Platinum Fox

Yes, many viewers who didn't like this drama loved The Double. You may enjoy The Prisoner of Beauty.

That's a good question. But I think she would be fully human. An imugi is a spirit that can take on many forms. It doesn't reproduce itself. Gang Cheol was a serpent or dragon in his original form, and then later a human. So it stands to reason that the Jade Emperor allowed him to be an imugi spirit in a human body. So essentially Yeo Ri gets the body of her first love and the spirit of her second love. Also, Yeo Ri will essentially be having Yoon Gap's children. jmo

If you mean a love triangle in that there are several men after our female lead then, yes. If you mean an actual love triangle, than no. And yes a very happy ending.

That's okay. This drama is not for everyone. Hope you find something you will enjoy. You might enjoy The Double. It is very much like this, but very light with a dark undertone.

Happy drama watching.

Beautiful review. I also want to say thank you for your take on the queen's death. While many viewers felt is was wrong and evil. I felt like you, that balance had been restored in the universe. Why should the monarchy not have bad things happen to them, especially when they are the ones who caused it in the first place.

You're right. The queen and the unborn child were innocent victims, but so were the people who were massacred. The universe was righting a wrong. Even the queen understood that. Remember the entire premise of the show is, "If people understood that the decisions they make today will affect future generations, would they make better choices?" If the gg grandfather had sent help to the village, the spirits would have been appeased, but he didn't. The guard pleaded the deities to help them. The deities answered by sending Gang Cheol. Gang Cheol was so angry that he didn't get to ascend that he burned all the crops and hated humans after that. Gang Cheol was a hero who didn't answer the call.

The people in the village were pawns used by the great great grandfather to save his own life. Once they were spirits, they continued to be used as pawns because they only did something when they were called upon by a shaman or someone like him to do evil things (kill a royal). The only way to stop what was happening was for Gang Cheol to help the people which was his destiny in the first place.

Ask yourself, if the spirits were hell bent on getting back at the great great grandfather why not just kill off his entire bloodline? Then the present king wouldn't have even been born. Justice would have been served.

I understand where you are coming from. For me, that is the point of the whole drama. One king's decision didn't just decide the fate of the people in the village, but also caused a ripple effect 100 years into the future.

Many viewers here believe all murder is wrong. It doesn't matter the reason why. In this instance, what is justice? What needs to happen to make what happened 100 years ago right.

When Bibi eats these corrupt officials, it appears to be a good thing. However, he is essentially taking in all their essence. He is cultivating hate, jealousy, and rage. His jealousy and rage do not hit its peak until he eats the minister of war (the one who stabs Yun Gap). It is after that event that Bibi starts to become jealous and makes plans to get rid of Yeo Ri. It is why Yeo Ri stops Bibi from eating the officials as she understands what the consequences are. You are what you eat.

Gang Cheol meditated for 1000 years, what did he cultivate, nothing. Once he starts interacting with the humans, he starts cultivating love and kindness. He was the exact opposite of this at the beginning of the drama. If the 8 ft. creature had eaten Gang Cheol's moonlit pearl at the time of the fight, it would have been the end of the 8 ft creature.

If you notice, once the 8 ft. creature ate the pearl its rage, hate, and jealousy became more powerful. That is what the blind shaman wanted.

The fantasy genre is about redemption. the first official that we see Bibi eat had no chance at redemption. The minister of war was never going to change. Consequently, Bibi begins to be jealous.

Yes, I have to agree with you. The writing of the final fight scenes were very poorly written and made the whole thing drag out too long. I almost stopped right there. If I had, I would have missed the final "twist".

One hundred years ago, the palace guard prayed to the deities for help. The deities in heaven sent Gang Cheol. However, Gang Cheol, who was filled with rage and hate for humans, did not answer the call. Under the guise of saving Yeo Ri, Gang Cheol uses up his essence. When he uses up his essence, he fulfills his destiny and can ascend. That is why Yeo Ri is needed for his ascension. This was the final twist in the story.

Thanks for the discussion.

As I wrote to the person above, Gang Cheol didn't sacrifice himself for Yeo Ri, he sacrificed his pearl to save the Celestial General and the Colossal Shadow from eternal damnation. It was his way of ascending.

Having your entire family, friends, relatives, and entire village killed for no reason isn't consequence enough?

MilicaB, it is in episode 16. around the middle of the episode. Yeo Ri and In Seon are talking about Yeo Ri's second ring. Yeo Ri tells In Seon that her and Gang Cheol are getting married and Yeo Ri gave In Seon a talisman to find a handsome husband. In Seon doesn't care about love, just that her man has to be handsome.

I don't think the child was a literal baby (like just born). The child to me looked to be a small child (around 9-12 months). By that time children have a full head of hair. Also, I have seen babies 4-9 months have full heads of hair.

Don't know where you are in the drama, but keep going.

My husband said the same thing about the girl in pink and I have to agree as well.

I agree with you. The drama was saying that children should be able to develop their talents and not be pigeonholed into gender roles.

