Musings of the Obsessive Kind

I haven't yet watched eps 8-10 because I am saving them for the weekend, but I cannot let the day go without making a BBJX post. This one is dedicated to how ridiculously gorgeous this drama is. It just may be the prettiest drama I've seen.

( Caps and some thoughts here )

I haven't yet watched eps 8-10 because I am saving them for the weekend, but I cannot let the day go without making a BBJX post. This one is dedicated to how ridiculously gorgeous this drama is. It just may be the prettiest drama I've seen.

( Caps and some thoughts here )

How is it that I am falling in love more and more with this drama with each episode? At this point, it is behind only The Myth as my favorite cdrama. Apparently the ratings aren't great and it is a complete pity, but I actually get why JPLH was more successful - there is no clear-cut good guy/bad guy divide here (both Four and Eight are all shades of grey) and the shippy stuff is messy. Also, this is a character and mood piece - if I think about it, there has not been much traditional plot so far. I don't care because this is so gorgeous and smart and makes me love the characters so, I do not find lack of traditional narrative off-putting, but I can see how it won't be everyone's cup of tea.

Ok, first, I need more Four/Ruoxi ASAP. We haven't had nearly enough of them yet and every interaction leaves me gasping for more with its combo of chemistry, undercurrents, sharpness, and fun - it's like everything comes into focus when they have scenes together. Also, by now it is clear to pretty much everyone but Ruoxi that poor Four is utterly smitten, but he is showing it in such a brusque way, she is not noticing (well, that and she is having Eight-shaped stars in her eyes). But ahhh, those quick intense pleased glances he gives her totally kill me. Also, he is clearly thinking she likes him, which is an understandable mistake on his part, and is rife with potential.

Eight, I continue to adore him but I just can't ship him with Ruoxi. Four likes her for herself but Eight likes her for shadows of Ruolan and she deserves to be loved for herself. Also, while both Four and Eight are equally complicated and intimidating, somehow she feels more equal with the former, perhaps because she is not crushing on him (her annoyance when he came to teach her riding was hilarious, especially since she thought he was Thirteen and was all 'why don't we lie on the blanket together?' and be says OK. LOL. Seriously, he has a very dry sense of humor).

Speaking of Thirteen, I continue to adore him. Is he going to have a thing with the Mongolian princess or was I just imagining things? I confess, he is my favorite of the brothers and the only one I'd consider hooking up with (significantly, his personality reminds me a lot of Eight's personality in JPLH and I was obsessed with him - clearly I have a type when it comes to Qing royalty). I mean, he is strong-willed and not a dummy like Ten but he is also not dreadfully complicated liked Four and Eight are.

Ahhh, Eight. I almost wish he and Ruolan ended up in two different countries a thousand miles apart, because every time he is in her presence, he looks at her with those hopeful, beaten-puppy eyes and I want to die. I think that is why he is so kind and understanding with his first wife - because the way she feels towards him is the way he feels towards Ruolan - hopeless adoration of someone who cannot love you back.

You know who I love? Kang Xi. Never thought I would but he is smart and charismatic, if also scary as hell.

Random thought - I love these elaborate hairpieces, but do the ladies ever take them down? I mean, do they have sex with their hair still up??? I guess we may be lucky and find out ;)

One niggle (one I have had with every time-travel drama except The Myth) - Ruoxi adjusted very well - she feels almost like a period person now. I would think she would stick out more, at least in her inner life. But I guess then the story would be lopsided.

Final comment - visually, this may be the most beautiful drama I have ever seen.

Have a Four/Ruoxi MV:



I am fangirling Emperor Yongzheng. That's not right.

For those who prefer Ruoxi with Eight (like me, sometimes. I am so undecided):



I am in the middle of ep 6, and Eight's memory of the first time he saw Ruolan and fell in love at first sight with the idea of her - it broke my heart (so much disaster could be avoided if people were able to talk before marriage, honestly). I think he is transferring his feelings to Ruoxi because she makes him think of the way Ruolan was (I am sure that is exascerbated because everyone says how alike Ruolan and Ruoxi look). Oh man, this is a total clusterfuck. I feel beyond dreadful for Eight but Ruoxi deserves to be loved for herself and not for being like someone else unattainable...

Another standout was the scene when Ruoxi went drinking with Thirteen and Lu Wu and they bumped into Fourteen and his loutish followers who were insulting Lu Wu (basically calling her a whore and saying that now they know why she puts on too many airs for a prostitute - because she has Thirteen as one of her clients) and Ruoxi tore into them. And then when Fourteen tried to shame her for being friends with a hooker, she told him that a prostitute can be a virtuous woman too. YESSSS.

