AleksandraSucur

Thank you for this info and your patient expectations for Consort Qin.
I was just exposing my impressions on the last ep (19) and that the only interesting thing imo was that kick.

As for the edict which could have saved ML's brother from death - it was handed to the Qin consort. If she didn't want to save ML's bro with it, she could have still traded the edict in change of life of the person she cared for (ie., the diviner).

I hope that too, but the load of new people we can care less they are introducing in the middle of the drama doesn't look promising to me.

yes, she overheard that and still couldn't save the person she cared for, heh.

That vice-prefect discovered on his own skin and bones the deep meaning of the expression: (he is) BACK ON HIS FEET! One of these feet made him fly accross the office and (how we would live without?) bloodspitting.

Imo, this was the only important higlight of the last ep. ML's kick directed to a Muyang's person among his ranks is a preluding metaphore for the attitude he'll adopt towards Muyang. For the rest, I feel the plot is starting to go downwards (tomorrow we've seen the first half), introducing characters we can care less (Qin boy and Lin girl are not much of a problem, I already see Ye Li finding finally a REAL girl friend, thus spending less time with the virtual one, but the trailers introducing bratty loving rival princess and her crew don't look promising)...

Certain inconsistencies between the plot and the characters are also showing up: Consort Qin looked like a smart, calculative and well-grounded person. Yesterday, we've discovered she believes in divinations and today thay she doesn't know ED burnt down the Eastern Palace to grab power for herself - a crime which was attributed to her friend diviner which she couldn't save bc. "the empress couldn't find enough evidence to free him from charges", meaning ED didn't want to find that evidence and used her friend diviner as a scapegoat. And for how much she is a side-character and the problem may be overlooked, she is still a person who kept and still keeps the important item for ML's claim for justice for his bro: the edict.

I think she went on that underground route out of pure curiosity, simply to verify is he really dead or not. She has conflicted feelings towards him: they were friends at Lishan, yet she finds him detestable. But I agree with you: while she was thorough in studing the undeground channels map, she was superficial about the physical place, sealed and monitored by forces of her enemy. She noticed when she was followed by "bangling assassin" as PBG called him, but neither she nor he (who has good martial arts skills) noticed a person who was in the room when they discovered the underground entrance. I'm not marveled at the fact she didn't called captain Li to stay somewhere behind her "scanning" eventual perils, bc she never consults with anybody when decides to act - she has an imagery maid with her naive questions when assesses the problems and "brainstorms" the solutions - but I'm marveled how captain Li isn't around by himself, does he trust her husband can keep her in check, doesn't he worry there might be problems when husband discovers her imagery? If he took seriously her task to search for master Zhu and that's the reason why he isn't around then he should also check on his brain, lol.

But I also feel certain inconsistencies in the plot-characters relation. Consort Qin looked like a smart, calculative and well-grounded person. And recently we discovered she believes in divinations and doesn't know ED burnt down the Eastern Palace to grab power for herself - a crime which was attributed to her friend diviner which she couldn't save bc. "the empress couldn't find enough evidence to free him for charges", meaning she didn't want to find that evidence and used her friend diviner as a scapegoat. Although she is a side-character, this plot is very weak for a person who keeps the edict, so important for ML's claim for justice for his bro.

I also agree with you regarding Muyang and his sons, but lets see...

One of my dearest (Italian) friends married a girl from Yogyakarta many years ago. While he was completely dressed in Indonesian style (with typical hat, sarong, etc. everything was in golden nuances and richly embroidered), her wedding dress was Western style white, so I suppose she didn't appreciate the tradition at all. It was a Muslim wedding, the wows were made on the knees, but there were syncretistic elements, like flower garlands around the neck, too.
They were living between Yogyakarta and Bali for many years before moving to Cambodia 3 years ago. You're living in a very interesting corner of the world, I've never been there myself but my son, who is living in Australia and has more opportunity to explore the region, finds it fascinating, great people, great food.

and Indonesians are even more elfin, more delicate in constitution. Poor girls... 😓

I wonder how their necks don't crack under the weight. I've read somewhere the average weight of those wedding crowns was 2,5 kg while of those "richer", with more gold and gems, could have reached 3-3,5 kg. Insane

yes, all those singular ingredients could cause allergy, but she ate them before and they didn't cause her any allergic effect. The only thing she eats in elevated quantities bc. she was craving it at Lishan was sugar. And they didn't tell the doc about it, did they? He would certainly advised against, lol.
Actually, my comment was to express how much I care about her. Can't remeber when a fictional character grew up on my heart as Ye Li's. I am completely smitten ❤️and can identify with A'Yao as well.

