AleksandraSucur

The drama seems to possess the same vibrant (although less dark) thrill of The Longest Day in Chang'an alternated with a good dose of humour and sense of absurd.
Litchies are probably the only fruit I dislike: wondering why would any emperor insist on getting it fresh (btw. it doesn't look so perishable in my supermarket) adds an additional note of that funny absurd I like very much in arts.

If I were younger, I'd pick Ma Wei.
And would be a mantis religiosa kind of partner

If I've expected a lot of sex in a drama, I wouldn't have watched hundreds of C-dramas, knowing such scenes are banned. I've explained it clearly: I've started the novel only when nonsensical things started to accumulate, not out of curiousity but just to know who to blame, and mainly skipping the intimate encounters between the leads, I find that kind of narrative pretty boring in general.
But, now that you've mention it, I can additionally point out that for an alpha person, a young and strong male, passionate and overflowed with stamina, like Wei Shao, full of resentment, traumas and constant thoughts of vengeance, it's more logical to develop such a deep love from strong physical attraction and bed bond than from a childish push and pull, clumsy flirting, pointless "touristic tours" etc., ie., in the ways their feelings were built up in the drama.
It is not me who has any preconceived idea, the political clash was the opening device of the (dramatised) story, we were introduced to the courts of various warlords and their political agendas, the marriage was political, with professional diplomats/advisors negotiating the terms, these things determine, in an objective way, the frame (and the genre) of the story and shape spectators' expectations. Then, the author(s) simply abandoned that frame and turned the story into a fluffy romance. This turn makes no sense, too, beside the things I've already pointed out. I'm fine if you don't find this genre-change illogical, but then I must think it is you who has a preconceived idea: nothing is wrong with a drama if it turns to be a "slow burn romance", which is evidently your preference and what you are after. I'm totally neutral towards romances: if they make sense, I'm fine with them and don't mind if they're slow or fast burn

Yes, "we're in Zichuan", which is not some lawless territory as it isn't Bei's, the author of the story set a perfectly logical power frame and follows realistic conflict patterns, that was my point.
Now, the stake is Yanzhou and we see what happens when a sovreignty over a dishomogeneous territory such as Yanzhou passes from one state to another due to an "international treaty" of "unconditional cession" of this territory, but it is still out of "on the ground" control and looks more like a no man's land than like a governed territory. These "realistic" chaotic traits make Yanzhou a perfect place for the ML to make some order and affirm himself

I respect all political opinions, don't worry about that: my statements on conflicts were generic, unoffensive and well-known (I'm a political scientist), while two examples I've mentioned have both domestic (pending court orders) and international law basis (for one, a conviction and imprisonment in the Hague, for the other, a warrant arrest issued by the ICC in Hague), so there's hardly any space for counter-arguments... 😌

I agree with you

if it was the emperor, he would have killed ZH right on the spot of his "confession".
The thirf man is so else

The high rating is due to the fact actors did well, so the MDL audience, which is mainly after idol-dramas, dropped their initial expectations and just thought they've got what they were expecting.
It is called cognitive dissonance in psychology. C.d. is explained by the fable "The Fox and the Grapes" which exemplifies cognitive dissonance because the fox initially believes he/she wants the grapes (desire) but then, after failing to reach them, changes his/her belief to rationalize his failure (saying "grapes are anyway sour").
Therefore, the MDL audience (which is mostly after a romance and it is basically irrelevant in respect to the internal share), notwithstanding the more serious premise, simply changed their expectation. As I've read on MDL, in China, this drama didn't reach a 7 point trashold on douban, after many days since it aired it's still on 6,7.
Because, it's not totally bad, as I've tried to point out, but it betrayed the initial premise (if we are to say this in Chinese, we should say "it betrayed 'its initial intention'")

I am not a novel reader, but maybe can answer by telling you that most wars (in real life) are moved or even directly caused because of certain internal strife, ie., to overcome certain weakness & consolidate the rule of the person(s) in power. The best example is Netanyahu's war against Gaza, if he doesn't continue it, he'll fall (and finish in jail for corruption). The similar situation was with Milosevic's Serbia.
Moving a war, autocrats can require and obtain more compact social basis ("against a common enemy"), enact harsher laws, substitute powerful people of the opposition with those who are blindly loyal to them.
Sometimes, wars (between states) are moved to prevent coupes, rebellions or fragmentation of a territory inhabited by inhomogeneous people/tribes, as it is often the case in countries of the so called Coupe Belt.
The motivations of conflicts in this drama are pretty realistic.

you're right! Pigalle has several Vietnamese restaurants serving excellent pho, but I remember also the best bourguignonne served by Vietnamese persons somewhere on or near Rue Blanche in that quarter. Besides, several movie theatres which could be connected with the festival are also there.

just because it's the most obvious possibility, I doubt it is so simple.
Besides, who could be so cunning and capable?

You attending the festival in Paris sounds very interesting. Then I'm looking forward to read a lengthy article in the feeds about it, in your usual documented style! Bonne chance et amusez-vous bien! 🤓

maybe the third killer hasn't been introduced to this point at all.
That would be bad, bc. the drama keeps are interested bc. of this guessing game, but in C-dramas, things like this may happen

Oh, now I see.
After watching this, my guts feeling is: this was not an "acting", the emperor was truly furious.
So, we can rule him out now as a masked man, too, because the masked man knew about ZX's plan to steel the seal.

If we are talking about shipping, I root for BaiChuan as before, the only woman who can keep in check and see through a guy using such an unorthodox means.
There are no sparks with her, but this is not a romance and I don't see sparks with Ning either, just some brother-sister attachment from their childhood

To which trailer are you referring to?

I still have no clue. The hints pointed to someone connected with Dongxia interests

the emperor can only be the masked man, no way he is the third killer.
The third killer knew the ring consisting of three fish and taken from ZX's father after killing him was the key to activate Gui Seal. As an emperor, he could have easily eliminated them both and keep both the box and all three fish. So, the third person is definitely not the emperor

No.
3 fish were split among the eunuch, marquis and the third enemy.
ZX's father had three fish ring on him when he was killed. Indeed, he wanted to hand it over to the Dongxia Queen, so we can only presume he wanted to flee to Dongxia with his family.

Yes. I suppose he thought it would be the best to keep the seal and its activation key (=fish ring) separated in order to avoid to be used against each other, but his killers took and split the ring and ZX has 1 fish (from the marquis)

It's strange the third man haven't ever shown up to this point... As if he/she is not after the Gui Seal at all, or... maybe knows about ZH's plans aforehand