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Thread: Lan Ling Wang 《兰陵王》 - Feng Shao Feng, Ariel Lin, Daniel Chan

  1. #121
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    Quote Originally Posted by 100kissess View Post
    Here's the first episode



    credit sctv31show

    Thank you so much! You're amazing.

  2. #122
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    I love the drama for now. Nice pace, it doesn't drag and I like how FSF and Ariel develop their relationship. BTW, I love Ariel calling FSF Si Ye On another note, George Hu is so cute^^

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    I love this drama so far! I laughed so hard at their first meeting at that hot spring place. I am currently watching two FSF dramas at once; LLW and JPLH.

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    Yay, it's finally here! I haven't been this excited for a period c-drama in a while. According to HKCTVdramas on Tumblr, it's airing from Monday to Friday (3 episodes/day) and on the weekend (2 episodes/day). Thank goodness sctv31show is doing such an awesome job uploading the new episodes each day. I figure it'll take a bit before Viki subbers get to translating the first episode, so I thought I'd stop lurking in the threads and contribute with a recap.

    Episode 1

    557 AD. Mysterious Guy in Black (I actually really don't get his role, so I'll just call him MGiB from here on out) comes across two randos who are biting into their grilled fish.. and finding human fingers. Yep, that'll kill an appetite. MGiB explains that the soldiers who died in a recent battle with the Zhou kingdom were thrown into the Yellow River and became fish food. Seems like a gnarly time/place in general.

    MGiB's very colorful, very CGI-looking bird flies across the desolate plains and into a place of lush flowers and trees and people chatting about how there's just too much gosh darn food around. Clearly not in Kansas anymore. The bird arrives at the house of an old, blind woman who marvels at how fast the last decade has passed. She tells the bird to bring the "gui ke" (honored guest) in. It's MGiB, who pays his respects and is all, "so, you're part of the Wu Zhu Clan that has the ability to see into the future and save the world, why don't you actually go out there and save the world?" The old woman proceeds to give a brief history of the Wu Zhu clan. Legend has it that the Wu Zhu "tian nu" is the key to controlling the world. Not surprisingly, they were sought out by generals, kings, etc. Even if they did end up helping those people attain power, those same people would then get paranoid about someone else using the Tian Nu to seize that power from them. The end result wasn't pretty for the clan-- they were decimated, with the remaining members taking refuge in a village that they hid from the world. It's here, in White Mountain village, that the old woman and her granddaughter have lived for years.

    MGiB pushes grandma on saving the world-- which, frankly, sounds like it's kind of a mess-- and that clearly pisses her off. She tells him to cut to the chase and get what he's there for. Sounds like they have an agreement in which every ten years, MGiB can come and take advantage of her fortune-telling expertise. MGiB asks about how the world will change in the coming years. Grandma launches into a fairly lengthy speech that doubles as the audience's intro to the main guys who'll be at each other's throats for the next 45 episodes. There's:

    - Yu Wen Yong (disclaimer: my pinyin is terrible, but close enough that you should be able to figure it out): the "greedy wolf." Uncle (I think) of the sitting king of Zhou, eager to seize control for himself.
    - Yu Wen Hu: the "hungry wolf," the sitting king of Zhou who came to the throne as a child and has had to rule under his uncle's thumb.
    - Qi Wei: the crown prince of the kingdom of Qi. Lives in luxury, yet pretty useless.
    - Gao Chang Gong: AKA Lan Ling Wang! The "god of war" who is brave, strong, handsome, perfect, etc etc. A "phoenix without claws," doomed to die at the hands of his own family.

    At this point, Grandma finally realizes that little Xue Wu has been listening at the door this whole time (you'd think fortune telling super powers would clue you in more quickly on things like that..) and scolds her. Xue Wu runs off, but not before MGiB notes that Xue Wu has Wu Zhu clan blood in her. Could she have something to do with Lan Ling Wang's fate? The question comes out of the blue, but I guess the writers wanted to make sure we get it. Grandma vows never to let Xue Wu get involved with the crazy world outside, but little Xue Wu's already busy rooting for Lan Ling Wang and praying for his safety.

