#the princess weiyoung spoilers

[hd-cookie]

Rewatched the Princess Wei Young from beginning to end. And I was still tearjng up and yelling at the screen.

I’ve not many qualms about the drama. But spoilers ahead:

My one protest is: Jun Tao and Bai Zhi should have been allowed to meet one final time after Jun Tao disappeared/Bai Zhi should have lived.

[convenientalias]

Why Nirvana in Fire Wins at Revenge Story with Identity Porn

Nirvana in Fire was my first ever cdrama that was a revenge story with identity porn. Since then, I've seen many other dramas along similar lines. A League of Nobleman. Blood of Youth. City of Streamer. Fighting for Love. Legend of Anle. Long Ballad. Princess Weiyoung. Rise of Phoenixes. Sword Dynasty. Weaving a Tale of Love. Word of Honor. Some of them are quite good but none of them really hit the same way. So, apart from the fact that it was the first one I ever watched, I thought I'd made a brief list of reasons why I think Nirvana in Fire is the best.

Lin Shu's Identity

I just appreciate that when shit went down and Lin Shu's whole family and army and many of his friends were killed and he became a man on the run, he was a full-grown man (okay, still pretty young, but definitely not a child) with his own life and even an army position.

A lot of these identity porn dramas will have their MCs meeting ppl for the first time in many years, in disguise, but they only knew these ppl when they were children. Childhood friends are great and all that, but can they hit as hard as the complicated, fleshed out relationships that Lin Shu had and lost? He had a friendship of many years with Jingyan. He had an engagement and a longstanding friendship with Nihuang. He has friends from the army, younger cousins playing the role of "we don't even understand what happened back then and maybe that's better", older friends and relations who he actually knew as an adult.

Simultaneously, his past identity increases the threat of discovery for Lin Shu. He's a known factor to many, many people in the capital. Yes, they think he's dead. But small things like a hazelnut allergy or his mannerisms or his previous friendships with people are still memorable enough that even with a completely different face, if he's not careful, he might give himself away. He's not infiltrating a group of strangers or people who only knew him as a kid. He's infiltrating a group of people who were close to him for many, many years of his life.

HOWEVER. Lin Shu's identity is not so important that everyone in the capital is still obsessed with him twelve years later (with some exceptions). This isn't Mysterious Lotus Casebook where we're all still pining for Li Xiangyi, because...

2. The Chiyan Case Wasn't Even About Lin Shu?? (Also, No One Cares About That Ancient History Anymore (Jingyan, Sit Down))

The Chiyan case wasn't about the Lin family at all, really.

No one specifically wanted Lin Shu dead or had a big grudge against his dad or anything. It's all about power, military and political. For some conspirators, it was just about getting a leg up in court. But mostly, it was about Prince Qi, the previous crown prince. The Lin family just happened to be friends with him and ended up in an uncomfortable (highly murderable and frameable) position.

Lin Shu may mourn his family, but for the majority of the show, he doesn't talk about it. He doesn't talk about his mother and his family back at the capital either committing suicide or being killed indiscriminately. He only mentions his father's name a handful of times in the whole show. Lin Shu's drive is that his father's ARMY was killed, tens of thousands of men. That's the weight on Lin Shu's shoulders: the death of all these innocent men because they were in the way. The Chiyan Case; the Chiyan Massacre. The denouement of Lin Shu's victory (not to give too many spoilers) is not just his father's name being cleared of a treason charge. It's when there's finally a memorial put up for the Chiyan Army, with memorial tablets that he can publicly visit to pay respects.

Why does this make it a better revenge story with identity porn? A couple reasons. First, Lin Shu is very much the center of the story and has very personal beef, but he treats himself like a tool and his objective isn't about himself or familial connections (they're part of it but they're not everything). He doesn't even know all the people he's avenging. That's fine; he'll still carry that weight. I just think it's neat.

Second, the fact that the Lin family (and the whole Chiyan Army) were really just collateral damage for getting rid of Prince Qi really emphasizes just how careless the current regime is of the value of human life.

Third, as Meng Zhi says when Lin Shu comes to the capital, everyone at court is busy with their own little power struggles and no one has time to care about Lin Shu or protect him. Lin Shu's like yeah that's fine :) I'm not anyone's focus anymore and the Lin family has been swept under the rug like we never existed :) and no one even talks about the Chiyan case anymore for fear of being accuse of treason :) that's all okay because I'm about TO MAKE THIS EVERYONE'S PROBLEM ANYWAY and honestly the fact that everyone's trying their hardest to forget will just make them more oblivious when I come to fuck them up.

3. All Of This is Whose Fault, Again?

That's right, folks, we're in a show that knows that when shit goes down at court and your family gets framed for treason and the emperor orders them executed, sure, you can blame the conspirators who framed them all you want, but also, YOU KIND OF DO HAVE TO BLAME THE EMPEROR.

People have said enough about how great this is on a thematic level of accountability but seriously I've seen so many shows dodge this. ~It's not the emperor's fault bc he was misled by these conspirators~ or ~the emperor is only a puppet emperor, if he actually had power instead of this evil person, he would put everything right.~ Or, if they dare to blame the emperor, maybe he's just an evil emperor and was bad all along. NIF says yeah, he was lied to on many levels. There was a whole complicated conspiracy going on and many people to blame. But he could have taken things slower. He could have required better evidence. He could have trusted people who had supported him for many years, at least enough to listen to their side of the story BEFORE KILLING THEM. And why didn't he? It's not because he's an idiot. It's because he's an emperor, and emperors don't like seeing other people gain enough power to even potentially become a threat. It's because he wasn't looking for the truth, he was looking for an excuse to kill. And he's not unusually evil for that; this kind of callousness towards murder and grasping for power at all costs is more the norm at court than any kind of honor or morality.

