WK1

I watch it on Croton. I do not see any view counter, but Croton is an official channel. We know we will be supporting the drama when we watch it on Croton.

I think likewise for those who watch on Viki. Croton has the overseas broadcasting rights, so they likely sold some of that rights to Viki, so Viki can show TBW in certain regions.

And her smile. In portraying Ji Yunhe, she used her beautiful smile to charm Changyi, and make him feel at ease, that she is friendly and mean him no harm.

The prelude to E1 shows how much Ji Yunhe loves freedom. But it is a freedom that Changyi would not grant to her because of their very complicated relationship. The actual event in the prelude would not occur till many episodes later, but the director wanted to show it in the prelude to let viewers know how much freedom meant to Ji Yunhe, after being trapped in the Flower Valley and subsequently at the Immortal Master's mansion.

The opening sequence of her interaction with the Ubume bird also shows us how kind hearted Ji Yunhe is. She never seeks to kill those whom she has to tame but always try to persuade. It would be a method she would use on Changyi, to train him.

This is in contrast with Lin Haoqin. And so we saw how even Lin Canglan praised Ji Yunhe for getting the Elixer from the Ubume bird at relatively low costs, without having to kill or torture anyone.

When Ji Yunhe interacted with people from the bird tribe, she shows the same kindness.

Even at her first meeting with Changyi, she put on a friendly and smiling first, always using a non-harming way to control. This is in stark contrast with Li Haoqin. The first meeting, he shot Changyi with that arrow which obviously caused some pain to Changyi.

This would be their contrasting styles of taming Changyi. One use the charm offensive and the other the harm offensive, and later, deception. To be fair, Ji Yunhe also used deception, but her motive was never to harm Changyi, but wanting him to be free. Free from pain, and later, free from the Flower Valley.

E1 shows that character wise, Ji Yunhe is kind, brave, and curious (wanting to know more about Merfolk).

Some reflections on Episode 1

Very keen observation. It was not done by a rookir, nor was it random. There is purpose why she looked the way she did, during her encounter with the Ubume. Good job!

That is good. As long as you are liking it so far, it is worth the wait. Both Allen and Dilraba did very well. First few episodes, we can already see their tremendous acting skills.

Likewise many of the supporting cast members. They did really well.

Just a humble suggestion to make our discussions more efficient and impactful. For discussion on part 1, we do it here. For discussion on part 2, we do it on the page of Part 2.

Part 1 is the first 22 episodes. Anything beyond that is in part 2.

If you are a student and are currently studying, you should definitely focus on your studies. I think this drama will be in YouTube for a while. You can always come back to it later when you have your term break. Or whenever you have time in between your studies.

Keep watching. You will find the answer in a later episode.

If you are watching part 1, and wish to discuss, please go to the part 1 page. Does not make sense to have some people doing it here, some doing it over there.

When watching part 2, we discuss here on this page. That is more efficient.

We already made this request many weeks ago. But the MDL denied our request, saying they are simply following what the producer is doing.

Fairy Shunde or Princess Shunde. In episode 1, she walked on those flowers and made a grand entrance at the Flower Valley. You could not have missed her.

I know. I was fully expecting ads. When I watch free stuff on Iqiyi, tons of ads. So, I was really surprised. First two episodes on Croton, no ads at all. Maybe the ads will come in the later episodes.

That is strange. When I watch on Croton, I did not encounter any ad at all.

Just to add to your comment, I think the first two episodes set the tone for the Ji Yunhe character. We can tell that she is really kind hearted, from the way she treats various people around her. Whether it is the people from the bird tribe or Luo Luo or Changyi, she is kind and has no evil intentions. And her method of 'training' Changyi is totally different from the one used by Lin Haoqing. While Lin Haoqing relies on torture, she used compassion and empathy to persuade Changyi.

There is no doubt that Reba nailed the role of Ji Yunhe. And Allen did well as Changyi. The actress who acted as Princess Shunde, Cristy Guo Xiao Ting, she acted really well. Her performance was widely praised in China.

It should count, as Croton's channel is an official channel. It is indeed our way of showing support to all the cast and production team members of this amazing drama.

Yes, great timing!

I think Croton releasing everything all at once, and free, is their way of saying sorry for making us wait so long. We have 'paid' for it, through the anguished suffered over the past two months. Some suffered more than the others.

Also confirmed the fact that the subs have always been ready; it was their agreement with Youku that prevented them from releasing it earlier. Now, they are as free as Ji Yunhe, and can do whatever they want.

Really nice to see everyone enjoying the series now. We can get into our discussion mode.

I am around. I am over on the page of Part 1, because I was hoping we could start our discussions of part 1 on that page rather than here. There are many newcomers to TBW on that page.

If we discuss part 1 on both pages, it will be very tiring for us. We will have to keep flipping between the two pages.

Of course, like you, I am very very happy that the subs will be out.

One more day??

Nice to have you back. Together with a few others, you were one of the first effectively bilingual viewers who watched it raw back in March. When you watch it with subs now, your understanding of this drama is going to be complete.

Going to rely on you and a few others to be our guides, when we go into discussion mode.