    Cut to the man himself, slipping his infamous mask on and leading his army into battle. 2,000 Qi soldiers take on 10,000 Zhou soldiers. The Zhou general gives a little speech about the obvious ("We have so many people! They're totally screwed!") as bad CGI-fighting happens on screen. Oh, it turns out Lan Ling Wang was actually riding into battle to save his good friend, Xu Da, whose 2,000 soldiers were in a tight spot. The Zhou general decides to chase Lan Ling Wang instead of pursuing the Qi army. Another Zhou soldier warns that Lan Ling Wang is likely leading them into a trap of some kind, but the Zhou general's not really into common sense advice and chases on.

    Aaaand yep, quick sand awaits the Zhou soldiers. Man, the CGI is really terrible in some scenes. It's especially noticeable because the drama switches from blatant CGI to some solid real action scenes. Can't they just stick with the latter throughout? Anyway, the Zhou general isn't deterred by the quick sand and orders everyone to keep on trucking. Lan Ling Wang leads them to a dead end valley where Qi soldiers are waiting with lots and lots of arrows. By this point, the Zhou general realizes he should probably retreat, but the Qi soldiers have surrounded them and fighting ensues. (I have a feeling there's going to be a lot of scenes in this drama that can be summarized by "fighting ensues.") The Zhou army retreats and Lan Ling Wang orders his generals not to follow, since the Zhous still outnumber the Qis. He also berates his lieutenant Xu Da for getting the Qi soldiers into a losing exchange with the Zhous and strips Xu Da of his rank and 1/3 of his rewards for past military accomplishments. But just in case you thought Lan Ling Wang was a meanie, he continues by commending Xu Da for his hard work and orders that Xu Da be given 1/2 of Lan Ling Wang's own rewards. Xu Da thanks his "Shi Ge" (fourth brother). D'aw, bromance. Lan Ling Wang realizes that his horse got wounded in battle, so he leaves his three besties to venture off to a nearby hot spring to treat the horse.

    Back at the camp site, Lan Ling Wang (LLW going forward)'s buddies get to talking about the legend of the Wu Zhu Tian Nu and how she can help anyone conquer the world. Also, she's supposed to be gorgeous. An De Wang (the girliest looking of the three musketeers with curly locks and a shiny silver suit of armor), jokes that he really wants to see what this beautiful woman looks like. They giggle among themselves and we segue to.. Ariel Lin, covered in soot and smoke! Not exactly what the boys are imagining, probably.

    Xue Wu is all grown up and blowing up her house in failed attempts to create fireworks/ammunition. She puzzles over what went wrong and realizes she didn't have enough of one ingredient. But as she gets ready to head out and gather more of that herb, Grandma wanders in and Xue Wu has to commence Operation Hide-All-Signs-of-Explosives-Making. Grandma disapproves of Xue Wu's hobbies and grounds her for the day, telling her to focus on studying medicine. Xue Wu argues (quite reasonably) that she should be allowed to pursue what interests her, even if all Grandma wants is for Xue Wu to become a domesticated wife and mother. They're interrupted by three village girls who came to investigate the explosions they overheard coming from Xue Wu's house. And by investigate the explosions, I mean harass Xue Wu. The girls are really unfortunate looking and exist in the show for the single purpose of bullying Xue Wu. She scares them away with her two pet frogs, like any butt-kicking heroine would.

    Grandma's not done haranguing Xue Wu, though, and it becomes clear there's something fated to happen on this specific day. Xue Wu huffs off and Grandma prays that Xue Wu can escape her fate, that she won't meet "that fated person." Yea, not happening, Grandma. We've got an entire series to watch.

    It's meet cute time! Xue Wu's rooster runs away from her during an acupuncture session, leading her all the way out of the village and into the forest, where she sees LLW for the first time. It's all falling red petals and fog at the hot spring, where LLW is waist-high in the water and shirtless. Terribly cheesy and dreamy and romantic, minus the chicken Xue Wu's carrying. And LLW's dreadlocks. It's a bit hard to take Xue Wu seriously as she stares awestruck at the figure in the water shaking his crazy dreadlocks, Pantene commercial style. She's adorably awkward as she explains how everyone in her village is ugly and how beautiful she thinks this "mei nu jie jie" (beautiful older sister) is. She tops off the speech by taking off her outer-clothing and jumping right into the hot spring with her new BFFL. Needless to say, LLW is way uncomfortable as Xue Wu circles him, rambling on about not having friends. Their bath bonding session is interrupted by the arrival of a bunch of soldiers with swords and murderous intent. Xue Wu's too busy beating on one poor soldier-- and going on the whole time about how he should have been raised better than to peep on girls bathing, ha-- to notice that LLW has done some fancy sword work himself and killed all the other soldiers. LLW finally speaks in what's unmistakably a male voice, but by this point, we get that Xue Wu's kinda clueless. It's not until he swivels around (Slow mo! Twinkling music!) that she finally gets it.

