SAlice

I am not angry because they killed him, because as you said it was pretty much to be expected. I am angry because they killed him off for no reason whatsoever, aside from falling into the current trend "if we kill at least one of the two main leads we'll come off as sophisticated".
His death doesn't serve any purpose, doesn't propel any major change or growth, nothing at all.
And because of that instead of having a triumphant female lead at the end of the drama, which was the whole point of this entire story, we have a broken character who looks lifeless, and is not even able to enjoy the apex of her career. Because that is what they chose to show us as the last image of Duan Wu.
One of my favourite dramas of all time, one that has a very coherent storytelling (with only some ups and down during a part of the third and last season) is the german Dark, have you watched it?
If you watched it, then you how it ends, and you will realize that I'm not against a SE at all if it makes complete sense.
And in that case I rejoiced, because I was scared they might not dare going for the only ending possible, the only one that would have made sense.
And instead I was pleasently surprised.
That ending was pure perfection!
Given that they are two different genres, but yet SOPG isn't even remotely comparable to Dark, one even if very complex and layered, manages to wrap everyhting up in a cohesive and coherent way, while SOPG storytelling is very, very disappointing in the second half, and it's a far simpler story. It shouldn't have been that hard to make a better job.
You can forgive all mistakes if taken separately, but all together make for sloppy work.

Exactly, life will not allow them to have both. It's like they've been punished for being too greedy.
I mean his death in the end was the coherent choice, given how the story had progressed until that point.
If he had been miraulously saved in the last minute, it would have felt cheap.
So I'm not unhappy because of his death per se.
I'm unhappy because they did the same thing to both CSJ and DW, which seem to me a clear indication of what they think.
And this was supposed to be a story of a slave journey to freedom, a story about her growth and resilience, and finally her achieving her initial ambition.
And what was the last image they showed of her?
She was sad beyond words, her eyes listless.
Was she happy that her talent had finally been recognised by everyone?
Not in the slightest. They could have showed her happy and sad at hte same time, but no, she was just heartbroken.
So I'm very disappointed because they have condemned both the women who dared to venture in a men's world to loneliness and grief.
And because we were supposed to see a last image of the female lead different from they've portrayed.

And I agree with you that the cinematography of some scenes was stunning, and that ZLS and LYN have such great chemistry, and not just them tbh.
But these are not enough for me.
What purpose did the ML's death serve?
It's either what I said, they want to tell us that a woman can't have both success and love in her life, or killing him off just because it's in fashion in chinese entertainment industry right now.
They think that it will make their work better just because it's sad, and that the audience will be impressed by it.
While the latter is quite stupid, because it could maybe work for one or two dramas, but when every single one of them does the same thing, it just becomes repetitive and unsurprising.
The former is straight out offensive.
And there were things that didn't make sense.
Take for example the whole Mr Qin disappearing/DW kidnapping plot.
We have to believe that she fell for that blatant trap because she was so worried about Mr Qin, and yet until the end of the penultimate episode we do not know for sure what happened to him because he disappeared from the screeen.
Same thing for Gao Shu, we last saw him tied to a tree and then he disappeared for a while.
You could say that these are minor issues, but I was really annoyed by them, because they are so in your face. Just like the Jade competition.

It could have been true if just one of them went through that.
How curious that both the women who gained success in the end were both alone...
Plus inthe moment of her triumph did you see DW even remotely happy?
That alone invalidate the whole premise of the story.
Sorry but I see a message there.

To be honest I was eagerly anticipating this drama not only for the three leads, who are good actors in my opinion, and therefore a guarantee that I won't throw things at my screen at least.
It was the plot, that promised to be a story of female empowerment and sisterhood, a story about the lower classes of society. No more nobles or royals, or main characters who start as common people only to be revealed later on as secret offspring of blue blood.
And that I found refreshing and worthy to be watched.
Some of these themes were indeed brought to light, but what message are they trying to give us in the end?
It's clear that the whole story, even if it centers mainly on DW, also gives a lot of spotlight to CSJ, intending to draw a parallel between the two women and their respective journey.
In the end one could only see the light, and achieved independency, after loosing her one true love.
While DW achieved business success, as she wanted at the beginning of the story, but had to bury so many of her beloved ones, and ultimately she had to lose her one true love too.
In my eyes I have to admit this seems a story only a man could write, a conservative one at that, telling us that women no matter their circumstances have to make a choice between career and love, they can't obtain both.
And that really irks me the wrong way, that is the opposite of the reason why I started watching this drama.
It is still a very entertaining watch, and I appreciated that at least they show us how women supporting each other makes them a force to be reckon with. But that's about it when it comes to the story.
Not to mention that the writing became sloppy after the slaughter in the middle of the drama.
Anyway kudos to the actors, they at least did not disappoint, and were the main reason I was able to watch this drama until the end.

