Lodestar

@40somethingahjumma I agree that the show would have benefited from 1 or 2 more episodes. But I have to disagree that HYW released the tape because of his love for Min Young. It was the plan all along....we are shown HYW & Mr. Oh discussing how everything went according to his plan. They did a bait & switch execution....brought SY for investigation regarding the slush fund in front of the entire nation & then turned into an expose of Do Jun's murder. HYW & his family members were being followed so he sent his brother at the very end to retrieve the hidden usb. I don't think MY was aware about HYW's connection to DJ's death. HYW kept this ace in his sleeve until the very end. HYW knew that Seo Jun would explode at him having the audacity to rebel against SY...we could see this in the very 1st epi. Regarding HYW going scott free....the statutory time has already gone by. The SY family members were also not punished for the murder as Young Ki was already on death's doorstep. But they were forced to abdicate from SY's management because of it. Also it was clear from the recording that HYW had no idea about Do Jun's murder at the time when he witnessed it & he informed it immediately to his superior. People already know that SY attempted to murder him when he discovered the slush fund. So it is very natural that he would have been treathened to keep his mouth shut about the murder. I interpreted HYW living DJ's life during coma as a fantastical intervention. HYW had suppressed his memory of witnessing DJ's murder because he couldn't live with the immense guilt. So this time spent as DJ in the limbo triggered him. Plus it gave him the strength to come out of his servile mindset. He gained confidence as DJ to fight against SY as HYW. HYW was always very intelligent even without the necessary higher education....he didn't get to managerial level of SY just because he was servile towards the top brass. He took the decisions as DJ which DJ might have already made but their motivations were different. The only time that HYW actively tried to use his knowledge of future was when he wanted to prevent his father from losing his job so that his mother lived. Other times he would use his knowledge passively & most of the times he would reach a certain decision first like wanting to withdraw Miracle's US investments to have influx of money to pay off their investors & then remember that 9/11 incident would be happening so it was a good move anyway.

Just watched the finale & I personally think it was wrapped up well. The only quibble I have is the fact that the makers didn't bother to change Do Jun's face after HYW woke up. Both of them having the same face confuses the viewer that why wouldn't anyone else notice that HYW looks like Do Jun. Guess they didn't want to change Do Jun's face as we had connected with SJK playing him. It is sad that Do Jun lost his life so young. We rooted strongly for Do Jun & Grandpa winning when we actually started with a lead who was a lackey for the bad guys. The one for whom I felt even worse than Do Jun & HYW was surprisingly Seo Jun. Everyone always suspects him because he shows his feelings openly. His own father planned Do Jun's murder, planted evidence against him so that he could be the chairman & control his son. Young Ki ended up being the worst human ever....even Grandpa was a better father than him. No wonder Seo Jun was such a nut case....so much pressure from all sides. Not that I excuse any of his wrong doings just that I understand how he could have ended up this way. I am glad that they showed HYW surviving & managing to get revenge for both Do Jun & himself without having any money or status. Also plus points for not having HYW pursue romance with prosecutor Min young. That would have been the wrong step. Let all of Do Jun's family, friends & HYW's family live their own lives.

Wow my previous predictions except Grandpa wanting Do Jun as heir went haywire due to the unexpected accident. The drama still keeps me guessing whether Do Jun actually existed in previous timeline or not because all the deaths that happened before happened this time as well. So Do Jun being deceased in previous timeline doesn't seem to match the established rule of deaths being unchanged. I don't even want to speculate which family member tried to kill Grandpa & Do Jun. The eldest son & grandson are too obvious. I am going to throw out of the box guess of Grandma. She may not have liked that her husband wants his grandson from illegitimate child to inherit. Grandpa himself is also not out of my suspects list. His repeated warnings of don't trust anyone & betrayal may hint towards him betraying Do Jun.

Caught up with all the epis & I am loving it. Grandpa -Grandson chess game is delecious. I was wondering when Do Jun would take a loss because he couldn't win all the time. Good that it happened so early in the fight. I am waiting for Do Jun's counter with bated breath. I also like how they are getting SHB's prosecutor character involved in the game. Thank God it is not for romance because frankly Do Jun is not in a place to get involved in romance. We have seen the pattern of their interactions - she thinks he is trying to deliberately fool her, finds out it is not so & then she tries to improve herself to prove her worth to him. We all know as audience that the fraud tip was actually true. Do Jun is going to show her how Soonyang fooled her & that is going to naturally motivate her to take them down. So much better than some romance track. I think all the events that will happen are eventually leading to the 1st epi. Do Jun's best revenge against grandpa is going to be refusing to be his heir. That is the feeling I get that after all the chess games Grandpa will want Do Jun to run Soonyang & he will refuse it because he wants to actually buy it & end it's legacy. Hence the company will then go to the eldest son. Do Jun will continue to achieve his goal against the company & that is why the eldest grandson is going to feel the huge pressure that he is in the 1st epi.

