ShortCircuit

Every actor in the support cast is so good. Janine is such a ray of sunshine! (And I haven't seen Intanont in anything else YET, but he just got on the list.)

Way too little Weynai in this one, LOL.

"Have to go buy soy milk" becomes a meme due to him :D

You know that video of a silverback gorilla watching a caterpillar? When the caterpillar stops moving, he gently pushes it, to get it going and be interesting again LOL.

That's what Zang Hai is to the Marquis... an interesting caterpillar.

Bonus: the video I meant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmjGmfb-sBc

Veynai, Thada's secretary, LOL. He's the cutest panda EVER!!!

Oh he was naked. His underwear was on the table, next to his cleaned clothes. They even stopped a second to make certain we'd notice.

We did notice that LOL.

What do you mean, LOL, the dialogue in the pool was PERFECT. Thada's lines were so perfectly awkwardly cringe they moved over the line and became Rhett Butler-worthy LOL. (I'm not even joking, I was expecting Armin to stop him at every line and serve him with a B!tch please!! line, hahaha~ but he preferred becoming Nostradamus instead, LOL; He was sooooo cringe it actually got cute :D).

I seriously hope someone in the drama takes note of Armins' rambles and wins big in the dot com bubble before it bursts :D

He's the cutest in Reset next to Pond, here's to him getting way many more roles in the future!

I don't know what you guys are doing, I'm just here obsessing over the secretary. How freaking CUTE is he??? LOL, the little points and signs trying to manage his boss baby, hahaha! And then the huge announcement - ~yeah the big meeting is cancelled because I have to go buy soy milk, err, I mean something important happened.

He is precious and must be protected. I hope there's someone in the story for him too, he deserves a prize.

OMG it really didn't register that Winner/Pharit is the other Joe in My Stand-In! I saw someone's comment the other week but I didn't really think about it 'cause he doesn't look the same (obviously) but this ep, he turned his head a certain way or did something with an expression IDK, and tha-da! it finally hit :D (yeah I did that LOL).

I also LOVE Armin's inside total war, hahaha~, every time he's meeting one of the past characters he goes berserk... on the inside. On the outside he's yes sir, yes ma'am, sorry sir, thank you guys! while inside thermonuclear weapons are going off like fireworks hahaha~

Yeah, so far Armin/Pond is completely carrying the story, I hope the other characters come out to play, soon. (And I mean ThaDa too, LOL, that 20cms high jump was so awkward LOL - but he deserves it. He doesn't deserve the secretary, I'll take him off his hands, thanks).

1. They weren't afraid of him, they LOVED him or respected him (in the case of the Lu assassins). In the case of Gao Ming, he was an orphan that Zhao raised up and had him become someone - though he actually kept him from becoming a scholar, as he could, if given any help - with the alternative of simply dying. The others were also adopted by Eunuch Cao and loved him as a father, and Eunuch Cao was Zhao's friend and underling.

2. Zhixing didn't lie, he told Zang Hai what his own father told HIM. His father lied, though, and when Zang Hai told the Marquis who he thought the third enemy was, he realised his own son betrayed him.

3. That part isn't clear. I think Zhao poisoned the Seal, but it's unexplained.

Kimura Takuya, Eguchi Yousuke, (obviously) Satoh Takeru, Kaku Kento, Meguro Ren, Miura Haruma (RIP), Watabe Atsuro, Oguri Shun.

Out of the top of my head, as they say (I promise I didn't go look them up). And there are plenty more that I don't remember the names of - but I'd remember seeing them somewhere (like, LOL, half the cast of RuroKen :D) And I didn't even hit some of the actually well-known actors (because I haven't watched them much) or the female actors.

It's just that some are a lot more known internationally than others, so there's some selection bias in news articles.

Oi!!!

That killed me :D

This will definitely depend on whether the other OTTs who produce kdramas will follow suit (and they won't, if they want to keep their big names headlining their dramas).

