TanyalovMusic

My thoughts about most C dramas.. if only they cut a few episodes and didn't rush the end.. Sigh.

I ended up watching this drama, and yaa it badly dragged. I didn't hate it, but didn't love it either. Liked the OTP atleast.

Don't worry, I won't be butthurt just because someone has a different opinion from mine. Same here, love the show but obviously there are things that could have been done a little differently. I just liked your thoughts on the show and found your points interesting, so wanted to share mine with you :)

Depends on what you are watching this for. A lot of people see dramas only for OTP. This one for me was not about the OTP being together and heart throbbing romance, but a poignant tale of two people who recognized the hurt in each other and respected the fight that each had put up in their lives. Also, for the first time, a love triangle, or multiple people vying for the leads, made sense for me. The timeline for it, was well drawn out.
In the end, this story really made me believe that these two people could actually have existed in some time and space, they were that well drawn out. The Story of Ming Lan and Gu Tingye for me, because both lead's lives were shown separately and then together (they get together only by the mid). It is a totally character driven show, and thankfully the characters are consistent enough.

I agree with the point about not understanding why Gu Tingye did not confide in Ming Lan, and feeling frustrated about seeing how much she had to suffer and almost lose her life in the process. But, then I remember Qi Heng saying the same thing in the drama that he would not have been able to do what Gu Tingye did, so maybe it was not as inconsistent; Gu Tingye did always live his life on the edge and was an Army General (not a Scholar) to boot. I mean, since it was a palace politic scheme, maybe they wanted to limit the number of people who knew about it and he did not want to burden a then pregnant Ming Lan. As I recall, not even the other General's wife knew about it and both her husband and father were involved. Also, if I look back, Ming Lan was not as heavily involved, though still suffering, before the Empress revealed everything to her. She was atleast safe. It was after that that she started taking more dangerous and bold steps.

As for the Empress Dowager, for the first time the 180 made sense to me. It was not really a 180 either. From the beginning, she did not personally hate the King or Queen, she is the one who adopted him and put him on the throne. But what irked her was when he started overthrowing many a decisions that the old King had made and started taking a more aggressive stance on some policy and security decisions. If I have to compare, I would say it was more of a fall out between two business partners who built an empire together, they had no personal bad blood, just differences in running it. For the grandmother part, she never had children, and what I felt was the actual reason for her asking to raise the Concubine's child even before the end was not just political maneuvering, but also because she had repeatedly expressed disgust with the Concubine's behaviour and did not want the child to be raised up there.

Overall, what I think lacked a punch in the end part is that a lot was left to be read between the lines. If the writer had drawn a little extra reasoning or maybe a few more monologues, things would have been clarified more at face value without all viewers having to guess their own. A lot of things, even important information, were relayed in passing and then referenced to. So the viewer already fatigued by the long storyline, or, forgotten because viewed over a longer period, might miss things. That would have closed this series out beautifully for me. Not that I didn't enjoy it, this has become not just my favourite Chinese drama, but one of my all time favourites, so maybe that's why I am being extremely nitpicky. Tough Love.. hehe.

My only hobby ^~^

Thanxx for the help. I'll rely on FF button too then I guess coz I'm thinking of giving it a try. I'm comparatively new to C dramas, the episode count has always been a problem. Saw Story of Minglan last week and first time didn't kill the ff button in a long drama. Thus was wondering if this will be a similar pleasant experience as this one has such high reviews.

I've never laughed so hard at a comment before. But it does sum this drama up.. Haha.

How was it? Did it still drag?

I liked Legend of Fuyao and Yangxi Palace. I haven't seen too many C dramas though.

Haha.. I have called in sick before because of a drama too. Your comment is relatable >~<

Same.. I had read the summary, so just wanted to get to the parts that i wanted to watch. But actually watching made me realize that I liked the other parts also, and unlike other shows it wasn't unnecessary to the plot. It added to the rich tapestry of lives that this drama was.This drama is a multi-cast even though it's a story of our leads so some might find those other parts tiring, but if you want to get the whole feel of the drama, I recommend watching all. I usually don't, and fast forward but this is worth it.

He didn't want one, but a concubine was gifted to his family by his aunt and the fl couldn't say No. However, he shows no interest and in the end a secret about the concubine is revealed.
Tl;dr: He is totally devoted to the fl. I loved it.. hehe.

That is the concept of this show. Its concept is similar to another popular show of the past called Heroine Six. They ask uncomfortable and unpredictable questions, and playfully tease on past scandals or controversies. The hosts are well known and well connected in S.Korea and thus most guests have known them from before coming on this show, so I believe the banter is not mean but something they have agreed to. You can note that the teasing increases more in episodes where they have known the guests for longer or more personally than ones where they do not know them as well.
As for Shinee especially, 3 of the hosts are from SM and 2 from an SM subsidiary - Mystic Ent. so they all know Shinee and have worked with them extensively in the past; notably Heechul as he is their senior from Super Junior, a boygroup from SM Ent. They were all there for Jonghyun's funeral too. Thus, for them there was definitely no ill meaning. Also, all members of Shinee are quite shy and the hosts are super seniors to them age wise and experience wise, so the concept of treating the hosts as if they are of the same age and informally, may have gotten them a little more reserved than they usually are. Honestly, I do not remember ep 50 as I saw it almost a year back and I do not want to re-watch episodes with Jonghyun in it as they sort of trigger me, so I cannot give a more detailed explanation. However, I remember not being offended or even paid much attention to the teasing when I saw the episode and I am a huge fan of Shinee.

P.S: Don't worry. You're not offending anyone with your genuine curiosity :)