missnymeria

Absolutely, he caused his own misery. That's what I find beautifully tragic. Being forced to be the Heavenly Emperor for eternity is the best punishment for him imo but you're right, it totally depends on how a person views things. For me, living in misery basically forever = much worse than dying a short painful death.

Regarding Xu Feng, I agree with you that his decision has to do with them being brothers and him not wanting to kill him. But I also think it's sweet revenge. If XF had killed RY, he would have had to become the Heavenly Emperor and he absolutely didn't want that. He gave up the Demon throne to be able to look for Jin Mi and there's no way he'd be willing to shoulder the even heavier responsibilities of the Heavenly Emperor. So it was a strategic decision as well and I love that Xu Feng is not all sunshine and rainbows ^^

I think the "making no sense" comments you saw about ROP were about the TV-cut version that was aired in China. They took the 70 episodes and condensed them into 56 (or 58?) so they cut massive amount of footage and the second half of the drama doesn't make much sense apparently. But the english subs are for the full 70 episodes and it makes complete sense so far (I'm on episode 30 and waiting for the new subs tomorrow). Every drama will have some clichés and this one is no exception with its typical "fight for the throne" story but it's mostly very fresh. The ML is super interesting. He's a super smart royal who pretends to be dumb to navigate the dangerous waters of the palace. The life he has led made him borderline psychotic but he does retain some touching innocence, especially when it comes to love and loyalty. So creepy sometimes but a good kind of creepy ^^

Judging from the list of dramas you've watched, Chuno won't be too heavy. But I won't lie, the body count at the end of the drama is pretty high, which is to be expected for that kind of story. I was amazed it ended as well as it did for some characters. And it's not like any other slave hunting drama you could have watched before.

You can't really say he got off scot freed though: Although the drama focuses on Xu Feng's grief, Jin Mi's death hugely impacted him as well. He had to chain himself to his bed to contain and fight with the demonic force he had absorbed. He was ready to die for his crimes but Xu Feng was not having him and punished him by forcing him to keep being the Heavenly Emperor forever, alone and trying to make up for his mistakes by ruling wisely.

It's clear that at the end of the drama he is completely miserable because he still doesn't see or care for the persons that are actually at his side and he's still deeply in love with Jin Mi but has to watch her happy life with his brother. (same as before but with the difference that he won't try to take her away again because he doesn't want her to die again and he's understood she does not belong to him).

So he's basically in for eternal torture which in my opinion is much more cruel than a death such as Sui He's or the Heavenly Empress'.

Ah lol, you really did watch almost everything on it ^^

With its 16/17 episodes, the first part of Untouchable Lovers is a self-contained drama the length of a regular Korean one so it's really not a problem to go into it intending to stop when it's over. The villains are a bit too much and over-the-top but the draw is the super smart and morally grey male lead. And to be fair, the second part is not that bad. It's just that I feel sorry for all the people who went into it without spoilers and who kept waiting for the second part to have any significant link to the first one.

Healer is a great modern drama. I'm more of a historical kind of girl so it's pretty rare that I enjoy a modern drama as much as I did Healer. The draw here is the male lead and his superman complex. Pretty decent amount of angst as well.

Grand Prince. Some people hate the female lead and I've never understood why. I've liked her ever since I first saw her in Gaksital. Once again, I found myself preferring the semi-psychotic 2nd male lead to the hero. He's a bit similar to Run Yu in Ashes of Love: miserable childhood, quest for power for revenge and to protect the ones he loves, hopeless obsessional love for the heroine, under-handed tricks etc...

Chuno was my first ever huge drama addiction, to the point I watched it live everyday and translated it into French. I was blown away by the cinematography (I've seen better since but it still stands the test of time) and all the suspense. Lots of humor mixed in with all the angst. Complex and layered characters. Heartbreaking romance. This drama has it all

The Rise of Phoenixes is based on a book by the author of Fu Yao but it has a totally different vibe. The first episode is a bit overwhelming but it's so worth it to push through. It's an intelligent drama that doesn't spoon-feed you all the answers. And when characters are described as smart, they really are and it shows. Lots of angst and intrigues that make the romance all the more meaningful and tense. Masterfully shot as well. Looks like a super long high-budget movie. Makes other dramas look like cheap productions.

If NIF wasn't for you, I think you might still enjoy Rise of Phoenixes. It's heavy on the political intrigues and complex relationships but the beginning is not as slow and off-putting as NIF and there is also a pretty awesome romance. Win-Win.

Hahaha, yes, we do seem to have the same tastes ^^

7 Days is not a complete weep-fest but I won't lie and say it's all sunshine and rainbows either. It's pretty intense but it's not all doom and gloom and the ending is not exactly tragic. Tbh, I was mostly fascinated by the 2nd ML.

I love me some tortured, complex and morally grey character and the King delivered 200% on that front. If you do watch it and end up liking it, Grand Prince is in a similar vein but a bit "lighter".

Regarding Bloody Romance, it's going to be available on Viki in the next few days. Might be the place to watch it if you want to give it another go: HD, better subs, no pesky Chinese hardsubs.

As a rule, I find I don't need to stress out too much if the first episode of a drama seem confusing. Things always become clearer after a couple more episodes and I don't lose out on anything. Happened to me for Rise of the Phoenixes for example (it's so good it's almost a masterpiece btw) but by episode 2 I was all caught up. Bloody Romance soon becomes less confusing.

