ibisfeather

WATER
emotions
water running under the village water wheel
always at night?
Until (ep27) today the pair on horseback splash through the shallow edges of a river
and
the true reconciliation happens at the base of a waterfall in the middle of the night

Good, you have said everything I thought of to say, so I can just bow.

I forgot the most important point, as usual.
Bao'er is a direc t imperial heir, through his dad, who is the grandson of the previous emperor.

Li, Wei and Xie are 'noble' families, with some members intermarried with some royals.

LI
Grand Tutor Li is a member of the imperial court. As such his family is as grey as the imperial family. Their actions are governed by politics, not by righteousness.
We do not know much about his family except that his grandson Li Huai An is considered to be from a suitable family to marry the Grand Princess but GongSun is not.

Xie
The family of Xie Zheng. A righteous military family.
His father, also a general, died in the seige of Jinzhou, along with the crown prince of the previous emperor.
His mom was a Wei, sister of the current Chancellor, Wei Yan.
She killed herself after the death of her husband.

All of the other Xie men you see scattered around are retainers, mostly part of the Bloodguard Cavalry. It is considered a clan affiliation so they bear the clan name, although they have private names too.
The mdl list seems a little incomplete -- Xie Qi and Xie Wu are listed but Xie Jue? Who is he?

Wei
Chancellor Wei's family. He is a member of the imperial court so grey by definition, currently looking very black because he appears to be working against the Marquis.
The Marquis was brought up in the Wei family after his parents passed.
Wei Xuan, Wei Yan's son. Degfinitely black, out of jealousy? Cousin to the Marquis.
The other Weis seems also to be retainers.
My favorite Wei Sheng is thus probably just a henchman of the Chancellor, not blood?

There many summaries along the line here, but I feel like giving it a try. But this is based on the drama only, and only up to today, post ep 27

Imperial families -- Sui and Qi.
Sui
Previous emperor was Sui, Prince Changxin is distantly /cousinly related to both. His eldest 'son' is not his blood; QiMin is the grandson of the previous emperor. Possibly Prince Changxin does not know this. The Eastern palace in which QiMin was burned holds the key to that.

But/So
Prince Changxin's son by blood is the 'younger' son, Sui YuanQing, and he is lknown as the 'heir.'
Prince Changxin's 'elder' son, QiMin is actually a possible heir to the imperial throne of Dayin, his father was the previous Crown Prince, the very one whose guts were hung out to dry on the walls of Jinzhou along with the Marquis' Dad.

Qi
Current emperor is Qi Sheng. I do not know but would guess he is a cousin of QiMin.
His sister is the Grand Princess Qi Shu.
Their Mom or their Grandmother is the Dowager.

Since the action does not occur in the capital these things are not laid out. You may know more than the POV of ChangYu, but not much more.

Flixpatrol listings uses both sets of data. When I say top ten that is what i refer to.

Ratings, schmatings.
POJ is a great show that most people are watching on IQIYI, it seems.

Even though POJ hasnt shown up on the Netflix/flixpatrol global top ten list (and no, the non-english list isnt even remotely similiar) NEVERTHELESS
POJ has consistently been ranked in the midteens (12th-16th) globally, which is to say that on Netflix the show is really only a few slots away from actually appearing on the Top Ten.

Just not yet.

I keep saying that. no one listens. oh well.

The awkwardness of having the entire camp figure out he lied to his wife and got a private tent to do it in.
Luckily, a battle is coming at Lucheng, after which the particular troops at Beigu Mountain Camp will not remain (probably) in the Yanzhou army, the Marquis' own picked troops.
So hopefully the transition into a public couple will be easier than otherwise.

I think we are seeing a shift in talent from film to tv -- to understand art, follow the money!

for sure.

I do the same

I hope so. Did you get a better look at that part of the fight? She slashes at him with the cleaver and loses it...several bits go flying and then we see a curved piece close-up on the ground. If its the cleaver, it was bent by the force of the blow...but we know the cleaver is extremely strong. If its not the cleaver then its part of Shi Hu's armor, at least thats what I thought at first. At second look I think it might be the cleaver, minus the shank and handle. What did you think?

That was so funny when she said the leads should build a little shrine to ZQJ (the director) and offer him incense daily, because he has made them look so pretty that they can show the shots to their grandchildren proudly.

ep26 ends
with the pig-slaughtering squad standing tiredly looking at the now-revealed Marquis off in the distance chasing after his wife.

Given that he missed the battle because she drugged him and that none of them knew the Fan live-in husband was actually their commander, I think the guys are just in shock.
Oh no, says one.

too funny.

He has benefitted from working under this director.

Wow, thank you @twinty. That was actually revelatory -- I had guessed at the game because of the geography of the game and some discussion of the 12 prefectures landscape on reddit-- my thought was that if you have to build a world for a drama, using elements common to gamers' worlds gives you an automatic comfort zone for the audience. But I didnt know I was right.
She also said some really interesting nice things about the director.

About the cleaver -- I think the handle breaks off and both pieces go flying. If I remember the whole set is made from the same metal, so she still has her stabbing knife with the same strength of blade.

I still think at least the cleaver if not the whole set is made from her dad's melted down weaponry. But there might be a link to her Mom's Dad, General Meng. That would be cool if it was HIS sword that was reforged as the cleaver.

yes exactly

Agree. It is such a relief -- both that they can get better roles and that they have the skills. I have nothing but sympathy for the impossible position older actresses were put in during their youth: generic selection by body type, no training on or offset, poorly written roles and indifferent directors.....