WK1

His character is so good, he really does deserve one!

It is ok. Even though you have read the recap, it is still worthwhile to wait for the English subs. Because this drama is that good. But, if you want to be completely surprised, don't even read those recaps.

Of course I believe in all these indices. These are numbers based on big data, derived from analysing hundreds and thousands of responses, across multiple media sources. They are supremely reliable. Certainly more reliable than relying on a single matrix used to track populariy, such as viewcount.

And these indices are computed by independent companies. Vlinkage and AIMAN are both companies independent of Tencent, Iqiyi and Youku.

I think you may not fully understand about all these indices provided by Vlinkage and AIMAN. They are running indices computed almost daily, each time a drama is shown. The Vlinkage index which shows YAMG attained 93.88 is not a number taken at a single point in time. Vlinkage would have tracked the performance of YAMG over a long period of time. Each day, they will crunch a number, to show its performance on that particular day. Hence, the 93.88 would be an average, computed over many many days. Quite possibly, over several months. It is a piece of cake for Vlinkage to do it. They do not use manpower to do it. Everything is done via computer, effortlessly.

Now coming back to the issue of viewcount, yes, in the past, it was possible for a drama to have ridiculously high view count, like 20, 30, or even 60 billion views. Because, in the past they did not control for re-watch. So, yes, a star which has millions of followers, if all the followers keep hitting the re-watch button, his/her drama will have ridiculous number like 40, 50 billion views.

But, that is history!! Tencent has already tighten the way they count re-watch. Which is why it is no longer possible for any drama to hit those kinds of numbers. Now, hitting 5B views is already very very difficult. And YAMG merely hit about 4.2b views last year when it completed it run (it currently has 4.61B views), but it was already Tencent's most successful drama commercially. In Tencent annual report for 2021, YAMG was even specifically mentioned as one of the dramas that contributed to its bottom line. The other drama was Crime Crackdown.

The success of The Oath of Love was not surprising, as both XZ and YZ are high traffic stars with lots of followers. And TOOL was also a special case, because the airing of that drama was delayed for a long time. It was supposed to be shown last year, right after YAMG. In fact, after watching YAMG, I had wanted to watch TOOL, just to compare the two dramas. So many of us waited, and it was delayed all the way till this year, by which time I lost interest in trying to compare TOOL with YAMG.

Tencent may have deliberately delayed it, not wanting people to compare the two, because that way, people would have forgotten about YAMG, and TOOL can still be a big hit this year. The delay also caused a lot of pent up demand for TOOL, which can also account for its popularity.

In case you wonder, I am not a fan of either XZ or YZ. I think you have been around MDL pages long enough to know that I am fan of Dilraba. So, I only comment on the pages of her dramas, starting from TLB.

Fans showing data to prove that the dramas they are supporting are doing very well is a very natural thing to do. It happens to all dramas that have leads that are highly popular in China and overseas. That is why they are called fans; they support the actor/actress they like and seeing that the dramas their idols are acting in are doing so well make them very happy.

Now, I know you are a big fan of Cheng Yi. There is nothing wrong with that. He is a very good actor. And so, you will support Immortal Samsara. And when that drama is screened, and people will post in Twitter, that IS has done very very in China, won't you be happy?? Of course you would!!

That is why all Dilraba fans are very happy that TBW is doing so well in China. All Allen fans are so happy that TBW (and The Blue Assault) are doing so well in China. Of course, this is the page of TBW, so fans of Allen will celebrate the success of The Blue Assault on that MDL page and not here. That is the right thing to do.

We celebrate whenever the actor/actress we like or support does well. It is a very natural thing to do.

This is why you need to have some statistical background, in order to understand how they compute all these statistics.

If you want to know more about Vlinkge, here is the link: https://baike.baidu.com/item/vlinkage/971553

They do not rely purely on viewcount. They would have software that can track the discussion of a drama in Weibo, and other news media. After that, they use big and powerful computer programme to crunch all those data, the results of which is an index which they compute.

So, while Crime Crackdown has more views than YAMG, it lost out to YAMG based on other information that Vlinkage use to compute its index. Crime Crackdown has a score of 90.88. YAMG has 93.88. There is no reason for Vlinkage to cheat. Both dramas are streamed by Tencent Video.

This is big data, dervied from analysing hundred and thousands of data points. And these indices compiled by Vlinkage are then used to make marketing decisions for lots of companies, both international and local, to decide if they wish to support a particular drama.

What you do as an individual viewer is completely unimportant to these companies, because, while you may certainly support any particular drama, hundreds, thousands, and even milliions in China are not supporting it. So, as far as advertisers are concerned, these indices are far more important than one or two viewers here and there.

