whoissilmoy

I've only watched full episodes up to ep 14. So far, my perception of the two protagonists:
Li Ni: carefree, no ambition, dreamer, idealist, romanticist, visionary, upright, trustworthy, principled, honorable, ethical, passionate, highly intelligent, strategist (except when it comes to Ying, he is lost how to win her heart).
Li Ni is fun, has sense of humor, loyal to his army and his loyal friends, vulnerable and naive when blinded by his love for Ying or upholding justice, his only weakness is Ying, he cannot let go of her, she's taken over his heart, soul, and mind and is obsessed with her and willing to do anything for her and longs for her to be by his side. Li Ni had no mother, a father who hated him, brothers who bullied him, and was rejected by his grandfather the emperor. Along comes Ying. He never knew such peace and happiness to be with someone. She fills a void in his heart and makes him feel complete.
Ying: ambitious, realist, pragmatic, structured, practical, resourceful, cunning, unyielding, stubborn, confident. intelligent, strategist
Ying is boring (except to Li Ni), not romantic at all, grew up as boy, only loyal to her army, tough as any man, although she loves Li Ni but she is able to separate her goals and love for Li Ni, therefore, Li Ni is not a weakness for her; in fact, she sees him as leverage and takes advantage of him. Her goal in life has been shaped by loving mother and father who provided solid foundation. She lives by the motto "survive so I can save more people". Maybe her only weakness is the fake Cui Lin since they went through life and death together as kids and leaned on each other. She is very protective of him as her only sibling. She holds him close in her heart but only as a brother, but the love is very strong, maybe as strong as Li Ni love for her. She cannot detach him from her heart, yet she can detach Li Ni.
(pragmatic is someone who is willing to compromise in order to achieve desired outcome, take risks and make difficult decisions in order to achieve their goals).

Li Ni and Ying clash when it comes to their values. This conflict makes them rivals instead of lovers.

Ni Li: "No matter how you treat me, I will always like you in my heart."
Ying: "Today should be the happiest day of my life. Unfortunately, no matter how happy I am, this day will also pass."

I have noticed that there are Xu Kai haters and don't understand why anyone would hate this humble, down-to-earth, hard-working young man who is good to his parents. He is class act to me.

"The first generation makes it, the second generation spends it, and the third generation blows it" and so goes the dynasties

Example: Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (Li Yi), 13th son of Emperor Yianzong, was selected by the palace eunuchs as successor because he was deemed unintelligent. But when Li Yi met with the officials as crown prince, he was very intelligent but had been pretending.

Li Ni has military army. They will probably want to decimate his men to weakne him.

Li Ni can never have the life he wants.

because I'm still on episode 14! The teasers are not making me cry. I need to wait until I get to the brutal scenes, let's see what happens then. I will definitely write a post when I have reached episode 30. Since I'm taking in so many spoilers, will I still cry?

Li Ni will always be a threat to his brothers. Ying lives by the motto her mother left her which is to survive, then you can save more people. Ying sees that Li Ni has only one path to survive this life and save people and that path is the throne. All other paths will lead to his demise.

The same thing happened to Li Shimi founder of Tang dynasty. His older brother is already the crown prince but he is threatened so along with his younger brother, they plotted to kill him but instead they were the ones killed by Li Shimi. Kill or be killed. The brother crown prince even did bad stuff to Li Shimi's military to weaken him. I don't know if that is what happened in WoL but the point is that Li Ni has no choice but to grab power otherwise, he will be target and even if he doesn't care about his own life, who will protect the people from evil leaders? Ying sees Li Ni as the savior for the people. this is what her mother said to her before she died. survive, live, so you can save more people.

From the very beginning of the movie, we see that the Cui family intention to obtain power and influence over the throne in chaos was to protect the people from incompetent and corrupt leaders. In Ying's eyes, Li Ni is the only one who can do that. She's just simply living up to what her mother and father taught her... to survive and save people.

I supposed horrible events will happen to Li Ni to help him finally come to the same realization as her.

there are well written episode recaps at cdrama.wiki

Is WoL along the lines of Mr and Mrs Smith (Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie)?

Mr and Mrs Smith

Xu Kai acting is subtle except when he does those screaming scenes where he lets it all out. I have to read English subtitle on bottom of the screen, then try to understand the meaning because sometimes the true meaning is lost in the translation. I can barely look at the actor faces to catch expressions. I will watch certain scenes stop and go by frame to catch the text and the expressions. That's how I came to realized Xu Kai has expressions that are natural and easy to miss. His face just naturally breaks out in expression accordingly.

Xu kai has a lot of potential to become a better and better actor. he has a bright future.

Ok poor me, I am only at episode 13. Xu Kai said the ratio of sweetness to bitterness is 3:7 with 3 for sweet and 7 for bitter.

the Xu Kai movie I cried the most is Ancient Love Poetry. In an interview, Xu Kai was asked if he liked happy endings or sad endings, and he said sad endings because they are more memorable. I'm not saying either way how this movie will end but I I just though his perspective made a lot of sense. When a movie had immense sadness, tragedy, loss, etc. you will not forget.

If Li Ni does become emperor, for him to be a great emperor, all these sad things must happen to him and change him. He has to go through a journey of self-discovery.

thanks for this bts. In the Tencent interview, Xu Kai describes it so clearly and vividly about how he had do all these scenes. He said they are laying on wet and puddled ground and the horse were still peeing so it is mess.. yikes!

funny. Xu Kai said he cried an entire week outside of the set too until his eyes were swollen

I only just finished episode 14 and waiting for 15 tomorrow but I happened to watched teaser video #36 on Tencent WeTV and if you are a Xu Kai or Jing Tian fan and a romantic at heart, you will enjoy it. The love-hate relationship between the two is finally consummated and has hint of The Taming of the Shrewd kind of feeling. The romantic scene is done tastefully. and amusing to watch. Steamy romance done innocently. Reminds me of American movies in the old days (1950's?) where sex scenes are respectfully and tastefully done, always implied and the only thing you see is kissing and hugging, and they will use techniques to heighten the audience senses without resorting to nakedness.

My sense of the movie so far is that it may not be thrilling, suspenseful, mystery, or leave you on the edge of your seat but I find it very entertaining, and every scene is lovely. In his Tencent interview, Xu Kai says the movie will leave you feeling sentimental (if I understood him right). This movie needs to be watched in its entirety from beginning to end, uninterrupted on a big screen with good audio because it flows seamlessly from episode to episode, then I am emotionally drawn into the movie; otherwise, because I can only watch an episode a day or two days, I lose touch with it and so it can seem slow, boring or not exciting, but actually, it's fast paced, intriguing, and fun to watch. Maybe, I find it predictable. because I watch all the spoilers and teasers and read spoiler comments, so I already have an idea of what is going to happen next, but I simply cannot wait.

People posting on this board are intelligent, insightful, passionate, and considerate.

Li Ni said the only person who cared about him was his brother's mother. Perhaps Li Ni does not want to hurt his brother as a repayment to their mother for having cared for him when no one else did. Li Ni is a threat to his brothers. Either they will get rid of him, and he will be confronted with the reality that he has to retaliate. But what do I know, I only just finish episode 13. For a great war strategist as Li Ni, he should know that. Ying did tell him that in an episode.