I really like his performance in Nothing But Gold. But that drama also had powerful acting of. Betty Sun. But…
That drama was great indeed, but it it was a little bit long. The FL was played by an awsome actress and ofc., Xiao Chen was great as well, but his role, the story, the length and the direction... lets' say there were certain flows, I still can't rate that drama properly. But here: I can tell from 2 eps I've seen, this is a proper drama, great pace and interesting story. Let's hope 🤞
Chinese Johny Depp, Xiao Chen, in an all-rounder role, perfectly suitable for him, immediately remembered Nothing Gold Can Stay but here in an even more promising story and under the more promising direction: Zhang Ting is one of those rare directors that can still tell an epic story (his Long River is a recent example), genre unfortunately totally lost elsewhere and certainly in extinction in C-dramaland. I'm looking forward for this drama because it indicates only "Historical" as a genre and the genre simplicity usually indicates "very high quality". Two eps in and I haven't press FF once, here and there I've pressed 0,75 speed to better understand the dialogues. But 40 eps are long...
They were both serial killers lol. How do you pardon something like that? Even if their reasoning was justified,…
Indeed. It wasn't a given. But this turn from the predictable also gave us a great food for thought. I've sensed the case was treating hate crimes and haven't expected the predictable "gentry trampling over merchants" (the predictable is not in the "nature" of SToDT cases which are mainly focused on mystery and/or dark side of human nature), but what I've expected wasn't the case either.
The majority of hate crimes are against women or smth involving "family honour" (or better "family dignity"), but they may also target specific groups of persons (immigrants, homosexuals, "merchants", "gentry"....) and may be instigated by some political-ideological undercurrent in order to create public unrest or chaos. I've suspected so. was manipulating merchants to harm gentry with purpose to cause unrest. Although perceived as "lower class", the boost of foreign and domestic trade (carried on by this "class" of people) was the main (although not the only) reason of Tang's economic prosperity but this wasn't the matter the author wanted to explore. He tackled instead hate crimes against women and family dignity and such cases are unfortunately common even today (from crime news to war rape camps...) because women are weaker targets and if someone wants to realy hurt you, he will hurt your family.
The problem is: how to treat such horrible unscrupulous crimes from legal point of view and deliver justice at the same time? Few days ago my mom remembered the case of Franca Viola, an Italian girl who refused to "marry-your-rapist marriage" and it took 20 years to change the law which permitted such injustice and I've answered her that many other "1st world" countries maintained laws exonerating rapists if married the victim, even later, countries like France, Greece, Denmark were the last European countries abolishing such a crazy exoneration which still exists in many other countries of the world. The laws are made by humans according to what is perceived right by the society in a particular period of time. I've also thought a lot about married women being raped by other persons when I've seen Ridely Scott's The Last Duel. A rashomon-style povs. of the victim, the perpetrator and the husband were so convincing that I've thought "maybe the best 'judicial tool' to "legally" resolve such "family conflicts" is a duel (ie. "let the God decide" - in the medieval Europe) between the male representing "the family" (in the movie, husband who perceived the rape as a hate crime against HIM, and wasn't completely wrong) and the rapist (who misinterpreted the woman and being arrogant and favoured by the power lord above both of them, forgot to restrain himself, he was probably convinced every woman would fall for him and even if she doesn't, no married woman would denounce such a crime, as it happened to many other ladies in the movie and many more in the history of humankind).
As for LLF's apology - he raised the tone, that's why the apology was necessary, not just because SWM had the right suspicion (based on the word "gentry"). But this LLF's reaction was indeed necessary to "open the mind" of SWM and to think deeper of the case: here we don't have only merchant victims, but the crime against two noble families, too (as it was already clear so. desecrated the pillars). He didn't apologize, but in front of the emperor, he attributed all the merits to LLF.
They were both serial killers lol. How do you pardon something like that? Even if their reasoning was justified,…
I am totally convinced they've acted outside the system bc they didn't want Wei's sister's ordeal to become public. Sheriff Du also must have known about it, his sister must have told him, the victim was his sister-in-law, ultimately a family too. I think what may irritate you is what irritates all of us: a sense of justice not being served for what the merchants had done. The only sentence publicly pronounced was the one made by the GP behind the closed doors referring only to hate crimes connected with the desecration of pillars. Sheriffs could have not pursue that case directly in a legal way: being direct victims (of the desecration of both families' pillars), they should have excuse themselves and let so. else investigate it. But whoever investigated it - eg. LLF who would have done it thoroughly - would discover the sister's ordeal (that's why Wei changed the subject when LLF asked him if he was family related to He Bi). That's why I think LLF understood that from their pov they've had no options but to start a personal revenge. We know that at least one person (He Bi's bro, tortured with paper suffocation before being stoned, bc he tortured Wei's sister in the same way and even came up with the idea of sharing Wei's sister with wealthiest members of the sect in exchange of money) was a perpetrator of the crime (we all see as a criminal org with purpose of rape, but it was ultimately committed as a hate crime against gentry, too!) and can reasonably presume other murdered merchants were not innocent victims either. People who committed the crime against Wei's sister were members of the "inner sect" of their sect, the wealthiest (and least scrupolous ones). They've deserved to die. Wei's sister also deserved to be left in peace which would be impossible if her ordeal was revealed. Understanding the situation, LLF respected their choices but didn't plead for them for the reasons explained by PBGoddess. Although we understand and empathise with their reason, they've broken the law and were also ready to accept the consequences of their deeds. They are nobles to the core, glad to die for their values and beliefs (values that may have wronged the merchants before, who knows), they were satisfied with the fact merchants were sentenced "behind the closed doors" (by the GP, not publicly as not to expose Wei's sister's ordeal), therefore, they are not wronged with the death sentence and there's no need to plead for them. Imo, the only thing which left a bitter aftertaste was too light punishment given to the high priest. The princess probably also didn't want to expose Wei's sister's case in which he played a part, being the first who committed it and multiple times, deserving death as well. That's why he was punished only for his role of an accomplice in a crime of desecration and instigation of hate. Hope only the GP sent so. after him, the road to exile is long and anything can happen...
