Platinum Fox

Yes, and that is just one illogical scene. However, I think the wearing of the bracelet was to show JCY that MD really does care about him. Ha, ha!

I don't know where you are watching this, but it depends on the translations as to what the mother is actually saying. On Youtube mom says that she didn't have the chance to mold NN into what she should be, but instead has to discipline her to make her a productive member of society as Niao Niao is of marriageable age. We may not like how mom treats her daughter, but it is very historically accurate and even quite progressive.

Niao Niao (NN) turns in her great uncle (he is the grandmother's brother), so he is a direct family member. NN's grandmother asks her oldest son to save him because he is family. However, the uncle helped steal military weapons and then replaced them with faulty ones. The faulty military weapons were used to attempt to protect the Lone City residents from the rebels.

Blood relatives are always given first priority. However, the oldest son and his wife, being generals themselves, understand that the great uncle must pay for his crime.

Also, there are many viewers who have said that the mother is very cold towards her daughter. The mom left her in the care of Aunt Ge and the grandmother for 15 years. The two of them vowed to not discipline her or show her any love. When the mom returns, she realizes that Niao Niao is unruly, illiterate, and a schemer, just like her Aunt Ge. The best way she can show her love is to discipline her. Many people have not been happy with how she does that, but in historical times showing love to your kid was making sure they grew up to be productive members of society. In these dramas, I do not see parents hugging or kissing their grown children. They might young children, but not older ones. So this makes her appear to be cold and heartless, but in reality she is doing what is best for Niao Niao during this time period. Remember mom and NN have never met until the parents come back from the war. The mom doesn't know NN and NN doesn't know her mother very well either. They are trying to figure each other out.

Despite it's heaviness, it is such a wonderful drama. Loved every actor in it. Sis eight was the cutest.

Despite it's choppiness, I loved this drama. Full of action, romance, comedy, and life lessons.

Yes, a redemptive arc would have been nice. He did feel remorse and would have taken responsibility for his actions. However, like all the parents and teachers in this drama the only solution was transferring students.

Moving him overseas was intentional because if the father would have allowed BS to take responsibility for his actions, then it would have come out that the dad was physically abusing him. And his dad, being a congressman, couldn't have this tainting his political career. The dad does pay for Suho's medical expenses as compensation. But the larger question remains, how do you stop this type of bullying? Change the mindset of the people by having students take responsibility for their actions. jmo

Glad you enjoyed this drama and thank you for your thoughts. I understand where you are coming from and agree mom definitely felt guilty about leaving Niao Niao at home. For me, the weakest part of the drama was mom knew that grandmother and Aunt Ge favored boys. That's why Yang Yang was taken away from her and raised by her aunt. Why would she leave her daughter at home instead of the son. Also, I do wonder if mom blamed the dad for not standing up to his mother back then as well. This drama puts the blame on her, but where was the dad in all this?

Also, did you get the feeling that it was the mom who encouraged (pushed) the dad to go into the army? I caught that the last time I watched it (two weeks ago). Which for me is also very interesting.

Thank you for the discussion. Happy drama watching.

I agree. Hormones are hormones, and it makes me chuckle. However, right before watching the first two episodes, I watched a Korean movie called Homme Fatale about a male who becomes basically a male courtesan to the noble women and girls in the town. However, he never takes advantage of them, nor them him. They keep the strict moral code of the time.

Here both the male and female are going against the moral code of the time. For her it is understandable as she is from the future and one-night stands are acceptable. He, on the other hand, after he goes against the moral code, he comes back to his senses and the moral code and wants to marry her to make up for his mistake. He basically treats her like a courtesan.

If he had been drunk, I would have understood the one-night stand. The fact that he was totally sober and she was sloshed out of her mind forces this one-night stand into a modern moral code. Boys take advantage of girls all the time. For girls, sex for pleasure is fine.

The manwa is set in Europe where the moral code about sex is totally different. That is why the one-night stand right now appears to be just a hook to get the audience's attention. It worked, now what?

There are two aspects of sex, sex for pleasure and sex for propagation. During that time period women of noble stature, sex was for propagation, not pleasure.

Thanks for the discussion and insight.

You are not the only one. I enjoyed the first two episodes and then realized this is just a modern love story set in the Joseon period. I found it very hard to believe that the male lead would take advantage of a drunk noble girl when he is sober. The only thing I can think that would tie this together is that the main character is bringing out that females should have the same rights as men when it comes to romantic trysts. jmo

My guess would be her identity. I am assuming that she was not the father's daughter, but the mother's lover's daughter. In the novel in the end she is revealed to be a princess. jmo

If you would like a long explanation read Regina de Sal's explanation in the discussion post. For a short explanation, it depends on how you interpret the events. Since you don't feel he died before the Lunar New Year, then it does seem confusing. However, he is on the appropriate side. Eventually he will die of the poison fed to him by the FL's father. Just not immediately.

For me he is on that side for several reasons. First, he will eventually die from the poison when is up to the antidote's effectiveness. Second, director choice to balance the shot. Notice there are six and a child on one side and six on the other. He is the logical choice as he was also suppose to die by the father's hand and eventually will. A third reason is how the line is displayed. It is like a u. the curve is the immediate family and servants of the female lead's mother. The next in line is the concubine's family. Then, the in-laws. Who is missing is the oldest daughter and the grandparents. XYL represents the deceased oldest daughter. She would have been between her brother and XYL as his first wife.

