Back From The Brink (2023) C-Drama: Our Review and Why You Should Watch It

Back From The Brink is a Chinese fantasy drama that was streamed on Youku between May and June this year. Its source novel is titled: Hu Xin or Heart Protection. 

But for marketability purposes, the production retitled it to Back From Brink which is more dramatic and catchy. Main cast: Hou Minghao as Tian Yao, Zhou Ye as Yan Hui, and Riley Wang as Bai Xiaosheng.

Synopsis:

On the day of his wedding, the ancient dragon, Tian Yao (Hou Minghao) is betrayed by his bride, Su Ying (Yang Rong) by stabbing him to death. 

Her only purpose in marrying him is to rip his dragon armor and his "heart-protecting scale" (the dragon's heart that unleashes immense Spirit power), to give it to her true love, Lu Mu Sheng (Ji Chen), who is dying.

Tian Yao, in his last breath, manages to protect his scale and throws it to the world, falling down to the mystical Obsidian River. 

Without his "heart-protecting scale" Tian Yao becomes powerless to fight Su Ying. She defeats him and scatters his body parts everywhere, sealing them to eternity.

Neo Hou and Zhou Ye 

Meanwhile, Tian Yao's heart-protecting scale falls down to the Obsidian River and coincidentally to the baby girl floating on the river. The baby, who has a congenital disease, has been put in a small basket by her mother, believing that the river can cure her disease.

Riley Wang as Bai Xiaosheng 

Riley Wang as Bai Xiaosheng 

Twenty years later, the baby girl grew up to be a fun-loving, free-spirited Taoist disciple, Yan Hui. She grows up in Chenxing Mountain after she was found by the Taoist master, Ling Xiao (Ken Chang), when she was still a child.

Ling Xiao becomes Yan Hui's guide in life and the only person she knows who cares for her unconditionally. But despite her years of training, she is still unable to cultivate her mind's eye, one day while defending her friends in the sect who have been besieged by the Guanchan disciples, Yan Hui suddenly releases her explosive power.

As a result, she is expelled from Chenxing Mountain. Going back to the street where she grows up, Yan Hui becomes desperate to earn a living, so she participates in bounty hunting to capture a snake that steals the flaming Orb.

Meanwhile, Tian Yao has been reborn and assumes the identity of a boy living in Tunglou village, however, he has a full memory of his past and determines to retrieve his body parts. To accomplish it he needs to recover first his heart-protecting scale.

Tian Yao has been secretly chasing Yan Hui who he believes has his heart protecting scale, but when he gets the chance he senses that it has been sealed by Yan Hui's master with a powerful barrier.

He decided to take Yan Hui back home to Tunglou village as a captive. He began convincing her to help him retrieve his body parts in exchange of her freedom. But Yan Hui refused.

Neo Hou as Tian Yao and Zhou Ye as Yan Hui 

Later, when they start to establish friendship and began to trust each other, Yan Hui realizes that it's only her who can help Tian Yao recovers what he has lost.

She also began developing a deep affection for him. Although Tian Yao is tentative with his feelings towards Yan Hui as he vows never to love again due to his painful past.

Slowly, as they get closer and cooperating on Tian Yao's mission, love and trust bloom but they have to endure first a journey towards healing and tons of adventures and challenges along the way, including meeting people such as the mysterious dark spirit, Bai Xiaosheng (Riley Wang).

Along the way, they found a trusted ally on each other and began a complex mission of fighting the dark aura and Su Ying to make Tian Yao whole again and protects peace in the mortal and immortal worlds. 

Our Review:

Back From The Brink is a light romance slash adventure fantasy, unlike other fantasy dramas I've watched this year (I dropped watching Till The End of the Moon because the story didn't appeal to me and none of the characters, except Deng Wei's character, are engaging enough to pin me down to watch), Back From The Brink has a unique atmosphere that convinces me to continue watching, perhaps due to its simple story of myth and magic and humourous characters, such as Yan Hui and Bai Xiaosheng, which made it fun to watch.

It's a well-written drama with a beautiful and stress-free love triangle arc (Yan Hui, Tian Yao, and Bai Xiaosheng), which is both humourous and sweet. The conflicts and highlights are well-developed you won't be left wondering why such scene needs to occur.

The message is clear and the adventure and quests of the main characters are well-defined and in logical sequences so the story is easy to follow.

Back From The Brink also develops a timely learning lesson, that if we are too consumed with anger, remorse, hatred, greed, and selfishness we can be easily devoured by darkness and our system will be taken over by evils and dark forces in this world. 

But if we have the courage to fight our own "demons" and strong enough to stay afloat above misfortune and let humility reign in our hearts, then goodness will triumph and we wouldn't be defeated by dark forces.

Zhou Ye and Neo Hou 

Zhou Ye and Neo Hou 

Yan Hui is a well-developed character in this drama. From a free-spirited girl who cares nothing but wealth and food, she gradually transforms into a responsible and courageous girl who takes a great responsibility in protecting the people she loves. 

Riley Wang, Neo Hou, and Zhou Ye 

Bai Xiaosheng is another positive character who is fun to watch. He is willing to take sacrifices to uphold justice and protect the people he cared. His love for Yan Hui gradually develops but instead of insisting, he knows where to put himself and just chooses to be Yan Hui's trusted protector.

Riley Wang, Zhou Ye, and Neo Hou ©Back From The Brink Weibo 

Riley Wang as Bai Xiaosheng 

I also love the sense of humor in this drama. It helps tense scenes to be just an entertaining sequences due to the timing of humor.

I like how the antagonist Su Ying was wrapped up. In the end, she accepted her defeat, although less remorseful, she did one last great job to Tian Yao, by returning his last missing part to unleash his immense power and fight the dark phantom. 

In the end, Yan Hui and Tian Yao got the finale they deserve. And live happily-ever after. Bai Xiaosheng continues to live his life nearby and looking for another sweet couple to ship 😆

By the way, Riley Wang was at his best performance in this drama. He shines brightly among the main cast and perfectly interpreted the character of Bai Xiaosheng. Cute, charming, fun, and humorous.

Zhou Ye also was a charmer in this drama. She performed well as Yan Hui. Sweet and refreshing who gradually evolved into an empowered mortal to help save the world and protect the people she loves especially Tian Yao. 

Neo Hou was also good but he needs to work on his interpretation of a cold and quiet character because he had a tendency to be stiff and totally emotionless which loses his dominant power presence in the screen, at some points Tian Yao was eclipsed by other interesting characters such as Bai Xiaosheng and Chen Yi. 

Why you should watch it? 

Well, basically Back From The Brink is a light fantasy drama with a dash of romance and adventure, and it's fun to watch.

It has a lot of heart. You could feel the enormous feelings of important characters in the story to the point that you would never feel any stress, anger, hatred, or boredom while you're watching this drama .

It's a feel-good fantasy drama without annoying characters. It has a balance of humor and adventure so you'll have a great time rooting for the characters and follow their journey.

It has a clear message and lessons about love, controlling anger, humility, and getting rid of jealousy and self-importance. 

Overall, Back From The Brink is a good drama to watch. It's just light and simple plus the sense of humor which makes it fun and entertaining. 

The fight scenes and magic are just right and balance. I love the OST too especially Neo Hou's "Enlightenment".

Our rating: 

• Story: 9/10
• Acting: 8/10
• OST: 9/10
• Rewatch value: 8/10