DramaAjumma

There's no doubt that Zijin is an anachronistic figure and sometimes depicted as being a little too perfect. However, having said that, the reason why Zijin is a likeable character is because she is someone who sees the bigger picture beyond her own interests and the selfish agendas of individuals interacting in that space. She is very much a strategist in her own way. The people around her are engaged in what seems to her to be petty disputes while she is concerned about what is of the greatest benefit to the nation starting with the palace. For her, food is the starting point. I think that's obvious from her conversation with the young tantrum-throwing prince. For me that's her real agenda -- to go beyond factional politics and work for the stability of the country top down. What's really interesting to me about this show is the way she picks her fights and how she does it.

Not a perfect show but I'm enjoying it much more when I think about it in those terms.

This is undoubtedly an excellent police procedural capturing the pioneering work of profiling in SK and in all likelihood the best thing currently airing. The moody atmosphere really adds to the documentary style approach to the storytelling. A gripping well-made series so far.

When I made that comment I wasn't necessarily saying that Royal Feast was "copying" The Red Sleeve. I was pretty certain that Royal Feast was made first because all C dramas are pre-produced and then go through the censors.
What we're doing is making the closest comparisons. Even if Royal Feast was made first, the Red Sleeve was publicly released first and is the obvious point of comparison -- both feature a palace maid who becomes a future consort. Furthermore The Red Sleeve was hugely popular locally and worldwide so it's only natural that people would make that kind of comparison.

The female lead looks so much like Ariel Lin from the original Taiwanese version.

Even though I'm a huge fan of crime and detective dramas, I'm not watching this show for that. There are shows that do that sort of thing much better. I stayed because of the romance and at least I thought that was the best part of the show. Admittedly Qin Xuan isn't the best written character but I could live with it because he's not the male lead. Nice but clueless. He serves a purpose. However, to this day I still don't know why he fell for her to the point that he would risk everything and drown himself in drink.

To be honest, I'm not sure what the show is trying to say about Qiu Yan and Liang Yi's relationship after that stunt. I also have to question the wisdom of letting a woman wander off by herself in that sort of environment. I'm surprised that Liang Yi is quick to approve. Where's the characteristic scolding or bickering? Sure, she's more quick witted than Qiu Min but as we've seen, is still prone to reckless behaviour. Of course he'll be keeping an eye on her from afar as he usually does but I don't see the point then of her making declarations of being actually free. Let's face it, it's a separation ploy -- nothing more, nothing less.

People are defending recent developments based on Qiu Yan's character but what about Liang Yi's character? Yes, he respects her freedom and proto-feminist views but he is far more concerned about her safety. So far he's been negotiating the terms of their relationship. It's not a zero sum game. It doesn't have to be. The show is creating the false impression that this has to be a zero sum situation.

All I can say is: better now than later. Small mercies.

It's getting better after a bumpy start. More than Dae Jang Geum, this show gives me Red Sleeve vibes. The scheme to frame the Crown Prince first and then Prince Han wasn't too bad. I remember the lad from Miss Truth. Not entirely sure if he's the right fit for the role here but I really liked him in Miss Truth.

Thanks for the support. I'm not particularly concerned about realism but consistency. It goes to the heart of who Liang Yi is as a person.

I certainly think that the inconsistency is far more jarring because it all happened in the same episode. The other thing that also bothers me is the lack of communication that got them to this point when on other occasions they have communicated much better than this even while they were bickering there was honesty. This to me looks a lot like noble idiocy.

I watched the RAWs before heading off to bed last night and I'm still a little hot under the collar. :D
It shows how invested we are in the storyline.

What you say here makes some sense and it's the best justification I've seen so far of why the narrative has taken the turn it has. But I still think the shift in direction feels abrupt.

Frankly to me that's a writing flaw to me as well. After trying so hard in all other ways, he's throwing in the towel without even trying to negotiate with her like he's always done. I believe he respects her freedom but this feels completely out of character for me.

I'm devastated for Liang Yi. He had so much reason to hope that he'd won her heart and it all came crashing down in those moments not long after Qiu Yan suddenly tells him she's off to find herself and her stories. It's a plot device that as a whole I don't have a lot of time for but at least in this case it's not some last minute inclusion half an hour before the end. There is some consolation in that. For me this desire on the part of Qiu Yan to up and leave on her own to become a fully-fledged writer comes out of nowhere. She already has a bank of experiences to draw on to write her book (as the published author has noted) so the rationale is unconvincing. Regardless of whether this is about stripping everything from Liang Yi before the end, it feels like it came out of left field especially after her involuntary confession earlier in the episode. No doubt that Qiu Yan becoming a writer has been on the cards for a while but it doesn't necessitate that they have to go their separate ways to achieve this. To me it's a likely flaw in the writing.

