DotTheIsAndCrossTheTs

is that truly Feng Shao Feng?
at first i did not recognise him.
...।

you are right on FL, if she work on it, she will be a great actress a few years

about chemistry, it is not because age gap, age may played a role, relation between character is complicated one to begin with, and FL is not there to act on it, it might be better if they take more experience actress for this character.
but relation between her and SML is more and less straightforward.

your absolutely right
just to get a critical gain, enter production worked hard on last 10mini,
if we forget Princess Agents and all 40EP of Rebirth and just focus on last 10mini,
it was absolutely brilliant,
all ups and down, happiness and sorrows, good and bad choice for EP1 of Princess Agents to last EP of Rebirth came down to lake scene,
lake scene is truly brilliant.
but, a drama can not judge by one scene

and i truly think, production decision on ending destroyed the drama

EP25
seriously!!!!!!
they solve Xu Mi Yu's issue that way,
...।

oh my GOD,
do you think people are this level IDIOT

anyone who dares to challenge the system faces ruin and death. IF IT IS TRUE
THEN IT ALSO CAN BE SAY THIS WAY, if someone want to change the system or something one has to go through ruin and death. a sacrifice has to make

do you realy think
1. The secret agent storyline
2. The merchant class
3. The assassin archetype
4. Intelligent, strategic characters like Princess Liang (Li Ce’s older sister)
5. The female lead’s ice powers
6. Chu Qiao’s mother sect
7. The pursuit of justice, Yan Xun’s massacre of merchants is left unavenged, and even the leads’ adopted son cannot seek revenge
8. The loyal general who faithfully follows Chu Qiao from Wei to Yanbei
9. High-ranking officials and powerful clan leaders (Wei clan, Zhao clan, etc.)
10. The female lead’s ultimate failure, she dies without achieving her goals, leaving nothing behind.
all this arc, character, event can be fit in 40 EP.

'''''Ultimately, this reflects a systemic pushback against narratives centered on freed slaves and anti-authority rebellion. Under censorship, the original message is deliberately reversed into a cautionary tale where defiance is crushed and compliance is enforced. That is the reality behind why Rebirth plays out the way it does. suppressing human rights.''''
IF IT IS THE CASE,
they should take book ending,
it would be much settable for censor bored.

what else, for critical clam.
they are so brilliant, they literary made something out of the world.

Rebirth is a result of a VIRUS that infected all entertainment industry world wide.
management, production thinks ''what ever they made audience eat it'' as audiences are PIG

as this audience are human, with all there intellect, there always will be some people will think 'what a glorious it was''

what production did with Rebirth,
early on or in middle of production they decided on ending. then they fixed it accordingly.'
by doing so, it become meaningless what characters of drama go through in Princess Agents.
...।

how they end it.
as fer i know book has a very clear ending.

when Love Like the Galaxy was aired, someone posted there is time travel involve in novel,
true or not i dont know.
it did not bother me
i can not talk what is not in drama.

to think a characters can be timeless, one has to have a idealistic and ideological position. this itself a narrow point of view.
do not take my last comment personally, i do not know how put it in other way.
if you do, then im sorry for that,

1st thing 1st
of course, the Story of Min Lan product of her time both in the drama and outside the drama. it was a historical fiction to begin with.
if it was made or watch 1991 or 2030 out come over all same.
and then you put it 2010-2019 and on ended the one child policy. then why old historical fiction over all same on womanhood.

let take your point in count, you take example out of all drama Love Like the Galaxy,
it is not Han dynasty, it costume of Han, it is not Han. there is no Emperor Wen, Empress Xuan Shen An or Crown Prince Yuan in Han dynasty as far as i know.
it eat like old time, walk like a old time, married like a old time, day to day life is like old time, but society is not like old time. it just had material of old time.
it is a historical fantasy drama, as i can say in old time in china where is a dynasty called 'BINGO DYNASTY'

if we consider Niao Niao is a timeless character. then we can not answer many question on the character. if is not, we have the answer.

clash between word of novel and storytelling of visual drama lead to a very bad character presentation in entry.
and with that your idealistic and ideological position made you think it is a timeless character,
but it is not.

a masterpieces, just because as the characters are timeless. it is a very narrow idealistic point of view.
and characters cannot be timeless.
a drama or movie can be timeless.

above or not, but of course it was product of its time, as most drama or movie ever made in human history. even some masterpieces one.

to say any drama it is a truly masterpieces, it is very difficult one, more difficult then movie.
but i wont say popular, it was popular to Zhao Li Ying fan base.
this is not a drama for everyone. look at the comment, most of them negative one.

but after 7 year people still debate on is it a good or bad. it is a masterpieces or not.

by the way, when it was aired, comment section it was a "blood bath"

yes, it was next level of commitment, especially when english is you 2nd language
and funny thing was for very reason i started writing it, I couldn't finish it.

