dizzeedollee

CY seems to have become even worse at the games. How did I know he was going to be terrible (but hilarious) in 三二一,看这边? 🤣🤣

CY seems like an introvert who becomes louder once he's more familiar with people. In his MLC and Immortal Samsara BTS videos, he seems much louder, and more chatty and relaxed. I think I saw an interview with Yang Zi as well, who said that the loudest person on the IS set was CY 🤣

Ah I didn't realise, thank you！I just went by what I saw when I clicked on her profile on MDL - but it makes more sense that she's had other experience 🙈 What is the script like for Love and Redemption? I'm in two minds about starting it since I'm not really a big fan of innocent FLs who turn out to be OP and it messes with my head hearing a dubbed voice after hearing CY's real voice in MLC

Yes, it's such a joy watching it the second time and picking up on the details you missed the first time. I gasped when I heard what LLH says when he finds SGD's body vs what he says when he sees SGD alive - the mirroring (and the dialogue in general) is so smart. I can't believe this is the script writer's first script!

CY really shines in the second half. For me, the scene that best displays his acting talent is the scene where he sees SGD for the first time in 10 years. The changing facial expressions so clearly displays all of LLH's complex emotions and I thank god that CY didn't go over the top into melodrama to express LLH's anger, betrayal, sadness, etc in that scene. I loved that SGD shed a tear too, it was refreshing to see vs the usual stoic villains. There's a video of SGD's actor explaining that he and CY added some lines of dialogue themselves and they ended up crying even harder than what made the final cut.

And agree with the word play, suzhou kuai still makes me laugh even after hearing it multiple times 😂

The channel usually adds English subtitles a couple of days after upload of the full episode, not sure if they will for this promotional episode. I can give you a summary of what happened if you don't want to wait :)

I love watching CY play the different games because he always looks so confused and awkward yet cute, like when he was having the rules of the first game explained 😂 Lol also we never got to hear FDB call LLH '小花/xiao hua' in MLC but at least CY calls himself 李小花/Li Xiaohua 😂

It seems very different to their usual format - where are all the other hosts, our 檀健次, etc? Seems sad they didn't record a full episode :(

Mine as well, I can't help but get emotional whenever I hear it :') The lyrics are just *chef's kiss*

"That's why I don't like LOA when everyone can touch the emperor like they are friends."

Yes, exactly this! When Anle grabbed his arm during their first meeting, my eyes almost popped out of my head 😂

"I also like the snippet of how LXY become LHH after he cure YBQ. He is not worth it imo but for LLH, nobody is unforgiven if they really regret and repent. This is a major life lesson, I agree but also reluctant because of my selfishness but in my mind, I know LLH is right. LLH char is deep and layers, CY is very successful in delivering it to us."

I agree. I feel like as I've got older I've become much better at dissecting the layers of dramas and novels, so I find it easier to put my own feelings aside to appreciate that what I want (to see our 3 besties and hulijing together) is not necessarily what's "best" and most beautiful (IMO) for the story. That's why I agree with you that even though Biqiu is not the most sympathetic of characters, LLH forgiving him is indeed in keeping with his character and the messages of the story.

In TBOY, I find LWJ so annoying! I've seen some people say LWJ is like FDB in that they both enter the jianghu in a naive state, but I at no point found FDB annoying. I'm not sure if it's the acting or the way that the characters are written? IMO, LWJ is way too over the top and enthusiastic, and he seems more motivated with becoming famous rather than truly being a gallant knight with morals like FDB.

I think LLH's motivations for leaving the jianghu could be interpreted in different ways. When LLH is saving Biqiu, FDB arrives and says something along the lines of 'in order to save you [Biqiu], LXY had to come back from the dead, and LLH can no longer live a carefree life'. I think this is to hint to the audience that even if LLH has moved on from everything, the ghost of LXY will always follow him. No matter how many times he insists LXY is dead, people will always seek him out, whether it's to defeat him for fame, kill him to remove a threat, etc. Considering that, how can he go back to his carefree days and keep everyone he cares about safe? I believe even if he has forgiven himself, he still doesn't want to be part of the jianghu anymore because all the scheming and competitiveness has worn him out, he has mentally moved on already, he wants to keep people safe, and finding out so many people betrayed you and that you had a family you didn't remember will leave deep scars that are difficult to heal. In my mind, LLH believes the best option is for LLH & LXY to disappear from the world (and I think I saw a post where the script writer states that this is what the open ending in EP 40.5 is supposed to represent), but whether that means he's quitely died somewhere or he's secretly living after finding a cure (I'm not against him finding a cure at all, but I think it was the right decision not to show it in the drama) is up to the viewer to decide :)