Allergic to mantou? People are intollerant to specific ingredients, not dishes. And those rashes are probably caused by glycemic peaks and glycation of skin collagen. No wonder given she lives on sugar. The doctor's advise to drink more water is fine but she should change her dietary habits asap! A'Yao, hide sugar and carbs from her! 🙂‍↔️

He inherited the title after his brother was executed and after he was declared not guilty and freed from prison. As we never seen the father and his elder brother held the title, we can reasonably deem he was already dead.

8 y ago she was 12, MJL was 14. In drama, we don't know the exact age of the MXY, we've only seen there was a gap when he saved her

It isn't just the cliff, hair combing, being together in the pool with some muscle show off, helping with (un)dressing, saving a damsel in distress, kite flying, exaggerated skills of the leads... which may appear marginally even in other types of dramas and in this one the use of tropes was certainly limited in terms of time and good taste... but there are certain recognizible patterns in the romantic relationship between the leads and in the overall setting we've all seen many times as one commentator exhaustively listed recently, pointing out how - despite those patterns - the story still feels original and fresh and I agree with that opinion. Besides, if the story is good and is executed well, why would we care if it is an idol drama or not? What's important is our feeling while watching, what it gives us, what we learn from it and how we emphatize with the characters.

I see.
I think it isn't the age of the leading actors to define one drama as "idol", but the type of roles and drama production leading actors were usually into. With drama products not really interested in telling good stories but in creating fandoms.

Bc, the lead actors usually appear in traffic idol dramas. And while the drama deals with very original and even heavy issues, the authors still decided to maintain certain "idol drama tropes" (like fall from the cliff) although never abused them.
It's fine, I have nothing against idol dramas, on the contrary. It required courage to put such a story in this kind of setting. I'm not disappointed, but still fear I may be... I've explained above

❤️

😂😂😂👌

I don't mind at all. Yes, my origins are from the Balkans. That's probably the reason why I've met and talked to so men and women suffering from PTSD and later deepened the knowledge through scientific reading

maybe even with alcohol, which is another form of sugar

I was so delighted seeing how the ML handled (or better, how the SCRIPT tackled) her mental issue. I simply must break the scene in details:
1. after the initial shock, he doesn't contradict his wife by saying the truth (not even politely: "look, you are imagining things, there's no person other than us here"). An expert would advise: if you ever get in such a situation - that's the RIGHT APPROACH!
2. Worried, he quickly calls for a physician and consults him.
3. The doctor's diagnosis - she suffers from a HEARTBREAK - truly made me transmigrate in that room and in that time. "Heartbreak" is the word I've seen/read/heard in so many Classical dramas (Edgar in King Lear, the Sophocles's Ajax, Aeschylus's Oristheia thrilogy), read about it in ancient folktales, examples often quoted in manuals dealing with PTSD as examples from "ancient wisdom" on behaviour and symptoms of traumatised persons. Symptoms we would all experience if we lived experiences a normal brain can't process or handle, because they are too harsh, too injust, too absurd to consider real... Then the brain activates its defensive mechanisms, erasing, rescribing, reelaborating the memory and the behaviour...

To deal with such an important and delicate issue (in an idol drama!) is already 10/10, just for the courage! Do not want to repeat what many other commentators pointed out: cinematography, music, care for details, superb performance (while I've seen a great potential in Cheng Lei even before and he certianly didn't disappoint me in this drama, I was never a fan of Bai Lu, but she totally won me over with her Ye Lu: every expression is spot on: I relate and love Ye Lu with all my heart). This is a great story, a great script.

Why the rating isn't soaring as it would deserve? It is gradually climbing, right, but at the point we are watching, it deserves at least 9. Eg., the story is definitely more intriguing and better told than certain dramas rated 8.9 (I won't name to avoid futile debates). I think we fear, at least, I fear, the story will falter. Personally, the story of a diviner condemned for having set the fire to the CP's palace (in the last ep) is unsettling me. I'll be disappointed if the reason consort Qin didn't save ML's bro with the edict was some sinister divination... It's already strange such a calculative and well grounded person can believe in a divination that ED's is her fortune ascendant, but it'll be intollerable if they use divination to justify eventual criminal actions or inactions
So, it's the kind of narrative that suspends our judgment and it is ok it does. 🙂