That painful-to-watch romance is still a problem, but fortunately this episode gives most of its screen time to the the main plot involving the two leads. So we get several fun scenes both with them individually and together. Love the interactions between the two leads and the Crown Prince & Princess. We get some crucial backstory finally on what the Emperor was trying to accomplish by arresting Song Mo's uncle. And the good guys may have gained a key asset as one of the Empress' top maid servants, currently assigned to An Su's household, realizes she owes a huge debt of gratitude to Dou Zhao.
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It was inevitably going to happen. He is stuck in his thinking because he believes that the larger fate is fixed and that Song Mo's doom is inevitable. But a key point is that SHE (Dou Zhao) actually knows more. Yes, he acts very confident and as if he knows more about the big picture but she has two key factors that affect her thinking differently from him. First, she has the actual book in hand. It came back in time with her. And second, SHE has actually had two conversations with the author of the book (God?). She knows that fate can be changed. It's not easy. It is as hard as moving a mountain. But it can be changed. So because of that, Dou Zhao's mindset is completely different from Ji Yuantong's. In other news, watching Song Han further tighten his abusive control over An Su, isolating her from everyone she loves, is heartbreaking and painful to watch. I recommend skipping much of it because it's just depressing. Sadly realistic. But depressing.
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Folks in the Viki comments callously saying that An Su 'deserves' what she gets for not seeing the truth about Song Han are ignorant of just how insidious manipulative abusers like Song Han are. There is a reason that so many women end up trapped in such horrible abusive relationships and it isn't because they "deserve" it. It's because the techniques such pathological creeps use to manipulate are extremely effective on innocent, 'good' people. This plot line is so hard to watch because it is unfortunately very real.
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All signs are pointing towards bestie An Su falling for psychopath Song Han, who is super-eager to sign-up for treason, specifically to betray his brother. There is a slim possibility that is an act, but it doesn't look like it's an act. So An Su may be headed for a tragic romance if she stays on course with him. This show has killed off so many 'good people' so far, from SM's uncle to his mom, to DZ's mom and then most tragically, her sister, Dou Ming. Indeed the latter counts as one seriously tragic couple so the show clearly has no qualms about killing off the good guys. And on the flip side, the only bad guys that have even been 'caught' so far are ML's dad and FL's step-mom and the latter is still alive.; So this show seems intent on building up the karma on one side but hopefully will bring justice to everyone by the end.
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Giving this episode a low rating solely because the writers decided to lean into the stupid, "Noble Idiocy", drama trope to form the 'drama' for this episode. Fortunately, it gets busted up before the end of the episode and didn't drag it out for multiple episodes, but just using it at all is so annoying. They have Song Mo deciding to hide his poisoning from Dou Zhao and 'suffer in silence' for the 'greater good'. This is one of the most annoying, stupid, lazy-punk writer devices that should, frankly, be banned from ever being used again by story-tellers. It requires the character who is previously shown to be very smart to act like an idiot. It requires the character to break promises made. It basically requires a complete plot-induced character change and is just dumb. In almost every case, the same overall story can be told without using this trope. So please writers, don't use it.
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Much improved direction and editing over the prior episode. Unfortunately this episode sees the start of an annoying, contrived separation of the leads - so stereotypical of c-dramas to keep bringing them together and then separating them - but makes up for it a bit with the way Song Mo has his men still helping her, 'in secret'.
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Overall plot was fine, but editing of this episode was weird and choppy and made it look like the plot was hand-waving over a lot of key details.
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Fantastic cinematography and right off the bat the casting up & down the ensemble looks exemplary. Zoey Meng is so great at projecting a regal, commanding presence so the early scenes of her commanding her household are so cool and then, even as her world crumbles, her ability to hold her composure feels authentic to the character. And then kudos to the young actress, Liu Jia Xi, playing the young Shou Gu. She has the mind and memories of her adult self and quickly starts to project the same calm decisiveness. The mood set by the cinematography, costumes, lighting and effects is intense and dramatic, but not overwhelming. Just enough to establish the doom that awaits if fate is not changed.
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He's really morphed into a bizarre caricature of the unrequited love / psychopath c-drama villain. His body and facial contortions in this episode are cartoonish. The biggest question is why Jiang Jun goes within 20 feet of this scumbag. And why she AND Yuan Shuai keep going easy on Du Lei and giving him more and more chances. Meanwhile, the Xu Li & Li Xiaochuan store continues to be completely skippable. Yes, it has a happy 'transformation' of Xiaochuan .. .but it isn't really a credible transformation.
