x_AJ_x

Yeah, could be. I feel most of the major editing issues happen in the last arc (ep. 30-40) It's not so bad that you can't follow what's going on (at least for me) But you can definitely tell things were cut out and it can be disjointed in places. What we wouldn't give for a directors cut haha

Yeah same
Don't get me wrong I think their chemistry is good and I know their chemistry was spicier in The Legends too, but it doesnt hit me quite as much as YunLu for some reason. LYX and Bai Lu just have something really special that I can't quite put my finger on haha

But at that time people hadn't experienced YunLu yet so I can see why people loved "KaiLu" ( and still do)

Ahh the flirting. I loved Flirty Tantai Jin/cang jiu min. I wish we got more of it. I know there are more scenes from these episodes that were cut. I want more flirty CJM and Susu scenes 😭

Yeah, for sure his actions were very messed up. (I really loved the whole storyline during that arc because I live off messed up characters. ) Definitely a deeply wounded individual, our TTJ. Just like I believe Susu was also deeply wounded. Not necessarily in exactly the same ways as TTJ, but wounded none the less.

She betrayed him - but I do understand why. even if I think she could have handled it better or differently, I get it. She told XL that she didn't think TTJ would kill him, and his response was to imply that if he didn't escape he would kill himself. So right or wrong, I get why. I think they both faced consequences for their actions during that whole arc, which is why it was so tragic to watch unfold. If a decision here or there had been changed... it might have been different.

Maybe because she didn't actually successfully use the soul-slaying nails, maybe that impacted that element in some way? She didn't complete her mission in the way it was intended. Instead she sacrificed herself and swapped her divine essence for his evil bone – completing the mission but also paying back the debt she owed him through her own actions. (Giving him a chance at a life free from TDG too, even if he couldn’t have her, as Bai Lu said) That in itself is a price she paid, I guess. And then there was the suffering she endured after the soul slaying nail failure, the distress she felt during the swap and the emotional conflict she couldn't rectify when returning to her time. She cruelly told him she hoped they’d never meet again, but it turns out, she couldn’t let go either. (I think she tried to escape this by practicing the heartless way ) And then, of course, the grief she is left with at the end of it all while she waits and searches. This is all consequences and karmic debt. He searched for her. She searches for him. Balance. Maybe Ji Ze, being the god of time, foresaw all this future turmoil happening and that’s what he was referencing.

But I digress. I will cease waffling on about it now. Impasse – agree on some things, disagree on others. It’s all good. All this waffling is just making me want to watch it again – my adorable perfectly imperfect lovers. 😂!!! 💜 💜

Yas!! – TTJ is peak Xianxia king in terms of beauty, nothing is beating him anytime soon.

Pretty much agree with all of this. I really liked it too. My favourite stuff was anything to do with the academy as well. The characters were definitely the draw card. I think Bai Lu did such a great job pretending to be a boy - a very adorable effeminate boy but more believable than some others i've seen with this trope. haha. Also really liked Xu kai in this. it's my favourite Xu Kai role that I've seen. Very cute and snarky, very boyish and teasing. It was a good one for him. I also liked their chemistry I can see why people were all for them back then. (I watched it after that hype had died down) I don't necessarily think it's up to par with LYX and BL haha but it's pretty damn good.

Nah I certainly wouldn't want their story at all. I love to watch that level of angst in this crazy romance but I don't want to go through that anguish myself. And as much as I talk about wanting TTJ and thirsting after him , the truth is, if we're talking about reality, nobody should really want a Tantai Jin in real life either. At least not as he was during the Jing arc. It was honestly my favourite arc for him and I love him with a burning passion, but that level of obsessive love is unhealthy in real life. When he sent her to stab Xiao Lin he wanted it so Ye Xiwu would be "discarded by all" that everyone would turn on her and hate her. Isolating her from everyone he believed she loved. She'd have nobody to turn to but him and she'd have no choice but to go back to him forever. Whether she wanted it or not. (of course we as an audience know she would have gone back to him after rescuing Xiao Lin, but he didn't) He violated her by using mind control on her.

But again, like Li Susu's actions, I completely understand why he did these things. I get it. It didn't bother me. It makes complete sense given his experiences and it certainly doesn't make me love him any less because of it. These elements just makes me love the character more. It was some of the best parts of the story. But obviously - nobody would really want that either. Even if I did find unhinged TTJ ridiculously attractive. These characters are too complicated. 😂

Ahhh 💕 Those scenes were so precious!!

I can't say I particularly liked GYJW/Xiao Lin and Mo Nv/Bingchang. but the lack of closure was weird. I would have preferred to have those threads completed. Them damn cut scenes *sigh*

I saw a few people post this on twitter too. Makes me smile. The industry knows what they got with him. They know he's something special. Now they better continue to utilize him properly, please. Good scripts. Good drama's. good co-stars. Give him the goods, and he'll make magic.

I'm watching the scene once again in it's entirety. & I still don't really see it that way. I do agree that she felt hate for TTJ because at this point she definitely had difficulty separating the man from the past with the future Devil God, and I do agree that she forced herself to think of The Devil God, because she needed to feel that contempt in order to bring herself to do it. But I don't think she went into the scene truly wanting to, as I said. She even questions herself about whether she can do it. The only way she could do it was to convince herself he deserved it by thinking of TDG. )

Catharsis may be a release of emotion - but in general it's a release of emotion that provides relief. I don't really feel any relief or true release from her even during the act. Watching the whole scene in its entirety, it didn't even look much like true rage to me, it looked like a woman who is really *trying* to use and draw upon that rage (The rage she absolutely has inside) and direct it at him and not really feeling it like she needs to because the situation itself feels wrong to her. So, she stops. I certainly don't think she enjoyed it or that it was making her feel any better. I maintain that she kind of looks horrified and disturbed by the situation throughout the scene.

