THE SHORT VERDICT:

When Show’s at its best, it’s screaming good fun, coz it’s just that funny and unexpected, in all the right ways. I don’t often laugh out loud with my dramas, but there were a good number of times that I had to pause an episode, just to laugh.

Unfortunately, when Show is not at its best, it can feel frustrating, like it’s cycling in place and reusing the same narrative ground. I didn’t like that very much.

As an upside, Show’s strengths outweigh its weaknesses, and Show does manage to stick the landing, in my opinion.

Overall, worth a look, especially if you enjoy transmigration stories.

THE LONG VERDICT:

Let me put things in perspective for you, a little bit.

When Show is brilliant, that brilliance is legit in the A+ range of brilliance, and those aspects stand head and shoulders above similar aspects of its peer dramas.

That’s No Small Deal, and I do think that Show achieves some excellent wins, on that front.

Like I alluded to earlier, it’s unfortunate that Show isn’t brilliant in every single aspect, and there are aspects to its overall handling, that ended up dulling its brilliance for me. It is a pity, sure, but I guess we can’t expect a drama to actually be perfect in every area, yes?

Overall, I’d say that if Show was competing in a drama championship, it’s kinda like it managed to win top prizes in about 60% of the categories, while placing mostly in the middle, when it didn’t rank (ie, nothing’s at the very bottom), which is a very respectable result.

I very much think fondly on Show’s best, and think that this one is worth a look, if only to enjoy Show’s genius, when it comes into play.

OST ALBUM: FOR YOUR LISTENING PLEASURE

Here’s the OST album, in case you’d like to listen to it while you read the review.

Honestly, Show’s use of music deserves a special shout-out, because aside from these core tracks on the OST, it also uses a whole range of other music, to score its story.

Your mileage may certainly vary, but personally, I thought it was pretty darn brilliant, and I loved that Show used such a wide range of music, from such a varied range of genres.

It’s a rare thing in Dramaland, to have a show pay such obvious attention to the kind of mood and effect that it wants its music to add to a particular scene, and Show’s makers deserve to be commended for the effort and love they put into this.

In terms of the core tracks, there are two that stand out for me personally.

I really enjoy Track 4, Extraordinary, which I find very lovely and sweet 🥲, but if I had to pick one song that I associate with this show, it’d have to be Track 6, Paper Person, which also happens to be sung by Liu Yu Ning, our male lead.

Here’s Paper Person on its own as well, in case you’d prefer to listen to it on repeat. Just right-click on the video and select “Loop.”

HOW I’M APPROACHING THIS REVIEW

First I’ll talk about how to manage your expectations going into this one, and what viewing lens would be most helpful.

After that, I talk about stuff I liked on a more macro level, before I give the spotlight to selected characters and relationships, in a separate section. Finally, I spend some time talking about my thoughts on the penultimate and finale episodes.

If you’re interested in my blow-by-blow reactions, &/or all the various Patreon members’ comments during the course of our watch, you might like to check out my episode notes on Patreon here.

MANAGING EXPECTATIONS / THE VIEWING LENS

Here are some things that I think would be helpful to keep in mind, to maximize your enjoyment of your watch:

1. Be ready to suspend disbelief

Even though this is a fantasy and Show is mostly pretty good about keeping to its fantasy rules, it is also sometimes a bit loose with the logic.

Being ready to suspend disbelief and just roll with it, helps.

2. The zany does settle

Show starts off really zany, but give it a few episodes, and the zany does settle, after several episodes, into something a lot more sustainable.

So, enjoy the zany while it lasts, but

3. The romance leans sweet rather than spicy

The central loveline eventually settles into something that’s more sweet than spicy, and I personally think it’s better to know this upfront, so that you can manage your expectations accordingly.

4. Show’s probably better binged

I didn’t binge-watch this, but I kinda wish that I had, because that way, I might have been able to get through Show’s weaker stretch faster, and thereby likely retain more goodwill towards Show, by the time I hit the finish line.

STUFF I LIKED

The way Show is so self-aware

Show is nothing if not self-aware, and this brought me so much amusement and entertainment, from the get-go.

I love how clever Show is, at poking fun at itself, as well as at dramas in general, and how it plays with the meta of it all.

This is mostly done through our transmigrating female lead Xiao Yu (Li Yi Tong), and her wry, often droll observations amused me greatly.

Here are a handful of highlights from my watch.

[SPOILER ALERT]

E1-4. I am nicely amused by how wry Xiao Yu is, in responding to the tropey scenes in the script – which we get to see enacted on our screens, in ultra dramatic fashion. 😁

I am very amused by these scenes, particularly with the way everything’s played just a touch too dramatic to feel organic.

And then, it’s fun how we immediately cut to Xiao Yu bemusedly questioning the script, and how quickly the OTP’s fallen in love.

Ahaha! This definitely reminds me of when I’ve questioned other drama OTPs, and how they’re written to fall in love, very suddenly and inexplicably (Red Swan – review here! – comes to mind 🤭).

Again, this lends a layer of fun to my watch, and I’m not mad about that at all. 😁

E13-16. The thing that amused me the most during the Music Banquet, was the way everyone was shipping Nan Heng (Liu Yu Ning) and Xiao Yu as a CP (couple, in c-internet slang), because they’d been reading that novel that Fu Gui (Wang Cheng Si) had commissioned and then put into circulation, in order to help Nan Heng with his romantic troubles.

Hahaha! This is such a perfect reflection of how viewers tend to ship CPs from their dramas, and I can’t help but be amused by Show’s knowing nod at this phenomenon. 😁

I’m also quite amused that the biggest shipper of this CP, appears to be Nan Heng’s mother, Consort Gao (Wang Yan).

The way she shows up and insists that Xiao Yu is going to be her daughter-in-law, basically powered by her love of the novel, amuses me.

E21-24. One thing that I do find myself rather amused and intrigued by, is the fact that, as Xiao Yu says, the big banner moments will happen in this story world, regardless of the various characters’ actions.

It reminds me of how I, and other viewers, have said of Kim Eun Sook’s writing of Descendants of the Sun (review here!), that she’d written for the banner moments, and then had found ways to stitch those banner moments together, with some being better stitched together than others.

This reminds me of that, exactly. 🤭

The sovereign scriptwriter of this story seems to have that same exact approach; they want the big banner moments (which Xiao Yu’s listed on that chalkboard of hers), and now, it’s a matter of how those banner moments are stitched together.

In this story’s original iteration, the big banner moments had been stitched together one way, and now, with all of Xiao Yu’s actions and their ripple effects, the way these banner moments are being stitched together has completely changed.

AND YET. The banner moments themselves do not change, even as their context has changed, and I find it all very clever and trippy, honestly. 🤩

In our story’s original version, Nan Heng had actually seduced Yi Ting (Zhu Xu Dan) and had an affair with her, and then had been discovered, in that pivotal scene.

Now, in our updated version, Nan Heng has no interest in Yi Ting and neither does she have an interest in him, and yet, we still get a sequence of events that leads to them being discovered.

I honestly kinda love it, but only in a meta sense.

Of course, this sucks for Nan Heng, coz this only leads to Xiao Yu misunderstanding him even more, but in a meta sense, it’s very clever, wouldn’t you say?

E25-28. I love a couple of things about the scene where Xiao Yu gets attacked while traveling through the forest at night:

1, I love that Xiao Yu uses her knowledge of script, to fight off her attackers on her own, and I especially loved that she was able to strategically use her hairpin to take out that one guy, to everyone’s shock;

2, I love that Nan Heng is, once again, propelled to her side to save her, thanks to the scriptwriter’s intervening clacking keys. 🤭 It’s been a long time since we’ve had this happen, so this feels like a nice return to those days. 😁

3, I love that Xiao Yu pulls Nan Heng off that cliff, assuring him that in a world like this, no one ever dies from falling off a cliff.

PWAHAHA!! 😂😂 That is SO TRUE, of every period drama ever, and I couldn’t help but snigger at the cheeky knowingness of it all. 😁

[END SPOILER]

When Show is funny

To be clear, I didn’t find Show’s every attempt at humor to be funny (more on that later), but I have to say, I laughed more often than I didn’t, and that’s a Pretty Big Deal for me, because I don’t often jive with most dramas’ ideas of Funny.

In fact, sometimes, I found myself laughing out loud, and sometimes, even long after the episode was over, which I think is a testament for how effective Show’s humor was for me, for the most part.

Here’s a selection of scenes and beats that tickled my funny bone, during my watch.

[SPOILER ALERT]

E1-4. One of the things that amuses me a lot in this script world, is the fact that, at the will of the scriptwriter, our characters find themselves doing and saying what the writer wants, instead of what they’d wanted to do or say.

Like the way the maids ended up talking about Nan Heng, every time Xiao Yu asked them to talk about her marriage.

And the way the maids – and a whole host of other NPC characters – bundle up Xiao Yu and get her to the palace to meet Nan Heng, even though she explicitly doesn’t want to.

One of the funniest things, to me, is the way Xiao Yu wants nothing to do with Nan Heng, but at the whim of the writer, has to actually act all sweet and demure to Nan Heng, often after having just said something to the effect of never wanting to see him again. 🤭

The funniest thing, though, has to be the way Nan Heng finds himself unable to harm Xiao Yu; every time he tries to harm her, he ends up saving her instead, and it’s the funniest, silliest running gag, evar. 😂

I literally cackled, in episode 3, when Xiao Yu anticipates an iconic romantic scene from the original script, of Nan Heng putting his cloak on Yi Meng, and literally side steps it, even as Nan Heng makes to do the iconic cloak flourish. 🤭

And then, within minutes, she has to – at the will of the writer – offer to marry Nan Heng, to repay him for saving her life, hahaha!

I had So! Much! Fun! watching all these ridiculous hijinks, my friends. 😁

It’s even funnier, when we can hear Xiao Yu in voiceover, noting all the details that go into making the scene romantic, like the slow motion, music and lights, and cursing the writer for making it so. 😂

I also cackled when, after promising to get that Duan Blade Technique to Nan Heng, she finds it – but it’s blank, because the scriptwriter hadn’t bothered to actually write it.

Hahaha! That’s exactly the kind of thing that I would leave blank too, if I were writing a story, and there was a mysterious sword technique on the periphery of my story! 😂

E1-4. Of course, after the various scriptwriter interventions that he experiences, Nan Heng concludes that Xiao Yu’s using some kind of sorcery in order to control him, and does everything he can, to get rid of her.

