Tempus

It. It literally did. That was literally precisely the point.

(Some spoilers)

Started watching the show. Stopped and read the book. Returned and finished the show (Netflix edit and translation). Now watching the show (iQiyi version, with more scenes and better translations). It’s glorious. The only good thing about being very ill and bedbound is having the time to consume this media.

I am full of feels. Beautiful casting. The book is 100% better and the things that made no sense in the show? Generally resolved in the book.

Fan Changyu/Meng Changyu is amazing and 24/7 thinking about pigs at the beginning on levels the show doesn’t really show. And it’s HILARIOUS.

It’s 100% better that her father was a married-in husband to the Meng family in the book (to build connections between Wei and Meng military families). It’s much funnier when you realize her father was in a role similar to Xie Wu or Xie Qi. Stoic, quiet, almost coming across as emotionless - the show makes him much more warm in flashbacks.

The relationship development - much better in the book between the leads? But also there’s a level of dark unhinged Wu’an Hou in the book that we miss in the show since it’s only occasionally hinted at. Much softer in the show, but still, the parallels between him and Qi Min are not subtle!

Xie Heng is a dark, ruthless, possessive character who reins himself in, thinks of Fan Changyu’s happiness, and respects her choices. In the book and the drama. He protects her, supports her, but doesn’t smother her. Ultimately she chooses him.

He’s not crying at the reveal scene in the book, she decks him off the horse rides off and he starts laughing. He assigns her bodyguards and commissions weapons and even when their relationship is the most strained does well by her, though he gets a tiny bit stalkery.

Qi Min is a dark possessive character who 100% does not care about Yu Qianqian’a happiness, does not rein himself in, and does not respect her choices. He protects her from others but not himself. She will never choose him because she has independence, self-respect, a modern perspective and really clear understanding of what she wants out of life (to go home, or have as much freedom as possible if she can’t go home). The relationship between them is much more fleshed out in the show IMHO, but it’s clear that she only ever wanted to be free of him. Healthy psychological choice that.

I love the underlying thread of karma, how small acts of kindness led to life changing differences. Had Yu Qianqian not befriended Fan Changyu, her son would never have survived, much less ended up where he did.

(Spoiler alert - book and drama ep 17-onwards)

So I’ve decided the last 10 minutes of the drama didn’t happen. My (1) IRL friend who has also watched the drama also disliked it but for different reasons. We have agreed to respectfully disagree on Qi Min and Yu Qianqian.

BUT I must vent to the tumblr.

Let’s talk Qi Min and Yu Qianqian.

He’s hot and evil and obsessed. She’s terrified of him to the point of paranoia. He is her personal nightmare made flesh, an obsessive stalker who is a serial killer, her rapist, and the man she must appease in order to try to keep her son and herself safe. He thinks it’s love; she knows it’s psychosis. He’d rather die alone than have her die, but that is in no way redeeming him.

My friend was disappointed Qi Min didn’t have a chance in the drama AU ending to win her over when he wasn’t evil. But that misses the point, the fundamental point of a happy ending for our protagonists. It’s implicit in the book, which also has a what-if extra but. In that happy ending, there’s no Qianqian. That’s the point.

Qianqian’s happy ending IS NEVER TRANSMIGRATING. It’s being home, with her friends, family, and culture.

Not just never waking up to find herself in the body of an unwilling pregnant bedslave (whose experiences were so traumatizing the woman died). Never being forced to bear a child for her rapist, for all she loved her son and was desperate to keep him safe. Never having to raise a child so very carefully knowing she cannot raise him with the values fundamental to who she is as a person. A son she may never fully be able to trust because of the society she is living in. (Netflix dialogue has Changyu wonder why Qianqian is so strict, iQiyi dialogue has her wonder why she treats her son almost like an enemy.)

Qianqian never wanted to enter the palace, it was simply the best and only way to keep her son and her self alive. Being a solo restaurateur was the best of her limited options in the AU. But let’s not pretend that it’s all happy endings for her in the drama, it’s she’s making the best of her situation because she is amazingly psychologically stable given her situation.

How could ending up in a relationship with Qu Min in another life be a happy ending for her? For him, perhaps, but for her? No. A crown prince would be polygamous, and would be able to depose her at any time given her lack of family foundation. The power dynamics between them would always be inherently unequal. If she can’t go home she’d rather be an independent woman. And she’ll find happiness in her situation wherever, but as we saw in the drama what she really wanted was to just go home.

What I loved about this story is how it stresses that in relationships, healthy power dynamics are really important. It’s not subtle.

The drama shows this really well. There are many examples but the best is perhaps in ep 17 with Xie Zheng’s kiss - there’s that moment where Changyu asks who he thinks he is to treat her that way and he steps forward, face dark, and then stills. Because he is one of three most powerful men in the country. He can do whatever he wants. But that’s not the type of relationship he wants with the woman he loves.

Paralleled with Xie Zheng letting Fan Changyu walk away is the nightmare fuel that is Qi Min’s… everything. We see what Qi Min feels entitled to do, and what Xie Heng could do, but chooses not to.

Segye had managed to save Seori from the rookie SUV of Doom when they first met, but failed to protect her from the legendary veteran White Truck of Doom! Its expertise and crashing aura being simply too strong and invincible after decades of honing its skills and taking out so many characters.