noor1234

Yes. Doesn't suit him plus mourning period ended & if they were going to show a goatee ML, they should've shown passage of 5-10 years, the entire story arc in the capital is of a few months or a year at the most!

Yes. That was a good dialogue. I actually thought they could get back together IF Shameless/ SML was not sooooooo shameless.

Ep. 32: SFL will definitely live out / survive the fall of Yus but I still think the chance of Shameless /SML to make it alive is about zero (because he got a guy killed & got ML nearly killed).

ML had told FL to not leave house because there may be trouble (after Mo's death), but she pranced around to meet Wu concubine with her loyal maid only to get kidnapped! Ridiculous plotline btw. This FL is there for EVERYONE except ML. She only decided to give the poor man a chance when she found out that Yus had killed her mother - so now it's personal for her! Now she wants revenge! Now she'll help him - BUT this guy has been up against the Yus since he came to the capital & only NOW she decides to join him in action. Heartless woman.

There hasn't been a proper hug or kiss between this couple since forever.

Well, whatever makes this ML happy.....

Ep.32 - I've waited the entire day for it, but it's not on any site (let alone the entire express which usually shows up on kisskh etc. on release). Where are you guys watching the new episodes?

Yup. Hopefully many scenes of happy life, not just the last 5 minutes of being on a swing with a kid!!! (typical tropey ending)

He has to do what the king tells him to do. Can she say no to the king? Can she go to the king & throw the new title he has given her to his face? ML cannot say no because his boss is the king. It's a concept the FL has failed to grasp in 20+ episodes. Her 'agency' is going behind his back to undermine him & his position not to support him or find a way out of this quagmire of kingly position - all that she achieved in life were 3 mentions in county register - that's it! But she was talking about ML's future as a Marquis or Gen. commander or Chancellor - she wants to have her cake and eat it too without paying any price for it. Well, he's paying the price for all of the orders he has to follow. She doesn't. She just sits in the mansion on a moral pedestal.

I also think she has fundamentally failed to understand the personality of the guy she waited 5 years for. He has taken care of her, in sickness & in health (even in last episodes when she was crying over her evil dad & in bed, he was making soup for her!!!) & protected her. She frankly has done nothing for him. When it's her turn to show nurturing or some care, there is nothing but brickbats. He is dead tired, full of stress, basically a dead man walking under the weight of all that king requires of him & what Yu plans, & she has never once asked him whether he's okay. And she doesn't help him. She is the one who stopped being the team player - esp. in Ep.29-31.

Yup.

Ep. 31: Just finished it. ML, Gen. Mo & king performed really well. I don't think even king had a choice frankly.

I seriously have lost hope in FL at this point. I don't even recognize her anymore.

I dare FL to 'sit and have dinner' with Mo like ML was made to. When he came back home, sitting outside the entrance, she neither asked him what happened, nor smiled, & in fact later on scolded him when she found out Mo had been bumped off, & when he explained why king made the order, simply lectured ML & left. Such a cold cold cold woman! I mean save a little bit of sympathy! You had plenty for your deadbeat dad (that you took a slap from & who killed your mom) - she was depressed over him, ill & weak!!!! - she had sympathy for concubine Wu & Mo's wife! But the guy who has given everything to her, she has nothing but spite!

I think FL's character is supposed to be a morally above-board virtuous center for the show & for ML to 'guide' him to the right path, BUT it's very easy to spout virtuous lines when you are just sitting pretty in a mansion & not facing any danger, any order, any king, any court, any Yu directly. He has to face everything alone. She actually expects things to move at her pace between court, king & ML!!!!("don't do anything for the next few days, I have evidence"!) Would she have been able to convince the king that Mo should not be killed? She does nothing but get angry & disappointed at ML & show magnanimity to women below in rank to her, who were once superior. ML is the one who has to take orders & tough actions & live with them. The burden is on him, & it's a very heavy burden, esp. after Mo, he isn't well. She can see it, the toll it's taking, but she is soooooooo cold! It's unbelievable.