Thanks to all of you who made this comment section engaging , peace and good drama watching.

On that we both agree, they could have done much better, as a I was telling in my last comment I just don't think that that was the worst bit of writing they penned in this drama. In my opinion there were more blatant mistakes. That's all.

In dramaland when a woman tells a man "we'll do it again next year, and all years after" that man is a dead man walking.
In dramaland when they make a group portrait, that portrait will end up being the only portrait several of those people we'll ever be into.
So prepare your tissues.
Like we had no tragic deaths before in this drama, what could we possibly need in the end?
More deaths of course...

Only positive things happening DW finally noticing something's wrong with YZJ, but not only it's probably too late, she also gets kidnapped.
And ZSY mentioning some mysterious "the saviour".
Unless that's Yu Chi's third alias (how many identities a single man can have? does he never get confused? lol), or Prince Ying's codename, let's hope some miraculous healer has come to town. I don't think he was ever mentioned before. (like everyone else I'm desperate to find the slightest hint of HE, XD)
Or maybe Kang Ming is also part of the bad guys, and that's his alias.
Well, let's not only kill off the ML, let us also get him betrayed by all of his friends, my goodness...

So DW was carrying the blood pearl on her persona the whole time? Seems really brilliant since they have no enemies around lol
Also even if she was worried about Mr Qin (first victim of the portrait?), how could she never even doubt that it could be a trap???
You could hear Admiral Ackbar in the background screaming "It's a trap!" from miles away.
Unless this is all an act on their part.

Just to be clear, I don't want to defend the scripwriters in any way, but I don't think this is the worst they've done in the drama so far.
My whole point is that it still makes sense. Other things they've done don't.
ZSY has already publicly said in court that he thinks ZJR is ultimately responsible for ZZH's death, so once they kill him they could easily pin the murder on ZSY, what better reason then to avenge his son's death? They have created the perfect motive for a murder. I simply don't see why they should get rid then and there of someone they could easily make use of in many ways yet.
They don't risk anything keeping him alive, and they can get rid of him at any time. And the same could be said for CSJ.
In today's episodes there were at least a couple of things that are truely silly, there I see lazy writing for example.

They killed him to punish ZSY, he made huge mistakes in their eyes, h*ll the Prince has to go there in person to fix those mistakes. It's clear that they plan to get rid of the Zheng clan at the end of it all.
Also because he's the last person involved alive who could spill the beans about the past.
So once they take care of everything, they will get rid of him too.
Plus ZZH was behaving in unpredictable ways, stealing their stolen goods, and I guess they didn't like it.
ZSY is much more controllable than his son.

For example I was very annoyed when they didn't show us the final part of the jade competition.
I know that the whole purpose of that storyline was to have DW realize that she had lost sight of her initial desire, but still it makes no sense to start a plot and cut it in the middle. Not only that nobody ever mentions it again.
Did they never film it? I don't want to believe it, probably they just cut it in order to show something else. So it seems like they film more, and then they are not able to put everything together in a way that makes sense to the audience.
But I struggle with this idea, it's their job, it's what they studied, they know what they're doing, so why?

It is not about the Zheng, they're just pawns, and when I say Li Kui I actually mean his true identity, which we all think is Yu Chi.
What foolproof testimony could she give to have both Yu Chi and Prince Ying incriminated? None at all.
I'll say it again, how would she even be able to tell LK from the rest of the Bandits, she has never met him before.
She just saw a man in black shooting ZZH dead, she might guess that he is part of the bandits, but how can she prove that he was LK? And most importantly that LK is Yu Chi?
They are there to put an end to this entire thing, they are there to kill who threatens them: ZJR, YZJ, and DW.
Taking the pearl is one of the things they need to do to wrap it all up, yes the treasure might have been the reason the whole massacre happened, so it's very important, but is even more important to them right now that nobody brings the truth of the past to light.
They will retrieve the pearl once they have YZJ at their mercy.
Since they will have to kill people and commit other major crimes, they still need pawns ans scapegoats to take the fall in their place, and who better than ZSY and CSJ?
Also now ZJR is focusing on ZSY and CSJ, if they have killed them all at that point, everyone's attention would be on them.
It's not that they spared their life, they still can use them, they will dispose of them both later on.
Also from their point of view they think nobody will ever be able to take them down, Prince Ying must just feel displeased that he has to move his ass this time, but I don't think he's in a panic.
From everything he's been doing through the years you can see that he sees himself like un untouchable being, while others don't matter at all.

