IpohBanana

I think at this point right, there's the romance/family plot. But later, the political part (especially invasion from a warring state) will be more political. I think I enjoy that variety, rather than having it just her focusing on revenge. Though, that scene from the trailer with her hitting the drums/rallying the troops reminded me of Under The Power or Renascence (where the FLs were doing that).

@UnniSara well the scriptwriter/ director is toying with Zhu Zan and trying our patience. Actually he was rather convinced after that incident, then (so as not to spoil you), he will learn something about her that confounds his findings, and he will back to suspecting her identity but unsure of his previous conclusions. Yah, so just bear with it even if it grates on your nerves. I just watched E23 & 24 preview, and it's hilarious. @Tofu @flannery @NiteWalker

I would have a huge question mark if it really were 55 episodes as there would be way too many fillers. @UnniSara the ML is fine as the brash, upright hero but in the department of romance, he definitely ain't the romantic sort (well not yet anyway, this may change somewhat when she reveals her identity as the trailer does hint at some OTP moments). So, I think we'll have to manage our own expectations. Though, I felt he was genuine when he was in front of the tomb, and whatever relevant emotional scenes he's had so far in dealing with her death....

agree, I can imagine him very well playing bad guy, but hats off to him, he's been doing a rather commendable job in this current role. I am purely here for PXR and WYS (sigh... such a gentle character.. grinning from ear to ear just thinking about him) Ning Gong Zi (my eye candy for this show) credit: Youku

@Tofu @SilverMoonTea yes, it's rather depressing to see him like that throughout so many films, though I feel he takes them on because it's his niche/area of specialisation and he does it well. I was looking forward to seeing him in Agarwood Like Crumbs, but with the recent crackdown, will he be considered too scrawny? And the FL in that drama, well, for those keeping abreast of the news from the motherland, you may have heard some news...I hope the Wind really blows over soon enough, or heaven knows how many dramas will never see the light of day.

@NiteWalker yes, PXR's character is the sort of female lead I love to love, smart, brave, cool and calm. I hope like someone said they don't make her unbelievably dumb later on, as is the case half-way thru. The ML, ya-lah, I don't fancy too, no fault of his, as far as I can see, his acting is not bad, just not my cup of tea (the appearance). Wang You Shuo's character is like the ML from a Chinese Ghost Story (Leslie Cheung sort of), very gentle, well-spoken, true gentleman. @SilverMoonTea if u need English subs btw, lemme know, I can send u a link. As for SBM, it's best you end at E46, anything after that leaves you feeling a tad too sad. I am waiting for more episodes of Forever and Ever then I will start, I saw Allen Ren acting bashful and all, quite a refreshing change! Bai Lu looks great there.

@NiteWalker @SilverMoonTea are you watching this? I've watched till E08, really enjoying it. Watching Peng Xiao Ran for the first time and loving her and the 2nd/3rd ML, Wang You Shuo. The pacing is good and the storyline is rather enticing.

