snowfallsslowly

This is absolutely a real thing, you get to the last quarter of a kdrama/cdrama and suddenly everyone starts acting like they've lost all their braincells, another thing with cdramas is a lot of the big things happen at the end and many of them relate to something censorship might want to cut so it gets dicey. I think it's mostly because writers just do not know how to write endings.

Idk what you've watched but I think these unbalanced relationship dynamics are a new thing. I've been watching dramas for more than decade and it used to feel mostly equal from both parties, especially kdramas, all of this is a product of how fandom has shifted in the last couple of years. You should go back and watch things from 2021 and before, more often than not it's very balanced. The princess man is one of my favorites where the heroine is a principled strong woman who is ride or die for the ML just as much as he is for her. Love between fairy and devil, one spring night, healer, call it love, hometown cha cha, it's okay that's love, queen in hyun's man, the smile has left your eyes, you are my glory, crash landing on you, there are so many examples of supportive loving partners who are ready to take care of each other no matter what.

YX has been protecting HZ and her family since even before he fell in love with her because he's a good person. The second time they literally met he knew she was hiding her grandfather's writings and pretended not to, he also protected that maid who almost got killed. He defended them multiple times to the emperor, he went to investigate her grandma's relationship with the QD because as he said he could intervene if something went wrong. If it was anyone else her and her family would be dead ten times over. He ordered the bureau to stop hurting innocent people and said he'd kill anyone who did. People saying the breakup will make him realize he needs to do something about the emperor make me scratch my head, he knows the emperor is a monster, he literally can't do anything about it except what he's been doing, be the bad guy in order to protect the most people he can. Do you think rebelling and killing the emperor is a joke? That's treason and would leave the country in ruins without a proper successor, he'd also have to kill multiple innocent people doing their job protecting the emperor and if he fails his clan including Shaoyao will be annihilated, as well as anyone remotely associated with him including HZ and her entire family. The emperor has caused him so much pain and he still chose to protect other people at the cost of himself and somehow it's still not enough. I'm not blaming HZ for any of this btw, she can't change anything atp just like he can't.

I've always wondered what a person of the opposite gender would think of these new trends. Most romance watchers are women and it seems at this point in time, most of them also want to see these dynamics where the ML is this fantasy of a perfect person who will do anything for the woman he loves and that's fine but they don't seem to want to see that from the FL's side as well, he should move heaven and earth for her but she should never display the same level of affection. To me, two people who are both willing to love, sacrifice and do anything for each other is what a good love story is all about but that doesn't seem to be the general consensus.

I think this one has handled it so much better than most dramas I've watched recently, except for this one instance I really felt it was balanced between them. Whereas in most other cdramas, the vast majority of the sacrifice, devotion, support falls to the ML. Like you said it's such a joy to watch a mutually loving supportive couple but alas most people don't seem to want that and they have to cater to the majority.

I don't blame the writers because nowadays on c-social media anytime a drama has a female lead act like she's very much in love with the person she's literally supposed to be in love with they get so much backlash and vitriol for portraying a woman with "love on the brain" when a male character doing the exact same thing is seen as swoonworthy. I get there's been some horrible depictions of women in a lot of dramas but it seems rn if the girlies aren't self inserting into the characters they don't want it, it's all "he's raised my standards and I want a bf like him" "I wish he was real so I could date him" and you do you but I like to watch my fiction as fiction.

I like this explanation, HZ has always shown her love with actions more than words and I think we're going to see that in how they get back together although I still think we could've seen a little more from her in this regard. Although I have no idea how she thinks YX is going to extricate himself from the emperor short of killing him because there doesn't seem to be any other way. I just really don't like the implication that because she's a woman her being as sad as YX about their breakup takes away from her as a character ( I know that's not what you're saying but I've seen a lot of this sentiment, it's so sweet that he's so sad and it's so badass that she's not *shudders*).

I hope they release the Express package tomorrow since we've only got 6 episodes left. Also this is apropos of nothing but whoever invented the block button needs a humanitarian award because I just forgot to log onto my account and got a jump-scare while reading the comments.