EP 05 - 10
The Innocence Of Youth, Missing Handkerchief And Gu So-So
''mother. I've been good. I didn't go wild'' - Ru Lan. ho no Ru Lan no, you have to go wild. it is your age to go wild.
as we entered EP05, our 3 Sheng sister entered there innocent wild teen year. and we introduced to a new character Qi Heng, who had a innocent crush on Ming Lan, at the same time Ming Lan 2nd sister Mo Lan daughter of concubine Lin had her own innocent crush no Qi Heng.
yes Mo Lan crush no Qi Heng is innocent one. both Qi Heng and Mo Lan crush are innocent one in own way. as Qi Heng lost his handkerchief, Mo Lan take it with out any thought. just seeing what Ming Lan eating Qi Heng do the same ever it is obvious he have no appetite.
as always happened innocent crush slowly take over 1st one's mind then his/her every day activity. Qi Heng is not exceptional either.
when Ming Lan knows she and Qi Heng bound to not to be together, and saying no to Qi Heng, but yet she takes all gift he gives to her. this behavior from Ming Lan antagonise Qi Heng more toward Ming Lan.
Mo Lan also knows Qi Heng way beyond her. but her deep insecure about her status as a child of a concubine take her way to marry high-up family under close guidance of her concubine mother.
this deep insecure of Mo Lan lead her to a antagoniseing relation with her 2 sister. especially with Ru Lan. for childish and impetuous behavior of Ru Lan this antagoniseing relation exploded like a firework when scumbag Liang Han and his mother came to visit Sheng House as Mo Lan push her 2 sister falling down in front of male guest.
for this breach of household etiquette, Liang Han and his mother get amused, Qi Heng face sparkling with smile.
but Ming Lan and Ru Lan got punished. with this punishment Ming Lan and Ru Lan end there innocent youth.

when 3 Sheng Sister going through there complex innocent youth, we introduced with Gu Ting Ye, who going through time of Hot Blooded Youth with 2 children and a Mistress/Concubine.
as Gu Ting Ye going through time of Hot Blooded Youth and social status of his maternal family, his relation with his paternal family is in odd, because of this oddness Gu Ting Ye's relation with his father evolved into complicated one. it not that father and son did not love each other, in there complicated relation they love each other in there own way.

Note: because of 2 children and a Mistress/Concubine 6 year ago and even today many audience heated Gu Ting Ye character, but forget that the time and era drama is set in, in those days most individual with Gu Ting Ye age get married and have children of there own.

Quote: ''It Is Noble For A Person To Have Self Awareness, Many Calamities Are Courted By The Greed To Be More''.

Momo From The Palace
if one's children have any lack of education, it is parents job to put them on right track.
if one's children have lacking of household etiquette, and who will be batter to teach them other then a court madam from palace, especially when she is especialise in teaching etiquette and maidens work to palace Princess and Concubine.

level headed Ming Lan's grandmother, with her brilliant maneuver she made Sheng House to invite a court madam to there house.

as court madam entered Sheng House she put her knowledge in practice. with holding her hand our 3 Sheng sister learn to let go there The Innocence Of Youth, and enter to phase from then on there every single action will have consequence for them and people around them.

court madam taught them, unmask them and put every single member of Sheng House in there place.
it is a site to see when for 1st time some one say to Concubine Lin Qin 'shut the hell up' and put her to her place. for Concubine Lin Qin it will not be last time.

every single teaching of court madam will stuck with Sheng House like super glue. and Sheng family member will Use and Abuse those teaching as they wish in future.

Quote: ''Do Not Let Your Smart Regard Everyone Else As Fools, You Must Be Aware That The Smart Man Can Be Ruined By His Smarts''.

