AleksandraSucur

It is Hongxi emperor (meaning: the story till this point followed - more or less - what happened to Hongxi in history) but instead to make him die as it happened in history, they've decided to melt what happened to Xuande with prince Han, once he succeeded to his father. Sparing on one actor and eccessive complication for smth irrelevant to the basic plotline

No. In real history, he rebelled during Xuande emperor, son of Hongxi (=more or less the emperor in the drama), bc Hongxi ruled less than a year. The rebellion failed

So, basically, we disagree on point 1. I don't think he "does not know her as a person", he doesn't know some aspects of her, but he will accept them. Although he forced their marriage, he is not a violent person who will pressure or try to mold her into his ideals. He just wants to be happy with her, that's why I expect him to adjust and see no needs for any radical change.
2. We agree on this. If we think of her character as a "literally tool", than she is certainly imagined as "eyes" through which the audience witnesses many minor stories and subplots typical for the period of time and setting. And, as you've said, it isn't a bad thing at all. We'll see how will he fit, till now he always assisted her and listened her pov on the issues with great interest. Yes, also expect the storyline will involve his work and position more towards the end and I also expect that plot to connect with the trauma she suffered (a "closed circle" ending)
3. what I wanted to say is that the narrative is still in progress, it still reserves us some surprises. If the story can keep us invested for 70% and we (at least I) still expect new things to happen in the last 30%, then it isn't a bad writing for sure. The narrative showed certain flows (mainly on political-power aspect) but it's been consistent with the characters, imo.

I think I haven't, at least not completely. Certain points you've written are definitely valid. Like:
1) He indeed saw "bits and pieces of who she is as a person" but not all of them and not how her personal ambitions, interests or wishes combine with his own. Well, he saw she is capable of managing a household, dealing with persons and problems, and is comprehensible he imagined her in that role of "a wife", "a lady of his household". And even in reality, couples discover something new about the partner every day and even in reality, the adjustments take some time. No need for him to "completely change the way he thinks of her and them together", as this doesn't happen in reality either. People adjust to each other when they interact and talk things out.
2) you may be right the authors should have "dived earlier and deeper into her wanting to write plays and explain in greater details", but I think this is an impression bc we are watching this specific arc. This interest/ambition of hers is actually very recent, stirred up only after she moved in that specific environment (writer Lu, the theatre company. In the first 25 episodes, her main interest was completely different: it was freedom for her and her parents. Maybe, in the last arc, her ambition will be to be recognised as a Shen, pursuing justice or who knows what. Once she gained her freedom, we've seen her truly happy and absorbed only when she was writing and singing parts of the plays - so, what she really had at heart was at least hinted.
3) It is too early to say we don't know "what the characters are intended to convey in the story from writing point of view" - because the drama is still ongoing and the characters are still evolving, shaped by problems the authors made them to cope with and we still have to see.

I disagree with you, except that he "liked how smart and witty she was". But not how "she followed his lead". But first things first. He knows she is a born storyteller, what he likes is exactly that particular ability to express her pov in such an articulated, wise and deep way, often poetic, filled with simbols (like the story of orchids blooming during the night, different and more fragrant compared to orchids blooming during the day). What she tells him makes him to think, to reflect, to discover something new or something known but from a perspective he never contemplated before. Her views complete him as a person.
But he has his own limits as well as past wounds (from a failed marriage, that's why he is insecure and thinks XLX also has someone else in her heart, from a great effort he put to escape subservient position of his family vis-a-vis the family of his former wife, that's why he uses power even in the circumstances when he should abstain to use power pressure...), but after some wandering and errors, he'll find a way to her.
I have no idea why people are complaining with this character, it's very substantiated, well written (and performed) and... ultimately, understandable

Poor LJQ. He has troubles with his wife, he'll have them with his in law in the capital who is obviously violent to his sister but the biggest trouble will be at his working place. If his chief's wife thinks LJQ got "poor" Dai Rong killed, who knows what his chief thinks... The emperor probably uses him to get rid of the rest of the clique.

Wife of ML's 2nd bro, Lin Jinlan.

I second everything you've written. They should have given us more of the general political-conflictual frame and spared us stereotypes. It would still be a good female centred drama, just more logical and better told.

I totally get what you're saying. Now, lets think of her as a person who isn't into politics. But can she be a person who doesn't know why her son's first engagement (with FL's family) was broken? Can she be a person who doesn't know why they've moved from the capital to this Jingling town? Why her son ought to make a carrier of his own and why he divorced from the powerful Zhao family? She trust that consort, but her son isn't to marry the consort but a lady from a self standing powerful family and - as a responsible matron - she should first check on the motives of that family to enter such a marriage agreement. We've seen nothing of that, she simply decided on incredibly shallow basis. And again, where's the granpa, how can she decide on such an important issue without consulting Lin patriarch?

