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Welcome to the Open Thread, everyone! Thanks for joining in on this group watch of this very special show! ❤️ 
As I mentioned in my announcement post, these are my notes, exactly as they appear on Patreon.
ZERO SPOILER POLICY
We will be adopting a ZERO SPOILER POLICY for this Open Thread, except for events that have happened in the show, up to this point.
This includes, but is not limited to, how characters &/or relationships develop, later in the show.
The spoiler tags don’t work in email notifications, therefore, please take note that WE WILL NOT BE USING SPOILER TAGS FOR THIS OPEN THREAD.
We need to protect the innocent! 😉
Without further ado, here are my reactions to this set of episodes; have fun in the Open Thread, everyone! ❤️
My thoughts
Episodes 45-46
E45-46. Ok, to be honest, this wasn’t my favorite pair of episodes that I’ve seen from Show so far, but they weren’t without bright spots, so it worked out ok, overall?
Mainly, I’m starting to feel like Show’s getting a little disjointed, in the way arcs are introduced, resolved and then linked to other arcs.
For example, the whole thing with Lou Ben amps up quite suddenly in episode 45, and by episode’s end, all the final exposition in done around his ambition, and he’s suddenly dead, after holding Shaoshang hostage.
It doesn’t feel very organic, from where I’m sitting, in that, if he’d planned on taking his own life, then why had he felt the need to take Shaoshang hostage?
In my mind, the only reason he could have, for taking Shaoshang hostage, would be to bargain for a way out, for himself.
Or.. maybe that’s what he’d thought, until Buyi’s men take Lou Ben’s wife hostage in retaliation? 🤔 And then, because he couldn’t bear to put his wife in danger, Lou Ben decided to take his own life?
I’m rationalizing that perhaps this felt rushed to me (it feels like so much happens in episode 45), is because Show had gotten edited down to 56 episodes for broadcast. So perhaps Show’s original blueprint had been less rushed?
It feels like before we know it, Lou Ben’s dead, and Shaoshang and Buyi head off to find Cheng Shi, based on the clue that Lou Ben leaves for Shaoshang – and then we skip right to 5 days later, when Cheng Shi’s safe at home, recuperating in bed.
That felt pretty choppy and disjointed to me, honestly. 😅
The fact that we’re filled in what had happened, both with Cheng Shi and with the rescue, with lots of expository lines of dialogue, also feels unnatural and rushed, like the editors decided that we didn’t have time to see a chunk of stuff, and so made it such that we could at least hear about it.
I’m also pretty disturbed by how Lou Ben’s pregnant wife ends up committing suicide, so that she and her unborn child can follow him in death.
That feels like such a sad end to a character whom we’ve only known as warm and kind, in how she’d treated Shaoshang when Shaoshang had been engaged to Lou Yao.
In terms of bright spot, I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by how Qiqi visits Song in prison, while wearing a wedding dress underneath her disguise, because she’s determined to marry him, even if he’s quite possibly going to die.
I found the whole thing very endearing, because I do think that if not for the circumstances, Song and Qiqi would have likely danced around their feelings for each other, for a long time, given the tricky detail that the Wan household is one where men marry into the family and not the other way around, and the Cheng family would likely never agree for Song to do that.
It’s a pretty big deal for a man to marry into a woman’s family, because, afterwards, for all intents and purposes, he belongs to his wife’s family.
Therefore, after marriage, he’s not even going to hold memorial services for the elders in his family, because he’s considered exited from his family.
I honestly think that if it weren’t for the circumstances, where everyone believes that they’re all going to die soon – Song included – I doubt Song and Qiqi would have managed to get permission to marry.
But with death allegedly almost at their door, Grandma and Yuanyi probably felt more able to put aside all their previous misgivings, to be moved by Qiqi’s sincerity.
Honestly though, who wouldn’t be moved by Qiqi’s sincerity?
She’s determined to marry Song and no one else, even if he’s likely going to be beheaded soon, and she promises to hold memorial services for him and his family, if they’re really going to die.
And, if he refuses to marry her, she’s ready to cut off her hair and become a nun, so that she will never marry anyone.
Gosh, she’s so determined and so singleminded – singlehearted, really – that I can totally see why it would move Grandma and Yuanyi.
Another thing that I find disturbing, this set of episodes, is how Show starts to hint that Buyi may not be who we think he is.
That was very unsettling for me, because I feel like I’ve just spent 40+ episodes getting to know him – only to be now told, that maybe he’s not who I thought he was, all along.
This feels like a rather weird choice, since we’re pretty much approaching the final stretch of our story, at this point.
I mean, I know some stories do shake out that way, but this is not the kind of drama I’d pegged Show for.
With Buyi and his stoic earnestness, and his marshmallow heart for Shaoshang, being the anchor of my watch these past 40+ episodes, it feels very unsettling, to receive all these indications that there’s more to Buyi than we know, and that the things we don’t know, have a sinister tinge to them.
With Uncle Yuan’s story to Shaoshang, about the two cousins who’d looked so alike, except for the one who’d had an allergy to almonds, and then with Buyi showing signs of a strong allergic reaction after eating those almond cakes that his mother had made, it’s obvious that Show is pointing us towards the fact that Buyi is actually Ling Yi’s nephew, and not his son.
And then, we suddenly have Wang Ling (whom I hadn’t realized had married Peng Kun, of all people), telling Shaoshang that Buyi is much more scary that Shaoshang thinks.
