Reviews

Ring of fire

This episode Xiu Yao is determined to give Ye Li his undivided attention. His spy friend is lamenting that all the things he shares with the prince, with one exception, is handed over to the wife. Ye Li is fun because she doesn’t choose to reciprocate with shop giving. Her shop is her shop.🤣 She is trying to figure out why he is there and reluctant to follow him to work. Xiu Yao is surprised with her reading choices. He is becoming more attuned to little details. Making a shade for her while she sleeps.🥰 At first I wondered why he stood up at work, but who is gonna show up at the office after hours? 😝 Finally making progress and suggesting consummation of marriage. Her response why?🤣😂 When he was disabled she liked teasing him about intimacy, now that he has control of his movements she is less assured. 🤣 Here I actually think she doesn’t want to break up her evening ritual of girl talk with QingShuang before sleep. It has been her staple since coming down the mountain. She does not want to relinquish hold of her maid yet. Her prince is being very gentle and reminding her they both have lost parents and should rely on each other for comfort. He is taking baby steps to win her heart and trust but he is also not giving an inch back. He is determined to keep them moving forward .🥰 Things are heating up catching the runaways. One is in custody and one killed himself rather than disclose information. All roads seem to lead to east palace. The Marquis is aware who killed Yuan Fang and why. He is making his way along with Xiu Yao to JungLi’s quarters. Ning is doing her best to stick with her husband no matter what, but when she asked about that night rather loudly with too many ears he sends her out to return to the Ye house. She is still refusing to leave when fire breaks out in JingLi’s room. There are bodies found after the fire and one seems to be the prince. I am still waiting because that seemed too easy to end things. There are plenty of guys they could have fill in for him in the capital. Now everyone is headed for east palace to find remaining rebels. The Marquis is on his pedestal about executing judgment and I wonder if that will extend to his miscreant son?😝While he is spouting his intentions Xiu Yao reminds him of the orders he had from Empress Dowager in handling the case. The Marquis still intends to head out, but to assist or supress is always the question where he is concerned. Ye Li is not convinced Jingli is dead. The physician there gives probable indicators, but on a severely burned body, I’m with her, that requires a big grain of salt to be 100% convinced. Waiting for next episode to see who is dead and who isn’t after the fire dies out. The excitement continues as the plots come to light. If she becomes convinced JingLi is dead, how much grudge will be removed from Ye Li’s heart? and what changes to Ye household if Ying returns?

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First 4 minutes are electrifying

I spent a few days running away from The First Jasmine, because i didn't like the first 2 minutes of it. As i was looking for the courage to continue with it, Glass Heart comes along and immediately goes: "Here's a rain-soaked music festival, a drummer whose life is falling apart, and a musical genius at a grand piano." Playing the most amazing spontaneous live music. And I was hooked.Glass Heart opens with: Music as craft. Performance as craft. Obsession as craft.What the scene was trying to communicate: whether it's realistic or not is not "He plays piano" or "She plays the drums" But:"They both think in music, and they are thinking at the same frequency."I am not musically creative, but I am someone who has sat in front of a piano, reading notes and practicing passages, so I know how much effort goes into producing even competent music. So when a character is presented as someone for whom music appears to flow naturally, it feels almost supernatural. The piano or the drums weren't just background music. What it immediately told me was: "This story is about someone who has dedicated his life to a craft." Now, if that doesn't hook you....Sato Takeru is awesome and absolutely delivers (just like he did Kenshin Himura) at playing the lonely genius composer, just a step away from a breakdown every time, and, of course, absolutely drop-dead good-looking rock band lead of TENBLANK. I loved almost every song played in Episode 1 including all the other band songs.

