namopanik

Yeah, I almost learnt to deal with it by now. I just pay no attention to episodes, choose any moment of relief and grab it. Not that there were many of those. The pace is exhausting, intensity hardly ever stops. Fight scenes proved to be a moment for a breath now. Got what I always wanted when complaining on fillers, I guess.
I read they originally aired two episodes a day, back to back, but it's not like evenly numbered are much different than odd ones.

That was cute and quite well developed for such a short drama. I'm glad I didn't pass this up (somehow I was convinced it has Chinese dub and I didn't like Kim Young Kwang in Pinocchio - he's good here, both his acting and the way his character is written). Definitely worth waiting for the subs.

Oh, that explains things. I thought he's just thinner (like the old empress said in a beginning) and maybe prematurely aged, but not deformed.

This drama has it all. Densely packed, sophisticatedly arranged plot. Beautiful cinematography, nice visuals, enough hair to cover one's head. Everyone is so cunning! Even those who aren't masters of political play have enough sense to always more or less discretely disappear when two people want to be alone or to silently acknowledge their friend may be something much more than he wants to be seen as and just let him be, knowing he's out of their league, but with no bad feelings. And strong female characters! REPEAT: multiple interacting, named, disctinctive female characters with impact on a plot, who aren't there just to be saved or fight for. Bonus: characters in a believable age, not just a bunch of pretty kids.
Do yourself a fovour and try it if you haven't.

I only have trouble with two things:
1. the story doesn't unfold episodically at all, to the point that there's no opening, no climax of the episode, no cliffhanger, it just starts and then stops, like it was one great narration randomly cut into even pieces. There's lot of threads which have their own build up, overshadows and all but no "episodes". So prepare yourself for lot of "you've got to be kidding me, how can you stop them halfway through a conversation?!", "arghh" and "just one more".
2. Are we supposed to believe there's something wrong with Mei Changsu face? I don't get it. If he's unrecognizably changed by the the longtime sickness, how on earth did he look like in his peak? Is this something like Scarlet Heart: Ryeo's 4th prince' *terrible* scar?

it's an intimate way of saying it.

there is no original. Only copy of a copy of a copy and all the crucial scenes laying around, waiting for someone to cut a close up from it and put it somewhere.

I saw the SBS version raw on myasiantv yesterday, but it looks they re-uploaded with the international version... Wait, Kissasian has SBS subbed.

Think of it this way: was Lee Bang Won always evil?

It's not cut out, it's added in the SBS version (look, it has a sign).
But not only single scenes are added or removed, there's a lot of tiny changes everywhere (like the ending scene with vision is there in both, but differently put together). The emphasis is put in different places. The SBS version has better flow, I'm sticking to it from now on.
Urgh, it makes me think of all the scenes they make but never show us.

For someone this cunning, CP is such a brat. I don't think he spared a single though to why Ra On was trying not to become eunuch, why is she living as a boy or trying to leave now.
The precious lady business is sweet and all, but it's hard to care about him and his pains when she can be killed any moment while he just wants a puppy. What's romantic about the event in the end? It's extremely thoughltess of him to expose her so much.

Because it's hard to unsee CGI this bad. It hunts you. I stopped comparing the plot or the characters because those are two separate stories now, but when the similar point comes up, it triggers something. Like with the way they handled time jump in a beginning - it's way better here (not the sixpacks, the sequence in a lake).
And it's not like the makers just ignore the old version.

https://youtu.be/g7TxkffmwgQ
starts around 1:18

Say what you want, but there's something missing in the lake scene (super fake CGI perhaps).

That's because of the Olympic break. They didn't trust in the viewer's intelligence to remember details and chose to water down some episodes with fillers. It'll stand out now, especially during binge-watching.

I always thought it's a kdrama-only thing! For some reason they dislike having their main and supporting actors facial expressions obscured (less important characters are fine with fully functional glasses).

At least villains are entertaining. I'm amazed so many people lasted this far. If i could go back, I'd rather rewatched Blood with my skipping finger tied behind my back.

I think they failed to establish two things for the viewers to be able to relate to the heroes: 1. Kang Chul's humanity, 2. W-world being real too (at least for me). I don't see as many plot holes as others do, but I guess it shouldn't be treated as a hard sci-fi, more like a fairy tale with pretty people getting together + meta on the frustration of the viewer, responsibility as a writter, the process of world-building in a making, figuring out the rules that are constantly changing etc. Because it's still there till the end (like when Soo Bong wipes his tears *through* his non-existent glasses).

If she wanted to kill herself, she would go for a neck or made long cuts along veins, not across.

Let's be glad she didn't go with a theme and stayed away from her face.
But what do you mean by making a scene? She didn't scream nor made threats, just used the opportunity when everyone was turned around, silently broke a vase and made rather clean cut on exposed part of her body. How do you suppose her to go through all the layers of skirts, bend and then cut? That would took much more time.
I'd like to see how would you keep your composure stuck in a past, essentially powerless, with some old man trying to sleep with you because dealing with potential riots instead is too bothersome for him

50:50, the pair gets together, someone dies miserably.