The Longest Promise

Watched all 43 episodes of China's The Longest Promise (2023), adapted from _Zhu Yan_ by Cang Ye. After decades of peace between the merfolk and the humans of Yunhuang, the wicked leader of the Ice Clan regenerates discrimination and enmity between the two sides in order to use their leaders as pawns to obtain the powerful Houtu Ring and Divine Heavenly Ring. Against this background of political intrigues, young Zhu Yan of the Crimson Clan pledges to avenge an injustice done to the Shi Ying, young Crown Prince of Kongsang. Both Zhu Yan and Shi Ying grow up and get embroiled in a complex pattern of spiritual and mortal battles, magic, and romance.

This production showcases another fine performance by heroic actor Xiao Zhan. He is stern and poker-faced as Preceptor Shi Ying in this story--a complete turnabout from his role as happy-go-lucky Wei Wuxian in The Untamed--demonstrating his acting prowess and his versatility. He sparkles without trying to outshine his co-performers. In this and The Untamed he continues to be associated with the flute. He bears a face that grows on you, becoming handsomer and handsomer the longer you look at him. Indeed, the story is about Shi Ying as much as it is about Zhu Yan. The entire series is more of a grand love story more than a xianxia--or anything else, for that matter. While the title refers to a promise that young Zhu Yan made to young Shi Ying, other characters also made long promises to themselves and to their own loved ones. The series is unique in that it employs minimal special effects as compared with those of other productions in this genre. There are no spectacular sets, and everything looks lived-in and unobtrusive. The story is told simply as a wholesome story, without villains' exaggeratedly grave threats and without gruesome deaths. In addition, the subtitles are superb and have almost no grammatical errors.

 

The series, however, is lengthy and over-interpolated, beginning with the introduction of the new character Bai Fenglin in Episode 29, as though to provide more story material. And, there are continuity loopholes. In Episode 25 blood on Shi Ying's clothes due to a crystal shard mysteriously disappears in succeeding shots. In Episode 27, when a man hands Sumo a piece of bread, Lady Yu seems to reply "Thank you," apparently forgetting that her tongue has been cut off. In Episodes 31 and 32 scenes dwindle into adolescent misinterpretations and misunderstandings. Excitement picks up, as a matter of fact, only as far into the series as Episode 33. Episode 32 features one of two interesting love scenes with overexposed backlighting, but the technique is more Western than it is Chinese. In Episode 41 Shi Ying regaining his powers via the fire crane verges on ridiculous. That the rings also could not transform Zhu Yan into Yaoyi Feili is perplexing, and it is also when Alen Fang as Chi Yuan deteriorates into ham acting; his death in Episode 43 is even questionable, since he was endowed with dragon's breath, which was why he didn't die the first time around. And then there is the age-old problem of how to pour tea without spilling any outside cups.

I do love the way hairpins can be used both as weapons and as magic wands!