This would be bad for the actors themselves (just the top and mid-tier level ones, though, I don't think the bit parts or cameos or guest roles ever paid much) but good for the overall industry (IF the others follow the trend, again, which I don't think they will). If the costs go down a bit, then a lot more dramas could be produced and the risk of not making up initial costs would go down. There could be an argument on the actual budgets not allowing for creative development - then again, they'll adapt to lower-budget drama scripts instead and maybe - finally - give a chance to new talent to come up.

And also give some breathing room for drama production teams in the original country - I know they'd love to see more money come from outside, since it's an investment that they don't have to chase and lock down. Still, that only gives way for certain big productions and nothing for lower budget ones, and only the big productions take over the market.

I don't know about other people - but I would like to see this actually happen, if it does. Instead of having all the eggs in one basket, let's spread them around and see what happens.

Because some people (myself included) don't enjoy slapstick but would like a more subtle comedy. That's why I couldn't get past the first half of the first ep. I'll wait it out and decide then.

I couldn't watch MMH the SK version (because the first ep was so cringey, though YMMV), but I'll probably try this one for Takeru Satoh's sake.

LOL, I assumed the Emperor died because Zhao poisoned the Seal or the bronze fish hahaha~ (because that would have caused certain death even if it took a bit longer.) And it would have made sense for him to give up the Seal and fish key in order to put his choice Emperor in place.

Which brings me back to the new Emperor - he's a master chess player yet he looks so naive when talking to Zang Hai. That sure brings in some question of future dealings. (I mean I just finished a book where the MC puts on a whole weiqi table where every piece is a human or a human army, and the ML is given the challenge to solve it - the players being the kings and the peoples. It eventually ends in a draw, which also has meaning to the actual story of the book.) The idea is that - weiqi/go players, particularly if they're good, are shrewd thinkers and planners. And Zhao picked THIS GUY. He CANNOT be that naive. (It might be another aborted plotline.)

The FL's mood change doesn't actually make a lot of sense. So she was animated as she was gallivanting around with her BFF, but once she got locked up for a few weeks she suddenly turned into a passive doormat. She loves her mom, she loves the ML (if he had locked ME up for weeks, and I had her personality... I would've brought up the whip. OH and they never even revisit the childhood whip scars, either! I bet they did but it got cut...) That talks to me about either the actress' acting range or the lack of script or directing cues for her. Though I still tend to blame her, TBH, since all the others did way better even with a less important part (and presumably the same directing, too).

In an alternate 'verse, the Dongxia queen is the third villain and the daughter dies in that maze, and so the ML becomes a tragic character and despite taking revenge, he's destroyed himself too, the end.

It feels like when they started they planned for a lot more episodes - maybe around or over the 50 eps mark. The pace is on par with NiF, until about ep30 or so, and NiF had 54 eps. So maybe they ran out of screen time, had to remove the last third or change it so that it made sense with the first two thirds, and thus we got the kind of rushed Dongxia development - until then, except for the CGI ghosts, everything was practical and on-location, you can see there's very little if any green screen. But in the Dongxia part, there are a few, and they're kind of obvious. IMHO they might be reshoots to bring it all to an acceptable ending.

And/or maybe there was some pressure from people with money to make some insertions or add more screen time for certain actors (I've no inside melons, but it sure looks like something in the wind changed in the last part).

Just think about it - the Emperor suddenly died - NOBODY made a fuss, nobody ever explained HOW (since they changed the way the Seal worked... the Dongxia queen who used it was forced into wearing a mask for the rest of her short life after using it, but the Emperor - who didn't even use it - just... dies?!) The Zhen palace plot was abandoned. The border Army looks kind of sparse. (And Zang Hai out of the blue knows where exactly in the world Zhixiang is?!)

It's clear there were a lot of cuts and they made do with whatever was left that was usable and patched it with reshoots. At least the first - 38 eps or thereabouts - were a whole block, and that's what I'm basing my rating on. The last two eps are the changed/shortened ending that is rethought from the initial one, IMHO.

