Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 6: Episodes 61 – 72

So we only have one more week of Tribes and Empires totaling 75 episodes because they only shot up to Huang Xuan’s ascension to the throne. What will they do from here? I don’t know because it’s not a small project. The novel writer wrote on his weibo that he has big dreams for Tribes (on the level of Attack on Titan and Lord of the Rings) but the project lacks funding so he’s looking for ka-ching!

As of 12/26, the drama online views have hit 7 billions. 😀 Hunan has also sucked it up and will air Tribes starting 12/29 on TV.

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Everybody cries because the drama is ending…

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Okay, you win, drama queen. LOL.

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  1. 31 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 6: Episodes 61 – 72

    …still haven’t watched past ep 39…will definitely get there at some point, but for now, no comment.
    Have looked at some of the teasers tho and some look more interesting than others…admittedly none of them really possessed me to keep watching. I do like T&E, but I feel like the plot is so thorough with such a…inconsistent pace that you can’t stop…once I stop I feel less motivation to pick it back up. Although I’ve been watching fewer dramas in general this break.

  2. 31 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 6: Episodes 61 – 72

    I almost prefer watching as it broadcasts because it’s kind of routine – I know I’m watching 2 episodes a day, and even if I lack motivation it’s more of an incentive to keep watching those 2 eps for the day. Once I’m behind tho, the episodes adding up seem almost insurmountable to catch up. I’m trying to do the whole “healthy habits” for the new year so when classes start again I procrastinate less – aka trying to cut out binge watching.

  3. 31 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 6: Episodes 61 – 72

    I guess it’s a good thing I’m following it on drama fever because I need the subs. If they are all subbed through the aired episodes, I will definitely binge watch. LOL

    • 31 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 6: Episodes 61 – 72

      Same here. Been so busy with other stuff anyway so it’s nice to just binge ten episodes on the weekend.

  4. 31 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 6: Episodes 61 – 72

    I thought it was around eps 64…Is it ep72 already? So after 75eps, it is still not the end? More seasons to follow along?
    So annoying, there are already a number of unfinished dramas like Princess Agent, Legend of Dragon Pearl etc…We may not even get second session and still filmed with same cast. I really dont understand why cant they just stop the dragging a drama and just finish a story properly in 1 season. Even Zhou Liying said in a interview she is disappointed she can journey the end of PA with the viewers.

    • 31 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 6: Episodes 61 – 72

      There’s only 64 out so far, but it will be 72 at the end of this week. I didn’t notice how far along it was until you pointed it out…I don’t mind the slow pace, but now I am worried that it won’t be concluded properly. Why is the emperor still alive? I thought he would die in like episode 8, then I thought he was dead when his son tried to take over, but he just keeps coming back like herpes. I think when he finally dies, we will get our climax.

      • 31 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 6: Episodes 61 – 72

        It probably won’t. The ending has already been spoiled to be an open ending, and the cast may or may not return to film a second part depending on the response. I guess the Emperor will only die when Huang Xuan gets the throne, which is at the end.

        • 31 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 6: Episodes 61 – 72

          Oh my god, I actually had to pause when I read that there’d be an open ending. I’ve invested all this time into this stupid drama, and yea I said it, it’s a stupid drama, and now I won’t even get the satisfaction of a definite ending!?

