I haven't finished the drama yet, so I don't know how much weight my comment holds, but I'm currently watching Episode 22, specifically the scene where Shen Xiangling berates Rong Shanbao after she doesn't shoot Lu Jianglai when he's hanging off the cliff. This scene infuriates me beyond measure. SXL sits on her high horse very comfortably, talking about how family honour is important above all. She uses the example of her own mother, who was favoured by their grandmother before she married away, and now her grandmother ignores her mother's existence and SXL has the identity of an outsider despite being just as much her grandmother's granddaughter as anyone else. She talks about how RSB went through so much hardship, personally fighting for the family and the business, and underwent so much suffering, but now because of Madam Yang and LJL, their grandmother scorns her and hates her. Despite all of the hard, bloody work that RSB does for the family, to the point where she has put her own life in danger several times, even pushing herself to the point of nearly fatal illness if LJL hadn't stepped in, despite her literally carrying that fucking family and tea business on her back, her grandmother still works against her at every turn, forcing her to get married, intentionally using RYX to push RSB to her limit, and then as soon as RSB shows any kind of 'weakness' (basic human empathy), she slanders and despises her. The grandmother seems passive, but in my opinion she is actually the biggest villain in the story (so far). Yes, her own backstory about how her first husband betrayed and manipulated her makes sense, and I understand that she wants to stop others from having the same thing happen to them, but I think that the concern for her granddaughters is only secondary to her larger goal. She doesn't actually care about their feelings, or how the betrayal affects them. The ONLY thing she cares about is the reputation and livelihood of the 'family', without sparing a single thought to the individual happiness, health and safety of the actual family MEMBERS themselves. Listen to her wording carefully when she forces RSB to swear the oath. She doesn't once mention RSB's actual happiness or feelings. There's no, "if my husband harms or betrays ME", only, "if my husband harms or betrays the Rong family." The grandmother doesn't care, she never has, and she never will. She views her own family members as pawns, to be pitted against each other, used, praised, hated and disposed when she feels like it. She doesn't love any of them, she tolerates them until they step one toe out of line, such as RSB sheltering Madam Yang or showing 'mercy' to LJL. No matter how much RSB sacrifices her own life, it doesn't mean anything to the grandmother, as long as she makes one 'mistake'. And what really frustrates me about this scene is SXL's reaction to all of this, and the lesson she took from this, being that RSB is the one in the wrong. After giving examples as to how their grandmother is vindictive, manipulative, abusive and unfair, she has somehow mentally twisted the situation to mean, "never question grandmother and never disobey her," rather than the real lesson, which should be that there is no use listening to or trying to follow the rules of such a woman. The lesson should be that their grandmother has emotionally and psychologically manipulated RSB to become the perfect slave to their family and to their business, and that RSB SHOULD rebel and stand her ground, for justice, and for her own personal happiness. I understand that this drama is trying to stick as close to the values of filial piety and societal rules as possible, especially in the Rong family, but by doing so it fails to be a satisfying, cathartic, or good story. The grandmother should be punished. The scheming sisters should be punished. The Rong family should change their ways, adapt, and acknowledge that the most important thing is the family, the family MEMBERS. Although the grandmother is not presented as justified, and SXL is somewhat presented as wrong, does RSB not follow along and continue to work for the Rong family's interest? I have seen some spoilers, and it seems like the grandmother largely gets through the story to the end with little more than a slap on the wrist. This story should be about breaking an abusive family cycle in which not a single person is treated as a human. It should be about recognising the importance of personal happiness, freedom and safety rather than allowing yourself to be manipulated and harmed by the people who claim to care about you. It should be about upholding justice, while allowing space for nuance and humanity. This story portrays a twisted and broken family, in which there is no love or affection but rather a fierce, vicious game that devours people alive, a competition for the momentary attention and praise of an abusive matriarch. A failure to truly change this family structure, to warn against the harm of such a dynamic, and to provide a meaningful answer to presented moral questions constitutes a badly written story. I don't know whether or not I should see this drama to the end. I want to see how the situation develops, to see exactly how this story punishes bad characters and portrays systematic change. I also just want to receive some closure from this story before moving onto another (hopefully better) one.
