Finished the drama and im still so confused with all the weird soul manor scenes.... so thats considered sex right?…
It was a little confusing mostly due to China’s censorship of sexual scenes, which forced them to be somewhat vague about what they were showing on screen. Others who have read the novels have explained it pretty well. My understanding is that being allowed into another person’s soul manor is considered even more intimate than physical sex, and needless to say there are definitely sexual overtones to letting another person into your soul. So they hinted the first time that the soul manors were introduced that it was just a “spiritual cultivation”, meaning that the Sima Jiao and Tingyan were temporarily in a spiritual location when she first entered into his soul manor, which was a very intimate act by her and Sima Jiao. I guess it was kind of like sex of the minds. They also seemed to have engaged in sex within this spiritual realm that first time with him being shirtless and making sexual jokes lol. But yeah, Chinese censorship made this scene a bit unclear. Dual Cultivation takes place when two people go into each other’s soul manors and have physical sex at the same time. That definitely happened later when she was injured.
there will be dark and brooding Cheng Lei, don't worry. Starting from around ep 30 these were some of the best…
I am in the early episode 20s so far and I have been starting to get over the cute lovesick puppy vibes and ready for stuff of more substance. I know it’s coming soon, but I see what you guys mean. I think it would have helped having more sensual / adult blood sharing or scenes with fiery sexual tension to balance the innocent puppy dog vibes. We got some of the latter so far, yeah, but not enough of it in my opinion. It has kinda felt like a mostly childish romance stuck in the infatuation phase for too long. I am more disappointed by the lack of blood sharing, though. After we got that first time in bed with her neck (🔥🔥🔥), I was excited thinking we would be getting more of that.
Xiao Qiao and Wei Shao from The Prisoner of Beauty are the only other couple that created all the feels that this…
Awesome! I am excited you’re watching TPoB and I hope you like it and let me know what you think :) So FoE is unique because the writers did a WONDERFUL job basically combining two genres. Despite it being a thriller, it is also very heavily focused on the romance between the leads and how their marriage develops as she starts uncovering more of his history and his identity. I haven’t been able to find another action / thriller show that is very focused on romance like this one. Trust me, I have looked. And the ML’s performance is stellar.
I really liked this one! Green Flag ML, empowered FL, and lots of scenes with the main couple. I found the ML to be very attractive 🔥 First watched him in Coroner’s Diary.
I really enjoyed the main couple's interactions, very mature and supportive... but there was tooooo much drama…
I had the same issues. LOVED LOVED the ML, but he and the FL just did not get enough screen time to hold my interest. Hell, they should have listed the ML as a supporting character for all of the screen time he had compared to everyone else 🙄I was skipping episodes by the end of it too. But that ML- talk about oozing that battle-scarred, raw masculine energy 😍! I still rewatch a lot of his scenes. 🔥🔥
the story is so simple, the conflict isnt complicated, its soo simple yet I cant stop watching TPOB over and over…
This one and When Destiny Brings the Demon are my top teo faves I think! TPoB is character-driven, which is a main draw for me. I get bored if shows focus too much on the plot and not enough on developing characters and relationships. I have watched TPoB a couple times now… I want to space out the rewatches so I don’t get used to how good it is!
I loved your review and I totally agree with the romance part - who were your other 2 favorite Asian drama couples??
Xiao Qiao and Wei Shao from The Prisoner of Beauty are the only other couple that created all the feels that this show did… so this one and When Destiny Brings the Demon are my two favorite romances. There are some similarities to WDBtD, such as enemies-to-lovers, an insane amount of screen time for the main couple, and no dragged out drama or love triangles. It’s also has the arranged marriage trope. In terms of the other two- it’s kind of a cluster of a few: The couple in Flower of Evil is AMAZING if you don’t mind a fast-paced psychological thriller with the worst cliffhangers nearly ever episode 😂 Seriously, I had to pause in the middle of episodes when I had to return to Real Life because the cliffhangers sucked. That couple is probably ranked my #3. The ML is a Yellow Flag (maybe red flag) until you get to understand his character and his history of trauma. He is in a loving marriage with a CUUUUTE daughter. I can’t explain the whole show in one post, but it’s one of the best Asian I have ever seen. There is also Guardian: The Great and Lonely God is up there if you don’t mind age gaps (older immortal ML and she’s graduating high school at the start of the drama). Very touching, WONDERFUL OST and cinematography. It’s a beautiful show, truly. If you check any of these out lemme know what you think!
