Da-mimi

At Ep25 , i still feel , this should have been 50+ episode drama. it has so much meat and i feel so much chopping has been done to bring it down to 28 episodes

Ep25: either deposed emperor gone nuts or pretending to have gone nuts. he is following their orders to the T and helping bring down their defence and handing over chang'an on plate. his brother had a better chance of defending their kingdom. did he think the tiemos offer is better than his brothers chance to defend the kingdom? so disappointed in him

I started watching k drama many years ago(one of the 1st Asian dramas i watched) , have some real favorites dramas (whose episodes i rewatch sometimes!), but some where down the line i stopped enjoying them (the humor is something i found cringy and coundnt continue - even those dramas which ranked high- i couldnt watch!), Havent seen kdramas for a few years till "When the Phone rings" which i enjoyed immensely and then Bon Apetit - which i liked as well
This series i watched it when it first released , but no idea why i dropped it after 1 ep. while rewatching i didnt particularly dislike it. infact am finding it good. Completed 2 Eps , hope this run continues

I was skeptical before starting this one, but it turned out to be surprising good ..still at ep3 ..but loving it.

If the series is any reflection on legal field and aspirants of korean politics, it is incredibly sad. I hope it is just exaggeration, and prosecutors and politicians are not that mean and cut throat , as to get someone in, to make it to that top

They are jealous and evil. Yes not potrayed well in the show. Ye rong esp, nothing simple about her. She is a schemer. And can scheme even a dear friend for her benefit

4 years and they didnt understand her. Not one backed her when ye rong accused her unfairly. Its only when feng confirms she picked thag phone they try to normalise and apologise. Even then i would keep away from all other than boss and feng.. rest all trash.. none worthy of a friendship

One of my hopes os he would recover fully and goes back to his full time surgery. Someone that good should not have to loose a career that one is so good at, and has so much to contribute to tye world , due to a trash , that is FL's dads friends daughter

Super loving this show. One thing i have to point it out. Chinese stars need to take care of their fitness and health.. all look like bag of bones. Esp ML. He has a tired ness and fatigue etched into his eyes and being. He is my fav star , since finding yourself and Go Ahead. I would be sad if he loses any more weight in the anticipation his fans will love him more. I would rather he puts on more weight.same with FL and rest of cast.. also with other chinese stars. If the stars looked upon by younger generation are taking such unhealthy health trends , the future generations have to pay for this unhealthy trend. They would have a few generations condemed to bad health. I dont think any one us would love our fav stars less if they look a little more healthy. Its their acting chops that i would love to appreciate , not their unhealthy body stats or face card.

I like the pace, after the crazy pace of vendetta of An am enjoying the slowness of this series...

Ep12: All Zhuang had to tell FL is that he likes her, and he would have had a big chance. He had to blow it up with all that trash talk...🤦‍♀️... drama gives a lot of details that arent covered in book, esp confrontation between Zhuang and Ye rong after their friends wedding.. all these are good additions..gives a lot of clarity on whats going on ,on Zhuang/Rongs side.. its obvious ye rong is played a big gaMe in sabotizing her own childhood friend's happiness.

I like the trip to her grandparents house. It tells the story behind how she is so down to earth , caring and warm. Both her mother and grandparents are warm and caring , and down to earth which rubbed off on her..and she has none of the airs of the wealthy. She is raised to be a gem, is a gem

Ep10: it seems to me ,in zhuang and rong rong relationship, its rong rong who kept the ambiguousness from.her side, she seem to be his 1st love, and since he didnt know if she is with him or not..and will accept him or not may have caused his rejection of FL ...and his comment later on that " in such a state , the love will fizzle out" that he made when ye rong inquires him in the context of siliang and the guy pursuing her... in that entire discussion, it could be assumed they are actually talking about themselves... and the way ye rong blocks zhuang when they meet FL on the steps on ep10 clearing indicates.. she want to keep him blocked, though she knows he no longer likes her and likes the FL..

It bothers me when such underhanded methods are employed by ones own childhood friends.. she knows she didnt accept him earlier due to his family situation, and now he has moved on..and he has every right..by blocking his happiness , she is showing how ugly her heart is...
For zhuang , ye rong is 1st love..for FL , zhuang is 1st love.. it looks like both didnt succeed in it.. poor guy..he seemed to have people gushing over his looks everywhere ,in college , in office..without any success in love.. i still think he is poor judge of character.. neither he understood his childhood friend, nor FL... had he understood, he would have run away from the 1st, and run towards the 2nd .. in one of the episodes he says , what do i have to give her... if he knew her , he would know that she would have accepted him with just clothes on his back and not a penny to his name.. thats her nature..and he is clueless , he didnt know this about her.. he didnt know the gem of a person she is, despite immense power and wealth, she is not the kind to hurt even an enemy..he ascribes all bad qualities to her..and i dont even know what got him to fall for her at the end of college .. her facecard?.. ML had time to access her (though he fell for her face card, and style of fighting for herself in the party), he judges her character correctly and ensures he doesnt loose her... with all that smartness, zhauang could access all the markets in the world and becpme a great investment banker but cant access the righteousness of the girl he fell for and protect her when she needed it.. he was poor monetarily before, he is still poor ,later on, due to poor judgement

my impressions based off novel :
if Zhaung lost FL it is entirely his own doing. i feel he has a big chip on his shoulder, immense low complex feelings - his own personal struggles made him feel his self striving life was somehow better and FL's easy and casual approach inferior and downlookable.. (didnt she get into that college on her own merit!) - i wonder in their immese jeolousy of her wealth and privilages they assumed she got the seat via connections)

