ramblingromantic

i almost made a voting list but chose to do a regular one ◡̈

thanks!

YESS! I noticed this the first time, but the levels and layers of how its shown were more obvious to me in the second watch

ah it be like that. enjoyment is subjective bc i didn't find her that annoying really

ah ok so after he runs to her he killed himself bc he never meant to kill her. i see, i def was thinking that was the case but since he never died on screen and they dont really explain his "story" from that life i was not 100% sure. ty!

Oh yes reality wise questionable but as a happily-est ever after person I don’t mind LOL

agreed haha i wish he got more of it

SECOND WATCH REVIEW (3/19-21/26)
I haven’t re-read my first watch review but something I noticed on this second watch, that I found super interesting and FULL of potential is how Xia Jing Shi (Prince of Zhennan) is basically another version of Feng Ping Cheng (Emperor of Susha).

It is brief, but before the emperor dies he tells Eunuch Ma Qi Ming that he wants Feng Sui Ge to be heartless to be a “good ruler” and to “have power” because he claimed the throne specifically due to the hardships he faced growing up – him and his mother were starving on the street, treated like dogs.

This was so passing I didn’t really process it the first time but then we have Xia Jing Shi who was raised terribly with a bully of a younger brother and a poisonous step mother. In this he was also raised like a dog and treated terribly.

Its mentioned that Fu Yi Xiao is similar in spirit and heart to Feng Sui Ge’s mother (Wei Qing Yu). Its interesting to see Feng Ping Cheng succeeded with Wei Qing Yu by his side. He claims he never changed but that she didn’t really see the real him until after the throne. Since she is dead we aren’t really sure if he’s an unreliable narrator (my assumption on my first watch) or not. But if we consider that Xia Jing Shi’s peak success was when Fu Yi Xiao was by *his* side, it begs the question of how similar Feng Ping Cheng’s fight for the throne must have been in the past to Xia Jing Shi’s “current” attempt.

With this parallel, it also poses a subtle question about the power of women. The power of the *support* of a woman. Wei Qing Yu supported Feng Ping Cheng and he succeeded, but after her death, everything about their land seemed to start to decline as everyone wanted a piece of the Emperor. Similarly, Xia Jing Shi was dominating his opponents when he had Fu Yi Xiao’s on his side. Once he left him, he was weakened automatically. Then she truly supported Feng Sui Ge and *he* was the one succeeding. The difference between Feng Sui Ge, his father, and Xia Jing Shi was that he didn’t want the throne and was not blinded by his past hurts. His mother was murdered and his father purposely gave him a terrible childhood, but Feng Sui Ge still held on to his humanity and heart in a way that Feng Ping Cheng and Xia Jing Shi never did. Both of them felt entitled not only to the women they loved, but to the power they desired regardless of the bloodshed involved.

*Note:*
- After reading the 1st watch i want to rescind my complaint about the music bc this time around I was watching it on IQ and honestly I didn’t feel like they played that one song too much or too loud.
- Also I find it crazy that Xiao Wei Ran still served Xia Jing Shi even when knowing about the death camps. I am a bit confused about them thought because they existed since they were kids so this means someone else was running them but then Xia Jing Shi took them over to keep getting more soldiers otherwise it means he was running death camps since he was like 10 lol

In my review I literally said "truth universally acknowledge if the show starts with one main lead character having amnesia, the other will certainly also experience memory loss" LOL its so frustrating that they do this but not surprising atp

Yes if you havent continued lol

I really hated the open thread they created with yu qian qian. It quite literally served no purpose other than making me scratch my head when she tells Fan Changyu and Qi Min is dying with a tear in his eye.

As for the generals part, I think Fan Changyu makes sense because her father did raise her to be a fighter. I know war is different but it is established from the start she's super powerful to begin with to the point people saw her as a jinx. And they handled her trauma of war pretty well. BUT I do agree it would have been nice to see a bit more fighting and dominance from Xie Zheng in the context of fighting a war (but I don’t personally care toooo much about this so it’s more a nit for me than an actual flaw.)

I feel like the 2 big reasons the ending could be considered be a tad unsatisfying is:

- The "real" antagonist was the Late Emperor. It is a great way of giving all the antagonists on screen more depth, but it feels so unsatisfying that there’s nothing to be done that the “main evil” is already dead even though he has caused so much pain 17 years ago and now.
- While I liked the “in another life” epilogue it was also unfulfilling for me. I would have preferred more about their current life to be honest. It sets it up as “another reality” but then everyone seems to have a deja vu of each other. Qi Min is alive but feels sick near Yu Qian Qian which again makes no sense if this is a world where the tragedy never happened. They should be able to have their HEA in this life (assuming she falls in love with this decent version of him). Plus, Xie Zheng and Fan Chang Yu are “betrothed” at childhood which was cute but we don’t get any insight on how their relationship growing up is different which I feel should have been the focal of this flashback considering the show is about their romance.

I don't know if I have hyperosmia but I can smell pretty well and even like the scent of my partner, but this show *really* leans into the sniffing and sensuality of the FML's scent which is what prompts people to call it weird. It's less about the keen sense and more so how horny they get for each other and the direction the producers went with *portraying* the sexual attraction than anything else which lines up with what Island Girl said with "I think the weirdness is from the NC scenes because they were hilariously weird and used as metaphors." It's been 10 months so not sure if you watched it of not but I have been laughing during each episode so far (4/9 ep)

Plot sounds great minus the overly vague “ ventures into Africa”. Once again, Africa is a continent. You say China not Asia or Canada not North America, can they not give us a legit country when talking about Africa?

I am not sure I get the sacrifice origin story for the Saintess. Does that mean Yu Qi / Yu Jin killed Jiang Si in their first life on *purpose* for her to come back to life?? I was pretty sure he didn’t realize it was her when he shot her with an arrow her from behind.

I need some clarification about the ending LOL

My mans really waited until after life and death hung in the balance to reveal his identity. He’s an idiot LOL. But it’s double funny she just promised not to break any more rules and then promptly drugged her husband to cover for him. 😆 she SLAYED with those butcher knives n her clever brain.

The new ep comes out at 4 am for me. I said I wouldn’t watch until a few more eps were out but damn IQ ALWAYS SHOVING THE SHOW IN MY FACE. Literally every ad is CJ so ofc I watched ep 26 and now I’m in agony.

Yeah I just can’t finish it. It’s a bit too repetitive and I still have 21 ep left. I feel like it’s just too much all in the mansion. The show would have better benefited from not being 90% in their land.

Just finished ep 10 and these are my thoughts bc why are the men still even within 10 feet of their home it makes NO sense after what the ML did to prove the two of them were trouble.