MadelineMaureen

Her friends love lines/side quests. The little actress & his friends interactions should be brought down significantly. There are a lot of scenes in the back half that could be cut because of repetition & made more succinct. They need to hold on to the dynamics with the mothers of the two boys, and keep it tight to the family. They might even blend her bestie/roommate character with his co-worker that likes him, as they serve a similar purpose to the plot.
actress friend might get blended with her art studio partner as those character also serve a similar purpose. 🤔 we shall see.
they need to keep the little sister storyline as it is important to the overall dynamic of the main trio.

don't know exactly how they will adapt this one, but in the Chinese version(Go Ahead) there were sort of love triangles. But it was figured out quickly & the other triangle was unrequited. aka both main leads had other ppl interested in them but they weren't interested in those people outside of friendship/sibling &/or co-worker.
because of how short this version is I'm going to assume they've cut some of her friends side quests down.

Giving it an 8 because it ends on a cliffhanger for the overall story. It has an unsatisfactory ending for the lead couple that we were following closely until the last quarter of episodes, and then it just sort of forgets about them a bit for the larger conspiracy and the second couple's tragic end.
I went into the show completely blind to the point I didn't know that there were 2 actresses playing the FL.
If they actually plan to have a season two I might raise my rating(8 is actually kind of low for me), but the fact they didn't actually tie anything up at the end after 32 episodes with no word yet on a season 2...yeah...i'm not holding my breath.

Lead couple have 3 pecks and 1 kiss. that kiss is in episode 21...so pretty much after that they heavily focus on the second couple's interactions because apparently once a couple is together they are regulated to chaste interactions in front of people who tell them to tone down their love. aka looking and speaking to each other with warmth. *side eye...bombastic side eye* The last five minutes of the show is spent reminiscing over those they lost...and finding out the big bad is in fact NOT the BIG bad. I'm just going to immediately jump into another show and hope the bad taste leaves my mouth.

I think I've only seen maybe one or 2 set photos of them outside of high school, so I really hope that they just have a nicely locked down set and that the adult teasers will come out closer to the air date. Poor man's been playing a teen for over a decade now. 🤣

So 3 as kids 5 as teens 8 as adults?

Sorry my dyslexia filled in transLATION instead of transITION when I read the comment.
But yes the transitions are a bit rough. To the point where I'm like, I know I'm tired, but I swear I didn't have a long blink. Also the slo-mo is so random to me...like what was the reason? I feel like the production is a bit disjointed. I'm still enjoying the show, but I can definitely see the quality difference of other productions.

I'm hoping we get a good chunk of the show with them as adults. With only 16 episodes...I'm not sure how they are going to split them. I haven't seen any teasers post ML's mother showing back up. It might come later, but I just hope they we don't have 14 episodes of them in high school.

Embroidery makes things personalized and depending on rank and class you can and can not have certain designs. Like how dragons are only for the Emperor...etc. Even certain colors will denote rank within a family. But the Royal family is very strict with it's ranking in jewelry, color, design, and even the material the fabric is made of.
A lower ranking member was wearing something dedicated to the highest ranking member of the royal family. Big no no. Aka can been seen not only as a slight, but as saying they, the lower person, sees themselves as equal to or better than the higher ranked person. It's like wearing white to someone else's wedding in Western culture times a thousand. Because when someone in a lower rank in the royal family sees themselves as "better than" the current ruler it could mean war. (But yes a lot of the time it was petty as all hell)

I've seen similar storylines in other productions both in Chinese and Korean period pieces. And extra talon on a bird nearly ended a whole family line. Same with one too many cranes on an official's robes. Textiles and embroidery were taken very seriously. And could be narrowed down to the specific person who made it. Each color, plant, flower, animal, and number of each has a specific meaning. It's one of the many reasons noble ladies embroidered so much. They were the ones responsible most(not always) of the time for making their husbands and other family members official robes that they would wear to court.

Sidebar/tangent:
With a "cheaper" production like this one....it's honestly harder to tell ranking from a glance unlike other productions who pay extra attention to it. A lot of these period piece shows are set in make believe times so they get fast and loose with their hair and clothing styles. I personally enjoy the shows were you can from just looking at how a character is wearing their hair/clothes how old they are, whether or not they are married, class/rank...etc. It becomes an easy short had so you don't need full exposition dumps.

If you wait a day the translations get done by a human instead of AI and they make more sense.

You're going to love episode 36

It'll all make sense in a bit. This is going to focus more on the love story, but there is a political backbone to everything happening.

The family who slays to together stays together. 🤣💀

I fell in to a reel hole and just came up for snacks and all 4 were ready to go!

The website I use to watch this normally uploads the new video by now...but nothing...

Thank YOU!

I don't know the supporting actors faces well enough to tell who is under the mask. Can someone "spoil" that for me please?

I hope we are able to get to the next generation before they end the show. Because there are multiple children that have yet to appear.

Throughout the first time he was having to leave her and the second time. When he thought he was going to have to follow through with the marriage to his cousin, and when he was being called to the northwest for war. The silent longing, anguish, heartbreak that he conveys with his performance...top tier acting. Some words were never spoken, but you could see it in his eyes/face.

Well spoiler for Episodes 33-34
He isn't bringing her in to marry her. He is bring her in for a reality check/slash boost to his Empress' self confidence. AKA your father is moving weird and I don't like the way your family has treated you so let me let you have a moment to flex a little. He pretty much says once the sister is done looking at all the gardens she can go, and she doesn't need to come back...in fact let me help you find a husband for her...far far away from my wife who is my only source of comfort and happiness. (So ZiYu gets to live another day...still got my eye on him though)

he literally sent CXZ to war when CXZ was farther from the front lines than a lot of others. He kind of sent him on a suicide mission & is withholding backup.