Sharlotka

Tang Lici: Noone is to take any unauthorised action. The first thing Zhong Chunji does? Goes off without authorisation and falls straight into a trap. Come on girl, so far you showed that you’re a smart one with a heart in the right place, so WHY?! To get back a position in the organisation? Definitely the way to go about this…

I wasn’t too big on Puzhu at first but I’m really enjoying his scenes and interactions with Xifang Tao. He’s definitely grown on me and I’m curious where they are going with this.

Yu Furen, seriously man? Just how many times do you need to be proven wrong for it to get through? Though I’m amused that Tang Lici not only managed to heal himself after that stab (which okay, I can buy) but even managed to wash and fix the clothes lol Just found it quite funny for no particular reason.

And oooh, the butterfly tattoo. Pretty big if she had it made when she was a child lol

The scene between Zhong Chunji and A Shei was quite nice, too. I really enjoy the friendship here.

Interesting, and a very weird choice in my eyes. I can't say that I'm here for either of the two pairings, Tang Lici himself is more than enough to keep me watching, but if I were to choose between the two, I'd definitely prefer to see scenes with A Shui lol

Yeah, this is totally the vibe I get from them, too and true, if she is the lost Princess, it would kind of fit that way :)

I really, really hope they don't try to push for Tang Lici and Zhong Chunji romance. While I can see the chemistry between him and A Shui, even if I don't trust her, I really can't see it here. Puzhu has more chemistry with Xifang Tao than these two do in my eyes lol

Although that little 'family gathering' scene was quite nice. And so was the scene with Tang Lici and Xiao Shi - I like how they make it about him teaching the boy what he has been taught by Fang Zhou, as a kind of way to show that Fang Zhou still lives on, but in a different way than what he's trying to go for.

I feel like a confrontation is coming between Puzhu and Xifang Tao too, and I think it may turn out to be pretty interesting. I'm really looking forward to that.

That's very true, he didn't look like he had any kind of faith in it and mostly just went along with it because there was nothing to lose at that point.

Yeah, definitely. Someone clearly didn't think about the connotations that it's going to invoke when they decided to call it that, which is like, one of the main things you should consider when you translate anything but oh well.

I know, right?! That was my first thought, too!

Puzhu's sudden appearance and disappearance after a fight with Tang Lici didn't look suspicious at all. It really wasn't planned in the slightest lol

And a lost princess, eh? There are two obvious candidates, I wonder which one of them is going to turn out to be the one. Or maybe a completely different one, that would be interesting.

Anyone else has a feeling that Tang Lici might fail to bring Fang Zhou back, and him taking Xiao Shi under his wing may be a way to show that he carries on his legacy?

lol, I love bts like that. Then again, long hair, long wide flowing clothes, all the accessories they have, easy to imagine it all getting tangled up one way or another. And then they also end up lifting them to do all kinds of 'stunts', I think I'd have a heart attack and they're so calm lol

And their white, or otherwise very light coloured clothes remain pristinely clean with not even a droplet of red, too :)

I have finally more or less caught up with the episodes and this Fengliu Dian Master is so creepy. I have a feeling that sooner or later, he’s going to kill that cat and I already dread that scene. I also can’t shake off a feeling that he may turn out to be the real villain rather than Liu Yan.

I also wonder what Tang Lici is up to, telling Liu Yan the truth about where Fang Zhou’s body is. It feels out of character for him to just say that in the hopes of convincing Liu Yan that he’s telling the truth, so there must be something more to it than that.

And while I really enjoy the relationship between Tang Lici and A Shui, there must be more to her than just a random coincidence that she just so happens to be able to heal him with her blood. I may be overthinking this but she’s trying a bit too hard to convince him that she’s harmless.

I guess it depends on what kind of materials the clothes are made of but in the peak of summer, I sometimes wish I could take my skin off, so I can't imagine what they had to feel lol

I feel hot just thinking of all those layers they had on lol

I think I struggle to see the point of anyone in Susha conspiring with anyone in Jinxiu, it feels like it really wasn't necessary for anything. All in all, though, I have the same feeling, the actions of most of the characters were justified (to an extent), but definitely understandable, and this is definitely one of the strongest points of this drama in my eyes.

Agreed. I usually like support characters the most in a lot of productions and it's still the case in this one but I enjoyed the main couple, which is actually a very rare experience for me. But I definitely did not expect to eventually grow fond of Xia Jingyan, especially when I can't say I even cared that much about Jinxiu plot in general.

Episode 38

Xia Jingshi is just so unlikeable until the very, very, very end. Out of all the villains in this drama, I can’t help feeling like he falls short of almost everyone else. I understand his motivations to an extent but the way he went about doing things… I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but with how it was being blown out to be so big, so important, so everything, it didn’t feel that way at all.

