i’m rewatching this right now, and while the visuals are undeniably stunning, i can’t help but notice quite a few issues with the editing and directing. the first watch feels fine, but picking up on these little details the second time around makes it distracting and pulls me out of the story 🥲
two examples i noticed: 1) when xie zheng gives the falcon the hair ribbon to find changyu, you clearly see his hand set aside with the ribbon, but in the very next cut, the falcon already has it 😂
2) when grand tutor tao is speaking to changyu about taking her in as a student, the close up shows her holding chopsticks, but the wider shots show her eating a bao. it keeps switching back and forth throughout the conversation, which is so distracting lol
I know Wei Yan was terrible and committed all those crimes, but that last scene where he's about to drink the…
if it makes you feel any better, that special ending was actually wei yan’s doing. in the novel, he’s given a second chance at life and makes different choices. of course our leads still end up together, but wei yan also gets to be with the love of his life :)
personally, i don’t think he’s a terrible person. definitely selfish, but not entirely bad. more of a grey character.
overall, a pretty solid drama. i honestly enjoyed it a lot! :D
but i do wish they hadn’t changed the story in the last quarter. it might’ve worked better as two seasons actually, with season 1 ending at the point where changyu decides to join the army to earn merits and rise to xie zheng’s level. i’m a bit bummed they cut that arc and changed it the way they did in the drama.
i feel like their relationship would’ve had more balance and depth too if they’d kept the storyline where xie zheng believes they can’t be together because of her father’s involvement in his father’s death, and how changyu vows to uncover the truth so that they can be together. it would’ve made the finale feel far less rushed and much more logical imo.
Can someone explain the ending to me ? Were they reborn ? Or parallel universe ?
in a special chapter of the novel, the uncle was reborn, and the life you see in the special ending in the drama is a "what if" scenario had xie zheng's father not die and chang yu's father not labeled as a traitor. the uncle made things right with the knowledge he had from his previous life :)
because of this, xie zheng's mother is close friends with chang yu's mother. his mother even teased how he should marry chang yu when they grow up so that chang yu can be her daughter-in-law (as you saw in the drama). growing up, xie zheng became very protective of changyu and so they ended up being a couple again in this life time (uncle was not surprised haha).
And donning the scholar outfit just to coax her out of the palace. It was hilarious. 🤣
xie zheng really got jealous over A BOOK. a book gifted by li huaian 🤣
it had li huaian’s annotations in it, and ML immediately realised it wasn’t meant to be part of their shared study (since he personally curated every book for FL). once he found out who it came from, he just used it to balance the desk 😭
FL was completely speechless when she found out hahahahahaha 🤣 ML was so shameless about it lmao
i’m reading the final part of the novel (including the extras) and god, our ML is the greenest of red flags 😂 as a character, his possessiveness is so attractive, but i’d run a mile if he existed in real life 🤣
. . . . . . . . can't stop laughing at our FL running away from home to be with yu qianqian because ML was 'torturing' her to her limits lmao
I did not get one part. ML's biological brother Shu Yu was killed. My understanding is that Shu Yu's wife was…
she was pretty much the real mastermind behind his death. it wasn’t just because she hated his abuse, but also to secure her son’s future as the inheritor. ...at least, that’s how i perceived it.
started off so strong, but i was honestly pretty disappointed halfway through the show. the villains didn’t…
also! feels like the writer might have some unresolved parent-related issues and needed a way to vent that anger lol. rong shanbao's father's punishment was brutal (but deserved of course haha).
there wasn’t a single parent or guardian in the drama who was admirable or even likeable… definitely not a world i’d want to live in 😂 all the senior figures were seriously f-ed in the head (*coughgrandmacough*).
started off so strong, but i was honestly pretty disappointed halfway through the show. the villains didn’t really “villain” lol. everything just felt like it was thrown in to make the fl look good and always in the right. and guli nazha still needs to work on her facial expressions… disappointed that there hasn't been much improvement since her debut... (please don't come at me for saying this. i actually really like her on reality shows!)
i was also expecting more from rong yunxi and rong yunshu, especially with all that tension hinted at in the earlier episodes. but everything kind of fell flat in the second half. it honestly felt like the writing got lazy 🫠
and wth was lu jiang lai’s love for rong shanbao??? it felt completely one-sided right up until the very end. honestly, it came off more like an obsession than love. imagine if the roles were reversed… the girl gives up everything to be with the guy, while he can’t offer her anything in return and could walk away at any time because he prioritises his family business 😬 lmao. major red flag! 🚩
even though this is very much a business-focused drama, the romance between bai yimei and li cheng completely…
special mention about bai yimei and li cheng as well....all that convincing passion they shared without a single on-screen kiss! just WOW. the actors did a phenomenal job!
even though this is very much a business-focused drama, the romance between bai yimei and li cheng completely stole the show for me 😭 their chemistry was unreal. every scene they shared felt so natural and captivating. that moment when he caught her praying and then broke down in tears… ohmygod 😭❤️
on the other hand, the romance between the main leads felt like it was missing something. i can’t quite put my finger on it, but the casting didn’t really work for me. sun qian just didn’t seem to fit the role of chang yu er.
that said, chen xiao was fantastic as gu pingyuan. i only wish the drama had placed more emphasis on his success. i kept waiting for that true “magnate” moment, but it never fully reached to that point. and the ending, unfortunately, felt a bit anti-climactic 🫠
the first quarter was really good, but then everything just started to drag 😭 by the last few episodes, it all felt so anticlimactic…
the nanshan hunters were never particularly likable to begin with, so their deaths didn’t land emotionally at all. and lin xinrou’s death? tf happened??? it felt so abrupt and random. like after all that suspense in the earlier episodes, the nanshan hunters ended up looking super weak, and lin xinrou just died like that?! 😬 it would've honestly been a better showdown if it had just been between the nanshan hunters and the earth fiends… adding the “earth demons” felt so unnecessary.