She is right about one thing: even I could see 10 episodes ago that this couple are on their way to becoming cold heartless machiavellian soulless corrupt Yus. And FL said it today. The banquet at the end was devastating to watch because the entire event was full of sycophants and ML+FL were technically 'celebrating' their own promotions on the grave of an unjust execution & at the cost of alienating their only friends / colleagues. Even Wei lady didn't show up!

But constructive criticism is beyond FL & so is a viable plan of action or a hug.

Very good episode (forwarded Mo wife's screaming / whining).

Yeah, I absolutely cringed when I saw an unconscious FL in the arms of Shameless / SML in Ep. preview. This was an unnecessary trope. There was no reason to show FL in the presence of this evil family - UNLESS SHE'S PRETENDING TO BE UNCONSCIOUS!

Because king only wanted a tool that gave him the quickest results in less time, he is not grooming a candidate for the long haul. People like ML are removed / executed once they outlive their purpose (usually by the king).

Yup. That's what I think so too - she told cmndr Wang's wife a couple ep. & promotions ago that ML will 'take care of North army's interests' behind his back!!! That's a conflict of interest too. AND she promised Mo's wife in Ep. 30 that they'll FIND A WAY to get Mo out of prison!!!! A woman of her intelligence would already know that since Mo & his wife were the ONLY witnesses to Wu transaction, there was no way to prove Wu was setting them up. Mo's wife wanted her to plead to dowager! I mean, WTH?! This is only because FL has created this impression of rising power in front of these military wives who were above her rank in Ganlin & she was at their mercy over there.

ML's only loyalty can be to the king & no one else because he was an inexperienced semi-literate junior officer, former salt smuggler, given 4th rank by this king, to stand in court with all these well-educated experienced senior nobility guys, to do whatever the hell king wants him to do - there's no getting out of it, especially now, unless king lets him go - dead or alive. I don't know why it's so hard for FL to get that!

FL & ML are not simps. She's actually a good solid enterprising woman but she 'formed a faction' herself a couple episodes ago by telling cmndr Wang's wife that ML will take care of north army (!!!!) and went behind ML's back to say that! So I cannot believe she has a problem with ML trying to form a faction - he is at least doing it in front of her!

I wanted to see her in a romance - historical or otherwise - her last few roles have been heavy.

Look, IMV, ML does not have the attachment with these women from military like FL does - she's the one who spent 5 years with them. ML was busy surviving a war with his buddies & these soldiers, including Mo and then was asked by king to eradicate corruption. His ear-to-king status provided Wang & Mo opportunity to align with him, even FL encouraged it - even though she shouldn't have. FL should understand that this is far worse for him than ever will be for her. And all the other people should back off expecting things from him. His only allegiance HAS to be the king. Or he'll be dead. Does he really need to explain his actions to FL or anyone else at this point? I'm tired of ML being at the receiving end.

ML is inexperienced & did not deserve any of these promotions & duties given by king. Frankly it's begun to show that one man alone, even with king as a backer, cannot change a corrupt system that bureaucrats are running from top to bottom. Plus, his wife is not a team player unless she's the one leading & her advice is counter-productive. It's very easy to blame ML for all that has happened in capital, factions he has tried to build, but a couple of episodes ago, FL was promising Wang's wife that she'll protect North army's interests - wasn't that faction-making & going behind his back?

Ganlin is a s**t backward town where dreams go to die. After everything that ML has managed to achieve, why should he regress to be non-ambitious simp in a place with bad memories for him - where HALF of people he knew will be dead (Yucheng, Mo, etc.) & grow vegetables or manage salt or be new snr. commander in a place where war can occur at any time - with bandits or enemy & some bureaucrat from capital can come to belittle him?