The Emperor's a nice guy sometimes! He used to fly kites with Lin Shu when he was young! His sons give him a headache, but honestly, relatable, they'd give you a headache too! He likes Consort Jing and honestly, who wouldn't! And he killed one of his sons, one of his closest friends, and an entire army, and he would do it again without hesitation. He's not especially evil. Being an emperor is bad enough.

4. Other Bad Guys

It's worth mentioning that Lin Shu's opponents are not stupid.

Xie Yu and Xia Jiang, Prince Yu and the Crown Prince, even the Empress and Noble Consort Yue: They aren't all geniuses, but they aren't idiots flailing around in spite. They're pretty smart, and if Lin Shu wants to take them down, he has to be smarter.

It's also worth mentioning that this is not one of those shows where the protagonist happens to take down his opponents mostly by standing still and just defending himself when they lash out at him. This seems like an obvious thing in a revenge drama, but the number of times I've seen the opposite, the protagonist swearing revenge and then just struggling with self preservation.... but no. Lin Shu has A Plan. He is going to be proactive and actually take his enemies down. Admittedly he will do this by revealing their past misdeeds but this isn't a case of "the misdeeds will just happen to pop up". This is a case of "I will actively unearth skeletons from where you threw them in a well in an abandoned manor".

TO SUM UP

Without going into the things that make Nirvana in Fire a great show in general (great acting, good pacing and plotting, good costuming, and so on and so forth) I think the main things that make it hit for me as a revenge story with identity porn are 1) letting the MC's past identity be that of a grown man who actually had a life (more connections to the past, but also more to lose and more danger in the present as a result), 2) the fact that the offense that the MC is avenging wasn't even like a personal thing to the offenders (bc! it's fucking infuriating!), 3) the fact that the drama is willing to face the root of the problem (the problem is both corruption at court and the fact that the highest arbiter is flawed, not just individual conspirators), 4) the supply of multiple good antagonists, and 5) LETTING THE MC ACTUALLY, ACTIVELY PURSUE REVENGE AND THAT'S THE MAIN PLOT AND WE AREN'T SPENDING MOST OF OUR SCREENTIME ON SIDEPLOTS AND ROMANCE OR MERE SELF PRESERVATION. These may not seem like large things but my friends, you would be surprised how many revenge dramas I've watched at this point that can't do them.

ok I'm done ranting. Feel like most of this is actually stating the obvious but I'm just in a mood and had to get it out. (...also possibly I've been let down by some revenge dramas lately but I won't get into it. it's okay. we can't all be Nirvana in Fire; only Nirvana in Fire can be Nirvana in Fire.)

[watchinglily]

My Favorite Chinese Doramas!

Eternal Love!

Three Lives, Three Worlds: Ten Thousand Miles of Peach Blossoms. The series is inspired by the book (Pillow Book: Three lives, three worlds).

I looove the series, and the books not so much but they're still good.

It's a xianxia about Gods, Kingdoms and Animals that cultivate immortality.

Princess Weiyoung :)

It's a wuxia story about a princess who loses everything and has to up her game in order to live! Anything more I could say is probably a spoiler.

Empress of China

This show is based on the real story of Wu Zetian, who actually owned many names among the one used the most here - Meiniang.

She was the only Empress of China, ruling all by herself and not as a mother to the Emperor and covering a whole Dinasty full of riches and prosperous time for China.

Really goooood! And it tries to be as accurate as possible, so we might learn a bit about History here.

The Legend of Xiao Chuo

Yanyan is one of the three daughter of the Khitan Prime Minister. She is impetulant and always tried to prove herself useful to the Empire. Nobody seems to take her seriously though...

The series accompanies Yanyan through life while she slowly grows up and finds her fit in the world.

This is also based on the true story of Empress Xiao Yanyan (953–1009), who ruled during the Liao Dyansty. This series also does a great job in exploring Khitan culture! Soooo there's a lot more History to learn here, also.

Oh My General!

Ah Zhao is not the typical lady... She fights as an army's general for the crown as a living! But then she had to marry a womanizer, feminine man. That's fine, except they never get along.

This is a lot of the funny side, things are just not serious at all. Don't think too much, just laugh when it's funny and is should be great.

[gizkasparadise]

Do you know of any dramas where the villain likes the lead?

sure! some mild spoilers below. "likes" might be less accurate than "obsession" with some of these. some of these are also more toxic/dysfunctional than others

category 1: villain IS the main romantic lead

goodbye my princess

arguably moon lovers: scarlet heart ryeo

arguably cheese in the trap

arguably when a man falls in love

word of honor

love between fairy and devil (titular devil)

secret/secret love

the king's woman

category 2: villain is a second lead or just straight-up the antagonist

gaksital/bridal mask

the tale of nokdu

arthdal chronicles (ensemble cast)

my strange hero

someday or one day

general and i

chicago typewriter

dali and the cocky prince

love and redemption

monarch industry

empress ki

mr. sunshine has Vibes of it w/ dong mae (who is more anti-hero/morally grey)

my girlfriend is a gumiho

the princess' man

18 again

prince of lan ling

ashes of love

falling for innocence/beating again (the main lead is also pretty villainous at the start of the drama)

river where the moon rises (first half)

princess weiyoung

love in sadness

tale of the nine-tailed

the flame's daughter (sort of)

[octoswan]

end of the princess weiyoung mood board hahahahaha !!!!

[purplehanfu]

Princess Weiyoung: Episode 1

notes: Spoilers! A collaborative effort- I watch the first ep and give my predictions and the incomparable @tomorrowsdrama will rate my accuracy. Thanks for the idea, @andoqin​

Before I get to the characters I have to say it: What is up with the costumes in this? They are some of the worst I have ever seen in a drama and that's coming from me. I am seeing a lot of shiny polyester in here, a lot of glued-on decoration and a lot of, uh, leeway with the time period by which I assume there was an intended time period and this is not just a made up fantasy world.

