Nepeta 22

Hey, I love grey characters myself! It adds to dramas, and makes them more relatable. Otherwise it will just be cliche flat characters. BTW, Scent of Time is one of my favourite dramas.

Edit: I think my post didn't make it clear earlier.

All your points are valid. There seems to be portion of watchers only coming for pure romance of goodie and baddie. They prefer the dated format of goodie vs baddie, black and white. They are not prepared for grey characters.

We are already seeing a shift in story-telling recently. In The Double, where they fleshed out FL's husband's character. This was an effort by the drama adaptation to expanded on that character compared with the book. That gave a more realistic portrayal of his all-round character. This also attracted some to side with his view point and made it more believable.

In Scent of Time, the ML had very questionable tactics, and bullying traits. He was also lusting and trying to steal a married woman throughout the drama. But because he was the ML, spun from a different perspective, as you say in your post, the viewers rooted for him. But stand outside of that, if it was from the FL's husband's point of view, the story will be different. But both ML & SML also were not perfect souls. Being a Xianxia, wouldn't it be boring if the SML was a cardboard cut-out villain. Didn't Ashes of Love give us and China Luo Yun Xi?

Qian Guang Jun, played by Chen Muchi mentions someone who was practicing blood craft to maintain immortality and youth, therefore he gets younger, so in essence this guy is more than 6000 years old.

Don't let it get to you. This is a drama forum for everyone to comment on, whether positive or negative. Anyone watching this or any drama should be free to write how they feel. I have had fandoms try to shame me for making negative remarks on plots, scenery or acting too.

The over-usage of the word hate has been abused to try and make me into feeling I have done wrong, but I will not allow them to hush me out of the page, which is what some want.

It's sad that 'some' over-bearing cheer leaders for their fandoms have become. Hopefully, these types of fans will grow out of it in time.

Ha ha, that's probably the best way to go...I was silly enough to hang onto 18 episodes now looking back!

Yes, there is a conscious effort to add off-putting comedy. I think it doesn't suit a few of the characters. I get they were trying to aim for the feel of these characters, but I think they were too ambitious and it came off as stilted and forced. Comedy is sometimes a fine line and not everyone can get it right.

It's past now. Hopefully we all learn from it. Everytime I see these types of comments, I tell myself, it's just a handful of fans, don't let that tarnish the whole fandom or the star. I know it can be hard sometimes. I sometimes feel sorry for the star. Some of their stress is brought on my their own fans!

I know how you feel. Sometimes, it's like treading on egg shells on these pages. Glad it's all resolved. Fandoms can sometimes get over-bearing and end up in continuous defence mode due past experiences. It's sad.

These issues are growing more and more in China as more money is sloshing around. To my mind, the reason copyrights are getting more headlines nowadays is how quickly something in the film/drama industry can soar in popularity overnight and originals want to protect their babies.

There is nothing wrong with bringing it up. Unfortunately, there are some very paranoid fandoms assuming any amount of negativity amounts to hate or trolling. The matter is resolved and I can understand how you did not get the update. At least decent posters explained it all.

I think you will be distracted if you watch the currently airing The Blossoming Love. I seldom watch Xian Xias but based on a friend's recommendation late last year, I fell into it, and have to admit, I'm surprised by how good it is. Characters, story and the FL.

For other recommendations, I suggest Love of Nirvana and Love in Between.

Please let me know which episode as I only watched 2 episodes so far and not really impressed with how plants are mere decoration. I knew they went out on location at a specific time of year to show-case the peonies, but so far it's more of the same nobles squabbling amongst each other. Too many of those dramas already, it just doesn't bring anything new, and I'm close to dropping it. It's a shame if they didn't put more emphasis on plants and the seasons and of course Peonies...

I'm aware of that, but not the double forms I saw in episode 1. There are many old single formed varieties they could have used but I was surprised they hadn't.

I am used to seeing dramas with blossoms and then pan to the next scene, the light levels are clearly summer and the trees are lush green. I am also used to seeing Xian xias where they are sitting under blossom trees yet being served fruit at the same time knowing there is unlikely chance of both occurring at the same time.

When I heard there was a drama about cultivating peonies, I was very excited to read the synopsis. I knew they specifically went out on location at the exact time to show case the flowering window because it is a very short period, but on watching a couple of episodes, it's more of the same court stuff of nobles and their squabbling amongst each other and the plants are just mere decoration.

I will watch a little bit more to see how they show-case "cultivation" in the time. I'm sure the techniques will be different. But if there's none of that, I think this is a drop because so far, none of the actors stand out.

It all depends on what the original problem is. If it is drought, then watering will help. Sadly about to drop this drama, they have not put enough details on the plants. They just about got the seasons right but that's it. I saw double Camellias in episode 1, and I'm pretty sure there weren't any during the Tang Dynasty.

Ripe Town.

I doubt there are double Camellias at the time of Tang Dynasty as seen in episode 1.

It's definitely better than Ancient Love Poetry in my opinion. For me ALP was draggy. Here, it's fast pace and all characters seem more interesting. I would say not that similar.

I tried my best. Hopefully someone will do a decent sub eventually. It deserves more recognition and I feel the title of the drama is a little mis-leading. MangoTV needs to try harder with their subtitles!

Hello, don't know where you are based. Have you tried switching VPN to the United Kingdom to see if that works? It's a shame some cannot see this with good subtitles.

Other alternative is this link. But you may have watched this version with English subs?

https://kisskh.co/Drama/Romance-in-the-Alley/Episode-1?id=9717&ep=166860&page=0&pageSize=100

Latest melon is Sun Zhenni & Xiao Zhan.