ShortCircuit

First episode said, Guardians of the Dafeng, SEASON 1. I guess we'll see if there's more.

When she left the morgue, I thought she was going to go John Wick on Zhang Yi.

Why did the minster flee, though? Did he know what his son did? Was he in on it all?

...Poor Heng Hui and poor princess - how on Earth did they think they would make a run for it? Both were way too naive.

But LOL @XQA's seeing the Gold Gongs, hahaha~ they were all bloody except for Yang Yan (because he's awesome like that) and then there's the extra-boastful Alchemist, he might even out-boast XQA if he put his mind to it, and XQA had his "dis-gus-ting!" expression on throughout the whole thing, ah, pot, kettle, you know :D

On ep 2, if he loves her so much (as implied by certain scenes), why the heck was he abusing her for the past three years?! What he did to her - continues doing so far - is nothing less than psychological abuse. Every overture she made, he slapped down. He talked her down, never shown her a hint of care, not mentioning affection, why the heck does he do that? It's not like if people know they're married she'd become an instant target but EVEN if she were to become one... why not show her affection in private?!

I just don't get his mindset.

The more I think of it, the more I believe it's just a metaphor - obviously they could use it for a hook on a third season, if there's ever another one. But the "evil twin" Shen Yi has the same hairstyle as the younger Shen Yi who made the portrait of Du Cheng's captain and led to his death, and the scene is so eerily similar to what happened to the captain - I guess it's meant to show that "younger" Shen Yi was at a crossroads before meeting Du Cheng, and he could have easily walked the other path, leading to him eventually becoming a villain. But instead, they did meet, and he IS anchored in reality by Du Cheng, so now he's on the good guys' side, using his genius for good things.

And wants to be a Princess' slave LOL.

He already slipped once, the people in the sects aren't stupid, I think they figured out that Er Di is also XQA and also Chen XuNan, a man who lives and dies by his name :D

He's yet to tell them he's Yang Ling, and who knows if he'll keep inventing more identities :D

And the "what can this mirror also do" scenes were hilarious - he was like, WHAT! Why didn't I know that?! :D

The Emperor really didn't like the little dragon getting so friendly with XQA...

I feel so bad for poor Heng Hui... does this mean the princess is also gone?

BUT! There are so many plot threads that didn't seem related and have come up as being related a lot, I like that. It didn't even look like they were setting things up, but now it looks like a large canvass and Wei Yuan is playing a huge game of chess with the Emperor on it.

That might be my mistake - I didn't watch any trailers, just read the synopsis and didn't bother with the tags too much (a lot of times they're not really close to what the drama really is about, so...)

Have fun with this one :)

"I've been watching dramas for 10 years now", LOL, I've been watching dramas for 25+ years now, what is this, a kindergarten size-up contest? :D

FYI, I've also watched The Silent Sea, and it also suffered from non-science in the interest of visuals and awe-creating nonsense. Not that it matters here.

I have NOT yet made up my mind over this drama, since I'm yet to finish the first ep. I am waiting to see how it does in future eps and what the main interest of the plot is - because yes, I don't much care about rom-coms no matter where they're placed, on Earth, on the Moon, on the ISS or wherever.

I'm glad you liked it, it must suit your taste - the first half of the ep I tried to watch did not suit mine, and that's all there is to it, for now.

Seriously, it's the same person? :D

I usually don't recognise people so fast, I guess he did make an impression (or I just watched that MV way too many times, LOL). Thanks for confirming!

The first ep is interesting enough. I guess we'll see how it goes, though the premise of the marriage is kind of strange, LOL. I hope they make it a good story (I've been burned by hyped dramas before).

Just wanted to comment because the actor who does the British Ambassador looked to me a lot like the person who played the doctor in the Ice on My Teeth MV, LOL. It would be wild (to me anyway) if it's the same actor :D

Thank you for your input. I never liked slapstick and burlesque comedy myself, and that won't change, LOL. Especially when it's something related to space - it should be either done in good taste or not at all (and I obviously could avoid stories that don't fit my tastes in that, but I had different expectations from this, based on the synopsis).

Anyway. Had I known this was mostly rom-com, I would've lowered my expectations (to zero). As it is... I'll wait it out and see.

What is really expected, particularly on certain dramas' threads on MDL, is that some watchers will take it personally when other people do not like it to the stars and back and then start attacking the person for their likes, dislikes and forming an opinion different than theirs. That's why I even mentioned some of the things that were said about people who didn't go gaga over this drama instantly - insulting the person isn't going to make the story more engaging.

But then, I seriously don't really care all that much. It's such a huge dramaworld out there, there's always something different on offer anyway.

