DefyingDestiny

Continuing in my musical mood, the arc of Gu Ting Ye deciding to marry Ming Lan knowing Yan Ruo broke her heart and wanting to free her from carrying baggage; his emotional state fits the song "Take care" by Drake ft Rihanna.
Most of the song is the man's long rant begging that his love and desire to carry her burdens be acknowledged and reciprocated. This is Gu Ting Ye!
The chorus "If you let me, here's what I'll do, I'll take care of you!" This is the only time Rihanna sings and it's Ming Lan's response. It is somewhat deflating for the emotional turbulence of the verses although it offers an honest promise to care. Similarly Ming Lan's efforts in the marriage dont meet Gu Ting Ye's expectations of passionate love instead of stoic loyalty, leading to his breakdown and their fight.

The Full song for reference: Take Care by Drake ft Rihanna

I know you've been hurt by someone else
I can tell by the way you carry yourself
If you let me, here's what I'll do
I'll take care of you (I'll take, I'll take)
I've loved and I've lost

I've asked about you and they told me things
But my mind didn't change and I still feel the same
What's a life with no fun? Please, don't be so ashamed
I've had mine, you've had yours, we both know, we know
They won't get you like I will, my only wish is I die real
'Cause that truth hurts and those lies heal
And you can't sleep thinking that he lies still
So you cry still, tears all on the pillowcase
Big girls all get a little taste, ah
Pushing me away so I give her space, ah
Dealing with a heart that I didn't break
I'll be there for you, I will care for you
I keep thinking you just don't know
Tryna run from that, say you done with that
On your face, girl, it just don't show
When you're ready, just say you're ready
When all the baggage just ain't as heavy
And the party's over, just don't forget me
We'll change the pace and we'll just go slow
You won't ever have to worry, you won't ever have to hide
And you've seen all my mistakes, so look me in my eyes

'Cause if you let me, here's what I'll do
I'll take care of you (I'll take, I'll take)
I've loved and I've lost

Yeah
It's my birthday, I'll get high if I want to
Can't deny that I want you, but I'll lie if I have to
'Cause you don't say you love me
To your friends when they ask you
Even though we both know that you do, you do
One time, been in love one time
You and all your girls in the club one time
All so convinced that you're following your heart
'Cause your mind don't control what it does sometimes
We all have our nights, though, don't be so ashamed
I've had mine, you've had yours, we both know, we know
You hate being alone, well you ain't the only one
You hate the fact that you bought the dream
And they sold you one
And you love your friends, but somebody should've told you some'
To save you, instead, they say
Don't tell me, I don't care
If you hurt, I don't tell you
You don't care, it feels true
Don't tell me, I don't care
If you hurt, I don't tell you
You don't care, it feels true
I know you've been hurt by someone else
I can tell by the way you carry yourself
If you let me, here's what I'll do
I'll take care of you (I'll take, I'll take)
I've loved and I've lost

Ep 35
"It's such a beautiful night
Gonna overthrow a dynasty
Who cares baby
I think I wanna marry you

Is it the look in your eyes
Or you saying
"You're gonna give your life to me"
Who cares baby
I think I wanna marry you"

Marry You remix by Gu Ting Ye
🤭😅😆🤣🤭

I always knew Ming Lan's mother's death traumatised me but now I'm finding that Gu Ting Ye's backstory is also heavy on my heart.

True: she never seeks justice again. She takes some time to learn how to get justice herself and she settles every score one at a time.

Ep 11
I love how Ming Lan learns how to seek justice from "someone pretending to be asleep" during the Momo's punishment. While everyone is crying and being chastised, Ming Lan was learning how to run a household and dish out justice: let them run wild till they hang themselves, open and fair prosecution and swift pre- arranged justice.
Ep 15- 21
She introduces her own trademark move of borrowing a knife to kill and puts this lesson into practise cleaning up her courtyard of the "maids" (spies) sent by the various courtyards.

Gu Ting Ye is really such a terrible bachelor. Two children from an outside mistress😱. The scandal🫢🤭

This first arc where Ming Lan's mother dies is always the hardest for me. Everything about it makes my skin crawl and makes me feel like retching.
When Big Madam and the father are talking about her death in Ep 5 without empathy or interest as if an expensive plate broke rather than human being died. Neither of them cared if Ming Lan a fully healthy child that had just saved them from disgrace died immediately after but they didn't want to "lose face" by having her go back to her in-laws.
A similar thing happens in The Double, with Ji Shuran making Jiang Li fall out with the Ye's only to then send her alone to the temple

I feel so deflated with this show because they didn't handle the break up and make up well. They were such a lovely couple but now I'm just worried for Han Ting.
The Ji Xing we get to know by the end of the show is a selfish/ self-centered person. The way she could walk away from Han Ting, Xingcheng and the merger she forced after purposely selling her shares to punish Han Ting ignoring the safety of her company and employees.... she feels no remorse for abandoning everyone or gratitude that Han Ting protected her tantrum or everyone covers her slack during the merger. Or maybe she did but it wasn't enough for me.
Plot armour just protects her through it and no one blames her for the abandonment, the merger goes smoothly, everyone blames Han Ting for the breakup even Han Ting. she gets a promotion immediately she returns, Han Ting leads the makeup and nearly dies for her....
I don't mind easily getting everything you didn't even know to ask for but at least acknowledge it. Like in You Are My Glory when Yu Tu proposes for the 2nd time; that way I can gush with her about her good fortune but like this... like I said I'm worried for Han Ting

May be you feel the "star-crossed" lovers term is too strong but their love story has as much "content" in that regard as Jack and Rose in Titanic and Romeo and Juliet. Given a second chance to calmly make rational decisions and effectively communicate, I feel most "star-crossed lovers" love stories wouldn't be as dramatic.
Given a second chance at life Xue Ning could see that Zhang Zhe and her were not a good fit. It didn't have to be so dramatic!

