Lizzy

MangoTV

I remember loving the romance between the two of them, but I don’t remember when exactly they officially love each other. They get married really early, and they gradually grow to love each other as the drama progresses.

Oh I misread. Yeah it gets a bit intense

They resolve it very quickly tho? like literally they are good at the end of 34.

The drama concluded so the trolls are out, I see.

I love your enthusiasm! I hope we actually get to SEE him fighting this time. Most of his fight scenes in PoJ got cut even though he supposedly spent at least a month filming them. I hope it won’t be the case with this one!

I hope so, too! Thanks for your thoughtful response. I like it when the characters are developed equally, with one not being favored over the other. I may wait this one out to see how it goes, and maybe try to watch it separately from the fandom as to not be influenced by it.

yup

Looks really good, but I have always felt that this director pushes the feminism propaganda, oftentimes at the expense of well developed male characters. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Blossom for this reason, and PoJ left a really really bad taste in my mouth because of how dirty they did the ML’s development in favor of the Girl Boss agenda. I have nothing at all against capable FLs (Fated Hearts is one of my faves), but never at the expense of reducing the role of their male counterparts. I am hesitant after both Blossom and PoJ to watch this one, even if the story seems gripping.

I’m nervous about them doing Zhang Linghe dirty like they did in PoJ- Initially giving him a lot of screen time and then slowly fading his role into the background in favor of side characters that the drama’s investors are trying to promote. I also have a lot of bitter feelings about Zuo Yue’s role in PoJ as well, as she really pushed the Girl Boss agenda at the expense of the ML’s character development. I’ve never been a fan of boosting the female characters by dumbing down / marginalizing / weakening the male counterparts. PoJ left such a bitter taste in my mouth that I’m nervous about this one even though it sounds like a story I would normally like. PoJ started off so perfect, it was so hard watching it unravel the last 1/3rd 😔

The main couple do end up together though????? It just takes them a while to get together 😂

You mean the arc that lasted maybe ten minutes 🤣?

But it was the norm back then. The life expectancy wasn’t very long (like 50s? 60s?) and people’s bodies matured early to accommodate. Women were often married off when they reached sexual maturity because they needed to produce heirs and carry on the family line and clan. Even in a lot of literary classics there’s a substantial age gap - Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, etc. It’s OK if it’s not your thing, but you’re also applying modern-day morality to a culture that existed a LONG time ago.

I think I would have been perfectly happy with how it all went if she apologized for keeping it a secret that CXQ was harassing her, and at least validated the ML feeling hurt by it. I would have also liked the ML to apologize for completely shutting her out for several days. I think the thing that bothers me the most is that neither one of them said they were sorry or expressed an understanding of how their actions may have affected the other. Both of them just kinda brushed the role they played in the near divorce (!!!) under the rug, kissed away all resolution and that was that. It wasn’t enough to dampen my enjoyment of them, but it did leave me feeling a little bit dissatisfied.

Ok so don’t watch?

I loved it. The ML has a pretty terrible mom, and you kinda come to understand him a little more as the story progresses. I also really loved the FL. He has a mom who forces women at him, and he is torn between filial piety, duty to country and then his personal wants. It’s pretty good. He’s not a bad man, and the show also doesn’t romanticize (as much as other dramas) the plight of women living during that time.

I’m looking forward to getting farther along in it! After ASM ends there will be time to catch up on older dramas while I wait for Mo Li.

Oh oops - I missed that you were looking for recs similar to this one lol 😂 my bad. In that case you might also like Sword and the Brocade and Blossoms in Adversity :)

I am less than ten episodes into LoZH, but am liking it a lot. I like the cohesive partnership that the leads are developing, but I did hear that there isn’t a lot of skinship in it which is something that I really like in my romances. Regardless, I wasn’t expecting to like it as much as I am, and as long as the leads get equal development I’ll be happy. I loved TSoML after the leads got together because he was SO touchy feely with Minglan!

I’m currently watching this one on the side! (Really enjoying it, actually)