Yeah, I don’t know why his punishment is so light. Was he representing merchants from other countries, and killing…
No, merchants had no diplomatic status, they could have be punished by the law. It wasn't explained, but we can assume - because the sentences were not pronounced by the court but by the Princess "behind the closed door" - they (the emperor, the princess, justice authority) didn't want to publicly disclose what exactly happened to Wei's sister in order to protect her. So He Bi actually got a harder sentence (cut in waist) for desecration of pillars and the high priest lighter exile for participation/instigation of the merchants-gentry strife that desecration produced. Unfortunately, the result we've got is the feeling the justice for their greatest crime (against Wei's sister) wasn't served.
Choreographer, Producer and ML he did all three jobs. I watched fireside chat on Youtube with 6 of main actors
I didn't know it but the idea passed my mind. The actor's body and moves are so natural in this traumatized fighter role, a viewer feels both smth fresh and original and stereotypical (positively intended: Kurosawa-style) in his portrayal of seasoned yet desperate samurai. Ofc., I'm not an expert of (Japanese) sword fightings, but have sufficient basic knowledge of several martial arts to capture skilled defensive moves, distinguishing them from those learned ad hoc. Choreography is present in all "representations" of martial arts but the level of mastery to hide it's just a representation or to express psychological block is enormous.
No strange beasts in last two cases, but each case consisted of two distinict crime sub-cases (with different perpetrators and motivation). Just noticing, not that I miss the beasts, lol. After the Coroner ends, we'll have only one case left. I've seen the trailer, it looks like there will be no weird beasts either, just ordinary horses... The time passed so quickly watching this season and as the ending approaches, I start to feel a bit anxious. I'll miss SToDT stories again.
Yeah it's crazy how light his sentence was. And they're already looking for the next high pries.
yeah, right. In Italy, we have a saying "morto un papa, se ne fa un altro" (once a pope is dead, another one is made) to indicate a brutal reality of how things have to go some times. The positive aspect of this brutal reality in the specific case, is SWM becoming a sheriff again, because with two sheriffs executed, someone must fill the vacancies and the show goes on...
This timeline of this series has to have occurred before today's case!
that's for sure, after today, he is unredeemable, for how we might sympathise with the desecration of his family pillar and probably with what we will see tomorrow (his sister's suffering after wedded that merchant priest), the law is law and he killed so many persons...
I have suspected Dectective Wei to be involved in the killing, but Detective Du being involved is so unexpected…there…
Merchant-gentry clash looks like a vicious circle, difficult to judge "who started it", or who is more guilty. The empires cover vast territories with very different people, ethnicities, religions and cannot be governed by only relying on feudal lords (kings, dukes, nobility in general), because these local powers are latent centrifugal/fragmentational threats to its entirety and often prone to conflict with each other. So these powers are very understandably contrasted by centripetal policies (centralisation of government- administration, more equal opportunities to partake in public service, military and bureaucratic apparatus, better known as "mandarin class" when referring to Chinese history, meritocracy, imperial examinations, systemic absorption of diversities, such as granting the public office and wage to religious authorities - Ottoman empire also had a similar thing, that's why "patriarch of Constantinople" still exists as a top authority of the Greek orthodox church, etc.) The nobility, naturally, suffers from such policies not only because of the loss of their privileges but also because they see themselves as "pillars of the state" and independently of the emperor/dynasty they serve. The excavated pillars are perfect symbols of that perception, that's why carving out their family names from those pillars hurts them so much. And the merchant priests who did it were either fully aware or were manipulated by somenone fully aware of its symbolism and emotional impact this desecration will provoke among the gentry. It was like: "you don't count any more, you're ruined, you belong to the past." Again, we agree: it was impossible to swallow and they retaliated.
3 
1 
But here: I can tell from 2 eps I've seen, this is a proper drama, great pace and interesting story. Let's hope 🤞
I'm looking forward for this drama because it indicates only "Historical" as a genre and the genre simplicity usually indicates "very high quality". Two eps in and I haven't press FF once, here and there I've pressed 0,75 speed to better understand the dialogues.
But 40 eps are long...
Pity we have to await so long...