Which, like I’ve mentioned, doesn’t go at all like he plans, heh.

Just like the series of deaths that Xiao Yu goes through in episode 1, the more Nan Heng ends up flying at superhuman speed in order to save Xiao Yu from something that he’s done to her, to kill her, the funnier it became, to me.

It’s ridiculous and defies logic – like Nan Heng flying at the speed of light to save Xiao Yu from an arrow that he’s shot, and getting shot in the shoulder, by said arrow – but that’s what makes it so hilarious. 😁

Or Nan Heng trying to feed Xiao Yu a poisoned bit of food, and ends up putting it in his own mouth, thus poisoning himself, ha!

Good for him, that he’s humane enough – or has grown enough of a soft spot for Xiao Yu – to instruct that the poison shouldn’t be enough to kill. 🤭

I just can’t help but giggle, that by the time we get to the end of episode 4, Nan Heng’s given up, and gets Teddy Bear to throw her out of his house – while he sits at home, looking completely perplexed, confused and defeated.

Hahaha! I’m sorry, Nan Heng, you pretty much brought this on yourself, by not quitting while you were behind. 😂

E9-12. I’m very amused by the way these side characters literally have no names, and the way they identify themselves, is literally with the labels used in the script, like “Passerby A” and “Passerby B.”

There’s a pun here that’s lost in translation, because in Mandarin, the phrase for “Passerby A” (my translation, versus VIU’s translation of “Random Extra A” and WeTV’s translation of “NPC A”) is “路人甲” (lùrén jiǎ), and this does sound like it could plausibly be a Chinese name, since “Lù” (written as 陆) is a Chinese family name.

And so, while Xiao Yu understands that these extras are going by their assigned labels, Nan Heng actually thinks that they all have the same family name, “Lù.” 😁 Cute!

E13-16. I found myself laughing out loud in sheer surprise, when Nan Heng pulls out that hidden scrap of paper, and it turns out to be a chemistry equation?!???

PWAHAHA!! That tickles me greatly.

Because, this means that the writers were having a lot of fun with it, but also, it makes me think of the in-story scriptwriter, who must’ve just shoved that chemistry equation in there, because they probably never imagined that a character would need to pull it out, or understand it. 🤭

The more our characters puzzle over the equation, the funnier it got, to my eyes, and I do love that Nan Heng instinctively knows that Xiao Yu would know something about this never-seen-before symbols – it’s just too bad that she’s terrible at chemistry and therefore has no idea what it means. 😁

That whole explosion was funny to watch, but I was most tickled (because I was most surprised) by the way Xiao Yu bursts out of the room, exhaling a whole puff of smoke. Hilarious! 😂

E13-16. I thought it was all quite funny, the next morning, with so many people showing up, one after another, in search of either Nan Heng or Xiao Yu.

There’s a beat when Xiao Yu’s father opens the bed curtains, and Fu Gui says in welcome, “三缺一” (sān quē yī), which literally translates as “three missing one.”

This is a phrase that is commonly used to talk about mahjong, which is played in groups of four. And so, when there are three players missing a fourth, they will always refer to this as “三缺一.”

And so, I found it quite funny, that this would be Fu Gui’s welcoming words to Lord Song, to the communal hiding place. 😁

[END SPOILER]

The way Show grounds the silly

There is a whole lotta silly, especially in Show’s early stretch, and I appreciated that it found a way to ground everything for me, first in adding a layer of pathos to Nan Heng, and then in Liu Yu Ning’s very effective delivery of that pathos.

[SPOILER ALERT]

E5-8. Nan Heng’s backstory, that everyone, including his father and best friend, had believed that he’d caused the Empress’s death, at the age of eight, is the thing that helps to ground everything for me.

With the way Nan Heng’s gaze takes on those shades of wretchedness, even as Xiao Yu describes how terrible Nan Heng had been, and still is, I instinctively believe that Nan Heng’s been deeply misunderstood, all these years, and that makes me want to root for him.

That’s very key, in terms of getting me truly invested (versus simply entertained), and I found myself caring about Nan Heng, and wanting him to clear his name, which had been wrongfully sullied, over the years. 🥲

And yet, Show is quite deft, in balancing the poignant and silly in our story, so that Show still lands as irreverent, and I liked that too.

[END SPOILER]

STUFF THAT WAS OK

When Show is loose with the logic

I do think that it’s necessary to suspend disbelief, on occasion, when watching this one, because Show can be a little fast and loose on the logic front, sometimes.

I just decided to use an nonsensical cartoon lens to help it all land better, but yeah, just know that you’re not really meant to question the logic of things too much, in this drama world. 😅

Here are some examples to illustrate what I mean.

[SPOILER ALERT]

E1-4. When Xiao Yu decides that she’s going to make the best of things, and marry second male lead Chu Gui Hong, and lead an easy life, she has many misadventures, and ends up dying, time, after time, after time.

In this way, it kinda lands like Love Game in Eastern Fantasy, where our female lead also ends up dying quite a few times, in the opening episodes.

However, without warning, Xiao Yu suddenly changes tack in episodes 2 through 4, where she suddenly actually starts fearing for her life.

There’s no explanation provided for this change, and if you’re using too crisp of a logic lens, you’d naturally want to know why she’s suddenly scared to die in this script world, when she’d successfully died and resurrected multiple times in just episode 1.

At least in Love Game in Eastern Fantasy, this change was explained as the female lead leveling up in the game world, but here, there’s no explanation provided at all.

E5-8. The logic that gets Xiao Yu into Moonshade (VIU subs translate it as Fading River Moon but WeTV subs refer to it as Moonshade which is just easier 😅) is really very loose, because later on, she claims that she’s brought all this private money here from her own world, and that is just not built into our story logic, is it?

BUT, importantly, her visit to Moonshade leads to a great deal of fun and hijinks, so again, this is an example of when it’s best to just look at this story through a cartoon lens, and just roll with the logic lapses.

E5-8. In terms of how I’m reconciling the fact that Xiao Yu doesn’t know this about Nan Heng, despite having studied the script, I’m rationalizing that perhaps her character originally hadn’t had anything to do with Li Shi Liu, and that’s why she either wasn’t given those parts of the script, or she hadn’t studied those parts of the script?

It’s actually kind of fun in a way, that Xiao Yu doesn’t have a full understanding of the script world; that lends a very different dynamic to our story, versus First Night with the Duke (review here!), where our female lead is a huge fangirl of the novel into which she finds herself transmigrated.

However, that doesn’t change the fact that that detail made no sense. 😁

[END SPOILER]

Show’s overall handling of the OTP connection

While I enjoyed my watch overall, I have to admit that I wasn’t really feeling the OTP relationship, no matter how hard I tried.

[BROAD SPOILERS]

It was fun at first, with Show leaning into the silly and hijinks, and I was actually quite taken with the stretch where Xiao Yu nurses a crush on Li Shi Liu, not realizing that he’s Nan Heng in disguise.

However, once that stretch is over, Show leans into an entire stretch where Nan Heng is in love with Xiao Yu but she keeps misunderstanding him and is determined to kill him.

It doesn’t help that Show gives a good chunk of screen time to Nan Heng’s sad puppy eyes, thus making us sympathize with him, but doesn’t devote much time at all to really dig into Xiao Yu’s perspective and why she finds it so hard to trust Nan Heng.

I do think that as a result of this, a lot of viewers found Xiao Yu’s behavior frustrating and annoying.

Personally, I found that I had to work extra hard to think through Xiao Yu’s side of things, in order to feel empathy for her as well.

Show spends a good stretch on this stage of the OTP relationship, and I did feel like we were going in circles for a while, and I definitely think that if Show had had fewer episodes of screen time to fill, that it would have resulted in a smoother and easier watch, at least with regards to our OTP.

In this next section, I elaborate on all this more specifically; for example, the lens through which I digested Xiao Yu’s actions towards Nan Heng.

[SPOILER ALERT]

E17-20. I feel like most of my watch is an exercise in empathy.

Empathy towards Nan Heng, because he is so misunderstood by everyone, including Xiao Yu – well, Song Yi Meng – whom he now loves.

At the same time, my logical mind is also reminding me that I need to have empathy for Xiao Yu, because not only is she convinced that she will die because of Nan Heng, she does have actual memories of him trying to kill her, multiple times, in our early episodes.

Even though Show has established that Nan Heng cannot kill her because of plot armor, I don’t know how easy it is for Xiao Yu to forget that Nan Heng, had, in fact, attempted to kill her multiple times, and not for pretend; he would have succeeded if not for her female lead plot armor.

I can only imagine that this narrative supremacy – where the writer’s desired narrative reigns supreme – would convince Xiao Yu that she will still somehow die because of Nan Heng, even if he is unable to kill her himself.

With that in mind, I can actually understand why Xiao Yu would feel that her best bet at survival, is to eliminate Nan Heng from the equation. Because, if he’s dead, she can’t die because of him.

I do think that the problem here, is that Show is making Nan Heng much more sympathetic than his original design, but is not clueing Xiao Yu in on this, thus creating this big divide between them.

She’s still operating based on her understanding of the original Nan Heng, but Nan Heng has since changed – because of her, but also possibly because of the rewrites that Nan Feng’s manager had demanded in episode 1.

And it does feel like the writers are planning to keep Xiao Yu in the dark about Nan Heng’s more sympathetic character – Nan Heng 2.0, if you will – for a fair while, in order to milk the comedy inherent in the misunderstandings between them.

This.. honestly reminds me of the dynamic in The Prisoner of Beauty (review here!), where the writers made the leads take turns being smitten vs. clueless, in order to squeeze every last drop of possible comedy out of the whole thing, never mind that it didn’t make any character sense.

It’s a bit of a weird experience, where I enjoy the episodes, but end up feeling torn? 😅

Meaning, I am dutifully feeling sympathy for Nan Heng, and melting a little bit, every time Liu Yu Ning does his layered soft gaze, with all that pathos and plaintiveness mixed in with that big soft spot he’s grown for Xiao Yu, just like the writers want me to, even as the more logical corner of my brain protests that Xiao Yu actually has valid reasons to not want to be entangled with Nan Heng.

I feel like a bit of a dark comedy lens is useful.

