Celebrianna

@UnniSara, in my post I said I enjoyed the story and even the romance but then it was really neutered by the repeated suffering of the male lead. You cannot force me to watch this drama again because I was so annoyed by the way everybody treated the male lead so badly. Well, except for Merman, the fox and the guy with the celestial eye. The young friends kept turning on him and I feel like they should have known him good enough to at least consider that something is off. Well, the story kept them doubting him than apologizing and then doubting him again. I also get so annoyed with gathering of leaders who think the same way. Indeed some might have their own desire to make the male lead suffer but I think it’s unusual to see supposed leaders agree without even a diverse opinion. I had a problem with this too in Untamed. I mean, nobody have a different opinion? It’s like group think. Whatever. The fact is, they tortured the male lead without proper or moral justification.

@40somethingahjumma, I thought you would have liked The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty more than Ancient Detective. :) I prefer Ancient Detective too. I enjoyed it from start to finish. @abs-oluteM, I just finished Private Lives after it was on hold for a while. I liked the OTP too. However, I was practically chomping at the bit to see the GK director’s demise so I forgive the writers. Well, I also really liked Sophia Chung and I was glad to see Kim Jae Wook didn’t exactly get off unscathed after killing other people in his revenge scheme. I also just found out about the OTP in Blooms at Ruyi Pavilion. Their second time as OTP. That was a pleasant surprise although I’m waiting for the show to start on that streaming channel.

@themarchioness @Tofu I’m officially hooked on this show. I rewatched it yesterday to understand the story and characters better and somewhere along the line I really began to appreciate it on another level. @Tofu, I hope Chuchu continues to influence Li Sheng. I’m still kind of upset with him for causing the trouble that got the old madam killed but I forgive him now because he seems to have understood a little that he needs to stop being so self-centered. Sure everybody treat him like they’re indebted to him for his dad’s sacrifice but they also genuinely care for him. He’s improving and I just love that Chuchu stops him from acting recklessly. The girl can’t do martial arts but she’s very sensible. @Tofu, I honestly don’t like Yin Pei. I think his attitude just rubs me the wrong way. The only decent thing he did was to give Chuchu the chain armor vest. And wait, did he @themarchioness, I watched raw episodes up until 34 last night.

I had to get this off my chest. I really enjoyed the fights, cinematography, the love story and the actors. However, I was extremely annoyed by the way the young characters kept turning on the male lead. He traveled with them through terrible times and they still turn on him at the drop of a hat. Then they do some wishy washy apology and then in another arc, turn against him again. It was so annoying that there’s no way I would watch this show again. The male lead character suffered so much in the hands of the clan leaders, his own father, his clan, his friends and his lover. At least the merman, the fox and the ex-clansman guy who had the celestial eye were constant in their support of the male lead character.

@themarchioness, I just recently re-watched Story of Minglan twice. I fell in love with it even more. I enjoy period dramas that cover familial customs and society. I find that drama simply exquisite because of the plethora of wonderful actors, their intricate characters and stories. It’s one of my favorite drama shows now and I thoroughly enjoyed it. This time around I paid closer attention to some of the other characters like Big Madam and the actress is so good. I tried to watch Gank Your Heart but I ran out of English subbed episodes after episode 4 on YouTube. I gave up after that. I usually ignore opinions on chemistry because I honestly think it’s a subjective opinion unless the interaction between the actors are downright awful. :D Sometimes people say a couple has great chemistry and I don’t feel it and vice versa. In this show, I do enjoy Fei and Xie Yun’s interactions. The thing I look for most is how natural the interactions between two characters feel to me even if it’s antagonistic like a villain and protagonist. I have also never seen a drama show with ZLY where I thought she had poor chemistry with her male lead. I haven’t seen all her shows though. Regarding the next arc, I’m assuming the cave you mentioned is the one they found in episode 14. I look forward to seeing the significance of that place and how the story will continue to develop.

@themarchioness, long time we haven’t watched the same drama show. :D I’m invested in this drama for both leads. It’s the first time I saw the male lead play a role where he’s not cold and aloof. I’m really enjoying seeing him in this role. I’m a big fan of ZLY from the moment I laid eyes on her in Boss and Me years ago. I was really taken with her acting, Anyway, despite the fact that I didn’t like the long separation between Fei and Xie Yun in that locked down town, I did like the Ninth Madam and her martial arts. I’d like to see how Fei improves from meeting her in the longer term. Fei has gotten stronger since she met her but she wasn’t exactly in good form after receiving her energy. Regarding a possible overarching story, perhaps it involves Disha, Fei’s father and the military and the royals. Grey wolf had the audacity to kill General Wu and his wife so he must be plotting something big with some other player. All I demand is that grey wolf die terribly for killing the Wu couple, the old madam, ninth madam, etc.. I liked how Fei mercilessly killed that Disha second brother. I always have a problem with villains killing in a ruthless manner and the protagonists not dishing out the same in these pugilist world drama shows. I think Wu Chuchu is a very sensible girl. I do wonder how her role will continue because it seems to me that keeping her out in the pugilist world is dangerous considering she’s being hunted for the token. She doesn’t know martial arts either so somebody will also have to watch her back continuously. I suppose however that eventually the item will fall into Disha’s hands since the group doesn’t seem to be heading back to home.

