It was nice to see the stronger bonds being formed between first Changyu and Grand Tutor, who formally become an adoptive daughter - father pair, and second the bond of close friendship between Changyu and the disguised Princess Qi Shu (the Physician). These two share a common struggle of loving men who they are separated from by social standing - though in opposite ways. Ultimately, these two relationships will probably become important as part of elevating Changyu's social status in the capital later on. These social connections are of course, just as important as her inevitable military merits. So those parts of this episode are quiet but more important than they might seem. Beyond that, the plot, as predicted, contrives to separate the FL & ML as they pursue separate agendas and Changyu continues to have doubts about the vast social standing gap between Xie Zheng.and herself. After dragging out the lie hiding Zheng's true identity for some, 26 episodes, I fear the show is now going to lean into keeping them separated by social standing for another long, long, annoying stretch before finally resolving things - probably with some reveal about her parent's true identities. On side stories, I love how Zhou Xun so heroically guarded and guided young Bao to safety (with a little assist from Ning Ning's whistle) and into the arms of 'Uncle Yan'. And the mental strength of Yu QianQian, given her circumstances, has to be mentioned. Her ability to hold it together and still play mind games with her psychotic captor Qin Min, is impressive.
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This episode was good for closing up a lot of the many different 'misunderstandings' floating through the plot including, of course, the biggest one in that Fan Changyu finally learns that her husband is the Marquis of Wu'an. This reveal is greeted with rightful upset by Changyu over having been deceived for so long but also more significant to her, the realization of the vastness of the social gap between them. So while it resolves the misunderstanding / lie /deception between them, it still leaves a tension pulling them apart. Aside from that, this episode also resolves identity confusion between Changyu and the Grand Tutor in a nice adoptive father-daughter scene. So all that sounds nice, but by the end of this, I'm kind of left with a bad taste in my mouth over just how much the script relies on dragging 'misunderstanding tropes' out. Even with the resolution of the above, it's clear the script is going to continue to lean into separate agendas that are not explained to each other to keep separating the leads. It's just starting to feel like a lot of the storytelling in this series could be compressed if not for the script simply dragging things out again and again in well-executed, but nevertheless contrived ways.
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This episode deserves a 10 purely because of cheap gratuitous emotional satisfaction. It's more than a bit artificially contrived and it's definitely over dramatic, but this episode brings everything to a climactic final reckoning between Chenghuan and her overbearing mother, as the latter not only crosses the line again, but this time crosses it to the point of no return for Chenghuan. So the latter finally realizes that she has to cut herself loose, since her mother will not let her loose. To free herself, she gathers her strength and rises like a boss queen to take ownership of her life. The acting performances by both Yang Zi and He Shei Fei (her mother) in the climactic confrontation scene were fantastic. Yang Zi's steely determination, despite tears coming down her face, gave me chills to watch. This episode also sees Chenghuan (and her father, for that matter) declare with about as much clarity and finality as they can muster that they will no longer have anything to do with the Xin family. So this is a major character development moment for Chenghuan. And it is the threshold of growth that her Grandmother has been waiting for her to reach because she wants Chenghuan to ignore the meaning of her name and to begin to live for herself. To value herself.
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This episode has the ML consistently being a really awful person. First he tries to get pushy with Grandma in his effort to get control of Xing’anli. Then he totally ignores her when she's giving him critical, cautionary advice. Then he spends most of the rest of the episode alternating between arrogant, cruel and ignorant. We are 12 episodes in now. Is it time for him to start to magically transform into someone we can believe that the FL would have a relationship with?
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In this episode, after perhaps feeling like his hand was caught in the cookie jar for so coldly and cruelly abusing Mai Chenghuan's personal life and tossing her reputation in the scrapper, Yao Zhi Ming goes running to see Grandma Chen Zhu Shen, obviously hoping to preempt being ratted out by anyone for his misbehavior. But he's a fool because even though FL did NOT come crying to grandma and did NOT rat him out, it is painfully clear that Grandma knows all about the naughty crap that he did. She reads her grandson like an open book. He tries to justify it with some truly arrogant bulls--t lines such as, "Mai Chenghuan hasn't been through thick and thin." and "Her integrity may be questionable." and most laughable, "I guess I taught her a lesson today." Each such unbelievably stupid line just digs his grave deeper though Granny stays cool as a cucumber as she very gently corrects and scolds him, with the only remotely harsh thing she says being a very soft but ominous, "You'll suffer for how you have treated her." Wow. That line should give him serious pause.
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This episode brings a lot of the current threads to a climax and aside from many other things that happen, it's made clear to the FL, Mai Chenghuan, that the ML, Yao Zhi Ming, is a lying, manipulative schemer who has been cruelly exploiting her personal life and willing to ruin her reputation in order to carry out his schemes. I guess this is a popular drama trope in a lot of c-dramas, to have the ML start out as a total a--hole who magically is transformed into a great, lovable romantic partner later on. So unrealistic. In the real world, if someone is so clearly lacking in morals as to act like this ML has so far, he isn't likely to change.
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So far in this drama, the list of likable characters is pretty tiny. Mai Chenghuan and her brother, Mai Chengzhou, Grandma Mai, Mao Mao and maybe He Dong and maybe Mai Laitian. Other than that, most other characters are either idiotic to the point of being toxic or downright malicious. You will note that the ML, Yao Zhi Ming, is not on the list of likable characters. And in fact his actions so far are borderline villain as he's not only clearly trying to con grandma into giving him control over Xing’anli buy also is coldly and cruelly exploiting Mai Chenghaun's personal life as part of his scheme. At some point, the show will need to start to do some sort of rehabilitation arc to make him at least mildly sympathetic as a romance interest because so far he's just an insufferable, arrogant scheming jerk.
