AleksandraSucur

If you see "subtle ending" in CY's vision (in that vision, they are ali e) then you haven't seen NYZ stabbed multiple times and exploded or heard Ruyi saying "YZ, I coming to you" before she exploded herself with Beipan people

The ending is completely senseless. Feels you watch a completely drama

For 34 eps, we've seen so much effort to build up credible characters and huge attention of creators to constantly make sense. Plots, subplots, all human relations made sense, characters were well explained, had screentime and personal growths that allowed us to properly care about them. And after all that construction effort, in 6 episodes they decided to massacre everybody and destroy every sense. Holly crap, can someone tell me what's the purpose of such a thing? To tell us "wars are sensless"? Well, we know that without investing so much time and feelings. Or to tell "all men must die"? We know that, too. But such a huge sacrifice happened without principle of justice being properly served. Ending such a great story with CY's dream of unprobable "10 years after" not only doesn't render justice to its protagonists (btw, some of them dissappeared without trace, minister Du, where are you?), but makes their (and our emotional) sacrifice senseless, too.
Or the message was "there's no tomorrow"? Indeed, there's no tomorrow expecting our heroes' & heroines' next move. What a pity.

You are right, but it's because sh*t happens and nobody expected for the empress's son to be such an idiot. But she wouldn't be safe either way, if she returned with her brother, she would still have to encounter Beipan people on the road, we don't know if Woody will return safely while we know some of our dear characters will get killed.

As a starter, she has Liudao Hall branch in An, and Meiniang's brothel network. She already visited all the powerful ministers, who will be delighted to send their daughters/nieces as ladies-in-waiting to a future empress, with her social skills, she will turn them in tools of her own interest. Besides, the position she aspires is "empress", not consort, because she Is of "royal blood", has another state as her backing, not some local tribe. Although she should better not count on that and keep in mind how the former empress ended betrayed by her own tribe, father and son... Of course she will use LTG, she knows his ambition and the details of his plan to achieve it. She put her cards clearly to LTG when she proposed him a deal. He will work for her, especially now, when he discovered she's a woman and his previous jelousy has no sense, she won't marry and take away his shifu. Well, we can say he already started to work with her, the future episodes will show if they can be something more... 😅

Don't mind me, I am highly picky.

I've liked and felt everything you've said before Falling into You. I've dropped that drama immediatly. Unwatchable

The greatest female rulers of human history started as underdogs...

Yup, exactly. I didn't see this either, but felt he oughtta be important for QZ. I've told you, under the aspect of making sense and logics, till now, this story has no flows, I am a highly selective person, who drops watching 99pc of dramas and movies (of whatever production or country). That makes me so excited. 😂
Btw, I feel indebted with PeachBlossomGoddess, without her review, I would have missed an awsome movie, Yimou's Full River Red

Her decision is 100 percent logical, imo. She experienced the most machiavellian transformation, her journey to An can actually be considered as a full immersion course in machiavellism. During the journey she became acquainted (thanx to Ruyi) with An's politics and "who is who" there, so now she knows An better than Wu. She learned what power means (for that, she ought to fake being a person of the opposite sex), and she likes the position of power, I'll quote her: I feel I can finally make decisions on my own. After her experiences (with her ex, particularly) she simply can't return to any position where she can't decide for herself, she doesn't need any kind of dependant relation. YL is a true friend, her best male friend, they love each deeply but differently. There's no sign of physical attraction between them, it's just a deep care for each other, and mutual admiration.
Third, she learned (from the best, because both Ruyi and NYZ are experts in the field) she learned how to play "by the ear" because bravery (when intelligent) is related to the "playing by the ear". She is not an underdog anymore, as YL said, she can be whatever she wants 🙂

A person who takes an arrow for the emperor and dies is always "an important person". PBG is an expert here, of course she knows that. But in this case, my intuition was better probably because I didn't miss QZ aggrieved words during their fight with Ruyi. That level of grief was... personal.

The rythm actually slows down between 25-28. Too much unnecessary talks (well, those talks are actually necessary for the audience who doesn't follow attentively, to catch up with characters). After ep. 28 the speed returns and accelerates. You feel on a roller coaster.

"don't fall in love easily but have a child on your own" should be reformulated in "don't fall in love with a jerk but above all don't have children with a jerk". Poor empress had a child on her own, but it would be better if she didn't have him at all

Today's episodes were true rollercoasters. It's good we have a few days of break to settle down the emotions and to prepare ourselves psichologically for final emotional challenges. Re-charge yourselves, hard times are coming to us in three days time!✌️💪

I wouldn't use the term "linear" because the story gives more vibes of a rollercoaster 😅, but I understand what you've meant. There's a suitable expression in Italian when the story is credible: "even if it isn't true, it's nicely figured out" (se non è vero, è ben trovato). So, for a good story It doesn't matter if it's a truth or fiction, the important thing is it makes sense while progressing. Being "nicely figured out" no wonder we are debating about characters, that's what we all do in real life too. My best friend (in real life) once said we are not gossiping so much because we hate other people, but on the contrary: we care too much of them, that's why we waste our time talking about them 😂

The pleasure is mine, JeA. This is the First time I've felt to share my thoughts on MDL. Such a thing would be impossible if I haven't appreciated thoughts of other people here before than. And of course, I think the story really deserves our attenzione. 🙂

A path (envisaged above) to win CY over for the purpose to manipulate her better. He is rational and cunning in everything, but that everything desintegrates when shifu is around. This doesn't happen because he has a double personality, but because he developed a unique attachment to her which is - yesterday you've noticed it well, similar to the attachment Ruyi had with the empress

In reality, the heart is in the middle of our thorax. The main arthery (aort) and main vein are positioned to the left, but the point she indicated DH to stab her is above vital points, that may harm peripherical part of lungs. If someone cooperated in her mise-en-scene, that's DH. He is not such a loyal dog

Yeah. There were several moments in today's eps I've felt the authors wanted to remind the audience this drama is good but remains the work of phantasy. It's utterly good that way

Nope, she meant: only with killing her, LTG can be trusted by the emperor and climb up on a power ladder where nobody can harm him in any way. This was well elaborated by DH in that "small talk" before she asked him to stab her.