Episode starts out where prior left off, with the party successfully holding off the demo crew ... for now. Hong Cha Young and Choi Myung Hee start off at odds at the big law firm. Cha Young's intern randomly blurts out the future with, "He's your soul mate.", comment about Vincenzo ... The Italian food taste off between Toto and Vincenzo looks like it's going to last for a while. Our heroine so far doesn't seem to be achieving any successes on screen in this show. Would like to see her start to score a few wins just to validate the premise of the show that she does whatever it takes to win. Jeeze I do love her constant physical comedy. Her constant quirky physical humor antics are a wonderful running gag so far. Making fun of Choi's exercise routine, while professionally stupid, was hilarious. Wow! Papa Attorney Hong already tagged Vincenzo as the son of his client! Still working out whether the big law firm is fully in cahoots or just caught up in a trap w/Babel. Was Choi brought in to try to dig them out? Or the opposite? Is she taking Cha Young off the Babel case because of lack of progress? Or to protect her? Choi is still a mystery character at this point. Ha ha! The sight of Vincenzo trying to get out of the line of fire when Hong dad and daughter are arguing! Woah! I can't say I was totally surprised by the ending. They had lots of foreshadowing that something like that was going to happen. But it still sucks and is going to be a huge revenge arc kick-off.
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Story of Kunning Palace Episode 38
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I had a couple of nit-picks here and there along the way, but overall this was a fantastic series and this was a very satisfying wrap up. The only negatives are that both Zhou Yin and Duke Xue got off with quick deaths. They both deserved much worse endings. I'm still upset about Fang Yin. Poor Lyu Xian! I'm glad that Xue Shu resisted taking her poison. The Eunuch's face as he poured poison down her throat? That was my face.
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Story of Kunning Palace Episode 37
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Why did the writer have to do this to poor, sweet Fang Yin???? There is no plot purpose to this other than to trigger us viewers emotionally to hate Duke Xue & his cronies even more. But do we really need more reasons? We already know he's willing to kill children - even his own family. I guess it's to also make us now hate Zhou Yin Zhi, but even that could have been accomplished without this! I'm so upset that the writers did this cheap emotional plot device. But I will commend the production of the scene. The camerawork. The rain. The blood. The music. All three actors were spot on - especially Bai Lu. Wow, the grief and despair on her face were so real.` Definitely one of the more heart-wrenching death scenes I've seen recently.
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Story of Kunning Palace Episode 36
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Unfortunately, suddenly Yue Fang Yin is set to the pay the cost of his betrayal! Jeeze I hope she survives this. If she gets sacrificed by the writers I will be very upset. Loved the girlfriend talk between Zhi Yi and Ning. It really confirmed that she no longer is running away from her feelings for Xie. This becomes further cemented when she flat out tells Zhang Zhe that she loves Xie. No word weaseling involved. And while I know he is a good guy, I'm low-key annoyed that Zhe didn't at least offer her his umbrella when she left. Rude. Fortunately, Xie sent Jian Shu for her with an umbrella, at least. Naturally, Xie misinterprets her meeting with Zhe and throws another jealous fit, ending it by aggressively kissing her - but we get a milestone moment when she finally, actually kisses him back.
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Story of Kunning Palace Episode 35
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Not surprising, of course. He already showed 20 years ago he was willing to kill his own son for his ambitions. Killing his nephew would be trivial to him. His sister shuts him down for now. I also won't be surprised if he tries to assassinate Zhang Zhe on his fact-finding mission in order to blame it on Xie Wei and the Yan family.. Meanwhile, J'uan's and Ning'er's bizarre relationship moves "forward" with ... fake intimacy in order to fool Lord Pingnan. Methinks they are just fooling themselves, though. Later, we see a light go on in Ning's head as she starts to realize that in her former life, Xie Wei may NOT have been intending to kill her! That light going on in her head is like a push that starts her sliding towards finally, inevitably realizing her true feelings towards Xie Wei. The events in Pingnan's courtyard and finally Yan Lin's words to her accelerate it. And thank goodness that Yan Lin has grown up so much from the dumb jock he was when younger. He has learned wisdom, sincerity and grace and can see that Ning and his cousin truly love each other.
