SerenityShimikaBlack

Sometimes no matter how much support, love and care you give people, they will end up falling back into old habits, cause they can't or won't be able to see the future and all it's beauty. Shengyi is unfortunately not strong in mind and soul enough to hope for something better for herself. Also healing takes time and I think that the ladies have never had a moment to actually breathe and recover. It makes sense that when things have settled down and there is more time to think about things, other than just surviving, that Shengyi would start to fall back into the negative thoughts and patterns which enabled her ex to abuse her for so many years.

it is a sort of addiction. abuse victims have such low self-esteem and are so dependent on their abusers that even after leaving they might not actually believe that they deserve a good life or when they face adversity they fall back into former behaviours - like believe that marriage to an abusive man is a more secure and certain future.

it all starts in ep 20 and looks like it won't end until episode 22

Problem is not just her lack of self-esteem and the cycle of abuse, it's also the issue of society dictating that for a woman the height of respectability, irrespective of class, is marriage. Going out and working for profit while single is considered improper and limits your prospects for marriage. Shengyi is the type of person who isn't as independent or self-sufficient and then you add in her past of abuse/low self esteem and you have the perfect recipe for why she would choose her abuser. She wants marriage and believes she can't or won't receive anything better in life that's why she chooses the ex. Especially consider, when she went home, her father basically tells her that she's a failure and any marriage prospects would be to some old decrepit geezer. This attitude isn't just her families. The whole of society would largely agree with her father. This whole drama is very much about the struggle against class and society for women seeking to achieve or reach out for the unconventional path to freedom, independence, and love. Some women will achieve the happiness they envision and others will only be able to follow the life that other's envision for them.

A bit harsh... Sheng yi has literally been a victim of abuse not just in her marriage but also looks like her family, besides that one brother, also abused her. She's spent her entire life being told she's worthless and her only worth is in marrying and being a good and agreeable wife. I'm not saying what she's done isn't wrong, but she's not a villain. I sympathise with her while being extremely frustrated. I also think it's nice to see a drama depict realistically how someone who's entire life has basically shaped and groomed her into someone who thinks and believes she has to and should accept being in a abusive relationship, as being better then living single and independent, would go back to the 'false security' of marriage with her abuser.

I just realised my confusion between this drama and Moonlight Mystique are cause by Han Dong playing the villain for both these dramas 😂

I think the problem is that without Yulu being dead, Mudan might have probably had a harder time leaving the Liu family, as she could have been used against her. It is necessary in a way, as Yulu's death showcases not only how cavalier the Liu family value the lives of the lower class, but furthermore, Yulu was like a comfort blanket to Mudan that made living with her in-laws bearable. Without her, Mudan specifically points out that if she can't have a beloved sister stay by her side while living with her in-laws then what's the point of being obedient and quiet. So plot wise Yulu's death is a pivotal change for Mudan, as not only does it further motivates her to gain a divorce, but also arguably it means Mudan does not need to be as careful in planning how to force her in-laws to give her a divorce. A lot of the choices Mudan makes after Yulu's death to achieve her divorce are fuelled partly by her grief more so than her rationally and calmly planning out everything. Of course the issue is that emotionally there isn't much of an impact cause it's so early on in the show and as a viewer we have very little attachment to the characters at this point. But I appreciated the fact that the plot moved along quickly and Mudan is gone from the Liu family.

I wouldn't say cringe, that's rather harsh. Also the age difference is pretty normal. Problem is the acting industry doesn't exactly have many glamorous roles for individuals at their age (on top of the fact they're not as popular as Yang Zi) that will pay as much as say their support role in this drama would. Industry is geared towards consumption and consumers don't really want to watch a drama about older actors as the main leads as much.

