The Kings Avatar Live Action Episode 17 Review (Quanzhi Gaoshou)

When I reviewed the last episode, The Happy Guild (this sounds sooooo much better in Chinese Xing Xin) is formed.  Ye Xiu bullied Chen Guo into becoming the boss (a sort of Guild Master) and Ye Xiu is the Captain (a sort of Raid/Team Leader).

Ye Xiu’s old friends and rivals from his days as Ye Qui are expectant that he will build a team and compete soon in professional Glory competitions.  They look forward to the day as does Ye Xiu. The small group that constitutes Team Happy is so far, Chen Guo, Tang Rou, Bao Rongxing (who is nicknamed Baoxi), Qiao Yifan, Luo Ji, Su Mucheng (she is playing an alternate character) and Xu Boyuan (who is playing an alt.).

Xu Boyuan is the Captain of another guild (Blue Rain) and is half wanting to be part of this guild and half wanting to destroy it to protect his own!  Su Mucheng is there to help out her childhood friend Ye Xiu but she is a professional player for another Guild (Excellent Era aka Jiashi)) so he involvement is secret.  The rest are new and inexperienced (noobs). It’s a very implausible group and doesn’t look very sustainable when planning for the future.

Summary

Ye Xiu hasn’t managed to calm Chen Gou’s fears of being able to manage the new guild.  It’s a shame really.  After putting her down so much in the previous show, she believes that she can provide the money and support and that’s about all. The fact that she runs a successful (and very large) internet cafe doesn’t seem to ease her fears of management or leadership.

Either poor translation of the subtitles (my bad, I should be able to understand Chinese), or extremely poor direction and characterisation, have left some of the western non-Chinese speakers perplexed and a little annoyed.  We aren’t impressed with how the lovely Chen Guo is being put down by her employee (and game guru), Ye Xiu.  Personally, I’m ok to give the show the benefit of the doubt and put it down to poor translation.

The episode wasn’t particularly funny to watch although it did have it’s moments and the magnificent Maggie Jiang was terrific in the scenes that she was in, as was  the actor who played Xu Boyuan (Liu Qiu Shi). Ye Xiu (played by Yang Yang) didn’t get up to much, he manipulated people a little, patronised people a little and for a brief time, actually encouraged Chen Gou!

Looking Forward

In terms of the quality and coolness of the saga, the next few episodes of The Kings Avatar are a little lacking. They’re definitely watcheable, just not as exciting. This one and the next couple of shows are more ‘filler’ than ‘fun’ and they concentrate on relatively unimportant parts of the saga.  Sometimes they are pretty easy to watch (that is, whenever Maggie Jiang is in a scene) and other times they seem forced or contrived. 

Rest assured, very little happens in this episode – if you were to miss it, you would be able to catch up in the first few seconds of the next episode.

If you need a recap of the story so far, all the previous episode reviews are here: Kings Avatar Live Action News & Reviews Thread.

Key Players Appearing In This Episode

Name:  Ye Xiu ID:  Lord Grim (Jun Mo Xiao) Class:  Freelancer Guild:  Happy (Xing Xin). Once known as God Ye Qui when he was with Excellent Era (Jiashi).  He currently works for Chen Guo as the Team Captain for the new Happy Guild and raiding team and possibly still (at this point anyway) as network Manager in her Internet Cafe.

Name:  Chen Guo ID:  Chasing Haze Class:  Gunner Guild:  Happy (Xing Xin). Manager Happy Internet Cafe and Guild Master of the Happy Guild.   Her idol is the Fighting God Ye Qui and she has only recently learned that he is Ye Xiu in real life. She now manages him as a Network manager in her Internet Cafe (though not so much now) and as the Team Captain in the Happy guild. She is a very enthusiastic supporter and player of Glory although we rarely see Chen Guo win a match. Her pet name of GuoGuo by Tang Rou.

