Wenxia

Ep16: PS hitting on you know who was hilarious. Can't believe he called her guniang😂 I was mortified for him lol

WZ’s brand of tough love is truly special! Making PS clean the litter box one handed. That's how you know he's not a guest;)

First time the cuts noticeably messed up the story flow and emotions in a scene for me. In the hospital when WZ sits red-eyed by PS's bed, it looked like it should've been a longer, more emotional moment. What he said didn't really fit the atmosphere and acting in that scene, and PS pretending to be asleep.

That breakfast at the end looked so yummy 🤤

I think it was meant as a funny moment to break the heavy tension. At least that's how it worked for me and I was grateful for it ngl.

Ep15: so many feels…
I didn't know if I should laugh or cry watching WZ hop into the waiting room😅
That whole teetering on the brink of death thing was kind of clichéd, but the montage sequence when he’s hesitating hit all the right emotional notes. Especially that line from WZ about not letting him go (你知道我的 你走不出 我放不下) didn't remember it from earlier eps.
The theatre play was such a clever idea. Watching WZ realize what PS must have lived through paired with what we know of Heathcliff's story and PS’s past, it's like triple the emotional weight. That door being shut at the end choked me up so bad I had to play Wei Zhao hopping on crutches again to chase away tears.

Still there. Ep18: https://www.cda.pl/video/2465591786

Ep14: the tears in PS’s eyes when WZ came to drag him out of bed🥺

Yeah, I'm bummed we'll probably never get to see ZXC sing Abyss live. I love that song and the lyrics - would love to see him interpret it on stage. I guess it's safer for the actors when everyone pretends it's not airing. Popularity can become a liability so fast in China🙄

If you move the story out of ‘here and now’ anything is allowed;) Up to ep13 I think the drama has been fairly critical of this idea and it's been mostly shown as a failed concept. The story has plenty of people who choose to commit crimes (xu dongyu). Nothing to do with their genetic makeup. Like WZ said rather aptly, it's easier for people to blame the ‘zero degree empathy’ gene than accept what their loved ones are capable of. The Su family is an interesting case of nature vs nurture, though it wasn't well explored in the drama. I'm not a big fan of this change either, but if pretending it's sci-fi let them pass censorship, then whatever. Anyway, it's just surface stuff, like the names, it fools no one.

Ep13 was even better than 12. No wonder they only aired one that week, it deserved to be watched twice;) Again I wish I hadn't read the book, my mind would be going crazy with theories about PS right now! The writers and ZXC added so much ambiguity to this character in the drama. They struck the right balance between dialogue, flashbacks and visual storytelling in delivering exposition. I loved how they used atmosphere and visuals to maximise emotional impact in the basement scene. Made me feel like I was standing there with WZ getting a terrifying glimpse of the internal abyss of PS’s mind.

Episode 12 was so damn good! So much to unpack. I was on tenterhooks in the last 10min. That look in the mirror🔥 got chills down my spine.

Abyss sub on Tumblr has ep9-15 with good en subs. You can download it or watch on gdrive. It's synced with Chinese subs from Weibo. Though it looks like they discontinued now because another group picked it up.

I'm confused, are you trying to defend your interest in this drama? No one stops you from enjoying it in whatever way you like. But also, since you know it's based on danmei novel, why are you surprised that for a lot of fans romantic love between the leads is a foregone conclusion and we're hoping to see at least a shadow of it in the drama. I think you should show a little tolerance since you're demanding it for yourself.

I put it on hold for a month to calibrate my expectations and scrape any knowledge of the book from my brain. Now watched ep 9&10 again and I'm actually OK with how they've wrapped up the second case. It's not as detailed and hard-hitting as in the book, but we can easily picture what happened. There are some loose threads left hanging - we never see them question the pianist or Su girl, but maybe they'll come back to it later. There's noticeably less tension between the leads compared to 7&8 but I like how they constantly needle each other with insults very unprofessionally:) I'm quite enjoying WZ not letting PS go even with the smallest thing. I was laughing so hard when he made Lan Qiao call him an intern in the car. PS has this mature and competent air around him until he's with WZ and you can see that studied ‘pei ye’ persona cracking. Honestly, both of them are such good characters. I'm finally excited to continue.

I don't think it was released. The singer is 司鸿博 Si Hongbo

Doesn't it all boil down to emotional engagement? With limited cast and story that focuses on relationship with minimal external conflicts if you don't get invested in the leads emotional journey there's not much else to keep your interest. Happens to me all the time, that's why romance in general is a big hit or miss for me.

I don't understand your comment. So you don't think he's been emotionally manipulative with Akin? Well, that's how I see it. He didn't ask if Akin was OK, how he was feeling or what happened. What he did was withhold the truth, stew on the flight then unload it all on Akin making him feel shittier than he already had.

I like Boom's acting more and more every episode. That black turtleneck reminded me of Peter in Chains of Heart. I'm even kind of sort of tempted to go and finish that series now:)
I think the way it went down between Akin and Jin was true to the characters. I wasn't really surprised with how they reacted. The only thing I find inconsistent is the absence of Akin's management team. It's their job to make sure he doesn't get into situations that could harm him and his career. He needs to fire them asap and hire someone who actually cares to do their job.
I personally avoid people like Jin, using this type of emotional manipulation in my life, so if I were Akin I would've kept going and never looked back. But I like how they’ve written their story so far and I'm very curious to see what happens next. As for Johnny, was that a powerplay or is he gonna blackmail Akin? I'm not gonna keep my fingers crossed for them to properly deal with his actions, but I hope they at least give Akin empowering moment.

All the eps are on dailymotion.

Ep16: If I were Shuhua I would've taken the kid and run. Has he even considered the risk to his family? Does he think it's acceptable?

Douban rating rose to 7.7 I guess episodes 11&12 are good?

Ep14: wth?! My nerves are shot. I need to go walk it off or sth..