In ep14, DZ gives an explanation that still doesn't make sense to me, probably thanks to the possibly-AI translation.…
She tells the emperor, "I incited the masses to create momentum, making Lord Song their preferred bet. Most of the lords placed their bets on Lord Song. I was the only one who placed a bet on Lord Song. That's how I won."
That makes zero sense (not the least of which is you get the worst returns if you bet on the popular favorite). It only makes sense if the first cases of "Lord Song" are actually "Lord Dong", but I can't see how even an AI would make such a blatantly wrong error. What am I missing?
What’s up with her step sister? Is she truly different the second time around or is she harboring bad intentions?
1st life, the half-sister (DM) was raised by her mother, so she ends up a mini-version w/ all her mother's nastiness. 2nd life, DZ's intervention led to the grandmother sending the stepmother off to the temple for three years, so DM ends up sweet and well-meaning thanks to being raised by good nannies instead of a manipulative mother.
In ep14, DZ gives an explanation that still doesn't make sense to me, probably thanks to the possibly-AI translation. Can anyone tell me what she actually said? Quote is behind spoiler in reply.
Today's episode was very satisfying and funny. Satisfying 'cause DZ's father finally grew a spine and defended…
It doesn't hurt that we get to see the father's dignity taken out several times, what with the two (or three?) times he falls over a threshold.
It adds a bit of humor, but also some good characterization: for the first time ever, he's not lowering his head (looking down to see the threshold) or hanging back (he's going so fast he basically flies forward when he trips). He's plunging into things, but he doesn't have much practice yet, so he stumbles a few times but gets up anyway and keeps going.
That, and the do-over means a lot of what she'd seek revenge for... hasn't happened in this life. Her mother isn't murdered, even if her death is still tragic. She doesn't end up with a wastoid husband or a sister who has an affair behind her back. And since she's not married, she doesn't need to get a divorce, or be accused of running away with Song Mo. So the only kind of revenge she _can_ have is to avoid all those things.
Me too And I loved him trying to break up the wedding in the first place!
He's a very straightforward soul, and tbh, as naive as Dou Ming in some ways, like if you just charge in and say, "that person is guilty!" then the heavens will hear you and somehow make it right, and that it isn't made right is both incomprehensible and frustrating to him.
Him rolling up to the wedding like he can just brazen his way into stopping it is so totally in character -- and the times we see him taking a step back, appearing to give way, while building his case, those are entirely thanks to DZ's advice and scoldings.
They really are a good pair, and I think this past ep (or the one before), even DZ admitted it. SM is all decisive action but without thinking first, while she's all thinking first, second, third before she finally acts. She could use some of his decisiveness, just as he's learning to use some of her caution.
Mad props to the sound engineer for the audio during the father-son argument 30min into ep 12. Having all the sound suddenly at a far distance, and gradually fading back in -- such an excellent way to underscore (literally?) how thoroughly a bone-deep shock will level a person.
I'm so into this story I've come out the other side, where I don't want to see everything fall apart. So I'm paused midway through ep12 with a strong sense of dread. On the plus side, theory is the longer I delay, the more episodes I'll have to watch once I get over this. Well, that's the theory, at least.
I think my current favorite word to describe this director's work has to be 'economical'. Everyone is at one location, planning for the next act -- and he cuts directly to that act. As least so far I haven't seen him do the "we'll whisper so the audience doesn't hear" (aaaargh I HATE that nonsense). Instead, he just skips right to it. If how a character gets from A to B doesn't push the story forward, establish a character's trait, or further a character's development, he skips it. It took a bit to ease into, since it's not the most common way of directing/editing, but it makes the story way more compact.
No wonder I hit the midway mark on each episode and start bracing for credits. The amount of story you can pack in is tremendous, if you keep a brisk pace. If he can keep this up for the whole run, we may end up with double the story we'd normally get!
Most gripping drama I have seen in a while!! I am a big sucker for this genre of cdrama I must say >
Pretty sure it's the reverse -- in the first life, he thought the culprit was Prince Qing, who told ML he'd targeted the wrong people. (iow, he'd killed all those innocent people and didn't even figure out the mastermind.)
I love this and totally agree. I think EP 5 was good at showing their different strengths. He is good at reading…
He's also an interesting character in that he isn't really a hothead, for the most part. He can be incredibly still and calm during the kind of moments where a wrong move will get someone killed. At the same time, he's clearly impulsive (or at least not prone to reconsidering his snap decisions) -- feed him the right information at the right time in the right way, and the boy will go off like a rocket. But the story doesn't treat him like he's stupid for that, either.
Which makes total sense for him: not hesitating in battle can be the best way to survive, but not hesitating in politics gets dead the fastest. When the FL forces him to slow down and think twice, the script is very good at making it plausible that a) he'd listen and b) he'd come around to agreeing. And what's rare in cdramas is that he doesn't go along just to placate her; he's going along because he's smart enough to realize what she says makes sense, and even if he doesn't trust her, he shouldn't dismiss her advice out of hand.
if I am not mistaken, Mei sun is the name of ML uncle, Duke of Ding..ML said the name in episode 7
yeah, saw that. I do wish the listings would show the characters' given names plus their family names -- like when young, the FL is something-shu (prosperity) and as an adult, she's Zhao. Pretty sure I heard a different name for the ML, when his mother's talking to him. Just be nice to know so I don't get confused (again) about who's who.
