Skibbies

30% romance I'd say? more friendship than romance but there's still some.

no. strictly 1v1.

the scriptwriter is busy writing Joy of Life s2, Dou Luo Da Lu and another wuxia/politics epics is also by him. So he's getting chased left and right for s2 since this aired and will be for next few years I think.

ep 2? 4th is intel gathering lead by Yan Ruo Hai, 6th is assassination led by shadow. Someone faked an order and got 4th to assassinate Fan Xian, he "killed" the assassin (Teng Zijing). Since it was a fake order/wrong intel and they actually tried to kill one of their own (Fan Xian is part of 3rd since his teacher is & consider Chen Ping Ping is protective of him too. oh the internet says FX is considered second to CPP, so he's above head of all of the division, lol, but most people don't really treat him as such), Yan Bing Yun had to go to Bei Qi to head the foreign intel squad as punishment. If FX killed someone from 6th, it could be bigger loss (fighting power wise) and it could have been harder for him to walk free (TZJ is non sequential to the 4th), it could also mean that it's been infiltrated rather than a mistake.

1 is monitoring all the government officials in the capital. 2 is analysing intel + providing military plans. 3 is making all kinds of meds/poison + weapons. 5 is black knight that protects CPP. 7 is responsible for extracting information from/torturing prisoners/prisoner of war. 8 is for controlling information released to general public, kind of like pr? opening a bookstore and such needs their permission. CPP himself mentioned that the office was originally built to monitor the government in way (its chinese name clearly indicates it), but you can see it's been sort of changed/adapted by the society.

Yeah Si Lili has a massive crush on FX, but I think to survive or whatever, she was bethronedto the emperor (it's hinted in the drama, she asks FX about Wan'er). It's not going to go anywhere in the drama, but you can read the book.

ahh like I said, on paper it was my kind of drama, historical mystery thriller with multi party allegiance, bit of history, lots of cultural bits, but it just didn't click. I've watched far slower and heavier dramas too. It's just weird.

It's a Barrett M82A1, sniper rifle. In the book, I think the inner case had to be open by using wubi, a chinese typing system to type out Wu Zhu's name, In the drama, it's been changed to a bizzare/random voice command? I thought there was a smartphone in there, yknow.

Re what's in the box in ep 28, they actually filmed it, but it's been cut to air on TV (which ultimately end up not happening so lol). It can be seen in some of the behind the scenes videos.

God that drama. It had everything that should have worked for me on paper, but every time I watched it, I wanted to fall asleep. It's a well produced drama that should have been paced tighter, particularly the second half, I think it fizzled off towards the end. I didn't really care for the main cast (they are decently written, just didn't work for me), my favourite characters were two minor characters. It just end up being one of those dramas I can appreciate from afar but that's about it. Book fans also swear the book is far better, as they often are, but I'm not sure if it's translated. (It's a regularly published book, not a web novel, the author also wrote Antiques Mysteries & Secret of Three Kingdoms)

She needs an heir, and he has good genes. She likes him well enough (as a person), but not in love with him. Don't like him enough to be together with him or give up the throne or anything for him. She likes Si Lili more.

No idea, since I didn't read the book. I just got spoilers.

- Chinese Paladin 1
- Chinese Paladin 3 (the characters are different, so don't worry about the order. I prefer 1 though so I'd rec that over 3, but 3's main cast are all popular/well known these days)
- Legend of Condor Heroes 2017
- Young Blood
- The Rise of Phoenixes (netflix, slow start, leans heavy on politics so might not be your thing)
- Bloody Romance (? I haven't seen it but it's well received)

I second the rec for NiF and Ever Night. Ashes of Love & Love and Destiny is good rec for TMoPB too. There's other Jin Yong wuxia dramas I'd rec but they are all older versions, idk about the subs, the newer ones (from this decade) have mostly been lackluster. Ming Dynasty & Royal Nirvana are both palace dramas, the latter is rather depressing. Sword Dynasty and Under the Power are the lighter/adventurey historical that's airing. (I've watched none of the other airing dramas, just know the general plot/how well received they are)

The Qi emperor drugged FX and slept with him for a baby, does that count? That's not going to fly in the drama.

my rough estimate for s2 is mid to late 2021. The novel is hilariously long. So up to you.

End of volume 4. Although it's strongly recommended you started from the beginning, as certain character trajectory have been significantly changed, Fan Xian himself is pretty different too.

? that movie literally came out 4 days ago, so in about 2 months or so.

Pretty sure Wan'er will survive till the end and it'll stay 1v1. Her presence is significantly reduced in s2 and s3, it might change in the drama, but unless she's incorporated into the plot more, I doubt it. There's more Duo Duo romantic-ish scenes in the book, although I actually rather it stays platonic in the drama, even if I prefer her as a character. Mostly because it's so rare to have platonic male-female friendship/camaderie and that would be quite refreshing. (and it doesn't really stop us from shipping them in an AU :P)

While I rather dislike love at first sight trope and the prolonged misunderstanding (over 10 ep, but they actually don't take that much times, it's like all 3 meetings), sickly innocent girl is opposite of my type, I still feel like I have to defend Lin Wan'er a bit. She unconditionally supports Fan Xian, even if she doesn't know everything he does, because she trust his judgement. She's fairly smart and can see through a lot of schemes and understand power struggle, although I guess most well off ladies would.

It's notable that Ruoruo would unconditionally support her brother too, but she's different in that she trust FX because he has shown times and times again that he's cunning and capable and can do so much that she can't, she admires him so much and put him on a pedestal. FX and Wan'er relationship is more equal, because he loves her, he's willing to share secrets fairly casually as a sign of trust. They met under the ideal circumstances, where neither knew other's identity, which could have severely restricted their interactions. It had to happen like that because most people around him act certain way towards him partially because of his identity (his mother's son usually, but sometimes the kid that Emperor has his eyes on, later there are all these other titles on him), not purely because he is who he is.

Note that, despite having grown up in the palace, being sickly means she's pretty sheltered, Wan'er have fairly modern ideals. She doesn't care quite as much about meeting FX without anyone else in the room, despite that could practically ruin her reputation. She's the ONLY ONE that doesn't tell FX that TZJ is just a guard, she understand that it's his friend, and find nothing wrong with that, which is very very rare. FX is very lonely in this world, since his ideals are constantly at odds with the norms in the drama, so I understand that he can find it a relief and blessing to have Wan'er by his side. As for Wan'er, he truly cares about her, what she likes and what she wants to do, not just what's good for her, which everyone else around her is so used to doing.

Of course everything I said doesn't really negate that first moment that started everything, but sometimes chemistry is just when it clicks, it really really clicks, and everything that follows just deepen the relationship. I do still prefer the other female characters, but I fully understand why FX like Wan'er so much, even if I might not.

It was leaked last week, raw non vip ep are up to 23, vip is 29, vvip is 35 out of 46.

I always thought the writing was holding her character back (Zhiwei should have been more complicated and given more time but alas), but I didn't analyse her acting as much to be fair XD I actually think YM can act decently when she wants to, but she often doesn't put in a lot of effort.

rip XD how do they stand movies then? Tangent, Longest Day of Chang'an was a case of I SHOULD have loved it, mystery/thriller, culture, gorgeous cinematics, multi-party allegiance, but I always felt like snoozing whenever I watched it. So I finished it, and can appreciate it from a distance, like some minor characters, but that's about it.