Name:  Tang Rou ID:  Soft Mist Class:  Battlemage Guild:  Happy (Xing Xin). Tang Rou is affectionately called Xiao Tang (Little Tang) by Chen Guo. She originally thought that Glory was boring but was beaten by Ye Xiu in a duel and has vowed to get even.  She is getting a reputation in teh player community for being reckless and aggressive.

Name:  Bao Rongxing ID:  Steamed Bun Class:  Ranger/Brawler Guild:  Happy (Xing Xin). Works in a warehouse. Unusual way of playing but quick and agile fighter with a good sense of spacial awareness.  His ambition is to game professionally. He also has the nickname amongst his friends of Baoxi or Baoxing.

Name:  Qiao Yifan ID:   Ashen Moon Class:   Assassin Guild:  Happy (Xing Xin). Previously in Tiny Herb (Wei Cao) but was considered a very weak player and not usually picked for any team activities.  He has a really good friend in Wei Cao called Gao Yingjie who believes in him and tries to support him where possible.

Name:  Xu Boyuan ID:  Blue River (alt is Lan He) Class:  Swordsman Guild:  Blue Brook aka Lanxi Pavilion (I think this is an affiliate of Blue Rain Guild on the 10th Server as they have the same logo).  Team Captain. A well respected player. One of the top swordsmen on the 10th Server. Also enjoys a friendship with ye Xiu and his team although this comes across as him being manipulated and tricked – not sure if this is intended or just poor writing.  His alternate character is called Lan He.

 

The Kings Avatar Episode 17 Review

This episode opened with a sad and dejected Chen Guo walking the streets outside her Internet Cafe.  She is contemplating the words of her mentor, employee and Glory Team Captain, Ye Xiu.  Ye Xiu had told her that he wanted her to try to become a Guild Master but was worried that this might not be something she would be committed to.  She was known (apparently) for being a quitter and he was worried that she didn’t want to push herself.

 

These were pretty direct and harsh words and I would imagine, not easy to pick yourself up from (well, I would certainly find it hard).

Meanwhile, Qiao Yifan is leaving the Wei Cao Guild.  He is picked up by Ye Xiu and they walk to the bus stop.  Apparently he is going off for a New Years holiday for a few days and when he returns, he will be part of the Happy Guild.  Ye Xiu waves him off at the bus stop and Qiao Yifan spends some time remembering how he became part of the team.

Chen Guo has returned home and is still worried about her ability to manage the new Guild. She makes a decision and leaves her room to go and find Ye Xiu. She finds him and the next scene was honestly difficult to watch. 

Ye Xiu goes into ‘Sanctimonious Git’ mode

Chen Guo tries to show Ye Xiu how the Internet Cafe building can easily be converted to a Professional eSports Guild AND still be an Internet Cafe.  She also mentioned that she didn’t feel capable of being Guild Manager.

Ye Xiu tells her that certain rooms are too small, that it would take to long to renovate and is generally critical and negative of all her ideas.  She explains that she doesn’t want him or the team to leave the Happy Internet Cafe and that she is happy to provide all the resources and rooms for the new Guild at no cost to the team.

 

Ye Xiu calls her stupid because the deal she offered would lose her a considerable amount of money.  Chen Guo looks close to tears.  He stands up and tells her that they should try the conversation another way,

“Hi, I’m Ye Xiu.” He says, “I would like to apply to your Guild as the Team Captain.”

Chen Guo smiles and plays along, “Hi, I’m Chen Guo and I’m….

Ye Xiu clasps her hand, “…. the Guild Manager.”  He says.  They shake hands and agree to renovate the Internet Cafe together to make it suitable for a Guild.

It was an irritating and contrived scene aimed to squeeze out a little extra drama.  At this point, If I had been Chen Guo, I’d have punched the sanctimonious git on the nose.

Xu Boyuan arrives to Spy and Train!

Later that day, Xu Boyuan turns up at the Happy Internet Cafe.  He has learned where the team are based and wants to learn what they are up to and …. I’m absolutely convinced, to hang out.  I’m sure he considers them friends and he is torn between wanting to develop his own Guild and to, at the same time, hang out with Ye Xiu and his team.