Characters in order of their appearance onscreen:

Count von Dad:  Dad is awaiting the birth of his baby as he paces in the snowy courtyard. Btw, what about mom? Did she die? Anyway, dad is banished (perhaps to the Carpathian mountains from whence he came), but he comes back to town for Nana's birthday and then all hell breaks loose. predicted fate: will be seen as a hazy fond memory in numerous teary-eyed flashbacks status: ded

Nana: Only here to give Princess Weiyoung a jade token that will probably prove her identity 20 episodes or so down the line. predicted fate: never to be seen again after this episode status: ded (I was right, lol)

Princess Weiyoung (I presume): Ugh. A lovable scamp of a lass, cavorting around with Zhou Zishu's moustache. Insufferable. She must be the female lead. predicted fate: given her near complete inability to escape danger without ample hands to cover her shriek hole (despite the fact that numerous relatives implore her with their dying breaths to just run away), I think it's safe to say she will be her own worst enemy for the entire run of this drama. But- she will suddenly exhibit skills without warning (or discernable education) such as advanced military tactics, or ambassador-level statecraft. All men within range will fall in love with her but she will only have eyes for Male Lead. They will both survive the drama. See Male Lead below for further predictions.

Stepmom? Mom? Auntie?:  Who hot-glued a doily to this woman's chest? I think she's the one who wants the jade token- and tbh it matches her outfit. predicted fate: schemin' and dreamin' until episode 45ish when she will kill herself in service to said schemes

Evil or Just Handy Stepsister: Are we setting her up to be a nemesis or just a flat stanley so stepmom has someone to spout exposition to? predicted fate: Covets the Male Lead but marries whomever mom picks out for her. Survives all 54 episodes.

Male Lead: I did not catch his name, sorry. He carries his own silver chopsticks, has excellent martial arts, and clocks the female lead immediately. He makes sure to flirt a little and then leaves. We see him later in the episode when he gets into a shouting match with Prince Braids whom he appears to be related to. predicted fate: love is fated, but first we have to have a bunch of misunderstandings, mistaken identities and someone should definitely fall off a cliff and disappear for a few episodes somewhere along the way. We should also side trip to at least one exotic locale so we can have a romantic montage. Also we should must have at least one "I thought you were dead" moment. Both the ML and FL have good martial arts so maybe we'll be spared the "falling off a wall and into your arms" cliché. Of course Princess Weiyoung and ML will end up together. But will we get a kiss? I say yes. A wedding? I say also yes. A kid? I say no.

JIN HAN!!!: OH HELL YES! I had no idea he was in this!!! I am a 1000% on board for this hammy ott evil general thing he has going on. He's been onscreen for all of ten seconds and he's already flicked his cape, jumped on his horse, soliloquized to his sword and inspired his army of at least 30 guys to yell "KILL!" predicted fate: out in a blaze of glory, episode 52

Lord Li: Generically evil, what a snooze predicted fate: We're stuck with this guy, I can feel it. Very unappealing. I think he’s Stepmom’s son; strong Oedipus complex vibes. Probably falls in love with Princess Weiyoung. Dead in the last episode

Prince Braids: Oh my goodness. oh, wow. just.... huh. This guy's hair makes me so uncomfortable. It looks uncomfortable for him too. predicted fate: we need him for constant conflict with Male Lead. Also falls in love with Princess Weiyoung. Killed by Male Lead in episode 45

Not-Seen-But-Implied Emperor: Probably will not listen to honest officials and gets himself deposed. New emperor will become the new enemy. predicted fate: old emperor killed in episode 20; new emperor killed in second to last episode after being stabbed, but still has enough life in him for three minute speech wherein he recognizes that Princess Weiyoung is the architect of his downfall.

Well, how’d I do?

Bonus Round:  Who Wore It Better?

 (Zhou Zishu. Zhou Zishu wore it better)

[forursmiles]

are there any chinese historical dramas with happy endings???

[changyang-cloud]

Episode 27 of The Princess Weiyoung (which I have put off watching for… a year now, but im finally getting through it) and it’s exactly what I’ve been waiting for.

Huge spoilers but i just need to get it out of my system, read if you want.

I can say—have been saying, for about twelve episodes—that Li Changru and Prince Nan’an are the best characters with the most compelling story and I am watching this to the end for them specifically.

Like, gods, I know it won’t happen, but I want this power couple to come out on top so bad. I already want the two leads dead just for the fun of it, bcs they have survives way longer than they should have. Give my san-xiaojie here limelight right now or I’ll gonna stab someone.

I know that “What will you do if Li Weiyiung becomes a threat?” “The strangle fig kills everything in its path” was foreshadowing. Li Changru will become an antagonist. Li Weiyoung will ultimately win no matter what.

I don’t care though. In my ideal world, that was never the ending.

(Also SHIT Chiyun Nan is gorgeous someone hold me back before I start rooting for him too. He’s the worst. Nothing like my beloved Prince Nan’an.)

[eigwayne]

I should work on something- one of the twenty or so fic WIPs I’ve got going, the RPGMaker game I was working on last week, pick up my linguistics studies again- but I finished Love and Redemption last night after basically doing nothing but watching that show this week, and now I’m just like... Bleh what do I do with myself???????????

The show was great, by the way. 59 eps but WORTH IT. There were only a couple places where is could have used some paring down, unlike say, Princess Weiyoung which needed to cut out like 20 eps, it was so bloated with repetitive arcs. This didn’t have that problem. Each arc was different from each other, and built into a progressing story. And the soundtrack was fantastic (Liu Yuning, Zhou Shen, and Ayanga, three of my faves, are all on it, and Colored Glass is a banger).

Also there may be some obvious greenscreening but the special effects were leagues ahead of The Untamed, which came out the same year. Sorry, CQL, I still love you, but let’s not pretend about the awkward sword flying and Basement Dog. 

Below are some thoughts, mostly on characters because I don’t want to spoil the show. TL;DR, so many Lost Tomb actors and they all did great jobs! New respect for middle-of-the-pack Zhang Qiling and angriest Wu Xie. Love and Redemption > Ashes of Love and Eternal Love.

