noor1234

Ep.31: It's incredible to me how much this drama has derailed to the point I cannot recognize the FL, ML or the crux of the story arcs anymore. It's all jingoist propaganda for weak-minded female audience, who want to pretend that men are the root of all of women's problems, that as progressive as ML was shown in the earlier part of the show, he is now a ridiculous emasculated immature loser who just has to accept every weird thing his wife does or says, where even servants are acting like they own the house he lives in while he is tiptoeing around them. And HE is the one who has to be taught lessons by the virtue-signalling on-an-invisible-pedastal FL who can do no wrong.

FL who began as a girl with a remarkable tragic backstory & life journey, incredible brilliance & will power & energy & laughter - & the drama IS her life story - stopped having a fully functioning brain, she hasn't picked up any signals about anything, since she became a commoner. She hasn't shown any capacity to be empathetic to anyone other than drama's self-serving agenda to show women as perennial victims.

For me this story was always about her & the strength of her experience as a noble & slave & commoner. Unfortunately, the drama doesn't know how to write her as a woman, a friend, a lover, a wife or a daughter, unless she is giving a speech about feminism or how the world is cruel towards women & how she will save everyone.

It's especially ridiculous because she has not been shown being angry towards HER OWN DAD & GRANDPA, for what happened to the women & children of her family. She is shown walking in her parent's house & she does not realize for once that her male members were responsible for the upheaval - I know some of commenters said Confucian ideals would've made it impossible for them to 'go against their conscience' BUT a little bit of self-reflection from FL about how she ended up where she ended up would've been useful. She does not like the Lins, it's very obvious, she doesn't like ML, it's very obvious, she doesn't remember any act of kindness (& frankly drama has pummeled ML so much he is unrecognizable now). Lins are the bad guys - people who chose to live & save their families, men who didn't want women of their family to become whores are bad guys.

I don't want to get into the semantics of various scenes, because MDL commenters pick one or two lines & start bashing whoever makes a post that isn't praising the drama or cast, but now FL wants to write plays, which she wouldn't have been able to do even as the wife of an imperial scholar. She was rude to ML's elders (those Lin grandparents) whose only crime was to not support her Shen family - but expects ML to fall over himself and any sword just to please her.

FL & ML are no longer well-rounded characters. And that's not all - most of the guys introduced in this drama are bad, every rich person introduced in this drama is bad.

FL is now a petty small-minded loose cannon. She has been reduced to a robotic avenger. She has had zero open conversations with ML about their marriage, his past relationships, her past relationship, & the house she has ended up in - which would've revealed ML's point of view too, along with allowing FL to reveal bits of her former self & trauma indirectly. There is zero compatibility & communication between them at every level. How is it possible that a smart quick-on-her-feet servant could work with 'master' but cannot do so as his wife? The drama is unbalanced & is not even pro-women, it's pro-victimhood, it's about showing one woman coming to the rescue of other women. She is the only one who knows what is right, knows how to go about it (or the female servants know what is right). This is juvenile writing at its best.

And for all of the 'female empowerment' mumbo jumbo, this 47-episode drama needed a MALE LEAD to get female viewers to watch it - none of the people commenting on MDL would've watched the female-only cast for 47-episodes, if they didn't have cute boys fawning over their every move. That is how shallow this drama really is.

A very old hit J-drama Oshin did not feature a single guy (& who Oshin ended up with wasn't really a good husband, so he didn't have much screentime, even though she remained married to him till his death) & Oshin became a successful franchise owner showing Japanese business & cultural evolution after WW1.

All that ATC does is show that Chinese dramas don't know how to write women look good, without making men look bad.

Dropping this drama.

👍

My comment has nothing to do with 'lovey dovey romance' I've noticed on MDL people dumb down what someone has commented on, pick one or two lines, react to it & ultimately defend a series, no matter how ridiculous a plot point or character may be.

