PeachBlossomGoddess

Ok... you catch up and I will c u here... I think @Skibbies is lurking also. 😎😎😎

No stay my friend... I am so sad that you and so many other interesting commenters we know who are currently watching are avoiding this thread due to the unmarked spoilers.

There are an increasing number of unmarked spoilers recently even though many users have requested spoilers to be hidden. Even though everyone is very excited about this show, it is really not cool to drop such huge hints like the gender of one of the key villains in unmarked spoilers. I understand people want to discuss and I suggest you post the general topic you are discussing - ie Assassin's identity or the episode nos and then hide the specifics in a spoiler below. Please let's watch this together without ruining others fun.

For those of you who don't know, you can report spoilers comments - just hit the downward arrow on the upper right hand corner of the offensive comment (next to Reply). If a few people report the same comment, MDL will cover it.

"Please, no more flashbacks and love osts. "
Couldn't agree more. I wish they further developed the dynamics between the three of them instead. That was getting so much more interesting than done before romance tropes - it is like three's company and four is a crowd.

IMHO nope even though that's what Luoyang production is trying super hard to project. They are both based on work produced by the same novelist, who is very good but that is about it. But this director does not have anything near Cao Dun's cinematic finesse although he is also not saddled with his tiresome digressions. And it is a different screenwriter. The research into the historical detail and accuracy is not as good and as others have pointed out there are numerous costume and prop anachronisms. But the storytelling so far is much more focused on the mystery and it doesn't veer abruptly into cultural and patriotic arcs just romantic ones.

I think in this matter Longest Day in Changan got it just right. There was a tad of attraction or a spark between the two leads but that was it, it didn't get in the way of the story.

To be honest I wish they had not gone with any romance in this and stuck with the mystery. I was not thrilled with this week’s melodrama with Bingzhu and Siyue either. Why does every male lead have to vow not to marry or have kids? That’s three too many in a row for me.

Indeed I haven’t found one to top this one either and was tempted to rewatch this after NPE. And haha yes this should be a must watch for any spouse!

It could be that Wu Shenxing is Wu Sansi I thought that scene was suggestive as well. I was just being superficial about it since they cast someone so old as Wu Shenxing I just can’t see him being toy boy to both women. Whereas Wu Youjue is dressed more like a gigolo and he looks more attractive (strictly on a relative basis). But that is a silly shallow reason Wu Sansi could well be the other guy…

In addition to LDC try Ancient Detective. Lower budget.

It is not only not dubbed over (except in places) it is on site recorded.

For those of you enjoying Huang Xuan's performance here, he was also amazing in a very different role as one of the main leads in this year's Mining Town, one of the best dramas I watched this year. It is also onset recorded with no over-dubbing and you can hear Huang Xuan speaking Ningxia dialect.
https://mydramalist.com/65373-minning-town

Really enjoyable article. I think most of the characters you have highlighted can be described as anti-heroes, which always tend to be my favorites in fiction. I would also throw in Ning Yi from The Rise of Phoenixes as well.

No worries it’s just a guess I could be wrong. He could still be the bad guy though… maybe that is how he ends up with the throne. The truth is they are probably all ambitious if not outright bad guys so it’s just a matter of who wins?

It’s good. I don’t think highly of Wang Yibo’s acting either but he has produced some good scenes and overall he is not terrible. And in any case he is not the lead Huang Xuan is and he is terrific and so is Song Qian even though I had my doubts about her. More importantly the story is intriguing and the camerawork is quite good when it’s not spinning crazily.

The current Crown Prince is modeled after Li Xian or Emperor Zhongzong whose second wife Empress Wei and his concubine Consort Shangguan Wan’er were both lovers with Wu Tzetian’s nephew Wu Sansi (yups that would be Siyue’s brother Wu Youjue). The consort is Secretary Huan in the drama. Both nephews Wu Sansi and Wu Chengsi (in the drama Wu Shenxing (King Jin)) vied to succeed Wu Tzetian.

In that case Prince Dong Chuan must be Li Longji who eventually gains the throne. You can figure out the rest of who is who from there.

And my wildest guess - Liu Ran’s father is no other than Di Renjie.

This is a very fictionalized account of events that took place during Wu Tzetian’s reign so many characters names have been changed so as not to distort history. I have some ideas on who is actually who that is in the spoiler below - don’t open if you don’t want to be potentially spoiled even though it’s just speculation for now:

Yeah it’s great how she just told him off!!!
I think he is just faking it, he doesn’t trust the prince either and he just means to spy on them.

So this is beginning to take shape.It looks like the Li clan and the Wu clan are locked in some kind of succession or power struggle. While the Lis are the legitimate heirs, since Wu Tzetian named her dynasty Wuzhou, her clan must start to get ideas that they could also legitimately succeed her. It is still not clear however who (if either) the Chunqiu Order represents. At surface they rail at the emperor for atrocities against the her sons (the Lis) and their supporters but they seem too obvious and too loud about it. Maybe it is to obfuscate their true alliance with the Wu clan (King Jin?).

Oh you mean that one... yeah its revealed already in ep 9. There is another masked hooded dude from Chunqiu sect.