Why does this have so much comments? Were people fighting here?
90% of comments were just few users challenging themself to reach a big number. I remember that to find some info on the drama i had to load 4-5 page of emoty and inner joke. Just to fill the number
OOC? Why blame Lu Jiang for bravely fighting for what he wants?I don't think Lu Jianglai's character collapsed…
You treat Lu Jianglai’s longing for a family as if it automatically legitimizes everything he endures to get it. Even if LJL craves familial stability, that does not mean he should be disrespected, emotionally dismissed or coerced into choices under threat of abandonment.
I do appreciate the way you explain LJL’s trauma, even if I find it reductive to reduce such a character, whose core has always been authority, justice, and righteousness, to simply a family man with trauma. Since your comment focuses on this side of him, I will concentrate on it too, even though it is neither all of him nor the main part of him.
Concerning this side, however, you turn his suppose trauma-driven compliance into heroic agency. When someone is starved for love, and another person becomes the only source of that love, the dynamic is no longer neutral. Especially when she withholds support when he’s vulnerable, she offers intimacy while planning to leave, she allows no middle ground and she uses departure as leverage. That’s not him “freely choosing what he desires”, that’s him choosing under constraint. True free will requires viable alternatives. He didn’t have them.
Then you say: “His attempts to provoke her with fights, desperate pleas, and playing the victim were completely accepted by her.” Accepted how? By refusing to meet him halfway, by withholding attention or support, or by refusing engagement? Passive tolerance is not an affectionate or validating response. What you describe as “exceptional affection” is a dynamic in which his insecurity escalates, her control increases. It reinforces the power imbalance. Calling this “healing” or “exceptional affection” dangerously reframes an abusive pattern.
The worst, however, is calling coercion “free will.” You insist the drama is about the exercise of individual free will under external pressure, but emotional blackmail, manipulation, and coercion negate free will. Saying “he chose what he subjectively desired” ignores that his desire was being exploited. When someone uses another’s weakness to extract compliance, the resulting choice is not free but it’s conditioned.
Ironically, this romantic defense actually demeans LJL. It reduces a brilliant, strategic, principled man into someone whose growth is measured by how much abuse he tolerates to get love, and whose dignity is secondary to the fantasy of family. LJL deserved support without ultimatums, love without indifference, and a family built with him, not at his expense. Longing for family can motivate great sacrifices, but it should never require accepting cruelty, coercion, or disrespect. Love that only exists when one person keeps yielding is not love. It’s not that I want to miss the romance,I just refuse to romanticize harm. Anyway, we can just agree to disagree.
It’s very frustrating for many people because this drama was sold as a balanced story between two characters,…
Yes, we must agree to disagree. While the main story was initially presented as interconnected between the two leads, it gradually shifts into a one-sided narrative, with only brief glimpses of the male lead’s characterization. Even at the end, when his story finally comes to the forefront, it is relegated to the very last episodes of the drama. I also think that when such a heavy imbalance is undeniably based on gender, it becomes inherently sexist toward whichever gender is at a disadvantage. And no, this isn’t the worst way a lead has been treated in their own drama, but it’s hardly a point of pride.
The lines were supposed to be LJL's lines according to the script. https://x.com/i/status/2011165689944687091
It was so obvious. I wouldn’t be surprised if they changed a lot more, because many scenes feel unnatural. For example, in his mansion, LJL didn’t notice he had been drugged, even after suspiciously looking at those braziers ten times, and it was still her to solve the case. Or the fact that his entire story was pushed into the last 1/7 of the drama, when it would have been better, and fairer, to start it halfway through, or at most 2/3 in.
Even the ending feels off. After watching the unfairness of both family, instead of starting a new life together and beginning anew, he leaves his family to join hers, who is just like his on reverse. It’s not a good or fair way end the drama . I wouldn’t be surprised if they changed it at the last minute just to make this the female last act of empowerment
I feel the same, that the show was very good and intriguing at first, but it became too one-sided (only ML confessing…
I absolutely agree with all of this! Having equal time for their stories would have been better. And turning the fl into this kind of character just so the ml has to carry the entire relationship is the worse.
