PeachBlossomGoddess

I am a terrible person

Usually you just need one really good strategist and that was Grandpa Qiao. Divination is a mysterious ancient art of reading omens but its probably less supernatural and more understanding what you already know deep in your own mind/heart. Bc the Qiaos are not strong on the battlefield, they tend to calculate their moves more carefully and a few steps ahead. Whereas the Weis tend take action more quickly. You can see this even in WS and Manman's interactions.

Yes I am sure a lot is lost in translation. The subbers often don't even get to see the visuals, they just get a text file so they may not get all the nuances. The platforms ask for the simplest and most direct translation bc English is wordy than Chinese. So if they do interpretation to capture all the nuances, the text will be longer and will need to be cut up and timed properly instead of just simply following the Chinese subs. This is very time consuming and then international audiences will complain that there are no English subs yet...😅

Ty for reading and your kind feedback😍. I will try to keep up but this year I haven't had as much time to watch many dramas.😅

Tyvm.😘

Happy to be helpful. Its a terrific map, I also have it bookmarked.

Its difficult to have a happy ending for anyone during that time. It was a good drama though not LYN's best work.

I wouldn't really call any of them kingdoms in the proper sense bc at the time, there was maybe one fallen "legitimate" successor kingdom to the Eastern Han dynasty - they were all warlords who seized power and called themselves different titles like governor (Yanzhou) or Warlord/Duke (诸侯, 公) in the case of WS. Chinese people were superstitious at the time and don't dare to simply declare themselves emperor. So even though Cao Cao was arguably the greatest conqueror from that time, he ruled over a puppet emperor, declining to name himself one. His son Cao Pi forced the puppet emperor to abdicate in his favor and made himself (and his father posthumously) emperor.

All of the states and the characters in the drama seem to borrow loosely from historical states and characters. The Qiao family looks a bit like Sun Wu and Shu Han but in history Xiao Qiao was married to Liu Bei of Wu for alliance. They kind of mixed and matched the characters in the novel/drama so I wouldn't really look too closely at what happened in history. That would also make it hard to have a good ending bc during that chaotic time, nothing lasted.

I was not impressed in Heroes 2024. He had no core strength and flopped around so much I cringed. He definitely did not come across as the World No 1 martial artist. His fight scenes were quite awful and looked a lot worse than it was bc his co-lead did have proper martial arts training. Not all the past criticism of his acting is undeserved. But he has been making progress which is good.

Well, to be honest he has an interesting face but he is definitely not the idol actor beauty standard. And he is kind of too tall its hard to fit him in the frame and he had a lot of bad acting habits like slouching or letting his jaw just drop when he thinks the camera is not on him. Sometimes he gives off a very lethargic energy which is really not good. But he fixed a lot of his issues in this drama and where he is strong is in his voice and his lines, they are much better than the average idol actor. He still needs to work on his emotional scenes. This is his best works so far IMHO. The supporting cast also is very important bc good actors elevate the acting all around- he is very well paired in this with SZE, LDD and the four funny generals.

This is VERY loosely based on 3 Kingdoms period of Chinese history. After the Eastern Han dynasty fell, the empire broke up into many (I want to say 16?) separate states controlled by different warlords. Through many wars the powerful warlords consolidated them down into a long period of stalemate between 3 Kingdoms - Wu, Shu and Wei. Wei Shao is said to be VERY loosely based on Cao Cao/Cao Wei kingdom. The time of four states in the drama should correlate to about the 210s period in history. This timeline map showing how it all played out is pretty cool.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Three_Kingdoms_period

The Weis are strong on the battlefield but they are weak on strategy. The Qiaos are strong on strategy but weak on the battlefield. The Weis went to defend a border stronghold assuming the Qiaos would back them up without considering that it would leave the Qiao's capital open to attack. Grandpa made the call not to honor the alliance bc the divination rock just confirmed his own deduction that it could cost them their capital. Did he break his promise? Yes absolutely. But he also defended his capital and his citizens and that his why he told Manman years later he never regretted that decision and if he had to do it again, he would. If the Weis were smart and calculated that the Qiaos wouldn't be able to help them, they'd have just abandoned that city and tried to take it back later. It cost them WS's bro and his father but the Wei capital was intact and the clan remained a force to be reckoned with. You are right Manman's uncle and grandpa may have been cowards but sometimes its better to live to fight another day rather than be brave and dead. Even if they defended the Wei city successfully they could have lost their capital and that is not a risk a responsible leader takes. Grandpa Qiao decided the alliance was not worth risking his capital. I can't really blame him. And as much as it hurt her and cost her too, grandma Wei also got it and that is why she supported the marriage to bury the hatchet.

He is really one of the best supporting actors out there. Even though he has had "bigger" roles in higher profile dramas, I really think this is his most moving performance to date.

Please don't click if you have a heart condition:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/175851560430257081/

Yeah the middle episodes got lost in romantic cliches. But I think ep 24-27 regained some momentum and were better balanced between plot and romance.

I agree, she isn't well written enough to make a good villain. She is two dimensional and her motive just to be empress is like a big yawn. I just can't take her seriously. Acting wise she is also no Liu Duanduan is way better at playing the kind of villain you love to hate.

I think that is bc the express episodes will be out.

I think they are definitely on to her but sometimes you need to keep your enemies closer..

Yes and time and distance will help him get over Manman. Its too bad she doesn't have a younger sister.

Yes clearly that is how it has to play out bc they now need Bianzhou to complete the canal. And I think Wei Yan will be finally happy to be the master of his own destiny.

Yeah she has a the Magic Villain Pass of this drama. There's always one in every story that can pop up anywhere and everywhere including the emperor's bedchamber.