Brennnndda

Do you mind spoiler what the major conflict between the leads was? What was transpired or what misunderstanding happened to cause them to separate the first time?

I think that depends on the story. Take Goodbye My Princess; romantically, there couldn't be a happy ending. If it makes sense within the narrative then sad endings can be beautiful.

For readers of the novel: Are you hoping they follow the book faithfully? Or are you anticipating creativity differences? I've heard the novel doesn't have a happy ending so I'm curious since I'm hoping the drama does.

Well, then hopefully they change the ending otherwise that would be far too sad.
It always hurts more to know how much they went through only for all their suffering to have been fruitless...

I thought she chose the other male lead?

Can you spoil why she killed herself?

I was trying to reconcile the ages of the male lead and female lead since the female lead is obviously much younger than Qi Yan is. And honestly, her youth may be the best thing in terms of looking at the situation from an outsider's perspective; only because at the time of the coup, she was too young so she wasn't burdened with all the crap that went down.

This makes her the best one to be his trusted person because she doesn't carry the prejudice that everyone else who survived through the coup have against him.

I do agree with you on many parts.
Some of the scenes that happen have me going "Huh? This doesn't make any sense," so yeah, it could've been better with a different director.

As for the acting..I absolutely adored Cheng Yi in L&R. But I think the fact that it was a xianxia drama and we met his character, Si Feng, when he was only 16 played in his favor so any awkward acting could just be passed off as youth or naïveté.

However, that isn't the case here. There are times when his acting isn't as natural as I hoped it would be. While most actors/actresses struggle to emote dramatic or sad scenes and do well with more playful/light/everyday behaviors (like Zhao Lu Si), Cheng Yi is the opposite. He does so well with his dramatic scenes and when he cries ... he really makes you cry along with him..but when acting out everyday interactions, it does tend to feel forced.

I highly doubt Huan Rui would cast Cheng Yi as the male lead just to potentially have him become the second lead in the end.

Finally trying to catch up on the episodes aired and Qi Yan's character reminds me of Alec Su's Yang Si Lang in Warriors of the Yang Clan. In order to be a savior, Qi Yan (like Si Lang) has to play the part of the villain. It brings out the idea of "his truth, everyone else's truth, and the actual truth."

It makes him one of the more pitiful rulers since he literally has no one he can trust because those loyal to the people who put Qi Yan in his predicament are the very ones who condemn and label him as a traitor. But you can't blame them either because they don't know what happened in the shadows.

That's the problem with continuously having the same cast. It's like after Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms ended and Diliraba and Zhang Bin Bin were in everything together afterwards.

Wow! This drama should end its run by August 31st? Now that is impressive!

I'm quite looking forward to this!! Can't wait to see Cheng Yi back on screen!

So that is Cheng Yi's voice?

It's a sad reality but the world is nicer to pretty people. Those who think otherwise probably fall in the "pretty" category.

YES!! Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms and Love and Redemption are my 2 favorite xianxia dramas but Ye Hua and Si Feng were infuriating.
**I do want to clarify that I absolutely adore Ye Hua and Si Feng**

Ye Hua wasn't too horrible because he did tell Su Su that he would have to treat her coldly in front of others. Part of the problems were Su Su's fault because she didn't listen to him when he told her not to talk to or trust anyone in the heavens yet she kept listening to Su Jin. At least when she was Bai Qian, Ye Hua was very honest with her.

Si Feng on the other hand...ugh. So maddening!! He literally finds out everything (except for Hao Chen's true identity) and keeps it all a secret!! WTF! His pain was truly self-inflicted. Xuan Ji never hesitated to side with him or give him the benefit of the doubt but he just kept lying until she just couldn't trust his word anymore. When she asked brother Liu about the Lover's Curse and he was all "you just don't know anything" I was mad that he yelled at her for not knowing anything...I mean, whose fault was it that she didn't know anything? It was Si Feng's fault.
You can't withhold information from someone and then blame that someone for not knowing said information.
Even when they reconciled, Si Feng still didn't tell her that she was Luo Hou Ji Du instead he just evaded the topic. Dude didn't learn anything.

It's essentially the same here. All those good intentions become moot because the sacrifices nullify whatever good intentions were there in the first place.

I actually sided with the FL at that scene. A child is not obligated to share their things just because another child wants to play with it. Not only does the mother not teach her child that he's not entitled to something that isn't his, she berates another child for not sharing and insults his parents. It was quite an infuriating scene that any bystander should be offended by.

That's the hilarious thing about Xianxia gods though. They preach about fate and sacrifice and act like they are so much better than mortals because time is limitless to them and they are powerful. Yet when fate catches up to them, they go out of their way to avoid calamities and actually make situations worse for themselves.

There definitely is no malicious intent behind his actions. He's doing the best he can ... unfortunately, good intents that end with disastrous results amount to nothing. He tried to save them all and ended up saving no one.
Because of his good intentions, Gu Jun died and Qing Mu and Houchi ceased to exist.

Sapai Jao is a gem. The couplings are very well matched and it's both light, comedic, and fun. It was the first drama where I really took a liking to Namphon's acting.

I honestly thought I really liked Suparburoot Juthathep until I rewatched it later and realized, character-wise, I only like the 2 older brothers out of the 5. I think the 3 younger ones went out of their way to avoid the arranged marriage and it left a bad taste in my mouth. I think it's only "okay" because the women they are betrothed to were purposely portrayed as horrendous. And honestly, the 2 sisters wouldn't have gone to such lengths if the boys hadn't betrayed them first. The boys talk of duty and filial piety when they actually couldn't follow through.