Romanov

LOL OMGG. Thanks for your info, I really appreciate it. I didn't see the actor. Poor kid :(

I agree. As long as they're together, they'd create their happiness

If I'm not mistaken, so the FH's son in the novel is Chu Wei Yun. But in the series, Wei Yun is the emperor's son with Tilan. I thought the actor of Wei Yun is the one with Yang Mi in the final scene before credit. Is he? I'm a little confused.

But if there's no cut being done, at least we could interpret the drama better and have the explanation we deserve.

Yess

Yeah it's unfair. At least, they found each other.
In the end, both of them gained their wish but also lost other wish at the same time.
At first, FH wanted his honesty and to be together in duties or fight or catch the bad guys. In the end she got that when FJM was crying and told her everything about him being the baixi again. But, at the price that she has to let go her other wish to have a family with him.

FJM always wanted her to be happy and safe. In the end, his wish for her safety was granted, but the price was his other wish for her happiness (which happened to be living as husband and wife outside the palace).

In the end, they're already in acceptance despite the pain.

I think the ending itself is a combination of happiness and sadness for all characters. There's pain and joy at the same time. But you can have your interpretation further. The FL and ML are both alive and together in their duties, but not together in a marriage. FH's happiness is always been FJM, and FJM's is always been her and her safety. For me, it's a happy ending, as long as they're alive, they will have future waiting for them. While in the past, ML always thought there'd be no future for him and FL. The ML finally found someone that he could talk about his feelings to, without any restraint like earlier episodes.

Yeah, too bad they didn't. They kept it in the "grey area" and there's no interview from the cast and crew to explain it further.

In the end, DX's top priority was always his love interest and he's not strong enough to live on after losing both of his wives. It's ironic also that FJM is someone with the "leader" material, ends up being a servant, where as DX isn't but he ends up being an emperor.

Yeah, they left us with 'what if' situations with that ending. It's interesting but also painful haha. They got our money and our feelings at the same time. No wonder they're in the top rated drama.

If FZ and FJM have no kid, then the day FJM die would be the day for the baixi being defeated and eliminated for good.

I thought so too at eps 45-46 that Lang Huan might undo the baixi since she's a magical being, but too bad it's only my expectation. :(

I thought so too. It's an outstanding drama in overall performance, but in details there are still tiny missing pieces like you mentioned. It's not 100% satisfying. But for the irony, they really got us.

Love and enjoy your review and the details about NPE.
:) Thank you

I saw it too. OMG. For someone like him, it's too depressing and hurting, to read the script and enter the FJM's mind. I look forward to watch his modern drama.

Thank you so much Ruth, I really appreciate it. DX and TL deserved more time to be together but they're unlucky. So, I think it's the director and screenwriter decision not to give the two couples the absolute happiness. Well, if we consider ZL and ZY is also tragic in the middle eps, when ZY decided to show up in front of ZL. She was poisoned and lost her sight.

I totally agree with you about William. His character is so different to Mark Chao's or Ethan's. But I think William is perfect and he's born for this role. i can't imagine someone else replacing him. People needs to see his difference of expression when he's around people and when he's alone. I'm addicted to watch his BTS scene or interview too, he's a total joker and "ice breaker".

TMOPB is definitely one the best Chinese drama. The plot, the screenwriting, the acting, the set and also the costumes aaa. If you're interested in historical drama but a little bit comedy try to watch Joy of Life. Less romance, but every episode you'd spend more time to laugh than any other series, the plot and the execution is amazing. It's rated as 9.0 here.

Happy to know that we can feel better after the ending yesterday. Thank you.

Yess, it's very tragic, isnt it? That's the reason this story is interesting but killing us at the same time. It already happened for 600+ years.

I think they want to show us that the Fang bloodline continues but in different fate as a member of royal family. In this way, DX really fulfilled his promise to FJM when he was dying due to the dawn flower poison. At that time, he promised to give everything he deserved to FH. But this time, he gave that to FJM's son everything that FJM deserved (better fate for the FANG), after his endless service to DX.

I appreciate DX's response to this baixi bond throughout the series. I admire his character more, and it's one of the reason in the end, we could sympathize with his character. At least, he's not disappointing like his ancestors.

I agree. The author is indeed wise and kill the " big antagonist" of this story, unlike the drama.

Yeah, we can imagine the rest of their stories. I love how they changed it from the novel. FJM deserved to be loved and interact more with FH since he lost most of his time worrying about the state. They tried to compensate that with FJM being alive. The baixi is the only unresolved problem until the end and also the biggest antagonist.

But if we look from other point of view, baixi is the form of sacrificing love for the good of others, but in order to do so, the price must be paid.

