[Mainland Chinese Drama 2018] Heavy Sweetness Ash-like Frost 香蜜沉沉烬如霜

[Araminta Jouana]

I have not yet started to read the book but i feel as much frustration as the fanbook ! I can understand how a drama have to create differents stories around the leads but it was boring and lacking, really. And because i like the demon's princess, i hoped a more meanful story for her. They changed her character too much while facing her love.

 

And i can't stand watching RY on almost every scene. What the hell !!! The guy invaded the story. And why ? JM and XF's story IS INTERESTING ! It's not like they weren't good and the charasmatic second lead outshined them ! No ! They just filled the drama with his scene. At this point, they could have created others character or side-story or even developped the others characters. 

 

I don't remember the last time i watched a good scene with XF ! After being shunned by JM, his appearence faded...

 

Personnaly, i love their story on earth. It build their feelings to each other (well JM's feelings finaly could be "revealed").

 

After watching the videos of the wedding, i can't wait for the episode !

 

 

[Kimchi Sweet Potato]

1 hour ago, mrsyooknit said:

Yep people complaining are book fans and they have plenty of reason. Like each passing day our reasons for complaining just keep piling on. 

I honestly feel like the production was trying to drag DL to take some heat off themselves. They need to own their mistakes.

 

Exhibit A of why book fans get angry. It seems like they changed XF's resurrection. Of course they had to involve RY bc he has to be everywhere. 

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Seriously? That was how JM redeemed herself. Not only did they ruin XF they also ruined RY. He was a villain I found really evil but I liked hating him. Now every time I see him my eye twitches. 

 

Sui He is the only one that cares about XF and honestly she deserves better. People are going to forgive all the people RY killed and how many people he made suffer to get what he wanted and he is getting off scotch free while SH will have to pay. 

I am so mad at all these changes 
 

 

I think it is not so bad yet. I may be a bit delusional at this point but hear me out.

 

In writing, there is telling and showing. If I remember correctly, it is only until Jin Mi confronts Run Yu that we learn of his duplicity including the 60,000 years of prowess to make the reviving pill. So what this tells us is, Run Yu knew all along that Xu Feng survived. The above clip may be the production team fleshing it out. It's fair game since it was a scene never really written only. We were told about it after the fact.

 

The trailers/spoilers have the scenes of Jin Mi's road to redemption (searching river of Oblivion, crying in pain, drawing Phoenix) so I remain optimistic. 

[yufen chung]

Dammit they change all .... this production really a mess to destruction toward the end ... how to being fenghuang back life with the pill jinmi beg for fenghuang... i speechless

[angel318]

1 hour ago, mrsyooknit said:

Yep people complaining are book fans and they have plenty of reason. Like each passing day our reasons for complaining just keep piling on. 

I honestly feel like the production was trying to drag DL to take some heat off themselves. They need to own their mistakes.

 

Exhibit A of why book fans get angry. It seems like they changed XF's resurrection. Of course they had to involve RY bc he has to be everywhere. 

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Seriously? That was how JM redeemed herself. Not only did they ruin XF they also ruined RY. He was a villain I found really evil but I liked hating him. Now every time I see him my eye twitches. 

 

Sui He is the only one that cares about XF and honestly she deserves better. People are going to forgive all the people RY killed and how many people he made suffer to get what he wanted and he is getting off scotch free while SH will have to pay. 

I am so mad at all these changes 
 

 

I saw this too and I'm like isn't JM suppose to get the pill to save him!! But it seems here even though the dragon daddy might have saved XF while killing himself, RY has to go take that extra step to send XF to the demon realm. Then JM saves him with the pill? 

Spoiler

I saw a clip where JM goes to the river of forgotten, and sees hooded XF shadow. He turns away and won't look at her 

 

[mrsyooknit]

24 minutes ago, Kimchi Sweet Potato said:

I think it is not so bad yet. I may be a bit delusional at this point but hear me out.

 

In writing, there is telling and showing. If I remember correctly, it is only until Jin Mi confronts Run Yu that we learn of his duplicity including the 60,000 years of prowess to make the reviving pill. So what this tells us is, Run Yu knew all along that Xu Feng survived. The above clip may be the production team fleshing it out. It's fair game since it was a scene never really written only. We were told about it after the fact.

 

The trailers/spoilers have the scenes of Jin Mi's road to redemption (searching river of Oblivion, crying in pain, drawing Phoenix) so I remain optimistic. 

 

No, RY finds out months after XF is alive. He casually mentions it to her to see how she reacts. Then when she finds out of his duplicity what she figures out is that he knew she was trying to bring him back so her told the guy making the pill to ask for 60k years of cultivation and he added that extra ingredient just in case she did give him the cultivation. But he didnt know it had worked until months after XF had taken over the demon world. 

