Orithian

ok, so the sounds definitely much better on the YouKu youtube channel, but the subtitles are ....not great.
Think i'll make do with overpowering music and viable subtitles.

Oh, I can grok the plot just fine, and I have subtitles on as well, but I like listening to the actors voices, which is an issue when the music is currently almost completely overpowering their voices. It looks like its something to do with the version Viki's running, so I'll try watching on other apps.

I'm currently watching it on Viki...I might try youtube then.

I'm enjoying it so far at ep 2, but does the sound get any better?
I currently can barely hear the actors voices over the, admittedly rocking, soundtrack. And I really *like* listening to CXX's voice!

Melodrama's have Hightened emotional angst. It's not a good or a bad thing, it's just the emotional ride you & the characters go on, is more like a rollercoaster, than a merry-go-round. Or in this case, it's a bit like bumper cars. This drama is actually pretty understated and moderately realistic. I think it definitely helps that it skips some of the worst of the various character tropes.

Starts out a detective series, then transforms into something else halfway through. Still an excellent and vivid series, that becomes less grounded in reality, and more dreamlike & surreal with every episode.
Come for the plot, stay for the complex characters, their interwoven histories and broken pasts.
...Also you cannot convince me that this isn't a BL series.

I'm sorry, but being a widower raising his son, still doesn't convince me this wasn't BL.... Just means the kid now has two dads, and lots of bad influence uncles. 🤣😈🤣

I think that was the point. Shulin was willing to sacrifice everything for his revenge. Including the few people he considered closest to him. He probably wasn't ever really sane since the death of the villagers, and finding out his mother was responsible for everything probably tipped him completely over the edge.
We saw it nearly happen with LJ & ZP both. They struggled on the knife edge, nearly letting their demons drag them over into cold blooded revenge. For LJ more than ZP, especially...
Also, I'm not entirely sure that Shulin wasn't involved in manipulating them both to a degree so they would side with him in the end. That nightmare episode where LJ nearly went mad and framed ZP springs to mind, as was the death of ZP's mentor. The soldiers turned up awfully fast after he questioned Shulin that day.

But he's so good at being the complex antagonist!!!
From Bloody Romance, to YinYang Master:DoE, to this ....These ephemeral, ethereal, & morally ambiguous characters he plays are utterly...delicious!
They are so broken, and so dedicated to a *very* bad idea, that they *just* can't give up.

...History is replete with monsters who are written up as saints after their deaths. She died...and with her death her strangle hold on the kingdom was released. The Emperor, a far, far, Far better son than anything she was aparently capable of bearing, now takes over and actually has the well being of his people in the forefront of his priorities. The Lan family is cleared of the charge of treason. So too I suspect is the Molou clan, since Zhang is now an official.
The official history books will say one thing about the Dowager, but the people will say something else...and somewhere a stubborn scholar will write down the full story, even if it never sees the light of say for a century or two. Because that's what they do.
.
.
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People complaining that this isn't the ending they wanted, are probably missing some very large points they were making throughout the story.

The conspiracy *was* brought to light.
The "imposter" as you call it, is the person who was raised & trained for the role, and more importantly has the good of the people front and center to his priorities. He might not be the bloodline, but he's something better. He's a good ruler.
No one was faking this. Everyone in power knew what happened, and everyone in power chose to gloss over certain things in order to keep the country functioning, and not devolve into a needless power struggle that would only leave the citizens without a functioning government. It was a pretty good ending. Even for the most part a happy ending, albeit at considerable cost, but the good guys all lived, the bad guys died, and more importantly, it seems they managed to save most of the populace of the city.
Life is *never* black and white. It's always shades of grey, and victories more often than not come with a price tag. If you think justice wasn't done, then you might not be after justice, but rather a moral highground, at the expense of other peoples lives.

CY & LHY definitely look very similar. I think acting wise LHY is less experienced (?), and I suspect looking at the bts possibly also very introverted. Which makes it a bit harder against such an extroverted character/actress like Jackie.

That whole scene...
"It knew you were in prison. Its like a human!"
...cut to sleazyCheng massively sneezing and picking cat hair off his coat!!!! 🥰😍🥰
He is definitely playing a long game here, and I'm guessing his redemption arc might've started before we even realised it.

I suspect more of the people around you have are variations on neuroatypical than you realise, but they may be masking well, or "high functioning" a loaded term all by itself. Also, as you can see, this character *isn't* in a school. He's essentially a drop out, making do with what he can eek out for himself.
ASD comes on a scale. ZRY's character isn't on the end of the scale that enables him to function very well in "normal" working society. Which is *why* they rarely populate math departments........🙄🙄🙄

Mmm, this is a totally different kind of gritty realistic drama. People who are poor can rarely afford the kind of luxuries that come with duty, elegance and propriety ect. And the people who *can* afford it, aren't always interested in the common good. This is handling some *very* relevant and age old topics, with, so far, quite a bit of humour and subtley. I'm quite impressed so far.
Also, there is no lack of aestetics, it's just that the aestetics aren't ... luxurious. This is a series about people at the bottom end of the social scale. Not the top, as so many costume drama's are.

I'm pretty sure one good whallop of one of BiYu's excellent legs of ham and Cheng's a goner!!! 🤣🤣🤣

Good lord I've missed these maniacal idiots!!!!!
I can watch Zhang Ruo Yun & Wang Yang talk shit until the cows come home... Tho it's an adorable change of pace to see ZRY *not* play the rapidfire smartarse chatterbox he's been in the last couple of historical drama's.

I adored, if not completely fell in love with nearly *every* character on this show. From the adorable pack of free ranging troublemaking imps, to the Auntie & Uncles, let alone the courtyard residents and the mains. Also special shoutout to Granny Xie. I love her so much!!!!!!!

I *wanted* more people to get together, but I'm also kind of relieved that most people didn't. It's true to life, which is messy, unpredictable and rarely goes how you want it.
But I think even with technically only 1 romantic happy ending, everyone ended up with their own happy ending.
Everyone was in a far better, happier place with their own lives, careers and families. 🥰😍🥰

It makes sense in the end, but ....I had to FF through alot...And honestly I think someone really liked the 2ML, because after all that I swear he should have ended up dead multiple times for all the bullshit he pulled and blamed on 1ML.
However I agree that 1ML should have had his head smacked on several occasions for not clearing things up.