tsuyoi_hikari

I'm at episode 14 right now. Havent caught up with the new 2 episodes last night. But I had the feeling thats the direction they are going on with all he little hints they throw so far in the drama.

Thank you for your detail reply. But I think the changes made so far elevate the story even more like how they make Wu Geng and A'Gou the same person. With this change, it made its easier for audiences to accept the romance later than he simply taking away other person's identity and wife. XD And with them making him the same age as A'Gou instead of a child, it makes more sense for everything to move in the story.

BTW, the caressing of the chin that done by Bai Cai to A'gou, is it in the original donghua or its only here in the drama?

Hmmm interesting. It wasnt unnecessarily caring as her reaction so far are very normal. She actually tone down a lot and control herself and only retaliate when he hurt himself. I find this kind of care are pretty normal in everyday life as well.

Regarding need to be powerful enough, in the story so far, it is not them who actually seek the fight since they clearly know they are not powerful enough yet. The first time, Bai Cai was taken away by the Bai Prince. And the 2nd time, the immortals are the one who go to the Shenyin village to attack them. In both occasions, they are not the one who seek the trouble. They just defends themselves with everything that they got.

If they stupidly asking for trouble, I understand this kind of reactions. But they haven't done that so far.

I really like the leads' relationship. They are a team and they trust each other wholeheartedly. I love how they communicate and always tell each other what they think and work as a team. For an example, it is making perfect sense that Wu Geng wants to send Bai Cai away when he is going to do dangerous things at the mine cave but when she refused, he agrees to face it together with her. Even when he want to join the Shenyin Village, he tells her clearly his goals and discuss with her and tell her his POV and she agree with him too since she happen to have the same desire for justice, just like him.

Then, when she see his suffering at Shenyin village, she always clearly explaining to him her worries and why they should leave and he will always assuring her that he is okay and its all part of the things that will make him stronger. I love how mature are the two of them. The writing could go the route of her asking him to chose between her and his training but she wont do that since she understand him and what he wants to accomplished.

Even when he didnt want to tell her how he got hurt, its not because he treat her as a child but because he knew her so well and the extend she will do save him -- which is exactly what she did when she nearly died trying to get the lotus flower nectar for him.

Then, the first thing he did when he saw the Old Man hurting Bai Cai is taking Bai Cai away from the place, no question asked. Then when he wants to save Shenyin village, he discuss with her again his decision and again, when she want to follow him, he never shoo her away.

I really like how they always communicate and reassuring each other. The path that they are going to take is certainly not easy but they handled everything with grace and by talking to each other -- its very refreshing to see this kind of relationship. So instead of we being thrown into misunderstanding and noble idiocy troupes, what we get is a power couple that actually communicate with each other about their worries, goals and wants. I certainly love this kind of relationship in my dramas. An extra point to that aside from the engaging plots we have been getting so far.

With looking how clever has the script gone so far with how Wu Geng do his planning to how he is playing mind games with the bad guys to how self aware is Bai Cai, its pretty much to establish that both of the lead are not stupid.

Due to this, I bet Bai Cai already knew Wu Geng's real identity even when he never told her. She is always smart and from earlier on, she knew that A Gou is just a completely different person esp the part where he has no idea on how to heal her. Then, she remember the part where he burn Xin King's body to how he also taken his jade and hold it dearly. Lastly, it is the 'Caressing on the chin' to Wu Geng that she did at the Mine -- I thought that particular scene is pretty telling with how she knew but still attempt that gesture to reassure her heart that despite A Gou is Wu Geng, but he is after all still A Gou in a way when he also accept their signature gestures. And also the part that she lied about A Gou burning the Xin King's body for money despite they never plan to do the lie together. For me, all this are hints that she always knew that A Gou has always been Wu Geng and protected his secret as well along the way.

This is why I love Xuanhuan genre. Because they contained all these lovely monster/creatures/beasts! QiongQi plotline is awesome and he is a beauty. ❤️ The CGI is amazing. Now we have 6 so far; a Dragon, a half-Phoenix 😂, XiaoLing the Bird, the Blue Giant Monster, A Lan's Deer & the majestic QiongQi. I hope we will see more in futures episodes.

I love how Wu Geng shows compassion to them that win their hearts. Even when he fight the Blue Giant Monster in the earlier episodes, he has this pity face after he beat the monster up. That is why he's coming to heal the blue guy later wasn't surprising at all since it shows in his face since earlier on.

What alterations that they have made so far?

You are so right. I really like how every of their actions are in line with their characterizations. For an example, I knew A Gou is the Man Eating Monster since earlier on (before the revelation) since I thought there is no way in hell he will let 100 people being eaten by a monster. I knew that that is his ploy to free the slaves instead. I was in awe that I was right and the script is clever enough to write the twist that way as well.

From my experience in watching RJL's dramas, I dont remember his drama characters behave out of character or turn 180 degree at the end. He generally picked good scripts and I always have faith while watching his dramas. Even for his FLs, they are always written as strong and wasnt damsel in distress and were never reduced to that just to move the plot. And even the villains in his dramas are very memorable and layered. He picked good scripts so I have faith that this will be the same. I wish the writing will be solid like this till the end.

