The Immortal Ascension

I wanted so bad to like this, but I'm just not. And what's frustrating it that I feel as if there is a really good drama there, but they're rushing by so fast that none of it is getting a chance to actually land, & a lot of stuff doesn't make sense.

For instance his dead master leaves a letter telling him how to cure the poison & I guess provides a letter of introduction (I assumed Han Li forged it but there's a secret letter hidden within it so unless he knew what paper Han Li was going write on this makes no sense) but hides a letter in it telling them Han Li is bad. The family also knew he was dead somehow but Han Li seems to act like he isn't at first. The wives plot his death but then forget all about that & want to keep him around because it's cool he killed their husband seeing as he's honest about it, & have him kill a bunch of random people & make out like the jade isn't something they can get their hands on like that. And then one of the daughters gives him it, he uses it, & then gives it back again & that's it. And that all happens in one episode (plus a few minutes of the next so they can have a cliffhanger). I have a feeling like this would all make a lot more sense given proper time to play out & with characters having a chance to react to stuff.

Or when he shows his new buddy the cultivation book he was given & asks him about the token. Not only does the guy have no info, but he apparently can't read the words on the page right in front of him, even though you'd think he's be interested in a golden ticket into one of the sects. And instead of just going 'Oh well I thought it sounded interesting' & moving on, Han Li feeds him info, just so the guy can blurt it out in front of someone else (& then be killed off). Again, I wonder if this is something where the bad guys suspecting he had a token would have been more organic if allowed time to play out.

These might still have been fine - the benefit of them rushing through the master's family part meant I didn't have to deal with them for too long, & I'm fine with some handwaving to move a plot along.

But the real problem is that I didn't feel invested in any of the characters or their interactions/relationships. Li Feiyu goes from sneering at Han Li to declaring eternal brotherhood within a couple of episodes with only a few short scenes between them. I don't need every little thing spelled out & can infer a lot, but I don't get any sense of them forming a bond at all. And that lack of emotional investment includes Han Li himself. I can push through a terrible plot or too slow/fast pacing or bad comedy or a thousand other drama sins IF YOU JUST MAKE ME CARE ABOUT THE MAIN CHARACTER(S). And I don't, because of the way stuff just seems to happen & he doesn't get a chance to react to or process stuff (aside from the death of his master & finding out what happened to his friend, & even those pass way too quickly).

I'm bored, even though there's a lot happening, because I don't care about any of it. I should have figured it was a bad sign when the episode count was reduced twice, from 38 to 34 & then to 30.

There's a chance I might try again & check out some spoilers towards the end of its run, just to see if things improve once it's found its footing (though I gave it 6 episode & normally even the slowest burning of dramas have hooked me by then).

Luckily The Wanted Detective/Calming Waves (they've gone back & forth so many times) is airing on Friday, so hopefully that'll fill the void.