I am almost 50, tiktok never got me. 2001 A Space Odyssey is one of the movies I think did science well, if we're talking long intro space movies. Not this drama, not so far.

But you do you. I guess you skipped all science lessons in school. Too entertained by social media, I presume?

You know that story of how NASA spent millions (in today's money) to produce a pen that would write in space (no gravity) and the Soviets just used pencils? (That is partly true, LOL, astronauts eventually turned back to pencils too, but the pen still was produced). It's just overkill - why would they need a weapon in a space station/space ship of any kind, are they arresting some space criminal?! :D They should just use some pointy tool instead (I thought those were golf clubs they were using to drag objects closer, one of those would suffice).

But then, maybe the science of it all won't matter.

Is this your first cinderfella/cinderella kdrama, then?!

Ah, nevermind, I don't really care, I won't be watching it yet (if ever) until it gets deeper into what it's trying to be. If it remains slapstick comedy mostly, I'll just give it a pass. It's not what I want in a drama that should be developing in freaking SPACE. Maybe they don't want to focus on anything scientific (or not too explicitly), but focusing on cheesy rom-coms instead is disappointing. I guess it'll become clearer with more eps.

Once upon a time (basically until about two years ago), MOST characters in cdramas were dubbed by other people (and in a few cases, themselves, if they had the time). It was done because 1. the filming is done in noisy environments and the whole sound line is re-done in studio and 2. some of the actors do not have the correct Mandarin (that means they speak with a pronounced accent that doesn't fit the origins of their character for example). So they just employed voice actors and re-did the voices for mostly everybody.

Then the censors cracked down on that and now everybody (usually) dubs themselves. There are still exceptions (like, if they're a busy actor/actress and don't have the time to be in the studio) but not all that many.

In TU, the VA dubbing was still the norm, so most of them are dubbed by other people. In more recent works, you can hear their own actual voices.

Sad to say, 22 minutes into the first ep I got bored out of my mind and decided to just browse some news sites instead. Returned for a few more minutes and it got downright burlesque... I am not into that kind of stories. I guess I'll be waiting for more eps.

On the plus side, there were some beautiful shots. On the down side... it's boring as heck. And there are way too many clichees in just a half hour. Extra note: no, sound still doesn't freaking travel in space...

ETA I feel I should add, for the "you just don't get it, it's too deep for you", "you don't have the attention span", "you're a hater" commenters that I am trained in STEM and love space movies or dramas done right (sf&f fan here, too), I get easily hooked if my interest is caught and that I actually like the FL (the little I've seen of her in that half hour.) I like LMH too (watched quite a lot of his dramas, even those that weren't nominally successful). I guess I had too high expectations for this. I didn't know it would be that comedic, comedy isn't my cup of tea. I really wanted something more about space and less about cinderfellas.

ETA2 LOL, there was someone who commented, got mad all by themselves, took a parting shot and blocked me. Good riddance, enjoy your life :)

(Haven't read the novel) Wei Yuan had a relationship with the current Empress when she wasn't married to the Emperor. I guess the Emperor is well aware. Also, he already got some flack when he had to defend Xu Qi'An previously in court (because he's an irreverent asshole - good heart, misplaced court politics, despite being an excellent worker LOL). People already accused him - in court, in front of the Emperor - that he's favouring XQA over nobles. Wei Yuan himself is a commoner (that's why the Empress' father rejected their relationship).

And he has such a huge amount of people to defend, not just XQA - he has the two closest Gold Gongs that he's an adoptive father to, he has straight-laced people like Li YuChun, he has good-hearted people like the two Copper Gongs that befriended XQA, and so on, and so forth. And then there's the actual mission - not just the policing, but the shadows games, the different types of sects trying to play power games in the background, etc.

It's not always as simple as "what is right is always the most important". People with power tend to abuse it, and one can't fight against them in the open all the time.

The reason to punish XQA wasn't to assert authority, it was to enforce existing - if maybe flawed - rules. Otherwise, everyone (and particularly those who were already inclined to not follow rules) might feel entitled to just decide every case based on gut feelings or greased palms, and there aren't all that many XQAs to get reigned in by morals and ethics.

It's the mine case from before - he knew the Kui people were digging and then moving on after getting lots of saltpeter (needed for explosives) but didn't report it to the Imperial Censors. The beast that got into the derelict mine used one of the places they had dug up.

Awww, he's growing up and doing adults' business now. (Don't tell me, I've just jinxed it, he'll go right back to being a total dork in the next eps, LOL).

Is the Grand Princess No. 1? (How would she turn her voice into a man's though?)

Li YuChun, everyone's hero... I thought it was all a setup to clean up the Guardians and the bad apples, but I guess not really. At least we have some advances in the plot :D