          Also 3 major reasons why it’s a stupid drama:
          1. The pacing/flow. Whoever was in charge of cutting up and mashing up the sequence of events needs to sit and re-evaluate themselves. I’m not a fan of the dramatic build ups and then -boom- a switch in scenery. By the time the major reveal comes, it’s much too late for me to really care. My reaction is more like: “Oh, why couldn’t they have just shown us earlier? 0% of me understands why I need to know this information now, 8 episodes later.” Also, I’m up to episode 62 as of this comment and….nothing has happened. Obviously some stuff has happened, the characters weren’t just all sitting for 62 episodes doing nothing. But, the whole premise of the show was a prophesy from 300 years ago throwing the world into chaos, so where’s the action? The King is still alive, Muyun Sheng is still living in his little isolation shack, and Han Jiang is still a semi-rouge bandit dude trying to keep the prophesy from coming true. Was it necessary to drag out the whole thing for 62 episodes and counting, but still no-show on the prophesy coming true? It feels like every other episode, someone is saying something along the lines of, “If Muyun Sheng becomes emperor the world will be thrown into chaos! That’s why I should be King instead! Get rid of Muyun Sheng! Yea!” They really should’ve advertised this drama more like, Here’s a prophesy and here’s 75 episodes of various characters talking about the prophesy.
          ***Major spoiler alert: In the upcoming previews, it looks like the King does get murdered eventually, and someone is trying to frame Han Jiang for it. With how this show is progressing, it might just be the very last scene of this season. Another spoiler is that after Han Jiang leaves prison, he meets Prince Lu and Prince Lu says it’s been years since they last met yet Han Jiang is still the same as ever. Um, what? Years? With the pacing of this show, I actually thought the events were happening within the same month or something like that. Years is a bit of a stretch. (Also what is going on with this whole season thing? It works better for American TV shows that have like 12 to 16 episodes per season, I don’t know why Chinese directors keep trying to go for 75 episodes per season and failing to start a second season anyways, leaving the original season incomplete.)

          2. The ships. I want to root for Su Yu Ning and Han Jiang so bad, they’re so cute together! All parts of the formula is there! A handsome male lead, a cute female lead, the male lead showing a side of himself that no one else has seen, the female lead being loyal to him and loving him in an oh so pure way! But they’re also so unfortunately dumb together. Seriously, they need to learn better communication skills, 90% of their issues with each other would’ve been solved already if they’d properly spoken to each other about their feelings and the circumstances around them. Their relationship development moves at the same speed as this drama, glacial. It is agonizing to watch them go back and forth, and it doesn’t look like they’re going to get a happy ending this season. (Although seeing as how the prophesy is supposed to come true, maybe she will eventually end up as his empress once he takes the throne from Muyun Sheng? Any novel readers out there available to spoil what happens to Su Yu Ning and Han Jiang?) As for Muyun Sheng and Pan Xi, I pity them more than I ship them. They just seemed more like two lonely souls sticking together because they’re all that each other has. Every other couple sucks.

          3. Most of the secondary characters. They’re unlikable, most of them are conniving evil scumbags who would sell their own parents if it would help them gain power. So far the only secondary characters I’ve liked is the race that lives underground in seclusion from the rest of the world. They’re a cute race, and the leader was a funny guy (before he got murdered in cold blood by that evil old man guy.) Have I mentioned most of the secondary characters are unlikable? Well they really are, and I think it has to do with my reason #1 aka the pacing/flow and way the story is cut. I’m sure some of these secondary characters are great, upstanding citizens, who recycle, and pay their taxes on time. But do we really ever get to see any genuinely nice secondary characters? Nah, because there’s about 50 million side characters and for some reason we only get to see pointlessly long drawn out scenes of them being horribly bland. A bit hard to get attached to the large cast of secondary characters when the main plot is getting lost.

          Sorry for the long rant, as you can tell I have a lot of strong feelings about this drama. I had great expectations for it after all the amazing trailers, and don’t get me wrong, some parts of the drama are very well shot and thought out, but as a whole something went very wrong for me. Thankfully Shawn Dou’s smile and Huang Xuan’s acting gives me enough life to continue trekking through the sludge speed of this drama, or I wouldn’t have made it this far. For those on the fence about this drama, I would suggest watching only after all 75 episodes have aired so you can skip around. If none of the original cast returns for the second season though, I probably won’t watch it with a new cast.