The fact that people are upset over this recent development demonstrates that the showrunners haven't done as good a job selling this turn of events as well as they could have. I accept that there have been some melodramatic elements to the show which I was onboard with for the most part but this feels more like bait and switch than consistently good development.

In all honesty the end of Episode 28 leaves a bitter taste in my mouth because narrative wise, it is so unnecessary and the result is that I'm less enthused about the remaining episodes. From the trailers, I'm sensing an extended revenge plot that's obviously devised to bring LIang Yi down very low.

I'm not concerned about the ending as such but how we get there. I'm sure the leads will be together in the end.

Oh well... at least we enjoyed the laughs while we had them.

The incident involving Consort Guo was hilarious. I laughed a lot and annoyed some members of my household. I think Jeremy Xu and Liang Yi got into the spirit of things rather too readily. :P

The thing that interested me most about Episodes 25 and 26 was how the leads were sounding out each other and testing one another with seemingly innocuous words or actions. They've obviously fallen each other but they're both unsure about the other. They aren't quite sure if these feelings they've developed are requited and they see enough to hope but not enough to be sure. This predicament is humorously played out with the inclusion of Qin Xuan and Min'er in particular interactions. Liang Yi shrewdly and wisely doesn't try to keep Qin Xuan away from Qiu Yan. He lets that play out because from there he can see if 1) he is winning by a significant margin or 2) how Yan'er sees Qin Xuan. Is she pretending disinterest or is she genuinely over the guy? There are moments when she's seems deeply concerned for his well-being -- but does that imply "love"? He can't be sure. They went on a shopping spree and it was for the mother-in-law. Does that mean she wants to stay being a permanent member of the Liang household? I observe Yan'er doing the same thing. She doesn't feel confident about coming outright saying how she feels so she's also testing the waters. She senses that he's going beyond the call of duty and guilt, reasoning that there's something else driving his actions.

There's some good acting there between the leads here.

I imagine it will like the vast majority of C dramas but the show's set-up isn't as good as it could be especially when it looks this expensive.

I was thinking that this would be a more serious drama. But the only thing that anyone takes seriously seems to be the food porn. An overweight Crown Prince who needs to go on a diet and the resources of the Jing Yi Wei aka Brocade Guards (who obviously have nothing better to do with their time) to keep an eye on the kitchen staff to make sure he follows the strict dietary regime. Maybe they need to be defunded or disbanded.

Still in it for the food.

It's a toss up as to who is more annoying. Yuan Lang or Min'er.

One guy buys up all the crime novels in the shop. The other guy brings her to meet an author. There's no competition.

Firewood Office.
He's partly suspicious of her as well. Not for no good reason either because she's scheming to get his friend which she doesn't deny.

This was a veritable soap opera from start to finish but highly addictive with all the backstabbing and counterschemes. Even though this was called The Legend of Haolan, I really loved Yi-ren and wanted more of him. Maybe it's just Mao Zijun but I hope that there will a show focused on the father of Qin Shi Huang in the future.

The main trio were the obvious highlights but the acting overall was pretty decent.

No doubt she's grateful for Qin Xuan's attentions and kindness towards her. I certainly agree with all that. I tend to think that when she lamented that she'll never meet anyone who treats her that well again she really meant it. But I don't think it was a deep love connection as subsequent events bear out. I keep referring to Pride and Prejudice because it is the source of the tropes here. Elizabeth Bennet was attracted to Wickham initially and flattered by his attentions to her so that led to her being more inclined to believe what he said. It wasn't love but a kind of temporary infatuation.

That said, I certainly don't disagree that it's possible for a woman (as it is in this case) to have different types of love relationships with different men. In the Legend of Haolan that kind of narrative was also in operation. Haolan had many loves but the one who prioritized her, won her. In Miss Truth, the female lead fell in love with two men for quite different reasons.

I also think that Qiu Min is a better match for Qin Xuan in terms of personality types but she was in too much of a hurry and put the cart before the horse. I certainly never thought she was as virtuous as she liked to present herself as being. She was as conniving as the next woman in the Qiu household.

He is rather mean at the start but there are for the most part actually good reasons for him being so. But he does pay for it later. The really good part is that they both read each other like books.