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Story of Kunning Palace Episode 34
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This line by Ning kinda sums up their relationship. He really does come off as bat-s**t crazy to her and I can't blame her for wanting to run far, far away. We've got 4 more episodes to somehow transform this mess into an actual romance? Now, wtf is Lord Pignan doing at this outpost? How the heck do c-drama villains always get to move around and pop-up wherever they want? And how does he know about Ning's importance to Xie Wei? Just who is his deep mole spy? It has to be one of Jian Shu, Dao Qin or Lyu Xian. Well, at least Ping Nan's character (psychopathic, child-murdering a**hole) is consistent. That guy is totally bent. Him finally getting his just deserts is going to be a welcome moment.
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Story of Kunning Palace Episode 33
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After the (relative) slow pace of the prior two episodes, this episode explodes with lots of action as Xie Wei, Yan Mu and Yan Lin take steps to rescue the Princess. It was an understated but awesome side bit to watch the 'old man', General Yan Mu, kicking the butt of that jerk Prince Da Yue. We get a jealous petty bit by Xie Wei over Ning's happy reunion with his cousin, but he makes up for it the next day with a nice self-made gift of layered walnut cakes. And of course we get an emotional reunion between Ning and the Princess. Now we move on to the final 5 episodes with clashes against both Lord Pingnan and Duke Xue looming on the horizon.
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Story of Kunning Palace Episode 32
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Ning'er and her mother finally reconcile - just as she's about to leave, of course. But better late than never. Boy, did it make Papa Jiang happy to see his wife and daughter hug! Later, the assassination attempt on Xie Wei and Ning is predictable and it was fun to see Dao Qin and Jian Shu flex their martial skills. It was also a bit surprising to see Xie Wei actually show out with some fighting skills, though not armed conventionally. Some climate / wildlife inconsistencies: On one hand, Ning comments on how cold this mountain feels - like it's about to snow - but on the other hand a snake is active enough to bite Xie? Snakes do NOT go out and about in the cold. Also, the attack of the bobcats was weird. Other than the females of a pride of lions, I don't think any cats attack as a pack like that. Aren't all other cats solo hunters? The forced psycho kiss by Xie Wei upon Ning was about as unromantic as you can get and I'm trying to figure out how his psychotic behavior is supposed to make him attractive as a romantic male lead? Well, he did start to behave better after they got to the post. And his consent to put his health care in her hands by surrendering the xinshe pills we kind of a huge step. Despite all my nitpicking about the wildlife, overall this was a good episode because it finally feels like forward progress (however weird and psychotic) in their 'romance'.
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Story of Kunning Palace Episode 31
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In Ning's memory of her seduction of Xie Wei in her past life, it's notable that the music soundtrack is completely different from the music that plays whenever the two have a moment together in THIS life. In all the scenes of them together in THIS life, the music song is one that evokes yearning and hope for something unreachable. In the former life scene, the music is calm and cold, almost with a sense of dread looming. Later, just when she seems poised to run away from everything, it's interesting how insightfully Lyu Xian manages to drop the responsibility of caring for Xie Wei's health and emotional state onto her lap. He is one of the few who have read correctly the depth of feelings between the two and manipulates her sense of caring adeptly.
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Story of Kunning Palace Episode 30
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How long did it take for Ning to walk from the site of her flogging to outside the gate where Xie was waiting? The sky went from afternoon daylight to dark of night. Xie picking her up and carrying her to his carriage was romantic, but not realistic because of the injuries on her back. A piggy-back carry would have made more sense. Kinda surprised how easily Zhou Yinzi folded. I would have thought he was smart enough to have prepared a cover story. This episode had a slow pace about it, but a lot of stuff happened.
