KDramaFanatica

Thank you for providing the perspective from someone with PR knowledge.

I also have a sneaking suspicion that they may have also developed a coordinated smear campaign. I’ve seen a lot of comments centered around accusing her of “not honoring her contract”. There’s also been a lack of a willingness to hold the agency accountable for what seems like abusive and bullying tactics.

It’s been especially disconcerting given how the battle has taken a toll on her mental health (I.e. severe depression and anxiety).

I really hope for the best outcome for her, which is her agency finally allowing her to go free and her being able to take charge of her career by becoming independent.

It’s interesting to me how, the moment she speaks out, there seems to be a push to drag her and “put her back in her place” (looking at you antis).

Fact of the matter is that, if she renegotiated at a time when she was vulnerable and incapacitated and still now seems to be trapped by a crappy contract and an agency that won’t allow her to work, that’s unfortunate.

Legally, is she bound by the terms? Probably.

But I hope her fans continue to make noise because if the agency and antis are wanting to make her life miserable then let them get all the pushback, negative publicity and noise from Lusi’s national AND international fans.

Yup, typical gaslighting behaviors. Not sure why, but for some reason the ZLS antis have been out in full force and I’m starting to wonder if there’s a collective smear campaign to silence her. Jiayou, Zhao Lu Si!

I know people have mentioned AvenueX before but I wanted to encourage people to not just check out her recent ADWD edit (which is AMAZING) or recent short video where she comments on ADWD as a whole (she loved the drama) but also check out her most recent LIVE.

She breaks down how almost immediately after AJTL, there was a quick turnaround of about 3-4 months before ADWD started shooting. Based on the industry insider gems she dropped, the unjust and excessive hate that LYN andAJTL received at the time upset the people behind that production so much, and even LYN himself, that they prioritized making ADWD as a scathing commentary on the unjust hate, bullshit and drama that comes with trying to create shows that the audience will love.

But when you take into account that, in those 3-4 months the scriptwriter wrote this story…what we got was a testament to Rhen Zhuang Liu’s (scriptwriter)writing talent and that, paired with an amazing cast and crew full of hard-working people who put their hearts and souls into making this drama what it was.

It wasn’t perfect, by any means, but in the context of such a short turnaround…it reflects true talent.

Ugh. I’m going to miss this gem of a show so much! LOVED the storyline, LOVED the message and Liu Yu Ning and Li Yi Tong were wonderful in these roles!

I think this entire drama represented the actors getting so immersed in their acting (SXY and NF) that they fell in love in real life. So, really, NF “remembering” the script world just really means that the character’s feelings of love for SYM broke into the other scripted world (SXY’s) and NF has feelings for SXY and vice versa.

Episode 32 was amazing. From Nan Heng scoffing at the ridiculous 3-way sword stab scene after SYM finished describing it, to Song Yi Meng pulling Nan Heng back in when she agreed to marry him, to Song Yi Meng being surrounded by a loving family before the wedding procession started and then the actual iconic scene!

Poor Song Yi Meng trying with all her might to cling to the carriage so that she wouldn’t interfere with Nan Heng’s handling of CGH! But she eventually had to give in to the horror of totally being controlled by the iconic scene. Loved seeing Nan Heng pulling Song Yi Meng out of CGH but then gasped in horror when he realized that, yes, he would be forced to follow the script and stab SYM.

But our hero then brilliantly executed his plan to activate the hero protecting the FL mechanism.

The only thing I hated was CGH still getting to stab poor Nan Heng from the front when Fugui has already stabbed him in the back.


But then! For all that many complained about our FL being heartless and rejecting Nan Heng, she proved that once she’s in, she’s ALL in because the way she thrust that sword and pushed CGH away from her beloved…and then subsequently cried out in panic-stricken anguish when she realized Nan Heng was fading…someone else commented in another episode thread that Song Yi Meng was going to work to love him with all heart just as dedicatedly, ferociously and stubbornly as she had rejected him and she proved that in spades in this ep.

And with this, I hope the angry keyboard warriors can finally ease up in SYM so that the lovely Li Yi Tong can finally rest and enjoy the fruits of all of her hard work in bringing the character to life!

And he wants to marry her to him because he knows his son is a fool who is going to get himself killed in the dog eat dog world palace and, at this point, sees that a wife like SYT suffers no fools (would keep NR in check and alive) and doesn’t suffer fools either (might be able to whip his son into shape). Plus, he noticed NR’s reaction to seeing SYM (he wears his heart on his sleeve).

Yup. I caught that when the caption read “modern suturing technique.”

I agree with the taking NH into “her world”. But I actually think that’s code for SXY and NF (actors) actually being so much like their characters that the love they act out in the drama results in real life love between the actors. So, in a sense, SXY finally taking the script seriously and revealing her true self (which she hadn’t before because of child trauma through loss of parents, not having much success in her career and a general lack of trust of others) leads to NF (whose personality, despite the rumors about the actor IS NH’s) actually falling in love with her and vice versa as they’re acting out what’s written and then that spill out into the non-script world. Either that, or, given actor NF was the one who originally prompted script changes through his manager at the beginning of the drama, he was already in love with actress SXY before and wanted those changes in hopes that SXY would reciprocate his feelings and the script love would spill over into the real world.

