haloum

what does this even mean? what's an "extreme-natured" character to you?

thoughts so far:

● idk if the ML actor dubs himself or if another voice actor does, but I LOVE his voice !
● Yang Zi always makes me care about her characters. I feel protective over the FL, the last scene of her crying had me wanting to fight that old man (even tho I like him too)
● The chemistry between her and Qi Jiu feels soooo organic, their conversations flow so naturally, I'm not used to seeing that in dramas.. damn it's always the non-romance stories that have the best romantic chemistry

the ML is so likeable dang

a person of taste 🤭🤭

Him dying isn't new though. His heart condition had been established since the show started, and he mentioned Xue Qing Lan signing up to be a widow a long time ago. The doctor saying he only had 3 years was not a surprise at all, my thoughts during that scene were "I thought we all kinda knew this already"

I also don't think the ending was rushed at all, we had 4 episodes of high stakes on a low-stakes show, with 2 prep episodes that led up to them. It was just the right pacing, from a writing perspective. There was no other way this could've been done, unless maybe if they dragged out the action for more episodes, which wouldn't have made any sense with the themes of the show. I think a lot of drama-viewers are used to having a few future scenes where everything is calm and steady, but I personally I don't think it's necessary at all for a good ending. The scene of the leads walking out of the fire was such a perfectly cinematic ending. Not every story needs a time jump.

And how is it a waste of a character? he had amazing development, they gave him such grace towards the end, in a way that I'm sure even people who hated his character still liked him by then, and then he died with a purpose. His death wasn't random or unnecessary unlike some characters in dramas that add a random death for an emotional cheat-code. It made so much sense, he spent his entire life away from the military because of his illness, and then his illness ended up closing up on him anyways, but he managed to die a military death, living the life that he was always deprived of. It was a poetic ending for him, not a waste at all !

heheh I'm glad!!

for the couple, yes

Spoilers and somewhat spoilers:
● Chen Yan Yun's mother's little monologue when she found out he wasn't dead really got to me ngl

● Bro what's up with all the servants dying, I loved those guys and they went down like dominos 😭my girl Qing Pu's the only one that made it out. It's giving that one scene from Game Of Thrones, "All men must die, but we are not men."

● JinZhao was looking gorgeous throughout all that trauma, she'd be crying her heart out while I'm thinking damn that shade of lipstick really suits her.

● villain Fu and his wife had a really poetic thing going on, I didn't fw him like that but their death scene, and the one before, were beautiful, in both dialogue and visuals.

● I admit I was a little bummed about Ye Xian never getting to be with Xue Qing Lan, but the fact that he never fell for her but still cared about her (like when he went out to talk to her so that she wouldn't be worried) shows a lot of growth on his part. He was way less thoughtful and much more selfish in the beginning of the show, and he only ever showed worry about JinZhao which was selfish in itself bc he wanted her. So I'm really glad about his character development.

● As someone who's a little stubborn when it comes to my ships, somehow I really liked the possibility of what could've been, between both Ye Xian/Xue Qing Lan, and also the personal servants of the leads (bc yes I shipped those too lol) I think it added a lot of depth and heart to the story...

(general opinions, no actual spoilers)
thoughts after finishing:

● Before I watched the express episodes, I saw some people say the ending was rushed, but I have to say, I completely disagree. The pacing was really well done, I think if the 6 episodes were dropped in 2 per day, people wouldn't think that.

● I also saw some people just generally criticize the ending before I got to it, so I went in with low expectations, and again, I completely disagree, it was executed so nicely, I didn't find any writing/acting/production flaws with it at all!

● Ye Xian's character really grew on me. I never shipped him with Gu JinZhao from beginning to end, but him individually definitely had a nice antihero thing going on for him that closed nicely.

Spoilers and somewhat spoilers:

It's really interesting so far. I'm surprised at how much it has me caring about ink lmao

I even thought I'd hate the cinematography bc of the cold lighting but it's surprisingly really nice, there were some gorgeous shots with such intentional symmetry, you can tell the director put effort into the visuals as well

she's intelligent and hard-working. Idk if independent is a defining word for her because she's not afraid to ask for help and depend on others when she needs to. I think it makes her more interesting..

so what I'm getting is that all Uyghur people are gorgeous

this is like if stranger things and x men had a third cousin who was an adult loser (but like in a good way)

sensational use of creep by radiohead 😌🙌🏼

There is usage of AI in the cat scenes. They might have had a real cat in some shots but they used AI for a lot of them.

the FL isn't whiny at all, I'm not sure what u got that from

the cinematography is really beautiful and then there's the AI cats *chokes self*

nah dw this is great

as someone who's very much anti JinZhao/Ye Xian as a ship, I absolutely loved the scene where they were talking separated by a wall, and the actor did great

I personally think it's most similar to Love Like The Galaxy.. the FL's are basically the same person, and their dynamic with the ML's is extremely alike