For example, in episode 17, when Xiao Yu digs her fingers into Nan Heng’s arrow wound, and smirks when he winces, I found it quite painful and perplexing to watch.

But clearly, Show’s intention is to present the beat as a rather comedic one, particularly with the way it follows that beat, with Consort Gao getting all worried about Nan Heng, and then, just as Nan Heng tries to tattle on Xiao Yu, he’s foiled, as Xiao Yu scurries in to apologize to Consort Gao for startling her.

I think this counts as dark comedy, yes? 😅 Because I can’t find another lens where a scene making fun of the male lead’s pain and injury, could pass off as being funny. 😅

[END SPOILER]

STUFF I DIDN’T LIKE SO MUCH

The requisite scheming

There is, of course, the usual requisite scheming, because where there is a throne, there are people vying for it. I wasn’t super interested in this, but understood it as part of the territory.

I did my best to appreciate it, but I have to admit that sometimes, I found myself zoning out a little, when Show focused on the scheming and politicking stuff. 😅

When the funny overstays its welcome

As much as Show had me genuinely amused and even laughing out loud, ever so often, there were times when I didn’t appreciate the Intended Funny too much, and those unfunny moments were made worse, when Show would drag them out.

I’d also say that sometimes, we’d start out with something that I actually found funny, but the more Show leaned into it, the less funny it got for me.

Still, overall, Show was funny to me, more often than it wasn’t, but the more these unfunny bits were served up, the more uneven my watch experience would feel.

Here’s a selection of those times, for the record.

[SPOILER ALERT]

E13-16. The whole thing in episode 16, where Xiao Yu misunderstands that Shi Liu is gay, and is in a relationship with Shangguan He (Riley Wang), is quite funny, but I also feel like Show drags out this gag for too long, so much so that it overstays its welcome – or maybe that’s just me. 😅

E21-24. Xiao Yu continues to misunderstand Nan Heng, specifically in relation to Yi Ting (Zhu Xu Dan), and by this point, I have to confess to feeling a little tired of this running gag of misconception.

Still, I was a little amused at the way Xiao Yu misinterprets everything Nan Heng says, to support her belief that he’s obsessed with Yi Ting, and is busy thinking of ways to go after her. Poor Nan Heng; all he’s doing is making conversation with her, while enjoying his lunch. 😅

E21-24. I have to confess that I wasn’t super into the whole running gag built on the misunderstanding that Xiao Yu has, that the person whom Yi Ting likes, is Nan Heng.

All the conversations where they talk at cross purposes, was only very mildly amusing to me, at best.

[END SPOILER]

SPOTLIGHT ON SELECTED CHARACTERS / RELATIONSHIPS

Li Yi Tong as Xiao Yu

This is my introduction to female lead Li Yi Tong, and I really like her in this role.

She steals very large chunks of our early episodes, and I find her very fun to watch.

She basically keeps making wry remarks, whether she’s in the real world or the script world, and I found myself really enjoying her droll sense of humor.

I also found that it was trippily amusing to see Xiao Yu stay in her droll real world persona, while dressed as Song Yi Meng in the script world; it’s like she’s living the story, but also, providing wry commentary, at the same time.

I loved it. 😁

[SPOILER ALERT]

E5-8. Xiao Yu using her understanding of plot logic to her advantage, provides a good dose of meta amusement, and these episodes, I was most tickled by her realization that Nan Heng is unable to hurt her – for which she does the cutest happy dances, before wryly praising the scriptwriter, for finally doing something good.

Ah! She’s so funny and adorable! 😍

I still love her, even though she’s basically scheming to find a way to have Nan Heng killed off, in these episodes. 🙈😅

Additionally, let’s not forget that Nan Heng’s also scheming to have Xiao Yu killed, so I guess they’re even? 😅

E9-12. On Xiao Yu’s side of things, I appreciate two things:

1, that we get insight on why she’s so drawn to Li Shi Liu.

It’s because he’d saved her life and given her a sense of hope, when everything had seemed hopeless. That makes sense to me.

2, that her enthusiasm over killing Nan Heng, isn’t actually personal.

Yes, she keeps saying all these terrible things about Nan Heng, but in her conversation with Chu Gui Hong (Wang You Shuo), she hits at the (what I believe is) the core issue: that because Nan Heng is the protagonist, everything revolves around him, and if they don’t break this cycle, they will both end up dead.

Ahhh. This does put everything in a perspective that I can buy.

Xiao Yu’s going by the original script, and it’s true that according to the original script, she will die because of Nan Heng.

So her quest to have Nan Heng killed, is more about self-preservation, than about actually wanting him dead.

I think that it’s very likely that each time she says all these terrible things about Nan Heng, and pronouncing that he deserves to die, is her way of rationalizing things to herself, and satisfying her conscience.

At least, looking at it this way, makes me feel like I’m better able to understand Xiao Yu and her determination to exterminate Nan Heng, even though he’s not actively doing anything to harm her, in this moment.

[END SPOILER]

Liu Yu Ning as Nan Heng

I have to say, Liu Yu Ning does a fantastic job in this show. 🤩

The role allows him to show so much range, and a nice amount of depth as well.

Honestly, one of the most entertaining things, for me, is the fact that Nan Heng could be so intensely fierce and badass one moment, and then completely dorky and discombobulated the next.

Liu Yu Ning’s ability to serve up both of these very different vibes equally convincingly, on demand, definitely is a key factor to Nan Heng’s entertainment value, in my opinion. 😁

As a very much appreciated bonus, I hafta say, Liu Yu Ning’s looking pretty sexy in this, channeling Nan Heng’s intensity. Very nice. 🤩

[SPOILER ALERT]

E5-8. I must say, I do feel like Liu Yu Ning literally looks like he’s stepped out of a manhua, when in Li Shi Liu costume.

I somehow find that mask very sexy on him? 🔥

Although, I must confess that I’m not so keen on the tassels on his hat; those kind of look like they belong on curtains, to my eyes. Sorry. 🤭😅

E9-12. During the various fantasy death scenarios, I was extremely impressed with Liu Yu Ning’s versatility, as he switched from flirty-smoldery-come-hither mode to uncouth fierce taskmaster mode to hapless coward mode, as we move from fantasy scenario to fantasy scenario.

Very well done, I say! 😁

E9-12. I must also point out that when Li Shi Liu proposes an actual assassination plan for the group, I feel like we can see a distinct layer of sadness and pathos in Nan Heng’s gaze, as he details the plan.

Yes, Liu Yu Ning’s interpretation of Nan Heng as a character, with his very detailed and nuanced delivery, is really working for me. 🤩

E13-16. The thing that strikes me about Nan Heng, is that he’s so.. stoic, in the face of all this unfair and cruel treatment from his father, when it’s not his fault.

It’s not that he doesn’t care; it clearly affects him, but he’s girded himself, to weather any storm that comes his way, and I find that both poignant yet.. admirable?

Like, he must be so strong on the inside to do so, and somehow, he manages to keep at least a part of his heart tender and vulnerable, and that’s just very special, to my eyes. 🥲

E25-28. Confronted by Xiao Yu’s declaration, that he’d taken the loyalty of his Night Wanderer boys for granted, and had put them in danger while protecting his shady uncle, Nan Heng makes the drastic decision to shoulder the blame for everything, from the chaos at the execution site, to the fact that he’d harbored a criminal in Shangguan He, to the fact that the Night Wanderers were his men – and gets whipped AND stripped of his royal title.

Woah.

I think that says a great deal about the kind of person Nan Heng is.

Most people would have taken offense at the harsh words and general lack of sympathy from Xiao Yu, but Nan Heng looks beyond that, to examine whether or not her words ring true to him, and then takes steps to right the wrongs, even at a high personal cost.

I have to say, this really impressed me, because it really demonstrates how strongly Nan Heng is a man of principles, when it comes down to it.

It’s true that he’d shielded his shady uncle (Victor Huang) for many years, and I’m pretty sure that the whole reason he’d done so, was for his mother’s sake.

But when confronted by the hard truths that Xiao Yu presents him with, he has enough strength of character to right the wrongs, and I definitely think that that counts for something. 🥲

E29-32. I do appreciate that final scene between Nan Heng and Shady Uncle, in episode 30.

Even though Shady Uncle is directly responsible for much of the misery that Nan Heng’s had to suffer his entire life, Nan Heng makes the choice to speak respectfully to him, and do whatever he can, to set Uncle’s mind at ease, from assuring him that he’d been a good enough brother to Consort Gao all these years, to promising him that he would become a powerful person, albeit not by Uncle’s preferred means.

The fact that Nan Heng would bow to Uncle, after all that Uncle had done that had ended up hurting him, says so much about Nan Heng’s heart; he desires to love and forgive, and does not practice hatred nor resentment, as far as he can help it. 🥲

Plus, there’s that beat that I also very much appreciate, where Nan Heng tells Shangguan He that he’s not guilt-free like Shangguan He says, because he had been the reason that Shady Uncle had done all those things.

That’s.. really principled of Nan Heng, I must say. 🥲

E29-32. I’m really struck by how Nan Heng responds to the change in the Emperor’s (Zhang Lei) attitude.

His instinct doesn’t have anything to do with wanting an apology from the Emperor; instead, just look at the way his eyes immediately sheen with tears, to be finally be spoken to in kind tones, by his own father. 🥹

You can just tell that this is a deep thirst that he’s had all his life; that’s he’s always yearned to be accepted by his father, and treated with kindness and affection.

Now that he’s finally getting just that, I can’t help but feel a sense of gladness, relief and vindication for him, even though Daddy Emperor is still a douchebag and coward for trying to gloss over all those years of abuse.

Of course, I feel that Nan Heng fully deserves the title of Crown Prince, and I’m glad that Daddy Emperor and Nan Rui (Chang Long) are in agreement on this.

[END SPOILER]

Nan Heng and Xiao Yu

I think this was a case of expectations vs. reality, you guys, where I just expected so much more from this OTP loveline, than what I actually got. 😅

Given that I thought both leads were pretty fantastic in their roles from the get-go, I guess I just expected that this OTP connection would be through-the-roof sparky and electric, when we got there – except that it wasn’t.

