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I hope I can also find something that will make my heart race (in a good way). I love how this drama will just make you feel good and forget about things. I loo forward to watching other episodes.
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KJ2025 Ms Zhao definitely did not want them there but because a gift from his mother Lin Jin Qi told the head mistress to take them to quarters and give them jobs. Ji’Er continues to be boldest openly, she is to obviously too opportunistic for her own good. She wants to lord it over Lan Xiang but our girl refuses to take the bait. She gains nothing being antagonistic towards Ji’Er who has appointed herself head of the room. The maids in place know who’s really getting the work done, but Lan Xiang covers for Ji’Er I’m guessing she’s going with better with the devil you know theory. As the girls get acquainted with their chores Ji’Er takes the most rests and opportunities. What is fun is that she got the most bedrest but froze, Lan Xiang was stuck with the tea kettles, but she had the nice warm location. While taking a shortcut because of rain, they run into a maid that doesn’t want to deliver a scripture book. She drafts Ji’Er who only volunteered when she found out it was going to the young master. 😝 She is annoying making herself look better with Lan Xiang’s efforts but even she is getting tired of no negative responses to her harassment. Unfortunately Ms Zhao’s personal maid was in a rush as well and she too had a book. These got swapped and almost caused irreparable change in circumstance for the two level 3’s. This book was a disguised accounting book showing Ms Zhao’s expenditures. Jin Qi is on to her because he interrogates the first shopkeeper. I don’t feel sorry for him because he’s been full of himself while the master was away to lord it over everybody he considers beneath him. This backfires when he realizes the master knows the books aren’t true and agrees to keep the exchange between them private. Ms Zhao is all ready to sell off the two when she realized the girl couldn’t read and no intent was made to reveal her secret. Ji’Er is completely clueless about the trouble she could have been in and simply pouting that the Lady was too over protective of her husband. Her ignorance and dumb luck has saved her a harsh change of station. Lan Xiang is much more aware of just how close they were to real trouble. She tries to urge caution with Ji’Er reminding her that if Master knows her name, lady does too. Ji’Er goes with as long as the master finds no fault I am safe. Here LanXiang gets more descriptive as she mentioned First Lady had a maid killed. That at least shut up Ji’Er for a minute to ponder. I liked how the motto for the Xu family has become live well. They encourage each other to continue for their daughter, as she will continue to live well no matter what within the house. Lan Xiang has every reason to be fearful of the whims of those with power. She’d experienced it first hand with the annihilation of her family. She appears fearful to the higher ups, and she is, but not for the reasons they think. She is just determined to survive and from personal experience that is when she is unnoticed by the powers that be. Her best offense and defense is anonymity. If she doesn’t exist to them, no harm will come to her. The battle of the Lin couple is quite entertaining. As she sat there in her wall of silver, I have to wonder what her family had on them to make their way out a link to the Lin family via marriage alliance. Maybe it is to hide the fact she is barren. Or does she just want to appear that way? She lashes out defensively, but I think she is just as trapped as JinQi in a situation she hates as much as he does. For now things remain status quo and everybody wants it to stay that way. The last thing that worked out to Ji’Er’s favor, the maid had disguised the cover as a scripture book so had to admit to fooling herself with it when the book mix up happened. The four have survived their first round of tasks and hopefully things will continue to go well. I don’t find the story lagging or slow paced. We are getting the birdseye view that we need to see of the first couple and the dynamics between them and the household. Everything is progressing at a natural pace and the characters interact well.