Note: character representation is one of the most impotent part of Visual Drama. in the area production did a brilliant job in this dram of every important character.
i will just talk on Ming Lan, every action and every dialogue going on all around Ming Lan, with some she is involve with some she has nothing do with her, and yet we can see she is the central character of the drama.
the drama made in a way that depend on character interaction, without Mo Lan colorful present we will not get Ming Lan gray present, with Ru Lan immaturity, we get a mature Ming Lan.
....।

Look At This Hair And Beard
to move forward, i need to say little bit about Song Dynasty and Emperor Renzong of Song. as drama set in Song era and 1st half of drama set during Emperor Renzong ruling, so to move forward, i have to say little bit about Song Dynasty and Emperor Renzong of Song.

1st thing 1st, i am not Chinese, nor a expert on Chinese history. but i know few things. so if i made some mistake, i apologies for that in advance.

what we know today as traditional Chinese value, Chinese philosophical concept, came into a uniform format during Song Dynasty. i am not saying these Value Philosophical Concept did not exist before, what i am saying is these thing came into a uniform format during Song Dynasty. for example, The Mandate of Heaven, this concept exist in through out Chinese history. but different scholar had different opinion on this concept, in during Song Dynasty The Mandate of Heaven concept came into a uniform format as we understand today.

this uniformity was possible because Song Dynasty valued mostly scholar. yes Song Dynasty the Dynasty of scholar-official. it is not a bad thing, nor it is a good.
as a society evolve around scholar-official, this Dynasty developed into highly restricted Etiquette social stricture. in drama we can see present of this highly restricted Etiquette social stricture.

as the Dynasty of scholar-official there ware lot of oily parson like Ming Lan's father. people like Ming Lan's father very good at judging Morality of other people, but for there own broken Morality they will find justification in there vast knowledge of philosophy, history, literature. in drama we can see multiple character covered there Foul Smell of Inner Character with perfume of knowledge.
if we read literature Song era, one thing we will find common, in 1 side there are Brave-Talented-Honest-Royal Military Leader, in other side there in Sneaky-Corrupt Scholar-official.

as Minister is image of Emperor, opposite of also true, an Emperor is image of his Minister.
Emperor Renzong of Song known for his Virtues, Devotion and Pacifism.
His Devotion was so great that he push his daughter to endless misery, just to prove his devotion to his birth mother. and his daughter died a death of Thousand Cut.

Emperor Renzong of Song born to a personal maid of Empress Liu, who later become Concubine to his father. Empress Liu build him up with every way possible as a good parson and a good Emperor.

even though he became a good parson and a good Emperor, and he was. but very education lead him push his daughter to endless misery, and his domestic and foreign policy create a systematic corruption domestically and a weaken power in foreign relation. same goes for his family relation.
in drama we saw Gu Ting Ye talking about corruption in civil and military office, this systematic corruption conscious and unconscious created by Emperor Renzong of Song .

after complete watching The Story of Ming Lan 1st time 6year ago. i wanted to watch more about life of Ming Lan son or her stepdaughter's life, a drama about Ming Lan son's generation life. then suddenly i remembered, The Story of Ming Lan set during Northern Song era of Song Dynasty. and this era was end with a horrifying catastrophic Event. which can be face by Ming Lan son's generation and her grandson generation, it made to drama.

that event came to reality of a gradual decline that would continue for over one and a half centuries. and a contributing factor to this decline was polices during Emperor Renzong ruling.
....।

EP 02 - 04
Punish Own Child To Save Yourself
every mother protect there child like there blood and flash, but Concubine Lin Qin take it to her own hand to punish her own child, just to look good in front of her husband, and yes just to look good.
i know this event happened in EP1, but i will putting it now to introduced Concubine Lin Qin.
Concubine Lin Qin right now manage all household affair of Sheng House. everything she do just to maintain her authority, her jealousy and action just to maintain her authority can have severe consequence.
i will talk about this character later on in more proper time.
Note: actress Gao Lu did fantastic job portraying this character.

