The grasslands arc (E15-E25) were busy times for Changge. Saving Li Si Min, saving the elderly general, seeing Ashile Sun's adoptive getting killed. There was little time for her to reflect.
But the temple arc will give her more time to reflect on her Tao (path) and what are her life goals. At the suicide of the Gongsun couple, Qin Lau asked her what is her path. At Liuyan Temple, she would be confronted by the same question, and here she will find greater clarity toward her path. The greater good of caring for ordinary citizens of Shouzhou will widen to include caring for whole of Tang.
At the temple, she would see refugees who suffered from the ravages of war, and this would let her see the superority of peace over war. By E30, her Tao would include prosperity for whole of Tang, and finding peace, so ordinary citizens could carry on with their livelihood. These goals will slowly displace her desire for revenge against Li Si Min, and even Du Ruhui.
Even though she sat there in front of the huge "Do nothing" calligraphy, the Liuyun Abbess know that Changge is hardly the do nothing kind of indiviuals. She will set out to achieve her life goals.
One thing, these people are dying of neck scratches when the MCs have been cut and stabbed multiple times but…
If you are referring to Li Changge and Ashile Sun, it cannot be helped. That is what happens in historical drama of this genre. Sometimes, right at the very end, one of them will die. Often times, both will survive. And because they are the main leads, they will never die early on in the drama.
Most of us watch this drama because we want to see the MCs act out their characters. If they perish early on, it will not be much fun.
When a potential viewer drops by to ask if she or he should even start on the drama, by far the common question asked is, does this drama have a happy ending? If it does not, many won't even be bothered to start. Many cannot stomach watching a 40 plus episode drama when someone in the MCs dies. Just too much pain for many people to bear.
So, we need to suspend our unbelief regarding the heavy injuries sustained by the MCs and still survive, keep watching and enjoy the drama.
If there’s one line I can use to describe Ah Sun’s fierce love for Chang Ge and GeSun’s healthy dynamic,…
Really difficult to describe their healthy dynamics in one line, but here is what I think happened in TLB.
I think it would have to start with the Li Changge character. She was the star in the manhua, and here in the drama too.
Her character would be more in place in the 21st century, where women are better educated and hence more independent than women during the Tang era. So Xia Da deliberately wrote a character that will completely destroy our stereotype of a Tang Princess, whose major role will be to wait to get married off in some sort of political marriage, either to the grasslands or to a Tang general or anyone whom the Tang emperor wishes to bestow favours and is worthy of a Tang Princess.
To break away from that stereotype, our Li Changge would not be good in embroidary nor cooking, nor dancing, play any musical istruments, or taking care of the elderly and so on, Maybe that is why they did not want to show Dilraba dancing in that COVID dance scene. They used animation instead, so we can't really see how well Changge can dance.
Instead Xia Da wrote Changge to be good in stuff a Tang Prince will be good in. Horse riding, archery, military strategies, martial art, and trained to endure pain whether physical or emotional. She would be brought up and trained as a tomboy Prince, well loved by her 2nd uncle, who were good in all those stuff. Her 2nd uncle would not be the only person who trained her. There were others.
But the love story between Ah Sun and Li Changge would be the creation of our two screenwriters for TLB. The manhua has paused, Xia Da has stopped writing Changge Xing. So, the two screenwriters needed to continue where she left off. Not only that, they changed the story arc quite substantially, essentially pushing it forward, so make their romance more realistic and we would get the happy ending that we did.
In the manhua, there were already plenty of hints that the two of them were meant for each other. There would be no third party coming in between them, because there will be no man good enough for Changge nor woman good enough for Ah Sun. They would be destined for each other. That would be way Xia Da would have written it. But since she cannot do it, she was more than pleased to have the drama do it.
And so our sreenwriters wrote Ah Sun to be this grassland general with the mindset of a 21st century guy, who will have no problem getting a wife who has a mindset of a woman in the 21set century, one who would be his equal in everyway.
As pointed out by many, he would be rare even today, and just about impossible during those era. The way he treated Changge would be what every woman would want to be treated by her husband. And our Changge would be admired by many women as well, that she is so multi-talented even at such a young age.
Put these two characters together, set them in an historical context, this would be a power couple like no other in Cdramaland.
This would be the story that our screenwriters wanted to tell. And we are thankful, the producer and director found Dilraba and Leo Wu to put that vision into reality and make their unique relationship come alive on our TV or on our computer screen.