That idea of wedding with Zhengs after Zhaos is so inconsistent to her character. She isn't particularly smart, but certainly smarter and more balanced than her husband, this decision makes no sense

100% agree with you. This arc feels off for three main motives:

1) as someone said above, it looks like a cheap plot device to make their wedding more compelling, but the abduction, brothel etc diversion definitely downgrades the type of narrative used to this point and its refreshing approach towards female impowerment looks replaced by old stagnant tropes
2) Weak plot in this arc isn't only due to this new character's (Manyi) surprisingly extreme dealing with the FL on just a sheer suspicion: the orchid could have been given to both ML and FL and Manyi's potential love rival could have been Yuchen, but for no reason at all, she immediately thought it was FL. We have no clue why she would she be so extreme (maids can't endanger her wedding) and why would she care so much about her future husband's love interests. It is also due to the incomprehensible behaviour of ML's mother. After the tempest the whole family lived bc of the previous arranged marriage with Zhaos, she would be so stupid to meticulously push her son - who just won the court's favour on his own and doesn't need a backing any more - in an another dangerous in-law setting and with a family from the same political faction? She doesn't seem stupid or crazy to me.
3) The original narrative flaw is the lack of proper general set up. We are in the middle of the drama and still have no clue about the big power conflict and how to distinguish parties in the conflict (which usually involve males, bc women don't participate in politics). Men just pop up in this drama, like this former CP in the last ep, for no reason except for some limited instrumental purpose in side plots of different arcs...

We've all got it the story is focused on women. I have no problems with the drama being focused on women, but with the fact the general set up isn't properly explained, men just pop up from nowhere (I am a woman and I never perceived men as just popping up in my world) and we have no clue how the characters are related to the core plotline. That's a problem

Well, I am giving it a chance myself, bc. the female empowerment aspect is interesting in this story, with several refreshing elements.
But a great story is a story anybody can watch (men included, maybe they should watch such stories even more) and which had developed consistent general set up for the story to flow without this sudden pop-ups or our questions how these persons and events relate to each other.

You're welcome 💖

What you say is what the general audience didn't miss at all. And some certainly noticed that - despite the initial disclaimer about fictional dynasty - this one resembles a lot to the Ming (costumes, Confucian values and hypocrisy, Zhu Di is homonymous to the personal name of Yongle emperor, Wo pirates are Japanese pirates etc. We've gotten the divergence of opinions between people who support strong regional leadership (which brought Zhu Di on the throne) and those who are against it - the formal motivation for the execution of Shens. And I think we are all fine with the fact that FL is not interested in this sort of thoughts at this point of the story, bc her priorities are: survival (for her, her adoptive parents, her colleagues/friends).and liberation from slavery position. That's what I've stated above myself: HER (and other female's povs are very well articulated - they keep us so invested, ie. itisn't problem for me either), but what I DO SEE as a problem is a lack of how this initial trace of power conflict is "translated" into the story. You can't say you've seen "clues" about it, bc. as well as neither of us have seen how the people mentioned in the drama, eg. this Dai Rong, who seems to be behind Du siblings betrayal and probably behind military coats of low quality that put ML in prison connect with the main political controversy and what kind of power he, the other one I've foregot the name or Zhaos. We see people conspire all the time, but have no clue, not a single hint, about it. This is not how the story should be narrated, I hope you'll agree with me on that. Men just jump out, occasionally and apparently - with no reason - reshuffling the game. Pay attention how ML's grandpa popped out from nowhere in ep 19. You may attribute these things to a "deliberate hole" creation that will be explained later on, but the explanations we've got till now are all "talks" (we get them from a posteriori dialogues) but this isn't the way you tell the story in a dramatic form, bc there's a share of audience who won't be satisfied with just a FL's progress. I'm a woman, I like the FL's character too, but I can't ignore the imbalance and flaws in story-telling

I'll appreciate if you can explain that part of the set up to us, who didn't catch all those "clues"

Ok, tnx. We've probably missed that statement. Anyways, it's strange that the elders don't have a say in an emergency situation...

I agree with you this is a story of women's empowerment, but I disagree with you such a story can be told without depicting a frame of what are the core powers in general in this "fictional dynasty", as stated in intro. We've got some hints on pirates, collusion, corruption, court favouritism in form of completely disjointed and casually scattered crambs...
It's a narrative flaw (a flaw in timing) if you can't convey an idea of general frame in the first 1/3 of the story

Yes, exactly. These people are missing.

I don't care about that either. But IN THIS story, there's a sharp division of women's and men's roles in the society. We've seen and understood women struggle to realise themselves as persons and this aspect generated solid conflictual plots till now.
But we haven't seen/understood well what problems men face in this world, except due to some generic power frame we see in any drama. Those are essential elements of ANY plot, conflicts-problems-finding solutions move the entire story