Also, I loved loved loved this scene in Relics of an Emissary. Spoiled Princess is kinda awesome - she refused to save herself by ditching wounded Hot Period Cop, and tried to piggy-back him (!!!) and then when he let go of her hand so as to give her more of a chance to escape, she went back and found him down at the bottom of the hill and made a makeshift stretcher and basically refused to give up until they were found. Go, spoiled but awesome princess! I loved even more that Hot Period Cop's way to thank her was to buy her a hidden weapon and teach her self-defense. They are adorable!.

( Caps of awesomeness )

Have a Four/Ruoxi MV:



I am fangirling Emperor Yongzheng. That's not right.

For those who prefer Ruoxi with Eight (like me, sometimes. I am so undecided):



I am in the middle of ep 6, and Eight's memory of the first time he saw Ruolan and fell in love at first sight with the idea of her - it broke my heart (so much disaster could be avoided if people were able to talk before marriage, honestly). I think he is transferring his feelings to Ruoxi because she makes him think of the way Ruolan was (I am sure that is exascerbated because everyone says how alike Ruolan and Ruoxi look). Oh man, this is a total clusterfuck. I feel beyond dreadful for Eight but Ruoxi deserves to be loved for herself and not for being like someone else unattainable...

Another standout was the scene when Ruoxi went drinking with Thirteen and Lu Wu and they bumped into Fourteen and his loutish followers who were insulting Lu Wu (basically calling her a whore and saying that now they know why she puts on too many airs for a prostitute - because she has Thirteen as one of her clients) and Ruoxi tore into them. And then when Fourteen tried to shame her for being friends with a hooker, she told him that a prostitute can be a virtuous woman too. YESSSS.

Also, I loved loved loved this scene in Relics of an Emissary. Spoiled Princess is kinda awesome - she refused to save herself by ditching wounded Hot Period Cop, and tried to piggy-back him (!!!) and then when he let go of her hand so as to give her more of a chance to escape, she went back and found him down at the bottom of the hill and made a makeshift stretcher and basically refused to give up until they were found. Go, spoiled but awesome princess! I loved even more that Hot Period Cop's way to thank her was to buy her a hidden weapon and teach her self-defense. They are adorable!.

( Caps of awesomeness )

Look what I found:



And also this:



Whoa, nellie! She isn't the succession, Yongzheng, you don't have to grab her quite this hard :P

Not in any eps that I've yet seen (in 4 eps I've seen, Four is nowhere near interested enough in her to do some dysfunctional kissing), but apparently interesting things are coming up!

[Poll #1778410]

Before I get onto the body of this post, a practical query - does anyone know where I can download raws for this? This drama is so gorgeous, it is begging for caps.



Now, then. I can barely see straight because my eyes have been open for too long but I don't care! I haven't been this sleeplessly obsessed since my marathon of Three Kingdoms. The one thing that is saving some measure of sanity is that I need subs and only first 4 eps have been subbed so far (on viki). Otherwise, I can see myself watching the entire 30+ eps in one sitting and then keeling over and dying.

I am so in love with this gorgeous, tragic mood piece. The costumes and the sets alone would predispose me to loving this - visually it is an amazing drama. But it's not just that. The writing and acting and the directing - this is getting close to a masterpiece. The characters feel like period people with period people values and behaviors, not modern people in period clothes. One of the things that I love about this drama is that every character is complex, nuanced and interesting. It is very hard to make a cast of characters this huge 3-D but BBJX manages. (It makes me thing of Young Warriors in its ability to manage multiple stories. Both were done by TangRen, hmmmm). Of the themes that run through, the one that gets me the most is futility and lack of freedom - you can see Ruoxi realize that everyone in this society, even those who are as high up as she is, are merely puppets for the Emperor, puppets in a game with deadly outcomes. Her high spirits, which is what initially draws many of the princes to her, are slowly beginning to wilt under the cruel reality. And yet she is trapped - what can she do?

On the shipping front I, the Queen of Canon Shipping, am actually wallowing in uncanon ships! I am obsessed with Eight/Ruolan and that is even more hopeless than shipping Eight/Ruoxi (a good example of period cdrama dysfunction - Ruolan/Eight are married and yet it's totally hopeless). I really want to know what is going on with them - he clearly worships the ground she walks on, but he barely visits her, and she (while always polite) treats him as if he has the plague. (Girl, you got Kevin Cheng as a royal in love with you, wtf are you blind?). I actually like the possibility of Ruoxi/Eight too because they have lovely chemistry and would have the world's most beautiful babies, but less then I do Ruolan/Eight.