I feel in the 4 years none of her batch mates understood FL (including Zhaung as well as ML understood her real nature in the few months he spent working along side (though most of the time he was prejuidiced against her as well) - his comment (in her batchmates wedding in the context of rong rong, one is paper tiger and other is a real cub - and the cub is worried her showing claws to protect herself might have been excessing and hurting to other party - makes one wonder , even that prejudiced person can see her real nature in short time , than her supposed friends and dormmates- Also , none supporting the FL when she was wrongly accused makes it clear how superficial their friendship was - and not even Zhaung comes to her aid when she was wrongly accused by rong rong- he believes FL would take such a drastic and desparate measure like not passing an interview call , to ease her path towards him- is such hypocritical narsisssm on his part or may be FL's midadventure in proposing him caused him to believe that.

if he loved her , he would not have allowed his childhood friend attack her and insult someone he loves , constantly , and if he loved her , he should have come out openly, spell it out , not kept it in ambiguity. like how FL leads says , people in real love keep it open and honest - which both ML and FL were.. but not Zhuang , rong rong or Si liant (who also liked Zhuang!)-

also , zhuang was supposed to have looked at her with disgust when she first proposed him. that should be enough about his persona and attitute towards her- even if he didnt like her, he could have politely refused , dont have to be disrespectful, humiliating and look her down.

i would have wished she had accessed him correctly at that point and picked self respect over stupid infactuation and ,moved away- i dont hate her for continue to love him , though

my impressions based off novel :
if Zhaung lost FL it is entirely his own doing. i feel he has a big chip on his shoulder, immense low complex feelings - his own personal struggles made him feel his self striving life was somehow better and FL's easy and casual approach inferior and downlookable.. (didnt she get into that college on her own merit!) - i wonder in their immese jeolousy of her wealth and privilages they assumed she got the seat via connections)

I feel in the 4 years none of her batch mates understood FL (including Zhaung as well as ML understood her real nature in the few months he spent working along side (though most of the time he was prejuidiced against her as well) - his comment (in her batchmates wedding in the context of rong rong, one is paper tiger and other is a real cub - and the cub is worried her showing claws to protect herself might have been excessing and hurting to other party - makes one wonder , even that prejudiced person can see her real nature in short time , than her supposed friends and dormmates- Also , none supporting the FL when she was wrongly accused makes it clear how superficial their friendship was - and not even Zhaung comes to her aid when she was wrongly accused by rong rong- he believes FL would take such a drastic and desparate measure like not passing an interview call , to ease her path towards him- is such hypocritical narsisssm on his part or may be FL's midadventure in proposing him caused him to believe that.

if he loved her , he would not have allowed his childhood friend attack her and insult someone he loves , constantly , and if he loved her , he should have come out openly, spell it out , not kept it in ambiguity. like how FL leads says , people in real love keep it open and honest - which both ML and FL were.. but not Zhuang , rong rong or Si liant (who also liked Zhuang!)-

also , zhuang was supposed to have looked at her with disgust when she first proposed him. that should be enough about his persona and attitute towards her- even if he didnt like her, he could have politely refused , dont have to be disrespectful, humiliating and look her down.

i would have wished she had accessed him correctly at that point and picked self respect over stupid infactuation and ,moved away- i dont hate her for continue to love him , though -

just completed ep1, and then started reading the novel - hope it doesnt turn out to be a bad idea

fantastic write up!!! I thoroughly enjoyed reading your reading of the drama. which in all probability is how it should be read.

It is a wonderful drama, totally reeled me in, I understand whats going on , but still there are characters who sacrified themselves for greater good, the Chancellor Gao, Gu Yu ... they came out of the same system too, opressed by the same killer rules - kill or be killed , even in that moment they choose sacrifice because it will help bring peace to the realm , normalcy , decency , humaness.... ML and his side is killing to bring down people who led the realm to such a devastating chaos- turning humans to animals... animals first instinct is survival, and all those who choose to kill for their greed , survival , benefit are still animals... it doesnt matter they put some thought while attempting it

the series has such a wierd setting , actually -. there is so much death, ML , the deposed emporer and his brother , yan feng shan, wang pu and everyone around them, .. all seem to lead a very abnormal life...havent seen anyone leading normal life in the series, must have been really choatic timeperiod during that time.... it made me wonder , what is so great about life that people like yan feng shan and ML's uncle are willing to kill to survive without compassion or kindness ... is that life even worth being called a "human" life... they are just animals ..

Thanks for the explanation. i didnt think that deep. it is true, surviving huben army itself must be a huge yardstick to one;s intelligence and competence... really broke my heart that he couldnt protect his sister, and being geniuses didnt help his father.. and poor chap leading such a pitable life using his brains to get his revenge

once in a while you come across stories that has a lot of meat, this is one such a story! it needs more than 50 odd to narrate the story in half decent manner. 28 is too few ... the ride seems bit choppy....
feels like starved off some good content...

Ep16: was it smart not letting the deposed emporer know his elder brother is awake? that idiot gave himself away by saying "brother wake up fast"/....am not really trusting the elder brother? he has too many tricks up his sleeve.. and he also tried killling han zling

spoiler :
Ep13: Did his sister really die? what a shock this is !