Lizzy

The trailers for the drama kinda show him as an official I think. I’m assuming he covers up his identity, but obviously the truth will eventually come out

I love the rogue ML- I kinda don’t want him to become an official lest he lose his charm and edge 🥺

OMG I didn’t realize that this director also directed Legend of Shen Li as well 😱??!??! So not only did he direct TPoB, but another one of my top Cdramas??? Omg guys the Road to Splendor is going to be so good 😭👏🏻

The Prisoner of Beauty- my all time favorite Cdrama. I have high high hopes that Road to Splendor will be just as fabulous.

It’s hard going from rewatching “The Story of Minglan” where the FL’s loving relationship with her grandmother was one of the shows highlights 😭🤌🏻 to watching this one 😭

At least Ancy Deng wasn’t a minor when this was filmed like Ai Mi was in KttPH 😕

I will follow this comment thread as well. I am doing a slower rewatch of the first few episodes to make sure I’m understanding everything, but I don’t want to say the wrong thing and then confuse people lol

Despite Lady Yu being kind of a terrible person, I also find her incredibly compelling and cool? Like her showdown with Zhao Ling in episode one was awesome. I don’t often feel this way about villainous characters, but I like her as a villain / ambiguous character 😬

I have to rewatch episodes and pause every five seconds to absorb what I’m reading 🤦🏼‍♀️

It’s a cutthroat world the women lived in during that time. It’s painful, but understandable.

Guys I feel really dumb and need a few things spelled out for me 😂 I am rewatching the first few episodes, pausing often to catch the fast subtitles and to make sure I get a good handle on the story and character names. Would someone mind explaining what exactly happened with the erotic paintings? Lady Zuo was using them to sabotage the FL’s marriage, but how did the FL get herself out of it by distributing them to all of the ladies in her room? What exactly did that do?

Last question - do we know her why Lady Zuo is so hellbent on Tingyun marrying her brother?

It really bothers me when women stop being allowed to be saved. There’s nothing shaming or wrong with it if it is done in the right way. The drama has already established that the FL is incredibly smart and can hold her own, and having the ML save her once in a while will not take away from that. It actually bothers me when people slap the “damsel” label on any FL who is saved by a ML. The “damsel” label should only be reserved for FL characters who are written to be dumb, thoughtless, helpless and clearly existing just to boost the masculine prowess of the ML. This FL is none of those things.

Wooow yeah I do remember that, and it’s probably safe to assume that the other three widows had similar treatment.

Ohhhhhhh wow, thanks for that explanation. Did I also correctly gather that the widows were more or less expected to live isolated and lonely lives after their spouses died? I’m thinking about that statement in the first episode about how the Zhuo woman “never came out”.

He’s not in the first three episodes much, but others suggest that he will have more of a presence in the upcoming episodes.

Would someone mind explaining the significance of the “Four Arches of Chastity”? In all of the historical Cdramas I’ve watched I’ve never heard of it. I am gathering that they’re connected to the family reputation, but were they built by the family or a gift by the Emperor or something? What are they supposed to commemorate? And what all needed to happen for one to get built? The WeTV subtitles go sooo fast I could have missed something.

This is my biggest complaint about WeTV 😩

A Splendid Match is one of my faves and I think this one is better.

The makeup and costumes are stunning, the music is gorgeous, the cinematography is stellar. I am also loving how the characters are being developed, and am interested in most of them which is not the norm for me and side characters. I love seeing all of the familiar faces, especially Wu Hao Chen, as TPoB is my all time favorite Cdrama. I’m so thrilled with the crew of this drama.

My only complaint is that for a synopsis that includes the ML and tags about the ML, he had hardly any screen time at all in the first three episodes. I wonder if this is going to be the norm. I really hope this won’t turn into a drama that sidelines and marginalizes the ML’s character and role within the story. I’m so, so tired of seeing that happen in most of the historical dramas in the last year. Can we please have two leads who are given equal screen time and purpose within the narrative? 😩

OMG THIS DRAMA IS SO PRETTY AND GORGEOUS AND A VISUAL FEAST AND THE MUSIC IS LOVELY AND THE LEADS ARE AWESOME ok bye