abmingjoo

ah, stopped right before I got that detail about his acceptance, reason. I also appreciate that it's not about the money for , but about her feeling sisterly and indebted to the woman, but it's still too weird a request of him given their situation. Regardless, glad your enjoying it.

Brilliant actress.

I LOVE the adorable characters and chemistry, but am dropping it at episode 13 . I can't take crazy, contrived, illogical/contradictory plot points , such as FL renting her secretive ML husband out to pretend to be the husband of a very sketch,y and manipulative female "friend" to protect her from a mysterious man. That, and the hot mess of flailing underdeveloped political threads and convoluted secrets makes yet another major show this season fail for me.

Indeed, a lot of moments to love in 19-20. I too enjoyed seeing that umbrella fly up! ...Also, I guess they have a secret practice shooting range underneath the palace.

Episode 13: Romance 🔼

Cinematography feels like a comforting warm embrace.
Chemistry of the FL and ML feels effortlessly authentic/soulmates.
Their micro expressions and timing are perfectly matched.
The comedy makes the tragedies much more hard-hitting.
Moral complexity is sharp and fascinating (entitlement; fate of Mei).
Integration with the animated version is clever, well done.

Same. It think it's because of how emotionally honest it gets and it deals with so many details of their hearts. And I find her acting in particular insanely real.

Yeah, to me the HE begins in episode 29 when he saves her from the assassins (even though they have some small temporary couple's quarrels the next two days.) Suddenly, they are standing close, face-to-face, they tease each other, she worries about his leg, the smile she leaves him with.

The more I rewatch it, the more I enjoy it, because the meanings and patterns become clearer, and I go "Ah, X connects with Y" and things like that.

Same. Very special place in my heart. I sometimes slow the video down or even go frame by frame to see details of how Miantang's face changes when reacting to things. It's an enjoyable way for me to spend time with the show and learn new things. For example, in episode 30, I had missed that after after Mian's grandfather asks Xingzhou to leave his room so he can continue talking with Mian in private, and just before she turns to look at him with a silent "waiting" face, she squints her eyes in strong anger about the violence he provoked on purpose.

"He wasn't very supportive about the endeavors". True initially, but that totally changed after he saw her genius. He helped her with the porcelain business behind the scenes, by helping her hire the artist, Mr. Chen, and told he to do whatever she wanted and he would support her...He was of course terrified of telling her, but you make it sound like he didn't care about her. Yes, he was legitimately using her to catch a horrific criminal because she was part of the criminal's organization. He had an imperial job to do, justice to uphold, to secure the province, and avenge the lives of hundreds of his people that he believed her and her people and were guilty of murdering. He could have kept her in prison rather than setting up a peaceful home. Was she not a security risk? I think he started having feelings for her the moment he saw her floating in the water. He tried fighting them, but it was no use. It was never the case that it was simple for him to just tell her, because he had good reasons not to and tragic flaws. It made him miserable to not tell her the truth. He's a good man that wanted to do right by someone he loves. Yet he was trapped by the way it evolved. He expected the plan to work over a few weeks, but it never could, and it drove him nuts that he was chasing a phantom because she had lied about her identity as Lu Wen even before they ever met.

