MadelineMaureen

I'm still so nervous to start this one, because of how many sad endings there have been lately in Cdrama world.
If anyone is keeping up with the interviews of those involved with the production or aware of the IP and can tell me if this story has a happy ending or sad ending I would appreciate it.

Third time for Liu Xie Ning & Wang Xing Yue...Story of Kunning Palace & The Double. & third time for Wang Xing Yue & Zhao Qing (scent of time & the double)
But at least 4 actors from The Double overlap & My Journey To You little overlap as well. Same producer as The Double & Scent of Time so the casting makes sense. I feel like a lot of the guest roles will be played by people from Lost You Forever as that was the last project the director worked on before this one.

It's every supporting male & female lead I've watched over the last year all in one show as an ensemble. Every show that I've watched I'll check to see what else they have been in will be in & I think I hit black out bingo by the 6th person. 😆😂

Warning, about to nerd out again. I didn't realize I hadn't really spoken about this yet so it all just kind of came out all at once.
TLDR: Director good, production👍🏻
Cinematography and lighting have always been my favorite aspects of film as a media. I majored in Fine Art with a concentration in Photography in college.
Because film/television is such a visual language, so much can be said with silence if the right director is behind a project. A single frame can say more(express more story) than a page of dialogue, if done properly.

I'm very much a technical nerd when it comes to the productions of shows. So even the sound design, set design, location(and how it's utilized...these are all things I will think about at one point or another when watching something. A lot of the time I have to turn that side of my brain off or I can become too judgmental of certain production choices.

When people are watching the BTS for the actors interactions am looking around them at how the director set up the shot and what light scores they are utilizing.

Pretty sure it was this production that did a one shot that I really enjoyed. It was a fight scene on a boat. I believe when Song Mo surprised the pirates . It stood out because I don't normally see a director of a longer show take the time to get choreography down with the single camera move. (a one shot is when it's a continuous shot from one perspective without cutting away to a different camera. It takes a lot of rehearsal as everyone needs to hit their marks at the exact right time or you have to start all over again.) Some shows lately ONLY get the action sequences lit and set up to perfection and don't take the proper time to set up the smaller romantic moments. Simply staying on an actor as they take just a moment longer to catch their breath or hold their hand back. It's the detail shots that made this production my number one period drama of the year.

This is thanks to the director knowing what he wants the edit to be before shooting. a lot of the time you have multiple cameras set up at once covering multiple angles....so you have to light the scene for ALL the cameras at one time. The method this director used was one camera with lighting specifically designed for that one camera shot. He also used practical lighting ttechniques that you cam see in a lot of the behind the scenes. For example, a lot of those close up shots at nighttime indoors...the is a mirrored plate of lit candles being held by a crew member. So think of it like a open book with two mirrors under & behind the candles to reflect more light. It softens the lighting & gives a more romantic undertone that is more subconscious for the viewer.
Because he wasn't giving the editing team hours and hours of multi camera shots of the same scene the editing is cleaner overall. There are still some errors, but not as bad as I've seen in other dramas with a similar budget.
He also put a LOT of the budget behind the costume department. The detail work on many of the leanding/supporting characters is amazing. Still waiting for some of my Chinese fashion YouTubers to do a deep dive on the costumes. okay nerd Ted talk over...im glad you're liking the show!

please make this a topic in the discussion/topic section. you can find it in the browser version of the website. it will get lost in the comments here & this is well constructed & helpful information for future watchers.

Episode 32 about 11 minutes into the episode.

(These are just the period/costume dramas that I personally finished that had happy or open, but happy endings that aired in 2024)

The Double
Princess Royal
Blossoms in Adversity
Love's Rebellion
Are You the One
Melody of Golden Age
In Blossom(more open ended imo)
Fateful Love(open ended back to present day)
The Rise of Ning
Love Game in Eastern Fantasy(open ended back to reality)
Blossom

Yes, because the actor playing the ML(bodyguard) refused to cancel a fan meeting in Taiwan, I believe. It had been on his schedule for months and the tickets were expensive and he didn't want to disappoint his fans.
The body guard was actually positioned as the lead character of the whole show tbh. Yes, it was called The Last Empress, but the bodyguard had equal to, if not MORE, screentime to the Empress prior to the script changes.
You can almost see the exact moment they switched MLs and the show took a 180. The Emperor was always the bad guy and a horrible person that can't be redeemed. Then the next moment he's some simp husband who loves his wife actually...*side eye*
I wish I still had access to the comment section on VIKI*and other sites) for this show but I think they removed the comments from then and the timed comments are too many and aren't really dated.
Also, I believe the is was the last time I ever watched a live airing show again. Because I hated how the writers never had a clear vision it was just whichever actor became popular for whatever reason, or whichever was less injured and the constant mind-bending character changes mid plot. Right before it started airing(Nov) Choi Jin Hyuk was hurt doing a stunt and needed like 30 stitches in his head. So his filming got switched around. By Jan they had pivoted who they were giving more screen time with because production knew that Choi Jin Hyuk wouldn't be available to film the extra 4 episodes.

PS. Dramawiki still has the cast listed in it's originally billing order.

A modern one with Johnny Huang called Love Song In Winter, I'm still on the fence if I want to jump into it or not. It's giving a similar feel to a show that I didn't really enjoy writing/plot wise, so it might be a pass...idk just yet.
Dylan Wang's new show airs later this week Guardians of the Dafeng. Just realized I didn't have this one saved to MDL, but only had it saved on my tencent account...whoops. Period drama with Dylan's character being from present day. I want to see how they do the timeslip around the new censorship as each show tends to do their own spin.
When the Phone Rings is still airing as it's a kdrama and wont finish until after the new year.
I'll most likely spend the next few days finishing up watching my Christmas movie list of rewatches.
Check out the calendar on the app or browser and scroll through the currently airing shows to see the one's I don't know about. Also if you save dramas to you Plan to Watch list you can click over to My List and have it filter to just the shows you have saved. This is the best way to stay up to date with Chinese releases outside of MarcusHere on youtube, who is a godsend to all Cdrama watchers.

Wont really be in the comments much now that the show is fully aired and we all know what that means. IYKYK. But for those who were watching with me and having fun in the comments thank you for all the laughs. See you in our next comment section.

all episodes are already out.

https://mintyrecaps.com/twin-talents-of-blossom/ I actually stumbled across this article right after replying

Found an English article about them
https://mintyrecaps.com/twin-talents-of-blossom/

Really? He does? I haven't seen any English articles or translations with that info. If you have a link or remember the show it was mentioned on please send it my way.

Wanted to give a shout out to the costume department specifically for Dou Zhao's outfit during the royal hunt. The embroidery on her dress was tailor made just for this episode, you do not see it again in the whole show. They embroidered deer and other woodland motifs onto her outer layer. I'm can't wait for the fashion history youtubers to do a deep dive into this show. I need to start dming them begging for a deep dive video essay.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣💀

Let them cook, got to let the pot simmer to make sure the soup is fully seasoned.

Again...did we watch the same show? Episode 27-32 the villains are starting to come out of the shadows and the final chess pieces are being put into play for check-mate. Did you not finish it...did you have a long blink and miss important dialog?
I am confusion. If you don't want to watch any show that don't have the ML and FL front and center from start to finish...I fear period and long form dramas just aren't going to be for you. LLTG has the same storytelling techniques used in Blossom, but because there are 56 episodes the pacing might seem different.

Reminder to everyone to get on their browser and rate the individual episodes to help with the overall rating/score of the show.