Lizzy

Yeah. I read bits and pieces of the novel and I prefer the route that they took in the drama. They kinda set the foundation from the beginning for XZ to become her matrilocal husband, so it’s pretty consistent that they’re moving towards an end where XZ and FCY retire in Lin’an. I haven’t watched any of the leaked episodes, but I am assuming that’s how the ending will be. I also wish that they could have broken up this drama into two parts and fleshed out parts of the story more. Sadly 😞they did not go that route.

fekking tag your spoilers omg

It makes sense that she didn’t properly earn her military merit because she actually didn’t… She was promoted as a political move by a certain character who hopes to control her. That was the whole point. Lihuai manipulated the situation by praising her merits to the Court, and then it seems like Wei Yan pushed to have her promoted to further his own agenda. The drama never meant to convey that she was actually promoted because she earned it, which is where they deviated from the novel. I see the frustration for the novel readers, but in my opinion I don’t think that they could have followed the book in that regard and done that arc justice in a 40 episode drama. I think it would have messed up the pacing even more if she separated from XZ, joined a different army and raised her ranks by herself. They would have either had to do a bunch of time jumps to make it work or break the rules and extend the drama past 40 episodes 😂

I also wouldn’t call her arrogant. I think the drama has also made it clear that she has no desire to be in power and would much rather go back to her hometown to rebuild and live her old life. She doesn’t give any f*cks, not because she’s arrogant but because she actually doesn’t want to be there lol. At least that’s how I interpret it. She’s going along with it to investigate her father / clear his name. Her military exploits right now are a means to an end and to put her in a position where she and XZ can investigate what happened 17 years ago.

It is very different from the novel as others have said, but I think the direction they took makes sense. She has always wanted to go home. She has asked XZ several times to “come home with her”. When she first realized he was leaving earlier, she said, “You won’t be gone forever, right?” implying that she knew all along that he would leave and she would stay behind (and hope that he comes back). She hesitated being with him after she discovered his identity, and only softened towards him AFTER he said he wanted to rebuild Lin’an with her and integrate into her life. She never wanted to join the army, and even this recent episode made it clear that she is not happy in the capital. Again, it’s different from the novel, but it’s consistent with the drama’s narrative.

I added it to my watchlist (had to make sure it had a HE first lol). It looks good! Been a while since I’ve watched a Kdrama. I will probably start it either tonight or tomorrow

If it wasn’t for the lies, betrayal and secret keeping. I tried to bear with it and still followed the drama after I stopped watching. GIFs of JBZ’s face when he discovered the FL betrayed him and stole from him still haunts me 🙈

Eh, Manman doing stuff behind Wei Shao’s back made complete sense in the beginning because he hadn’t given her any concrete reasons to trust him
not to attack her people. The ML in LitC gave her all the reasons in the world to trust him and she kept lying. There’s a difference there. TPoB is my all time favorite drama so I WILL die on my hill of defending its perfection don’t fight me on it 🤣😂

Stooooooop nooo I refuse to believe it 🙈🙉!!!

I dunno. I followed the show and it sounds like the lies went on and on and on until like the late 20s. I know she eventually steals from him and gets caught, and then I also think she lies about her identity for a while or something. Or maybe he lies to her about more stuff. Idk, lying and keeping secrets are my most HATED tropes if it’s the center of the plot. I probably won’t go back to litc, I have too many other shows that I would be more interested in 🤷🏼‍♀️

This optimism is keeping me going don’t poo on it LOL 😂🙉

I’ll check out “River Where the Moon Rises” 😊I think I made it to episode 13 of LitC and rage quit after they signed the marriage stone, he got shocked a lot, and then immediately after that the FL was plotting to use him and steal from him. I was angry at the show for a while, but that sequence of events was the last straw lol 😂

Yeah… I’m still managing to accept it with some optimism even though I am also noticing his lack of presence. Maybe I am still hoping that he will get more screen time in the last six episodes lol.

I heard the subtitles are sh*t, so I wouldn’t recommend watching the leaked episodes. Like they are really bad.

I don’t mind the pacing either and am one of the few people who appreciate that the leads didn’t break up again as they did in the novel. I think it could have probably worked if the drama could have been more than 40 episodes. But seeing as they were separated for 8 episodes and then sort of reconciled after the identity reveal… don’t think I would have liked them cramming in a second breakup before the end. I think that would have created more pacing issues in a 40 ep drama.

I haven’t seen that one, but I don’t think the synopsis was interesting enough to me when I looked into it a while ago. Thanks for the Kdrama rec. I didn’t get through LiTC because the lying and secret keeping made me really mad in that one 😅Other dramas that did strike a good balance was Legend of Shen Li, Alchemy of Souls, How Dare You and The Story of Ming Lan.

Yup. It’s annoying. I think after PoJ I might avoid dramas by this director and screenwriter in the future because it truly does seem like the common theme in all of their dramas. Whereas in other shows like Fated Hearts or TPoB there was not any of that annoying preaching or not-so-subtle jabs at men, but through their storytelling I was never left feeling like the FL was “less than” or “weak” compared to her male counterpart.

So one of my complaints about this director and screenwriter is that they push the “rah rah girl power” to an annoying amount sometimes. I noticed it a bit with “Blossom”, LLTG and some of their other works like “Coroner’s Diary”. They insert dumb dialogue into the drama, such as in episode 29 during the battle XZ being like “stand behind me and stay close” and FCY being like “I stand behind no one” and XZ grins at her. It’s dumb and preachy. Just cut the dialogue out and show it through the storytelling. There are stupid comments like that scattered about the whole show. “She’s more handsome than young men” (ep 34) or “a capable woman is worth more than ten men.” (20s) 🙄So you’re not alone in your annoyance. They tend to try to boost their female characters by putting down the men or severely downplaying their roles in the FL’s life. Some of their shows are more blatant than others. I had reservations about watching this one initially because elements of “Blossom” left a bad taste in my mouth last year and I have never been into dramas that boost their FLs at the expense of the male characters. While there is a LOT that I truly love about this drama, I am still noticing the same elements. The ML is not really allowed to be depended on much by the FL (but it’s OK for him to need her), and they push the “independent FL” too much imo. There’s nothing wrong with mutual reliance on each other, and what we get instead is an unequal and unbalanced romance.

Can you blame them? As someone else here said, of all the emperors seen in Cdramas this is the most unserious one 😂

Ok! I will watch ep. 34 today- they air at like 2am my time so I’m always a bit late to watch the latest ones.

Okay that’s what I thought. Thanks 😊

I have a clarifying question about the drama - so in episode 31 (?) FCY was promoted to General because Lihuai reported her merits to the court, right? It sounded like her promotion was a political move, and that she was being used as a political pawn? Was it Lihuai’s intention for her to be promoted, and his showy apology was his way of trying to manipulate her? Who exactly in the court pushed for her promotion? I haven’t watched past 33 yet so please don’t spoil anything from leaked episodes.

episode 26