Seeking Justice For 1St Time
as i said before a simple favour from her husband can drastically change living condition of a concubine. but Ming Lan's Mother's living condition horrible to a point that she like to sale her only Bangle she left from her father family, not herself but for 2child with her Ming Lan and Xiao Tao.
every thing happening with Ming Lan's Mother it not by chance or they desarve it. as one concubine site top of hierarchy, controlling all household affair, it is the dirty trick that played one concubine to other.
it is not that Ming Lan and her Mother totally oblivion to the fact, they can see the set up and injustice, they have no way to stop it. even though Ming Lan's Mother understand complication of this issue, but Ming Lan do not.
as playful child she is, when her father came to visit them, she had a emotional breakdown and seek justice for 1st time from her father. she truly put great faith to her father.
as Concubine Lin Qin right now manage all household affair of Sheng House, and as servant serve the hierarchy, Concubine Lin Qin easily able to put the blame on Ming Lan's Mother's personal maid to a point that she can be killed.
even though Ming Lan's Mother able to save life of her personal maid, but it was horrifying experience for Ming Lan.
this event, completely shattered Ming Lan faith on her father. and it also be last time Ming Lan will Seeking Justice.
Quote: ''It Is A Virtue To Cherish Life''.

Throw The Crockery And Erect The Spirit
if some one in family is ill or hospitalize, family member and relative gather around him/her. and with time, i do not know why, they begin gossip about nasty event of family or relative family. it mostly happened if it is hospital.
it become dirty if some one of family die. more big family is, more ugly it can become. in a family peoples relation is not just emotional, many material interest got mixed with emotion in a family relation.
Gu Ting Ye's maternal family Bai Family is not a exception. being a big joint family there dirty truth much bigger it can be. Bai Family try to remove Gu Ting Ye's maternal grandfather name from the family genealogy, do not think production of this drama just put in drama for dramas sake, this thing very much real as it can be. excommunicate from a family means that indivisible will never get any thing from the family.
and yet, Bai Family have the audacity to give him the funeral like they were love him or care about him. it is the ugly face of a family.
and as i said, many material interest got mixed with emotion in a family relation, Gu Ting Ye's maternal grandfather is not exceptional either. he remember what they did. and he give every thing to his grandson Gu Ting Ye

One Body Two Live
some time we found ourself in middle of disaster and we can do nothing about it. we can run door to door, we can scream out for help, but we can not prevent it.
this is how much helplessness Ming Lan felt when her mather die.
as i said before, servant follow the hierarchy. people who site top of hierarchy they do not even have to move there finger servant already know that going on, and servant act accordingly.
as Concubine Lin Qin controlling household affair, she able to create a atmosphere around the house, every servant in the house already know Concubine Lin Qin want push Ming Lan's Mother off cliff. and in Concubine Lin Qin say anything or give order to anyone, but every thing happen as she wanted.
it was a very emotional scene to see. as Mother Ming Lan's Mother said every thing she can to her daughter.
and for Ming Lan she will never forget who is responsible for. for Ming Lan she at least able to call a doctor for her mother. and for helping her Ming Lan will always grateful to Gu Tingye as he help her to get the doctor, and it was he get the doctor inside the house.
it does not matter who responsible for what in the end Two Live have been lost for WHAT?

Note: in old time, professionals know about a great deal about human anatomy. many modern treatment is actually very ancient one. it was just only wealthy family could afford treatment.

Quote: ''How Thou Loves Your Child Is How Thous Should Honor How Others Love Theirs''

EP 01
SO our drama open at morning with priest (maybe) calling time, people just begin early work. as family oriented full of character drama, we introduced with our 1st character of drama, and she is a servant ....

It Is Servants World
what i love drama most, level of impotence they given to every indivisible character even servants. in a family how had servants, it the servants wake up 1st, it they how light the oven, a sleepy house began to weak up with there activity.
and we introduced with our 1st character of drama younger version of the character, a servant name Xiao Tao. Xiao Tao is Ming Lan personal maid and life long companion. Xiao Tao's helpless crying face tale us that she lives bottom of servant hierarchy.
yes, house servant have there own hierarchy, we might think house servant serve Master And Mistress of the house, but no they serve the hierarchy. how site top of hierarchy they will lessen to him/her, they work for him/her.
in case of our drama, Concubine Lin Qin sit top of hierarchy in Sheng House for now, and as servant follow the hierarchy, they will do as Concubine Lin Qin plan for them, and suffer the consequence.

Note: child actress who played child Xiao Tao is very cute one i ever see.