    The realization is briefly interrupted by a soldier who pops out of the water, but LLW takes care of him in a jiffy. Xue Wu's less worried about the close call and more concerned about the fact that he's seen "all of her." I guess by ancient standards wearing just one layer of clothing is akin to be naked? Whatever moves the story along. She dives back into the water and we end our first episode with LLW, surrounded by dead soldiers, calling out to her.

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In case it wasn't clear, I'm basically obsessed with this show right now. There's definitely some problematic parts (lazy story telling in some spots, bad CGI in others) but Ariel's adorable and Feng Shao Feng's carrying his pretty-boy-warrior character well. The writers do a much better job of fleshing out Ariel's character and weaving a tighter story after the first two episodes, so if the first one didn't do it for you, stick around until you at least get to episodes 4 and 5!

    Not sure if there's much talk about this drama happening anywhere else online, but I'm hoping we can get a good thread going to keep me occupied when I'm waiting for the next episode/fix
    Last edited by panda-pop; 08-17-13 at 02:41 AM.

  5. #125
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    This drama is definitely worth the wait. I'm so addicted to Ariel and Feng Shao Feng's character!!

    Also love how George Hu calls Ariel "si sou".

  6. #126
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    Wah! Thank you for the recap - I currently do not understand Chinese so i'm watching these raw! Love this drama so far!

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    Aww I'm totally hooked on this series already.... LLW coming to XW rescue at that whatever hip tying ceremony was so sweet and the music make it even more romantic.....

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    The music in this show sets the mood perfectly. I wouldn't have thought of using Mayday/五月天 for an ancient drama-- I think of their sound as distinctly modern-- but the intro theme song works for this story. I'll probably be tired of it by episode 25, but right now it gets me all pumped up for the new episode.



    My favorite of the bunch is Della Ding/丁当's ending theme song, though. 手掌心 (Palm of Your Hands) has such an angsty/bittersweet sound and the lyrics speak to Lan Ling Wang and Xue Wu's doomed romance. I'd butcher the lyrics if I tried to translate them, but just the verse about one hand firmly holding on to an empty heart (空心) and the other hand to an infatuated heart (痴心) makes me want to cry buckets. They're going to be OK, right?? History has no bearing on what goes down in dramaland?



    I've finished 12 episodes and things haven't gotten super sad yet for our OTP, thank goodness. The show's done a good job of dishing out the obligatory swoony moments each episode while keeping Xue Wu and Lan Ling Wang's relationship grounded in friendship and mutual admiration. There's a bit of a running joke that Xue Wu's not as beautiful as people expect the Tian Nu to be (episode 12 has a hilarious scene where an old lady pokes at Xue Wu and is like, "If it's not her face that's outstanding.. maybe it's her figure? Nope. Not her figure"), but Feng Shao Feng really sells how special Xue Wu is in Lan Ling Wang's eyes. But I've known I'd love this couple since seeing this short clip a while back:



    Some spoilers involved, so stop reading if you don't want to know. This scene's from episode 7, after Lan Ling Wang gets shot by a poisonous arrow. Xue Wu is arguably to blame, since her insistence in protecting her friend Ah Guai (the Zhou king in disguise) cost Lan Ling Wang the chance to capture his top enemy and led to him getting injured during the Zhou king's rescue. By this point it's clear that Lan Ling Wang is into Xue Wu and vice versa, but they're still in that can't-tell-you-how-I-feel-but-sooo-many-feelings stage. I like that the show doesn't make losing the Zhou king a problem for the two; Lan Ling Wang gets where she was coming from and Xue Wu dedicates more of her energy to making him better than crying over his wound. And then they spend time being cute about Xue Wu's terrible cooking (lack of) abilities. Any guy who insists on trying to finish the awful soup you concocted is a keeper.

