Reviews

Battle of wits

After the bloodbath at poetry session Changsha goes to Empress dowager with whiney boo voice sounding every bit the cowardly mama’s boy. When his whine fest is interrupted, he returns to his arrogant evil self. JiaYu tires to blackmail her parents with hanging herself if they don’t refuse marriage. Here, I love the mom’s attitude to dad—it’s your turn to deal with her since you spoiled her. 😂The fun of having all her favorite things or materials so she could not throw a tantrum and break them….except for the jade crown she bought for Mao. That her mother encouraged her to toss out.🤣😂WuYi forces Changsha to claim suicide for the two dead and clear his name. Jiayu’s parents are accepting the marriage as a way to keep the family safe and a much better alternative than ChangSha The mom in particular told her she now had the perfect setup to create whatever she wanted. Did it really matter who she married anyways? Mom is so happy to see Mao and Changsha out of the picture that WiYu is not seeming a bad choice when he will rarely be home and most likely have little or nothing to do with her. WisYu escapes to a boat where she plans on getting to gma’s house and then on to reunite with Mao. WiYu and his two investigators were trying to find more leads and he notes JiaYu loading up items on a boat. He is actually humored by her audaciousness. The banter when they first meet over the poem. 😂🤣He learns she doesn’t know who he is, so he plays along and pretends to have business with the captain. She finds a bunch of women held captive and tries to help them taking one as witness to the official. Because the lady lied, all the others were killed and JiaYu was determined no more lives would be taken. She returns to save him and shoots him in the behind which was ever so helpful. 😂🤣She found a way for them to get off the boat without killing not knowing he had his colleagues finish the job. Them keeping score to see who killed the most.🤣😂 JiaYu gives him a crossbow as a gift for rescuing her, where he learns they are decorative not particularly functional. What was interesting was her rattling off the materials required to make one for the military. He declines the gift and she thinks she is continuing on her way to Yongzhou but finds herself back in the capital delivered to her parents. She is greeted by a gift from her betrothed….several of her creations dismantled.🤣😂Mom is a spy of some sort, and I thoroughly enjoyed her calmly sip tea while watching her daughter’s antics play out. It’s pretty clear who JiaYu really takes after. This episode combined humor with serious notes in a well executed fashion. Enjoying this drama immensely so far.

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An impressive start

A dramatic scene opens showing grey earth and grey sky with rain pouring. The Commanding General, Xiao Wu Yi, is informed that the armory director drank poison in prison and the only witnesses left are the three registrars hanging upside down in trees adjacent to a memorial tablet. It is eventually revealed that the director accepted bribes and they gave blind eyes to the sale of repeating crossbows that were used to decimate his cavalry unit and that Prince ChangSha was the mastermind. He exits the scene riding through a field of gravesites that were once his loyal men. It segues to an impressive intro song that keeps the momentum going and returns to his scorched earth plans for the ones responsible. He uses himself as bait with plans to return flames and destruction. It shows him defeated in battle. The scene lightens up considerably when we are introduced to the Grand Tutor’s daughter, Xie Jia Yu , who has a fun scene planned to counter her mother’s attempt to introduce an unwanted suitor. Heads literally rolled as they entered.😂🤣 Her mom gave her credit for ingenuity but was fed up with her behavior and determination to commit to Li Mao. She takes the full blame and punishment for her servant while the Commanding General is entering the city via coffin. Her father is called in to stop the beating and mom discovers no pillow assist and felt guilty. Another guest arrives with loads of betrothal gifts. The actor playing Changsha does an excellent job of making you want to loathe him on sight. His pompous air, stance and overall bearing is distasteful while he obtusely looks down from his narcissist pedestal believing himself God’s gift for everything.😝 This time the mom wants daughter to be hidden from view and not promote any interaction. Her own plan of suitor backfired in a big way with all the luscious gossip floating about. He was not pleased at their firm statement of not wanting her in the palace. He opts to leave but makes a request for the Grand Tutor to show up at his poetry session to offer insight. I love her steampunk clock on the wall and how her mind works as you see her drawings. She is trying to con her dad out of a jade crown for her bf of choice. When that is unsuccessful, she has a servant pretend to be her and they go to make a deal with an unknown buyer. Here she is questioned about making a crossbow that can shoot four arrows at a time. She tells them she can make it but won’t because it was exclusive for the buyer she made it for. She gives the name Xiao Sheng but that’s most likely a name she made up on the spot. She is flippant about what it could be used for and didn’t think about loss of life…at all. She is in for the money and not a care in the world about what mischief her inventions can cause. She was smart enough for plan B where they swap coaches and still make it home. She tells her mom she was copying as told at Qi residence and her servant was with her as witness. They are rewarded with a trip to the celebration and told to have nothing to do with the poetry session. As if.😝🙄 Not even an invite would entice her to go. She apologized to Bai for her rudeness and tricks the cousin into spending way too much for a pottery piece. She made a tea pot that could be used for poison and tracked down the buyer. She convinced the buyer to not use it and was going to get the women snuck out of town when she was intercepted by Xiao’s investigators. She escapes them while the Commanding General makes his way to the poetry session. He brings the dancers with him and then demands impromptu poetry. All the ones bragging about helping kill him were quickly changed to a create a pleasing poem or die scenario. He finishes up with Prince Changsha. He let the Prince know that he originally could have cared less about who was on the throne…..until now. After this plot against the cavalry unit, he vowed to take anyone and anything Changsha wanted or already had and I did appreciate the top knot removal, 🤣😂 👏🏻 He had no clue who the Creator of Miraculous Craft was, but he did know that ChangSha wanted to marry JiaYu. So at the award ceremony, he only wants rewards for his men with a specific request to marry the Grand Tutor’s daughter. Excellent way to end first episode. 👏🏻