        • 31 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 6: Episodes 61 – 72

          I am dumping the drama, really cannot be asked to watch another unfunish drama.
          I can see the novel writer wants to be a Chinese ” J. R. R. Tolkien”. He want to creating a big epic but sadly lacking in good writing skills to create the epic story.
          I really dont understand why there is a trend to start a drama and not end it. What is the point? Is it really profitable? It just gets viewers upset.

  5. 31 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 6: Episodes 61 – 72

    I think I was on 40ish to 50… can’t remember exactly. It’s a bit of a frustrating watch despite my utter adoration for Huang Xuan. I keep remembering how awesome it was watching NiF and trying to pin point what isn’t working for me in T&E. And basically I figured watching NiF is like having awesome s3x with great rhythm and multiple climaxes. Transition is great, momentum builds, and stuff happens. But T&E is the disappointing s3x where there’s no rhythm and zero climaxes. Just as you get interested in an arc, they switch to another one and you have to get into the mood all over again. Important cliffhangers are left as cliffhangers for way too long before they return to them, at which point you’re no longer invested. I might pick it up again but my time is pleasantly filled with 不负如来不负卿 for now.

    • 31 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 6: Episodes 61 – 72

      Even Nirvana in Fire dragged a little around episode 40. I was so tired of the good guys winning all the time and they got so preachy I rooted for Prince Yu for a few seconds. For both Nirvana in Fire and Tribes and Empires (Game of Thrones too, now that I think about it), they have some issues with follow through of whatever world view they want to communicate. I don’t criticize bad shows for this, but I expect good shows to be purposeful. NiF definitely had better pacing though.

  6. 31 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 6: Episodes 61 – 72

    Starting to drag at 40 is different from dragging all to the way to 40 😉

    The pacing is not the problem. Pace is how quick or slow, and I’m fine with slow. T&E is just really bad at flow & rhythm. For example, the scene where Prince Lu fails to protect Su Yuning resulting in Han Jiang declaring “You’re mine from now on” is such a great emotional/character development moment that should’ve led to something bigger and better. Except it does not. We will sit through a dozen more episodes where the ship languishes and progresses absolutely nowhere and the hero actually backtracks (!) That was also a very intense scene action-wise where we would’ve liked to know how they get out of there alive. But it’s shown way later out of sequence when the suspense has been cleared. It drives me bonkers how they keep doing this in nobody’s favor. The drama clearly has momentum built up, but it doesn’t capitalize on it.

  7. 31 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 6: Episodes 61 – 72

    I’m up to ep 55 so might as well watch to the end. Echoing what everyone has already said in the comments, but yeah there’s a lot of problems with the flow of the drama and the lack of purpose to the storyline. The Emperor should’ve died ages ago! Him and the Empress’s toxic relationship needs to end – I really don’t need to see another scene of them going through the same emotions and conversation again, no matter how strong the acting is. MYS went “dark” for like one scene only. All of the government officials are shown as bad people so there is no one to root for to assist whoever ends up taking the throne. MYS might as well just destroy the world as prophesised. Su Yuning has literally done nothing but stay at home and wait for Han Jiang for 10+ eps. SFHY hasn’t showed any signs of being a leader for the people of Hanzhou.

    I don’t see how the drama can be finished in the last 20 episodes. It’ll be an open ending and I don’t think the cast will want to return even if they get the budget for season 2.

    • 31 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 6: Episodes 61 – 72

      The only thing I got out of Su Yu Ning is “Why won’t Han Jiang give me the life I want?” As for Han Jiang, it’s “I must… I definitely will… Nah, I won’t.”

      Neither SFHY nor the other guy seem to truly care about all Hanshous peoples’ welfare.

      The story started to be about how the young people will turn their world upside down. At around ep 60, their fathers’ generation is still in charge.

