swish vanilla

In my case I just took so long to finish ep 1 and after that, I put it on hold. I resumed just recently after not being completely satisfied with the dramas I've finished this year.

I resumed watching this and I think I'm glad so far that I did (on ep 11). There's gonna be a charm to a 60-episode drama that dramas nowadays might not be able to capture since they have fewer episodes.

Just wanted to rant.

So this drama left me feeling a bit hollow for a reason I couldn't explain till I found myself recently rewatching parts of Episodes 4-10 (4-6 in particular are apparently my fave based on how many times I can rewatch the very short refugee arc), and I realised that, yes, while it was the lack of screentime between the leads in the capital arc that was glaringly annoying, it wasn't just the angst that made it worse, but really the non-communication between the leads that added insult to injury. We had that whole scene in Episode 5 where Zhao Ling was freely telling his background story to Tingyun about how he became fake Jiuweijao, and they needed that kind of 'late night deep talk' scene all the more right before they got married and after. There's so much they could've talked about, particularly the five-year gap, the deaths they experienced, etc.

Makes me wonder if people (whether cnetz or inetz) are rating this drama's story higher because "all characters are grey" "side characters get properly fleshed out" and if I agree with that sentiment—well I politely dgaf about them sideys, even if their actors/actresses were dope, I mean, I do to some extent, but not to the point that it's at the expense of the leads. I watched this for the leads, and in the end, I feel like I was robbed of more development from them as a couple and not just individuals. It's not even about asking for more romance and fluff between them (I've already accepted that they scrapped whatever childbirth/child-rearing scenes they had towards the end) but for more opportunities for them to rebuild their foundation and the conversations between them that that would've entailed. If A'Sen and Zhao Ling never had that reconciliation scene, I would've rioted. That was like, bare minimum.

Maybe it's the 36-episodes-only approval for an "idol drama" and other budget restrictions. I guess it's kinda on me for wanting so much since I've been here since Day 0. Wasn't even fully expecting them to release this in 2026. They dropped it like a bomb and now I'm left in its wake.

Will be tuning in for bb girl Su Xiaotong!!

there's at least three of us! we are a happy minority 🤣🤣

agree with your sentiments! i feel like it's a cdrama thing cause i've encountered the whole 'sacrifice more people to cleanse the court' type of plan in another cdrama

and it's kinda wild cause MOGA and TRTS screenwriters are completely different teams so i'm like 🧐🧐

"where people are tortured and killed just to expose a culprit they could have simply…ARRESTED."

this was pretty much in The Road to Splendour too, with Zhao Ling sacrificing General Mo. There are enough themes in this show that appear in TRTS

EDIT: they couldn't arrest lai because shen du tells the empress dowager that they only had a suspicion that he was behind the cult. they needed lai to out himself which is what he did when shen du was on his side and lai got free rein

"mercy is a sore one because how do we even distribute it safely?" ーthat's the thingーyou don't. mercy is always at the expense of the giver, and that's what makes it beautiful/radical in a world that wants you to hold your pride

i'm in that odd phase where i'm both in denial that this drama is now over and also wondering whether i truly would've enjoyed this as much if i didn't already like the leads prior 🫩

oh, MOGA… all the budget in the world could not make me love TRTS more than you (lol)

He was great as time-skip A'Sen in The Road to Splendour!

Ep 32

mans always been good with words 🤣 from 'when we get married, what kind of couple do you want us to be' - to 'if i die in war, i will be the stars that light up your wedding night. you are my anchor' - to 'i didn't save you from biyun nunnery just to let you end up in another one' *mic drop* 🤷‍♀️👏

the most annoying thing is that there were rumoured scenes of the pregnancy and childbirth+rearing (there was a picture of deng enxi holding a baby, circulating on twitter somewhere during filming), and we got none of that! in the novel, fu tingyun wanted a son (of course she was still ecstatic with their baby girl) but zhao ling reveals to her that he wanted a daughter 🥹🥹🥹 and we got none of that either! grrrr

now why would you say that 😭😭😭🤣🤣🤣

I considered doing what you did but I just can't... aaargh!

Anyone else wanna try requesting Netflix for it here?
https://help.netflix.com/en/titlerequest

I refuse to watch this unsubbed OR illegally 😭 this is the only modern drama I wanted to watch 😭

Now that I finished The Road to Splendour, I can go back to camping here lol.

It took four months in between the airing of Generation to Generation and Never-Ending Summer, so is it safe to guess that this one might be released in October? If they get a decent amount of reservations at least...

Because she made a selfish choice. I think it's okay to admit that. I'm not one to glorify the 'i have to choose myself' way of thinking.

Very solid last set of episodes.

I look forward to DYX×DEX's fourth collab. Claiming it.