The interaction sounds intriguing.  Do you have the twitter link for the BTS? Would love to see it.

 WandereR:

The interaction sounds intriguing.  Do you have the twitter link for the BTS? Would love to see it.


I will search.

 WandereR:

The interaction sounds intriguing.  Do you have the twitter link for the BTS? Would love to see it.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1317282394798391297

Am I seeing too much? She seems very much in the position of disgust.
minute 0:24 onwards.
 eliteles1:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1317282394798391297

Am I seeing too much? She seems very much in the position of disgust.
minute 0:24 onwards.

Yes, you're right.  Totally not smiling and with a really glum face.  Maybe she's not enjoying her role as much as we thought she would lol

 WandereR:

Yes, you're right.  Totally not smiling and with a really glum face.  Maybe she's not enjoying her role as much as we thought she would lol

Yeah ... maybe it's this explanation. A role made for Cheng Yi to shine and not her (maybe that's it?).

 eliteles1:

Yeah ... maybe it's this explanation. A role made for Cheng Yi to shine and not her (maybe that's it?). 

I agree, probably she's regretting playing the villain (not really villain but I don't consider her protagonist either) against Cheng Yi's tragic character.  It looks really bad on her especially given the height of his popularity currently.  

That's the risk playing bad guys, no matter how well you do it people will hate you for it.  I think Hao Chen is more well received than Ming Yu ever will be.

 WandereR:

I agree, probably she's regretting playing the villain (not really villain but I don't consider her protagonist either) against Cheng Yi's tragic character.  It looks really bad on her especially given the height of his popularity currently.  

That's the risk playing bad guys, no matter how well you do it people will hate you for it.  I think Hao Chen is more well received than Ming Yu ever will be.

Well HC char was punished and redem him self in the end but not with MY Xd

 Dave:

Well HC char was punished and redem him self in the end but not with MY Xd

Yup, true.  So far we don't really see MY suffer, not up to 10% of CX's suffering.

So unfair :/

 WandereR:

Live in seclusion on Fuyu Island, more like.  I had a peek at those episodes you guys mentioned and wow, she has the face of a self-righteous messiah that has come to "save" CX from even himself.  That is not the face of tenderness, sincerity and longing - that is the face of a devil...

Which episode did you mean in this? Episode 48?

This drama starts from episode 37 are all rage-inducing. I recommend you to not watch during working hour. 

Ming Yu kept on spewing nonsense of "I am am a mother, Qi Yuan is my flesh and blood" to defense Qi Yuan in front of Cheng Xu. As if by having her as a mother could wash away Qi Yuan fault. She shamed all woman in the world. Perhaps she would even accept Qi Yuan killed Cheng Xu. And then she will just cry crocodile tears and saying a late "I am sorry" and go merry way with her son.

She deserved to be alone in the end.

 Xien_Rue:

Which episode did you mean in this? Episode 48?

I had a peek of eps 36-42 (on WeTV it's updated to ep 42, I didn't search for the raw on Duboku).  In every scene involving MY, she has the same look.  In fact, I think her expressions are mono-dimensional.  I think she has difficulty projecting expressions of sympathy and kindness - it just comes across as...fake.

 WandereR:

I had a peek of eps 36-42 (on WeTV it's updated to ep 42, I didn't search for the raw on Duboku).  In every scene involving MY, she has the same look.  In fact, I think her expressions are mono-dimensional.  I think she has difficulty projecting expressions of sympathy and kindness - it just comes across as...fake.

I see. 

I will reserve my opinion regarding acting until the end of the drama. But, I agree with you. Ming Yu is one-dimensional character. I don't know whether it is the fault of script or acting. Her expression throughout the drama was the same. Whether she was with Cheng Xu, the King, her son. The nuances were all the same. It was that bad until I could no longer say for certain that she loved Cheng Xu still. She cried when the emperor treated her badly (which actually because she asked for it in a way) and then she also cried when hurting Cheng Xu. Two-faced woman.

Her life seemed to be without any spark of desire before she became a mother. She seemed content with her life. No Cheng Xu, have the emperor favor, and just made sure Cheng Xu alive (I don't think she ever care whether Cheng Xu happy or not). And then Qi Yuan came about. Everything changed. She became this dull woman who could think anything else but her son. I know woman tendency to favor her children. But Ming Yu took it a step higher. She would do everything, even white washed her son fault, just to make sure her son could go punishment-free. It was like she chose to be blind to any Qi Yuan fault and put all the responsibility on someone else. 

As it was, her character is boring. No complexity. Her purpose is only being a holier than thou woman in the harem and then holier than thou empress dowager. As if she is the most wise human being in the drama. Everybody should just listen to her and bow to her every whim. Nothing that could make us rooting for her.

Totally agree.  That last paragraph you wrote, I already felt that way when I was still watching fully up to ep 29, during her "play hard to get" arc with the Emperor.  That's why I compared her to Hao Chen - there's just no point debating with her, she'll win every argument.

Regarding the facial expressions, I really think it's the actress.  I've seen her in a few shows and it's the same.  Her micro expressions are really limited, if any.  I mean yes, the character is hateful because of the way the role is written, but I think a greater performer would've added more depth and nuance to the portrayal.  

Anyway, I don't really blame her at this point.  I think all the female actresses in this show aren't that great.  The guys on the other hand are on another level (except the younger ones like the bratty emperor - still a long way to go for him).

Liu Xue Yi is a good actor. He succeeded in making a character that always preaching "for the good of 3 worlds" a sympathetic character that just trapped inside his own paranoia. 

Hahahaha, how correct of "there's just no point debating with her, she'll win every argument ". This is the very core of Ming Yu character. She never made a payment out of guilt. Everytime she hurt somebody she only said sorry but I knew that she never regretted her action. 

The character is hard to play by the current batch of female actresses with the same age. I haven't found an actress in their 20s or early 30s that could handle Helan Ming Yu