ShortCircuit

Rewatched the last episode with proper subtitles, yup, still good :D

Eps 1-2, 33-50 are set in the present. The flashback is 3-33 (beginning of the episode, when it switches back.)

Don't skip the order, if you'll watch it, it makes complete sense in the end.

If you like the theme of revisiting the past and causing a lot of changes (some good, some not intended) you'd love Steins;Gate (the anime series). It's one of the best time-paradox anime series ever done, IMHO. It just needs a longer time invest though, since it has a longer stretch than the regular movie.

And come to think of it... A little bit, but Studio Ghibli's "Howl's Moving Castle" might fit the trend. (Sophie visits the past so that the present is affected.) If you haven't watched that, I highly recommend it, it's one of the best Ghibli movies.

Anything, ANYthing with Woo Do Hwan is welcome, the sooner the better, thanks :D

You could take a computer science graduate who does design (not game coding) and beat them til kingdom come and back, and they'd still not be able to THINK of how to make a game you could use to cheat money out of people. You can't beat knowledge and imagination into people's minds.

The fact some of the stories are based on abuse stories from real life doesn't mean they're actually accurate - and even less so the fact that one man takes down about 30 hoodlums armed with baseball bats. (And the thugs are supposed to be proficient at thugging, so to speak).

That's called dramatisation and I have no problem with it, provided it's well done, which it kind of is in these first two eps of s2 of Taxi Driver.

Sadly, I know real life stories are much more horrific than what's in the dramas, if only for the simple reason they DO happen to REAL people, who either live with it or die (Like for example the origin story of the drama Blind). But if I watch a vigilante story, I know it's just a story, or it would better be - imagine a world where any random person could take up lawless revenge for anything they want to. (Batman style. Up to the kind that leaves the whole city in shambles whenever the hero and the villain have a fightout.) No, thanks, LOL.

First check if he has more poisoned wine around :D

It's a punishment for the whole clan, so yeah, it's a tax paid by all the Fan family members til eternity (or the Emperor decides otherwise).

Punishing the whole clan for one of its member's wrongdoings is used throughout the history in China - they had placed a huge amount of importance on ancestors' worship and face / respect, so if, for example, one of the (more important) ones in the clan did something outrageous - participated in revolt, killed someone important (another noble, usually), etc, they'd take down a few generations with them, even if they were innocent. For example, it took a few generations down to have a family member convicted of treason (sons, their sons' kids, the wives, the daughter, etc). If the wrongdoers were of the imperial family or closely related to them, the males were usually allowed to commit suicide. Some of the more distant kin would be sold into slavery, some of the boys might end up serving as eunuchs, but if the official sentence involved complete removal of the family, their names themselves were deemed extinct. Even if some of them managed to survive, they couldn't erect memorial plaques or sacrifice paper money or incense to their ancestors - they were gone forever. (Edit: I'm recommending again Nirvana in Fire, it starts with a story based exactly on this - a whole family erased because of a treason accusation, a Crown Prince forced to commit suicide for comploting against his father / Emperor, etc. It's an amazing drama, completely deserving of its hype.)

There were times (not certain if in the Ming Dynasty these things remained) where sons or daughters were punished simply for being "unfilial" - not taking enough care of their parents or older family members, even if they were extremely poor or were NOT treated well by said family anyway. And the punishments would go from fines and canning to a lot more extreme things.

So, yea, once the tax is apportioned to the Fan clan, the Fan clan will have to pay it. Unless something momentuos changes (like their relatives or people they support come into power and change / remove it), or the land is conquered LOL, or completely confiscated.

It's a good thing for the other counties, though - the RenHua county got a lot less of the burden and the other - poorer - counties didn't end up carrying it either. The Fan Clan stole those taxes for 100 years already, it's pretty much deserved to have them pay it back for another hundred years LOL.

I never even knew they were making Silent Reading! I don't like Priest's novels (though I do enjoy some of the dramas based on them), is SR one of the censored BLs or did they completely remove anything bromance-y from it?

