Editorials 
CRINGE WITH EXTRA CRINGE SPRINKLED ON TOP...
A maid is talking to her newly married mistress. She’s frustrated at the way her mistress is being treated by her new in-laws. She reminds her mistress of her privileged background:
“Your family owns over a dozen herbal medicine shops. You grew up surrounded by piles of gold and jade.”
What? No real maid would ramble on like that, telling the mistress things she already knows about her own background. She’d say something like:
“May I serve tea, Madam?”
Master Liu (husband) comes in, drunk as a skunk. He, too, preaches to the audience in the guise of talking to his wife:
“If it weren’t for my father relying on the dowry to alleviate the urgent need, you would have no chance to attach yourself to our Liu family. For three generations our Liu family has maintained prestigious official ranks and high status.”
What’s wrong with these two speeches?
1. They’re too formal.
2. No maid talks this way to her mistress.
3. No husband talks this way to his wife
6. No drunk talks this way to anyone.
When a writer dumps a whole lot of text, back story, or world building into a dialog, it’s a sign of poor writing. It’s called an information dump.
This happens again and again in the first few episodes of this drama.
This is one small example of what’s wrong here. But I’m not going to stick around to see if it gets better. Writing as bad as this seldom improves.
“Your family owns over a dozen herbal medicine shops. You grew up surrounded by piles of gold and jade.”
What? No real maid would ramble on like that, telling the mistress things she already knows about her own background. She’d say something like:
“May I serve tea, Madam?”
Master Liu (husband) comes in, drunk as a skunk. He, too, preaches to the audience in the guise of talking to his wife:
“If it weren’t for my father relying on the dowry to alleviate the urgent need, you would have no chance to attach yourself to our Liu family. For three generations our Liu family has maintained prestigious official ranks and high status.”
What’s wrong with these two speeches?
1. They’re too formal.
2. No maid talks this way to her mistress.
3. No husband talks this way to his wife
6. No drunk talks this way to anyone.
When a writer dumps a whole lot of text, back story, or world building into a dialog, it’s a sign of poor writing. It’s called an information dump.
This happens again and again in the first few episodes of this drama.
This is one small example of what’s wrong here. But I’m not going to stick around to see if it gets better. Writing as bad as this seldom improves.
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