Rather, Show opts for a very toned down OTP connection when we actually get there, and I couldn’t help but feel disappointed, because I’d been hoping for so much more. 😅

Like I mentioned earlier, I do think that a lot of it has to do with the writing and direction, though I also think that the reality is that this OTP doesn’t share a whole lot in terms of electricity. 🥲

Still. For a good stretch, while Show was at its best (which, in my opinion, is in its early stretch), my main joy in watching this show, was just watching Nan Heng fall for Xiao Yu, in spite of himself.

I found it to be the most delicious thing, especially with the way Liu Yu Ning does melty eyes; I felt like I was watching Nan Heng melt into a puddle before my eyes, and I loved it. 😍

[SPOILER ALERT]

E5-8. I did get a good chuckle at that scene, where Xiao Yu reveals that she’s got the entire room rigged with crossbows, all aimed at her, instead of Nan Heng – because Nan Heng has literally no choice but to try to save her, no matter what.

And then, what about her demand, that Nan Heng takes off his clothes and address her as “Boss” – which just escalates into a situation where she has no choice but to plant her lips on his, to prevent him from alerting Chu Gui Hong to his presence??

Hahaha! This is so tropey, but in such a silly, self-aware sort of way, with Xiao Yu even musing to herself that this kind of trope does come in useful, in some situations. 😂

We get our first real peek at dorky Nan Heng, when he mutters to himself in that perplexed way, that this is the third time (that Xiao Yu’s kissed him), and I can’t help but feel affectionately amused, like, “Oh you poor baby; you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet” – that kinda thing. 😁

E5-8. I’m very tickled that Nan Heng’s got this whole other identity as Li Shi Liu, the Big Boss of Moonshade, and Xiao Yu gets all entangled with Li Shi Liu, and gets all chummy with him, not once suspecting that Li Shi Liu is actually Nan Heng.

Because it makes sense that Nan Heng would try to outsource something that he finds himself unable to do, and because I guess I still have an appetite for Nan Heng being forced to rescue Xiao Yu against his will, I didn’t mind at all, that we get the extension of that particular running gag, with the Moonshade guys repeatedly trying to kill Xiao Yu, and Nan Heng repeatedly saving her – but in the guise of Li Shi Liu.

Of course Xiao Yu would feel grateful to Li Shi Liu 🤭 and assume that he’s a good person whom she can trust, because of course she wouldn’t suspect that he’d been the one to give the order for her to be attacked in the first place. 😁

It’s really quite silly-funny, the way he keeps trying to get out of saving range, even going so far as to tell that angry merchant attacker dude to wait for him to have left for a period of time, before killing Xiao Yu – only to be scriptwriter-coerced into saving her, over and over again, pfft.🤭

Things only take a turn, when Shangguan He suggests to Nan Heng, that he ought to get close to Xiao Yu using his identity as Li Shi Liu, in case he can benefit from her intimate knowledge of Chu Gui Hong’s plans.

I am inordinately tickled by the idea that Xiao Yu is glomming onto Li Shi Liu so much, and quickly suggesting that they join forces to take down Nan Heng, while vehemently saying terrible things about Nan Heng, like he’s cruel, unscrupulous, ruthless and evil – to his face. 🤭

Nan Heng’s perplexed side eye, as he tries to figure out how to respond to her awful statements about him, just makes it funnier.

And then, when he tries to defend Nan Heng, the way Xiao Yu concludes that there must be something wrong with Nan Heng in the head, is quite hilarious to me – especially with that cheeky sparkle in Xiao Yu’s eyes, as she says it. 😁

Shangguan He writing a sappy love letter to Xiao Yu on Nan Heng’s behalf – only to receive an unimpressed, droll reply from Xiao Yu, is just the kind of small bit of amusement that Show tends to sprinkle through our story, and I was happy to chuckle along.

What I found more amusing, was the whole thing where Nan Heng finds himself having to toggle his two identities, when Chu Gui Hong recruits Nan Rui to test Nan Heng, to see if Nan Heng is in cahoots with Li Shi Liu, all while Xiao Yu shows up at Moonshade too, to forge a stronger connection with Li Shi Liu, so that she can invite him to help her kill Nan Heng. 🤪

It’s a recipe for hijinks galore, and I had a fun time watching Nan Heng do his quick change thing, in order to play both roles. 😆

E5-8. I do think that Xiao Yu’s gift of that handmade bunny mask to thank him for saving her life, is the beginning of her wearing down Nan Heng’s defenses, even if his first instinct is to toss the mask into the fish tank.

In the meantime, I continue to be amused at how Nan Heng finds himself having to bend over backwards to hide his real identity from Xiao Yu.

With Xiao Yu now threatening to report him for unlawful activity (of allowing human trafficking to happen on his premises), unless he agrees to her demand, to help her kill Nan Heng, I can’t wait to see how else Nan Heng will have to contort himself, to keep up this ruse. 😁

E9-12. It’s been really fun watching Nan Heng progressively melt all over the floor, every time Xiao Yu shows concern for Li Shi Liu, and honestly, I find my heart really going out to him, because I’m coming to realize that a big part of the reason he’s so affected by this, is because he’s not used to having someone want to be on his side. 🥹

So part of this, really, is him glomming onto her like a duckling to a mama duck, just full of wonder and gratitude, at this new sensation of being protected by someone. 🥲

How could my heart not go out to him, yes?

Especially with the way Liu Yu Ning’s expressing so much vulnerability and wonder in his gaze? 🥲

When I’d first started my watch, Xiao Yu had been my favorite character, with her droll and witty observations and irreverent reactions, but now, a little to my surprise, Nan Heng’s crept under my skin, and now I feel like he’s the puppy who deserves the most protection and love – particularly since he gets to see, first hand, just how much Xiao Yu and Chu Gui Hong want him dead. 😁

With Xiao Yu making her pitch to Li Shi Liu, in episode 9, that they should collaborate to assassinate Nan Heng, I’m highly amused – though still ruefully sympathetic towards Nan Heng – that he finds himself stuck in this situation where he’s literally helping to plan his own assassination. 😂

His perplexed, chagrined gazes are just the best, and express so much of his hapless frustration, even though, as Li Shi Liu, half of his face is hidden by that mask.

I’m sure it must be a very confusing experience for Nan Heng, to be so drawn to the woman who speaks with such relish, about killing him. 😅

E9-12. On the night of the actual assassination attempt, the most hilarious thing, for me, was Nan Heng’s exasperated expressions, at the sheer ineptitude of the people trying to pull off this assassination plan. 😂

It’s just hysterical, that he has to come to Xiao Yu’s rescue, when she’s the one who’s trying to get him assassinated. 🤦🏻‍♀️😂

And yet, he does come to her rescue, even though, theoretically speaking, he could just let her get into trouble, because, as far as he’s concerned, she’s just stirring up trouble for him, yes?

I do think that that says a lot about his growing feelings for her. 🥲

It’s also quite funny how he offers to buy those lanterns from the old lady, but ends up getting all embarrassed, because he doesn’t have any money on him.

Cue the old lady getting all snarky about him being stingy, and giving them a pair of unwanted lanterns instead, one with big eyes for Xiao Yu, so that she’ll be able to choose a man wisely, and one with small eyes for Nan Heng, coz it looks like his stingy self, ha. 🤭

E9-12. I have to mention that beat where Nan Heng asks Xiao Yu if she’d be willing to trust him; there’s just so must tortured wistfulness in his eyes, that I can’t help but find it quite affecting.

I feel that Xiao Yu does hesitate for a long moment – and is therefore perhaps wavering, in that moment – before she remembers that her life hangs in the balance, and turns him down abruptly.

Aw. I feel bad for Nan Heng, but I can understand why Xiao Yu’s being so defensive.

But listen, how about that moment when Xiao Yu pleads with Nan Heng not to hurt Liu Shi Liu; you can just see Nan Heng’s eyes flicker with uncertainty. 🥲

And when Xiao Yu tries to take responsibility for the assassination attempt, I can’t help but notice that Nan Heng’s immediate reaction, is to remind her that she can’t afford to take this kind of responsibility.

Aw. He doesn’t want her to get hurt!

Then when Xiao Yu grabs the fake Liu Shi Liu and runs away with him, to protect him from being arrested, you can see him kind of melting on the inside, as he processes that this is her, trying to protect and save him. 🥹

I think that’s also why he changes back into Liu Shi Liu costume, even after the assassination thing has settled down; I think he wants to see Xiao Yu, and he wants to see her, as Liu Shi Liu, rather than Nan Heng.

The whole rescue from the burning rack of lanterns, is so Love Like The Galaxy (review here, Open Threads here!) coded, with Xiao Yu even wearing red, the way Shaoshang had worn red in LLTG during that iconic scene.

I’m not complaining, certainly; I’d loved LLTG, and I’m glad to see this nod at this iconic scene from LLTG.

We’ve even got Nan Heng swooping Xiao Yu into a princess carry, after swooshing in to get her out of harm’s way. 😁

Originally, I’d kind of assumed that Nan Heng swooshing in at superhuman speed to save Xiao Yu, was a scriptwriter intervention, just like in our earlier episodes, but Elaine pointed out to me that there were no typing sounds when Nan Heng swooshed in to save her.

And, I see from later parts of this episode, that Nan Heng is fully capable of swooshing at will, so YAY for the fact that he’s rescuing Xiao Yu, not because the scriptwriter is making him do it, but because he wants to. 🥲

The conversation that Nan Heng (as Li Shi Liu) and Xiao Yu then have, on the roof, is also quite heartening, because, without realizing it, Nan Heng’s giving Xiao Yu hope, that they don’t have to yield to fate.

It’s also at this point that Xiao Yu realizes that a change has already occurred, versus the original script, because she hadn’t been scripted to have made Li Shi Liu’s acquaintance.

From our standpoint, although Nan Heng is still the one rescuing Xiao Yu, I do agree that it makes a difference, that he’s rescuing her as Li Shi Liu, and not Nan Heng.

I’m a sucker for Nan Heng’s stricken, touched gazes, and the way he just looks at Xiao Yu, as she tends to the wound on his arm, says everything about how affected he is by her, and the way she’s showing him care and concern. 🥲

The way the second fire breaks out is super ridiculous, and I appreciate the way Show is so self-aware, and calls it out, in episode 11, with Xiao Yu explaining it as a plot convenience. 😁

Of course Nan Heng makes it out of that fire fine, and with the kids safely in tow, but this is the first hint that we get, that Nan Heng has some past trauma, and Show does give us some insight into that, later in these episodes.