Why isn't the oldest daughter there? I will leave that for you to interpret. For me, there are several reasons.

Hope this helps. Happy drama watching.

You are not the only one to see that she is not his enemy. For me, the whole premise of the Qiao family being the cause of the deaths of the three Wei generations is ludicrous. I can over look this if everything else makes sense.

The Qiao grandfather was a smart man. The canal that was built by the two cities was destroyed in the fighting. This cut off any water supply to Zinder. Now, how the city of Zinder stayed afloat without a water supply is beyond me.

I dropped this after episode 27 and watching the last episode. There were too many illogical things happening in the drama. An even better example is the burning of the sulfur and grain. When she lights the sulfur on fire, it would have given off SO2 and everyone would have become extremely ill. Also, the grain would have ignited as well causing an explosion. Yet, we have everybody running around like they are playing tag at a picnic.

There were parts that I enjoyed, but found most of it pretty illogical starting with her not being the enemy. jmo

The End of Eternity is a sci fi novel written by Isaac Asimov. It is shown at least five times within the first two episodes. Here is a conversation I had with a poster about Hidden Love explaining the basic outline of the novel and how it pertains to Hidden Love.

https://kisskh.at/profile/bokminthe/review/301991

There are many more easter eggs in Hidden Love to name a few: the stuffed animals, his license plate, his job, the age gap, the fox picture, etc.

Since I have not watched When I Fly towards You, I can't compare the two dramas. What I can do is talk about Hidden Love. Most viewers take it as a simple, fluffy love story. I imagine this is how you perceive it. That's okay. That's your take on it.

For me, however, I had many questions at the end of it. I found my answers through discussions on this forum, in the novel The End of Eternity (the novel shown multiple times during the first two episodes, and reading the source material. Not every viewer will do this as most people watch for entertainment, and that's okay.

If you enjoyed When I Fly towards You better than Hidden Love, it is okay. If you are really interested in what makes this drama special, read The End of Eternity and even just the first eight chapters of the source material.

Thanks for the discussion. Happy drama watching.

Yes, the mother character has been one of the most controversial characters in this drama. Many dissertations have been written on her on this very forum, one being not too far below here. I am curious about your take on the mother and Consort Yue when you get there.

If you are interested, the mother/daughter duo (the actresses) are together again in a modern drama called Hidden Love. A very different dynamic is portrayed.

What is special about this drama depends on the viewer. Just read the comments and reviews. As someone who would have rated it a one when it first aired, it has taken me two years to understand this fantastic social commentary on the age of consent law in China and the wonderful modern retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. Now, for me, it is a 10.

Happy drama watching.

You may not like it. However, the hair and makeup are so accurate that someone filed a plagiarizing law suite on them. What became of it, I don't know.

My dream is to get into Yihe or something to that effect.

That depends on your interpretation of events. The male character confesses that he fell for her after the first snow. Most viewers believe that as well. However, he falls for her much sooner than that, but as the name of the drama implies it is hidden even from him. He says so in episode 24 in a bar scene. I don't know how far you are in the drama, so I do not want to spoil too much.

The Celestial General and the Colossal Shadow are spirits that were created during the massacre that happened 100 years ago. The Celestial General, who was the palace guard who wanted to save his family, prayed to the deities for help. No help came and his family and village was massacred. The Colossal Shadow is the spirit of all those people including the guard. However, the deities did send help, Gang Cheol, a dragon who had been meditating for a 1000 years in the area, was suppose to go and help, but he didn't because all he wanted to do was ascend. The deities intervened and didn't allow Gang Cheol to ascend by having the son of the palace guard see him as he ascended.

Because of the resentment the palace guard felt towards the royal bloodline, it made it easier for people who wanted to get back at the royal family to use a shaman to call up this spirit and use it to harm the royal family. This started happening 100 years ago. If the Celestial General had wanted to kill off the royal bloodline starting with the king who had his village massacred, he would have killed off the great grandfather, and grandfather, so that the present king wouldn't even had been born.

Since the present king exists and has taken the throne, it is obvious his ancestors were not killed before having descendants. Now to the present day. We learn that the present king's father was killed by the Celestial General because he wanted to free the palace slaves. It was the grandfather who ordered this through the blind shaman. The "rebellion" is successful without a great deal of blood shed. However, the present king is placed on the throne and not the queen dowager's son, who would have been a puppet king for the grandfather.

When the grandfather finds out the present king wants to again free the palace slaves and require the nobles to do the same, he plots another "rebellion" with the help of the blind shaman and the Celestial General. It worked the first time, why not do it again. By this time, the Celestial General has possessed both the crown prince and the present king, but he doesn't kill either one when he was called to do so? Why? It knows that both of them are good and will change the way things are done in the kingdom. After the Colossal Shadow eats Bibi's pill, it kills the grandfather and says, "I don't need you any more." This leaves the blind shaman, who is thirsty for power, to complete his plan to control the king through possession which he ends up completing.

The fantasy genre is about redemption for all characters. In this drama, the people who chose to change didn't die, the ones who refused to change died. Now, you do have the innocent queen and her unborn child. That seems like a glaring plot hole, but it isn't. The two deaths were needed to make the king enraged, so that the Celestial General could possess him easier and stay that way. That way the blind shaman could control the king. Nobody is going to kill the crown prince or the king when they are possessed.

I hope this helps. Thank you for the discussion.