One of the good and honest review that really capture the great essence of tlb...I thinkhttp://dramaslot.com/the-long-ballad-review/
My third comment:
"Without a lot of kisses and touchy-feely gestures, they can only rely on their facial expressions and body language to convey the romance between them. I think they did manage to create the sparks to get the romance going for the viewers in the drama."
The above comment was made by the reviewer. I copied the exact words above.
This too is not correct. They did not have mouth-to-mouth kiss. But the reviewer may not have known that the male lead could be hampered by a no-kiss clause in his acting contract. AS and Li Changge more than made up for it through those two tender forehead kisses and their touchy-feely gestures, and other body language. Even their conversations in many of their intimate moments were full of romance and tender affection.
One of the good and honest review that really capture the great essence of tlb...I thinkhttp://dramaslot.com/the-long-ballad-review/
Here comes my 2nd comment. Under the heading Khatun's Plan, the reviewer said Khatun's plan was defeated by AS's scheming and cooperation with the Tang.
Factual error. Cooperation with the Tang by the various tribes to push back the scheming by Khatun was initiated by Li Changge and not AS, while she was still in Mobei (please see Episode 39). She devised the plan by writing a letter to Li Si Min and, together with the others, also personally went to Tang to negotiate the peace alliance. She went as the princess of Mobei. While there, she was also one who foiled the plan by the Khatun to break up the peace alliance.
The only role that AS had was in the rescue of his father. Thereafter, he himself was nearly executed by Khatun and it was Li Changge who planned and executed his rescue, with the help of all the rest of the key characters like Mimi, Luo Shiba, Shi Tu Lang Lang, Wei Shuyu and Xu Feng, and later, with reinforcement from Mujin and the Eagle's division.
Even Khatun's plan to kill off the Eagle's divsions was foiled by Changge's suggestion to fake the Eagle's division demise and AS's death, when AS thought there was no way out of it (see Episode 38). Even Mujin was amazed by her plan.
One of the good and honest review that really capture the great essence of tlb...I thinkhttp://dramaslot.com/the-long-ballad-review/
It is good and honest review, except for the following point:
Under the para heading, The Long Balled Ending (Spoiler alert!), the reviewer stated that there is no wedding scene, and there is no indicatoin that they are now married. The reviewer did mention about AS's marriage proposal, but somehow forgot to mention that in front of her mother's memorial tablet, Li Changge already accepted his proposal. I believe this is in the very next scene or episode after that marriage proposal.
Please see my more extensive explanation in the Recent Discussion section above. I gave a more detailed explanation as to why I think they were married in a link in that section.
I may have more comment to make concering this review, but that's it for now.
Some of us had a nice discussion about the way he ran, while chasing Changge. And we are saying, the way he did it, he would never have been able to catch Changge. Not only was he holding his costume, often he would be runnnig a bit sidway. Maybe they had to do it that way so that the camera can capture more of his face, but the way he did it, there is no way he could catch CG. Those times he did catch her, he caught her by surprise.
I still remember you saying Parrots don't really mate for life. Perhaps they should have used Mandarin Ducks to symbolise the love between AS and CG? Maybe it was hard to find those during filming or hard to make them kiss?
I came to Chang'an to spy on the Tang, and yet I found a woman like none other. No even in the vast grasslands. She would be so good. Beat us in a men's game; able to plan; she is not afraid of death. Is there really a woman like this?
She would have unbelieveable endurance for pain. First, at the riverbank where I saved her, she will pull out the arrow by herself without any medicine to numb the pain. We will fight as enemies. I would even shoot her. But she just would not stay down. She would pull out that arrow and stand up again. What kind of a woman is this??
And even in surrender, standing alone, completely unarmed, facing thousands of my men who are fully armed, she will have the courage to negotiate with me. I do not care what reasons she gives to make me spare the citizens of that city. A woman so capable, so much my equal, I will want her to be alive and to be by my side. Always. I will make her my slave at the grasslands, and we will see how it goes from there. A woman this good, I will not let go.
In the grassland, it would seem that she has lost the will to live. She would not eat and would not drink. I will need to give her a reason to live, if I really want her to be my side. She wants revenge. Maybe that would be a good motivation. It seems that it worked. She will now want to my military advisor!
I never cease to be amazed by this woman. In the short time that she has been in the grasslands, she is able to analyse the power dynamics of the grasslands. Able to see through what my father, the great Khan, could be having in his mind, when he sent me to attack Shouzhou. Not only could she master military strategies of the Tang, she could also see through the military strategies of the Turks and read the mind of my father. What kind of a young kid is this?
I made the right decision to use revenge as the strategy to keep her alive. It would seem making her my military advisor would just strengthen her motivation to live in the grasslands. With a mind like that, making her my slave would be a waste.