I don't think it was guilt mistaken as love. Their scenes from the 1st life were very kilig; she enjoyed flirting with him and causing him distress (much like Bai Lu's demoness character in The Legends). She knew nothing would happen because he was too good a person and she was The Empress; so she never really had to explore her feelings for him (it was semi-harmless flirting) and suddenly he was going to be executed because he did her a favour. and the the coup and then her death.

Naturally in the 2nd life she tried to explore those feelings and you see her go back and forth because she doesn't "know" what she feels or what will happen if she ( a self proclaimed bad person) pursues a relationship with "the best man in the world" (her opinion).

But her feelings for him were never "pure" or "child-like"- remember the scene where he was fixing the porcelain vase and she kept shifting closer to him just to mess with him. She had a crush on him and enjoyed flirting with him.

It ended that way; it started out well and all the relationships seemed to be different but then ALL of them featured one partner that was trying really hard and the other that was letting them.
SZZ was looking like he was cosplaying a serious business man (his clothes didn't "suit" him) just to be with Li Li and she just let him;
Xiao Meng looked more into the mother than her boyfriend
and to keep it gender balanced Quizi lost her friend group to be with Yi Chen and he just let her🤷.
No ned to mention the main couple; that one was obvious.

I always find this first arc difficult to watch. The way they tell this story, everything feels realistic, almost biographical, so the upcoming death always strains my heart a little too much.
Like you said they are at the bottom of the hierarchy and although they can see the set up and injustice with its looming disaster happening around them, they have no way to stop it. This is the first lesson Ming Lan learns from life and its so precisely done that you buy into her guarded but brilliant personality.
The 1st 2 times I watched this drama, I had no idea it was adapted from a transmigration story. They set up the character so well that her "still waters" persona never feels out of place or like a plot hole or character flaw.

I'm about to rewatch The Story of Minglan for the 4th time. I'm so excited 😊 🤗 😚💕☺️😁😊🤗

After the breakup, I could never look at Ji Xing the same. So I may be biased but why does Ji Xing feel "unrealistic" to me?
As a character, I don't understand how she can exist? She seems to run on disney magic ideals! Her intelligence runs from technological to business genius as the story requires. Her empathy is fathomless but she can be cynical at the drop of a hat also as the story requires. She never "falls" for Han Ting, although its clear she's in love with him when they are "in love" but she can also walk away and not think about him again till the story requires.
I find it hard to see the thread of humanity: she's more like a well programmed robot or an immortal fairy or simply a plot armour princess.
I enjoyed the show but... I don't even know, maybe I'm pissed at the breakup and how it was painted as Han Ting's fault by everyone🤷🤷

Final Rating: 8.5/10

Some shows are "ensemble" shows and some are "main characters with side characters" shows. If the storytelling is indecisive it can be sloppy and can spoil the drama to varying levels.
Most historical and high-school/college dramas tend to use "ensemble" storytelling: the main leads story is closely linked to what everyone else is doing. Modern adult dramas are usually about the main leads and other characters are more like plot device to move their story further. It's rare that the 2nd leads impact the main story enough to deserve massive screentime.
I felt ABAY balanced ensemble-main character styles and did it well. Which is why they could get away with 40episodes for a modern drama.

🤭🤭🤭 I'll put a key

SOM= Story Of Minglan

So I just finished rewatching SOKP and I'm rouning off ABAY; now that all the episodes are out on Netflix should I rewatch The Double or still give it some breathing space and rewatch SOM first?

Key🤣
SOKP= Story of Kunning Palace
ABAY= As Beautiful as You
SOM= Story of Minglan

Ji Xing: Da Haung we've broken up with Han Ting! Let's go!!
Da Haung: ....
And I am telling you
I'm not going
He's the best man
I've ever known
There's no way I could ever go
No no no no way.....

I'm done and I definitely rated it too low.
My critique of the fight scenes choreography is also wrong for the most part. It stems from poor choices they made in the finale. The finale fight scene was actually pretty awesome: my problem was that Duke Xue could actually hit Xie Wei with all those archers standing there- the archer seem to have turned to stone. The also left Jian Shu with two massive hiles in his chest to watch Xue Ning cry over and kiss Xue Wei🤷.
Fang Yin's death also didn't really make sense. They made her character stupid just so they could have an emotionally significant death in the finale. I even carried my distaste over onto the actress because I could barely wat h her in ELM.
However the fights throughout the show were thrilling and really highlighted the martial arts prowess of Duke Xue, Yan Mu, Yan Lin, Dao Qin and Jian Shu.
My revised final rating is a 9/10