Reviews

Proposal or Shanxi?

This episode had Chen asking JinZhao why she was so helpful to YeXian even when dangerous. She responded quite truthfully that they were good friends. Ye Xian has a relationship with her that is very similar in sincerity as Yao. He is a lot different and far more complex and morally gray, but his loyalty is undeniable. He would do anything to help her and she would respond in kind. Chen candidly tells her to consider marrying him. She is taken aback at the idea. It is not that she’s not interested, she is just very well aware that she would not be seen as suitable. She also has the inside view of her mother’s sad case and she definitely is not interested in a repeat. She has made it clear to both Chen and Yao that she fully intends to go to Shanxi and stay single. She only entrusts her future to herself. When her maid said she knew JinZhao liked Chen, why would she not consider it? Her response was as much as she liked him she liked herself more. This determined and independent spirit is one of the things that makes Chen smile. Jian Zhao went to check on a shipment with Ping that was heading to Shanxi. Chen showed up demanding to know why she hadn’t given him more thought. She had to smile at his outburst as she said she wasn’t going but sending off Ping with the convoy. It is not often Chen is sheepish, but this was one time he found himself at a loss and went to get tea and wait on her. He is making himself more noticeable to her and she can’t deny interest. But she is still not convinced that Shanxi isn’t the best destination for her future. The Gu family are getting her father and stepsis back to the Daxin home. They plan on using that tie to get to Ji resources and money. JinZhao decides to move with them after finding out about a 20k tael debt her mother loaned and was never repaid. Nanny Zhao overheard her chat with the maid about not getting married and gave JinZhao a box. Inside was a wedding dress and letter from her mother. This was a beautiful tribute to her daughter, and a lovely memory whether the dress was used or kept a memento. Ye Xian was rather put out JinZhao didn’t tell him she was moving so he came unannounced to see her. His new job has him feared and ostracized. Even JinZhao wanted to know why this path was chosen. With his skillset, this really was his best option to rebuild his home. She yelled at him for thinking she would be too fearful to talk to him. He gave her a beautiful bracelet from a house that was raided if she dared to not see it as tainted. Lan and Lian are bickering and JinZhao intervenes. Her gma is impressed with her calm disciplining and asks JinZhao to massage her legs. In this quiet time when the gma was pleased with her, she mentioned the 20k tael debt which was vehemently denied. I can’t wait to see her eyes when the signed contract is shown. This episode had the proposal from Chen we’ve been waiting for. He is getting more determined but knows she isn’t ready. For once he is at a loss on how to change her mind about Shanxi. The very independence he admires is what may cost him any future with her. I am looking forward to watching these two negotiate terms.

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Twists and turns

Twists and turns in this episode, but at least they are not getting a divorce! 😮‍💨​Huiju's brother did an amazing job with the press conference! 👏​It seems like PM Min is embracing the antagonist role completely now, but I don't understand if his goal is just to get Huiju for himself (which never will happen, might I add), or just get rid of Ian out of jealousy—or maybe other reasons... 🤷‍♀️ I really hope Ian wasn't inside that burning building after all. 🙏​As for the Queen Mother, I hope she sees now that she cannot continue the way she has and she needs to change—if not for herself, then at least for her son. The poor boy is suffering and living in constant stress and emotional misery. He needs to be protected not as a king, but as a child. 🥺🫂​And a joy for my eyes was the beautiful and passionate scene of our leads. 🤗❤