Ack. I don’t think I like where this is going, honestly. I can’t look. 🙈
Episodes 47-48
E47-48. Ok, this was a weird set of episodes for me, even more so than the last set.
Honestly, I feel like I got lost and wandered into a different drama world by mistake. 😅
Instead of the world of Love Like The Galaxy, by the end of episode 48, I felt like I’d managed to timeslip into the world of Rain’s 2009 movie Ninja Assassin, which, if you haven’t seen it, is very, very bloody, and seems to delight in the idea of blood spraying everywhere. 😝
Essentially, my brain can buy the logic of Buyi’s revenge; when Show lays it out like this, I can understand why he would take matters into his own hands, and kill Ling Yi himself.
HOWEVER. It still feels out of character for this show, if that makes sense?
All along, we’ve had our OTP romance front-and-center, and even when our story took a turn into the more political side of things.
It had been so gratifying, to see how unwavering Buyi’s love, trust and affection is, for Shaoshang. Honestly, that’s THE biggest draw of this show, for me.
And now, in just these two episodes, it feels like Show’s taken that away from me. Sob. 😭
In a weird way, it almost feels like the roles are reversed, between Buyi and Shaoshang.
Where before, it had always been Buyi who had trusted Shaoshang implicitly, and who had been the one to work to draw Shaoshang into trusting him and opening up to him, this set of episodes, it feels like now Shaoshang’s the one who’s doing that, with Buyi.
In principle, the role reversal sounds like a good idea, because Buyi shouldn’t always be the one to do the heavy-lifting in their relationship, but.. in execution, I found it uncomfortable.
In that scene where Buyi asks Shaoshang what she’s heard from Wang Ling, and Shaoshang lays out the things that she now knows, it’s disconcerting for me, because it’s a lot.
And, it feels like we’re getting to see a whole new side to Buyi – which makes me feel like I never really knew him, even though I’ve spent 40+ episodes with him?
What I do find touching, though, is that through it all, even though Shaoshang must be even more disconcerted than I am, she never wavers in her love and dedication to Buyi.
Even though she feels unsettled that she feels like she suddenly doesn’t know anything about him, she never once indicates that she doesn’t want to marry him.
Instead, she repeatedly works to make him feel safe enough to tell her the truth, with his own lips, even though she’s already pretty much pieced together the biggest secret, on her own.
This is admittedly a huge demonstration of devotion on Shaoshang’s part. We can see how much she’s grown and matured, from the time we first met her.
The old Shaoshang would have never been able to afford anyone this kind of trust and assurance, but here she is, doing it for Buyi, repeatedly, even though she doesn’t succeed in hearing the truth, each time.
All that said, I have to admit that on first viewing, I really struggled with the fact that Buyi does start to tell Shaoshang the truth, at least once, but eventually changes his mind, and tells her that there’s nothing to tell, when she asks him about it, the third time.
It’s only on further thought, and on hindsight, that I realize that Buyi comes to the conclusion that he cannot give up his revenge, and because his last available witness is dead, there is no way for him to bring Ling Yi to justice, under the law.
And therefore, he knows that he will have to take the law into his own hands, and kill Ling Yi himself – which means that he would either die in the process, or end up being sentenced to death, for killing Ling Yi.
That’s why he’d shown up to “send off” Shaoshang from the palace, even though, as the groom, he’s not supposed to see his bride in the lead-up to the wedding. He wanted to see her one last time, before he walked to certain death.
And, I rationalize that he very likely didn’t want to tell Shaoshang about it, because, the moment he told her, she couldn’t not get involved. I am guessing that he didn’t want her to get involved, because it would be dangerous for her.
That’s the only reason I can think of, that would explain why Buyi would withhold the truth from Shaoshang, without negating the unwavering trust that we’ve seen him demonstrate towards her, time and time again, in all the episodes prior.
As for how Shaoshang becomes convinced that there’s something bad going down at Ling Yi’s house, I gather that it’s because the servant whom she’d sent with the birthday gift, had come back bearing news that there’s no celebratory atmosphere at Ling Yi’s residence.
The lack of fireworks probably is a big enough clue to Shaoshang, that something’s wrong.
Plus, she knows that there’s no love lost between Buyi and Ling Yi, and so, it’s already suspicious enough, that Buyi would agree to attend Ling Yi’s birthday banquet, particularly so soon after Junhua’s death.
Putting that together, it’s enough to send alarm bells off in Shaoshang’s head, which is why she is determined to head to Ling Yi’s residence.
While I still felt a touch of “where the heck are we, are we even still in the same show?,” it was in-principle gratifying to see Shaoshang’s parents and family rally behind her, to help her get to Buyi.
As we end off the episode, Buyi’s successfully killed Ling Yi, which means that his revenge is finally complete.
The wretched bloody tears on his face are so hard to look at, though.
It’s clear that even though he’s succeeded in exacting his revenge for his family, the process has wrecked him, and I feel really sad for him, because even though he’s felt different to me, this set of episodes, I still do care about him.
I really hope that Shaoshang’s arrival will bring him some comfort, and I’m really, really hoping that Buyi won’t end up trying to push Shaoshang away, for her own good.
I’m hoping that Show will somehow revert back to the epic romance that it’s always been, for me, but I also can’t help feeling apprehensive, that I might be asking for too much. 😭
Next Open Thread will be up on: Saturday, 15 June 2024!
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