phoenixfrost

I really love your take on this drama. The summaries help me remember each episode. Your commentaries add to the fun, and considering the tone of drama, are quite appropriate,

I love the poetic ending. It encapsulates the title - freedom from chains. After enduring oppression from many sources like being a tribute lady and imperial widow then being in turns worshipped and bullied by a manic and obsessive emperor in Yin Lou's case as well as having to hide his identity, enduring the obsession of the ex-empress and carrying an obsession to deal with his brother's death in Xiado Duo's case and finally, having to hide their real relationship from the emperor and ex-empress because at that time, the wishes of royal personages overrode relationships between commoners, Xiao Duo and Yin Lou's flight to freedom is exhilarating. But their escape from the palace walls would have been temporary had their chains still have the power to bind them. The very last scene makes it clear that their chains truly were broken. This ending completes the story of Xiao Duo and Yin Lou's chains.

There are two extensions provided. The extension below completes the story of the couple's romance:
https://twitter.com/XuKai_Soso0305/status/1616569549985546244?t=IgiOHnhJYa9O9L39GuAcRQ&s=19

This extension shows a time when the chains of monarchy have long been gone:
https://twitter.com/XuKai_Soso0305/status/1616654383642710017?t=akdpp_b19xBbBphpfmC93Q&s=19

Definitely. I've watched it more than 3 times already and I still laugh, swoon and feel the heartaches accordingly. It's not for everyone, though. If you like your leads to be perfect, this is not for you. The leads are 3-dimensional and more realistic than perfect cookie-cutter characters. The key to enjoying this drama is to get the campy humor. If you can't get the humor by ep 3, I suggest you drop it.

Love this title 🥰

Wow, this can also work! No wonder you write so well; you've done fan fiction before.

I'm okay with the current story, though. One of the things I like about Shi Yan is that he loves Shu Yi even though he is aware of her flaws. I like the idea of imperfect people growing together, not to achieve perfection, but to be less imperfect and, more important, to be tolerant of each other's flaws. It's more realistic and what makes for happy marriages, on top of love, honesty, trust and communication.

Not if one is following the story closely and putting oneself in her shoes. At the start of ep 32, if not for Xiao Duo’s interference, all the imperial physicians and the whole Yuwen clan would have been executed. And the two servers would have had their eyes dug out. This mad king can have anybody killed with one command. If I were BYL and I know that I am one of a few people who can keep the emperor calm, I would serve him hand and foot to avoid him hurting anyone else until a solution is established. It's the least I can do for the empire, not for the emperor.

it’s precisely because the emperor has gotten deranged that BYL prefers to serve him herself. The emperor ordered the execution of the imperial physicians as well as the removal of the eyes of the attendants coz he doesn’t want anybody else aside from Xiao duo, BYL and his eunuch to know about his condition. Only XD and BYL can control his temper.

what's to stop him from executing the servants when she left?

LOL This drama would be cursed to oblivion had it ended in ep 28 😄 Chinese dramas are heavy on the "No pain no glory " theme. And the heartbreak the couple experiences due to trust and communication issues is clearly the "pain" part. Viewers are dying to see the “glory” at this point 😊

Another goosebumps-inducing review. I so love reading reviews of other lovers of this drama. How would you like to create a new discussion point with your episode summaries?

I've been waiting for this break-up to happen. Shu Yi needed a wake-up call to her cowardice, self-centeredness and lies.

I think the reason Shi Yan watched her from his car was to see how she would respond. If she shows remorse, he probably would relent. He still loves her but suspects her to still love her ex. Unfortunately, Shi Yan doesn't see her tears - she was facing away from him. So, her "coldness" affirms his suspicion.

One noble trait of Shu Yi that surfaced during this heartbreaking period is her sense of accountability. She knows she messed up and only blames herself. She did not blame Shi Yan, Shanshan, her ex or her ex's gf. If she suspects Shi Yue of being Shi Yan's spy, she probably would not make a big deal of it. She has a kind and forgiving heart. And this is why, for all her faults, she is worth rooting for.

