BearFightingFanBackAgain

At the very least, Director Zhao is there so we’ll get some good shots. And the leads can act so we’ll get some good acting.😅
Most of the fans that read the script seem okay with most of it unlike L&C. The danger will be in the editing.

They changed the script on the actors after they signed on and basically rewrote everything while filming instead of waiting for a new script to be written and polished. The show was supposed to be 40 episodes so it would have met regulations but 5 episodes had to be cut. It was said the more shocking parts of the drama were cut to make it suitable for TV.
Apparently there were some sweet scenes and/or romantic scenes cut from the leads’ storyline. I’m not sure if they weren’t filmed or didn’t make the final cut but it’s a shame. They made the leads storyline really bitter when they actually worked really well in sweet or comedic scenes. From the booting ceremony, the ML had a serious but good emperor vibe and the FL a cheeky but kind empress vibe and I think it would have done much better if they had gone this route for most of the show.

18122025
Sohu Awards:
PXR Studio Video of the 2nd look:
https://m.weibo.cn/detail/5245304142302720

Shrimp Farm Live Photos of the 2nd look:
https://m.weibo.cn/detail/5245270935734223

Shrimp Farm Live Photos of the 1st look:
https://m.weibo.cn/detail/5245268389793838

The red carpet is going to be so exciting now🎉So so so glad she took the leap and stayed with both acting and this new direction in terms of fashion. She was always suited for glamour. When she was a host, she never lost to any of the actresses she interviewed.

The 2nd look is also beautiful:
PXR Weibo:
https://m.weibo.cn/detail/5244790344257362
PXR Studio:
https://m.weibo.cn/detail/5244792965433151

Today’s 1st looks for the China Drama Awards are so beautiful:
PXR’s Weibo:
https://m.weibo.cn/detail/5244537062556343
Live Photos:
https://m.weibo.cn/detail/5244503235494917
Studio:
https://m.weibo.cn/detail/5244539729347154

If you like acting or good looking leads and can ignore the overall plot, it’s worth it. If not, you might struggle. They switched the scripts on the cast and they ended up writing the script as the show was filmed which affects the plot greatly. Some storylines are okay but this show’s selling point would be the acting from some of the cast.

Time travel wasn’t allowed when this was being filmed so they made some changes. It’s really different from the novel. They shifted the focus from the FL to a dual lead setting which is a shame! The Novel FL is just so full of schemes and always trying to make money😂

It’s more that misunderstandings are a very common trope. Jun Jiu Ling doesn’t have any misunderstandings and Unshakable Faith doesn’t either.

Glad to see this drama getting the love it deserves. The show got torn up when it first debuted but Jun Jiuling was definitely a good performance, especially considering it was Xiao Ran’s 2nd or 3rd drama as a FL and Jun Jiu Ling was completely different from Xiao Feng. This show is what made me a fan. She could have played the safe route by playing lively characters but she immediately stepped out of her comfort zone by playing the calm and cool Jun Jiu Ling.

Thank you. I really don’t like the term wasted role because it seems to carry a negative implication when it’s used. It’s almost like saying the actor or actress is not responsible enough to go for “good roles” when the situation is often more complicated than that.

Also, it seems there were 3 screenwriters. Hats off to the screenwriter who wrote the Ling family storyline. It’s the best plot line in the show and the one that makes sense from beginning to end. There were a lot of clichés in this script but the ambitious minister+pawn daughter (and children) was interesting and well acted. The master vs student storyline between Ling Xuefeng and Xiao Huan was also interesting but I wish there was more tension in its chess game approach. The contentious relationship between XQQ and the Queen Dowager might have been more interesting if it explored the concept of family loyalty more (The Queen Dowager could have been a cautionary tale for Cangcang on the dangers and consequences of being a tool for your family) but it stayed quite one note until the end.

The imperial brothers plot also had potential but it was made awkward by what should have been the actions of other characters being grafted onto XQQ.

Du Tingxin’s storyline also had potential. The screenwriter obviously liked this character very much. She was one of the few characters with a complete and full storyline but the spurned woman angle made her another cliché. It would have been more interesting to have her actions motivated by pure loyalty to the crown and prejudice rather than spurned love.

I couldn’t get into Princess Ying’s storyline. It was ridiculous in the book and stayed ridiculous in the drama. The romance was awkward too.

