MadelineMaureen

epress drops tomorrow. based on the teasers for the last 5 epiosdes I'll be pleased with the wrap up of multiple plots.

they started filming in December of 2026. im assuming that it took them 2 to 3 months to film a modern 24 episode drama. so that would have them wrapped around Feb of 2026. it is currently July. A 5 month turnaround in a cdrama would be considered lighting speed.

I'm still confused though...did I misremember or does TuLi know Cen Ye? Like she called out to him at the building right? Was I too sleepy when watching, was it not them? And if it was them, why they acting like they don't know each other all of a sudden?

it's not a messy schedule i'm saying the people who made it are messy. slang meaning not literal.

I knew now that Blossoms of Power and Lover For You getting to the final week or so of episodes that iQIYI/Tencent would decide to air this...even though they still have Key to the Phoenix Heart & Blossoms of Power airing...messy messy messy, as always.

saying "oh I know." or "I knew"...no. so unless they've added a voice over since ive watched this he asked her how long she's known she responded with "a while" but she couldnt make eye contact and no actual time was given, making me believe she was lying to his face. because she acted the same way when lying about other things.

it was never actually fully laid out and from just watching the show and the translation I had from iqiyi it was more like the ML was her half-brother.

Ji Tong Zhou kills Lou Cheng Ji, Baili Chang Yue and Ye Ye.
Other people who die...Zhoa Min(senior sister), Si Mo. Guang Wei, Mr. Shen, Cui Xuan, Hu Jia Ping and his lover sword woman..., Qin Yang Ling, and Miao Qing...I think Ji Tong Zhou dies...it's vague as hell.(look at my comment below this one) Zhou Qiu as well...my bad dude.

The sea calamity was because Ji Tong Zhou's ancestor was also a creepy psycho stalker of the Divine Tree and killed her. Her death cursed the mortal world....Xiu Yuan and Li Fei hold it off sacrificing themselves to save the same people that repeatedly killed them before. They disappear for 10 years and JiTongZhou becomes an immortal and full blown psychopath. see comment below again.

We are told Li Fei and Xiu Yuan are married as well as Ge Lin and Lu Li. Ge Lin is a teacher at the academy and Lu Li is with her. Monsters and humans both attend. Li Fei and Xiu Yuan playfully tease Ri Yan at her old house in QingQiu. Oh Deng Xi Guang is the sect leader after pretty much everyone else was dead or too old.

Wow they really said fuck the leads and their love story. I'm spoiling shit and I'm not tagging it so this is your warning.


The last episode clocks in at about 40 minutes long. About 35 minutes of that time in the final episode is NOT the lead pair. 25 minutes is pretty much dedicated to Ji Tong Zhou being the absolute worst. Abusing his lover so badly she miscarries their child, having told her to "get rid of it" prior. Then being all sad Pikachu when that same lover steps in front of a sword for him and dies in his arms. Did he die? Honestly not even sure...he moped and faded out but the fact that the VFX lights aren't the most helpful indicator of someone's death idk.
Don't get me wrong I realize that the Fragrance bond was 3 people. But good god, the last 11 episodes of the show was just death after death after death after death with Xiu Yuan and Li Fei separated for the majority of it. When they are finally reunited we get about 30 seconds and a through line that lets the audience know they are already married.
If you are a needs kisses in your romance this one has exactly 2 kisses a flashback to their previous life(that they replay over and over again) and a kiss to break XiuYuan out of a trance...that's it. No make up kiss, no kiss on the forehead, no wedding no nothing. Just a hug as they "die" with blood coming out of their mouths. They don't actually die but foxy and other deity dude comes to take them away where they live away from everyone for 10 years. We don't see this time for them but instead get to play catch up with all the other living people in the show....which doesn't include more than half of their friends because Ji TongZhou killed them all.

So in conclusion...though the shows plot supposedly centers on a love story between a demon lord and a divine tree what it actually focuses more on is her unhinged stalker that killed her over a thousand years ago....and the cycle repeating itself after her death triggers a curse on the earth(or where ever they are....the sea calamity is the curse post og death). So again...they focus about 90% of the last 3rd of the show solely on the 2ML's obsession with the female lead. This is like The Princess Royal all over again. Also doesn't help that because the filter on this show is so heavy, nothing ever felt grounded or real so it was hard to connect to the characters. And this has nothing to do with them being cultivators, demons or deities....

ive had an episode and a half left on this one for I think weeks at this point. Netflix subtitles continue to irk me to no end.

