grapejuice

It's like a disclaimer. Audiences do their research. They know what is what and if a production makes any mistakes or portrays something factual in an inaccurate way, people get seriously upset about it. Then there's a backlash and all kinds of costly trouble.

So, if you say that your production isn't portraying any particular dynasty, you won't run into these problems. What you're doing may be very or even extremely close to a particular era but, if you don't admit to that, you can't be held accountable on every little thing.

It's smart and considering the backlash that some dramas have experienced ... I bet more productions start to do the same thing. It would probably take a lot of the pressure off.

Ep. 9
I love the little ironies we're seeing in this drama. We're shown a flashback where the FL's grandpa taught her yarrow stick divination but she starts to fall asleep and he scolds her saying that Fang Shouyi had begged him to teach it to him but he never did. Nonetheless, he's willing to teach her just so that she can play with her friends and win. Then ... when it couldn't count more ... all these years later, who shows up to play yarrow stick divination with her? The very Fang Shouyi that her grandfather hadn't shown it to. And that old scholar saves her life after they play... Isn't that so satisfying?

It's from the I Ching, if I'm remembering correctly ... The Book of Changes ... divining the reversals in life ... and discovering the things that are not actually what they initially seem to be.

Taoist teachings ... the true way of things will be revealed to us if we are still and flow with events without fighting against them. Bhuddist and Taoist thought are quite influential in the first chapters of this story. So I wonder what else we'll be taken through as it all progresses.

Actually, in ep10 the ML kind of touches on this again when he's talking to his grandfather ... saying that there are often good things hidden in things that look bad. Again, it's from the Book of Changes ...

Wasn't he just quoting his mother who had been talking to him about his sisters; the one who had been married off too hastily when their family was in trouble and the one who is ready to marry just as his divorce could hurt her chances.

It seems that the first sister hasn't landed in the best situation and it might have been better to wait. So, there is regret there since the family's fortunes did, in fact, turn around again.

But the second sister. What should they do? Try to rush her marriage before this next shot hits the family's reputation and standing? Or wait and hope things turn around in their favour like they did before? Would that be repeating the same mistake twice?

The girl's fortunes; their second lives depend on the status of their family as well as what people will think their personal value might be. So, timing is everything; timing in relation to the family's fortunes rising and falling while she ages and the bloom falls from the rose.

So, this discussion doesn't really show that the ML is hypocritical, in my view. He is at least thinking about his sisters and how to improve their prospects. He knows that he's created a suboptimal situation for them because he's brought some scandal to the family ... and he cares about that.

On the other hand, being too closely tied to the Zhao family might have eventually become a bad thing. In the short run Zhao power might work against them at this time. They discuss that. Zhao might not strike at them but others might try to curry Zhao favour by doing it for them.

The ML is being smart though, I think. He doesn't want to rush. He suggests that they should play the long game, expect some misfortunes and look for the hidden good fortune that lies underneath. What looks like a bad thing on it's surface, can end up being a good thing if you wait until the true nature of the situation shows itself.

Case in point is the ML ending up in the military instead of officialdom as was intended. It didn't look like a good thing for him but it helped him to jump a lot of rungs in the hierarchy that he couldn't have even dreamed of if he had taken the scholarly route.

But I'm afraid I don't get the part of your comment where you say that the ML forces the FL to marry him. Are you talking about the novel cuz nothing like that has happened yet.

Still ... and everywhere !!!

Not that we know of. Her lover is a man wearing a disguise so that they aren't detected. To everyone looking they are just two women. So no scandals have occurred.

Ahh. You read my mind. And now I'll apologize to the person who wrote the comment. Her sarcasm was actually very thorough while I thought personal views might be coming through. And you checked while I didn't so ... I take it back with regrets to FrankieD and thanks to you :-)

I don't think they're perfunctory. If I replay them in my mind ... those scenes but without those touches ... they definitely lose something. Try it. I mean, the symbolism is important. Show don't tell. But make it clear. And the visual is important too. Setting and mood. So, I think the touches are, at least, adding depth.

In ep. 9 when you see the runaway lover getting caught, they don't have to show him from so many different angles in fairly rapid succession, as he falls ... but, at the very least, the photography is beautifully done and it's interesting to think about why it was done that way.

I like that there's something of a feast for our eyes and something for our minds to dwell on and remember. Memorable hooks.

When productions make no effort to add depth in this way, I think they just end up looking and feeling kind of modern minimalist and somehow kind of sterile.

"have children for him" is a weird phrase to use. Women have children for men and for husbands? That sounds like a very conservative male thing to say ...

