desireerosie

Yeah, I think because his character so so far off from his actual personality that sometimes he becomes very conscious of acting out the role instead of being the character himself.

Objectively speaking, what do you guys think of WL's acting?

LBY is a really difficult role to portray. He is one of those cold and aloof characters, many who play these often end up becoming the so called AI actors. I personally think that WL has a better grip on this compared to other idol actors of his age, but there are still moments where he does come across as pretty stiff and rigid. Someone here said he looks like he is holding his breath sometimes, which i agree. His facial expressions are still a work in progress. As for line delivery, there are also times when he sounds like he is reading a memorised script. But I'll still take that over voice dubbing any day.

One thing that I really enjoyed was his romantic scenes, which are a lot better than in The Long Ballad, the way he looks at ZLS with a smitten gaze feels very believable (goddamn that beautiful eyesmile). Also, his action scenes are definitely outstanding, the fight sequences and horseriding stunts are definitely his biggest strengths. I really hope they show more of that in the later episodes.

I agree! I really liked the way her story was told, it was done with a lot of heart and none of that"let's make our main protagonists as pitiful as possible for plot device". There's a lot of showing instead of telling, so we would understand her future actions even if we don't agree with them. and yes, the Palace drama was just overdone, nothing special at this point

the main female characters are usually hated more in dramas, mostly because the audience are male lead apologists lol. sad reality.

Damn, episode 42 was heartbreaking! It totally reminded me of why I got hooked on the show in the first place, not so much the romance but the Cheng family dynamics. My heart broke when CSS' mother slapped her. ZLS really does the character so much justice, the way she started tearing up in shock with an inkling of "what was I expecting" broke me. And when she cried while telling the Emperor not to insult her father, I started tearing up as well. I was really against the mother from her past actions, but I honestly understood why she slapped CSS. With her stubborn personality, this seems like the only way to get her to be safe. :( poor girl.

The fathers were corrupt officials so to him it was just another reason to punish the families, so technically they were not innocent people. For the Liang family, the mother was also terrible and had her faults, although I wouldn't say she deserved to die for the son's crimes. In his eyes, these were all rotten apples and he couldn't give an eff. Although, I'm willing to bet that he would do the same to someone innocent if CSS was concerned. He's definitely not a good person, probably more on the morally gray area

from the previews of upcoming episodes, it seems like the revenge arc starts from around 47-48. 5 episodes seem so little for their reconciliation. I guess it could work if there aren't really other side stories during that arc, otherwise it would feel too rushed. I really hope they don't rush the resolution of their conflict. It would be off putting if CSS forgives lby so easily.

Does anyone know how many episodes there are officially? I've seen different accounts with different answers. The most popular answer seems to be around 50 but from what has been released so far, the revenge arc only happens well into the late 40s, so 50 doesn't seem to be right

After watching 37 and 38 I finally realised why wu lei said he would call the police if he ever met LBY in real life lol. The way LBY looked when he was exacting revenge on the girls was really dark (albeit really hot..). We are constantly reminded of the fact that he is so utterly consumed by his own wrath and thirst for revenge. The way he would manipulate anyone and any situation to get what he wants, even the people he loves. Damn.

I'm not sure how I feel about the way everyone ganged up and emotionally manipulated CSS into feeling sorry for LBY. Kind of reminds me of the way guys like to threaten to kill themselves just to guilt trip their partners. Definitely would be a red flag, but maybe I am taking this too seriously lol. I've also read weibo comments where people said it's sad that CSS was mistreated since young and never experienced real love and now she thinks that LBY was doing it all purely for her but really he was actually killing two birds with a stone. I've never read the novel, so I'm definitely interested to see how CSS would regard LBY once she finds out the truth about his revenge schemes.

got to say though, i really admire wu lei even more from the way he talks about LBY, never romanticizing him and even imploring people to not take these unhealthy values in real life. very refreshing young man!

P.S the poor gigolos are the real victims LOL

I do agree with you to a certain extent. For a character who is supposed to be clever and scheming, she seems to not think of consequences to her actions. I rooted for her and loved her in part 1, but for some reason there was some kind of character regression when she was in the palace. It also didn't make any sense that a nobody (according to every other character) like her was able to convince the emperor to retract the Madam's death sentence just from a meal alone??? Even the crown prince was criticized so much for trying to speak up for the Wang family.

That said, she brought up a good point that LBY was the one who got her into all this mess in the first place. You can't claim to love someone's character and expect them to change for you once you're together. I think I'm just tired of the whole palace jealousy drama at this point.