Also, I know this is totally ridic, but I am uncanon-shipping Ruoxi/Thirteen. There is nothing in the drama text to give rise to that, but Liu Shi Shi and Yuan Hong's crazy chemistry overrides the writing - all I can see is eye-fucking whenever they are in a scene together.

I also really liked Ten/Ruoxi. I think they could have been happy together - they are both impulsive and forthright. (It kinda makes me think of my obsession Eight/Qing Chuan in Jade Palace Lock Heart). The scene where Ten learns he has to marry the girl whose name escapes me breaks my heart (I love how that sequence transitioned to more serious paths for the drama - showing us that it is all pretty and fun until you lose your life)

So far, there hasn't been much of Four and Ruoxi's interactions but the potential is huge. I love their chemistry and I confess to loving Four so very much - he is not a tragic, heroic figure like Eight, but I love his containment, his intelligence, the hidden sense of humor, the toughness. And my favorite scene so far is actually between him and Ruoxi. It's when she asks him "as a hypothetical" what would he do if he were stuck in a nightmare dream that he couldn't wake out of (i.e. her somehow being stuck in Qing) and he replies "I have five words for you: "Make the best of it."" Somehow that gave me shivers and encapsulates his character perfectly. (Also, it's an amazing advice because you can't control your circumstances, especially in that society, but you can control what you make of them).

I also like seeing the brothers before the fall-out. Like Ruoxi, we know what will happen, and we cannot stop it.

As for the ending? What I want is for Ruoxi to wake up back in modern times. Mainly because the logic freak in me has as the only explanation is that she hit her head and is in the hospital.

I adored Jade Palace Lock Heart and it will always be a favorite, but I have room for BBJX too and, tbh, I cannot compare the two - similar plots they may have, but the execution makes them so different, any comparison is impossible.

Before I get onto the body of this post, a practical query - does anyone know where I can download raws for this? This drama is so gorgeous, it is begging for caps.



Now, then. I can barely see straight because my eyes have been open for too long but I don't care! I haven't been this sleeplessly obsessed since my marathon of Three Kingdoms. The one thing that is saving some measure of sanity is that I need subs and only first 4 eps have been subbed so far (on viki). Otherwise, I can see myself watching the entire 30+ eps in one sitting and then keeling over and dying.

I am so in love with this gorgeous, tragic mood piece. The costumes and the sets alone would predispose me to loving this - visually it is an amazing drama. But it's not just that. The writing and acting and the directing - this is getting close to a masterpiece. The characters feel like period people with period people values and behaviors, not modern people in period clothes. One of the things that I love about this drama is that every character is complex, nuanced and interesting. It is very hard to make a cast of characters this huge 3-D but BBJX manages. (It makes me thing of Young Warriors in its ability to manage multiple stories. Both were done by TangRen, hmmmm). Of the themes that run through, the one that gets me the most is futility and lack of freedom - you can see Ruoxi realize that everyone in this society, even those who are as high up as she is, are merely puppets for the Emperor, puppets in a game with deadly outcomes. Her high spirits, which is what initially draws many of the princes to her, are slowly beginning to wilt under the cruel reality. And yet she is trapped - what can she do?

On the shipping front I, the Queen of Canon Shipping, am actually wallowing in uncanon ships! I am obsessed with Eight/Ruolan and that is even more hopeless than shipping Eight/Ruoxi (a good example of period cdrama dysfunction - Ruolan/Eight are married and yet it's totally hopeless). I really want to know what is going on with them - he clearly worships the ground she walks on, but he barely visits her, and she (while always polite) treats him as if he has the plague. (Girl, you got Kevin Cheng as a royal in love with you, wtf are you blind?). I actually like the possibility of Ruoxi/Eight too because they have lovely chemistry and would have the world's most beautiful babies, but less then I do Ruolan/Eight.

Also, I know this is totally ridic, but I am uncanon-shipping Ruoxi/Thirteen. There is nothing in the drama text to give rise to that, but Liu Shi Shi and Yuan Hong's crazy chemistry overrides the writing - all I can see is eye-fucking whenever they are in a scene together.