Err... This is the actual historical kind of punishment. If they didn't offend the Emperor or rule of imperial law DIRECTLY (like, raising up in revolt or scheming to replace the emperor), nobles would AT MOST be exiled somewhere far away. Usually they'd be heavily fined and that was about it. And everybody Mr Fan had destroyed were peasants and not really socially important, so the fact he's punished as much is impressive (my take is he's more punished for tax theft than for anything else). There's no actual evidence he had the parents killed - Magistrate Song did that himself, the idiot even admitted it openly even if he didn't poison the wine, and he also set the house on fire. Even with CRQ's smart lawyering, while the words COULD support his take on how events happened, there still is no proof of it.

As for the others - Mr. Lu is not a noble, so he gets exiled (3000 miles away is in the frontier area, soft people never lasted there for long.) The others are punished too - I got a bit frustrated with Ma WenCai not dying, BUT I think if CRQ did kill him, directly or not, he'd also be seriously punished because MWC is still an official imperial officer and CRQ is a nobody, no matter how smart...

The people got the best outcome they could hope for in those time - less tax and better land measurement, so they'd at least pay for what they actually had, not whatever was wrongly written in the land registers.

But I was so sad to see JiaMo leaving - his best friends (how COULD he leave BaoYu?!) are left behind, he only took the cat :( That is so lonely :(((

He is Zhang RuoYun*, and if he's credited as main cast, then he's main cast. Nobody plays such games with actors of his standing. BUT this story is based on a novel, and the author said they investigated a certain set of real history records to write it, so maybe the story just had JiaMo's character appear less in the later parts because other characters become more important.

*ZRY is one of the best known actors in c-ent (and it's a huge industry), famously known for successful dramas like Dr. Qin, Joy of Life, Sword Snow Stride, etc. If you like him, I strongly recommend watching Joy of Life, though only the first season is out (they've started filming the second season now, after the pandemic). He has a certain gravitas, doesn't he? What we usually call charisma. You notice him immediately and you also notice when he's not around. I like this actor quite a lot :D

That being said, the whole main cast did an amazing job - Wang Yang (as Cheng RenQing) in particular, and also Fei QiMing (as Feng BaoYu), too.

I want to see more such dramas...

It started with a ham brawl, it almost ended with a ham brawl too LOL.

I guess it's settled then - BaoYu and Xiao Zhi are on first-name basis (marriage in their future) and BiYu gets shy when RenQing is looking at her with those smiling eyes (marriage in their future!), and everybody got their comeuppance.

But Mr Fan got away too easily, if you ask me - yeah, they confiscated his extra land and he's going to pay the extra tax BUT he didn't die for the murder of JiaMo's parents, dammit. And I kind of hoped that when CRQ put that spike through Ma WenCai's shoulder, he'd hit something important so that MWC was unlived, so to speak. Though he probably didn't kill him because he'd be a rebel and they'd exile him 3000 miles away like Mr. Lu.

Poor JiaMo never got the book - he didn't even want it for the content, it was the only thing remaining of his father and even so it didn't last :( When he was imagining he joined his parents back in the un-burnt house, I was afraid he regretted NOT getting a cup of (poisoned) wine back then, so he could be dead with them. No, poor JiaMo! Don't get depressed over it. (And I got a bit teary-eyed when his imaginary mother said he doesn't get chicken heads in the soup because he's NOT stupid so he doesn't need it. Did that torture him all those years?...)

I loved this series and I ended up LOVING Lawyer Cheng. I can't believe it. He started out so slimy and appaling, and ended up the brightest star - he and BaoYu. I want to see a spin-off of BaoYu being taught by RenQing to take the official examination and entering the administration. He was amazing this final ep, what with pre-exam chills LOL. And poor CRQ holding his backside while BiYu is applying salve OMG LOL the second-hand embarassment just killed me :D

I want more of this... I don't think it's fair to JiaMo he gets to go away BUT I can console myself with thinking he's going to stir up trouble and spread out the wonders of mathematics ALL OVER THE WORLD! (Yeah you're supposed to shudder in fear right about now, LOL).