the biggest disappointment for me is xing shen. why build him up as this mysterious, annoying and intriguing character only to end his arc in such an underwhelming way? 😞 i'm left feeling like i've wasted my time being so invested in the show 😭
it’s such a shame because you can tell they poured a ton of money into the effects and stunts. but in the end, it was all style with no real substance 🫠 the story had so much potential to be super good, but the writing and character development just sucks tbvh 😩
...and don't even get me started on lin xinruo forgetting her real son lmao.
just finished this! absolutely loved every bit of it :D
imo, season 5 used to be my favourite until this one came out. i'm rewatching season 5 right now, and after seeing season 7, the chemistry and friendship in 7 just feel way more genuine. not that the season 5 cast weren’t great, but their kindness toward each other felt a bit more surface level and superficial compared to 7. it took me about 4 eps to warm up to the season 5 cast, while season 7 hooked me right from the start.
my favourite episodes are definitely the ones where they visited egypt!
two examples i noticed:
1) when xie zheng gives the falcon the hair ribbon to find changyu, you clearly see his hand set aside with the ribbon, but in the very next cut, the falcon already has it 😂
2) when grand tutor tao is speaking to changyu about taking her in as a student, the close up shows her holding chopsticks, but the wider shots show her eating a bao. it keeps switching back and forth throughout the conversation, which is so distracting lol
personally, i don’t think he’s a terrible person. definitely selfish, but not entirely bad. more of a grey character.
😮💨🔥
but i do wish they hadn’t changed the story in the last quarter. it might’ve worked better as two seasons actually, with season 1 ending at the point where changyu decides to join the army to earn merits and rise to xie zheng’s level. i’m a bit bummed they cut that arc and changed it the way they did in the drama.
i feel like their relationship would’ve had more balance and depth too if they’d kept the storyline where xie zheng believes they can’t be together because of her father’s involvement in his father’s death, and how changyu vows to uncover the truth so that they can be together. it would’ve made the finale feel far less rushed and much more logical imo.
because of this, xie zheng's mother is close friends with chang yu's mother. his mother even teased how he should marry chang yu when they grow up so that chang yu can be her daughter-in-law (as you saw in the drama). growing up, xie zheng became very protective of changyu and so they ended up being a couple again in this life time (uncle was not surprised haha).
it had li huaian’s annotations in it, and ML immediately realised it wasn’t meant to be part of their shared study (since he personally curated every book for FL). once he found out who it came from, he just used it to balance the desk 😭
FL was completely speechless when she found out hahahahahaha 🤣 ML was so shameless about it lmao
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can't stop laughing at our FL running away from home to be with yu qianqian because ML was 'torturing' her to her limits lmao
there wasn’t a single parent or guardian in the drama who was admirable or even likeable… definitely not a world i’d want to live in 😂 all the senior figures were seriously f-ed in the head (*coughgrandmacough*).
i was also expecting more from rong yunxi and rong yunshu, especially with all that tension hinted at in the earlier episodes. but everything kind of fell flat in the second half. it honestly felt like the writing got lazy 🫠
and wth was lu jiang lai’s love for rong shanbao??? it felt completely one-sided right up until the very end. honestly, it came off more like an obsession than love. imagine if the roles were reversed… the girl gives up everything to be with the guy, while he can’t offer her anything in return and could walk away at any time because he prioritises his family business 😬 lmao. major red flag! 🚩
can't feel the 'wow factor' in the latest episodes.
on the other hand, the romance between the main leads felt like it was missing something. i can’t quite put my finger on it, but the casting didn’t really work for me. sun qian just didn’t seem to fit the role of chang yu er.
that said, chen xiao was fantastic as gu pingyuan. i only wish the drama had placed more emphasis on his success. i kept waiting for that true “magnate” moment, but it never fully reached to that point. and the ending, unfortunately, felt a bit anti-climactic 🫠
the nanshan hunters were never particularly likable to begin with, so their deaths didn’t land emotionally at all. and lin xinrou’s death? tf happened??? it felt so abrupt and random. like after all that suspense in the earlier episodes, the nanshan hunters ended up looking super weak, and lin xinrou just died like that?! 😬 it would've honestly been a better showdown if it had just been between the nanshan hunters and the earth fiends… adding the “earth demons” felt so unnecessary.
the biggest disappointment for me is xing shen. why build him up as this mysterious, annoying and intriguing character only to end his arc in such an underwhelming way? 😞 i'm left feeling like i've wasted my time being so invested in the show 😭
it’s such a shame because you can tell they poured a ton of money into the effects and stunts. but in the end, it was all style with no real substance 🫠 the story had so much potential to be super good, but the writing and character development just sucks tbvh 😩
...and don't even get me started on lin xinruo forgetting her real son lmao.
imo, season 5 used to be my favourite until this one came out. i'm rewatching season 5 right now, and after seeing season 7, the chemistry and friendship in 7 just feel way more genuine. not that the season 5 cast weren’t great, but their kindness toward each other felt a bit more surface level and superficial compared to 7. it took me about 4 eps to warm up to the season 5 cast, while season 7 hooked me right from the start.
my favourite episodes are definitely the ones where they visited egypt!
so far, it's very light-hearted and enjoyable!