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IrenaK It's such a delight to see how Lanxiang has changed the ways of the Lin family. And her biggest supporter ofc is Jinqi! He loves her so much... 😊 I really loved what he answered Marquis Yuan when asked about not having a son at forty. If only every husband were like that... 🥹I never noticed the relationship Xiuru has with her husband's first daughter. They surprised me in a very good and wholesome way. 🤗 But, honestly, I was a bit disappointed with Marquis Yuan for agreeing to take a concubine, and ofc relieved afterward that it's solved and everyone's satisfied with the result. 😌😮💨I still feel the ripples of that huge time skip we got in the previous episode and I fear it may last until the end. Hopefully not, though... 🤞
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Avi I wish there had been one more scene before they consumed their marriage properly, but the progression still makes sense. They must return to Taiping to be comfortable, Linqi must choose Lanxiang's way if he wants this marriage to work and while they decide on it during their conversation, Linqi is only disillusioned with the court once he hears the eunuchs talk politics and remembers the failed rebellion. For historical dramas it is often forgotten just how much time travelling takes, so the time skips feel excessive, but we've been eased into them in the last episodes and it has always been important how far apart the Lin family home and the capital are. Not the strongest episode but it packs a punch.
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Xu Chi was a mess after the presentation but continued her meeting anyways. It is clear the Celestial rep doesn’t want to be there and until Xu Chi has a nosebleed, the rep was counting the minutes to leave. What happened was a candid conversation about why their proposals were not going to be selected no matter how many revisions. Xu Chi did the legwork for two weeks accompanying sales reps from all three departments to understand why digital wasn’t viewed positively and was there a way to get everybody onboard. Ma Ke is convinced he has her cowed properly so the team voted Bu Tian Na’s presentation for the client. To be fair BuTian Na did an excellent job and knew something was up with Xu Chi’s presentation. She encouraged her friend to go all out. So after Bu Tian Na’s presentation, Xu Chi pops up with plan B. This was delivered in language the client understood and addressed every one of their concerns. Her proposal won the day with the client. Mr Pi was also at this meeting and when Ma Ke was standing to correct her, Mr Pi gave her the moment to shine. Behind the scenes she had a meeting with Pi and showed him via cctv what had happened. Rather than calling her supervisor out she wanted to bypass internal permissions and be allowed to address the client personally with her job on the line if she failed. So Mr Pi allowed her to privately dish back the embarrassment she received quite publicly and let Ma Ke know he was on the line for it to go well. 👏🏻👏🏻 It was a win for ego and getting a new client, but since it was more a lateral move, there would be no bonuses involved because there was too little overhead. Xu Chi was ok getting the win. Wonder what Ma Ke is chatting with her about in his office? 😝Here Bu Tian Na received her first real loss. She saw where she had missed points with the client and hadn’t even considered them at all as a selling point. Ye Xin Zhi is quite happy with his trainee and knows something happened at work, but admired her tenacity to take care of it on her own. She once again broached romance with him but he again put it off. Then he sees her out to dinner with a handsome sr colleague and for the first time has to admit his feelings. He meets her outside her hotel and again chooses to be abrasive rather than truthful😝🙄 He gives her a teddy bear prize from his beer purchases and abruptly leaves for a meeting. He is her sr and acting more high school than mentor/suitor. His friend chattering away at the restaurant about how much Ye likes the girl not realizing how crestfallen he is that she’s there with somebody else. I was so enfuriated with Ma Ke’s stunt last episode. This episode allowed everybody to save face but know where the lines were drawn about manipulation and public embarrassment. Xu Chi did not get a raise from this project, but she gained something more valuable — respect. What was a serendipitous factor is that her mom’s apartment was sold, and while she lamented that with the new realtor he revealed he had been a Celestial employee. So this started Xu Chi’s trek of really knowing how to get the groups on board with digital. She didn’t whine to anybody about the low blow MaKe delivered so publicly but asked for the presentation he denied her with his thievery. That was well played and Ma Ke is well aware that his intended scapegoat had Pi’s full attention. That was a major coup for this promising new employee. She also won respect from the other employees he had bullied and now they know it is possible to win against the supervisor left in power because he was best drink buddy of new clients.😝🙄His irrelevance is showing. No pity for Ye Xin Zhi. He is a grown ass man that hid behind the skirts of his friend faking a relationship that didn’t exist. That blowing up in his face is his own doing. While at the restaurant, it is briefly discussed that the new client is the one that backstabbed him ten years ago. Ye is chewing on the fact that his trainee got her revenge early and his hasn’t happened yet. So for this day of score keeping…..Xu CHI 1, Bu TianNa 0, Ma Ke 1 thanks to Xu Chi specifically 😁😝, and Ye Xin Zhi 0 with a teddy bear keepsake rendered for reasons unclear. Now I hope Xu Chi shows grace in winning and has a good chat with her friend. Zhao Heng messed up not choosing to find her. 😝🙄
