Saffy88

Bad lazy writing by scriptwriters. In the novel apparently her motivations are clearer. But right now in the drama she’s coming across as a vacillating yo-yo with emotional amnesia/concussion. They are just using her as a plot device now. Poor BL got another script which crapped on her.

If only they could have toned down the white makeup too - at times he looks like he could belong in an episode of Twilight: the ancient China/xianxia version

Yes soooo few scriptwriters seem to be able to keep a FL strong and consistent esp in costume cdramas. Even if they start off strong and sassy, they get dumbed down/go schizo halfway thru. Like I said - big F- for the scriptwriters

Yes the scriptwriters not up to the task of fleshing out the complexity and internal conflicts of the characters : F- for the scriptwriters............

Yups it sucks that it happens so often with highly-anticipated dramas and favourite actors. Oh well let's see how it goes in the remaining portion of the drama. At the very least we'll still have seen BL and LYX having lots of onscreen time together.

Yes the fact that they can still rise above the shitty scripts is something noteworthy. Just sad that in the end they'll still be captive to bad storylines. Wish there wasn't such a mismatch between great acting talent and lousy scripting.

Yes, it's like she's jinxed. So often she lands what seems to be a fantastic. meaty role - it starts out well but then something happens and it never quite lives up to the initial promise. It's not through any fault of hers cos she's great and attacks her roles with gusto. She just hasn't had the fate yet to meet a truly great scriptwriter(s) esp for wuxia/xianxia who is worthy of her.

Feels like BL has had the bad luck to get a script that's failing her......again!

And/or bad editing leaving plot blackholes...................

Agreed. At this point her characterisation feels totally superficial - and we're already more than halfway thru' the series. Like I said before, BL has got such great potential, but she just has bad luck with her scripts - they often fail her.

Feel the same way. YXW is swinging like a yo-yo with emotional amnesia...........can't get a lock on her character development. She and TTJ also seem to be going nowhere new.

I'm having trouble with YXW's character at this point too - she's vacillating like a yo-yo with emotional amnesia. It's like the screenwriter doesn't know how to properly develop her character and is just using her as a plot device to drive other developments.

And you're right, what's with the grandma plot and her murder?

Or were there elements that were cut out leaving weird plot holes?

Yes, YXW's character is not written properly as the screenwriter did not work out her motivations and conflicts in a consistent and believable way. At one moment she's off condemning him and remembering him as the evil demon god, next moment she's forgotten about that and is playing house with him etc etc. Also the way she is so happy about the appearance of the nails........big sigh.

Basically, her dilemma which should be fleshed out is similar to that of a spy/foreign agent operating in what she believes to be enemy territory and having to use honeypot/honeytrap to target her perceived enemy. But this is not coming across in a consistent and emotionally believable way.

It's problematic - Bai Lu has such great potential but the scripts she gets often fail her.

His love thread has only started developing so he wouldn't be too affected by her mojo. Also he can see right through her and knows she's just out to use him. He's still super guarded against everyone except YXW so BC can just dream on...............As far as I can tell, the love thread doesn't make the victims go stupid and fall for the person no matter what they are like or what they do, just makes them biassed towards the person and more likely to fall in love with them.

In the world of TTEOTM one needs love threads to be able to feel love and other emotions. Those love threads can also be given away or stolen. BC who has somehow obtained an extra love thread is able to make everyone fall in love with her - I guess you could think of it as levelling up your love mojo😄

TTJ doesn't have any love threads, but as the drama progresses it starts developing through his interaction with YXW/LSS.

Yes we can all agree that the charcterisation of women still has a long way to go.

But I wasn't thinking romcoms per se - just in general kdramas seem to be developing in interesting ways. There's the Witch's Romance where the FL is very assertive. The super awesome Alchemy of Souls (which I think of as k-wuxia/xianxia) has a female lead who's not exactly innocent and she's super assertive too. Mu Deok reminded me so much of Bai Lu's Lu Zhao Yao in The Legends. Just that that storyline descended into a bit of a farce when they started exploding BL every few eps........I remember thinking this is what BL's role should have been if executed correctly when I was watching AOS.

Oh I would also be remiss if didn't highlight some modern cdramas which portray women better and more realistically: The Rational Life and Delicious Romance for eg.

Someone shared this link earlier - am going to reshare again cos it so made my day 😍: https://youtu.be/LdYSB1Dgzuw

Actually I find kdrama quite interesting in that aspect and/or developing in interesting ways. They're not shying away from pairing older female leads with younger male leads, even tho' this is still seen as a major no-no by Asian audiences and female viewers will be especially vitriolic about this. As an Asian woman, really have a tough time understanding why they go all nuts over that instead of celebrating it - so duhh. The kdrama female leads also don't get dumbed down halfway thru the series which happens way too often in cdramas esp. costume dramas and are allowed to be morally gray and assertive in relationships.

As a fan of cdrama I too hope the characterisation of female leads will get better. Someone like Bai Lu for eg who's so awesome at being the bossy, kickass heroine really shines in those kind of roles - just a pity that the writing and storylines seldom do her justice.

Ah well, but then there's Michelle Yeoh, my fellow countrywoman, who's just made history breaking thru' some important glass ceilings in Hollywood and she's now coming back as the evil dominatrix empress in Star Trek! YAY!!!!💪💪💪

Oh boogers...........

That line about how fine a line it is between being devil or a god when they encounter the sleeping dragon kind of applies here I think. Humans too can go either way - how much is due to fate/circumstance and how much is due to individual choice?

There’s part 2 with 16 eps