gmat6594

What episode are you in? It's one of my favorites and my introduction to Jin Ki Joo. Not all of her dramas have the same dynamics. It is a typical cold CEO and a Cinderella secretary. There is a reason why that ML has trust issues, both with personal secretaries and with his 'Mother.' And being lied to. Lied to after baring his heart. A proud capable man who loses what made him special and is very vulnerable and dependent on someone that he fired. Episode 12 has one of my favorite scenes where she cries to the real Veronica Park. The person that she is heartbreaking jealous of is .... I re-watch for that. And the 'lap dog loyalty' that he didn't know that he needed is charming. And her love is rewarded in spades.

I think that until about half way, she tended towards Han Muzhi would have stayed with him but he failed to stand up for her when his fiance humiliated her. Menglin did stand up for her but there were a number of problems (status and personality, her insecurity about happiness and his Father) that prevented her from becoming closer to him. That was why late in the drama she still slapped him when he kissed at the Lantern Festival.

Don't know how much you've seen but the two choices, the mature ambitious Magistrate Han Muzhi and the rich blustery Menglin are shown as polar opposites. But looks are deceiving. Muzhi offers her shelter (and a job) in the Linfen Yamen from being a courtesan the Mengke Music House and gradually comes to appreciate her skills and intelligence but he is tied by his ambition and obligation and fails her when she needed it most. Menglin has a cat and dog spats and an entitled vs social stigma challenged relationship with Luo Shu. That and experience has given her a very insecure belief that all happiness is only fleeting which keeps them at arm's length for two thirds of the drama. But Menglin is willing sacrifice much including his life for her and his Family. He has hidden kindness and strengths that gradually become apparent throughout the drama. Also, much of the drama explores love and relationships between couples. It is a good watch.

That's from the wedding. Hanyan has an elder sister. Shi Yang has and maybe was able to enter the Zhuang household secretly, though.

I wonder if Zhuang Shi Yang is not Hanyan's real Father. If it came out that Yuwen was her real Father.... May explain the exile and rejection.

I would expect that the ML is behind the leaked essay and maybe the arrest is to make the FL more dependent on him. Haven't seen the trailer.

I think so, too.

She killed and he slaps women. Which upsets me more?

Ep.2 It's hard to burn your life unless you are really angry or hurt.

Dr. Han = Ma Sang Gu. .Because This is My First Life. Fond memories.

I re-watched ep.1 and 2 and ep.36 to check on the red dress worn playing the pipa for the de-flowering auction and the reddress worn in the prison scene. The two red dresses look similar but are different. The prison bridal dress has a wider neck collar the cape has smaller flower embroidery and the the white beads are smaller and spaced wider apart and the dress is all red. The red dress in the de-flowering auction also had a gold liner and she wore the neck ring with the white jewelry.

She get him back when 'throatgrabber' tries to do it later on. It is really her show and the ML is used as a foil to work against, work around and ultimately work with. It is worth finishing.

So the Mother sent the note in the candle. Most likely. Like Mother, like Daughter.

Not bad. Money wasn't spent on the script nor acting nor the sets, but it has a charm. Am on ep. 3 and enjoying it. Zhu Xudan has more to do here than in her last drama.

The Princess and the Doctor. It starts that she comes to marry the State Governor, (the ML's Brother) While going shopping, she catches a glimpse of him as he had been watching her from afar. But she can't be sure that it is him. He is a renowned doctor but is also a secret leader of the outlawed Ji people. They do meet as he comes to cure her evil brother who has been blinded by the FL. In the past he was her bodyguard and they fell in love, (implied he fell first but we don't see it) but a commoner and also a Ji person could not wed a princess, He is later exposed and her brother tortures him to make him give up the Bixi, a spirit rumored to give enormous power. She gives him the death feigning serum and it is implied that they both escaped the capital and lead ordinary lives. The Governor had just earlier allowed the engagement to be annulled.

She has a chance to be with her lover in the past.

It's a happy ending with a twist. After the Guo Zijie dies saving everyone from the blast, Zhou Na/Xuanxuan wakes up in the present day in a hospital bed. She is given the Yan City Dairies and it is implied that she relapses. Probably dies and returns to about when she first woke up in the past. But the bed and room is different. The Zijie tells her that he will tell his Father that they can get married next month. So this past is with out the Zhou Qin interference. She now loves him from she wakes up. By her dying in the present implies that she will stay in the past. My take on the ending.

Were Queen Woo played as a male by Clint Eastwood like The Man With No Name, the stoic emotionless face might not be criticized. I am happy with her portrayal and the ending speech reminds me of Henry V's Saint Crispin's Day Speech at Agincourt.

If you are interested in the lyrics for the three OSTs as well as links to abbreviated OST videos with scenes from the drama, look above at
Link to Full OST - Under the Moonlight
by Peony22

Sorry, I confused Qi Family name with Qin Family name talking about the poisoned cakes.
You have made some really good points. Didn't realize that red wedding dress was the same as at Mengke House. I think that you are right about the symmetry between the successful bid in ep. 1 and the wedding scene in ep. 36. But I like to think that Menglin really had no interest in bedding anyone at that time. There might not have been enough time to convince him to help her escape and he may not have matured enough to really help her. Just ineffectually be caught with her. Those Mengke thugs were pretty close behind. Han Muzhi was her best bet. And we had to have his story. But you had a distrustful Luo Shu partnered with a sheltered Menglin. Had that story been the main focus from the beginning, would the story have been more interesting? We would have had to clearly see the potential in Menglin and what Luo Shu might see in him. I would have liked to see him accompany her to see the world. Not as a rich person but as a common person. And with the servant as a freed man. Take care.