Kaihua

Yeeess okay! I'm excited to talk together!! (^_^)

Ao Ruipeng is so good at selling me on his feelings for fls but it feels like the show gave them to him out of nowhere, and tbh Bai Lu has never sold me enough on her feelings for mls by her own acting, whether in this or TTEOTM 😭 it doesn't help that I cannot figure out what couldve been so likable about Bai Shuo in the early eps since FY seemingly started liking her early on. In Coroners Diary the mc has a lot of likable qualities and has plenty of moments to demonstrate her character and core beliefs, so even tho Ao Rui Peng falls for her early on you can completely tell when, how and why and totally find it reasonable

congrats on finishing! how did you like it overall in the end? I've now watched 20 episodes and I'm really scratching my head at where the romantic feelings in this show are coming from. I think it does a fine job at pacing the plot development but maybe they did that at the cost of proper moments that demonstrate characters actually having some meaningful relationship development. The most we got was Tian Huo saying over and over to FY "you like her" since way too early on and it doesn't help that before Yi City I really don't see whats likable about Bai Shuo. I would understand if it were afterwards but even then it needed time to become what it was. Same with Tian Huo and her failship the show had no right to make me so upset over people who barely knew each other but I liked that character so much AAAGH

I want to love bai shuo and be invested in the main cp so bad, but im 9 episodes in and bai shuo exasperates me more each episode T_T i can't even believe fan yue would feel much at all for her at this point because i don't even know how other people find her likable instead of just tolerating her rn oml
it feels like she has double standards for things, like "chong zhao we have nothing to do with each other so this is none of your business" and then in the same episode gets mad at chong zhao for not telling her smth and says he should tell her everything from now on
it's things like that and how she seems kind of...inconsiderate... i really hope my first impression changes, i know some of her behaviour is obviously smth she will grow from later but oh my god...

If they included them living out the rest of their lives and dying of old age then it would imply rebirth when they return to the real world, which is banned in china because of what some people did after shows like scarlet heart... you can look it up, it's not my opinion it just is what it is

this part is opinion based, but going off of when they did show right up to when he was about to be violated and the context being explicitly that he was forced against his will, the viewer can pretty much piece together that's why he doesnt talk to the crown prince or really acknowledge his existence at all save for the disdain he has for the boy as the empress dowager's puppet. its pretty clear he feels disgust, BUT I would definitely not be opposed to more time dedicated to exploring the seriousness of the topic. I think it's important to keep asking for more acknowledgement that SA against men is just as real and important, so it's really nice to see there are other people who are passionate about it : ) I hope I was able to help you vent it out. I was also disappointed when I found out the novel ending was different (and better) and had to fill in the gaps of the drama ending with my imagination that it happened T_T Still not the worst changed ending, since to this day I am not over a certain drama literally changing a happy ending to one where they both die - seriously WHY???? I WASTED 50+ EPISODES

Fwiw the ending was changed because of censorship (smth like you can't be led to believe you can get a do-over of your life), so if the show had a choice they probably would've followed the novel. Really a shame art has to suffer and be held back from its true potential
SA might also be censorship, even if not by itself it could be an extension of the ban of all nsfw content, which is why every drama has to put the leads behind curtains and fade to black after a minute or two LOL
It doesn't change one's opinion, and so it doesn't change what should or should not have been different and what was done well or poorly; it's just a matter of who is the real source of one's grudges truly
it's hard to talk about differing opinions in MDL comments, some people do not know how to be normal about things LOL so i really dont blame you

LOL no prob!! When I first started watching it, I actually wasn't sure I liked it for the first 6 episodes but now it's one of my faves that I've rewatched multiple times. As amra suggested, you could watch Love in the Clouds next d=(^o^)=b

ohh you're right i don't see love in the clouds on the list, I second this rec : )

The more I looked the more everything I wanted to recommend you've already watched XD we had similar tastes but then you gave Ming Lan a 1/10 and I am so curious to know why! No hate just very amused

these are the important parts nobody is talking about

There are various alternatives, like giving cities tax exemptions in exchange for things; but generally they are just a gilded disaster of a dysfunctional country atm LOL

It makes sense to me, in the way that it's consistent with people who use motivations like that as an excuse to justify their actions when deep down, they're just narcissists/power hungry/entitled. Tale as old as time

Personally I'm enjoying this drama, but if you want one that doesn'treally need to explain itself, is full of symbolism & attention to details, with a majority of the acting happening in what characters don't say/when they aren't speaking, I recommend Empresses in the Palace (aka Legend of Zhen Huan). It's widely regarded as a classic for a reason. Even if you're binging it, you might still miss details from several episodes or even many episodes ago that are brought back again unless you're paying total attention even down to the patterns in the dresses characters wear. I love shows like that!

Should we lament this, or the fact that despite this there are still people in the comments who are confused

literally i watched her die with stone cold indifference only wishing she suffered even more LMAO
especially now knowing she even contributed to the SA plot. BLEGh ( ´～｀)

I'm so sick of our grassroots reformists dying for the cause T_T if anything happens to anyone else i will be beside myself, especially if its li yun xi i will 0/10 this show i swear to GOD

I feel like he knows she has soemthing to do with it? In one of the flashbacks when he witnessed her killing the previous empress dowager, they were holding granny down while she was in so much pain and from what I could see the pain was in her head. Then after he swears fielty to the new empress dowager, as she leaves the room her personal aide hands him a bowl (preusmably of 'medicine' or soup) that he takes and downs on the spot because he has no choice. I'm sure that was the start

Yeah he even said he'd have some secret guards to protect her or whatever - her stony expression implies she knows better than to believe those aren't just glorified spies to watch her now. Once, the two of them embraced in the greenhouse with smiles, but at the end of this scene the both of them hold each other with faces like ice

I have come to dread the cute diary graphic at the end of every episode because it ironically gets darker and darker LOLLL

same!! Even though it's also a bit funny as a lampshade hahaha