XieWeiAirCon

I don't really engage with Chinese fanbases because I'm a westerner so there is nowhere to join them but all the same I wouldn't do it but I'm genuinely surprised that people get angry over why people enjoy one drama over the other. Like it's grevious sin and one has to explain why you like that drama. This is so so new for me coz my understanding is people like different things and if one likes a drama it's because it's pandering to elements they personally like. why would I watch things I don't like. The determination to hate this drama and to down vote it is weird and the only time I faced it this year was when I was watching The Princess Royal it's like people really get angry over why you are enjoying this drama over that drama. Because of it I just became a lurker but couldn't resist with Blossom because it's so good and this attitude is now plaguing this drama. Can some of us drama enjoyers just love our dramas in peace 😭.

I have watched a lot of female centric dramas and they say the FL is intelligent but I don't see it at all but because I love C-dramas I just go alright I will believe you and roll with it but SG was a well written character her intelligence really shone and she was the right partner for SM and she has such a beautiful soul and she is so loving like that is what SM needed and SM gave her what she needed a safe space to just be without people telling her that she is rebellious and needs to be cut down to size. They are such 2 well written characters. They complement each other so well. I won't stop gushing about the script because it's so rare to get such a good story that is told consistently.

Me having watched all the dramas you mentioned plus a whole lot more too and gave a rating. Do you know what I hated about the double was the opening sequence. who the fuck enters an investigative operation and twirls on a chair like a ballerina. I had issues with that. because is the duke there to arrest people people not do ballet. And they focused on Wang xiyue being pretty instead of him acting and he can deliver. I have issues with dramas that do that in general. Watched the double because Wu Jinyan and Wang Xiyue who impressed me from scent of time another drama with a shitty ending. Wu Jinyan is one of my fav actresses since Yanxi palace. The evil princess and the scholar were were one dimensional. we knew early on that they were sucky people who did Xue Fang wrong and that was basically it the whole story line and Xue Fang/ Jiang Li was just there for revenge. beginning, middle and and end of story. Now compare that with blossom it has more nuanced villains, story lines within story lines villains are humanized so you can identify traits in actual human behaviour who are just not plain crazy villains like the princess who just happened to be bored and was playing politics. The double also had a draggy middle part that was unnecessary and the fuck was the ending that they had to give a special ending. The script alone for the double for me is has great parts and not so great parts therefore overall it ain't that great some of the actors were good some were not that also killed it for me I kept watching it for Wu Jinyan. I'm pissed I even paid Youku subscription for the drama

Zhao Lusi is my girl but don't get me started on how the last immortal and story of pearl girl were literal flops. The last immortal had terrible shitty acting. Even worse CGI I am not defending that. and the story line throw it to the pits especially Story of pearl girl, like it got so convoluted in the middle for no reason at all. And Pearl girl poisoned the ML and really being abusive is the only way to teach the FL to be strong. What the reason for the poisoning. didn't even make sense and the plot lost its way mid way it's like the script writer wasn't quite sure what to do with the story though I personally thought Cui Shi ju was the only break out actress in that drama. Those 2 dramas I'm giving them -5/10 so disappointing but I'm hopping next year she gives us something great. The only good thing was their copy of the little mermaid as the opening scene at least I can say they tried. And you can tell Zhao lusi is trying to get out of the mould and trying something different.

Kill me love me now don't get me mad whoever wrote the script for the prince needs to go back to writing school now why did that man need to be abusive to get his point across. Again got draggy in the middle and the ending was a flop. And I was waiting for that drama as well a bit let down at the end all that for my girl to just die.

Are you the one the script was changed and not for the better made the story worse and some parts were not even necessary a lot could be cut some side characters I'm not even sure why they were there, some characters were not even fleshed out especially his brother in the wheel chair and i was there for my boy Zhang Wanyi coz boy can act. Are you the one being one of my fav novels.

Those above dramas that you mentioned made me so angry that I feel like I can become a Chinese character and spit blood because of anger because they had so much working for them they had the budget, the team and you said there was no fake CGI 😭😭😭 and there is a twirling in the chair and those mountains looked fake as hell. And when they shoot a shot of the towns going in that is some terrible CGI

Anyways most of the people in these dramas are my favs so I will wait for next year. And you were spouting hate since all the dramas you mention have political conspiracies, poisoning, love affairs etc but you said where where does the blossom the drama stand out as it has the same elements. Then you go to point out dramas that have the same tropes and then you say they are the standouts like how is this not hate. Hypocrisy at it's best. At least for some of us we are looking at everything and not giving biased opinions like yourself which you are allowed to have. But from what I have watched in terms of visuals, wardrobe, acting, script, action, production #Blossom delivered and thank God coz 2024 was looking like a drama flop era. With moderate hits like blossom in adversity.

