan Xian and Yan Bingyun. Seeing that he couldn't do it, he was willing to give up the information of the secret money in exchange for Fan Xian and Yan Bingyun to take care of his sister.
He was an interesting character. He was taken away alive, but I'm not sure if he'll be kept alive.
Miss Shen (Shen Zhong's younger sister)
She fell in love with Yan Bingyun while he was being held by Shen Zhong. Yan Bingyun tried to push her away countless times but she still wouldn't let go, even though he made her cry. In the end, she risked her life to save him, and that's when Yan Bingyun realized that maybe he feels something more for her than indifference.
He Daoren
He was a spy for Chen Pingping and thus helped Fan Xian while he was in Beiqi. After Fan Xian left Beiqi, he continued to ask He Daoren to be a spy for him. However, we see that the Emperor of Beiqi and Lang Tao already knew that he was a spy.
Cheng Jushu (Beiqi assassin)
He was the Beiqi assassin who was hired to attack Fan Xian while he was on his way to have tea with the Second Prince. Teng Zijing's son had also been sneaking him food and saw him as a friend.
Zhan Doudou
The Emperor of Beiqi. I was a little puzzled as to whether Zhan Doudou was hiding her gender or whether she was a female emperor. I did some Googling and it seems the latter is the case. Everyone knows that Zhan Doudou is a woman, but as she is filling the Emperor's shoes, she is taking on a masculine role and look in some parts of her life.
Empress Dowager of Beiqi
It seems that Zhan Doudou and her mother are at odds and are considered completely different political factions. The Empress Dowager was technically used as a tool to get Shen Zhong stripped of his positions.
Ye Liuyun
One of the great warriors who was only mentioned by name.
Other
***SPOILER ALERT***
I wanted to note that the Wikipedia page is rife with spoilers!!!!! I'm talking about the Wikipedia page for the drama having spoilers for things that haven't happened in the drama yet (but were probably added in by people who'd read the webnovel). I've already accidentally read 1.5 things that haven't happened in Season 1. But now I know that Wikipedia is a traitor.
One of the important spoilers that I read was about the Emperor killing Ye Qingmei because he was getting wary of the power she was accumulating. I'm particularly angry because this is endgame information. I think this show will have at least three seasons, so that is a spoiler that will keep me up at night until 2025.
The other 0.5 spoiler I read was that Si Lili became a noble consort, but I didn't read who she became a noble consort of. I assume she's going to marry into Qingguo's royal family.
I was originally spoiled by Wikipedia about who Fan Xian's father was, and it took me a while to get over it, though I never completely got over it. I just hope that the spoiler about Ye Qingmei comes up earlier in the show than later.
Overall
Overall, this was a cool show. My favourite part was probably blending the historical and science fiction aspects.
I did feel less attached to the second half of the story because it took place entirely outside of Qingguo, away from all of the characters we'd built connections with in the first half of the season.
I do think that some of the editing for the show was done in a way to appeal to mass audiences. Not that it's bad, but it's a little overdone. For example, there was an abundance of flashbacks, which was useful in some situations but not all. But I also felt that some conversations were dragged out and probably could've been cut down a bit. As we know, the story is already quite long.
I will be watching the second season, but after reading the spoiler, I feel like I'm going to be watching the second season out of physical necessity or else my heart will not rest OTL
I think that I'll have to wait for the hype to die down a bit before I watch the second season as well, because like everything else I watch, I think disappointment over hype completely overshadows all my other opportunities to think about something as objectively as possible.
I would still recommend this show as a lighter alternative to the usual court dramas. I think it's also recommended for people who like a really overpowered but not necessarily douchey main character.