@40somethingahjumma Yes, Yan Xiu mentioned to Yan Zhi that she is the most gifted swordsman he has seen. Actually when they had that conversation, I thought it meant that she would defeat QZL ultimately. And though she did him some harm, it was the arrow that made the most damage. Teamwork at it's best, Yan Zhi's umbrella, CRY's swordsmanship, Qi Yan's error and Violet Bureau's formation. Anyways, had they had more time to continue honing her skills, her progress would have been far more exponential. CRY explained that Cheng Xi gave her the foundations but not much beyond that. So, she kinda fumbled on her own to learn and grow. It wasn't till Yan Zhi and Yan Xiu took the pains to teach her during that short period she was living with them that she was able to systematically develop her techniques. I somehow felt it's a pity that her full potential wouldn't ever be achieved, considering how she's running a restaurant (lol) but then again, I guess 'tis what makes her happy. On the contrasting thoughts between Yan Zhi (lucky I told her about all the trapdoors) and Qi Yan (on not appearing too bright)... My first reaction "So funny, how they both thought different things!" My second reaction "Eh, is this the right time for humour? Isn't this supposed to be a tensed situation?" And if I could have retorted to Qi Yan on CRY's behalf --> Who's wit are you comparing her with? Yours or Yan Zhi's? For sure, she's not had that kind of exposure, education and environment for strategic thinking. Also, since young, she's been more impatient, active and less inclined towards solving puzzles, thus her preferences lie elsewhere. But did you know she was able to decipher the solution to defeating the Violet Bureau Formation in one night? And that Han Ding also commented how she's beginning to think like you after observing and interacting with you for one year? Not only that, you only need to state your next move and she's able to guess the logic or rationale for your actions? So, she may not be at par with you or Yan Zhi, but she isn't that short in the department of wit. As for your comment - I have to give the leads credit for selling their chemistry so convincingly that some viewers were left wanting more. >>> I watched the trailer of their next OTP. The trailer is giving me more heartache than this entire 49 episodes has, coupled with the novel sypnosis which the drama may/may not follow, I am wondering if my poor heart is going to take that loop of push-pull-angst. CY must have a bit of a masochist streak in him

@SilverMoonTea Gee, I certainly hope they end on a much happier and unambiguous ending (we have no idea how much of the novel will be adhered to, right). If not, I will be sending a few virtual slaps to the director/scriptwriter I'll hop over to watch the trailer, but the novel summary is truly miserable as you put it, coupled with the fact that today is a gloomy day (at my place right now), so it felt doubly gloomy. [I can't read as well, so I needed the translation.] Edited: I'm back, watched the trailer. First impressions - is CY addicted to such scripts ah, where he has to cry heaps, lie in bed, look tormented? Or were they expecting SBY to do well and cajoled him to take on another drama with the FL as they knew fans would want to see them together again? (to milk the cow so to speak)

@SilverMoonTea I just read the sypnosis from the novel that this drama is based on. Can I say it sounds even worse than SBM in terms of push and pull and angst? I've done up a screenshot for you, using Google Translate (you need it, ?, or you can read chinese, my bad, i've forgotten).

@40somethingahjumma Thanks for sharing your thoughts and the link to your blog posts. I'll definitely go check it out later. There's subs for E45-46 and there was one scene I particularly wanted to find out the exact translation for 'coz I had been guessing a bit here and there (what with my half-baked comprehension). It was the scene where Qi Yan could hear CRY fighting in the building while he was supposedly invited to a tea party with QZL. I sometimes wonder if the Director has a bent sense of humour and likes to poke fun at the character(s). In this case, it was Qi Yan thinking to himself that CRY doesn't appear to be too smart/bright but boy she can hold her ground in a sword fight.[I burst out laughing and was rather amused that he admitted that and let us viewers get a glimpse of what he thinks of her.] We have hardly had a chance to see things from his POV, like what opinons he has about her. Except for that occasion when he admitted he couldn't stand her for smiling all the time in the past (though that was painful to watch because he admitted that since then she cries mostly around him and hardly smiles anymore) plus this time round when he said that she doesn't seem too bright. Most times, all I know is that he's fearful of her safety, guilty about having caused her so much pain and can't stand to see her cry. So the few ocassions when I actually know what he thinks of her is really nice, from a character's POV. [The other gripe I have is I wish they had shown us a little of what the Queen Dowager?, his grandmother thinks about the whole situation - we only see her doing as his bidding, but rarely do we get a chance to hear it from her mouth, only her actions.] The part you mentioned about him being jealous and asking her why it couldn't be him, yes, I felt the same way. Somewhat ironical that scene - an Emperor who typically is a symbol of ultimate power feeling powerless that he couldn't be that man, to CRY. Then again, the Emperor in this show hasn't been that typical of one, perhaps in that sense, it's a closer reflection of his experience since sitting on the throne. The comment about a lack of quality OTP time was a complaint I often saw from other forum users, I supose the expectations are different and the show can't satisfy everyone. Tbh, I enjoyed the earlier scenes better, e.g. in the prison especially when he comes to her rescue is one that comes immediately to mind [perhaps because the blossoming of love gave me a nice, warm, fuzzy feeling]. And there's a certain gentleness in his eyes and in the way he caresses her face. To top that off, when words are left unsaid but messages are passed to each other through their eyes (take for instance the scene in E45 where he stabs himself again]. For me, scenes like those were good enough to satisfy my need for chemistry. Oh, and the big surprise you mentioned, actually when what had happened to her was announced earlier on, the first thought that jumped into my head was "Surely, that can't be, wasn't she someone really central to the plan, how could they have been so incompetent in protecting her?" As for the ending, I am glad you came to the same conclusion. I will wait for subs to see if I missed any other clues, just for the heck of it. Still, the fact that he told her, he could finally be together with her (it was like a school boy, one half excited, and the other half not sure whether to believe or not that his wish had come true) was enough foreshadowing for me. And the fact that he has been plotting and planning the entire drama, well, what's one more plan, eh? [Though I was a little puzzled as to why at the marketplace in the last episode before he collapsed, he said, he won't be able to accompany her next year to this same place/event. As in they could never show their face here again?]

