6:40-6:45 reference to SA, not explicit 9:51 episode 22 about 11 minutes in if you want to watch it 10:35 ummmm no hate but is this the fabled "arc" y'all were promising me?? 😅 Am I just being petty and unforgiving? Because to me this is like if LingLong turned around after killing JiXiang and decided she was good now, and YingLuo just went with it? Not even a halfhearted apology??😭
Mingyu's "redemption arc" is pretty lackluster, I agree. It's more that when she's a good guy for longer than she's been a bad guy and her petty and vindictive behavior just becomes childlike and fiery behavior, she's easier to like. However, her deeds in the earlier episodes are really awful and I think the shows kind of plays it off as "oh, she was just immature and easily swayed!", but even though I think she is an childish person who doesn't have a lot of deep plotting going on which makes her less insidious and threatening compared to most of the villains in the show, it's not *just* immaturity. Some her behavior may just be immature, but her actions of trying to stop Yingluo from stopping a murder and trying to get Yingluo killed goes way beyond simply immature.
@@moonstarstories1298 Ok I can totally get that, thanks for the explanation because I was starting to feel like a crazy person lol I never expected she was such a fan favorite! I think up until the Yu scheme, I could have accepted all of it as childish and petty and come around on her later (if she matures/changes). It was that scene where she told on YingLuo, where she literally said "capital offense" that left me reeling. That's not a childish prank, that's not an accident, that's going out of your way to kill someone for no reason other than being jealous of their success. And mind you, MY had the opportunity to step up several times and CHOSE not to. YL only stepped in when it became clear that MY was going to let Yu die. To me, what MY did is the equivalent of trying to shoot someone in the head and failing because you didn't realize the chamber was empty. Just because you failed doesn't mean the intent wasn't there :/
@@dramarecaps4217 all in all what I'd like to interpret from these characters is that both, WYL, MY and even Erqing are all teenagers (well maybe Erqing might be older) living in a warped reality, so they are barely "adulting", also thinking that these maids must have entered the FC at 13-14 for sure have developed the understanding that they were only slaves/servants (despite coming from high society) that have little saying or nothing more than they mistress would allow. So, I understand that Ming You thinks it's better to say nothing to Gao and keep the Empress household out of controversy because she is immature and frightened to act in fear of committing a bigger wrong. Wei Yingluo is more bold and at times more mature and shrewd. Don't hate her, I'm sure you'll later get to like her.
@@dramarecaps4217 don't worry if you feel like we're all insane for loving Mingyu, there's soooo much left of the show and you'll just have to see what happens (: Many of the characters will proceed to do a 180 over the course of it all, like Shushen already did, and some will even do unforgivable things - far faaaar worse than Mingyu! Strap in bb, this show brings the dRaMa!
I was waiting for this review for ep 22 because when I was looking more into this drama I found the in the original storyline the reason why Gao held so much sentimental value to that opera dress was because it’s was suppose to be that Yinglou’s sister, who was her favorite seamstress, made it for her before she died. That there was suppose to be an episode that shows that when the rumor about Yinglou’s sister was going around Gao stepped in to protect her but failed to keep her from being murdered.
hi can you elaborate more on yingluo's sister being gao's favourite seamstress? i really think its sweet but i remember in that drama scene where the dowager's head maid was about to throw her favourite costume in the fire, subs weere saying gao's begged saying that she made that dress, sewing it stitch by stitch.
This was the Mingyu turning point for me. The enemy of my enemy is my friend-that's literally her mentality because she's so childish. After sticking it to Concubine Shu, her comraderie/ rivalry with Yinglou is adorable. I cackle every time I see them together on screen. There's one scene where Yinglou pisses her off, and she gets Ming Yu to chase her to amuse the Empress, and I laugh every time. Yinglou understands her simplicity as if it were the back of her hand. Mingyu tolerates Yinglou now. She doesn't do a complete 180 as she still has a temper and her moments but it's the funniest part of the series for me.