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Squashing a rebellion

Once the emperor died the city was under martial law. Fu had everything in place to frame the Marquis with the Senji Battalion. He wanted Chen to protect the crown prince even with his life. Chen knows what his mentor is and that he has to protect himself as well as crown prince. Ye Xian was still under house arrest but still communicated via his guard. JinZhao told her aunt that the only way to save the Marquis household from Xiao traitor was to use YeXian’s palace token to warn the Marquis. Unfortunately that didn’t happen and the Shenji Battalion used firearms to decimate the Marquis and his guards when they came in to try to save the new emperor. Chen had a plan to save the Marquis but it involved YeXian being willing to sacrifice himself for the crown prince. He planted a decoy that had the rebel prince think the crown prince was an easy target. Ye Xian protected him and used his needles to kill the rebel prince. Fu was not happy that YeXian’s actions made the charges against the Marquis look ridiculous. Chen managed to keep everyone alive. Ye Xian killed his mentor and then confronted Chen. He had no clue how fed up Chen is with his mentor. He was reminded that he and his father were still alive and that was the most Chen could do for them. Chen strongly suggested he find a way to make himself useful and build up his own house. Fu’s gleeful reaction to the injuries the Marquis sustained and how long he would need to heal was rather heinous. What was even more disgusting he received a huge promotion and is right at the top to get the new emperor’s ear. He is annoyed that YeXian is now in charge of the penal colony and close to the new emperor because that is a power source the emperor can be in charge of exclusively. This job is quite suitable for YeXian’s skills. Fu has even more plans by not letting the Marquis be a station given by birth. He is wanting control of the military. Fu is getting more and more brazen with his plans. Chen is fortunately a good counter balance. He pretends to be his most faithful disciple to stay in good graces, but it takes every effort he has not to choke the man he once considered mentor. YeXian greets JinZhao and almost collapses. He tells her the story of the mentor that took such good care of him when growing up. When he learned the truth he again used his needle crossbow to kill his mentor. With his dying breath Xiao told him to his face he was only a pawn. He asked JinZhao to share a drink with him. She ended up drinking for him. He thanked her for her help and when she passed out he tenderly covered her and left. He is slowly changing into a young man instead of staying the petulant noble determined to always get his own way. He is already making adjustments in the penal colony and has already made his first enemy — the one formerly in charge. Fu is now pushing for Chen to get married and his mother is more than happy to get onboard with that. She has three she likes the best and the Gu girls are not going to be anywhere close to acceptable. Chen has other plans and invites JinZhao over. This episode focused on the next stage of Fu’s ambitious plans. He has set up reforms to get the most taxes possible from the people and now he has achieved even more power with a very young emperor to ‘mentor’. This is one area where Chen and YeXian can agree to work together. Planning the downfall of Fu.

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A terrible life and a second chance

​The starting point of the drama is awful, to say the least... but to be fair, it's even worse than that. 😟​Our female lead, Jiwon, has stage 4 cancer and is hospitalized in a clinic for chemo, which has made her very weak. She is married, yet her husband doesn't care about her one bit, except for the insurance money he would get if she dies. 😠​On top of that, he doesn't even pay for her rehabilitation and is sleeping with Jiwon's "best friend," Soomin. It really looks like that romance has been going on for years, and both of them were just leeching off Jiwon's hard-earned money. 😤😠​It’s a terrible, terrible situation. I cannot even imagine how Jiwon let everything get that far... 🤷‍♀️​At least she got her chance to find it all out and confront her husband and friend, even though it didn't end well—resulting in her death. But thankfully, that wasn't the end of her story, but just the beginning of another chance to live her life! 👆​I am really enjoying the changes she has already made by using her knowledge of past events to distance herself from Minhwan and Soomin. 😏 Plus, the boss always conveniently being somewhere close to help or save her already makes me believe this life will be way better than the previous one. 😉​I am planning to enjoy the revenge Jiwon will take on Minhwan and Soomin! 🤭

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THE BEST Thai High School GL Series

Do you guys watch SHADES? If you do, you understand my giddy admiration for this series. If you don't, oh my goodness, WATCH IT like it's the last show you'd ever watch!! Binge-watch episodes 1-4 & you'll get it: Every aspect of this dang show is so dang great on every dang level! Every episode gets better and better and better.... The back-stories. The character development. The direction. The acting. The whole production is a testament to intelligent storytelling! It is never easy to balance things perfectly with an ensemble cast - SHADES makes it look like a walk in a park: A park with criss-crossed meandering roads that lead to a deviously delicious hodgepodge of complications and consequences! 11 stars out of 10.

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I was right this mf...