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Enjoying watching

This show has some surprising revelations that make you wonder when they’re gonna become known to everyone since we have the insights group.We learned some of the characters or a ruthless, hiding behind a kind personality, and others are kind hiding behind a ruthless reputation.The palace doesn’t feel fully flushed out see the core. We see the outside of the Court steps kind of scenes. We see the Emperor‘s bed chamber, and the emperor Doer, but it doesn’t feel like a full palace like some of the other shows but we’re only on episode four. It stinks that some people’s plans aren’t working out as they planned, and that the simple easy-going characters have to take much harder paths in life than they wanted for themselvesLooking forward to seeing more of how the story unfolds.

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really enjoyed this ep - it was jampacked…

really enjoyed this ep - it was jampacked with so much "stuff" - 1st off i was right & wrong about Sky, thankfully he didn't get the treatment Sun almost got & poor Two-O was forced into in this ep - that was beyond disgusting. not that that takes away from the bullying Sky went through - it was enough to traumatize him for life. but now that Kajorn & Sun know, hope they really help him seek therapy, cause he needs it. yeah them supporting him & holding his hand throughout the filming was a great bonding experience for them, but that wont solve Sky's PTSD. *************************************************************** btw i don't get what the point of Pakin is as a character other then to trigger Sky's PTSD & help push him over the edge, this the 3rd time he has done it & he knows exactly what he is doing, yet he keeps at it until Sky breaks - i don't like him & hope we don't see more of him. i for sure don't wish he & Sky end up together - hard pass. ********************************************************the whole Sun & Jay scene's where kind weird, if u listen to Jay's dialogue u would think he's a horny goat - but then he invites Sun to "f*ck" which turns into a home tour & then cuddling in bed?? what??? the mixed signals were weird but it was cute that Jay trusts Sun so much, he just had to hold him in bed to fall asleep. cute **********************************************************side note: love that Sunny is running scared, now that he knows that Sun is the Sun he dated & not just some random newbie that Kajorn is managing. wish there was more of a confrontation between them. but i guess that will come with time - i hope

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Ju Li 🏍 vs. Wang Fa ⚽️

**contains spoilersI can't believe Wang Fa actually sees Ju Li as his love rival. The jealousy was reeking and that smug look he gave Ju Li when Wan Xing unconsciously rested her head on his shoulder? Sir, you're not beating the downbad allegations. And then he casually admitted that the reason he's staying in Hongjing is Wan Xing. Atp, there's no saving for this man, he's exactly where he wants to be. The way Wang Fa dove into the river with his entire body (chest first) had rofl 🤣 That must've hurt so much. And just when we thought we were finally getting the moment, Yu Bo came in with the ultimate cockblock 😭 The Spade Q closet investigation revelation completely changed the mood. I hope they would clear it soon.

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