WK1

Thanks so much for the timely reminder.

Oh, I am actually watching all the episodes raw. My Mandarin and Chinese are good enough to help me right through E16. But, the last few episodes will not coming up till a few days' time, so I will try that fansub site for the those episodes you mentioned. These fans have worked so hard. Want to appreciate their work too.

I read the original tweet. Could have been posted by anyone. Not worth our time worrying over this. Just ain't going to happen.

If you are talking about those episodes that have been aired so far, I totally agree with you. Thus far, Reba's character Ji Yunhe is driving TBW forward.

In a media interview shown in Twitter, which could be the same one that you have watched, both the producer and director have highlighted her amazing acting abilities. But, even as a core Reba fan, I do not feel that she can carry the entire drama on her shoulders, no matter how good she is. This is, after all, a romance drama. As such, her character partner, Changyi, will need to be good, or else viewers will not feel any romance, or CP. And Allen was not given this role randomly. He was chosen based on his track record in being able to create that sense of CP in all his recent dramas.

I do believe the way this drama has been planned is to roll out different actors' skills and talents sequentially. Starting from E15 or E16, Changyi already has more screen time than in previous episodes. And it will keep going this way from now on, for viewers to appreciate Allen's amazing acting abilities. There will be future episodes Changyi will shine very very brightly, perhaps even more so than Ji Yunhe. In the end, when this drama is done airing, and we look back, it is gonna be a Reba and Allen show; plus, all the amazing supporting cast members. There is simply no way Reba can carry this drama all on her own. Not for a drama that has 40 plus episodes.

Good day. Don't worry. When the English subtitles are out, we will still be here. Good day.

Those are the worst kind. We need to be careful of them. But this is small world. If they roam around on the MDL pages of other dramas, we can detect them. They can run, but they cannot hide.

The Koreans have been doing that for years, no dubbing. Every actor, evey actress, own voice. Han Hyo Joo, for instance. In Dong Yi (2010), she used her own voice, playing a character from the age of about 13-14, till she became a concubine. She was really great in that drama, which I watched many times. She was able to modulate her voice, to sound like a teenage girl, when Dong Yi was just a maid, and then later, when Dong Yi became a concubine, she changed her voice to a much deeper tone. She was also able to change all her behaviours. For that drama, she won the best actress award in the drama category, for S Korea's most prestigious acting award.

But the Koreans do not produce that many historical dramas in a year. The Chinese do. So, for all actors/actresses to use their own voices, this is going to affect production. We might not be able to see that many historical Cdramas. Or, if we do, the quality may not be good.

Another factor has to do with the variance of voices in China. China is so big. actors from different regions speak Mandarin differently or with different undertone, depending on which province they are from. Korea is much smaller. All the good actors/actresses, I think they pretty much speak standard Korean that the entire country can understand.

Dilraba can also modulate her voice. She did it in one of talk shows for voice actors/actresses. And she speaks Mandarin perfectly, which is why she is such a favourite for doing commercials. But, historical Mandarin is different from modern Mandarin. You need certain voice quality to be able to do it well. If, one day, she is forced to do it, she might still be able to. But, she may need to repeat certain lines many many times, just to get the tone just right, while the professional voice actress who usually dubs her voice can probably do it at the fraction of the time. That is why Reba can jump from filming TBW so quickly to filming LOA. Once filming is done for one project, she jumps to the next.

So, this kind of decision, the Chinese media authorities will not make it lightly. It will affect lots of people across a broad spectrum.

There is someone here called Sakie. I learned it from her. But, I modify it a bit. Different strokes for different folks. Some very stubborn one who just expressed opinions, we isolate. The one in this twit looks like a very stubborn one, just post after post attacking one drama after another.

Those who make factual misrepresentations, we can and must fight back. We can swarm them with so much facts, they will wish they did not come here.

And how's your studies? You cleared all your recent exams??

I do think we did. But the ones on the page TLB were most memorable. Still remember your first remark was, "why am I always on that page, I must have loved that drama very much.' I am sure you can remember my reply??

I do think we did. But the ones on the page TLB were most memorable. Still remember your first remark was, "why am I always on that page, I must have loved that drama very much.' I am sure you can remember my reply??

This will have big impact in several directions.

