Derailment: everything we know so far (part 2)

I'm back again with my ramblings. I can't promise y'all answers but I can definitely promise you... more questions? More confusion? Idk but I'm not going to lose sleep on this alone!! So let's dive into it and if you've missed part 1 you can find it here.

I will elaborate later but first of all I'll say that by now I'm pretty convinced 2018 is real and 2025 is the fake reality. But let's proceed gradually:

In part 1 I was wondering if he was the mastermind or a pawn and it seems he was the mastermind after all. Or maybe one of the masterminds, plural? Anyway, it's pretty obvious he created or helped create the Lighthouse System because he couldn't be an athlete anymore in the 2018 reality.

Xiaoyuan's ex boyfriend in both 2018 and 2025. According to him he got trapped along with Xiaoyuan into two gaming capsules of his own design which malfunctioned halfway and made them virtually experience the 2018 reality, therefore making 2018 a fake reality and 2025 the legit reality.

Evidence against it:

But then what about this? It's bugging me...

Everything I wrote about her in part 1 still stands and was even further validated by the recent episodes: she became a tester/player of this game because she needed money for her grandma's treatment. The life she lived in 2025 is the life she had always wished she had. Her memories have been tampered with the same way Huo Boyu's were.

Alright, I happen to know a few things so we're heading into SPOILER territory now. It's nothing huge honestly but still I'm going to put a "read more" here for anyone who doesn't want spoilers.

I was telling @andoqin​ that old-time painters crack me up. With the news about The Fated General, I went to Huo Qu Bing’s wiki page to look something up and saw this portrait of the man.

Hahahaha.

I doubt the real Huo Qu Bing was one tenth as attractive as Eddie Peng or Zhang Ruo Yun but this is completely hilarious to me. 

I am sure it was drawn long after the man died (since he died in 2nd century BC), but I am seriously cracking up that they went “this is a man who died at 23 after spending all his adult years fighting nomads. This is what he looks like.” Hahahahhaha. This man looks 50 if he’s a day. I know life was rough back then but not this rough.

Not to mention that this gentleman is incredibly rotund and somehow I don’t think a man riding around battling Xiongnu nonstop would have that type of build. This is a build of a man who has engaged in no greater physical activity than beating his servants in the last decade and a half. I mean, there’s a danger he’d crush the horse, if he tried to get it to gallop! 

Maybe I'm just being silly and simple, but the color play is cool, right? They've established Ruyi and the Scarlet Guard as team reds and Ning Yuanzhou and Liudao Hall as team blues from the start and they've mostly stuck with it so you pay attention when colors cross sides.

Bits of red make their way into Ning Yuanzhou's costumes throughout the episodes and then Ruyi herself very blatantly picks an all red outfit for him like she's claiming him in front of the entire world. And now she's standing next to him, after marrying him, where she gave him a piece of her wedding reds and they've joined their lives together, and she's wearing purple.

I just think it's neat

A Journey To Love 一念关山 | Episode 24

me, trying to meet a deadline: ah, i'll play the a journey to love OST since it's in a language i don't know and won't distract me while i work on this time-sensitive project

me, listening to the fucking title song:

me, listening to song fucking #2: what if one day me and my closest friends all go on a road trip and never return

it's easy to read the situation between li tongguang, ruyi, and yuanzhou as a love triangle on a superficial level, but looking even one step further, it's clear that there's no triangle about it. li tongguang is obsessed with ren xin; ning yuanzhou is devoted to ren ruyi. ltg's obsession is fervent and all consuming, but it's not devotion. like ruyi herself notes, his feelings to her are on the basis of her as a mother figure in his life, as a replacement for what he never received from his mother. is there an element of romantic/sexual love/desire to it? maybe. more likely he's deluded himself into thinking that, because the truth is, it's doubtful that ltg even understands what love is (platonic, filial, familial, romantic, all of the above, etc), because he has no basis for understanding. ruyi's teachings and actions towards him are the closest thing he has to hold up as an example. what he wants is ren xin, is a replica of the master he had. he doesn't want ruyi, because he doesn't actually care about ruyi. therefore, he doesn't care if she's sad, angry, mad; he just can't bear her 'abandoning' him. we saw this way back when she first meet and left him, both at thirteen and seventeen. although he distrusts her first, she saves his life and cares for him in the way no one else has, hence her first being raised on a platform in his mind. when she leaves for good, ending their master-disciple relationship/training, even though it's for official business and she's not abandoning him, in his mind that's exactly what it is. so now that she's in his life again, he won't let her leave again. he was powerless before, a child with no proper name, but now he's a recognized member of the imperial family, a man who can meet her as 'equals' (even when that's far from the truth). as a child, he could only cling to her legs and beg her, but now he has the power to keep her by his side. it's telling that when he finally gets confirmation of her identity, it's not ning yuanzhou he seeks to harm (even though he detests him and their relationship), but yang ying. yang ying is ruyi's new disciple, and as ltg doesn't know she's a woman, he only sees her as his direct replacement.