She gave me three conditions that I need to fulfil. Not to harm Tang, not to do anything immoral and despicable and finally, to grant her freedom. Here is a girl who is loyal to her country; kind toward others and values her freedom. Previously, I saw her skills, her military intelligence, her bravery. Now I see another dimension of her character. She would put her country first, others second, and herself last. A woman like this, it would make me admire her even more.
But she is still new to politics of the grasslands. She will be decieved by Yicheng and She'er, and indirectly caused the death of my adoptive mother. But I will forgive her. And when all is done, I will go to the central plains to look for her.
Three times after that, she will again show just how smart she is. She will device a plan to save the Eagles division. A plan to form peace alliance with Tang, and finally a plan to thwart the evil YiCheng.
Later, she would even come up with a complex plan to save me at Ding Xiang. She is my equal in everyway. I could save her, but equally, she could save me. And she could speak the language of the Turks. And the dialects of many of the smaller tribes in the north. It would seem, there is just nothing she cannot do.
A woman like Li Changge, how it even possible? And how could I not love her? I don't even want to mention this, but she is so beautiful. More beautiful than all the women I have seen at the grasslands, than those that I encountered at the central plains. What's more, I have carried her many times. She ain't heavy. Just the right weight for me. Her ability to endure pain means she will not be afraid of childbirth. We can have many babies. When we were running away from Hao Du, I noticed she has a big butt. That is good. Our kids will be smart.
It would be my honour to accompany this amazing woman the rest of my life.
Thanks. But this does not truly capture her emotion of sadness. More a short summary. To feel the full impact…
Yes, I would agree with that observation.
Reba did lots of crying scenes in TLB. There is not a single one she did not do well. But good acting cannot be defined soley in terms of crying. If it is, Korean actresses are the best in the world.
I used to think, my, these korean actresses, they can cry on demand. As if, they have a tap behind their back or something. All the Korean drama directors need to do is press a button, and out come those tears. And there could even be different buttons. One for each type of crying. One button, crying in sadness, another one, crying in response to anger, and yet another, crying in response to happiness.
For me it was already great at ep1 and prior to this did not even like Dilereba’s previous dramas. I am now…
I am just thinking aloud what you said in point 2 above, that Dilraba does not have perfectly symmetrical face but near to it.
When our parents gave birth to us, we had to pass through a very narrow birth canal. Our face would have been distorted somewhat by the very birth process. So, what are the chances of us getting perfectly symmetrical face? Very slim. So, why do some actresses have 100% symmetrical face? They are either freaks of nature, or they have undergone plastic surgeries to make their face symmetrical (thinking that the more symmetrical their face is, the more they will be liked). I would like to think perfectly symmetrical face is the result of surgery rather than a freak of nature.
All the more, it makes me feel that Dilraba's less then perfectly symmetrical face shows that she is naturally beautiful. She did not go under the knife to get that face. If she did, plastic surgeons would surely have wanted her face to be perfectly symmetrical.
That is how we end up with all those k-pop and k-drama princesses in Korea. All of them look identical to each other and all with very plastic looking and perfectly symmetrical faces. Over there, they have the best plastic surgeons in the world. Whoever and whatever you want to look like, they can do it for you.
The grasslands arc (E15-E25) were busy times for Changge. Saving Li Si Min, saving the elderly general, seeing Ashile Sun's adoptive getting killed. There was little time for her to reflect.
But the temple arc will give her more time to reflect on her Tao (path) and what are her life goals. At the suicide of the Gongsun couple, Qin Lau asked her what is her path. At Liuyan Temple, she would be confronted by the same question, and here she will find greater clarity toward her path. The greater good of caring for ordinary citizens of Shouzhou will widen to include caring for whole of Tang.
At the temple, she would see refugees who suffered from the ravages of war, and this would let her see the superority of peace over war. By E30, her Tao would include prosperity for whole of Tang, and finding peace, so ordinary citizens could carry on with their livelihood. These goals will slowly displace her desire for revenge against Li Si Min, and even Du Ruhui.
Even though she sat there in front of the huge "Do nothing" calligraphy, the Liuyun Abbess know that Changge is hardly the do nothing kind of indiviuals. She will set out to achieve her life goals.
Most of us watch this drama because we want to see the MCs act out their characters. If they perish early on, it will not be much fun.
When a potential viewer drops by to ask if she or he should even start on the drama, by far the common question asked is, does this drama have a happy ending? If it does not, many won't even be bothered to start. Many cannot stomach watching a 40 plus episode drama when someone in the MCs dies. Just too much pain for many people to bear.