Also, I do appreciate the humor in the way Show has Xiao Yu defuse the whole situation where Chu Gui Hong’s trying to arrest Li Shi Liu – by having her push him towards putting out the fire instead.

It’s also kind of silly-funny, that when Xiao Yu hears that rumor from her father – that Nan Heng had started that rumor that Nan Rui had been behind the assassination, which means that Nan Heng had planned his own assassination – she pooh-poohs the idea, when it’s actually true, that Nan Heng had planned his own assassination. 🤭

But that’s the reason she seeks out Nan Heng to apologize; because she doesn’t want anyone in her script world to be wronged.

And that is the key, that touches Nan Heng’s heart, because he’s constantly being wronged, and most of all, by the Emperor himself, who only always believes the worst, when it comes to Nan Heng.

Plus, there’s the way Xiao Yu circles back to asking that Nan Heng spare Liu Shi Liu, which again gets Nan Heng in the heart, because she is, once again, trying to protect him.

Nan Heng getting all touched and affected, again and again, as he encounters Xiao Yu trying to protect him, will never get old for me, I think. 🥲

I mean, just look at the way he can’t help but leak a smile and get all soft in the eyes, when Xiao Yu blurts out the Li Shi Liu is her person. It’s ADORABLE. 😍

On that note, I must say, Liu Yu Ning’s doing a fantastic job of mostly looking stoic, but leaking out all these lashings of gentle eyes and leaked smiles. The nuance and control of micro-expressions is excellent, I say. 🤩

By the time Xiao Yu’s scurrying away, pleased as punch that Nan Heng’s agreed to spare Li Shi Liu, I can see that Nan Heng’s absolutely smitten, and I love it.

It’s also so adorkable the way he tries on that rabbit mask, when he’s alone in his bedchamber, and then hastily tries to hide and act nonchalant, when Fu Gui suddenly descends on him to offer him a night snack. 🤭

E9-12. Everyone who’s been in contact with Xiao Yu starts to question all the weird vocabulary she’s been using, from lead character, to male lead, to script, and Nan Heng is especially curious to know what she means, with these mysterious words.

I’d thought it was very sweet of him to accept her earnest request to let her keep this as her secret, when he asks her about it, as Li Shi Liu, actually.

However, we soon see that he’s truly disturbed by the mystery of it all, to the extent that it’s giving him nightmares, which is why he shows up to see Xiao Yu, so that he can demand an explanation.

Show plays it for laughs, that Xiao Yu turns around and out-intimidates him, by accusing him of just not wanting her to know something that he doesn’t, but the way he responds, by earnestly telling her that he’s never killed the innocent, is really quite affecting.

And the way he blurts out that the reason he doesn’t trust others, is because no one trusts him – including her, is also so heartfelt, that I think this is quite possibly the first step towards changing Xiao Yu’s perception of Nan Heng.

E13-16. The more we find out about Nan Heng, the more sympathetic of a character he becomes, in my eyes, so I can’t help but want to root for him.

He seems so lonely and isolated, in that even his own mother doesn’t actually know the extent of his suffering, with his awful, AWFUL excuse for a father (I legit hate his guts 😤).

And so, every time he melts at the way Xiao Yu’s showing care for him, I find it extra poignant, because of how precious this must be for him, considering how isolated he truly feels. 🥲

E13-16. The explosion gives us the perfect excuse for an ointment application scene, between our would-be OTP, with Li Shi Liu insisting on applying the ointment on Xiao Yu’s wounds, only to melt at how cute she is, while trying to hide her face.

And then I’m melting, at how he’s quite entranced by her, as he carefully sweeps her hair out of her face, and gently applies the ointment to her wounds. 🫠

But of course Show has to undercut itself, by turning the romantic moment on its head, by having Shi Liu overdo that pink powder on Xiao Yu’s cheek (coz he’s just so entranced her though 🥰), so that she ends up looking like a clown. 🤭

I feel like there are a few distinct layers happening, in the course of our would-be OTP’s interactions.

First, there’s the thing where Nan Heng begins to see that Xiao Yu doesn’t actually hate Nan Heng, but just wants to find a way to change a course of events which she believes will happen.

Second, there’s the thing where Nan Heng glows in the growing knowledge that Xiao Yu likes him and cares about him, at least as Shi Liu.

Third, there’s the thing where Xiao Yu finds herself learning more about Nan Heng, and seeing that perhaps he’s not the ambitious, cruel person whom she’d thought he was, and that perhaps he’s been greatly misunderstood, not just by her, but by the public at large.

E13-16. I like that moment when Nan Heng takes off his outer garment and gives it to Xiao Yu, so that she can kneel on it, because her knees hurt from kneeling for so long. Aw. He’s so considerate. 🥹

I also like that Xiao Yu gets to see that Nan Heng cares about her, from the way he protects her and says that it’s not her fault, even though this means heaping the blame on himself, with the Emperor, who’s already prejudiced against him.

Importantly, Xiao Yu gets to see the kind of unfairness and cruelty that Nan Heng has to contend with, from the Emperor, who’s his father. I feel like this definitely gives her pause for thought, that perhaps she doesn’t understand Nan Heng the way she’d thought she did.

I feel gratified that Xiao Yu does reach out to stop Nan Heng from cutting off his own hand; I feel that this must mean more to Nan Heng, than the fact that the Emperor stops him. 🥲

E13-16. When news that Consort Gao had taken ill was reported, I honestly thought that Consort Gao was just putting on an act, as a way to get Nan Heng out from under his father’s wrath.

And so, I really didn’t see it coming, that Consort Gao would have that whole room decked out for Nan Heng and Xiao Yu to spend the night together – under lock and key, as is the custom, in Chinese period dramas. 🤭

I kinda love how Xiao Yu is so knowing and blasé about the whole thing, because it’s such a trope, and she’s already acted it out hundreds of times, ha.

Although the sexytimes that Consort Gao had hoped for don’t happen, I do think that our would-be OTP becomes at least a little closer, because of this set-up, because this is when Xiao Yu asks Nan Heng if he really would have cut off his hand if the Emperor hadn’t stopped him, and he tells her that he’d made a gamble, and that this is how he’s lived, his whole life.

I feel like this shared knowledge means that Xiao Yu can’t help but understand Nan Heng better, and thus, feel maybe a little closer to him, yes?

It’s just too bad that their past conversation, where Nan Heng claims that the reason he’d saved her, was because of the plot mechanisms she’d mentioned, comes to mind, and Xiao Yu concludes that this time must be the same – which seems to hurt Nan Heng’s feelings. Aw.

But that doesn’t stop him from getting out of bed to grumpily give her ointment for her wounds, and then let her sleep on the bed, while he takes the side couch, which has no blanket.

Yes, it’s in response to Xiao Yu’s tearful rant about all the wrongs that she’s suffered, but there’s just something about the perplexed discomposure in Nan Heng’s eyes, that I find dorky and endearing.

Plus, how about the fact that he apologizes to her for everything, so sincerely, before giving up the bed?

And then how about the leaked soft gaze, and that bit of a smile, that he lets slip, as he looks over at Xiao Yu, sleeping comfortably on the bed, while he shivers on the side couch, all curled up to keep warm?

It’s all so very endearing to me. 🥰

E13-16. After this whole debacle, it’s quite amusing to see Nan Heng get all grumpy and irritable, when the Emperor decrees that Chu Gui Hong and Xiao Yu are to marry the following month, while denying, vehemently, that his grumpiness has anything to do with Xiao Yu marrying someone else. 😁

Plus, there’s how he keeps insisting that the whole reason he wants to marry Xiao Yu, is for diplomatic purposes, hee.

For some reason, I don’t think anyone actually believes him. 🤭

E13-16. Even though I don’t think it makes sense that Xiao Yu would be able to get up on the roof all by herself, to have that drink, I do like the idea that Nan Heng seeks her out, as Shi Liu, to explain that it’s all a misunderstanding.

Of course, Xiao Yu doesn’t buy it (for plot convenience, but also, coz she’s drunk and therefore stubborn?), which is when Nan Heng says that he’ll prove it to her – which is when he covers her eyes, removes his mask, and kisses her.

On the one hand, I was giggling uncontrollably here, all by myself, coz this reminds me so much of the Spiderman kiss.

On the other hand, I did find Nan Heng taking off his mask so deliberately, to kiss Xiao Yu, quite sexy. Rawr. 🔥

It’s completely tropey that Xiao Yu would promptly fall asleep and thus, have no response (nor memory) of the kiss, but I do like how Nan Heng just holds her gently to himself, like it’s the most natural thing in the world. 🥰

E13-16. I am really quite amused at the way Nan Heng bloodies up Shi Liu’s mechanical arm, in order to get Xiao Yu to cooperate with him, in getting her marriage with Chu Gui Hong called off.

He’s literally holding himself hostage, and it’s so ridiculous that I find it funny.

But then, there’s that beat where Nan Heng asks Xiao Yu if she likes Li Shi Liu, and when she defiantly answers that, yes, she does like him, I love how we can see, in his gaze, that Nan Heng’s a little flustered, a little surprised, and more than a little moved, that she does like him. 🥲

Plus, there’s the way Xiao Yu threatens, that if he were to do anything untoward to Li Shi Liu, she’ll kill him before taking her own life (同归于尽, tóngguīyújìn; to perish together).

You can see how happy and touched Nan Heng is, by the extent of Xiao Yu’s care for him, albeit as Li Shi Liu, and I really do like that he’s able to bask in this knowledge, after all that he’s been through.

Basically, I like it when Nan Heng and Xiao Yu spend time together, so I’m all for this collaboration to get the wedding called off.

When Xiao Yu’s matter-of-fact approach with Lord Song doesn’t work, I rather like Nan Heng’s approach, which is to take Xiao Yu horseback riding, in order to get the rumor mills working.

Again, them spending time together allows for conversation, and I like that Xiao Yu gets to hear from Nan Heng, a little bit about how he’d grown up in the Cold Palace, and how he’d suffered.

It’s this kind of thing that promotes understanding, yes?

E17-20. On the one hand, I like how Nan Heng is quick to accept the Emperor’s marriage decree; he’s obviously keen to marry Xiao Yu, and this feels like fortune’s finally smiling on him – except for the fact that the Emperor wants to use this marriage as an excuse to send Nan Heng far away, to rule over his fief.

