‘The Longest Promise’ Netflix Series Review - Star Crossed Lovers?

The first episode of this Chinese-language series starts with a princess traveling with her caravan. They are going to the location where the Huotu tribe resides. Zhu Yan, Princess of the Crimson Clan is set to be married to Lord Ke’erle of the Huotu tribe. She isn't happy with this arrangement. To elope from the same, she uses a magic trick in which from the painting she made came out her replica which would take her place in the ceremony. As the vows were arranged, the Princess created a sand demon and mimics her false body’s kidnapping. Well, we can not deny that it was a good solution to her problems because like this she didn't have to marry and others would think that she was taken away by a demon.

Yunhuang is a sacred land where many clans live. The peace was disturbed and many things happened like the Crown Prince being blamed for killing Emperor’s pregnant mistress. She called the Emperor at the same time to her palace, pulled the sword from Prince’s hand in her abdomen, and left blaming everything on this poor soul. As a result, the Emperor thought that the Crown Prince is a murderer. To protect her child, Prince’s mother made an elaborate plan of mimicking his death. She took help from the Grand Preceptor of Jiuyi Mountain to let her son live.

This all happened five years before the current story was told. In the same timeline, Zhu Yan met the Crown Prince for the first time and was amused by his generosity. She didn't know that he was alive and performed the last rites. This wasn’t good as three incidents happened: the appearance of yin and yang in the sky and the last rites. Hence, the Crown Prince is said to kill the Princess before she could. However, he wasn’t aware of who performed his last rites so they are unaware of each other’s identity when they grow up.

The Crown Prince lives in Jiuyi Mountain and practices his magic until he came across Zhu Yan. She too was there for an event where all the royal princesses participated. Till the sixth episode, we are shown the events which happen at this mountain. This includes selecting the dancer for star gazing, Zhu Yan making every effort to resurrect the dead Crown Prince, and the attacks on the mountain by an evil enemy who wants to destroy all the clans.

In my opinion, The Longest Promise is a promising show. It might difficult for the non-Chinese audience to grasp the name of the characters initially. As we progress in the show, things become easier to remember and it is an entertaining show. On one hand, the princess is a mischievous personality, has cute expressions, and once she sets her mind on something she archives it on the other hand we have the crown prince who is living in a secret location. He never lets his emotions take control of him and usually maintains a straight face. Imagine how good they would look as a couple.

As the name itself includes the word “longest”, this show is quite long and includes forty episodes. Each episode has a good plot to show. It will keep the viewers engaged till the end. The series allows you to flow with it. The prince and princess might be each other's nemesis, but we want to see a good romance before they end up killing each other. Just like in Alchemy of Souls, before the main characters took each other's life romance was shown and the same is expected from this.

The costumes look so beautiful. Mostly the light shades have been worn by the main characters which makes them look like gods and goddesses. The costumes flow with the air current making them look so gracious. The hairstyles are also very pretty. All the magic scenes don’t appear to be too much or too less. Along with that, beautiful sets and the use of graphics make it an attractive watch.

Final Score – [7.5/10]
Reviewed by - Riya Singh
Follow @_riyasinghhh_ on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times