Michelle Topham

Blocked. Life is too short for me to allow someone who is unable to form a coherent argument without hurling abuse to waste my time.

You really need to stop hurling the "racist" slur. It says more about you and your intellectual capacity than it does about the person you're targeting.

BTW, the minute someone throws the "racist" argument out about anything, I immediately ignore anything else they say. It always comes from someone who isn't able to form an actual argument about a subject, (ie: much of the left-wing nowadays, sadly) and so instead they scream "you're a racist" instead of attempting to refute your points.

Besides, anyone who thinks Asian fan communities aren't toxic is either lying, or has allowed the "racist" bullshit to overtake their brain. Fan communities in countries like Korea and China are some of the most toxic in the world. Infamous for being so. So much so, their governments are now clamping down on them harshly, as they are causing major societal problems within certain groups, and in particular their abuse towards certain actors. Some of whom have committed suicide because of it.

And hell, I was called "racist" on MDL yesterday because I commented about a couple of things about Chinese dramas I don't like (I write about C-dramas for a living, lived in Asia for 15 years, will probably retire in Asia, have hundreds more Asian friends than non-Asian, and would choose most Asians I know over a lot of westerners (surprisingly, most Asians aren't the ones screaming "racist" at people ;) but according to an MDL fool, I'm now "racist" because I dared to criticize a Chinese drama trope.

People who are unable to argue a point without resorting to hurling abusive terms are everywhere. Don't even bother wasting your time arguing against it. I just block them if it's directed at me.

And btw, anyone who doesn't know that Greek culture is one of the major foundations of modern western civilization, including the introduction of democracy, has sadly not had a well-rounded education.

I watched the first episode then didn't watch anymore. Don't remember why I didn't go back to it (?) (probably just too many C-dramas I'm currently watching and really need to finish :). I definitely need to go back to it as I don't remember hating it and the cast is superb. Thanks for the reminder :) Added it to my watch list.

She has one of the most perfectly proportioned faces I've ever seen. As an actress, I think she's average. Not bad, just adequate in most dramas, I like her well enough. But as a beautiful woman, it would be difficult for almost every other woman to compete. I've stopped The First Jasmine several times just to look at her face. Absolutely gorgeous. And almost like a little doll she's so perfectly molded.

It's a Chinese drama. They always have FAR fewer viewers than K-dramas. Look at the on-going, and supposedly "popular", Ashes to Crown. That has even fewer viewers (14, 286). Compare almost any Chinese drama, even the very popular ones, to K-dramas and you'll see in almost every instance K-dramas with a similar theme have many more viewers.

Veil of Shadows, one of the most-anticipated C-dramas of 2026, jam-packed with the most popular "idol" stars, still only 20,804 viewers.

Would You Marry Me, an average, not particularly popular K-drama, still has 46,291. Even though it stars two non "idol" actors.

It's a shame, but C-dramas are nowhere near as popular as K-dramas. Even the ones that get a much coveted Netflix slot (Unveil: Jadewind - still at only 16,711 viewers months after it ended).

And J-dramas fare even worse. Many of them are in the only-hundreds of viewers.

Look at MDL's Most Popular Dramas list. Only four C-dramas (Hidden Love, Meteor Garden, Love O2O and The Untamed) and one J-drama (Alice in Borderland) are on the first five pages. That's 4 C-dramas and 1 J-drama, versus 95 K-dramas.

For C-dramas, I think it's because the 35-40 episodes is too much for most drama fans as they're just too busy. And until Chinese production companies understand that, they will NEVER be as popular as K-dramas (12-16 episodes), or make as much money outside China as K-dramas do.

And for J-dramas, the Japanese are terrible at promotion (and most of their dramas are slow paced and understated, which many non-Japanese don't like). Even anime, which is massively popular now with 6 in every 10 Netflix users watching it, took three over DECADES to get where it is today due to lack of proper promotion.

I've started to watch some scenes on 1.5 speed from Episode 19 onwards just because they are nothing but filler, like you said. Thoroughly enjoyed it up to about Episode 19, then parts of the plot became draggy to me for both Episodes 19 and 20.

Especially as the Lishan mystery and the FL's mental illness problems are still being dragged out, while the ML/FL's relationship is in limbo, and new characters that aren't moving the plot forward at all are also being introduced. A good writer intros new characters while also revealing more about the main story through them, IMO, and not vice versa.

Xiao Xiang Dong Er is one of China's best screenwriters, though, so I have a feeling she will bring it all together quite quickly so it ends up being more enjoyable and makes more sense. If she doesn't, then she's failed with this one. For me at least.

