tendrilsofwind
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Posts posted by tendrilsofwind
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23 minutes ago, maplinh said:
I don’t know about the men’s costumes but the women ones are definitely Tang-inspired, with the open chest and the drapey blouses(?)
4 hours ago, skibbies said:The costumes are Tang-inspired iirc.
Both the men and women's costumes are Tang inspired but I thought the print of the crown prince's costumes were very Japanese looking, especially since Japanese men's attire are Tang inspired to begin with.
Like this print is kind of jarring.
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5 hours ago, staygold said:
Such interesting sets this series has!! The screengarb below is from episode 3. Any takes on what they mean?
It seems like all 4 princes are pretending to be cordial and masking their true intentions. But then there should have been 4 masks! Maybe Ning Yi is the one who is seeing them from behind his own mask we can't see.
The set designer really put in so much work. All the palaces are distinctive. I think in a lot of dramas they are more or less variations on a theme, but here everyone's palace reflects the owner's personality. Like the crown prince's decor is over the top and vaguely japanese, kind of emphasizing the alienation between him and Ning Yi, but the emperor's is traditional and stately. The Crown prince's costumes look kind of japanese as well.
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3 hours ago, artbox said:
Consort Meng is really funny (and underrated). There's a few episodes subbed on YouTube but the rest is in Mandarin.
I watched it before this one! I did like it because it was funny and didn't take itself seriously. I've also really liked the actress ever since seeing her on Wuxin.
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15 minutes ago, skibbies said:
Oh yeah Chen Kun was also on Happy Camp with Ni Ni on Sep 15th, they were really cute apparently, I still haven't seen it. The variety show he host with Wu Lei and Han Geng also has Xu Zheng (he's mostly in movies these days I think), Yin Zheng (LMIYD and Sparrow?) and I forgot the last guy, is Zhejiang TV's 24hrs, it's a game show.
They were so cute. A lot of people are shipping them, but real life ships are a dangerous thing. No comment on Chen Kun's hairstyle on Happy Camp.
24 hours was so fun to watch. I liked everyone on it.
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8 hours ago, mrsj3n said:
It is so absurd that the Prince deceived Feng Zi Wei into believing that she is his wife.
I mean... nobody corrected that????
Everyone's blind????
They just sit back and watched the lies?
And Hua Qiong dies..
Nobody mourns.
Like.. what the heck?
That arc drives me crazy even though they finally gives us a kiss scene.
SpoilerShe was drugged so even if they told her she wasn't Prince An's wife, she wouldn't have believed them. They also couldn't say anything outright because they were in Prince An's territory. However, Ning Yi and Gu Nanyi used the medical book Gu Nanyi's teacher gave him to figure out a way to lessen the drug's effects through some acupuncture regimen. This allowed them to bring her back later on by stimulating her memories. The problem was Feng Zhiwei had too many negative memories associated with Ning Yi (like her entire family dying) so when she saw Ning Yi it kind of made things worse. Afterwards, this affected Ning Yi's relationship with her. When he saw how scared she was of him and when she only remembered him as someone who had previously hurt her, he decided that the deaths of her family would come between them (also why after FZW and GNY's teacher is killed he thinks she had something to do with his mom being kidnapped).
I have to say that everything to do with medicine in a lot of these ancient dramas really tests my suspension of disbelief. Same with NiF 1 and 2. I just keep telling myself it's set in a different universe.
RIP to Hua Qiong though. That must be one of the reasons why Wang Ou was upset with how things turned out. First they cut her scenes and now they won't even show her being mourned.
I'm not saying I have been watching everything Chen Kun has been in after the end of this drama, but I recommend everyone check out the variety show he does with Wu Lei and Han Geng. He has a completely different personality from Ning Yi in real life.
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4 hours ago, dito said:
I'm on epi 5 and I'm already annoyed with his fake innocent, uninterested in politics.....just wanna weave act.
But in the serious scenes....what few we have so far.....he's so good....something like the Chu Wang I was expecting to see.
I want to know who's idea it was to play Ning Yi fake useless version like that.....I wanna have a discussion. For me right now his fake persona makes no sense as everyone and his uncle seems to know he's faking it. Writing took a dive for me on this. I can think of a few scenarios where his fake act would've worked better narratively. Making things unnecessarily complicated does not make it intelligent writing.
