MadelineMaureen

FL is so stinking adorable. Her looks remind me of Halle Bailey and Anya Taylor-Joy because of the natural large wide set eyes. I swear to god if people don't stop complaining about this beautiful girl's nose on Chinese SNS Imma have to start throwing hands. Her natural features complement each other so well. She looks just other worldly enough to make her standout in the best way.

Anyone else watch dramas and have full blown conversations with the characters like "You don't need to look so territorial there mama bear 7th sis wants nothing to do with that man you and your daughter can have him."
I keep finding myself yelling at the screen..."Oh no she did NOT. Get her! Get HER!" It's like I'm watching wrestling or something and I'm waiting for the smackdown to start. My family keeps popping in like "Ya good?"
I think I'm taking out loud more for this one because the leads stay slight about a lot of injustices done to them as they wait and move in the shadows*eagle screech* iykyk

Understanding the backstory is vital to making a good production. The fact they are showing us instead of telling us is also a bonus. Because they are doing flashbacks at strategic times we aren't having to deal with dialog heavy exposition to get us to the same point.
There is exposition happening, don't get me wrong, but it's not in a dump at your feet and spoon feed you volumes that some period dramas have been guilty of. I like a good title card for period piece for characters whose name might not otherwise be spoken aloud to their face. I'm loving this one so far.

I finished a 40 episode drama the other day that lost the plot several times and never found it again. At the end I was like...did yall forget a few people...because I think you did.
I like shows that use camera work and no verbal ques to hint to something more and will call back to it later in the series. Using framing to mirror previous scenes for a stronger impact and to draw a parallel between the two moments in a subtle but powerful way. I can already see that whomever was in charge overall has a strong vision. I just hope they were present throughout the production. I'm not 100% on how the filming/television industry works in China compared to the USA, but the turn around from something of this quality is freaking impressive. I know they are using a lot of locations commonly used in dramas, but the set design is...deep/rich...they have added layers to areas that give the scenes more life.
If you can't tell I'm a total and complete production nerd, and regularly geek out over lighting, set design, & all other aspects that go into making this type of media, but above all else, cinematography/editing is my absolute love. If the cinematography is good I can forgive sooooo much.

Same! I love that she now knows that she's after the wrong person, but she still doesn't realize how much of a pawn she's been to him yet, nor does she know WHO is actually behind the death of her whole city.
We haven't even explored the dynamics that will come into play with the kingdom hostage dude. I'm so ready to see where this is going.

Whoever got her these scripts deserves the BIGGEST of raises. Like girl is serving in both. She gives such good feminine rage that I will always be sat and ready to watch.

This show has some of the best fight choreography and cinematography that I've seen in a minute. They are doing a good job in showing the different fighting styles of each person as well as changing it up depending on the setting.
The fights don't have "magic" but they do have a bit of "lightness" to them so there is wirework at play. But they aren't running around with magic hands and making faces & exposition dumping the moves they are using like they're throwing down pokemon cards.

We've essentially only gotten prologue up to the end of episode 3. When haven't even met all the players on the board yet, so I think we are good. It's only 32 episodes so I don't think we'll have a case of the drags in this one. (fingers crossed) This was the first move of the first pawn on the board...the game is just starting.

Came to double check the tags because I saw a correlation chart untranslated and had an extreme "WTF!" moment.

Honestly, with how intricate the shots are with the lighting, stunts, camera setups, and other factors...I'm shocked that this was completed so quickly. The post-production must have been working overtime to get everything colored and edited. Not to mention any cgi that needed to be rendered. The team on this must have been huge, or extremely sleep deprived by the end. They must have had multiple departments working in tandem while it was still in the production(filming) stage.

Every time he laughs sardonically he looks like Stay Kids Lee Know...I can't unsee it.

Girl, they even filmed it in the same place as 'My Journey to You' and 'The Double' to the point where I'm like do they ever stop filming at this location? The fact that I haven't seen a Liu Xue Yi drama that doesn't have at least one scene of him at this location made me about double over in laughter.
The set design in this one is top notch & the cinematographer for this project, at least for the first two episodes, is VERY strong in their craft. The choices that they are making with how information is being delivered on screen is worth the repeat plot points in my opinion. So far everything is well produced and performed. I just hope that with it being 32 episodes that the cinematography and directing stays strong. I've been burned before by the first few episodes getting all the budget & the mid section of a drama having the same shots of the same sets over and over & it seeming like the lighting director decided to take a sabbatical. Speaking of lighting director...props to the one on this show cause....damn that's how you light a shot.