I'm talking about 2 adults. One of whom forced a marriage on another, that he has a past with that he doesn't know about. And another adult, who refuses to talk about the elephant in the room - inspite of her intelligence. This drama should be moving forward, instead we will be shown one pitiful woman after another for the remainder of this series - all saved by FL. While the crux of the matter - her relationship with ML AND the trauma of the massacre/ Lin decision - will be back burner for the majority of that time. And will only get resolved once she finds out he isn't all that bad - in Ep.42-44!!!! This is a waste of time. I have no intention of watching a series where FL is giving lectures to all men & women for 17 remaining episodes.

I have a problem when victimhood is reduced to a gender - in this case women only. Are women the only sufferers of that time period or poverty or class system? This is nonsense.

injuries, his health was 'never the same' after that battle is the way it's said on twitter. Most probably his heart weakened, & he died of heart failure! No, she doesn't remarry.

Ep. 29-30: I've started forwarding all the stories of all the miserable women shown in most episodes, whose lives are transformed by FL - It seems like FL is running a social welfare agency for broken women. To make one gender victim of another gender is off-putting to me. And this has nothing to do with that time period. This drama has been created for 21st century women, not imperialistic Ming, Ding, whatever dynasty women. There's a reason there's a pity party whenever a woman turns evil in this drama (her actions explained away as being product of an unfair system, no matter how privileged she may be) & an anger whenever a guy turns bad (who gets no redemption arc).

And trailers for Ep.34 show there is no progress between FL & ML - in fact he's hung up on her former fiancee. This is exactly why I said that this trope of non-communication should not have been used, but has been used to prolong the idiotic trope of 'non-consummation' till the last few episodes. We are literally expected to say 'hoorah' when they do it after she finds out about Shen graves in the last few episodes, they go & make 2 babies, & spoiler-free - what will happen, happens, etc. The End!

They should've moved on to FL understanding what privilege to do good on a larger scale this marriage provides her - because she is the type to make the best of any situation. She could've taken ML into confidence as to what she wanted her role to be, she hasn't. She is still moping around rescuing women. And she'll continue to do that till the end.

What was so wrong to show a scene between ML & FL as to what their expectations are from this marriage that FL did not agree to? Everything is not about s*x. There is a thing called compatibility, where on different issues, they could've had meeting of minds. FL could've brought up his screwed up history with women, she could've made any excuse in the world to know about Shens & what happened to them, & truth would be revealed, she'd make her peace with it & move on. Because the no.1 reason she has a problem with him as a person is that he is the same guy she was betrothed to as a teenager. Instead, we have a stone-faced FL as if life has been taken out of her BECAUSE of ending up with Lin, not spelling out anything. ML used to be graceful & serious, he's transformed into a guy living as a guest in his own house & a hanger-on around his former maid wife, looking ridiculously childish around a dismissive FL.

Instead of the plot moving forward, them reconciling, getting kids, & for 10-12 episodes we can see their actual married life together, in which she can make all the changes in the world, we are expected to watch this stalemate between FL & ML for 10-12-14 more episodes.

I still think Road to Splendor had a tighter script & story & it remains the best drama for 2026 IMO. Though this is definitely a grander a more large-scale production, that was good for a while, but it's dragging a LOT & there are 17 more episodes to go. And the plot has nothing more than showcasing miserable women (& one more battle for the throne, apparently).

No he explains himself when he takes her to the graves of 20 people, & she realizes it is her family. Touched by his actions, she then becomes his 'wife'. She only tells him who she is after she has had their 1st child, a daughter.

She is angry not just because he took her against her choice, but because he is LIN. She is traumatized by the Lin connection. And his connection with previous women is important, because that's the only version of him she knows, she only opens herself to him when he takes her to the graves, not before, before that she doesn't let him touch her. So the fact that he did not abandon her or her family because he had followed his elders, & did the best for his dead family he could, gave them respect in death, is important to her. Right now she thinks he is a LIN, he takes what he can take, he rejects what he can reject, he abandons who he can abandon. That's why she will stay reserved from him as a 'wife' for 10 episodes.

