Watched all 40 episodes of China's 2022 Who Rules the World, based on the novel _Let's Try the World_ by Qing Lengyue, chronicling the adventures of two masters--the female Bai Feng Xi and Heng Fei Xi of the Four Gentlemen--in setting the world aright while dealing with the wicked Soultaker Sect, the Cricket and Locust Sect, counterfeit Empyrean tokens, the quest for the Sacred Jade Moon, the building of a dam in Liang City, and battles between cities. While the movie is about five, male contenders' struggles to rule, it is first and foremost a love story between a heroic man and a heroic woman, and about three princes and their relationships with their father, embellished with double identities, treachery, assassinations, love triangles, and corruption and palace intrigues in Yongzhou.

The movie is well-made and is a surprisingly atypical wuxia: the acting is modern as opposed to classical, and there are no stereotypes; the protagonists are lovable and the villains are not completely odious because they are given full characterization and understandable motives. There are many, precious non-verbal nuances. Dramatic problems are swiftly resolved rather than protracted before other problems are presented. The episodes are treated like interesting, detective stories. As in most other wuxia the fight scenes are breathtaking. There is no attempt to make sets overly beautiful; everything looks naturally lived-in, including gardens. High speed is given maximum use not only in battle scenes but also in simple scenes such as characters walking away after a conversation with other characters. Even the composition of extras in the background is well thought-out. Episode 7 has an unusual storm-at-sea sequence. Episode 34 was a most exciting family drama. The battle scenes in Episode 37 are spectacular, so is the interesting battle scene intercut and lap-dissolved with an earlier Go game. I loved the Chinese New Year sequences in Episode 20, the Lantern Festival episode in Episode 23, and the fabulous wedding scenes in Episode 38. How I wish that wuxia would feature other ancient Chinese festivals as well, such as the Dragon Boat Festival and the Festival of Hungry Ghosts.

The only glitches in this movie are continuity oversights, such as head and eye positions that do not match in cut-to-cut shots, and repetitious, simulated drone shots over the rooftops of cities, which were disturbing to me because they kept jolting me back to the 21st century. In Episode 8 Bai Fengxi's dress is supposedly burned to ashes, yet in Episode 10 she is shown wearing the very same dress. In Episode 17 a vendor is selling Ojibwe dreamcatchers; this is the second wuxia I watched that has them. I still cannot understand why men release battle cries when charging against the enemy--it may raise morale but it is also physically energy-depleting. I note that in almost all wuxia there are hardly any pet cats and dogs, and that the minors in the cast are seldom credited. Last but not least, the casting of the male characters was initially discombobulating to me--their faces changed depending on the lighting and their emotional states, and it was easy to mistake one character for another.

In all, this is a wuxia worth watching; after 40 episodes there is nothing like a happy ending. I love that all gentlemen have tea sets on their tables. I found that the Bai Feng Xi-Heng Fei Xi-and Bai Feng Xi's brother triangle reminded me so much of the Han Solo-Princess Leia-Luke Skywalker triangle in Star Wars. In Mandarin, "iba-iba" means "just a little". And sometimes the struggle for power in one's family is equivalent to the struggle for power in the world.