Ning Yi is kind of taunting them by acting over the top. The other princes are 90% sure it's all an act, but at the same time, they know that people are likely to go a little insane when locked up for 8 years so they can't openly accuse him of anything. It built up the tension as they all waited for the act to drop (you can see how probing the princes are whenever they have their dinners together). Ning Yi just enjoys forcing them to keep up appearances while they are plotting against him. He's also mocking the superficial nature of their society/relationship.
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7 hours ago, moochiball said:
The only reason I can think why NingYi decided to give up everything is because he basically went against all of the emperor's orders. The moment he gets back, he knows the emperor will need to punish him and he have nothing he can use to convince the emperor to release his mum. Not only that, it also doesn't look good on his part with him having a whole army and subjects to back him up. The emperor will be afraid that ningyi will pose a threat to him one day. Like ZiYan said, by taking a step back, he gained the emperor's trust and they can slowly plot and plan their next actions to bring down NingQi. I feel like Ningyi is also thinking the same, but he can't make any promises as he have just got his mum back and haven't really have a taste of that happiness yet. He did tell his mum that his ambitions and goals can be left for later on as he have many years ahead of him.
Second thing is that apart from being loyal to his country, he is also a filial son. He have always have this trauma about his mum. His mum is old and he wants to make happy memories with her and make her wishes come true. If it means that he disappoints the ministers and his supporters then it just seem as he doesn't have the talent and capability to carry on the weight and be their leader. But if he doesn't care about the safety of his mum, it wrecks him morally, and as a human being he feels the need to save his mum against all else.
SpoilerYea whenever his mom is mentioned, he turns into a completely different person. He's eight years old again. She's kind of his trigger and his obsession. Those scenes made me so uncomfortable since he never allows himself to break down in such a manner. He's more irrational when it comes to his mom than he is with FZW. His mom, however, could tell that even if he claims to not care about political intrigue anymore, he was still drawn to it. She's such a great mother :') Ning Yi wouldn't know what a healthy parental relationship was like if hit him on the head, but at least his mom loves him.
On a shallower note, I thought he was so hot when he was threatening his dad lol
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1 hour ago, mrsj3n said:
What I meant is Ning Yi was supposed to love FZW and throughout the story, he never consulted her but at least I don't see him too forceful. (I guess the bed scene did me in as he was rough with her) P.S: it's PG13 friendly scene... hope I did not get anyone excited. LOL
When I saw the promo pictures for that scene I was so hyped up. I thought we were going to see some action, especially since the sexual tension was sooo high in the first half, but I don't even know if they just sat up all night talking. The way he commanded her felt a little rapey to me so I would like to believe he did not force her and they instead made plans for bettering the lives of the poor and oppressed
From what I've heard he always plays jerks
Someone mentioned Story of a Noble Family. My cousins all watched that and said he is 100% a jerk in that show, but everyone loves him. I think one of the plot points was that his wife had intimacy issues and everyone was saying they would not have that issue if Chen Kun was their husband
Attractive people really do get away with more.
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5 hours ago, skibbies said:
If anything, CCTV have stricter restrictions, though it's likely they worked on the script more and might know what would pass and what wouldn't. There's stuff about messing image of historical figures and such, but I guess both dramas managed layered but positive image of those characters. tRoP doesn't have a base, which make it harder, maybe? (e.g. Zhen Huan's book had fake history, but is set against Qing dynasty in drama. NiF's drama borrowed elements of Southern Liang but is mostly fake, its themes were righteousness which is little different).
I normally wait for dramas to finish airing and peek at douban ratings tbh, not due to SARFT either. Largely because there's a lot of script richard simmons up and characterisations that might richard simmons me off, as well as acting and production issues. I have enough dramas in backlog tbh. I watched this because I desperately needed a layered and smart female lead in historical drama, and it mostly delivered that, even if I have minor gripes about her characterisation.
Lol this is going to be such an unpopular opinion, but I think tRoP is better than NiF even with all the screw ups. NiF was beautiful and satisfying to watch, but this was more complex in story line and characterization. I love NiF and I love Hu ge, Wang Kai, and Liu Tao. I had never even seen a single show with Chen Kun or Ni Ni prior to this one. I know nobody is going to agree with me, but I am willing to die on this hill.
Do you have any other drama recommendations? I need something to cheer me up after this ordeal, but all the good Chinese dramas are horrifically depressing.
