MadelineMaureen

but they didnt release the express internationally...that's wild. I pay for both sites it streams on and nada

so...where are today's episode/s?

Yall know I wanted to be able to defend this drama since they announced the cast and director, but yall other than a few peoples performance, some costuming, and some cinematography I dont really have positive things to say. Like how can this director release back to back disappointments like this? I am genuinely in a state of disbelief on how one can fumble a bag this badly. Seriously some amazing performances given by some leads and supporting that no one will ever see...wasted on this. To waste the stunt/fighting talent of so many actors on this should be a crime. I know some of them should be left generally unscathed by this shitstorm, but others...dude, their career might well and truly be cooked. And some of these are their FIRST performance...like DOA level shit happening.
Im purposefully not specifying WHO did well and didnt because right now im just baffled at the lack of teamwork necessary to make a performance miss that badly. writing, performance, director, dubbing performance, editing...like...im at a loss.
Some of them are working to the best of their ability given the tools they have to work with....im debating whether or not to get a friend to watch this just so we can nitpick together to come up with an actual explanation as to WHY, HOW, WHO....
Im crashing out with 5 episodes left yall. I cant defend this show anymore...the plot that just got unlocked with 5 epiosdes left...be so fucking for real right now.

oh no, that crazypants Princess isnt dead yet. Her baby on the other hand went bye bye. She was still alive when they pulled her off the platform. She's Zhao Che's favorite sister so he'll do his best to heal her. So until I see her dead in the ground, the bitch still breathing.

oh im aware. im just thinking it's a weird way to trick the nation's people to turn against her, but it's going to work. because there is enough suspicion & distrust add in all the spies from the various nations encamped in the nation to stir up more distrust and resentment.
Crazypants Princess should have gotten got a long time ago. most of the issues wouldnt exist without her interference. Li Ce may even have survived as it wasnt exactly clear if Li Yan was power hungry until she showed up.
Chu Qiao has gone from slave to general, to "Queen", to Empress Dowager, to Queen #2 and "Princess" of four different nations. I was trying to explain the plot to a coworker and they asked how long from one thing to the other & I honestly didnt have an answer for them. my best guess was like 2ish years from general on the ice lake to current time.

FL was 17 when they started filming. ML was 28, and 2ML was 23.

Also a bit of trivia that I find hilarious...ML has acted with all three of the female leadish actresses prior to this.

So people can just claim foreign Queens as their long lost daughter now? Cool cool cool...not a stupid plot at all....just keep swimming just keep swimming.

I need himnamd Wang Xing Yue to play relatives in something. But based on his filmography I dont think their agencies overlap on projects 🤔

think of it more of an ensemble cast. so he takes up about 1/4th to 1/3rd of Story/screen time. if I had to guess closer to 25% screen time with how many storylines we are following. FL is like 40-50%, 2ML is about 20-25% with an extra 5-10% for the plots around them but not directly involving them on screen.

if you liked the double you should enjoy this just fine. the director's style isnt for everyone.

no kissing. it's more or less implied that now that she and Zhouge Yue are a married couple that they are physically together, but they cant shoot that with a minor, so we get hugs and princess carries.

okay Chu Qiao went from slave->General->Queen of Yanbei->Empress Dowager of Biantang->Queen of Ximeng
And now we're getting "long lost daughter" of royal family member of Yong...

I hate to say this, but having a 16/17 year old playing a character with SO many life experiences & time moving as it is to get through plot points...yeah they should have cast someone who could play a ten year age range. Her martial arts skills are great & she not doing a bad job in her role, it's just she sometimes looks younger than 14(then13) year old playing her younger self.
I think, it was a mistake now knowing how much time is passing within the show. And I do miss having tension(not just longing/yearning) between the leads, and them having to play that down because of the 11 year age difference is much more noticeable. In The Double Wang Xing Yue was 12 years younger than Wu Jin Yan, but at 21 he was able to carry the role better. His age felt more ambiguous than Tian Tian's does here. Its a damn shame that this is going to impact her future more than the others one the project. In an ensemble like Perfect Match, she shined and did well. She should have stuck with some smaller roles or lead roles centered on high school/college. really worried for Ai Mi now...

Im sure im missing a few titles/occupations in there but that's what I can remember.

RIP to the photo uploaders' notifications....tagged most of the photos. though there were waaaaaayyyyy to many repeats for me to continue to tag the same photo with different font.

tagged him in a lot of his drama photos today. mainly just his supporting roles or the dramas with less photos. tackling the dramas with a lot of photos atm just...imma pause. Sorry to all the girlies who have to individually accept the photo tag suggestions. RIP to your inbox/notifications.

the rating is low because of expectations & biases toward the original production of the first part of this story. if you are going in unbiased your personal rating may differ. watch a few epiosdes & see if you like the style & performances.
this director's style is also just not for everyone. he has a habit of having the characters make eye contact with the camera, which is a choice...not gonna be everyones cuppa.

because they are condensing a much longer story.

Zheng He Hui Zi looks like Elizabeth Taylor sometimes.

Question for my regular peeps.
With how poorly this is being received nationally, and it being a multi-platform release, do you think either other platforms would move up the release of one of their upcoming roster to alleviate some of the backlash/scrutiny?
There are still beaucoup actors in the cast list we havent seen neither hide nor hair from. Also, what is up with episode 22 being a speed run on all these 40episode dramas lately?

With the way it was shot I really thought Li Yan was going to wake from a nightmare after touching the throne & it all be a dream prior to him going up to the city wall and killing Li Ce.
I feel like I need to bring a tally board out to countdown the opening credit deaths. aka all the characters in the opening credits and how many are alive vs. dead at any given time.

Saying the line "You only get married once in a lifetime." to a divorcee is wild actually my juice went up my nose. 🤭🤣💀