WK1

One of the key success factors for a movie/drama. Whether in Hollywood, China or Korea. Here in TLB, we not only have great OSTs, we have great BGM too. So much attention was given to music, to create mood and arouse emotions.

Sincerity and openness were two key character traits of Sheer. Here in one scene, we see both of those traits in display.

If I am not wrong, this scene was right after our CG said she was not sure if her mother would like Sun. Almost as if Sun was saying, Ok, if that is your fear, let me ask your mother. And so he did. Of course, we know why her mother could not respond. But the fact that he was willing to do it showed that he was willing to whatever will put CG's heart at ease. And it did, when CG read his marriage proposal letter later, and would accept his proposal, in front of her mother's memorial, and would later convey that acceptance to Sun in that tree trunk scene

Marriage is a contract. Even without a ceremony, all the elements of a legal contract were there between CG and Sun.

It is perfectly normal to be touched even by fictional characters. The Hollywood movie "Love story" was inspired by two fictional characters, but nobody cares, as long as the story was well portrayed and was believeable.

Here in TLB, our two leads portrayed it very well. And their story was believable, because Sun really did save CG in that final scene, which must have been rather dangerous.

What will happen to them at the grasslands, we do not know in specific details. But we do know, they will always be together. Any separation will be short. They will always protect each other, no matter what is the cost. Their story is not inferior to any love story in Hollywood.

Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Sabre (2019)
He sang one of the OSTs. But I do not know the title. It was a nice song and very well sung by Zhou Shen.

Xia Da or her previous studio owns the right to the manhua and the character Li Changge. It would have been really surprising if she did not permit the adaption. They likely paid her royalties for TLB.

I found 2 loves triangles, if triangle is defined by A loves B, but B loves C. We know who are involved in those triangles. But those triangles were not like the ones in other dramas. They were very well handled by the screenwriters of TLB.

Wei Shuyu very quickly told Leyan and he only her as a sister and not a love interest. He also said things to Leyan that will increase the chances that Leyan would like Hao Du.

Even when Hao Du was attracted to Leyan, he did not backstab Shuyu in anyway and even make it possible for Shuyu to get together.

The love triangle between Mujin, Mimi and Sheer was also well handled. Mimi told Sheer it is not possible between them. She did not let Sheer hang on to his hope.

I think viewers do not mind love triangle, but they do not like any kind of sustained plot that involves backstabbing, or giving of false hope or hanging on to impossible hope, etc because that kind of storyline is very shallow and unhealthy, and it drags a drama on unnecessarily.

Here in TLB, everything is handled very quickly. No backstabbing, and impossible hope is quickly given up and the love triangle diappears from our screen in one episode.

Went to sleep last night, and woke up to find that we are already closing in on 26k. Wow!

Yes, our Changge is just too smart for Yi Cheng. Any plan that Yi Cheng can come up, Changge can counter with an even better one

Depends of how you define relationship. If you are talking when do both parties start to develop mutual love and affection, maybe a while. But even at ep 20, you would already be able to see some romantic overtures by the male lead. It is not mutual at this point, because the female has yet to grow into her identity as a female. She sees herself too much as a male. Some episodes down the road, she will mature and you will very good mutual attractions between the two.

Good news is that between now and then, lots of interesting stuff are happening. So just keep watching. Do not worry. Nothing will come between them, once the females discovers her female identity or the femininity in herself.

If there are indeed high quality GeSun scenes that did not make the final cut, due to the editors being forced to reduce it by 1 episode, then, there is still the chance that we might get to see a special episode. It has happened before, in other dramas.

These scenes could well be combined with scenes involving the Haoyan couple that also did not make the final cut. Or scenes involving some of the minor characters. The key factor could rest on how well TLB does when all the dust are settled. If final viewership count is really high, we may yet get the bonus episode.

Even without that episode, TLB is already a champion in so many ways. That so many of us find it so difficult to move on, so difficult to find another drama that can match CGX, makes it truly a rare unicorn. May take years before another CGX comes along

Oh yes, Ashile Sun and Changge will definitely be the main leads. If you are looking at screen time, everyone was supporting. Even Leyan and Hao Du. But the politics of acting means we cannot call them "supporting". Especially for Leyan. Zhao Lusi's fans will be up in arms. Already many of them feel that she should be the main FL, not Dilraba.

I would not even object to you describing Mimi's role as 'labour'. They wanted this drama to be about 49-50 episodes, so they need a character to connet with some of the other more central characters like Sheer and Mujin. If her character is killed off too early, they will another character as a replacement. I think all of the main plots and sub-plots have been or been decided (driven mainly by the manhua), but they could take some liberty with certain roles. Either collapse them into a single character, or split those roles into several characters. They chose the former.