The characters in Love and Redemption are mostly very well done and the female lead is Crystal Yuan/ Yuan Bingyan, who is fantastic. This is the third drama I’ve seen her in (the others were Ever Night and The Mystic Nine) and she’s great at all her roles. If you can get past the first couple eps where the character is somewhat tiresome, she really shines.

Also I finally understand the hype about Cheng Yi. Yeah, he was Zhang Qiling in The Lost Tomb 2, which I thought was a fun season of DMBJ but Cheng Yi’s Xiaoge is like, middle of the pack, for me. But seeing him in another role was good. I think I’ve mentioned that I liked him better as Zhang Buxun than Zhang Qiling, and I think it’s just that Cheng Yi is more fun to watch when he gets to emote more. Also HUGE props to his make up artist who did great work, except for that one scene where his lips were a distracting and uncomplementary pink that didn’t do him any favors. You don’t need to highlight Cheng Yi’s lips, friend, they highlight themselves. Anyways, Yu Sifeng’s complexion was always spot on for his state of health and his sickly with dark circles was so realistic, I was worried about the actor for a bit.

Also, Liu Xiuyi was amazing in this as Hao Chen. I don’t think I can say much without spoilers but he was dignified, a bit withdrawn when needed, more emotive without chewing the scenery too much (although I personally don’t mind a bit of scenery chewing if it’s fun or works with the scene), just fantastic in this role. You really felt his conviction even if you didn’t agree with what he was doing. Also, super handsome, which is a nice bonus.

Also super handsome is He Zhonghua as Chu Xuanji’s father. Another DMBJ actor I enjoyed (This cast was full of them, btw. We’ll get to Bai Shu, but also keep an eye out for TLT2′s young Uncle Three, Hou Xiuxiu, and Dou Cheng). Yeah, I admit, I think Chen Pi Ah Si was handsome. He’s also a great actor. The character was frustrating at times (Untamed fans will have flashbacks to dealing with the sects, for real), but also he struck a great chord between stuffy sect leader and doting father.

Now. Bai Shu. Bai Shu, where do I start with you? He gets some flack for his Wu Xie being so angry and antagonistic, and I too would have preferred to shave some of the rough edges off (and if I may be ridiculous for a moment? He was mean to Pangzi waaaaah ;_;), although I can understand the choice. But as Teng She/ Flying Snake? He did great. He was bombastic and cocky, and that perfectly fit the character.  His physicality was clearly snake-like and that really emphasized how he wasn’t mortal and was proud of being who he was. You knew he was a serpent (and not a metaphorical one like some of the other characters) just from the way he moved. And the interactions with Qing Long (translated as Green Dragon in the YT subs) were fun, too. Teng She was  delightful character and I have new respect for Bai Shu.

Oh, and for Word of Honor fans, Ye Baiyi’s actor Huang Youming does a fantastic job as an antagonist. He’s a creep and a villain, but he’s interesting to watch.

Shit, that was a lot about actors and nothing about plot. I guess that means there were no spoilers, lol~ Anyways, I stopped watching the other shows this gets compared to, Ashes of Love and Eternal Love (Three Miles of Peach Blossoms, to specify, since there’s like two other shows called Eternal Love or something similar). The female lead of Ashes of Love and Love and Redemption have similar set-ups, but LaR’s Chu Xuanji stops being annoying sooooo much faster. And I got real sick of Eternal Love’s memory loss arc. It was so tedious, I wasn’t willing to watch any longer. I had no connection to the lead couple, couldn’t feel the male lead’s affection for the female lead, and the secondary couple was awful (I was actually hesitant to watch The Long Ballad because I hated Dilraba’s character so much in Eternal Love. But Dilraba is soooo much better when she’s not Fengjiu). So I paused on Eternal Love and Ashes of Love last year some time, and haven’t bothered to go back. But I felt Yu Sifeng’s affection for Chu Xuanji so even when the Sifeng torture got tedious (he spits blood so many times. Sooo many. Their fake blood budget must have been higher than The Untamed’s entire effects and I’m probably not the only one to make that joke? So you know it’s bad), I stuck with it. Because I was rooting for them. I didn’t give a damn if the leads in Ashes of Love or Eternal Love got together or not, which isn’t a good thing in a romance drama.

So if you’re struggling with the other big name love-centered xianxia dramas like Eternal Love and Ashes of Love, watch Love and Redemption instead.

[winepresswrath]

I am going to finish word of honour and while I do like it very much and have a lot of feelings about the ship I also paused to watch all of Princess Weiyoung and two whole Nirvana in Fires while seething faintly on account of [spoilers]

[dangermousie]

A pretty subjective cdrama rec list

For @heyitsneen

You asked for “particularly period dramas. I feel like I like a lot of different things if the acting draws me in, but I am most usually drawn to found families, epic pining/romance, angst, misunderstood/tragic characters finding belonging or redemption, emotional stakes always draw me more than actual plot.” Here you go! (Does not include The Untamed since you’ve obviously seen it.)

This is obviously a pretty subjective list...if you want more info on any of them and don’t mind spoilers, I have tags for all of them.

Battle of Changsha - a family tale and a romance in WW2.

Colourful Bone - he’s a bespelled slave controlled by a magic flute, she’s a princess who finds and saves him.

Da Mo Yao/Ballad of the Desert - she’s a desert girl, he’s a cheeky general who madly falls for her, there is pining from both male leads.

Ever Night - in my Top 3 cdramas of all time. Found family, us against the world, OTP that is slow but amazing, visuals to die for.

The Four - so much found family and lighter than the rest on the list, plus multiple OTPs and also werewolves.

General and I - they are from enemy kingdoms, she’s a strategist, he’s a general, it’s one of the best OTPs ever. Also so much pining.

Goodbye My Princess - I have been posting about this one so much, I think that’s covered.

Ice Fantasy - romance and families and very pretty and kinda Tolkien in style.

