Reviews

Kites, cases, bounties and paintings

Fun scene with uncle teaching Wu You strengthening moves. Wu You is much more interested in fighting skills. 😂🤣 He gets Ye Li to help with his homework and soon there is a gathering to reshape parts for his centipede kite. Xiu Yao comes home to a very cute scene of his nephew and steward testing the kite. He is actually smiling and noting how radiant his wife is. At work his new hire is worth all of the regular officials. One is weeded out for fraud and the others put on notice this will no longer be tolerated. There is an interesting exchange between Ying’s hire and a colleague hired to bring him back. The contract is made with another veiled lady. Xiu Yao makes it home for dinner and sees proof of Ye Li’s healer abilities, but he still refuses to consider her more capable than the doctors he’s already seen. She visits him at work and asks him to accompany her to the temple. Our workaholic prince has not noticed how late it is and heads home after being told his wife had left. He later learns she has been at the temple for several days. He arrives to find her painting a mural and handling a key facial feature all the professionals were arguing about.🤣😂 He also finds his spy buddy there who is greatly amused at the changes in his friend. Xiu Yao reprimands Ye Li who counters him point by point and asking what’s his problem. 🤣He can’t rebut and finds himself actually sharing sleeping quarters with his wife. 🤣🫣 She will not accommodate his schedule because she has bargained for a painting from the famous artist. Him throwing his robe to stop watching her undress. 🤣🫣 Ye Li is fun because she does not shy away from intimacy. She’s not the least bit discomfited sharing a bed as that’s what married couples do. We have a scene of his brother asking for Xiu Yao to be spared. Lishan feels responsible for the condemnation and death of the prince but it is still unclear who wrote, sent and hid or destroyed the royal decree that called him away from the battle. Prince Li is still pouting and avoiding his wife. 😝 There is a lot going on in Ye Li’s head but everywhere someone is hurting or needing help, she is like an Angel of Mercy providing what is needed and giving them hope. Her flip side is Angel of Vengeance where she doesn’t shirk meting out justice and retribution. She is a very interesting character and I am thoroughly enjoying her prince trying to figure her out. What I like most, he really wants to. 🥰🧐

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Ning'er finally sees a flaw in her affection for Zhang Zhe

She was already starting to ponder whether her feelings were just guilt over what happened in her first life. But now I think she realizes that she and Zhe just can't truly work as a couple. She sees and admires him so much for his ironclad principles, but she realizes that emotional entanglements will break him due to those principles. And she knows that SHE, on the other hand, is much more morally complicated, just like Xie Wei. In a way, she sees that Zhe is both 'too good for her' ... but also that he is 'too limited' in his worldview for her. And just like a moon attracted to a planet by gravity, she ends up drifting right back in Xie's orbit. The only negative here is that she didn't fully realize things until after Zhe started to fall for her. So his emotions may be hurt already by her withdrawal. But hopefully she did the right thing soon enough to prevent any serious problems.

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Accusations and corrections

The invitation was from a friend of Empress Dowager. She is determined to prove Lishan’s guilt in acting against the Empress. Ye Li’s uncle is trying to smooth things over as best he can. Ye Li finds herself in Prince Li’s quarters after having a collision with a servant. This was supposed to be a location to clean her robe and she finds Prince Li instead. He thinks ChangFu was killed to better his court position. Ye Li set him straight on that notion immediately. He was killed for the 7 lost souls in Lishan and had nothing whatsoever to do with him. She described him as a cicadas and that seems rather apt. He is lost in his delusions because he has plans with no means or will to accomplish them. Ye Ying and his mother watched him threaten to jump in the pond because he wasn’t getting his way. His servant jumped in to keep the idiot from jumping and Ye Li left making it clear they had nothing between them and she felt nothing but contempt for him. Ye Ying and her hunt for an assassin😂🤣 This turned out to be quite humorous and if she gets to look Ye Li in the eye, what is she really going to do? Ye Ying is impulsive and meanspirited but could she really kill or watch someone be killed in cold blood? She seems to be a big part of the comic relief so will see how this plays out. The uncle looks like he is moving half the city into the palace.🤣😂 When asked how long he’s staying he started with two months. 🤣😂 If this is his daily essentials he will need a warehouse for all his possessions. XiuYao has an old friend released from jail. The prince wants help clearing his family and the cavalry from wrongdoing. He needs help collecting the evidence required. The jailed one wants to handle the wording on the Marquis’ memorial . They strike a deal to deal with the Marquis and get justice. The visiting seer friend is trying to steer the Empress dowager, but only partly successful. It is clear Ye Li has answered directly to all questions and has not wavered in what she has said. She continues to be a breath of much needed air even with her scrambled sense of reality. The Prince is now looking into the maid Ye Li wanted the medicine for. It will give him another piece of the puzzle of Lishan. Another is haunted by Lishan and here I wonder if Ye Li is helping create his nightmares since she was out and about late at night. XiuYao is experiencing more pain with his leg injuries but is still very reluctant to let Ye Li try her mountain healing techniques. I like that Ye Li didn’t shirk the invitation nor cower at the accusations. She answered the same as for Empress Dowager. I enjoyed her telling that deluded Prince Li what she thought of him. He is somewhat a tragic figure playing the libertine to survive in the palace. However, he lacks the wherewithal to throw himself unrepentantly into the role or to break free of it and face the consequences. He wanted a future with Ye Li but had no plan in place for where they would go or how they would survive. He is discontent and whiny about the hand he has been given, but doesn’t try to play the cards he’s been dealt. Even Ye Ying doesn’t deserve to be married to him. I like that Xiu Yao and Ye Li are getting closer. 🥰 It is very small steps but promising. Waiting to see what Xiu Yao and his prison friend have in store for the Marquis. Lots going on and many characters involved. It segues smoothly through the various perspectives and past and present. It has been a fun and interesting experience watching so far.

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So far, it’s a complete dumpster fire, imho

Some dramas, only look good in the story description, but most of the recent Kdramas, especially those from SBS at least usually have strong beginnings. My Royal Nemesis doesn’t even have that. So far, it's a cringefest in its purest form combined with a bloated set up of a story that was already told a million times before. Both leads are off. Their only hope is character development.Im Ji Yeon for sure is *acting* but it’s over the top, forced and anything, but funny. Maybe she should keep playing secondary characters, because so far, she doesn’t convince me at all as the female lead. Only the time travel aspect of this kdrama is interesting to me, but the execution of it is really amateurish. The male lead also has some potential to grow on me. So, I’ll will continue it as of now, but I’m certainly in no rush to watch another episode.

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