grapejuice

Did you really think that you were going to be able to understand and enjoy a drama if you only watched the last ten episodes? What on earth made you think such a thing? Of course it was boring. You might know the bare bones of the plot but not all of it. And the characters would mean nothing to you. If you were going to do such a thing, why on earth didn't you pick the first ten episodes? That would have made more sense; not much sense but more.

I kept thinking that it was like the one where ZXL leaves LX out in the snow ... and she survives ... so I was hoping ... but ... no.

Anyway, it was clearly a parallel to what we saw with LX. And very effective.

Such a waste. So callous. So heartbreaking. Kings really didn't see other people as being human and valuable just for that fact. Shocking disregard for life.

We've never really seen another drama like this one. There were none of those tropes that we're used to. And it's too bad that promotion/advertising teams weren't more honest with us. I would have watched a life story about a strong woman who learns to survive; who makes the most of her life while helping others to do the same. But that's not what we were expecting so a lot of people felt robbed or marked it down for not being something else.

I'm at a point in my life, maybe, where this kind of life saga is fine with me. I've even started my rewatch so that I can see it again as it was meant to be seen; as it was written. So, maybe there will be a day when it will be more your cup of tea too and you'll watch it again with expectations that allow you to really enjoy it for what it is.

Here's hoping they start to be more honest with us about what we're going to get so we can avoid all the frustration that we feel when it doesn't happen.

To reach your 50s in that day and age ... was more than most people would have been able to manage. But he kept getting saved. He was wealthy enough for good food and good medicine. People cared for him. And so he made it that far even with all those catastrophic injuries. Pretty lucky really.

I'm doing a rewatch and one of the things that's becoming more and more clear is that the OST lyrics are spot on to what is happening while they play. I wish I'd known for the first watch because they truly add so much meaning, clarification and richness. Have never heard an OST that is this beautiful and this meaning specific before. I've heard great music on dramas but not that enriched the action to the point where the music is clearly a part of what is hapening onscreen.

Truly a feat for those who coordinated the whole thing. !!!

TY !!! I think that sounds about right :-) And, of course, it was fine when a ML said it :-)

What did she say about her character? Or ... where can I read it? I would love it if she did become the richest woman in the world. I always figured that LX used some of her writing revenue to back and/or invest in Ji'er's ventures but we never heard

His death is almost the last thing we see. His. Then the scene with everyone disappearing and then the lead in to her death. That was the last 15 to 20 minutes of the drama with nothing else. So, I think we didn't get anything more about anybody from that point on. I know that people think the ML got the short shift in the drama overall (... maybe the promotion department should be blamed for misrepresenting it ) but ... the drama is her life story. And that's all there is to it. We don't hear about other people when they're no longer in her orbit. I wanted to know about Ji'er but I have to assume she had a happy ending. Actually, that would make a good spinoff.

totally agreed

All life stories should end before there are any deaths ... In fact, cut them all off at age 23 before the people and the life events get boring and unnecessary.

Welcome to life ... :-)

Enjoying something alone isn't as good as enjoying something together ... ???
Depends on who you are together with ... especially when traveling. Don't travel with the wrong person. Also traveling together will let you know, very quickly, who the wrong person is.

He was very competitive wasn't he? haha. and just a little bit petty rubbing JQs face in it. 😁

yes. We're all lucky to be in the now rather than the then. even royalty lived less luxuriously that many people do now. And historical times everywhere were harsh, very harsh to women in particular. Must thank our lucky stars.

Why does her love have to be bigger though? She saved his life, protected him from treason charges.She arranged their second wedding night. She ran to greet him when he returned from the capital but stopped short because he was already surrounded by other people. She bathed him when they caught up after that. They hold hands and she talks in soft tones. She lets him wrap her in red thread and looks at him with large gentle eyes. What more do people have to see? Ahhh don't worry. I know that nothing I say will convince people who must see bigger hugs and hear I love you said out loud.

Haha. Nanke saved Xiaolian and that set up their romance but even after LX saved JBQ people don't think she loved him. Oh well. What's a girl gotta do?

I really enjoyed reading this. You have put your finger on the most important things that the drama is, indeed, telling us. And you brought tears to my eyes by saying it so well. Brava.

No men were there at all. No villains were there. But second madam and her daughter were there. Aunt was sitting by herself in a pagoda and daughter was holding onto the horse's reigns.

LX and JBQ may have been fate. A fate that imperial power broke and imperial power restored. But you're right, choice is all important and she has none.

At the beginning, she would have followed her parents choice. She would have followed her adopted parents choice for her as well. She recognizes this custom and feels it's right. Parents choose. Filial piety.

But she also feels that there should be a choice to leave at the very least, if he proves to be unworthy. And she has no such choice with LJQ. He took the power from her parents and it was paermanent because it was decreed. Big problem.

She recognizes him at the gravesite and she accepts him when he leaves the Emperor's service. It's like she's seeing their fate again as the couple her parents wanted them to be. The red thread of fate was stretch and nearly broken but, eventually, sprang back so to speak. What should have happened, eventually did. But arranged marriage is no guarantee of love. Duty, yes. Love, no.

So, if he really wanted her love rather than her presence with duty, you're absolutely right that he should have let her go so that she could decided to come back or not. With the decree that couldn't ever happen. With the laws of the day that was difficult for any woman.

And, whether women have a choice about marriage at all ??? I guess parents must give way on the issue ... or at least consult their daughters about what they want. There has to be a negotiation ... but that was a thorny issue what with filial piety being a law and a given at the time.

I don't know if all of us would have thoroughly enjoyed it.

No matter how much he changes for her, aren't there some things that she shouldn't have forgiven.? I mean, I prefer to hope that people can change, but isn't there a degree of evil that's too much to forgive, even if someone successfully reforms?

From what I've heard about the novel ML, he shouldn't be able to forgive himself if he had reformed that much. I mean, even if she forgives him, should he forgive himself, if he's really that much better and that good at the end?

Good people do bad things so maybe we should separate deeds from people and allow people to improve themselves and go forward. But there's a point where the evil deeds have made the person evil.

Sorry, I struggle with this.

We think that the drama ML has earned his forgiveness but, at the end, he's decent enough not to be sure that he owes her no debts. Does the novel ML have similar fears?