Why not travel the country to manage salt reforms? Meet new people? FL can open a dumb shop for Xie's in a new place OR he can stay in capital & be a next-generation's Sec. Tian?

What is all this effort by ML for? To go back to where he came from?

King jumped a newbie to 4th rank - From being a semi-literate junior military officer ML was propelled to main court standing next to all these well-educated, seasoned, old bureaucrats & favored to oversee salt reform, corruption, drought relief, mausoleum construction, arrest & detention & killing of disloyal / traitors. I'd say other courtiers would be jealous as to what king sees in this new guy to give him soooooo much responsibility in so little time, when they have been slogging it for years! ML did not really deserve any of these promotions or duties. He's inexperienced & outranked.

Ep.29-30: Finally caught up with these episodes. I liked them (forwarded FL's dad's scenes & FL's histrionics completely). I totally see ML's desperation to form a faction realizing what he's up against - FL is right in telling him that he is wrong to seek factions because of conflict of interest , BUT she doesn't give any helpful practical suggestions to ML to fight against Yus. I mean does she think a tea party will make corrupt people who stand in her husband's way good?

I did not like that FL did not even respond to ML after Yu left the shop & again gave a lecture. She needs to stop being his mother & give actionable advice, not airy fairy stuff. Plus, the drama should show what ML & FL are like in the bedroom when they have this constant cold war at home, shop, pond, etc. It is thoroughly unpleasant to watch couples unable to find WORK-LIFE BALANCE!

Sec. Yu played a very diabolical strategy in court (when he blamed his son & indirectly FL). ML was furious but couldn't do anything. It was good to see Shameless/ SML finally accept - & that too in front of the king - that he ruined FL's rep. BUT what a cost! Because both dad & son showed the king that ML was only after Yu over a personal grievance! Well played by villains! And then Yu proceeded to defame FL openly under the pretext of apology. Also, what was done to Gen. Mo to discredit Wang & ML! Good scheme.

Sec. Yu's voice & dialogue delivery is very menacing & measured. Good villain. Plus, his praise of FL! SFL's son was handed over to Yu lady by SFL herself - I didn't see that coming!

I did not like Gen. Mo's no-nonsense wife urging him to take the BRIBE - which she was calling donation. Doesn't Gen. Mo AND his wife know that Wu's niece is Yu's son's concubine - the same Yus that Cmndr Wang etc. are against?! They are not in Kansas anymore - capital has a different ballgame going on! Even the king was at a loss of words....

I did not like ML seeking marriage for Sen only to strengthen his bond with Commander Wang / Northeastern wing.

I like how EVERYONE keeps referring to ML's meteoric rise to power - 4th rank - without understanding the toll it has taken on him (or FL) or the thin ice he walks on daily between king & Yus.

I feel bad for ML. He's stuck. Also, FL has started wearing normal clothes, why is he still wearing that ridiculous goatee? Time jump was of 3-4 months only.

Overall, I like wherever this drama is going.

It would've been better if Son Ye Jin had chosen a historical where a guy is after her romantically / passionately instead of reducing herself to a villainous role that has bene done to death even in South Korea.

Yes, but why is FL still in mourning clothes & Yu lady threatening her at the memorial in trailer for Ep. 34 - mom died in Ep.28 - (or is that a repeat of previous ep. to keep mystery of third last episode intact?). Are we to watch FL in mourning clothes till the 2nd last episode? If so, then that's too many episodes devoted to 'funeral' attire & mom-is-murdered stuff, this 'funeral/memoriam' arc should've been done away with in 2 episodes, to move on to the REAL THING: what kind of trap / revelation will make the Yus fall & how FL/ML work together to get it. I want to see FL stop being ML's mother & start being his wife & for them to have a proper romantic marriage. I'm bored of circular episodes & forwarding quite a number of scenes (FL's dad for e.g.) in last few episodes.

I forwarded ALL scenes that featured FL's dad - OTT character. Was a filler for me. Now in death has become a good plot point.