Notes: -aaaaaa half of the instruments in the Western orchestra weren't even invented in the West yet (Seriously though, this is a galaxy-brained gift, since Qianlong's grandfather Kangxi had a fondness for Western music, and this reminds the Emperor of him. Good job, Gao.) The group is playing one of the simplest and most recognizable pieces of classical music, Pachelbel's 'Canon in D'. They also include an accordion player (invented in 1882) and a saxophonist (invented in 1840); the show takes place in 1741. -The term 'shelizi' is a translation of the Sanskrit 'Śarīra', meaining 'body', which broadly refers to all Buddhist relics and narrowly refers to the type of stone described. It can also refer to relics such as finger bones or pieces of a body from Buddha or another bodhisattva. Sariras are believed to multiply if stored properly and given offerings such as saffron threads. Scientifically, if a funeral pyre is hot enough, the human bones within can form crystalline structures, which is likely where the idea of a sarira came from. -The Empress' dress is actually based off of a painting of a river goddess, Luoshen, which had been dicussed in Ep. 20. In most cases, she's identified as Mifei, either as the daughter or the consort of Fuxi, a creation god; she became a goddess after drowning while crossing the Luo River. There are a ton of poems praising her beauty and grace, the most famous being Luoshen fu/'Fu on the Luo River Goddess' by Cao Zhi, who is believed to have written it because he was in love with his sister-in-law, Empress Zhen, the wife of his older brother Cao Pi. -The dress itself is mentioned to be made of Jili silk, from the village of Jili in Huzhou province, which is famously high-quality. The Emperor's ceremonial robes could only be made of this type of silk. -The makeup on the Empress and the dead maid is hua dian/花钿, or 'plum blossom' makeup. It dates back to the Warring States period, but popular conception places it as originating with the Liu Song dynasty. According to legend, a plum blossom fell on the forehead of Princess Shouyang, daughter of Emperor Wu of Song, and left an imprint that lasted three days. The other ladies of the palace found it fashionable and began to copy the mark, starting a new trend. It became very elaborate during the Tang and Song dynasties, sometimes being formed from gold or silver foil, dragonfly wings, or embellished with pearls. They also diversified in shape: coins, flowers, birds, peaches, snakes. It also began to be placed on the dimples on either side of the mouth; this variant became known as '面靨/mianye'. Pretty much every painting from the Tang or Song (sometimes earlier) features some form of huadian makeup. -As I mentioned in some of my other recaps, women were barred from the stage as their presence 'damaged public morality', and it was considered disrespectful and unseemly for a high-ranked woman to dance publically, especially to perform opera. Yingluo brings up '长生殿/Changsheng Dian', 'Palace of Eternal Youth' (another opera about the love between Xuanzong and Consort Yang, usually performed as a kunqu opera rather than Peking), and '霸王别姬/Bawang Bie Ji', 'Farewell, My Concubine' (similar to the previous, about the King of Western Chu and his consort Yu Ji, who commits suicide to save him). -The reason Gao is so attached to that particular outfit is related to the cut storyline with her and A'Man. In it, A'man personally sewed that costume, and it's the only thing Gao still has of her beloved maidservant. Almost makes me sad for her. Almost. -Yingluo pretends to pray to the Empress like she's a boddhisattva in order to cheer her up and get her to talk immediately before the flashback scene. The flashback itself was so sad---she can't hold the Emperor's hand or walk beside him, as the maid reminds her, but she has to walk behind him due to the rules of ettiquete. He looks back at her and smiles, not fully comprehending what's just happened, while she starts to trail behind him, struggling to keep up. This flashback seems to be linked to another, bigger one, later on, so stay tuned. --*stands up* FINALLY Mingyu begins to pull for Team Yingluo. She helps do the makeup and hair and convince the Empress to dance, which is a really cute scene. (Yeah the redemption arc is kinda just a 'hey I'm on your side now' thing, not really an arc. One of my gripes with the show is how Mingyu's character is handled; it's been some time since I watched it and I guess I forgot how egregious she is in the beginning.) Notice again, though: Mingyu starts to wear more blue, and Erqing starts to wear more pink. Keep an eye on Erqing in the coming episodes...
Mild correction if you allow, because your notes are always so good and I want them to be as perfect as possible. The galaxy brain is actually Shu, when everyone is admiring the orchestra she quietly laments to Qing that she had to give such a great idea to another just o get back to good graces. TBH, it also fits her personality/education level since she was accepted to the palace because of the monologue about tradition concerning the three earrings....
@@Sirah1981 I completely forgot about that! I just skimmed the episode to get the main points and I must have skipped that part. Between the orchestra and the Buddhist relic, Shu really is a lot smarter than most give her credit for.
My sweet and perfect empress 😢 it’s not her being hard on herself to me but it’s what has been drilled into her. From the very beginning she had to learn to restrict her impulses, like in her flashback she is holding her husbands hand and the momo goes “nope, that’s against the rules” and she drops his hand. For fourteen years she has had to keep her true self hidden to adapt and not let down her family or the emperor, because if he has any bad traits it’s her fault. Her dance scene is so beautiful because she is so alive and unrestrained and plus the music 😍.
