meidreams

TBOY is about the younger generation (children and disciples of the protagonists of Dashing Youth and Blood River), so we get some background about the older generation, but they really focus on the youth, their personal and/or martial arts journey and how they are related to x and y old character and the Dark River organisation plays an antagonising role, so they really don't go much into detail (that drama has a l o t of characters btw so of some you inevitably only learn the names and their cool fighting techniques).
I have watched TBOY almost two years ago, so I forgot a lot, but I don't remember much of a worldbuilding around the Dark River itself.
Like, we know they are assassins, that there are three family/branches, we meet the Heads of said branches, some of their assassins and the Patriarch, and there are hints at bonds and relationships between some of the members, their personalities and motivations and how it ends for some of them, but, again, they are not the main focus of the drama and most of the time they are just the villains our heroes need to fight or run from, so we don't get to see or know how x assassin got in that position or earned that title or even whether they are dead or alive (some I know from DY and BR didn't appear in TBOY, for example. Perhaps they didn't expect the success and hence the two prequels).
If they are ever going to give some background and the complete story of Dark River, it's going to (hopefully) happen in Blood River.

I'm not sure I understood your question correctly and I haven't watched the anime, although the plan was anime first, drama later, but in TBOY the Dark River/Blood River organisation has the role of antagonist and they are more supporting/guest roles, so we get some solo scenes of them, but they are few and for the most part they appear interacting with the protagonists (90% fighting them)
I'm keeping it as general as I can, cause I don't want to spoil it

Yes, the timeline of the three dramas is: Dashing Youth, Blood River and The Blood of Youth
But I'd say don't start TBOY if you are currently watching BR, because it contains big spoilers

I think he's a promising young actor and embodied really well the younger version of the character (serious and introverted, often done with Su Chang He - and probably people in general - and a bit sarcastic), but I agree with you: he's still too green to lead a 40 episodes drama and also too young in looks for this version of Su Mu Yu.
I think it's just a matter of getting used to the change of face.

His introduction in DY was so cool tho wish they did something similar with Blood River too.

I hoped so, that's why I never judge the actor/actress' performance after only two, three episodes, but I give time to both the characters and the story to progress. You don't expect a book to build the whole plot within the first chapter, so same goes for dramas.
I was especially referring to the fact that I have the two (young) versions of him clashing in my mind at the moment
Thank god I'm not seeing TBOY Su Mu Yu too lol

Am I the only one who's struggling to see Gong Jun as Su Mu Yu? Not referring to the acting, I'm only two episodes in, so I feel it's too early to judge a performance. I'm speaking of face and voice.
Like, I know he's playing that character (and he looks rather good), but my brain is still stuck with Cheng Hong Xin's SMY in Dashing Youth and I just cannot unsee him in that role. He probably appeared five minutes in the whole drama, but I guess he left that much of an impression.

Perhaps Guardians of the Dafeng or A Dream Within a Dream? They are transmigration dramas aired this year with humour, but the second has more romance
Go East also has humour and Fangs of Fortune starts humorous and has a great found family dynamic
Or Perfect Match, not much humour, but it revolves around family dynamics
Those are the first that came to mind

I see your point and understand why it would make some people uncomfortable, but I personally believe (I'm not the character nor the writer, so this is all speculation), that's it's not much the fact that they are related by blood (again, more than 1000 years run between the two, so it's so diluted that they are basically strangers), but more that within that specific culture, elders are revered and ancestors worshipped as gods (the family dynamics would change if she were to be the ancestor), plus the fear of changing their future and quite possibly vanish plays a big role in it and they discussed it many times.
If this was set in a different country (or just within a family that doesn't worship ancestors), it wouldn't have had as much weight, I think, because they are so distantly related that they wouldn't even know about their ancestors or just consider them as strangers.
It would be weird if only 10, 50 or 100 years passed between her generation and his, but this is a millennium, so he's not the grandpa, he's a guy from 1000 years ago.
I don't know if I'm explaining myself properly, in my brain it makes sense, but written... perhaps not so much.
Also, thank you for this polite exchange, I always fear to start discussions on MDL because some users tend to attack and shut down instead of sharing different opinions.