This is a good show. The reviews are a little frustrating. For decades, many people did not kick up this much…
It’s very frustrating for many people because this drama was sold as a balanced story between two characters, and it isn’t.
The show actually pushes gender inequality, just reversed. Even when it presents supposedly equal or idealistic ideas, they remain only theoretical, because in practice one gender always has the upper hand. And I’m not even talking only about the social dynamics within the story, but about the structure of the drama as a whole.
The male lead’s story is pushed into the last 1/7 of the drama, without enough time to develop properly. Entire parts of the narrative are unnaturally shifted from one character to another, and it shows. This already reveals an inequality in how the characters are treated, which is then amplified by the in-story social dynamics, especially on the emotional side, where the male lead does all the work and the female lead does nothing.
Even the worst male leads in cdramas have not mistreated a female lead the way she mistreats him, to this extent and all the way until the end. So it’s clear that a serious imbalance exists, and people who expected balance and equality are right to complain about it.
I suppose it was to assure the title to her son. And not LJL or his future son. And rsb knew (they talk when she is leaving) but didn't even spare her a bad look for for what she tryed to do to LJL. She clearly doesn't care that much for LJL. Even when the body was found she didn't give much emotion. She was more worried at the begin of the drama when he was interrogated by the officials. But that was another rsb, a better one.
It is so ridiculous that the fl steals the corrupted official case from LJL. She has to use him to access resources he already possesses and only needs to apply to the case. He had already helped Bai on many occasions, so asking him to help would have made perfect sense. He had everything served on a silver plate, already prepared, yet the writers made her solve the case by using ml instead. Even her speech sounds like something LJL would said. What does she care about corrupted officials, when she had allowed him to commit his crimes long before LJL ever arrived? As long as no one interfered with her business, she was fine with it. But now, all of a sudden, she is portrayed as morally noble on officials duty. It feels fake, forced, and completely unnatural as a situation. Ljl deserved more as character and defnitly even in love.
But he gave up his while she never ever considered giving up hers for him. So terrible.
When he is about to marry, his assistant lists everything he is giving up to enter her family. I’m not referring only to the title of duke, but to everything he worked for to become the official he is now. He went through terrible situations to reach that position, driven by his principles and his desire to help as many people as possible by gaining higher authority, principles that are just as strong as the fl’s, as she herself admits. By entering her family, he will inevitably face far more limitations than he ever would have if she had chosen to give everything up for him and start anew. Instead, he must now deal not only with the existing dangers and burdens of his work, but also with the restrictions and problems imposed by a powerful matriarchal family.
The issue isn’t the choice he made for himself. It’s the fact that if she truly loved him, she should never have put him in a position where he had to choose between his new, terrible but still family, (and not the title), his lifelong career and ambition, or her. She know perfectly well that her family would impose limits on his work and even on him as a person, as a man. And they do. He chose to challenge the entire world for her, making his life harder just to be with her. But was it right for her to place him in that position? After finally escaping his own toxic environment, he’s forced into another one because she didn't to leave hers.And that is something she should decide on her own as he did, if she truly loved him and wanted him to stand on equal footing with her. But she didn’t, and that shows how little she values him, how little she loves him, and how undeserving she is of him. Her family imposes restrictions on men, let alone on his career. And even if she decides to make things more equal, that equality would exist only by her grace, not because it is his right (i quote a good comment here). And that make it deeply unfair and unbalanced.
Hey I'm definitely sure if LJL would set up a competition to select wives during capital arc she would have abandoned…
Even to me, after that vow it felt like she took her grandmother’s grudge as her own.