I just started watching this show and I knew people would complain because of the clunky early episodes though I don’t know if things will change later on. Right now I don’t know what is the true direction of the story. I know Fei’s father left to strategize for the military. Fei left on a mission to bring back the Wu kids and the Daishi villains seem to want that necklace token from the Wu girl. Then there’s male lead’s character and his royal god brother who I guess is vying against another prince. However, so far it feels like things that are important in Fei’s mission are foolishly neglected. One of the biggest issues for me is why Fei or her cousin do not contact her mother to apprise her of the status of the mission. She’s left looking for the old madam not knowing she died. Not knowing also that the senior brother died. Not knowing if any of them are alive. I find it so weird that they keep going on to other places and don’t report back to the chief via their secure means of communication. The cousin is so annoying. I knew he would have gotten the old lady killed. What a waste that was! Hopefully he grows up because up until the old lady’s death, he continuously got those around him in trouble. I still like this show though and hope it gets better.

I like this drama. I honestly thought after the tongue lashing the general gave Prince Qi that he would be more on the alert for his uncle’s plots but I can’t believe he actually invited the foreign princess to his place and gave his uncle such a perfect venue to set him up. Yes, thanks to SuCi the uncle’s tool in that corrupt minister was exposed but I wish Qi would be more on his guard.

@abs-oluteM, I also feel sorry for Joon Young. I find that lack of financial stability can make life less enjoyable and for Joon Young, his parents persistently leech off him for money not a few times, but endlessly according to the discussion that Cha and his music teacher had in that cafe. He holds everything in and I can see how these pressures can eat away at his love for piano. Before he gets paid for a concert, his money has already been spent because of his parents. Even when he’s not working, he has to look loans to pay off some financial incident with his parents. They obviously believe he has money or access to money because he’s a pianist. So it’s no wonder to me that he might have associated his piano with the financial burden he bears. Added to that are the people constantly disparaging his talent simply because another pianist was more successful than him. What they fail to realize is that there will always be someone who can do it better. Does that mean that a pianist should give up just because they encounter someone who does it better? It might be an unpopular opinion but I didn’t like the way Song Ah responded to Joon Young about his failure to appreciate his talent. She could have said it differently instead of sort of accusing him and complaining about those who work hard versus those who are talented. I’m sure talented people work their butt off too. I don’t know why people are under the impression that talented people don’t work hard. Like Chiaki-sempai in Nodame Cantabile said, he played his violin until his nose bled. He didn’t get that good at playing the violin without endless practicing and sacrifice. When other people are out there relaxing, partying, and playing, talented people are practicing, practicing and practicing. That’s how they grow into better musicians. I never saw anyone aiming to be a professional musician who didn’t practice their tail off. Did we not hear what Joon Young said about competitions and how the place the competitors stayed at was full of piano music from dawn? DY also said he began to like playing less and less. Why is that? He probably felt pressured. It isn’t easy to be aiming for the top and it isn’t easy to stay on top without constantly bettering their playing. I do hope that Song Ah succeeds though. By all accounts everybody except DY seem to think she’s bad. I want to see her give it a good try under a solid teacher before she makes a final decision on her career. However, I’m not sure what they mean by she lacks talent in the violin. If she follows the music notes, is it that her sound/tune is off or not quite right? They haven’t really shown us what exactly is wrong with her playing. I hope we see more of her issue soon.

Second teaser

@mademoisellesia, yeah, the owner of the book didn’t seem ruffled by the appearance of an assassin and he knew about 2050. I wonder what’s his story. I guess we’ll find out soon enough. I’m still wondering where his daughter is because she has the last page which I assume is the ending and probably very important. There’s a reason why the father tore out the page and gave it to the daughter to safekeep.

This show is coming to Viki. I already added it to my watch list. I looking forward to the detective aspect of it the most although hopefully the relationships will engage me as well.

@gilaswan, regarding when his mother died, I expected him to cry. Notice the scene when the school boys spray painted on their walls outside and his mother was trying to wipe off the spray paint. He heard his mother quietly crying and it was clear that he was troubled. He went back out and told her he will paint the wall later. Their conversation during that scene showed that Jin Gyeom felt for his mother to the point that she told him he’s grown up. Well, the first episode was perfectly to my taste. It felt way too short for me. Hopefully the second episode delivers as well. I do wonder who and where is the daughter of the man that owned the Book of prophecy. I assume she was adopted and perhaps had a name change. @mademoisellesia I wondered the same too about the book having something to do about Jin Gyeom and his mom. We got a hint in it of a mother and a child. Technically Jin Gyeom was supposed to be born in 2050 so I’m not sure what kind of consequence his birth in 199X is supposed to produce.

I’m just hearing about this drama now. It’s kind of amusing because I just finished binge-watching all 12 episodes of Train yesterday which was also in this genre. I’m looking forward to checking this drama out.