Eleison

I think so! He must be younger son of Man Man's grandfather.

Wait, so usually I see "gege" used as "brother" in Cdramas (and maybe just in the costume dramas? I can't remember. Haven't seen many modern ones); does it have other meanings? And what is its connection to Tang and Biao? I clearly don't know much, lol. 😅 Thanks for answering my questions! The only controversy I've noticed people complaining about (at least here on MDL) regarding Hidden Love is the age gap.

But let's be real, Wei Shao makes way more mistakes than Man Man just from an objective standpoint in this drama. She made some early on (and it sounds like she make another in 28 or 29, I haven't seen them yet), but he's been the one flubbing up since then (petty, needlessly jealous and suspicious, quick to assume, entitled, and bit dense at times, etc.). He's quick to apologize, though, and that's the important thing (and he does try to do better). 😉

Wow, this is interesting! Thank you! I know it was a thing in Europe and America until the late 1800's/early 1900's for cousins to marry, but they've never differentiated maternal/paternal families like that. So interesting! So it would have been "ew" for tang cousins to fall in love for much of China's history (like for siblings today?), but for the biao it was considered completely fine? Huh. (And what does the "CP" abbreviation stand for?) Again, fascinating--thanks for the info!

It is interesting how what people consider to be "romantic" changes with the changing cultural values of the time!

I have mixed feelings about this one. I wanted to see Xiao Zhan because I heard how he skyrocketed to fame and everyone loves him, but I don't think The Untamed would be my cup of tea since I don't watch danmei (or censored versions with danmei undertones). He did great in this, though! I liked that Tang San was often underestimated, but he always had a wealth of smarts and resources that offset his budding, not-yet-fully-realized spirit (no pun intended 😉).

I enjoyed the Seven Shrek Devils, and I could have watched their team fights and bonding over training over and over. The friendship and teamwork in this was certainly the highlight. Watching each person grow was what really eventually drew me in.

Some parts were lots of fun, and the world-building was super interesting. However, there were some extremely dorky/cheesy parts (like the time they started making music in the forest on their way to the competition, 🫣🤦‍♀️ the man-suit Yeti/Ape, the sandstorm being caused by the Desert Wild Beast (a Llama with a horn 😅), etc.), that made me laugh AT the drama, and, connected to this point, I honestly did have a bit of a hard time with the FL. Overall, I like the MC's devotion to each other, it was very simple and pure-hearted, and that I didn't mind at all. It's just that I felt like the actress playing Xiao Wu (she reminded me a lot of Tai Lee from Avatar The Last Airbender, actually; her hair and styling is even similar!) was acting in a stage play, and it felt overdone compared to everyone else, except maybe Ning Rong Rong and Ou Si Ke, who were also heavy on the overacting (actually, the cheesiness around his spirit worked for me, because they incorporated it into his growth and acknowledged it was embarassing. That made it make sense! But a lot of other dorky stuff just felt dorky). Xiao Wu also didn't look like a child, but she acted like an adult playing a child. It didn't land for me.

I also thought the ending felt very incomplete; it can't be watched on its own without a second season, and that's a bummer!

Also, I'm a big sucker for good BGMs, and these were... awful. Maybe three I liked, and the rest were so distracting I couldn't focus on the scene or they felt completely out of place for the vibe of many the scenes they were played for. The BGMs were definitely a miss on this one!

The pacing was decent; only a few early episodes before the team really assembled (with Ou Si Ke going on and on about his plays), did I start to get the urge to skip ahead.

Taken as a whole, enjoyable, but it definitely had its flaws!

😅😅😅

Wait, why the differentiation for which cousins could marry each other when they're all cousins? 🤔

My only issue with Prison Playbook was it made prison (and the prisoners) too cozy. I've never been to prison, but I think I can still say with confidence that it's probably nothing like that. 😅

The characters I prepared myself already for dying are Wei Liang, Bi Zhi and Wei Yan. But it's a Cdrama, so you never know. They seem to love killing beloved characters off.

Was Chen Pang good, then? In the drama he seems to be selfish and scheming from everything I've seen through Episode 26.

There are a lot of double standards out there like this. 😉 (I agree with you)

I don't know why the subs keep mixing it up. Is the word for cousin and brother/sister the same in Mandarin? I don't realize why they can't seem to get it right. 🤔

It's helping me practice self-restraint! 😅

It's rough being three episodes behind most people commenting on this thread. Viki where I'm from uploads episodes two days later than the official streaming platform. 😅

Yeah, because in a Western movie or show, that's all there is and they have the audacity to label it "romance." I actually want to watch a STORY about people falling in love, not just watch titillating scenes placed in chronological order.

While I'm sure getting groped on a bus would be absolutely humiliating and terrifying, this time around on my rewatch, the girl's ultimate reaction--to the extent that she'd fly out the door of a bus in the middle of a highway--felt a bit implausible, even if she was distraught. I know they portrayed her as shy, but would a shy person lose it like that AFTER the fact if she did nothing WHILE it happened either? I doubt it. The way they had her react just felt a bit off.

And couldn't the bus pull against the curb rather than open the door IN THE MIDDLE OF THE HIGHWAY? Like "Duh," bus driver? And then for everyone to be so hush hush about the reason she got upset and the torment her parents went through because of it to the point they were willing to blow up a bus of strangers to make a point--this time around it felt like a bit much.

On one hand, I like the way they didn't make such an action from the pervert "no big deal" and instead showed that it was something deeply serious. I really did appreciate that. We need more portrayals of abuse and harrassment portrayed as the horrifying things they are. On the other hand, this happens A LOT to women (e.g. Japan has "Women only" cars on their subways for this very reason)--did it occur to no one that this might have happened to her? No, police, it didn't occur to you? Did no one think to question the other passengers of the bus?

And I know this is kind of the point. This drama tried to show that these "little" crimes--that happen so frequently people start to take them for granted and so they get dismissed or glossed over--are not properly dealt with and punished. And this message I can appreciate, even if the delivery could maybe have used a little more tweaking. As no one knew at the time the case was closed that it was a sexual harassment crime. It's not like it got covered up despite them knowing, they just didn't investigate enough to even find out why she got off, period.

At the end of the day, it all still worked in a convincing enough manner, but it did feel a little less plausible and more overdramatic on my second watch.

I guess they kind of do explain it. But one more thought below:

Haha, yes! It has to be watched as a romcom/melodrama, and that's it. Disappointment is the only appropriate response otherwise. 😅

Have you seen Reset? It's a Cdrama, and the only Cdrama of its kind that I've seen, but pretty good, in my opinion. I don't think I'm as picky as you with the sci-fi element, but I'd venture to recommend it, even knowing that you have high standards. It's a time loop, though, not time travel. It held up well on a rewatch, too, and actually it felt more consistent the second time because I caught more of the details I'd missed on the first watch that explains stuff I thought was a plot hole, but wasn't.

😅😅😅 I'm sure he'd be flattered!

I didn't mind Lovely Runner, but I know it frustrated a lot of people who expected tighter fantasy/sci-fi writing. I just go into dramas managing expectations while keeping the genres in mind. There's only so much they can deliver on, as they like to tell the same storied packaged differently in mostly unrealistic (across the board) settings. 😅

In my opinion, the writing in this is pretty solid, and many of us agree that, unlike with most Kdramas, the writing and pacing improved as the drama went on.