Given the way the Chinese censorship was acting around the time this drama was being made... I think they intended for two seasons (like a lot of dramas at the time tried) but then the censorship inserted the "at least six months in-between seasons" new rule and they decided to just make it all at once and had to edit around whatever couldn't be included any more.

Glad they kept the good parts in, though!

ETA Now that I think about it... what if the initial third killer WAS the Dongxia queen?! She actually had the wherewithal and interest to get the Seal back, since she knows what it is and what it can do. But they might have changed from her being the third villain into her being a good mom because they wanted to get the happy ending in after all - and with the mom being his parents' killer he and AnTu would have been doomed.

I think I would've liked that a whole lot better, TBH, but then I don't mind BEs myself...

So google translate says this means:

She was a hostage! How could she not be married to a prince to maintain a peace alliance? It doesn't make sense! And if there was no romantic plot but rather a sisterhood (together for the same goal) it would be better, because Zang shouldn't have emotions

(I don't speak Portuguese, I hope google translate got it right.)

She had been a hostage to the SOVEREIGN Empire, but also she wasn't a princess of Dongxia anymore when her queen sister decided to marry her off to some 60 year old tribesman... king? And said (king or whatever kind of chieftain he was after all) was NOT in the picture for alliance reasons, he was there as a plot point to allow the queen to be bitchy and get rid of her - politically useless - sister. Which point was even made by AnTu herself, by the way.

But also let's pretend there WAS a political point to be made by marrying her off the second she's in her kingdom again - what is the need for threatening her with her lover's life?! I mean, we can all try to pretend AnTu was politically savvy, too, and she WANTED to help her sister create and maintain an alliance - for plot progression reasons you don't throw that at the wall in the last 3 episodes of a 40 eps drama, LOL. Or generally you don't if your FL actually had some things to really do that develop said plot, BEFORE you create another twist that leads nowhere before the general climax of the drama - and that leads us back to the initial point.

The twist was created precisely because the FL has almost zero importance to the actual plot and it gave her something to do after all.

Re: Zang shouldn't have any emotions part (which is intended to show sarcasm probably, but again, Portuguese, so maybe it got lost in TL)... Zang Hai is basically the only one showing actual human emotions in this pairing. And most of them aren't related to the romance, also. She's not needed for him to get emotional, LOL. And it would really really help if SHE too could show some emotions from time to time (different from the usual RBF she ALWAYS has on...)

The romance subplot simply doesn't work when just one side does the heavy lifting.

At least don't upvote your own comment, troll, like who the f even does that?!

So... now they're going to Disneyland :D

(No but it has that feeling.)

This has to have been the most useless and meaningless FL in a serious drama. They might've put it in because otherwise there'd have been a clamour about the lack of romance, but TBH, (and I'm actually sorry to say it), they didn't have a lot of chemistry and she doesn't have a lot of range. Or at least didn't show it in this drama. I've seen her in Lighter&Princess and there that expression she always has on was kind of warranted, but here, it didn't work at all. I've also seen her trying hard, but I guess it wasn't to be.

So I truly think the drama would've worked way better without the romance, or the same romance with a different FL. Even Tong'er was more animated than AnTu. (And now that I've mentioned her... LOL, what, is Tong'er now going to be a crossdressing teacher at that Academy for the rest of her life, or are they making it open for female teachers too? :D) It would've worked even with a hostage prince, actually, and no romance, but I guess we won't ever see anything hinting at actual bromance with XZ, just in case. *sad* Anyway, moving on.

When the drama hits those emotional moments, you feel it throughout. (I've said it before, XZ really out-acts himself, emotionally, in this one). But when the plot starts skipping scenes and/or makes moves that aren't logical... it also shows. This would've profited from more eps, in which to move a bit beyond Zang Hai's radius, and show us what the rest of them were doing, counter-plotting.

