This episode continues the trend of the last 3 episodes of making Gu Shengnan act dumber and dumber and dumber. She just keeps stepping deeper and deeper into the blatant manipulations of Lu Zheng and it's just not believable. She has become a naive idiot who is now nothing more than collateral damage in the pissing contest between the brothers. The notion that she would drag Lu Zheng around expecting him to 'set things straight' with Lu Jin is ludicrous. And then the episode closes with her not only agreeing to LZ's suggestion that she go away on a retreat to relax ... but for some insane reason she gives her apartment key to Lu Zheng so he can watch her turtle? Are the show writers serious? They must have been on drugs when they wrote this. This show was so good up until episode 19 and then it has gone right into the toilet, getting worse with each episode. The mistake the writes have made is to stop focusing on growing the lead's romance and instead focus on the stupid corporate revenge-on-Lu-Jin's-father which morphed into this stupid pissing contest between the brothers. I'm sure that the writes will magically fix the romance in the last minute of the remaining episode to make it look like everything's fine. Even worse, I have a bad feeling they are going to do a last minute reconciliation between the brothers once Lu Jin has soundly defeated him because, hey, we can ignore all the pain that this pissing contest has caused Shengnan, right?
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On one hand, I give the writers credit for allowing Shengnan and Lu Jin to have an adult conversation and make up for the misunderstandings. But how they got to that point - and worse yet to come - is just utter trash story telling. They have twisted Lu Zheng's character into a manipulative, scheming stalker creep, intent on slimy tricks to get back at his brother. And they have smacked Shengnan hard with the plot-induced-stupidity plot trope so she is just walking blindly right into one trap situation after another. So disappointed at the final plot arc of this show.
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So, in order to create some sort of 'drama' to close the last episodes out, the writers have decided to transform Lu Jin's brother, Lu Zheng, into a manipulative slime ball who, since he's not really an experienced businessman, will stoop to messing with his brother's fiance' in order to achieve his goals. Shengnan is just too naturally inclined to want to help people so she falls too easily into the trap. The whole plot arc already feels manipulative and contrived and frankly, I will probably start skipping through segments just to get to the inevitable end since we already know this is pointless.
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Finally, the show put the dagger in both of the 'unrequited love interest plot lines. Both the unhealthy one by Li Man -- who was constantly manipulating and interfering in Lu Jin's life -- and the mostly benign but distracting one in Cheng Ziqian who seems like a nice guy but is, well, too boring and totally 'friend zone' material only. Both have been sidelined and removed from the table. Now the story and the couple can move forward with the hard work of actually building a strong relationship that can overcome the obstacles still in front of them. That's always the best part of a romance drama. Time wasted on 'love triangles' is time wasted on people who aren't part of the romance.
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On one hand, Lu Jin deserved to have to pay some penance for the way he left Yan Yan hanging, getting insulted and bullied by Li Man. And it was important for him to actually say the words to confess. Yan Yan kept giving him wide-open opportunities to simply say the words and he kept pausing and deflecting until finally she asked him point blank and he had nowhere to hide and said "yes". This was like a weight off both their shoulders and things finally started to move forward again. But the ending scene was annoying. At this point, both have pretty much confessed and are moving forward but Yan Yan still allows Ziqian to insert himself into their dinner and allows him to think he still has a chance. First off, she should remember how she felt jealous of Li Man and realize that Lu Jin probably is upset to see any closeness between her and Ziqian. Further, it simply isn't fair to Ziqian, either. She needs to draw a very clear line with him and be open and honest about where her feelings lie.
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Things were progressing too much in a positive direction for too long for a 24 episode series so inevitably a glitch had to show up. This comes in the form of Lu's manipulative secretary / business partner, Li Man, who shows up, quickly realizes that Lu is getting involved with someone and manipulates him into leaving for business with her and breaking things off with Nan Nan before they get any further. This woman clearly is a schemer and clearly has unrequited feelings for Lu Jin. Both leads performance in this episode its really amazing. Very emotional for both of them. Watching LuSi be sad and crying is, of course, always hard to watch as a viewer because she makes you want to cry with her. But at least as a viewer we sorta know this isn't the end and that somehow, someway, he will be back. So that makes it a little easier to watch. Aside: One aspect of the show that's a bit maddening is just how awful all of the various friends and family are on both FL & ML's sides. Yan Yan's friends and family are just awful to her, only interacting with her for their own selfish purposes and dropping her like a hot potato the moment they can't be bothered And on Lu Jin's side, his supposed assistant, Meng, is just awful. Not only is he a smart Alec who mouths snark to his boss, he undercuts him behind his back - in this episode in particular by not telling him about Li Man's arrival and worse, literally letting her in to roam around freely in Lu Jin's room and stuff! Almost none of the supporting characters has truly been 'supportive' of either Yan Yan or Lu Jin so far in this drama. Six episodes done - 25% of the series - is this how the show is going to go all the way?
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The first episode is a bit of a mixed bag. On the negative side, the 'humor' used to setup the initial conflict is very forced and cringe to the point of just not really being funny. Kinda stupid even. BUT ... the episode is still overall fun and enjoyable as it smoothly establishes some beautiful cooking scenes as a staple of the show, two lovely protagonists and the small cast of characters around them.