When he arrives at the Cafe, he see’s Chen Guo who is all alone.  She explains to him that the Internet Cafe is closed for the afternoon but he doesn’t wants to take no for an answer and asks for a key to use one of the computers.  He is keen to learn as much about the team as possible.

Chen Guo however, is studying to be a Guild Manager and at the same time, for some reason, has a ‘mug shot’ of a criminal that looks like a bald Xu Boyuan.  It looks pretty funny.  Chen Guo is convinced that her visitor is a criminal and gets flustered.

 

The New Manager Needs Help

There are a few comedic moments as the miss-understanding concerning the mistaken identity plays it’s course until that is, Ye Xiu returns and notices a now perplexed Xu Boyuan.  Xu Boyuan had already noticed that Chen Guo was studying to take the Managers exam which he had already completed.

 

Ye Xiu see’s his chance and manipulates Xu Boyuan into teaching the now slightly embarrassed Chen Guo how to pass.

This was fun but eventually got a little tiresome despite the wonderful mannerisms of these two amazing actors!

 

Xu Boyuan does an terrific job of teaching Chen Guo how to do her job.  He seems to enjoy it too.  It’s a shame that most of us feel that he was tricked into doing it.  

For her part, Chen Guo seems to be learning and enjoying herself.  Even Tang Rou notices how she hasn’t seen Chen Guo concentrate and be as engaged while learning something. Alas, it isn’t enough.  When Xu Boyuan leaves, he discusses how unlikely Chen Guo is to pass the exam.  Xu Boyuan is then tricked into managing the guild on her behalf until she passes. The implausibility of this is staggering but I guess they want us to believe it.

Little Tang drops the Bad News

Later, Tang Rou visits her friend, Chen Guo and the two talk about exams and their motivations for passing them (not much it seems).  Tang Rou tells Chen Guo that she will soon be leaving to go and study music at a foreign college.

 

Chen Guo isn’t happy at the thought of loosing her friend and key team member.  She storms out of the room.

Time passed and the Chinese New Year quickly become the Spring Break.  Members of the team split up and head for their respective home towns. All except Ye Xiu and Chen Guo.

And ‘silly comedy stuff’ to end

Some silly stuff happens (trust me, it’s not worth mentioning) and Chen Guo makes a unfriendly remark (nothing as bad as she has received from him though!) and she gives Ye Xiu the use of her credit card to go and buy something nice for himself.

The show ends there.  Not much happened but we know that Chen Guo is almost qualified as the Manager of Happy Guild and Xu Boyuan is helping out until she passes the exam. THere is a danger that we will never see the pretty Tang Rou now that she has gone to her Music School in the USA. It’s all gone a bit limp.  I wonder what bombshell they could drop next episode to keep us all interested. I just hope it’s nothing too corny.

Conclusion

Ye Xiu is still being portrayed as a sanctimonious git.  I’m not sure why that is continuing, it seems out of character.  The chinese lady Yang Yang fandom don’t seem too upset by it so it maybe that there are some translation issues with the subtitles I’ve been watching. One of the really impressive parts of the episode was the excellent portrayal of the much-maligned Xu Boyuan by the actor Liu Qiu Shi. He was really good and he and Jiang Shuying (aka Maggie Jiang) saved the episode!

Again, as the last show, some parts of the episode were great, other parts were stupidly written and badly characterised.

I’d therefore rate this a mediocre but still fun still 5.8.  what did you think? Please let us know what you thought by clicking on the Users tab in the review block at the top – right of this page (you don’t need to register) – we’d love to see what you thought of the show.

See more details of this on the Kings Avatar thread of the Sci Fi forum

The pictures, story, news details and everything else about the Kings Avatar Live action TV series are copyright Tencent Penguin Pictures, Linmon Pictures and Phoenix Entertainment. All rights reserved.

This article is copyright Tony Fawl and not for reproduction without the authors express permission.