I know that is why I said point no.1 point the empress is poisoning the king. If she was the mother of the crown prince why would she poison the king. She would want the king alive as this better protects the crown prince and the crown prince would eventually get the throne. They don't hate each other so she has no reason to poison the king. But the empress is not the mother of the crown prince hence she is poisoning the king. She can't poison the king and the crown prince at once as that would be too obvious and people would resist her son's claim to the throne. Like if I was in court and both king and crown prince die my fingers would be pointed at her shame.

See great minds think alike. Especially the middle a lot of C-Dramas they flounder, get draggy the worst part for me is when they introduce a million characters that don't enhance or further along the story and they just disappear just like they appeared: poof. Then the ending it's like at some stage Chinese dramas were like we want to make everyone cry no one deserves a good happy ending or just wtf happened. Totally loving the side character stories are being told succinctly and are wrapped up quite well and we still have best girl SG just wanting to love poor traumatized SM. I love SG so much.

I am not a fan of his other work Butterfield lover being the only one I could finish after multiple takes and was bored and had nothing to watch. The rest his his short dramas I haven't quite liked them and he is repetitive in the way he directs. I only was able to forgive him in this one because he did bring some new elements so I'm not sure if it him or the other directors around him as well since it's more than one director but all in all I thought I was going to have a disappointing 2024 but this saved my drama year and I have feeling like Nirvana in Fire, love like the galaxy, snow sword stride this is going to be on my repeat list and I ain't complaining 😁

The only thing I can accept from this drama is the following conclusion


1. King is being poisoned by the empress and that is obvious

2. The king is not stupid. He must have realised that there were people who wanted to bring down the Jiang family and they would do this by having constant memorials veiled as attacks directed at Duke Jiang. To save the duke he requested that he comes to the capital and would probably keep him there strip him of his power and leave Song Mo to lead the army this way duke Jiang becomes a toothless tiger on the surface to be later used by his successor. Because there is no way the king did not see that his former good friend was loyal to the bone.

3. He closed the case because this was to protect the crown prince and the kingdom as a whole. Had he made a big deal out of it and wanted to punish the perpetrators then it would have moved forward the rebellion as the people behind it would want to protect themselves . This would leave the country in chaos and wake of deaths because the crown prince though a good man doesn't seem to have any powerful allies around him to fend off the attack and he is not scheming enough. I say this coz the emperor said if he was half as cunning as Song Mo he would be at ease.

This is the only explanation I am willing to live with. He had to exchange the life of the duke and a couple of his people for the peace of his nation ravaged by famine and the pirates. Otherwise he is a shitty ungrateful ruler as Song Mo said but his actions especially towards Song Mo bellies this fact. The emperor seems clever astute and knows what is going on.

I'm just surprised at how the drama is getting better and better with each episode because Chinese drama have problems sticking the landing they always start well start weird shit in the middle and then flop the ending but this one has just gone from strength to strength and I was just a lurker didn't even want to comment but today's episode blew me away. Like his is Song Han worse off than his dad like he is certified psychopath 😭😭😭 the dad was evil and had misplaced feelings entitlement and sense of justice but Song Han now that is evil incarnate I didn't see that coming. And poor Song Mo he is a good guy always doing what is upright and his family keeps playing him. Free my boy.

This drama is underated actually it should be 10+ just for its story telling. The story telling us so nuanced that if you don't pay attention you miss a lot. And that is what they have done best and is the beauty of the series because there are a lot of Easter eggs it has a great re-watch value because you are always going omg I missed that.

The acting is amazing beyond what I imaged really. These actors are acting acting. My pet peeve is lot of Chinese actors really give wooden expression because they have to stay pretty and don't really act or emote unless they are veterans the likes of Huge and Zhang Ruoyan in a veteran production like Blossoms of Shanghai or Joy of Life 2 which was actually a huge disappointment this year.

I also like how they are utilising the wardrobe department to tell the story and not just give us pretty costumes for the sake of a lot of stand like pretty costumes.

The production didn't give us their weird CGI like I won't forgive how they just won't film real birds and they give us weird birds even in big budget S+ drama

And you definitely are another a c-drama watcher like all or 99 percent of their period drama have someone being poisoned, conspiracies evil step mothers etc like it's a staple even my favs classics have the same elements Nirvana in Fire 1 & 2, the 3 kingdoms, story of haolan, Snow Sword Stride, a journey to love even my old fav cult classic couching Tiger hidden dragon this is literally Chinese lore so if you have no issues with all these dramas having the same elements why are you questioning this one. Please go hate elsewhere this drama is Drama of the year. It deserves 100 + in my books and I had been waiting all year for some drama that were massive massive disappointments.

