Platinum Fox

it can also mean passionate. The priest is passionate about justice as well as angry when it is not served.

What a gem! I usually do not watch sports dramas, but this has the vibe of the Hollywood movie, Major League, which I loved.

I have to agree with you on that. I tried to watch the main couple in The Long Ballad and couldn't.

I watched LLtG on YouTube and then on Viki a year and half ago. However, I was introduced to Zhao Lu Si through Who Rules the World on Netflix. I am only two episodes in of TSOPG, and am loving it. Looking forward to seeing the social commentary Zhao Lu Si's character always bring to the screen.

Just to clarify, I do not think this drama is a masterpiece like Shakespeare. Far from it! This drama is all about putting on a play. There are elements of Chinese theater and elements and themes of Shakespeare's plays in it (many Asian dramas do). SYR and the Princess represent the tragedies while XFF and XH represent the comedies. I can explain more if you would like.

As far as comedic writing, the writers here use appearance vs. reality which is a common element used by Shakespeare in his comedies to create a light-hearted atmosphere. For example, a nunnery that is supposed to create pure and helpful girls produces women who lust and murder. Another example, XFF, an 18/19 year old girl who has been married for three years, suddenly becomes an innocent and pure 15 year old through identity swapping (again another element used in Shakespearean plays to create comedy). SYR who already is on the way to becoming powerful through his own means, becomes powerless because he listens to his mother and sister to get rid of his wife. This creates the comedy needed for the parody aspect of the drama. Think A Mid Summer Night's Dream or Love Like the Galaxy. Fate always has a way to bring the right lovers together.

Finally, if you liked SYR and are intrigued by his character, check out A Female Student Arrives at the Imperial College. SYR's character (for me) is based on the second male lead in that drama; just as XFF and Duke Su are based on General Ling and Cheng Shao Shang in Love Like the Galaxy. Again, I can explain more.

Thank you for the discussion.

Don't know if this will help, but I think her actions towards him at the beginning are to show their polar opposite personalities. He is cold and calculating; she is warm and carefree. They are Yin and Yang. Throughout the drama, they teach each other that there is more to life than being carefree and power. There must be a middle ground. But as far as an inciting event for her distrust of him, there is none mentioned in the drama.

Nelia, Sang Zhi is never 12 in this drama. The writers began her journey of womanhood at 14 because that is the age of consent in China. Zhao Lu Si could not play Sang Zhi at 14 because she "grows up" from 14 to 17. The actress who plays Sang Zhi at 14 was actually 11 at the time. They needed a shorter actress to play Sang Zhi, so they could show how she "grew up" in height and became closer to him. Remember Sang Zhi's narration at the beginning of the drama, "Time has its own magic. It brings us closer in height and distance. I am glad you did feel the cringe, because the drama is a social commentary on the age of consent law.

Also, DJX is considered an adult (age of majority) at 19. The casting crew was correct in keeping him the same throughout the drama. If they hadn't it would not have expressed what the writers were trying to get at. Fourteen year olds are not mature enough to consent to sex, they are still children. This is why the doorway scene is really important.

Whoever said this does not understand what a Mary Sue character is. Shao Shang is not perfect, nor does she try to be. Her suitors might think she is a Mary Sue, but her character definitely is not.

Isn't that what he does? He forms an alliance with Princess Wanning which is the same as Prince Cheng. Because of a misunderstanding by PW, she dies by her own hand leaving the Longwu Army in the hands of Shen Yu who turns the army over to a more experienced general, Duke Su. Once the fish talisman is in the hands of Xiao Heng, the Longwu Army are now in his control. Shen Yu, realizing that he will never have XFF again and doesn't deserve her, he kills himself and allows XFF to be with the person she should have been with in the first place Duke Su, who has loved her long before Shen Yu. Think Shakespearean and A Midsummer Night's Dream or Love Like the Galaxy. Fate has a way of bringing the right lovers together in the end.

Princess Wanning and Shen Yu are a much better match. She needs to feel in control, and he allows women to control him. The only one who doesn't is XFF. She allows him to be himself, but he realizes that because of him, she gave up so much. He does have a redemptive arc. His death needs to be about her, not about power. He had power, but lost it because he let his mother and sister talk him into doing away with XFF.