  8. 31 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 6: Episodes 61 – 72

    Spoiler alert:

    I didn’t read the novel but based on the bit and pieces I heard mostly about HJ’s story is probably not even filmed. From what I heard, this season will end when MuRu family is exiled which is the highlight of HJ’s character. They were exiled to the land of the Titans where all of the MuRu died except HJ. In that harsh environment, he managed to defeat the Titan’s ruler and obtain a mystically creature (a war horse or something lol) He then solely traveled back to mainland and defeated the rebellion (Prince Yu I think) and gain many supporter. So I think he is the ruler of that land, MYS is also the last survivor of the MuYun family and is the emperor of his own land. SFHY united the tribes and is the ruler of that side. So we have a chaotic world divided into three parts and that’s how the novel ended but it is a pretty open ending since the prophecies are only partially true.

    As for SYN, she ate the “deadly promise herb?” and swear she will only marry the true king. As a result, HJ needs to obtain 5? 7? mystical items which possession represents the true king in order to marry her. So they are another open ending as well. However, someone did mention in another book that they appeared together but not sure did they got married because finding those items are near impossible. (One of them is possessed by MYS)

    Well…My Chinese is not that great and that’s what I remember reading from some posting in Baidu. Hopefully someone who read the novel can provide a better detailed summary. Personally, I am fast forwarding this drama in super speed. Like some of you, I don’t want to spend the time investing in all of these characters and not get at least a satisfy closing to season 1. I am only pausing here and there to watch some interesting parts…it is pretty sad too if they are not filming a second season since they just started exploring the other races… As for whether we get the same cast, I think Zhou Yi Wei have a higher chance of coming back since he seems to really like SFHY. Shawn is half and half depending on his schedule. HX is unlikely to return since I have a feeling he and the production crew didn’t have a very satisfying collaboration but I can be wrong. 🙂

    • 31 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 6: Episodes 61 – 72

      Someone said that Huang Xuan is the only one out of the three leads that is not under the director (or producer)’s company; so his screentime was cut and his scenes were given to Shawn and his screen time reduced. The part where Shawn traveled underground to save Su Yuning and Prince Lu from the people living in underground was supposed to be Huang Xuan’s character after he ascended the throne. So yeah. Plus he has become such a huge star now, so him devoting 1 year to film another part is also not likely.
      And anyway if the author hasn’t even finished the novel, how the heck are they going to film another season? :/ At this rate they might as well wait for the kid counterparts to grow up and let them film the sequel.

    • 31 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 6: Episodes 61 – 72

      Thank you for the spoiler! I really wanted to know what would happen to SYN and HJ, especially since by episode 70 things are looking really bleak for HJ’s survival (and SYN is still in jail.) What does the deadly promise herb do? I’m assuming she must fulfill the promise she makes, as in marrying the true king, or she’ll die? I’m going to hunt for the baidu page, for more spoilers. Thanks for the heads up!

      And, I have the same feeling, that HX isn’t going to come back for a season 2. 🙁 In one of the behind the scenes interviews, he mentioned how exhausted he was towards the end of filming for the show. If the rumors about the production doing him dirty via cutting his scenes/giving them away are true, he probably has a very personal reason for not wanting to work with the team again on top of the exhausting work conditions and duration of filming. 🙁

  9. 31 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 6: Episodes 61 – 72

    I also want to talk about the problem of this drama. I share the same view with all the issues with this drama but I also want to complain a bit about their budgeting of this drama. From what I heard, they used up most of their budget half way through production and that is a very serious problem. I know most of the scenery, costumes, and props are breathtaking, amazing and detailed. I really appreciate the production team’s hard work and attention to details and viewers does find this to be top-notch but some of the focus is a little bit off. For example, I remember seeing the production of that one long red dress and I can tell they put a lot of effort into it in one of their documentary. However, when I finally see it in the drama, it didn’t wow me at all and it was only for a scene or two (not sure did she appears again). I am not being unappreciative of the hard work they are putting in this drama but I feel like they have their focus wrong. We appreciate all of those things we see on screen but honestly, those items don’t last us through the entire 75 eps. It is always the characters and plots that drive us to come back and watch/remember a drama. If we think back about this drama after a year or two, we probably only remember the great scenery and the high quality filming, not so much on the plot. In comparison, after a year or two, when you ask me about NIF, the plot and characters are the things I remembered.