I meant to reply the person above and the post fell here please my apologies

Comment is in the wrong section

I get your point but tell me which drama has the main villain ever gotten more air time than the leads. I will wait. I have never seen this in my many years of watching K dramas, Bollywood, western drams, Taiwanese, Hong Kong and Chinese dramas but granted I have not seen every drama alive so I wait to be educated on when a villain gets more air time than the lead actors. More so a villain who is not billed as the main lead.

My frustration with the whole SRQ and the unnecessary scenes is the way they then rushed everything at the end instead of letting us know and grow with the characters. One of my fav dramas is love like the galaxy. I watched it coz I'm a die hard wu lei fan but everyone was written so well we so their complex stories and arcs and I went in a wu lei fan he was the only one I knew at that stage and I came out a , massive fan of king Wen, 4th lady Cheng's Grandmother and father were my absolute favs followed by Zhao Lusi. I Loved the 2 consorts and how they showed love v respect in the harem. Hell I even appreciated the crown princess evilness and how she was committed to being irrational. Felt sorry for the Luo boy who was forced to be a villain because the main house kept on frustrating the 2 nd house and he had no option. I came for Wu Lei and left avidly following and on the lookout of more than 10 characters because the focus was on the story telling and not highlighting one person. I think I might be the only one who fails to see how in the world SRW was tragic.

I applaud that you say it is the princess royal not lobe between consort and princess royal. Now if if this the princess royal and should be told from her perspective pray tell why are we constantly seeing SRQ then and getting his monologues and him scheming. If they had actually focused on the Princess royal perspective the moment she realised SRQ betrayed her she was more focused on making her marriage work and being an ally of her consort and we would have gotten more poom poom scenes I fear and I wanted those scenes. Mind you even in the 1st life her consort was her main ally they schemed together then definitely we would have seen the consort more if it was just " the princess royal" now I fear it is The story of SRQ ft the princess royal and if we can get rid of the Prince consort make him a useless jealous accessory the job is done

You are happy for your fav I'm happy for you. I'm still miffed about how they wrote the drama. They are a couple of characters that I wanted to get the spotlight like Li Chuan loved his portrayal and the fire cracker Shangguan Ya. I wanted to see her develop into the woman of integrity who ran her clan , 2nd prince and princess anyways all in all I'm happy that the drama is doing well. Zhao Jin Mai and Zhang Linghe deserve. Their moments are the only thing that carried this drama especially Zhang Linghe carrying the comedy either with Tong Ye, FL or playing the jealous husband. Selflessly giving, sacrificing and righteous and intelligent. Pei WenXuan carried.

Exactly this. I'm riding for Li Chuan I wanted to see that actor more he was so cute 🥺. They wanted to show for SRQ what was for Li Chuan a good guy whose environment shaped him to make decisions he made. SRQ literally shaped the environment to suit his bad decisions yet they want us to believe it's unrequited love and he wanted to save his family. Well it did not need to be unrequited love if he truly loved the woman and fought for it and they were a million other ways of saving his family. Like that man is not humane at all he is wolf in sheep skin I have no empathy for him shame
Truly an utterly horrible person who never repented.

Quick question why are people acting like critiquing a drama means one is being negative therefore I'm telling people don't watch the drama. The fact that I finished watching TPR means it's worth the watch however the plot was sacrificed for something that is not worth it because it has had the opposite effect. Proper written characters and villain would have done more for this drama. The same way it did for the double. I loved the villain princess and guy more than Wu Jian and she is my fav.

But I understand the directors you are trying to launch an actor in a culture that values mostly good characters. I can see why they did what they did with SRQ but in doing so they made sure to gloss over Li Chuan character arc and how everyone failed him. he was a more layered character than a kid who will turn out evil for no reason than he has a monster in his heart 😕. What he did in the 1st life time was justified. He is the only character who had good reasons for what he did. I wanted to see Consort Rou children and the uneasy pact of living in the harem with the empress and children of the empress. I wanted to see SRH and SGY love story. They are the second couple I believe so many characters are left in limbo and replaced with a story arc that we already knew from the beginning anyway. Does it mean the drama is bad but it's definitely not excellent. It is by far the better watch drama for 2024 with joy of life a big IP being a big disappointment.

My other gripe was the way they shot the drama it felt and looked empty but they had lots of people on set. Anyways it's a good fluffy watch that could have been as great as Love Between Diary and devil if the directors did not decide to do whatever they did. A juggernaut drama ultimately benefits everyone not one that is great but doesn't live to expectations.

When I think about how SRW played interference which ended up with death for 2 relationship with people who actually loved and cared for each other I get angry all over again.

Also I thank you for your long response

Let me address this 1st. SRQ is not a righteous noble. Let me remind you in the 1st life time SRQ, his brother and his whole noble family cuckolded the king. Not only did they encourage SRH to commit adultery with Li Chuan's empress he actively participated by making sure they met secretly and protected them. On top of this he MURDERS a concubine. Her only fault she was loved by the King and had the only son who was the bloodline of the king. Why couldn't SGY adopt a child like most empress do why did she have to commit adultery with SRH. On top of this he was to place a child out of adultery ...not of the Li bloodline mind you on the throne just because he is a Su. What is so special about being a Su! This is what cost him and his family their lives in the 1st life time. They were an unrighteousness backstabbing family.