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That was exactly how i reacted after i complete this episode. I was like WHAT!!!! now I'm interested in this series. Damn, I'm looking forward
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Lyu Ruhui survived that fall? Whaaat? That's a twist! 😯But, the moment the second brother entered the house I had a feeling their scheme was compromised. The brother was there to mess with it, and I have no idea how they will get out of this. 😳As for the Zhang Dancheng twist — who would have thought his master was the one who set up the scheme that killed Jiaxian's family? Only, he hadn't planned it to be poison, but just a knockout potion... hmm, who changed it then? 🤯Honestly, I thought Blind Du would be way harder to take down, but now he's already gone. But that only raises questions for me about the Sect Master... Have we met him in maybe another disguise? How hard will it be to find out who he is? And how hard will it be to take that person down? (I am assuming it's a man, but as easily the Sect Master could be a woman too) 🤔Another good episode, really. Twists and truths mingling together. The pace is good and the story is quite interesting. Them mentioning Nanyang so many times in this episode just brought back memories of Archives: The Nanyang Mystery. Hehe, if only they shared the same universe. 😌
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Against the Current Episode 39
3 people found this review helpful
arashinta Too much time skips in this episode, left us (or me) with not too deep storytelling. It’s kind of downgrading compare to the other episodes which despite didn’t tell us explicitly, still give us a lot to digest.
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The moment I heard that gunshot, I knew it was Ken who stopped James from finishing off Chita... and even though he tells him he did it to protect him, we all know he did it because he's the only one who can kill him. Part of this episode focuses on James and Ken trying to get what they want—Ken wants his death, and James wants Ken to stay with him... in the end, Ken can't leave James and James convinces him of the same, but we don't know how this is going to end. On the other hand, Chita's past is revealed and why he kills the Nours; and even though Dr. Ji finally decides to leave with Chita, we don't know how they'll end up either... so expectations for the final episode are super high!!!
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For this episode, I gotta highlight the bathroom scene as absolute peak cinema—from the performances, lighting, camera angles, to the editing, everything came together to capture the sheer rawness of what was going on...Moving further into the plot, it's so clear Chita is the ultimate villain when he mercilessly takes out Officer Tangme for literally no reason; yet it has to be said that the biggest victim in this entire mess is Dr. Ji, who got tangled up in this Nours war just for being with Chita, which led to his death by Prae's hands, only to be turned into a Nour against his will by Chita...Watching Dr. Ji spiral in absolute panic because he didn't understand what was happening to him or why he attacked his brother, only to realize he's a Nour and that he honestly would've rather died 😭
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Her showing him her way was something a bit different from what I expected. I thought she would tell him her true identity now, but I guess it isn't time yet. My next guess regarding this is that she might reveal it after she has cleared the Shen family's name, which will very likely happen in one of the last episodes. 🤔But, honestly, I was a bit disappointed with the time skips which altogether covered almost three years, and my guess here is that it was the director's choice of how to cover for that enormous amount of episodes they had to cut (68 down to 47 is a lot). 😞 With those few scenes we got, it showed how much closer Jinqi and Lanxiang have become over those years. They actually consummated their marriage finally and are even expecting their firstborn now! 🤗 Such a wonderful journey of love, but sadly we didn't get to see much of it... 😔But what made me the saddest was Jinlan's death. I knew that dreadful moment was looming, but I hoped it would still come later than it did... At least he saw his son born. 😢🤧