He doesn't like her. He sees are as someone less then him that he can control. He won't let her go cause in his mind, she's his wife and should act accordingly in that position for him. Also in his mind, as a scholar, to divorce is a mark on his reputation. Considering, how his parents have so much control over him, it's almost a given that to take back some sense of self and control, he decides to control Mu Dan and since she's acting out and asking for the things that he thinks a a blight to his image of self of course he's gonna hurt her sooner or later. Ultimately to him Mu Dan is that rabbit, a pet and not a person, that should be satisfied with the treats he giver her and play her role properly.

Agree, I absolutely love the director's beautiful cinematography style! Unfortunately for me it could not distract from the staleness and overall predictability of the storyline after the first 9 episodes and the uncompelling acting of some of the actors/actress enough. It bugged me too that they missed the opportunities to outline some more interesting secondary characters like the princess and uncle Dao and the other four characters you mention. I could have done without Song Han (who could have been utilised much better plot wise) and Miao Ansu storyline completely as I didn't feel like it contributed much to the overall plot. Wei Tingyu, after Dou Ming's death, felt like a un-utilised resource that could have been interesting but instead he's relegated to a reference footnote. Song Mo's journey for justices as well largely left me apathetic and disconnected from his success at the end. Without Dou Zhao, I'm not sure I would have been able to keep watching for Song Mo alone. He's so cardboard cutout that I was sad to see the potential he had at the start just seemingly disappear (or perhaps I just imagined it all to begin with). Also the soldiers around Song Mo seriously make me want to face palm when watching them default to the response of using their brawn over brains.
I disagree, on only one point and that's if I had to choose between the general or the chess grandmaster, I'd chose the later haha. I wish like you though that they didn't decide to whitewash him in the end either. He was such a compelling evil mastermind.

this is an understatement... 😂 the drama honestly had pretty much all the elements of a good story in theory but somehow the execution completely ruined it

lol yeah it's a runny gag for the actor to never get the girl cause he's always the villain

https://kisskh.at/34088-the-killing-of-three-thousand-crows
Zheng Ye Cheng and Zhao Lusi are co-leads here

I agree with you, but they could have shown like the sky going dark and light to give some sense of time passing or something. I'm certain that none of use would want to watch an extended version of her suffering to overcome her trauma at all, but I believe more consideration could have been shown

I do agree with you though - the way they handled her ptsd and childhood trauma with such speed didn't sit well with me either, as they made it look so easy to overcome, which such emotional/psychological pain is definitely not as simple or easy to deal with in real life. East asian cultures also have a tendency to not give as much weight to emotional psychological pain, which I personal know and have experienced coming from a predominantly East Asian family.

Psychologist are known to use a similar technique called exposure therapy during the healing process to help patient desensitise from trauma. Yes it's hugely unrealistic of the FL to have recovered in one episode from her childhood trauma, but what was done in that episode honestly mimics in theory what a psychologist would do for a patient.

it's translated that way cause her name in mandarin Shao means longevity, but yes I agree they should have just put the pinyin of her name instead of the literal translation. AI doesn't know how to differentiate the difference though probably

lol agreed, this drama takes it a step further and adds a shit grandpa. Kudos to the grandma for hitting that rapist husband of hers. The drama is definitely not romanticising things on the family front.
The father is jealous of his brother-in-law and basically takes it out on his son who is more alike and closer to his uncle.

Yes but in a way it's karma, his ancestor couldn't live with the guilt and couldn't go through with killing his best friend so chose to be human after his friend's death. Bing Yi passed on this burden of protecting the world again to his descendant, ZYC, who instead of just killing his best friend chose to cut a sliver of his true self from him before death in the hopes that ZYZ would live again, thus breaking the cycle of sacrifice and granting his friend the chance at a life again. So in a way, it's hope that I believe comes out of all this tragedy. Only thing that's tragic is that probably by the time ZYZ can becoming flesh again Wen Xiao will be dead, unless he chooses like Lilun to come back before he's ready for a short while just to be with Wen Xiao and die with her instead of living the life time of a demon again.

ZYC is still a demon so the ending it's one human, one demon, and one goddess avatar that survive.