Ep. 24-28: My problem with this drama right now is simply this: If Qin Guard can be forgiven & have another shot & a second chance at life - after being his father's tool for entirety of his life, knowing his father's way of working & removing people, & himself killing an ally & guard in prison, why can't Prince Li get a HE? All he has done is kill 1 person (Yuan) & gotten 4 people killed in his quest to reclaim the throne after 8 years.
Now FL is worried that not only is Prince Li alive but that he is behind the assassination of Princess Lingyan - who btw, is Cangbei's princess and hence enemy of Dachu. She wants Prince Li stopped. Cangbei killed not only 30K soldiers but also pillaged people of 3 villages. But in this drama, we are supposed to agree with FL because it's her way or the highway. I think throne needs to be given back to Prince Li & if he snatches it back that's fine too. He has more right to launching a rebellion than concubine did 8 years ago, who has more blood on her hands than anyone else. The kid emperor can be exiled. ML should support Prince Li get back the throne but he won't, because in this drama FL is always right & everyone else is wrong.
Plus, I don't know how Marquis can be in jail after the BIG EDICT REVEAL but people who benefitted the most from it stay in power.
FL's acting in the scene with ML where he asks her about her mother's role in the edict-stuff & why she married him, is also extremely robotic & bad. For such a crucial scene, there should have been some expression on her face. There's none. Her lack of expression (& acting skill) worked before because she was supposed to have a poker face, now it doesn't make sense for her to remain expressionless when the house of cards is crumbling.
I also think that Qin Guard's HE will be going off with that 'lady' to travel different regions....and I did not like that 'lady': she clearly knew her own status when she flirted & lead this guy on giving him her handkerchief & asking him to come to a 'garden', & she shouldn't have done that if she knew that a lady having tea with the queen cannot be with just any random guy she meets by the roadside. She then felt slighted when Qin Guard turned out to be Marquis' man & she suspected Marquis had planted Qin Guard around her to make her fall for him (she implied as much in that nasty one-way convo she had with Qin Guard where he remained silent) & then she put him down by offering money to hire him or put in a good word for him in palace, to show him his lowly status. Qin Guard can do better, but won't because nothing makes sense in this drama anymore. It has been stretched too thin.
Who are we supposed to care for & why? In Double & Legend of Zhang Hai we knew who to root for, here it's FL who decides who is right & who should be punished and why & she inexplicably knows more than everyone else as master manipulator, historian of age-old secrets, doctor & trained martial artist but has extremely myopic world view & stale love life.
yes. but she thinks its her master that is helping not her. so she him as a split personality.
Oh come on! No one is THAT great a student!Science fiction makes more sense than that! Or supernatural, ghostly possession.
And you forget, if her martial artists bodyguard left 3 years ago, he didn't mention dead tutors or students, & her 'martial moves' are a surprise to him, & Prince Li studied there too (he has martial skills). So she didn't learn these moves in front of them - were tutors giving her one-on-one lessons???? Or she learnt it in last 3 years? Got traumatized in 3 years? If the drama is trying to show that she is doing what she 'saw' her master do as rote memory, then it is even more ridiculous.
Plus, what about all the knowledge - the past histories of astrologer, royalty & medicine, how can a child, or 14 -22yo know & do what experts can't. Now that I think of it, she had seen her mother run a shop & studied a bit but to show that she's managing everything so well without having any world experience or working with actual subordinates is also fancy storytelling. People don't wake up one day and become great businesswomen.
SML syndrome is terrifying!She never tried to take him down, and she even saved his life when finding him in the…
Prince Li has been 'convicted' by corrupt people currently in power who killed his father, the legitimate crown prince & his supporters & humiliated him for 8 years. He has every right to do the same to them. And C-dramas usually benefit only those who are 'pure' - the kind that does not exist in real life, people are always grey, not black & white.
On your last point, I understand what you are saying, but Marquis was the tool the concubine queen used to get into power - the only reason she & her son have power is because Marquis sided with her & killed everyone on her behalf. Consort did the same to put concubine queen & her son in power. All 3 are ruling this country - these sort of people would not break their alliance over a Yuan Feng or beating of that security official. I think these characters have been dumbed down.
The kid emperor will go on to kill people too or get someone to do the killing for him. It's just that C-dramas like to show one bad guy instead of acknowledging that everyone had a bloody hand in getting this kid emperor into power & later on, maintaining his power.
