Suliabryon

IKR? It was my favorite part of ep 15! I hope to see them become friends.

As someone else pointed out somewhere in these comments, our FL has literally been raised her entire life to survive with lies. She's been forced by her wacked family to lie about her very identity to everyone since she was a small child. Lying is going to be her default, especially to survive. Trusting JBZ with the full truth when he's already angry? That's going to be tough for someone like her. Yes, there will be consequences to her lying AGAIN, but it's completely within her character to be doing it, and not because she's "low" and being awful to JZB. It's because she doesn't know how to trust anyone with her true self yet.

Youku has both episodes. But ep 15 is "TVOD", meaning you pay a small fee to access those as "early release" episodes. They count, but places like Netflix won't get them at the same time.

I just went back and rewatched this because this was completely not how I understood it.

"Every soul has an identity. The name must match the body before it can be carved into the stone."

"If the visitors are lovers, the Love Bridge will be connected."

And "They passed through the barrier. How is that possible?" followed by the Princess: "Uncle you know this barrier is impassable to all except for two people in love."

"If I am not Ming Yi, what are the consequences?" "The Lover's Domain only accepts True Love. If there is any deceit, divine punishment will follow."

Finally, "He has been struck by Divine Lightning many times, yet he still won't give up. Whatever. We are tired. Let him carve it."

I took all of this to mean: they passed the barrier and the path appeared because they are two people in love.

However, she is deceiving him with a false identity, which means it isn't yet True Love. And yes, JZB is heartbroken because he trusted her and he found out she's been lying to him all this time. He's going to assume her feelings aren't true, either. But I think she is in love with him, but hasn't even admitted it to herself yet.

That's a really excellent point. I've already thought a lot about how their individual trauma has shaped them both, and especially when it comes to love - neither of them has experienced much of that, right? And you can tell they can't even accept their own developing feelings for one another because of those issues. (Him having been a slave and never knowing love until his master, and her being used, and let's be real, abused by her family into pretending to be someone else to fight these deadly fights for them, and then discarded the moment she's useless.) So I get where you're coming from with this. I think you're right. Thinking about that will help keep me from yelling at my screen tonight when she inevitably only gives him half truths or even more lies. 😂💔

Noooooooooooo! Why, show, why??? 😭

Literally my LEAST favorite SML storyline is when the SML is too obsessed with the FL, can't let it go, and turns evil. The one fox lady is clearly in love with him. Have him wake up to it and fall for her, please. I know these shows rarely do it. They have SML turn evil, or self-sacrifice, or wander off with his broken heart in the end, but it's okay to have him move on and find happiness elsewhere.

It's going to follow the same schedule all of these dramas do. 1-2 episodes a day. Given it will be 36 episodes total and we are only on 13, we have another couple of weeks.

IKR? Like WHY girl! Just tell him the truth! At this point you have nothing to lose.

Right? I think we have a lot of angst ahead because I have a feeling she's not going to tell him everything, which is a MISTAKE, of course.

FOR REAL. Only 1 yesterday was criminal!

That was so heartbreaking! And her face when she saw it and realized what it was. 😭

Let's not forget, the lover's path appeared before them, and it's directly stated in the show it only appears to couples in love. So....that pretty much tells us that regardless of whether either of them are willing to admit their feelings, they are in love. I think that was evident in their actions previously, as well. The way they worked to save one another in the illusion realm two episodes ago, for example. When he said "I trust you" in the last episode, that was HUGE for him, maybe even bigger than saying "I love you".

Also, and I don't think this gets talked about enough, but these are two broken people who have both been through their own forms of serious trauma. He was raised as a slave in the worst conditions imaginable, and only knew love and trust when his master found him and cared for him. She was used and abused by her family, forced to live a lie and become this unbeatable warrior for them. Her experience with being loved is limited to her companion animal and what she "earned" from her family by winning in the arena, and the fact that her mother said her father was going to k*ll her once she lost and she needed to flee and live a good life, tells me that she never felt real love from them (other than her Mom who seems to have been powerless to protect her). So, Ming Yi has never been in love before. She doesn't even know how a loving family should operate. She cares deeply for the people in her inner circle: her cat, her best friend, her master....but I don't think she knows how to understand and accept her own feelings for JBZ. And JBZ is only going to feel bitter disappointment in himself for having feelings for her after finding out she's been lying this whole time.

I thought the scene at the rock was perfectly played by both of them. Even if MY had understood her own feelings to be able to confess to him in that moment, he wouldn't have believed her or listened. That kiss was such a physical expression of love, pain, and anger. I can't wait for the next few episodes as they work through more angst and their feelings come more to the surface.

Because he's used her in his plans multiple times, and she's gotten hurt in the process. And remember, he doesn't know that she's maneuvered herself to participate in helping his plans to get closer to him. Also, "repaying her" feels like an excuse to me. Remember, in the last episode he told her "I trust you" after he hasn't trusted anyone since his master, and now he knows she's been lying to him the entire time. I believe he did the ritual binding them as a way of giving her what he thinks she wants while both protecting her from our bad guy and also punishing himself for trusting her (and for his feelings for her). The lover's path appeared before them, that means they are in love, even if neither one of them is admitting it yet. That means finding out she's been lying to him cuts even deeper. This "repaying her" by carving their names and taking the divine punishment is a way of punishing them both, in a way, while also having the effect of binding them together, and I don't think that's an accident. Now she can't just leave, and he similarly can't walk away from her.

Really cool insights, thanks for sharing!

I agree!

Right? Same! I laughed out loud and said "Really?" to the television, ha ha.

IKR??? I totally agree, HMH's acting in this episode was SO good! You could feel his emotions and he does most of that through his eyes. The look on his face when he came in as they were attacking his people was soooooo "you are all dead".

And yes, I agree. He MUST realize she is in fact MX now, but it sure looks like he's still questioning who she is in the next trailers. Maybe because she really IS a woman, and not using illusionary magic to appear like one? They all seem to think "he" is pretending to be "she" but it doesn't seem to occur to any of them that the MX who reigned supreme in the arena for seven years straight could actually have been a woman the whole time - maybe because ALL of the warriors we've seen have been men? Are women not allowed to fight in the contest?

Anyway, yeah I think this angst is going to continue. It's interesting. The trailers before this show aired made it seem like she was seducing him all over the place before he found out the truth, but we've had exactly ZERO kisses until the one tonight, so I'm thinking all of those actually happen after he knows. Interesting how tricky trailers can be.

IDK! I feel like he's leaving her in that prison and she looks like she's freezing to death or something, and will have to use her powers to live?? I'm guessing. But I also think she's going to almost die and he won't be able to bear it and will realize she can't use her powers. Maybe that's where the conversation about how she "blocked" her powers comes from because that was all in voice over in the trailer.

Solid choice!