Sol1056

I'd say a vaguely three kingdoms or sixteen states sort of period, or just your basic warring-states period. From what I've seen, that lets you get away with a bit more in quasi-historical dramas, because it's not like you're toppling a central government that's unified all of China (ie the current prickly PRC leadership).

Instead, it's little squabbling provinces, so getting rid of corrupt warlord-kings is (implicitly or explicitly) a 'good' step towards that centralized cannot-be-toppled empire/people's republic. Notice also that the story carefully said the previous dynasty "collapsed" (which admittedly a few dynasties actually did), and wasn't "overthrown" (the latter being the true no-no now in cdrama land).

I've gotten so used to songs not being subbed that this show has been excruciating to watch, at times. The lyrics are on the screen for several seconds while the actual dialogue -- the part I'm actually here for! -- shows and is gone in tenths of a second. Several scenes I've had to rewatch eight or nine times just to catch all the blink-and-you-miss-it subtitles. Grrr.

Yes, anyone audited (in any country) will be liable for paying taxes in full and on time. whether you filed them or not, and the 'not' option is more common than you might realize. In countries with massively complex tax codes, it's not uncommon to hire an accountant to do your taxes -- especially so if you have complicated pay schedules and/or a wide variety of assets. It strikes me as unfair to expect someone to be a trained tax specialist to verify immediately whether they're being set up for tax fraud -- unless they *actively* and *intentionally* hid assets from their accountant or directed that accountant to do the hiding.

Like I said, does she owe taxes? Sounds like it. Does she owe fines for late payment? Most likely. Is she *guilty* of telling someone to intentionally and willfully hide assets to reduce her tax burden? Well, you need proof for that, even in the PRC. Hence the investigation.

As for YBY, it appears she was warned first by her local county or province that something was off. She did no internal audit and/or refused to let the county tax dept investigate, which could be taken as either blissful ignorance or trying to cover something up. So when the full audit was triggered, she was already under a cloud for that apparent refusal. Latest word I've seen is that she's paid in full, at this point. From here she either goes silent for awhile like FBB, or she starts right away to rebuild her career. (vs DL who also tried to evade investigation plus is still taking his sweet time paying what he owes.)

But SZE's case began with a whistleblower. Of course there was no polite warning for her to ignore/evade -- if she's truly guilty, why alert her ahead of time so she can destroy evidence?

The main question remains: did the person filing taxes on her behalf act per company policy or were they directed to by SZE (or some other party). Either way, is there proof and is that proof strong enough to find the tax filer, SZE, or some other party guilty of tax evasion and/or fraud? A full audit (of possibly multiple years, to show a pattern) is not simple nor quick. Doing that at the same time as a criminal investigation -- all the text messages, all the written notes, all the email, interviewing numerous witnesses, etc -- well, it's not going to happen overnight.

And wise money says you don't comment on an open criminal investigation. If you're found innocent, you can speak then; if you're found guilty, you'll look especially arrogant for previously proclaiming your innocence. And you sure as hell don't want to announce you're guilty before you're even judged. So you stay quiet.

which drama is TMOPB? all my acronyms are running together!

He's already been such a complete jerk (and his character is so damn arrogant to everyone, even potential allies) that he'd really need to be crawling (and a lot of groveling) before I'd consider him redeeming himself enough for me to buy a smart character falling for him. His delivery makes all his talk of "no more wars" sound like an evil plan instead of a grand design. I mean, "no more wars" sounds great but if the execution is "I conquer everyone and reduce them all to paupers eating dirt and tree bark" then that's actually worse, imo, even if technically it satisfies the requirements.

So far, Chu Yue seems to be pretty smart (or at least competent and strong-minded), but who knows. The story could easily decide she needs to go as mindless as the concubine, which frankly would irritate me after how well it's done with almost all the other female characters.

I suppose I have to give props to Chang Hua Sen for doing the arrogant and smug SoB (or is that SoP?) thing, 'cause his character has been pretty much unlikeable from the beginning. What's bothering me is I'm seeing all the hallmarks of a quasi-second couple in Marquis Smirk with Chu Yue, which usually means either a) she gets hit with a stupid stick and falls for him, b) she gets a personality replacement and falls for him, or c) she doesn't fall for him but the story sabotages her, never allows her a win, and beats her down to nothing -- which eventually leads to the same ending anyway for her, that she's submissive and absent any backbone or spirit.

I'd just really like to see her kick him in the face several times, but too many cdrama scars tell me that's probably not how it's going to go. That would really suck, given all the other strong and competent (or learning to be so) female characters. (Except maybe Concubine Chu, who politically-savvy but unable to make wise (or discreet) choices.)