Lord in distress.... actually what he lacks for in health, he more than makes up with brain-power. As for her, I would say, to each his/her own. May not be everyone's cup of tea but she's certainly not the worst FL I have seen. Any news when this is going to air??

Ahhhhhhh! It's Darren Chen Count me in @NiteWalker

agree, for costume drama, this is a reasonable length. For modern drama, I find that rather draggy, my prejudices are showing.

@40somethingahjumma so glad to hear your viewpoint, it's something I look forward very much to. In between, I was wondering if you had given up as you hadn't commented on anything in between your last post and this. The irony of this drama is I was introduced to it by someone who dropped it very quickly, not only dropped but had a lot of unfavourable comments about it. Prior to that, I had no knowledge about it and had no previous exposure to either ML or FL. So, it was quite unusual for me to watch through out a 49-episode drama. Towards the second half of the drama, I was first thrilled by how smart the 'good side' was, they had tricks up their sleeves too and we were being clued in on that as an audience. But after sometime, I started to doubt what I saw, I had mixed feelings about how the drama was playing mind games with me. In my mind, I could hear a voice going, 'nah, that's probably not it, they've got contingency plans, there must be some other reason they are doing this or is this really it?' So, for those wanting pure romance (and I've seen this comment quite a fair bit about the lack of touchy-feely-OTP-moments), light watching, this certainly ain't it. [In this aspect, the drama felt a little like I was watching Nirvana in Fire. Though, this drama was laced with some icing sugar for sweetness but the icing sugar was made of a sugar substitute, so the sweetness was tinged with other flavours.] I agree with your choice of villains that I wanted dead (she's a pretty good actress, I saw her in UTP and she was such a darling there, so great for playing both good and bad roles). Even though QZL was supposedly so evil, I never harboured any thoughts about his untimely death. To me he symbolised a force to be reckoned with so we could feel the triumph of victory when Qi Yan and his team won. Had QZL been any less so, the story would not have been as riveting. The restraint between the OTP may have evoked restlessness amongst viewers, certainly not enough to satisfy most people who wanted more OTP time, but very fitting of an Emperor's behaviour. Any less so, it would have rendered the drama trivial, this ain't an idol drama. As for the ending, it's just the romantic in me who wished for one last OTP moment together. Even if it had been a silhouette of Qi Yan, I would have been thrilled. And for heaven's sake, playing some more mind games even at the very last second?

@SilverMoonTea sigh... I had a suspicion that it was going to be that kind of ending.