I too liked that there is more to his revenge than finding his killer or becoming the heir. He is aiming for the ultimate kill i.e. destroying Sangyan corporation. I loved the privilege conversation because all of us in general complain about privilege of people higher than our socioeconomic backgrounds while we ourselves might do the same within our group. Nepotism is bad only when it doesn't benefit us...if it is our own family we 100% expect the support of our own family. Also DJ is not talking in the air but has experienced living a life belonging to the lower strata, so h does actually know privilege when he sees it.

So from what I have gathered so far it seems like SJK's reborn character Do Jun is an altogether new family member that didn't exist in the previous timeline. Please correct me if I am wrong. I think his goal is not limited to exacting revenge from his killer only. He wants to bring Sunyang Corporation down as even after serving the family diligently, he was still disposed off without wishing them any harm. Anyways even if the grandpa would have been alive in the previous timeline, he wouldn't have treated his employee any better. The way he treats his own children is ghastly, no expectations that he would have treated any employee better.

Yet to watch today's epi but based on epis 25-26, CSS is feeling out of control. LBY is an unknown person to her whom she doesn't know very well but she sure knows that she cannot control him in the same way as she could control LY. CSS & LBY both are strong personalities. They both will have clashes until they understand each other. Right now CSS is very suspicious of him because she is scared. She had selected LY who is the nicest guy but still fate intervened & their marriage broke. Hence she is more scared now about trusting LBY completely. But I will say that this relationship has more equality than that of CSS- LY. CSS had to be the protector in that relationship & she really couldn't unburden or criticise LY. Now she does voice out her disagreement directly to LBY. Also she holds LBY responsible for any delays or slights by his family. LY's fam was doing the same to her but she didn't mind it but she is taking everything more sensitively with LBY. I really liked how prince RY told her that equality in marriage would have been same for her as a wife to anyone whom she marries. Right now CSS is just blinded by the feeling of loss of control.

@Lynne I completely agree with you about CSS needing to separate from her parents. They are strangers trying to be a family. The people who accept you for who you are with all your faults are generally the parents because they have nurtured you & have an intrinsic understanding of you. CSS & her parents have missed these critical bonding years. It takes much more effort from both sides when you are at such a disadvantage. CSS was ready to make the effort but her mom has been just cruel to her from the 1st meeting. Instead of trying to understand her actions she just made judgements & punished her. It is as if she punishes CSS as a form of punishing the actual abusers ie grandma & aunt. She cannot separate CSS from them. I cannot understand how guilt would transform into punishment for CSS alone. CSS father though indulgent but he does not have her back & CSS knows it. She cannot trust him as well because he will always defer to her mother. Instead of firmly opposing his wife when she is in the wrong, he only tries to placate the situation. CSS finds it easy to bond with her brothers because even if strangers they are of similar age & it is almost like making friends. They all are in one category while her parents are in the separate group of elders.

@abs-oluteM Yes epi 23 was really funny with CSS 1st visiting LBY's manor & then the palace. I loved all of the interactions between the emperor, empress & CSS. CSS is adorable in her candidness & curiosity. It was as if the emperor & empress were seeing live why LBY would fall for the adorable ball of sunshine that is CSS & were in complete agreement of his choice of life partner. I love how the drama takes efforts to show CSS's continued passion for architecture & engineering. It is not a gimmick to make CSS special, it is an intrinsic part of her. Her enthusiasm about learning the foundational structures of various buildings is so good to see. CSS definitely has not agreed to the marriage because of love. But from her comments about LBY it is clear that she holds him in high regard. LBY also is under no delusion about her acceptance but he was pleasant surprised to know that she has admiration for him. LBY hurried to propose the marriage because he saw her mistreatment 1st hand, the emperor, CSS's parents & nobility were present. Plus he saw others had interest in her- be it the loser YS or the fifth prince. He will not make the same mistake twice & tried to secure her hand before anyone else could. He also knows that CSS's main motivation for marriage is independence from her family. But from the previews it looks like many people are going to try their best to break the betrothal. All the best to them because LBY will just steamroll them.