This is a big difference. It takes a lot away from her redemption saga where she saves him even while thinking he killed her father, she can't  help herself she just wants to see him again. 

Also, there is another clip that came out that also shows they changed how she finds out XF is innocent. I am just ... tbh 

[Phada]

i'm in the middle of watching ep 46 and and hating it so much. I'm so angry  and disappointed.

 

• The wedding looked so cheap with so little people
• The fighting looked weak
• The emperor was pathethic and didn't do anything
• All of the other gods were also useless
• Jinmi stood still and had an expressionless face most of the time
• The built up to hate and kill Xufeng was not strong enough
• How the hell did Runyu plan this rebellion and got everyone to listen to him????
• The execution of the spitting out the pill was also weak, not dramatic as there was a lot of anticipation for this scene

 

I'm pretty sure i'm hating more things about this story but i can't think of anything else at the moment

[mrsyooknit]

The one thing I did like about the wedding was the Emperor redeeming himself to save XF. I guess he did love him after all, he sacrificed everything just to save him. Sui He too. I always felt like despite what she did, she loved XF truly and everything she did she did thinking it would help protect the person she loves. She is a bit selfless in this aspect. She wants XF to love her but in reality she sacrifices everything for what she thinks is his well being not caring about what will happen to her. I find it kind of unfair that Night doesn't get any punishment and Sui He does  He kills and hurts way more people and his motivations are all selfish. 

At this point from the drama it feels like XF shouldnt forgive JM.

[clawedzip]

1 hour ago, Kimchi Sweet Potato said:

I think it is not so bad yet. I may be a bit delusional at this point but hear me out.

 

In writing, there is telling and showing. If I remember correctly, it is only until Jin Mi confronts Run Yu that we learn of his duplicity including the 60,000 years of prowess to make the reviving pill. So what this tells us is, Run Yu knew all along that Xu Feng survived. The above clip may be the production team fleshing it out. It's fair game since it was a scene never really written only. We were told about it after the fact.

 

The trailers/spoilers have the scenes of Jin Mi's road to redemption (searching river of Oblivion, crying in pain, drawing Phoenix) so I remain optimistic.  

 

But why is RY in the room when XF wakes up? That part still makes no sense...

 

I'm going to go against the prevailing thought and say that while the changes annoy me, I don't think that they have reduced the quality of the drama too much. I think it's still essentially a compelling story, and I have no desire to drop it. However...if they really did change XF's resurrection, then they really did go too far. That would completely mess up the rest of the story.

[pad-hari]

Ok, I have got some news from one of the blogs i read.  There is both bad and good news.  Here we go.

 

NO:1

http://www.dramapanda.com/2018/08/rumors-that-deng-luns-manager-blasted.html

 

Rumors that Deng Lun's manager blasted the Ashes of Love production team denied by staff

posted by Anne J on August 25, 2018 18 comments

There has been an ongoing debate among viewers over how Ashes of Love has played up the part of Leo Luo Yunxi who's the second lead when the story should focus more on the main couple played by Yang Zi and Deng Lun. 

 

The issue seems to have escalated when a snapshot of a private chat allegedly sent by Deng Lun's manager to his circle of friends said, "Today's scenes are done, in two days after he gets stabbed,  it's over. Let's not meet again in jianghu, thank you." The prickly statement naturally led people to conclude that Deng Lun's side is unhappy with the production team due to the actor's lack of exposure. A staff from Deng Lun's side has denied ever seeing such a message and that the snapshot going around is not even Deng Lun's manager's account. 

 

While I'm not entirely bothered by this as I liked learning about Run Yu's back story, I do wish there was more of Yang Zi and Deng Lun especially now that Run Yu has gone dark. I'm hopeful too because with all the heartbreak in store in the coming episodes, I would think that our star-crossed lovers are bound to get a lot of screen time then?

 

Source: 1

 

NO:2

http://www.dramapanda.com/2018/08/screenwriter-promises-more-yang-zi-and.html

Ashes of Love screenwriter promises more Yang Zi and Deng Lun scenes, Luo Yunxi Studio defends actor

posted by Anne J on August 26, 2018 4 comments

The drama plaguing Ashes of Love 香蜜沉沉烬如霜 on and off screen seems to be nonstop as there's always something to report in recent days. How much of it are rumors is getting hard to weed out.

 

Today, there was an alleged private chat from one of the show's screenwriters, Zhang Yuanang, where she says that many things were indeed changed in the drama without their knowledge. It was only after the show premiered that she realized the episodes were extended from 43 to 60. While the veracity of this has yet to be be confirmed, it's quite clear that the lack of focus on Deng Lun as the leading man has caused quite a stir online. 

