Eleison

I'm not sure I've seen a Cdrama ML who did that (tried to get the FL with the 2ML)? He was very sweet about it, and so selfless!

I see, like in Who Rules The World; that plot point came up, too. At least I think it was that drama. 😅

Is XWY the heir rather than his older brother because he's not physically disabled? Cause wouldn't the biological son would be the heir, so it seems strange the younger brother (and the brother who's not actually their biological child) would be the heir.

It is strange they booked her for this as a minor, knowing the audience lives for those intimate-without-getting-explicit-Cdrama-lovey-dovey scenes (and especially paired with such a big actor as HMH). It's clearly a romance, and many viewers aren't super content with romance dramas without kissing in them anymore. I don't know, interestijg casting choice!

I think she's doing very well so far, and wouldn't mind tame kissing scenes as long as everyone (her guardians, herself, HMH) was in agreement and they had an intimacy coordinator (or something like that) and things were kept extremely basic. She's an actor, so it's inevitable she'll be doing these scenes in the future. Might as well set good habits and prepare for them in a thoughtful way, get into the right head pace, practice with people around who can make sure she's being treated correctly, get used to what it feels like to not be exploited, etc.

My only concern is China still doesn't seem to have great protection for their actors. I'm still skeptical that they always get treated very well. I mean, they're still mistreating horses in Cdramas and Hollywood hasn't been able to get away with treatment of animals like that for a LONG time.

I was shocked to find his ranking on MDL was #2! I had no idea he was so popular. 😅 Now I'm wondering who's #1? I think it used to be Kim Soo Hyun but I think his scandal probably brought that down considerably.😬

The synopsis sounds like the drama has a lot of ground to cover, that's for sure! Is the reunion "three years later" in the "present," or will the story progress linearly and vegin at the beginning of the story and have tome skips, I wonder?

I am revisiting I Am Nobody because I lost steam around Episode 16 of that drama, and I remember liking HMH in it. Comparing his two performances, he does seem to have more microexpressions in I Am Nobody, but I've also noticed that actors tend to be a bit more exaggerated in costume dramas (and less subtle) than in modern dramas. They just don't act in exactly the same way. He's still great in this, but I think he showed more range in that one? I liked that he also allowed himself to get really goofy. Sometimes those stunning actors struggle to do slapstick comedy, but he embraced it.

Probably would have remained a better person if she had married him, huh?

Umm... have you seen the poster? This is a romance drama. The leads will end up together. 😉

They're probably drawing it out because they can't have a bunch of episodes devoted to them "together" where people expect more physically intimate scenes (which they can't do with the FL). So it's a slow burn and will wrap with them "getting together" (something like that). I might prefer that to them getting together and having them break up, get back together, etc.

I've been finding everyone being called a prince or princess in English really confusing, and everyone is addressed as "your highness," so it's hard to figure out everyone's court rankings.

I haven't seen much of the drama yet, but every time Lejun comes on screen I have the urge to skip her scenes. She does not hold my interest at all.

From what I can see, the main wife is the women he meets for the first time in Episode 1 or 2, and the concubine is the one who treats his injuries (they feel more like siblings/good friends). She's the same actress that played the main wife of the ML in New Life Begins, if you've seen that.

The implication seemed to be that he was badly wounded, but he did that to make the enemy think they'd gained the upper hand. He did almost die, that's why he keeps having health problems afterwards (like the issue with his eyes that we see in the trailers?).

And there must be some explanation in the industry for it? This has been a critique of Kdrama watchers for a while, so unless they have their heads buried in sand (I don't think that's possible in Korea. Koreans make their opinions KNOWN on social media in Korea), then networks/production companies are aware of the problems, but unwilling to fix them for some reason. One MDL user was arguing that only the first few episodes mattered, from a production standpoint, but I didn't quite grasp why. Regardless of the reason, it's really too bad. 😭

Maybe they're like, "Well, people keep watching them! Even with bad endings, so why put the money out for good ones if we know we'll get them to come back regardless?" My response to that: "But really, we keep coming back because the rare gems were that good, and we keep hoping there'll be another one. And besides, don't get too comfy. You've already lost many Kdrama watchers to Cdramas--so, have a care! Don't cave to the utilitarian, purely money-making mindset and please just let let your screenwriters tell good stories with the Kdrama formula from start to finish!"

I didn't start trying airing dramas until a few years ago, so maybe it's always been this way, but it does seem to have become slim pickings these days. I usually wait until a drama is done or almost done to start it since so many do face plants starting at the halfway mark (or before). I feel like older dramas at least had the decency to stay good until the last 1/3. These days, many don't even make it that far. 🙄

😅 True!

Right! I just don't know why they portray teachers like that, doing so much for kids. Like... where are their parents? 😅

Teachers are not meant to do as much as public schools expect them to do (this is true even in the U.S.). Their job should be to just help students become literate in their area of expertise (and maybe something of a mentor), not therapists, social workers, chaperones for every fun extracurricular activity students engage in (of which schools have MANY) or surrogate parents, and they shouldn't have to be! It boggles my mind how many parents leave parenting to teachers.

I worked in education for ten years in California, and many of the students (after being with their parents online/at home for almost two years during COVID), came back to school almost FERAL (and these were high schoolers). I'm speaking somewhat hyperbolically, but yeah, so much for parenting...

I thought so, too!

I haven't seen it much in costume dramas, but I'd like if he did. He would be a good emperor (and Jiayu would be a good empress).