Jang Bong Hwan thought he was making out with the maid not the king. The next day remember how he freaks out when he finds out he actually slept with the king and not the maid.

It depends on how you look at the drama. By him dying XFF is free to be her true self. She can now marry XH with no hang ups.

All the girls picking on Shao Shang get their just rewards. It is worth watching just for that.

Besides Nirvana in Fire, this is my favorite cdrama. Everything was just spectacularly done.

I totally agree with you on the way LBY treats her, but it just makes him so human and a realistic character. I understand why he didn't want her family involved, but to me he should have either told her what he was going to do and let her help him or get his revenge and then court her. This is the one drama that I get something from each time I watch it.
Thanks for the discussion.

Thanks for your response. I understand and many posters have felt like you, myself included. Before I began my journey to understand this drama, I rated it a one. Your questions and insights are where I started from along with why she talked and acted like a child for most of the drama. Also, I wanted to know the importance of the fox, bear, and dog plushies; the book The End of Eternity; and several scenes (doorway, dorm, car, and hospital). Those scenes to me were the most important. Also, why did they go back to when he first met her in episode 25?

For me, the drama is actually a social commentary on the age of consent in China which is 14 and asks the question, "when is the right age for a girl to start her sexual journey and with whom?" There are many scenes in the drama that lead me to this conclusion. Your comment about how he could turn from "brother" to "boyfriend" in such a short time was one of them and also the book The End of Eternity. The book was shown multiple times during the first three episodes. I actually read the book and came to better understand what was happening in the drama. Most people will not go that far to understand a drama, but I know Zhao Lu Si never plays shallow parts. I had to know why she played this part.

Thanks for the discussion. For me, now, there is a lot more going on in the story than meets the eye. Even the math they are doing is important to the story.

Thanks for the discussion.

The aunt didn't want a girl to raise. She wanted a boy. If the mom had not had twins, then third brother would have been left behind to ward off the calamity. It seems that Aunt Ge could not have a boy of her own. She even tried to adopt a nephew, but even that fell through.

In hindsight, the mother should have left third brother because he is very much like the grandmother with his fortune telling. Shao Shang with her innate talent to create and refine gadgets would have been very useful on the battlefield.

For me, the message is let children be who they are and don't force them to be something different. Nurture what is their innate talent. But back then girls were only good for gaining marriageable status for the family. It was the boys who were able to go out and obtain a name for themselves. This is why Aunt Ge wanted a boy.

No, Mo Yuan is not a prince. That much I remember. Yes, Mo Yuan and Ye Hua are twins. When they were born, something happened and only Mo Yuan was born. The father saved Ye Hua in the lotus flower that Bai Qian takes care of when she becomes a disciple of Mo Yuan's. When Mo Yuan dies, Ye Hua is born. Thus, he takes Mo Yuan's place. Both men fall in love with Bai Qian, but Bai Qian falls in love with Ye Hua. Mo Yuan and Ye Hua are both played by Mark Chao. No, Mo Yuan is not the son of Hao De.

You're right. The hospital scene was very much one of the social commentary scenes in this drama. You missed the doorway scene when she was 14 and he is 19 and the first part of when she is 17 and he is 22. This show does have depth. Think The End of Eternity.

I understand what you mean and know that young girls were married off at 15. However, mom didn't seem in too much of hurry to marry SS off. I believe from mom's own experiences that she understood that SS was not ready for that kind of commitment or that SS even really understood what marriage was all about. Thus, why she fought against it so much.

A poster on Hidden Love wrote that his 16 year old friend had to go back to China to be married off. He never heard what happened to her. I think "too young" marriages still happen in China even though the marriageable age is 20 for females and 22 for males. With the age of consent being 14, "too young marriages" can still happen. For me, this is Zhao Lu Si's social commentary on having females wait until they are at least 21 to get married just like Shao Shang.

This is just my opinion. Zhao Lu Si plays roles that speak out against some social norm. I think it is interesting that she used a historical drama as well as a modern one to say the same thing.

In episode 32 can't help but think of James Bond and all of his gadgets when the 3rd division is handing Fan Xian all his gadgets:), just waiting for a decked out carriage.

Enjoyed the first part of this drama and most of the second half, but the ending was pretty weak. However, I can say the second half did get me out of the drama slump I was in.