Reviews

Ugh. So sick of show attempts to make us feel sorry for the psycho.

It's such a tired, over-used plot device where C-Dramas spend all this screen time giving us the maudlin, sad sob-story history behind some psychopathic unrequited love interest, as if to make us feel sorry for him (or her). I absolutely hate this trope because it is so disingenuous. In almost every case whatever trauma they have endured is nothing compared to that which millions of others have endured and yet THEY didn't turn into obsessed psychopaths. So it completely fails as an excuse for their behavior. And even in the (rare) c-drama cases where the character goes through redemption and turns into someone who isn't a villain and maybe even helpful, it's just not that interesting because we _know_ that this character is NOT going to end up with the lead and so it all feels like a giant waste of screen time. Love triangles in general are almost always nothing but a plot drag. All that said, Jeremy Xu is doing a masterful job of playing a creep. He's being so good at this role in this show that I think I need to go watch one of his dramas again where he played a sincerely good guy just to wash this icky feeling away. Time to rewatch Legend of the Phoenix.

Read More

it’s not good enough to be charming

aki-p sucks JFVDVKDFKMKMDKMDVKM this was horrible 。mariyagi gets a lot of scenes ，the boys fight for their school’s honor & we finally know who the main perpetrator is but like who cares ？why am i supposed to care for mariyagi who only ever did anything two episodes ago & has only ever actually talked three times ，why do i not only have to invest myself in her change but also how am i supposed to believe she changes ？why do any of the other cattleya girls rally behind paruru’s stance ？like her immediate friend+group sure ，they’ve bneen through a lot & had the bakada boys show up but we don’t ecver acrually see a shifting tide in either of the major party ，so why do we believe they can accept what they’ve been known to hate ？ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆　　 ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ that fight was point±less because they don’t have a good show to back up them getting to be stupid. & again ，you don’t care about the cattleya faculty betrayl. you really don’t. it’s not some major twist & you don’t even care that mariyagi colludes with him because like why not ？we didn’t do anything important for most of the entire show we might as well get it all out now like ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆　　 ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ i also think jesse & kochi rebelling is very funny. SO YOU UNDERSTAND THEY DIDN’t GET ANYTHING IN THE SHOW & MAKE UP FOR IT NOW ？i think if you’re a fan of akb48 don’t watch this show ，if you’re a fan of sixtones then treat this as a variety skit ，if you’re into shows as an art DON’t WATCH THIS SHOW

Read More

Saving lives, hunting things

That scene with the Queen Dowager and Saeng-Gang was so intense, but masterfully done. At least the witch is brought down and won't terrorise anyone anymore. 😌And as for the twist — damn! Didn't expect that, but then again, how could they already be done with the spirits if it's just episode 4, right? So there had to be something extra! 🤨And I love the bond between Saeng-Gang and Gu-Cheon growing stronger. Him staying in the palace to save her even though he despises the place? A very commendable move on his part, which I suspect will cost him something eventually. 🥹🤔And kudos to Gu-Chong for saving our little guy from the big bad snake and earning himself an adorable little pet, whose only teeny-tiny flaw is that it feeds on his already low Yang energy. 😅 But damn, it is such a cute little creature... how can I not like it? How? 🤗🤭

Read More

Five Stars

I love it the one thing is I feel that JInman needs someone by his side to come home to. Like a lover but I think he has been hurt so many times that 1. He is afraid of being loved or betrayed or 2.He's been hurt so many times that he has trust issues and possibly forgotten what it feels like to be loved. But I feel like he needs someone by his side during the hard times. Someone to achor him and to be there when he's going through a hard time. He shouldn't have to carry this burden alone. I believe that there is someone out there for him. Jinman has walls up so high that it would be difficult for anyone to get through to him