Mingyu’s come to Jesus moment must have been one of the episodes or scenes that were cut out of the entire series. Yanxi palace was heavily censored and from 90-94 episodes, there were only 75 left that were approved. So a lot of things gave me whiplash, too 😅
In terms of Yingluo not wanting the Empress’s help, my theory is that she knew if the Empress sent eunuchs all over the city to hunt down clues and bring them to Yingluo, anyone who did know anything would immediately hide/destroy any evidence or take extra precautions to not be caught out. Rumors are like wildfire there, and with something like this, I bet Yingluo just didn’t want to take the risk of the killers catching wind and being on guard. Maybe the Empress could have increased Yingluo’s authority or something to give her an easier time investigating, but I still think that would have suspicious as hell to others- especially the Emperor, who already really dislikes Yingluo.
I don’t think the emperor dislikes Yinglou at all, first time he came into contact with her, he sent Li Yu to look for her and got upset with Li Yu when he realised it’s her working with the Empress, last episodes when he got sick, you can see him grappling with some weird internal struggles when she touches him, he even mimicked her finger movements when he was itchy, he looks for her to punish her ( himself) why when he doesn’t need to do that? All he needed to do was to send out the order to punish her, he’s somewhat perplexed yet curious about her as she doesn’t respond to him the way everyone else does 😅
@@imogencrusader6306 then you need to rewatch and pay attention 😂 so far the things yinglou gets away with, no other maid would.The emperor is attracted to her witty personality he just hasn’t come to terms with it as yet😅
Maybe Mingyu’s come to Jesus moment was one of the cut/removed episodes? A lot of things don’t make sense because they heavily censored Yanxi. So many episodes were lost. I hope one day they release the full thing for international audiences lol
That’s literally the reason I refused to watch ruyi royal instead watched the recaps but I want to say that yanxi is far more tame and easier to watch especially since the fmc thinks so quick on her feet and finds her way out of situations.
@@advicesistars7761 I watched Ruyi’s up to episode 21 and immediately hated the way they portrayed Wei Yinglou/Yanwan and stopped 😂 I also watch clips here and there but I absolutely love Yanxi’s palace for the same reasons you stated 🌻
@@advicesistars7761 To be fair, of all the C-Dramas I´ve watched, Ruyi´s Royal love is by far the most depressing. It´s as if everything that could have gone wrong went catastrophically wrong. Spoilers ahead in case you haven´t finished yet: SPOILERS: Even Ruyi´s kinda "win" at the end for severing her tie with Hongli was barely a win because she died and left the people closest to her depressed, specially Hailan and Rongpei, the later of which followed her to the grave.
Mingyu is annoying, she’s petty but she has been loyal to the empress, she loves authority and she dislikes the the other consorts and concubines because she knows they’ve been gossiping about the empress, she’s overprotective but in a very childish way which can create more problems 😅
In Ruyi's RLitP we see more os the struggle of power in the harem, here we also have that, but also more of a focus on the weight of their roles: The Emperor can't show the grief over his and the Empress's child, the Empress needing to be the perfect role model, not being able to indulge in the sincere love the Emperor has for her, I can't say more because spoilers, but you get it.
Please, please, PLEASE do the period drama Magnificent Century!!!! Totally different country, but it IS a Harem Drama, and you would LOVE Alexandra/Hurrem/Roxelana!!!
I kind of got the feeling she's doing recaps of Chinese historical dramas because she's learning Chinese, living in Beijing, and has a genuine interest in the history. Magnificent Century doesn't really fit that, but I'm sure someone more into the language and culture of the Ottoman empire could do recaps of it (:
I know that originally the show was supposed to be around 90 episodes and they deleted a lot of filler content, so maybe included in that was the reason why Mingyu had such a quick turnaround. Or you could just easily chalk it up to childness on her part as others here have. But yeah, you'll love Mingyu from here on out pretty much.
If I'm not mistaken, the actor who played the young eunuch (at 6:40) also starred in Ruyi's Royal Love as the young 3rd prince. I remember doing a "Gao double take" when I saw this episode haha!
The worst part about Gao's costumes being burnt is that Wei Ying Luo's sister made those. It was supposed to be a subplot that Gao supported Aman after she was attacked but the chinese government made them cut it :(
@@LucaZhangyep. Gao tried to get Aman kicked out of the palace to protect her (as she was being targeted). Gao dressed up as a man and tried to convince others that Aman was having relations with 'him' and therefore get expelled. It didn't work as Aman got beaten instead of expelled... Then the bad guy got her. But a huge plot point was that she didn't want Aman to be treated like her mother did, and took her under her wing
@@lindsiria whaaaattt T^T so she can be a good complex character but in the end she's just being stereotypical mean girl in harem (love her so much tho)
awe, I love your recaps so friggin much. Also, this series seems so much more fun. Because a murder mystery is also involved with this harem drama. So good.