Zhong Lin was a shame because she was a tool from beginning to end and seemed to exist either to support Cangcang or XQQ. She didn’t feel like she had a life of her own.

The lead couple got it the worst. The ML had a growth-less Gary Stu storyline of wash and repeat self sacrifice made frustrating by a lack of communication/transparency. The FL storyline was a complete mess. At times it felt like the screenwriter hated her. For most of the misunderstanding arc, she wasn’t allowed to have many highlights and by the time the screenwriter tried to redeem her, it seemed it was too late for much of the audience to accept. It’s also been a long time since I’ve seen such an abusive script for a FL. Watching a woman go through so much trauma to have such an unsatisfactory end was exhausting.

I wonder what was lost in the five episodes that were cut from the show. Would they have changed the quality of the story? There was so much going on in the script that even if it was just 5 episodes, a wealth of information might have been lost.

Ah, this rating🙂‍↕️…
Can’t even defend the show. The plot really killed what should have been a decent work. The moral of the story is don’t switch the script on the cast. And don’t adapt bad IPs either🙏

Only saving grace for me was seeing Cangcang brought to life. I really love imperfect heroines and bad girls of all types (although Cangcang isn’t bad at all). So even though I knew Cangcang would probably get scolded after reading the book, I liked her anyway. And all things considered, Xiao Ran did an excellent job. I read she wrote three notebooks worth of analysis on Cangcang and I can see the effort in her performance. Heroic heroine, cute heroine, tragic heroine-she played several types of heroines in this drama and nailed it. Although there are regrets about the plot, for me, she’s all the best parts of Cangcang from the book because I never really liked how book Cangcang made her whole world Xiao Huan to the point she couldn’t live without him. It felt too limiting for such a colourful, stubborn, and vivacious woman. Sorry to the author, but a heroine’s core should not be a man nor should all her growth and development be centred around a man either.

Anyway, I hope that all future adaptations of female centric/female oriented works get the love they deserve. The trend of turning female centric narratives to male centric ones doesn’t seem to be working so maybe it’s time to give up the practice. I also hope producers who adapt these stories understand that the core of them is the heroine. Treat her well.

I’m not sure. I think IQIYI generally demands higher quality but I don’t know if they step in to ensure it. But I also think it’s not so much a quality issue with the production company but an ethical issue. They switched the scripts on the cast after they signed on. I think if Xiao Ran knew the full script of FHTS, she might not have taken it.
My chief worry is how they edit and market FMJ and her pairing and what makes it to the final cut. I’m particularly worried because FMJ isn’t a character obedient to men and she is a character who starts out weak and gradually levels up. I’m worried they will pull a FHTS and not let her level up either. Plus, it looks like her relationship with Yunya is complicated but many MDL viewers will hate on the FL alone.

I heard Zhao Xia was responsible for the emotional scenes but I don’t think she filmed all of them. She took quite a few nice shots of Xiao Ran in Love and Crown though. She filmed the slap scene and the arrow injury scene. Both seemed to be quite popular.
To be honest I don’t think the directors of Love and Crown and TBBM are the biggest problem. The biggest issue is the production company because they set the tone for everything and they’re responsible for the end product.
Looking at the entire process from beginning to end of Love and Crown, the producers never intended to promote Xiao Ran. She was supposed to be a stepping stone to bring people into the drama so I don’t think it’s a stain on Xiao Ran but it’s definitely a stain on the production company and screenwriters . Xiao Ran did her best but I think the aggressive marketing against her and Cangcang, and nonsense behind the scenes made it unsalvageable.
It seems she signed on to TBBM at the same time as Love & Crown so unless Love Crown was to get the better resource of TBBM, then I’d very cautiously optimistic about TBBM now that things have been laid out in the open about the Love and Crown situation. Fans even had to urge the show to post a birthday photo🙂‍↕️.

