WK1

Don't worry too much these comments. There will always be those who do not understand the character that Reba's is trying to portray. Perhaps they did not read the manhua. Even if they did not read the manhua, if they had been paying attention to the drama, they should be able to understand.

But this is not a drama for 'shallow' viewers who want to just sit back and relax and let the drama do everything for them. I did not read the manhua before watching this drama. I only read the synopsis. But that was good enough. I suspect many of you are like that too. Did not read the manhua. At least not entirely.

But all of us were willing to invest our time in trying to understand the character. To expect Changge to cry all the time is crazy. In the drama, she already cried more than she did in the manhua. She was trained to be strong from young. To do stuff boys do. And boys were not supposed to cry.

The crying urge came only when her parents died. That was her first encounter of sorrow. And then, later, when A'Dou died. And the Gongsun couple died. These were incidents that introduced sorrow into her life. When A'Dou, she already cried like crazy. And when the Gongsun couple, she also cried like crazy. Those who somehow did not see her crying in these scenes must obviously be sleeping when they were watching

Nothing wrong with Reba's acting. She would not have won top acting ranking when TLB was shown in China, if her acting was not good.

Very very likely, it is like you said. Many viewers do not even realise that Changge was only 15 in Episode1! They see Reba and they must have thought that Changge was already 20 plus in Episode 1. But many viewers in China already do. Maybe that is why they find that her acting is good

International viewers who do not know that should have come here to ask around, or ask their friends. I think that is what we did. I also did not know she was only 15. I only knew when I came to this forum or comments section.

So, I think that is why many of us here play a very important part. We need to educate new viewers that in Episode 1, Changge was only 15. And the events that happened all the way till she had her 1st period at the grasslands, those events took place over a very short compressed period of mere 3 months. She hardly had the time to think and reflect. And it was only at the Liuyan temple where she could find time to do so.

This really is a very very difficult for viewers who want everything to be spoonfed, but does not want to spend time to dig deeper and understand more. For those who are willing to do so, like many of us, the rewards are tremendous

If you have a dissertation to write for your PhD, you should. That is your career. TLB is just a drama. It is only natural that the original craze will fade. It will fade for many others. There could be some big blockbusters coming up. Whether they will live up to expectations, we do not know.

I know there is a difference between the manhua and drama regarding A'Dou. In the manhua, he left the city with Mr Qin and Yuan Niang, before Changge surrendered to AS. I think in the drama, they probably want to create more pain by killing off A'Dou. Also they created the Xu Feng character to keep Qin Lau company. So, I think they just do not want to have too many characters around and just decided to 'kill' A'Dou

This is very good news!

I read on her MDL page that she is really good. Just only 19! I don't think she will be a threat to Reba. Different generation. But, boy, I think she will be a threat to Zhao Lusi. Just 3 years apart. I have not watched any of Zi Feng's drama or movie. Not sure if she is the rom-com type (like Lusi) or the more serious kind

I noticed that as well. Who takes care of such stuff? The MDL has full time staff to take care of pics in MDL pages?

Oh, I tried what you suggested? I used google to suggest how Biri would be pronunced in Turkish, and it sounded like "Mejay" to me. I tried listening to it 4-5 times and it still sounded like Mejay to me

Oh? How is that so? Do you mean you will use different nicknames in different MDL drama page? So, you will know that Songfalcon is you, when you come here, and you will be able to search for your own comments efficiently?

Please join us. You will not regret. After that, you can come back to his forum and tell us how you feel about it. Which part of the drama affected you most, etc.

You found their background?

Yes, very amazing. She is able to think very very fast

Thanks so much! I found it. Oh, this is movie and not a drama, right?? I read that Zhang Zifeng is a very good actress. And both Wu Lei and Zhang Zifeng are very young, so the campus setting suits them rather well. We wish him every success.

Great! You do not need to worry at all. You will not feel frustrated at all. Everything will flow very smoothly. At some point, you might feel just a wee bit frustrated with the female lead. But, this is all a key part of the plot or the storyline.

You must keep watching, because when the drama is over and you understand everything, you will really enjoy this drama.

Indeed poor Lei Lei. It just reminds me of that grassland scene when AS's mother was killed. So similar

Ok great. I will block our discussion with spoiler, in case those who have yet to watch the drama stumble upon it

Actually, I am in full agreement with you. Except maybe one tiny tiny part. It regard Mimi Guli. She is just a minor character in this drama, so even if our opinions differ, it should not matter too much.

