Right out the gate they made me snort my tea in laughter: flapping around in a random tuff tray of water before a jerkily descending gauze-festooned chandelier image magics them to the morning after. ML stalks around all eyebrows, suits, winklepickers and whisky. Everything else just seems like the vehicle to showcase his series of fashion mag poses but FL drives it well enough that I mostly don't mind (plus after Snowfall and Fateful Love I like seeing him come out on top). I can only watch this when I'm the mood for that tufftray humour as at other times I find it quite eyeroll inducing.
Having just watched ep 11, and even without having read the novel, I can now understand the ire about the editing/direction. That whole "bandaid" moment was proper jarring.
I felt like there were 2 different people in charge of that scene, one said "let's make it arty, obscure and just show some leaves with cicadas chirping, alluding to summer and poetry and such" and one said "no, let's make it silly and an in-joke for those who've read the book/ had a passionate youth moment of their own and play it off with a sheepish nudge-nudge -wink -wink -know -wot- I- mean vibe" and they couldn't decide which so just did both. Simultaneously and awkwardly.
In Derailment there was a hair washing scene that stayed with me for its delicious tension that had nothing to do with a close-up smooshing of lips so I don't think this is about wanting to see more graphic intimacy nor the actors themselves; it was a choice and it felt weird to me.
I've actually really been enjoying everything else about this show, whether it be the chats between the dads, the not conventionally academic BF showing her EQ and finding her own strengths amidst a sea of intimidating high scorers, or the refreshing nature of encounters with Gu Yan. I've enjoyed XZ visibly perking up whenever ClZ says something that inspires her and CLZ being gratefully surprised at being appreciated for something other than his looks, scores or obedience as if he'd been given tea when he didn't realise he was so thirsty. Their unconventional growing closer without dating yet understanding something deeply in each other reminds me a bit of a (somewhat role reversed) Lighter and Princess type dynamic. So I will continue with it for now.
Only up to ep 7 but enjoying this more than I thought- FL seems to me to be slightly autistically coded and I Iike how that's making ML confront and reflect on his own prejudices.
Watching this after Blood of Youth to stay in line with release order, and I really wish I hadn't. It's hard knowing the future. If you are debating: watch this one first is my advice.
All the characters were so brave that it made me cry. I didn't feel that way watching the Korean one but now I'm curious if a re-watch would change anything.
After reading comments about the costumes I started paying attention but I disagree that they were horrid. It was refreshing to have a guy in tight waisted clothes with frills skirting over high heels and to have girls in genderless amorphous yet sculptural shapes ( not unlike Miu's sculptures in comparison to her ex's one) and still shown to have attractiveness. I think the costume arrangements were such that the camera could zoom in on the face and there would still be layers of interest but not distractingly so. Often with a crafted vibe (cable knitwear in tonal variation of colour resembling hand dyed yarn, colourwork knit wear, hand woven patchwork) or sculptural element (stacked coils of knitted scarf, puffa jacket ribbing.
The ending as it stands; He "dies" but it later turns out to have been a 3 month coma caused by a too strong Hold Breath pill that was slipped into his tea. Standing in the street in the rain, he is not sure if the person who brushed passed his umbrella was really Yun Shang or not, but she is wearing the unique hairpin so.... The viewers get to see her looking at her wrist , a Portent appears still in it's starting level....so we know that it is her, we suspect she saw Wu Luan which is why she checked her wrist...but the knowledge is not a happy ending even if he catches up to her because even if they reunite, one of them still has to die....
Or do they??
As we know, our girl takes her sister's Portent so she had two Portents targeted at the Duke, and both were shown on her wrist. After Wu Luan's "resurrection" from the coma, one Portent is gone! And the other one is reset! So if one Hold Breath Pill can dupe the Portent, then all they have to do is for him to take another pill, maybe not as strong, to cancel the other Portent and in at least 3 months they can both live together. Bosh- a HE!. That's my interpretation and I'm sticking to it.
I viewed it as the ML is dead and the FL is dreaming he's with her. But it could also be seen as he's somehow…
I'm also 95% sure he's dead. But I even thought at first that the way she was strewn one armed across the table- with some random berries and seeds next to her, (whereas before when she'd been sat there awake there were flowers and fruits instead)- meant she'd taken poison - so the upside down kiss was them reuniting in death! They were each wearing similar but not exactly the same as in the scene I describe as weddingy below as well which made me think reunion but not quite reunion. But now I re-watched the end a few times I don't think that she's dead.