As to why they wanted to show so many couples in this drama, I don't know. There are four. Do the writers feel that the more the merrier? Maybe. Maybe some viewers really do want to see lots of couple. They don't this one, they can always choose another couple to like.

The producer liked Dilraba for her mole. The director liked her for her acting. So casting her was a piece of cake. I was told, the main challenge was to convince her to take the role, because so many were saying she is too old for the role (Li Changge was only 15, at episode 1). Or her look is not suitable for an historical drama. Lusi has never played a character like Leyan. She said so herself, and was the main reason why she decided to take it, to try something new. For Dilraba too, her most complex role thus far. And, very likely her best acting performance in an historical drama.

I do not know if you watch lots of other CDramas. But if you do, you will know that TLB does not many of those irritating tropes to drag a drama. Usually it is misunderstanding caused by a lack of communication betwee the main leads. Here, there is close to zero of that. Everything is settled within one episode, and they move to the next plot.

And even though there is something of a love triangle between Leyan, Hao Du and Shuyu, there is no backstabbing. There is in fact lots of honesty by both Shuyu and Hao Du. And the plot is sufficient complex to cater to viewers looking for dramas with a 'deep' storyline, compared to a shallow one. Here, you need to keep watching, keep listening or you will miss something really important. Some other dramas, you can take a 15 minutes shower in between episodes or scenes and not miss any important (because maybe nothing important was really going on, due to the shallow storyline or one that has been used hundreds of time.

The main story concerning Li Changge is still very unique (in Cdramaland). Her version of what it means to be a strong female lead is really inspiring. And when you a add character like Ashile Sun, that is equally unique as a male lead, it does set this drama apart from many that I have watched

She is one big kickass lady. In dramaland, of course. In real life? As harmless as a pigeon.

It is exactly as you have described. Just pure tonic for those who love Chinese Historial Dramas. So many of us here share your views about this great drama.

According to history, the grassland couple never existed. They were just fictional characters created by Xia Da.

According to Xia Da, the author of the manhua, we will never know. As she is stuck with some legal issues with her former studio or agency.

If we wish to just imagine what could happen to them, and extrapolate from history, the Ashile Tribe lived in peace with Tang for a while. so anything could have happened to the GeSun couple. Your guess will be as good as mine. Currently, I don't think there is script for episode 50.

If the production people had actually filmed extra scenes of the GeSun couple, and TLB does really well at the acting awards competitions next year, the producer may yet release those scenes. If they do not have anything extra, then nothing will happen. It will just be bye bye TLB. Till we get either a spin off or Season 2 (if and when Xia Da resolves her legal issues) If there is no spin off and no Season 2, we just move on. Other good dramas will come along.

There will never be another TLB. As a total package, this drama is not replicable. Not perfect, that we know. But uniquely charming, totally mesmerising, inexplicably spellbinding. Not for many folks out there perhaps, but certainly for many of us here in this forum. How else can you explain the crazy number of comments in this forum?

I like your analysis. Let me add to your step 4. Yi Cheng's plan was simple. She wanted to make use of the Bear division to take down the Eagles. In her mind, AS was more of a threat to Sheer than the Bear's Tegin. That Tegin was a clown, miilitary. He lost to Changge so many times.

So, she planned to have the Bears kill the Eagles first, and then later have the Bear's Tegin killed, probably by Lei Mong her preferred assasin. It might have suceeded. And she could have united all the Ashile tribes and mobilised troops to try to overthrow Tang and reestablish Sui.

But we know from history, that did not happen. In history, it was the other way around. Li Simin destroyed the Eastern Turkic Khaganate in AD 630 ( date per Wikipedia). In real life, General Li Jing led the troops in the Tang offensive to destroy them.

In the drama, Changge foiled her plan, with her strategy of asking the Eagles to fake its demise and AS to fake his death. So, instead of being killed by the Bears Tegin, it was AS who killed him,

And again in Chang'an, Changge again foiled Yi Cheng's plan to cause division among the tribes who were trying to form an alliance with the Tang, to stand up against perceived aggression by the Ashile tribes.

When that failed, she next wanted to kill AS at Ding Xiang, and have Sheer installed as the next Khan. That too was foiled by Changge.

One woman against another, and we know who won. But she will not go away quietly. She wanted to bring Changge along with her fiery death. But AS arrived in time. He dashed in, when others hesistated. There is an inferno in there, but he didn't care. His beloved was inside and her life was more important than his.

His rescue looks like a cartoon, but it is ok. We got the picture. They were safe and retired to the grasslands to live happily ever after. The Tang prospered and progressed under Li Simin. The drama passed the censors and we got our wonderful drama, TLB.

