tingting

I’m secretly hoping that the ML will eventually reveal that he knew that they were somehow the same person (the what), but he didn’t know the how and most importantly for him, cannot fathom the why.

So, he keeps creating situations/opportunities where he can try to figure out how it all connects where things make sense. I also feel like these opportunities could be him hoping that she would trust him enough to just tell him the truth. He on multiple occasions told the FL while as Lee Mi-jin AND Lim Sun that he trusted her, and wanted to wait until she’s ready to share herself. I can also convince myself that all his questions are purposely seemingly oblivious. Similar to an interrogation, his questions only reveal known facts, they’re not leading or assumptive. Mainly, they are worded in a way where he wants her to open up to him, revealing her reasons.

I do acknowledge this is a stretch and some really creative wishful thinking. Pretty much me hoping he really isn’t oblivious and hasn’t connected the dots yet. As a viewer the eventual angst from the reveal will mean more if it was because she ultimately never trusted him enough to share her secret, not the secret itself.

Thanks! I did originally watch this all via Youku so it’s good to know how similar Viki may be. Netflix it is!

I admit watch my Viki shows on my tv and didn’t realize that there are live comments. But, considering how often I frequent this page for commentary it would be interesting to see some in “live time” during each episode.

After “suffering” last month obnoxiously waiting for episodes to release each day, I’m finally ready to rewatch the show by binging it!

That being said, now that it’s on so many different platforms, where do you think it’d be best to watch in regards to the English caption translation? I know generally speaking Viki is pretty great with captions, but I’m curious if it would be better over Netflix. Thoughts?

P.s. I know Netflix hasn’t released all the episodes yet but just trying to plan ahead. :)

I just love how consistently silly and adorable Sunjae was

I understand this perspective for sure, but I don’t think she necessarily fell for him that easily. Ever since her journey back has begun, he has consistently shown up when she needed someone and acted in a way that benefits her goals. Even more so since she was likely very cautious of how much she could trust him and his motives, but he still consistently showed up and provided support. He at many points could’ve taken a seat and simply watch her struggle, or he could’ve taken action that would make her journey more difficult. But now they also have that tacit understanding and trust (to “use”) each other to help achieve their goals. However, time and time again he has shown that he is someone she can rely on. Now once that trust is there fundamentally, it’s natural that more emotions may emerge. In addition, any time she did experience the effects of trauma from her first marriage, he has been there to help her get through those struggles. Her smiles when thinking of him are not puppy love or a silly crush, but instead glimpses of true happiness that peek out when there is someone that truly understands the true her. This love blossoming from such a foundation was slowly built but extremely sturdy.

Potentially a dumb question, but why does the FL react negatively every time the ML calls her “小狸猫?” The streaming services translated it to “little leopard cat” or “little civet cat” which maybe he’s trying to acknowledge her sneakiness, but I wonder if the phrase in Chinese has a certain meaning.

Haha but actually though, it’s hard to fantasize and yearn for someone’s presence when you know that the only people that are graced with the duke’s presence are people who have likely done something terrible and should now promptly be frightened for their life.

With the obvious exception to our FL of course, but she’s too busy directing and acting in her play to have time to really fear him in the first place. 😂

It was likely an artistic choice for to visually show (and essentially spell out) the emotions everyone was feeling while listening to the pieces. Although there was technically a narration description of the musicality of the pieces, having the visuals allows us to see how the entire crowd essentially experienced the same emotions/story from the music because their playing was just that powerful.

I would say it’s similar to how when characters are telling a story to another character, a show will have an animation showing the story as it’s told, and/or even the characters acting out the story as it’s being narrated. Visual storytelling.

I will say the show’s visuals during the songs were definitely a bit dramatic, but I do get it. Music resonates differently for everyone and can be open to interpretation by the player and listener. The show likely wanted to show their intention in the most obvious way.

I wonder how often poor grandma ponders about how one can’t choose their family. She must be so exhausted since she likely sees past most of the schemes, but as head of the household she can’t just call people out. Poor woman has to constantly and strategically deal with all these failed sabatoges in a way that maintains any semblance of a status quo among such a wide range of delulu family members.

I’m just glad WJY can provide poor grandma a bit of competency within this hot mess express of a family. Which would include the original young Jiang Li as well. Although she knew her family wronged her and wanted justice, poor sweet girl definitely would’ve immediately fallen for the first scheme if she had returned. Her limited life experience simply couldn’t have prepared her to combat all the crazies like WJY can (and is).