Bai Cai reaction is very natural and appropriate. I dont get it when people find her annoying. If she didnt behave that way, its more questionable and ridiculous. She actually tone down a lot and only retaliate when he hurt really bad.

But I love how self aware is every characters in this drama. A Gou knew they were using him but he didnt care since his goal is the same. And Bai Cai knew that the bird has been spying on them so they are only nice to them so that they could get something in return. I love how clever are the leads so I know they wont do dumb or questionable things.

Is it? 😅

I can relate since I literally grew up listening with to OSTs.

I think we probably wont have misunderstanding plot since the lead couple basically trust each other heart and soul. But we might have a plot where the FL being possessed by evil and fight the ML against her will. I dont mind the later as it wont be stupid/dumb but just part of the aspect that will move the plot or drive the ML even more.

I love that everytime we thought Wu Geng is doing something stupid, its actually his plan all along. Since when he is getting caught he has this terrible acting so we know he is just acting 'acting' in the drama. 😂

And I love how we didnt need to suspend belief so much. The Bai Prince recognizing him completely making sense since one should never forget the face of their enemy. And him admitting to the body burning of Xin King was very clever as well.

When they first said that the man eating monster has eating 100 people so far, I was like how on earth Wu Geng can allowed that. Then, I have this tiny feeling that he is the monster and this is his ploy to bring everyone out and its correct -- which really align with his character design.

I really like how the script is going so far. This is what good script possessed -- a script that didnt relay on misunderstanding to move their story, a plot that is engaging and compelling and plot armor for characters that make sense as well. Not because he is the main character, he got all the shields in the world no matter how ridiculous is the reasons.

Sorry, I dont think you even understand my comment. Never in my comment said about Chengyi not the main lead or not highlighting MLC or MLC didnt concentrate to only one character which is Li Lianhua. I'm talking about drama announcement by production team.

There isnt any in my comment that said Chengyi is not consider a big male lead actor in MLC. 😅 He is and nothing going to change that.

I think you are the one who is not aware of how Cnet works. Usually, when production team announced a drama they want to make, they will announce as well who is going to be the stars of their dramas -- as in the first-billed and second-billed actors in the drama. During the announcement of MLC, Chengyi's name (first-billed) was announced together with his other 2 co-stars (second & third-billed). While for Immortal Samsara for an example, Yang Zi was announced as the first-billed and Chengyi was announced as the second-billed. Or for an example for The Blue Whisper, Dilraba was announced as the first-billed while RJL as second-billed -- this can happen despite RJL has been first-billed for years but since he liked the script for TBW, he doesnt mind to be the second-billed for that drama.

When Burning Flame was announced, the production team announced RJL's name as the solo name highlighting the drama alone without a co-star -- the drama is after all named after his character 'Wu Geng' Ji so the story totally focus on him. The same announcement is followed with Yang Yang's new drama, as well as LYX's and Xiao Zhan's new drama after that. When it happened this way, it is to show that the story totally focused on the ML's journey and development.

Ahh yes, I forgot. Xiao Zhan next drama is also like that. They only named him as the one highlighting the drama with no co-star.

I'm not talking about male centric dramas. That one, many actors have done that. I'm talking about an actor solo highlighting their dramas alone, without co-stars. Even in MLC, Cheng Yi was named with his other 2 co-stars during drama announcement. I'm not sure for his next drama though.

Actually, his drama Autumn Cicada is like this as well. The FL is only like 5% of the story. The rest is focus on plot and other characters and their conflicts with the Japanese. I seriously love that drama. Its excellent in term of espionage storylines and how brilliant is his character in that drama.

The story has always been with minimal romance. The original donghua is like that as well. It focus on the ML's journey and very minimal on the FL and romance.

That is why RJL alone is highlighting this drama. They usually will promote with 2 names -- male actor & female actor. But for this drama, its one of the few with only his name only. Yang Yang next drama is like this as well. Same with LYX. This is all indication that the story is about their characters and focus their journey (70% to 80%) and very minimal focus on the FLs and supporting actors.

Ok, its official. I love this drama. At first, I was taken a back with how performative is the acting and I'm not used to this style of acting from RJL (he always opt for subtle acting in his dramas). I thought he probably want to match Peter Ho's style of acting but it's probably intentional for the Director for wanting that kind of acting from them. Someone describe it as 'exaggerated but charismatic acting' and I cant agree for more -- and that is the tone the Director is going for this drama. Just like the overall campy tone the drama offered, it is intentional. Or the splitting of screen for the fighting scenes, yes, it is intentional as well. The horrible 80's fashion and color? It is intentional as well. 😂 I'm cringing while admiring at the same time. It is definitely a daring moves but its actually working and it makes the drama has this specific aesthetic and character on their own. I feel like it will have a cult following due to this.

I cant believe that they put literal thunder at the background like doom doom doom kind of thing in the scene with Wu Geng and the Old Man from the cave. I was like WTH!! and rewinding that scene again and admiring it. 😂 Its campy and its fun. I'm totally in.

No, this drama isnt romance focused at all