I don't know how most of you cope with it. However, it's hard for me to see a newbie, low rank soldier, talks…
Perhaps unreasonably, the thing that really irritated me was when He Yan let two of her patrol members wander off to look for fruit. Hardly Captain or Commander or General like behavior. But instead of getting disciplined for not controlling her squad, all she got was praise for single-handedly killing some wolves.
the way he didn't answer her question of why he chose the marriage knowing he'll get a whole ass whooping if he…
Xingzhi doesn't seem to do a whole lot randomly, and he gives completely tongue-in-cheek explanations (or non-explanations) that are not to be believed. So there may be more to this than we know atm.
About the only amnesia plot I can think of that I do sort of like is the one in TMOPB, which is much less frustrating and angsty because Ye Hua (and A Li) know immediately that Bai Qian is Su Su, so no misunderstandings there, and the plot of Bai Qian remembering that herself is interesting in it's own right, plus she is so satisfyingly ferocious when she finally does remember. Having said that, it makes little sense (apart from advancing the plot) that she drank the amnesia potion in the first place.
Well, amnesia plots are a *way, way, way* too often used trope in asian dramas, but I agree they're much better if they aren't dragged out. What I really dislike is amnesia plots that lead to stupid misunderstandings (especially ones that leads to tragic consequences).
I think it's definitely a lot less weird in Korean
I think someone on Viki suggested "trickster" should've been translated as "conman", and maybe there's a better more colloquial translation for "mourning clothes"?
Sorry (not sorry) to pile onto this show, but seems like the writers (or the book writer?) must have brainstormed how to write a show of endless, infuriating, ridiculous plot-driven deliberate total lack of communication and misunderstanding, just to frustrate the viewers.
I understand some viewers actually like that kind of thing, and I'm not disputing anyone's right to feel differently. But for me it was like 30+ episodes of grinding one's eyeballs with sandpaper. (I haven't got to watch the last 10% of the episodes that are apparently nicer.) Before anyone jumps in and says just don't watch it then, the show is like a car-crash that I've been fast-forwarding through, and it's hard to take one's eyes off it. (Perhaps just what the writers hoped to achieve.)
Take this exchange from Ep. 31 (and this is after 30 FREAKING episodes of similar stuff, 5 episodes after SY and ZSY have finally resolved the main (only?) plot misunderstanding: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SY AND ZSY (ASLEEP) IN CAR AS ALWAYS
FIONA (on phone): Shi Yan. Will you dine out with me tomorrow? SY (on phone): Didn't you say it was about work?
SY HANGS UP. ZSY WAKES UP.
SY (to ZSY): You're awake? ZSY: Hmm.
PAUSE (CAN ADD OTHER PAUSES AS DESIRED)
ZSY: Are you going tomorrow? SY: Did you hear it? ZSY: A bit. SY: You seem to mind? ZSY: It's not like that. I'm just asking.
ZSY UNDOES SEAT BELT AND STARTS TO OPEN CAR DOOR. SY GRABS ZSY BY WRIST.
SY: So, do you want me to go?
PAUSE WHILE SY AND ZSY LOOK AT EACH OTHER
ZSY: Of course, I don't want you to go. SY: Zheng Shu Yi. In what capacity are you saying this?
LONG PAUSE WHILE SY AND ZSY LOOK AT EACH OTHER
ZSY: Because according to the almanac one shouldn't go out tomorrow. There could be a major disaster.
I only skimmed through it, so I may have some stuff wrong. Feel free to correct me if you think it's worth the effort for this film
On murder mystery: Old rich medical guy was pushed into swimming pool by his daughter-in-law , who tried to drown him. His granddaughter was the result of his daughter-in-law 's extra-marital affair, and he'd cut her and his son out of his will for his maid. He swam out of the pool, but ran into the magician Edward who electrocuted him with the stick he used as magic prop, because when the old rich guy was a physician he had killed Edward's wife by using some organ of hers as a transplant into some rich guy. Key tell was that the moon was in different places in the two videos of the murder scene, because the cruise liner on which that was all happening changed directions in between.
