PeachBlossomGoddess

Most people rate at the end. Especially since it is a mystery the ending solution has to come together well for it to get a high rating.

Even if they get married, they gonna end up divorced for sure.

Why not! May as well throw in the kitchen sink! Bring on Wu Tzetian! Its only 6.0 on Douban which I think is more representative.

You mean this busybody Fu Rou also was instrumental in helping the young Wu Tzetian????

OMG slaps forehead this is way OTT in terms of poetic license...

Ah glad to be of help. I am learning myself as well so happy to share along the way. :)

Actually Chu Mu was already softening when he essentially told the 9th prince where his teacher is, knowing that he is sending an ally her way.

As I said, they are charging on average $0.40/month, if you think that is too much I have nothing to add.
The pay problem has been fixed - lead actors are now capped at the lesser of 50mm RMB for the entire drama or RMB 1mm/episode. That's why we are getting better sets, costumes etc recently. Unlike Legend of Fei where the leads pay was the whole budget evidently and ZLY behaved like she didn't want to even be there. But while it has helped it still hasn't stopped the losses so fair or not the platforms are going to continue with the on demand model. I personally prefer they just make everyone pay and shut down the illegal sites. But my Chinese friends all chastise me because 900mm people who currently don't pay a red cent will be cut off.

I was thinking he loves me he loves me not...

It is true that the US is a far richer country but Netflix doesn't make any of its content free. Everyone has to pay to watch - anyone that doesn't pay doesn't get to discuss anything. Netflix $9 only entitles you to one screen/device SD whereas the $4 gives multiple HD access and is more comparable to Netflix's $18 HD plan. Netflix $9 subscription is what the Chinese platforms make free on a delayed basis is and is already an acknowledgement of the fact that GDP/capita is very low. Tencent has 1bn subscribers but only 100mm paying ones. So what they are really charging is $0.40/subscriber. However you cut it its too low and unsustainable. The platforms are under enormous pressure to start making money, their shareholders have had it with the massive losses. So they are either going to cut production budgets/content quality or they will raise prices significantly.

I don't have a problem with the on-demand model. I don't mind subscribing to VIP on all the platforms bc its very cheap, all 3 add together is less than my Netflix. And when I have a lot of free time, I pay more for the on-demand to watch ahead but when I don't I am not paying the extra. It works for me. Being ahead on the discussions here is not an incentive bc most people have to wait for translation anyway. I have all 30 episodes but so what, practically everyone is at 22. And I avoid the Chinese sites they are spoiler ridden with novel readers routinely piping in to spoil the endings even for advanced viewers.

That's true there are tons of bad projects but it is not unique to them, Prime Video, Hulu, Netflix, AppleTV all have their share of bad projects. And that actually argues for the situation that viewers can and should choose to pay to watch the good ones ahead of time.

I would think so yes.

He didn't beat around the bush, he admitted that his interest in her is no longer impersonal but he believes his feelings are one sided wishful thinking. He also defended her and said she is not tainted by her profession, she helps seek truth and justice how can that not be worthy. His logic left no room for Xue to argue and he left in a huff.

I never get hung up about how the actresses in historicals look or whether they are Han enough because that is just what we today perceive what Han Chinese look like. In truth, when Qin Shihuangdi united the warring states, they were actually ethnically different states with their own language, culture and customs. And the ruling class frequently had political marriages across different states. So after so many thousands of years, everyone melted into what we think is Han today. Tang was at the crossroads of the Silk Route and the Tang emperors and preceding dynasties intermarried with many races including grassland tribal people. For all you and I know, a "real" Tang princess way back then looked far more like Dilraba than say Zhao Lusi. Li Shimin himself married some of his daughters and sisters to GoTurk generals. So I am quite certain the "average Han dynasty person" way back those many years ago looks very different than what we today think they looked like.

This is happening bc the platforms are losing too much money at the moment - Youku for example lost ~CNY 3bn (~$450mm usd) in the March quarter, idk how much Tencent lost but it should be more. They finally raised subscription prices by 25pct in April after 9 years but it is still not going to be enough to cover the losses. So they are making it up a bit with on demand advanced viewing. Chinese VIPs only pay ~$4/month after the price rise, much less than international. I know international viewers don't mind paying more but Chinese viewers unfortunately do.

Well in that case, hopefully they just lift the Youku subs or buy the Viki subs. It is a much bigger platform it will be a shame to see the show ruined for broader audiences bc they decide to sub it badly themselves.

She was a shallow, insecure and callous sociopath well before Fu Shui showed up - to kill her own sister for loving someone. Wow I have no words to describe what I think of that. My biggest problem is that she is crown princess because of Fu Rou and Chu Mu's machinations. This really makes angry at them. But I already been ranting about that I need to stop. I just hope she dies a terrible death.

They are totally not at all formal with each other throughout the show. They were guarded about their identities in the beginning but that is about it.

She is simply stunning I have always felt that way about her. But I don't really care for gorgeous faces that can't really act and I have to admit I was always very dismissive of her from her previous works. But TLB really changed my opinion of her and I am really delighted to discover she is really intelligent and a cool person. I will say her production company has done her a disservice putting her in anodyne roles just because she is so beautiful. I am glad she took on this role despite the frankly racist criticism that she doesn't look Han Chinese and all the veiled criticism of her not being suitable or not doing a good job is just shameful and embarrassing. There is no such thing as Han Chinese anymore, we have been melted by 5000 years of history. I am so proud of Dilraba, she really showed everyone what she is capable of in this role.

Keep it coming!!!