Personally, I really love the difference in perception between Yu Wanyin and Xiahou Dan, how Yu Wanyin is much more sympathetic and treats the others like real people while Xiahou Dan reduces them to 2D characters and is much more focused on the two of them, being immediately distrustful of anyone who isn't written in favour of their situation. They're both justified in their actions and opinions from different perspectives. The reason why I like it so much is that in this kind of situation it is more common for the viewer to side with Yu Wanyin and see Xiahou Dan as heartless and unreasonable, however, when looking from Xiahou Dan's perspective, his perspective can be seen as a coping mechanism for all of the trauma that he's endured over the past fifteen years. "The people who isolated and abused me are not actually real. They are just characters, not real living people. I come first."
The later posts in Zhang San’s diary are getting darker and darker. Damn—it’s the complete opposite of the…
ikr it's so jarring like the first zhang san diary was kind of cute and funny with him planting SOS (horrifying when you think abt it) but it's just gotten more and more traumatic so everytime I hear 'zhang san diary' I have to brace myself to see a kid being horrifically isolated and abused.
I just finished the novel too and it's so good! Finishing it feels a little bittersweet. I can't help but grieve…
Yes, I think XJ as a character in the novel is much more suited to a novel format than to a drama. Another character that I miss is Lin Shuanghe, but I think it's interesting how they combined his character with Cheng Lisu, especially as I would say that Lin Shuanghe is a more important character than Cheng Lisu.
I finished the novel and watched the show once again. And if we ignore stupid part with Emperor and Chu Zhao,…
I just finished the novel too and it's so good! Finishing it feels a little bittersweet. I can't help but grieve the loss of He Yunsheng retrospectively. I think the character change of XJ is honestly really interesting and it just shows how at the end of the day, the novel and the drama are two different stories. I have a craving to rewatch the drama now because it's so different from the novel!
I've been thinking a bit since finishing this. I wish we had seen more of her rise in the army the first time…
This is exactly right, I feel like if they could've filled out the episodes to 40 then there would have been a lot more time for the events to actually breathe and also to have a stronger emotional connection with HY in the beginning.
I killed you once. I can kill you again.Gosh! He Rufei should be besties with Chu Zhao and create delusional duo.…
When he said that I was like "No, you didn't. No, you can't." I'm genuinely tweaking trying to understand where he gets the confidence from. Calling her second-rate as well? It's actually laughable. Does he believe that the title of General Feihong comes with some magical powers that helped He Yan to become the best? No, she did that all through her own hard work and dedication. He's the second-rate one riding off her effort and achievements because he thinks that he's somehow entitled to it. She was fighting on the battlefield and strategising in the war room while he was playing with a candle in the temple. How does he not even have the self-awareness to understand that he has never once done something successfully?
I have really bad second-hand embarrassment for the brother 😂 He never achieved shit but keeps calling himself…
I guess his plan is actually a pretty good one but he forgets that he doesn't have the capability to carry it out. Does he realise that he still needs to rely on his own skills? Having the title of General doesn't give him magical powers, especially when he's up against the person who dedicated her life to claiming the role he now comfortably enjoys. It is super embarrassing.
she didn't die in the drama, she did get stabbed and fell into the river, but her master saved her life and cured her blindness. after a month of recovery, she goes to join the army.
he knows she’s lying about her intentions and who she is
Both of his parents had just died. He already had an unfavourable view of HRF at that point because the Fuyue soldiers came late and he thinks that his father died because of that. He literally just watched his father die in battle and faced betrayal from somebody that he knew from when he was 15 whom his father held in high regard. How detached and objective do you expect him to be immediately after enduring such a traumatising experience? Furthermore, he doesn't have a solid reason to question HRF's identity after that as his suspicions are validated by HRF sending somebody to kill him. Also, (this is information I understand from novel readers) HY moved away from the capital and became a fearsome general there. Her and XJ hadn't seen each other for years by the time of Mingshui Battle. War changes people. Is he supposed to expect that a naive 15 year old, now a hardened war general years later, to act exactly the same? And, yes, to the audience, the switch is obvious, but the imperial court doesn't actually know anything about HRF. That's why it's highlighted that HRF is staying in the capital, because HY didn't spend time in the capital after she graduated.
SXL sits on her high horse very comfortably, talking about how family honour is important above all. She uses the example of her own mother, who was favoured by their grandmother before she married away, and now her grandmother ignores her mother's existence and SXL has the identity of an outsider despite being just as much her grandmother's granddaughter as anyone else. She talks about how RSB went through so much hardship, personally fighting for the family and the business, and underwent so much suffering, but now because of Madam Yang and LJL, their grandmother scorns her and hates her. Despite all of the hard, bloody work that RSB does for the family, to the point where she has put her own life in danger several times, even pushing herself to the point of nearly fatal illness if LJL hadn't stepped in, despite her literally carrying that fucking family and tea business on her back, her grandmother still works against her at every turn, forcing her to get married, intentionally using RYX to push RSB to her limit, and then as soon as RSB shows any kind of 'weakness' (basic human empathy), she slanders and despises her.