On romance: Two main leads, whose partners had intended to cheat with each other, got together, as did the granddaughter and the boy who looked after her (there's a lot of master-servant stuff).
I lost interest, and skimmed through to the end of the film, after all six (?) of the other eye-witnesses (including the FL, on the absurd grounds that she didn't want to traumatize the boy who had also seen it) denied the ML's claim that the rich old guy had been drowned in the swimming pool and his body had been taken away.
Have to move to app viewing for the rest of the eps hahaha
What exactly is Long Zhi's main motivation for wanting to kill Ye Luixi?
Leaving aside jealousy, it seems that LZ wants to re-establish the shadow puppet caravans that would trade, under her control, with the outside world?
To do that, Ye Luixi apparently has to be killed inside the pass (which can only be done by someone from outside), but I missed any explanation of the connection between Ye Luixi and the disappearance/ appearance of the caravans , maybe through some english translation problems or my own misunderstanding.
Have to move to app viewing for the rest of the eps hahaha
I was considering buying the express package, since it's 5 more days before Eps 33-34 get released on Viki. But it seems difficult to view Tencent WeTv videos on a Windows 11 laptop (in the US). Is that really right? Does Tencent really not want my money??
I want A He to be able leave inside pass with them in the end. I want happy ending for them allðŸ˜
Or perhaps Fatty Tang will give up his money-making ambitions and stay in the pass with A He. (Or, since he's unlikely to undergo a complete transformation even for love, he'll set up a business trading antiquities out of the pass and profitable goods back into the pass...)
My guess is that she creates the memory that she is also the precious ‘LingZhi’, remember the scene she said…
Seems like LZ did something to CD's heart with the wire bracelet when she "rescued" him , as when his heart stopped in the camp. I'm not sure if she believes that holding CD's life in her hands is sufficient leverage to get him to kill YLX --- if so, she's wrong. I'd worry more about her manipulating his memories.
I only came across this show by accident, and it seems like it's not getting the publicity it deserves. I started late, but sadly I already watched it up to the most recent Ep 26.
Maybe it's because the show doesn't fit into a standard cdrama category, even if it has all the elements (mystery, romance, action, modern fantasy, palace-intrique..). Maybe because the initial buildup is slow, but I loved the unusual real-world setting (I guess, at least for the non cgi bits, in the Gobi desert?).
Cast is great (though I have some trouble with the ML's chin) and some genuinely creepy bits with what the exotic monsters in the other world can do.
Anyway, highly recommended for anyone who likes anything in the scifi/fantasy realm.
I think the explosion will have messed with her inner ear. And she won’t hear lies or truth anymore.
Actually, I was j/k about the amnesia/childhood friends bit. But it feels like this drama started out fresh and interesting and it's ending with a bunch of kdrama tropes.
Sorry, Ep. 14 jumped the shark for me (sort of like Jinxed at First, though not as badly as way that show went all over the place after an interesting start...)
-- KDH insists on not bringing MSH along whenever he's talking to just about anyone who's a key person in the murder case -- Police inspector LKM forms secret plans with a main suspect (KDH) and his girlfriend (MSH), who is former girlfriend of LKM. Sure this is norm police procedure. -- Following these plans, MSH gets crucial info from imprisoned suspect, and immediately jumps into a car and drives off without saying anything to LKM who is like 10 meters away. --MSH then searches office of JDC for needed physical evidence. Yes, that will be really admissible. ....
Anyway, guess that the explosion at the end of Ep. 14 will give MSH amnesia, and when she regains her memory in Ep. 16, she'll remember that MSH and KDH first met when they were children.
I understand some viewers actually like that kind of thing, and I'm not disputing anyone's right to feel differently. But for me it was like 30+ episodes of grinding one's eyeballs with sandpaper. (I haven't got to watch the last 10% of the episodes that are apparently nicer.) Before anyone jumps in and says just don't watch it then, the show is like a car-crash that I've been fast-forwarding through, and it's hard to take one's eyes off it. (Perhaps just what the writers hoped to achieve.)