1. It may well be the end of the road for many voice actors/actresses.
2. It may delay the production process, as these dubbers are really efficient. They can do it very quickly.
3. Related to the above, it may drive production cost up, as asking all those highly paid stars to dub their own voices will be more expensive than using voice actors.
4. Some actors/actresses just do not have voices that are suitable for historical dramas. This may well affect their careers. Training can mitigate this, but it may take a while. Yang Mi used her own voice in NPE. I am not convinced she did a better job than her usual dubber.
5. Not sure how the new rules will be applied. If voices used must be those during the filming process, quality will drop. Lots of external noise around. If they are allowed to dub their own voices in a studio during post production, quality will be ok. But production will be delayed and production costs will also go up.

Anyhow, this is just a rumour. Anyone can go to twitter and spread this kind of stuff around. We believe it, only if some official government sources make the annoucement. Else, just treat this as fake news.

I have developed different strategies for different varieties of haters. For those who made factual errors, we can push back earily, with accurate facts.

But, for people who gave pure opinions, like 'I find this drama boring'. Sometimes, I find it a real waste of time to even interact with them. Particularly the species who will tell us this is their opinion and please respect their opinion. So, fine, we respect their opinion, by leaving them completely alone, and isolated. Like they caught COVID.

Just my opinion, and you may indeed differ.

That is what I heard. I also played cheat a little. I skipped all the rest of the novel, and I read the very final portion of the last chapter, when she was terminated. I felt so good!! And I told myself, I must not miss this drama. Evil is eventually vanquished by goodness.

Just leave them alone. That is the best response. If any such person comes here, same thing. Just leave them alone. This is a free space. We cannot force them out nor force them to say this is great drama. But, they also cannot force us to interact with them. So, just leave them alone. Create a bubble around them, the same way Beijing created a bubble during the recent Winter Games.

After a while, when no one interacts with them, they get bored, will go to another page, say the same thing. If every MDL page gives them the same treatment, eventually, they stop participating in MDL, which is great for everyone.

I have seen this trope in many many dramas. The deeper the love, the deeper the hurt when one party felt cheated by the other. This trope may not be new. But what may set TBW apart from other dramas will be the good acting of Dilraba and Allen. They are both excellent actors, so what other love couples cannot do, they can, in conveying this love/hurt relationship.

Also, Changyi and Ji Yunhe are two different species. The writer may make either or both of them do something that we have never seen in past dramas, especially Changyi. Yunhe's species is more common. Even if she is not fully human, we can see how her pain can be depicted, based on previous Xianxia dramas. Even from episodes that have been aired.

But Changyi is from the sea, a merman. We may yet see gestures from him that are totally new, gestures that may take us completely by surprise.

We love to be surprised by surprises, do we not?? Not sure about the rest, but I do.

My next trip to the wet market, I will look for squid tentacles!

I think you are right about that, and, somehow, the haters have found a way to get around the same IP issue. And people who have learned to do it once, can do it many times.

I did not know either, that Reba is close to Allen's wife. Someone here told me. But, I did know that during the filming of TBW, his wife actually came to the production set, and someone said Reba and Allen's wife were seen having a meal together. We can certainly take that as an evidence they do know each other fairly well, good enough to want to have a meal together, perhaps, even many meals together, only one was seen by other people.

It is possible that during these meals, Reba assured Allen's wife that those kisses will help to make the drama look more impactful and that as an actress, Reba is professional and asked his wife not to worry too much about those kisses. She had done so many previously, and none resulted in any romantic relationship between her and her co-stars.

Yes, there are indeed many great romance dramas out there without any kisses. so why do they pick on Allen, I have no idea. Like you, I respect the way Allen handles the kiss issue. He knows his wife very well, so he knows what not to do, in order not to make his wife uncomfortable. So, here in TBW, the fact that we have seen so many kisses could only have resulted from very good understanding between Reba, Allen and Allen's wife. Reba certainly has no issue; now, Allen and his wife have also felt comfortable with Allen doing kisses. Whether this is limited to only Dilraba, we do not know, till his next drama that calls for kissing in the script.

Be prepared for even more kisses to come. And, I also watched some of the advanced previews for TBW. Looks like it is going to be very very sad later on, the love story between Ji Yunhe and Changyi. The writer and director will make Allen do more sad scenes to bring out his full acting talents, before the two of them will once again acknowledge their love for each other.

I have been told by those who read the novel, the ending will be a happy one. Likely in Part 2 of the drama.