And then later, Changge again foiled her plan

We are just a fun club who loves TLB. Everyone providing volunteer service at the customer help desk

Thanks so much Kayla. Figurately speaking, this was Dilraba's audition tape for the role of Li Changge

I do not think there is a need for us to analyse a drama in such micro details. For instance, Leyan was not even a character in the manhua. And in the drama, we were not exactly told how long she was lost. How did you get the four months figure from?? Maybe it was indicated in a dialogue somewhere I completely missed it.

As to when Changge had her first period, that itself, is debateable. Many viewers here had argued earlier that given her tomboy nature and she was always doing sport, etc., she could well have had a late period. And hence the time from she left the palace to the time she was with the Eagles' division need not be three weeks. We just don't know and the director of the show did not think that it was very important to show such fine a detail.

So, yes, like you said, don't bother to understand all the micro-details, time wise.

Just need to know, when the drama started, it was the Xuanwu gate incident. Around July AD 626. Last scene, around AD 629. since by winter of AD 629, Tang and Ashile were no longer friends and General Li Jing was actually ordered to attack the Easter Turkic Khaganade. A three year time frame for the all the events from Episode 1 to Episode 49 would be highly realistic. All of the relationships in the drama, they need time to develop. And it is more realistic to expect them to take place over a 3-4 year time frame, then over several months.

As to which which of these other events in the drama took place when, I don't think it is really critical. After all, this is work of fiction. This is not meant to be a documentary, for us to learn about history or to study about the geography of distances between places mentioned in the drama.

Not necessary politics. Film making is a money making industry. Whoever who invested in the production of this drama did it to make money, not to please some individuals.

Like Dilraba, who played Changge. In two interviews, the film producer explained why she wanted Dilraba to play the main FL. The strongest reason she gave was her mole, because in the manhua, Changge has a mole.

And just any mole anywhere, but Dilraba has a mole in about the exact position as Changge in the manhua. How exact? We may need to take a ruler and measure. But visually, very similar.

Next was her acting skills. The director for this movie had worked with her in a prior drama. He had absolute confidence in Dilraba, as an actress. He believed that she can pull it off.

The same logic must have used to decide on casting decisions for all the other cast members. And the success of a drama depends very much on casting decisions. If actors/actresse are cast wrongly, the movie will be a disaster and will may lose millions of dollars.

Now regarding Mimi Gulli, I am told that in the manhua, she died very early (together with her brother). But in the drama, she had a rather extended role. I would call her role rather key or principal. So yah, in your terminology, a principal suporting role.

I do not know about the manhua, but in the drama, she was Changge's best girl friend. They went through a lot together. She was with Changge practically from the graassland till her death in Episode 48. She was also the love interest of both Mujin and Sheer. And an instrument to used by the main villainess. And she finally died for Changee. I assure you, they did not just extended her character, for the sake of lengthening the drama. If you take away her character, Changge would have no best female friend at the grasslands. It will all just Changge and AS all the time and it will quite boring to watch. And without her, lots of the evil stuff that the villain did will have to be given to another character, which is no different from just assigning to her. Having too many characters in a drama can be rather confusing for viewers.

Finally, this is a drama with war and battles as the context. In wars and battles people die. In the manhua she died early. In the drama she died later. Making her die later and tying her death to her love story with Mujin us feel more sadness than killing her off as a spy (per manhua).

Now, that is her character. It does perform some rather useful function in the subplot or side story. If you feel that the sideplot is poorly written, you are certainly entitled to your opinion. Here in this forum, we respect everyone's opinion. But we hope you understand what could be going through the mind of the screenwriters when they wrote this character.

You said so yourself. This is a rather popular show. Perhaps quite a lot of people do find many of the subplots interesting? After all, the success of a movie depends not just on the main story or main plot but also on many of the side plots.

Great table! But I don't think we even need this anymore. If you look at Autumn's intention above, you will know what I mean. She had a different motive.

Not really weird. It depends on where they first found her alive. That was more important to indicate her current alliance, then where she was last know to be dead.

They first found her alive at the Liuyun temple, which is in Tang territory. So, they had no reason to believe that she was in alliance with Ashile. Now, if they found her in Liuyan temple, and there, they found her together with Ashile Sun and other Ashile troops, they may have reason to believe that she was allied with Ashile tribe.

But, that was not the case. When they first found her, AS was no where to be found. No Ashile troops were even near her, and she was actually running away from Hao Du.

Hence, I do not think they had assumed that she was in alliance with them. More like, they wanted to capture her. Question her. See if she has anything to do the disappearance of the crown prince. For sure, they will also want to question her, if she was still in alliance with Ashile tribe.

But all that became really unnecessary, with the way they wrote the story, which is really quite good. It allows for more drama. Even the way Leyan changed Hao Du's attitude towards Changge. Everything flowed very smoothly from E31