I agree, she looks great for her age and thankfully WXY looks older than he is. Although still beautiful and her acting is convincing, she simply doesn’t look like she can pass as Jiang Li, especially when she was next to the actual.

If I had to think of a possible explanation, first, it would probably take quite a while to fill such a deep hole. Assuming she did wake up at some point, and knowing that reasoning was no longer an option, I’d pretend I was still passed out and try to untie myself while ex-hubby was busy and distracted shoveling. When it comes to breathing though, their sleeves are large and dramas have them hold random things all the time, maybe she made herself an air pocket 🤣. I do admit that all of the above is plausible as much as it is implausible though 😂.

The negative comments are for a large range of different reasons. However, since you read and loved the novel, I do think you would enjoy this drama. I personally enjoyed it a lot more after reading the novel. They stay pretty true to the main character's romantic plot, and although there are some additional story lines added to fill out the drama as whole, I don't think it takes away any enjoyment. I do think a novel is always going to win because you get descriptions and inner thoughts spelled out for you and you don't have to worry about director pacing. But, ultimately the show doesn't stray too far from what happens in the novel, and the ML and FL I think play their characters well.

- less objective side comments / rant -

I have been fascinated with this comments section once the show started and I totally get the frustrations of the seemingly endless miscommunications and bad advice. But if I were to take a second to think about how I would navigate a potential new romance, I most definitely would also caution on the side of error. Would I have the confidence to confess my feelings if I wasn't sure the other party felt the same way? Definitely not. Would I make silly assumptions and shy away when hurt to avoid more hurt? Definitely.

As a viewer we have the luxury of being all knowing, so it's easy to recognize the repeatedly frustrating behaviors the characters kept making, but I don't know if I would've acted that differently if I were personally in the same situation. Yes, the show is exaggerated to the points where it may seem outlandish, but ultimately all actions were still grounded in reality in order to protect themselves in difficult times. I can certainly say I have some friends that tend to make the seemingly wrong choice every chance they get, but they are just trying their best. I also have some poor friends who just simply have the worst luck, to no fault of their own. Does this show make it seem like these characters only make annoying decisions over and over again? Most definitely. Is it frustrating to see in both in a show and in real life? Most definitely. But objectively it's still a depiction of life. So although Shu Yi and Shi Yan didn't have as smooth of a courtship as say, in "Hidden Love" or "You are my Glory," but given how their relationship stemmed from a bunch of unfortuante coincidences, I think a lot of misunderstandings and bad assumptions along the way is a logical progression of the story.

Which, again, the story really stuck closely to the plot of the web novel. This is also an unavoidable and common difficulty that comes with adaptations from books to video, you're always going to get more perspective and inner thoughts in a novel. For example, I think we all would've loved more of Shi Yan's inner thoughts, but you also don't get much of it in the novel either, so I think WHD in particular did a lot with what he could.

- end personal side comments / rant -

As a recent addict to the cdrama world, I had only watched shows that were already fully released. I also am one of the many who had high expectations because I love both WHD and BL and the plot seemed very enticing. As a result, it’s not surprising that I also became one of the many that were particularly frustrated with the pacing and choices the show made as episodes released. HOWEVER, after reading the webnovel I see now that they pretty closely followed the storyline of the main couple. Although it doesn’t explain away all of the faults, it does help reconcile some of them (aka they made the active decision to stay true to the original source material). But also, watching it a second time without having to cater to the release schedule and expectations/waiting to see when I’d finally see the cute scenes released in promos, I do think it was more enjoyable to watch, and (to be honest) follows the pacing of a standard modern cdrama.

The plot isn’t claiming to be revolutionary and although I don’t disagree that it could’ve been shortened, at the end of the day it’s a cdrama, a modern one at that. Aka you’re limited in the types of drama you can inject in a modern plot, unlike a period drama. There is less room for political games of strategy or thrones to be overthrown, just a lot of misunderstandings or workplace difficulties. Although in theory we want only happy couple moments, that’s just not how dramas work. Most shows/movies anywhere have the same formula: the chase, the brief happy period, the climax, the aftermath, and the reconciliation. Again, I am in agreement that the show wasn’t perfect in how they paced the storyline, but I personally think there have been lot of polarizing strong opinions regarding the show, and I don’t know if they need to be so extreme.

tl;dr: if you have very high expectations for this drama, you might want to lower them. But, WHD and BL play their characters well and are a cute pairing.

Do we know when Wang He Di will return?