When Shen Cheng was wearing a suit with a neck scarf and putting a white hat on her as she said his new name and they kissed I felt it was reminiscent of a wedding- especially with the children's rhyme about a bride and geese in the background. Happiness short lived because war has arrived.
He goes to fight and she also goes with and somehow becomes a Dr. She is told of his demise on the front lines and given his things, along with a patriotic last message. She mourns, has some flashbacks to their journey as adults with a female voiced backing track singing about longing and geese. She carries a green suitcase so clearly intending to leave and then Jiang Xiao turns up.
When he tells he is also going to fight and many others are too, she has a mini surge of emotion, eyes tear up, she looks away and then leaves without another word. Maybe she hoped he was going to say Jiang Wei was alive , maybe she felt bitter that more people fighting for the country have come too late to save Jiang Wei, maybe she couldn't bear to see Jiang Xiao, her last link to Jiang Wei and her last little "brother", also give his life for the country. But anyway it seems like, in her grief, she is done with it all.
Then we hear the kids chanting the rhyme about brides and geese that we heard at their "wedding-like" moment before they went to war. The kids are playing and smiling- a sign that peace has come. She herself has also found some peace- before she turned her back on the military hospital but now she is working as a Dr in the community. She uses his pen and half smiles at it as she writes the prescription. Jiang Xiao returns - war is over and , like the pen, here is another reminder of Jiang Wei by her side and a symbol of the victory that Jiang Wei fought and died for . She flashes back to her happy childhood moments with Jiang Wei. She sleeps and seems to kiss him in their almost but not the same wedding attire as back in happy times before war, whilst a male voiced backing track sings of longing .
I think this is a temporary dream reunion because she doesn't even open her eyes to see who had the audacity to kiss her during her table nap, but I also think the fact that the backing track ends with "don't look back for me, I'll be fine" is meant to show that although she misses him, she is carrying on ok, carrying his pen forward into doing good for the people , able to find solace that the war he fought is won and country he cared about is at peace and so he can rest in peace too.
I binged-watched all seven episodes available on Viki last night. I loved it, and I love angst, which I hear is…
Also hit the Viki UK airing wall. Argh. Long time since I watched something whilst airing instead of waiting for it to be finished and now I'm champing at the bit for the next ep!!. I don't normally care for angsty melos and only started this out of curiosity about how well the actress swap would work. But this is giving me Ashes of Love vibes- which I loved - so surprisingly I'm here for whatever emotional rollercoaster awaits.
Ghosts, Mofang has a drama almost airing named The Glory. Let's support Xin Yunlai first big ML role. i know he…
I'm really enjoying The Glory, really intriguing and full of *moments* - I don't know how to describe but it's like drinking a justifiably expensive full bodied red wine. NB he's not giving the same puppy eyes Mofang gives though.
i tried to watch this drama while airing and found it boring because i couldn't get past gegeda-xingyun arc. Then…
If you find a way to let go please tell me.
I was rewording songs to this. Battle Hymn is my ringtone and I sometimes miss calls so I can hear it for longer. I usually avoid BTS which ruin my immersion but search them for this because I was hungry for any little titbit just to hold on longer.
And I am not the only wandering ghost still checking back here.
Up to 21 and loving how every plot twist keeps you hungry for more but never feels implausibly ridicuous. (But...what is with the upwards "falling" snow every now and then.....)
1 
I felt like there were 2 different people in charge of that scene, one said "let's make it arty, obscure and just show some leaves with cicadas chirping, alluding to summer and poetry and such" and one said "no, let's make it silly and an in-joke for those who've read the book/ had a passionate youth moment of their own and play it off with a sheepish nudge-nudge -wink -wink -know -wot- I- mean vibe" and they couldn't decide which so just did both. Simultaneously and awkwardly.
In Derailment there was a hair washing scene that stayed with me for its delicious tension that had nothing to do with a close-up smooshing of lips so I don't think this is about wanting to see more graphic intimacy nor the actors themselves; it was a choice and it felt weird to me.
