sakie

You probably saw her drama before, but just didn’t know it’s Wu Zetian unless it’s mentioned in the summary. Her name Wu Zetian was only given after she died, so in any movie/drama, no one would ever directly refer to her as Wu Zetian because it would be historically incorrect. They will probably call her by her empress title or whatever other title she had before becoming Empress.

There’s a couple of way to interpret this line. 1) YueHua’s family only has her and her brother left; and 2) no other blood relation to Wu Zetian is left alive as historical she is known to kill off even the Wu’s overtime. The drama is on the later part of Wu Zetian’s life.

I enjoyed this part too. Yibo is doing a great job acting his part of someone with antisocial disorder.

Gao Bing Zhu and YueHua share a few scenes together that allow them to have a glimpse into each other moral compass (eg, saving the girl in the Unwelcome Well, saving the workers, saving each other). GBZ sees that YueHua is competent, not corrupted, and has a good heart. On the same token, she realizes while he’s determined to solve the case, he’s upright and has a positive moral compass. There’s a level of respect and understanding. These two manage to create a subtle, yet strong chemistry; and it makes the viewers just want to root for them.

Well, they are on the extreme ends of social class, so not sure how likely they will be together as a couple.

For TLB fans, a little history tidbit info that may shake up your mind .

Wu Zetian was part of of Li Shimin’s harem. Li Shimin was Changge’s uncle who played the emperor in TLB.

Extended relation.

After the Empress killed off the Li family, original founder of the Tang Dynasty, she planted people she trusted from her side of the family, Wu, in court.

We don’t know how extended the relation is, so the level of blood tie is questionable.

I don't believe her full name was mentioned in the drama, and this is normal because people in the old days weren't allowed to address the empress/emperor/the ruler of China by their full name, only by their title or their reigning name.

As with you, I'm impressed as well, especially the visuals and color schemes. It's rich and warm with chinoiserie tones in a lot of grand scenes; and yet gray and sombre to show the dismal parts like scenes from the city's underbelly, the Unwelcome Well.

Yes, she's the Empress, aka, Wu Zetian.

History has Wu Zetian as a ruthless empress. As you can see early on in the drama, all the politicians in court were scared of her, and she didn't even have to raise her voice. This is because she was decisive and quick to sentence you to death. As this point of the drama, it was probably around 695 AD, so she was already a full fledge empress, ruling with the sole power and authority of an emperor, which meant, she pretty much was above all and only below "heaven." Since she was the rightful ruler under the mandate of heaven as per ancient Chinese philosophical concept, her subjects had to "save" her as you put it. That aside, if you do a half-a*s job, I don't think you'd survive in her court, especially when she has the secret police in place that allows anyone and everyone to denounce you slacking on the job. =)

In this drama, she's the long hair middle age lady who speaks with a low calm voice. Not sure what episode you're up to, but very early on, she gave SiYue a white jade object as a decree to investigate the informant issue.

Hahaha… you’re that lost? Post your questions of what’s stumping you, and some kind souls will help out.

I hear you. Same here. I pretty much gave all the major c-dramas since the Long ballad a tried, but they all sizzled out flat sadly.

As of ep. 4, no major physical injury. Mental state may be shakened.

Post your questions here in the forum and set the spoiler tag on if needed, and someone will answer it most likely. :) … or I’ll give it a try if I can. 😀

I laughed that the groom’s headpiece is askewed, showing how little Baili wanted to be there when he showed up at the bride’s front door.

No bromance so far up to ep 4, and I don’t believe there will be any at all in the drama. There may be a strong sense of camaraderie between the ML’s as the story unfolds.

Just finished episode 4.

I came across a post somewhere or maybe it was asked during the pre-show airing conference on whether Baili Hongyi has ADHD, and Wang Yibo responded “He does?” .

I’m beginning to suspect perhaps the character Baili is on the spectrum. He doesn’t smile much, very blunt with his words, always fidgets with wood pieces in his hands - especially when stressed (eg. When he was supposed to get dressed to get marrried, and a couple other times). Even his father insinuated that Baili won’t make it on his own given his distant personality, and that the casino owner stated that Baili is intelligent but she’s surprised that he’s getting married (as in, he lacks emotion to be in a relationship with a girl). So, maybe he’s a savant…

What is your opinion? ADHD or not?

Thanks for the info. Happy to know that Luoyang is beyond “very rare”on the scale. I’m pretty sure Wang yibo being in the series is a big attribute to the off the chart rating. 😀

I’m on the same page in term of watchable dramas this year: The Long Ballad, and most of the Rebel Princess. The rest got dropped.

Luoyang seems very promising after 2 episodes. Hope the momentum stays on track.