absurd

I saw that first one, it was all over weibo yesterday, I think. Not very incensed about it, tbh. Don't get me wrong, Liu Yifei is a great actress (A dream of splendor is actually really good, and there's obviously Mulan in her portfolio), but... omg, that's gonna sound really weird, but hear me out... I think, he's a little too thin for her...? Like she looks fantastic, but more in a "fit girl" type, rather than the "thin waif" type that China favors. Where XZ is a bit on the thinner side, though it does seem like he's been trying to bulk a little lately. Idk, I just feel like it's gonna look weird if ML has a smaller waist size than FL.

So, true! Even 40 episode dramas usually get about 10 episodes of filler nonsense in the middle, before they move on to the finish line. I'd also much prefer the drama to be dynamic and fast paced. But like you said there was no official number given and 50 eps is just the usual number that's given to any drama when it's added here.

Any drama can have a last minute delay, I don't think there's anything special about XZ's dramas in that regard.
Idk about the govt thing, but if that's true then I doubt there will be any delay, unless something happens with one of the actors or important crew members (like director or writer)

I am also weirdly happy about the fact that Shi Ying is not the goody-two-shoes that was presented in the first trailer. Yay for dubious morals, a little bit of insanity and some ruthlessness in there

Well, I'm not that dramatic, even for the actor, though I'm barely older than him. But that was a really good expression there. Idk, it made such an impression on me, it was so sad and in the same time a little... creepy? Like the character is not entirely sane at this point. Such good acting, really.

Well, he might still film at last one more drama this year. It might be two (if we say one drama is 3 months of filming), but that might be pushing it into workaholic area a little too much, considering he has other obligations like theater and such.

I am honestly surprised though, even if it is like December 2022, that's still very optimistic for a c-drama. Seems like they're feeling very confident about censorship review.

Wow, the last part of the trailer killed me. His expression... I really wanted to hug him and tell him, that "yes, I will be very sad".
It all looks so good, though tbh I am not a big fan of those "drive her away to protect her" type of scenarios. It all depends on how exactly they play it out, so far XZ never led me astray with his choice of characters.

Wait... they are planning to release this in 2022? What are we gonna do next year then?

Idk about big projects, TLP seems like a pretty big one as far as drama world is concerned it could get. But, with my conservative thinking, I would like him to have more movie projects. Maybe it's an outdated view, but movies just seem bigger somehow. Yes, dramas can also go international (as XZ's dramas proved again and again), but it's still a limited audience of those who are interested in this type of genre. While movies, especially if they are not culture specific, like xianxia, can really go international and have wider audience. It's also a shorter production and sometimes faster results.
All of that being said, if he only wants to take passion projects, while making money on endorsements, it's his right. He is already a big enough star, to pretty much do what he wants.
He's also big enough to make any production a big project.

Gotta say, that set looks expeeeensive! So nice when it's not just the acting, that you can look forward to, but also a good production.

TV version had 32 shorter episodes

tbh, I kind of skipped most of their scenes and it didn't take away from the plot or make me miss any important info. There are some fun parts, but mostly she just strings him along and he seems to follow because it's a challenge

I got the impression that it was gambling., but tbh I was not paying a lot of attention when Gu Xiao was on the screen

Yes, there's not much of anything going on, except slow relationship development :)

I thought "You are my glory" was pretty realistic, if you haven't seen it.

I feel like you are looking for a problem, where there's none. They said "some" of the clothes were his, not all of them. Yes, if he was actually fully responsible for character design, that would be weird, but I don't think that's what they meant. It was probably more of "I have this shirt, maybe it would work" kind of thing. And he probably went home in those clothes after shooting too, it would be just weird to bring them back for washing.

I don't understand why it is such a big deal. How is that any different from any other person, who, say, works an office job? You dress up for work, put your clothes in the hamper at the end of the day and then wash them, when you have time. He said he will wash his own clothes to Na Ying, when she started joking about taking care of all his needs during Our song. And in the interview for Jade dynasty he was very surprised that people think that for 28 year old man to wash his own clothes is so amazing. And, honestly, I agree with him. He's an adult. Sure now he's making more money and probably can send his laundry to some professional company, but back then who else was gonna do his laundry? Mom?

God, I hated Sansan. She's probably the worst type of friend you can have: butts in where no one asks her, projects her own bad experiences onto other people's relationships and when her friend actually asks her for help she's either not there or her only solution is to get you drunk

I do agree that the whole not talking thing is a pretty typical plot device in c-dramas, but here it felt a little different. There was a little bit of "men don't talk about their problems, they though it out" in there (which is pretty realistic actually, when it comes to men raised in conservative families). But also, I think he panicked, like real seriously broke down and didn't know what to do, while not wanting to burden anyone. So, imo, it works here. But of course everyone has their preferences :)

So I finally had the time to finish this and write my thoughts down, I don't think I'll do the whole review.
In my experience modern c-dramas tend to fall into two categories "light hearted but very very typical" (as in knight in shining armor saving a somewhat dumb and childish damsel in distress" or "very serious, to the point of being painful to watch". This one is, surprisingly a little bit of both and while FL is a little childish and ML is a little too perfect in the beginning, it was still very enjoyable and didn't at all feel like any of the plotlines were forced or out of place. I can't say I liked all the characters (FL's friends are toxic, they are the worst people you can go to for relationship advice), but I did enjoy this overall and was interested from start to finish.
The chemistry between the leads is amazing, and when they said that a lot of scenes were impovized, I was not surprised at all, all of their interactions looked so natural.
It's a fun drama with a little bit of melodrama put in between lighthearted moments, that leaves you with a good feelings and positive emotions.
So thumbs up from me, would even watch again, just without English subs to practice my rusty Chinese.