JJJ

Yes, I like ZJM in more "serious" dramas and not the idol-romance ones because tbh, I don't think those are her strong suits. It could be because she is still young, so she comes off awkward in some of those romantic scenes IMO (but as she does more of them and gets older, she might become better at them).

If it is not crime dramas, she can still other serious topic ones like family, career-centric, etc.

ZJM will be fine career-wise. Her team will probably just need to be extra careful in the future with taking these "crime" genre dramas and do better research to make sure it had approval from all sides (especially the victims involved) and won't get her into trouble. Because it can get into the legal area.

I think at this point, it is better for the cast to wash off their hands from these roles. It is already tainted by the public knowledge now that the survivor is extremely upset about this. Not many people will be able to go into this drama with knowing that now. iQiyi should come out and take the main responsibility but I don't see them doing that at this time.

Honestly everyone on C-side gets dragged, the more popular you are, the more heat you will get. Not that she or any celebs deserve hate. ZJM is a good actress for this type of realistic leaning drama so she will be fine in turns of future gigs and this won't hurt her long-term.

It seems the criticisms is with these actors/actresses not doing their own research before accepting these roles (though I don't see this as entirely on them but it is still their careers on the line, so it is always better to do their own research and not rely on the production/platform). The truth is, the actors/actresses will always get praise first when a drama does well and they are the ones receiving the awards, but when a drama is in hot waters, people then try to say well, the actors/actresses don't know anything (it is the director, the producer, the scriptwriter's fault, etc.). You can't have your cake and eat it too basically.

There are definitely people that is taking this chance to join in on the hate since this is just what fanbases do on Weibo. I would say avoid Weibo when your fav celeb is in some controversy for your own mental heath. I have experienced this with my own fav celebs and sometimes you just got to disconnect.

Well, at this moment, it is involving now the irl survivor. For these actors/actresses, it is getting dragged for a period of time and not getting nominated for a potential award, but for the survivor, this is reopening her trauma once again for entertainment.

The main criticism is definitely directed at the novel writer with the way they denied the plagiarism and disregard for the survivor, victims, and the victims' family. iQiyi's handling of this has been really bad (example: silently changing the characters of the victim character's dad's name once it was revealed he was named after the irl murderer to try to brush it under the rug, etc.) too since it shows they didn't do enough research into this before adapting the novel.

The actors/actresses did their jobs, but this is now involving a potential lawsuit, so it is better for them to just keep quiet at this point.

Well, I did be surprised at this point if this drama is not taken down on the C-side. It has been revealed by the journalist that the survivor of the irl case watched 2 episodes of this drama (and saw the beautifying of the F4 ) and was not happy. People are now asking for this drama to be taken down as it is now considered a second assault on the survivor to witness this drama and the praise of the F4 actors (aka treated as entertainment).

This drama is in hot waters. From plagiarism of the journalist's report of the actual case without permission/credit, naming the victim character's dad's name as the irl murderer's name, to not having permission from irl victims' families to adapt this case into a drama. It is no wonder the Douban score opened with a 6.0. There is also the issue of this drama dumbing down the police, plot logic issues, and the promotion of the "F4" (aka the criminals) as some cool gang (beautifying them).

It definitely got its heat/views, but these actors/actresses will not be bringing up this drama as a representative work with the mess it is now. It is unfortunate since this cast can all act.

This drama is being super lowkey so I will just share some info I found. They didn't even have a public opening ceremony.

This drama is about the Wu family centered around the 3 Wu siblings. Li Landi is playing as Wu Bu Wei (the youngest sibling of the Wu family). Jiang Xin should be playing as Wu Bu Lao (second oldest sibling and Wu Bu Yu's twins). Currently unknown who is playing as Wu Bu Yu (the oldest male sibling and Wu Bu Lao's twins). The Wu parents had Wu Bu Wei when they were well into their 40s so WBW's twin siblings are older than her by around 10+ years. This drama is about them going back home as their father is falling ill and talks about the ongoing conflicts within the family.

Ci Sha /might/ be playing as Yu Zhongyi (a caretaker who takes care of the Wu father), but it is still unknown what his role is. His character seems to have a crush on LLD's character.

This is supposedly set to film for 120 days so it should wrap up by April 2025.

Edit: Yay, they finally had the opening ceremony on Jan 15th.

I tried making an edit to add the 3 main cast but there technically isn't an official announcement with the cast on Weibo yet so the admin rejected the edit.

Main pair doesn't have any love triangles. ML's cousin likes him but there was no interest from ML. Another male character had a crush on FL but he ended up with someone else.

Second pair doesn't really have a deep love triangle either. The 2nd ML's brother also likes 2nd FL but it didn't go anywhere, and he ended up having his own ship too.

Rewatched it recently just to see if it hits the same and yes... it still does. The comedic scenes are still funny, and the emotional scenes are still emotional. Definitely a xianxia drama that is aging well.

Yes, from what I have seen his fans say, this dubber dubbed him before in a previous drama (forgot which one though).

I just want to mention here for anyone who is planning to go into this drama thinking and expecting it to be a pure romance drama, it is not. This drama is very CHARACTER-DRIVEN and plot-driven and the characters all have their own independent arcs. These characters have very established sense of self so you will not see these characters "giving up the world" for their love interests.

Even if you remove love from the equation, these characters are fully fleshed out. And this might not be everyone's cup of tea if you want to see more of the "characters risk the world for their love" or "characters can't move on from who they fell in love with".