Exactly, being vulnerable and emotional when it comes to love does not diminish female characters and the double standard is what frustrates me because people are happy YX is jealous and pining. I don't blame the poor writers lmao just look at some of the reactions here...

Ming lan is my favorite female character of all time, one of the smartest, most well written fictional characters I've ever seen. She had completely valid reasons as to why she acted that way at first with the way her father treated her mother and her and the damage he caused but she grew and their relationship became of one of equals. She was a special case because her actions were deeply rooted in her upbringing and psychology and part her growth. But often times it's just the status quo that a ML is shown to be much more in love because that's what the masses want.

I really like her but I would've liked if she was more flawed. But my issue with this is not related to that, people seem to thinking wanting a female character to show the same vulnerability over her relationship as the male lead is some sort of shortcoming and if the roles were reversed and he seemed like he didn't care they wouldn't say oh he's got bigger fish to fry they'd criticize him heavily but such is the way of double standards. "Strong" female lead equals character who can't possibly feel heartbroken over a man because that makes her less than but I digress.

You're right about that. I've said this is one of the rare dramas where I really feel like the relationship between the leads is quite equal in terms of affection as she's always supported and protected him as much as he has her. Which is why I was thrown off by the way this was portrayed, I also feel like this is a symptom of a larger issue in romance dramas lately where the double standard is it's expected that a ML's entire personality revolves around loving the FL but if she shows even half as much care she's labeled weak and cares too much about love.

She can do those things and still show be vulnerable and sad about the end of her relationship, it's not an either/or situation. I know she cares about him as I've stated multiple times, I found issue with the way the writing is presenting the situation and if you find it's not strange than good for you.

That's another thing, she has a huge family and he has no one. I find it so weird because they've always shown us she really loves him and appreciates him. I really think it's the writers thinking she can't show vulnerability lest she be deemed "weak" because the online discourse nowadays is when it comes to love, female characters can't be show to care much but male characters need to perfect specimens madly in love. As shown by a lot of the opinions here that's considered "romance".

As she said, one of the reasons she broke up with him was for his sake as well, there's also a scene where she says she regrets it in the upcoming episodes. It's not that she doesn't care and is "bye bye ex", she's trying to hold it together because she was so much on her plate and doesn't have time to fall apart.

They seem to think that for her to be a badass business lady, she can't be heartbroken about losing the love of her life, who's gonna tell them she can be both?

Why does it seem like YX is the only one heartbroken by the break up? As if HZ hasn't shown time and again that she cares about him just as much as he does about her, what a strange writing choice...

Hua Zhi is such a rare breed of female lead. Every single romance cdrama has an utterly devoted, willing to do anything for the woman he loves male character and Yan Xi is no exception but seldom do we get female characters that are equally as dedicated as their counterparts. So it's wonderful to see someone who is intelligent, kind, independent but also loving, protective and ready to face anything for the person she cares about. There's nothing more satisfying than a love story where the two parties are just as dedicated to each other.

YX is still doing the emperor's bidding not because he's stupid or blind and needs to "wake up" but because he knows exactly how much of a monster he is. His 1st option is to say I'm not doing this anymore which he knows is equivalent to signing the death warrant of HZ, her family and even his and also would just mean someone else doing it and causing much more harm. His 2nd option is to rebel which is the biggest crime at this time and whether it works or not would have dire consequences on him, her and on the country and its people, there doesn't even seem to be a suitable replacement, if the country is unstable without leadership, countless lives would be lost. You can't just wake up and say hmm today I'm gonna commit treason and assassinate the emperor. I love HZ but she can walk away because she has that option, he doesn't.

So it seems she doesn't break up with him because life in the palace would be too stifling for her like many predicted. I had more faith in her, it looks like it's because the Emperor is using YX yet again to do his bidding but this time he might be threatening him with her and her family ( he doesn't even have to do it directly YX already understands if he goes against him he'll go after what he now knows is the person he cares about most) and HZ refuses to let him be coerced in the name of her safety/protection.