emken

yes to allllll of this! earth x stud would be awful fr i don't get why it's so popular lol

is this still happening or is it doa?

i understand what you're saying, but it wouldn't make sense for them to be in a new school year and there not be any new gifted students since they do the exam every year. so i feel like having younger students was necessary for the plot to make sense. but i agree that some other characters have suffered screen time this year, especially the ones you mentioned.

what a TRIO. literally my two gmm faves and ohm? the power this already holds

does anyone feel like there's missing information here? since when do grace and third know time is alive? is third better now? i wish they spent more time on this. i also dislike the way they split punn and claire up. i like that they displayed that sometimes people change which causes relationships to end but i just feel like there's been no sign of that until the whole korn thing happened. before that they seemed happy. it makes no sense to me.

will do !

i think in the end both the drama and novel put me through so much pain that i just want to grasp at whatever happiness i can... lol. i can definitely relate to the feeling of liking moments in the novel and the drama in different ways! they both are amazing :) i have to get through the rest of the novel quickly so i can fully appreciate both versions of the story!

that's another good point about lxc-- jgy really came through for him in a crucial time and for the rest of the clans as a whole when he killed wen ruohan. i guess it's easy for me to say from an outsider's pov. i just wish he could see through him a bit more! his trust makes him endearing, but is also his downfall. i love the comparisons you make between lwj and lxc-- it's very true, they are much more similar than their first impression may allow someone to see.

if the lan clan needed to struggle to keep a-yuan, then it was worth it! i can't even imagine lqr's reaction to lwj's "tattoo". he probably almost had a heart attack lolol.

i don't mind the essays! i only finished the show about a month and a half ago and i feel like i could talk about it forever :)

thank you so much for all of the links! I agree with syd-- that gif is everything omg! and don't worry about the spoilers! i haven't finished yet but from what i've seen so far i think i've felt more butterflies watching their romance on screen than from reading about it (i haven't gotten to the actual moments they get together yet though, so i suppose that could change). what i love about them in the drama is exactly what you said-- a lot of shows really throw the physical aspect in your face, which sometimes feels like an attempt to distract from the lack of substance in the characters' relationship. but these two are just unconditional love personified and it's so beautifully done in the drama.

i am from the us and don't have a lot of knowledge of chinese culture, but i have done some digging with some of the cultural references (such as the rabbits, the chickens, and the three bows). i would love to learn more if you're willing to teach me though!

and i didn't know that about the novel! that's really interesting-- i wonder what caused her to change it. i will definitely check out the comparison!

thanks again for supplying me with all of this knowledge :)!

i'm glad to hear i'm not the only one who feels that way! i really feel like the censoring in many circumstances allowed for a much more meaningful romantic connection to be made that transcends physicality (also, i just don't like that wwx did not consent to that kiss bc i'm a sucker for romance and was really hoping for a sweeter first kiss between them lol). the show creators really made lemonade out of the lemons of censoring and actually used it to their advantage in a couple moments, imo.

thank you for the quotes! i haven't gotten there yet in the novel, but i'm sure once i do it'll be even clearer for me. ah, lxc and his soft spot... he's too trusting the poor man

"right or wrong are not notions that are so easy to follow during war" very true! that's one of the things i love the most about this story-- seeing all of the different ways people handle injustice and the struggle for power is infinitely interesting to me. i think in the end i just liked the lighthearted feel of the scene in the novel and felt the addition of the pows was unnecessary since they weren't there originally, but i have loved hearing everyone else's points of view! :)

thanks for the reply!

yes, i think the show did a bit of a disservice to lxc by aging him up a bit and making him clan leader from the start. it made it (at least in my eyes) more difficult to understand his naivety in certain moments. it also didn't really go into how much the jins were financially supporting the wounded sects, and i think that also would have strengthened the storyline and made more sense as to why they were all going along with the jin clan's plans, even if they didn't necessarily match their ideals. I also completely get what you mean when you say that it would be difficult emotionally to want to save people from the sect that ruined your home and killed your family (although i do think that if anynone would be unbiased it would be lxc, but still i can imagine it would be tough).

i also find myself less inclined blame jc less than lxc, probably just for the unfair reason that i think of lxc as more morally sound but also because in the show he is painted to be a much more mature man and we see jc as a much more volatile young boy trying to do his best. in the book, they are in much more similar positions (just lost their parent(s), home in shambles, still teenagers, not ready to handle the massive responsibility thrust upon them). since we don't get that parallel in the show, i feel like we can give more understanding to jc since there are several moments where he is clearly being manipulated by the older sect leaders around him.

thanks for all of your thoughts! i love that my question about a two minute scene got so many responses :) the power this story holds!

