WandereR

Haha, you're right. I'll give Hot Stove League a try :)

Good article. I will put this down in my drama watching resolution for 2021!
Thank you for this XD

Wow, thank you so much! You're awesome, I wanna add you as friend lol

That is a comprehensive discussion with all the info XD

Great, thanks! Btw, what is officially the correct sequence in the entire franchise? I see so many (Reunion - Sound of Providence 1 & 2, Tibetan Sea Opera, Tomb of the Sea). This is more like a sea of confusion lol

Thank you for the recommendation, I'll see if I can find it. Having watched Neo Hu's version of Wu Xie, I kind of get what the story and this genre is about, so shouldn't be too confusing (for me anyway). Appreciate your help though :)

I've watched M9 but I can't remember any of it. I've watched part of TLT2 but the memory of that is fuzzy as well. This entire franchise keeps changing actors, rebooting, jumping sequence anyway so not going to make much difference to me.

The trailer here looks good so I'm just gonna watch this one and make it up as I go along XD

I didn't realise this is based on a book but thank you very much for that. I can watch with a peace of mind now!

Yes, that's the best part about historicals and I'm glad this year is not a total gone case with the others that aired this year with poor scripts. This one makes it easy to follow, so far.

Outrageous stuff later on in the show? Oh yes, please do share! Many thanks in advance, you're too kind :)

Oooo, this show is more GoT than I thought lol
I need to read up on this era too, not so familiar with it probably also because there were too many states involved, hence more characters and events. I'm more comfortable with the 3 kingdoms because unlike the warring states period, there are only 3 states and a handful of iconic characters.

But then again, it's not as racy or exciting in other aspects... XD

You're totally right! From the time they first met at the city gates, you could already see it written all over uncle's face - he was utterly smitten with ZJ. This scene repeats itself when he was appointed to a court position. And as he was heading towards the Cold Palace where she was locked up, I honestly thought he was angry not because of YZ's rumoured origins but because she had possibly "hooked up" with Lv Buwei! lol
I'm just surprised nothing happened during that 1 or 2 nights being locked up together.

The 12 year old who's supposed to be 10 stayed at 12 2 years later? I think the show moved faster than the script! XD

I think HY was very lucky that YZ killed the clown. YZ on the other hand was lucky he didn't consume the poison. Everything falls neatly into place xD

At the end of the day, as history dictates, no one is the better adversary to them except themselves lol

I've reached ep 14 with Li Si's arc. He seems an interesting character so far. And I see a very mature looking 12 year old scholar! What is with the casting??!!

Me too, can't get of the 2 leads.

She's not even a real policewoman but a self proclaimed one. She's supposed to be in school :/

Great review, loved it. You've convinced me to give this drama a second chance.

Generally I agree with your thoughts. I think the time skips maybe took a little off the intensity of the build up.

The uncle is interesting when he returned from exile. It's a total shift in character and motivation. I didn't expect him to remain loyal at that critical point. In fact, I didn't even understand HY's intention of letting her brother "influence" the uncle with the rumours...

I think there's a lot of second guessing involved in this show. Will have to share my thoughts more in this forum lol

Yes, I wish I knew this portion of the history better too.

You know, the more I think about that entire incident, the more doubts creep in. We know Huayang wants the other prince to be the crown prince. But I feel like she was forced to speed up her plans because:

1. Zichu was dying (sooner than she thought anyway since his health deteriorated so quickly within the 3 years)

2. Zichu was going to name Ying Zheng as crown prince during that dinner reception

3. Lv Buwei was already actively recruiting foreign scholars with the implication that her Mi family would end up being suppressed by the intended reforms

But what perplexes me is HY's "grand plan" (which to me felt more impromptu due to the circumstances):

1. She sent her 2 nephews to join Lv Buwei's camp as a back up option. What back up option? I don't see them doing anything (or maybe not yet, I dunno lol)

2. She employed a group of clowns to insult YZ's mum. How could she have predicted the sequence of events that transpired eg YZ stabbing the clown, being locked up, imposing a blockade on the palace, Zichu suffering a relapse, releasing rumours about YZ's birthright. And the timeline of it all, if I understand correctly, happened within 2 days/ nights? All this while, YZ's uncle was with his mum for the entire 2 days in the Cold Palace? I'm trying to wrap my head around this...

I do agree with you regarding that scene where Zichu told her off. I think deep down she knows it but probably she didn't have any other choice at that point in time. This is more about survival than anything else, and applies to everyone involved in palace politics.

Despite the perplexity and the rather fast pace, this is still a pretty good show.

I know what you mean. The drama is fast paced, the subs even more so, not that you need it, of course :)
Enjoy (and prepare to be mind blown!)

That abrupt transition took me straight into the twilight zone. At the rate they're ageing, no wonder the men's lifespan is short :O

Welcome to the warring states era xD

Up to ep 12 now.

Hmmm.... so far the show has been moving very fast. I thought it had slowed down between 10 - 12 during the drama surrounding the attempted coup (actually not really a coup per se, more like "forced coercion" to name the crown prince) and we were going to get intensely engaged into a prolonged event, then the whole thing got neatly resolved just like that.

I'm not complaining, just have this feeling that's similar to watching a History channel production - things move along nicely at a brisk pace, some background commentary, time skips... Apart from Lv Bu Wei, I'm not that invested in anyone else (because I haven't been given enough time to get invested lol). The intensity and engagement levels are probably more pronounced in say NIF...

Anyway, just a mini "rant", I'm still enjoying this show though so let's see what happens.