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This show would rate higher if the FL's mother wasn't SO over the top. Yes, her role is to be the over-bearing, meddling mother and that's a big part of the plot. But she's just so extreme that it's at times hard to watch
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Pretty sad and intense episode. Tragically, believable, given all the factors leading to this point in the story. Even Ren Tian Zhen's stupid stunt at the end was consistent with his "do stupid impulsive thing without thinking of the consequences" behavior that has plagued his character all along. And sure enough it results in bad consequences for Sun Tou Tou after she exerts her body to the limit to save him. This was the most 'eventful' episode of the series in quite a long while but the only unbelievable part was that the bungee platform was left unlocked but unattended. That part requires the viewers to blink and forgive the show a bit. Otherwise, there are some great debates in this episode about parenting a child with issues. The show doesn't just look at the extreme case of Meng Meng's awful parents, but also questions the Ren family dynamic as well.
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Lots of 'small things' happen in this episode to move different plot threads forward. It now becomes pretty obvious to the audience that Ren Tian Zhen has a thing for Sun Tou Tou. He's hiding it of course and the other characters still think he is inclined toward Meng Meng though it's clear to the audience finally that he really does see her as a patient /. little sister. Chen Ying's story takes another nice step forward in the form of reconciliation with her ex-in-laws and also casually drops the 'best friend' status that Zhu Xia has become for her. Throughout this episode, Sun Tou Tou's character is mischievously charming and adorable in almost every scene. Then, to STT's & Professor Ren's dismay, the stupid 300 yr-old tile is found and they have to deal with it. Once again, Sun Tou Tou shows how practical-minded she can be in dealing with that. And finally, to close out the very last moment of the episode, STT really comes out strong with her practical wisdom of how the world works when she basically tosses Meng Meng's legal status as an adult in her father's face.
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Ren Tian Zhen giving a non-answer when STT asks him point blank about whether he is dating Meng Meng is a red-flag that he's not being professional with regard to Meng Meng. The only professional answer is, "No." The fact that he equivocates indicates he's lost the handle on what he's doing. Either he IS romantically involved with Meng Meng OR he's NOT romantically involved, but doesn't understand why his behavior is inappropriate and unprofessional. Either case is bad. How long is this show going to drag out this particular sub-plot? RTZ's character has improved in tiny baby steps since the show started and yet sometimes still seems a million miles from being a decent person.
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Weird that they went the whole episode and never mentioned the ginseng plant after getting it back from Liu Zi Hong at the very start. Wouldn't it mean they wouldn't have to sell the house? Did Ren Tian Zhen even show it to his father? Is it going to be an unused Chekhov's Gun? It's really hard to understand what is in the head of Ren Xinzheng and his master when it comes to money. And their attitudes towards their wives is kind of awful at times.
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The incredibly twisted reasoning the two of them use to come to the conclusion that their only solution is to sell one of their houses is ... just awful. And the fact that they just bulldoze right over LingLan's obvious despair over their decision is extremely troublesome.
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This episode had multiple intense, emotional moments. The most important being Rebecca having to deliver the baby of the woman who hates her most in the world - out in the middle of nowhere during a driving rainstorm with no shelter. Yes, it sounds crazy and the situation was so obviously plot-contrived ... but somehow it worked. The two actors and the production crew really did a marvelous job of implementing what on paper must have looked so cheesy and cornball in the script. Great cinematography and performances by both ladies resulted in a scene that really worked. Surrounding this were several great conversations, the most important being between LingLan Song and her husband,Ren XinZheng about the balance of responsibilities in their marriage and then latter between Sun Tou Tou and Ren XinZheng on what it means to be a doctor and how to balance truth and honesty against the lives and well-being of others.
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Once again, this show is working hard to make Ren Tian Zhen as unlikable as possible. Because once again he is putting HIS wants over anybody else's concerns and once again he is not really thinking about the consequences. When Sun Tou Tou asks him point-blank if he is doing this (threatening to move out) because he is in love with Meng Meng, he waves it off with a "don't speak nonsense!" remark. But he doesn't stop to really think about the ramifications of his behavior towards Meng Meng and, in particular, stop to think, well, "What does Meng Meng think?" Because if others (his Grandpa, his Mom and now Sun Tou Tou) are wondering if he is inappropriately attracted to Meng Meng, the obvious question should be whether SHE thinks he is? And what kind of effect that could have on her fragile psyche if it isn't really the case? He seems so determined to play the role of hero doctor for Meng Meng - because it makes HIM feel good - that he simply isn't thinking about the longer term consequences on others. Again. Now, it is a good sign that his behavior towards Sun Tou Tou has improved dramatically over the last 5 episodes to where he's almost a normal human towards her. But his core issues of arrogance and impulsive, selfish behavior are still there. The longer they put off him taking steps to 'grow up', the more unrealistic it will seem if they rush it in the end.Despite the annoying nature of the RTZ character, this _show_ continues to be fascinating for a variety of low-key reasons. The character development of just about everyone else is forward and interesting. The topics discussed in this episode are interesting - especially like the practical approach to the challenging social questions Rebecca expresses. And of course, Sun Tou Tou continues to entertain. In one scene screaming, "Charge!" playfully and in another moment thoughtfully and practically training the hotel staff on how to do their jobs and then closing out the episode with some thoughtful life and career advice for Mr Liu's son! And as crazy as it seems, it all makes sense, given the nature of the character that Zhou Lusi has crafted!
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