The Lady and the Liar - Set in the 1930s, our heroine is a rich heiress, has an accident and loses her memory - she ends up involved with a powerful businessman who is in love with her so lies they are engaged and the story goes from there. PINING!!!

Legend of Condor Heroes (2008) - my favorite adaptation of this story. Friendship and romance and tragedy and happiness and basically awesomess.

Legend of Fuyao - a woman prophesied to destroy the world and a prince sworn to destroy her fall in love. Many OTPs, found families (just as well, most of the birth families are bonkers), healing, awesomeness.

Listening Snow Tower - the heroine may or may not drive you bonkers by the end (I was fine but mmv) but the amount of pining the hero does after her is amazing and the whole thing is a shippy, h/c nirvana. He’s a permanently ill sect leader who fights like nobody’s business, she’s supposed to bring disaster to the world but they are in love blah blah it’s amazing.

Love and Destiny - it’s a sweet romantic fairytale and yes pining and longing and all that good stuff.

The Myth - used to be my n1 cdrama before Story of Minglan replaced it. Starts funny but then rips out your heart and yeah forbidden love and honor and tragedy galore.

Nirvana in Fire- everyone loves this one and it’s smart and tragic and people slash the hell out of protag and his prince BFF.

Princess Agents -infamous cliffhanger ending (which I love tbh) but this one is about a slave woman who ends up a general at the side of a rebel prince but the real OTP/pining is from her supposed enemy.

Princess Silver - OK, my brain breaks trying to explain this one, but the OTP is so ride or die with each other and there is longing and forbidden love and all that.

Princess Weiyoung - Disney Prince and ruthless enemy princess

Rise of the Phoenixes - smart and the OTP!!!!

Siege in Fog - 1930s, one of the most visually gorgeous dramas on this list, and it redefines dysfunctional pining as hero has been in love with his own wife for years and she has no idea and acts like she hates him.

The Story of Minglan - my n1 cdrama of all time and has healing and found families and pining and basically everything. Warning - it starts slow tho.

Three Lives Three Worlds Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms (also known as Eternal Love) - you want pining, you won’t get better than that.

I am sure I am forgetting something that will occur to me right once I hit post :)

If you don’t want to click on tags but want to know more about any of those, let me know.

[woo-do-hwan]

Eternal Love of Dream: Episodes 36 & 37

As always spoiler alert!!!

episode thirty-six

Man... depressed Shen Ye is a bummer. 

Uhmmm... surely people would have sussed Fengjiu wasn’t Aranya after this... Fengjiu has a fear of snakes but Aranya loves them, what a contrast. 

Like... how powerful is Donghua really? He discharged 90% of his power when entering the dream and this is 10%, this probably even isn’t 1% to him. Damn. He’s real powerful. 

Su Moye figured her out in like 5 seconds... well technically he also entered this dream from the outside so he does have an advantage. 

I’m going to talk a little about the novel here so, spoiler alert. Before Aranya’s dream, Aranya’s real lifetime, when Fengjiu & Donghua’s shadows are taken from them. I believe (please correct me if I’m wrong) because the Gods were feeling piteous towards Fengjiu and F & D’s lack of fate together. They decided to allow their shadows to end up with one another, Aranya and Shen Ye. But, due to Su Moye and his interference of taking Aranya out of the snake pit, their fate changes and in the end, they sadly, do not end up together. I suppose in a way when Aranya & Shen Ye lose their chances of being together, Fengjiu & Donghua gain it. 

I’m assuming Donghua doesn’t become Shen Ye because Shen Ye is the creator of the dream. 

Yes. 

episode thirty-seven

Now, this is getting serendipitous... 

I must say that’s a cool nifty thing there, I quite like it. I wonder where I could buy something like that... ahem. 

Wooo... the evil sisters. Where did I last encounter a pair like this? I think maybe when watching The Princess Weiyoung (don’t hold me to it, I haven’t watched that since it aired)

Oh phew. We’re not going down the Serendipity plotline. 

Stalker Donghua. We are really seeing all sides him. 

Yes, Donghua. That is Bai Fengjiu who you thought was elsewhere. Beautiful scenery again. 

See you next time! Please just ask if you have any questions!

episodes 34 & 35

episodes 38 & 39

[razberryyum]

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The Untamed/陈情令 Rewatch, Episode 6, Part 1 of 2

(spoilers for everything MDZS/Untamed and a little for Princess Weiyoung)

[covers MDZS chapter 18 and a bit of chaps 56 and 66]

WangXian meter: 🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰

(a 🐰 is earned every time there is a WangXian scene or even when they’re just thinking of each other…there’s so much Wangxian-ness in this episode, one post couldn’t contain all of it)

Team CQL went rogue for the two major events featured in this episode—the Cloud Recesses drinking incident and the WangXian bathing scene—and really, bless them and their ancestors for that decision. Not only did the changes provide Wei Ying and Lan Zhan with additional bonding time, but they actually had significant bearing on future events.

Originally in the novel, Lan Zhan didn’t actually partake in the drinking incident that got Wei Ying punished: some nameless disciples, Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng were the ones who actually took part in those activities. Lan Zhan only found their drunk asses the next morning and dragged Wei Ying off for disciplinary action (although, from the way the scene was described in the book, it actually seemed like he was more angry at Wei Ying for looking at porn, lol). However, for the live action, that entire scenario was transformed into Lan Zhan actually getting drunk for the first time, albeit against his will. Of course it would have been better if he willingly joined in, but at that point in time, that would have been illogical, not to mention completely out of character for him, so even though Wei Ying sort of did Lan Zhan wrong, there was probably no other way he could have gotten him to share a drink with him otherwise.

I am especially grateful for this change because that is the moment when my eyes were finally open to Wang Yibo’s talents as an actor and I started to really appreciate his performance. Prior to this episode, I was actually wondering if he was playing stoicism so well because that’s really all he was capable of doing, but then, when he dropped that rigid façade and gave us a charmingly adorable drunk Lan Zhan, I realized that everything that came before were indeed acting choices, that he was definitely able to do more than that. Not to mention, he also had pretty good comedic timing. I started to look at him in an entirely new light after watching this episode, and the rest is, as they say, history.

