Nepeta 22

Oh OK I sort of remember now. I think I was getting mixed up with all the kid actors.

OK, maybe it was at break neck speed with the plots and I missed these details. Maybe there was not enough of these scenes, because I didn't feel enough guilt or remorse.

Yes, I agree. It depends on your personal perspective on how you feel with justice. I admit, I actually don't like watching too much of these court type dramas as I am less interested in noble in-fighting even how well written, it just pushes this obsession with people of status, and in the old days, born into it.

I do find that they are making more and more of this type of historic stuff and that doesn't appeal to me. I much prefer to watch dramas focusing more on every day people. But I guess, not a lot have been written about peasants or merchants for them to write more off, but I feel there will be a shift to this in maybe 3-4 years time as there is so much you can write about emperors and imperial examinations!

I almost shed a tear when they showed the wooden plaque of Gao Ming and his fancy lady drinking her wine. I also was not happy with the amount of deaths half way through the drama just to protect the ML when Eunuch Cao was sending out his guards to try and take him down. But I guess, now looking back at those scenes, it was part orchestrated by ZBW & GM. Those that died were like nobodies. I did not see much remorse from the ML or FL. It just seemed like it's their right. That's the two-tiered system I was feeling already.

If I'm correct, Kuai Duo rushed to the emperor first and gave it to him but deliberately kept the bronze fish link. Those links were taken by ZLY when he slaughtered the family. He was asking him to confess to where all the other bits are and Kuai Duo killed himself instead. Then we see ZLY searching his body and found that bronze fish link.

The cloak thing I will just ignore, I'm afraid it's one of those bits that people ignore but obviously it's still important in regards to time-line 😉 If ML had passed out, he may have rescued him without a mask!

The beginning scenes were very chaotic, yes you are right, the entrance was very far around the other side of the property. I remember telling a friend, concentrate in the first few episodes because the clues may be in these scenes, but so far, it's not offering me much.

The only other thing is he had been spying on their antics way before all this happened. He knew about all the tunnels? But why not show this in the flash-backs? I don't like cutting corners if they cannot explain how he knew he was inside the tunnel about to die. I just about accept duke knew nothing about this and only knew part of his grand plan.

OK, it has to be since like you said. You need to be intoxicated inside for a while to see them. If you pop in quickly, you won't see them. That's what I am thinking. I remember in the beginning, Kuai Duo saw them like statues then later they started to awaken. We now know he knew to graze himself with blood to save himself. That's how he got out alive.

Thanks for that insightful response. This now makes sense how ZZX had a mini redemption in the end, and in a way, he didn't really get his punishment as he too was no saint, but he gets the accolades because of his family status. I was not comfortable with that.

As for ZBW's character, his thirst for glory is rooted in nationalism and he really believed in his cause, but he just didn't know it, he was just a plain narcissist like a lot of rulers.

The Gui Seal was like the golden weapon and often like modern day nuclear weapons, if you have it, it's like a warning to neighbouring states and used as a way to stop all out war. In this drama, the question of using its power or just holding onto it as a back up was hinted numerous times like it's good for national security!

Yes, I saw that scene when he was looking down, so took that as spying on his moves. But yes, this section of the drama really needed a bit more flash-back to make clear how he knew ML was hiding there. From what I remembered, ML had already passed out from the smoke. So he himself will have no idea what happened, so it really needed details of how ZBW knew he was inside the tunnel. Only other way was he had been spying on his activities way before all this had happened, but again, none of this was shown in any flash-backs later.

Thanks!

OK, I missed the tea poisoning scene. Thanks.

Regarding number 2 I took it she lost a lot of blood doing this since it was a large volume of soldiers and weakened herself and died.

Regarding 1 , these soldiers are not there. But not sure about seeing them standing still. You can only see them if you look at all the murals inside the cave. This is why they don't see them in the beginning, but then see them awaken. This is due to the hallucinations from the murals. If I'm wrong, someone correct me?

But do you think ML could have saved Gao Ming? He could have taken him away with him when he took them out of the city in that cart? It is almost like the writers feel, these are mere undlings with no self worth like the other master that burnt himself up after he did his job. I found that quite hard to accept. It's almost like a two-tiered class system in place.

To save me time going back to look, I just want to know, on the night ML's family was slaughtered. I'm assuming ZBW was spying and followed ML so he knew he hid in the tunnel, but does this mean, ZLY on the night never knew?

But we now know, he wasn't that smart since his handlers were playing him all along. I felt cheated. He was just their tool. When he makes mistakes, they are there to scoop it back up and save him. It means, the ML's character was still learning. Plenty of rookie mistakes. But like usual, when it mattered, near the end, he gains more braincells and outwits his mask man mentor. That's all that matters in these types of idol style dramas.

The last 3 episodes seem to drag on a bit. Yes it was a little predictable. It also seemed to undo all of ML's scheming and planning in earlier episodes. I felt cheated. He had been played for 80% of the time. All the things I saw were mere controlled plots orchestrated not by ML but by ZBW.

Then the question of never revealing himself (wearing mask) and ML never trying to find out in those 10 years also made it worse. I still think this is a character flaw for the ML. It's just not in his nature to not question stuff like this. And then to find out it was him all along, it's too cliched.

I always said, the story was there, the emphasis had been put on the plot twist and suspense, but the areas that didn't make the experience more rounded and appealing was how little was put into some characters. Often, they change and do things that seems not consistent at times.

FL's character was used in a sexist kind of way. She had her flashy entry and then after she declared her love for him, her character changed drastically and turned into a love-brain. I get the writers tried to portray her as damaged and lonely, therefore was behaving badly to mask her insecurities but, from that to the second half of he drama, her character was not convincing.

They handled her change badly and only wanted her like that to make a point of her being in the middle for the arc involving her mother crossing paths with ML. I did not like this. Felt like dated lazy writing.

Thanks for letting me know! Yes, before the credits. I thought it was telling us he and FL lived happily ever after and had lots of children!

Thanks for the details there. I wasn't concentrating! So much happened in a short space of time. Yes, it did look like he died of shock/heart attack which was ironic since he was so confident in himself for much of his life.

I liked how ML summoned him to look at the murals on the walls. That was his way of sending him to his death!

OK, I missed that bit by the looks of it, but thanks for clarifying.

I note there is a new emperor in the end. But no mention of what happened to the old emperor and how he died. Anyone with any insight?

A question about ghost soldiers. If you snap out and don't believe they exist and graze yourself to shed blood, they vanish. But when Zhao Bin Wen dies, will he really have an open wound for those like ML to see? When he looks on at him grappling with the invisible, will he see a gaping wound with his injuries? He can see the damage but cannot see it happen?