In the original manhua or comic, she was killed off much earlier. Here in the drama, the screenwriters gave her an extended role and she accompanied pretty much all the way from the grasslands to E48.

I would say that compared to Chang Ge, she does appear relatively weak. That is the way they wrote her character. She was just a slave with very close to zero training in many skills that Chang Ge was good in (such as military strategies, archery, etc.). She was also not as brave and resourceful as Chang Ge.

Hence, she could not find out where the Khatun has kept her brother. I think apart from Chang Ge, her brother was most precious to her. So, apart from keeping Chang Ge company and helping Chang Ge, through out the drama, she was very concerned about her brother.

Mu Jin was her love interest, so she treasured him to. And he was a guy and one day she would have wanted to marry him, have kids and settle down. That is what most women as the grasslands do and hope, marry a strong man, have babies, take care of babies and old people. The guys will go to fight.

But I did see that she played a rather userful role, as far as Chang Ge was concerned. When Chang Ge had her first period, it was Mimi who helped her out. When they went to the northern region to get the antidote for the virus at the Eagles' camp, she was the one who managed to get it back on time. At the arc where they showed the formation of the alliance with Tang, she helped Chang Ge to thwart the plan of the Khatun to sow division among the alliance members. She was also the one who took the risk and initiative to provide Chang Ge with the map of the place where Ashile Sun would be captured and also tried to help them to escape, as part of the rescue of Ashile Sun. And of course, she took the arrow for Chang Ge.

Her death was quite expected. This is drama with war setting. We must expect characters to get killed. Before the drama even ended, many of us were even discussing, who is most likely to get killed, many of us suspected that it would be Mimi. We just did not now how the writers will 'write' her death. Will she be kiiled by the Khatun, or who, we don't know, until E48

Yet, when her death finally came, I felt a bit sad for her. Her brother was finally being rescued after years of being held captive by the Khatun. And Mu Jin was still alive, after being captured and tortured by Lei Meng. Chang Ge was alive as was Ashile Sun. Pretty much all the people who meant so much to her were still alive, when she was shot. I do not think Sher Khan meant too much to her, although he was helpful to her at one stage (e.g., providing information to help in Chang Ge's rescue, after she was caught by the fake playmate of the crown prince).

Hence, like some people, I just felt a bit sad when she was killed, even though I knew her death was a very likely event.

Reba is an amazing actress. If I could summarise many of the comments here, we feel that playing Li Changge was a breakout role for her. It was as if the character in the original comic or manhua was written with her in mind.

She portrayed Li Changge perfectly, as a smart and fearless young girl who first set out to seek revenge for her parents, but slowly realised that for the sake of the greater good, which is the Tang Dynasty, she was willing to put her personal goals aside. Eventually, she would even forgive the person who killed her father.

All the scenes that involved Reba, she acted them to exquisite perfection. Whether it is one that calls for portrayal of sadness, anger, happiness, a sense of longing, a sense of being betrayed, or all those fighting sequences, she was simply perfect. Facial expression is often the most important in good acting, and here, all of her facial expressions were perfect.

I was not particularly impressed by some of her previous performances in historical dramas, but here in The Long Ballad, she was inch perfect.

I think the future will look very very bright for Reba. After this performance, many producers and directors will be queuing up to sign her as the female lead in their dramas. She will have very time to rest.

The thing about all these OSTs, it is often very difficult for us to separate them from the dramas. Cocoon is one example. A lifetime Waiting for you is another. I watched Bloody Romance years ago, but if I were to listen to A lifetime waiting for you even today (with scenes of Bloody romance as the backdrop), I will be reminded of the drama again, how protective the ML was of the FL.

All these OSTs were composed specifically for those dramas. The lyrics, the melody, written and composed to 'fit' the particular drama. Listen to them on their own, it is stunning to the ear. But if you listen to them with scenes from their respective dramas, it will bring back memories

Excellent summary of the entire drama. Are you the kind who loves a nice healthy discussion, or are you the kind who is just interested to state what you wish to state and be done with it??

You should laugh. This is so funny!

I also thought, a daily target will be easier for us to keep track. 250 a day. So, we just need to remember in multiples of 250. So today, we already hit a target. Compared to yesterday, we had 257 comments more, when our target is 250. So, we are not losing momentum. If by end of tomorrow, the last three digits in the counter above is at least 500, we met our target and can relax a little. If below target, we crack our head to put in something meaningful

One thing we cannot control, how many newcomers who will join us, and how interested they will be to join in detailed discussions.

Nor can we control the number of old times who will come back from their break.