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I'm sorry. But the whole Prince-Xin-was-really-playing-the-fall-guy-to-help twist was just stupid. It really felt like the writer fell in love with the character and used this single conversation -- which made NO sense to have been granted -- between Xin and the Crown Princess to transform him from a pathetic obsessed psycho creep into .... a heroic martyr? Gimme a break. Did the writer just watch the final Harry Potter film before penning this chapter and decide to borrow the Severus Snape plot line? This whole conversation that revealed this was just a giant waste of screen time because it made ZERO difference to the plot. Yes, he it's true that his rebel actions cemented her legitimacy because she stopped him. But that would be true even if truly WAS rebellious. So this whole sudden 'reveal' about Prince Xin ultimately has ZERO impact on the entire rest of the story other than to salvage his character a bit in the minds of the viewers. It feels cheap and manipulative. Other than that, the rest of the episode was awesome, with some great gamesmanship and a much more important 'reveal' at the end that really adds a lot to the picture of the Emperor and what happened 20 years ago.
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This episode had so much happening. Chang Tai strikes first with assassins followed by troops, coming in determined to kill his father and anyone in his way. The action is fierce and brutal with several signific deaths. We get some important bonding between Hua Yong and his father. And of course we get the long-anticipated-yet-painfully-too-soon death of Hua Yong in a beautifully filmed cinematic death scene. A tragically sad outcome, but overall the makings of a fantastic episode. The only glitch is that the director or editor or both ended up really, really dragging out some of the scenes with loooooong pauses and meaningless monologues. Chang Tai's death scene was just absurdly too long and pointless. That was a lot of wasted screen time. And then the long drawn out scene where Xi He is racing back to find Hua Yong and he is walking slowly out to find her. That was stretched out absurdly long. The other oddity was with the aftermath of the initial battle, the scene with just the Emperor and Hua Yong - where the heck were all the guards and servants? Why was everybody else suddenly vanished from that part of the palace? It really seemed weird. And that strange state of 'no one around' continued through the final scene with Hua Yong and Xi He.
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we get a full-on sweet storyline episode as our leads enjoy multiple romantic moments and the pleasant surprise of learning that Xi He is pregnant. This episode is wonderfully cheesy without any sense of shame for doing so. Lots of sentimentality. Of course, we all know that this goodnesss won't last and just means bad things are coming ...
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By the end of this episode, the Crown Prince has saved Prince Xin's life multiple times now. And Xin's outlook on his brother is clearly affected. The guy is still a delusional psychopath and I don't believe for a second that he will ever give up his insane obsession with Xi He. But this investment by the Crown Prince in saving his brother's life hopefully will pay off somehow down the line? Meanwhile, CP is presented with yet another accusation against his father as the one who poisoned him. That's now a lot of fingers pointing at the Emperor, but .... it seems too obvious. Feels like a misdirection by the show writer. I suspect that there is still some big truth that is yet to be revealed.
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The moment Jingjing sees the 2 penta-kills on her account was a pretty big deal. This was a huge signal to her about his sincerity that she had not known about. And it was her uncertainty about his sincerity - his true commitment to her - that was keeping her from accepting him. She was clearly scared to try again unless she could feel certain because of how much he had hurt her with that rejection. So that's why she had kept things at arm's length, waiting to see. The penta-kills were a sign of his thinking about and acting for her without her knowing. That broke the ice. Then the bold and impulsive show he put on at the reunion event was a sign that he had listened and was taking her words to heart about what love needs to be at times. That was a signal that he trusts and believes in her and is willing to change to be with her. This episode also finally lets us meet her bestie, Pei Pei who is played by Zheng He Huizi, who would later star as the lead in a similarly well-received rom-com, You are my Fated Love.
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I'll give credit to the show for having YuTu's incredible lack of social & emotional skills be consistent. Even when he finally gets his moment to finally apologize and confess to Jingjing, he says all kinds of dumb things and nearly botches it. At least he does sort of get it out. I'm glad she decides to keep him at arm's length for a bit. He hurt her really bad and needs to do at least some penance! Plus, his whole life he has been the one the girls have been pursuing and I think that has contributed to his self-absorbed nature - he has literally always just taken girls for granted. So it's good for him to learn what it's like to be pursuing her.
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We find out that the letters he wrote are all about answering questions Jingjing had posted to a group chat 10 years ago. Seriously? That's it? Nowhere in them does he actually apologize. Nowhere in them does he explain that he loves her. This is just so freaking bizarre that I'm seriously questioning whether the writer intends to reveal that YuTu is actually an alien robot planted amongst our species. Because the fact that he didn't apologize and didn't confess in those letters is just mind-boggling insane. Is he still really this clueless? I completely support her for her response that, those answers he gave do not matter anymore. Later, he surprises her by showing up to be her driver to take her to her hometown for the holidays. But again he doesn't even begin to apologize or confess. The episode closes with him asking her if his answers don't really matter anymore and all I can think is, "YOU ANSWERED THE WRONG F'ING QUESTIONS YOU IDIOT!!!!!" The last thing she had told him was that she would no longer ask him "Why?" THAT is the question he needs to answer for her.
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The sequences showing YuTu at work in the field aren't bad. And they help add 'color' to his life away from Jingjing and gaming. But as a matter of detail, they aren't critically important to the larger plot. What's important in this episode is that YuTu currently hates himself a little bit as he's realized what a jerk he has been. So he's self-punishing by not allowing himself to join his comrades in social events and mostly just sits pondering his navel, looking at old Jingjing text messages and feeling (rightfully) sad. Things don't finally start to move forward until late in the episode after YuTu talks with Guan Zai and his wife and then starts to compose letters to Jingjing. We see that she receives them but don't know what they say at the end of the episode.
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