AleksandraSucur

Looks interesting... I will, thank you. 👍

ok.

Found them! Unsettled Case has interesting synopsis but very low rating, small n° of people who've seen it, very few comments and zero reviews 🤔. I've seen Detective L (it is among those dramas I still haven't put on the list and rated) years ago, when I saw Miss S from the same Republican Shanghai period (I even remember you didn't particularly like Miss S).
Now I see that Narcotic Operation was already on my radar, we can try it when you're back in October. 👍Good luck for everything!

I'm passing directly to S2

Can't find the first two, maybe they are on MDL under different titles. I've watched Light of Dawn when it aired and got stucked at ep 5-6, not sure whether I'll pick it up or drop it in the future, the pace was too slow, as if the story was intentionally dragged and convoluted to make more episodes than needed and still lacked in providing proper hints.
The Light to The Night may be interesting but the investigation is in the present not republican era setting. I am not in a rush at all, currently I have dozens of historical classics I've watched years ago (and a few I haven't watched) to finally put on my list and properly rate. Last few months didn't offer much, so I thought it's better to rewatch smth I know was good putting it in order than to waste time. Don't worry, I won't complete them all before October and, once you're back, we can calmly decide...
Have a great vacation and good luck to your niece!

yeah, actually I am not a fun of mystic nine universe either, I've just noticed many of my friends watched it and some of them rated it well. As for Cases between Us, I was judging by the synopsis.
In investigative genre, which dramas got better ratings, maybe we can choose one among them and watch it together

I've checked both and neither grabbed me. Can't believe someone found similarities with this one and Silent Tides! They have practically nothing in common. Nanyang Archives looked promising, but alas... I've dropped even that one after a few eps.
Last good espionage/wartime story I was able to complete were the Guardians from 2025 I've seen only recently.
Cases Between Us looked interesting to me, but I still haven't check on that one, as I haven't on Mystic Nine. Have you seen these two, would you recommend them?

What you might have overlooked in Bancha-Puying dialogue in ep 9: that reference to Yuan general Köke Temür (aka Wang Baobao) as the owner of gold is clear homage to wuxia creator N°1, Jin Yong, rendered by the scriptwriter, adaptor and director of this brilliant drama. As in Gu Long's novel the treasure was a MacGuffin, it didn't really exist (novel readers, pls. confirm), Xu Bing thought "why don't I fill this small gap with Jin Yong?"

As I've rewatched Heavenly Sword And Dragon Slaying Sabre 2019 just three months ago, it flashed to me immediately. Wang Baobao there was a Yuan general with Mongolian name Köke Temür (interpreted by Sun Yifan), older bro of the extravagant FL Zhao Min (interpreted by Chen Yuqi) who loved her a lot but struggled even more to cover up for her and cope with the consequences of her jianhu hyperactivism. Fun fact is that this general was a real historical person (actually a member of Yuan imperial clan) and that their last fortifications were along the Hexi corridor westward of Gansu where this story takes place. Like Zhao Min who married Zhang Wuji ("Ming sect"), real Köke Temür's younger sister married, as primarily consort, the second son of Hongwu (the first emperor of Ming).

As a wuxia lover and a Jin Yong's admirer, I appreciated a lot this witty homage 👍And I loughed heartily at Pu Ying's difficulties to repeat "kuò kuò tiē mù ér" ("what, mr, mr?!" 😂😂)

I get your point, it must be distracting, probably even irritating for people speaking Mandarin. As I watch many Asian dramas, I am used to subs, but I remember a specific nerve straining feeling when I've watched Gomorrah in 2008 and later that year a series Romanzo Criminale, the first completely in Neapolitan and the second completely in Romanesco with subs. I've read original novels of both, great stories completely based on real persons and true events, but they were written in Italian with few dialectal words written in cursive and with the meaning in the footer... can't tell you how much those unfamiliar sounds and words discombobulated me while franticaly trying to catch what was written in subs in order to understand what the people on the screen was talking about...
But as a person who doesn't speak Mandarin, understanding less than 100 words, which I managed to catch in all these years, different accents in this drama add to my entertainment. I was so amused in today's Pu Ying-Ban Cha dialogue, recognizing certain Mandarin words like "shāle tā" pronounced by Bancha through the apocope of the final vowel (the apocope is so common in Central Asian and Caucasic languages, spec. but not limitedely those Turkic) and the Pu Ying's difficulty to pronounce "kuò kuò tiē mù ér" (what "mr, mr" 😂😂)... I've cracked despite not knowing the language 😂👍👍

I wish I've started today... instead of being roasted every single day with just one episode. But that stingy episode release make us think more about the story and all the subtle details we might have missed... You are coming fast where we are, remember I warned you 😂