No, not really. They’re both bad in their own ways. The characterisation in the drama is more logical but the romantic relationship is less satisfying. And even though the plot goes off the rails in the drama, it’s still more linear and logical than the first edition of the book. There’s also this weird tone of taming women through love.
Part of the reason the drama’s script struggled so much is probably because the source wasn’t that great. The book is more romantically satisfying though and it technically has HE (which some think constitutes a good work) but the characters don’t make as much sense and neither does the overall plot.
And the controversy over the author and the drama version of the FL is that Cangcang’s story and world don’t revolve around Xiao Huan like it does in the book. She seems to feel that core of Cangcang’s journey is not Cangcang herself but should be Xiao Huan. But the book version of Cangcang got criticised too and if they kept her storyline the same as the book, she would probably still get criticised. So regardless of the drama or novel, people are not fond of the character.

Tldr: They are both a mess. The drama is partly a mess because the book was a mess.

I think we’ll just have to agree to disagree. My point on trauma bonds is that they can be incredibly strong and incredibly fierce. People in them often think they’re in love so it’s not about being dismissive but about acknowledging the complexity of relationships, especially ones that don’t seem healthy. A lot of Cangcang’s seemingly confusing behaviour makes sense from the standpoint of realising a relationship is not right but everyone is pushing you into a corner. And tbh, there is some legitimately rank stuff going on in the relationship. Xiao Huan lies to her. He won’t tell her the truth or communicate properly; Cangcang has to rely on others leaving her open to manipulation and misunderstandings. He uses her as a pawn. He infantilises her. It’s a big red flag that in the drama, Cangcang refers to herself as a caged bird, has to tell Xiao Huan to stop making decisions for her, laments the freedom she once had, and actually has to ask Xiao Huan not to restrict her freedom too much. All of this sounds like the perfect ingredients for a trauma bond to me.

Sorry but these are just my feelings. Everyone is different and has different interpretations. Mine is that what may have started out as the beginnings of love eventually became a trauma bond. I just can’t see a healthy relationship developing with the drama version. The power imbalance is too heavy, Xiao Huan never really seems to learn to communicate, and too many people are pressuring Cangcang with tales of Xiao Huan’s great deeds for her as if he isn’t an adult with his own free will while rarely acknowledging Cangcang’s own painful experiences with him or gaslighting her. Tbh, I don’t think it’s much of a love story. My feelings are that Cangcang trades one liar (her father) for another (Xiao Huan).

A crush can be intense and used it because a year doesn’t quite seem that long to me but maybe it does to others. I also said first love. I didn’t say hate. I said I felt it was a trauma bond relationship which can involve a strong emotional attachment and often mimics love. PXR’s depiction of the complexity of Cangcang’s emotions is flawless. There is no question of if Cangcang has strong emotions.
for XH. Cangcang probably believes it’s love too. I just don’t think those strong feelings are love after the first arc but something that mimics love when I look at the whole picture.

She only has these two. She’s associated with tragedy mainly because GBMP is considered one of the best tragic idol dramas in recent years and few later tragic dramas have had its lasting power or pop culture reach. And, Xiao Feng is considered a classic role but is a tragic heroine.

As for whether Cangcang loves Xiao Huan… in the book I could say yes but in the drama I’d say it’s more of a trauma bond than love. The Jianghu arc was probably at the level of a crush and a young girl swept up by first love. But then Xiao Huan betrayed Cangcang. She still liked him but I think the romantic feelings were overshadowed by the sense of betrayal, lack of communication, and the things he did that were hurtful in her eyes. While she’s dealing with this, she has everyone telling her, in one way or another, to be with Xiao Huan. Jiangzhou offers her a chance to clear her head and there’s still feelings but she’s then told about all the stuff Xiao Huan has done for and dealing with seeing him severely poisoned for the first time. I think she feels indebted and guilty rather than love which why she’s so conflicted when XH is better and she can think. If her heart wasn’t in conflict, I don’t think she would have tried to run. Then XH follows her to bring her back and reminds her she made a promise to him and I think that’s when she begins to accept him and her fate with him because although she goes back, she doesn’t look very happy. But once at the palace, since she decided to return, I think she also decided to build a life with XH. I think the reconciliation scene that everyone seems to want is her agreeing to go back while at the post station and her writing that message on her return to Linghe Palace. Affection builds once she makes this decision and maybe it’s love but Cangcang’s personality is also fiercely loyal once she decides to let you into her inner circle. In the later episodes, I noticed XH still lies to her just like her dad but the reaction isn’t negative like it was before. It’s the same type of reaction as with her dad and foster brother, she tries to go back to him.