It’s actually funny that Xiao Weiran makes more sense than him when he tries to convince him to go about seeking revenge on Feng Suige when he’s taken the throne. If he did that, and succeeded, he could actually conquer Susha at the same time - kill two birds with one stone, really.

I like that Xiao Weiran was killed by Ning Fei and Yixiao together. They really deserved that, for the way he had betrayed both of them. I was hoping they would, and I’m definitely happy about that.

I am quite satisfied with the way they ended most plots, except for one thing. DID THEY SERIOUSLY LEAVE THE THRONE TO THE BIGGEST IDIOT IN THE FAMILY? I know that it’s technically for the time being but I seriously doubt it’s going to change in the future. Of all the ways they could have resolved it, I just can’t get behind that.

That said, definitely one of the best dramas I have watched. A lot of great characters, both good and bad. Most of the villains were very well written and well played. The good guys too were great. I loved that most people weren’t black and white and it’d be easy to see how they could have taken a different path and ended in a different place, which is something I’m at times missing in other productions.

Episode 37

The reunion of the Princess and Feng Suige was sweet but… She really doesn’t deserve the brother that she has after how she had treated him. At least she realised her mistakes but there she is, now breaking Xia Jingyan’s heart. She really can’t see what’s right in front of her.

So… Xia Jingshi’s big plan was to go to the Emperor when he’s out of the Palace, break into the house and kill him? A plan that he spent YEARS preparing for? Which was so important it needed to be so meticulously planned for such a long time?

Out of the whole Jinxiu plot, I actually found the Emperor to be the most likeable. He may be nuts but there’s something about this character that is endearing. I actually wonder how much of what he said to his mother is true - that he is this way basically because why should he be anything else, with noone expecting anything good from him and him not bothering to try. I also find it quite ironic that the Princess was so blindly in love with Xia Jingshi that she believed she might change him, and the one she did end up changing is Xia Jingyan, only she refuses to see it.

I found it quite telling that in just a span of moments, he goes from saying how he’ll never plead or beg, only to do exactly that when Xia Jingshi turns on the Princess. And the pain he shows when Xia Jingshi stabs her, the way his eyes stay on her, dying and thinking she died along with him. I didn’t expect to feel sorry for him but here I am, totally in tears. Which is funny because I would imagine the expectation to be the opposite - feeling happy for Xia Jingshi for finally doing what he had wanted.

The only time I’ve seen this Xia Jinyan’s actor is in a role that was as opposite to what his character was here as it’s possible, and a very small one, but he delivered an incredible performance here. I really hope to see this guy in more productions in the future.

Was the father a hidden serial killer, though? He'd have fought alongside the Emperor, so he probably killed lots of people during that time, so he always had it in him. He just ended up snapping at one point and went full psycho out of desperation.

But yeah. He actually admitted himself in that confrontation with Feng Suige that he comes from military family yet he can't have all these great achievements, can't even ride a horse, etc. He got ambitious and ended up going in way above his head, even though he was completely not suited to what that entailed. But all in all, I liked that he made this realisation - I messed up and here we are, paying the price for it. It's something I really enjoy when a series does about villains and in this case, both father and son.

And the brother... I have to admit - he got probably the absolute best character development in the series when it comes to his attitude towards being an emperor. Standing up to people, staying true to what he believed rather than letting himself be manipulated. Definitely another thing that they've really done well rather than following a usual trope.

Yeah, it was creepy but then again, they did the same thing with Emperor and Feng Suige and I think it was a great. I think Yao was kind of understanding it earlier, when he saw the turn in his father and all, but I think it fully dawned on him when he fell to the floor and last thing he saw was his father's body - that it wouldn't have come to this if he had just been content with what he had, which wasn't so bad after all. It doesn't redeem or justify him in any way, but I found it to be a great touch.

And I loved Feng Suige's emotions too - the pain he felt was quite obvious too in that scream. And them fighting with their bare fists instead of swords - se saw that in that video but I liked when he just threw the sword away, making it close, personal. It was a great touch too.

Yes, it could have been better but I think it ended up working well. Initially, I would have preferred for him to die after his son but what we have seen with Yao's part actually convinced me that it works this way well because of realisations that Yao makes after seeing his father, and the way everything is staged, to the point of making me go full lunatic when I left a comment with my thoughts lol

I couldn't help liking the way Feng Suige makes him realise that he didn't have to do all of that - that he misunderstood the Emperor and went full psycho and basically doomed them, when he would have achieved better results by doing nothing. And you can see him understand that. These are my favourite types of villains - ones that are not black and white, and I really enjoyed that character, even though what he did was crazy.