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Everything is going well with the Xus. Meat has actually been added to their diet. Then head butler comes out with decree that girls 14 and above are called to the residence. Here her dad makes a deal with the head shopkeeper to tell Ms Han LanXiang is ill and contagious so not fit for the residence. The shopkeeper took all of their money and Ms Han still came to collect her. The dad heads right to the shop with knife in hand. Xu Lan Xiang uses her wits to persuade Ms Han to let her go home and take care of her father before something bad happened ..and was successful.👏🏻 She finds her father restrained and the shopkeeper gloating and threatening attempted murder charges. Xu LanXiang again uses her knowledge to adamantly agree with the shopkeeper about punishing her father. While he was all smiles she went on as to the punishment for theft…🤣😂 Voilà father and daughter on the way home. With their money and the knife he had been brandishing about. 😁👏🏻 They got to greet mom and she urged them to live well so that she would not be alone. Her mother has a constant cough that is a little worrying. Hopefully that will be treated while she is gone. At the Lin home JinQi made short work of telling dad hi. His father seems the same coward he was when pacing about him and Shen being in trouble. He has a much warmer reception from his mother who wants grand babies ASAP. He then greets his lovely pampered wife who could care less about hubby dearest. She flaunts the hold her family has over them and how she saved them from the same fate as the Shens. She is as lovely as her character in the Epoch of MiYu. 🤣😂 JinQi went to war to earn his own way and not be the Zhou puppet. I love him telling her to please divorce him so he could send her off with a parade.🤣😂 He immediately notices his servants have been married off to losers or sold off in his absence. His mother has removed the Zhou hires and has added four new servants. One happens to be LanXiang. She sees her betrothed and calmly accepts her fate and keeps herself in line with the obvious treatment to be expected from the wifey. She has handled herself remarkably well considering all the curveballs she was dealt just that day alone. Ji Er is in the mix as well which is not necessarily good news tho they do at least know each other. This drama is filmed beautifully and you are drawn right in to whatever location they are at. The cast does a wonderful job of portraying their characters and status. Everything is built to give you the real feel of the slave dwellings compared to free citizen homes. We are given slices of life that will follow for generations and so far the time transitions have been going smoothly. I can only say well done.👏🏻
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Les Belles Episode 1
0 people found this review helpful
Your Shining Light THE YOUNG GIRL SO CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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The premise is interesting, but the main guy is a little bit too goofy for my taste. BUT that does mean there's a lot of room for character development. 😌Love the pink-haired Grim Reaper from hell. She has aura! 🤩P.S. Sorry, I haven't remembered any names yet...
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Jia Lan is still adjusting to her new identity and spends most of her time in the house learning basic home skills as a servant. Her circumstances are very poor, but the family truly loves her as a daughter and are willing to sacrifice and do all they can to help buy her freedom. She is struck hard when wedding cakes are passed out to the servant quarters and the fireworks and festivities are JinQi getting married to one highly favored by the emperor. She breaks down as she sees the fireworks and knows this was what she should have been celebrating. Her adopted mother holds her close, lets her cry it all out, and promises a better day coming. 6 years after the purging of Shen family an unknown benefactor properly buried all the remains. The little family honored the occasion with a remembrance memorial and were grateful their family members now had a peaceful place to rest. Jia Lan now understands she is in the Lin’s servant quarters. Fate keeps them in sight but just out of reach. She teaches her father how to read and cheerfully helps out her mother with all the tasks handed to them They are a loving tight knit little family which I’m sure are being blessed from above by the loved ones cruelly taken. The dad buys a painting to make them some money and was ridiculed by the shop owner and told to go away because it was a fake. Jia Lan tells him to wait til old Lin is in the store and hang it up. Turns out there was a real painting under a fake facade. So he gets ten taels of silver and promoted to third shopkeeper. Jia Lan is getting old enough now they want to buy her freedom, but she encourages them to buy their freedom as a family and they make plans to have a small shop and to do well. There is a scene of JinQi in battle where he kills the opposing rebel leader and the fighting can stop. What is interesting is that when he returns home his father is not happy to see him. I am liking his character as he strides in. He seems to have much more honor than his family. What I am curious about is why we haven’t seen any of the female Lin family members yet. From the preview another sad irony. Jia Lan is going to be introduced to her prior betrothed as a servant. 🫣
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