The majority of hate crimes are against women or smth involving "family honour" (or better "family dignity"), but they may also target specific groups of persons (immigrants, homosexuals, "merchants", "gentry"....) and may be instigated by some political-ideological undercurrent in order to create public unrest or chaos. I've suspected so. was manipulating merchants to harm gentry with purpose to cause unrest. Although perceived as "lower class", the boost of foreign and domestic trade (carried on by this "class" of people) was the main (although not the only) reason of Tang's economic prosperity but this wasn't the matter the author wanted to explore. He tackled instead hate crimes against women and family dignity and such cases are unfortunately common even today (from crime news to war rape camps...) because women are weaker targets and if someone wants to realy hurt you, he will hurt your family.
The problem is: how to treat such horrible unscrupulous crimes from legal point of view and deliver justice at the same time? Few days ago my mom remembered the case of Franca Viola, an Italian girl who refused to "marry-your-rapist marriage" and it took 20 years to change the law which permitted such injustice and I've answered her that many other "1st world" countries maintained laws exonerating rapists if married the victim, even later, countries like France, Greece, Denmark were the last European countries abolishing such a crazy exoneration which still exists in many other countries of the world. The laws are made by humans according to what is perceived right by the society in a particular period of time. I've also thought a lot about married women being raped by other persons when I've seen Ridely Scott's The Last Duel. A rashomon-style povs. of the victim, the perpetrator and the husband were so convincing that I've thought "maybe the best 'judicial tool' to "legally" resolve such "family conflicts" is a duel (ie. "let the God decide" - in the medieval Europe) between the male representing "the family" (in the movie, husband who perceived the rape as a hate crime against HIM, and wasn't completely wrong) and the rapist (who misinterpreted the woman and being arrogant and favoured by the power lord above both of them, forgot to restrain himself, he was probably convinced every woman would fall for him and even if she doesn't, no married woman would denounce such a crime, as it happened to many other ladies in the movie and many more in the history of humankind).
As for LLF's apology - he raised the tone, that's why the apology was necessary, not just because SWM had the right suspicion (based on the word "gentry"). But this LLF's reaction was indeed necessary to "open the mind" of SWM and to think deeper of the case: here we don't have only merchant victims, but the crime against two noble families, too (as it was already clear so. desecrated the pillars). He didn't apologize, but in front of the emperor, he attributed all the merits to LLF.
Sheriffs could have not pursue that case directly in a legal way: being direct victims (of the desecration of both families' pillars), they should have excuse themselves and let so. else investigate it.
But whoever investigated it - eg. LLF who would have done it thoroughly - would discover the sister's ordeal (that's why Wei changed the subject when LLF asked him if he was family related to He Bi). That's why I think LLF understood that from their pov they've had no options but to start a personal revenge. We know that at least one person (He Bi's bro, tortured with paper suffocation before being stoned, bc he tortured Wei's sister in the same way and even came up with the idea of sharing Wei's sister with wealthiest members of the sect in exchange of money) was a perpetrator of the crime (we all see as a criminal org with purpose of rape, but it was ultimately committed as a hate crime against gentry, too!) and can reasonably presume other murdered merchants were not innocent victims either. People who committed the crime against Wei's sister were members of the "inner sect" of their sect, the wealthiest (and least scrupolous ones). They've deserved to die. Wei's sister also deserved to be left in peace which would be impossible if her ordeal was revealed. Understanding the situation, LLF respected their choices but didn't plead for them for the reasons explained by PBGoddess. Although we understand and empathise with their reason, they've broken the law and were also ready to accept the consequences of their deeds. They are nobles to the core, glad to die for their values and beliefs (values that may have wronged the merchants before, who knows), they were satisfied with the fact merchants were sentenced "behind the closed doors" (by the GP, not publicly as not to expose Wei's sister's ordeal), therefore, they are not wronged with the death sentence and there's no need to plead for them.
Imo, the only thing which left a bitter aftertaste was too light punishment given to the high priest. The princess probably also didn't want to expose Wei's sister's case in which he played a part, being the first who committed it and multiple times, deserving death as well. That's why he was punished only for his role of an accomplice in a crime of desecration and instigation of hate. Hope only the GP sent so. after him, the road to exile is long and anything can happen...
So He Bi actually got a harder sentence (cut in waist) for desecration of pillars and the high priest lighter exile for participation/instigation of the merchants-gentry strife that desecration produced. Unfortunately, the result we've got is the feeling the justice for their greatest crime (against Wei's sister) wasn't served.
The time passed so quickly watching this season and as the ending approaches, I start to feel a bit anxious. I'll miss SToDT stories again.
The nobility, naturally, suffers from such policies not only because of the loss of their privileges but also because they see themselves as "pillars of the state" and independently of the emperor/dynasty they serve. The excavated pillars are perfect symbols of that perception, that's why carving out their family names from those pillars hurts them so much. And the merchant priests who did it were either fully aware or were manipulated by somenone fully aware of its symbolism and emotional impact this desecration will provoke among the gentry. It was like: "you don't count any more, you're ruined, you belong to the past." Again, we agree: it was impossible to swallow and they retaliated.