ning yuanzhou, on the other hand, is devoted to ruyi. he wants to build a new life and future with her, instead of slotting her into a spot in the life he already has. he's someone who accompanies her on walks and makes her midnight snacks, who holds her when she needs to be held and lets her go when she needs to do things on her own. when she speaks her mind, he listens, even when it makes him discontent/it's not what he wanted/wants to hear. he sees her unabashedly as his equal, and though he acknowledges her skills and abilities, or points out her naivety, he never does it to belittle her; to him, she is his peer, deserving of the highest honor and respect. he trusts her to have his back, and she has come to trust him to have her. he did what she might have thought no man would ever do: he proved himself reliable, so she came to rely on him. yuanzhou gives her freedom and autonomy as both ren ruyi and ren xin. of course they run into problems, but they both learn and grow from them, as individuals and as a couple. yuanzhou's belief in her is unwavering, but adaptable, whereas ltg's is unwavering, but frozen in time, disallowing for any new information to be presented. yuanzhou works with ruyi to accept the changes thrown her way; he seeks the core behind her actions in order to better understand her. li tongguang cannot accept the changes in ruyi's character, because they run contrary to the master he has on a pedestal in his mind.

what li tongguang wants is to return to the past, but yuanzhou offers ruyi the promise of a future, even one that might never come to fruition. there's no triangle about it.

Espero que "The prisoner of beauty" salga lo más rápido posible para que no acabe durmiendo el sueño de los justos por la movida de Song Zu Er, porque TIENE MUY BUENA PINTA.

@dangermousie do you like it?

I would love for this to come out - I adore the novel so much and LYN and SZE are my dream casting for the mains to a degree I almost never see with adaptations. They are gonna have to remove all the sex (which is a pity because it’s a rare novel where it’s part of character and relationship development; they are gonna have to do it thru other means) and make Wei Shuo defender of OG dynasty as opposing founding his own but it could still be an amazing drama.

This said, I think it’s going to have the same fate as the only other two novel adaptations that I thought had a perfect cast - Hao Yi Xing and Winner Is King - this one is never ever coming out of the vault. (Unless I suppose they butcher and refilm with different FL but I doubt the resulting quality.) Sure, unlike with Winner and HYX, the topic is not banned but while SZE is not formally charged/convicted, have we ever seen anyone in the last decade come back from a tax accusation? Nope. This one is sadly dead IMO.

More like Prisoner of the Tax Code.

To compensate us, happy holidays to those who celebrate:

(From the filming of The Legend of Jewelry, tho I see no evidence of any jewelry. I am quite a fan of cdramaland’s new (?) rope fixation.)

I haven't read the novel, but I would like. The problem with sex scenesis going to be solved as they always do, kiss scene, intertwined fingers and herding. I don't like the idea that he is going to defend the OG dynasty, but they have to please the gyrfalcons, as always ¬¬.

It has been months since Song Zu Er was accused from tax evasion and there are no news, so maybe there is a little of hope this drama will be able to see the light.

That phrase of "Prisoner of Tax Code" was very good HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA.

I like VERY MUCH that photo of "The legend of jewelry".

P.S.: sorry if I have made some mistake with my English ^^'''''

Your English is better than my pitiful Spanish (and for neither of us is English our first language anyway) so you are way ahead.

I really would love for this to air. Pls just drop the whole thing at once, studio!

I still have hope that they’ll pull the wolf and just air it. I can see them try to reshoot it — it’ll be a mess, but at least a mess they can air.

(OTOH, I still have no idea what’s the hold up with the Fated General.)

The Fated General isn’t just my most wanted out of all vault-held dramas, it’s the only one where I genuinely do not get WHY it’s in the vault.

With the rest, I know it’s the topic (all the dangai, stuff about overthrow of the emperor like Peace in Palace Peace in Chang’an or Silk Washing Stream) or the actors being banned (Zhao Ge, the Fan Bing Bing epic, Dream of Hypnosis etc.)