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4 hours ago, mrsj3n said:
The 360 degree character change of Ning Yi is what got me pissed.
The way he treated Feng Zi Wei......
I can't accept.
And not to mention Feng Zi Wei... I just can't.
And then Helian Zheng. OMG. What the orange????
Ning Qi, Yan Ling, Zhangsun Hong (to think that he is the descendants of Fuyao and Zhangsun Wuji)... somebody kill me already.
Sorry, but I have to disagree with you on that. I felt like the characters were true to their characterizations.
Ning Yi has always been kind of jerk. Chen Kun is just so charismatic and handsome that people forgive his characters for their actions. He barely ever consults with FZW on important matters and has a selfish streak as well. As soon as he became emperor I knew their relationship was doomed. There is no way someone like FZW would be willing to subjugate herself to him when her life had been ruined by people making decisions for her.
Helian Zheng was dumb from the get go. I think they should have eliminated him altogether, but given that he exists I don't think his actions are unexpected.
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22 minutes ago, mrsj3n said:
Exactly!!!!
Besides, I swear I read somewhere that the production crew, the director, the actors wanted us to see their hard work in producing TROP and I was eagerly waiting for the drama to start and was rooting for it.
But all I see from episode 30 onwards are nothing but confusion and butchered scenes / missing plots.
I'm very disappointed.
Idk maybe I'm crazy, but I didn't think it was a trainwreck...I watched the 70 episode version and outside of a few episodes where I could tell scenes were missing, everything else was fine. The TV version was completely outside of their control since after Hunan TV saw the low ratings, they were the ones who made the decision to leave out massive scenes.
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@MikiRei A lot of the cut parts were scenes with Bai Jingting and Wang Ou in them, which would be starting from the Minhai arc. Both of them filmed for six months and that was not six months worth of material. From what I've read, they had to resubmit a few times for censorship and only barely managed to make it on air. Also...people are saying they can't release a different version to netflix because that would be seen as an affront to the censorship committee and that would completely kill the production company in China. I hope that's not true because I need to see the full version.
I watched the DVD version and I am not as angry with the ending as most people are. I know everyone is unhappy with Feng Zhiwei's choice, but when you are in that mind frame, you really do feel as if everyone else is better without you and they probably didn't have SSRIs in ancient China. You can see hints of it when she is talking to Hua Qiong about how everything was her fault and what a horrible person she was. I would really prefer another ending though. This has impacted my mood these few days.
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In honor of the grand finale: incoming long review with spoilers galore. I am way too emotionally invested.
SpoilerThis show has consumed my days and nights—I find myself hopelessly attached to the characters and their fates.
All the production values play a role in setting the mood of this drama. The lighting and cinematography are unbearably beautiful. We are presented with halcyon days, soft light illuminating Feng Zhiwei’s unassuming beauty and Ning Yi’s perfect bone structure (wow look at those cheekbones). As the plot progresses, all this only serves to heighten the brutality of their fates.
The incongruous juxtapositions permeate throughout, especially in Chen Kun’s portrayal of the multifaceted Ning Yi. He is the daring, magnificent prince, garbed in armor, carrying the decapitated head of his enemy, threatening his father with rebellion to save his beloved. He is silly and irreverent in the face of Feng Zhiwei, at times incomparably tender. He is also the broken child, frenzied with grief in a way that left me recoiling from the screen.
Feng Zhiwei herself is unapologetically fierce and brilliant. When she is introduced to us she is still naïve and gleefully childish. For all her naivete, she still strains against her fate and struggles against those who hope to control her. For the first half of the show, Feng Zhiwei is the only major character who is still lighthearted. It, along with her intellect and no doubt her beauty, is what draws our tortured hero to her. She makes stupid mistakes, but she learns from them and even when she is suddenly plunged into despair at the death of her family, she does not let her pain make her vicious.
I found her to be the most tragic character. It would have been so easy for her to escape it all and just retreat into some distant land to live a carefree lifestyle. However, she is trapped by her own grand ambitions, forever feuding with her desire to be free. I wanted her to throw away her senses, love with wanton disregard, but she refused—and infatuated as I am with Ning Yi, I can’t say I could have made a different choice. If she became empress, she would have sacrificed her dignity. He loves her now, he may love her forever, but what a tedious existence it is, to live and die by your lover’s capricious whims. She would not have been allowed to be Ning Yi’s equal or make her own choices…he had never even thought to ask her what she wanted.
