MariaB

LOL, I mixed up the terms. Disassociation is for conscious decisions, dissociation is for involuntary ones.

She dissociated when she fell off the cliff. You can see when the master was bitten and started to fall that she was the one to hit the ground.
And her captain friend said that the master always carried his sword, he wouldn't use sticks to kill the snakes.

Thanks! Hope it sticks the landing at least.

As someone who has a history of reading a lot of Western romance novels and has lived through numerous discussions in Romancelandia about what is and what isn't a romance, I can tell you that at the moment this drama is not a romance in the sense that the focus of the narrative is not the evolution of the love story between the main couple.

The political intrigue and mystery are occupying most of the plot, and the romance is currently a subplot. The romance is nice, but if you take out the romantic scenes and make the leads just close friends and/or allies, the plot would not be affected. The romance is not integral to the plot as of now.

I would put it in the same category as The Double, which is not considered a historical romance as per the genres assigned by MDL. Story of Kunning Palace up to episode 30 would also be a good comparison, and from that point it switches from political plot with romance subplot to romance plot with political subplot (which is probably how this drama will evolve as well).

How is this drama coming along? I'm interested in watching it since I like the leads and the premise of the story, but the low rating slightly puts me off. Is it dissatisfaction due to the airing schedule or badly constructed plot, or is it trolls at work?

For me, POJ is a historical romance since the romance storyline was front and centre from the beginning until the end.

TFJ is a historical drama with a romantic subplot. At least for now, since the mystery/political intrigue plot is more important than the love story (which is still in its infancy)

MDL is run by volunteers and they do not have insider information. They didn't even know the airing time had changed after release day, so I'm assuming they don't know where the story is going.
Also, they mess up genres all the time. For example, Love Between Lines was put into the thriller genre for a long time. Almost skipped the drama for that reason.

They like complaining a lot, if you check their history, 85% of the cdramas they completed are rated 7 or less.

Different genres, different vibes.

To be fair, the tone of trailers indicated more of a psychological thriller/mystery drama than a fluffy romance.
It's not the director's fault the fans chose to disregard the hints.

Yes.

I thought it was cute. I think she was going for a hug or kiss on the cheek and he swooped in and stole that kiss. You can see she was caught off guard in the first seconds.

The emperor had died before the general entered the capital. The burning of the Eastern Palace and the death of the Crown Prince had already happened. There was a fight for succession and the general was not on the side of the current Dowager Empress.

If the enemy fighting for the throne found the edict on his person, they would just destroy it to get rid of a strong political opponent.

Since the political situatio is so volatile, it's a no-brainer that he would keep the edict safe until someone (like the master of the Lishan Academy) could plead his cause in the court in front of all ministers (who are Lishan Academy alumni).

I mean, I saw people were upset that the "couple" in Goodbye My Princess didn't end up together.

He literally genocided her maternal clan on their wedding day and caused the death of her parents so he could become crown prince. To be honest, I was happy I saw the end first, because if I had been watching it while it aired 7 years ago, I would be continuously horrified at the thought that the screenwriter would give them a happy ending.

Her getting away for good from that psycho was the best ending the FL could hope for. And you could literally see that in the flock of birds that fly away in the open sky.

Those are romance-focused and more easily digestible.

This drama requires you to pay attention to the details. Not only is the narrative not linear, but we have an unreliable narrator as well to complicate the facts. You have keep your eyes open for clues, use crumbs of information that sometimes seem insignificant to reconstruct the events. I love how this drama keeps us on our toes guessing and coming up with various scenarios of what happened/what will happen, and that the plot twists had their seeds planted previously, we just didn't catch them or didn't give them any importance.

That's a lot of work to do, and people are lazy and want instant gratification. Also, you cannot skip the scenes or use the 2x function since the plot will become unintelligible.

I have started rewatching the first episodes and I'm amazed how well constructed the narrative is. I'm looking forward to the next project of this director and screenwriter.

I usually go for 8-10 episodes because some may just have a slow start.

I know. I was amazed too 😁

Weirdly enough, I think MangoTV had the best translation for A Splendid Match. Previously, they were known for horrible AI translations.

When looking at the quality of the subtitles, it usually goes Viki, iQIYI, WeTV (I'm not sure if this will hold true in the future, I heard rumours that Viki started using AI translations). However, Viki is behind the official airing schedule, so in this case, iQIYI would be best if you want to watch the drama as soon as the episodes air.

Fingers crossed he has one in the later episodes. It makes no sense to make a drama with Tan Jian Ci and not have him sing.