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Whispers of Fate review
Nov. 16th, 2025 07:21 am![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
dramatea_feedThe Story
The drama is technically xuanhuan with some wuxia-ish elements thrown in: it’s both genre-bending and experimental. At its core, it revolved around Tang Lici (Luo Yunxi) and Liu Yan (Alen Fang), two characters with a complicated history involving a misunderstanding over what Liu Yan thought Tang Lici did to someone they both loved. Due to this, Liu Yan decided to kill hordes of people just to frame Tang Lici for revenge.
However, the CDrama also covered an expansive world where immortal beings were trying to manipulate and control humans for their own purposes. Tang Lici and Liu Yan’s conflict was just a side effect of this.
What I Liked
I was intrigued by Luo Yunxi and Fang Yilun’s characters, Tang Lici and Liu Yan, and I definitely liked the twisted dynamic between the two. I appreciated the philosophical concepts that the drama wove through the story (when I wasn’t distracted by the shiny headgear). I just felt that its best qualities were fogged up by the frippery and fluff.
The martial arts and special effects were dazzling. I get what people mean by Luo Yunxi looking really good when executing the martial arts moves. It was enjoyable to watch, though I’m more of a Cao Jun real-life martial arts moves kind of person. Still, it was very pleasing to watch.
The experimentation was fun. I also liked that it was trying to be out-of-the-box, genre-wise. It was both wuxia-ish and xuanhuan-ish. I love this kind of creativity, and that’s partly why I started watching.
It was just a pity that I had to go through … a lot to get to the parts I enjoyed.
What I Didn’t Like
The Costumes
I was actually looking forward to Whispers of Fate despite my deep reservations about the styling. It reminded me too much of Till the End of the Moon, and I was majorly turned off by the styling there.
Unfortunately, as predicted, the styling and character designs were off-putting to me.
I cringed each time Liu Yan appeared with his over-the-top costume.
You see, I have an easily distracted brain. Instead of focusing on what Liu Yan was saying, my brain – which has the attention span of a toddler – was immediately fixated on the bazillion baubles shining and twinkling in his hair. And then my brain went down a rabbit hole of wondering how Liu Yan put those baubles in his hair every day.
Then, I realized I hadn’t been listening, but then another character appeared with lots of blinky-winky things on his robes and my brain was again mesmerized by the baubles.
So, okay, this is probably a me problem, but seriously, Alen Fang and Luo Yunxi are gorgeous so they really don’t need to overdo things with them, ya know? I’m not sure why the production team thought it was a good idea, but perhaps it was all to bank on the Till the End of the Moon signature look… my theory anyway.
Purple Filming
You know the term “purple prose,” when writing is (to quote Google): “excessively elaborate, ornate, or flowery”? Generally considered bad writing.
Well, the storytelling, directing, and filming style of Whispers of Fate is what I call Purple Filming.
Characters posed after pausing for a few minutes to make a profound (presumably) statement. There were many slow-motion shots where the camera lovingly lingered on the chiseled contours of our hero’s face.
This was far more apparent in the first two episodes, by the way. The show seemed to tone it down by the fifth episode, except during battles, where you could be sure they would Strike A Pose.
The Acting Quality Was Not Great
And it didn’t help that some characters overacted or couldn’t act. Sigh. The less said the better (lest their fandoms come after me), but at least Luo Yunxi performed decently, though I wished Fang Yilun wasn’t so over-the-top with the moustache-twirling evilness. (I really don’t think he can do villain roles very well.)
The Core of the Story Was… Annoying
One of the tactics I use when I’m lukewarm about a drama is to spoil myself. Yup! I did that with Feud and ended up thoroughly enjoying it… only because I realized that beyond the abysmally slow start, there was a story I could root for.
I thought I could do the same for Whispers of Fate, but the more I found out about the story, the more I was like… are you for real?
Essentially, it’s the tale of two besties who had a falling out, and who should be locked in a room so they can finally talk it out.
Yes, I’m sure the “why” would be revealed eventually, but for those not in love with circles of miscommunication, it could be an excruciating wait for clarity.
Bloated Storytelling
I feel like I shouldn’t over-explain this, but the show took too long to get to the point. I was also mystified by why some characters were even there – I didn’t know what our female characters’ roles were, for one. There were also a few side characters who popped in when our hero was doing the mystery-solving bits, whom I promptly forgot about once they exited.
The Fandom Interactions Disgusted Me
The social media discourse around this drama (especially on Chinese platforms) was awful. Fans attacked anyone who dared to say anything negative about the drama. The comments had a curiously single narrative: If you don’t appreciate Whispers, it’s because you can only watch brainless stuff – aka, you’re too stupid to appreciate it. (Did they huddle together to come up with this excuse?)
Even fans of the drama complained about being silenced for saying anything negative, noting that they couldn’t even comment that the dubbing seemed off as it didn’t sync with the actors’ lips.
As a person who loved What a Wonderful World and Three-Body, I think I have a solid 
in my noggin’. My taste is just different. However, the behaviour of the fandom was so bad that I’ve placed Luo Yunxi dramas in the “do not watch” category to spare myself from reading their interactions ever again. Petty? Yes. But I’d like to spare myself the mental pain.