But why The Fated General?! I’ve heard historians were displeased but (a) I assume the script went through script approval so it couldn’t have been that out there (b) how would historians even know what’s in it - I guess the script could have leaked but see (a) and most importantly (c) what could even be objectionable enough to be held up forever? The trailer shows him beating up on the Xiongnu very patriotically just as he’s supposed to, and he died before the whole disaster with the Crown Prince and the Wei family downfall so they won’t even need to get into emperor being fallible or imperial family infighting.

I am just generally both boggled and incredibly annoyed because the drama looked amazing, Huo Qubing is a fascinating person with a crazy life story, the cast was insane, and I wanted it so so so badly.

PS I would say they should just do what Sound of the Desert did and file the serial numbers off by changing the names of all the characters but we all know it’s not 2014 and they can’t swap “Huo Qubing” into “Wei Wuji” and call it a day in terms of satisfying the censors.

MY DEMON K DRAMA THEORY

How Did Gu Won Become a Demon?

(may contain spoiler up to episode 8/9)

Ok:

So going off my pet theory that Do Do Hee was Gu Won’s body guard in their past life -

-(they very strongly imply it with her long look at the sword woman art piece and that fun bit of "I'm my body guard's body guard joke") (paired with GW starting to get his human memories of a sword woman back IMMEDIATLY after they start associating) -

-I’m guessing that DDH actually died somehow protecting Gu Won from a demon -

(- they’ve implied/said you have to kill the last demon to become a demon, and why else would a seemingly good natured young lord kill a demon except in either grief/rage or self defence)-

- so my guess is that Gu Won became a demon by either:

a) Killing the demon in retaliation of DDH death and thus became one

b) Struck a deal with the last demon to make sure he lived long enough to find DDH again

c) Some mix of both.

I’m honestly leaning towards a deal because of how he’s losing his abilities. If he struck a deal to become a demon to get immortality for long enough to find her again - in exchange for his memories, humanity, and doing deals - then meeting her again could be the reason why his powers are going wonky.

The deal is fulfilled; his time's up.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

(....You know, it would be an absolute crack theory to think that DDH was the one who was supposed to have been a demon or died or something in the past life, but was saved by Gu Won taking on the deal instead.

It would explain why the tattoo shifted to her the second they had a real skin connection going. Absolutely bonkers. There's no way. )

---------------------------------

UPDATE due to episode 9:

So I think I was RIGHT.

I think I was right about the deal due to his confirmation that God gave him the abilities - previously murdered demon or no- but I still can't figure what the parameter of the deal is beyond my earlier guesses.

And why did his powers shift?

If he was given abilities, then who took them in the first place? Unless DDH is a supernatural herself, someone has to be pulling the strings to have made this happen.

It either has to be:

a) A condition in the deal

(if it is a deal, and it would be a ridiculous condition to have his powers shift to her and result in him dying as soon as he met her again- oh that might be it. Literally live long enough to find her again.)

b) A side effect of the deal not getting completed

(We've now seen that deals left unfinished by a demon with no powers gets nullified. If his deal to be a demon was somehow unable to be fulfilled, that might be why he's dying? Doesn't make much sense though.)

c) Or some complete rando factor that hasn't been introduced yet.

I'll mull over it in a later post after tomorrow's episode.

MY DEMON 마이데몬 dir. Kim Jang Han (2023-2024)

MY DEMON 마이데몬 dir. Kim Jang Han (2023-2024)

English is great because I can say a single three letter word and people will assume I mean:

THE STORY OF PARK'S MARRIAGE CONTRACT (2023) EPISODE 9

Espero que "The prisoner of beauty" salga lo más rápido posible para que no acabe durmiendo el sueño de los justos por la movida de Song Zu Er, porque TIENE MUY BUENA PINTA.

@dangermousie do you like it?

I would love for this to come out - I adore the novel so much and LYN and SZE are my dream casting for the mains to a degree I almost never see with adaptations. They are gonna have to remove all the sex (which is a pity because it’s a rare novel where it’s part of character and relationship development; they are gonna have to do it thru other means) and make Wei Shuo defender of OG dynasty as opposing founding his own but it could still be an amazing drama.

This said, I think it’s going to have the same fate as the only other two novel adaptations that I thought had a perfect cast - Hao Yi Xing and Winner Is King - this one is never ever coming out of the vault. (Unless I suppose they butcher and refilm with different FL but I doubt the resulting quality.) Sure, unlike with Winner and HYX, the topic is not banned but while SZE is not formally charged/convicted, have we ever seen anyone in the last decade come back from a tax accusation? Nope. This one is sadly dead IMO.

More like Prisoner of the Tax Code.

To compensate us, happy holidays to those who celebrate:

(From the filming of The Legend of Jewelry, tho I see no evidence of any jewelry. I am quite a fan of cdramaland’s new (?) rope fixation.)