Take this exchange from Ep. 31 (and this is after 30 FREAKING episodes of similar stuff, 5 episodes after SY and ZSY have finally resolved the main (only?) plot misunderstanding:
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SY AND ZSY (ASLEEP) IN CAR AS ALWAYS
FIONA (on phone): Shi Yan. Will you dine out with me tomorrow?
SY (on phone): Didn't you say it was about work?
SY HANGS UP. ZSY WAKES UP.
SY (to ZSY): You're awake?
ZSY: Hmm.
PAUSE (CAN ADD OTHER PAUSES AS DESIRED)
ZSY: Are you going tomorrow?
SY: Did you hear it?
ZSY: A bit.
SY: You seem to mind?
ZSY: It's not like that. I'm just asking.
ZSY UNDOES SEAT BELT AND STARTS TO OPEN CAR DOOR. SY GRABS ZSY BY WRIST.
SY: So, do you want me to go?
PAUSE WHILE SY AND ZSY LOOK AT EACH OTHER
ZSY: Of course, I don't want you to go.
SY: Zheng Shu Yi. In what capacity are you saying this?
LONG PAUSE WHILE SY AND ZSY LOOK AT EACH OTHER
ZSY: Because according to the almanac one shouldn't go out tomorrow. There could be a major disaster.
SY LETS GO OF ZSY's WRIST.
SY: Go home and rest.
ZSY GETS OUT OF CAR
ZSY: It's true be careful tomorrow.
SY STARTS CAR AND DRIVES OFF
On murder mystery: Old rich medical guy was pushed into swimming pool by his daughter-in-law , who tried to drown him. His granddaughter was the result of his daughter-in-law 's extra-marital affair, and he'd cut her and his son out of his will for his maid. He swam out of the pool, but ran into the magician Edward who electrocuted him with the stick he used as magic prop, because when the old rich guy was a physician he had killed Edward's wife by using some organ of hers as a transplant into some rich guy. Key tell was that the moon was in different places in the two videos of the murder scene, because the cruise liner on which that was all happening changed directions in between.
On romance: Two main leads, whose partners had intended to cheat with each other, got together, as did the granddaughter and the boy who looked after her (there's a lot of master-servant stuff).
I lost interest, and skimmed through to the end of the film, after all six (?) of the other eye-witnesses (including the FL, on the absurd grounds that she didn't want to traumatize the boy who had also seen it) denied the ML's claim that the rich old guy had been drowned in the swimming pool and his body had been taken away.
Leaving aside jealousy, it seems that LZ wants to re-establish the shadow puppet caravans that would trade, under her control, with the outside world?
To do that, Ye Luixi apparently has to be killed inside the pass (which can only be done by someone from outside), but I missed any explanation of the connection between Ye Luixi and the disappearance/ appearance of the caravans , maybe through some english translation problems or my own misunderstanding.
Maybe it's because the show doesn't fit into a standard cdrama category, even if it has all the elements (mystery, romance, action, modern fantasy, palace-intrique..). Maybe because the initial buildup is slow, but I loved the unusual real-world setting (I guess, at least for the non cgi bits, in the Gobi desert?).
Cast is great (though I have some trouble with the ML's chin) and some genuinely creepy bits with what the exotic monsters in the other world can do.
Anyway, highly recommended for anyone who likes anything in the scifi/fantasy realm.
-- KDH insists on not bringing MSH along whenever he's talking to just about anyone who's a key person in the murder case
-- Police inspector LKM forms secret plans with a main suspect (KDH) and his girlfriend (MSH), who is former girlfriend of LKM. Sure this is norm police procedure.
-- Following these plans, MSH gets crucial info from imprisoned suspect, and immediately jumps into a car and drives off without saying anything to LKM who is like 10 meters away.
--MSH then searches office of JDC for needed physical evidence. Yes, that will be really admissible.
....
Anyway, guess that the explosion at the end of Ep. 14 will give MSH amnesia, and when she regains her memory in Ep. 16, she'll remember that MSH and KDH first met when they were children.