DramaAjumma

I can't help feeling he's a just a big whiny kid who's got a lot of expensive toys throwing a tantrum.
But that's just me.

Honestly, as much as enjoyed and loved LoYX, this is the better show on almost every level. It's hard to believe it is written by the same person. The political savvy except for the bratty duchess Xinhe is on a different level.

I usually like an antihero character but I can't relate to or even like Xu Ping. He's too extreme for me. Can't he use his brains and resources to find out the truth about his mother's death. His plot seems rather nonsensical.

Both romances are well done IMO. Fu Xuan might be a smart girl but she's a bit of a fuddy duddy. There's a rebel in her and Wu Baiqi senses it. A bit of corset loosening might be in order.

Huh.... it's nothing like the LoYX.

Yes, that would be the logical outcome but for reasons unknown to us, they chose to end the show the way they did. Probably more for marketing purposes than any sense of narrative logic. Or perhaps they're still clinging on to the conventional notion that a happy ending means that the top-billed actors have to appear together at the end.

It's not a republican drama. It's a drama set in the waning years of the Qing dynasty, pre-WW1.
Anyway... enjoy. It's fun so far.

I agree that 16 episodes was ample. In fact if they had cut out all the JG and TY pussyfooting, they could have easily done it in 12 or 14. All the good sci-fi shows manage it so I don't see why they couldn't have. But even if they wanted to utilize all of the 16, I would have loved more insight into the people of Alice, discovery of time travel, flashbacks of the early attempts, the origins of the Book of Prophecy and how things went so wrong.

If the show ever thought that having a romance between Prof TY and JG was a ratings winner or had popular appeal, they seriously miscalculated. I know many people from different platforms who dropped the show as a result of it. The optics was terrible. The ratings saw a noticeable drop when it was on its way to double digits.

This is not to say that Joo-won or Kim Hee-sun aren't good actors but making them play house with rom com cliches together while he's thinking of mother in her house... yeah... not a good look.

It's a point of leverage. Ruyi Pavilion trades in secrets and engages in high end blackmail. So what it does is give away one person's secret to another for payment so that the other party can use it for whatever purposes suits them. Liu Ruyi acts as a broker.

It's pretty scummy stuff.

I find their translation of titles rather off the beaten the track to be honest.

For me personally there was a fair bit in the final act that raises more questions ... quite unnecessarily, than provides answers. In fact, I don't know that the show gives very many answers in the long run. The resolution was so rushed and someone thought the show needed more twists at this late stage to confuse the issue even more.

Perhaps some viewers can be forgiving of the mishandling and mischaracterization of popular time travel sci-fi tropes but if you're a hardcore sci-fi fan, you'll be tearing your hair out.

Seems to be. I watched it on Netflix.

What makes zero sense is JG even existing on the same timeline as TY? Did he fall from the sky?

I could tell from Episode 2 that TKEM was utter rubbish. Episodes 3 and 4 confirmed it.

There are actually some very decent Korean sci-fi done by the cable networks. Signal, Circle, Tunnel, Life on Mars, Train, Nine, 365: Repeat the Year etc. Most of those incorporate some element of romance. You should check them out if you haven't already.

What an utter waste of a fantastic concept and a talented cast. It isn't just the last episode or the ending that's nonsensical. When I look at how incredibly good the first half of the drama was, it's almost tragic at how badly the mechanics of time travel was handled here.

The showrunners tried too hard to game the audience until the very last moment and then painted themselves into a corner. So what we have is a humongous plot hole large enough for a truck and two elephants to go through it.

I'm done with all the available episodes and from my perspective the show goes from strength to strength. I kept my expectations low but this is probably the first so-called "period" show that I've watched since Ancient Detective that I don't feel like I have to shut my brains off completely to enjoy. At least I don't feel like I have with many recent ones whereby they're rom coms masquerading as historical dramas. I'm glad to say that the show has some semblance of a substantial story (so far) and isn't primarily relying on the lovelines to carry it. The thing that I appreciate most is how well they're juggling the ensemble cast. The fact that they manage to bring back so many of the cast from the LoYX, speaks somewhat to their confidence in the script. I daresay this has the potential to exceed LoYX in scope and execution.

To my mind, JJY is a natural comedic talent. That's part of her charm. Her timing and delivery seems effortless compared to many of her peers. I love what she does with her eyes although I feel they often overdo her makeup.

Only a bit, eh?

I guess it depends on the character doesn't it? I have seen Ren Jialun play a less stoic character before and I thought he was fine.

To each their own, I think he's better here than he was in Yunxi. Occasionally he cracks a smile and even smirks.
But the stoicism fits the character. He's a military man, he's never been close to anyone. He barely even knows his own mother.

I think he's much more natural and animated here.