Xiaomin's home is helmed by Zhou Xun, one of the most successful female C actresses. In MDL, the drama is known as A little mood for Love. While waiting for TBW, I watched it and it was good! Tu Song Yan also acted in that drama. He was QJJ's manager's husband in YAMG.

Word of Honor was really popular, and propelled Gong Jun to stardom in China. Female Psychologist starred Yang Zi (an actress who is frequently compared to Reba).

It says a lot about TBW, that it has beaten all those three dramas.

Vlinkage is another Chinese company that compile big data, using information and data from various social media in the China, news, etc. What is interesting about the index published by Vlinkage is that it compares performance across different streaming platforms in China: Tencent, Iqiyi and Youku. On the other hand, the Youku Heat Index just compare the popularity of drama on a single platform: Youku's. In another word, Vlinkage provides a broader comparison.

Someone posted the VLinkage data for 2021. The champion drama for 2021 is You are my glory. It attained an amazing score of 93.88 (I think out of a possible 100). YAMG was streamed on Tencent Video in China. The three best Youku dramas in 2021, according to Vlinkage were: Xiaomin's home (85.49) followed by Word of Honour (85.35) and then Female Psychologist (84.86).

So far, TBW has beaten all those 3 (Xiaomin's home; Word of Honour; and Female Psychologist). The highest score it has attained is 89.92. But, there are two more episodes to go. The target that TBW is chasing is the mark set by YAMG (93.88). If it can hit 93.88, it has the chance to be the best drama of 2022. This is like one Dilraba drama chasing another Dilraba drama. Amazing.

Wow! That will be the 2nd time that Hao Qing helped Ji Yunhe. What a guy! And what a happy ending.

I do not know what it is like in the novel, but in the drama, it seems he will be giving up his role as Lord of the north, and will be going back to the sea with Ji Yunhe.

Could it be on land, he was Lord of the North, and in the sea, he is king of the East Sea??

We are told, his wife went to the production site. However, we are not told specifically, she watched those kiss scenes while they were being filmed. The director could have told her, regarding those romantic scenes, while being filmed, 你 最好不要看.

It may sound insulting to Allen's previous co-stars, but very few female C actresses can do romantic scenes like Dilraba. In YAMG, her romantic scenes with Yang Yang quite possibly carried the entire drama.

This may be why all those scenes in TBW seem different or seem real compared to Allen's previous dramas.

Those of us who are fans of Dilraba, we are hardly surprised anymore.

Ah yes, I got it wrong. It is indeed the East Sea, as that Chinese character refers to the East and not the North. My mistake.

I was told, in the past, the director used body double to do kisses. So, Allen's wife need not accompany him. Here in TBW, those kisses were central to the plot, and not just for romantic purposes.

So, both Allen and his wife knew that it is going to be difficult for them to use body double.

Hence, she needed to make that trip, to get to know more about Reba and be comfortable that her husband needed to kiss her. And not just once, but multiple times.

There is no question at all that Allen's wife knows about Reba and knows that she is a good kisser. In Eternal love of Dream, lots of kisses. No bedroom scene, but there was a bathtub scene that was quite romantic and could have resulted in Baifengjiu getting pregnant.

So, yah, I think the moment she knew that Reba was the female lead, she must have decided, "I must get to know Reba."

Very big gap. This gap may even continue to persist after next Monday when this drama finishes it run, if word of mouth leads even more people to watch TBW in China.

The last time this director did that, by killing off the FL during the last episode, he was much criticised. I think he has learned his lesson.

Latest figures show that TBW is still the market leader for webdramas in China. 21.56% of the viewers said they watched TBW. Right below that the next drama has 12.76%, and the third one, merely 10.33%.

His father died, am I right?? Technically, he should be King of the North Sea.

One article reported that Allen's wife was at the production site, when they made this drama. She brought meals for Allen. In the process, she got to know Dilraba better. They even had dinners together. I think that brought alot about trust between Dilraba and her, and that trust gave Allen the courage to do those scenes, knowing that his wife will be totally comfortable. His wife would know what a true professsional Reba is, and those kisses and the bedroom scene carry no emotional significance to Reba. I can imagine Reba telling Allen's wife: Don't worry. I kissed Yang Yang even more passionately in YAMG! After each kiss, I went to the washroom, gargled with mouthwash, and moved on to the next scene.

He only 'died' for a very short while. The preview shows that he will wake up from his slumber, rescue Ji Yunhe and together they will defeat Shunde. If I am not wrong, in the process Ji Yunhe could die one more time.

From the trailer of the last two episodes, it seems Changyi will recover. It seems the third couple is going to lose someone. From one of the advanced previews, he disintegrated. Yes, it will once again create pain for the audience, because that third couple had established link with Ji Yunhe very early on in the drama.