No, I don't have SML syndrome. I just don't see how Prince Li is any worse than any of these power-hungry people. You don't get to be emperor without ruffling feathers or weakening your detractors. It's hypocritical for C-drama to show one side as 'better' than the other, one coup to be better than the other, one set of massacre acceptable than the other. If there could be a coup 8 years ago, there can be a coup again. Why not?
It was literally prince li who caused distrust between empress dowager and marquis, when he murdered yuan Feng…
Ok, ok, & I don't hate the FL - she's the most intriguing character in this drama - but I don't like simplistic maneuvers to extend a lead's agenda of bringing down corrupt people. Corrupt people don't break / crack the alliance this easily.
I am referring to consort Qin's and ED's conversation in ep. 20. When ED asked Qin what was she worried about…
The edict was handed over to consort by Ye Family's men (FL's uncle & dad - dad confirmed it to FL during grandma episode), so she is a vital player who got power by siding with concubine's side of the family than crown prince, directly engineering demise of Gen. Mo & his father, & indirectly responsible for the deaths of 30K soldiers in battlefield by Cangbei & pillaging & killing by Cangbei when 3 villages fell. I think you missed that portion in previous episodes.
The bond between consort, queen & Marquis has been dumbed down. In Ep. 20 convo that you've mentioned, that is exactly what is happening - we are being shown 'fissures' when actually these kinds of people know they sink or swim together, they'd never go against each other. I think that scene is nonsensical. This is being done to show FL is master of the game, when it's ridiculous to think these sort of people to crumble so soon just through some random woman.
It's her fighting alright, but the drama needs to explain how she became such a great martial artist & expert…
And that martial bodyguard does not know she ever got trained in martial arts, so if he left 3 years ago, she 'got trained' really quickly in last 3 years or is possessed by ghost - there's no other reasonable explanation for her to be better in martials than 20 assassins. Drama needs to explain how she became such an expert in everything. Unless all the teachers groomed her for revenge (we have no evidence of that yet), or she sought specific knowledge for 8 years to get even from these powerful people, including the past histories.
Every time the FL is in danger the swordsman shows up, is it just her fighting while blacking out?
It's her fighting alright, but the drama needs to explain how she became such a great martial artist & expert medical practitioner & knower of royal secrets & pasts of key characters when she was trapped from 14-22 on a mountain cut away from civilization, assuming everyone else there, teachers & pupils, died either right away or one after the other.
yes. but she thinks its her master that is helping not her. so she him as a split personality.
The disorder / PTSD doesn't explain how she has the 'martial moves' when she was just 14 when these guys died - even IF they died in the ensuing 8 years, still it doesn't explain how the hell she is a master martial artist. Someone mentioned she read books for 8 years, that's why she knows so much stuff, but you don't learn martial moves through books, & she had NO ONE to practice with. Plus, her expert knowledge of leg treatment is also suspect because she WAS only a teenager & she has made ML walk when experts failed to do so. She also knew the background of that astrologer she got killed early on - how did a 14 yo trapped in a mountain for 8 years know his past with concubine & queen?
I think there's something supernatural or ghostly possession happening (& this has been used as a trope in plenty of dramas). She does have PTSD & trauma-related dissociation where she thinks dead people are around her as alive, BUT skilled knowledge & martial moves cannot be explained through PTSD or DID or identity alteration.
Prince Li's story is indeed sad, and his desire for royalty makes sense. However, he is like a time bomb for the…
What FL said to him was in relation to his obsession with her - & she was absolutely right in calling him out on his selfish entitled 'have cake & eat it' behavior, but plotting to get the throne is a different thing. I don't see how his maneuvers are any different from everyone (concubine empress, consort & Marquis) who brought the previous regime down. They killed & removed (& are continuing to remove) innocent people. Why can't Prince Li do the same - since that's how you get power. If there could be chaos then, why not now? A time bomb was detonated against him 8 years ago, it's pay back time (that's how he views it). Why is that wrong?
It was literally prince li who caused distrust between empress dowager and marquis, when he murdered yuan Feng…
No, all I'm saying is that it would take a lot for 'distrust' to occur between 3 people who got & maintain power together....these 3 have killed a lot of people, so a Yuan Feng is not someone sooooooooo special that they'd start cracking their alliance. It's unrealistic & lazy, self-serving writing.