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Not surprisingly, Du Lei completes his villain reveal as he shows himself to be just another stereotypical psychopathic unrequited 3rd-wheel c-drama villain. Basically tries to sexually assault Jiang Jun but is fortunately stopped by YS' timely arrival. The frustrating thing about this episode is just how much rope Du Lei keeps. being given by Jiang. She keeps ignoring all the warning signs until things get way, way too awkward. And then, even after he basically assaults her, they just leave him and walk away. No calling of police. No accountability whatsoever.. So naturally, he's going to cause more trouble ...
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The writers have just leaned heavily into the stupid, most-annoying drama trope of, "Noble Idiocy" -- Yuan Shuai proceeds to take on all the burdens, lets himself get framed, pushes everyone away and declines to explain or share what he's doing. "Gives up on their love" for the "greater good". And for no F'ing good reason. This is a cheap, stereotypical plot gimmick that is among the most hated by fans (for good reason). It requires huge truckloads of plot-induced stupidity. The 'break up' with Jiang Jun is unbelievably stupid. It is obvious to us viewers that he's performing a scheme and it makes no sense that he had to keep her in the dark for what he's doing. There are lots of ways for him to have carried out this ruse while not hurting her. Doing it this way is just stupid and unnecessary and shows a lack of trust - right after he had just promised her he would not lie to her. And he's also breaking his promise to both her father and mother to not be the reason she cries. This is not the Yuan Shuai of the last 26 episodes. This is a plot-twisted version derived out of nowhere by the writers just to create some drama. Sigh ... having come this far, I'll gut it out until they bring the plot past this stupidity and hope they finish the series with a better arc. Just very disappointed in the writers right now.
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Wow. Jiang Jun's mom is sweet... but the way she made Yuan Shuai drink all that wine was a total power dominance move. So smooth and cold-hearted. I guess she really needed to make it clear that she may forgive him - and accept that he did not really mean to cause harm - but the pain and trauma the family had endured was real and doesn't just go away regardless of forgiveness. So she needed to make an impression on him. JJ's mom (played by veteran actress Hu Xiao Ting) just takes over and dominates this episode. She's so good!
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Xiaochuan continues to be an emotional idiot with the socio-emotional awareness of a rock. Li needs to move on to find a mature human man who will treat her right. Xiaochuan is al already old enough to be mostly who he will ever be. He may change a little, but he's not realistically going to change as much as he needs to to become real boyfriend material. Meanwhile, while they are unfortunately kept separate for a large span due to a business trip, we nevertheless get more cute moments with our main couple. And we get a reunion meeting between Yuan Shuai and JJ's mom!
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This time, his sister, dropping into full villain mode, connives to bring the disgusting Du family back into Jiang Jun's story in a vicious, nasty manner by attacking Jun just to show her brother that she can. This has the affect of us having to endure Du Lei's pathetic existence in the story more. It's notable that even in the act of 'saving' Jun, he instinctively lies about her condition to Li and Xiaochuan. And further info is revealed about his misdeeds from the past. And he further shows he is still not a good person because he hides the truth about his sister having been the one who hurt Jun when confronted by Yuan Shuai. He claims he would, "never hurt her", but hiding this sort of truth DOES hurt her. But he's not really a good person and selfishly doesn't want to reveal the truth to YS. Most of his story is still quite skippable. On the bothersome Li+Xiaochuan story, the latter continues to be an emotional idiot. I suspect that he never actually entered his own data into the West World App and that's why he and Li are not getting a match. That will probably get revealed at some point. Otherwise, if he did, Li should trust the algorithm and go find a better man. Once all that stupid annoying stuff is over, we get treated to a delightful session of Jiang Jun and Yuan Shuai tickling each other on the couch.
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This episode, following on the heals of the 'confession' episode, gets to be all about expressions of passion and affection between the two leads. And the way these two leads work together the shift to 100% 'couple' is so natural and spontaneous and fun. I like that once they are finally "iN" the relationship, they are both, "all in". Obviously, future episodes will bring trials for them to overcome. But at least we got to enjoy this high point before the next troubles start.
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