  9. #129
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    @panda-pop, would u please be kind do the recaps for us fans. thanks

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    I doubt I'll be able to do all that many recaps, but I know waiting for subbed episodes/watching raw ones is an unique kind of pain. Also, I actually don't mind watching episode two again because you have so many cute Lan Ling Wang + Xue Wu moments!

    Episode 2

    Back at the hot spring, Xue Wu wakes up (looks like she might have passed out for a bit after being in the water for so long?), still in her under-clothing, with Lan Ling Wang nearby. He explains that he only lay her clothes on top of her rather than clothing her since he didn't want to get all touchy feely (that might be me paraphrasing). Xue Wu yells at him for not telling her he was a guy. Lan Ling Wang: "I never said I was a woman." Hee. She's worried that if he stays around the area, he'll bump into someone in the village and ruin her reputation. He points out his horse's injury as the reason why he can't go anywhere soon. Xue Wu goes over to the horse to examine its injured leg and quickly wraps her white sash around the bloody wound. The twinkly music reminds us that the sash is significant-- we learned in episode 1 that every girl in the village gives their sash to the boy of their affections at the annual coming-of-age ceremony. Xue Wu discusses the horse's condition with LLW, who looks impressed by her knowledge and asks her if she can help. Xue Wu says she can't, but admits that she knows someone who could. And so we have a reason for LLW and Xue Wu to head back to White Mountain village.

    The village is wary of strangers, so Xue Wu sends her rooster ahead to distract the villagers. The villagers are too busy discovering that the moving flowerbed is actually the rooster under some flowers to notice Xue Wu, LLW and horsie slip by. They do, though, connect the rooster to Xue Wu, and we're reminded again of how annoying the villagers think Xue Wu is. (Side note, but this makes no sense to me. Why is everyone so mean to Xue Wu? There's no basis given for it, and it doesn't jive at all with Xue Wu's experiences in the outside world where anyone who's not a Bad Guy immediately notices what a kind and sweet girl she is. Seems like a cheap way to give Xue Wu low self-esteem so LLW can raise it up.)

    Xue Wu and LLW get to her house safely, but it's not long before Grandma notices the guests' presence and threatens to cook the horse and eat it as a cure for back pain. Grandma also reminds Xue Wu that the village rules dictate that anyone who brings in an outsider should be sentenced to death. Xue Wu begs for mercy at first, but begins to argue that because the guy with the horse saved her today, she should repay him. After all, isn't that what Grandma taught her growing up? Not one to be swayed by compelling logic, Grandma raises her staff to strike Xue Wu-- only to be stopped by LLW! He appears out of nowhere and it's awesome. He respectfully apologizes for causing Xue Wu and Grandma to fight and offers to leave right away. But Xue Wu tells him to stay and insists that they have to help horsie. For some reason, Grandma decides to relent. Because after trying so hard to prevent Xue Wu from meeting LLW, why wouldn't you suddenly agree to let him stay longer? LLW and Xue Wu finally make their introductions. Noticeably, Xue Wu doesn't know that he's the Lan Ling Wang she heard Grandma prophesy about yet. To her, he's just Si Ye.

    Grandma and Xue Wu use acupuncture to treat horsie, which LLW is surprised by. He and Grandma get to talking while Xue Wu's away fetching some more medicine from inside the house. As she heads back to the courtyard, Xue Wu overhears LLW talk about his desire to fight so that all fighting will eventually cease. Grandma does some horse fortune-telling and says that horsie was born to protect LLW, and that even though horsie should have died sooner, he hung on because he wanted to keep fighting alongside LLW (so.. horsie = future Xue Wu, kind of?). LLW is impressed by Grandma's abilities and asks why she doesn't help with achieving world peace. No wonder Grandma gets so annoyed with this question-- everyone keeps asking her! She doesn't answer it directly this time, asking only that LLW leave this village behind and to take nothing with him. "My granddaughter is naive, and very ordinary. Forget this place, and forget Xue Wu." Before Xue Wu can pout long about this less than flattering assessment, LLW responds that he thinks Xue Wu is special, that she's smart and sincere. Before he can say more nice things for Xue Wu to overhear, Grandma cuts him off and orders that he stay the night before leaving the next morning once the horse is healed. We're still early in the game, but there's already some lingering glances on LLW's part. More than anything, he seems intrigued by Xue Wu.

