This week, in addition to the hurdles facing our main characters, we have an ode to the unsung heroes of the hospital — people without whom the patients cannot be properly treated, but who don’t usually get the attention they deserve.
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This week we learn that there is no time to waste when being with the one you love. Especially if you want to avoid regrets later on. Oh, also, everyone is plotting and greedy.
Following the Hero Convention that turned out to not be very heroic, Chengling officially starts training as Zhou Zishu’s disciple. We then get multiple cute training sequences where Zhou Zishu tries to be the stern master, and Wen Kexing tries to coddle him and teach him different techniques behind his “soulmate’s” back. Add in Ye Baiyi, snarking on the sidelines, and you have the most adorable found family.
But it is not all flowers and sausages for our heroes! They are on a quest to find the truth behind what happened with Rong Xuan twenty-plus years ago. They decide to go find Long Que (The father of the guy in the wheelchair that they now have as a hostage and are carrying in a basket… which is messed up, but we are just chatting about the positives.) They assume that if they can find his Dragon Pool Cabinet (a hidden fortress) that they can discover the secrets of what really happened. And, it is obvious that Zhou Zishu is hoping that this will give his love some closure.
Kmuse: Watching these guys be all cute and parenting little Chengling is adorable. Not to mention, I totally had to laugh at the nuts PPL. I’m also excited that we are leaving the five lakes alliance in the background for a while. We need new foes to fight and new adventures and trails for our soulmates to overcome.
Drama Geek: The NUTS!!! I love when a show can work stuff in and make it amusing and not too in your face. I agree that I’m happy we are away from the five lakes peeps for now. I really enjoy these four together. Their dynamic is a lot of fun. I know we’re being positive but I can’t not talk about the shows treatment of the son in the wheelchair. He may be a bad guy but carrying him around, first in the basket then under their arms, is just messed up and disrespectful.
While our heroes are out doing Hero type stuff, the evil assassins and the Evil Brother of the Five Lake Alliance are doing evil shenanigans. Pretty much Evil Brother is flexing his muscles and forcing everyone to fall in line. Mostly, by The Scorpion King killing people that disagree. And while we don’t really love Evil Brother much here at DWASOK, the sexy Scorpion King is another matter. (At least for Kmuse, and since I am writing the outline, Sexy Scorpion King is in favor!)
Kmuse: I’m going sit here in the corner and appreciate how hot The Scorpion King is as he stabs someone in the back and then tries to look innocent. You have to love a well-done psychopath.
Drama Geek: I actually really like Scorpion King’s addition to the cast and find him way more entertaining than the other bad guys. A bonus is that he looks super hot when he’s killing people. (MDL says he was in Cinderella Chef and that’s one I contemplated trying so if you’ve watched it and it was good, leave a comment!)
Slowly but surely, Wen Kexing and Ye Baiyi are growing to tolerate each other. They for sure are not necessarily friends, but I would say they are definitely frenemies. And because their cantankerous banter is amusing, it is getting added to the positive list.
Kmuse: I could watch Wen Kexing call Baiyi “ancient” all day long. The best was when he pretended to find some white hair among Ye Baiyi’s well-preserved mane of glory. Could not stop laughing.
Drama Geek: I really liked their development throughout these episodes and felt Baiyi finally saw a different side of Kexing when they found Uncle Long. Their prickliness toward each other gives us a lot of laughs and provides Zishu with plenty of opportunities to defend his love.
Wen Kexing gets super drunk once again, and this time gets a case of the mopes. He is taken to his bed by Zhou Zishu (sadly, not the same bed), and Zhou Zishu tells him that nothing Wen Kexing has done would change how he feels about him. As Zhou Zishu leaves the room, Wen Kexing murmurs that he doesn’t know what he has done and that he is scared of losing his soulmate when he finds out.
Kmuse: Wen Kexing’s lost expression just kills me every time. It makes it so that no matter what he has done, I am willing to forgive him. Of course, I am pro killer, so that is not saying much.
Drama Geek: Pro killer. Hahahahahahaha. Okay, for real though. The actor playing Kexing does sad kicked puppy so well. We all know he’s done horrible things, but I’m pretty sure everyone on this show has. So… maybe he skinned someone alive just to take their spot as leader. Play your flute and I’ll forgive you.
Our heroes find Dragon Pool Cabinet and cross a bridge to the main building, only to be tricked by the Wheelchair Guy. He separates all our heroes, and they go through various traps and trials before coming back together. They finally discover Long Que, chained with his legs cut off by his son. His son blamed him for not healing the affliction that had crippled him and kept him in the body of a child his whole life. To say this family has issues would be an understatement.
Kmuse: While these trials were not overly complex while filmed, the narrative was really well done, so it deserves to be added to the list. I really love how this did end up feeling like a quest for all the various characters. Our soulmates became closer together, Chengling got to use his newly developed martial arts skills, and Yi Baiyi is… well, he is the same as always but still pretty badass.
Drama Geek: I enjoyed this section and liked how each group worked together. Oh, and Zishu holding Kexing at the bottom of that long fall.