    I may be speculating but I heard Zhou Yi Wei didn’t get paid or reduced his pay for this project and I think that is also another issue with budgeting. It will also explain the limited screen time of our other two leads since I am sure their payments are high. I can be totally wrong here but seriously, if they have use the money more wisely, they will have enough to proper film the entire story. Overall, just like the writer of the original novel, the production crew also have such big dream of making this a WOW drama and we can all feel it at the beginning and it is just a bit sad that it didn’t live up to the high expectation. Anyway, that’s just my two-cent. Comparing to other crappy drama, this is still a great production and it does have a very high standard but maybe from the trailer we all have too high of an expectation for it to be epic.

    • 31 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 6: Episodes 61 – 72

      Every time a cdrama production spends a lot of time talking about sets, props, costumes, filming places…, I pretty much know the story will be ruined.

  10. 31 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 6: Episodes 61 – 72

    In the beginning, the plot actually moved along at a decent pace in that things actually happened, but after episode 30 something, if you think about it, basically nothing happened. I don’t even understand how they managed it. Unlike most people, I don’t mind the pace because I don’t have anything better to do with my life and all my other tv shows either ended or are taking a mid season break, but knowing their budget issues, shouldn’t they have cut back on the filler? Also, what’s up with the flashbacks?
    I understand that they are limited. Although a budget of 45 million for 75 episodes sounds impressive, game of thrones has an average of 10 million for EACH episode, so this budget wouldn’t even last five episodes for GOT.
    I agree with the previous posters who said the issue may be that our expectations were too high going into this. Once the initial rage at hearing about the dumb open ending subsided, I still have to admit that this is much better than literally all the other dramas this year with the exception of NiF2. And I have to say that Muyun De is one of the best villains I’ve seen in the past few years. At least the costumes are incomparable :’)

    • 31 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 6: Episodes 61 – 72

      If I am not wrong, they get more money with more episodes so I think that’s why they put so many flashbacks and fuller to make it longer lol

      • 31 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 6: Episodes 61 – 72

        Flashback filler! OMG! I have only watched C-dramas for 1 1/2 years, so I have no idea if the Flashback Filler Syndrome has been the trend for years. I watched K-dramas for a decade, and Filler and Flashback used to irritate me greatly. It was so pitiful in the C-drama, King’s Woman. I halted at the midpoint, and may never pick it up again, even though I love the two lead actors.

        I am stuck on episode 34. I was watching two episodes daily, until two weeks ago. Now, I am not motivated to pick it up again, because the episodes crawl. There are obvious flaws in the production. The main one, being the myopic vision. The Director, who has an amazing eye for epic scenery, failed to oversee his teams. The Writers trailed off, and he resorted to Flashback Filler to build up the episode. The viewers have no interest in rehashing the same scene, multiple times. They want to see the plot development. Editing and exterior Sound were painfully executed. The only team that eclipsed the project was the Costume department, with the exquisite costume designs. Music was dragging down the episodes. The repetitive new age ambient underwater theme made me nauseaus every time.
        I was wowed by the trailer for many months, and expected the next greatest C-drama, since NIF. I am backlogged by 20 episodes on Drama Fever, and there are 21 more episodes to the conclusion, which I have learnt, is not the finale.

  11. 31 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 6: Episodes 61 – 72

    I’m watching this drama til the end to see if HJ and syn will end up together or not. I was hoping Pan Xi came back , was the chances of her coming back is slim to none. I dont know if season 2 is worth it.

    • 31 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 6: Episodes 61 – 72

      Uhm so you are saying she hasn’t come back since she disappeared in episode 30+? What the heck? Isn’t she supposed to be the female lead?

