randomshowenthusiast

How much will this drag on/continue to play a big part of the plot/ will his chara stay in this brain-dead-mode of only thinking of her???

Have nothing against a crushing disciple storyline, but I just can't help despising how the show handles this:

a) Li Tong Guang was a chara I was interested in considering the set-up of his chara (struggling in court, interested in peace talks, his possible fiancé), but now they throw all of this away and his only personality atm is thinking about Ruyi...

b) I get that they're playing around with Ruyi learning about (healthy) romantic love from ML (overall cute), but the show is making it now seem like she has no capability to relate to Li Tong Guang even on a basic 'he admires Ruyi' level, while she herself revolves her own life around the late empress she loves/admires and even wanted to get kids just because the empress mentioned it...I struggle with this hypocrisy XD

c) yes they're having a sneaky mission and it's made difficult by Li Tong Guang recognizing Ruyi, but the constant gaslighting is making me want to punch something...

so any hope this will get better in later episodes? ^^

SPOILER PLEASE? ^^
Can someone please help me with a spoiler to the FL & her ex-disciple relationship? (Ren Ru Yi & Li Tong Guang)

I loved the start of the show but I'm sitting here at ~20/40 epis and even after weeks I can't bring myself to continue watching atm.
In the spoiler below I mention what I struggle with considering this storyline, so it's maybe easier to give me a reply to my question ^^

I get what you mean, but I just can't help it that it ruined it for me ^^
that running 3 steps after the carriage was such a lackluster attempt and like I said I get they couldn't be together at that time, but I just can't forgive that they left him in grieve, even an anonynmus letter would've helped him accept the situation instead of being left hanging in doubts.
that has nothing to do with not being codependent on the person you love it's just common decency and I know I expect too much from drama-logic/tropes lol ^^
“no one can and should be everything to a person” yes sure, but he didn't have a year of selffullfillment instead he was struggling with grief:
considering his chara he probably had nightmares about her fall/extreme guilt thinking his personal messy (earlier) marriage situation was a cause in her death/ coped by burrying himself in work (his original support system aka Gui Bai being busy happily married in another city (deserved yay for happy Gui Bai <3) etc

I have family members that ended relationships mutually with a loved one because sometimes love alone sadly isn't enough in certain circumstances, so I have no problem with them separating and developing on their own for a while, but I can't forgive the show the 'how' they did that last epi (kinda re-traumatizing him), sorry just my personal opinion ^^
it hit so many of my pet-peeves all at once and if I were in his shoes I don't even know if I could go back into that relationship...
but that's why tastes are different and good if others could enjoy it ^^

season 1 has a bit of a 'slow' start (getting to know his family and him trying to find his crush XD, which is fun too tho imho), but def. give s1 a try, because throughout season 1 sooo many small or big twist and turns happen that you would either be totally lost on trying to figure out what's happening in s2 or would just spoil yourself the journey of dicovery if you want to watch season 1 after season 2 ^^
(personally I wish I could rewatch season 1 for the first time again, because it was such fun a rollercoaster ride at times)

finale rant ^^
I just don't get the total lack of communication between adults and the absolute disregard for ML's feelings and somehow this is supposed to be a romantic ending Ig??!?!? -_-

I get that the situation wasn't easy, but that's when you're supposed to be adulting and sit down with the partner you supposedly love and have a talk.
and yes maybe they would've needed to part ways for a while and she could've established herself in another town etc...but it should've been a joined decision

but instead we get wonderful 'drama-logic' where she decides to walk away in his 'best interest' (nobody asked him), while he thinks the person he loves is probably dead for a whole fricking year, so all he got is being left grieving...
and when she finally comes back they have a weird non-talk pretending they're just fine and then he's forced into a marriage ...happy end~ yay?!?! -_-

honestly I'm just left here thinking 'he deserved so much better this whole year' and I'm not even that happy about their marriage because he was literally depressed and about to defy the emporer (= kinda death sentence) until the last second so yeah, sorry kinda ruined it for me...

I don't quite know what to think about this drama.
The first few epis were a bit of a 'I'll stick this out' mindset, but then I got really into it and liked it overall (besides some minor 'stupidities' of some charas/plotpoints).
Later on FL's background/origin-story took a turn I didn't appreciate and I just speed-watched those epis until I got interested again ^^
but honestly the last epi was my most disliked epi sadly, spoiler below

so overall the show was 'saved' for me personally due to being well acted and having some side-charas I really liked ^^

as always it's about personal taste, but I genuinly loved this drama :)
it probably came at the right time for me, I was stuck on half-finished dramas due to either something pushing my buttons in the wrong way or some shows just being too depressing for my current mood.
So this drama with its overall 'bright' vibe had already a good chance in my book, I started it after also seeing it rec for 'devoted ML' and he def was ^^

This drama too had its frustrating parts, but imo they managed to balance everything so well that I enjoyed binging it, also a plus for me that while the FL was on the 'naive childish' trend at the start her chara wasn't annoying to me ^^
It was my first time to see Wang Anyu and he totally won me over with his subtle face expression, the way he can show so much with just his eyes is A+ and I also really hope to see more of He Kai Lang in the future.
But overall it was an amazing cast, I liked many charas or loved to hate the 'evil' charas.
I also loved that friendships were an important part in this drama <3