However, not all Chinese fans are that unhinged. There were some who actually loved the drama and were less fandom-driven, who gave their honest thoughts, such as in this post below:
“Are we starting with the senseless angst trope? Shui Long Yin, you’d better hang in there!
Finished watching 31 episodes of the main story + 34 episode previews, and I’m a bit disappointed.
I don’t understand why the director made Tang Lici under the Bronze Tree look so miserable and so full of stares that it made me uncomfortable. This scene should have been about evoking empathy, not emphasizing shattered beauty.
Thinking about it, Tang Lici is always miserable. His throat has been cut, he’s been stabbed (more than once), he’s coughed up blood countless times, and this time he’s literally skewered like a kebab. He’s basically the ‘Final Destination’ of the Chinese entertainment industry.
I’ve held back my opinions on this, but today I just can’t. On one side, you have Tang Lici being brutally tortured and unable to wake up, while on the other, Liu Yan is completely unharmed and wreaking havoc on Haoyun Mountain.
Every time Tang Lici and Liu Yan go head-to-head, only Tang Lici gets hurt. Liu Yan is the perfect Heavenly Body; he’s never weakened or damaged, always has his full combat power, and can freeze Shao Yanping in a second or break the protective mountain formation of the Central Plains Sword Assembly with a single song.
I can understand that Tang Lici’s self-healing is affected by the heart crystal, but you can’t emphasize that he’s the closest to a perfect Saint Body while constantly showing his broken body! Isn’t that a contradiction?
A character like Liu Yan, who’s completely insane, makes me feel he’s used too many Gu insects and they’ve eaten his brain. He admires Zhou Fang so much, has he never woken up in the middle of the night and remembered Zhou Fang’s teachings?
This character has started to feel like a plot device. For the sake of the story, Liu Yan needs to be a complete psycho. But this so-called ‘perfect’ Heavenly Body, Tang Lici, is nearly killed by this psycho.
In the 34th episode preview, Gui Mudan is going to turn against the others, and I’m worried about how the plot will unfold from here.
After all this buildup—philosophical debates, subtle foreshadowing, and such a complex world setting—to have it all boil down to a single verse of Yin and Yang wanting to be resurrected… if that’s the case, I can only describe it as anticlimactic.
Such a simple motive can’t support the massive buildup that came before.
The writers love leaving suspense and planting foreshadowing; intricate plots are a good thing. But don’t overcorrect and turn it into just showing off skills. Any narrative technique must serve the story itself. Being obsessed with ‘plot twists’ but forgetting the story’s origin and ending, where the form surpasses the content, is ultimately not worth it.”
Source: http://xhslink.com/o/46GGH437C2W
I felt validated when the reviewer said how the complex plots, culture, and philosophical debates were just garnishing for a weak plot.
Unlike most international viewers, I’m not impressed by these things. I could see how the drama tried waaaay too hard to be profound. A good story doesn’t need all these philosophical debates and cultural bling-bling to be truly deep. Look at A Moment But Forever, whose style is very simple and whose culture is reflected in the actions of the characters, not in long-winded debates about fate.
So, I wasn’t imagining things – my review was spot on! I felt like a genius for having concluded this by episode 8.
At the end of the day, the directors leaned too much on fanservice: making Luo Yunxi look like a “fragile, tragic, broken” character because that’s what his hardcore fans love.
Whispers of Fate is the ultimate hurt/comfort fiction, and most dramas don’t go there like this one did.
Why I Dropped the Drama
All I know is after watching 8-9 episodes, I just couldn’t get into it. The main culprits: I was unable to appreciate the aesthetic and the acting – it was too over-the-top for me.
But the main killer was the ineffective storytelling, and how the drama dragged out the miscommunication between our main characters for so long.
I’m also really not into (okay, I dislike) the tragic, fragile, misunderstood hero who is inches from dying trope. I was okay with Li Lianhua from Mysterious Lotus Casebook, but that was generally a solid wuxia and they didn’t dig into the trope so intensely like this drama does.
I kept up with the drama by reading recaps on xiaohongshu (Chinese social media) until the end. All I can say is that I was right – it’s not a show I could enjoy. A lot of people do, however. But not for me, and my time is too precious.
It’s a pity because reading the plot points of later episodes, the world does sound interesting.
It’s just that the thought of having to slog through this drama’s convoluted storytelling exhausted me.
Some dramas I enjoy like a yummy dessert; some are kinda like soup where you need to hunt for the good bits and fork out the unpleasant bits. I am just not the target audience.
But Maybe You May Like It
There are folks like me who are turned off by the purple filming and the plot revolving around miscommunication, but there are also people swearing up and down that it’s the most profound thing they’ve watched.
I’ve come to conclude: different strokes for different folks.
I think those who appreciate this drama love the emotional intensity it gives them. They get to experience the emotional highs and lows of the characters, and this drama excels at that.
The viewers who don’t, tend to appreciate structure and technical details more and are only swayed by the emotional intensity if this is supported by the writing and characterisation. I belong to this group.
Anyway, despite my sharp words about this drama, I truly wanted to enjoy it. I really did see potential in the story between Liu Yan and Tang Lici. But you can’t disguise a weak story with a convoluted storyline, over-the-top Chinese styling, and call it profound.
Final verdict: Dropped
I found it an overperformative attempt at telling a grand fantasy opus, but it felt flat.
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