Yes, he's human, owns his failure, and deep down, will regret his weakness and the pain it caused her for the rest of his life, even as Miantang tries to lessen his guilt by pointing out some of her own contributions to creating and sustaining the deceptions. However saying "It's totally on him" discounts the impossible choices he had, and I think it's wrong to frame it as purely a moral failure of his selfishness and exploitation. Regarding him leaving her a letter of divorce, he couldn't handle breaking her heart and ruining her positive memories of the quality time together, so he forced himself to send her away. He thought her independent spirit, pride and pragmaticism would lead her to take the money and leave. Afterall, there were frequent moments of tension where she wondered WTF was going on in the relationship, even telling him that the relationship doesn't make sense to her, so she's cool with a divorce if he wants. But no, he underestimated that she had fallen deeply in love with him too, and that the divorce letter devastated her to the point of traveling hundreds of miles to slap him while sobbing. Is he supposed to tell her then? Or how about when she blows his mind and everyone else's by turning the town in an outstanding logistics hub and essentially the commander of the rear that thousands of people depend on, He should devastate her then? How about when he is stunned by her becoming an unsung hero of the empire by enabling him to win the war? Or when it is crucial that he keep his deal with the Western Tribes princess secret, given that she is being an informant for him to solve criminal conspiracies that threaten the empire? Or when he walks up to her and reveals his identity, and then the writer's of the show interrupt them, and has her engage in a conversation the topic of which ensures that him telling her will create a devastating scene? Yes, it's on him that he can't live without her and for many reasons his mind becomes confused af and paralyzed by the lose-lose-lose situation, Is this a simple moral failure? Is this about him caring only about himself? After they return from the war, he becomes increasingly paralyzed in telling her but still tries. When he starts getting the vibes that she is on to the truth and is growing distant from him, his TERROR he descends into an increasingly unhinged zombie state. He runs to his mother begging her to let him marry Miantang, even though a person operating with all gears would understand it's too late. If the two leads where two dimensional characters you could have two dimensional criticism. But they are both deeply human, psychologically complex, and both become confused about what is real and not.

They are very different shows. Si Jin is a typical sweet historical romance by formula. AYTO is a psychological adventure that is unique. Yeah, it uses some formula stuff, like amnesia and hidden identity, but it uses them in original ways. For example, some people say it's a typical enemy-to-lover story. That's not what happens. They fall in love from the beginning and that love never dies, just gets bashed up by mistakes and misunderstandings, and reboots even better.

How many acts do you see in the show? For me, the show has 3 parts: Deception (1-22), Reconciliation (23-31), Collaboration (32-40).

doesn't sound like your jam. It's a psychological adventure.

I lost count of how many times he tried to tell her the truth. He hated living the lie. It was destroying him. After she started falling in love with him, she really didn't want to know the truth until it was too late. In one episode he was practically begging her to stop trusting that he was her husband. She was like, whatever, I choose to love you, let's have kids and travel the world.

He was able to love her anyway, because he found out that it wasn't her that betrayed the truce and slaughtered his troops unprovoked during a peaceful holiday, and that she was tricked to think the same about Xingzhou.

Well, they did custom build much of it. Any part of the set in particular?

Coincidence. Liu is one of the most common surnames in China. Her family once upon a time was highly-regarded and wealthy. Her ancestors fought alongside the founding Emperor. Later descendants mismanaged the family money, wasted their prestige, and became mostly impoverished commoners. Her father managed to get a job with the provincial education department, but died in prison, as did her brother. She turned out very ok ;) --However, it's a valid question why the author of the adapted novel chose to give her the same last name out of all the other possible last names. It makes me wonder it was to emphasize that her fate would have been to become Ziyu's empress if Ziyu had listened to her and not been talked into following his untrustworthy uncle, Prince Sui's plans. (Ziyu was planning on marrying her. However the Sui faction together with traitors in her community talked him out of it because she was 1) against them (too righteous) and 2) she wasn't a royal. Ziyu trusted his uncle, in large part because he trusted Sui's mother, the Grand Empress Dowager. BTW, in case you were wondering, she and Ziyu were never intimate or deeply loved each other. He just wanted her badly).

The very unpopular Empress Dowager Wu and her little boy emperor suddenly died (oops). Then, the Grand Empress Dowager, with the support of key respected elders of the court, recognized, named, and crowned the late crown prince's son, Liu Yu/Dan ("Ziyu") as the new emperor.
Regarding the surname of Prince Huaiyang, Ciu Xingzhou, the point is that he and his family are not part of the true royal "Liu" family. The title of a regional prince was bestowed on his late father because of his many achievements by an earlier emperor. So, the Ciu family are technically less royal--they are royalty by another surname--Cui, not Liu. The Grand Empress Dowager and Prince Sui are happy to remind Xingzhou that no matter how many achievements he has, he is still "inferior".