I've just finished The Last Immortal and Xiu Yan was up there on my fav charas list, so I REALLYYYY hope this actor gained some attention with this drama.
He did really well as Aoge & Xiu Yan and he is handsome, so it's sad to see he doesn't have upcoming projects listed atm?!?

haha yesssss the trailer was just hyping up my expectations XD but guess we'll still have to wait a bit, heard iQlYl considers airing it in 3. or 4. quarter of the year ^^ but at least they seem to have a whole list of upcoming fantasy dramas until then (Fox Spirit Matchmaker (3 shows), Moonlight Mystique etc)

I've already seen the ML & FL in zhang gong zhu zai shang and I love their vibe :)
this series has a totally different storyline and set up with the ML being a prince, but at the end of the day he is still devoted to FL like in the other show ;)
FL is on the mature & competent & a bit femme fatal side (in both dramas) and I really appreciate these charas between the often childish FLs we get in CDramas ^^
I also really appreciate that both dramas did sneak some queer moments in, esp Dong Lan Xue with not only having a queer 'pleasure house' but als a SFL crushing on the FL (SFL is a great chara too).

Hi, yes it has a happy ending :)
(that extra 5min of epi 17 doesn't ruin the happy ending, but it's a weird kind of dark & out of context teaser for a 2. season we might never get, so watch that at your own risk or stop after epi 16 ^^)

If I remember correctly I think screen time overall felt balanced for FL & ML POV stories and also their shared screen-time :)
There's also a 2. couple and we get a bit of their individual stories too ^^

It’s always best to check out a drama for yourself and not just reviews/comments because people watch shows with different expectations and have different tastes.
Personally I overall really liked this drama and their take on Matriarchy (pretty ‘realistic’ setting, just with women in leading positions and some gender role reversal).

The drama set-up is political power-struggles between the matriarchs of noble families and some martial arts thrown in.
FL wants to be a ‘doer’ for the country, but has to tip-toe around political imbalances & paranoid women in power, so we get to know her at a point when she’s told to play the ‘useless spoiled rich girl without any ambition’.

The FL was overall capable and righteous but called ‘dumb’ at times due to her unwillingness for schemes & to risk lives or being too stubborn, but hey if she HAD to join or untangle schemes she was good with it.
The older generation kept a lot of important details and had their own plans, so she just couldn’t see through every plan.

ML was mostly like her secret bodyguard because reasons and also worked in a pleasure house because reasons lol (what even can you say about him without spoilers, well: he loves her ^^ )

FL not seeing through all schemes from the start due to lacking info (aka 'dumb') and having a man that fights for her (but also dances for her ;) and is absolutely devoted to her but keeps his cards close to his chest) doesn’t make her a bad FL?? (esp since she has a high social status and can get things done, but ok everyone has their own POV)

This show isn’t overly violent, but there are some darker moments in it and the charas would probably be considered grey-scaled morally, this might not be for everyone (but realistic for humanity) ^^

edit because I forgot: there's a 2. couple in the show :)
(aka 'they need therapy' but also: 'please protect them' ^^)

My personal nit-picks with the show:

a) it could have been a few more epis in s1 so we get a better flow/a breather between some events of the schemes unfolding instead of feeling a bit of whiplash at times when the charas have to switch from getting along to being distrusting due to what they just learned, like give me a few more min. happy times, please XD

b) on vicky they follow up with epi 17 (5 min long) and I rec to skip it if you’re not interested in reading the novel (I only know the drama atm, so those 5 min might make sense with what follows in the novel, but it kind of ruined the ending from epi 16 for me without any logic and Idk if we’ll ever get a 2. season for the drama ^^)

This drama is such a cozy/wonderful relaxing watch with women supporting each other and an adorable main couple :)

I watched this randomly because I was in the mood to check out Bai Jingting's 2. historical drama and I'm so glad I did.
Just like in Destined he does the subtle humor/dorkiness so well and the main couple clicks well too; sloooowwww burn tho haha, but personally I'm not interested in a show just focused on romance anyway, so this worked for me :)

It positively surprised me how the female charas and their dreams/fears/goals are actually center stage for this show and are developed.
(this show has spoiled me because I now started shows that have female main charas but treat her like an object in her own storyline and I can't stand it lol)

this isn't a drama with high intensity and while I overall enjoyed that I wish we could've gotten a bit more of the other princes (Han, Yan, etc.) instead of the sometimes a bit repetitive situations for An and Qi etc (I liked their story overall but just give me 15 min of the other princes if a show has 40 epis), that was a main nit-pick for me XD

I dragged out finishing this drama, because I knew I would miss this wholesomeness ^^

they even get a happy ending!
when I realized this was a bromance mini-drama I was first happy and then dreading the ending asuming one of them would die lol

So glad I stumbled across this show on Viki, it's an entertaining mini-drama and I would love to see their adventure continued in a 2.season.
The 2 ML are center of the show and this drama would deserve a bromance tag :)

I'm glad that My Lady General got me to know these new actors, he did well in that drama and I hope to see more dramas for him in the future :)

oh wow My Lady General was his first drama? He was awesome in every nuance of his character and I hope to see more roles for him in the future :)
(and I need Fangs of Fortune to air soon, the list of actors that lead me back to this drama just gets longer haha, can't wait to see it)