Children Marriage Pageants Concerns
it is batter for people to marry from similar background, it is true for today and it was true for old time, lot of miss communication happened between couple just because of there background. in west they consider marriage about two people, but in east at least in Asia even a love marriage is not only about two people also about two family.
oldest daughter of Sheng family getting married. and her parent tear there hair over different issue. and we introduced Master And Mistress of the Sheng house, Sheng Hong [Ming Lan's father] and Wang Ruo Fu [Lady Sheng].

2of this character in opposite end

in Sheng Hong [Ming Lan's father] case he is a very oily parson. from Ming Lan's perspective he is someone ''as long as this house stays quiet and peaceful, as long as harmony can be maintained, he would not care about how many grievances or how many blood was lost by the people under him''.

on the other hand Wang Ruo Fu [Lady Sheng] case she do every thing openly, straight forwardly like firework, but had a soft heart, on her Ming Lan ''when i was little, i once asked grandmother why she would choose you as a daugther-in-law when you have this kind of personality. she said that even though you have so many faults, you have one good trait of being soft heated. even if you are given a knife, you will never think about killing anyone''.

by Wang Ruo Fu side there is 3rd character Nanny Liu Wang Ruo Fu personal maid and life long companion. she might most level headed person in 3 of this person, on her Ming Lan ''the house of wang really gave it a lot of thought to send you over here''.

Two Side Of Concubine
i will not talk about legal status of a concubine or there children, nor i will talk about concubine of a royal family.
life of a concubine is a horrible one. as a concubine they mostly disconnected from rest of world. they had to live there rest of life in there small courtyard and that is the boundary of knowledge about the outside world.
as there status life of a concubine depend on Mistress of the house, there every thing from food to life, yes life of a concubine depend on Mistress of the house. unless she got favour from her husband.
a simple favour from her husband can drastically change living condition of a concubine, and they do thing just to get a simple favour from her husband. and this very thing lead them to do horrible thing too.
the horrible condition that Ming Lan's mother living with just because she did not get any favour from her husband or from Mistress of the house.

Marriage Is A Great Ritual
if anyone want to know about one society, 2 impotent event we should look into. 1is marriage ritual 2nd is funeral ritual.

i do not know marriage event that shown in EP1 is it accrete or not for old china. but marriage event remind me, in Asia we had a dip robust tradition when it come to marriage ceremony. now a day this traditions become very rare to see. i love this drama when they shown this type smell details.

i will talk about some serious issue, wading invention, how many people will come or gift sent from groom side and also how bride side will revive groom side, what gift bride side will sent with bride to groom house, these are serious issue because these things define how 2family respect each other. 2family can even get into physical fight over these. game that 2MC played as a child do not think that was not some serious issue, even though these are very smell thing. i love way EP end, wind blow every thing away, because these are very smell matter, people should to fight over this.
i will talk about marriage ceremony time to time, there are many interesting thing to talk about.

Note:
we get 1st glance younger version of malty talented main ML Gu Tingye
and how stubborn main FL Ming Lan was.
1st glance of level headed grandma
1st glance 2nd FL Ru Lan, her sister is getting married and she is playing, she truly living in her own world.
one scene i love most, there young Ming Lan running and young Xiao Tao running behind her. that few second scene tale a lot about Ming Lan and Xiao Tao relation.

Quote: "As Long As Master And Mistress Are Of Same Heart, Losing Is Nothing Big".
....।

2 years ago i had a big free time of 3 month, i give a dip dive on Story of The Story of Ming Lan, ep by ep. even though i could not go after EP10, i hope you two will enjoy it;

time to time, i return to this page, red comment.
in last 7 year saw some debate one same things.
very few debate i had enjoyed, like between you two.
but between you two, one got trapped into a time capsule, other one tryed so hard to hold on to historical narrative.
and both of you forget why people see a drama and love or hate it, why a move from 1926 or 1960 stile recognise as a Masterpieces.

time to time, i return to this page, read comment.
in last 7 year saw some debate one same things.
very few debate i had enjoyed, like between you two.
but between you two, one got trapped into a time capsule, other one tryed so hard to hold on to historical narrative.
and both of you forget why people see a drama and love or hate it, why a move from 1926 or 1960 stile recognise as a Masterpieces.