ULTIMATE NOTE (终极笔记)
Title: Ultimate Note / Zhongji Biji / 终极笔记
Length: 36 episodes
Adapted from: book 4, 5, 6, and 7 (YES FOUR BOOKS)
Genre: Adventure, Suspense, Action
Original Network: IQIYI
Synopsis: Wu Xie gets into the depth of mystery that awaiting upon him. He went to Golmud then Gobi Desert and found a rain forest that led him to the Palace of the Heavenly Queen Mother. Zhang Qiling lost his memories, Wu Xie and Wang Pangzi went to Banai to search for his memories.
why you should watch this show?
IT COVERS F O U R BOOKS IN 36 EPISODES!! they also added so many information from another books (as well as fan theories)they gave justice to ALL the characters without adding unnecessary fillersthey WENT to actual locations like gobi desert, rain forest, etcit has coherent plots my dear god THEY EXPLAINED THINGS AND ANSWERED QUESTIONSit has so many iconic scenes from the books and they add many original scenes that complement the book version the pacing isn't dragging and the plot is tight!!
not really good aspects:
i'm not really fond of the transition some of the cgi aren't the best but they knew where to put the priority because the rest is really amazingthe actors are really young, so there are some parts especially in early episodes where it's kinda lacking but it gets better and better (and you will grow to like EVERYONE)
this drama isn't perfect. for people who aren't familiar with dmbj universe maybe they will take a while to figure out everything. that's why lemme give you a brief summary about who is who and what's actually happened before.
ultimate note is adapted from book 4, 5, 6, and 7 (im using chinese version here). so i will give a brief summary about what happened in the three earlier books that's related to ultimate note plot.
Book 1 - 七星鲁王宫 (The Seven-Star Palace of Lu Shang Wang)
jin wantang (someone from wu xie's grandpa generation) visited wu xie and brought him the warring states silk book which later led wu xie to his first experience visiting ancient tombwu xie first met zhang qiling when zhang qiling picked up an ancient sword from his uncle three's shop (it's that sword xiaoge always carried, anw it belonged to him to begin with)wu xie met zhang qiling (again) and pangzi at the seven-star palace where he followed his uncle for the first time exploring a tomb.at the end of this journey, xiaoge disappeared and wu xie retrieved a box from the tomb and he found a chopper fish thingy. his uncle told wu xie that xiaoge was a suspicious person.his uncle then told wu xie story about xisha archaeologist team from 20 years ago (where everybody didn't come back except wu sanxing, that team also had chen wenjin, huo ling, and xie lianhuan) then, he showed an old photo and wu xie recognized that xiaoge was there and he didn't age at allhis uncle went to xisha after thatwu xie was called by aning that his uncle went missing and when he met up with her, there were pangzi and an old expert (?) called bald zhang (its xiaoge in disguise) lollater, xioage started remembering his memories from 20 years ago and he told wu xie how sus his uncle wasthey saw the replica (and map) of heavenly palace on the cloudsthey stumbled upon words written in blood and it was a message from xie lianhuan which indicated that wu sanxing (wu xie's uncle) killed him
Book 2 - 秦岭神树 - Qinling's Sacred Tree
actually this story was about wu xie and his old friend, nothing was related to ultimate note. but the tree was made from a giant bronze (?)
Book 3 - 云顶天宫 (Heavenly Palace on the Clouds
pan zi informed wu xie that his uncle had an urgent business and he needed wu xie to go to changbai mountain. long story short, wu xie met xiaoge and pangzi (and chen pi ah si, an old generation from lao jiu men, the same generation as wu xie's grandpa)they looked for the heavenly palace on the clouds that's rumoured to be located in changbai mountainthey met many weird creatures, one of them is the birdman (it will be mentioned later in ultimate note)xiaoge disappeared in the middle of the journeywu xie's uncle was badly hurtxiaoge left message for wu xie and his team to stop but ofc they wouldn't do that lolthey went to follow xiaoge's route and were attacked by a bunch of birdman (they are wild and can kill you)wu xie suddenly saw the bronze door opened and an army of dead soldier (?) marched to the bronze door. and wu xie saw xiaoge amongst the army when xiaoge's eyes met with wu xie, he smiled at him while mouthing "see you again" (i love and hate this scene so much)
characters and their relationships (be aware of spoiler)
Wu Xie (Tianzhen / Xiao Sanye)
the main protagonist the heir of the wu familyhis name means something like innocent wu xie has two uncles (his dad is the oldest son but he doesn't know anything about grave robbery business). his second uncle is a mob boss and his third uncle is the one who inherited the family's businessbtw his parents are alive but they are rarely mentioned he's raised by his grandpa and sanshu to be similar to qi yu, in aspect of mannerism, handwriting, habit (qi yu is that person in aning's videotape who looks like wu xie and he's also a member in xisha archaeologist team. anw, qi yu's existence is just another mystery lol)his sanshu acts like he doesn't want wu xie to go around investigating those mysteries but actually his sanshu does that on purposewu xie is a trump card to destroy "it" that's why in ultimate note he's called the chosen onebro, his life is bound to be fucked up and thanks to his meeting with xiaoge, it gets even fucked up (they are really so skkvjsjkdlvajl)
Zhang Qiling (Xiaoge / Yaba Zhang / Menyouping)