TY Katelyn for taking the time to answer and give the instructions. I've actually done it many times but suddenly the episode pages aren't loading properly. It might be a cache issue and/or this new vpn I've switched to ... I'm not sure ... so I was wondering if anyone else is having the same problem before I start trying different things to fix it. I like the vpn but it has been giving me some issues on apps I use regularly.

Maybe, in these cases, the word disguise is more accurate ?

they fed him some wrong information that made him jealous and then he was drunk on top of that.

She's a reliably very talented actor who has been in some enduring, highly rated, enthusiastically reviewed, fan favorite dramas. So ... she's popular and she'll get the job done with something beyond what the new faces can give us.

xianxia disaster? which what?

Anybody else unable to get into the episodes to rate them? I'm signed in but they don't open for rating.

It's part slice of life ... some of us like feeling what the characters feel and that requires a bit of an investment, time and work, from the writers and director ... If it's all plot action and no significant time spent with the characters ... in their life ... people like me will just disengage. Especially when the characters life is so different from mine. Even the slow pace was a part of life baack then ... that we should experience too in order to honestly understand the story.

In one respect, why not? they are just objects owned by the enemy, chattel that the punished owner might hate losing as part of the humiliation. But, in another way, they can never be trusted to work for someone else after being trained and made loyal to the first owner. One of those servants might be extremely loyal and then might come looking for revenge.

Overall, the powerful just seemed to like a clean sweep with no loose ends to come back to haunt them. So, the whole family is executed and all their possessions are burned. If anybody is allowed to live, they'll be commoners or slaves and that will last three generations.

I mean, they're just being careful and thorough, you know :-)

Grandfather is shown as he is figuring out exactly why his grandson would want to do something that he normally wouldn't want to do. Why? Because he really needs to. Why? Because he wants something that the Zhao family don't want. Which means that the ML is going to be doing some dirty game playing to get what he wants ... and then he'll need to smooth things over by offering support for something else that is important to the Zhao family.

And it doesn't take long to deduce all that because the ML doesn't actually want much in life ... and the Zhao family probably wouldn't need pacifying for much ... except divorce ... which grandfather already knows is a potential wish for his grandson.

So ... they need to divorce the couple without getting into the Zhao's bad books (which would be the kiss of death since they are so influential with the King). Thus they have to support the Zhao patriarch for his dream job position.

Amongst upper class people with the means (money, time. access to tutorial) ... it would have been gender specific with women being kept illiterate much more often than men. Reading and even more so, writing.

Amongst the poor ... maybe not as gender specific.

Ask yourself, who has power and who is not supposed to have it?

TY for the correction. You're right. Was there more though? The word treason was used even though the real reason was that the now king was exacting some revenge on the Lin and Chen families.

The Lin and Chen patriarchs had suggested to the previous king that he should depower the princes by cutting off their funds. Which is why the former prince would seek revenge at the point where he ascended the throne and could actually do it. But isn't it kind of hard to spin that now faux pas into a crime of treason? So, I wondered if there were more to it.

Maybe you can help me with the rest then. The Zhao patriarch was and is someone you can't cross because he's a trusted advisor to the now king ... so cutting off the Chen betrothal was a survival move. And replacing it with the Zhao betrothal was the Lin family aligning itself with the Zhao victors and, therefore, also re-aligning itself with the King kind of by proxy?

And the Zhao family took the opportunity to rehabilitate their lovely but wanton daughter in the process when the Lin's were desperate.

So, the ML can't divorce and cut off the Zhao alliance without major difficulties unless the wife is the one to blame and he's doing the Zhao family a favour by just quietly divorcing her and still throwing his families weight behind Zhao patriarch's appointment to the court position that he wanted.

Right? Close?

This is great ! TY !!!

All I got was the contrast between what the ML did and what the FL did.

He snapped two branches off right at eye level where their absence would be visible. He owned the tree and didn't care too much that he damaged it. The branches were a gift to his grandfather who will copy their beauty. He seems to love and respect the old man but he also needs to communicate something to him without being explicit about it. So he uses the gift as an excuse to visit, a segue or an offering because he needs help.

She, on the other hand, gathers a few blossoms from where they had fallen to the ground. She does no damage to the tree that is surviving the snow and cold. She sees their beauty and the hope that they present so she reaches for the topmost branches and the sky even though she can't touch them. And then she carefully wraps a few fragrant blossoms to offer her friends. The three of them are sharing one plight. They're just surviving and so they need the hope desperately.

There's the parallel between the blossoms and the girl who also survives the cold winter night. And maybe the tree represents the family. He can cut a branch. He wants to remove a branch and sever his loveless marriage. But she is quietly and carefully collecting a few flowers that fall from on high. Sustenance to live on.

There's probably more to read from it as well. Beautiful images and themes.