TheMoonEmpress

Yes, there were definitely some plot holes and illogical things in the script and direction. But still, TLB was the best historical drama of 2021 for me. I dropped all the other historical or costume dramas I watched this year, TLB was the only one I could finish. And that's a feat for me when it comes to chinese dramas. I could only finish a handful of them. No other costume drama this year really came close to the scale of TLB. Yes, direction and some actors could've been better.

I am glad the crying scenes worked for you. Unfortunately, they didn't work for me. I have watched the drama in its entirety, and of all the young actors, only ZLS and Alan Feng failed to capture me with their acting. I still like how their characters were written and in a way, i also liked their portrayal of their characters. But I couldn't get invested in their emotions and pain, because their emotional acting fell flat for me (i wouldn't say ZLS was overacting but it felt like that in some scenes, especially the Xiao Wu ones). I just feel it could've been better, she has potential as an actress. She just wasn't natural or believable in her acting of those highly emotional scenes.
Reba sold me on her emotions 9 times out of 10 in TLB. So I don't really have anything to complain about her. Not really a fan of her either, but she was pretty good in TLB. I don't the acting abilities of either actresses can be judged solely on the clips.

Thank you so much for not spoiling. I hate spoilers. I will be checking it out once all episodes are subbed

You're right it depends on many factors. But I have felt this way about ZLS's serious/emotional/crying scenes acting, based on two dramas, not one scene. In TLB she had several emotional scenes (her kidnapping, her refugee journey, Xiao wu, hao du scene) Almost all of them tanked for me because I could see the mask of "acting" on her face. It was a very deliberate and forced kind of delivery, which didn't work for me. And earlier, I had also seen the same in ALOTY. Her serious acting just didn't engage or hook me in. ZYC basically carried that drama for me till I decided to drop it. So based on my experience from a series of scenes in these two dramas, not only one scene, I have written my comment above. She is not a bad actress by any means, she is good in her comfort zone characters and she can definitely act (which is something I can't even say about JJY but that's just my opinion). She is just not good in serious or emotional work, according to me. She needs improvement on that front to be able to deliver believable crying/emotional/serious scenes. Apart from these two roles, none of her other roles were all that serious and emotional scenes in those dramas were few and far between so they anyway didn't make an impact nor were they important for those light and fluffy dramas that she has done in majority.

Aah okay. I'll at least take a peak at it for WRC. If it doesn't appeal to me, I'll just drop it.

One of my favorite cdrama reviewer on YouTube gave it quite a positive rating. So I'm intrigued. Plus it has WRC in it and I miss him terribly huhu :'(

I also dropped Rebirth for you, A female student in imperial college. I've put one we get married on hold, I'll be finishing that once all episodes are subbed. But then I have nothing else to watch :( . I never get tired of watching ARRTI and I just spend my whole day watching their couple edits on bili bili. I seriously can't move on from this couple. I saw some edits with them in the period costume and man, I really hope and pray that becomes a reality.

Now we're having a deluge of merfolk related dramas lol

Allen Ren and Hu Yi Xuan on the sets of TBW:
https://youtu.be/0yuiWSZ7xAg
https://youtu.be/yULsqPbyWtQ
Aaah they're so cute!!! They both are playing cute characters I think. I can't wait to see them together, I kinda ship them now lol.
And some more BTS of Hu Yi Xuan and Reba:
https://youtu.be/wE8vP16zzMY

Zhou Shen and Liu Yu Ning have become the staples of all the big budget drama osts. I won't be surprised if we see them here too.

So I'm rewatching this drama because there's literally nothing else to watch in the chinese dramaland right now. It's been so dry and bland lately in terms of all the Chinese dramas aired in October. I am patiently waiting for all the episodes of dear diary to be subbed.

Thank you, i won't be checking out this drama further but I want to see the fighting scenes. I am sure they will be typical idol period drama kind of fight scenes.

Haha I can't believe this drama managed to disappoint even before it airs. I guess we'll know for sure only when it airs but shifting her role to a guest role is an ominous sign. I am not really a fan of Reba and Allen, so HYX was the only draw for me when it comes to this drama. *sigh* I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Based on my experience with cdramas, i don't think they will cut out the love interest part. Cdramas always have a secondary couple so they won't remove the secondary love story.We won't know the exact deal till it airs but now I am a bit hesitant about checking it out. I don't want to be disappointed about how much we get to see HYX in it. She is still listed as supporting role in Part 2 though

Kind of, you can say that. She becomes the love interest of the SML, Cheng Lang. But FL and her still remain close friends. Their arc is complicated, but I wouldn't really call her a love rival. FL tries very hard to not let her feelings affect her friendship with Judy Qi's character

Is luo jinsang a significant character or more of a guest role character?

Yes, you're right. It's wang zi teng. They have slashed so many episodes from the original proposed 60 episodes. I think they have cut into HYX's screentime. Man, I am going to miss her in 2022. If she has too little screen time, I might skip this one. I was only going to watch for HYX anyway. Maybe I'll check it out when both the parts have aired.

Sure. Some of the viewers have watched the drama so many times that we're now probably eligible for a doctoral degree on it lol.

I think going by the cast stills, Henry Han is playing the monk.

The trailer was indeed amazing. Really impressed with the CGI and cinematography. And they showed the kiss in the trailer itself, I think they knew that a lot of viewers were anxious about that. All those worries laid to rest lol.