Of all the transmigration dramas I have watched this year, Yummy Yummy Yummy comes second place, if not first.
Speaking for Chinese dramas only, I find it hard to pick a favourite between YYY and Guardians of the Dafeng, right now, and my wish is that it doesn't "lose" me like a Dream Within a Dream did, although this one feels a lot more consistent already, so there's hope.
I liked ADWAD, but I feel it kind of lost its way as it went on, becoming the very drama and tropes it was making fun of in the first episodes, while YYY is more coherent and organic in how the story is moving forward and just developing.
It might crash and burn in the next couple of episodes, but at the point we are at (although not without flaws), is well crafted and delivers what it promised in the earlier episodes.
Truly underrated, especially when you see dramas with a much poorer plot and copy-paste writing getting ratings over the 8.5 because they focus much more on romance and the leads have a bigger fandom to back them up.

Am I the only one who got irritated at Su A for calling everyone but the police during that situation? Like, I know the first instinct (especially for someone so young) is turn to the parents or someone loved and trusted, but she was clever enough to use her feet to make the calls and activate the tracking device, so calling the parents felt all the more d*mb and useless. What did she think they were going to do, anyway?
These past few episodes I'm getting mad at characters and I can't tell whether it's a good thing or not.

I also see it that way, so I never really understood why people called it incest and immoral and downvoted and hated on this drama for it.
It's a bit weird, perhaps, given that many people worship their ancestors and they are close to household deities that bless and protect the family, but after a thousand years, I don't really think it counts as incest?
Because if we follow this logic, more than half of the world population is committing incest nowadays. Especially in smaller areas (small countries, small towns), if we go back by generations/centuries, people that are not related actually have an ancestor in common. Most likely our own families as well, if they never moved from x region, x hometown.
And if we go even more far back, first Homo Sapiens and even Neanderthal, our genetic ancestry is related, because Homo Sapiens came from Africa and then moved here and there.
Also, she is clearly suppressing her feelings (going as far as hurting herself), so even if it counts as incest after 1000 years, the drama is not spreading any sorts of immoral messages nor saying it's okay and romantic to love someone related to you (unlike some Asian dramas or Western shows and books that have cousins and half-siblings falling for each other)

I also really want that to be the explanation for the whole ancestor thing.
It just makes sense, it follows the "silliness" of the drama (they were literally shoulder to shoulder with their ancestors all along and had no idea) and I just love the idea of it (although those two have yet to interact, I believe?)

As for the ending, I wish they wouldn't go for the usual coma/all a dream trope, but given censorship... but I think we did see his lookalike in the very first episode (hooded guy she follows), so the question stands: was it just a guy that looked like him or was it him him?

Nevermind, I think I found it in episode 21

What happened to the kitten tho
Did the Crown Prince take it too?

Currently on episode 17, so I'm a little behind, but am I the only one that kind of wants A Yuan and Liu Chang to be the real ancestors?
They'll probably give an answer in the episodes to come and I'm so curious to see how they are going to solve the ancestor thing.
The time travel too, since I believe it's still not allowed by censorship in cdramas and they'll have to work around that (or is group time travel allowed?)
My only wish is that it's not merely a dream (although it would explain the whole family appearing out of nowhere in the past when there was no trace of them in the previous shots)

This drama is so underrated
Is it because it's not pure romance?

I'm trying to remember where I found this, so I can give clearer informations, but it's actually a historical thing to form written contracts with the cat.

I believe I read or watched somewhere that in ancient times, you had to sign a contract upon adopting a cat, much like we watched in that scene, cat's portrait and all. There are papers and artefacts of that era about this custom.

Currently watching episode 9 and could A Yuan be Lin Yan's real betrothed? I think he said her surname was Zhen and we see in the slave contract she offers Shaoguang that Zhen's her family name. (And her whole family is dead)
Perhaps I am seeing too much into this, but I am noticing that, silly as it might be on the surface, this drama (so far) is very consistent in its storytelling and actually pays attention to details.

The costumes and hairstyles are gorgeous and I'm loving their colour palette and overall looks, but for the first time since I started watching cdramas I am really struggling with telling who's who.
They are all (very, very) beautiful, but they also all have very similar stylings, I don't know how else to put it.