Drama Rating: 8/10 Neck Score: A++
Anyway, Dijun and Feng Jiu were actually my favorite couple in Peach Blossoms, but that was probably because their romance didn't have anything to do with Sujin. Thank goodness. Also, Dijun and the Third Prince were like besties, and I really loved their dynamic. So when I heard that they were actually going to do their full story, I was on board. Plus, more Dijun means more Third Prince and Siming. I'm still waiting for the spinoff/mini drama or whatever when they let Third Prince finally successfully woo Cheng Yu. Maybe get some backstory there.
The whole three lives three worlds part is based in the fact that for the first third of the story at least, Dijun doesn't actually know who she is, so the whole thing is based on a misunderstanding, that still manages to produce a love that apparently moves the heavens. Feng Jiu is chasing after Dijun to pay him back for saving her life, but also because she's in love with him, but then ends up getting mixed up in his life, but he only knows her briefly as a maid and then as his pet fox. Then she ends up getting caught up in his mortal trial, which he won't remember afterwards, and then they "officially" finally meet, halfway through the show. By this point she's ready to give up while he is just getting started, which makes for a nice dynamic.
New characters that I grew to love (or not) were the demon tribe, which are only mentioned in passing in the first one (which mostly dealt with the ghost tribe) and I was absolutely in love with Xiao Yan, the demon lord who was so in love with Ji Heng that he kept challenging the most powerful being in the nine heavens, Dong Hua Dijun, to a duel over her. Even when Dijun didn't actually care about her, but was only fulfilling a promise to his friend, who happened to be her father. This kid was so lovably one track minded, while being simply a good dude, that I had to love him even when he was being stupid over a girl. I didn't love her at all, but if she made him happy, than cool. Win her, dude.
The evil love rivals were no where near as bad a Sujin and never could be. While Ye Hua might be crown prince, he didn't really have much power to stop Sujin on his own, cuz she had his dad wrapped around her finger. I hate that dad, he's an idiot. He's barely in this one (yes!). Can anyone push Dong Hua Dijun around? Nope. We have the adopted little sister as a pathetic and petty rival, doing her best to eliminate any rivals, but she gets herself kicked out pretty fast for annoying Dijun with her spoiled behaviors. Then we have Ji Heng, who isn't that bad at first, and then does some bad things which she instantly regrets, but I only hate at times and not all the time. Can we call the villain, the demon empress Miao Luo, an evil love rival? No, she's literally the villain, but she does flirt while trying to kill Dijun. But I liked her. She was messed up but awesome.
So really, my biggest problem was that the show was the pacing overall. I joke about it being the five lives/worlds, because there is a long time with every different phase of their relationship. It takes them so long to finally get to the part where you think they are on the same page, but they are never completely on the same page until the last two episodes. We know who the villain is the whole time. We know that she's going to break out and wreak havoc when she does the whole time. But we don't get any real progress or action on that until the end. Not that I needed ten episodes of fight scene, but I would have liked more time for power couple to actually be a power couple together instead of trying to protect each other behind the scenes. But really, this might just be my impatience in any crap keeping this couple apart after having gone through three different lives worth of misunderstandings. They just needed to be together and stay together at that point. Please.
I do have to really applaud Gao Weiguang especially. I mean, Dilraba did a great job being Feng Jiu, but Gao Weiguang had to play three very different characters. His three lives all had different characters and vibes, so much that I personally had to say wow at times because they were distinctly different people. Even talking to each other at times and feeling very different (although why didn't anyone not realize they looked exactly the same? Was that part of the magic he did? I digress). I was impressed, but then I also really love the actor and was probably watching with hearts in my eyes anyway.
Now, about Third Prince's mini drama...