In the 2nd life time he wants to kill an innocent Li Chuan but I am not surprised, this is his memo; killing innocent people and let's add PWX to the mix. He not wants to kill an innocent this time he wants to put on the throne Lord knows who this child is. Mixing of blood lines is a grave sin for monarch he does not want to a mixed bloodline he is literally putting a mongrel blood line on the throne. Again all crimes were anyone is executed. And he killed his father, parricide a huge huge unforgivable offence in any culture but yes he is noble and righteous. That family if his must have warped ideas considering he kept saying he was upholding what he was taught. Those noble families were a cancer and if this is your version of righteousness I am afraid even a pig is more righteous that SRQ and his whole clan. I am not glazing over his character just because he is the main lead.

I am at work when I finish I will address the points you also made and mind you, you did not give a single point that refuted what I said above but you actually highlighted my point that SRQ was given a lot of airtime to make him more palatable when he is downright evil because they were hoping for the rabid shipping of LR SRQ CP. These scenes were only necessary for this aspect only and therefore in respect of the actual story interpretation and presentation it's a waste. They could have given that precious airtime to other characters

Excuse my strong language I watch a lot of historicals so I'm using some of the language.

Best character to be honest

A lot of scenes I will start with the 1st time we meet him in the 2nd life time. He took too long to get from his carriage this was to give the impression that he is a gentlemanly scholar loved by all it's in his demeanor. Now why do u add the adoring screaming girls, and him in the same frame when we are going to have LR say the same thing. Lost minutes to convert one message we would have gotten from him climbing down his carriage alone.

Too much time on the lighting to show him as the male lead and romantic interest of the drama. The usage of light is the most commonly used one in theater and films. K dramas and western dramas just a simple flick of the light bulb it's short and quick or lighting that adds to story like a righteous killing but nope they gave this man a whole hallo like an angel. Just a quick light pan to the sun to show us it's day time would have added more meaning than the whole angel effect they had with music.

Then the staring contest directly after this with LR. Again bathed in more light this time both of them. This is telling the audience this is the couple. They could have peeked at each other or gave us sweet shot glances to show us they like each other like as if we don't know from the the 1st episode and 1st life time. Nope the audience has to be reminded again by a long staring match. Then they proceed to talk and then show us his back when he is leaving like why. 40 seconds is a life time in screen writing a minute you can get a whole story.

The other one that pissed me off was the banquet. Used precious time to show us us SRQ drumming. They were glimpses that the other princess might have liked SRQ why not give us her perspective and growing jealousy and hatred of LR. Nope we are going to give you SRQ drumming extension. If he drummed once then show us the back story it is enough. But what do the directors do they give us a whole marching band performance of SRW complete with his head tilts, more adoring loving glances to LR then proceeded to show us a flash back of SRQ and LR on the qin in the dessert. But this is not enough to show us their connection to the song they give us SRQ and LR on the chariots and playing the same damn song. And a rousing speech from general SRQ lol. Those are dead minutes that do not push the story forward just to make the audience ship SRQ and LR. Like is as the audience we didn't know they shared a history together. These side by side shots went crazy

The rest of the story is them gazing at each other longingly just in case you didn't get it the 1st time or when LR said to SRQ you are the one I missed in the 1st life time. SRQ airtime was there to create the SRQ LR CP and shipping. it served no purpose to the story we already had and these are just 2 examples.

The whole drama is the coupling of SR and LR to the detriment of other characters. Like give me Consort Rou scheming I didn't want to see a summary version of it with when SRQ is giving us a Shakespearean soliloquy's. And did we need to see him teaching the 2nd prince. That was so unnecessary them telling us he replaced his brother was enough. And see how they told us about his brother being the 2nd prince teacher but we never got him teaching the CP but we have whole shots of SRQ teaching the 2nd Prince and meeting consort rou. Now take that time and show us other character you would think the whole production team was inexperienced with the way they decided to shoot and direct the drama. It was so unprofessional that it is comical really.

Feel you. The way she was trying to get in there I was so angry. I feel bad for PWX yes but I felt more for the unborn child who has no choice. Most normal pregnant woman protect their children eat healthy do everything that pregnancy is smooth. LR jumps into the fire for the person who killed her in the 1st life time bamboozled her killed her beloved brother and wants to kill her beloved brother again in the 2nd life time. I mean forget the number of times he tried to thwart LR plans time and again. Was never bold enough to fight for LR but according to LR this is the man to die for. If I was the child and learntnof this I would have lasting resentment what type of mother are you.