    When she has him come inside for dinner, he straight up asks her why she's so strange (though in more polite language). It's not unwarranted, since the first thing she does is introduce him to her two frogs. Also, she talks to herself a bunch. Xue Wu laughs it off by saying that she was always lonely growing up without friends, so she talked to herself and to animals. She then runs off to clean her sash for the ceremony next day.

    The next scene is annoying, especially the second time around, but I guess it helps LLW to get up to speed on Xue Wu's identity as the Wu Zhu Tian Nu. The unfortunate looking girls come back to taunt Xue Wu and tell her that no one wants her sash, that she's a weirdo and even her grandma doesn't think she's good enough to carry on the prophesying skills of the Wu Zhu clan. Gah, these girls suck. Xue Wu gets a teeny bit of revenge by splashing dirty laundry water on the main mean girl and runs back into the house. LLW follows her, clearly feeling badly for her. Xue Wu's not one to mope for long and instead starts asking him about the scary mask he carries with him. He tells her that he hates fighting, so he needs to put the mask on when he goes into battle. He also smoothly segues into a rah-rah speech about how she should ignore what those mean girls said because "in my eyes, you're very special." Swoooon. And more words of affirmation: "We weren't acquainted, but you risked your life to save me and horsie. You're brave and smart, unlike those girls." I didn't expect LLW to be so sweet to Xue Wu so soon, but I can't say I don't like it. Xue Wu's mostly excited by his promise to take her to the Qi kingdom to play once the world's at peace. They end the conversation with LLW promising that tomorrow, her sash will be the most special at the ceremony.

    That night, he personally makes sure to deliver on that promise by taking her sash and attaching his jade pendant to it (she's already knocked out on her desk). Gotta love a man who can sew. As she places the sash back on her desk next to her, she grabs his hand and sleep-talks: "Si Ye, don't worry, I'll heal horsie." Instead of extracting himself and leaving her, LLW takes a seat and holds her hand into the night. We have our OTP, guys.

    The next scene of Ariel primping for her ceremony is pretty cute. She's all decked out in yellow, bow in hair, frothy white dress on. The other girls are already at the center of the village with their boyfriends as Grandma appears to officiate the ceremony. Xue Wu's back at her house still, thanking LLW for the pendant he sewed on. He's about to leave with horsie, but doesn't do so before complimenting her on how pretty she looks. Specifically, that she's prettier than all the other girls in the village (it's sweet not because it's such a sweeping statement, but because his goal is to remind her that she's not any worse than the others). They say what they think are final farewells. Xue Wu can't help but ask him if he knows LLW. LLW asks why, and Xue Wu explains that she wants LLW to know to stay safe because he's the key to peace. LLW looks thoughtful upon hearing this, but doesn't end up telling Xue Wu that it's him she's talking about before she runs off to the ceremony. He does a cute "jia you" kind of hand pump gesture as she takes off.

    At the ceremony, Xue Wu and the other girls have their hair done by Grandma. Not bad for a blind lady. LLW and horsie stop by at a distance to watch the ceremony unfold. When it's time for the girls to give their sashes away, the mean girls start taunting Xue Wu because she has no one to give hers to. (Seriously? Are the boys in this village blind, too?) The main mean girl takes it one step further when she tries to snatch Xue Wu's sash away to rip apart. Time for LLW to swoop in! And he does, with a rock to the mean girl's hand (oh, it feels good to see that). He walks onto the stage as music swells and asks Xue Wu if he can receive her sash. She's surprised he's still in the village, the villagers are surprised that he's in the village at all, and he's mildly annoyed that Xue Wu lets other people push her around. But he reprimands her very gently, and it's all very sweet. When everyone complains that Xue Wu let an outsider in, LLW shuts them up by saying that he's not an outsider because he's the one she likes. He asks that she put the sash on, and we get that romantic scene from the trailers where they're super close together as she puts the sash around him and he smiles like a dork and it's great.

    Of course, Grandma has to swoop in before we get too happy. Concerned that Grandma's going to lay the smack down on Xue Wu, LLW defends Xue Wu and says that this whole thing (her giving him the sash) was his idea. Grandma lets her inner mean girl shine as she reminds Xue Wu that LLW doesn't actually like her, that he's a liar. I was worried when I saw this scene in the trailer that Xue Wu would get mad at LLW as a result, but to the writers' credit, they've made her a rational girl who understands that he was only trying to protect her from embarrassment. She runs off, and the villagers kick LLW out.

