Nepeta 22

It's not eat up un-realistic plots. The plots are secondary to characters with modern day thinking under ancient costumes. It caters to women more than men. Which begs the question, would this drama have as much interest if the male lead was Zhang Yunlong.

These types of dramas are just using "historical" clothing in the drama to add a bit of glitz and glamour escapism and not really anything else. We all know women had less rights and the men can take numerous wives back in Song/Tang dynasty.

It's just an opportunity to write modern ideas/thinking into these dramas and of course, women fighting against the norms at the time. The target audience are mainly women so they tend to have high ratings, even with the most unrealistic plot-lines. The male lead then adds to the mix and it's a plus 8.5 on MDL.

It's the type of role that can elevate an actor and gain the attention from other directors. When Zhu Yilong played the spineless character in The Story of Ming-Lan, he gained more notice and popularity after that.

Everyone loves torturous and weak-willed character that falls into the dark side due to weakness. I bet Yu Zheng made sure this character had been fleshed out and had cut out all the two-dimensional villain character from the original.

This is what I hate most of these types of dramas. Always lowering some women's evilness down to basics like jealousy. Pitting women against women, as if in reality this happens often. Statistic -wise it is men who hurt women and use violence on women. This is definitely the biggest weakness of this drama along with blossom trees that seem to flower all year round.

I'm afraid not. All I know is I wanted to watch it all, but the violence and repeated cruelty made this impossible for me to stay along for the ride. Hope you enjoy it more than me.

The issue with these storylines are just two dimensional. The women are either super-smart with convenient plot armour or just plain jealous and deranged. This makes the drama deeply basic and unrealistic.

Furthermore, in the heat of the moment, we are to believe it's sane to pull out an embroidered handkerchief to give to Duke Su in the front of the palace pominard in full glare from everyone? I assume many will just ignore that level of sensationalism. Then note how her (new) father just appears from nowhere, again no one will question that either.

So unless Princess Wanning has a very cunning reason for all her actions, for now, it looks like another basic two-dimensional character.

Thanks for the link, I had a quick look and LOL you've covered it all more or less! I have been a bit busy today but will definitely go back to look properly.

Yes thanks, I have since heard she's OK.

Memorable, that powder shaker(medicine) he carries around for the occasion...😎

That trope had been used already in The Scent of Time!

I can imagine the shock on reading that. It's just bizarre how people just suddenly rage here. Her songs were background music for me when I was growing up, so I look forward to seeing how this drama will depict her life. But can't seem to see it available where I am, so I'll wait a bit longer to see.

I commend you for your measured reply. No idea why this page ends in so much hate and especially when they want to call someone a rude name without checking if they are dead or alive speaks volumes. I hope this drama will be good as I'm here for Peng Guang Ying. But would be really nice to see this version of Teresa Teng's life.

Yes, thank you.

Strange that Facebook would post this, since on Douban currently, there is still no rating. See below link:

https://movie.douban.com/subject/26759937/

Also on top of "To The Wonder" as stated, which has the highest rating so far this year. The recently finished Heroes, a great drama. has just had their Douban rating of 8.1

The two maids and even the younger cousin in the Jiang family's comedic roles seems too hammy and trying too hard to ape an era where slapstick had its place, but trying to shoe-horn it into this drama, doesn't work. I think the directors were too ambitious. You either be consistent if you do it, or you tone it down. Against the main story line, it even devalues the side characters and make the drama look like it's full of side character "fillers," who are padding out the drama to hide a paper-thin story line.

Has anyone had an update about the accident with Huang Riying? I feel really bad for her. It sounded quite bad. I heard she had stitches on her face, and she may not be able to continue. Has the production made an official comment on this? It brings into question their health and safety with the rest of the cast.

No problem!

Ok, thanks for letting me know!

Livestream promotion, but no English Subs yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiZjpha3gGI

The way it was done and the way it moved on quickly was meant to shock us into realising how tough it would have been at the time. It's also a reflection on the hardiness of the people. It's not there to pander to our needs. Also the manner in how she died was meant to show how heroes can be forgotten easily, the unsung heroes further down the chain, that are every step of the way to where China is today.