They discover Long Que, who has been imprisoned for a very long time. His son killed all his servants, his family, pretty much anyone he could to try and get his father to confess where the Glazed Armor key was hidden. Even when the father confessed that he didn’t have it, the son didn’t believe him. Long Que is thrilled to see his friend’s disciple, although saddened to hear about all the people who had died. It is Ye Baiyi that brings up the reason for their quest. It turns out that he was actually Rong Xuon’s master before he went crazy and stole the secret to eternal life from Ye Baiyi. Along with everything else, that secret was thrust into the vault and locked with the Glazed Armor and key.
Long Que explains that they were all the best of friends until Long Que was accidentally stabbed with a poisoned sword. It was Gao Chong’s sword, but he claimed to have no knowledge of the poison (anyone else suspecting that Evil Uncle is behind this?) Rong Xuan is dying, but his wife uses a forbidden healing technique from the Miracle Healer Valley to save his life. This technique requires a life for a life… hence the forbidden aspect of it. Rong Xuan doesn’t come back normal, though, and attempts to kill everyone, including his wife, in his insanity.
At this point, we learn about Rong Xuan’s friend from the Miracle Healer Valley who tries to save him but is stabbed in the back by his insane bestie. The supposed good guys who take down Rong Xuan are obsessed with finding the key to open the glazed armor lock. In their quest, they break all of Rong Xuan’s friend’s limbs and drag him back to the Miracle Healer Valley in search of the key. The Zhen Family (the newly crippled bestie, his wife, and their son) escape from the mob but are in hiding. They end up at the house of Zhou Zishu’s master and get new disguises to start their lives in hiding.
Kmuse: I actually like that we got the story of Rong Xuan in one huge lump of narrative. Also, Wen Kexing’s lost puppy face is back, and you can’t help but feel for the poor guy. He is learning that there was more to the story than he thought, and some of his revenge might have been misplaced. We also discover that he isn’t related to Rong Xuon but was the son of the Miracle Healer Valley friend. Such good storytelling.
Drama Geek: I have to say I didn’t think he was the son of Rong Xuan’s son. Kexing always showed too much distain when his name was mentioned. I think Zishu took that for being upset.
Que cute soulmate flashback scenes! When the Zhen family came to Zhou Zishu’s house when they were hiding, Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing became adorable besties. We get so many cute moments of the two boys playing together, and we find out where Wen Kexing’s feelings first began.
Kmuse: They did such a good job of casting for the young version of our OTP. They are spot on in temperament, and I love watching their childhood connection scenes. Usually, I roll my eyes when we have fated love from such a young age, but this time it totally worked for me.
Drama Geek: I loved seeing Zishu realize who his soulmate really was and how it increased his love and feelings of protectiveness toward him. The flashback scenes were so cute, and it’s a bit sad they didn’t grow up together though I like that better for the love story aspect.
Kmuse: I was very invested in the story this week. It was so well written that I kind of wish the budget had been a bit bigger so the special effects could have brought it all to life. That said, I am very tempted to go hunt down the story and see if I like the novel as much as the drama.
Drama Geek: I agree. The character development and story were very intriguing this week and a bigger budget could have made these scenes really pop. I am excited about the next part of the journey. Bring on the closeness!
Til the next flirty moment,
The Fangirls
Dramas With a Side of Kimchi
In one ear and out the other; is anyone really listening this week? While not everyone is saying they want to say out loud, we have a lot of letters that reveal our character’s true feelings. Our neighborhood ladies also come in clutch this week as they rally around RaRa. The plot points are all slowly coming together, but how many of them are progressing as expected, and how many are surprises?
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Mimi warns us of trouble this week. While our storylines continue moving forward, we are relieved that they aren’t dragging things out. We are still on pins and needles with what will happen to our beloved Ra Ra and Joon!
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We are halfway through our fluffy little drama and this week we are served with a side of distraction. What’s real and what’s fake?
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What happens when your perfect life isn’t what you thought it was? What if, instead of being the lead character like you thought, you are just a supporting character?
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Sometimes a drama fan just needs to watch a drama with off-the-wall comedic moments and over-the-top makjang intensity. The Last Empress is just such a drama. Come join The Fangirls as we cover our expectations going into The Last Empress, our favorite characters, where we think the story is headed, and so much more!
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Does anyone else feel like the story flipped? Join me as I feel like we’ve started a brand new story because my conspiracy theories have been crushed and new ones have formed. Who is the villain and who is the victim? I don’t really know anymore.
Up to now we have been mostly involved with getting to know our robot, Shin III. Now it’s time to see human Shin’s side of the story. For a character who hasn’t done much but sleep for half of the drama, he’s really taking over. Is he going to turn everyone’s plans upside down? (Do you see those neck veins?) There will be SPOILERS for these two episodes.
Our happy couple continues to be in love and adorable, and the finale is filled with last minute wedding details and not much else. It’s not exactly riveting plot exposition, but let’s be honest. We were watching for the cute anyway. Right?