10katie01

That clenched fist moment was actually among the various little things that together make me think the Du siblings are spies. The clenched fist seemed like it indicated Du Zheng's plan of action had been thwarted, and since the thing that was happening was the army acknowledging Jinqi, it seemed obviously that Du Zheng wanted to isolate Jinqi from support from his army forces.

If you don't mind fantasy I think you'd love Legend of Fu Yao. The subplot of the overall series is that the FL has a horrible fated end to face. (Though knowing that fact is a bit of a spoiler - sorry - knowing this will likely help in following the story), and so to face her fate she starts as a lowly slave in a martial sect and must contend with stronger and stronger trials as she grows into adulthood and growing closer to that fate. Great cast. Great characters. I adore the entire musical score. Seriously, I recommend giving it a go.

JoL - yes! Not sure which I've watched more of: Minglan, JoL, Evernight, Untamed or Legend of Fu Yao. They're all the ones I keep coming back to. I have a bit of a soft spot for fantasy, as you can see. ^^
RotP - oh yes, love it to bits. Will *NEVER* recommend it to anyone. That ending is ..... well, I'm sure you know.
Royal Nirvana - no, that one had passed me by. Since you're suggesting it in the same space as JoL and RotP I'm guessing it must be good. Thank you so much for the tip! I'll take a squiz at it...

Maybe they were just stuffing the scene out for screening time, this is something c-dramas have a history of doing (thank whoever in their governmental bureaus made the decision to rein in flashback usage), but I was kind of viewing her acting and this scene as evidence of her character trying to manipulate and gaslight the Lin family and staff. Attempting to foster more antagonism and suspicion between each of them. Mainly because I'm kinda invested in the theory of those Du siblings being spies.

There's so many good ones, if you want recommendations it's probably better to narrow your preferences a bit like - genre? country? any particular time or world setting? Are you strictly a hetero viewer or are your tastes broader?

In the past year or so I'd say 'Love Like the Galaxy' has been my favorite. An exquisite production. 'Story of Minglan' as mentioned by Lizzie I've watched a few times over and will likely be considered a classic a decade from now. 'Nirvana in Fire'. 'Love Between Fairy and Devil.' 'The Long Ballad.' 'Mysterious Lotus Casebook'. Almost anything that's had Yang Mi in it (though I've only viewed her historical/fantasy series). And that's just some dramas from only China. Seriously there's a whole lot of good content out there.

Actually, I'll go further and state this outright : 'Wish' (that theme music from 'Under the Power') is in my top 10, if not my actual number 1 favorite c-drama music theme.

Oooh that one was soo good.

Had a rooftop drunken kiss scene paired with a piece of music that was just chef's kiss perfect.

Oooooor ... wait, hear me out ..... or Jinqi was trying to control and draw out the fight to provide an opportunity for Du Zheng to talk and say what was behind his betrayal. A form of interrogation.

Frankly the fact that Du Zheng didn't respond emotionally and speak up to give his reasons is one of the things that makes me err on the side of considering him - and Cuique - as a pair of spies.

I know, I know. I'm having my little impatient fangirl moment. I should've aged enough not to have them ... but with the really good stories those moments still occur.

I may have to practice some Abstinence for Sanity & Hair Retention until the show finishes airing.

My take is the Du 'siblings' are planted spies, and that everything Cuique was saying had the goal of disinformation and creating discordance in the household. Not giving them any reason to suspect a greater conspiracy.

Her targeting of Lanxiang makes sense, because Lanxiang has demonstrated intelligence and ability that could compromise the Du's mission. Her use of poison doesn't make sense unless she's a spy, because if her overall aim is to improve her station, keeping on good terms with the Lins make sense, poisoning makes absolutely no sense at all. Her ability to talk her way out of suspicion in the ornament incident. Her ability to charm and seem harmless to everyone. The show itself gave her scenes in which she is charming information about the residence out of it's inhabitants.

The one discordant note to this theory is Zheng passing very valuable items to Cuique. On the hand it could be taken as being a payment or bribe for her continuing involvement. On the other hand, passing her such valuable items puts her identity at risk.

So maybe their not spies at all...?

Maybe her use of poison was to subsequently go on to use her supposed medical ability to make the Lin household even more indebited to her?

Don't they show children running around her in the intro? Because of that I'm guessing it's been filmed.

In one of the earlier eps, when Cuique almost trapped him with that hair ornament, at the banquet Du Zheng could've easily stopped the banter of the others and prevent Jinqi from being trapped by making a simple comment to diminish the meaning of the ornament, or any link between Cuique and Jinqu. I'd go further and say he owed that to Jinqi as Cuique's host.

...but he didn't...

He stood there with an incontinent look on his face for what was seconds but probably felt like hours, and said nothing.

There was a comment made, I think by Cuique, after the hair ornament incident, that Jinqi since then was being very careful with how much access he allowed the two of them ... something about having one shot before the bird flies away? My memory's not good, it was something along those lines.

And then there was the fact that they made sure he had no excuse to momentarily depart to either change his uniform or grab a different weapon ... which suggests he's made those excuses before, ... and Jinqi would be wary of spies ingratiating themselves into his social group because of the Lin family's prior dire interactions in politics. The combination of Cuique's and Du Zheng's past actions probably put Jinqi into a defensive mindset.

Purely IMHO.

Yet again I find myself pulling my hair out over the completely unreasonable inability of media companies to RELEASE THE WHOLE SEASON IN ONE GO, DA**IT!!

ML's father is the obvious idiot who rises through connections and kissarsery than through actual talent.

I don't know why I'm getting Mr Knightley vibes from the Marquis Yuan character. If it's only the age/wisdom difference, I don't think only that should justify an equitable comparison. M. Yuan is very much a shippable character though. ^^

... edit: lol ... maybe ML's father will end up with a character development arc.

XD

See, this is why I shouldn't comment until the episode is done.

'did Cuique succeed? ... Lin family ... is dead...'

They're so obviously spies.

...if they're even siblings. What with him gifting her very expensive products, and they seemingly having plans of action to get inside the Lin residence, I'm kinda leaning towards them being spies and possibly not related at all.

She was oh so very smooth with how she dealt with people level while underhandedly scheming.

It's up on k**

It's up on k****h

PS I hate dry chicken. There's a takeaway shop nearby that does a rotisserie chicken that looks and smells amazing, but you get it home and cut up and it's always so effin' dry.

It's good that somewhere out there in the world, though it's the other side of the planet, there does exist, JUICYCHICKEN!!!!

This is probably my 3:42am brain speaking.

So much for sleep for me ^^

On the upside, instead of a countdown it's now showing 'we're processing this video' ... so maybe in 10-20minutes...?