Okay so I finally finished generation to generation. Between about ep 6 and 16 I kept telling myself I would drop it, because it really wasn't catching my attention with anything, but I didn't have anything better to watch, so I ended up having it in the background. And it did get a lot better!
visually, the shots were beautiful, but the composition and editing was janky and jarring, throwing you around with little forewarning. This was particularly the case for the early episodes, but did get better as the show went on. At least it was less noticeable. The ending brought it back though, and in the final ep I had no idea what was going on. I get that they wanted to make it look like something had happened, but it was just a confusing way to do it, only for them to give a random and quick solution with no sacrifice.
the show definitely wanted a quick start, which makes sense, but it made it feel slightly rushed, without much direction. once the story took shape, the pacing felt more comfortable, but generally not ideal.
Nothing about the six sects intrigued me, and I found their backwards rhetoric completely unconvincing. It was no surprise who turned out to be the bad guys, and the way they warped cai pingshu's image to justify their bloodlust was just sick. They made it so her sacrifice didn't actually mean anything. Same with cai zhao's punishment. Her being whipped is no longer a sign of her wayward behavior, it's just the action of villains. Which is always the issue when the leaders of a structure and community are the villains. It negates the things they do in the name of justice. It becomes so that it would've been true justice to kill them from the beginning.
I liked the cai family though. They had principles. Especially ning xiaofeng. Would've love to see more of the cai family, just hanging out. they were so tolerant with cai zhao and mu qingyan, i wonder what they felt about getting a live in demon cultivator son in law. also why did we get nothing about mu qingyan giving his spiritual power to cai zhao 😭 did i miss something. what did that accomplish, besides giving them a way to easily save him
While I think the story of passing troubles from generation to generation is very interesting, I never found it in myself to care for any one of the previous generation. Even cai pingshu and mu zhengyang didnt particularly hook me.
Ultimately the main characters were the reason I kept watching. I definitely felt conflicted when it came to their romantic relationship, but it was an engrossing journey nonetheless. cai zhao turned out to be a very resolute character, willing to stand by her actions and words, and mu qingyan had a heartbreaking desperation to him. i think the show should've dedicated a bit more time to specifically their romantic dynamic, because it did feel like he was chasing her way more than she maybe liked 😭 her seeing him while getting whipped, even if it was a goodbye, was a beautiful scene though. Said a lot about her and how much she cared for him that she smiled through it. I think that's the issue. The way they acted after reuniting after that one year time skip could've been more dramatic. She cried way more about her master than mu qingyan during that final battle scene, which makes sense bc he wasn't dead, but I'd at least show her being worried about him taking a stab wound for her 😭 actually, both of them got wiped in that fight. it was just brutal.
Loved him marrying into luoying valley though. She gets to stay home, the place she loves, to do business, and he gets to be somewhere peaceful with her. Him twirling around in front of the mirror while she was making a business map was really cute and funny. I'm just really glad it was a happy ending. And that the old generation basically has been replaced with the new one
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