Poohbearies

I like both shows especially Glory of Tang Dynasty. Her role in Dragon Pearl is quite minor.

His manager wouldn’t have the authority to do so since the styling would be by the production team.

Royal Nirvana also did onsite voice recording.

She looks very different here from her roles in Legend of the Dragon Pearl and Glory of Tang Dynasty.

I think Li Yitong looks gorgeous here with that hairstyle. Nicer than Royal Nirvana.

The dubbing of Li Yitong here is much deeper than her real voice. The actor who plays Emperor Heng was already an Emperor in Love Lost in Times.

The novelist/screenwriter is well versed in Chinese history so I’m quite sure there is historical basis for this. Qi holds some military power but if his mother’s status were shaken, he can be pulled down along with it and lose control of the troops. Wenxi had already been made to sign a confession and had the most opportunity. The other maid works for Zhao so holding her responsible will implicate Zhao. As far as the Emperor is concerned, Wenxi is a nobody and of no consequence to anyone.

Making her Empress does not stop the investigation but does raise Qi’s status (though still inferior to CP who is the eldest surviving Di son of the first Empress) backed by the officials and Gus. He has to stop CP from involving San Si. My point is CP really made him angry by threatening to get San Si involved so he came up with a series of countermeasures.

1) The Emperor will not be able to stop the investigation if CP gets San Si involved. The Emperor also has to abide by the law and system. He cannot do as he pleases in all things.
2) Suspicions grow the longer one nurtures them and the Gus have been a thorn in his flesh for a long time. Don’t forget that CP has always been closer to the Gus growing up. CP provoked this thorn with his action and at this juncture, the Emperor is stressed by the situation on the battlefield. It can be the Emperor’s way of sending out a warning message to the Gus.
3) History is full of examples of people in power taking extreme measures because of paranoia because they were afraid of being preempted and ending up losing their power, positions or lives.
4) Ding Quan is CP because he is the eldest surviving son of the Empress in accordance with longstanding tradition. He has the support of the officials without having to do anything. As long as he has not committed any major wrong, the Emperor cannot depose of him no matter how much he dislikes him. Only if Ding Quan dies without a son will the other Di sons be eligible. If the Di son dies without a son, the heir is the next eldest Di son; if there are no other Di sons, the eldest Shu son becomes the heir. This is probably why Zhao poisoned the Crown Princess and why she favors Qi over her other son.

Someone needs to be held responsible as it concerns the disruption of a prominent national ceremony (the Imperial Exams). This was why Lu Ying and the other officials wanted to make sure they showed up after the exams had ended. Ceremonies held great importance in feudal times and the Emperor drew his power and authority from the fact that he was a central figure in such ceremonies. Li Baizhou raised this point about ceremonies when the Emperor asked if they had to go that far. If not Lu Ying and his son, then it has to be Teacher Lu (which was the intention of Teacher Lu). The Emperor was trying to show CP that one can’t have the best of both worlds.

Qi is in charge of the Xiaoji army. Ding Quan is bent on investigating Zhao. He is afraid Qi will be implicated and can’t lead that army anymore. He probably does not need to promote Zhao but he is angry with Ding Quan for openly going against him and threatening him with his powers of acting monarch (which he had granted him in the first place and reminds him of Li Baizhou) and with Ming An reporting the Gus are reluctant to send reinforcements to help him and placing the country in peril, he suspects Ding Quan may be in cahoots with his uncle and cousin.

Early in the drama when Ding Quan and Wenxi discuss the painting and the scenery, they say, “可得解脱处，唯神佛前与山水间” (the way to be free (of worries/care) is before the Buddha or when immersed in nature). I hope in the drama, it is the latter.

It does seem very unfair and cruel of him. From his perspective, his biggest worry is losing the country which is the biggest sin any Emperor can commit (letting down the ancestors and being known as a failure posthumously) and which takes precedence over everything else in his mind. The drama shows a scene of ravages of war to convey this. At the end of the novel, he does regret what he did to his son (this ties in nicely with the scene in the drama with Lu Shiyu when the Emperor says he won’t regret which does not appear in the novel) but I don’t know if he were to do it all over again, will he still make the same choices? That is the tragedy of being a monarch.

The plot is actually very tight in terms of pacing. There are no filler scenes (not in the sense that they can be cut out without affecting the story) compared to the majority of cdramas; when one plot ends, another takes over. The drama is a study of the complexities of the father-and-son/superior-and-subordinate relationship between an Emperor and his apparent successor, human nature, the realities of the fight for power, self vs family, self vs country and sacrifice. It is not focused purely on the romance. By Ep 40, we should see the romance taking more screentime.

I think you’re giving him too much credit although CP is supposed to be smart. His actions towards her are quite cruel if he already knows who she is so I’m of the opinion he doesn’t know.

They have only released up to Ep 39. The previews are only up to Ep 43.

Which episode are you at now?

Can you provide the source of your information?

The author of the novel is also the screenwriter. She has already made a lot of changes compared to the novel and whyever not? With the passage of time, ideas can evolve and what worked in the book may not work so well in a different medium. To be honest, I found the novel rather dry. I much prefer the characterisation in the drama.

The director revealed they shot several endings and viewers who prefer happy ending should be satisfied with the ending they finally went with.