Regarding your second point, I completely see what you mean but I think the ending is more impactful precisely because it has a humorous tone throughout. It seems much more tragic (to me anyway) that this is his ending when he's had such happy times (and potentially could have more happy times) with his 2 besties. I do agree with you that the EP40 ending is way too abrupt and is more sad that the 5 min extra because it sounds like he definitely died and there's no time for the audience to process or reflect on this before the credits rolled. IMO they should've just added the 5 mins to the end of EP40.

Totally agree, there are so many layers and interpretations we could go on discussing MLC for a long, long time. I've never thought so deeply about a drama before!

I agree that LLH never seemed to regain the will to live. Like he said in EP40, it's not that he doesn't value his own life or that he particularly wants to die, but he's already made peace with his fate and what will be will be, so it would be at odds with his mindset IMO to be running around trying to find a cure. I agree that he is incredibly kind and selfless, and even if he was at 100% he would still put others before himself, so it's not surprising that even when he's on his last leg, he wants to save others. I'm not against there being a cure, per se, but I'm glad the ending wasn't that he was 100% healed and was going around jianghu solving myseries, because that seems against his mindset and the themes of the drama. Even though he's very good at letting things go, I'm sure learning that everyone you cherished actually didn't care about you at all, and that you grew up thinking you were an orphan but in fact you had a family, are things that leave deep scars and are not easy to forget so I can't imagine him running aroundthe jianghu with FDB and DFS as if he's completely fine.

I like your point about LLH not seeing himself as a survivor. It's almost like he feels that LXY can't possibly (and doesn't deserve to) recover after his arrogant self "failed" so many people. As LLH says, LXY is dead, but LXY is also a ghost that will haunt LLH forever because of his past actions, so although LLH has let go, there's probably a part of him that knows deep down he won't ever be completely free of his past.

I've been watching TBOY because everyone says it's another great bromance, but it's not interesting me very much :( I'm not sure if it's because I'm still hung up on MLC haha. I'll go back to it at some point when I've recovered some more

Some very interesting points you've brought up :) Not disagreeing or trashing your opinions at all, I just find it interesting to discuss our thoughts with each other!

1. I don't think the emperor being poisoned itself was the issue. It's more than the emperor would see LLH as a threat because LLH is a "full blooded" Nanying prince, whilst the emperor himself only his father is Nanying, so not only is he not "fully" Nanying, but he has no claim to the throne because his real father is not the previous emperor. Even though the audience knows LLH isn't interested in overthrowing the emperor, what's to say the other Nanying descendants wouldn't try and stage a coup in his name (I can't remember what happened to them after the final battle with SGD actually, were they arrested? Need to rewatch). Plus we all know that C-drama emperors are all super paranoid lol

2. I agree, it was super interesting! It would also have been interesting to see how he comes to term with learning that he had a brother who he had forgotten - another heartbreak for our poor LLH - because it did seem odd how quickly he moved on from it. But agree, I'm not sure where it would fit in the drama that it wouldn't disrupt the pacing, and it probably isn't that relevant to the overall story messaging. Plus there's the issue of the governing bodies not allowing dramas over 40 episodes now.

3. I'm not particularly attached to Biqiu either, but I think I can understand why the script writer chose Biqiu. After saving Biqiu, LLH explains exactly how he came to have his carefree attitude and his views towards letting go. Even though we get snippets of it in the dialogue throughout the drama, his conversation with Biqiu is really the first time the audience is shown the flashback of exactly how LXY became LLH. LLH then finishes by telling Biqiu to let things go and live his life how he wants. I think Biqiu is a good character for this conversation and flashback to happen with because, like LXY initially, Biqiu was holding in 10 year's worth of regret over poisoning LXY - he even tried to kill himself in front of everyone. However, I do agree that I didn't feel that attached to Biqiu. It would've made more impact if we had seen Biqiu repent throughout the drama rather than just at the end, but that probably would've spoiled the reveal that he was just pretending to be loyal to JLQ

4. Again, I can understand why the novelist and script writer chose a confrontation with XZJ for the sword breaking, as he is another character who can't let go of his feelings and they needed a reason for LLH to jump onto the boat and disappear. Also, there needed to be a witness to LLH "committing suicide" so that there was even more uncertainty about his fate. If he just disappeared with his horse, considering he lived as LLH for 10 years without anyone realising, probably everyone in the jianghu would believe he's alive somewhere and people would start seeking him out again. But I do agree it was a shame it happened with such an annoying character.