    Back at home, Grandma sits down to have a heart-to-heart with Xue Wu. She's decided to explain things for once rather than berate Xue Wu, whoo. Grandma doesn't tell Xue Wu that Si Ye is LLW, but says that he's a general who will soon ride into the battle of Mang Mountain. He'll win the battle miraculously with only 500 soldiers, but he's also destined to be with one woman, Zheng Fei. It's not Xue Wu. Grandma tears up as she tells Xue Wu that it's not that she's not proud of Xue Wu, just that she's worried about her abilities as a Tian Nu. More than anything, Grandma wants Xue Wu to lead a normal life and be a normal woman. Then Grandma drops the bomb: Si Ye is fated to die within the next year.

    We cut back to the army campgrounds, where LLW's three buddies are worried about him. Su Da doesn't listen to the wiser two and insists on leaving the camp grounds to go search for LLW. All by himself. With enemy soldiers everywhere. Sigh. Sure enough, he's quickly ambushed by a bunch of Zhou soldiers. He does fine fighting them and the situation looks even better when a man in LLW's mask joins the fight. Su Da thinks it's his Si Ge, but it's actually the Zhou general from episode 1 posing as LLW. Su Da learns this the hard way when he gets caught off-guard, stabbed and captured. By the time LLW gets back to the camp site, it's all too clear that they have another crisis on their hands.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------

    You can probably tell that I found the village dynamics/Grandma's whole deal annoying. I'm usually such a sucker for tough-love elderly authority figures, too, but Grandma's so one-note. And okay, she wants to keep LLW and Xue Wu apart.. there's that, too. But how great was the relationship development between LLW and Xue Wu? Though you could argue he likes her already at this point, I don't necessarily see it that way. I feel like LLW has a good deal of respect for Xue Wu and is curious about her, but hasn't actually fallen for her as a woman yet. Xue Wu, on the other hand, seems like the type that would help anyone in LLW's shoes. Their goodbyes were goodbyes between friends. No longing glances, no suppressed desires. It's refreshing to see a love story in a period drama that doesn't begin with full-fledged romance, but a strong friendship instead.
    Last edited by panda-pop; 08-18-13 at 10:32 PM.

  11. #131
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    After 12 episodes I start to admire yuwen Yong too. I like the bad boy vibes he's giving the audience. but you know that he definitely has a good heart too. He's a worthy opponent for llw. But don't misunderstand, llw and yxw are meant to be. And they are so cute in ep 12, I rewatched their scenes together several times and the way llw looks at her when she starts to get jealous, so cute! He definitely knows by now that she loves him too, he just needs to persuade her that they can fight fate. I hope they do get their happy end, but from the spoilers it does look like that, so if this is not gonna happen, I probably start to curse the drama^^ for now I can't wait for the next episode and I do anticipate scenes of yxw an ywy as well, I think, well I hope they will build a profound friendship as well.
    Last edited by Thuchen; 08-19-13 at 09:51 AM.

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    @panda-pop: Ooh nice recap. Have you thought about helping out with the subs on Viki? The LLW Team there needs a lot of help! ^^

    I'm only on episode 3 but waah!! I'm still laughing at the end of episode one when she thinks he's a jie jie LOL! I mean, FSF is handsome but not on the pretty flower boy level.

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    Thank you panda-pop for your recaps, they are great! And I agree with your thoughts regarding the village people and Gran in particular - give us a more solid reason to not like or want LLW around.

    I'm loving this show - the OTP and the music and the costumes, urgh. So perfect. I'm looking forward to learning Chinese in the nearish future and hopefully becoming fluent enough so I can translate for other people. Shows like this are not be missed out on!

  14. #134
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    Quote Originally Posted by panda-pop View Post
    The music in this show sets the mood perfectly. I wouldn't have thought of using Mayday/五月天 for an ancient drama-- I think of their sound as distinctly modern-- but the intro theme song works for this story. I'll probably be tired of it by episode 25, but right now it gets me all pumped up for the new episode.



    My favorite of the bunch is Della Ding/丁当's ending theme song, though. 手掌心 (Palm of Your Hands) has such an angsty/bittersweet sound and the lyrics speak to Lan Ling Wang and Xue Wu's doomed romance. I'd butcher the lyrics if I tried to translate them, but just the verse about one hand firmly holding on to an empty heart (空心) and the other hand to an infatuated heart (痴心) makes me want to cry buckets. They're going to be OK, right?? History has no bearing on what goes down in dramaland?