Read More

Making changes

Huo is told by the otherworld patriarch that she is destined to tragedy where no matter what she tries she will fail as much as her aunts did. Rather than discouraging her, she decides it’s time to change fate and abolished the guild as it was previously known. She is going to find a way to change her destiny and the clan align with her. Wu finds a narcotic plant that will help train the creature. What we do t know is if the smaller one captured is the mate or child of the one still in pond. Hatoyama’s eyes glazed over in happiness at the very thoughts of controlling it and did not care in the least how many would be lost to achieve that end. Wu at least knows exactly what they really want. He is completely disgusted by their unconcern for human life as well as their plans for these creatures that would most likely have left people alone had their space not been invaded. Huo makes a visit to the Wu stronghold.she has a chuckle at his latest woodcarving and invites the dog to visit when food runs out. She and the dog encourage each other with the hope of Wu returning. Wu has made tasty meatballs for the creature with the new herb. Then the ijit tries out the drugged meat to see what it does. 🙄👀🙄 it was fun to watch him slap the guard with the whistle to say it was inadequate and needed redone. That rated a smile. The testing of the drug on himself a smack.😡🫣🧐Did Cui bring an antidote too? Or just a native plant to clue him in on location. He’s the last one to know he’s in Xiangxi. Zhang makes it to 82nd stockade and is the only one to meet with the chieftain. It is confirmed the Japanese are there but not how the gained access. He wants to give an offering to the mountain god and have Zhang deliver it. Nobody has successfully entered the area since and non returned alive. After Zhang leaves that pile of earth moves. Is QianSui going to emerge? Cause he’s creepy enough to do that. Wu finally gets a whistle made that contacts the creature. His dream is where he and Huo have completely opposite ideas of the end of the play. She sees things as tragically ceasing to exist so embrace the last fleeting seconds with everything you have. Wu’s view is if the play strikes a strong enough chord in his heart it will never end. So he concludes that anything he holds dear could never come to a tragic end. Right when they are supposed to kiss she tells him to run and Hatoyama shows up to mock him for helping the Japanese claim their stars. Wu makes a map and sends Cui to find Huo. I wish he would have considered Zhang more proactive about trying to save him. The top Japanese official gets 12 hrs in Changsha and pays Huo a visit congratulating her leadership. He offers cure for the black plague if they partner. Bet they were instrumental in Huo clan getting it.😝 He is holding out hand for a deal when scene shifts to Zhang. They are doing exactly as chieftain wanted but Zhang knows his group is to be the sacrifice. The villagers accompanying them have taken poison to die within a week and this is their last mission. Zhang wants to kill the deity to thwart the Japanese and Qi tries to hint enemy of my enemy is my friend approach. Zhang wants scorched earth. Food is exchanged between the groups and the villagers are not opposed to them killing the deity. If successful their people will no longer be afraid, if not dying for a deity not such a bad way to go. Zhang did not expect them to be so pragmatic. Wu has proven he can control the creature. I would really like him to say eat all the Japanese when that door opens. 😝What they want to do is use this one as bait to catch the bigger one. Will be very interesting if both groups converge at same time by the big creature. I also really hope Huo figures out a way to not bargain with the Japanese that believe they have her over a barrel with their ledgers as evidence.

