TamzinMillemni

That’s a fair point. Though I’m sure the costuming etc. takes up a huge part of that already small budget.

If you’ve not already seen them, The Untaimed and Word of Honor are a great insight into the Cultivation world.

Smaller budget.

I think you may have unlocked a potential kink for fanfics. 🥵😅

I feel the same way. I said in no unequivocal terms last week after the episode aired that there’s no excuse for r*pe and I don’t think I saw people trying to excuse it either. People pretty much had the right reaction. Do I still enjoy the drama? Yes. Is it possible to enjoy a drama while disliking parts? Also yes. I think the difference between this series and My Stand In, is that no one is trying to (at least the majority isn’t) excuse or defend or normalise the toxicity in this series. Plus, for me at least, this feels like a fantasy (as in purely over the top fiction) that never really feels like ‘real life’ in the way My Stand In does.

lol 😂

It’s WEDNESDAY!!! I can’t wait.

I hope so

Fair enough. I rarely pay attention to which writers tbh but I feel like being able to understand a character’s motivation at the very least, is the bare minimum and considering she’s one of the main antagonists. 😅 It’s weird because the other characters are not exceptionally well written but I get who they are and what motivates them.

When I first started coming on here from years ago, (I was a lurker — I didn’t have an account) there used to be plenty and drama focused, now the good ones are one a penny and editorials and articles are being used to click bait/rage bait.

From time to time they will include a bl series in one of their editorial roundups. It’s where I’ve found some new-to-me bls in the past. But, yeah, they seem to have a no LGBTQ+ policy for their front page.

Loooool

There’s a nice body of water back on that island too. 🙈👀

I think it’s a matter of not setting her motivation up properly. Largely because they’re telling us stuff that we’re just supposed to accept with no basis instead of showing us where that’s coming from.

This is the thing. That’s why I’m always weary about dramas dipping their feet into these kinds of topics if that’s not the main focus because it’s rarely developed and the audience is left asking, “how can they get away with that?” “Where’s the police?” “Shouldn’t they have gone to court?” Then it turns into a whole different story.

It’s the shows that are not on my radar that I find in the editorial roundups. It’s why I find the editorials (and sometimes the articles) so useful. I don’t see these types of insightful introductions to (new to me) series anywhere else.

I guess they could but then the audience will comment why no police is investigating the dad’s death. If they go that route (since this isn’t a mafia series), they’d have to go somewhat realistic with it.

Maybe it’s because I’ve seen how having someone who is violent terrorise you play out in real life. Restraining orders don’t mean squat to someone who is determined to get to you. If your only option is to become a murderer or pay to get that person murdered in order to get them out of your life; that’s not much of a choice considering you’ll probably end up getting punished by the law if you do. These types of people tend to destroy your life one way or another.

I don’t think the fear is about Rak not being able to choose. If only it were that. The fear comes from knowing his father will hurt (kill) one of the people he loves in order to further traumatise him. Rak, his sister and Meena seem to all have a legitimate reason to be scared/frozen in front of the dad. This is not your typical overbearing parent that you can talk to, ignore or reason with. This is next level. This is psycho territory. Reminds me somewhat of the dad in Castaway Diva.

He’d have to be the one that leaves/runs away to a place Mut doesn’t know about. 😅

I guess I would be able to understand the weight of that if they gave us an insight into her being miserable in her own life (pre social media cancellation) but we don’t see that, so all her extreme hate feels like it’s coming from left field. Plus Rak said she’s been like this since before he was a writer. It’s just the latest thing they’re competing on. I want to know what triggered it all.

I’m yet to understand WHY Rak’s mum paying for a male companion is causing this jealousy and competing and hatred. Why is this manifesting in such an extreme way like the cousin has been wronged or something? Is Rak’s dad her dad too? Her motivation for hating him is paper thin. It almost makes no sense so we must be missing something. Hopefully they’ll reveal it later.

I echoed your sentiments about the cousin in my own comment above. All I know is that she hates Rak but I don’t know what started it.

My brain is also predicting the next couple of episodes. It can go any way really. This episode felt like it was going down different routes at points but I ended up being surprised by the direction. For example, I thought they were going to have Rak secretly hook up with someone just to prove to himself that he wasn’t falling for Mut only to realise he’s already fallen for him. And that was going to be the conflict. I didn’t expect Rak to tell Mut he was planning to hook up with somebody and that the situation would be ‘diffused’ so easily. It’s making me wonder if the “let’s break up” will be resolved quickly too.