I am still reeling from Zhiwei’s death. She was carrying with her the burden of all the lives forced upon her. All the death and bloodshed and loss, the extent of human brutality she had witnessed, made her heartsick and depressed. She did not see anything but bleakness in her future. She blamed herself for all the circumstances out of her control. It is devastating to be so proud and brilliant and self-aware and despite all the illusory power she is presented with, doomed to be powerless. This drama is set in a fantastical world, but their emotions are all too real. I want to take this opportunity to ask that anyone struggling with depression please seek professional help. It is not your fault; you are not weak if you need help.
I am sad that so much was left out. The director’s cut is likely to be better. And yet, this is still one of the best tv shows I have seen, not just one of the best Chinese tv shows I have seen.
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3 hours ago, CatWhiskers said:
I am confused. In instagram..there are clearly pictures of BOTH of them on the cliff, reuniting. Dream? But looks real so an alternate ending?
I feel catfished lol
I saw a video with the scene you are referring to. There does seem to exist two different endings. I mean...it was well done I guess. I'm kind of miserable but they did a good job :')
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4 hours ago, dito said:
Seems like good things no longer happen to people who wait. Damn it..I waited so long for this drama to get on Netflix....but now that it's on.... I'm so not eager to watch it. All the bts drama I'm reading about is so messed up. Hunan never fails to screw the fans....should give up on Minglan too. Now all my hopes are on Daylight. But no telling what happen after it airs.
The version broadcast on netflix is not the version that Hunan TV ruined. Outside of the MinHai storyline, everything else is totally fine even if the cuts lowered the quality somewhat. The plot and characters still hold up. I would avoid reading reviews and just see how you personally feel about it. I kept reading reviews and it negatively impacted my viewing experience. Hordes of people just kept saying the show was tanking from watching episode trailers...like guys at least watch the entire episode first. I understand being confused by the TV version, but netflix has the DVD version so the confusion should be mitigated. Not enough people watch this show in the US for there to be a true discussion forum You can still ask any questions you have and maybe others have answers!
I wish there weren't any flashbacks though. It's nothing serious, but in such a high caliber show they should have trusted the viewers to notice references to previous scenes. For shows like Mr Robot and Westworld, part of the experience was discussing each episode on reddit and sharing all the little things we picked up on. At the same time, people already think the plot is obfuscated so I guess they were right not to trust us. I personally enjoy not having the details spoon fed to me. You are meant to need to discuss some plot points!
10 hours ago, roxnilla7 said:Pardon my language guys. But oh richard simmons!!!!!!! This is on NETFLIX now!!!! Or am I late?? I even requested for this show to be on, I filled out the “request tv shows” form on Netflix!!! It’s like my wishes have been answered. I’m so happy
Good job with the request forms!! This tv show really is worth watching.
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17 hours ago, MikiRei said:
I feel the emperor is one of the most interesting character of all in the whole series and probably also one of my favourite characters. Kudos to the actor for he did a BRILLIANT job for someone so complex and formidable. The monumental task in running a country, balancing neighbouring powers and keeping all of his sons and different political forces behind them in check. And then also having to keep all his subjects and his wives in check. Far out he has a difficult job.
I truly feel sorry for him though. What's a father to feel having to watch his own kids fight and kill each other for his position. Or even him.
I feel like he's a great emperor because his empire is prosperous and peaceful, but he is the one who messed his sons up. They all have severe daddy issues. It was kind of sad to see how starved all the princes (including the one from the other country) were for some fatherly love. Unevenly distributing your affections leads to a lot of sibling rivalry and screws with their concept of self worth. I agree that the actor is amazing though.
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14 hours ago, MikiRei said:
3D characters and character growth. The fact that the antagonist is not truly evil or that the protagonist is not truly good, it truly reflects that humans are complicated creatures and there are multitude of reasons why people end up doing what they do.
One of my favorite parts is also the complexity of the characters. I have to commend the scriptwriter and the actors on that. A lot of people seem to be saying the script is the weak point, but I think this is one of the best scripts I've seen in Chinese dramas these past ten years (for some reason the overall quality was higher ten years ago). Writing such sophisticated dialogue for an originally 100 episode drama is a monumental task and they managed to elevate the source material by injecting some more literary elegance. The weak point is the Min Hai arc but I do believe that is partly due to the cuts and censorship.