 

In recent episodes, it's not the God of War that we see but a man in love who's caught in between everything that's gone wrong with his life. He seems to be constantly in a reactionary role while the rest of the characters get their stories fleshed out. 

 

 

 

Believe it or not, I actually enjoyed the side story between the Demon Princess and Mu Ci. It's due to spillover love from seeing both in their previous dramas Princess Weiyoung and Siege in Fog, but their story has turned into an endless cycle about saving Mu Ci, which feels rather redundant.  
 

 

Production seems to be acknowledging the issues and a letter written by Head Writer Ma Jia was recently shared on the show's official weibo page. 

 

Ma Jia explains that Heavy Sweetness is a story that revolves around the heroine Jin Mi - her perspective on love, how she has grown to learn about love and find love herself. Heavy Sweetness has a vast world and every character is very important. There are supporting characters that are given more focus in some stages which has caused dispute among some viewers. This is really something that they, the creative team, pay attention to introspectively and they will take it as a lesson for the next drama. 

 

Ma Jia also explains that as a whole, the female and male lead's screentime exceed other characters, but because recent developments focused on certain storylines, it has caused viewers to feel that the leads were being overshadowed. In the episodes to come, there will be many big scenes between the two leads. Here's where it gets a bit spoilery so proceed at your own risk. 

 

 

 

According to Ma Jia, these scenes will be coming up: 'Xu Feng stopping the wedding in the Heavenly Realm', 'Jin Mi sacrifices herself to save Xu Feng', 'Xu Feng's rebirth as a demon', 'Heart-wrenching developments', 'Big wedding in the Demon Realm', 'Jin Mi turning into Xu Feng's tear', etc. 

 

Ma Jia ends by thanking viewers for their time and hoping that everyone can continue to watch patiently. 

 

Given how things worked out, it appears that Leo Luo Yunxi who has garnered quite a fanbase due to exposure from the drama as the second lead has also had to deal with the downside of facing backlash. His studio released a statement today to defend the actor. 

 

"A piece of work that is a combination of everyone's effort shouldn't be stained by those who mean to incite conflict. Actors who perform with their hearts shouldn't be the subject of rumors for no reason. As of August 23, 2018, legal action is being taken on the slanderous remarks and personal attacks against Leo Luo Yunxi. Rumors should end with those who are wise. Hope that everyone can distinguish the truth and stop believing in rumors. We believe that the production will give fair explanation. 

 

Source: 1, 2

 

CR: dramapanda.com

[Araminta Jouana]

10 minutes ago, mrsyooknit said:

The one thing I did like about the wedding was the Emperor redeeming himself to save XF. I guess he did love him after all, he sacrificed everything just to save him. Sui He too. I always felt like despite what she did, she loved XF truly and everything she did she did thinking it would help protect the person she loves. She is a bit selfless in this aspect. She wants XF to love her but in reality she sacrifices everything for what she thinks is his well being not caring about what will happen to her. I find it kind of unfair that Night doesn't get any punishment and Sui He does  He kills and hurts way more people and his motivations are all selfish. 

At this point from the drama it feels like XF shouldnt forgive JM and should just pick SH. 

 

I agree with you ! SH is really likeable and as a villain, she is really humane (her nostalgia fo her father on earth was very pitiful and her sacrifice in killing him for XY scarred her). She really deserved to be picked up and to become his love.

 

This is a fiction so it's kind of acceptable to love and support the couple JM x XF, but frankly,  if i was XF, i woud never forgive JM for killing me. Because i'd prefer kill my love that give another chance to someone who didn't. The trust was broken and SH deserved her chance. SHE will never turn on him.

 

And the new Lord (Heavenly Emperor RY) should end alone and miserable. Well i'd prefer him to die but Heavean need its snake (i guess this is why he is a dragon).

[mrsyooknit]

Yeah that is some of the stuff that has been going around, except that the writers response was to the initial backlash to lack of screen time a few days ago. The one about changing the initial script by adding over 20 episodes mid filming hasn't received any feedback from the team. 

 

That explanation from writers and producers didn't appease fans and that was in ep. 43 and the drama has just gotten worse since then. As in the changes that fans are seeing  Fans are all confused and angry about the previews for the next few episodes bc it is really deviating from the story. 

[Araminta Jouana]

50 minutes ago, mrsyooknit said:

Yeah that is some of the stuff that has been going around, except that the writers response was to the initial backlash to lack of screen time a few days ago. The one about changing the initial script by adding over 20 episodes mid filming hasn't received any feedback from the team. 

