SAlice

I started watching HL after her rant to see with my own eyes if it was really that bad. And it's a very fluffy, very innocent romance, not a single problematic scene between ZLS and CZY.
The story in itself doesn't have any problem, a 14 yo girl falls in love with a 19 yo boy, what kind of grooming there could be???

The only problem I see, and I blame who made the casting choices for it, is that in the flashbacks they still used CZY while the child actress who plays San Zhi at age 14 was 11 years old at that time.
I know that it was just her one sided crush, and in the show they're only 5 years apart which is not that much of a gap by any means.
But they used a 26 years old actor to play the role of a 19 yo boy, and an 11 yo child actress to play the role of a 14 yo girl, does it make any sense?
I skipped all the flashbacks because I felt a bit disturbed by the fact that they had chosen such a young kid to play a teenager, but AX went way too far with her criticism.

Since this is a very busy time at work, I was so tired in the evening that I didn't watch any episodes for a few days. So I got up early today to catch up, but I managed to watch only until ep 18, and oh boy...
I had already prepared myself for Shrimp's early departure because of the trailers, but I wasn't ready to see them all dying😭😭😭
This Lin Kui guy is a monster, he basically reenacted the slaughter of 20 years ago, he killed YZJ's whole family. He left Duanwu for last so he could kill YZJ's spirit, and last glimmer of hope.
It looks like he overheard him say that Duanwu had become his life's meaning.

So is his "dear friend" Yuchi (or whatever he's called) Lin Kui? Or is he just one of his pawns? Together with Zhang Jinran's general friend? Because he looks guilty as hell as well.
Then probably ZJR's sworn brother, the prince, could be the evil boss? Because all of ZJR's "brothers" turn out to be evil guys.
And since the other prince vying for the position of crown prince (I don't remember the name) is also supposed to be evil, basically there's no decent ruler on the horizon.

Looks like YZJ is never gonna obtain justice for his family, plus now he's also lost the only hope to cure the poison in his body.

We are not going to have a Love of Nirvana 2.0, right? RIGHT????

I always enjoy reading your thoughts and in depth analysis.
And I wish to thank you because you're always willing to explain to others chinese culture/history/etc.
It's very interesting and informative!

Great review! I agree with almost everything you've said.
I still think that in this case, if the episodes limitation wouldn't have been in place, around 10 more episodes could have helped a lot.

"Even though SOML is undeniably a more sophisticated and culturally impactful production, I found the pacing and the narrative approach suffocating. Even though it is less well written and not that original, The Rise of Ning is a more enjoyable watch overall. The biggest difference for me is Shenyuan is more interesting, better written, better portrayed and more empathetic than the male lead in SOML."
Thanks, exactly. I dropped it because of the male lead, and since it's sooo long have no desire to start it again.


It's interesting to hear your point of view on voice acting/dubbing.
Not speaking Chinese I'm not able to really get the nuances, so thank you.
To me it's still shocking that actors get dubbed in their own language, in my country that would cause them to never get another job. XD

Beautifully said.
I think Kang Ju not only meant that she won't follow on the same path as YZJ.
He sees that she is the one who can truly understand him since they're indeed similar both in their past experiences and values. However in spite of what she's gone through she's still been driven mainly by love and compassion (shown in all her interactions with other characters).
Therefore what Kang Ju believes and hopes for, I think, is that she is the one who can heal YZJ, and show him that he's not destined to be forever alone, and that there are other and better reasons to be alive than revenge only.

Do not read further if you don't want spoilers.
In last week's interview with the cast they were asked who is the luckiest character in the show, and they answered SML because "he doesn't lose anything throughout the entire show".
So he's probably safe.

Usually the most important aspect of a series'ending for me is that it has to make sense, no matter if it's a sad or happy ending.
In this instance however, given how harsh and cruel life has already been with the two leads, I really hope for a HE.
So the fact the ML's mysterious illness has already been mentioned three times makes me really shiver...