The way Nan Heng even opts to take Lord Song’s punishment, for daring to defy an imperial edict, because Lord Song will become his father-in-law, is also touching, to my eyes.

Also very touching, to me, was the beat where Lord Song pays Nan Heng a visit, to ask if Nan Heng’s sincere about wanting to marry his daughter, and Nan Heng is so gently upfront, in admitting that he does have an agenda, but also, that he’s sincere about marrying Xiao Yu, because why else would he clip his own wings? 🥲

And then on the other hand, of course, is the fact that (as I’ve already talked about at length), Xiao Yu remains unmoved, because she’s convinced that she will die because of Nan Heng, and thus, her only way to survive, is to eliminate Nan Heng from the equation, somehow.

Even though I know this, I still felt sorry for Nan Heng, when he goes to see her as Li Shi Liu, fresh from enduring those bloody lashes for Lord Song, and the main thing she wants from him, is for him to collaborate with her, to get rid of Nan Heng.

The hurt in Nan Heng’s eyes is so visible, and so raw, that I cannot help but feel sorry for him, and like I said, this is all due to the way Liu Yu Ning plays it. He makes Nan Heng come across as so hurt and vulnerable, even beneath Li Shi Liu’s mask; really well done.

At the same time, I can’t blame Xiao Yu for being convinced that she needs to find a way to escape her fate, because, at this point, she’s very recently been reminded of the scriptwriter’s sovereignty, with the way she was forced, with sovereign keyboard sounds clacking, to beg her father to allow her to marry Nan Heng.

E17-20. I liked the unguarded tone of the conversation that our OTP have, when Nan Heng finds her brewing medicine for Consort Gao.

Plus, she thanks him, and even urges him to explain himself to others, so that he isn’t so misunderstood. That’s a nice change from trying to plot his death, yes?

And I like how Nan Heng points out to her, wryly, that explaining himself to her has not changed her mind about him.

That definitely seems to give Xiao Yu pause for thought, and I’m hopeful that this might be a seed that gets us somewhere, with regard to the OTP relationship.

I have to confess that so far, I’m not sure if I’m feeling the OTP chemistry here, and the unguarded conversation honestly vibes more like it’s between friends than potential lovers, but I’ll take it, because I’d rather they be friendly than not. 😅

..Which is why I’m more amused than perplexed, when Xiao Yu decides to act all syrupy towards Nan Heng, while trying to snoop around his residence, because at least she’s acting nice towards him..? 😅

Also, she comes across that box that contains the mask gift that she’d given Li Shi Liu, and I’m hoping that this means that she will figure out, sooner than later, that the person behind Li Shi Liu’s mask, is really Nan Heng.

Plus, can I just say, that moment when we see Nan Heng fingering the mask and leaking a bit of a soft gaze and wistful little smile, really makes my heart go out to him?

It’s sweet, that he treats that mask as such a precious thing. 🥲

E21-24. The one good thing about the overdone misunderstanding that Xiao Yu has about Nan Heng liking Yi Ting, is the fact that Xiao Yu seeks out Li Shi Liu and insists that,

1, the way Nan Heng looks at Yi Ting shows that he’s got designs on her, and

2, the way Li Shi Liu looks at her, is purely sisterly (she uses the phrase “姐妹” (jiěmèi) which literally means sisters, and which is commonly used to refer to a gay man’s friendship with a woman)

..because that absolutely galvanizes Nan Heng to pull her in for a kiss.

I did chuckle at first, because he’s wearing his mask, and so all this does, is smush his mask against her face, pfft. 🤭

But then, I did feel quite gleeful, as he then covers her eyes, then takes off his mask to kiss her, because he’s doing the Spiderman kiss again, and this time, she’s completely sober and awake.

Ahhh!! This is significant indeed, and I also like how gentle and unhurried Nan Heng is, as he tells her to stop with the “sister” stuff already, heh. 😁

E21-24. I have to remind myself that Xiao Yu’s experience of Nan Heng includes those memories of him trying, repeatedly, to kill her. Plus, there’s her understanding of the script, which, as far as she understands, will unfold as the scriptwriter intended, no matter what.

This is what informs Xiao Yu of her impression of Nan Heng, and because of this, I don’t blame her too much, for thinking the worst of Nan Heng.

That said, I did feel that it was too much, for her to stab him in the arm, to make him let her go, even though she does look quite shocked, after the fact.

I do also want to take into account the fact that, when she sees the Qianyu troops marching into Moonshade, her first thought is to go back, to warn Nan Heng.

So she does care about him and his safety, in spite of herself. 🥲

And, I do have to say that it must be extremely confusing and perplexing for her, with all those very different thoughts warring in her mind, about Nan Heng.

E25-28. All this time, it’s been getting easier and easier to sympathize with Nan Heng, because we can see how much he’s suffering, and how hard he’s trying, and how sincere he is, towards Xiao Yu.

Up to this point, I’ve had to remind myself, quite regularly, that she has her reasons for being so wary of Nan Heng.

I feel that Show finally shines a good enough spotlight on her struggle, these episodes, so that – hopefully, at least – viewers would be able to sympathize with her predicament more easily.

It really comes into focus, episodes 25 and 26, that she’s chiefly concerned that the key scenes in the original script will come to pass, just like the other scenes that she’s been tracking on that chalkboard of hers.

Even though this Nan Heng is already very different from the Nan Heng in the original script, it is true that somehow, the tentpole moments continue to come together, even when the context is completely changed – just like that scene where Nan Heng is discovered in a comprising position with Yi Ting.

With this in mind, it’s actually perfectly reasonable for Xiao Yu to believe that the other key scenes, which include the massacre of the Song family, will eventually come to pass, and that it will have something to do with Nan Heng.

Honestly, I do think that by this point, Xiao Yu’s clear enough, on how she feels about Nan Heng, that without her family’s fate in the equation, I could believe that she would take the chance, and lean into a love relationship with him.

BUT. When the lives of her entire family are at stake, I can absolutely see why she wouldn’t be willing to take that chance.

It would be heartless and selfish of her, if she were to choose to be with Nan Heng, even if it means that her entire family is massacred as a result, yes?

Also, given that, up to this point, everything that Xiao Yu’s done to try to avert these tentpole moments, has failed, I can see why she would choose to leave, as a last resort.

This really is the only thing that she can think of to do, to hopefully save her family from impending disaster.

I thought it was really sweet of her to gather her family for a farewell meal, and then say positive things about each person, even including Lady Song, her stepmother.

Yes, it is still really hard to hear her say such harsh things to Nan Heng when he comes to her chamber to see her that night, especially with the way you can basically see Nan Heng’s broken heart in his tears 😭, but with the context of everything that I’ve just talked about, I can understand why Xiao Yu would speak so cruelly to Nan Heng.

It’s because she feels that she has to do anything she can, to cut off their connection, in order to prevent disaster.

I do think that us getting to see Xiao Yu’s tears, as Nan Heng walks away, helps us to understand her position and intention better, even though, like I said, it’s still hard. 😭

Plus, once she realizes, from the blood that’s come off onto her hand from his back, that Nan Heng’s wounded and bleeding, she does run after him; it’s just that he’s already gone. 💔

And yet, how steadfast is Nan Heng in his love and care for Xiao Yu, that in spite of what she’s just said to him, and how she’s just hurt him, he would still order Fu Gui to ensure her safety, no matter where she goes.

Sniffle. It’s really quite touching, yes? 🥲

E25-28. I have to appreciate all the bits of evidence that we’re getting, that Xiao Yu really does care about Nan Heng, despite her harsh words and her valiant efforts to keep him as far away from her as possible.

Even though she runs off right away when he tells her to, she does come right back to help him fight off those assassins, even though she can’t actually fight. I thought it was good thinking on her part, to throw rocks at them; that was pretty effective!

Then, when Nan Heng loses consciousness after the jump off the cliff, she gets genuinely, tearfully worried, and does everything she can to revive him. 🥲

AND, when he comes to, she instinctively throws her arms around him and starts crying that she’d thought he was really going to die. Aw. 🥲

Of course, she’s quick to pull back and start talking tough again, but the point is, her real feelings have leaked out, and it’s clear that she cares about him way more than she’d like to let on.

I’m glad that they have that conversation in the cave, while waiting for Fu Gui to find them, because finally, they’re talking openly about things, instead of hiding and guessing.

In particular, I really enjoy that Nan Heng tells her that he loved getting to see the real her, when he was Li Shi Liu, and that the reason he’d been afraid to reveal the truth, is because he’d been scared that he wouldn’t get to see the real her again.

I also love that he admits that he liked the feeling of being trusted by her, and hadn’t wanted to wake up from that dream.

Aw. That.. is quite persuasive, honestly. 🥲

It also feels very meaningful, that Nan Heng bares his heart before her, and without his killer god or pugilistic hero personas in the mix, just as himself, tells her that he likes her, and asks if she would be willing to marry a selfish and cowardly man like him.

And then, when Xiao Yu turns him down and says more stuff about them not fated to have a good outcome to their relationship and that’s why they shouldn’t start at all, Nan Heng confronts her, with the fact that she’d come back for him, even at risk to herself – so can she really control her heart like she says???

..Which is when Fu Gui helpfully arrives to save them, heh.

I can totally understand Xiao Yu skipping away to avoid the question, but I am sure that this has given her food for thought, and I think that is good enough progress, for now.

E29-32. I can understand why Nan Heng wouldn’t inform Xiao Yu of his plan – she’s keeping him at arm’s length at this point, after all – and it’s heartening to see Xiao Yu be so determined to help him, even though the odds appear to be stacked against him.

Her determination to get to him, to help him, even if it means making a scene by banging on that drum, is quite affecting, I gotta say.

I found Xiao Yu’s continued determination to stand by Nan Heng touching, and I think it says a lot, the way she writes down every single good thing that she remembers Nan Heng doing (via Li Shi Liu’s words), and then kneels in the snow to plead for the Emperor to judge Nan Heng fairly.

She’s literally risking her life in her bid to save Nan Heng, isn’t she? 🥲

E29-32. In principle, I do enjoy that Nan Heng pulls off that very elaborate proposal, where he remembers every little thing that Xiao Yu had ever stated that she’d wanted, in a marriage.

Aw. I have to admit, the proposal itself is really very thoughtful and sweet; just the fact that he remembers every detail about her casually rambled off list of things, makes me melt. 🫠🫠🫠

I’m glad that Xiao Yu finally tells Nan Heng the truth about why she keeps turning him down; it’s about time that Nan Heng understands what’s going on, so that she can work with him, rather than against him.