      • 31 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 6: Episodes 61 – 72

        Pan Xi makes some appearances between 30-current through flashbacks and Muyun Sheng’s hallucinations but not really as an active character. Also Pan Xi is one of the two supposed female leads, the other is Su Yu Ning. But, I honestly feel like the female leads at this point are the Empress and the niece who hates Su Yu Ning and has been plotting the whole show for everyones demise. They get considerably more screen time and plot weight.

        *** Spoilers***
        Pan Xi is actually sort of dead since she can’t manifest in Muyun Sheng’s world and he can’t go to her dimension, and she’s confined to another realm by an evil magician guy. In the upcoming episodes (71-75) previews, she’s being tortured by the evil magician guy in an attempt to get Muyun Sheng to release his powers/give them up to the evil guy.

  12. 31 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 6: Episodes 61 – 72

    I’m still one of the few watching this drama. Mainly still watching because of the production, costuming, scenery and acting. It recently got confirmed to air on Hunan TV after they initially cut it. The funny part is that on weibo, the comments are all asking for the Hunan editing team to cut scenes (mostly flashbacks) out of the TV version. Which is ironic because the Hunan editing team always gets criticised for cutting and chopping drama series.

    • 31 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 6: Episodes 61 – 72

      When the trailer was first released, people expected this to be an epic and it to set a milestone in C-drama history. ME TOO. Then, it was rejected by all the broadcasting stations because of (alleged) pacing issues. As I mentioned in a previous comment (which I believe I got dragged for), it’s probably because they wanted to get more returns from their investments, and so they decided to drag what was a novel with a very thin plot into 80 episodes. Now it’s come to light that they didn’t even adapt the entire novel. I can’t imagine how slow the show must be that people are beginning to appreciate Hunan’s editing. Hunan probably got a damn freaking good deal out of this too. LOL.

      They’ve totally put their focus in the wrong place. Compared to fanciful CG effects, the story needs to be substantial enough. They were ambitious in trying to produce the Chinese Game of Thrones, but the fact is that they were investing too much money into something that cannot provide enough returns. If they chose a novel series instead, they’d probably have more content to work with. It’s almost like they are trying to adapt Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs into a 20-episode drama and putting the emphasis on putting realistic make-up for the dwarfs, investing big money into making a glass coffin and having exceptional CG effects for the magic mirror. Now they have to deal with all the shit they are getting from dissatisfied viewers.

  13. 31 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 6: Episodes 61 – 72

    Not gonna lie, the “revelation” about the most likely ending of the drama got me taken aback (assuming that what people — including the author — say about the shooting and stuff is true). This is the second time. The first was when another blogger wrote about the problem of Tribes during the production & post-production, financial issues and the disputes with Hunan etc, which supposedly affected the final product. (Although an AVV reader had mentioned it in the chatbox waay before).

    Like others have mentioned above, at least for me, this is expectation vs presentation. I, too, am annoyed by the constant flashbacks and some crappy editing. There are also tons of questions (or perhaps plotholes, LOL) and a lot of illogical things. I’m not talking about the myths and magical things and so forth, but things like [SPOILER] Han Jiang + Su Yuning and Shuofeng He Ye’s lovelines. I mean, why did HJ & SYN fall in love, just puppy love growing into mature love? (so cliche) He Ye & Muyun Yan Shuang’s story is even more absurd, although I remain a sucker of their star-crossed lovers thing. (Unfortunately IMO Karlina Zhang isn’t that convincing, and next to Zhou Yiwei’s amazing performance her weakness is pretty obvious). The best developed love story here for me is Muyun Sheng-Pan Xi — two sheltered and lonely souls finding each other.