5. Yes! Missed the trio :')

It really is a sign of a great drama when it leaves the audience wanting more. Even though if I really think about it, there are things that could've been done "better" IMO, it is still a perfect drama in my eyes. Unlike LLH, I still can't let go of it. My understanding of psychology and my own thought processes is too poor to understand why this drama has affected me so deeply, but regardless, I know that I love this drama :')

Did he? I must have totally missed that - too many emotions going at the same time 🤣

Yes, architextofnonesence is correct, they are still best friends. Sorry, what I meant was that since FDB isn't LLH's disciple in the novel, LLH's letter in the novel doesn't say something along the lines of 'I passed everything to FDB and he might even surpass me one day, so if you're unsatisfied ask him to take my place,' it says to ask XZJ to fight in his place instead.

I don't know the exact details as I haven't read through all of it yet, but it seems like LLH and FDB are much closer in age and FDB isn't LLH's disciple, just his closest friend. XZJ is the new Sigu Men leader, that's why LLH asked him to take his place since DFS said he wants to battle the 'leader of Sigu Men'

Sorry for XZS I meant XZJ (Xiao Zijin), getting distracted clearly 😂

I only recently got a printed copy so I haven't read the whole thing yet, but I did quickly flip to the back to see what the ending was like and there are a couple of differences in addition to the ones Bahar posted:

- The confrontation between LLH and XZS doesn't happen on the cliff, it happens when LLH escorts some people being attacked to their meeting place and it happens that they were meeting XZS
- We see LLH thoughts and actions after he jumps onto the boat
- The letter LLH sends asks XZS to replace him in his fight with DFS not FDB. The letter read out in the drama is almost the same as the one in the novel, with minor differences because of the difference in the relationshop between LLH and FDB in the novel vs drama
- FDB is married to the princess
- It's XZS who runs off saying he'll find LLH's body not FDB

Those are the main differences :) There's also a short story / extra that happens after the ending that isn't shown in the drama (as far as I can remember)

I also forgot to mention that according to ZSX (FDB's actor), they filmed two endings. There were recently some leaked photos of the supposed second ending, which seems to follow the ending of the novel. If it's true, it's probably the ending that will air on CCTV as it seems they've altered some of the dialogue slightly so will potentially air a different ending :)

It's an open ending so it's up to your imagination :) If you scroll through the the comments you'll see a lot of interpretations - some say he left with his two besties to find a cure and / or continue to solve cases together, some say FDB and DFS arrived at a different time to him, some say they were too late and found his dead body. There are lots of interpretations of the smile - maybe he's just reminiscing, maybe he heard the two peope behind him arriving. You'll notice that hulijing is looking up at something / someone when she arrives on the beach, but who knows what / who she's looking at and FDB and DFS expression are hard to read too.

IMHO I loved the ending. This is such a loved drama and people have taken different things from it so personally I think it's impossible to choose an ending everyone will like. This open ending is beautiful to me because it captures the feel of the character of LLH and the messages of MLC the best (IMHO, I respect others' opinion of course 😊), but also allows people to choose their own endings. Choose the best ending for you ;)

I'm so glad they made that reveal with BQ because through the whole series I couldn't work out what BQ's motivations were for going over to JLQ's side again - surely it wasn't just because he was 'bewitched' again. But after FDB & LLH noticed that someone deliberately exposed the mechanisms in JLQ's domain, I finally understood and I'm glad his good intentions were revealed in front of everyone 😊 My mind definitely moves too slowly to solve cases! 😂

As far as I understand he's still alive at the end of the novel, but because of the Bicha poison he's blind, has paralysis in one arm and has lost memory and/or mind - but alive at least!