SD1D Enthusiast

EXACTLY. He is clever and strategic here, even if it adheres to his straightforward style. He's not a damn mind reader nor does he have meta knowledge. There are plenty of scheming ministers who do things by being slick, but how many of them actually get down to the root of things for justice instead of trying to save their own neck?

I had to google who that is but whoa, yeah I can see the similarities

Well said, he's doing the best he can right now with what he has and what aligns with his character. It makes perfect sense to me and some of the negative overreactions that ignore that context feel quite silly to me. I read a comment on someone posted here that:

"Zhang Zhe is not interested in power struggles and only cares about justice and helping people. He can't be bought or bribed. He has no bias: he will clear your name today and send you to jail tomorrow. If you threaten his life he won't put up a fight but will let you know you don't have the correct paperwork to behead him. "

It's not his fault others have given him nothing to gain his trust and rather his suspicion. XW and JXN have their own scheming and plots but that has nothing to do with ZZ. He is a pursuer of truth and he'll go down that path till the end.

Good point, he literally helped them out and people still mad.

they do have some good analysis posts now and then, I've found some really insightful comments on tumblr for cdramas over the years so it can be a nice reprieve from the WW3 happening in some dramalist sections

While I also think he should be more careful and look out for himself, that's not exactly the reason people are frustrated with him here; they're mostly just annoyed he's getting in the way and there is no helping that.

I don't think he's stupid, he just doesn't have the insider knowledge that we as viewers do AND he has the extra burden of his past life that makes him rightfully suspicious. His actions make sense objectively, even if they create obstacles for the person we're supposed to root for

I was looking at tumblr to see what folks are saying abt the drama and stumbled upon this meta post that perfectly encapsulates my thoughts about ZZ:

"zhang zhe drives me absolutely insane and feral because he's a workaholic introvert who believes in meritocracy in a world of bribery and personal favours, he grew up poor but rose to success, he is righteous in everything he does. he has boundaries and he sticks to them. he doesn't form cliques and he has a "boring" reputation. he's the last good man in the capital. no wonder jiang xuening is obsessed with him. there is something about the kind and stable and safe option that is so much more infinitely appealing and sexy to me than men with anger issues. something about not letting the dust of the world corrupt him and turn him cynical and amoral. it's easy to be bad and harder to be good! i always go wild for the heroic good man SML but zhang zhe is just a category unto himself."

https://www.tumblr.com/redemption-revenge/733705887742574592/zhang-zhe-drives-me-absolutely-insane-and-feral?source=share

He is up front about his investigations and questions. Honestly, to anyone who doesn't have insider meta drama knowledge, XW and his actions are insanely suspicious and any minister with two brain cells to rub together would do the same thing if they had the bravery to do it. The only reason to the typical minister not to do it would be for his own concern towards his safety, but as you can see, he doesn't care about that.

they have whitewashed a lot of what the characters did, it's to be expected. they did the same thing in TTEOM

you're making me want to search tumblr meta zhang zhe posts too haha

we are in the minority here but I am with this ship the whole way, they have my whole heart

omg I FINALLY understand who he reminds me of! no wonder I like him

Well, take it from ZZ's perspective. To him, XW is someone who murdered half of the city of innocent people in order to achieve his goal in the last life. Not to mention, indirectly caused the death of the woman he loved. Why would he EVER want to support XW at this point in time? It only makes sense that he would interject and try to stop him. XW is the male lead and so we sympathize for his cause and root for him, but for ZZ, XW is a mass murderer and bloodthirsty villain. He has 0 reason to trust him and every reason to suspect him and create obstacles for him.

well, here's to hoping those company connections means he gets to play ML to her in one drama some day bc their chemistry is so uniquely great

I posted below

Before JXN dies, she has a servant deliver a plum blossom branch to ZZ in prison, as a sort of confession of her heart. XW goes to the prison and crushes the blossoms under his foot before it can reach ZZ. Then, he goes to ZZ and tells him, "Your empress is dead," wanting ZZ to be in as much pain as possible. ZZ is able to be released at this time, but instead he asks for ink and paper, and writes a memorandum; he sentences himself to death by beheading. For once in his life, he had been selfish and broken his own principles, and as a result his mother had died and the woman he loved had died for him. He took the punishment all on to himself. He did not blame JXN for how things ended but only his own weakness, and decided he deserved this sentence. He no longer had anyone to live for.

XW does not become emperor. He chooses a random poor child from the street and puts him on the throne. He didn't seek power, but revenge and blood, and now that his goal was gone, he had no purpose in life either. He also killed himself.

I do think he overacts sometimes and it does come off a bit cartoonish. His best moments are more when he's silent and showing his emotions through his expressions/aura, bc it makes use of his natural features. Still, a lot better than MJTY. His character there was just so meh and frustrating.

Zhang Zhe's actor I think is really great so far, especially when he acts with his eyes. I can't believe how young he is! His acting is one of the reasons why I like the character so much. I would like to see him showing more emotions tho.

Yan Lin...you're right that he has potential but not that many scenes to show it.

he has more of a sharp aura to him, that's why he matches much better with darker characters!

One thing I have to say here, is that despite me liking Zhang Zhe more as a character here, this drama has still raised my opinion of
Zhang Ling He. I did not like him in My Journey to You at all, but I think this sort of grey character suits him MILES better and it's definitely his best role currently. He does the broody, "don't mess with me" RBF face so well haha.

It does give me hope for his upcoming drama The Grand Princess which is based off of one of my fave all time cnovels, and where he will have to play a very nuanced character, Pei Wenxuan.