Love is an important theme in this drama, but these characters do not give up their sense of self, values, and justice just because they fell in love. Love is part of their lives, but it does not consume them nor define them. They have other important things going on in their lives besides love. Love is more like a companion in this drama, but it is not the end goal.

1) Not really a love triangle as 2nd ML's feeling is one-sided. His "love" is also very tangled in with his plots/obsession, so it is not really a healthy type of "love". One of his character arc points is realizing that love is to let go, and not to hold on.

2) I think it depends on your definition of leads "getting together". They fall for each other slowly but never truly "confessed" to each other in a typical sense. They are an established couple though and there is a scene towards the end that fully acknowledges that.

3) There is a "break-up" in the sense that there is something bigger going on than their relationship. This is a very plot heavy drama and all of the characters' relationships are tied to these plots so there is "separation" but not due to them stop loving each other.

4) Well, happy ending in the sense that goals were achieved and the world is at peace. Relationship wise, it depends on your POV tbh.

Yeah, majority of the cast from what I have read is dubbed in this drama. Of the main leads, only LLD used her own voice.

Huh? Jiang Ci doesn't like Pei Yan. Pei Yan has one-sided feelings for Jiang Ci. Jiang Ci might have admired Pei Yan in the beginning and thankful that he saved her but it is not love (she is also aware of him using her). She also made that clear to him, but he doesn't care in the beginning due to a variety of reason (him still needing to use her, his personality, the way he was raised, etc.).

In addition, Jiang Ci was acting as Pei Yan's servant in front of other people so she can't "reject" him outright in front of other people when she is busy trying to protect her own life. This is a plot heavy drama so their relationship is not as simple as oh 2nd ML is in love with FL ad FL is ditzy and can't reject 2nd ML. The 2nd ML set up their servant-master relationship in order to draw out the assassin, then set up a "he is in love with her and she is his weakness" relationship in front of the king for the king to lower his guard against him, etc.

Wei Zhao didn't reveal his side of the story when asked by Jiang Ci (again understandable from his POV because he is involved in too many plots, he himself didn't know the truth, he didn't want her to be in danger, etc.). Of course, Jiang Ci would "side" with her master over Wei Zhao. Her master raised her for 18-19 years, loved her, and protected her from bullies, etc. She knew Wei Zhao less than 6 months at that point and the first 2-3 months was him trying to get rid of her. Irl, no one is "picking" a man who they knew for less than 6 months over a family figure who have been with them for years.

If anything, she was more neutral than anything, but she will always put her master's life over even her own and that was her priority. This has been known from the beginning before Jiang Ci and Wei Zhao even developed a relationship.

Again, no? There are only two men in love with Jiang Ci in this story. And 2nd ML is one-sided and has been debated whether he is even capable of love. There is a 3rd ML who is in love with someone else. Jiang Ci didn't fall in love until mid-way through the series either. This is a very PLOT heavy drama. The "romance" doesn't really start until over 20+ episodes.

"Everyone" is not against the ML. They literally all just have different POVs and goals they are trying to reach. ML and 2nd ML are on opposing side at first literally because it concerns their state/people. If you are objective while watching this drama, you can understand everyone's POV and get why they did what they did. No one is fully "right" nor "wrong".

Forgot the exact episode but it was the episode when A-Yan got SA-ed and Jiang Ci covered her with the robe she had on. Then Wei Zhao who was wearing the white fur coat gave Jiang Ci his robe and she was seen wearing it for a while.

I like him in that drama too, it was my first drama with him and also the drama that blew him up to become a liuliang/traffic star. He was also dubbed in that drama LOL.

Tbh, it is because RJL's voice control is not the best. He has been criticized before when he used his actual voice in some of his other historical dramas. Especially in these type of roles as a military/soldier/general, an actor's voice needs to be strong and clear. His voice acting in "Burning Flames" for example is very breathy and when your character is someone trained in martial arts, the voice needs to reflect that too.

With historical dramas, it also depends on whether the production care enough. If an actor/actress has too much power and demand to use their own voice despite their voice acting being mediocre, production can't do anything. But if a production care about quality, they will make sure any actor/actress who isn't at 100% be dubbed by professional voice actors.

The actors/actresses who have great voice acting are able to even change their tone/pacing but unfortunately, a lot of the current popular C-actors/actresses don't get themselves trained with their voices because they either don't care (because fans will eat up anything and defend them), don't have the time, or know they have the dubbing option.

New things I noticed with my rewatches:

1) Jiang Ci gave away the robes Pei Yan gave her at least twice LMAO. The white fur robe to A-Yan and the black robe to the famine woman she and Wei Zhao saved. But she kept the one Wei Zhao gave her. This is another symbolic thing they had in this drama that showed Jiang Ci rejecting Pei Yan and accepting Wei Zhao, but it was so subtle that I didn't even notice until now.

2) As I was watching this drama as it airs, I forgot some earlier details, so I didn't realize Jiang Ci's master was the one who leaked the rumors about Zhao Wu since the very beginning to try to push the conflict between the emperor and the Pei family.

3) Both Pei Yan and Wei Zhao witnessed something falling on Jiang Ci's head at 2 different points in the drama. Pei Yan's scene was a green leaf, while Wei Zhao's scene was a pink flower. Again, highlighting the difference between them + their relationship with Jiang Ci.

I am once again impressed with how this drama set things up from the very beginning. No dialogues and actions were fillers, everything had a point.