MadelineMaureen

It's light, but not too light, watching. It's keeping me engaged. Objectively I know that the quality isn't as strong as other shows I've watched, but they've polished it just enough to not make those flaws too distracting. well...outside of the crackerjack box temp tattoos left and right. I'm like throw some translucent powder over the tattoos to dull them up...why are they so darn shiny.
I feel like so far it's your average idol drama. Not too taxing on the brain or eyes, just compelling enough to keep tuned in.

1. Okay so, Luo Zhi Zhou grew up with the male lead, Xuan Lie. He is in love with the consort(royal concubine) of the king. So LZZ is attempting to prevent Xuan Lie from participating in the Wolf Lord trails. I don't think he wants him dead, just not able to take up the Wolf Lord title. So my questions are.
a. Is he wanting the title for himself?
b. If he(LZZ) prevents him(XL) from getting the title is it so he(LZZ) can be closer to the king to take him out so he(LZZ) can be with his first love(the concubine of the king)?
c. I've looked at the correlation chart and it looks like female leads new maid Dong Yin, is actually the servant of Luo Zhi Zhou, so I'm assuming she was the one who planted the letter in Shao Qi Min's room as she would be the only one to know that Jun Qi Luo(Female Lead) is after the black stone/crystal/ore thingamabob.
d. Following up, he is an orphan and leader of his clan right? His mother was a foreigner so he has a soft spot for them...like the maid, and possibly the concubine(can't tell were she comes from and if they said I missed it)
Observation: I just feel like he is wanting power for his own personal issues with the king and it doesn't have much to do with the death of Xuan Lie's parents. I feel he's more tiring to neutralize Xuan Lie, not wipe him from the board completely.

2. Now Xi Mao and his father 100% want Xuan Lie dead dead.
a. Do they have something to do with the death of XL's parents? Has that been made clear yet?

3. The totem tattoo people....who do they belong to?
a. Who are they serving. The Xi or the Luo side of things?
b. Did Luo Zhi Zhou know that they were in the forest went he tricked Xuan Lie into the forest, or was it just a coincidence?

If you read all that, seriously bless, and thanks. I want to discuss the show but know that topics don't really get looked at by everyone because it's not a feature on the mobile app. So I'm trying my luck in the comment section. I'm just hoping some of the people I've watched shows with previously are watching and see this SOS.

I'm about 16-17 minutes into episode 10 and need some clarifications to make sure I'm following correctly as I decided it was a good idea to try and watch this while working earlier & I fear I either missed an earlier clue to something or it was only just revealed in episode 10 so if you haven't watched up until that episode please don't open the spoiler tag below as there appears to be a few twists and turns and I don't want those ruined. Also, it's a lot of questions, so like, unless this is your new hyperfixation feel free to just keep scrolling.

it's supposed to be a birthmark which makes it 100% worse than if it were ssupposed to be a tattoo. I'm only a bit in to episode 2 but am enjoying it so far, but if i see that "birthmark" again I will be cackle laughing the whole time.

What in the cracker box temporary tattoos was that? 🤣🤣🤣🤣💀 Y'all I'm dead. I can't.

I was expecting the sound of a red tailed hawk to play tbh.(for those who don't know, typically the sound used for an egal is actually the sound of a red tailed hawk)

I honestly think the prince would have castrated Liu Chang had it not hurt his daughter's feelings that Liu Chang wouldn't be able to get it up for her. Aka my daughter can't have children, so neither will you be able to have children with another. Instead he just crippled him for possible life as LC's leg wasn't properly treated after being broken. So he will most likely live with chronic pain and limp for life, unless he rebreaks his leg and sets it properly for healing. But a thighbone break like that could have actually been a death sentence.

Oh I know that feature, use it on the daily.
I'm saying that there isn't a per-episode cast breakdown where each person is credited for only the episodes they appear in like there is on IMDB. Unless the person adding the credit it MDL annotates the episodes or adds a description for the character we are s.o.l on finding someone in the cast list. (Example: David Harbour was in 2 episodes of Law & Order Criminal Intent. Season 4 episode 8 as Wesley John Kenderson and Season 8 episode 9 as Paul Devildis.) It's extremely helpful for character actors who mainly do supporting or guest appearances in shows.
Also with no photo tags even if there is a photo of them in costume you have to go back and forth from their headshot on their page to the picture on the show page and try and match the actor to the photo.....as photo shop and other things are heavily used in some productions/photos that fans add, lets just say sometimes people do not look like themselves.