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Finding a cure for the heartbroken

After viewing the finest pieces of celadon, it is revealed Xiu Yao is the shop owner.😂 He pleases his wife even more by giving her his shops. His spy friend is less than enthused as he was the one managing them. But he is completely on Ye Li’s side when Xiu Yao shares his secret of being able to stand and walk. He is keeping this a secret for now and keeping admittance to his quarters limited. Ye Li asks for QingShuang and Xiu Yao continues his homework about Ye Li’s background. Uncle Wen isn’t happy and has taken his trove of treasures back home refusing to see anybody. He knows most of the Ye happenings but did not see where his mother’s role was in misdeeds. I like that Ye Li met it head on and told her mother’s story and how gma came at her with a knife. He did not comment on her defending herself. In her mind, the tree that struck down gma was her mother’s doing and that karma moved the wheel of justice where family failed. I tend to agree with her and think uncle might too. She reminded him that she was also his family. After processing her news, he got down to business as to why else she had visited. It comes down to convincing the one who has the edict to make its presence known. Ye Li knows she will be inspired by her uncle’s master, but how to get a dead man’s words to move her is still in the works. Ye Li smiles with Xiu Yao about being the hidden tiger. She doesn’t mind at all him keeping the secret of his healing and enjoys teaching him. After asking about her maid, Xiu Yao watches his wife more closely and sees her constantly talking to her. What he thought was Ye Li simply speaking aloud, was her chatting with her closest friend. He spoke to a physician how best to help Ye Li and what would cure her. He learned that in this case, there was no medicine that could ease her mind, she was manifesting the person she was closest to because of heartbreak and loneliness. Xiu Yao thinks about how she left the mountain alone and arrived at the palace alone. The doctor said that her heart must be filled with another to take the place of the one she wished with her. The prince takes this to heart and is making himself more available. I wonder if he knows of the box of unsent letters that she is constantly writing. I love that he wants to make her heart full with him.🥰❤️The one thing verified by the doctor is that other than seeing one who has passed and treating her like still there, her interactions with the living were quite normal. She just needs a living friend to ease her heart over the loss of her maid. The prince wants to be that friend for her. He finally reads the notes his friend gave him on Ye Li. His friend actually approves and tells him to take good care of his wife. The Marquis’ sons continue to spat. This episode shows the marked difference between them. Young Qin openly snubs the brother and that causes resentment. But here we see him torturing a guard made pariah and it’s solely for his amusement. He flaunts this in his brother’s face and makes it clear he was the reason Qin didn’t get the prefecture position he wanted. He is young to be so vile and deliberately cruel. At some point these two will openly fight each other and it’s unclear how the Marquis will respond. I have to feel sorry for the official who hast to keep the hostility at bay. The mother’s arrival broke up this round. I am curious which tree this one did not fall far from, mom or dad? Waiting to see what Xiu Yao’s next move will be to gain his wife’s heart.🥰

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Five Stars

1. Surprisingly, they finally nailed their order process.2. The Korean kid should be hired as food taster. ❤️❤️❤️3. I seriously didn't know we use Arozcaldo for hangovers. Then again, I've never gotten drunk my entire life. 😆😆 I'm from a parallel world where our alcohol tolerance is infinite. 🤣🤣🤣🤣 But we're not immune to gout, sadly, so no more alcoholic drinks for me. 😝4. I don't know how to react with the ice cream. I mean, parents usually restrict giving ice cream when their kids are being stubborn. It's often used as a reward after they eat proper food. However, Jodi meant well, the kid also needed to calm down. 😅 Luckily, the Chef's Magic, as JCW called it, did it.5. The returning customer.Wow! He really got curious about the fish. We take it for granted here in the Philippines, but he was genuinely curious about it. He returned and brought with him two new customers. He even championed the foods to his friends.Guys, hire that guy. Maybe he's a vlogger. Invite him in the Philippines for a food trip. He's a golden customer. He's authentic. If he likes something, he actively recommends it, "actively" as in let hir friends try it literally, not just word-of-mouth.For real, sponsor him to have a food trip in the Philippines.

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Very Filipino of the Korean celebrity guests

