erratica

My fella and I are annoyed as heck that he's not back for IAN 2—Zhuge Qing was one of my three favorite characters from the first season and mostly because of Luo Rong's interpretation. Also his chemistry with Hou Minghao was fire.

Hello! I am enjoying this comedy/satire a lot and this discussion has got me thinking. A smattering of spoilers ahead, be warned:

The problem with evaluating characters before a show has aired at least half of its episodes is that it's almost impossible to see what growth or change arcs they'll have—unless you're particularly adept at picking up subtle foreshadowing (I sometimes am, sometimes not). At ten episodes, it's becoming clear that the male characters will be having dramatic arcs of change/growth—either for the better or worse.

For instance, young master Chai has already realized his prejudice against the Li family was misguided as he judged Madam Li before knowing all the facts about her past. After some painful self-reflection, he overcomes his former arrogant pride and seeks to redeem his love for third sister—classic male romantic lead arc. Third sister in turn overcomes her personal pride and gives in to her love for master Chai after she sees his regret over his previous behavior—also classic.

It's not so obvious for the rest of the female characters, but it's hinted that they also will have arcs of growth and change. After all, comedies emphasize the ridiculous and/or contradictory nature of characters, causing them to fail over and over until they finally "learn their lesson." Since this is a Jane Austen (the satire queen) mashup-adaptation/homage set to Song dynasty values, you can bet there will be a lot of that as the show progresses. I'm honestly having a great time watching the chaos and romance unfurl, though it's obviously not for everyone. Looking forward to more of the same!

This girl is coded—focused solely on her jade carving, sheltered, naive and utterly defenseless to the world. I know people like this among my friends and family—brilliant in skill but not very fit for taking care of themselves or staying safe. Innocent and childlike in a lot of ways. I feel that a diversity of types of intelligence in characters, some cunning, some clueless, etc. gives the story more realism. This show so far has decent character arcs of personal growth and change so perhaps she'll get some of that too.

He's the leader of the underground city at Langhuan Dockyard—where the bandit ambush took out the convoy. A lot of people are speculating that he's also the masked leader of the BD bandits, Li Kui.

My disbelief had a hard time being suspended in those scenes. A simple addition of her carrying a small bundle traded from the herders would have gone 80% of the way to solving it. Our girl is a PLANNER, and she goes off into the desert and mountain passes alone with no supplies or even a knife?! I feel like there's a scene missing of the herders getting massacred by the BD bandits and her escaping.

As for the timing, I live in a place where there's a desert next to snow-covered mountains so I can see that the journey might take a week or two but the editing makes it seem more like a couple of days. *sighs*

🫣 😳 😱 😭 Jesus. Me too.

ngl, I was low-key shipping Kang Ju and Duanwu in ep 15. He's fantastic—hyper-competent, chill, wry sense of humor, a protector (heck of a fighter!), respectful, and he's quietly admired Duanwu all along (though not in That Way in the story. I guess. :D). My kinda guy! Haven't seen 18 yet, but looking forward to it.

Episode 30-31. And it's a doozy. Enjoy!

Love Like the Galaxy

It's actually a mannequin in the story. It's only "mistaken" for a body for a brief moment on social media until the FL sees it in person and debunks it. You misunderstood that part.