You know the video clip reminded of what? @SilverMoonTea @NiteWalker the olden days drama where the guy has TB (tuberculosis), and is coughing to death...and he's broke, but he was formerly rich...and everything is going wrong for him. lol Ya, @NiteWalker his role in SBM, he got lots of lying down time and he acts sickly towards the later part. Earlier on, he's fine, fights well, in fact so well that half the time, he protects the sword bearer, not the other way round. Apparently the antagonist taught him some basics, and he was so good that he mastered swordsmanship in 3 months what a normal person would have taken 3 years to do.

i burst out laughing when I read that he will be bedridden for 30 episodes. You know if CY read this (my imagination running wild of course) he must be thinking, gee I better stop accepting this type of scripts....where either I get stabbed, killed, or incapacitated. I know right, for a modern drama of this genre to have 42 episodes, geez, I can imagine the middle part will be time-fillers (mumbling to myself, dunno what stupid noble idiocy and/or miscommunication, slaps forehead). You are right though, since it's this two, I will grit my teeth and 忍 (tolerate).

I suspect it might be that they will have some OTP time together but it won't be for long. If the director's kind enough, the camera ends with a shot of them looking out into the distant, perhaps they get to take an outing somewhere. They won't show us Qi Yan dying, just that it will be reported like you know how with historical dramas, they report in words the year that he dies, and then who takes over the throne after that. If the foreshadowing is true, he will have at most 5 more years to live, so that will be all the time he will have with CRY. Looking back at how things were not in their favour, that 5 years is already bonus time for the both of them. And for once, I think I would be alright with that.

I haven't watched L&R, my dad did and said the FL character is silly and at times, he cannot stand her behaviour. LOL Actually someone who was prolly a fan of CY did the analysis of why he acted coldly towards her after being too affectionate. So, either he had (a) really good chemistry with YBY (Crystal) or (b) was told to act really chummy to create more hype about the drama initially. Then, when things got out of hand, they were both told to cool it off. So, in the next fan meet and greet session, he became extremely cold. But someone who was extremely observant saw him throwing worried glances at her direction and that it's likely his action towards her was to turn it into a situation where he would take the most hit for it. In short, it was a ploy to draw attention away from her. I saw a vlog he made about himself and going on set and he looked very casual and relaxed, vey natural, so my natural guess is that his past experiences have really made an impact on him and he is being super cautious. I am super excited and waiting for tomorrow night when they flood the last remaining episodes.

@SilverMoonTea I watched a short clip in Happy Camp, CY seems a bit more reserved, and a little tensed? Is this because of the last incident he faced with his FL from L&R where he got backlashed by fans for treating her coldly? Or has he been like this all along? Tbh, this is the first time I've seen him act and I think he's pretty good. You are right, with his face size and body stature, one would have to be very deliberate in looking for a FL that would look good next to him. It would have to be someone very petite. When you watch them next to each other, they do look good because they are both slight in built. I remember someone made a comment about Leo Lun Xi and VS in Broker, that he looked too small next to her. So that's what would have happened if they had paired a body-guard looking built next to him (I shudder to even imagine that).

@SilverMoonTea E45-49 from the same YT source that u got last time for previews. Don't know if the HE is long-lasting but at least we can be cheered by some moments. It's got the scene where he swings her in the streets, and you were commenting how light she must be for him to do that. I bet that was one of the reasons for picking her as well. She has to be able to match the ML in size, otherwise she would look huge next to him if they had picked someone else.

@Tofu @SnT me too, i watched 21 and 22. It was really sweet and I liked the extras they added in of real couples that aired with the credits; I've seen this being done in one another drama. And it's a really nice touch. The only thing I was puzzled about was how he had on a black shirt in the video call with her and then all of a sudden he is in a white suit. I already guessed as much that he was someone on site. It had a very dreamy, story-book, surreal feel, that whole conversation with the leaf and the books as company. And the proposal was aptly done! Good job, script writer. The toppling of the book shelves, lol, law of attraction (?)

@SilverMoonTea lol I am watching E42...all I can say is watching this drama is like watching a mystery detective show. Full of suspense and plotting and nothing is as it seems. Truly.

@40somethingahjumma @SilverMoonTea I am positive that Thirteen is .....