Oh, you're welcome. If you read older comments here, other people noticed the same thing, mentioning other characters also speak with accent revealing where they come from (Futu, Bana... speaking western dialect, while Pu Ying speaks with "central" (Shanxi) accent coming from a region closer to the capital).
The production put a lot of thought and care in making this drama, we aren't all so hooked for no reason 😂

The instruments of NW of China would sit well with Ennio Morricone's genius and atmosphere his music was able to create. In Once Upon A Time in The West he used folk instruments such as harmonica and cimbalom (traditional cord instrument of Central Europe similar to Chinese yangqin but able to produce vibrant metalic sounds almost as a guzheng) mixing them with all sorts of orchestral instruments, percussions, electric guitars...

I've noticed a different pronounciation of these two, too, so I've asked AI, which replied "yes, Pingping speaks Sichuan dialect bc she is from the region where Tang clan (famous in Chinese wuxia literature for their poison skills) lived". Ban Cha is supposed to speak "northwestern" dialect as someone in the drama referred to him as a "Tartar" but I'm not sure how his lines are delivered, remembering Mandarin speakers criticised Vengo Gao's accent in Eastern Heretic and Western Venom in which he was supposed to speak northwestern dialect but he delivered it speaking with his (native) northeastern dialect and people said it would have been better if he was dubbed in that drama.
I am also curious what Mandarin speakers have to say about it, bc I have ear to distinguish different accents but can't precisely tell where it comes from...

My impression is that the fight scenes are intentionally "mediocre". Most of the fighting scenes were under the effect of poison, when the moves would naturally be uncoordinated, beside the fact her family members were not particularly skilled (her statement), she is ill and broken, Pingping is also a fragile girl, Pu Ying is clumsy and can't keep his nerves in check, soldiers aren't much motivated to fight... Two assassins (the dancer and the other one) from Futu's gang moved well, so I concluded the level of fighting skill was tuned to depict every singular character

Indeed. She said YH he had "weary eyes and costraint in heart".
I also like how Zhang Luyao is written, it's almost incredible such a character was invented for the purposes of this adaptation, such "inventions" usually fail or irritate novel lovers... But she in particular works on my mind, can't stop thinking of her. She is the only person I trust: she isn't after money, she has patience and is driven by certain moral standards - she thinks 100 times before she acts, she needs and seeks for truth in order to distinguish good from bad, she is intelligent and skilled despite her broken and ill body... And the actress really nailed her.
As Chen Kun nailed Yu Hou. Actually, all actors are delivering the characters and the story is very interesting and gripping, I continue to think about it all the time. Asking myself what would I do, but not as I (I wouldn't certainly move a finger just thinking about the weight of that gold, around 10 tons, and 100 camels I must find to transport it + trusted people who won't kill me in the process... + I hate heat), if I were in that particular character's shoes.

That "good, bad and good turned bad" is pivotal for the drama.
Yu Hou is definitely good turned bad. He executed her entire family because he believed it was an order from his beloved general. When Ha told him the general is long dead and that the order was his (=Ha's, aiming to keep secret the fact of general's death), his entire world collapsed! He have done a truly bad thing and has no moral justifications, no alternatives but to keep doing bad things (ie., being bad)

1. I think that "familiarity" is connected with the general. Her father must have known him and had him in high regard, he always told her "general is a divinity and divinities hold no evil thoughts". When they first met, she sensed Yu Hou's loyalty towards the general. Last time they met, she donated her family's estate and transportation company to Yu Hou's army - that donation makes them "familiar" in a way.
2. I think she still doesn't know who (and why) exactly ordered the elimination of her family, she evidently doesn't believe Futu, a bandit with army's connection/backing, could have done that on his own whim or intention.
3. She never killed a person before. If she wants him dead, with Bana who wants to kill him, she doesn't even need to get her hands dirty, right? But evidently, from her pov, this is not the moment, she wants to know more first

Commentators on wuxia dramas/movies pages are mostly wuxia lovers, it's always a story that attracts us in the first place. Together with the genre's deadly allure, jianhu codes of living/surviving in extremely hostile environment and cracking the mysteries in it, ofc.

A propos "western influence" on Gu Long you've mentioned, I've also sensed a classical western pattern from the very beginning of this drama, which I've attributed to the director: lawless, "Far West", ultimate frontier & desert setting with tumbleweeds rolling around, unbareable heat melting humans' brains, allowing them to speak only short sentences, or better, disconnected words which must be decoded to be fully understood etc.

Hi, my friend! Nice to see you 😘

👍😂