ibisfeather

Five Stars

ep34The court scenes -- so different to the usual droning mountains of finery.The Emperor seemed to enjoy the disruption, and I saw a few ministers snickering in their sleeves.ChangYu was just being her usual fearless, direct self. No different from in Lin'An.So here is the question -- the peril of the capitol is real and the usual cdrama tension is -- the bad guys will sneak up and throw you in prison if you arent exceedingly clever.How can this be true (it is I am scared to death of Wei Yan) at the same time as the realism of the personal family relationships (wei Yan and Wei Xuan, Wei Yan and the Emperor) is so poignant. How can the investigations into what happened feel so interesting at the same time as the court is full of buffoonery.How does the director do this? How does he keep us watching while wriggling restively in our seats? Everyone has commented on it in one way or another -- he maintains dramatic tension even as he takes great looping swerves into comedy and deep dark true romance, How many love stories so far? In addition to the three living couples?ep34I loved the look of that embrace in the alleyway because JiuHeng is like some tall dark cloud and he just wraps ChangYu up in his cloak or whatever and they become one. Those long billowy sleeve really can turn a hug into something very sheltering.ep34FCY's procession through the streets of the capitol. What a contrast to that entrance of the god-of-war when the Marquis returned to his own camp. Scowling and slouching.Who says we didnt see enough or the original Marquis in the beginning? It was there but we just didnt see it.And as Jinbao says, so what if the female general and her merry band are from the sticks? Everybody loves a parade.

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