So, we need to suspend our unbelief regarding the heavy injuries sustained by the MCs and still survive, keep watching and enjoy the drama.
I think it would have to start with the Li Changge character. She was the star in the manhua, and here in the drama too.
Her character would be more in place in the 21st century, where women are better educated and hence more independent than women during the Tang era. So Xia Da deliberately wrote a character that will completely destroy our stereotype of a Tang Princess, whose major role will be to wait to get married off in some sort of political marriage, either to the grasslands or to a Tang general or anyone whom the Tang emperor wishes to bestow favours and is worthy of a Tang Princess.
To break away from that stereotype, our Li Changge would not be good in embroidary nor cooking, nor dancing, play any musical istruments, or taking care of the elderly and so on, Maybe that is why they did not want to show Dilraba dancing in that COVID dance scene. They used animation instead, so we can't really see how well Changge can dance.
Instead Xia Da wrote Changge to be good in stuff a Tang Prince will be good in. Horse riding, archery, military strategies, martial art, and trained to endure pain whether physical or emotional. She would be brought up and trained as a tomboy Prince, well loved by her 2nd uncle, who were good in all those stuff. Her 2nd uncle would not be the only person who trained her. There were others.
But the love story between Ah Sun and Li Changge would be the creation of our two screenwriters for TLB. The manhua has paused, Xia Da has stopped writing Changge Xing. So, the two screenwriters needed to continue where she left off. Not only that, they changed the story arc quite substantially, essentially pushing it forward, so make their romance more realistic and we would get the happy ending that we did.
In the manhua, there were already plenty of hints that the two of them were meant for each other. There would be no third party coming in between them, because there will be no man good enough for Changge nor woman good enough for Ah Sun. They would be destined for each other. That would be way Xia Da would have written it. But since she cannot do it, she was more than pleased to have the drama do it.
And so our sreenwriters wrote Ah Sun to be this grassland general with the mindset of a 21st century guy, who will have no problem getting a wife who has a mindset of a woman in the 21set century, one who would be his equal in everyway.
As pointed out by many, he would be rare even today, and just about impossible during those era. The way he treated Changge would be what every woman would want to be treated by her husband. And our Changge would be admired by many women as well, that she is so multi-talented even at such a young age.
Put these two characters together, set them in an historical context, this would be a power couple like no other in Cdramaland.
This would be the story that our screenwriters wanted to tell. And we are thankful, the producer and director found Dilraba and Leo Wu to put that vision into reality and make their unique relationship come alive on our TV or on our computer screen.
"Without a lot of kisses and touchy-feely gestures, they can only rely on their facial expressions and body language to convey the romance between them. I think they did manage to create the sparks to get the romance going for the viewers in the drama."
The above comment was made by the reviewer. I copied the exact words above.
This too is not correct. They did not have mouth-to-mouth kiss. But the reviewer may not have known that the male lead could be hampered by a no-kiss clause in his acting contract. AS and Li Changge more than made up for it through those two tender forehead kisses and their touchy-feely gestures, and other body language. Even their conversations in many of their intimate moments were full of romance and tender affection.
Factual error. Cooperation with the Tang by the various tribes to push back the scheming by Khatun was initiated by Li Changge and not AS, while she was still in Mobei (please see Episode 39). She devised the plan by writing a letter to Li Si Min and, together with the others, also personally went to Tang to negotiate the peace alliance. She went as the princess of Mobei. While there, she was also one who foiled the plan by the Khatun to break up the peace alliance.
The only role that AS had was in the rescue of his father. Thereafter, he himself was nearly executed by Khatun and it was Li Changge who planned and executed his rescue, with the help of all the rest of the key characters like Mimi, Luo Shiba, Shi Tu Lang Lang, Wei Shuyu and Xu Feng, and later, with reinforcement from Mujin and the Eagle's division.
Even Khatun's plan to kill off the Eagle's divsions was foiled by Changge's suggestion to fake the Eagle's division demise and AS's death, when AS thought there was no way out of it (see Episode 38). Even Mujin was amazed by her plan.
Under the para heading, The Long Balled Ending (Spoiler alert!), the reviewer stated that there is no wedding scene, and there is no indicatoin that they are now married. The reviewer did mention about AS's marriage proposal, but somehow forgot to mention that in front of her mother's memorial tablet, Li Changge already accepted his proposal. I believe this is in the very next scene or episode after that marriage proposal.