Now FL is worried that not only is Prince Li alive but that he is behind the assassination of Princess Lingyan - who btw, is Cangbei's princess and hence enemy of Dachu. She wants Prince Li stopped. Cangbei killed not only 30K soldiers but also pillaged people of 3 villages. But in this drama, we are supposed to agree with FL because it's her way or the highway. I think throne needs to be given back to Prince Li & if he snatches it back that's fine too. He has more right to launching a rebellion than concubine did 8 years ago, who has more blood on her hands than anyone else. The kid emperor can be exiled. ML should support Prince Li get back the throne but he won't, because in this drama FL is always right & everyone else is wrong.
Plus, I don't know how Marquis can be in jail after the BIG EDICT REVEAL but people who benefitted the most from it stay in power.
FL's acting in the scene with ML where he asks her about her mother's role in the edict-stuff & why she married him, is also extremely robotic & bad. For such a crucial scene, there should have been some expression on her face. There's none. Her lack of expression (& acting skill) worked before because she was supposed to have a poker face, now it doesn't make sense for her to remain expressionless when the house of cards is crumbling.
I also think that Qin Guard's HE will be going off with that 'lady' to travel different regions....and I did not like that 'lady': she clearly knew her own status when she flirted & lead this guy on giving him her handkerchief & asking him to come to a 'garden', & she shouldn't have done that if she knew that a lady having tea with the queen cannot be with just any random guy she meets by the roadside. She then felt slighted when Qin Guard turned out to be Marquis' man & she suspected Marquis had planted Qin Guard around her to make her fall for him (she implied as much in that nasty one-way convo she had with Qin Guard where he remained silent) & then she put him down by offering money to hire him or put in a good word for him in palace, to show him his lowly status. Qin Guard can do better, but won't because nothing makes sense in this drama anymore. It has been stretched too thin.
Who are we supposed to care for & why? In Double & Legend of Zhang Hai we knew who to root for, here it's FL who decides who is right & who should be punished and why & she inexplicably knows more than everyone else as master manipulator, historian of age-old secrets, doctor & trained martial artist but has extremely myopic world view & stale love life.
It's a scene from a trailer out in the public domain. Get a life FGS!
And you forget, if her martial artists bodyguard left 3 years ago, he didn't mention dead tutors or students, & her 'martial moves' are a surprise to him, & Prince Li studied there too (he has martial skills). So she didn't learn these moves in front of them - were tutors giving her one-on-one lessons???? Or she learnt it in last 3 years? Got traumatized in 3 years? If the drama is trying to show that she is doing what she 'saw' her master do as rote memory, then it is even more ridiculous.
Plus, what about all the knowledge - the past histories of astrologer, royalty & medicine, how can a child, or 14 -22yo know & do what experts can't. Now that I think of it, she had seen her mother run a shop & studied a bit but to show that she's managing everything so well without having any world experience or working with actual subordinates is also fancy storytelling. People don't wake up one day and become great businesswomen.
On your last point, I understand what you are saying, but Marquis was the tool the concubine queen used to get into power - the only reason she & her son have power is because Marquis sided with her & killed everyone on her behalf. Consort did the same to put concubine queen & her son in power. All 3 are ruling this country - these sort of people would not break their alliance over a Yuan Feng or beating of that security official. I think these characters have been dumbed down.
The kid emperor will go on to kill people too or get someone to do the killing for him. It's just that C-dramas like to show one bad guy instead of acknowledging that everyone had a bloody hand in getting this kid emperor into power & later on, maintaining his power.
No, I don't have SML syndrome. I just don't see how Prince Li is any worse than any of these power-hungry people. You don't get to be emperor without ruffling feathers or weakening your detractors. It's hypocritical for C-drama to show one side as 'better' than the other, one coup to be better than the other, one set of massacre acceptable than the other. If there could be a coup 8 years ago, there can be a coup again. Why not?
The bond between consort, queen & Marquis has been dumbed down. In Ep. 20 convo that you've mentioned, that is exactly what is happening - we are being shown 'fissures' when actually these kinds of people know they sink or swim together, they'd never go against each other. I think that scene is nonsensical. This is being done to show FL is master of the game, when it's ridiculous to think these sort of people to crumble so soon just through some random woman.
I think there's something supernatural or ghostly possession happening (& this has been used as a trope in plenty of dramas). She does have PTSD & trauma-related dissociation where she thinks dead people are around her as alive, BUT skilled knowledge & martial moves cannot be explained through PTSD or DID or identity alteration.