Logically, the story kind of makes sense. After all, who better to know their weaknesses than their childhood friend, who just happens to teach everything he'd need to know to the kid who will actually take revenge on them? But he waited all his life for his best moment then got impatient?! Why? The queen sister also didn't need to be so catty. The queen mother had all the gravitas she needed without once raising her voice or threatening anyone. IMHO the sister needed a better character trait chart, if she were to impress. And a tribal wedding out of the blue, where she needs to threaten AnTu with Zang Hai's life?! What in the weekend makjang is that?! (And that's what I mean by useless FL - that sequence was introduced PRECISELY to give the FL a reason to exist).

So, PROs:
1. Xiao Zhan's emotional performance. I liked Zang Hai in most of his scenes. (Yup, including the paper drowning one, eeeesh that was scary).
2. The first villain AND the second were pretty good. Particularly with how fast they were catching on (I wonder if they didn't subconsiously recognised something their "friend" was preparing for them. Or maybe that's why Zang Hai had almost complete freedom for a while - in order to not make the same mistakes his "benefactor" would have.
3. Cinematography. Aside those few green screen scenes right at the end, most of it looked like it was shot on location, with actual props and no CGI (except the LOTR Moria and People Under the Mountain scenes in the beginning, LOL). Also, the music, particularly that drum theme and the ED song.

CONs:
1. Useless FL, wasted plot (what about the Zhen palace? I thought it was burning in the ED sequence, but nothing seemed to happen to it after all.) She was there because the ML needed something to make him do a double take before getting involved with a presumed villain, and that's about it. TBH, I again blame the actress, sorry. Even the Lu assassins (Yan, the woman, and also all her "brothers") had more personality, with a lot less screen time. The younger bro who died last - sorry, I don't remember his name ATM - was clearly a psycho, I remember him even if the name didn't stick. As for the FL? I'll probably remember her female bodyguard for longer, LOL. No screen presence. (Don't come at me, fans of the actress, she's pretty... but if she and the actress for Tong'er were switched around, this drama would've been better, IMHO.)
2. No backstory, almost, of the Masters. We don't know who the first one was (the one who burned himself to death because of - we don't know why), or who the Mistress ever was (she's not even close enough to Zhao to know his secrets, like Gao Ming). The only one almost known is Gao Ming, but even him is given a very sketchy depiction, and he taught Zang Hai all he knows and was like a father to him... but by the end he's relegated to the role of cook and self-sacrificing character (because we need some important character deaths in this one). Helloooo!! Kuai Duo died, the whole family died - and need I say it, we know a whole lot more about THEM, with a lot less scenes, than about the Masters!!
3. Almost careless ending. I've seen that new Emperor actor somewhere, I can't remember where right now, and can't locate him in the cast (was he the young guy with the lung illness who falls for the FL then is exiled, in Blossom? I think that's him but I'm not certain). But all was walked through - Zang Hai decides to take the Seal and study it (DESTROY IT!!! CAST IT INTO THE FIRE!!! ISILDUR!!!!!!!!!!), they go away with NOTHING but a horse (like... what?!), the friends get ghosted, Zhixiang gets back the family home (no closure on his mom issues though because there's no time left), the Emperor - whom Zhao PICKED because he had all the power - is an unknown quantity...

So yeah, while the drama has great moments (I seriously WANTED to see more about astronomy and geomancy and BUILDING stuff!!!!), there were some shortcomings. It was almost too careful not to overstep some red line they had, so it feels a bit calculated.

I really enjoyed it though, in spite of those shortcomings. If I ignore the romance plot, the rest of it feels pretty well-centered, the pacing is slow enough yet not boring, the emotions are all there (IMHO XZ carried this part all on himself), the music is good. I'm happy with it.

Oh and the FIGHTING scenes - yes. They were all great.

You know what, this was one drama that would've been even better without the romance subplot.