You're right that they know beforehand that they have to fit everything in 40 eps.
And to be honest it seems to me that there's a pattern they follow in most dramas.
Instead of reducing everything a bit in order to fit, they choose a part they want to dedicate a lot of time to develop, and then sacrifice everything else for it in post production.
Is it just that they are sloppy? Or could they be filming more than it is needed to have some extra material for adjustments after they go through censorship?
I am genuinly curious about how it works.

🤣🤣🤣

At this point I'm persuaded he will.
He even tried to hold him captive in Chang'an to save him/so that he didn't have to kill him eventually.
The moment he went to Yangzhou, Prince Ying already knew he would most probably have to kill him.
He gave him one last chance when he asked him to go back for his birthday, but he didn't go.
Now he has no other choice.

I'm not by any means justifying them, but I think it's not easy making dramas in China atm.
They start with a vision of the whole, then they have to cut things down because of the number of episodes restriction, then censorship.
And every now and then it seems that they add one more forbidden topic.
I would never work in this industry if I were them 😂
But this drama had the potential to be great, and we can already say that it isn't.
I'm still very much enjoying it because of the characters, all actors did a fantastic job.
However more than the dragging of the misunderstanding, I feel like after ep 18 they cut several things.
Some outcomes come off as rushed or too simplistic.
Plus I think after the massacre of the gang we all felt disconnected to the new faces for a while.

Her desperate cry was her reply.
As you perfectly said she doesn't understand love, since she's so focused on all the wrong things.
She could not even understand that DW would never betray/kill YZJ, and didn't expect her to ever forgive him.
So obviously she's totally incapable to put into words what she doesn't understand.
But her tears showed that unbeknownst even to her she cared for him, not as much as he cared for her though.
That's tragic, only after she lost him, she came to realize how important he was to her.

But obviously, her being who she is, instead of reflecting on herself she goes for revenge once more.😅
And that's also tragic, never learning from your mistakes you're bound to repeat the same errors again and again.

They're running real thin, 2, or more who knows, episodes on kidnapping, then they have to take down not just one, but two mighty foes. The whole drama of LK's true identity, a final confrontation between ZJR and the prince, in the middle of all this DW and/or ZJR have to know about the poison, and then trying to get the cure.
And DW must become the most susccessful business woman in Yangzhou, which is the drama's whole point.
How can they fit everything in the last bunch of episode?

I like him too, and wished they could have showed us more of his budding bromance with YZJ.😂

At this point all our leads have guessed who was the mastermind behind the Yan's massacre. They just need proofs.
And Prince Ying must know that ZJR knows. That is exactly why he didn't want ZJR to go there in the first place, he knows him better than anyone. He knew that he would guess everything right, and he's incorruptible. So now he has to get rid of him too. Which he didn't want to, you can see that he was genuinly saddened when ZJR obtained his post in Yangzhou.
So it's not about hiding the truth from our leads anymore, they went there to get rid of them, and cutting off all loose ends, so that they can bury the past once and for all.
That's how I see it at least.

I gave for granted that ZSY doesn't know his true identity, but maybe I'm wrong.
For sure CSJ doesn't, plus would she even know that the man who killed ZZH is LK?
She never met the BDB's head before.
When it comes to Prince Ying who would dare incriminating him? Not even Xu to save his selfish ass.

And even if both LK and PY will be there in person to solve everything, they will still need a puppet, and potential scapegoat, to maintain their public image.
So they kept ZSY alive, with the intention of getting rid, and replacing him, once everything's settled.
I don't think they give any importance to CSJ, she has no backing whatsoever at this point, and even her reputation is ruined.
Plus what proof does she have to link them to the smuggling case?
She was only told by ZZH, but didn't witness anything, or knows any detail. She poses no threat to them atm.
Not to mention that one more scapegoat could come in handy.