Upon revisiting this episode last night, I finally realized something that I never thought of before, and I feel actually pretty stupid for not even making the connection until now.  During the Koi tower scenes in the present, when Wei Ying as the paperman was eavesdropping on Jin Guangyao and his wife’s conversation, I couldn’t figure out how JGY was able to put Qin Su under his control the way he did, but in watching this episode again, it finally came to me: he probably used a modified version of the charm that Wei Ying used on Lan Zhan in here. After all, JGY was one of the many people who raided the Burial Mounds and took over the Yiling Patriarch’s possessions after his death, so it would make sense for him to discover this particular memento as well. When I first watched this episode, I was mainly just impressed by how powerful the charm is that it would be able to put someone like Lan Zhan under its spell, considering he’s not just some lay person, but rather someone who already had a pretty high level of cultivation by then. I simply saw it as yet another indicator of just how talented and powerful Wei Ying was even at that young age. But now, thinking that Team CQL may have laid the groundwork for something that was going to happen so much later just makes me so much more impressed with their planning.

Of course I could simply be overthinking this whole thing and JGY’s magical powers could just be his own magical powers, or something common to the cultivation world that my dumb brain just overlooked, but for those few seconds when I thought I came upon a fascinating connection, I was quite proud of myself, so allow me to coast on that sense of euphoria just a little while more.

Bonding and other cuteness

Of course I loved every single moment of the Drunk!Lan Zhan sequence, starting with that tiny little flirtatious gesture by Wei Ying. Seriously, how CUTE is that?? Makes me smile every time I see it, and I’ve rewound that little moment numerous times. How anyone can be resistant to Wei Wuxian’s charms I can never understand, but clearly Lan Zhan was still holding out on him. I’m glad that Team CQL chose this incident to reveal the nature of the Gusu Lan head ribbon since it directly led to Wei Ying’s bonding moment with Lan Zhan. Even though the other man was still generally cold to him, it was really sweet that Wei Ying still felt comfortable enough to share the precious memory of his parents with him.

It’s a real shame that Lan Zhan didn’t remember any of it the next day, but I did take comfort in the fact that he still knelt by Wei Ying like a united front to receive Uncle Lan’s wrath and punishment. I’m sure most of that was motivated by his own pride and sense of righteousness, but I still found it touching, especially with how much Wei Ying was defending Lan Zhan so that he would be spared the disciplinary action. Wei Ying was much less protective in the novel during that scene–he was mostly indignant–even  though he was still the one to blame for Lan Zhan’s involvement in the whole incident by basically tricking him into breaking curfew. I love that even though Team CQL changed the drinking incident, they still managed to maintain the spirit of its novel counterpart, much like they did with the Phoenix Mountain Hunt.

And then of course there was this:

Which was obviously a treat for our imaginations to get our creative juices flowing so that we can imagine on our own what might have taken place during the night that led to Wei Wuxian waking up in his half-dressed state. For this gift, I am eternally grateful to the production team.

Jiang Cheng Has Fun For Once

I was actually surprised that Jiang Cheng would join in on the drinking party because up until then he had spent most of his time basically disapproving everything Wei Ying did while also seemingly in a constant state of worry that he would embarrass their sect. Imbibing alcohol was clearly a violation of Gusu Lan rules so it’s kind of amazing that Jiang Cheng willingly join in on such an act of rebellion. Nie Huaisang, on other hand, I totally expected to be a part of the shenanigans…I would’ve expected nothing less from him…but Jiang Cheng was a pleasant surprise. I really enjoyed seeing him let loose like that, especially since we got to find out what he looked for in a mate.

The sad thing is Wen Qing actually fit all of his requirements for a wife, except for that family one, which i in the end, proved to be the most important one after all since it became the deal-breaker, dooming their relationship before it even got a chance to get started.

Another rather sad aspect of seeing Jiang Cheng so at ease and acting like a total goofball is that this really would be the only time we would ever see him this way.  His time at Cloud Recesses was probably the most enjoyable and carefree for him. I doubt he was ever able to enjoy himself the same way again. It actually makes me wonder if he EVER was able to have fun, period, during the last 16 years. Just thinking about what he’s gone through makes me wish I could give him a great big hug. 

Reason #10 for Why I love Big Bro Lan Xichen

His amused reaction to hearing about Wei Ying’s transgression:

…which was immediately followed by his “oh shit” response to hearing his little bro was also involved.

Big Bro Xichen is just too adorable, AND HE DESERVES ALL THE LOVE IN THE WORLD DAMMIT.

Uncle Lan is One Mean Mofo

Seriously, what’s with Lan Qiren’s obsession with the number 300? I really need to know if there’s some significance to that number since it’s featured in BOTH of the major disciplinary incidents in the show that were carried out by Uncle Lan.  For this first outing, those rulers looked downright brutal; it’s a utter miracle that Wei Ying and Lan Zhan were even able to survive being beat 300 times with that medieval torture device. At the very least their spines should’ve been broken, paralyzing them for the rest of their lives. In the novel they were only caned 100 times, which is still a lot but it’s still a somewhat grounded enough number that I could believe they would be able to heal from their injuries. But 300? They should be maimed. I’ve noticed that with chinese dramas though: they tend to be excessive when it comes to inflicting punishment. I actually stopped watching a show once because the main character was being beaten repeatedly in the stomach (Princess Weiyoung) while being held prisoner. That particular character should not have survived that beating…at the very least he would’ve needed his nutrients to be delivered by IV for the rest of his life (even though IVs didn’t exist yet) because there was no way his stomach was ever going to work again after that. I was almost offended by how ignorant the screenwriters were about basic anatomical and biological functions so I decided to just stop watching (well, the fact that I wasn’t that into the show anyway probably contributed to my decision as well) Of course the 300 floggings weren’t enough to discourage me from continuing forward with The Untamed, but it did throw me out of the show for a good moment because I couldn’t get over how ridiculous that number was.  Uncle Lan really has a sadistic streak in him