Also, SYM constantly refusing to give in to her feelings in the script world is actually actress SXY denying her feelings because “it’s just a script,” “he’s just playing a character in a story,” and those are excuses keeping her from falling in love with actor NF in the real world. What we can see now is that she’s throwing caution to the wind and, in the end, the tragic ending of the drama the actors are participating in won’t stop their love from continuing on “transmigrating”) in the real world.

I wouldn’t be surprised if, in the final scene I the script world, we see a tight shot of whoever dies (either or both) and then the shot pans out so that we see the crew, cameras, director, etc. to transition SXY back into the real world.

Random thought: What if, in the end, it’s actor NF’s manager who is the “villain” who (behind the scenes as the drama we are watching unfolds) notices the love growing between between NF and SYM through their characters and has been trying to re-route the storyline back to how it started to derail that love “for the sake of NF’s career?”

ADWD deserves a higher rating by virtue of inspiring deep thought and analysis about the plot and for its unpredictability!

LOVE THIS for him! He’s seems so down-to-earth and humble. I just hope that our girl Li Yi Tong’s popularity can also grow and that she gets the flowers she deserves too and this role leads to even more work opportunities for her in the future!

Yes! The haunting song that was playing when NH was sitting and drinking by the canal was especially moving.

This drama is a loving critique and homage to costume dramas but it is also such a great example of what all good writers know: you can plan and outline a story and create characters within that story but, as a writer begins to flesh them out, those characters will take on a life of their own with their own character traits, hearts, and motivations. A good writer will go where the story takes them, respecting how their characters grow as well as the natural evolution of those characters in the story.

The “script world” writer, however, is fighting the characters and insisting on keeping remnants of his original outline, which no longer make sense because the characters (namely NH and CGH) changed.

In a drama, if the scriptwriter insists on going this route, on writing what will trend, writing only what/he she considers iconic but doesn’t make sense according to how the story is organically developing, and is only interested in serving their or others’s purposes, that’s where you get WTF plotlines, character reactions that make no sense and aren’t aligned with the story that should be told and, horrible endings that leave an audience dissatisfied.

My prediction (not a spoiler): there will be a “tragic ending” in the script world because it’ll reflect the tragedy of a stubborn, “villainous” scriptwriter who insisted on serving his own intentions, but the “real world” storyline (because I’m guessing that SYM will “wake up” from the costume drama dream) will give us the happy ending that makes sense for this romantic comedy costume parody drama as written by the actual ADWD drama writer.

A sigh of relief and a round of cheers because SYM has entered her “hell hath no fury like a woman whose man has been harmed” aka “Crown Princess in love with her Crown Prince” era!

And until she was able to see an actual consistent change in his attitude toward her, his behaviors and also gather more information about his actions before (which she realized she had been wrong about). Moreover, that conversation in the cave where he was honest and accountable about his previous attempts to kill her and how he had not thought about doing so since went a long wat in breaking through her armor.

Like, really! People getting angry at SYM refusing to want to have anything to do with Nan Heng after he SERIOUSLY and INTENTIONALLY tried to kill her multiple times is the equivalent of this:

SYM: “I’d like to remind everyone that he tried to kill me.”

Audience: “BUT DID YOU DIE?!”

At least her stupid “plot” (if you can call it that) to kill him was never a serious attempt because SHE KNEW THE PLOT ARMOR WOULD NOT ALLOW HER TO ACTUALLY KILL HIM.

Like, the audacity of the audience for hating her for not trauma bonding with NH! Lol.

You’re right!

30 episodes in and I can honestly say that SYM is my favorite costume drama FL of all time (followed by Xiao Man from TPOB).

She’s been headstrong, stubborn and selfish, but has been consistently so and has not given in easily to love when it comes to ML because, at the end of the day, if it’s between love or being alive she will choose being alive each and every time.

And when I think about being in that same situation, if transmigration were possible (we obviously know it’s not), I wouldn’t give a flying fig about love if I had even a thought that it would lead to my death.

I do, however, suspect that we are about to start the final arc where she figures out that giving in to love and marrying the crown prince may serve to keep her alive (and I’m sure she’ll take that deal with gusto).

As long as she can make it through that pesky next iconic scene (the stabbing of the love triangle by sword).

I like your theory but there are other factors at play now (for example, SGH in love with SYT) where the Song family death won’t happen (more than likely there will be a staging of it) and the stabbing at the wedding will look different as well as SYM terrace jumping scene. I think SYM and NH and their family and friends will start working together to help shift the narrative/storyline.

This looks right. It’s always been my understanding that they do one episode a day for the last four (unless you pay for a premium VIP subscription and I think they release the final 4 of that tier at once to those members (but someone will correct me if I’m wrong).