lilili

I didn't know any of the actors and I'd watched maybe five period idol dramas when I started this, also I don't speak Mandarin or know anything about Chinese internet meme culture so I probably missed 2/3 of the jokes.

But I still laughed out loud every episode over things like the music cues including the Sex and the City theme and music from Sergio Leone westerns, the Night Walkers writing fanfic for their boss, "It's fish abuse! Fish abuse!" and so much more. It's like they threw everything at the wall without worrying whether it was too dumb, in fact too dumb is probably what they were going for.

Liu Yuning is legit fantastic in this, he has to be villainous, commanding, nonplussed, confused, lovesick, noble, etc and he's good at all of it. He's also funny as hell. After learning more about his personal story and watching his livestreams I rewatched episode 1 and caught so many more jokes about Nan Feng that are directly taken from LYN's career.

I liked the FL but I think that the negative reactions some people have to her are because of structural problems with the script. All of the times Song Yi Meng dies or Nan Heng tries to kill her take place in the early episodes and are mostly played for laughs while SYM's attempts to kill or hurt NH happen after we've gotten to understand him better and go on for a long time.

I think if SYM's deaths had been presented as legit terrifying and we had gotten to her teaming up with NH sooner it would've been less frustrating for people. But of course misogyny is in play here too so maybe I'm wrong.

But overall even with some problems this is easily one of the best dramas I've watched this year. The sharp writing was a joy.

I know this is entirely the point but it's awful that the two people who died are low on the socioeconomic ladder. No money, no influence. Just NPCs in the eyes of the elites, bugs to crush and throw away. I wonder if any of the affluent characters will die in the end or if the message will be Sucks to be Poor!

I added ADWAD to my list of Dramas With Controversial Female Leads: https://kisskh.at/list/1GNArej4

Just added A Dream Within a Dream to the list and it may be one of the most controversial leads in any drama, at least based on the MDL and Reddit comments

I interpreted his jealousy as he's not as secure when he's actually in a relationship and feeling more vulnerable. Also his fierce persona seems to be when he's dressed as a woman and he's been dressing more as a man since getting together with Haruka.

It depends on how you define a love triangle. Two men are fighting to marry her and she has mixed feelings about both of them. At first she's trying as hard as she can to get married to Chu Gui Hong until she falls in love with Li and then CGH fights to get her back from Nan Heng after they're engaged. So there's a pining 2ML and lot of back and forth.

If it helps the drama is a parody and a lot of it isn't meant to be taken very seriously

I'm only up to episode 20 but it's still going strong

Yes, it's in the very first scene

So I'm only six episodes in and my opinion may change but right now I think the FL being self-centered, shallow, a little greedy, and probably not all that bright is part of the joke. She's the opposite of the stereotypical self-sacrificing female lead whose motives are always pure. I find her really funny and I don't dislike her at all despite all her flaws.

This was the first episode where I really disliked Krailert. I'm not at all upset about the cheating in the context of 1969 when men could be fired or killed for having relationships with each other. But at the gala Krailert was incredibly disrespectful to Devi who is just as much a victim of this situation as he is. Like yes he's not in love with her but he didn't have to ignore her and abandon her at a public gathering. But I know the show is trying to say something about who the victims are when men can't be together freely, not just the men themselves but the women they end up bearded with.

Also I wonder if Krailert is low-key suicidal because his behavior in the bathroom was insane. Veera now knows what's going on and since he's in love with Devi he might use the information to take down Krailert.

One more thing to add: the episode showed how women are collateral damage when gay men can't love freely. I felt so sorry for Devi and Dao at the gala.

Trin works for a think tank advising on the development project, his students are protestors and he's Krailert's nephew. Tanwa's father is an investor in the project and is a very dangerous person who Trin has pissed off. Everyone is involved in the political plot and the streams are going to converge in later episodes.

The novel the drama is based on had a real king, Yeonsangun: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeonsangun_of_Joseon

But because that King was notorious for all of the people he killed and women he r***d they changed the name for the kdrama and a few of the details. But his basic character profile and biography is the same.

It's very accurate to the 60s and 70s, everyone smoked at that time. I'm old enough to remember when people smoked on airplanes and in restaurants 🤢

A lot of people online are calling it a polycule which is emotionally pretty accurate

they learn to play their instruments but the people on the soundtrack are professional musicians. It's still a huge accomplishment, they look so good in the stage performances because their hands are making the real movements for the music.

Thailand was part of the hippie trail in the 60s and 70s: https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/50n4u5/the_hippie_trail_was_an_overland_journey_taken_by/

The people traveling on the trail weren't participating in political protests, they were just interested in smoking dope and hanging out on beaches. So in Thailand it wasn't a homegrown political movement the way it was in the West.

People are so upset about the cheating with no understanding or compassion for the untold numbers of men and women who were trapped in the closet - and still are! Yes it's wrong but not because individual people are failing but because society failed and continues to fail LGBTQIA people. Of course people entered into fake marriages and cheated, it was literally a survival strategy at a time when being outed could get you fired, jailed or killed.

7.1 rating for a kdrama with a star studded cast is like When the Stars Gossip levels of bad