Nepeta 22

I get the frustration, but this drama is not the same as others. The director has gone with the hunger marketing route. There will be anticipation for his next project, and it won't need hard promotion.

If 'controversial' means I have an opinion about GJM, that's normal in a drama discussion forum. We all like different things, we're all different.

You said a lot of words, and to be honest, some of it did not make sense, but we kind of agree anyways.

This drama has not even passed review, we both know this director is low-key. All the yapping makes more sense if we had a release date and no trailer. Being it is this director, and the fact that Zhao Yi Ling is on it, will get mass interest alone.

BTW, re-read my comment, I said WIRED, not weird😏

I get your point about all the grading, and I don't know the grading for this drama BTW. Hence my comments. Of the leaks I'm seeing, it looks mid budget to me. We're in April right now and I really still don't feel promotion is missing. I'm sure there will be some sort of trailer coming soon, and it depends on when they are thinking of releasing it. If it's not passed review then maybe that's the reason they haven't cut any scenes for promotion yet.

Original scripts have been shown to do better recently because it cuts out all the novel fandoms speculating and second guessing what will or not happen.

Maybe I'm not wired your way, but if I like an artist, I will go and watch the drama's first few episodes regardless, to see whether it resonates with me. I'm not picky with their projects if I am so keen with their acting.

I'm not convinced both Blossom or The Glory would get further by being promoted. It garnered passer-bys and that's it. I don't believe promotion would have added much. Success in China is to be able to get general public to watch naturally and get sustained viewing throughout the series. The Knock-out had hardly any promotion before or even during its airing. All the interest was gained naturally from those watching it.

Excessive promotion does not guarantee success, that will always come down to the story. The ones that do it rely on traffic, otherwise they'll get lost amongst the vast array of dramas released daily.

I keep seeing posters going on about promotion. I don't get this. Is this for fans or for the drama itself?

Blossoms & The Glory didn't get promotion or promoted much, but they did quite well. Surely that's a sign that promotion is only for the fan circle. It's almost as if fans have no confidence in the dramas coming out and constantly need to see some form of promotion to feel like it's getting somewhere.

Did you watch it to the end? The point of the drama was not the obvious things like the daughter and step parents. That was always part of the beginning bits. There are more twists than that. The story peels back the layers of human tragedy and life choices. Deception with even the those close to them.

I'm perplexed by this. In Unnatural Fire, there were numerous charred bodies shown during forensics / mortuary with faces looking like Freddie Krueger. In Fighting For Beauty, there were close-ups of innards being prodded and stitched. Are individual productions self censoring?

BTW, episode 17 was the best part for me so far 😉. If you are looking for something similar. I recommend The Blossoming Love. A gem for me,

Have you tried The Blossoming Love? It was a gem for me. It came out at the beginning of this year against a lot of over promoted bigger dramas so was not seen by many.

Sorry about misreading the comment 😂

I'm not having issue with him being, basically a pain in the backside. He's not all that smart either, which is supposed to be part of the charm, but clearly not working on you.

Deadpan,, cold and unable to put away that hard exterior against the soft, caring, mushy FL is what I think a large part of the drama will be made of. Perhaps you don't like that type of set-up.

I've just come off Les Belles, and 2/3 of the drama is built on this type of comedy with both in denial at different times. They're not going for the gallant, earnest, swash-buckling type by the looks of it.

I'm not far off from where you are. I like how she's quite ditzy but learning. She's not a doormat to me. She's obviously in love but in denial. Her laying out the carpet for him is the comedy part and not really to be taken seriously. No doubt, she will change soon. He's playing the stoney faced CEO at the moment. But of course it will change.

Personally, I wouldn't let bad costumes, hair make-up cloud my judgment with dramas, they may be a distraction, but not the be-all-end-all. I know that some drama watchers need high angst and stimulation (over-the-top reactions, out of character amplified scenes and lots of flirting) to feel connected, but that does not mean dramas that use the dialogue as central part of the drama junk. Personally, I find the pacing and the structured build up very meaningful. It's not trying to be anything other than what a xianxia is supposed to do.

The problem is this drama will be deemed boring to a growing crowd of watchers that are fed on high action, short dialogue and over-the-top reactions within main leads and side characters. There has also been a big attempt to inject excessive comedy in recent Xianxias laced with irony to almost mock its predecessors.

The action here and the clues and details are within the dialogue itself. The comparison and life choices and even philosophy between ML and SML, and how FL learns from her experience with the ML. I don't think this type of deep thinking appeals to a portion that watch for CP, "chemistry" and deem anything out of the main leads' story as no meaning. That state of mind comes from past dramas that were over 50 episodes, so I can understand that, but so far, I see everything is there for a reason.

Really? I enjoyed it, and learnt a lot about things I never knew I needed to know, needless to say, it's a good thing concerning fire and fire safety. The only let down is some of the background stories that was a bit contrived. But I liked it as a whole. It's a less polished version of Chasing The Undercurrent.

Have you manage to watch The Blossoming Love yet? If you are looking for a Xinxia that bends your mind and looking for fast paced, this one will not have you bored. It was missed over the new year due to immense competition. One of the best I have seen for a while. Highly recommend.

Have you watched The Blossoming Love yet? Many missed that one due to the immense competition over the new year. For me, it's one of the best Xinxias around.

OK...I will take your word for it. I don't watch any K-dramas so cannot comment. Photos are sometimes not good indicators of what the actress/actors look like.

I actually think she looks more like actress singer Xie Keyin.

Thanks for all that info. A lot for me to digest, but I guess, in the end, the grading is mainly linked to performance as in viewership in the end. The more invested, the likelihood it's graded higher as in expectation. Then Yunhe grades are linked to actual viewership, hence Les Belles' rating rising, and then dropping.

Have you watched The Heart yet? There is a second season. A bit similar to this type of drama.

Your last sentence seems strange to me. I did not see any "leading on" with the prince. If being civil and polite is classed as leading on, I don't know what to say. If anything, the prince has been actively pursuing her, and in the confines of Tang Dynasty, a woman's right is pretty low, and what is so shameful of women that need to use every trick in the book to survive?

Other dramas often insert unrealistic and out of character for the times for women. Modern day watchers need to put their 21st century head away and really understand how they can insert female empowerment in costume dramas.