Not that that happens anytime soon, certainly.

First, Nan Heng has to grapple with the truth that Xiao Yu tells him; that this entire world exists within a script.

I do appreciate that Nan Heng comes to terms with this reasonably quickly, and yet, in a manner that feels authentic.

I like the fact that he’s satisfied just by the idea that he can still live the way he wants, and do the things that he wants, like build a prosperous country, and protect those whom he wants to protect.

Aw. I do love that it’s Fu Gui’s simplicity that helps Nan Heng reach this realization. 🥲

Going back to Nan Heng’s efforts to win over Xiao Yu, I really appreciate that he’s truly doing everything he can, to alleviate the root of her fears.

Like the way he convinces the Emperor to give the Song family a special pardon that exempts them from the death penalty, regardless of the situation.

This definitely addresses a big chunk of her concern, which is that the entire Song family would be massacred as a result of her marriage to Nan Heng.

Daddy Song does play a key role too, in the way he shares his heart with Xiao Yu, that marrying her mother had been the bravest thing he’d ever done, and that the days he’d spent with her were the happiest in his life.

That, a relationship with regrets is more painful than not being able to grow old together. 🥲

I do think that these things combined, make up the reason why Xiao Yu finally decides to give Nan Heng a chance, especially when it looks like Nan Heng’s about to give up and stop pursuing the matter of marriage, because he doesn’t want to force her into anything.

I like that Xiao Yu asks Nan Heng, pretty much right away, if they could skip the rituals, so that they’d be able to avoid the iconic three-way stabbing scene in the script.

He doesn’t agree to her suggestion, but I just like that they’re finally on the same page, and talking about things.

E29-32. It’s very touching that Nan Heng’s willing to put his life on the line, to protect Xiao Yu.

That’s selfless love in action, and it’s really moving, that even though he’s badly wounded, the thing that he wants to tell Xiao Yu, is that everything is ok, and that Fate can be changed. 🥹

[END SPOILER]

Wang You Shuo as Chu Gui Hong [VAGUE BROAD SPOILERS]

I gotta say, with Chu Gui Hong, Show took a character that seemed fairly neutral and harmless, and made him into a character that I seriously disliked.

I guess you could say that Show was peeling back the layers and revealing, bit by bit, what Chu Gui Hong was really made of?

From hiding behind the idea that he’s just doing his duty, to blatantly trying to blame Nan Heng for everything, even though it’s clearly not Nan Heng’s fault, I could only conclude that Chu Gui Hong was delusional.

From a narrative perspective, I can understand that our writers needed Chu Gui Hong to be the catalyst for certain plot points, but I still found him frustrating and highly annoying, by the time I got to our final stretch.

That said, I did think that Show’s chosen wrap-up for Chu Gui Hong was apt, which I’ll talk more about later, when I discuss our finale episodes.

Riley Wang as Shangguan He

Generally, I liked Shangguan He as a character, mostly because he has a laidback, cheerful sort of charm, and is fiercely loyal to Nan Heng, through thick and thin.

My appreciation of Shangguan He remained at a mostly casual, superficial sort of level, except for this specific arc, in our later episodes, which I found very nicely affecting.

[SPOILER ALERT]

E21-24. I found myself quite interested and invested in the arc where Shangguan He gets arrested, because Nan Rui investigates Li Shi Liu in a fit of jealousy, and finds out Shangguan He’s real identity and his criminal past, where he’d been arrested for theft and had been sentenced to death.

That whole thing blows up into something pretty huge, and I find it really poignant, really, that Shangguan He seems serious about paying for his sins with his death.

We get that flashback to the time Nan Heng had said this to him, when he’d first asked what would happen if his real identity were to found out, and, in the present, I’m pretty certain, from Nan Heng’s expression, that this is not something that he’d meant seriously.

I find it touching that Shangguan He simply refuses to drag the Night Wanderers or Nan Heng into this, and is ready to die alone.

Not only that, he continues to speak well of Li Shi Liu and the Night Wanderers, and all the good deeds that they’ve done.

I found it suitably affecting, that the Night Wanderer boys are literally ready to die with Shangguan He, if that’s what it came down to.

I actually think that I would have enjoyed it quite well, if Show had given the brotherhood here more screen time and attention, for us to explore that deep bond.

[END SPOILER]

Shangguan He and Yi Ting

At around the halfway point in our story, Show hints at a potential loveline between Shangguan He and Song Yi Ting, and

I thought that in some ways, this loveline neatly mirrored the loveline between our OTP, and I found that to be a nice additional layer of perspective.

Aside from this, however, I have to confess that I felt fairly indifferent to this loveline.

Wang Cheng Si as Fu Gui

I had a big soft spot for Fu Gui, because it was just so great to see Teddy Bear General from The Prisoner of Beauty (review here!) again, as Nan Heng’s righthand man! 🤩

I basically have so much affection for Wang Cheng Si from TPOB, that just seeing him putter around, carrying out Nan Heng’s orders, made me happy. 🥰🥲

On a complete tangent, somewhere during my watch, it suddenly dawned on me that Chu Gui Hong’s righthand man is named Rong Hua, and Nan Heng’s is named Fu Gui, and together, they make up the phrase Rong Hua Fu Gui (荣华富贵) where Rong Hua means glory / splendor and Fu Gui means wealth.

Typically Rong Hua Fu Gui (荣华富贵) is used as a phrase to describe a life of luxury, prosperity, and social status.

I’m amused that this naming basically makes Chu Gui Hong’s righthand man his splendor, and Nan Heng’s his riches.

Isn’t it endearing, that Fu Gui is Nan Heng’s riches? 😁😁

Zhang Lei as the Emperor [BROAD SPOILERS]

I basically spent most of my watch hating this Emperor’s guts. 😅

I mean, Show makes him the most vile, awful excuse for a father there ever was, and gives us multiple occasions to witness for ourselves, just how gleefully cruel he is, to Nan Heng, while outright favoring Nan Rui.

It was impossible not to hate him. 😡

And then, in our later stretch, the Emperor has a sudden change in attitude towards Nan Heng, which I definitely found to be on the jarring side of things.

[SPOILER ALERT]

E29-32. The way he asks Nan Heng why he didn’t say so, if he hadn’t caused the Empress’s death, is honestly quite infuriating, because of course Nan Heng had tried to say so, and of course the Emperor hadn’t believed him. 😠

But you know what, I have to admit that this kind of behavior change, without an actual admission of wrongdoing, is honestly not too far from the kind of thing that I’ve experienced with my own Chinese father.

So what I’m saying is, yes, it’s unfair and it’s infuriating, but it’s in-principle in line with what I’ve seen my own father do; this is just a whole lot more exaggerated, is all. 😅

[END SPOILER]

THEMES/ IDEAS

Certainly, Show’s got quite a few themes in its story, the most obvious one being that you can be the master of your own fate.

Aside from that, though, there’s another idea that I found quite interesting, which I thought I’d share, and that is:

It all comes down to what you believe

[SPOILER ALERT]

E21-24. I’m kind of pleasantly surprised, that when Yi Ting hears from Nan Heng that the Li Shi Liu whom she’d met and fallen for, had been Shangguan He, she immediately embraces the fact that Shangguan He is the man she loves.

This, considering that she’d had so much disdain for Shangguan He, for being a womanizer, prior.

I suppose that’s just how convicted of her feelings she is, for the Li Shi Liu whom she’d met.

Which is the opposite reaction, really, that Xiao Yu has, these episodes, when she realizes that the Li Shi Liu whom she’d known and loved, had been none other than Nan Heng.

I guess what Show wants to present, is the fact that two different people could have two opposite reactions to very similar situations.

Where Yi Ting zooms in on how sweet and thoughtful Shangguan He had been, as Li Shi Liu, and forgets all the other things, about him being a womanizer, Xiao Yu zooms in on how Nan Heng is, in her mind, a cruel and manipulative man, who’s deceived her all this time.

I guess it all comes down to what one believes is the other person’s true nature.

Yi Ting believes that Shangguan He’s true nature had shown through, when in costume as Li Shi Liu, but Xiao Yu’s belief about Nan Heng’s true nature is so deeply ingrained in her mind, that she cannot help but default to it, despite all the sweet and considerate things Nan Heng has done for her, as Li Shi Liu.

Based on that same principle, I feel touched, really, that when Nan Heng tries to scatter the Night Wanderers, and even reveals his face and says all those cutting things to them, in order to force them to leave, they don’t. 🥲

They’ve spent months and years with Li Shi Liu, and seen Li Shi Liu in all sorts of situations over that time, and so, now that Nan Heng acts cruel in order to save them, they are hurt and confused, but refuse to budge from their hiding place, nonetheless.

That loyalty is pretty touching, yes? 🥲

[END SPOILER]

SPOTLIGHT ON THE PENULTIMATE EPISODES [SPOILERS]

E33-36. With these episodes being squarely in the penultimate stretch, narrative angst is to be expected.

What I’m pleasantly surprised by (though perhaps I shouldn’t be, given how Show has proven, since the beginning, to be quite keenly aware of its transmigration nature 😅), is that the penultimate angst has everything to do with how our characters have been working to change the course of this world’s scripted events.

Backing up to where we last left off, in episode 32, though, I just wanted to say that, yes, our OTP finally gets hitched, even though it costs Nan Heng some serious injury, to get there.

This seems a pretty good time to touch on the relationship dynamics between our OTP.

I’m sure that by now, most of us would have noticed that there really isn’t that much crackle in the mix, when it comes to our OTP chemistry and OTP dynamics.

As a drama fangirl, I do feel a bit wistful about the fact that we don’t get a bit more smolder and heat between our OTP, but on further thought, I do feel like this still works out ok, for this OTP.

Instead of crackle and heat, what we have is a dynamic where there is teasing and ribbing, and there is also tenderness (particularly in Nan Heng’s gaze when he looks at Xiao Yu), and that feels like a solid enough foundation for a strong relationship, honestly.

Someone once told me that the best gift one can give one’s significant other, is a sense of humor, and seeing the way Nan Heng and Xiao Yu tease and rib each other, and therefore, laugh together, regularly, I’m honestly not mad about that. 🥲

The main plot point that defines this penultimate stretch, is the reveal that Lord Qianyu – Chu Gui Hong’s father who’s supposedly survived against all odds – is none of than the scriptwriter of this world, here to fix the fact that his script has been going off the rails, thanks to interference by our characters.