I know it's a big thing to have your power couple matching each other wit for wit, but I'm really liking that the FL and ML do have differences in their skill sets. He's very good at reading people, very good at organizing people, and definitely good at leading people considering his elite troops give serious signs of ride-or-die. But he's really not good at the schemes. I mean, he can pick up that they're there, but he's a little too straightforward to see how all the crooked lines come together. (Not to say he doesn't try, and I appreciate the story showing him puzzling things out.)
Meanwhile, the FL is also good at organizing and leading, but I feel like she's always been so busy hiding her real thoughts/intentions, she figures this is the same of anyone outside her very small trusted circle. In a way, she's put so much focus on trying to hide her own tells to learn how to identify anyone else's. That makes it real easy for the ML to cut through her pretenses/defenses, because he's very good at picking up on tells. It also means she can cut through him right back, since she can diagnose any scheme at twenty paces -- while to him, it's like she's reading the questions in his head and answering them without him even asking.
I'm just really enjoying (and really really hope the story can keep up) this balance where it's not ML/FL trying to outwit or one-up each other. These two aren't competitive like that. This is more a case where each person is highly competent at something the other can't do at all. That's making their slow burn not the usual cat-and-mouse game, but more a 'why does this person keep walking right through my defenses' kind of game. And unlike one-upping where characters frantically hide any vulnerability -- here, even a simple interaction means accepting the reveal of their weakness (which both handle remarkably gracefully), to rely on the other's competence, and (here's the especially important part) after each incident, neither has manipulated or double-crossed the other using that weakness.
The big thing behind slow-burn is there has to be a lot of burning going on, but I really like stories like this, where it's a slow-trust. After which there should be burning. Lots of burning!
ep6 mentions a character named Meisun. 1, it sounds like a two-character first name and thus bizarrely informal. 2, the story's acting like I already know who this person is. 3, I don't have the least clue. Could someone catch me up? Unless we are supposed to have no idea who this person is, and it'll be revealed in due time, in which case, just let me know so I'll stop feeling like I need to back up and re-watch the last three episodes to see what I missed.
I’m watching on Wetv and «Ms. Longevity » is annoying me😂😂 what is even this translation, I will finish…
lol same. every time I see 'Ms Longevity' I have to wonder if any real people actually looked at these when the AI was done. It's starting to get exhausting having to mentally change the subtitles to 'Miss Shu' so much, and I'm only on the 4th episode!
K-Drama 
That makes zero sense (not the least of which is you get the worst returns if you bet on the popular favorite). It only makes sense if the first cases of "Lord Song" are actually "Lord Dong", but I can't see how even an AI would make such a blatantly wrong error. What am I missing?
It adds a bit of humor, but also some good characterization: for the first time ever, he's not lowering his head (looking down to see the threshold) or hanging back (he's going so fast he basically flies forward when he trips). He's plunging into things, but he doesn't have much practice yet, so he stumbles a few times but gets up anyway and keeps going.
Him rolling up to the wedding like he can just brazen his way into stopping it is so totally in character -- and the times we see him taking a step back, appearing to give way, while building his case, those are entirely thanks to DZ's advice and scoldings.
They really are a good pair, and I think this past ep (or the one before), even DZ admitted it. SM is all decisive action but without thinking first, while she's all thinking first, second, third before she finally acts. She could use some of his decisiveness, just as he's learning to use some of her caution.
No wonder I hit the midway mark on each episode and start bracing for credits. The amount of story you can pack in is tremendous, if you keep a brisk pace. If he can keep this up for the whole run, we may end up with double the story we'd normally get!
Which makes total sense for him: not hesitating in battle can be the best way to survive, but not hesitating in politics gets dead the fastest. When the FL forces him to slow down and think twice, the script is very good at making it plausible that a) he'd listen and b) he'd come around to agreeing. And what's rare in cdramas is that he doesn't go along just to placate her; he's going along because he's smart enough to realize what she says makes sense, and even if he doesn't trust her, he shouldn't dismiss her advice out of hand.
Meanwhile, the FL is also good at organizing and leading, but I feel like she's always been so busy hiding her real thoughts/intentions, she figures this is the same of anyone outside her very small trusted circle. In a way, she's put so much focus on trying to hide her own tells to learn how to identify anyone else's. That makes it real easy for the ML to cut through her pretenses/defenses, because he's very good at picking up on tells. It also means she can cut through him right back, since she can diagnose any scheme at twenty paces -- while to him, it's like she's reading the questions in his head and answering them without him even asking.
I'm just really enjoying (and really really hope the story can keep up) this balance where it's not ML/FL trying to outwit or one-up each other. These two aren't competitive like that. This is more a case where each person is highly competent at something the other can't do at all. That's making their slow burn not the usual cat-and-mouse game, but more a 'why does this person keep walking right through my defenses' kind of game. And unlike one-upping where characters frantically hide any vulnerability -- here, even a simple interaction means accepting the reveal of their weakness (which both handle remarkably gracefully), to rely on the other's competence, and (here's the especially important part) after each incident, neither has manipulated or double-crossed the other using that weakness.
The big thing behind slow-burn is there has to be a lot of burning going on, but I really like stories like this, where it's a slow-trust. After which there should be burning. Lots of burning!