Do you have a choice but take care of the emperor when you're expected to? None, if you wish to survive. And Yinlou's main goal is survival. As young as she is, she does know how to survive, pretending to be silly and lazy to avoid being sucked in palace intrigues. But being young. it's also understandable that she can't be this all-knowing superwoman. This is one of the things I like about this drama. It stars lowly characters, a eunuch and an illegitimate noble-teenager, born with no wealth or power, just struggling to survive in murderous and treacherous waters. It has no bombastic elements like Xiao Duo turning out to be a prince or the like, or Bu Yinlou turning out to be a martial arts expert.

She has probably gone to Xiao Duo's residence many times. After doing the same thing many times, she became careless. A normal and realistic mistake by a teenager. It will be noted this is probably one of a few things she does herself. She is used to having a maid do the banal stuff like close doors for her. But she can't be dragging her maid to such clandestine meetings. I'm not at all surprised she made that mistake as I would have done so, too, if I were in her shoes. And I bet she has done that mistake several times already before finally getting caught.

The emperor embodied the chains tying both Xiao Duo and Yinlou down. His collapse and the burning of the Futu tower, another symbol of bondage, completed the process of breaking the chains of oppression. XD and BYL's freedom from the walls of the city would not mean anything if the emperor was still powerful enough to order their return to bondage or death.

Haha, that was a Dongfang Qingcang moment there at the hallway 😂 I just love how this drama keeps serving laughs in the middle of angst. Shi Yue is also low-key funny, being so clueless about what’s going on between Shi Yan and Shu Yi.

Shu Yi is among the most exasperating characters I’ve come across in cdramas. Her self-centeredness on New Year’s eve and her internal conflict in ep 26 stunned me, making me wonder whether I read the subtitles right or whether the subtitles were right.

Bai Lu deserves an acting award for making this flawed character somebody the audience can root for.

Looking forward to your review of ep 27 🙂

indeed! ☺️

Your goosebumps-inducing comment brings back how much I love this episode.

Episode 26 is a masterpiece. Many misunderstandings unravel but as many tighten their noose. It's a fast paced sequence of gripping revelations, comedic confusion and heartbreaking deduction.

Shu Yi is finally forced to be true to herself, though at a pivotal moment, when Shi Yan asks her to choose between him and her ex, she still manages to lie to herself. Grrr! The way she tells Shi Yan the truth but her internal struggle showing on her face makes it look like she is not truthful is a showcase of Shu Yi's frustrating labyrinthine psyche.

I also love the way Shi Yan tries to sound and look pathetic to his niece to wrestle information about Shu Yi's feelings about "the uncle" from her, and clueless Shi Yue, eager to be useful, is not aware of the misery she is inflicting on him when she tells him "the truth" that is far from it, tainted with Shu Yi's previous lies. Shi Yan's hand showing how the fight goes out of him is disheartening. Masterful writing!

Shi Yan's deduction that "what you wanted was never me" is utterly heartbreaking 😭 This is what breaks him. He can take Shu Yi using him for any purpose. What he can't take is the thought that she loves somebody else.

On the plus side, her guilt over her reasons for approaching him proves she's not as callous and insociant as she appears.

It’s not that we ignored your first comment line. It’s everything against what we believe to be fair and responsible judgement of dramas. Thus, in my comment, I pointed out what constitutes fair and responsible judgement - try to understand the story and don’t skip scenes. Nobody is disallowing you from just watching a few scenes of a drama. But do you really think it’s fair to REVIEW and RATE a drama based on just some scenes, without even trying to understand the story and characters? As somebody else pointed out, it’s like a judge who makes a decision without considering all known facts about a case.

Thank you, you took the words out of my mouth 🙂 Imagine rating a drama based on a few scenes 😣 Another proof of why drama ratings are not to be trusted 😣

She is an enigma, a conflicted and flawed girl. Not the typical perfectly sensible can-do-nothing-wrong cdrama female lead. Which is what gives this drama its unique and fascinating flavor. She thinks she has things under control, that she can be a heartless career-focused girl and can chase a guy to serve selfish interests. But her inherent good nature and heart constantly struggle with her fantastic notion of herself as a femme fatale. In all her dealings with men, she never gave any indication that she loved other men than Shi Yan. She only ever showed platonic feelings for Yu You and Yi Yang. So, deep in her heart, she was loyal to Shi Yan.

Then you shouldn’t have been bothered by the business talks if you were SINCERELY just looking for their scenes together. As it is, you came off sounding like the many antis who just want to pull this drama down.