This is kind of a moment that Mingyu FINALLY realizes she's been a moron, and starts to turn her butt around. Otherwise, another favorite set of episodes. I HATED the dress burning. Yeah, she deserved it, but it's still so cringe for me.
as hateful as Gao is, i do feel sorry when the only thing she enjoy in the palace also taken away from her :" women in the palace literally are forbidden to do anything at all, it must be so stressful living in that kind of environment, and the only thing she can do to relieve the stress is by playing opera, it also taken away from her like her freedom :")))
11:00 this the drama biggest problem 😂 the way the characters suddenly change with no development or hints is really annoying and it's not the first time the writers gonna do that
It happened because of censorship and editing, cuts but I personally didn’t think the change in Mingyu was sudden at all based on her personality, she is childish and petty and wants to be noticed by whoever comes to work for the empress.
It's never said explicitly, but I have always assumed Mingu is about 12-13, and Yinglo is about 17-18, this would make her tween like behavior make sense. lol, maybe she is just petty as hell.
Palace maids would start out as young as 12-13, so Mingyu would have to be a little bit older as you don't get to be the Empress' personal maid right from the get go. But hey, you can be plenty immature and stubborn still at age 14-15 or so! Source: I was once a stupidly immature 14-15 year old
I don't know if it is actually true , but I read articles that say in the cut scenes of this drama , the sister of Wei Yingluo made Gao costume and was very close of her.
So..... The one thing I loved about this show is you can't be sure of anyone for long. Are they bad.... Good? Smart..... Stupid? Until that person dies, you can't be sure of anything. Characters are complex and change over time.
Personally, I think it makes sense that Yinglou would deny the Empress's offer. Forgive the wall and bullet points. -- If the Empress WERE to get involved, the first thing that I see happening is a repeat of the maid who fell from the balcony. Word will soon get out that the Empress is looking into the case of a former maid, and it gives those who murdered A'Man enough time to either kill off or burn any evidence that may remain. Yinglou knows that this is a huge possibility, so she prefers to gather evidence on her own. Likely, it's to avoid the potential it has to become a mud slinging contest because once word gets out (and we saw how fast it blew through after the empress let loose and danced a little), it becomes less about finding A'Man's murderer and more about getting even with someone. -- Does this mean that Yinglou shouldn't accept it? No, not necessarily. The Empress can still offer her aide, but through the form of Fuheng. Discreetly, and with his sister's permission (on certain fronts), Fuheng's pokerface, stoic attitude, and no nonsense demeanor would get a little bit more in the way of answers. -- This, in my opinion, is very much the shield to Yingluo's sword. In many ways, both protect the Empress. Yinglou protects the Empress from those within the harem wishinf to harm her, and Fuheng protects the Empress from herself. 😭 -- Also, regarding Mingyu: She's a pain in the butt for the majority of the series. She kinda mellows out though.
No apologies necessary, this was a great write-up 👍 I do think you're right about why YL rejected the empress' offer and it absolutely does make sense. I think YL has been carefully considering her steps for a long time and certainly would have taken all of this into account.
I've always wondered about the "Western Instruments" thing. If these instruments were in the possession of the Emperor's grandfather, that would mean that they were in the palace in the seventeenth, perhaps the early eighteenth century at the latest. There is a saxophone in that orchestra, an instrument that did not exist at that time. Additionally, how did all those servants learn their instruments and learn to play together as an orchestra, and play western music, which was probably not so available to them? I really enjoy this series, but this always bothered me.
The Kangxi emperor allowed a few Jesuit artisans to live in the Forbidden City and teach their various skills to Chinese students, and his son (Zhen Huan's emperor) and grandson (Ruyi & Yingluo's emperor) continued this practice. One of them was the Italian court painter Lang Shining (real name Giuseppe Castiglione) whom we met a few times in Ruyi's Royal Love and who painted the emperor & empress' portraits. It's likely that some eunuchs and others could've learned to read notes and how to play from these Jesuits, as there's bound to have been some musicians among them (:
I never liked Shu but her explaining away her actions by saying that it didn’t matter cause Yinglou’s and Mingyu’s lives are worthless and they are just the empresses wild dogs and she can kill them basically at will I wasn’t a fan i know it was a common view but still nope😒
She gets better (: I agree that she's a b--ch at this particular stage, but you can think someone is cute even when you dislike their words & actions. She just has some wonderfully adorable facial expressions and body language, especially when she fails at something or gets chastised.
The curious case of Mingyu... I don't get it either, there's also something later with 1 character that looking back I never understood, I'm only saying because it's kinda linked to Mingyu's 180
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