Not to mention, he was also surprisingly tactless. He had just learned about Wei Wuxian’s mom from big bro Xichen and I couldn’t believe that he would just throw that info at the Wei Ying in such a careless way, only to shut him down when the poor guy desperately asked for more details about his mom. Uncle Lan had to know enough about Wei Ying’s background to understand how sensitive he would be in regards to his deceased parents, so I was actually taken aback by how heartless Uncle Lan was being during that scene, so much so that for a while after, I really wasn’t feeling much love towards him. Although, now that I think about it, love is probably a misnomer any way since I doubt I would ever love Uncle Lan nor can I even say I ever actually liked him–he’s too much of a fuddy-duddy for my tastes. It’s more like I just accept his existence, appreciate his importance to the Lan brothers, and I find his disapproval of Wei Ying kind of amusing. But in that moment, I definitely did straight out dislike him for being such a cold SOB, especially towards Wei Wuxian.

To be continued in Part 2…(posted)

[sifeng]

Hi there! I'm fairly new to cdramas, I just watched Princess Weiyoung and I absolutely loved it, ofc my heart shattered in a million sharp pieces lol. I just started watching The imperial doctress, it seems interesting and everything, but I've read online it doesn't have much romance. Would you recommend it? Is it worth watching? Thanks so much, I love this blog.

Thanks so much for the ask! The Princess Weiyoung can honestly be so depressing and heart-aching at times so I can 100% agree with your experience. I haven’t actually watched the Imperial Doctress, but the plot sounds interesting and the leading cast is pretty star-studded.

I looked into some reviews and comments and I can say that there isn’t a lot of romance, much less romantic scenes. There definitely is romance between the male and female lead, but there aren’t a whole lot of scenes dedicated to showing the love. Also here are some spoilers: apparently the ending is pretty open.

A lot of people seem to think it’s a pretty good drama, with an interesting plot and most importantly good chemistry between the leads. However, most comments or reviews say that it starts out strong, and ends significantly weaker. 

[sorrowful-melody]

So i finished all 54 episodes of The Princess Weiyoung I cried so much at the ending QAQ

[zalrb]

were there any greys deaths tht shocked you? or any tv deaths in general?

For Grey’s: http://zalrb.tumblr.com/post/158963961580/what-greys-anatomy-death-hit-you-the-hardest

For TV in general.

Spoilers!

This is a Kdrama but Eun Tak in Goblin

and what’s interesting about it is that I was told she was going to die because at the time I was told I wasn’t into Kdramas yet but they didn’t tell me when she would die or how she would die or the fact that her death was an ironic one and ironic deaths get me because they’re supposed to. It was cruel because the whole point is that Eun Tak is the Goblin’s bride which means she has the only power to pull out the sword and kill the Goblin and end his eternity of misery so throughout the drama you know that eventually Kim Shin is going to have to die and it’s sad because he keeps delaying the pulling out of his sword (for a while she doesn’t know that it means she’d be killing him) because they’re falling more and more in love

and he wants to live to be with her but if she doesn’t pull out the sword then she’ll die

so he does die but he ends up coming back to earth from a sort of purgatory plane and when he comes back after seven years, Eun Tak doesn’t remember him and even though she doesn’t remember him or the time they spent together, she’s sad all the time and doesn’t know why and she’s especially sad when it rains (he told her he’d come to her as the snow and as the rain)

but then eventually she does remember and they’re happy

and then she dies? SERIOUSLY? It was just so brutally sad. When it happened my other friend was like WHY CAN’T THEY BE HAPPY. JUST FOR ONCE.

Touba Jun in The Princess Weiyoung

This is a CDrama.

This death was kept from me by a SUPPOSED friend and I was so. mad. I respected it like how I respected Eun Tak’s death but I was mad because The Princess Weiyoung is like 75 episodes an hour each and it’s just, it’s an epic, it’s A LOT, because all of these people are either trying to kill Wei Young or trying to keep her and Touba Jun apart next to the fact that Wei Young is in love with Touba Jun but can’t be with him because she feels like she’ll betray her family if she did because his father ordered the slaughter of her family and it’s just complicated

and then he sort of marries her nemesis under duress and her nemesis forces Wei Young to watch him marry her

and he has to treat Wei Young cruelly like he has her beaten as a part of a plan to actually save her (AGAIN) and they just grow through SO MUCH and then they’re finally together in the final episode, they get married and have a kid but Touba Jun is secretly dying because he ingested a poison so that Wei Young wouldn’t have to and he only has 10 years to live and he wants to keep it from her so they can have a blissful 10 years but she knows so they’re keeping it a secret from each other and one day he leans his head on her shoulder and dies (the picture I showed above) and I just felt SO betrayed because I didn’t go through everything I went through for this dude to just DIE. I ranted about it for like weeks.

Wes in HTGAWM

Because I legitimately thought the Keating 5 was safe in general but especially Wes because so much of the plot hinged upon his actions

Like he kills Sam, he shot Annalise, his father is the one who made Annalise miscarry, his girlfriend is the one Bonnie killed, like he was so connected to everything and I felt like he brought the group together in how much they blamed him and hated him or worried about him and connected with each other through that anxiety so he was a key to their codependency and group dynamic

and then he died so brutally so I was like … … wow, I didn’t think we would go here.

Poussey in OITNB

I’m still very angry about that death and it triggered me, I cried for a really long time afterward and in fact just looking at the gifs is making me emotional so I’m not really going to get into it but it made me stop watching the show and it was just the breaking point for me because I already had a lot of issues with the way the black characters on the show were portrayed and the all-white writing room, I just HATE that death.