Can I ask which drama on my list you haven't watched yet ?

Lots of historicals on your list. They're my favorites as well :) I've watched and loved most of the dramas on your list. Here are some that I think you could love as well: -
K-DRAMAS:
*Moon Embracing the Sun
*Gaksital (aka Bridal Mask)
*7-day Queen
*Arang and the Magistrate
*Chuno (aka Slave Hunters)
*Goblin
*Healer
*Grand Prince

C-DRAMAS:
*Legend of Fu Yao
*The Rise of Phoenixes (still airing)
*10 Miles of Peach Blossoms
*Untouchable Lovers (the first 16 episodes. The rest of the drama is a completely different story)
*Bloody Romance

I rec the Legend of Fu Yao. The chemistry between the leads is off the charts and they have one of the best developed romance I've ever seen in a drama.

Well, I think it's not so much that people agree with his actions but rather that the character is consistently written and that his actions/thoughts/decisions are understandable. You never go "Wait, what?!? Where did that come from?!". As to the matter of actually liking his character, it's a question of personal preferences. Personally, I find him really interesting and captivating as a character because I prefer my heroes to be flawed and morally grey. I think the way he can't get out of his vicious circle of self-pity and can't see the persons that do care about him is very tragic. That said, I also really like Xu Feng as a character as well. It's a blessing to have two interesting male leads in a drama :)

The Xu Feng from the novel was a jerk with murderous tendencies and who tried to kill Jin Mi a couple of times. The drama did a much better job of fleshing him out and making him three dimensional. It's just that they spent more time on Run Yu so Xu Feng might seem a bit less developed in the drama and that is a shame. But what we do get is fine with me.

I second the recs for Legend of Fuyao and 10 Miles of Peach Blossoms. Maybe you'd like The Flame's Daughter too.

Since Viki is kind of official and legal now, I'm guessing they got their videos directly from the producing company and asked for no hardsubs (Like Netflix did with Rise of the Phoenixes). There are HD videos of the 60 eps dvd version available online but only with hardsubs. That's why I'm hoping there will be a blu-ray with English subs. But I don't know how these things work in China.

For the people in the know, is there any hope that the drama will get a blu-ray release with english subtitles? I've bought a few K-dramas with english subs before but know nothing of C-dramas. I would like to own it in HD with none of those pesky chinese hardsubs.

Oh yes, I always find it interesting as well. It's the power of written or visual works. We can each find a different spin on it :)

You are correct, without any confirmation from the screenwriters, it will always be open to interpretation.

I don't know what to do with myself so I'm rewatching select scenes from the drama. One scene in particular that I wanted to revisit was the moment Xu Feng threw his phoenix feather at Jin Mi in the Demon Realm cave.

Many people saw it as a purposeful move on his part to protect her from his attack but it didn't read this way to me on first watch. Now that I've finished the drama and watched the scene a second time, I stand by what I said: Xu Feng intended to use his feather to attack Jin Mi, not to secretly protect her in front of Sui He.

Why am I so sure?

Well, his confession at the end of the drama for one. He tells us everything that he said and did to mislead Jin Mi (the rabbit, the "I'll kill you" etc...) but he never once mentions the scene in the cave. That can only mean that there was 0 ambiguity and that his action could not have been misunderstood. What we saw is what we got and needed to be taken at face value.

So what did we see?

We saw Xu Feng driven to use a more forceful attack on Jin Mi to finally get her to leave. We saw him calling to his feather and wanting to throw it. But the feather, knowing his true feelings, was fighting him and his hand was trembling with the effort and his reluctance. It was a battle between his conscious mind and his soul/heart. The feather recognized the true feelings in his heart and soul and did its job to protect the person he loved.

The feather made him face the fact that he was still irrevocably in love with Jin Mi despite everything she had done to him and he was so disgusted and horrified with himself that he proceeded to obliterate any link between them in very cruel ways such as proposing to Sui He and using her frost petal.

As to the fact that the feather was never described as a weapon before, well it was never described as a soul carrier either and that's just what it did when the Emperor used it. I think we're supposed to understand it represents Xu Feng and acts according to his wishes, hence the "You betrayed me" after the feather refused his superficial command to act as a weapon and chose to listen to the deeper command of his heart and soul instead.

There you have it. A minor plot point to be sure. But it had nagged at me from the moment I saw the scene. I was expecting (and wanted) to see Xu Feng protecting Jin Mi in spite of everything that had happened and it nagged at me that it wasn't what I read in the scene and that there was no way to completely know for sure.

Got it! Thank you :)

Thanks: Do you know where this version can be found ?

Thank you! Could I bother you further and ask how you download the episodes. I used Google Translate but don't see anything that looks like a download link once I go to a specific episode.

Do you know where to find the RAWs that match Netflix's subs by any chance?

Agree 100%. But at least we were lucky that the foundations for the complexity of his character were there so that we as viewers could dig deeper. It's just a shame that it wasn't exploited on screen. It is indeed the one flaw of this drama. Well, that and the sketchy reasoning for Jin Mi's betrayal which I felt wasn't done well enough to be convincing. But I learned to let it go and just suspended my disbelief. It wasn't too hard because it lasts for only a few episodes whereas we kept waiting and waiting for Xu Feng to get a bit more developed as a character.