sansoleil83

I think so …there was a shot of him noticing her in the cave and it appears a crush at first sight because it was even before he received the Qingzhou knot. The knot sealed it.

👍for the better

YQ is a morally weak person from what I am gathering so far, has obsessions but no true convictions with lots of trivial skills but no real life skills…morally weak characters are easy to manipulate and he’s easy prey for the CP.

There is love and then there is obsession…some of the characters are starting to reveal their true nature.

The novel has been a point of interest due to it being very controversial but I totally agree with you that it is best to just go with the flow of the drama especially as they have had to change it so much to get it through the censors.

He was only pretending to be red flag…tho he is shades of grey because he uses FL and how grey his methods are to achieve his goal remains to be seen

The make up is done very well in KMLM. In a lot of other dramas it is often so heavy the facial close ups are sometimes 😬

You’ve presented the pros and cons really well. Will go revisit Love in the Desert. My first impression was ‘wow this is Mills and Boons’

Mei Lin does have agency, she has her own motivations, so not entirely a pawn.

There is a tonal shift from the initial three episodes. I do feel it is a bit jarring but I am still very intrigued to see how the story/plot will play out and of course also here to enjoy the romance. The drama has established that MJH’s vulgar, callous, despicable side is him play acting and putting on a front. He has been using this persona for the past 10 years as a cover to allow him to plan in the background how he is going to bring down the real culprit. What we discover about MJH is that he is in fact compassionate, however due to him having been ostracized for so long he has somewhat lost his ability to express true affection, warmth and probably love. So him warming up to Mei Lin may appear like becoming a “simp” but this is part of his development. It is also part of her’s. Well this is how I am seeing it. I have seen part of Love in the Desert and as much as I like Alen Fang not sure I can continue due to the number of rape attempts, not comfortable with it.

I have not read the novel, so novel readers…do you think they have toned down the darkness and toxicity too much in the drama so far? Thought the amount of darkness in the first 3 episodes was just right. I have noted previous comments that a lot of the book changes in the drama have been for the better….

LXY has incredible onscreen presence - you sense the aura when Wuxin is onscreen. He!also makes the robe look so elegant.

doesn’t even feel like it’s just a subtext either

Somewhat similar. I have seen an early trailer for this and the relationship looks conflicted.

Eagerly awaiting his other dramas.

😂

Just when I thought LXY’s styling and costumes from In Blossom could not be topped. 😘

CP comes across pretty vile.

Then Baron Chen is probably doing a very good job.

IKR - he needs to know how to take a hint. But still poor guy, he ain’t ever gonna this one.