Skibbies

ah jiao is a girly sounding name, it can mean delicate and tender, which is opposite of how he is. chang yi's nickname ah man is more what he is like, fierce and reckless.

They changed the dynasty this is based on, the novel is based on jin, pre-sui dynasty, so it was before commoners could become gov officials. The big aristocratic families controlled the court, they stick around for generations, while emperors might come and go. The drama's costume is tang, but they sorta purposely left it vague, and downplayed the class difference.

The drama's focus is bit more on women becoming whoever they want (there is that in the novel too, but it's played up more in the drama) + everyone helping to defeat "final boss". The novel's sml is second bro I think, his scenes have been cut and downplayed significantly for the side couple + sml (which exists in novel but drama added more scenes for them)

the first ep is drama original, fan shows up 1/3 or 1/2 way through the book.

in the novel, she just wanted to get married, i guess in drama, they wanted to give her smdige more reason than wanting to escape from crazy guy.

oh i thought it was better than i imagined, it's light makeup and not super noticeable lipstick, maybe i have low expectations. I agree that crossdressing can be better, but they come about once a year if not two. i'm mostly glad they kept it cos crossdressing is important part of zhou yangling's characterisation, it's not just for romance.

matrilocal husband is drama original but it's explained fairly well early on in the drama, and as far as fl goes, her ways to secure a husband/get herself out of sticky situations are pretty smart and relatively realistic. As for the crossdressing, she has her reasons and ambitions, it's not just a gimmick.

I liked her alright in dream of splendour, her character wasn't great but she worked pretty well. She played a really flawed character in the modern drama Imperfect Victim and did a great job in it! (not a fun drama though)

the start of s1 is very much a manhua start problem, web manhua struggled to gain a footing when it starts, so it needed something super different to hook, and there's more problematic humour/plot points for the same reason (it's more apparently in donghua/manhua).

Baobao's flashback was when the story really sold itself to me for donghua too (it's end of s1 for donghua, the drama rearranged events a bit), before that I just liked the premise, but not really the story. Manhua fans are quick to admit the start is rough too, and lot of fans think biyou village is epitome of what the story is about.

in the plans, haven't been filmed yet. this season is just one arc, you can watch it and stop it here tbh, so I don't think you have to wait.

The drama is about multiple couples so they aren't side characters lol. I do think they intro'ed them bit too late though.

director li mo directed this drama and fake it, he also rides bike, so i'm pretty sure he just incorporated the bit. for this drama, racing is one of the things that can be considered attraction in macau, so it's why it's here.

knockout is propoganda probably cos the police won XD china not being the villain? propoganda. china having positive sides? propoganda.

anti-corruption dramas is literally a sub-genre, but they almost never get watched internationally and are waved off as propoganda.

different characters, 徐 and 许, they sound completely different in cantonese as well (tsui and hui).

oh, fu dalong shows up last 1/4 of the show, and......I didn't like his character to be honest? Partially cos his character is boneheaded, but partially how he played it, it came off bit annoying and out place at times. All the cases are based on real high profile cases, so there's that.

It's a folktale yeah, and it's just called hat demon, I keep getting the impression it's linked to 狸猫换太子 folktale too. Both are from Song Zhenzong period, and linked with him not having a crown prince.

Chen Kaige's movie inspiration is also from folktales I think. Strange tales of Tang Dynasty and White Cat Legend both have demon cats in Wu Zetian period.

Criminal Police is decent, though not the type of suspense I like (I like whodunnit and whydunnit more). It's a police procedural that depicts the hardwork and grind of police work, sprinkled with department conflicts and technological change. It's stark contrast to what we normally get in the genre though.

Light on did alright this year I think, I liked lost in the shadows and interlaced scenes, although neither did as well as the lonely warrior (which I didn't watch).

This drama is more detailing how police work in reality + technological/systematic changes over last 30-40 years I think.

Yes, all the cases were based on real high profile cases in China.

I finished, I liked the second half more I think, from ep 25 onwards? there's less battle and more other stuff, touches bit on land reform, taking over xi'an, relatively detailed bit on xizang liberation, I'm more interested in these bits.

I don't think I'd rec this tbh, unless you are curious about the history or main character. I feel like I liked the 2021 batch of commemorative dramas I watched lot more. I think cos they were more about general history rather than a particular place, didn't help I don't care for battles I think. This drama's plot sort of blitz through lot of skirmishes and events. For people, I liked the zhou enlai, deng xiaoping ones more, or the one about the people that went to france.

I didn't expect to find you here :P I'm watching it, and if you are watching it for Ni Ni, she first appear in ep 16 till about 19, then I think 26? I might have missed an appearance somewhere mhmm.