thank you so much for this response! i definitely agree that the show wanted to portray wwx as a squeaky clean good guy amidst conformists and bad guys, which is highlighted in their choices made in this scene. the wwx in the novel is for sure more morally gray (i legit had to skip the parts of the torture to the wens, i was feeling a bit sick). and the politics are definitely at play here, but as you said the drama doesn't put as much emphasis on that as they could. lxc is portrayed as a much more established, mature man than he is in the novel. we aren't shown how many struggles the lan clan is going through like we are with the jiang clan, so it's easy to forget that they had to start over too. they never really show lxc struggling, so i didn't even realize that they were still in a tough spot at this point until i read the novel and the differences in the lan clan (like their dad still being alive at the start). we see that the lan clan is highly respected by the other major clans because they all send kids from the major sects and their best disciples to study with them, and then we don't see much after their fall. i wish there was a bit more focus on just how much power the jin clan has over everyone else, especially financially.

even with all this, i still don't get why lxc would see jgy towing out a line of weak defenseless prisoners and using them for sport and being like, "he's never done anything wrong ever!" just because i truly don't see him as a biased person, which is why i think he gave jgy so much credit in the first place. he takes things at judges them at face value, with no prior bias as to where they came from or any personal feelings for them (this is just my interpretation). i feel like this would make lxc at least raise an eyebrow and second guess jgy even a little bit. idk though that's just me.

thanks so much again for your thoughts!

(also, probably an unpopular opinion, but i think i actually prefer the forest scene from the drama than the novel. that's a whole other discussion though lolol).

thank you so much for the reply! the point about wwx makes a lot of sense. although it didn't seem like anyone wanted to try to one up jin zixuan, so it's very possible that no one else would have shot after him, i also like the idea that wwx did it for their safety. i think the scene creates a very different feel between the drama and the novel, and while i still think i prefer novel version of this scene, i have enjoyed hearing other perspectives! (i def prefer the scene in the woods directly after in the drama more than the novel, though, but that's a whole different discussion lol).
as for the point about lxc and the lan clans weakness at that point, that's def another thing to take into consideration. this doesn't have as much impact as it does in the novel though imo because lxc is portrayed as a much more established, mature man than he is in the novel. we aren't shown how many struggles the lan clan is going through, so it's easy to forget that they had to start over like the jiangs. they never really show lxc struggling, so i didn't even realize that they were still in a tough spot at this point until i read the novel and the differences in the lan clan (like their dad still being alive at the start). we see that the lan clan is highly respected by the other major clans because they all send kids from the major sects and their best disciples to study with them. since there is little to no focus on the jins aiding the lans in the show, i feel like that wouldn't be an obvious thing to an average viewer unless you had that background knowledge (or i'm just stupid lol). because of the way they changed the plot in cql, i don't think that relationship with the lans was as prevalent as it could've been. at the same time, this is like a three minute scene that is pretty consequential in the grand scheme of things haha but i had to get my annoyances off my chest.
thanks again for your thoughts!

thanks for this context! it's very true, ideals and what is most important are different in different time periods. this is my first drama in this genre, so i'm not aware of everything like that. thanks for taking the time to send the link! the scene probably won't ever sit 100% right with me, but this def helps put it more into the context of the time. :)

thank you for the reply! i see where you're coming from with wwx's participation, but i also feel like he could have just spoken out against it instead. is anyone with morals gonna oppose his opinion that innocent people shouldn't be used for sport (there are plenty of people without morals there, but also plenty with morals as well (lookin at you, twin jades))? these weren't powerful cultivators that were imprisoned. they were harmless people who very likely had no part in wen ruohan's plans. the person that upsets me the most in this scene is lxc. like, that goes against every lan principle! and he definitely doesn't look like he agrees with it, but the fact that he still sees jgy as perfectly innocent after witnessing this makes no sense to me. i think the show still could've easily gotten the message across of the jins being just like the wens (or even worse) with the other scenes we see between their guards and the pows (when wwx sees wq's group and plays his dizi, when wwx and lwj see the jin clan shooting at all of them as they run away). i also get what you mean when you say jgy wants to do anything he can to impress his father, and i can understand that that would be his motivation for his actions. however, i just feel like he's too smart to show the rest of the clans how malicious the jin clan is being to their prisoners (except i guess it wasn't stupid bc no one makes much of a fuss about it). idk, i still enjoy the scene and wwx's such a badass but i just don't think the pows were needed, especially now that i've seen the scene without them in the book. (not to mention without the wens being there wwx's action is simply him being an arrogant brat who wants to one-up jzx, which i adore).

okay so im reading the novel and i just got to the pheonix mountain scene where wwx shows off his archery skills blindfolded... and there's no wen POWs there? why would they make the decision to do this in the show? this was one of my least favorite things about the show bc it literally makes no sense to me that everyone there would just be chill with jgy bringing out a bunch of helpless, weak prisoners to use for sport (ESP the lans). i feel like jgy is too smart to show any hint of cruelty, especially in such a big way. the fact that this didn't give lxc any pause when considering jgy's character just doesn't seem right to me. and then to have wwx still participate?! it shows his confidence, but also, he is still making the decision to willfully put these innocent people in danger. like something's off, man. why would they change this?? without the POWs, it's a much more lighthearted scene. seems like an odd choice that causes almost every character there to be OOC. does anyone else feel this way?

thanks for your input! i might skim through 1-6, i just don't think i can sit through emo ae hours haha

things fiat did.... That

thank you so much. i'll probably wait until the entire season is out anyways haha but i won't waste my time with 1-6