Ep. 28: I know it's a contrived trope to keep non-communication between a couple stretched to the limit, but FL is clearly PTSD & unable to forgive ML or his family for their past association with Shens. So why didn't FL even once say to ML, that 'you are untrustworthy & unreliable because you dumped your 1st fiancee when they were accused of treason, didn't get along with your 1st wife & dumped her in a way that secured you & ruined her, & now have snatched me against my will, whose to say you won't find a way to get rid of me?'

I think normally FL would bring out the facts to get a real answer. Surely, ML would've clarified Shen matters immediately. But for prolonging the drama tension & their 'non-consummation' (which only occurs after Shen grave reveal & ML's role in preserving it - probably Ep. 42-44!!!), her approach is to be quiet, stay out of ML's way & ignore his entire elders (who were complicit in cutting off from Shens without even apologizing / warning). This is passive-aggressive behavior & unlike FL. She is usually very straightforward. I'm not saying she should reveal who she is, but she could've asked ML to clarify himself, especially since every moment in that house as his wife, she's reminded of past connection.

There are spoiler scenes filmed on twitter. It's recorded.

She'll tell him after their 1st baby - a daughter - is born. I think she'll name her on her biological Shen mom, & will explain her reason to do so to ML. I don't think it's possible for him to love her anymore than he does, he had no emotional connection to Shen girl, he had never seen her, she died with her fam, & he felt guilty that he couldn't stop their deaths or do something for them, so he collected their bodies & got 2 Shen servants to take care of unmarked graves.

If you want to know why Shen graves are important, it is because FL will only 'bed' him after knowing all this, even though she won't disclose her real connection to Shens at that time.

Because then it won't be a feminist tale. This is her story, about her survival, about her using her privilege to do good (for women) because she has seen both sides of the coin - nobility & poverty, slavery & common status.

He's 45/50, depending on which twitter spoiler you watch. And his kids are very young (boy was 13) teenagers, but in drama boy is probably 5 when he dies. He doesn't get to see daughter & son grow up. He got injured in a battle and was 'never the same again' was ill all the time and then dies by 'slipping away'. She lives on to be 80 as matriarch of the entire household.

I did not like the aspect that the only person from Lin household who took care of everyone's needs didn't get to raise his & FL's kids, dying before any major event of their life.

Yeah, he dies when kids are teenagers, boy is 13, but maybe in the drama he dies when boy is 5. Which is worse, because that means the guy who led his entire family will not get to see his own kids grow up.

They won't.

Yup. I was disappointed to know this via a twitter spoiler (he dies at 45-50). You are forgetting by this time, FL is in love with ML. She'll be sad but will be okay because her personality is to move ahead. And what did ML do to deserve an early death? He was used by his parents 3 times for advantageous marriages. He chose his own path & married a former maid. He produced 2 kids, fought in a battle, got injured & died. He was either at war at home or for king. The only good time he had was with FL- & she hid that she was Shen for a very long time from him. 50 is too young to die. If he had died at 65, it would've been better.

But ML has always been a filler for this drama to show FL's progress in life & all the women she came across & saved. I also understand why FL HAS to have a grandma arc - because grandmas in C-dramas are usually good-for-nothing angry monsters who uphold 'honor' & arrange marriages that no one is happy with. FL will actually do something substantial as an elderly. She's not the same as Shens, Zhengs or Lins or Zhao women who all crib & quarrel with each other. In fact, FL has always tried to help people along the way. She was born a noble, became a slave & commoner & then back being a noble. She knows what poverty is, what humanity is & what real goodness is. Unlike all these elitist families shown in the drama.

My only problem with this drama will always be that it went down the same route that ALL C-dramas go - making women martyrs & victims of men. And that is extremely unfair & untrue. And they showed both privileged women & poverty-stricken women, whining. Poverty does not know a gender, neither does rigid class barriers. I don't know what kind of female viewership likes that kind of fake feminism.