I haven't read the novel, but I would like. The problem with sex scenesis going to be solved as they always do, kiss scene, intertwined fingers and herding. I don't like the idea that he is going to defend the OG dynasty, but they have to please the gyrfalcons, as always ¬¬.

It has been months since Song Zu Er was accused from tax evasion and there are no news, so maybe there is a little of hope this drama will be able to see the light.

That phrase of "Prisoner of Tax Code" was very good HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA.

I like VERY MUCH that photo of "The legend of jewelry".

P.S.: sorry if I have made some mistake with my English ^^'''''

Your English is better than my pitiful Spanish (and for neither of us is English our first language anyway) so you are way ahead.

I really would love for this to air. Pls just drop the whole thing at once, studio!

To assist:

Or

Espero que "The prisoner of beauty" salga lo más rápido posible para que no acabe durmiendo el sueño de los justos por la movida de Song Zu Er, porque TIENE MUY BUENA PINTA.

@dangermousie do you like it?

I would love for this to come out - I adore the novel so much and LYN and SZE are my dream casting for the mains to a degree I almost never see with adaptations. They are gonna have to remove all the sex (which is a pity because it’s a rare novel where it’s part of character and relationship development; they are gonna have to do it thru other means) and make Wei Shuo defender of OG dynasty as opposing founding his own but it could still be an amazing drama.

This said, I think it’s going to have the same fate as the only other two novel adaptations that I thought had a perfect cast - Hao Yi Xing and Winner Is King - this one is never ever coming out of the vault. (Unless I suppose they butcher and refilm with different FL but I doubt the resulting quality.) Sure, unlike with Winner and HYX, the topic is not banned but while SZE is not formally charged/convicted, have we ever seen anyone in the last decade come back from a tax accusation? Nope. This one is sadly dead IMO.

More like Prisoner of the Tax Code.

To compensate us, happy holidays to those who celebrate:

(From the filming of The Legend of Jewelry, tho I see no evidence of any jewelry. I am quite a fan of cdramaland’s new (?) rope fixation.)

this case doesn't seem the same as previous (ie DL, ZS, FBB, YBY) where first came the verdict, then came apologies, then paying the fines (unless you're DL in which case it's the not-paying of the fines), then the laying low.

but for SZE it's been 5 months. I mean, investigation takes more than a week but CCP usually moves a lot faster than "five months later...".

or maybe it's that no news is good news, and that's why both of SZE's dramas appear to be back on the schedule. (then again, YBY's next drama is still listed on IQ, so who tf knows.) or maybe just that hope springs eternal regardless of language.

what it all makes me think of are the common trope in most* of those historical dramas where the FL is seen talking! to a man! with no chaperone! or worse was missing for more than ten minutes! she ruined! etc, even if (as for most FLs) it's only malicious rumors. (Cue the sad and painful trials the FL must suffer before she gets a triumphant finale where she's proven innocent, etc etc.)

all it took was the whisper of wrongdoing and even if the cdrama distributors have hung in there, irrc SZE's sponsors dropped her in a hot minute. that's significant financial damage if the charges were exaggerated or worse, unfounded and malicious.

I mean, even if the govt finds you innocent, how do you come back from having your reputation dragged through the mud thanks to someone's vicious rumor-mongering?

Espero que "The prisoner of beauty" salga lo más rápido posible para que no acabe durmiendo el sueño de los justos por la movida de Song Zu Er, porque TIENE MUY BUENA PINTA.

@dangermousie do you like it?

I would love for this to come out - I adore the novel so much and LYN and SZE are my dream casting for the mains to a degree I almost never see with adaptations. They are gonna have to remove all the sex (which is a pity because it’s a rare novel where it’s part of character and relationship development; they are gonna have to do it thru other means) and make Wei Shuo defender of OG dynasty as opposing founding his own but it could still be an amazing drama.

This said, I think it’s going to have the same fate as the only other two novel adaptations that I thought had a perfect cast - Hao Yi Xing and Winner Is King - this one is never ever coming out of the vault. (Unless I suppose they butcher and refilm with different FL but I doubt the resulting quality.) Sure, unlike with Winner and HYX, the topic is not banned but while SZE is not formally charged/convicted, have we ever seen anyone in the last decade come back from a tax accusation? Nope. This one is sadly dead IMO.

More like Prisoner of the Tax Code.

To compensate us, happy holidays to those who celebrate:

(From the filming of The Legend of Jewelry, tho I see no evidence of any jewelry. I am quite a fan of cdramaland’s new (?) rope fixation.)