Zhu Xian 3rd Season

The third season of *Jade Dynasty* is the worst of the lot. It is possible I’m bitter that the triumphant end to season two ended up being a dud.

First, rewind.

Jade Dynasty is set in a universe with contending righteous and unrighteous sects. The righteous sects practice Buddhist, Daoist, and what looks like Zoroastrian magicks. The unrighteous sects practice glamour techniques, necromancy and poisoning.

Our protagonist Zhang Xiaofan learned a technique in his youth that placed him on an unorthodox path to straddle the sects’ various teachings. The story follows the struggle and tragedy that follow that choice.

This season was *supposed* to be about ... resurrecting a dear friend. Instead, we were diverted into an apocalyptic battle between humanity and beasts, Zhang Xiaofan’s need to achieve enlightenment on his unorthodox path or perish, and the leader of his sect, the Ghost King, doing something mysterious to try and gain more power.

My gripe is that, except for his achieving enlightenment (*usual live for yourself realisation*), none of those arcs were concluded. We end season three not knowing the fate of the Beast God or the Ghost King’s manoeuvring. It’s the first time in three seasons that all the primary storylines weren’t wrapped up. I find it especially annoying because the plotting was needlessly flabby. This season could have been easily trimmed to 12 episodes. It’s another example of Chinese producers respecting advertisers more than the audience’s time. As a capitalist, all the power to them — man must wack. As a watcher, boo, hiss, stomp!

I’ll probably watch season four though ):

Mild digression. The show’s Buddhists have got the best kit!