A lot of Chinese dramas shy away from portraying the intensity of human emotion and mental illness, and when they do it is oftentimes irreverent, but this drama did such a great job. I really liked the various parental relationships in this show and how that contributed to the emotional development of the children. Seeing how repressed and depressed the princes were, how desperately they clung to the slightest affection the emperor showed them, made somewhat redeemable.
SpoilerChen Kun did an amazing job portraying Ning Yi and his childhood trauma. That reversion to child like behavior every time his mom was mentioned is masterfully done. Tbh I am kind of shocked by how deeply disturbed they made him.
Also, I don't know how long it's been since I've watched a Chinese show where the female protagonist actually develops as a human. She learned from her mistakes, but most importantly, she had real ambition and thought about the world as a whole. Feng Zhiwei and Ning Yi both struggled with their sense of duty and their selfish desires. Unlike some other shows where the female protagonist has zero drive and zero responsibility.
SpoilerYou can see how these events have taken a toll on her mental health. The self blame and self loathing that she developed really resonated with me. This is how you write non vapid female characters.
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Guys with the recent episodes out, I am going to allow myself to hope for a happy ending. The DVD episodes have been straight fire this entire week.
SpoilerThere's only nine episodes left and I know we all saw that scene with Ning Yi and Feng Zhiwei together where he has a mustache. He doesn't even have a mustache yet!!! This means that the mustache scene is way towards the end where they are happy. Furthermore, with the introduction of the older brother, that whole avenge your country burden is somewhat alleviated.
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I installed this unblock youku chrome extension to watch the dvd version on iqiyi. I caught an episode of the tv version one day and the cuts were so bad. From what I hear, the netflix version will be the most complete out of the three because there won't be government censorship.
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1 hour ago, pristineqi said:
@tendrilsofwind... No happy ending ???
All the Chinese viewers seem to be predicting a tragic ending and I don't want to get my hopes up only to be devastated. I am inclined to believe them because Chinese writers have this strange predilection for depressing conclusions.
SpoilerPeople are also speculating that Ning Yi will marry Minister Yao's daughter. I really liked her character because she came off as being very poised and smart so I really hope she ends up with someone who can commit to her. Literally no one will be happy if she ends up as empress. I don't even know why I am still watching at this point lol I don't need this angst in my life.
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19 hours ago, mrsj3n said:Spoiler
The way he started smirking at her....
I don't think I can handle it if there's no happy ending, but I know it won't be a happy ending.
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8 hours ago, mrsj3n said:
My favorite is that scene with them in that dark little room. Straight up gave me heart palpitations. I almost never ship, but Ning Yi had me swooning like an idiot.
I also want to say that I am surprised by how tight the plot is lol. So far I haven't found any plot holes that can't be explained away by re watching a few scenes. The last few episodes also had some gorgeous dialogue. I am so happy with how this is going so far, but I am apprehensive of the ending
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8 hours ago, dito said:
You guys are scaring me. I've been patiently holding on....waiting for 14 sept...not even watching raws.....even though I'm downloading them every day.
So my anticipation has been building up steadily.....but now I'm reading frustrating and confusing.Don't be worried! So far, this drama has been amazing. It is frustrating and confusing, but in a good way. I am really frustrated because I want more scenes with the OTP, but in reality focusing more on the politics makes it a higher quality show. You have to think a little bit about the plot and every detail is deliberate. For a lot of not so great tv shows, I don't pay too much attention to the incongruous elements because I know they are accidental mistakes, but everything here, like Chen Kun's over the top acting in the first few episodes, is for a reason.
I also think that if subbed it in English, it will be easier to understand. They sometimes speak in very traditional Chinese which involves complex phrasing and literary allusions. I understand the gist of it because my parents forced me to study the classics when I was younger, but it takes me some time. In English, especially on a platform like Netflix, I expect the subbers will make it more accessible.
This is my first post here and I'm just so happy to find a forum where people are discussing this drama! Hope you guys all enjoy it like I do :)
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You can still ask any questions you have and maybe others have answers!
So my anticipation has been building up steadily.....but now I'm reading frustrating and confusing.
[Mainland Chinese Drama 2018] The Rise of Phoenixes 凰权·弈天下
in Mainland China
Posted
Oh wow thanks for letting me know. They should have translated my long review loool.
Props to whoever spent all that time on this.