Gabriel Lorca, Star Trek Discovery

I didn’t expect it to the point that I memed it because frankly straight white male characters rarely die onscreen when there are PoC and LGBTQ characters

That being said another death that surprised me and angered me on Disco was Hugh Culber

because he was gay and a MoC and we didn’t get much time with him and it followed the btg trope, it was unnecessary, having watched the entire season now, it wasn’t at all necessary for him to die or for Voq/Ash to kill him.

Tara Knowles, Sons of Anarchy

Another ironic death. It’s actually kind of great because in season 1 it’s foreshadowed but you think it’s just hyperbole

Sons of Anarchy is a violent show so violence is to be expected but I didn’t anticipate such a violent end for Tara especially because 1) it was extremely violent.

2) it was at the hands of Gemma, Jax’s mother

so I remember just sitting there like …. … … it was a hard to process death as opposed to an angry one or a COME ON one like I had with the others I was just like … did that really happen? And it sucks because for six seasons Tara has been begging Jax to get out of the life and for two seasons Jax said that he would leave, they would leave and have a violent-free, Gemma-free, club-free, non-toxic life

and there’s a point where Tara kind of looks wearily at Jax and he tells her to believe him and that he needs her to believe him and for Jax’s part he was genuine, he truly believed he just needed to do xyz things to get out but something kept coming up meanwhile Tara was being sucked further and further into this life and she ends up going to prison for it and because of that she decides to take drastic measures to make sure her sons can get out of the life

virtually destroying her relationship with Jax because she needed to distance herself from how much she loved him to do it

but eventually Jax kind of gets his shit together and for once puts his family before the club and everything is going to be OK, they reconnect and profess their love for each other again, Jax goes through development to get to this point and then because of a miscommunication his mother murders her brutally and it was just … a lot.

Ned Stark, Game of Thrones

Because he was the main character. It was like Dumbledore died and I was like wait, wait a minute, what, why, what? Especially because you think since he called himself a traitor he’s going to live his life in exile in the black but no, Joffery fucked everything up and he DIED, I was just like nooooooooo they didn’t, they WOULDN’T and they did.

The Red Wedding, Game of Thrones

I knew Robb was going to die for a while because I made the mistake in season 1 to try and wiki a little more information about the world of Westeros but ended up with spoilers so I knew his death was coming and yet I didn’t expect THAT SHIT. Robb was my favourite character so I was sad to see him go but I had to respect the horror of it all and to be honest no other death on GoT has lived up to the Red Wedding, it’s by far my favourite episode of the series, I was just … I sat there for a really long time being like, I can’t believe that this is what happened, I was just in complete shock and then I was ANGRY at how STUPID Robb was.

Varro, Spartacus

I mentioned this in my “villains” post but, like, ok well first of all pretty much every death in Spartacus is fucked up and will leave you feeling a kind of way, that’s just what Spartacus is but Varro was just like, it didn’t even need to be all that! His death was about Spartacus not about him because Varro and Spartacus are best friends

Like first of all earlier in the season Varro was a dipshit to his wife because Varro had a gambling problem and to pay off his debts her consigned himself to enslavement willingly but didn’t make much money to keep his son and wife afloat and he hadn’t seen them in a while but after Spartacus’ wife died, he wanted to see his family again so fine, he does, they’re cute,

but then he finds out his wife is pregnant because a man from the marketplace had been helping them survive and raped her so Varro victim-shamed her and was all YOU HAVE ANOTHER MAN’S BABY

and Spartacus had to be like you’re being a fucking douchebag, get your life together so he pays for Ashur to find his wife to apologize but all Ashur finds is blood at his house so Varro thinks that his wife is dead and he goes crazy but then his wife isn’t dead and they reunite and he’s like yeah I was an idiot, I’m sorry, I’ll love this kid, I’ll get out of here.

Fine! Great! Everyone’s happy! Spartacus and Varro bond over practicing because they’re going to spar for sport at a kid’s coming of age birthday party. Awesome!

In their mock fight, Varro loses and the kid puts his thumb down which means the gladiator has to execute his opponent except this was supposed to be a game of sport but the kid insists so Batiatus, their master, tells Spartacus to kill Varro because he’s trying to impress the kid’s father so he can become a senator, Spartacus is going to refuse but the guards close in on them so Varro forces Spartacus to kill him.

And it’s all because Ilithyia hates Spartacus, slept with the boy and convinced him to do this just to break Spartacus’ spirit. IT WAS A LOT.

Sura, Spartacus

Sura was Spartacus’ wife, Spartacus disobeyed the Roman army so she was sold into slavery and he was supposed to die as a prisoner in the arena but because he won he becomes a gladiator and Batiatus likes Spartacus so he offers to find his wife for him and the thought of his wife is the only thing that really keeps him alive, keeps the fire in him and the whole thing about Spartacus is that he goes on to lead a slave rebellion and terrorizes Romans so before that he’s characterized as “difficult’ and “insubordinate”

and a big part of that is because he keeps dreaming about being free with Sura.

He becomes a champion and gets closer with Batiatus and his wife’s arrival is eminent and you’re waiting for this reunion, there’s so much leading up to it and then she’s delivered dead because Batiatus told the driver to slit her throat before getting to the ludos. And he did it because with Sura’s death then Spartacus would stop thinking about life beyond the ludos and will essentially be “housebroken” and a tool for Batiatus to wield

Of course Spartacus finds out and then like starts the rebellion because of it, which is just, that was another shocking death, when he and the gladiators just murder everyone in the ludos, it was INSANE

Juan, The Borgias

I mean he deserved it, I was wishing for it since season 1, he killed the man his sister loved because he was a peasant even though he was leaving town, he just wanted to see Lucrezia and his baby for one night and then he was going but no, Juan had to kill him, then he dangles that baby over a balcony threatening to kill him plus he’s a rapist,

like he needed to die a LONG time ago it was just surprising because Cesare is his brother and I was like OH DAMN.

That’s it for now!