Reviews

A mother’s last wish for her daughter — Live

This should have been one of the happiest days of Shen Jia Lan’s life. She was on her way to her engagement party where all the Shen women were gathered to bless her engagement and support the happy couple. On the way they hear the plight of a family too poor to get their daughter medicine and being kicked out on the street. A random act of kindness from mother and daughter provide much needed funds and clothing for another’s daughter in great need. Once there, the Shen women were commenting on how thoughtful a hostess Jia Lan was for both families. While they waited for the Lins, the top two Lin patriarchs were trying to decide what to do about an older recommendation provided to the prior emperor to limit the powers of the princes. Now that leadership changed, that was brought to the current ruler’s attention and he is far from pleased. Jin Qi wants to warn his betrothed that the emperor is out for their families but the head patriarch chooses to have the family cut ties and bribe their way to forgiveness. The Shens are left to deal with the fallout by themselves. The men are to be killed and the women given to a government brothel. The men wrote they left with clear consciences and the Shen women down to the youngest child decide to kill themselves rather than accept their judgment. The family that received their kindness happened to find them and since their daughter had died and was about the same age, they would swap the two daughters so that Jia Lan could live. Jia Lan was not going to accept this until her new family showed her the note written in blood on the blessing she had planned to give to Jin Qi. Her mother wrote……Live. This was a very emotional and heart wrenching introduction to the characters. It is hard to fathom such a harsh switch of circumstance with little warning and no time to mitigate charges and judgment. What did ring true amidst all this tragedy is the love shining through from two different mothers and how one act of kindness and mercy allowed a return gift of kindness and mercy in the face of agonizing circumstances.

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Why Is This Show Doing This to Me?

Six episodes into Till I See You and I am officially gone. I thought I was only going to watch for Chen Rui because, honestly, one look at him in The Summer I Kissed You and I was already finished. But this show has me feeling things I did not prepare for.Song Yi and Xu Feiyu are so soft with each other that every tiny moment feels huge… a hand reaching out, a quiet walk, a gentle kiss, even the way they just look like they want to stay close. The push-and-pull was fun at first, but now that their walls are coming down, I am sitting here smiling at my screen like an idiot.And yes, the sensuality is doing its job too. The ropes, the blindfold, the towel scenes, the cherry tomato kiss… this series knows exactly what it is doing. Then it gives us barely twenty minutes and ends right when my heart is beating the fastest. How am I supposed to wait another week after that?It feels like having a crush you cannot tell anyone about… sweet, frustrating, and completely taking over your thoughts. I need the movie version immediately.

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Meet Ma Ke the idea stealing asshat🤬😡🤬🤬

This episode has Bu Tian Na and Xu Chi hammering out their issues. Bu Tian Na is starting to understand her lofty position when Zhao Heng brings her low EQ to her attention. Ye Xin Zhi is discovering he is entranced with his right hand trainee. She comes through fixing a hard drive for them and impresses his partner. At a late night return to office she gives Ma Ke her idea and he told her too complex and to work an area she wasn’t familiar with. Then at the meeting he started with her to show Mr Pi how ready she was with her project. After she fell flat on an idea that wasn’t hers, her new boss started presenting her tree idea for Mr Pi. She is getting ready to argue but is held back by her senior colleague. She should have responded when Pi asked her directly why so confident in her project. That old man stealing her idea is just 🤬🤬🤬🙄🤬 I don’t even know how she should deal with this but hope karma hits the bastard soon and hard. 🤬Lin did try to warn her to be careful of him.

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"Make use of life"

In July of 1575, Kanbe met Nobunaga. During the meeting, he stated that Nobunaga should conquer Chungoku if he wanted unification. He told him the situation in Harima, that most clans supported the Mouri and promised to persuade all the clans to side with the Oda. Hashiba Hideyoshi was secretly watching the meeting and purposely showed up late to be appointed the general by Lord Nobunaga. He explained that if he had been there, Nobunaga's vassals would have objected to what Kanbe said because they disliked Hashiba Hideyoshi for being a former farmer. Hideyoshi then invited Kanbe to visit his castle, Nagahama Castle, located in Omi province. Gifu town, which was Nobunaga's town, was the busiest town in the country, where Nobunaga eliminated checkpoints and widened the roads, so more and more people came and brought prosperity to the town. Hideyoshi copied his Lord when he built his own castle town.Nobunaga considered people as his tools, including Hideyoshi and Kanba. He stated that uncompetitive men were useless. I mean, he had a point. Ambitious vassals would fight each other and help him achieve his goals. Nobunaga was truly a smart boss.Anyway, Nobunaga gave his legendary sword “Heshikiri” (cutter) to Kanbe, to which Hideyoshi stated that he really liked Kanbe. Nobunaga used to slide a priest who was insolent to him in half along with the dresser that the priest fled under. In the meantime, the Lord of Gochaku, whom the Kudora clan served, changed his mind and decided to support the Mouri after being influenced by Teru’s brother, while he agreed with Kanbe in the official council to support the Oda. If that really happened, it would be considered deceit and betrayal to the Oda clan and it might be the end for the Kudora. That’s why Teru tried to ask the Lord’s wife to convince him to keep supporting the Oda.A new character appeared that seems to play an important role later on, Ishida Mitsunari. I haven’t read about this person in history so I don’t know if he would turn out to be a bad person later on. Although I can’t stand the actor now, I will not let my personal feelings judge his character in this drama.From what I read in history, Hideyoshi was a well-known womanizer and had numerous concubines and mistresses besides his official wife Nene, who was also one of his trusted political advisors. In this episode, Nene showed both jealousy and wisdom, after finding out her husband spent the night outside before coming back home and tried to lie to her. The couple put Kanbe in a tight spot because he couldn’t lie to Nene or break his promise with Hideyoshi. Kanbe’s three vassals also showed their loyalty to their Lord in this episode. When Hideyoshi tried to hire them with a large amount of money, Kuriyama Zensuke, Mori Tahe, and Inoue Kuroemon declined the offer and stated that they would never leave the Kuroda clan until the moment they died. Kanbe looked so anxious just a minute ago and then he looked so proud. So did I. Hanbe appeared again at the end of the episode, and it seemed that he would test Kanbe out in the next episode.4 main lessons from this episodes:1) "Warfare is based on deception.", Kanbe borrowed Sun Tzu's words to state that "A large army doesn't mean anything. Victory or defeat isn't decided merely by the size of an army.", when Nobunaga's vassals looked down on the Kuroda army because they only had five hundred soldiers.2) "Make use of life." Kanbe advised Hideyoshi to make a thief live and work for him instead of beheading him. Kanbe said that's what he learnt from his late grandfather. Kanbe was taught not to waste his life dying in vain, and he decided that his priority would be trying to gain victory with minimal casualties. Hideyoshi agreed and stated that the best strategy for him was to win without actual combat.3) “Taking the enemy lightly in battle means death.” Teru taught Matabe and her son Shojumaru, because Matabe looked down on Shojumaru for being smaller and weaker than him, and took Teru lightly because she was a woman. Teru won against Matabe and her winning was also approved by her father-in-law. He looked so proud of her. ^^4) “Gain by losing. Think long-term.” Nene advised her husband Hideyoshi when he was about to impose business taxes because the construction work on his castle and town was costly. She was against it and told Hideyoshi to gasp the people’s hearts first so that more people would gather and the province would prosper later on.