It's the ballet training. Liu Shi Shi has it, and that's why her wire work is so damn flawless. Those long glides high above everyone else? She leaps and holds that position without a single wobble, perfectly. It's her ballet training plus her phenomenal core muscles developed by years of dance. Plenty of articles about Luo Yunxi mention directors love to work with him for the same reason. He can keep himself perfectly steady on the wire thanks to that training, and that makes him really easy to work with -- you don't have to do fifteen takes to get a good shot!

Look at non-ballet-trained actors or actresses doing vertical wirework or long horizontal glides and see how often they're either leaning forward or they wobble slightly as they move. You won't see that from Cecilia or Leo, or from Yang Yang, Wu Jinyan, Victoria Song, Liu Yifei, Seven Tan, Liu Hao Ran, or Li Xiaoran. All of them have classical/balletic training. Nearly every reigning HK martial arts female star had a balletic background: Michelle Yeoh, Shih Szu, Lily Li, Cheng Pei Pei, Angela Mao (who also studied hapkido). Even other dance styles (folk, modern, or chinese opera) provide a benefit. Li Qin, Zhao Wenlong, Yang Chuan Bei, and Niu Jun Feng all studied traditional chinese opera, which also has intense training and core muscle development.

There's a big difference between actresses (and actors) who came up through the idol system -- must sing, do short-burst choreographed dance, look good (of course), acting chops are optional -- and the old-school preference for ability to handle the work over corporate-approved marketability. And by work, I mean wire work, performing stunts, dancing, and actually acting. Singing optional.

alternate (possibly correct?) synopsis is a few posts below this one.

Think of the current "states" as formerly parts of an entire empire. The previous dynasty was overthrown, and it did what nearly every dynastic empire has done in that case: broken into a variety of pieces, each led by independent kings with their own agendas.

Basically it's a wuxia-version of the warring states or the period of the sixteen kingdoms. Most kings of these split-apart states wanted to conquer all the rest and unify all of them under a single dynasty led by that conquering king (now emperor).

The twist here is that it doesn't seem the kingdom of Wu is all that interested in expansion and conquering, unlike the kingdom of An.

I get the feeling he had an absolute blast playing this role.

Uhhh early in ep6, were we supposed to take that moment at the well as a *literal* representation of (ahem) *significant* thirst?

Good point. Edited out the details to keep it vague.

I wasn't impressed with He Lan Dou's character in T&C, since it seemed she was cast only for managing a permanent slight scowl while otherwise staying completely expressionless. In hindsight, it wasn't her, it was the role. Now she's got a role with substance, and she's pulling off "completely and totally terrified, in over her head with no life vest in sight" petrified young girl who's earnestly (if naively) trying to get the reward so she can be with the guy she really likes.

I also have very low tolerance for the cdrama pretend-helpless girl who uses tears to manipulate a man or men around her. So a character who's crying in many of her scenes would normally irk me, but so far HLD's tears feel completely sincere and believable.

In ep4, when she came running out to see ML, her tears were totally those of relief. (Certainly young enough that it's okay for her to want an adult to be the adult for her.) HLD carried that scene and the ones following with zero romantic/sexual implication, too. That's such an easy cliche to fall into, but HLD evaded that neatly. Definite kudos.

I had questions in ep1, and I'm delighted to find them being answered in ep2 -- instead of the way some shows make *every* piece of info a secret and it takes six eps to get hints and by then you've either figured it out or stopped caring anyway. This doesn't mean the show won't hit the skids later, but it's a rare opening that knows how to raise an opening set of questions, answer those quickly, and have the answers raise another bunch of questions so the story moves forward.

A few quibbles with the opening premises, but nothing so bad it detracts from some solid pacing, well-placed questions (and answers), and overall strong writing.

I think the subtitles are ambiguous when NYZ points to the arrow in his back. Is the original dialogue that way, too? NYZ points to arrow that hit him from behind (which usually means your own soldiers are shooting at those in the front). was NYZ implying An had infiltrated Wu's army, or that it was just so much chaos that Wu army was shooting in all directions with no concern for whether their target was an enemy or ally?

I'm not seeing his name listed in the credits but does Viscount Han (ep1) remind anyone else of Han Cheng Yu? (https://kisskh.at/people/6002-han-cheng-yu)

honestly I'd expect a much lower rating -- those kinds of "mass audience voting" usually ends up averaging out to the lowest common denominator, and there's very little that lowest common denominator likes less than a drama that requires you actually *pay attention* and refuses to spoonfeed you.

the closest I've seen in awhile to a classic bluescreen.exe!

ep34, when she said, "take off your clothes," did anyone else hear the record scratch coming from XW?

we're thriving pretty well except for anyone currently in the immediate vicinity of a grizzly bear!