Jungshooky

I'm so excited they've officially started filming! They all look so great in the photos from the booting ceremony!

I'm almost finished watching Season 2 (saving it for this weekend when I have time to binge the last case), so the wait for S3 will be long but the anticipation will be worth it I'm sure!

Yeah, I've heard that they're lot more strict about costume dramas in regards to line delivery/pronunciation, so although I also really enjoy hearing XK's real voice, I'm not entirely surprised nor disappointed if he is dubbed for this one. He's just started dubbing himself in modern dramas - so he may just need a bit more time to continue improving his accent before he'll be green lit to dub a costume drama.

Though if it turns out he was dubbed in the trailer because he's such a busy guy and hasn't had time to dub himself yet - but will dub himself for the actual drama I will be pleasantly surprised :)

Wow the visuals and ambiance based on the trailer look absolutely stunning! Knowing this is the same director of The Double, I definitely see the similar artistic flair and I'm here for it!

Too bad we likely still have a looooong wait for this one T__T

I heard they had to cut like 10+ episodes worth of material to pass censorship because after they filmed this the government suddenly decided to ban tomb-raider dramas - so that regular people weren't encouraged to go out and like raid old tombs I guess? Most of the bans the CCP issues are honestly nonsensical and dramas with potential - like this one - suffer greatly for it

Rather than shelve the entire drama and lose all the money they poured into this, I guess they decided to try and earn some money back by butchering the plot *shrug*

I'm usually not picky about chemistry or FLs at all, but I agree - this was my least favorite pairing with XK by far. I just didn't feel any chemistry with them, and also didn't vibe with her character at all. By the halfway point I was really only sticking around for XK because if they did anything right in this drama, it was his wardrobe and styling. Man, those 3-piece suits and vests - just *chef's kiss*

She plays the crazy old sect leader who was trapped in the cave prison next to XK's cave

I haven't finished S2 yet, but I definitely think both seasons have a lot of rewatch value. I'd like to go back and see if I can catch clues/foreshadowing that I missed the first time around . . . but also, the real value this show has, in my opinion, are the characters and their relationships with one another, which is what will make me come back for a third/fourth/fifth etc watch in the future :)

So glad I decided to listen to the hype for Season 2 and finally watched this! One of the better dramas I’ve watched for sure!

Onward to season 2 😁

Maybe filming just went smoothly? They may have overestimated the time needed in case some of the real fire scenes took longer to complete.

I think it's mostly because the filming for FI has been tightly controlled so that fans (and paparazzi) don't have easy access to BTS scenes. We got some footage recently because they were filming in a business district which generated some discussion and enthusiasm.

In contrast, we were getting BTS updates for Moonlit Reunion multiple times a week so that MDL page was much more active during filming. So I don't think it's a lack of interest in FI, just a lack of stuff to discuss at this point

Another possibility is that they're doing most of the scenes that require the actors first, so they finish earlier - and then remaining filming will be doing real fire shoots with stand-ins if needed. I don't think they'd send Xu Kai into a burning building (albeit a very controlled one) - they'd leave that to the pros. And the gear they have to wear would prevent us from recognizing XK anyway lol

The shot of his hand holding the forgiveness card while you hear the flatline in the background is forever seared into my memory. Once is enough T____T

Before I block the pathetic waste of space this dude is, just wanted to say that it's not just XK dramas. I've seen this kind of drivel all over this website, in addition to blatant homophobic and racist comments. If you look at a**hat's reply below you can tell there's no getting through to them. Dude had to mansplain all over at me, which literally just proves my point that he's a sexist bigot *shrug*

I'm blocking him after this reply so I won't see your reply if you give one. These people honestly aren't worth my time, words, or intention to change their mindset. So block it is.

Well although I enjoyed this a lot the first time around, I really wasn't planning to rewatch it . . . but then I watched Dashing Youth and I got the rewatch itch.

And man, knowing the backstory in better detail makes this drama hit different the second time, in a really good (although bittersweet) way.

Well, it IS the 21st century and women can have sex with whomever whenever they want and don't deserve to be judged for exerting autonomy over their own bodies. Women are not bad people or evil for enjoying sex. In this drama they're both adults. As long it's safe, sane, and consensual (which it is), there isn't any issue with it.

You may choose not to engage in such behavior and that's YOUR choice. But don't put down other women for their choices, nor judge them because their way of viewing and experiencing the world is different.

And yes the leads have great chemistry, but *GASP* have LOTS of premarital sex, so maybe this one's not for you, just saying.

Gosh, the misogyny (both external and internal) on this site is so frustrating

No problem! I tried to keep it brief but it still ended up pretty long-winded ^^'

I also think there's some editing issues because there are aspects that I'm finding hard to follow as well

Haven't gotten that far, but I agree some of the editing choices have been . . . odd. I'm enjoying the story so far, but the abundance of weird slow-motion sequences is distracting. Besides the one of the FL walking through her family home in her wedding gown (which I thought was appropriate and well done), all the other slow-mo shots have seemed random and not needed ^^'

Back in the good ol days and depending on how awful the royal family was at the time, if you so much as sneezed at the wrong moment or because it irritated someone powerful, it could result in you and possibly your entire family being executed. Cue the dude trying to execute a child for singing a nursery rhyme he thought of as 'offensive.'

People outside the ruling class didn't really have "rights" back then.

Where are you watching it? I'm watching it on Viki and the subs seem fine. Most of the free sites (and even some official like WeTV) use machine (AI) translation which is plain awful

They're investigating a serial murder case - someone is killing couples and staging them (men with their heart cut out and women with their faces mutilated). It's a big deal because the son of a noble family was the most recent (and first) victim discovered, and some of the initial evidence implicated one of his brothers. The problem is that this particular brother (and his branch of that noble family) are very important inventors/weapon designers who have contributed greatly to war technology for the dynasty - so the Empress Dowager (who is in charge since the emperor is 6 years old) wants to keep him around so that he continues to design superb weapons, which he cannot do if he is arrested and imprisoned/executed for murder.

Because of the sensitive nature of the victim and possible suspect, the Empress Dowager put Shen Du in charge because he's loyal/answers directly to her. Shen Du got in trouble because he was accused of mishandling the case by Black Fiend dude. Yan Xing can plagiarize handwriting and basically wrote a summary of HER findings/theories I presume (this part I was a little unclear about and may be translation issue) but it was enough to appease the Empress Dowager for the time being.

ABAY is a Viki Exclusive show - which means Viki got exclusive streaming rights outside ASEAN. Most of their Exclusive shows have historically only been K-dramas - this is the first C-drama they have advertised as an exclusive show (that' I'm aware of at least)

This also means ABAY likely won't be available on other streaming sites like Netflix or Amazon Prime anytime soon or ever

Viki is still releasing episodes - they're often quite behind with Youku dramas in particular