I'm not saying it was right that she did it, I'm just saying I don't think she found it cathartic. Perhaps in the moment, there was a part of her that wanted some kind of release, but I don't think she got it.

I think we are at an impasse, my friend. Neither of us are going to see this in exactly the same way haha. It's a great scene though.

I've seen that vid about a billion times. I have no problem watching it again hehe. bittergrace is a master editor *chefs kiss* Might just be the steamiest TTEOTM vid I’ve seen. Though her Five senses one is also great.

(there are many ML's that are supposed to be “good” characters that are actually problematic and toxic. I'd say it's a fairly common trope. )

Yeah, it's so unfair that those dramas will never get released because of just one person....

Since TTEOTM ended, I've watched a few dramas, both period and modern. Sometimes I'll flip between episodes of the two for variety. But i've also dropped quite a few as well. I don't think I've actually completed many historical dramas since TTEOTM ended.
I watched Legend of Anle which like you, I was disappointed by. I skimmed so much of the last 15 episodes, I wouldn't even say I finished it really. I watched Lost You Forever which I think was pretty good. but I took breaks with that one because Xiang Liu was making me sad. & I've been watching My Journey to you, but I haven't finished that one yet. I really liked it to begin with and I like certain characters a lot but I've lost interest a little unfortunately.

I also watch episodes of western shows in between as well... to break it all up. What are you watching atm ? I feel like I'm in a bit of a drama slump to be honest. haha

Starts right at the end of episode 11 and finishes about 1/4 of a way through episode 18.

Yeah! It's a Wuxia and it looks pretty epic. He's definitely done some of the OST for it. He's already talked about it in his livestreams. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItWwueZMLiA - here's a trailer for it if you're interested. Hopefully it lives up to my hype haha.

He is also the main lead in the upcoming A prisoner of Beauty which looks absolutely incredible, but the FL is currently wrapped up in an alleged tax evasion scandal so who knows if we'll ever get to see that one. (this one breaks my heart because this was the drama I was most looking forward to after LYX and Bai Lu's upcoming ones. ugh)

He was a highlight in The Long Ballad. I didn't mind the drama, but I didn't necessarily love it as a whole either. I loved Hao Du though haha.

Agree about Legend of Anle. Mostly a disappointment despite him being good in it. I did love Be Your Own Light though. And I really look forward to him being the ML in his upcoming dramas. A Journey to Love with Liu Shishi has it's distribution licence and is rumoured to be sometime this year. So hopefully we get that soon!

Oh, sorry! There seems to be some issues on my end with MDL. It's glitching out for me quite a lot at the moment. Like, weirdly posting comments that are half-written before I'd even pressed the button and stuff. Which might be why there are lots of notifications.

Yes, I definitely still disagree with that interpretation on that whipping scene. haha. Having just watched that scene again. It didn't seem like she wanted to do it at all. She kept telling herself that "she could do this " trying to hype herself up. Which would indicate that it wasn't something she wanted. She had to convince herself to do it by telling herself he deserved it, or rather that "the devil god" deserved it but even then, very quickly her expression looked deeply conflicted about it, and then horrified and sickened to me and that's why she stopped. In her own thoughts she said all it was doing was making her feel worse. I didn't really see any catharsis in it at all.

But even if there was, it would make sense and it wouldn't have made her less likeable to me.

Yeah Xiang Liu is the nine-headed snake demon. He's an amazing character. And yeah, I would say, especially in the beginning, there is some physical violence there.

Yes! The opening OST is amazing. It's my favourites after Mysterious Bird. Liu Yuning has a really beautiful and sexy voice. He's a great actor too. I adore him. I can't wait for his drama with Liu Shi Shi to come out.

I would love to see your works!

wonderful! I love it 💜

You're entitled to your opinion of course. I just don't share it.

I didn't love her in spite of her flaws. I love her as a character because of them. She was deceptive and I loved it in terms of the narrative. Again, had this element not been there, I think the story would be worse for it. You don't find her likeable at all which is fine, there are characters I feel that way about too.

There are lots of extremely grey male characters that are hugely popular and shipped with the female lead. Xiang Liu in Lost You Forever is a more recent example. Of course opinions on these characters will vary, as is only natural.

Li Susu may be a "paragon of good" but when she merged with Ye Xiwu's body, she merged with that particular fragment of her soul. That fragment that branched off was the bad part of Li Susu's primordial spirit. She wasn’t all good (because nobody is, even immortals) otherwise OG Ye Xiwu would never have been the way she was.

Honestly, I'm glad she wasn't this way, that would have been incredibly dull to me. It's something I've seen many many times in C-Drama, and I’m not sure I would have been as invested in their relationship as I ended up being. Had another character shown him love, I still don’t think he would have fallen for them. I think he fell for Susu because it was Susu.

But that's just my feelings. (& please don't feel like I'm criticising anyone for not sharing it. )
You do you!

At least we agree on our love for TTJ. 💜

Sometimes I wonder if maybe they have their eye on an IP already (even if nothing is settled yet) the way they talked about what they wanted out of a hypothetical suspense plot during TTEOTM press was really detailed. I know this is wishful thinking... but I do wonder. 🙏🙏🤣