I truly feel like the actors weren't given access to all 40 scripts before signing on, cause it's giving written on the fly/written in post production. I'm realizing why this took 3 years to get released.

I feel like the writers lost the plot several times throughout the show. I don't know anything about the novel, but the constant adding of enemies and people trying to harm/kill the FL got ridiculous after the 12th attempted murder. They left plots hanging with little to no resolution. Never explained why certain central characters acted the way they did. The main driving motivation behind most characters was jealousy over power position or a man.
The cinematography was...sometimes good, but sometimes very bad. Whose choice was it to zoom in on people's knees every time they greeted the ML's father, who is a king? I was waiting for a greeting without the kneeling for those shots to matter, but they never saw him again after like episode 20something.
For those wondering about romance, episode 31 is the ONLY episode in the entire show with a kiss. They confess, kiss, do the do, get married all in episode 31, never to really touch each other for the next 9 episodes. There is a face touch or two and a hug at the very end, but once they are together the show pivots to other character's POV and honestly...very pointless interaction that could have been an email, if you know what I mean.
They had WAY too many people trying to kill the FL at all times. There was never a moment that someone wasn't trying to undermine her or kill her in some way. The 2ML never explained what the hell he was doing only to get a longer send off than the ML and FL combined....I just have so many nitpicks that I'm going to end this here. There was a lot of potential, but they dropped the ball somewhere at the midway point, and never recovered.

In spoiler tag because this is a comment about current events that color the lens in which I view this media.

I just find it extremely racist/xenophobic that it's only ever like this with the "desert" tribes aka the Uyghur region of China. It's giving notes of cowboys- good; Indians - bad American propaganda.

If you know what's been happened to the Uyghur people in China in Xinjiang you'll understand why I can't unsee this narrative that keeps popping up. Even though they actively use actors and actress of Uyghur decent I can't help but feel like every period piece that focuses in on this region is morally corrupt in some way.

I realize this comment is going to sound political to some...but it's just a fact that Xinjiang is under martial law and the people are being put into "programs" aka concentration camps on the daily. It's the silent genocide happening in front of everyone's eyes. If you aren't of Han decent you get a major side eye in China. Yes there are extremely famous and popular actors and actresses of Uyghur decent, but they are the extreme minority. The lead actress of this show being one of them.

There are some serious cases of Stockholm syndrome happening. All female characters are sexually assaulted to varying degrees or murdered by one of the male leads.
Though the chemistry and camera work are top tier, the very mid-2000's script writing is a bit of a mood killer. We have a manic pixie dream girl of a 2FL, FL's mother was killed by the ML and his poor decisions. 2ML rapes and pillages for a living....and lets his men do the same. 3ML had a coup that killed the previous rulers and now enslaves most of the country in some manner.
What we have is a drama that you need to turn your brain completely off and just be distracted by the pretty pretty men and women, and scenery. It's like a dark romance smut novel watered down for CCP censorship boards come to life.

So of the 54 characters listed...less than 10 haven't tried to harm or kill the FL by episode 32. ML and 2ML did not make that list.
1 princess, 2 mothers, a guard, 3 older men connected to the ML. Pretty much everyone else has either tried to kill, or plotted to harm her for others. Every man that is interested in her has either almost gotten her murdered or worked with someone who wished her demise in some way. Looking at you 2ML looking at YOU, don't think I forgot. Every member but 2 of ML's family has directly plotted to kill FL. EVERY SINGLE ONE. This girl has more lives than a clowder of cats.
Every episode there are, at least, 3 people actively trying to kill or undermine the FL. I'm not being hyperbolic. I had a list of people who didn't try to harm her...it's getting shorter not longer. 8 episodes to go...

Anyone have the list of OST with artists names in English? I recognize a voice & want to check, but drama wiki wont open for me for some reason even after changing all the permissions.

At first I was like oh are they going to show off their dancing skills? Then nope...worm. I'm sure you know, but for everyone not in the know. Both actors are trained dancers and even went to the same school together(it's where the dance photoshoot for this show was done). I really want to find the interview where they talk about their moms(who are close friends) seeing the promotional trailer for the show for the first time and how they responded. Cause it was funny as hell.

oh thank goodness