Look at how distressed she was when LJL was taken away by the officers for interrogation, she was even sweating, and he noticed and gently wiped it away. Those were tender moments, showing love from both of them. Compare that to how she acts later at the duke’s mansion, her worry is calm when a body is found. Or the fact that she lets the person who tried to kill him walk away without even a threat or a harsh look. She became a completely different person.
But he gave up his while she never ever considered giving up hers for him. So terrible.
He did, even before the dukedom he had a bright future that he now give up completly for her that is not ready to do the same. For me this is not a happy ending at all when only one sacrifice himself for the relatinship.
LJL is a self-made officer who fights violent criminals and corrupt high-level officials, a genius, a master of swordsmanship and martial arts, and much more. Even without memory, gravely injured, and completely alone, he can overcome anything with his extraordinary skill and will.
Does he need to be protected by a merchant in his own home? According to the drama… Yes.
That’s how much they ruined his character. And why? Because 30 episodes of the fl’s solo story apparently weren’t enough, so they had to favor her at the ml’s expense, completely destroying him till the end.
Hmh did a fantastic job, even while he was sick. He is truly remarkable. Truly. I’ll continue watching this drama only to watch his performance, which is fantastic even here. But this must be said: Yz is a clown.
I do appreciate the way you explain LJL’s trauma, even if I find it reductive to reduce such a character, whose core has always been authority, justice, and righteousness, to simply a family man with trauma. Since your comment focuses on this side of him, I will concentrate on it too, even though it is neither all of him nor the main part of him.
Concerning this side, however, you turn his suppose trauma-driven compliance into heroic agency. When someone is starved for love, and another person becomes the only source of that love, the dynamic is no longer neutral. Especially when she withholds support when he’s vulnerable, she offers intimacy while planning to leave, she allows no middle ground and she uses departure as leverage.
That’s not him “freely choosing what he desires”, that’s him choosing under constraint. True free will requires viable alternatives. He didn’t have them.
Then you say: “His attempts to provoke her with fights, desperate pleas, and playing the victim were completely accepted by her.”
Accepted how? By refusing to meet him halfway, by withholding attention or support, or by refusing engagement? Passive tolerance is not an affectionate or validating response.
What you describe as “exceptional affection” is a dynamic in which his insecurity escalates, her control increases. It reinforces the power imbalance. Calling this “healing” or “exceptional affection” dangerously reframes an abusive pattern.
The worst, however, is calling coercion “free will.” You insist the drama is about the exercise of individual free will under external pressure, but emotional blackmail, manipulation, and coercion negate free will.
Saying “he chose what he subjectively desired” ignores that his desire was being exploited. When someone uses another’s weakness to extract compliance, the resulting choice is not free but it’s conditioned.
Ironically, this romantic defense actually demeans LJL. It reduces a brilliant, strategic, principled man into someone whose growth is measured by how much abuse he tolerates to get love, and whose dignity is secondary to the fantasy of family.
LJL deserved support without ultimatums, love without indifference, and a family built with him, not at his expense.
Longing for family can motivate great sacrifices, but it should never require accepting cruelty, coercion, or disrespect. Love that only exists when one person keeps yielding is not love.
It’s not that I want to miss the romance,I just refuse to romanticize harm.
Anyway, we can just agree to disagree.
While the main story was initially presented as interconnected between the two leads, it gradually shifts into a one-sided narrative, with only brief glimpses of the male lead’s characterization. Even at the end, when his story finally comes to the forefront, it is relegated to the very last episodes of the drama.
I also think that when such a heavy imbalance is undeniably based on gender, it becomes inherently sexist toward whichever gender is at a disadvantage.
And no, this isn’t the worst way a lead has been treated in their own drama, but it’s hardly a point of pride.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they changed a lot more, because many scenes feel unnatural. For example, in his mansion, LJL didn’t notice he had been drugged, even after suspiciously looking at those braziers ten times, and it was still her to solve the case.
Or the fact that his entire story was pushed into the last 1/7 of the drama, when it would have been better, and fairer, to start it halfway through, or at most 2/3 in.