I've actually really been enjoying everything else about this show, whether it be the chats between the dads, the not conventionally academic BF showing her EQ and finding her own strengths amidst a sea of intimidating high scorers, or the refreshing nature of encounters with Gu Yan. I've enjoyed XZ visibly perking up whenever ClZ says something that inspires her and CLZ being gratefully surprised at being appreciated for something other than his looks, scores or obedience as if he'd been given tea when he didn't realise he was so thirsty. Their unconventional growing closer without dating yet understanding something deeply in each other reminds me a bit of a (somewhat role reversed) Lighter and Princess type dynamic. So I will continue with it for now.
After reading comments about the costumes I started paying attention but I disagree that they were horrid. It was refreshing to have a guy in tight waisted clothes with frills skirting over high heels and to have girls in genderless amorphous yet sculptural shapes ( not unlike Miu's sculptures in comparison to her ex's one) and still shown to have attractiveness. I think the costume arrangements were such that the camera could zoom in on the face and there would still be layers of interest but not distractingly so. Often with a crafted vibe (cable knitwear in tonal variation of colour resembling hand dyed yarn, colourwork knit wear, hand woven patchwork) or sculptural element (stacked coils of knitted scarf, puffa jacket ribbing.
He "dies" but it later turns out to have been a 3 month coma caused by a too strong Hold Breath pill that was slipped into his tea. Standing in the street in the rain, he is not sure if the person who brushed passed his umbrella was really Yun Shang or not, but she is wearing the unique hairpin so.... The viewers get to see her looking at her wrist , a Portent appears still in it's starting level....so we know that it is her, we suspect she saw Wu Luan which is why she checked her wrist...but the knowledge is not a happy ending even if he catches up to her because even if they reunite, one of them still has to die....
Or do they??
As we know, our girl takes her sister's Portent so she had two Portents targeted at the Duke, and both were shown on her wrist. After Wu Luan's "resurrection" from the coma, one Portent is gone! And the other one is reset! So if one Hold Breath Pill can dupe the Portent, then all they have to do is for him to take another pill, maybe not as strong, to cancel the other Portent and in at least 3 months they can both live together. Bosh- a HE!. That's my interpretation and I'm sticking to it.
When Shen Cheng was wearing a suit with a neck scarf and putting a white hat on her as she said his new name and they kissed I felt it was reminiscent of a wedding- especially with the children's rhyme about a bride and geese in the background. Happiness short lived because war has arrived.
He goes to fight and she also goes with and somehow becomes a Dr. She is told of his demise on the front lines and given his things, along with a patriotic last message. She mourns, has some flashbacks to their journey as adults with a female voiced backing track singing about longing and geese. She carries a green suitcase so clearly intending to leave and then Jiang Xiao turns up.
When he tells he is also going to fight and many others are too, she has a mini surge of emotion, eyes tear up, she looks away and then leaves without another word. Maybe she hoped he was going to say Jiang Wei was alive , maybe she felt bitter that more people fighting for the country have come too late to save Jiang Wei, maybe she couldn't bear to see Jiang Xiao, her last link to Jiang Wei and her last little "brother", also give his life for the country. But anyway it seems like, in her grief, she is done with it all.
Then we hear the kids chanting the rhyme about brides and geese that we heard at their "wedding-like" moment before they went to war. The kids are playing and smiling- a sign that peace has come. She herself has also found some peace- before she turned her back on the military hospital but now she is working as a Dr in the community. She uses his pen and half smiles at it as she writes the prescription. Jiang Xiao returns - war is over and , like the pen, here is another reminder of Jiang Wei by her side and a symbol of the victory that Jiang Wei fought and died for . She flashes back to her happy childhood moments with Jiang Wei. She sleeps and seems to kiss him in their almost but not the same wedding attire as back in happy times before war, whilst a male voiced backing track sings of longing .
I think this is a temporary dream reunion because she doesn't even open her eyes to see who had the audacity to kiss her during her table nap, but I also think the fact that the backing track ends with "don't look back for me, I'll be fine" is meant to show that although she misses him, she is carrying on ok, carrying his pen forward into doing good for the people , able to find solace that the war he fought is won and country he cared about is at peace and so he can rest in peace too.
I was rewording songs to this. Battle Hymn is my ringtone and I sometimes miss calls so I can hear it for longer. I usually avoid BTS which ruin my immersion but search them for this because I was hungry for any little titbit just to hold on longer.
And I am not the only wandering ghost still checking back here.