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This was a very interesting episode.

This was a very interesting scheme. I don't know how those other guys knew Lyu Ruhui was in on this to help reveal Tianxiang Sect's scheme and punish the scammers, but it worked perfectly. My guess is because of Master Jin, or maybe somehow also Feiyan. She revealed herself to Jiaxian and is involved with Commander Feng, and I still think she had real feelings for her "husband", so it all somehow clicks this way to me. But we'll see. 😅Liang kind of seems like that silly sidekick main characters usually have in C-dramas, but I don't want to fully trust him yet. Maybe he really is what we see of him, but I will still remain a bit cautious with him. 🤨As for Blind Du not being blind... it really makes sense! He knew too much of what happened around. And I was right... right? He knew Jiaxian is the guy they scammed those eight years ago, because he said if he knew this would happen, he should have killed him back in Longxuya. It's the place where he lived with his family, right? 🫣But interesting thing is that he would want his nephew and if he could, himself too, to escape from the Tianxiang Sect. Could there be more to his story then? Probably. P.S. Commander Feng gave me the impression of being a craaaaazy person.

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hello?

this is genuinely one of the most hardest watch list oat... it was like you blinked and everything went to shit. I at first tried my absolute hardest to feel an ounce of empathy towards lu feng during earlier episodes (even though his actions were lowkey diabolical) however episode 8 and 9 i cannot save this fucking man. what do you mean hes acting like he has a bigger reason than YICHEN to be angry???? bitch you literally killed both of his parents (with the power of gayness) and then you paralyzed his brother???? on top of the countless times you forced yourself onto yichen. and then you go ahead and drug him, kidnap him, and then rape him all because he left you (which he had the absolute right to) to attempt to have a better life without you????? (even though he was miserable) like this has actually got to be a joke. whoever was writing this plot has to get their ass kicked because what kind of substance were you on while creating this lmfao

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Moonshadow EP8 Finally Gave Us Something to Talk About

Moonshadow had us worried. The series started with heat, chemistry and plenty of promise, but lately? Let’s just say the spark has been a little harder to find.Then Episode 8 happened.A surprise appearance gave the story a much-needed jolt, Sun continued to steal scenes, and Peach reminded us why we’re officially campaigning for Jamie to get her own GL. But we also have questions — about Key’s emotional journey, some very questionable timing and where exactly all that Key-and-Chan intimacy disappeared to.Some things worked. Some had us scratching our heads. And one unexpected moment had us sitting all the way back up.Read our full Moonshadow Episode 8 review to see what brought us back — and what still isn’t quite landing here: https://bit.ly/4d96V5y

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One episode in and this office already needs an HR intervention 😂💼

💼First Impressions •A solid start! We get some good interactions between Xu Chi and Ye Xin Zhi, alongside the backstory behind her determination to make herself irreplaceable.💼What I Loved •Understanding Xu Chi’s past gives her ambition more weight. After her mother’s death and her father starting a new family, she feels she can only rely on herself. Her focus on succeeding makes sense, even if she comes across as a little robotic during that first interview.💼I liked how Ye Xin Zhi’s advice actually influences her progress. She doesn’t have a powerful background, but she’s beginning to build useful connections and make opportunities for herself.💼What Didn’t Work •We don’t get much of Ye Xin Zhi’s story yet, so I’m still waiting to understand him beyond his interactions with Xu Chi.💼Standout Moment • Their airport encounter years later adds a funny moment to an otherwise quite serious introduction. I enjoyed seeing that different side of their interactions.💼Looking Ahead •The office politics already feel a bit bloodthirsty! I’m interested to see who manages to come out on top and how these two navigate it all.💼Overall Thoughts •A decent opening with an ambitious female lead, promising interactions and plenty of workplace competition. Enough to keep me watching.

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