But Episode 21, even though we now have even more side characters, was at least faster paced and, consequently, didn't feel quite so filler-y :) So maybe things are looking up? Fingers crossed :)

Good point on the "too invested to be likely to quit". You're right. That could very well be true as to why many Chinese screenwriters start shoving in filler plot/characters midway thru.

I will admit though, Episode 21's pace was definitely better, so I did enjoy it much more than mostly-filler, slower-paced Episode 20.

But it is still jammed full of new side characters who, at least at the moment, don't seem to have that much purpose except to fill in backstory or make the FL or ML look even better.

It is rare though to have a 40-episode Chinese drama without a lot of filler. (Again, I think A Splendid Match is a good example of one of the few that doesn't). So I can't say I'm surprised we've now got it in this one.

Hahaha, I know. They're even wearing LIPSTICK half the time :) You'd think they could at least omit that, wouldn't you? :)

Happy to see Episode 21 is much more fast paced than Episode 20, which was mostly filler, IMO. Really liked the set design for the banquet as well, nicely done.

And Li Mu Yun is doing a fabulous job as Princess Ling Yun. Now there's a woman with balls :)

Of course :)

Yep, I think you're correct about her hate for him growing because of his current actions.

Because he signed the paper saying that everyone who had escorted him to the Palace was a traitor and was going to overthrow the Emperor. And because of that, the Marquis was able to have them all executed as traitors. Even a 12 year old child who had never done the prince any harm. And all just to protect himself.

That's why she hates him. It wasn't the attack, it was what he did after the attack. And I don't blame her. He was in his teens, so old enough to know better But, he was a coward, and so allowed about a dozen people to be murdered just to save his own skin. He's mentally weak and useless and has, apparently, always been mentally weak and useless. That's why she hates him.

I thought that scene was very well done as, before that, the Marquis was not much more than a one-dimensional villain but, like you said, that scene humanized him a lot more.

I still think he's a nasty piece of work :), but for a few minutes at least, I felt less like stabbing him :)

Hahahahahaha, the abridged version is good :)

And see, I agree with you when you say it that way :)

I don't think she's in the right mindset for romance at all, and won't be until she confronts what happened at Lishan Mountain. (An event that I think is probably incredibly horrific).

And I think you're absolutely correct, it would have been very weird if they had made her develop feelings for the ML so quickly when she's still dealing with major mental issues.

Here's her comment (which doesn't completely make sense, not sure if she's missed out words or...?):

"I guess the FL bashing and sorry bashing because the romance is not moving forward has started . Bai Lu actually is excellent in this role but I guess some people are noticing . And they are expecting a traumatic mentally ill woman to be all loved up. Fantastic! Does that even make sense??? I guess this is nothing new for this forum"

She's being sarcastic and basically hinting that anyone who doesn't agree with her about Bai Lu or the FL is an idiot, ("Bai Lu actually is excellent in this role") (well, in her opinion, yes she is, in mine, she's not)

She also continues with the same accusation of idiocy with. "Fantastic! Does that even make sense??? I guess this is nothing new for this forum". (No, because apparently we're all idiots if we disagree with her).

Unnecessary and rude, as she's attempting to put other people down, simply because they disagree with her about the FL.

She could have just said she didn't think the romance was moving too slowly (I don't either) and that she disagreed with the people who did, and especially disagreed with the people criticizing the FL for it.

Perfectly understandable, and I wouldn't have responded to a statement like that at all.

I do have a problem, however, with the whole concept of "bashing". IMO, it's in the same category as calling anyone "racist" who criticizes someone who is black etc.

Nobody is "bashing" the FL, they're just saying they think she should have feelings for the ML by this point, as we are 20 episodes in, they are sleeping in the same bed and yet, so far, nada :)

And I'm honestly not trying to get into an argument with you about this at all. You responded very nicely and thoughtfully in your second comment. I appreciate that.

I'm just a tad tired of people who are constantly accusing other people of "bashing" an actress/an FL/an actor/an ML/whoever, simply because they have a different opinion than the person who is accusing.

There is no chemistry between the leads, and I'm at Episode 20 :) But I think it will be coming eventually. They're not even in a proper relationship yet. Although they have graduated to sharing the same bed, but act like a monk and a nun while in it :)

Yes, by Episode 20, not only has the ML figured out that something is wrong, but so has Han Ming Xi as, right before he blacked out, the only person he saw fighting was the FL :)

And that's your opinion. And I have no problem with that :)