Even the ending feels off. After watching the unfairness of both family, instead of starting a new life together and beginning anew, he leaves his family to join hers, who is just like his on reverse.
It’s not a good or fair way end the drama . I wouldn’t be surprised if they changed it at the last minute just to make this the female last act of empowerment
The show actually pushes gender inequality, just reversed. Even when it presents supposedly equal or idealistic ideas, they remain only theoretical, because in practice one gender always has the upper hand. And I’m not even talking only about the social dynamics within the story, but about the structure of the drama as a whole.
The male lead’s story is pushed into the last 1/7 of the drama, without enough time to develop properly. Entire parts of the narrative are unnaturally shifted from one character to another, and it shows. This already reveals an inequality in how the characters are treated, which is then amplified by the in-story social dynamics, especially on the emotional side, where the male lead does all the work and the female lead does nothing.
Even the worst male leads in cdramas have not mistreated a female lead the way she mistreats him, to this extent and all the way until the end. So it’s clear that a serious imbalance exists, and people who expected balance and equality are right to complain about it.
And rsb knew (they talk when she is leaving) but didn't even spare her a bad look for for what she tryed to do to LJL. She clearly doesn't care that much for LJL. Even when the body was found she didn't give much emotion. She was more worried at the begin of the drama when he was interrogated by the officials. But that was another rsb, a better one.
She has to use him to access resources he already possesses and only needs to apply to the case. He had already helped Bai on many occasions, so asking him to help would have made perfect sense. He had everything served on a silver plate, already prepared, yet the writers made her solve the case by using ml instead.
Even her speech sounds like something LJL would said.
What does she care about corrupted officials, when she had allowed him to commit his crimes long before LJL ever arrived? As long as no one interfered with her business, she was fine with it. But now, all of a sudden, she is portrayed as morally noble on officials duty. It feels fake, forced, and completely unnatural as a situation.
Ljl deserved more as character and defnitly even in love.
By entering her family, he will inevitably face far more limitations than he ever would have if she had chosen to give everything up for him and start anew. Instead, he must now deal not only with the existing dangers and burdens of his work, but also with the restrictions and problems imposed by a powerful matriarchal family.
The issue isn’t the choice he made for himself. It’s the fact that if she truly loved him, she should never have put him in a position where he had to choose between his new, terrible but still family, (and not the title), his lifelong career and ambition, or her. She know perfectly well that her family would impose limits on his work and even on him as a person, as a man. And they do.
He chose to challenge the entire world for her, making his life harder just to be with her. But was it right for her to place him in that position? After finally escaping his own toxic environment, he’s forced into another one because she didn't to leave hers.And that is something she should decide on her own as he did, if she truly loved him and wanted him to stand on equal footing with her. But she didn’t, and that shows how little she values him, how little she loves him, and how undeserving she is of him.
Her family imposes restrictions on men, let alone on his career. And even if she decides to make things more equal, that equality would exist only by her grace, not because it is his right (i quote a good comment here). And that make it deeply unfair and unbalanced.
Look at how distressed she was when LJL was taken away by the officers for interrogation, she was even sweating, and he noticed and gently wiped it away. Those were tender moments, showing love from both of them.
Compare that to how she acts later at the duke’s mansion, her worry is calm when a body is found. Or the fact that she lets the person who tried to kill him walk away without even a threat or a harsh look.
She became a completely different person.
All I could think was "Stop! Don’t! She doesn’t deserve you!"
Does he need to be protected by a merchant in his own home?
According to the drama… Yes.
That’s how much they ruined his character. And why? Because 30 episodes of the fl’s solo story apparently weren’t enough, so they had to favor her at the ml’s expense, completely destroying him till the end.
Hmh did a fantastic job, even while he was sick. He is truly remarkable. Truly.
I’ll continue watching this drama only to watch his performance, which is fantastic even here.
But this must be said: Yz is a clown.