Please see my more extensive explanation in the Recent Discussion section above. I gave a more detailed explanation as to why I think they were married in a link in that section.
I may have more comment to make concering this review, but that's it for now.
I still remember you saying Parrots don't really mate for life. Perhaps they should have used Mandarin Ducks to symbolise the love between AS and CG? Maybe it was hard to find those during filming or hard to make them kiss?
She would have unbelieveable endurance for pain. First, at the riverbank where I saved her, she will pull out the arrow by herself without any medicine to numb the pain. We will fight as enemies. I would even shoot her. But she just would not stay down. She would pull out that arrow and stand up again. What kind of a woman is this??
And even in surrender, standing alone, completely unarmed, facing thousands of my men who are fully armed, she will have the courage to negotiate with me. I do not care what reasons she gives to make me spare the citizens of that city. A woman so capable, so much my equal, I will want her to be alive and to be by my side. Always. I will make her my slave at the grasslands, and we will see how it goes from there. A woman this good, I will not let go.
In the grassland, it would seem that she has lost the will to live. She would not eat and would not drink. I will need to give her a reason to live, if I really want her to be my side. She wants revenge. Maybe that would be a good motivation. It seems that it worked. She will now want to my military advisor!
I never cease to be amazed by this woman. In the short time that she has been in the grasslands, she is able to analyse the power dynamics of the grasslands. Able to see through what my father, the great Khan, could be having in his mind, when he sent me to attack Shouzhou. Not only could she master military strategies of the Tang, she could also see through the military strategies of the Turks and read the mind of my father. What kind of a young kid is this?
I made the right decision to use revenge as the strategy to keep her alive. It would seem making her my military advisor would just strengthen her motivation to live in the grasslands. With a mind like that, making her my slave would be a waste.
She gave me three conditions that I need to fulfil. Not to harm Tang, not to do anything immoral and despicable and finally, to grant her freedom. Here is a girl who is loyal to her country; kind toward others and values her freedom. Previously, I saw her skills, her military intelligence, her bravery. Now I see another dimension of her character. She would put her country first, others second, and herself last. A woman like this, it would make me admire her even more.
But she is still new to politics of the grasslands. She will be decieved by Yicheng and She'er, and indirectly caused the death of my adoptive mother. But I will forgive her. And when all is done, I will go to the central plains to look for her.
Three times after that, she will again show just how smart she is. She will device a plan to save the Eagles division. A plan to form peace alliance with Tang, and finally a plan to thwart the evil YiCheng.
Later, she would even come up with a complex plan to save me at Ding Xiang. She is my equal in everyway. I could save her, but equally, she could save me. And she could speak the language of the Turks. And the dialects of many of the smaller tribes in the north. It would seem, there is just nothing she cannot do.
A woman like Li Changge, how it even possible? And how could I not love her? I don't even want to mention this, but she is so beautiful. More beautiful than all the women I have seen at the grasslands, than those that I encountered at the central plains. What's more, I have carried her many times. She ain't heavy. Just the right weight for me. Her ability to endure pain means she will not be afraid of childbirth. We can have many babies. When we were running away from Hao Du, I noticed she has a big butt. That is good. Our kids will be smart.
It would be my honour to accompany this amazing woman the rest of my life.
Reba did lots of crying scenes in TLB. There is not a single one she did not do well. But good acting cannot be defined soley in terms of crying. If it is, Korean actresses are the best in the world.
I used to think, my, these korean actresses, they can cry on demand. As if, they have a tap behind their back or something. All the Korean drama directors need to do is press a button, and out come those tears. And there could even be different buttons. One for each type of crying. One button, crying in sadness, another one, crying in response to anger, and yet another, crying in response to happiness.
When our parents gave birth to us, we had to pass through a very narrow birth canal. Our face would have been distorted somewhat by the very birth process. So, what are the chances of us getting perfectly symmetrical face? Very slim. So, why do some actresses have 100% symmetrical face? They are either freaks of nature, or they have undergone plastic surgeries to make their face symmetrical (thinking that the more symmetrical their face is, the more they will be liked). I would like to think perfectly symmetrical face is the result of surgery rather than a freak of nature.
All the more, it makes me feel that Dilraba's less then perfectly symmetrical face shows that she is naturally beautiful. She did not go under the knife to get that face. If she did, plastic surgeons would surely have wanted her face to be perfectly symmetrical.
That is how we end up with all those k-pop and k-drama princesses in Korea. All of them look identical to each other and all with very plastic looking and perfectly symmetrical faces. Over there, they have the best plastic surgeons in the world. Whoever and whatever you want to look like, they can do it for you.