![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Dropped: Candle in the Tomb (鬼吹燈之精絕古城) (2016)
I got through about half of this drama before I realized that I wasn't engaged or enjoying it at all. The drama was just too campy, and the character tropes weren't fun for me.
Spoilers up until episode 13.
Story
I think the structure for this drama was supposed to be episodic in nature. The first tomb just featured three characters, and then our crew was vastly expanded in the second tomb. However, I felt that the crew was expanded too fast, as anybody other than the teacher and Shirley were just lost to me.
In terms of the actual adventures, they could have been fun, but for some reason, I wasn't excited. It might have been because I was going through Some Shit when I first started this drama, but I don't think I'm wrong in saying that the writing isn't particularly engaging or thrilling.
The character writing was also pretty weak, but I'll cover that in the characters section.
Production
As I mentioned, the production was pretty campy. It wasn't the worst I'd seen, as at the bare minimum, the show still needed some convincing dark tombs. But nothing about the set or the production design really made me excited about going on an adventure.
Characters
Hu Bayi
Lao Hu was our main character. He was a soldier, and also seemed to have a deep knowledge of history, though we have no idea why. He became the defacto leader of the crew after wowing the professor.
Lao Hu was just kind of a non-character to me. He did things, but he barely had a personality other than "keeping Pangzi in check."
Pangzi/Wang Kaixuan
Pangzi was supposed to be the wacky one in comparison to Lao Hu. He was always more impulsive, more money-hungry, more angry, etc. His only characteristic seemed to be to cause arguments or comedic relief.
Shirley Yang
Shirley was primed as the smart, pretty, and strong-willed love interest to Lao Hu. She very much had characteristics of a girlboss. On the first mission with the crew, she butted heads with Lao Hu and Pangzi but without revealing her reasons for why she needed to do dangerous things, and it was kind of annoying.
In a later mission, she'd saved Lao Hu from a sandstorm, and that was supposed to be when they'd bonded, but, eh. Questionable.
The chemistry between her and Lao Hu was nonexistent as well.
Professor Chen
Professor Chen was also kind of a non-character for me, but at least I recognized him as a character. He was kind of a yes man, someone to praise Lao Hu or Shirley for being so smart and capable.
Other
I did like Yingzi from the first mission, and I wasn't so surprised when she went away after the first job, but I was a little disappointed that she wouldn't be included in the main crew because I did find her more different and compelling compared to the rest of the female characters in the crew. In particular, we see that she is a character on her own, whereas Shirley or the other female student only have personality traits because of the characters around them and how they interact with them.
Da Jin Ya was a sponsor for Lao Hu and Pangzi's first mission, and I thought he was going to be a recurring character who would keep sponsoring their missions. I thought it would have been an interesting contrast for our protagonists to have been working for a shady guy, but he also went away after the first mission.
And as I mentioned, I basically didn't recognize any of the rest of the characters in the crew.
Overall
I was hoping this would be a fun adventure story, but nothing about it stood out to me, not even the acting, as it fell victim to boring writing. The adventures themselves weren't interesting as well. I would argue that the first mission was the most interesting because the purpose of the story was very clear: they had to survive the monster in the tomb. But afterwards, when the crew went on longer adventures with a bigger crew, I just stopped caring.
I'll still check out some of the other Candle in the Tomb series as I know they are mostly standalone series.
Spoilers up until episode 13.
Story
I think the structure for this drama was supposed to be episodic in nature. The first tomb just featured three characters, and then our crew was vastly expanded in the second tomb. However, I felt that the crew was expanded too fast, as anybody other than the teacher and Shirley were just lost to me.
In terms of the actual adventures, they could have been fun, but for some reason, I wasn't excited. It might have been because I was going through Some Shit when I first started this drama, but I don't think I'm wrong in saying that the writing isn't particularly engaging or thrilling.
The character writing was also pretty weak, but I'll cover that in the characters section.
Production
As I mentioned, the production was pretty campy. It wasn't the worst I'd seen, as at the bare minimum, the show still needed some convincing dark tombs. But nothing about the set or the production design really made me excited about going on an adventure.
Characters
Hu Bayi
Lao Hu was our main character. He was a soldier, and also seemed to have a deep knowledge of history, though we have no idea why. He became the defacto leader of the crew after wowing the professor.
Lao Hu was just kind of a non-character to me. He did things, but he barely had a personality other than "keeping Pangzi in check."
Pangzi/Wang Kaixuan
Pangzi was supposed to be the wacky one in comparison to Lao Hu. He was always more impulsive, more money-hungry, more angry, etc. His only characteristic seemed to be to cause arguments or comedic relief.
Shirley Yang
Shirley was primed as the smart, pretty, and strong-willed love interest to Lao Hu. She very much had characteristics of a girlboss. On the first mission with the crew, she butted heads with Lao Hu and Pangzi but without revealing her reasons for why she needed to do dangerous things, and it was kind of annoying.
In a later mission, she'd saved Lao Hu from a sandstorm, and that was supposed to be when they'd bonded, but, eh. Questionable.
The chemistry between her and Lao Hu was nonexistent as well.
Professor Chen
Professor Chen was also kind of a non-character for me, but at least I recognized him as a character. He was kind of a yes man, someone to praise Lao Hu or Shirley for being so smart and capable.
Other
I did like Yingzi from the first mission, and I wasn't so surprised when she went away after the first job, but I was a little disappointed that she wouldn't be included in the main crew because I did find her more different and compelling compared to the rest of the female characters in the crew. In particular, we see that she is a character on her own, whereas Shirley or the other female student only have personality traits because of the characters around them and how they interact with them.
Da Jin Ya was a sponsor for Lao Hu and Pangzi's first mission, and I thought he was going to be a recurring character who would keep sponsoring their missions. I thought it would have been an interesting contrast for our protagonists to have been working for a shady guy, but he also went away after the first mission.
And as I mentioned, I basically didn't recognize any of the rest of the characters in the crew.
Overall
I was hoping this would be a fun adventure story, but nothing about it stood out to me, not even the acting, as it fell victim to boring writing. The adventures themselves weren't interesting as well. I would argue that the first mission was the most interesting because the purpose of the story was very clear: they had to survive the monster in the tomb. But afterwards, when the crew went on longer adventures with a bigger crew, I just stopped caring.
I'll still check out some of the other Candle in the Tomb series as I know they are mostly standalone series.