he's super mysterious. his past, his background, his family, everything is full of mysteryhe has periodic amnesia, that's why he always searches for his memories (he usually leaves his traces in the tombs / places he has visited before)he doesn't speak much and believe me book! xiaoge is worse than ultimate note! xiaoge (i love him so much tho)his existence is actually super related to the whole mess in wu xie's life (see, they are really destined for each other)wu xie and zhang qiling's ship is called pingxie (it's from menyouPING and wu XIE). menyouping is the nickname wu xie gives to xiaoge, it means something like a person who never speaks lol (wu xie never verbalizes it though). wu xie has A Huge Obsession over xiaoge, like he wants to know more about the other and he's willing to accompany xiaoge to search for his past. their relationship reaches the peak on the last book so i wont write it down (it's full of pain btw. book 8 is a pure pain)
Wang Pangzi (Pang-ye)
he's a grave robber even long before meeting wu xiehe's from beijing and he's rich lolthe three of them are called iron triangle. zhang qiling and wang pangzi accompany wu xie throughout the journey and without them, wu xie would probably die a long time ago. their friendship really starts from being completely strangers, doubting each other but they end up sacrificing themselves to keep the others save (and ultimate note portrays this relationship so well)
Hei Yangjing / Hei Xiazi / Hei-ye
a mysterious and very capable grave robber. he's very famous in the businessin the book, he's actually an old buddy of zhang qiling (long before they met wu xie)he kinda has longevity as well aka he's an old man like zhang qiling lol but he isn't from zhang familyactually heihua agenda in UN is only in the drama. this ship is really famous amongst cfandom but they barely interact in canon. we just know that they have known each other for a long time
Xie Yuchen (Xiaohua / Xiao Jiuye)
the head of the xie familywu xie's childhood friendstill considered as wu xie's cousin (wu xie's grandma is from the xie family)in the book, xiaohua actually is the head of lao jiu men / mystic nine and wu xie's participation later with granny huo is something that xiaohua agrees bc wu xie has capabilitieshe's the nephew of xie lianhuan by blood but in law he's adopted by him (because he also has a fucked up life)er yue hong was his teacherhe was dressed up or brought up as a girl when he was kid to perfect his dan role in opera (that's why wu xie remembered him as girl lol)actually in the book, xiaohua meets wu xie again during the auction
Huo Xiuxiu
the heir of the huo familywu xie's childhood friendin the book, she meets wu xie during auction as well (and later she kinda tricks wu xie lol)xiaohua and xiuxiu are childhood sweethearts. in the novel, their families are super super close. wu xie explains that xiuxiu is one person who knows xiaohua the bestxiuxiu is so capable, she's like the female version of wu xie. many of her contributions were taken by xiaohua in ultimate note, which is such a pity :((
Wu Sanxing
wu xie's third uncle whom wu xie calls sanshuhe's the one who drags wu xie everywhere to nurture him as a great trump card against "it"he has planned everything with wu laoguo (his dad aka wu xie's grandpa)xie lianhuan and he exchanged identity during their expedition in xisha. so, you don't really know when he's wu sanxing or xie lianhuan (at least, in the book it's indicated like that)chen wenjin is his love interest well, after snake marsh, we don't really know anything about them
Huo Xiangu
she's the head of the huo familyxiuxiu's grandmashe's the last person who's still alive from the first generation of lao jiu men (mystic nine). btw, ljm was like a group of grave robbers that dominated changsha during republican era. the leader was zhang qishan (he was from zhang family but he wasn't like zhang qiling. zhang qishan's family was kicked out from the main family aka northern branch. that's why their tattoo is qiongqi, zhang rishan is a member from zhang qishan's family. if you remember that fake zhang qiling guy from banai who has qiongqi tattoo, he's an experiment made by zhang qishan)wu xie's grandpa, xiaohua's grandpa, er yue hong, qi tiezui, chen pi ah si (that guy who hired xiaoge in banai) are the member of lao jiu menalso, huo xiangu was wu xie's grandpa's ex lover lol but when wu xie's grandpa was betrayed by qiu dekao, he asked xiaohua's grandpa for help where he ended up meeting wu xie's grandma and got married. SO, YOU CAN UNDERSTAND WHY HUO XIANGU IS SO SALTY WITH WU XIE AND HIS GRANDPA LOLshe owes debt to zhang qiling (all ljm members owe debts to zhang qiling) that's the reason why she looks at zhang qiling with regret and guilt and also why pangzi says something like "some debts have to be repaid even if it means sacrificing your life." the debt is related to zhang qiling's contribution in that biggest grave robbery in history (the one where they retrieved so many waring states silk books). i wont go into details because it's explained in the book 8.
if you realize, yes, they are all seeking for immortality and its bullshit (which is ofc highly related to zhang qiling and his mysterious family). all the places wu xie has gone from book 1 to book 8 are related to immortality and "it" also pursues immortality. in the book, "it" refers to the government and wang family (if you have watched sha hai / sand sea / tomb of the sea, wang family must be familiar right?) they are the enemy of the zhang family or more like a 1000 years old cult that's so obsessed with zhang family.
there are so many information actually and idk what i should write here. but, i hope i can offer some understanding lol if you have more questions or if i mention wrong information pls do contact my twitter.