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Story of Kunning Palace Episode 29
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Empress Dowager shows out as the absolute _worst_. Her cruelty to all three of her own children is unbelievable. She has to be certifiably insane. It's especially sad how she has treated Jie and Zhiyi. Meanwhile, despite how awful _their_ mother is, I love how the sisterly bond between Ning and Hui keeps growing with each step of the story. Hopefully that continues. Ning is going to need every close bond she can get now that her dear Princess Zhiyi is gone. Man, the farewell scene between those two was heartbreaking. What's the deal with the Emperor letting his new Consort Xian run around commanding troops and such? That seems nuts.
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Story of Kunning Palace Episode 28
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Is he truly THAT weak-willed that he would respond that easily to Shu's rather weak and obvious seduction? Nothing about that scene made any sense. I suppose it's possible for her to seduce him and that presents and interesting plot point, but the way it was presented just was not credible story-telling. And it makes Shen Lang out to be a complete fool because he just hurt his loyal sister in favor of one night with this blatantly scheming witch. And then he actually lets her prattle on, giving him her version of 'counsel' on state affairs? WTF? Just how stupid is Shen Lang supposed to be?
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Story of Kunning Palace Episode 27
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When is Ning's mom going to finally just _stop_ being so horrible towards BOTH her daughters? She frets and legitimately worries about Ning when not around, but the moment they are in the same room she always immediately and irrationally blames Ning for everything! Always immediately wanting to slap her! And the moment Hui is even slightly a reason for concern, Madam Jiang's first instinct is to slap her as well! She is a horrible mother. Goodness, between her, the Empress Dowager and Duke Xue, this episode had far too much face slapping!
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No one is talking about it, but Jeon Yeo Been, as Hong Cha Young, is killing it with her physical comedy. From bigger things such as her constantly bad sense of direction to little things such as her cute silly I'm-uncomfortable-walking-in-heels walk and her inability to do anything gracefully! Even sitting down in a chair is a small adventure. She's so far being very consistent and it's an understated mood lifter when it happens subtly as an extra bit in scenes. Aside from Cha Young's mostly passive comedy, the Zombie scene was hilarious. The episode took a melancholy turn in the drinking conversation between Vincenzo and Hong Yu Chan.
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Story of Kunning Palace Episode 25
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I'm not cool with Ning'er trying to take the blame for Zhang Zhe's mother's death. First off, Ning should KNOW better than anyone, by now that some things are fated to happen in THIS life just as they happened in her prior life and nothing anyone could do to stop those things from happening. But even if we are going to accept that someone is to blame, it was (a) Gu and Zhang pushing to have Zhang play the role of Dujun the Hermit and (b) Zhang's choice to not tell his mother what he was about to do. Neither of those choices had anything to do with Ning. If anything else is to blame it is Zhang & Gu's lack of trust of Xie Wei. Ning just feels guilty because of what happened in her first life, but that is contrived, fake guilt because none of that happened in THIS life. Just stop. Characters carrying a false sense of guilt for things that are not their fault is a hugely annoying drama trope. Please just don't go there. Overall, it was a well-executed but annoying scene because it makes no logical sense. The only good thing about it is maybe it puts a fork in the whole Ning + Zhe romance finally because that just felt 'off' and contrived all along. The following scene, when Xie Wei comforts her is a pretty good scene because, despite the annoyance of her false guilt, his sincere heartfelt concern for her and selfless patience to continue to wait for her to find her way to him is pretty cool. And despite my annoyance that the writers have her character carrying this false guilt, I gotta say, Bai Lu's performance through these two scenes was powerful. Her aura when with Zhang Zhe shifted from simple concern to a strange state of guilt overlayed with the persona of her former Empress self and then to numb acceptance and then a complete despairing breakdown in Xie Wei's arms. The OST music shifts between the two scenes is very well done and powerful.
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