Read More

Huo clan betrayal, 82nd Stockade and taming of the creature

Wu is staying alive and letting the creature understand he controls the food and quantity. Both are sullen. 😝 The bird Cui shows up and that encourages Wu some. Qi is singing the two lines he knows of a XiangXi song. 🙉 He finds out that Huo saved him by sending her maid to tell Zhang where he was. Qi is surprised and thankful. At the Huo clan the servant that told Zhang Qi’s whereabouts is being punished. They want Huo to confess and accept blame. The second in charge is willing to work with anybody that will let them keep their clan intact. She has lost sight of true allies vice extortionists that will end up owning them rather than assisting them. 🙄 3rdMaster is making headway in the underground waterway. The have evidence it runs from the tower to XiangXi. It diverges to two separate paths and the distance too great to determine where exactly in XiangXi the Japanese ended up at. The surmise something bigger than the tower is there but no clue what. A scheme has been set up for them to visit the 82nd Stockade under pretense of getting more troops and munitions to defend Changsha. We are taken to Wu’s prison and the Japanese are stepping up their game using compliant Unit 401 guys as bait. Wu bargains to find out creature;s favorite food , whistle and paper and pen. Really hating the smirk on Hatoyama’s face when he looks down on Wu as uneducated and not worth their time, but as a necessary evil in getting what they want from the creature. Zhang has at least figured out that their scientist has a specific requirement that only Wu can help him with. They have no clue about the creature itself but know that taming animals is Wu’s strong suit along with solving mechanisms without much else to recommend him. Going to Huo she sees the beginning of her clan in an embroidery shop. The women managed to get a royal sign that granted them freedom from forced marriages. However, the sovereign that rescued them also gave them an undo able task to enslave them within to avoid being enslaved without. Neither way served the women well. She wakes in the salt mines and finds Xiao Mei barely alive. Trying to rescue her she unleashes black plague victims on the salt mines. Kinda poetic for the men in charge but not so much for the women imprisoned there. Huo becomes a one woman army and wreaks havoc for all males in the mines. She escapes with her maid to find Wu’s golden whistle and most faithful dog waiting to help her. The irony of offering incense to the matron of the clan while trying to kill off her reincarnation.😝Huo did an excellent job of foiling her aunties great scheme, and Wu would be all smiles knowing his dogs assisted. She now knows they conspired with QianSui to kill her mother. They expected her to be the obedient daughter they’d been kind to. She spared them from the dogs so she could have the honors of finishing them. It was too quick after all they did, but Huo definitely made it clear that working with the Japanese was not going to be part of saving their house. And she spared her aunts of seeing her new vision for the clan.😝👏🏻

Read More

Hidden agendas, desperate moves and a lack of sincerity

They solved the attempt to drug and get intimate with Xihe so quickly that I wonder what the reason was to even include that in this story? Was it to show us that there is a hooded man who is secretly plotting against her? Or maybe the hooded man is using her to target someone else? 🤷‍♀️🤔Considering what happened with Prince Ding and his consort, my suspicion regarding my previous theory just keeps growing. The Emperor might marry his sons to the daughters of powerful families, and then those families somehow become traitors, enemies, etc., and get executed/wiped out, except for the wife of the prince. Maybe I am wrong, but I am seeing such a pattern, even if that's not what is happening. 🧐No matter how desperate Changqing is in his pursuit of Xihe, I can't really find the will to dislike him. I have found some sympathy for his tragic and pitiful love story with Gu Qingzhi and his character in general, so all I want is for him to find a way out, away from this obsession, and find his own happiness or at least some satisfaction in his life. And it easily could be him protecting Xihe and the Shen family from the sidelines — something he couldn't do for Qingzhi and the Gu family, being in front. I still think it would be a great redemption arc. 😔And now the Emperor is saying that he values Changqing the most, while to Huayong he said he's his favourite and most loved son. I know valuing someone and loving someone is not exactly the same, but this sounds a little bit like not being sincere with either of them. 🤨

Read More

They Only Have Each Other, and My Heart Is Breaking for Them

Wow, Shi Xian and his sister have suffered so much. My heart genuinely broke watching their story unfold. 😭💔They lost both of their parents and were left with nothing but each other. His sister had to grow up far too quickly, becoming the one responsible for raising and protecting her younger brother. Even when she became seriously ill, she kept it hidden from her employer because she was terrified of losing her job. She kept forcing herself to work, putting her own health aside because her brother depended on her.But eventually, her body could no longer hold on. She ended up in the hospital, needing expensive treatment and surgery. And just when you think things couldn’t possibly get any worse, Shi Xian had to drop out of school and start working at bars, drinking with customers just to make enough money to pay for his sister’s medical bills. 😭They have already lost their parents, their home, their sense of security and now even their chance at a normal life. All they have left is each other. That’s what makes their situation so heartbreaking. You can feel how desperately they are trying to hold on, even when life keeps taking everything away from them. 💔😭Thankfully, even in the darkest moments, there is always a little light at the end of the tunnel. Teng Mo stepped into their lives when they needed someone the most. He didn’t just use his financial resources to help pay for her treatment, he also gave them emotional support and made them feel like they weren’t alone anymore.Sometimes, when you have nothing left, having someone reach out and say, “I’m here for you,” can mean more than money ever could. After everything these two siblings have been through, I just want to see them finally get some happiness. They deserve so much better. 😭❤️

Read More