I think that he respects her and knows that he is in a position of power over her, and doesn't want to muddy her feelings by forcing his on her. He loved his mother very much and watched her suffer after being told how much she was loved by her husband only for him to later bring in a concubine. He would rather suffer in silence than bring her the pain he knows would come from not being able to keep his promises....as is proof when the prince forces a concubine on him now that he is married.
Also, he doesn't want to bring her even more into the tangled political web that he and the Emperor are trying to untangle.
So basically doesn't want to loose her friendship and doesn't want to pressure her with his true feelings. Like the cat that roams the mansion freely he want's Mu Dan to feel able to do the same.

Yes there is a season 2. The ending had writing telling viewers to look forward to the next chapter.

We think possibly summertime. No press statement confirming yet.

The guard told him Mu Dan was marrying Jiang Chang Yang and that he couldn't compare to his power/standing. The food that was delivered was like a wedding announcement from Mu Dan and JCY, the prince sent it to the cell as a final blow. 2ML was at first confused as he hadn't agreed to marry into the princesses house hold yet, thinking the cakes were for HIS wedding to the princess.
At least that was the overall theme of the convo. It was what motivated him to eat and take the son-in-law position. He now wants power so that he can choose for himself later on.
The prince has humiliated him in some way publicly, can't be 100% as the subs were reallllyyy bad at that section. But he is being forced to marry into his wife's family, have no concubines, all while fully aware that the princess can't have children...aka ending his family line which is like PARAMOUNT for a scholar.

To add on. I wish that MDL could implement something with credits like IMDB does on their site(two very different sites so totally understand WHY it doesn't exist as a feature btw)
I wish I could look up a specific episode and see which guest stars were in the episode. Also with we were able to tag an actors page in the photo sections of dramas that would link back to a specific actors photos throughout the site. As there are so many times I end up trying to goolge what an actor looked like in a drama as sometimes styling is so varied they might not be recognizable. Pretty much I wish there were proper photo credits listed for each photo for research purposes. Yes, this is slightly nerdy, but it's an extremely useful tool for memory.

Going back through the cast list....I am recognizing a lot of actors from other shows I've seen, but for the life of me could not tell you where they showed up in this drama. 😬 Either I wasn't paying attention, they had good styling that made me see a character and not an actor OR they weren't actually in this season. Maybe they were in like one or two episodes but just missed them....I know I'll be rewatching this anyway, but now I'm going to be looking out for people that I usually would go "Oh I know that guy/girl!"

That almost year long montage all I kept thinking is, there is no way he was able to dodge that concubine for that long successfully. Which as a romance girlie made me sad. I'm sure what has and hasn't happened with them will be discussed in season 2. So I'm trying to not let my imagination run wild.

It's a Star Trek reference. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redshirt_(stock_character)
Here's a link to the full definition.

Although the drama did suffer in the writing from some idol drama tropes that weren't necessarily in the source material, the overall production was very high and well executed. Actors did their jobs well, as well as all other on set departments. Some of the editing/cinematography had some baby dips here and there, but you wouldn't really notice unless you were looking for it. As that's something I look at with a production of this level I noticed.

Even with the large 56 episodes ordered I think it exceeded Love Like the Galaxy in it's level of maintaining high quality lighting and cinematography. (Love Like the Galaxy is the only other show of that length from China that I've watch, which is the only reason I bring it up for reference.)

I just really loved the lighting throughout this whole 32 episodes so far. Seriously, directors, please take a page out of this director and the director of Blossom books for lighting a scene in period dramas.

Also huge shout out to the VFX team as they really did the damn thing. "What VFX?" you might ask...and to that I would say, exactly. The best VFX are the kind that go unnoticed by the viewer. Those transition shots of the city going from day to night back to daytime...loved that it wasn't just a static shot with nothing happening.

Needs to get over his infatuation with Mu Dan first. Also with how different their social classes are, unless A Chun gets demoted like Mu Dan was there isn't a chance in hell that her father would allow her to marry a sickly servant. He's not a slave, but he is just above that.
I just know that he will be a new pot stirrer.
Add in the other new canon fodder with Ms. Tang and the 3 women who start working for Mu Dan....In my mind every time someone new popped up in the last few episodes I was like "Welcome to the Red Shirt team, may the odds be ever in your favor. "

Ever had a mooncake? They are extremely dense. I never judge actresses anymore when they nibble on the molded pastries...it's a lot of food packed in a very small space.

Spoilers....



He's Mr. Third btw

Truly. Miles is doing a really good job at making his character believable. That complete ignorance/selfishness when it comes to Mu Dan's future/safety...his moral high horse and how he feels betrayed by his own family numerous times. How he now sees his past lover as a pawn that he has to put up with. He just nailed this character.