    I've finished 12 episodes and things haven't gotten super sad yet for our OTP, thank goodness. The show's done a good job of dishing out the obligatory swoony moments each episode while keeping Xue Wu and Lan Ling Wang's relationship grounded in friendship and mutual admiration. There's a bit of a running joke that Xue Wu's not as beautiful as people expect the Tian Nu to be (episode 12 has a hilarious scene where an old lady pokes at Xue Wu and is like, "If it's not her face that's outstanding.. maybe it's her figure? Nope. Not her figure"), but Feng Shao Feng really sells how special Xue Wu is in Lan Ling Wang's eyes. But I've known I'd love this couple since seeing this short clip a while back:



    Some spoilers involved, so stop reading if you don't want to know. This scene's from episode 7, after Lan Ling Wang gets shot by a poisonous arrow. Xue Wu is arguably to blame, since her insistence in protecting her friend Ah Guai (the Zhou king in disguise) cost Lan Ling Wang the chance to capture his top enemy and led to him getting injured during the Zhou king's rescue. By this point it's clear that Lan Ling Wang is into Xue Wu and vice versa, but they're still in that can't-tell-you-how-I-feel-but-sooo-many-feelings stage. I like that the show doesn't make losing the Zhou king a problem for the two; Lan Ling Wang gets where she was coming from and Xue Wu dedicates more of her energy to making him better than crying over his wound. And then they spend time being cute about Xue Wu's terrible cooking (lack of) abilities. Any guy who insists on trying to finish the awful soup you concocted is a keeper.
    This scene made me laugh so much - LLW looks so happy*omg, she's feeding me!* and then that split second realisation that the food is awful - that look on his face followed by the "well, she can't be perfect, but i'll eat it anyway. Loved it.

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    Other fans! Knew I couldn't be the only one going ga-ga for this show

    My Chinese is really only serviceable and I have a feeling keeping up with 3 episodes/day will already be stretching the (sane) amount of time I have to spend on the drama, so no plans for subbing or recapping on my part. I did see that Dramatic Tea Leaves started recapping, though! Screen caps and all. It's great, hopefully it'll get more people on board the Lan Ling Wang train.

    By the way, if you can understand Chinese (or just can't wait), this Chinese website is where I'm getting my 3 episodes a day. Chinese streaming sites don't let foreign IPs in on the fun, but there's a Google Chrome plugin that'll solve the problem.

    Okay, back to the actual show! Yea, Xue Wu mistaking Lan Ling Wang for a girl in the hot spring is something that could only happen in dramaland. It's like all those other ancient dramas where the girl puts her hair up in a bun, wears a simpler outfit and immediately everyone is fooled into thinking she's a guy. It usually gives the story an excuse to create some funny situations and/or chances for the OTP to get veeeery close, but here it's just.. unintentionally hilarious.

    I feel like I've obsessed enough about the OTP and have neglected Daniel Chan's Yu Wen Yong/King of Zhou. People seemed to like him from the trailers, but I wasn't digging the bulgey-eyed stares of hatred in every other scene they showed him in. I figured he'd pine after Xue Wu for most of the show and chew up scenery in the remaining parts-- so glad the story/actor didn't turn out that way. I'm impressed by how committed the writers have been to making Yu Wen Yong bad. Like, when Xue Wu first rescues a very sick Yu Wen Yong from the inn of dead people, we (and she) don't realize until a few episodes later that he killed all those people. Not your typical Perfect Man second lead. Even the part from the trailers where he finally breaks his disguise as Ah Guai to ostensibly defend Xue Wu is more nuanced in the drama; sure, he probably is protective/appreciative of her to some extent, but it's clear he did that mostly because he wanted to taunt Lan Ling Wang. He noticed that Xue Wu was Lan Ling Wang's weak spot and acted strategically. Then there's the scene where Yu Wen Yong convinces a girl from a nomad tribe he captured to be with him, sleeps with her, and quickly "gives" her to his arch-nemesis at home (Yu Wen Hu) to serve as a spy. So bad, but so bad @ss. Daniel's Yu Wen Yong is equal parts smart, ambitious, ruthless and desperate. I'm excited to see him develop real feelings for Xue Wu in the next dozen episodes.
    Last edited by panda-pop; 08-18-13 at 11:59 PM.

