DramaAjumma

Absolutely right. They diminished the healing process.

All good dear. No need to apologize.

I agree with your assessment of Niaoniao and the empress but my original argument is that there are gaps in the narrative that leaves me dissatisfied. I'm not particularly concerned that she didn't grow all that much during the five years because of her inability to forgive and move on because this is what people do to themselves. What concerns me is that everyone is pretending that she's matured and that she is justified in holding on to the grudge for this long without trying to resolve it while wallowing in misery. What's worse is that the show itself never really substantially make her come to this place of realisation that she has to forgive Zisheng to free herself and to move on with her life. All we had was a near death scene and voila, she forgives him.

I don't mind the change so much but the show doesn't deal with Niaoniao's change as well as it could apart from saying she matured. I don't buy into the whole "she's matured" line either because from where I am looking she was utterly miserable. And no one called her out on it.

I have finally finished all the remaining episodes and while the ending is not a bad one for a C drama (I've seen a lot worse TBH and I'm still traumatized by Princess Agents), I can't help feeling that there were quite a few gaps in the last 6 episodes. I haven't read the novel but from a writer's/writing point of view, there were a lot of scenes that were definitely missing. Why was Yuan Shen even in Part 2? He was more or less a footnote. If I took him out of the show, it wouldn't really make much of a difference in the overall scheme of the narrative. He may have had a larger presence in the novel but in the drama, he doesn't feel that pivotal. Characters like the Third Prince and Yuan Shen should been given much more time in the story especially in Part 2 because it's obvious that they are important political figures.

For me 52-54 were much more dragged out (unnecessarily) and then 55-56 were rushed into giving the leads their happily-ever-after. There's a lot of telling at the end and not enough showing. To watch Niaoniao digging her heels in after 5 years of imprisoning herself in the palace was actually the most depressing part of the show. I actually thought the crazy women made more sense than she did.

I've just come off watching Episodes 49-51 and it occurs to me that I would have rather had more episodes/scenes with the Third Prince who would be a great male lead in his own drama. I wish that Wendy hadn't been so recalcitrant about keeping the Crown Prince on the job for so long. I know he was being considerate of the empress too but really sometimes Wendy is far too sentimental for his own good.

The most heart-breaking part about these three episodes is watching two people who love each other act like they're okay with going their separate ways when they're not. Obstinacy can be such a terrible burden to bear.

It's such a huge part of Ling Buyi's arc and I'm glad that the drama played it for whatever it was worth.

My thoughts on Episodes 47-48.
https://40somethingahjumma.substack.com/p/love-like-the-galaxy-2022-episodes-3e9
Thanks for persisting with me. It's a slow process.

We have all the box sets of the Lord of the Rings extended edition and it's about 30 minutes to 60 minutes extra footage but Peter Jackson always shot extras to release them in an extended edition DVD box set.

If the big cut in episode number is due to censorship as others are saying then there's no way there will ever be a director's cut.

I've seen a series of specials for Goodbye My Princess that locates the leads in modern times (I think the male lead becomes a farmer) but I haven't heard of a different version with extras in it like Lord of the Rings. Of course I'm not up on everything. :D

That is 7 hours of footage on the cutting room floor.
But who is saying this? The director? The producer?
I've heard these sorts of claims made before and I'm wondering if it's an excuse to fend off accusations of bad editing.

I would like to know who is saying this -- who the source of this information is. Because that's about 7 hours of footage that didn't make it. That is a lot of television.
I've never heard of a director's cut of any show before. In all the years I've been watching C dramas seriously I've never seen one. Not even of the wonderful Nirvana in Fire. (And I have a box set of that)

I've been seeing comments that this was a 66 episode drama that was cut to 56 due to censorship or broadcasting reasons. A claim I find rather suspect. It's a terrible waste of resources even for a C drama. I can understand if it's anything from 3-5. But 10? That beggars belief. As it is they've already split the drama into two so why couldn't they have added a couple more on either end of each part?

I am a huge fan of his vocal delivery all throughout the series. He does such a brilliant job modulating his voice in his various interactions. I love how he has this special voice reserved for Niaoniao.
He's really on top of his game.

I'm thankful for all the nutty stuff that Ling Buyi got up to in Episode 48 because then we wouldn't have been witnessed to all that fantastic acting that Wu Lei delivered. That lad really has got some serious acting chops.

Imagine what his acting is going to be like when he's in his 30s when he's already this accomplished. Let's hope he keeps picking good scripts.

Thanks dear.

Spoiler tags please

My thoughts on Episodes 45-46
https://40somethingahjumma.substack.com/p/love-like-the-galaxy-2022-episodes-47d
Happy reading. Thanks!

This is a better show by far. It is more cohesive and better executed in general. The Long Ballad was fun and immensely watchable for most of the drama but it's by no means close to being one of the best C historical dramas produced in the last decade. There's honestly no comparison whatsoever. There are aspects of the Long Ballad that were really not needed and didn't contribute to the overall plot whereas nothing's really wasted in LLTG which is overall leaner and tighter. Moreover the bad guy plot at the end just didn't impress all that much. The actions sequences in The Long Ballad are also nowhere nearly consistently good as the ones in this show.

TLB had a lot of potential to be sure but the final act was a definite disappointment.

It's just an excuse quite frankly.