I've only watched the first 4 episodes, however from what has been said, her parents worked for his family, so they were part of their clan, that is why they have the same surname.
If you notice even Cui Shi Jiu and Cui Ding have the same surname, but they aren't related in any way. He's just a steward working for the Cui family, so he's part of their clan.
Hope this helps.

I've come to realize that xianxia is not my cup of tea, so I was never interested in TLP.
I'd rather watch her other drama that everybody was praising, the historical one in which she's a princess in love with a eunuch. But I fear it's a very long one.

That is what I always ask myself too, do they really think that perople would find those characters appealing?!!!

I'm hoping for a director's cut edition, can we please have at least the kiss they cut off?😭
Yining and Shen Yuan have become one of my favourite couples, I need more of them.😂

Watched the first few episodes of FoF, and it looks really good, but put it on hold (I don't have much time, and can only watch one show at a time) because SoPG is finally out. It was my most anticipated cdrama this year. Watched the first 2 episodes and luckily didn't disappoint at all.
I will start watching FoF again after finishing SoPG.
I've also tried the first few minutes of LGiEF, and those were enough for me, nothing new under the sun. Totally uninteresting to me.
On a side note it makes me laugh that Ren Min was bashed so much because of her natural voice and tone, while people can tolerate other actresses/voice actresses always making those high-pitched totally fake childish tones.
But I don't blame the actresses, because they are required to act like that. I blame the productions that are always eager to dumb down the female characters and make 30 yo women act like they were 12.

It is mentioned in one of the last episodes, he retained that information because he wanted to use LSY to get rid of Wang Yuan. It's in one of the dialogues between LJX and his commander/right hand man.
LJX's ultimate goal was to take WY's place, and become the most powerful court official.

If a person you have known for a long time dies in front of your eyes, would you show no reaction at all? Let's not forget she didn't shed a single tear for him.
I find worse the fact that the scriptwriters tried to redeem him not through his actions, which were bad until the very last minute since he saved her after being the one to put her in danger, but through the words of Chen Lang and Duke Ying after he died.
But we know they are biased, to CL he was his dearest uncle, and to the Duke he was his best friend's son, whom had basically been a member of his family until he found out about his evil deeds.
So what weight their words truly carry?

The thing is we might assume they shared more of those moments together even before the engagement, they just chose not to show them to us...🤬
Remember how at the beginning of ep 35 Old Madam Wei says to SY "It's been a long time", wth until a few minutes prior they were showing us the flower festival. So in the span of ep 34 we have to infer that many weeks have passed.

Everybody knows about the episodes restriction, I was regretting the fact that because of that they have cut off needed parts of the story, and I think RilakkumasBubbleTea meant that too.
In some cases it might be a good thing because it forces the productions to streamline the plot, but in this instance it was detrimental.
The show would have greatly improved if it had the time to show more of the evolution of their relationship after the reveal.
It would have also been nice to see more facets of the Wei fafmily members.
I wanted to see more interactions between Yining and all of them.
And after all the time spent on the Luo family's shenanigans, I feel we needed to see how Yilian and Xuanyuan repented and reconciled with everybody.
If this is a family drama, and it is since more than 3/4 of the episodes revolved around family issues, you can't skip those parts of the story.

Yes, it is indeed such a pity! The potential was there.
From what I can see in pretty much the majority of the cdrams I've tried out, it seems to me that producers/directors believe that the more angst the better, because that's what the audience want
And who cares if it leads to totally unrealistic plotlines, or if it means sacrificing the quality of the drama.
I for one hate angst for the sake of angst, it makes me feel disrespected, like the filmmakers think that we viewers are dumb.

Another problem of filmmaking worldwide that has been going on for years now is the romanticizing of toxic male characters.
That is totally wrong, and extremely dangerous for the younger audience.

My final conclusions, I will try to keep them as spoiler free as possible, but if you haven't yet finished watching the drama, it might be better no to read this.

I am glad I watched this drama, I started it almost by chance, so it was a pleasant surprise.
And I will probably rewatch my favorite scenes in the future.
However it could have been better, and the main problem for me is that it needed more episodes.