Loved it. This goes on the re-watch list.

Oh no, he even took the cat :(((

Taxi Driver 2 won't be anything deep - just action sprinkled with fan service (I mean... I've seen Lee Je Hoon's abs so many times in just these two eps already, LOL) and some inane plots (like, really?!!! There is no logic behind the reasoning of the villains in the first two eps :D) but it is mindless fun, a distraction and well, once in a while people do want to see someone getting beat up for doing bad stuff. I don't expect a Shakespearean masterpiece from it but I think it'll deliver what it promised.

I haven't started CCIR yet, because I want to binge-watch it and not suffer weekly LOL, but Jung KyungHo knows how to pick his dramas (we'll pretend Missing 9 never happened LOL) and is a more subtle actor than most.

As for the others in the lot... I don't watch them and I don't think will, either.

Oh, so he does have some military powers, but he's actually a civil official (as per his imperial examination would imply). Then the Mandarin Square on his clothing would make sense :D

Thanks!

Someone said the novel is quite short, too. I don't think there'll be a second season.

I just love Grand Inspector Li's expression - he looks so stupid, LOL, like your friendly uncle who can't wait to do anything to please you and then he goes ahead and postpones the execution, sets a date for a public trial and keeps letting people bring in evidence to incriminate you! :D

And ooooooh, Ma WenCai's FACE when he had to admit his cheating in the exam was made public! OFF with his head LOL. CRQ finally got some vengeance (is it too late to let him take the examination again? I would love to see him take an official position AND marry BiYu :D)

Old uncle Song is a bastard too - first he corrupts Dad Shuai, then he tries to pressure him into taking more bribes, THEN sets the whole house on fire?! Good thing Magistrate Ren took the book away, too sad he didn't get a conscience until he was practically dying.

LOL, I wanted to say that last ep - BaoYu, you're getting a BIL, but JiaMo said it first :D

Also, everybody and their dog got to look at the book BUT not JiaMo - his face was saying, "give me the math, all the math, I want to do the math!!" and nobody gave the book to him LOL. I loved that.

Ooof, Lawyer Cheng (minus the white horse) shines again!

He's THE GRAND COORDINATOR OF FENGXING, THE RIGHT CENSOR-IN-CHIEF LI SHIDA (according to CRQ), at least one order superior to Ma WenCai and that's enough for me, for now :D (Also, knowing RenQing, he's someone with a grudge against Mr Fan and so no intention of letting him slip away. Or so I hope.)

*Grand Coordinator / XunFu is the Inspector General of the province, so theoretically MWC's superior. But he could be the provincial administrator, depending on when this story takes place in the Ming Dynasty times.

Right Censor-in-Chief would be the head of the Detection Branch of the Censorate, that had to monitor the local administrators and inspectors. He would be reporting directly to the Emperor, so I guess Ma WenCai is toast right now LOL.

I know he did it because he was almost certain to be saved BUT STILL he put his life on the line, win or lose, for his friend. I love this guy.

Aaaaaaand here he (CRQ) comes ON A WHITE HORSE LOL - that was so tongue-in-cheek :D Way to go, RenQing, you beautiful bastard, you! I don't think he can escape marriage to BiYu, according to dramaland rules :D (Also BaoYu and the girl, what's her name? Ah love. So cuuuuute. *pinching their cheeks* they're soooo cute together :) )

I want to see Ma WenCai AND that sleazebag Song on that execution block, right now! Can I see that please, pretty please?

This episode was hilariously tragic, or tragically hilarious LOL. That poor old magistrate, oof, but also, Mr Fang! I loved the assistant consoling him - people will remember you, too! Take heart! :D And when everybody started paying obeisance to Mr Ren's funerary plaque :)))))

I love this series. I'm having so much fun with it. I want more. Obviously they'll wrap it up in 14 eps because why not. I can't have nice things for too long T_T

I think I'm in love with BaoYu, little stupid loyal git that he is!!