I need to know - *please use spoiler tag* - but how bad is the angst when the truth comes out? And how long does it drag out for? Do we get a good amount of happy reuniting and being together before the end? Thanks in advance :) P.S. I do not want to know exact episode numbers, just generally how severe is the angst and how many episodes it lasts for.
About to start my re-watch. I've been trying to watch other CDramas but nothing is working for me. Has Shadow…
If you’re into xianxia you could check out When Destiny Brings the Demon. Outside of some iffy CGI sometimes it’s one of my faves. That one ruined me for a while lol
Honestly I don’t really get all the criticism of the last episode and the amnesia. To me, there could not have been a better way to end things than that for a couple reasons.
First- our ML never got to live as himself. He never got to live free and establish his own identity outside of his father’s reputation. His whole life after he ran away was riddled with deception, fear of losing the life he created for himself, and being in hiding. Him temporarily losing memories allowed him to have his clean slate and figure out who he is.
Secondly- it would have been TOTALLY unrealistic for him and his wife to return to an idyllic, bright and happy family after he experienced all of the crap that ultimately led to his mental breakdown in the final showdown. Outside of our ML ending up in a psychiatric hospital with his memories intact, the amnesia route was the only other ending that would have made sense.
Thirdly, the amnesia plot also paved the way for our ML to cope with the psychological trauma safely in bits and pieces. It was crystal clear to me that his memories would eventually return, as we saw glimpses of that during the final episode. But the lovely part about this is that his painful memories will return slowly and in smaller doses so he can handle it… rather than having him cope with ALL of it all at once. Like when did he ever have time during the show to process what had actually happened? Nearly drowning? Thinking your wife was murdered? Nearly getting killed by a human trafficker? Watching that trafficker almost murder your wife in front of you? Returning to the house where your father murdered people in cages? Having a psychotic breakdown in front of your wife and a ton of people? Being framed for murder and going on the run? Almost being buried alive? Not to mention the exorcisms, being bullied, stabbed in the woods, groomed to kill animals and the other significant childhood trauma. He couldn’t possibly have processed all of that within the timeline of the plot, so imagine what it would be like for a person to have ALL of that sink in all at once when life settles down? He would realistically end up in a psychiatric hospital. I see the amnesia as a way for the ML to heal from his trauma in small pieces while also reestablishing his life and relationship.
I LOVED how they ended it. And for those of you who are curious- the leads absolutely do end up together with a very happy ending. I don’t get how some finish the show with that in question? He was freaking being reunited with his daughter and crying with his family at the end…?
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First- our ML never got to live as himself. He never got to live free and establish his own identity outside of his father’s reputation. His whole life after he ran away was riddled with deception, fear of losing the life he created for himself, and being in hiding. Him temporarily losing memories allowed him to have his clean slate and figure out who he is.
Secondly- it would have been TOTALLY unrealistic for him and his wife to return to an idyllic, bright and happy family after he experienced all of the crap that ultimately led to his mental breakdown in the final showdown. Outside of our ML ending up in a psychiatric hospital with his memories intact, the amnesia route was the only other ending that would have made sense.
Thirdly, the amnesia plot also paved the way for our ML to cope with the psychological trauma safely in bits and pieces. It was crystal clear to me that his memories would eventually return, as we saw glimpses of that during the final episode. But the lovely part about this is that his painful memories will return slowly and in smaller doses so he can handle it… rather than having him cope with ALL of it all at once. Like when did he ever have time during the show to process what had actually happened? Nearly drowning? Thinking your wife was murdered? Nearly getting killed by a human trafficker? Watching that trafficker almost murder your wife in front of you? Returning to the house where your father murdered people in cages? Having a psychotic breakdown in front of your wife and a ton of people? Being framed for murder and going on the run? Almost being buried alive? Not to mention the exorcisms, being bullied, stabbed in the woods, groomed to kill animals and the other significant childhood trauma. He couldn’t possibly have processed all of that within the timeline of the plot, so imagine what it would be like for a person to have ALL of that sink in all at once when life settles down? He would realistically end up in a psychiatric hospital. I see the amnesia as a way for the ML to heal from his trauma in small pieces while also reestablishing his life and relationship.
I LOVED how they ended it. And for those of you who are curious- the leads absolutely do end up together with a very happy ending. I don’t get how some finish the show with that in question? He was freaking being reunited with his daughter and crying with his family at the end…?