The problem is not that it took 27/28 episodes to reveal the truth about her birth, because that time was needed to put everyone and everything in the right place for the reveal to happen.
It was good to resolve all the entangled relationships in the Luo family before YN left them,
She got the closure she needed with her past, and was ready for a brand new beginning in her life.
The problem is that there were only 12 episodes left to show and solve the dynamics in her new family, to solve the whole political plot, and to showcase their blossoming love in a way that was satisfactory for us viewers.

The time everybody is complaining they "wasted" on the second couple, was actually time needed to flash out the true character and reasoning of one of the 2 final bosses of the show.
One was YN's nemesis, and the other one SY's, we know who they are, so I will avoid writing their names for people who's still watching it.
In the same way it's not a problem per se that they spent 6 episodes on LJX and WY, the problem is that those were the last 6 episodes. And we can't say that those were mere fillers to create angst, because actually everything happened even too fast, one event after the other without respite.

But because they dedicated the appropriate time for the family and court drama, they didn't have enough time for their romance after the reveal, and for the Wei family. These are the two aspects that suffered the most because of the episodes restriction.

The transition of both their feelings was done pretty nicely in my opinion, but I understand the viewers who says that it seemed to them the YN's feelings changed from one day to the other.
This actually brings me to the other main problem of the show, they didn't emphasize enough the passing of time in the various phases of the drama.
From their clothing we can infer that the first 28/29 episodes happened in the span of months, but then more than 1 year passes between those episodes and the last portion of the drama.
In ep 30 CL is exiled and a couple of episodes later Yiyu is already married and expecting/giving birth. In ep 31 is snowing and in ep 33 is basically May, since they are celebrating flowers in full bloom.

In the end they chose to sacrifice the best parts of the drama, the ones that were more enjoyable to watch: the relationship between the two leads, and the members of the Wei family.

That said I appreciated the whole cast, everyone was the right choice for their role, special mention for Duke Wei and Lin Hairu.
I also really liked both Grannys, and appreciated how Granny Luo made huge mistakes in the past, but learnt from them and did everything in her power not to repeat them.
And it was refreshing watching a couple who can communicate, instead of having totally unrealistic misunderstandings just to create angst for the sake of it.
It was also refreshing watching a female lead who was neither perfect, nor a super warrior, but realistically smart and resilient, but still had her fragilities.

If you've read this whole post you are heroic, and I am really grateful.
Best wishes to everybody!

Exactly!
I mean everyone is entitled to have their own tastes, so to the people who've said "I know he's bad, but I liked him nonetheless" I have nothing to say, at least they it's wrong to like him.
But when I read people say he should have been the male lead, YN misunderstood him and never gave him a chance, I'm seriously worried about these people.
Let's not forget about all the people who were framed and unjustly killed by him during all those years he was trying to gain more power and wealth.
Not to mention all those poor maids he murdered in order to kidnap YN.
He has a neverending trail of blood behind him.

They spent the last 6 episodes on him and WY.
That was really bad.

😂😂😂
I interpreted CL's phrase as "He was a tragic romantic hero" and it really made me angry.

Exactly!
And the more the story goes on and the more you can notice the change in tone of YN's voice, how much more childish her voice and behaviour sounds in the flashbacks.
I am now persuaded that she wasn't even 14 when they met, most probably around 12.
While he was already an established war hero, so well over 20 I guess.
Him constantly calling her MeiMei, not only is creepy, but also shows how he rejects her current identity, the fact that she is now a more mature person not easily fooled, who can make her own decision, and that most importantly has moved on.
He is basically trying to catch a ghost, a previous version of her self that is no more.

I hope people will stop insulting her for no reasons, I think she's both beautiful and a good actress.
Let's hope for their reunion, in a modern drama maybe.

When LJX died I was weeping...because he didn't have the well deserved ending we had envisioned. During the entire scene I was wondering what your reaction had been while watching it 🤣🤣🤣
He received too good of an end, and we had to watch his creepy self until the very last episode, tbh I didn't like it at all.
When Cheng Lang said "He was a successful man, but too obsessed with love" I was literally screaming at the screen "THAT IS NOT LOVE!!!"😂