It is interesting that you bring up the prank on the noble girls. You do remember that mom was not going to punish Niao Niao for that incident. It was dad's idea to punish NN. He even made up the plan to where he would be the bad guy, and mom stepped in and said, "If you do this she will hate you, do you want that?" Dad then allowed mom to do the paddling. Mom even gave NN a way out, but NN doesn't take it. Even NN realizes that mom has been right all along, she must learn to accept responsibility for her actions, no matter what the reasons for doing them. Was it funny what NN did to the noble girls, yes! Did the noble girls deserve it, yes! However, someone could have gotten seriously hurt in that incident. Because no one did, the noble families did not pursue the matter. If they had, the Wan's and Cheng's could have been kicked out of the capital because of what Niao Niao did. So, for me, when corporal punishment was part of disciplining a child, the paddling was deserved. We later learn that "the beating" didn't even break the skin. Niao Niao just couldn't sit for three days. They even gave her ointment to put on her bruises.

After that incident, you will notice that Niao Niao is no longer angry at her mother and doesn't try to defy her. She does think that she is being sent to go live with her aunt because of military discipline, but mom is smarter than that. She understands that Niao Niao's dream is to see the world, and she also needs to understand why mom and dad left her home all those years ago.

As for Consort Yue and the empress, we do know how they raised their children. Consort Yue hit, kicked, called her children stupid, and belittled them as well. The empress was so kindhearted that she didn't even discipline her daughter, so her daughter felt that she was entitled to do anything she wanted, just because she was a princess. When Consort Yue slaps her, that is the first time the princess has been physically disciplined, and she still talks back to the parental figures. Even right up to the point of going into her house, she still says mom and dad will back down after awhile. It is only when she goes into the house and sees her dead harem that she realizes that mom and dad are serious this time. But had she been disciplined before this, they wouldn't have had to go to such extremes.

Finally, repeatedly you have talked about humiliation. The biggest point of contention about this is the marriage proposal. But let's analyze those scenes. To do that we need to start before that when all the girls are sitting in a room and NN is the last in the row. All the girls are commenting and describing her as being unruly, illiterate, and a commoner. Notice Niao Niao gets out of there as soon as possible by claiming she needs to go the bathroom. She is humiliated because what the girls are saying is true. Now, fast forward to when Ling Bu Yi springs the marriage proposal on the family. The emperor, who is so wrapped up in LBY getting married, backs the family into a corner by saying just try to go against my will. Remember that the emperor and empress have only heard about Niao Niao through LBY and he is biased. When mom describes her daughter, she is only repeating NN's reputation in the capital. What mom is saying is true. Her daughter is unruly, illiterate, and lower in status than LBY. Was mom supposed to lie to the emperor about her daughter? You are talking about the royal family. Reputation is everything and what mom said was NN's reputation.

From the very beginning Niao Niao is different than the other girls. Mom tries to get her to fit in, but NN resists. If all the girls had been able to develop their talents and use them to help the world, there would have been far less bullying.

You may not care whether mom loved her daughter or not, but mom did take action to change Niao Niao. Did she make a lot of mistakes, yes. Did she use several different ways of disciplining her, yes. But in the end, Niao Niao and HBY were able to finish what the parents started.

Thank you for the discussion. I do understand where you are coming from, but I understand why mom did what she did.

Yes, Zhao Lu Si normally plays her own teenage character, but she couldn't in this one.

I see that you are new to MDL, welcome and happy drama watching.

The girl who plays the 14 year old Sang Zhi was indeed 11 when she filmed this. They needed the actress for her height to show how much Sang Zhi grew in height during the three year temporal node.

Fun fact: the same actress plays the child version of Zhao Lu Si's character in Who Rules the World and The Story of Pearl Girl.

Don't worry, you are not the first one to feel "icky" about those opening scenes, but it is intentional by the writers. Happy drama watching.

For me, the plot was simple, but carries a very powerful message. One that all leaders in the world should do.

For me, the drama had three main points about parenting. Number one, you are showing love to your children when you discipline them. No two children are alike and disciplining them will require using different methods. Parents must figure out which disciplinary actions will work best for each child. For examples, to discipline Yang Yang all you had to do was look at her in an intimidating way. However, to make Niao Niao understand, mom had to take a different approach. Two, parenting should be done at any age, especially if it will harm the family. This is why Qi Qi's grandmother whipped her son after he refused to give Ling Bu Yi the Shu map. Three, it doesn't matter if you are commoner, noble, or royalty, discipline is a must. Discipline is what makes us become better human beings. In order for the 5th princess to become a decent human being, the emperor had to kill her entire harem.

Is Niao Niao's mother a perfect mother, no. Did she make mistakes in disciplining Niao Niao, yes, but you can tell that she loved her daughter very much and wanted the best for her, and this is what the original poster was asking. Did the mother love her daughter? I say yes because mom was willing to take on the responsibility of teaching her child the difference between right and wrong even at such a late age. She wanted to make sure that Niao Niao would become a productive member of society.

From your response about Consort Yue and the empress, I can see that you had some very different take a ways from this drama and that is okay. We also have very different definitions of abuse both physical and mental.

I love this drama just for these reasons. There is so much to discuss. Thank you for the discussion. Happy drama watching.

You're welcome and totally agree. I do believe that viewers will be very surprised at the way this will end.