I honestly hadn’t seen that coming, even though there are hints from fairly early on, that this Lord Qianyu is kind of suspicious.

First, there’s the way he talks nothing like someone who’s been a general; instead, he’s got the kind of gregarious looseness that I’d associate with a storyteller at a tavern – which, on hindsight, is quite apt, yes? 😁

Second, there’s the way he refers to things like character logic, while talking to Chu Gui Hong, in episode 33.

Obviously, he’s someone who’s familiar with the fact that this entire world exists within a script – and yet, I didn’t guess that he was actually the script writer (mostly because he looks nothing like the scriptwriter from the original meeting in episode 1).

All in all, I do think that this is a clever development, though I feel like this scriptwriter does seem to be on the loose and casual side of things, given that he doesn’t seem to try to channel Lord Qianyu at all.

I mean, given that he created Lord Qianyu, he would know the way that Lord Qianyu would speak, yes? But he doesn’t seem to make any effort towards trying to blend in and actually believably pass off as Lord Qianyu.

Additionally, I don’t know if this is just something that he didn’t know about Lord Qianyu (since these characters do also seem to have a measure of autonomy aside from scriptwriter-directed traits), but I was surprised that he would eat venison, which is a food that Lord Qianyu had sworn off eating.

I’m happy to roll with the idea that Scriptwriter truly doesn’t know this script world as well as he thinks – which is why Xiao Yu takes him to take a look at Moonshade, a place which he hadn’t even known existed in his script world.

Plus, the fact that Scriptwriter isn’t blending in very well into the character of Lord Qianyu, does make it very plausible that Chu Gui Hong and Nan Heng would immediately become suspicious, once he opts to eat the venison.

Mainly, I’m intrigued that Show really has built an effective and high-stakes conundrum that makes sense for our characters to solve, in the finale stretch.

On one side, we’ve got Scriptwriter, who’s determined to close the loop on his narrative so that he’ll be able to go back to the real world, and on the other side, we’ve got our characters who are determined not to be used as puppets in a narrative in which they don’t believe.

I feel like I can understand both sides here, because Scriptwriter isn’t wrong, when he dismisses the people in this world as simply “paper people” who only exist on paper.

And yet, Xiao Yu’s point, that as long as you’re in this world, these are real, living, breathing people, rings true as well, on a visceral sort of level.

And now, Scriptwriter’s introduced some very real consequences, where Nan Heng stands to lose his life, for having made significant changes to the script, thanks to the way he’d overturned the three-way stabbing, a milestone event in the original script.

Plus, apparently, any other ripple effects from that original change, would also count towards the severity of the consequences that Nan Heng must face.

How very sneaky, then, of Scriptwriter, to find a way to nudge the relationship between Shangguan He and Yi Ting, so that all their obstacles are removed, and Shangguan He is galvanized into committing to Yi Ting.

This is the exact kind of thing that Scriptwriter is using, to amplify Nan Heng’s consequences, and it really is quite worrying, to see Nan Heng so unwell. 🥺

These episodes, I also feel really bad for Nan Rui.

It’s already obvious to see that he’s heartbroken, even as he does his part to help Yi Ting reach her happy-ever-after with Shangguan He.

My immediate reaction, is to wish and hope for Nan Rui to meet someone who truly likes and appreciates him, just like Yi Ting wishes for him.

Instead of that, though, Nan Rui’s reality only gets increasingly awful, as he’s used by Chu Gui Hong (who wants to shape his own fate instead of dying by Nan Heng’s sword like in the original script) in a bid to poison the Emperor.

To make things even worse, he then also loses Ji Xiang, who’s been by his side, all these years, while on the run for allegedly poisoning the Emperor.

It seriously feels like Nan Rui’s world is crumbling not just around him, but on top of him, and I can understand why he would be in such despair.

After all, he’s never struck me as being a very strong-minded kind of character.

As we enter the finale stretch, I find myself very much interested to see how our characters find a way out for themselves, while working within the rules of this scripted world.

It all feels like a very complex, very complicated puzzle, with high stakes to boot, and I can’t wait to see how Show manages to tweak our narrative in order to save Nan Heng (because Nan Heng must live, yes? 🥹), while keeping to the rules it’s created. 🥲

THOUGHTS ON THE ENDING [SPOILERS]

E37-40. Overall, I’d say that Show serves up a pretty solid finale, all things considered.

It manages to play within the rules that it’s set for itself, and even makes reference to the early days of our story, where Xiao Yu had died, time and time again, thus causing the story world to reset to a point in time prior to her death.

I thought that was very smart, and a really nice callback to how we’d started our story; it made me feel like our writers have a strong grasp of the story that they want to tell, and from start to finish, at that.

I will say, though, that as the first loop unfolded, and everyone was dying, eventually topped by Nan Heng’s death, I was quite perplexed, because I certainly hadn’t heard people raging about Nan Heng dying in this finale – which is when Show has Xiao Yu die as well, thus restarting the loop.

I was quite delighted by this, actually, because not only does Nan Heng not have to die, we get to see our characters working to beat each other, within the confines of the rules of the loop.

The fact that characters would have deja vu moments, thanks to their growing awareness of the script world, and thus adjust their plans accordingly, definitely added a big wild card sort of flavor to our goings-on.

Because, even though Xiao Yu has the advantage of remembering what had gone down in earlier loops, she is not assured that the current loop would unfold in the same way.

In the end, it’s a little clichéd, though still heartwarming and quite stirring, that it’s everyone coming together for the sake of the greater good, that is the key that starts to turn the tide in Nan Heng’s favor.

From our various characters, to all the servants of the Hong household, to all the bit characters, they’re willing to give their all for the greater good, and I found it quite affecting.

..Which neatly results in the final showdown being between Nan Heng and Chu Gui Hong, instead of an all-out bloody battle, with lots of casualties.

I think it’s very fitting, how things end there.

First, I like how Nan Heng shows mercy, by saying that he won’t kill Chu Gui Hong, but leave it in the Emperor’s hands.

This feels in line with his character, and I thought this was a nice way to have him win the duel, yet still show his heart for all the years of brotherhood that he and Chu Gui Hong have shared.

Second, I think it makes very good character sense, that Chu Gui Hong would decide to kill himself, rather than wait for the Emperor to pass judgment.

After all, the whole reason that he’d gone to the dark side, was because he’d found it so utterly unfair, that his fate had already been written for him, and his whole purpose for existing, had been purely to support Nan Heng’s main character arc.

This had been his way of taking his fate into his own hands.

He doesn’t succeed in taking the throne like he’d planned, but it’s true that he does take his fate into his own hands, even as he dies by his own sword, and so, I found that fitting.

I also rather like the detail, that our characters’ understanding of the story world continues to evolve.

Like the way Shangguan He observes that the backlash effect on Nan Heng has lessened, and how Scriptwriter himself concludes that in beating the system using the system’s own rules, said rules have become void, and that as all the characters have awakened, the backlash effect in no longer in force.

It is a little convenient, sure, but I can very much accept this as part of our evolving understanding of the workings of the Script world.

Afterwards, I also found it fitting that Scriptwriter Dude would just quietly leave, after having a slight out-of-body experience, and it also feels apt, that the Emperor would abdicate, thus making Nan Heng Emperor.

That’s a happy ending kind of outcome that I can get behind, though I did feel bad for Nan Heng, that Xiao Yu would then promptly disappear for 3 months, while busying herself with various initiatives to help and empower the people.

I did like that beat, though, where Ying Qiu expresses interest in being paired with Nan Rui.

After our last set of episodes, I’d hoped that Nan Rui would find his own happy ending with someone who’d appreciate him, and this really is that, so I’m happy. 🥰

I didn’t think it was necessary for Consort Gao and Madam Song to both issue divorce letters to their husbands, but I’ll roll with it for the tongue-in-cheek acknowledgment that this is all in service of nudging a “winning their wives back” arc into play. 😁

I also liked the note on which our story ends, with an indication that this story world in which our characters live, isn’t “A Dream of Qingning,” but “A Dream within a Dream,” and Nan Heng pronouncing that either way, they’d just keep rewriting their fate, until their last breath.

That feels pitch perfect, for this particular story, which has always been about personal agency and the freedom to choose. 🥲

I would’ve been perfectly happy if our story had ended here, but of course, this being a c-drama after all (and therefore subject to that rule where time travel and transmigration are not allowed in stories for broadcast), I guess there was no way we could’ve gotten away from the epilogue, which suggests that everything had been a dream, with Xiao Yu waking up in her apartment, and being summoned on set, for hair and makeup.

That said, I feel that our writers chose to end this epilogue on another pitch perfect note, with Nan Heng showing up, and addressing her as “Song Yi Meng,” then using that “White head, same heart” phrase that only they know, to establish that he is, indeed, the Nan Heng whom she knows and loves.

By this point, I’m past asking questions about how he managed to leave the Script world, to come to the real world; I’m just happy to see Xiao Yu reacting with so much joy, that she run-leaps into his arms, right into a koala hug. 🥰

Plus, I do think it helps that Show’s spent the last 4 episodes demonstrating that it very much knows and understands its story rules, and knows how to work within said rules.

I don’t mind extending a bit of blind trust, to believe that Show got Nan Heng here in a manner that is also within those rules.

All in all, I feel that this was an excellent, gratifying note on which to leave our OTP indeed. 🥰

THE FINAL VERDICT:

A bit uneven, but solid overall, with flashes of brilliance.

FINAL GRADE: B+

TRAILER:

MV:

NAN HENG EDIT: BY AVENUE X

DRAMA EDIT: BY AVENUE X

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You can check out my episode 1-2 notes on Typhoon Family on Patreon here.

Here’s an overview of what I’m covering on Patreon right now (Tier benefits are cumulative)!

Foundation Tier (US$1): Entertainment Drop (Sundays) + the first set notes of all shows covered on Patreon (that’s 2 episodes for kdramas and 4 episodes for cdramas)

Early Access (US$5): +Last Summer [Korea] – starting soon!

Early Access Plus (US$10): +Romantics Anonymous [Japan]

VIP (US$15): +Would You Marry Me? [Korea]