The grandmother seems passive, but in my opinion she is actually the biggest villain in the story (so far). Yes, her own backstory about how her first husband betrayed and manipulated her makes sense, and I understand that she wants to stop others from having the same thing happen to them, but I think that the concern for her granddaughters is only secondary to her larger goal. She doesn't actually care about their feelings, or how the betrayal affects them. The ONLY thing she cares about is the reputation and livelihood of the 'family', without sparing a single thought to the individual happiness, health and safety of the actual family MEMBERS themselves. Listen to her wording carefully when she forces RSB to swear the oath. She doesn't once mention RSB's actual happiness or feelings. There's no, "if my husband harms or betrays ME", only, "if my husband harms or betrays the Rong family." The grandmother doesn't care, she never has, and she never will. She views her own family members as pawns, to be pitted against each other, used, praised, hated and disposed when she feels like it. She doesn't love any of them, she tolerates them until they step one toe out of line, such as RSB sheltering Madam Yang or showing 'mercy' to LJL.
No matter how much RSB sacrifices her own life, it doesn't mean anything to the grandmother, as long as she makes one 'mistake'.
And what really frustrates me about this scene is SXL's reaction to all of this, and the lesson she took from this, being that RSB is the one in the wrong. After giving examples as to how their grandmother is vindictive, manipulative, abusive and unfair, she has somehow mentally twisted the situation to mean, "never question grandmother and never disobey her," rather than the real lesson, which should be that there is no use listening to or trying to follow the rules of such a woman. The lesson should be that their grandmother has emotionally and psychologically manipulated RSB to become the perfect slave to their family and to their business, and that RSB SHOULD rebel and stand her ground, for justice, and for her own personal happiness.
I understand that this drama is trying to stick as close to the values of filial piety and societal rules as possible, especially in the Rong family, but by doing so it fails to be a satisfying, cathartic, or good story. The grandmother should be punished. The scheming sisters should be punished. The Rong family should change their ways, adapt, and acknowledge that the most important thing is the family, the family MEMBERS. Although the grandmother is not presented as justified, and SXL is somewhat presented as wrong, does RSB not follow along and continue to work for the Rong family's interest? I have seen some spoilers, and it seems like the grandmother largely gets through the story to the end with little more than a slap on the wrist.
This story should be about breaking an abusive family cycle in which not a single person is treated as a human. It should be about recognising the importance of personal happiness, freedom and safety rather than allowing yourself to be manipulated and harmed by the people who claim to care about you. It should be about upholding justice, while allowing space for nuance and humanity. This story portrays a twisted and broken family, in which there is no love or affection but rather a fierce, vicious game that devours people alive, a competition for the momentary attention and praise of an abusive matriarch. A failure to truly change this family structure, to warn against the harm of such a dynamic, and to provide a meaningful answer to presented moral questions constitutes a badly written story.
I don't know whether or not I should see this drama to the end. I want to see how the situation develops, to see exactly how this story punishes bad characters and portrays systematic change. I also just want to receive some closure from this story before moving onto another (hopefully better) one.
I'm genuinely tweaking trying to understand where he gets the confidence from. Calling her second-rate as well? It's actually laughable. Does he believe that the title of General Feihong comes with some magical powers that helped He Yan to become the best? No, she did that all through her own hard work and dedication. He's the second-rate one riding off her effort and achievements because he thinks that he's somehow entitled to it.
She was fighting on the battlefield and strategising in the war room while he was playing with a candle in the temple. How does he not even have the self-awareness to understand that he has never once done something successfully?
Also, (this is information I understand from novel readers) HY moved away from the capital and became a fearsome general there. Her and XJ hadn't seen each other for years by the time of Mingshui Battle. War changes people. Is he supposed to expect that a naive 15 year old, now a hardened war general years later, to act exactly the same?
And, yes, to the audience, the switch is obvious, but the imperial court doesn't actually know anything about HRF. That's why it's highlighted that HRF is staying in the capital, because HY didn't spend time in the capital after she graduated.