TaliaToo

The director has structured this drama like a play within a play. I'm sure you noticed all the weird close-ups with the characters breaking the fourth wall by looking directly into the camera, as if they were speaking a soliloquy. There are many references to Chinese opera throughout. XH loves opera, the villains quote from opera and the twirls and finger pointings are opera gestures. Even SYR's sleeved hand movements are standard opera gestures. I used to do them while playing "tuk-tuk-chang," which was kids' name for Chinese Opera back when I was a kid (many thousands months ago).

The walking of the "tuk-tuk-chang" is very specific. Old women would throw oranges at the actors if they did it wrong. I know enough to see that some of the actors' walks in the drama had been deliberate.

The camera would pan back to scenes shown like the characters were on stage. I've given this example in earlier posts, so I hope older (meaning those who had started commenting here from the beginning) viewers here would bear with my repeated examples. The staging of the Princess' abode, with her at the balcony and the two side walls looked like a stage. There were other similar scenes I saw during repeated rewatching--the curtain on top, two posts on each side as the camera went backward. I think the scene where the Duke watched XXF sleeping was similar.

Other stuff of note: The sword practice in the rain also had a few Chinese opera twirls. The orangey/peachy makeup around the eyes was a very light copy of the Chinese opera heavy exaggerated colors. Only in the rain did the drama BREAK the pattern--it became a standard C-drama romance with the actors having close contact and the FL without the makeup. Perhaps the Director was making the point that this was one of the few moments the characters were NOT acting because throughout their relationship so far, they had been acting for people and with each other. This was the moment she told him she found him good-looking and strongly showed him she liked him; this was the moment he nearly revealed his feelings for her and also saw her in a different light. Also they were in the rain, wet, and for once it wasn't the "inky rain" of the drama title. It was a cleansing rain for both of them.

I can go on for pages about this drama, LOL. But yes, while many complained about the Director's style, I understood his choices from a film-student POV. The man is very influenced by Shakespeare plays and Hitchcockian camera flair. Ooops, gotta stop. I see paragraphs ahead.... <3

Well, of course. I believe the life expectancy was between 35-40, especially for the poor. And they didn't have perfectly straight teeth, heh. But the defying gravity part is REAL, girl! They freaking build pyramids and move big boulders back then without machinery. Tsk. ;)

YMMV. Taking back her accusation is hardly the same as whacking someone in the head and burying her alive. Her issue had never been about his inability to protect her; she’d said she’d have willingly divorced him. The fact that, to protect his own status of a ruined wife, and thus losing his position in court standings, he then chose MURDERING his wife as a better option. But, hey, YMMV. At this point of the game where you’re at (watching), I wouldn’t blame the FL or anyone planning SYR and the Princess’ downfall at all.

Ahhhh. Thank you!

They should have ended at the 31:17 minute mark. I only watch until there now.

What does bgm stand for?

And a day of haters visiting who gave 1 stars

He succumbed to temptation--power, status and respect. In the drama, someone was gossiping that he gave a welcome party the first day when he became Scholar Emeritus to get to know people and no one came. He was probably humiliated several times that way and probably at the instigation of the Princess, whom we know wanted to get him at all costs.

Then, after being corrupted, his role as Princess' lover changed his status (or rather, the Princess was behind it now). His writings were bought and displayed in town (as we saw XFF looking at it when she was shopping in Episode 5) and he was given the top guy job in that school. That's why the Princess punished him to kneel when he tried to disobey her by telling her it was not good to do things (make teams in competition) that way. It was THAT moment, I think, he realized his new power and status were really just a facade. And it was also around the same time he realized that he was missing the true love of his "dead" wife.

We don't see it, but it wasn't just the good-times memories. The new calculating SYR started planning how to get what he wanted--status without the Princess and a "new" wife (his lost XFF). That's why, I think, he started to "help" XFF with her new identity.

As for your Fu Ma question, he knew the plan of overthrowing the government. He understood he would gain a lot more power in the new government. Also, he had hatched the murderous plan of "how to start a war" for General Cheng, who said he would reward him by giving him full credit after the rebellion. THIS was what SYR was aiming for--power and status like Duke Su's, an advisor to the King, with a private army, able to walk around and stare down people. EXCEPT. EXCEPT. SYR didn't know how to be sexy with the fan. Bwahahahhahahaha. Kidding, kidding....

wow

Yes! 👏 I did the same thing—looking at current popular actors and thinking whether I’d have liked he or she as my XFF or Duke Su. Nope. This was WJY’s role.

Just a quick note. XFF was probably in her early 20s and WJY was fine for that role. I understand, you’re talking about Jiang Li, whom they have aged up to 18 in the drama.

The novels are always so much more explicit and satisfying! The actor, WXY, had kept asking the the director at various points of filming to kiss the FL because he felt this was what was natural at that particular point of the relationship, and you could hear the director in the BTS cuts saying no several times. Bah!

And why are we judging on just looks? I mean, it's not like she was some wrinkled prune standing there acting like a block of wood. The woman emoted better than 90 percent of the young'uns trying to cry like a sad sack by just standing there staring after a carriage. She was portraying a 20something married female, not a 15 year old.

LOL. It's not a nice drama. It's a dark romantic intrigue.

It's all in the dialogue, and it may be difficult to get for non-Mandarin speakers. Just like Joy of Life, there are multiple word plays and puns in The Double.

It took over my life too, as well as many of us here when we were Watching it coming out an episode at a time!

Hope this works:
https://kisskh.at/736749-di-jia-qian-jin#comment-18007477

Pls scroll through my comments under this thread.

Tagging @Deni

The statement is four-fold:
1) To not cause embarrassment to the Jiang family for having a daughter in jail
2) To make sure Jiang Li gets the proper front door welcome so he could watch his favorite show (XFF) :)
3) To make a statement that Jiang Li is important to Su Guo Gong
4) And to me, an unconscious statement of his interest. A man just didn't sent half his banner to accompany a young lady home.

That was my book obsession ten years ago. OMG, the long essays I wrote heh heh.