@Tofu Thanks for sharing the eng sub mv😊. The lyrics of the song are beautiful 😍. Hopefully they share this version on YT as well. Just completed the last epi & the only emotion that I am feeling is overwhelming sadness for CSS. Gosh this little girl got trampled so brutally by her own parents. It was like a train wreck that I couldn't look away from. I do not care if her mother loves her in her twisted mind. She is one of the worst parent I have had the misfortune to see on screen. She & her motherly feelings can take a hike in the Mariana trench for all I care. I do not blame CSS wanting to separate from her family at the earliest. Her father needs to step up big time to protect his child from his wife. Loving someone doesn't mean that you get the right to decimate them. I have cursed her millions of times in my mind. I do not believe her when she says that she only refuses because of the politics of LBY household because she will gladly marry off her precious YY in the same. As if that cowering girl can stand up for herself even at home. This proves that it is only how the society sees the Cheng family that bothers her. She literally takes away CSS's humanity when she tries to "protect" her. I don't think I will shed tears even if she dies saving CSS. She has reduced CSS to nothing- die you cow. She has sympathy & empathy for all other girls in the world except for her own as if being raised by her grandma & sister in law has tainted her.

I had hope that HJZ would show some maturity wrt her behaviour after the tragedy but I didn't see it. It's still all about her & her pain & tragedies regardless of what anyone else is feeling. Why the heck did she take CSS to see the execution of prince xiao other than to intimidate her? Yes what happened to her is unfair & tragic but that doesn't give her the right to act wilfully. LY & CSS had nothing to do with what happened with her. She needs to eat the humble pie. I hope LY is a calming influence on her. @40somethingahjumma& @abs-oluteMI cried watching CSS-LY talk. It felt like the rose tinted glasses of dreams were shattered by the reality. And whatever we may say about their suitability for each other, truth of the matter is that they do love each other even if not romantic. They had dreams to live a life together which have been snatched from them through no fault of their own. CSS is the leader of their team & so she had to be the one to realise their impossibility & make LY understand & accept it. I loved that CSS has no ill will towards HJZ unless she bullies LY again. She doesn't want LY to be stuck in a hellish relationship so advices him to be sincere towards HJZ & guide her. LY-CSS arc was truly meant to be a coming of age story. I love their friendship.

I have re-watched the song so many times...why doesn't it have Eng subs😌. Yes LBY is being given strikes. I think it is only the strokes & banishment to the borders- demotion for sure. I don't know if his engagement with CSS being annulled will be part of the punishment or he himself will break it because he is being banished. Doesn't look like CSS would break up the engagement when she is helping him to run away from the site of massacre & hugging him in tears while he is being punished. Emperor can only punish him for taking the law to himself. The evidence against the culprits would be present. So it is not like he did anything wrong other than executing the culprits himself. Plus the emperor loves him truly. I am wondering why hasn't anyone in the palace plotted against LBY when he is so clearly favoured by the emperor. I loved story of minglan & I am loving this show as well. I just hope we get to see CSS-LBY married life as well in the show. By the end if 1st part, it looks like their engagement has just begun.

No wonder I was feeling the similarities. But both the stories do seem to have same structure with early parts focusing on the leads & their growth as individuals.

I don't know if the novel was written by the same author as the author of story of Ming lan but I always felt both the shows are very similar. The recent epis have made it even more clear. The revenge storyline has been given to LBY in this show. The emperor - LBY relationship also reminds me of ML & her grandmother's relationship. LBY is undoubtedly the emperors fav & he constantly worries about him like a mother hen. The emperor is just too funny in his contrariness about LBY's marriage prospect. He finds no one good enough for him. The love between the emperor & LBY is genuine. I think the emperor will be regretful about not getting justice for huo clan on his own after LBY's revenge killing spree similar to how ML's grandma was after she came to know about ML's scheme to take revenge from her father's concubine. But since the situation cannot be hidden he will definitely have to punish LBY. If it were someone else they would be executed but since it's LBY, he gets banished.

Just caught up with this week's epis & so much progress between LBY & CSS😍. Though CSS's lack of reaction to LBY's efforts kept confusing the viewers about her feelings about him, no one should be in doubt anymore when she literally cried in front of him. She felt safe enough with him to let go of her facade & be openly vulnerable with him in the carriage. She really doesn't show her vulnerable side to anyone. She tried it with her mother initially but stopped after she was punished. She did share her feelings with LY but she always has to be the strong one for him. She cannot be weak in front of him. Through his actions LBY has earned her trust & she really feels comfortable to be herself with him. LBY also rescued her once more. But more interesting part was them teaming up & fooling everyone with their cliff rescue story to veer off doubts about CSS whereabouts. They literally did a rehearsal with CSS even tearing up to make it believable hahahaha 🤣. I loved the way CSS handled her break up with LY. From the moment she became aware of the HJZ situation her first thought has been about LY having to be with the girl who bullied him. She tried her best for LY's sake but again she was not going to sacrifice herself to be his concubine. CSS-LY friendship has only strengthened more due to the break up. I love how CSS adviced LY & he himself has also learnt from his experience with CSS & is not ready to allow the 1st branch or HJZ bully himself. CSS-LY are friendship goals. I am sure that LY will always be a staunch supporter of CSS in future.