Gudrun5

No way, that is amazing! I wish they'd done it officially in the drama but it's totally in my head canon that she did go off and encounter Chang in a non-battlefield setting and might be able to fall in love with him.

The big surprise is, of course, that the ML becomes a villain toward the end. In my mind he definitely did cross the line into villain territory, and wiz! There went any shipping hopes between them. But the drama set this up very well because I never was very attached to him or their relationship the whole time. I thought Richards Wang's character was WAY more interesting, even as the antagonist. But to have the drama actually follow through with that weak relationship between the FL and ML, by failing, was incredible. And even though the story didn't turn around and have her end up with the intriguing Chang Yuching, I was intensely shipping them by the end. In fact, the end with the FL lead going off into the wilds by herself, to enjoy life for a bit, gives me the most hope that she could "encounter" Chang Yuching again, this time not on the battlefield, and develop actual feelings for him. At least in my head-canon that is exactly what happens, and their relationship is able to seal peace between the two nations for a long time to come.

Exactly! Same wavelength as me. :)

This was probably the most unexpected dramas I've seen so far. Even up to episode 36 I wasn't sure what the ending would be. Richards Wang absolutely stole every scene he was in. If only he'd been in it twice as much! There were parts that were too long, like the military training, and parts that skipped plot elements--and especially a ten-episode stretch with no Richards Wang appearing that really tested my patience. However the story surprisingly gave me a lot of twists that I wanted to see. I won't spoil anything here but will put some spoiler comments below. Over all, it really kept me on my toes and I was invested to the end, partially because of some of the twists, and I really like the female lead character.

Okay, definitely Revenge of Others on Hulu. Very much fits into the school bullying category and it's psychological.

Actually, I can't remember the secondary couple at all. I may have skipped all their scenes since I mostly watched this for Merxat.

Thank you! I am a huge fan of Ma Tian Yu due to Secret of the Three Kingdoms, however xianxian's are a hard sell for me and I haven't gotten a good sense about what this plot is really about. I will really try to get through the first few episodes and give it a try.

Thanks for asking, this is what I wondered. I'll need to check back to see if it does get a US theater release, but hopefully it will be on streaming later.

How is it possible this director hasn't done anything since Sword Snow stride? The atmosphere and realism of that drama is incredible. It has a very unique flavor.

This is good and it needs a sequel! At the very end I finally realized that this drama is similar to Taxi Driver in that is has a beloved team of people around one charismatic figure who are fighting crime. I really want to see where their story goes! I am curious though how the sequel can contain the similar vibe because this focused so much on Jin Isoo's personal story. In the sequel how can it distinguish itself from many other cop shows by telling the stories of our characters? Hoping we'll find out.

I really loved this drama, have no idea why it has such a low rating. Normally I would have skipped it with such a rating, but I enjoyed it lot. It just needs to be your cup of tea.

I just realized she's in The Story of Ming Lan! I became a fan of hers from MLC but hadn't seen her before. When the elder sister appears in The Story of Ming Lan I just thought she looked extremely pretty. Then I recognized her and confirmed it is Wang Herun. I am looking forward to seeing her in a lead role coming up soon.

Very great question, I'm taking notes! I didn't want to miss this one but the Liu Yuning streak of endings I just can't take.

Good to know!

There are always ways to rationalize an alternate ending but I find it hard to really get on board with them since the plot is so clear. in this case I just stopped watching halfway through Ep. 34 and there was my happy ending! I had to make up some plot conclusions in my own head, but since I'm a writer it wasn't too hard to do.

Since I mentioned Journey to Love, I can mention here that I did just finish watching Journey to Love up to midway through ep. 34 and stopped there, and it's fantastic! I won't continue it past that point and I've made up a good ending for myself.

Yup, that's what I mean. So, I did just watch the show up to nearly the end of Episode 34, and there is a really good stopping point there. Though a ton of stuff is not yet resolved, you can guess what should happen to end happily.

Thanks, that is good confirmation!

Seriously yes, from what I've heart on twitter. But someone said that ep. 34 is a good stopping point, so that is what I plan to do.

Thanks so much!