 

That explanation from writers and producers didn't appease fans and that was in ep. 43 and the drama has just gotten worse since then. As in the changes that fans are seeing  Fans are all confused and angry about the previews for the next few episodes bc it is really deviating from the story. 

 

I will never again complain about the writer not being in the script's crew.

Because her involvemet in the script, the original story is not protected by the need of authenthicity. She represents it so now she can decide to alter or make up for some regret.

 

We can complain and heard but the author when the director does things his way but when the author is not even on our side, it's more disappointing.

[Araminta Jouana]

Just watched the 48th episode... not thank you for RY's monologue. You got your revenge and took it on your innocent brother. I am pissed that RY wont even meet regrets and heartache. Next episode, our Phoenix will be back and will be discovered.

 

I have to said that the Bird's clan house is really tiny...People arrive and are in front of you...Not even some servants to announce or stop visitors...No way to protect your love, RH... 

 

[dramaninja]

I dont get  how you can mes up drams like this which have the story laid out for you..I dont mind changes here and there at all but man you cannot change major scenes.

 

I am not even invested  in this drama but I feel  alot of of posters pain  and annoyance here.

[yoohoo611]

I was so looking forward to see JM revive XF the same way she always feeds him medicine... Looks like that's not gonna happen, wth. How else will she redeem herself? Why mess up a perfectly good story, the scriptwriter needs to learn "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!" 

 

So sad.... 

 

[gleek49]

LOL at ep 46. What are they trying to do here? Are they trying to make RY more sympathetic or something? Why do I hate him even more? He has the balls to blame it on XF? Is this really how he justify it in his head? That XF deserves to die because people LIKE HIM BETTER??? OMG the whole scene in which he "reminisces" his past with XF makes me want to tear my hair out. How can someone be SO selfish, self-centered, self-pitied and shameless?? How am I suppose to sympathize with this piece of richard simmons again?  

[Kimchi Sweet Potato]

Sigh. I tried. But it is quite a mess now. 

[jewelsc]

I feel like i'm the only one finding the story here flowing pretty smoothly as someone who has never read the novel..i also enjoyed and appreciated RY's sidestory and how and why he has become the way he is, he is the villain of the show afterall so i'd expected the story to flow that way and in some ways it has made me feel pity for him, he seemed to be a 'good' guy until he remembered and met his real mother..but as for the sidestory of the demon princess and her loverboy, i thought that part wasn't that relevant but all in all, i don't really consider it that much of a mess atall.

[Kimchi Sweet Potato]

1 hour ago, jewelsc said:

I feel like i'm the only one finding the story here flowing pretty smoothly as someone who has never read the novel..i also enjoyed and appreciated RY's sidestory and how and why he has become the way he is, he is the villain of the show afterall so i'd expected the story to flow that way and in some ways it has made me feel pity for him, he seemed to be a 'good' guy until he remembered and met his real mother..but as for the sidestory of the demon princess and her loverboy, i thought that part wasn't that relevant but all in all, i don't really consider it that much of a mess atall.

I was going to ask that next (how people who never read the novel are finding the show). I do think the story is still solid in spite of the changes. 

[turtle0217]

15 minutes ago, jewelsc said:

I feel like i'm the only one finding the story here flowing pretty smoothly as someone who has never read the novel..i also enjoyed and appreciated RY's sidestory and how and why he has become the way he is, he is the villain of the show afterall so i'd expected the story to flow that way and in some ways it has made me feel pity for him, he seemed to be a 'good' guy until he remembered and met his real mother..but as for the sidestory of the demon princess and her loverboy, i thought that part wasn't that relevant but all in all, i don't really consider it that much of a mess atall.

 

6 minutes ago, Kimchi Sweet Potato said:

I was going to ask that next (how people who never read the novel are finding the show). I do think the story is still solid in in spite of the changes. 

 

I read the novel, too and I watched today's episodes and I liked it. It could've been better, but it flows with what the drama is. I don't have nothing to complain, besides I'm heartbroken that JM killed Phoenix. Honestly, I am starting to not like her character, like he loved her soo much and for her to just do something stupid like that without thinking, it pains me. I understand it was the pill, but I mean she may not feel love, but she gotta have a brain, right? But at the end of the day, it's true of when you love someone, no matter how much pain they give you, you can't stop loving them. That was Phoenix's love to JM.

 

I felt like Night is weak and he just can't stand up for himself in the drama. I pictured him more like revengeful in the book, as compared to the drama he didn't show much anger. I do in fact like the scene where he thought about young him and Phoenix. It does show he still cared about their brotherhood, but yes, Phoenix was the golden child and it hurted him.

 

Overall, I don't have a problem with the flow. I just hope they don't fail us at the ending like other dramas.