I wish I enjoyed sports dramas more, but yeah...the mystery side is intriguing, but I struggle with the heavy on the teen sports team type shows. It's good, just not my cuppa, sadly. Best of luck, I hope it continues to score highly on the charts.

watching this and Love for You, and Blossoms of Power really puts into stark contrast how important post production is on a project. Genre type has nothing to do with it. writing and the post production(which is the final edit of the screenplay) failed this cast and crew. I realize they lost 7 episodes worth of scenes. that's about 5 and a quarter hours of plot and transition footage on the cutting room floor. there are episodes where you can clearly see that the DP(director of photography) got an artistic transition shot between sceens, which goes to show me that there was actual thought going into the making of the show. this reminds me of when old paintings are getting cleaned, but depending on the person's skill it could ruin the original art beneath the old varnish.
like im genuinely mad for the team that made this, cause I KNOW this was NOT their choice of final cut. I dont know if I should just be mad at YouKu or if the censorship board had a heavier hand this time.

I just described the plot timeline of Speed and Love in my comment.

i had to get this crash out off my chest again cause i was reminded now that im watching both of their new shows.....

18 years believing he is her blood related older brother.
raised together for roughly 9 years, separated for another 9 years.
A few months of living in the same town now knowing they arent blood related...
1...ONE WEEK of dating. let me repeat ONE WEEK OF BEING TOGETHER ROMANTICALLY.
ML is in a coma for about a month after a car accident then breaks up with her a few weeks after that in an extremely harsh way and then ghosts her for 7 years.
She moves to Canada to be with her sick mother and go to University for...SEVEN YEARS and every single person lies to her about ML's whereabouts. Her Mother, Father, step-mother, and baby sister are included in the lying liars who lie...as well as EVERY friend she made in Thailand but ONE. One friend who innocently mentions him not knowing he's been playing Casper for the past SEVEN GOD DAMN YEARS.

Giving Bella and Edward a run for their money.

forgot to mention, there have been multiple times where you can tell the performer was told one thing like "there are ropes/a force holding you back in this moment" and post was like "why are they shimmying? oh well, next shot" with no further editing.

It's giving...NSDAP like behavior, which is ironic. also it's literally the definition of political if you are trying to enact rules over a state...look ill even drop the definition for you since that seems to be your preferred form of understanding things. "Political" relates to the governance of a country or society, the activities and strategies of governments, and the distribution of power and resources among people.

Post production really said point A to point Z and fuck every letter in between. Logic and actual structure has fully left the building. The editing and the VFX fail to convey coherent story/plot. Correct color(in the magic) not being used to convey people moving through teleportation vs turning to dust in the wind. so later on a character has to TELL the audience that a plot point we were in the room for actually happened but we didnt see it....are you confused, cause I sure as fuck am. will I continue watching this...yes yes i will, because how the fuck are they going to land this plane? I want to know.

oh dear heavens...i dont think im going to make it.

I can love an actor/actress but when the writing is nonsensical I just cant stay focused enough.

love the actor cause he's an adorable mood maker bts. I call him Littlefoot(The Land Before Time reference, because he has a long neck and he's literally always dancing) when referring to the actor...I liked his character in Moonlit Reunion though. I have yet to see 6th prince in a role where he isnt a detestable human with zero morality/common sense. Seen him in 3 shows(technically 4 but he was just a bg character in the first thing i saw him in, didnt even notice him until like the 3rd rewatch) I dont know enough about the actor to wash off the Wormtogue nickname. like I got the ick so bad that I struggle to find him attractive and yet in every role the narrator points out how attractive he is and I 'm sat there at a loss because wdym...and Jeremy(5th prince) is such a good actor that I'm just happy he's back to work and seems to be healthy and happy.

omg...im crying from laughing because I just realized when they were introducing the princes that three of them have played 2nd MLs from hell. like they each have played characters on my permanent shit list. "Whiney Hypocite"(Shine on Me), "Victorian Wormtogue"(Princess Royal/Fated Hearts), and "Be more like Elsa and let it go man"(Love of Nirvana). 9th, 6th and 5th respectively.