I also really liked Ten/Ruoxi. I think they could have been happy together - they are both impulsive and forthright. (It kinda makes me think of my obsession Eight/Qing Chuan in Jade Palace Lock Heart). The scene where Ten learns he has to marry the girl whose name escapes me breaks my heart (I love how that sequence transitioned to more serious paths for the drama - showing us that it is all pretty and fun until you lose your life)

So far, there hasn't been much of Four and Ruoxi's interactions but the potential is huge. I love their chemistry and I confess to loving Four so very much - he is not a tragic, heroic figure like Eight, but I love his containment, his intelligence, the hidden sense of humor, the toughness. And my favorite scene so far is actually between him and Ruoxi. It's when she asks him "as a hypothetical" what would he do if he were stuck in a nightmare dream that he couldn't wake out of (i.e. her somehow being stuck in Qing) and he replies "I have five words for you: "Make the best of it."" Somehow that gave me shivers and encapsulates his character perfectly. (Also, it's an amazing advice because you can't control your circumstances, especially in that society, but you can control what you make of them).

I also like seeing the brothers before the fall-out. Like Ruoxi, we know what will happen, and we cannot stop it.

As for the ending? What I want is for Ruoxi to wake up back in modern times. Mainly because the logic freak in me has as the only explanation is that she hit her head and is in the hospital.

I adored Jade Palace Lock Heart and it will always be a favorite, but I have room for BBJX too and, tbh, I cannot compare the two - similar plots they may have, but the execution makes them so different, any comparison is impossible.

I have a confession - I wasn't particularly interested in BBJX, the other 'woman time-travels to Qing to witness the fight for succession among Kang Xi's sons' drama. I love Liu Shi Shi, who plays the protagonist, but the trailers didn't grab me in any way, and Nicky Wu, the Fourth Prince and one of two male leads, is simply not my cup of tea in Qing get-up (now, if we are doing modern, we are talking!)

And yet when it recently started airing, every single person on my flist who watches cdramas, started raving about it. So, with some curiousity, I decided to watch the first episode. And the result was I fell in love, irrevocably so, within the first two minutes. It's gorgeous (one of the most gorgeously filmed dramas I've ever seen), well-acted, well-written, with a wistful tone throughout. And it's smart! It's a tragedy that doesn't forget the brain.

The story revolves around a modern woman who suffers an accident and wakes up as Ruoxi, a Manchu noblewoman in the later part of Kang Xi's reign. Throughout the story, she ends up getting involved with the (in)famous nine princes and, trying to prevent the bloody succession fight, might inadvertently bring it closer. I believe she interacts with most of the princes, but the two main ones for the story are the Fourth Prince and future emperor (Nicky Wu) and the Eighth Prince (Kevin Cheng. Where has this man been all my life? GORGEOUS).

Before I get on to anything else, I want to address the big elephant in the room - Jade Palace Lock Heart. For those who have watched Jade Palace Lock Heart, the set-up is startlingly familiar (though here her OTP is Four). A lot of people I've seen who love BBJX are people who really disliked JPLH. I am here to assure my fellow JPLH lovers that it is possible to love both. Because I do. The thing is, despite the similar plot, the story itself is very different. JPLH made me think of a cracky, shippy, giddy shoujo manga. BBJX is an introspective period piece. Each has a place in my heart. Both have strong heroines, gorgeous men (though as a Feng Shao Feng fangirl, even all the princes in BBJX put together do not trump him for me :P). If you want a more traditional love story, JPLH is the better bet (BBJX gets very messy and appropriately period-complicated). But BBJX is so very smart and subtle and nuanced and gorgeous. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Oh, and a word on Nicky Wu. While I still think that Qing style does him no favors, I am kind of adoring his Four whenever he is on screen. He and LSS have amazing chemistry and his on-screen presence is compensating for the looks. Even if I am still Team Eight. Because Kevin Cheng - oh my God. Oh my God. I think I need to watch Ghetto Justice asap.

Have the song from closing credits. It serves as a good preview of the drama, to see if it's your thing:



I have just watched the first ep and need more like a crack addict needs more.

Can I ship Sannyang/Li Gexiao any harder? I mean, they were already damaged, deadly, honorable, with messed-up pasts, hot. So I thought nothing could make me ship them harder. Ep 12 proves that what seems impossible is not.

( I was making incoherent noises at the screen at this sequence. )

Though they need to work on Gexiao's major suicidal tendencies. Seriously, dude! Volunteering to drink poison as an experiment = not a road to long life!