Italophilia

I heard that rating each episode helps the overall rating as well.

My family is like that - really high metabolism: two boys who are 175cm (57 kg) and 180cm (59 kg). They eat and snack like crazy but just don't gain weight. I was the same until about 5 years ago.

I was pleasantly surprised. So all his bad behavior was maybe from his own regret but there's really a part of him that still cares about QS deeply? Still, I find WF's behavior childish - ugh! Plus, QS's boss. I thought they were friends, but another backstabber, it seems.

When the Queen gave the hairpin to Grand Prince Gye Sung, I was so incredibly touched. It would have been so easy for her to rebuke him, but she responded with such love.

Ep 3 comment

Check out ep 13, around 34:35 to 37:04 where WF and QS have a conversation. QS says it's out of jealousy. Maybe she was talking about why she spoke harshly?

She did express jealousy which is why she kept Wu Fei out of the Lan divorce case. I don't know if that necessarily mean feelings for her ex, or jealousy that Wu Fei has the correct pedigree to marry her ex.

I agree. The King definitely has recognized his talent privately but it would be ill-advised to do so publicly, because he is not heir-apparent. To hope for some order and future cooperation between Yin Song and Yin Zheng, the King cannot show favoritism to YZ.

I don't quite agree. Many of their rules were from the previous ruler. The issues were handed down from one generation to the next, and this is what's happening to Hao Jia's family. In fact, this is what Fang Ru was was threatening her with in order to wake her up: that her daughter Changle would suffer the same fate as herself, the way her own mother (Hao Jia's mother) had suffered.
Yin Song is also a victim of this society, but he has chosen treachery and violence, whereas Yin Zheng doesn't play the victim card. He's choosing to make positive changes even when it sometimes gets him in trouble.
The King is not the villain. He has a complicated role of ruling the 9 states, while also ruling his sons. He cannot show favoritism, but want to instead listen to their ideas in court to see whether there are viable solutions to the problems in the 9 states. I think he does this as fairly as possible, but he is a politician and Yin Zheng understands this. Even when the house arrest was unfair, Yin Zheng understood why the King did it.
I have found this series to be so interesting for the politics, gender breaking actions and sismance of the wives and concubines, the slow burn romances of Li Wei/Yin Zheng as well as Yin Qi/JingJing.

https://www.bilibili.tv/en/video/2047778556

Falling Into Your Smile came out around the time this article was written, I'm sure it would have made the e-sports list.

I was reluctant to watch to this, but was curious. I watched it for Yuki but stayed for the actual series. Seeing the various POVs was interesting. How vulnerable do we really want to be?