    HOWEVER, once I got over the disappointment, I found out my obsession hasn’t really subdued and I still think it’s one of the best dramas in recent years. (Yes, count me in those contributing to the 7 billions views keeping this drama afloat LOL. It’s nothing spectacular by current C-drama standard, but it ain’t bad either). The cinematography alone makes up for the crappy editing and patchy CGIs. The script needs improvement, but the plots are intriguing. My favorite arc is Shuofeng He Ye’s, not only because of Zhou Yiwei’s interpretation, but more importantly it tells a story about a monarchy getting challenged by the tribes, those they have looked down upon and treated as second class citizens. The political message is quite strong in the story that I kind of wonder how it even got away. I’d like to offer my conspiracy theory (LOL): perhaps this is also one of the factors why the airing got delayed for a while, or why — as the rumors say — HunanTV wanted to cut all Shuofeng He Ye’s arc.

    The strength of the series also lies on the actors acting. I’ve read a lot of complaints because the secondary characters get more screentime than the main ones. In that regard, well, I can’t complain, although I wish that Shawn’s character is more developed than just being a happy go-lucky whose actions are shaped by his relationship with Su Yuning. Han Jiang should be a lot more than that! I’m glad Shawn’s talent got more exposed in Princess Agents, but this production is way above PA in terms of quality and I want Shawn to shine as well here! On the other hand, I enjoy all the scenes with the Emperor and the Empress, and Muyun De! I do have major issues with how the female characters are written, though — when they are badass, they are bad (the Empress, Nanku Yue Li, Helan Tie Duo — heck, even Lan Yu’er). The protagonists are Mary-Sue boring. I daresay the story is borderline misogynist. Princess Jing is actually potentially awesome, but unfortunately, as I said above, Karlina Zhang doesn’t have the vibe and the acting chop.

    Anyway, still, a great production, and despite getting the hint of the ending, I’ll most likely finish it. :))

  14. 31 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 6: Episodes 61 – 72

    Ok let’s just say, I’ve waited 68 episodes and it finally happened.

    Not going to spoil it for those who haven’t watched but I can assure you, this hopefully will mean the storyline will finally progress

  15. 31 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 6: Episodes 61 – 72

    I would think my interest in this drama would dim because of the slow pace after somewhere around episode 30. Strangely enough, I’m still hooked by the world and the characters within the drama. You can tell that each character, whether they are main or side, have different intentions. But because of the side character’s development, the main characters get left behind.

    My biggest disappointment is that they didn’t really follow the plotline of the novel, huang xuan’s screen time got cut, the major plot line development that was meant to be huang xuan’s got given to other characters & the fact that this drama DOES NOT FILM THE WHOLE BOOK ARGHHH. I can accept all the changes they made, but it bugs me that they didn’t film the whole novel. I am just thinking about how epic it would be if muyun sheng actually got to venture out of the palace like in the novel. Another thing that bugged me is that Han Jiang’s storyline development remains bland with nothing much happening to him. The content to film is there, I wished they filmed the whole novel within the 75 episodes instead of 1/3 of the novel in 75 episodes =.= . I really hope they film a season 2 with better plotline pace while still keeping the quality of season 1.

  16. 31 thoughts on “Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy Discussion Post Week 6: Episodes 61 – 72

    I was so excited to watch this drama, but I’m bored….I can’t help it. The drama is visually stunning but the story is just so slow. I appreciated the fact that they took tome to explain the back stories of the characters, went into details about the different cultures, values, and etc….but there’s a limit to all that. The repeated flashbacks are exhausting, I find myself skipping through most of the episodes because I can already guess what’s going to happen. I swear they used they same scene every time Pan Xi appear on the screen lol.
    Some of the story lines kinda jump from place to place, it feels like I’m missing something when events are taking place. Can someone explain to me how that maid ended up falling in love with the arch prince son?
    With 75 episodes I wanted a clear cut ending considering the novel doesn’t even have an ending, but I guess it looks like that’s not going to happen, and we might have to wait another 2 years to see if it happens?

What do you think?