Freefoxx

Love just about everything about this drama, but the side characters and storylines are really well done. None of the subplots or character types are regurgitated, it's a unique story at each location where XFN and his group show up. Makes for great worldbuilding.

Totally agreed. While I thought the ending was believable, and coherent with the rest of the plot, it wasn't nearly as "epic" as the drama would have led us to expect. It almost felt that there might have been a more extravagant ending planned that was ultimately scrapped in favor of the WYJ as sole villain plotline (I think he would always have been the main villain, but there could have been others involved too including some of the court subplot characters).

On your second question, I think Li Chun Gang wants to take XFN's green sleeve snake technique to the next level, because he implied that he didn't fully grasp it in the confrontation with Coach Cao. The gist of it seems to be that you need to be willing to defy the heavens and cut off your internal hang-ups in order to fully master the technique. The plot significance is in the next episode (not sure if you've seen it yet).

Unfortunately I doubt it as well. I think this was mostly a reference to the affair between these characters' real-life equivalents, plus a red herring of sorts to distract from WYJ being the real villain. But I agree with you that it seemed like there was something more going on that wasn't explained or maybe was dropped at the end.

Also the constant badgering of WSY to lay low plus him going after GBZ so aggressively. Which could easily be explained by him viewing GBZ as beneath their family, but in retrospect it makes more sense.

One was when WSY asked Li Beiqi how he could have shown up to a location they were investigating, when she had only told WYJ about it just now. The implication being that WYJ must have told Li Beiqi to go there even before WSY knew about it. This was before the LBQ/clan red herring came up, and LBQ seemed like such a "yes man" character that WYJ seemed more suspicious than him.

Another was the revelation - I think in a conversation between WSY and GBZ - that WYJ had been the Empress' food taster. Given how sick he was, I wondered if he'd been poisoned and had it out for the Empress.

Also, when WSY was trapped in the mountain, he lost his temper and said something weird about "how could Taoist Tiantong blow up the Thunder at Siyue." That caught my attention because (at least the translation) made it seem like he knew more about the incident than he should have. IIRC I don't think he had all the details about the Thunder at that point. For me, this was the biggest clue prior to the more recent revelations about him knowing Erlang's brother.

Something else that seemed off was that when King Jin approached him, he agreed to help him plot. Given that he and WSY had previously voiced that the Wu family viewed them basically as outcasts, it seemed weird that he agreed so readily in exchange for that military job.

First are the Inner Guards which are basically the palace guard. Wu Youjue is their commander and underneath him are Wu Siyue and Li Beiqi.

Then there is the Grand Court of Review which in this drama is in charge of policing Luoyang. Minister Gao is in charge of them and GBZ's acquaintance Pei Jian is under him. There is also another (shady) guy early in the drama but I can't remember his name.

Next is the Intelligence Service which is highly secretive and is supposed to collect information but not act on it. The head of this service wears a mask and is called Lord Chu but in reality is the King of East River, Empress Wu's grandson. Lord Chu seems to have two people that report directly to him, his bodyguard An Baitan plus an official called the "halberdier."

The army also has a role early in the drama and is run by Song Liang, the Minister of War.

The other government official, the King of Jin, featured in the drama is not part of the secret service but is the Empress' nephew and appears to be one of the chief ministers. He is put in charge of investigating the Song Liang case.

Yeah I really like her character and the actor. Good comic relief but also real character development too.

Sure! It's Yibo and Song Yi (characters Baili Hongyi and Liu Ran) and also Song Qian and Huang Xuan (characters Wu Siyue and Gao Bingzhu). The first one is only kinda-sorta romantic, the second one is a genuine slow-developing romance.

I would love a S2 but it feels like they are so rare in dramas these days. Also I think this was supposed to wrap things up - Erlang and Liu Ran can live happily/awkwardly in peace, GBZ got his people out of the "Unwelcome Well," etc. But the ingredients are definitely there with the unresolved subplots.

On that point, I was confused by WYJ referencing the Princess in the last episode. It sounded like he had captured her or something like that? And then it was never explained. It almost feels like there was additional content or a more dramatic ending that was cut.

There are two, but slow-burning and not the primary focus of the plot.

I agree. Not much spectacle but tied things up logically and felt plausible. Wrapping up the plot quietly and without a lot of fuss.

I think so. It's implied early on that he is the son of the former crown prince, which would line up with Ruizong's status toward the end of Empress Wu's reign. And not sure if you've seen the ending yet so I won't spoil it, but there's a strong hint in the last episode.

Yes, that was one of the things I liked about the ending. They were able to go back into Luoyang and live normal lives.

lmao I noticed that too. It also cracked me up early in the drama when Shen Fei (RIP) is bleeding from a wound and the (uninjured) elite characters are falling all over one another asking if each other are OK.

*****SPOILERS*****

Pretty good ending to a very good drama. Nice to see a happy ending for Erlang and Liu Ran. WYJ as the secret villain was predictable but in a good way, because there were enough clues so it didn't feel forced. Some other nicely done details, too, like GBZ's sidekick at the restaurant and Lord Chu back at work and hinting at his own ambitions. I'm also glad there wasn't a forced resolution of the GBZ sister subplot and the writing tied that up pretty well.

WSY dying sucks. I get that often a lead character is killed off near the end but it didn't seem necessary. From what we've seen of the empress, she doesn't seem like she would have punished WSY for what her brother did. Also, what on earth happened to the new 16th Night? And the empress' secretary and the King of Jin disappear too except for a brief reference to him at the end. Maybe they were just meant as red herrings, but it feels like some of the subplots were rushed or dropped near the end. Not a huge deal but noticeable.

I'm neutral on tying Liu Feng into the ending, even though I overall liked the Peipei/Liu Feng subplot because I thought it added texture to the drama. It just seemed too unrealistic that basically all of the leads' relatives were somehow involved in the conspiracy or otherwise screwing things up.

This is so true. I'm also impressed by the different layers to each relationship, especially the ones tested by the distrust and shocking revelations. Like with the original 16th Night, having to balance her relationship with GBZ with her mission. The same is true in the WSY-WYJ sibling relationship, where without showing the backstory, you can sense the deep loyalty and reliance they each have on the other.

They show her very briefly in the first or second episode, she's kind of rude to Siyue after the incident in the market.

Super interesting! So maybe WYJ and Chu are working together? And some combination of the Crown Prince family and King Jin are the "big bad"? That would be intriguing.

I actually like the acting for WYJ but I feel like his backstory wasn't laid out very well in terms of the writing. It's like after dozens of episodes of him being a paternalistic jerk, he suddenly has a full personality, being all wistful about his old friends and then craftily manipulating the rioters into calming down.