1. Sudden temporary helper Seo In GukI don't know if he was in-character or was half-disappointed with his friend JCW, but that was very Filipino. 🤣🤣🤣 I was laughing so hard!Like reminding everyone you're a customer and was suddenly pulled to help. That's how we generally (not always) act. It's like a friendly banter, half-complaint. You're happy to help but qt the same time, you can't let go of it and reminds everyone about it. And it's all for free, no payment.I don't know how it is in other cultures, but InGuk was really channelling the Filipino culture there. 🤣🤣🤣Also, the way he sang Happy Birthday and then seddenly left after finishing, or not smiling at the customers, yep, really Filipino there. 🤣🤣🤣 I really can't help but laugh endlessly. You want to be 100% angry but your dear friend asked you for a favor.Lastly, when Inguk still paid. That's not Korean-only, that's the Filipino culture as well. However, the reason is different. In Filipino culture, you agreed to voluntary help, if the business makis the bill free, then it wasn't a "help" at all. So why did the Filipino staff/celebrities still said it's on the house? Not because JCW said so but because InGuk's a celebrity. If a celebrity or personality ended up volunteering randomly, we do feel the need to offer them something. It's more of a social exchange so us not to be rude. The celebrity/personality will refuse and still pay. It's simply a social politeness dance.2. JCW's frankness.I was laughing at those, and that's good. Is it a Filipino culture to be frank? Oh yes, definitely.A. When he said, "oh I'll be mixing drinks the whole night". Yeah, we do that frank side comments. We call it "parinig", like whispering but loud enough that they'll hear. 🤣🤣🤣 Or, thinking-out-loud and pretending you didn't realize you did. 😅😅That's a culture ow character that is shared between Koreans and Filipinos.B. When he said, "wait, isn't the reply 'thank you first'?"Same in the Philippines actually. The only difference is that the sequence can be reversed in Filipino culture. If JCW simply answerd "maybe one or two", she would reply, "thank you". It looks like in Korean culture, you say "thank you" first before you ask the follow up question.Was it cultural clash? Not really. Again, it just can be reversed in Filipino culture. In fact, we also do it the JCW's way, we suddenly say, "Wow! No 'thank you' first?" Or in Filipino, "Agad, agad? Walang 'thank you' muna?" Jodi wasn't wrong nor being rude, again, the sequence was just reversed. That's why she laughed and said sorry, because it's how we do it in the Filipino culture as well.3. The restaurant really did went viral in Korea during filming. JCW saw it and volunteered.And I think that explains why there are suddenly so many people eating, especially Koreans. I for one did not expect the Koreans will genuinely like Filipino food. Less spicy, more salty and sweet or sour. The Filipino food that Korean tourists try in Boracay and similar tourist spots? Those were made specially for tourists. It's authentic but still special. The ones in "Kumusta" were more home-made style. Even the Filipinos said, "tastes like home" or "this is truly Filipino".So, for Koreans to like home-made style Filipino food, that's something. Huge something.4. PalabokI was very surprised almost all Koreans liked it. There was one that didn't. I was actually thankful that they showed a short clip of the Korean who didn't like Palabok. Why? Not every Filipino likes Palabok! There are many different types of Palabok, and there are Filipinos who don't like all of it.So, showing a Korean who didn't like it made me believe that everyone else who tried it were authentic, and weren't just saying good things because they're being polite in front of a camera.I hope they show more of those other feedback or reactions. We Filipinos are not expecting foreigners to like our food when we know there are Filipinos who also don't, and we ourselves don't like some foreign food. It's the beauty of food, there's a diverse taste out there.***Overall, a very good E06.

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Clues, traumas and a lack of time

I miss seeing Haixia so much! 😔 My little treat every episode is the memories of them working or practising together, and how Haixia is woven into everything Hailou does. But it's still too little. I think the quote "What would Shrimpie do?" is becoming one of my favourites and might stick in my brain forever. 🥹However, I did love seeing how well Hailou actually knows Haixia and how much he has picked up from him and his intelligence. I am 100% sure Hailou is the only one who could ever decrypt the codes and puzzles Haixia left. 😏👆 And I still wonder what the man disguised as Cousin was after? He actually didn't get anything before his death, only helped Hailou with manoeuvring through the labyrinth of Southern Archives caves. 🤔 And thank God, Cousin is alright... only where is he?Lu Junxiang has a huge trauma left by Haiqi. No wonder he so persistently fixates on her... 😬 And seeing how he continues to sniff her hairpin, I think he's obsessed with her and might have sexually assaulted her, so she castrated him for that. I wonder if the punishment in the dungeon with the beasts is related to that or for some other reasons? 🤔One last ingredient left... Run, Salty, run! The Archives are flooding! 🏃P.S. I think this would be an amazing video game to play, lol. 😂🤩

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