So Zhuo literally confirmed my suspicions, he literally said, "If I can't have her, neither can Yan Yun Zhi." He's so embarrassing. OMG wait so maybe this was part of the plan, or also maybe a coincidence, but the wedding was called off 🥳 Of course Zhuo is ruining the imperial college now. WAHH SANG QIIII I love that all her old classmates helped her get into the college since she's sick haha. I feel like because we don't see the King that often, we tend to forget about how major of a role he plays in all of this, and can I for one say he is a spineless, gullible, pushover, naive IDIOT. They should be usurping the throne atp because this King agrees with whatever anyone tells him. Okay, Miss Su finally apologized... my humble girl Sang Qi forgave her but tbh too little too late. Now that your family called off the marriage due to Yan Yun Zhi missing, you're gonna apologize now for trying to literally marry her BOYFRIEND????? Sang Qi is wayyy better than me. Also I have so many questions!!! Like if my hypothesis is true, and Yan Yun Zhi is purposefully staying away atm, why didn't he tell Sang Qi, where is he staying, is he getting evidence? Like idk maybe Sang Qi is acting again after they fooled us with the whole marriage swap, but like Sang Qi is really sick so like???? Or MAYBE she is acting sick because she somehow found out that Zhuo poisoned the pouch so she's doing this to trick him?? Ugh idk-- UMMMMMMMMM WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! HUHHHHH hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe i'm kicking my feet--- FLASHBACK TIME WOOOO!! Wow. That ending was a masterpiece. I love when Zhuo is wrong. I love that this was all planned. I love that they're fighting back. Scared for Sang Qi, but another great episode. Okay also ima say that Sang Qi didn't know about her sack being poisoned, and she's really sick. I think as they said it comes and goes, so she wasn't that sick around Yan Yun Zhi so he maybe didn't get to know either ab her sickness?

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Relationships

Lin and HeHan riding in the car was a nice change of pace. Since he isn’t drunk, she can just converse rather than hover. They are relaxed and just enjoying the time together. This changes when her mother is taken to the hospital for a growth in her stomach. The dynamics of her parents are unusual. They are married but live apart which is probably why Lin thinks shared space and contact so important. Her dad stays until half an hr before her mom will wake and he turns the watch over to her. This puts her back in a sad pattern of what ifs. What was different this time is that HeHan caught them visiting. Her father is finally moving back home and while she is happy another part questions why now? Why not earlier when they could have been a real family. He Han is helping her dad move back in. He and Lin have their squabbles but they understand taking care of each other’s parents. This is common ground for them. While in the past she might have resented his looking to Dai for specialists, today she understands he is coming from a good place and simply says thank you. I like the quieter more thoughtful Lin. Ok, the one leaving is not the mole. It better be glasses guy cause I already have enough issues with Cai. She could be the one if she thought she was helping HeHan, but she is not a good liar for when they were shuffling authors around and her efforts were the first gone. Fan is just greasy in his dealings. He is so slimy and fake that your skin kinda crawls. He is badgering GuYan and making contract complaints for Lin. She knows it’s not GuYan but getting a word with him with the hospital shuffling she is now doing is difficult. For his part GuYan is loyal. But it’s going to be tempted as far as it can reach. I don’t want him solely with Fan’s company because I think his company is on the downward slope and it’s going to get hit hard and fast when others get arranged. Dai is gonna be on the other side smiling because she may have a soft spot for her ex, but she doesn’t like the way he does business. Zhao is almost grisly with her Joker’s smile in Lin’s office. She has every reason to think she has the upper hand and willing to exploit it to the fullest. She admits it to Lin’s face unapologetically and points out that the business needs both of them for very different reasons. The bottom line with this is if GuYan chooses to speak up or stay silent and the jury is still out. Mei is traveling down poor choice paths with mother and Bei. He wants her to find accoutrements for his new apartment and calls her to handle it. She offers to get pots and pans delivered. I am not sure what the deal is with her bestie delivering paperwork to her mother, but until she can deal with her mother directly, that albatross is going to hang around her neck for all it’s worth. I like the sober He Han that is considerate and dressed like a grownup. He has a softer side that is much nicer to see than the indulgent side that catered to fans. He is not subject to public opinion nor pressured to meet anybody’s schedule but his own. This guy is likable and capable of acting responsibly. I don’t want Fan to get his way on any front. He caused this mess and hurt a lot of people and still only sees dollar signs. He would betray them all if the price was right and doesn’t deserve to be on top when reshuffling happens. Gu Yan would be better treated with Zhao, but she is not the one that’s mentor material. She gets you the best deal as long as she gets her percentage. I really don’t want to see Mei’s mom, but I do want a resolution between mother and daughter where Mei gets real independence. Hoping this story will manage that since they’ve trashed her character otherwise. 😝 Waiting to see who leads the platform reshuffle and how the players fall in line once it happens. Also curious how GuYan vs SanSan plays out…..which is the better writer?😂

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