He had zero emotional connection to his 1st wife (who was rude as hell throughout) - he actually is satisfied with this marriage even tho he ended up on the couch / side chamber. his smile said everything - everyone else was miserable that day, except him. And the night ended the same way.

Depends on what you mean by a HE. This is a female-centric drama, focussed on FL's journey through 80 years of her life, showing how many women she met & saved. Women are miserable & men are the culprits, rich influential women have problems, poverty-stricken women have problems, men are the problem. FL & ML have a sort of complicated past. They do get married. He will die at 45-50 years of age. She'll be the female matriarch holding his & extended family together.

You have written a very well crafted & articulated stuff. The only thing I will say is that nobody knows what ML's plan 6 months ago was when he 1st saw FL & Scholar singing in a courtyard, because crown prince situation presented itself 6 months later when king was on death bed, navy cmndr was getting married & CP was going to attend it & Zheng was going to kill him there. That's when ML's mom was arranging his marriage, that's when FL's kidnapping happened, & that's when ML found out that Scholar is going to send a proposal. This kingly plan is ML's second plan. We never saw his original plan. And I agree with you that from his perspective, it is foolproof for both him & FL - imperial decree shows the respect & dignity he wants her to have - she becomes legal wife - but it also ensures no one in his family can override his choice or mistreat her. So he chose what the best possible outcome was for himself & her given that it is a marriage of unequals, going against filial piety, that is not benefitting him in any material way.

I disagree with you that FL didn't think she had a choice - or that neither man gave her a choice. She absolutely had a choice & she had chosen Scholar - to please her parents, yes, but it was HER choice. It doesn't matter whether she was thinking of ML or not. It doesn't natter whether she was in love with Scholar or not. No matter how grand ML's gesture may seem on hindsight, the FACT is FL was silently crying in a courtyard all by herself traumatized once again. Ep. 26 was a hard watch. It's not about love. It's about having a choice. And that choice was arbitrarily taken away from her by ML. Her adoptive parents are unhappy, she is unhappy. She WAS going to marry Scholar. She had planned her life a certain way & was content & happy with it. It was taken away. Hence the slap had all the PTSD of Shen massacre, Lin abandonment & it also shows ML how equal she really thinks she is, that she did it the instant she became his wife & knew he couldn't even get angry at her - because getting angry at her would be getting angry at king's decree. She cannot be divorced either. So as soon as she had the power to teach him what she thought of his 'grand gesture', she slapped him.

And there is no earthly reason why ML did not approach or explain the decree once it was done. He could've spoken to FL later on, he didn't. He knew what type of self-willed & proud woman she was, & knew she wouldn't approve, but he did it because he wanted her & had the power to get her. He also knows FL adjusts to situations remarkably well & she'll adjust to life with him, & thrive, because she makes every situation work in her favor. He knows her better than she does, it's just that he never anticipated the slap!

Since I've seen spoilers, frankly this story is not about survival or ML or their short-lived romance. It's the life journey of a woman who was born noble, lived as a slave & commoner before becoming noble through marriage again & ALL the women who she saved or came across. ML is a carrot, I've said this before, a carrot dangled in front of us, the viewers, to get us to watch this drama, and this drama is not about ML.

The drama is not about women 'surviving,' it has fake feminism, it's about women crying about how cruel the world is to them, how bad men are - even privileged women whining about unfairness - privileged women who have more power than most men, are crying over idiotic self-made crisis in this drama & blaming husbands, fathers, sons. None of the women crying have done an iota of work in their lives. Most privileged women are having cat fights with other women.

I also have a problem when poverty-stricken women are shown as helpless - as if poverty knows a gender - men have as hard a time as women when they have no status & no money. These kinds of dramas are usually propagandist.

Yup, and I don't think nunnery teaches those!

He's the butt of jokes here....