Jina
United States
Dou Zhao rescues Song Mo in time, but Song Mo must face his family's unfinished business. Before dealing with the situation, Song Mo realizes who Dou Zhao is and makes a promise to her. Dou Zhao, who has been reserved, can't help but also promise to trust him--which makes all the difference between the first lifetime and this lifetime. Song Mo finally faces his terrible father and rescues his men. Meanwhile, Dou Zhao falls into a trap set up by her Fifth Uncle, which then traps Wu Shan. Song Mo wants to do the honorable thing, but Dou Zhao won't let him since it'll further entrap him. The scenes between the leads--starting and closing this episode--is so good. It's always full of tension, full of quiet fervor, a held back yearning.
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Song Mo and Dou Zhao meet for the first time without knowing. They are unafraid to voice their opinions and humble enough to recognize the other's strengths during a friendly contest competition. Dou Zhao meets Ji Yong again for the first time. Ji Yong is eccentric as always, and they understand each other without the romance. They build a platonic relationship.
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An incredible feat of an first episode that sets up the dynamic and personalities of the leads, the conspiracies that affect them, and how a twist of fate will give them a chance to save themselves and their loved ones. At the hands of this director, everything is well-paced and elevated and emotional and beautiful. Nothing feels wasted. I'm invested.
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Ji Yingying's enemies are playing checkers, she's playing chess. She's orchestrating multiple plots to make sure her and her family don't get stepped on, including manipulating the local governor(?)'s son. It's risky, but she has to take the chance. All the while, Yang Jinglan knows her true personality from childhood (but she doesn't remember) and is able to see through all her plots. He's quite stubborn in trying to befriend his "future friend," which leads to some funny scenes between him and Ji Yingying. But the story in general is still moving fairly slow since it's pretty focused on the brocade plot and their struggles. I'm hoping more will happen to connect to her father's case.
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With a new brocade officer in town, Ji Yingying's source for her new Brocade Chamber may now crumble before it even starts. She is desperate to get the Creek issue resolved so she can continue her business. Her attempts to meet the new brocade officer leads her to try all kinds of tactics, and ultimately pays off when she finds out who is the new officer. As always, Tan Songyun and Zheng Yecheng's characters are such fun when they're together. It really makes the show more delightful so I'm glad that Zheng Yecheng's character is now showing up more--which also pushes the serious plot more too.
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Song Mo and Dou Zhao meets for the first time as themselves, but not in the greatest circumstances. They're protective of their people, but they also don't want bloodshed, leading to a very precarious situation where they must work together to ensure safety above all.
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While Dou Zhao is living a good life away from her family, building her connections and wealth, Song Mo comes home to a fuming father. At least he has a mother and younger brother who loves him, but his father's antagonistic behavior hurts him. When Dou Zhao is called back home, she uses her smarts to stand up for herself and her loved ones. Song Mo and Dou Zhao finally meet again, but in an interesting way.
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With memories of her past life, Duo Zhao is sharper and prepared to strike against those who will harm her and her loved ones. The only reason why I take off a star was because I wished we saw more of Song Mo's childhood before they grow up.
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The beginning of the episode sets up the serious plot that will come to play later in the drama. Ji Yingying's father is wrongly accused of sending bad brocade tribute to the emperor and pays for it with his life. Ji Yingying and her brother witness his death, which is heartbreaking. There is a time skip to eight years later, where Ji Yingying is a bold girl with a witty mouth. She is trying to pay off her family's debts alongside her brother. Despite the circumstances, the show is quite funny as she has a band of friends who are also from dyeing houses and they support each other's rights (and wrongs). One of the male leads (Zheng Yecheng) shows up during this episode, but it's very brief, maybe only twice. The tonal shift of the episode--from dark and suspenseful to a bright comedy--is a bit jarring, honestly. And the grown-up version of her brother seems a bit of a boring guy. The biggest thing that catches my attention is Tan Songyun's acting and Zheng Yecheng's acting. They're fun together on screen, and Tan Songyun's character as Ji Yingying is really funny.
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After so many episodes of Jiang Ci being in the dark about why Wei Zhao brought her to Yueluo and also switched out her clay cat...the truth is finally revealed. Also, the truth is finally revealed about her true identity--which adds another complicated layer on top of their slowburn romance. A good plot-turning episode. I only wished they revealed her true identity in a more dramatic fashion, which would've been more fun. Even the way Wei Zhao found out about it was kind of lackluster.
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This episode features r*pe of the supporting character, Ayan, and it happens off screen. There is a the trial afterward, which also doubles as an attempt to bring justice to Ayan's husband and the rest of the silversmiths who were murdered. It's hard to watch as you see the r*pist and his protector wiggling their way out of responsibility and accountability. It's also difficult to watch as you can see here that Pei Yan is finally forced to make a difficult decision: to protect his mother, his father's legacy, and ultimately his power, he has chosen to ignore the truth. He saved himself, but he has ruined his good image in Jiang Ci's eyes. Jiang Ci is not naive, but she had respected him a lot before this point since he seemed to care about the people and was just. Now, she sees this other side of him. On the romance part, Jiang Ci and Wei Zhao haven't entirely fallen n love yet, but they've become more protective of one another and supportive of one another.
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