Sol1056

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!

"No beast is scarier than a human being." I get your point, sir, but I have to counter with a North American Grizzly Bear. It's not called Ursus arctos horribilis for nothing, I'm just saying.

Not sure I'd agree she's a blunt instrument, she's proving to be a well-written opponent precisely because (unlike her arrogant brother and possibly also her father), she's actually hella strategic and smart. Problem isn't that she's a sharp instrument, it's that the emperor is too stupid to realize he's not using her, she's using him, and at some point, she's going to turn that sharp end on him, too.

or more like ultra-slow burn

darn, I was really *really* hoping that was a line from a poem & that he was saying it ironically. (yes, I know, that's not likely given the context but still!)

well, if she's running away and he's going down with the ship, we need someone external to a) keep her from running away that in turn will b) give him the kick in the arse he needs to get back on track. fingers crossed!

frankly I'm starting to think the first life's resolution of an entire rebellion might be the best outcome. when I look across the imperial family and their Xue cousins/uncle, it's pretty clear the ones with integrity have no backbone, and the ones with backbone have no integrity.

this feels like the point in the story where everything has begun to go terribly, terribly wrong for our heroes. the princess still got sent to her death, the Xue family is even stronger with that vixen XS sharing the emperor's bed*, Xue patriarch has finally discovered that a) that mole really is a mole and b) that mole is on XW's payroll, looks like the (fake) Xue/Yan son is pretty much shunned by his (fake) family, ZZ is back around but extra-glum about it, JXH is not only 2nd rank but now has little to no protection against XS b/c emperor's concubine is several ranks about 2nd prince's concubine.

honestly it feels like we're one major court scene away from XW's entire house of cards to come tumbling down. (and it doesn't help that it feels like it's been too many episodes since we've seen XW in a private scene with the emperor, are those two no longer talking!?)

as if the constant undercurrent of threat and menace in MJTY wasn't enough to get me, this story's twenty times that thanks to so many more characters busy spinning all these political spiderwebs to catch each other while they do their best to avoid others' traps. but now it feels like we're on the precipice of an avalanche that will take down all the spiderwebs and leave our heroes crushed. just the waiting is gonna be the end of me!

* the emperor's belated explanation looks like a best-of-two-evils choice, but imo that's just rationalizing. 1, that he's too much of a coward to deny the Xues and 2, he just wanted a piece of new ass. he could've had her escorted out, on the grounds that her visit was against etiquette. but no, he went with his little head, figuring his big head could come up with a good excuse later.

could you mark this as a spoiler, please? b/c it's a big one.

4th quarter of the year: October, November, December.

what a relief. I thought it was 30 and was completely lost on how they'd wrap everything up in only two episodes!

What's the actual total episode count? Is it 30 or 38 or something else?

Here's my theory about the delays and Song's silence.

From what I've gathered here and elsewhere, the culprit was someone hired by her agency. Whether accidentally or intentionally (or on someone's orders), the person managed to get larger tax returns for the agency's people. That would include Song Zu'er, and anyone else who choose the agency to do their taxes (vs having friend or family do it for them).

Nothing of what I've heard makes it sound like Song *herself* is liable for that sketchy paperwork, but she *is* still on the hook for paying those back taxes. The fact that it was an agency accountant, though, means she's probably not the only person caught in it, and that there's additional investigation required to determine whether the accountant acted on their own (and did it for everyone) or was directed to do so (by the actor/actress or a manager).

That's a complicated investigation, and it would take months. It's also probably why she hasn't issued a statement. What's she going to say? Yes, I avoided paying taxes? She didn't; she paid what she was told she owed. Yes, I owe back taxes? That still sounds like an admission of wrong-doing. Someone else screwed me over? That sounds petty plus it's commenting on an open investigation. I'm not even sure a PR person would recommend any statement, given netizens can and will misinterpret freely. Honestly, this strikes me as one of those times where discretion really does seem the better part of valor.

After all, the investigation has to 1) figure out who's responsible, 2) the amount that responsible person managed to swindle from the government, and 3) the final tally of what each victim still owes the government. The risk is that failing to pay full taxes might still be seen as a kind of guilty, even done in ignorance. That means it's wisest for Song (and anyone else) to keep quiet. They don't want the government getting mad about a netizen riot and retaliating with a harsher punishment. They just want it settled so they know what they need to pay, and then life can get back to normal.

So we continue to wait.

Not necessarily. Some of us are watching SOKP right now, and it was frozen for awhile because of a scandal. Hell, there are some dramas that aired 4-5 years after filming (and one that I'm pretty sure was even longer), as everyone waited for some drama to finally blow over or get forgotten.

And she's actually one of the only actresses (if not for real the only) who played a role where she pretends to be male, and cut her hair for it. All the rest I've seen go with wigs for the short hair, but keeping their hair long underneath (thus easily discovered). Bai Lu did the opposite for her character, which is some serious committing to the bit.

It would actually not make any sense at all for her to be especially emotive in this role. Her character is basically constantly on guard and on edge, trying to navigate around her 1st life's catastrophes without giving herself away and at the same time prepare for and protect against new threats resulting from her different actions this time.

If she showed every emotion on her face, it'd be unbelievable she could fool anyone, let alone this many (very smart and very astute) people. So it's not surprising Bai Lu has to work with a lot of microexpressions at most, and near-deadpan at least.

The end result of what you're saying still speaks to the original question, as to whether this is a "netflix" drama, and that it's not.