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On the 31st of July 2021, I started watching a little Chinese show called Word of Honor, or 山河令 (Shan He Ling) in Mandarin. I had already watched The Untamed, read Mo Dao Zu Shi, watched the first season of the Heaven Official's Blessing donghua, and read Tian Guan Ci Fu, and I had really enjoyed them all. (I'll do a separate post about TGCF sometime soon.)
There were several things that really grabbed me about Word of Honor, and the first one was that it's just an incredibly beautiful show. The sets are gorgeous, the clothing is beautifully designed, the action sequences are full of grace, the dialogue is so poetic at times and funny at others, the voice actors did amazing work, and so many of the actors are just stunningly beautiful, from Zhang Zhehan and Gong Jun themselves all the way down to the actress who played Wen Kexing's mother in, like, three scenes. Everyone brought their A-game to the table, and it shows.
The next thing that really got me was Zhang Zhehan's performance as Zhou Zishu. I honestly don't think any other actor could have played such a complex character, someone with such a deep and rich internal life, so well. He had play someone who was experiencing chronic pain and suicidal despair, someone who appeared to be cold on the surface but whose inner heart was slowly cracking open to reveal his true softness. Zhou Zishu is a study in contradictions: a soft and warm-hearted man who has been an assassin, who has done horrible things, a suicidally depressed person who is given both responsibility and love and can't turn away from either, someone who is wandering alone, because the people that made home the place it is are gone, who then gets a second chance to find home with people he loves. I feel like watching him change over the course of the series changed me too.
Equally important is Gong Jun's performance as Wen Kexing and the way that he and Zhang Zhehan created this incredible romantic chemistry between them. Wen Kexing is a beautifully complex character too, with layers of performance to the role. Gong Jun was the perfect actor who could portray him believably at every level, from terrifying Ghost Valley Master, to elegant poetry-spouting romantic flirt, to childlike playfulness, to housewife, to older brother/father, to man bent on revenge, to teasing husband and so much more. Wen Kexing as a character is someone I couldn't help but love and that's down to Gong Jun's performance.
Word of Honor isn't a perfect show (I'll forever be sad that the series was cut short because they were running out of money and therefore we got only 36 eps instead of 45) but it has so much heart to it and so much that's wonderful about it. There's a lot to be sad about with what's happened to Zhang Zhehan since, but I don't regret watching the show or falling into the fandom. I've watched it four times so far and will probably rewatch it soon. I could probably watch it forever and still keep picking up new things to enjoy.
In any case, if you're thinking about watching it and not sure because of all the drama that's going on at the moment, watch it, ignore the fandom drama, and enjoy it for the beautiful show that it is. (And if you really want to know about the drama, all I really wanna say is that "wait and see" is the better part of valour on this, and the best thing you can do is just hope that Zhang Zhehan gets justice and stay out of the rest of it.)
There were several things that really grabbed me about Word of Honor, and the first one was that it's just an incredibly beautiful show. The sets are gorgeous, the clothing is beautifully designed, the action sequences are full of grace, the dialogue is so poetic at times and funny at others, the voice actors did amazing work, and so many of the actors are just stunningly beautiful, from Zhang Zhehan and Gong Jun themselves all the way down to the actress who played Wen Kexing's mother in, like, three scenes. Everyone brought their A-game to the table, and it shows.
The next thing that really got me was Zhang Zhehan's performance as Zhou Zishu. I honestly don't think any other actor could have played such a complex character, someone with such a deep and rich internal life, so well. He had play someone who was experiencing chronic pain and suicidal despair, someone who appeared to be cold on the surface but whose inner heart was slowly cracking open to reveal his true softness. Zhou Zishu is a study in contradictions: a soft and warm-hearted man who has been an assassin, who has done horrible things, a suicidally depressed person who is given both responsibility and love and can't turn away from either, someone who is wandering alone, because the people that made home the place it is are gone, who then gets a second chance to find home with people he loves. I feel like watching him change over the course of the series changed me too.
Equally important is Gong Jun's performance as Wen Kexing and the way that he and Zhang Zhehan created this incredible romantic chemistry between them. Wen Kexing is a beautifully complex character too, with layers of performance to the role. Gong Jun was the perfect actor who could portray him believably at every level, from terrifying Ghost Valley Master, to elegant poetry-spouting romantic flirt, to childlike playfulness, to housewife, to older brother/father, to man bent on revenge, to teasing husband and so much more. Wen Kexing as a character is someone I couldn't help but love and that's down to Gong Jun's performance.
Word of Honor isn't a perfect show (I'll forever be sad that the series was cut short because they were running out of money and therefore we got only 36 eps instead of 45) but it has so much heart to it and so much that's wonderful about it. There's a lot to be sad about with what's happened to Zhang Zhehan since, but I don't regret watching the show or falling into the fandom. I've watched it four times so far and will probably rewatch it soon. I could probably watch it forever and still keep picking up new things to enjoy.
In any case, if you're thinking about watching it and not sure because of all the drama that's going on at the moment, watch it, ignore the fandom drama, and enjoy it for the beautiful show that it is. (And if you really want to know about the drama, all I really wanna say is that "wait and see" is the better part of valour on this, and the best thing you can do is just hope that Zhang Zhehan gets justice and stay out of the rest of it.)