Hopefully, there would be no another rebellion in the future then. The kids would grow together and no baixi bond required. The Fang bloodline continues but in different fate as a member of royal family. In this way, DX really fulfilled his promise to FJM when he was dying due to the dawn flower poison. At that time, he promised to give everything he deserved to FH. But this time, he gave that to FJM's son everything that FJM deserved (better fate for the FANG), after his endless service to DX.

Maybe it's due to their change in the last minutes so they had no actor to portray FJM 's son but only described him with implicit narrative.

I think that the definition of happiness changes with time, because there's no constant thing in life, and so does happiness. Actually, I'm still confused whether they have a child that's younger than the emperor or not. So, if they do like you said, I think from their perspectives, happiness is the togetherness as a family, despite he's unknown to the world or they live in different palaces.

It might be different in the future when the emperor and their son are both adults and already have their own family and the state is at peace and stability. By that time, maybe FH and FJM would be in their 40 or 50s. In that case, like other parents, they might want a relaxed life since their wish for their sons and the state are fulfilled. Even though we know that they're selfless, but they're not 100% selfless because they're also humans. They're both responsible figures so I bet they'd keep in touch with their sons, just like when FH got the message about DX during their time in Yuezhou, and they might visit their sons after sometime.

So, the measure of happiness I think is sometimes subjective but I agree on anything from theirs (FH,FJM). It depends on us how to interpret the characters perspective.

I agree on the cup with half full of water. As for this drama, the water resembles the happiness. even though it's only half (happiness or half water), but if they find a way to pour water into it, there would be full of happiness :) I wonder what do you think about this?

I totally agree with you on their future. also FH is a strategist , she'd find the reason easily and put on an act. Yeah i think the people will never know who the real Grand Mentor is.

At first, I felt devastated to watch the ending. But then, I realized some points from this drama, that's not as sad as it seems. If you feel like I did, feel free to read my spoiler. Hope it can make you feel better :)

I can't believe it's over yet. This is definitely one of the best drama I've ever known. I think they didn't give us a "fantasy" happy ending like we want because they want to create the image or resemblance to the reality of life. Life is sometimes the combination of happiness, sadness, sweetness, bitterness, acceptance, duty, sacrifice, etc). It's the matter of perspective whether it's happy or not.

All the characters had their own battles and the actors played it perfectly until the end.
FH, one of the strongest and toughest FL, she fought physically and mentally throughout the series, suffered in silence and carried on.
FJM always struggled between "what he should do" vs "what he wanted to do". He planned perfectly for everyone but not himself.
DX with his five stages of grief after ZZ's death.
TL suffered physically and mentally but she managed to stick around and help DX go through from denial - anger - bargaining - depression (5 stages of grief) until finally he could reach the acceptance stage and started to move on, build their lives together.
ZY, being far away from his loved ones (FJM, FH, ZL) to win the battle on his own
ZL, with her disability, she managed to "fight" in her own way and finally found her happiness.

Throughout the series I think, each couple really defined the meaning of love in their own way. At least the ending describes it for us. Basically all of them are together in love in every possible situation as we saw in FH and FJM, I'd say love is being together in their duties. Between DX and TL, love is being together in sadness (grief) even in death, while ZY and ZL thankfully are together in their happiness.

After watching the ending, I consider it to be a future happy ending for FH and FJM from my perspective. The crane feather that involved the little Emperor, FH and FJM, symbolizes longevity, peace, and good fortune. It could predict that FJM could survive longer and reach his old age. Also, he drank the mermaid’s blood that could make him live longer than others. But since he took the baixi bond again, I think the blood would make him recover from the respiratory problem over the years and he could reach the old age (not longer than other people anymore). The final scene of FJM proved that, he looked quite healthy and had no problem with his breathing though (if we compare to the YM and WC final scene). Maybe he only had limitation with his activities like fighting.

(From what I know about prematurely born babies, they’d have this respiratory condition / disease that could be mild, moderate or severe. They had difficulty of breathing, with the faster respiratory rate or breathing rate. In our timeline, we could treat them with medications and oxygen and intensive care etc. Most of them can recover in a period of time and survive. But in their timeline, even the disease is mild, it could easily kill the baby. So I think the baixi bond and FJM acted as the “medication and oxygen” in a way. Maybe the little emperor condition is mild, so FJM condition’s getting better and also he could survive.)

Peace was already earned (with Zhunian and also Huku since ZY became the leader), so there were no evil spies or mastermind anymore. In my imagination, FH would do her duty in the court and to the little emperor during the day, then at night she’d sneak out with her black attire to visit FJM. The reason is as we know, FH is stubborn by nature, she didn’t know how long FJM could survive, so, she’d cherish every single time they could have with each other. She hid it perfectly from the others and the little emperor. One day, when the emperor is an adult, she’d retire and return to FJM to live in a house by the sea and grow old together. Even though they couldn’t have many children as they wished, but the emperor might love them as his own parents and family. The Family that’s not connected by blood but connected by love.