  16. #136
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    Thank you Panda-pop for English synopsis. I cannot understand Chinese so your work help me a lot. I have already watched the drama online 13 episodes and realized that I really like FSF And Ariel as a couple.

    By the way, how many episodes on air per week ?

  17. #137
    Member Thuchen's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nukaew View Post
    Thank you Panda-pop for English synopsis. I cannot understand Chinese so your work help me a lot. I have already watched the drama online 13 episodes and realized that I really like FSF And Ariel as a couple.

    By the way, how many episodes on air per week ?
    I heard it's mon-fri 3 episodes and sat-sun 2 episodes, but I am not sure.
    Btw, I think Ariel always has chemistry with all her co-stars, at least from the dramas I have watched so far with her.
    Last edited by Thuchen; 08-19-13 at 09:51 AM.

  18. #138
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    Quote Originally Posted by Thuchen View Post
    I heard it's mon-fri 3 episodes and sat-sun 2 episodes, but I am not sure.
    Btw, I think Ariel always has chemistry with all her co-stars, at least from the dramas I have watched so far with her.
    Episodes 14-17 are now up! Six more hours before I get off work and can watch them, sigh. The previews suggest that she's going to venture back into the Zhou kingdom to help heal Yu Wen Yong's sick niece, Zhen Er. Zhen Er's the daughter of Yu Wen Yong's older brother (so, one of the two kings Yu Wen Hu got rid of before Yu Wen Yong came onto the throne) and the only person Yu Wen Yong's cared about so far without any ulterior motives. It's probably not very realistic, since kings are usually eager to get rid of any survivors from the previous guy's reign, but I guess it just speaks to the fact that Yu Wen Yong's seen a lot of his family die at the hands of Yu Wen Hu and wants to protect the last child remaining. And hey, if it gives Yu Wen Yong and Xue Wu a chance to get to know each other better..

    Thuchen, I totally agree that Ariel's great at finding a connection with each of her male co-stars, from Joe Cheng to Hu Ge to Feng Shao Feng. It's part of reason why most of her dramas have been hits. It was a big talking point during the press tours that Ariel's always had a crush on Daniel Chan (apparently he used to be a teen idol?)-- wonder if it was hard for her to suppress that inner fangirl while acting as the object of his affections? Tee hee.

  19. #139
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    Quote Originally Posted by panda-pop View Post
    Thuchen, I totally agree that Ariel's great at finding a connection with each of her male co-stars, from Joe Cheng to Hu Ge to Feng Shao Feng. It's part of reason why most of her dramas have been hits. It was a big talking point during the press tours that Ariel's always had a crush on Daniel Chan (apparently he used to be a teen idol?)-- wonder if it was hard for her to suppress that inner fangirl while acting as the object of his affections? Tee hee.
    I heard that, too, I mean about Daniel Chan being Ariel's idol. Yeah, he used to be a quite popular singer back then in the late 90s, I think. I think in one of the press conference for llw, she told the host that she was squealing in joy when she knew it was Daniel Chan who will act as the king of zhou. That is just so cute!! Actually I was afraid that she will have like better chemistry with Daniel because of that fact. But it seems like Ariel is just such a wonderful actress and can create sparks with anyone, the chemistry betwen her and FSF is just great!

    SPOILER ALERT for everyone who didn't watch up to ep 16:
    Her being in Zhou guo with llw following around is just so cute, the guy is so lovesick hehehe....I am happy the drama is having many lighthearted scenes. Although I felt so bad for ywy today, poor guy! It's cute how they portrayed him as someone who doesn't know what love is at all. And I like it that he actually knows what is right and what is wrong, he didn't blame that general at all, but in the end he still died, sad.

    Btw, yeah it might be a bit unrealistic for yuwen yong to care so much for zhen'er and not afraid of the fact that she's actually the former king's child, but I guess that is because she's a girl after all, a prince would have been another issue, I guess.

  20. #140
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    Only on episode 6 but I'm loving it so far. I actually like Yu Wen Yong better than Lan Ling Wang so far. Daniel Chan is very good at conveying emotion with his eyes. So much chemistry between him and Ariel!
    Currently translating 香蜜沉沉烬如霜 at a very minute pace:
    http://xia0yuer.tumblr.com/

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