Wenxia

I have not once used the word "stiff" in any of my comments. I'm also not a part of any "narrative". I meant exactly what I said which was my own opinion -> that I'd prefer if Earth injected a bit more charisma into his portrayal. Because imo he often blanks out emotions that would've been natural to show at that moment - which in turn makes his Jim come off lifeless and makes me feel disengaged. Sorry, I don't know how else to explain what bothers me about Earth's acting.

I just read your comment about the new episode - bad person? Really?:D Just because I can't tune into Earth's way of acting and see all those subtleties you're talking about?
Ok, it may partly be my preference for more expressive actors. But imo he often blanks out emotions that would've been natural to show - which in turn makes his Jim come off lifeless.
In this latest episode he says he was startled by the surprise party. Well, if he hadn't said that I wouldn't have known - I couldn't read it in his acting at all. He seemed slightly annoyed if anything…

Having said that, I do like Jim as a character. I do think Earth's portrayal of a depressed, stressed out guy who feels older than his age is believable. I actually have no problem with his youthful looks since it's all about his mental state and working through his past anyway. And I did like his acting in this episode - once he let his emotions loose;P

Sorry, I think I confused myself there lol. The two interpretations I was thinking about were
1.) You no longer love your partner but there are a hundred little things, memories, etc. tying you together. In that case the complicated thing is extricating yourself from that shared life, cutting ties and physically moving on when emotionally you're already done and ready to close that chapter.
2.) Your relationship ended for whatever reason and the complicated part is falling out of love - letting go and moving on emotionally.

Tbh, ep4 made me even more confused (and curious) about Wen's situation. He seems to be done with the relationship but still shares a bed with Alan couple of months after he slept with Jim?

PS I'm not sure how Boticelli's Venus made it into the conversation but how is she perfect? Have you seen that too-long neck and weirdly sloping shoulders?🤨

But Earth is a little wooden here. I'd prefer if he injected a bit more charisma into his portrayal. Jim acts like he's 30 going on 75. My grandma is 95 and has more life in her (definitely sighs less;)
I interpreted that line from Win's father a bit differently - that things get complicated when you fall out of love with someone you're sharing a life with.. I thought that may be Win's home situation. I sincerely hope he's not trying to fall out of love by having one night stands… Terrible idea lol

Leaving the lawyer alive seems like a miscalculation. He's got nothing to lose now right? Or does creepy Fan still hope to use him as a scapegoat somehow?
Ma Wencai is a psycho:/

Who would've expected that certain someone would grow a spine and become the hero of the people🙃 MVP of ep9 lol

The indignity of the haircut rotfl
Don't know what's worse - the queue or the periwigs in Europe💀 🤣

No different meaning I think? In early Ming the tax was paid with actual bolts of silk fabric, plus corvee labor to transport them. Then in 16th century they rolled out 'single-whip' reform that combined various land and labour taxes into one to be paid in silver. And that's the background of this drama - the main character tries to prove that this "silk poll tax" (now being paid in silver by only one county out of 8 in the province) is the same as the pre-reform tax paid by the whole province in bolts of fabric ...which is difficult because several years of records went missing:)

I thought so too. He takes over the land and then hides it from taxation. Like the girl said, the amount to pay stays the same but there are less and less people to pay it. But according to Shuai Jiamo they've been paying this tax for a hundred years already. So I was wondering if Fan Yuan took over from someone else and how far-reaching this scheme really is. He hinted rather heavily that so many people from Lanxi passing the provincial examinations wasn't by chance. Lots of minions to cover things up:)

It's not a type of tax. It is just the name under which this extra tax renhua county has been paying appeared in the registry. The why, when and where is the mystery that'll be explained by the main character.

Well, sense of duty and propriety rarely go together with cooking the books;) I think they tried for social satire with this one, so the exaggeration is kinda on-brand.

I know his heart is in the right place, but he's a walking trouble lol But alright, it's valentine's day - let's have love all around:D Cheng with the sister huh? What a couple! I'm scared to imagine how they'd settle their arguments:D
You know I was expecting a serious historical drama and instead got cat demons and brawling with a leg of lamb... Not that I'm complaining;)

Haha! Cheng Renqing the saviour of cats! I also noticed his sudden allergy lol. That guy misses nothing - impressed the heck out of me:D

Why would you wish Baoyu on the girl? He's hopeless lol
- let's not tell Chens about our business because we're not sure of their intentions but the lawyer is so trustworthy we'll spill every last detail to him;))

Oooh so many sly foxes in this one… fun! Cheng Renqing is scarily efficient.. Would love to have someone like that around to solve my problems:D
I thought this was going to be an anthology but I kinda like this case within a case within a case touching many lives on different levels. So far so good - I like the sense of humour and it keeps me guessing:)

Thanks, looks like I should prepare myself for 15 more episodes of the same lol.
Sticking to the original is part of the problem I'm sure. But the longer I watch the more it seems to me that this writer-director team just has no sense for how to tell a good engaging story. I mean the minimum for this genre is to create the feeling that the stakes are rising with each reveal. Otherwise you get viewers like me - lowkey waiting for the countdown to run out so it gets things moving;D Maybe they should watch HBO's Chernobyl. That one was a masterpiece of suspense for a story which everyone knows how it ends:))

Just finished ep14 and gotta say revolutionary songs make for a much better background than the 2008 Olympics babble;) loved this version of 草原上升起不落的太阳 The young Ye Wenjie story watches a bit like an old-school romance. I'm enjoying it. The editing is still random af though. Engaging threads be cut off with long fillers😑 Tbh I'm still waiting for sth to awe me… Cool uncle Shi Qiang remains the shining gem of this series😄

Instant mood improver these two<3 Good to know I'm not the only one that keeps coming back time and again. Can't resist their charm:))

On second thought, I do agree with you. She could've interpreted the role better. Maybe they forgot to pay the guys in editing and they got revenge via a hundred Erlangs;)

I'm not acknowledging hard truths on Mondays;P

I liked her in other roles. But this one.. it's like the character was designed to be annoying. But to be fair, that's how I feel about a lot of female characters in c-dramaland:D

Looks like no one here would miss the reporter lol. I'm the opposite, I rarely like faithful book adaptations. To me these are incompatible media. As Megumi-H said, when we read books we can set our own pace and tone. With dramas it's either hit or miss:/