ShortCircuit

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

They both have brother issues, LOL. That's what's linking them the most.

On ep 10... Feng QiaoShuo just said - his father first called the Flower Medallion, "Ai Feng" (guess how you pronounce that hahaha~) but later, because his mom didn't like it, changed it to "Hua Wei" OMG LOL they're doing promotions in an ancient China fantasy ROFLMAO.

That was subtle as heck :D

So far, I totally GET IT, why she's struck by his beauty randomly. I get the same feeling. This man... Wow. And then there's Bai XiaoSheng's random INSPEC-SHUUUUUN!!! moments, I am actually laughing aloud :D

I think I'll have to look up the novel.

PS Riley Wang is also so damn fiiiiiiine. (He's fine in FoF too, half-nekkid and completely wet, LOL, but there's just that something about him hahaha~) He and HMH also have a lot of chemistry, I'm just glad HMH has great chemistry with the FL too, because hot daaaaaaamn. The man is fire. ETA Wait, I now remember he had chemistry with himself, too, in FoF, when he was battling the dark Zhu Yan, hahaha~ He's a whole chemical plant all by himself :D

He is one of the Gold Gongs in the Guardians and one of Wei Yuan's adopted children (I can't tell yet if it's honorary or actually adopted, but he keeps calling WY "Yifu"), and Wei Yuan randomly gave Xu Qi'An to him, then he and other Gold Gongs started fighting over XQA, LOL. He looks to be one of the consistently present charas in this, IMHO (haven't read the novel.)

But yeah, Fan ShiQi definitely gained at least one more fan with this :D

The way XQA's schemes keep blowing up in his face, LOL. He and Lu YuQin are now brothers forever hahaha~

Did the sword react to XQA's presence though?... I was ready to believe the Emperor was No. 1, but I guess not after all. He's not Lord Wei either...

But I live for the bickering between No 2 and No 4 - these two should up and marry already, to keep bickering in a more fitting environment LOL.

Fan ShiQi is killing it as Yang Yan. I want to be in this guy's team. I want to be this guy's secretary. I want to see this guy fighting, smirking, talking and sleeping. Err. That came out weird *sweatdrop*

No, it's He RunDong/ Peter Ho, who plays Xu PingFeng, Qi'An's dad in the Xu family - he's a guest role, I don't think we've seen him yet. I've no idea why, unless his accent isn't good (he's born outside of China, maybe that's why).

The one dubbing him is Wang Kai (name coincidence, LOL), who also - among others - did Wen KeXing's voice in WoH. He's good, but I didn't really recognize the voice LOL. Then again, he also did Jiang Cheng in TU, and I didn't recognize his voice that time either :D He's pretty good :D

Xu Qi'An is so full of it LOL.

4 out of 12 though... We're pretty far along the road already, they won't have time to properly execute their actual main plot (getting him to be successful and her to gain the money for the factory) in time unless they rush it - and they've been rushing it. Insta-crush between the other JW and the girl idol-in-training, confused messaging between the (supposedly divorcing?) parents, extremely childish ex-lover (he's holding a grudge 20 years later and behaving like a teen because WHY?!), very thin motivation for the (presumably) villain CEO (the one who took over because she "caused the death of someone we don't really know much about because she was not there training idols but going to the US to try and treat her kid for deafness"?) - this is VERY VERY thin ice this drama is skating on.

So far the only part they've been stressing over and over is that the ML is afflicted with lots of mental issues (props to the child actor, he's really been doing the heavy lifting setting up that point), but that he also has talent, and that basically zero adults around him are in his camp.

Yes, the father picked a good song for him - he's trying to get him to win the contest so they can offload him faster. He KNOWS JW has been cutting for a long time, he found blood on the sink, and STILL he doesn't even offer a tentative olive branch, no explanation, nothing. How could JW get to trust them and why? Just because they don't chuck him to the streets?! He gets why - he's a hostage for the 200M won debt.

I've said it before, and I've seen people commenting that this is just because of a "pretty face" LOL, the only one who seems actually real is the freaking half-villain, Chris/Hanyoo, and that only because he IS using JW but isn't pretending to be some knight on shining armour for him. He IS exactly what he told him he is - someone who uses others. JW is pretty clear on that too, and maybe that's exactly why he's so trusting with him, he can see that's all there is to their relationship. Whereas... the mom&dad setup is sending all kinds of twisted messages. If I were so insecure and lonely as he is, I too would be in a mess of feelings and fears.

Ah, nevermind. I guess we'll see if they manage to make this in any way meaningful. But so far I don't really have much hope for it. (I did, before it aired, because of the synopsis.)

Because they released it to China only, though. It felt like a whole year passed til they actually released the last 4 eps *wink*

If it was genetic, it would've been almost impossible to guarantee successful treatment. If it had been an obstruction, then yes, maybe, in time. But she was too old to wait and hope, and her husband's solution was the shortest and easiest to do - just get a kid with better genes that is closely related to her son, and pass him as his actual heir - poof, problem gone. She was more pragmatic than her son or husband on that note. And she seems to have actually wanted to have the kid/heir before the supposed divorce. She was already running out of time.

You missed the part where the father and son are actually enemies and each are eyeing the family fortune (that is based on the mother's family original money). Instead of trying hard to have the son get an heir, the father goes right to making a spare (and having him treated before implantation of the embryo so that the genetic cause doesn't make him infertile, too.)

They obviously did not change their minds when they learned about his psychological difficulties, it just made them decide to use whatever he's good for and then get rid of him.

I don't care if they later change their minds or it "comes out" they actually wanted him to succeed for his own interest and just pretended not to care. They're adults, professional adults too, in their late 40s or around 50, they are not children who can't express feelings. Especially when around vulnerable people.

Selling his contract or giving him over to another agency is part of the business, true, but this drama set it up as a human-contact/relationship story, not a business venture and then continued to heap on loads of mental health issues that the main character should be dealing with... and we're a 3rd through the story and nothing seems to indicate they'll ever talk about it in the open.

It seriously irks me whenever dramaland pretends mental, physical or financial abuse is all worth it because eventually the kids (or adults) will "make it big", get a chance for success, get rich etc.

Just take Zhao LuSi's case that's come out these days - it's not that different. And she already is a well-known actress. If a drama takes on the subject of abusive practices in the entertainment industry, maybe not do it in such a crass way and not even try so far to talk about changing the practices and/or treating the trainees/idols/singers/actors like they're mindless and soulless merch.

I've considered putting this under a spoiler, but anyone who made it through the first ep should already have an inkling on the plot by now so I guess I'm not spoiling anything much.

PS Yes, I've already said - this might be a hate-watch for me. I'm not going to try and give any excuses for the plot and characters and keep moving the goalposts to find their redemption arcs, if any.

So I'm not the only one feeling that was a quite out in the open love declaration, LOL. (Though they both did get a bit giggly afterwards right along with me, hahaha, I guess the censors forgot about doing their job for that minute :D)